ã€ŠOdyssey of the Blind Godã€‹


 Chapter 1 Dream

    "Is it time already¡­?" A young man in histe teens mumbled in a low voice, knowing that nobody was around to hear him.

    In front of him was the breathtaking view of a divine pce that was shining in bright, holy light. The tranquility surrounding him made the young teen feel extremely calm.

    He was familiar with this ce, after all.

    The white light infiltrated his pores, seeping into every single cell within his body, invigorating him.

    "As always...it feels real¡­" He mumbled yet again as he opened his eyes, revealing bright silver irises.

    They were overflowing with vigor, but what others would see by looking into them was nothing but sadness and despair.

    ''Why am I even opening my eyes... It''s just a dream, either way.'' He thought dejectedly. A deep sigh escaped his lips that exposed his longing as he took his first step toward the divine pce.

    His entire body was invigorated, and brimming with energy, yet, with every single step, he felt as if the burden weighing him down was increasing substantially.

    Not even four stepster, he was sweating profusely.

    Thick drops of sweat trickled down his back as his shirt was stered to his skin. Exhaustion swept through his body, slowly but steadily recing the vigor that had filled him with hope minutes ago as if a parasite would slowly suck away the life of its host.

    With his entire body quivering under the tremendous pressure, the young man found it difficult to even take another step.

    ''As usual¡­''

    It was the same as always, and he had been experiencing this for thest few years. So far, nothing seemed to have changed.

    Clenching his fist, the young man tried to fight the losing battle.

    Under normal circumstances, he would have given up by now and sumbed to his fate.

    However, too many events had happened in thest few days, making him desperate enough to ignore his body''s pain and exhaustion.

    ''It''s just a dream... Once you wake up, everything will be fine... Just endure it!'' He kept repeating it to himself like a mantra.

    All he could, for now, was gritting his teeth, and wait for it to be over. His body as well as his mind knew that everything he said was, in fact, bound to happen.

    At the tender age of three, when he had been a toddler, an unforeseen incident had urred, changing his entire life forever. Since that fateful day, his life had never been the same.

    Ever since that incident, he had had a recurring dream on the first day of every month.

    At first, the overly realistic dream had confused him, but somehow after all these years, he had learned to live with it.

    The same incident that made him dream about the divine pce was also the cause for him to turn blind, losing his eyesight.

    In an era that was filled with ferocious beasts, dungeons, hostile otherworldly beings, and humans that were forced to rely on their own strength to survive, being blind was an absolute nightmare.

    And fate seemed to be awfully cruel in making this misery afflict a small child who had barely started to walk.

    After all, his entire future had been a nk sheet and full of potential¡­before!

    The young child''s dreams had been shattered as he was forced to mature well before other kids around his age would.

    What was left behind was a broken shell that was treated harshly by the society that worshipped the talented, and discarded the weak like used tissues.

    However, the young man had neverined about his situation because he was loved by his family.

    He didn''t need anything else but his parents and sister, all of whom doted on him.

    In fact, he was not even required to fight other beasts if it was not necessary!

    His life had been hard and filled with humiliation, but despite that, he had learned to find happiness in the smallest things.

    To his misery and rotten luck, even that happiness was snatched away from him when it was discovered that his little sister was terminally ill!

    She had been diagnosed with a rare disease, and the medicine was simply too expensive for middle-ss families.

    As such, their happiness turned into desperation, making him and his parents search for a cure.

    They were forced to procure origin crystals by killing wild beasts that inhabited mystical, isted ces, also called dungeons.

    Those ces were not only prone to various environmental hazards but were also filled with powerful beasts that would kill without any mercy, tearing apart anyone who would dare step in their territory.

    Despite the dangers, his parents would toil and risk their lives day in and day out for the sake of their daughter.

    Even then, they were unable to cure his little sister''s disease, and could barely dy her death.

    Fueled by the desperation to help his family, the young man was fiercely trying to enter the divine pce in hopes of finding something that could help his family in any way.

    Having been nothing but a burden to his family, he was determined to change his fate which made him give his utmost efforts to do something that might help, somehow.

    One of these things was to enter the divine pce that appeared in his dream, because his instincts told him that it was not just a magnificent structure, at all!

    **

    Fifteen years ago, on a warm summer afternoon just like any other, a dungeon portal manifested in the middle of a yground.

    The dungeon portal disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving nothing behind.

    This made it seem as if the portal had never existed, in the first ce!

    However, there was just one problem¡­

    One of the many children that had been happily ying on the ground had disappeared inside the dungeon portal!

    It was only a weekter that the child had magically reappeared, at the exact same spot he had disappeared from...with dead, bleeding eyes.

    Somehow, the child lived despite the harrowing incident. However, since then, the child had never been able to perceive the mythic energy, mana, ever again!

    This child was Nial, the young man who was currently straining himself as he roared out, taking his fifth step towards the divine pce.

    Sweat was now flowing in rivulets down his forehead, stering his hair to his temples.

    But, now was not the time to give up. As such, he kept pushing himself while he grit his teeth as his silver eyes shone brightly.

    After breaking through his limit, the subsequent steps didn''t feel as burdensome as the previous one, even though the gravitational force continued to increase exponentially.

    Using his sheer willpower, and the thought of his bedridden sister and dead-tired parents who were risking their lives every single day, he groaned out again before continuing to advance.

    Nial knew that he couldn''t take life as lightly as he had been doing before, giving him the necessary strength to advance the marble staircase.

    Clouds enveloped the staircase, making him feel as if he was walking in the air.

    Thus to prevent feeling dizzy, he forced himself to focus on the pce.

    Oblivious to the time he had taken to ascend the stairs, Nial arrived on top of them while gasping for air.

    It made him wonder how his body had survived the task as he felt like it would stop working at any moment.<sub> </sub>

    Yet, just as both of his feet reached the final stair, the pressure dispersed.

    This gave him the necessary time to calm down and breathe.

    He took a moment to collect himself, taking lungfuls of air.

    With an unbreakable will, he kept walking ahead, one step at a time.

    Nial only stopped when he reached the outer area of the vast pce hall as his feet passed through the gigantic open door.

    ''I¡­did it!!'' That was all he could think as an exhausted smile appeared on his lips.

    ''"Finally, you have arrived, Nial! It took you quite a while!"

    Out of nowhere, Nial heard the seducing voice of a mature woman.

    It resounded through the entire hall, as it bounced off therge walls, startling him.

    Raising his head, Nial stared straight ahead at the elevated throne that he could see through his blurry eyes.

    Focussing on the scene in front of him, he was able to see a mature woman seated on the magnificent throne.

    She had fair and wless skin and a seemingly perfect physique thatplemented her surreal beauty.

    The silky white dress that she was wearing tightly clung to her voluptuous body, highlighting her ck silky hair and dark brown eyes that stared right into the depths of his soul.

    He had no idea how the woman who resembled a goddess knew his name.

    But even if Nial wanted to, it was impossible for him to utter a single word.

    It was almost as if his mouth had been sewn shut.

    Without uttering another word, the god-like existence got up from her throne.

    Her simple move caused the entire pce to tremble owing to the tremendous energy her body released naturally.

    "So, that''s how our little anomaly looks like. I had high hopes for nothing¡­ It''s quite...disappointing."

    The words spoken by the Goddess didn''t hurt Nial a tiny bit.

    After all, he was already ustomed to being treated worse and called weird names.

    As such, his eyes didn''t show even the faintest trace of anger. Instead, they were gleaming in determination.

    The Goddess noticed this, which caused her first impression of Nial to change a little bit.

    ''Maybe¡­? No, probably not¡­ I''m expecting too much.''

    Without giving it another thought, she flicked her wrist in an imperceptible move, pulling him closer without touching a strand of his hair.

    Nial''s breath got caught in his throat as the Goddess'' holy light enveloped him gently.

    "You are...unfamiliar with those eyes of yours, but you''ve seen before¡­" She muttered without lifting her gaze from Nial as she mused,

    "Maybe you are more interesting than I thought!"

    Still unable to say anything, Nial could only stare at her.

    He made no attempts to avoid her soul-piercing eyes as he tried his utmost to speak.

    ''If I could wield mana, or even better...see once again, then¡­ I could help my family!'' He thought deperately while trying to speak with all his might.

    "So you want to help your family?" She suddenly asked, reading his thoughts like an open book.

    She could even hear and see the images of his bedridden sister and exhausted parents that shed through his mind.

    Thus, on a whim, she decided to do something that she, the Divine Goddess, had never done before.

    "Anomaly Nial, are you willing to owe me a favor in exchange for regaining your eyesight?"

    Hearing her words, made him feel as if his dream had juste true. Nial didn''t even need a single second to react.

    Nodding his head vigorously, even the natural suppression of the Goddess'' holy aura was unable to hold him back from moving as he smiled brightly.

    ''Will he be useful enough though?'' She asked herself, only to remember the reason for allowing the mortal anomaly to enter the divine pce in the first ce.

    As such, she set her doubts aside and lifted her hand to touch his forehead, right in the center of his eyebrows with her forefinger.

    A momentter, the Goddess inserted a small trace of her divine energy into Nis it seeped into his skin where her finger touched his forehead.

    He suddenly grew hopeful and nervous about the future, but only a few seconds passed before he noticed a deep frown on the Goddess'' face that caused his smile to vanish in an instant.

    "I...cannot reverse your eyesight? Is the amount of divine energy I used too little? That cannot be... Using more would kill even the strongest of mortals..." She mumbled to herself, but Nial heard her clearly. Her words confused him but he didn''t dare make a move.

    He knew that the divine energy that entered his body was doing something, but weirdly enough, it was unable to reach his eyes.

    It was almost as if something was blocking it, preventing it from healing his vision

    At that moment, something that had been sealed in the depths of his conscience trembled wildly, erupting with tremendous power that spread through Nial''s body, nearly tearing him apart.

    His skin burst open and fountains of blood spurted out of him but oddly enough, he felt no pain, at all.

    Rather, what Nial felt was somethingpletely different, tracing back to the days before the incident, belonging to the first few years of his life before it had changed to the worst possible!

    A tremendous amount of divine energy swept through his body, reaching every cell within the young man. The sudden influx of energy made him feel stunned as he heard a shrill outcry.

    "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!! WHO ARE YOU?!? IS THAT YOU R-..." The Goddess shouted, bbergasted.

    Fear shone in her eyes, recing her earlier confusion. The entire divine pce began to tremble violently owing to the energy she released, all of which was used to push Nial away with her entire might.

    Catapulted through the air, Nial was hurled like a piece of paper. The sheer strength that had been used to push Nial was enough to kill him on the spot.

    As such, he didn''t even notice that his body smashed into the divine pce''s wall, before disintegrating into countless particles of light... and darkness.

    **

    Waking up from his dream with a start, Nial took deep breaths as he felt that his back was drenched in cold sweat. Sniffing a little, he sensed a putrid smell permeating the air around him.

    A momentter, Nial opened his white eyes that were without any vigor, and void of the faintest trace of life!

    Once again, he was unable to see anything, exactly like before¡­

    However, at that moment, Nial noticed that one thing had changed.

    ''I...can sense mana?''

 Chapter 2 Awakened

    ''I¡­ can sense mana!'' Nial realized with a radiant smile on his face.

    Through the tiny bit of mana particles that were slowly entering his body, Nial could sense his surroundings precisely!

    This was miraculous, and something he had never expected to happen.

    His hands began to tremble as he clenched his fingers into a fist.

    A single tear that was filled with all the frustration, humiliation, and anger umted from thest 15 years trickled down his cheek.

    *

    Mana, also known as Mythic energy, was one kind of energy that permeated the ground, air, and empowered the majority of living beings within specific areas.

    It had first emerged centuries ago as the primal dungeon portal had materialized, releasing mana into the untainted world.

    When the first dungeons had appeared in the form of portals, they weren''t deemed as dangerous.

    Mankind had been curious about the first portals that appeared to be straight out of a science-fiction movie.

    However, at the same time, everyone had been anxious about possible and unknown dangers that could be lurking behind, recalling the nightmarish scenarios that were often described in novels.

    Unfortunately, it was even worse than what the authors had imagined in their books, and chaos had descended upon therge blue.

    The majority of humans sumbed to their ill-fated destiny and died a painful death.

    Their worries and hardships ended with their life but those who were left behind lived a life of guilt. Despite having survived the dangers, they were neither happy nor relieved as the burden of not being able to save their loved ones weighed them down.

    Mankind was on the brink of extinction until the first Originals, that is humans who could absorb and control mana, emerged.

    They were able to make use of the mana that permeated the environment and strengthen themselves.

    They made use of this strength to kill the beasts that were capable of deflecting bullets, rocketunchers, and in some cases, even nuclear bombs.

    By killing beasts that had emerged from dungeons, the Originals were able to reap all kinds of benefits, further strengthening their prowess.

    Thoughter, the tides changed.

    From being thrown to the bottom of the food chain, they began to fight desperately to climb back to the top.

    Their goal was not only to survive but also to ovee every hurdle that obstructed them from regaining their sovereignty, to be at the top of the food pyramid in the new era!

    Through their relentless efforts, they were able to build many shelters in a duration of over three hundred years.

    To prevent urrence of any untoward incident, the number of dungeon portals was strictly regted inside these shelters.

    Or at least that was what mankind had assumed to have achieved until the fateful day when Nial had suddenly disappeared from the face of the.

    The incident was an anomaly, but it instilled fear in the hearts of every human, nheless.

    It spoke volumes about the so-called safety that had been reduced to a mere farce, an illusion, after all!

    In fact, Nial didn''t remember anything that had happened during the incident 15 years ago.

    He had only been three years old, after all!

    Despite that, there should have been snippets of memories, lodged in the deepest parts of his subconscious.

    But, no matter how many times he tried to reach that, he always returned empty-handed.

    Because of that, Nial always felt as if something had happened, and a certain blockage had sealed off the specific memories pertaining to that incident in his mind.

    At least, that was the only thing that would make sense, considering that he had lost his eyesight and the ability to sense mana through the incident.

    It had scarred him for life and left a repetitive, overly realistic dream that had tortured him every month until he had met the Goddess.

    Thinking about the repetitive dream, Nial believed that he would never have it again.

    At least, that was what his subconscious told him.

    Rubbing the area where the Goddess had hit him, Nial couldn''t help but feel weird because his body felt sore at that area, making him feel as if his insides had been twisted.

    ''Was it really just a dream?'' he wondered, not sure about the answer.

    Yet, given the fact that he was able to sense mana after more than a decade had passed, something about the dream had to be a reality.

    At least it had influenced him somehow though he had no idea what the Goddess had done!

    ''Even if I''m still blind, as long as I can wield mana, it shouldn''t be too difficult to learn how to perceive my surroundings with it, recing my non-existent eyesight¡­somewhat!''

    Nial had never actually been a pessimist.

    Despite their family''s social standard, he had always been happy, even if he didn''t have many things.

    The love and security provided by his family more than made up for material belongings, which he had no interest in either way.

    As such, he was d to have obtained the ability to sense mana once again.

    That was much better than anything he could wish for- except regaining his eyesight.

    In fact, even if he would have regained his eyesight without being able to sense mana, this wouldn''t have been as useful as the other way around!

    That was because Nial had researched for a way to replicate his lost eyesight to a certain extent.

    Unfortunately, without mana, it was near impossible to achieve this.

    Thus, he felt as if he had won the jackpot when he could finally make use of mana and his joy knew no bounds.

    ''I''ll return the favor if anything about my dreams was real!''

    He vowed to the Goddess, not knowing what consequences this seemingly nonchnt promise would bring forth.

    The Goddess had injured him, but that was not something he could care about right now.

    He focussed on the positive aspect where she had tried to heal his eyes, allowing Nial to regain his eyesight.<sub> </sub>

    But something had gone terribly wrong in the process.

    This made Nial conscious about something within his body, about which he had been ignorant all this time!

    Ignoring the particles of mana he was able to sense in his surroundings, Nial touched his chest, feeling his wildly beating heart.

    At that moment, he noticed something else that shocked him greatly.

    "Did I awaken my origin?" He shouted out, not realizing how loud his voice had been.

    As the realization sunk in, his hand began to tremble in excitement.

    Suddenly, he felt hyper-aware of everything in his body along with his shirt that clung to his back that was slick with sweat.

    Nial couldn''t move as he sensed the grain-sized mana core inside his body.

    Every Original had to awaken their origin before they could start absorbing mana to strengthen themselves, wield elements and utilize all kinds of abilities.

    Before awakening, one was barely able to sense the mana that swept through one''s body.

    It would simply pass through the body without doing anything.

    ? Only those that had the necessary innate talent would be able to subconsciously absorb a minuscule amount of the dungeons'' mana. This involuntary act would repeat itself, slowly preparing the individuals for a natural awakening of their origin.

    This would strengthen them, and turn them into supernatural existences that were a cut above ordinary humans.

    Since the emergence of the first dungeons, governments had been toppled, and there was only one permanent rule that applied everywhere- The strong reigns, while the weak obey!

    Nial was aware of this, and it was also why his parents, who had never cared about bing stronger, remained poor for their entire life.

    They had to take responsibility of Nial and Sabrina, his sister, who were their priorities and their precious little children.

    As such, they were unable to spend their time on bing stronger even if they wanted to, let alone spending their whole time fighting and killing beasts inhabiting more dangerous dungeons to umte wealth.

    Everything turned even worse when Nial had been involved in an unforeseen incident that had caused severe mental trauma to Maline, Nial''s mother.

    After the incident, she became overly protective of him and stayed by his side for several years.

    It was only when she saw that his previous joyous personality had returned that she decided to give him some freedom.

    They had been in a dire need of money, and Miles, their father, was unable to earn enough to feed everyone.

    The medical expenses Sabrina had already seared a giant hole in his pocket, yet he was trying to set aside some funds to look for ways to heal Nial.

    However, even the strongest healers they had met during thest 15 years had been unable to help them, leaving them with nothing but overpriced medical bills.

    Nial was thankful for the family he had, and he knew that they wouldn''t give up on him, no matter what.

    Because of that, Nial told them that he had already adapted to being blind, that he was happy, and that they should rather save up to help his sister to awaken her origin instead.

    Unexpectedly, before that could even happen, she had been diagnosed with a rare disease, throwing their entire family, which had just recovered from the setback of Nial''s incident, a fresh set of obstacles once again.

    Even Nial was not sure how to be optimistic in that situation.

    Fortunately, Sabrina''s situation had been fine for a very long time, and the medicine they were able to procure seemed to prevent her condition from worsening.

    However, after a few years passed, her condition began to gradually worsen.

    The cheap medicine stopped working and the price they had to pay for the medicine that merely worked as a painkiller for his little sister, skyrocketed.

    Because of that Nial had grown desperate, just like his parents, while his little sister was always trying to smile brightly, and try to ease their worry.

    Owing to his desire to support his family, Nial had ended up in the current situation, oveing the pressure of the divine stairs, the encounter with the divine Goddess, and having his origin awakened!

    The Divine Goddess was responsible for the recuperation of his malfunction that had prevented him from sensing mana.

    At the same time, her intervention seemed to have awakened something that had been sealed deep within him.

    This had also served as a catalyst to awaken his origin, the creation of his mana veins, and a small mana core.

    Yet, at the same time, Nial was able to sense that something that didn''t belong to him was inside him!

    It was located between his heart and the mana core that was right in the center of his lower chest.

    Even if Nial was not sure what exactly it was, through his perception he was able to tell that it was¡­ a seed!?

    ''Was that sealed inside me?'' He wondered, not quite sure what to do with this recently acquired information.

    Nial attempted to perceive more about the mysterious seed within his body, but it was to no avail.

    All of a sudden, just as he decided to divert his attention to something else, a weird sensation jolted through Nial''s body.

    He felt as if his nerves were electrocuted for a short moment when mana within him identally came in touch with the seed.

    ''This...is that the divine energy of the Goddess...and..what even is that?''

    Nial was not sure what exactly had happened to his body in that short moment.

    He felt invigorated and all too powerful as if he could lift an Ox all by himself.

    This made him question his existence, but he was dragged out of his train of thoughts when he heard the loud sound of footsteps rushing toward him.

    At that moment his mother stormed inside his room, flinging open the door as her worried voice resounded through the entire house.

    "Nial, what''s wrong, did you have a nightmare again? Does something hurt??"

    Hearing his overprotective mother''s tired, but also worried voice, Nial couldn''t help but bite on his lower lip.

    Soon, his expression transformed as he gave her a radiant smile, the first one he had shown in the past 15 years.

    "I think I¡­just awoke my origin!!"

 Chapter 3 Dungeon

    Nial''s mother was not sure if her ears were deceiving her.

    This lead her to stare at her son with a stupefied expression.

    "You...did what?!"

    Her tiredness was washed away in the blink of an eye and Nial was able to hear the sound of footsteps that rushed straight toward him.

    Only a momentter did he feel the soft caress of her mother as she touched his forehead.

    A soothing sensation entered his mind making him feel instantly refreshed.

    This sensation was owing to the mana that entered his body.

    His mother had instinctively inserted traces of her mana into him, thinking that he was in pain.

    But, she retracted it a momentter before he heard her copse to the ground with a soft thud.

    Her legs suddenly gave in and he heard her sobbing bitterly, her muffled voice piercing straight in his ears.

    "How did you...no..since when are you able to sense mana again?? Why didn''t you tell us?"

    Her emotions and confusion were clearly noticeable, and Nial could only smile apologetically as he tried to figure out what to tell his mother.

    "I just had the same nightmare as before...only to wake up being able to sense mana. And it was not long after that I had awoken my origin as well¡­"

    He didn''t want to lie to his mother which was the reason Nial stated the truth.

    Though, he left out a few things intentionally which made him feel guilty.

    Nial had never told anyone about the exact details of his dream including the divine pce, and what exactly happened in the repetitive dream.

    Somehow, it didn''t feel right to do so.

    In the end, he even believed that it might be a disadvantage for others if they were to hear the entire truth from him.

    There was no proof about this assumption, and neither did he require one.

    Nial simply followed his instincts and perception, just like he always did.

    Getting up from the bed, his feet touched the rough wooden nks that served as the floor of the house. Leaning forward, he reached for his mother and hugged her tightly.

    He could roughly gauge how his mother was feeling right now.

    Thus he didn''t have to say anything, at all.

    On one side his mother was overjoyed that Nial had awoken his origin, elevating his status in the society.

    However, on the other hand, crippled Originals were, in rare cases, treated harsher than citizens of the lower ss.

    That was because Originals were recognized as the protectors of mankind, while only a few cared about those who didn''t awaken their origin.

    As such, Nial would attract some attention with his unique condition.

    Nevertheless, Maline was overjoyed, knowing that Nial would be able to perceive his surroundings much better from now on.

    This would allow him to be more independent and she wouldn''t have to worry about leaving him alone for long.

    Now, it was possible for him to do much more, go out alone without the need to rely on his white cane or special signs for blind people to find his way through bustling streets.

    It was even possible for him to live alone in the future, and learn to protect himself from ferocious beasts!

    One could say that the origin awakening allowed Nial to be able to live an almost normal life in an era that was filled with death, fear, and dungeon portals.

    This lifted a huge burden from his parents'' minds as well as boosted his confidence to a whole new level.

    The same could be said about the guilt that his mother had been harboring for 15 years.

    She had been unable to be there for him when he truly needed her.

    Ever since the day he had disappeared, Maline had regretted having allowed him to y alone on the yground.

    Had she not left him on his own, she would have rescued him in time when the dungeon incident had urred.

    Even if it was not her fault for doing something perfectly normal, it was the thought that she could have just changed Nial''s fate by making him y somewhere else that tormented her for over a decade.

    All the memories and guilt that had been weighing her down finally found their release in the form of sad yet happy tears that streamed down her face.

    He didn''t utter a single word as her tears began to soak his shirt.

    He simply hugged her, only to hear another pair of footsteps entering his room.

    Lifting his head in an instinctive manner, Nial sensed an all too familiar presence. A small smile appeared on his face as he said,

    "Hey, Dad!"

    Miles, his father, was standing in the doorframe, looking at the mother-son duo in confusion.

    Maline was crying her eyes out, while Nial looked happier and more energetic than ever before.

    It was almost as if they had traveled back to the past and their life 15 years ago. Maybe, he was even happier than in his early childhood days right now!

    However, that didn''t exin why his wife was currently crying rivers. As he stared at them in confusion, Nial exined the situation with a bright smile on his face.

    A momentter, Miles confusion was reced by relief as he rushed to his wife and son.

    He leaned towards them and fell on his knees as he embraced both of them tightly, with a vibrant smile and tears trickling down his cheeks.

    The three of them were overjoyed, and the sound ofughter intermingled with sobs echoed through the small room.

    Now, with the awakening of his origin, Nial''s future was not as bleak as his parents had feared it to be.

    Nial couldn''t help but be exhrated as well. After all, it was only one night since his entire life had begun to change!

    Last night when he had dreaded waking up breathlessly after seeing the same dream, he could have never hoped a situation simr to what had actually happened to ur.

    However, it was exactly because of this that he felt a little bit anxious.

    ''Just what is this seed? It devoured the Goddess''s divine energy as if it was a mere appetizer¡­It won''t cause any harm to my body, right?''

    Not knowing anything about the ck seed was disturbing, but there didn''t seem to be anything wrong about it.

    At least for now, Nial was unable to sense that anything was off.

    Rather, the ck seed seemed to be in direct connection with his mana veins, just like his mana core.

    But this was something Nial didn''t understand either.

    Thinking about the changes in his body, he was not sure how much time had passed.

    But he was dragged out of his thoughts when his father let go of him and his mother as he hesitantly said,

    "We have some funds... it might be enough for a gradeless ability crystal if you want...it would be better than nothing, after all¡­"

    Upon hearing his father''s proposal, Nial was shocked and immediately shook his head.

    "I don''t need anything. You had saved these funds for Sabrina''s medicine. I don''t want to take anything just because I awoke my origin!"

    By awakening their origin, Originals were able to absorb the knowledge stored in specific crystals that could be procured inside dungeons.

    These ability crystals wereparable to powers that would be bound to the mana core of an Original.<sub> </sub>

    Through the binding process, one could gain all kinds of abilities such as being able to wield elements, attain superhuman strength, or even defy nature''sw to fly around.

    Everything seemed to be possible with the use of ability crystals!

    The awakening of the Origin initiated the creation of mana veins and a small mana core inside the body.

    This allowed a seemingly normal human being to turn into a superhuman existence whose social status was elevated overnight, just because they were able to actively absorb and store mana.

    That was exactly what happened with his parents.

    Despite being poor, they were categorized as a middle-ss family just because they had awakened as Originals.

    Unfortunately, awakening would not immediately bring forth great wealth.

    Talent, strength, and one''s persistence were what would allow one to umte wealth and gain respect from others.

    After all, if one was blessed with the necessary talent, strength would soon follow suit.

    That was also why his father was embarrassed about their overall situation.

    He wished to provide his children with a better future, but this was simply not possible because of their economic situation.

    Their funds were meager which made it impossible for him to provide his son with his first ability crystal, which would have been a great honor for him.

    "I''m sorry that we cannot support you financially¡­"

    He sounded genuinely regretful, and embarrassed, and Nial''s sharp ears picked the faint noise of his father clenching his fist.

    However, Miles understood that even a weak ability wouldn''t actually help his son.

    In fact, it might even restrict Nial in the future.

    p The stronger one''s first ability was, the easier it would be to survive a dungeon conquest and gain more benefits.</anda>

    This would allow anyone with a powerful ability to advance further and faster without the need to rely on others.

    At the same time, weak abilities were barely of any use.

    As a newly awakened Original one could only bind a single ability at first.

    The number of abilities one could possess only increased with the Original''s strength!

    Owing to this, the Originals would have to keep getting stronger to gain more abilities, which would, in turn, further strengthen them.

    This simple fact made it even more important to have a perfect start with a powerful first ability that opens pathways for the Original to obtain more powerful abilities, and strength!

    "We can just work more, you know¡­ You don''t have to worry about our financial situation!" His father tried to reassure him, but Nial''s serious expression caused him to quiet down, realizing that Nial could easily call his bluff.

    Both of Nial''s parents were already entering low-ranked dungeons and stayed in them to kill beasts and umte wealth, toiling for more than 12 hours a day.

    After that, they would return and tend to Sabrina, whose condition had reached the worst state since she had been diagnosed with the disease nobody seemed to know much about.

    Knowing this, Nial made himself as self-reliant as possible, lessening the burden on his parents in his own small way.

    He would often spend most of his time in their small backyard, where he had built a small training ce to practice and y a little.

    Despite having been unable to sense mana, Nial didn''t feel like giving up on himself.

    He knew that he had to be responsible, if his parents were to be out hunting, leaving him in charge of his sister.

    Under the rather bleak possibility that an astray monster would escape a newly manifested dungeon, Nial would have to protect his sister with all his might!

    Such a situation was highly unlikely because the government took great care of dungeons that had materialized inside the shelter, controlling everything properly.

    However, even then, it was still possible!

    As such, he trained his body as well as he could, allowing him to wield the present that he had received on his 18th birthday!

    His present had been a white cane, a special one that had a unique feature- it could be used as a spear!

    It was cheap and made of a material that could not hold even a single trace of mana, but Nial didn''t care about this at all.

    That was because he had been unable to sense mana back then.

    Hence, at that time, it was more than enough for him to have a weapon to fight with.

    And thanks to his curiosity about blind spearmanship he was already able to wield it with a little mastery over it.

    Because of this ''little mastery'', Nial somehow assumed that he could fight some weaker dungeon beasts.

    At least, that was what he believed to be possible upon learning how to use mana properly.

    Mana should allow him to perceive his surroundings better, giving him a new sense of the things around him along with enhancing his mana perception.

    His parents knew nothing about the reckless idea he had in mind because Nial was fully aware that it was extremely stupid.

    Nevertheless, he couldn''t let his sister die right in front of him, while his parents worked themselves to death, just to prolong his sister''s death sentence one day at a time.

    Allowing the current situation to go on was something Nial would never ept.

    As such, he would rather endanger his own life, and even sacrifice himself, if it would guarantee the safety of those he loved!

    That was just who he was. His family had always tried to make the best out of their situation, and they had never treated him wrongly.

    His parents would not hesitate to sacrifice their life or limb for him or his sister if it was necessary.

    They had been his role models, and thus he wanted to be like them.

    Despite that, the seemingly heroic trait of being willing to sacrifice himself was something Nial reserved for those he loved.

    He didn''t care a tiny bit about others because most people he hade in contact with in his life had treated him worse than trash, just because he was blind and not awakened.

    **

    Since that night, a few days had passed by, and many things had changed.

    First, his sister''s condition had worsened, recing the joy that had filled their small house with fear.

    The desperation of their family reached a dangerous level because it looked like the funds they had were not enough to hold on for much longer.

    Because of that, Nial had reduced his sleep to less than four hours in total.

    He focused on trying to grasp how mana worked, and what he was supposed to do to be stronger, and perceive his surroundings.

    This was extremely difficult, but Nial had never expected it to be easy, to begin with.

    As such, time was running out and he felt like he had to shift his focus on improving his spearmanship.

    Nial attempted to get his hands on the essence of wielding the spear to fight without mana, or the ability to perceive his surroundings with mana.

    However, that was not everything that had happened.

    On the third day since he had awoken his origin something miraculous, but also dangerous had happened.

    It made Nial believe that everything that urred during thest few days had been fate, and his good luck had returned after abandoning him for 15 years.

    A dungeon portal had manifested in the backyard of their house!

 Chapter 4 Backyard

    "Extremely weak fluctuations¡­ That should be a low-Rookie ranked dungeon. A very small and weak one, if I''m not wrong¡­" Nial mumbled as he spent several minutes sensing the mana fluctuations of the dungeon.

    During thest few days, he had learned how to use mana. This allowed him to perceive a few things in his surroundings.

    His control was extremely crude, but the most basic aspects of learning to control were something that Nial, a blind person with extraordinary senses, was able to get the hang of, in just a few days.

    Because he was not distracted by the additional burden of suddenly being able to see as well, it didn''t take long for him to understand how to perceive his surroundings.

    This also included the thin, unstable, and liquefied membrane of the portal that had manifested in their backyard.

    When he first sensed the dungeon portal, it caused his entire body to stiffen.

    Nial had subconsciously stepped back several meters as the blurry memories of the incident 15 years ago started to sh through his mind.

    Fortunately, the mana fluctuations of the dungeon portal were extremely weak, and a beast had yet to emerge from it.

    This confused him a little bit.

    However, Nial knew that he was even more clueless about dungeons and their various types than mankind in general.

    Through countless experiments, humanity was able to find out a few things about the existence of dungeons.

    Among the few pieces of information they had acquired, one of them was the fact that the strength and the number of beasts inhabiting a dungeon portal could be easily assessed.

    For that one had to simply observe the mana fluctuations of the said portal. The stronger the fluctuation, the stronger the beasts residing in it.

    Through this, they learned how to categorize Dungeons into several grades that were further divided into sub-ranks, which made things much easier.

    The weakest grade for a dungeon was called ''Rookie'' and the sub-ranks ranged from Low, Mid, to High. These were a rough indicator of the beasts that harbored the realm,, or a separate space that was connected to the portals.

    Nobody knew what one would find on the other side as it could vary a lot.

    But in most cases, Originals entered a small mystic space that harbored one specific kind of beast.

    Once all hostile living beings were killed, the dungeon would disappear, and never reappear again.

    At least that was what happened in most cases.

    There were also special dungeons with various unique features, but that was not something Nial could bother thinking about right now.

    His mind was filled with doubts and his thoughts were one giant mess that he tried to unravel while thinking of a n or something.

    ''What am I even supposed to do now?'' He asked himself.

    Right now, he waspletely overwhelmed by the situation.

    His parents were out, conquering dungeons, and his sister was bedridden, kept alive through the expensive medicine and life-support machines.

    As such, he was alone¡­as always.

    However, now it was different. His life had changed and a dungeon had emerged in their backyard!

    Because of that, he did the only logical thing he could think of- he called the Originals association.

    Others might think that he was stupid for not entering the dungeon before doing anything else.

    After all, he had initially believed to be able to fight some weaker beasts.

    Under normal circumstances, he wasn''t even supposed to think about the association that governed the majority of dungeons inside all human shelters.

    At least, not considering their financial situation!

    However, Nial didn''t care about that as he heard the ringtone of his phone that he had picked up from the table near his training spot.

    Nial was not a big fan of using his phone, but that was also not something he could bother about.

    Using the seemingly ancient phone that still had keys, Nial punched in the number of the Originals association.

    The line connected as he entered a waiting queue made him frown deeply.

    "Great ''emergency'' hotline¡­" He mumbled quietly while trying to not be annoyed.

    Having nothing else to do, he decided to divert his focus and tried sensing every single change in the dungeon portal.

    It made him ufortable to be around a newly emerged dungeon portal, and it was only the extremely weak mana fluctuations that allowed him to remain rtively calm.

    Despite that, he should feel much more desperate than he was actually feeling right now.

    After all, beasts could suddenly emerge from the portal at any moment, and he would not have even the faintest idea of their numbers and actual strength.

    His current reaction was weird and different from how he would usually behave.

    All of a sudden, Nial heard the voice of a young woman introducing herself, breaking his chain of thoughts.

    "Wee to the Emergency hotline of the Originals association. This is Reba Karls on the phone. How may I help you?"

    Weirdly enough, Nial felt that his heartbeat which had been eerily calm began to beat at a much faster rate the moment he heard the female''s voice over the phone.

    It forced him to be caught in a trance for a moment, only to shake his head before he exined the situation in their backyard in as simple words as possible.

    "Hello Ms. Karls, I want to report the manifestation of a low-Rookie ranked dungeon in our backyard, it happened just¡­five minutes ago!"

    Carefully listening to every single noise he could hear through the phone, Nial expected to be told that someone woulde over to clear it.

    However, the young woman''s next words were definitely not what he had hoped to hear.

    "Ok, Sir. So there is still some time left...great! Is the backyard your private property or did you, or your family lease it?"

    When he heard this, Nial couldn''t help but feel speechless as his mind began to run wild.

    ''How the hell is our backyard important, girl??''

    "The entire area we are living in belonged to ourte grandparents...and we inherited it...but how does that even relevant...right now?"

    He was not quite sure what to say anymore, so he preferred to stay silent while patiently awaiting the next words of the young woman who seemed to be extremely calm.

    It was as if she didn''t care about his situation or predicament, at all.

    "If the dungeon is located on private property, thendowner is allowed to decide whether he or she wants to use the dungeon for personal use. In that case, the association won''t enter the dungeon, or intervene in any kind of way.

    Meanwhile, thendowner takes full responsibility for everything that will happen on his property.

    If someone dies because of a dungeon breakout, or astray beasts that emerged from the dungeon, the crime will be considered to have beenmitted by the owner of the dungeon!

    As for the other choices you have- You can either sell the dungeon to the Originals association, other possible interested organizations, families, or interested individuals.

    In that case, the responsibility of anything that will happen transfers over to them."

    After listening to this, Nial felt that it sounded somewhat familiar as if he had already heard this before.

    Maybe that was the case, but he couldn''t really recall it.

    Either way, the information he had received was extremely important right now.<sub> </sub>

    But even then, he was not the rightful owner of the property, so he shouldn''t be supposed to make a decision.

    However, at that moment, he recalled a certainw that granted him some liberty.

    It was about a simr situation to what was just happening with him.

    As such, Nial was able to take up the responsibility to make a choice!

    "If Sir wants to sell the dungeon, please inform me now itself. We will immediately send someone over to take the necessary precautions."

    Upon hearing the reassuring voice of the young woman, Nial was almost inclined to sell the dungeon without even knowing how much they could gain from it.

    Dungeons were worth a fortune because every single thing that could be procured within it could be sold for a high price!

    Yet, somehow, despite not receiving any further intel, Nial felt that he should ept the deal because something kept nagging at him.

    And that was not only because of the fact that he couldn''t afford to endanger his ill sister.

    They were also in a dire need of money.

    However, even before he could say anything, the dungeon hadpletely manifested.

    This was much faster than it was supposed to happen and now he was worried that a dangerous existence could simply emerge out of the portal.

    If that were to happen, it would be a disaster for Nial and his sister.

    And if the person who was supposed toe over would not reach in time, the beast would tear them apart to pieces.

    But this disaster turned into a rollercoaster of emotions for Nial, shocking him in a good way.

    A beast had emerged from the portal!

    Through his acute sense of sound, smell, and crude perception of the surroundings'' mana currents, Nial was able to figure out more about the beast.

    With the use of the mana currents, it was even possible for him to roughly imagine the beast''s outline.

    It was inurate, but Nial was still able to tell what kind of beast had emerged from the Dungeon portal.

    Because he now had the faintest idea of what existence he would supposedly fight, Nial''s worry disappeared in an instant.

    In a split second, he made his decision as he replied,

    "I''m sorry, but we want to keep the Dungeon for personal use. I will call backter...maybe."

    After that, Nial hung up, not even bothering to hear Reba''s reply.

    He stared ahead as excitement spread through his entire body.

    This was a weird sensation which he hadn''t felt since...he did not remember the exact time. M

    Maybe, he had never felt like that, or he couldn''t recall it.

    Yet, what Nial didn''t notice was that he had hung up on a bbergasted woman, who couldn''t help but look at the holographic screen in front of her as if it was broken.

    "Did he just...hang up? How could my ability not work? Was hepletely unfazed? Maybe he is...gay...or a eunuch?! That has to be it!"

    She muttered furiously but it was of no use.

    What Nial didn''t know was that the young woman had used a charm type of ability that would normally cause men to react and act the way she wanted.

    This ability worked through the phone too as long as she was the one who was talking to the other party.

    This was the reason she was tasked with receiving the majority of calls for the emergency hotline that was flooded with doubts simr to Nial''s.

    In the end, Nial had only been distracted by her ability for a short moment.

    Afterward, he was unaffected, as if he had gained immunity against it.

    While perceiving the beast in front of him, Nial couldn''t help but feel intrigued because it was, in fact, a slime!

    ''Is it a basic slime dungeon? That would at least exin the low amount of mana fluctuations...they''re amongst the weakest existing beasts, after all¡­''

    When the dungeon portal had emerged, he had been afraid for a second.

    But Nial didn''t even notice that this sensation had long since dispersed.

    He had always been easily afraid of the unknown.

    But somehow, his outlook and behavior had started to change since the awakening of his origin.

    ''Is it the influence of the seed?'' Nial asked himself, only to shake his head.

    There was no time for him to think about it.

    He had to focus on perceiving the slime that was only a meter away from him.

    It was advancing towards him at a shockingly slow pace that even a crawling baby could surpass easily.

    This astonished Nial, who didn''t expect slimes to be that slow.

    While perceiving the slime, Nial tried to use his mana to figure out more about the beast.

    Subconsciously, he pressed the button that transformed the white cane he had been clutching tightly to.

    It turned into a poorly crafted spear which Nial thrust forward.

    Nial didn''t even notice that he had moved instinctively.

    It was only after the spear had easily pierced through the slime''s body that he grasped what happened.

    The tip of his spear had prated the slime''s core in a single strike.

    Through this, the unknown, sticky liquid that had been held together by the core spilled over the ground before seeping into it.

    With that seemingly simple strike, Nial had killed the slime, shocking him greatly.

    He was not exactly fond of violence, let alone killing, but oddly enough, Nial felt nothing as he killed the small slime.

    ''Is it because I don''t think of a slime as a living being?'' He wondered, confused about why he didn''t feel anything.

    Only a momentter, Nial was dragged out of his thoughts as something odd happened.

    All of a sudden, he heard weird sounds stemming from the slime. and Nial sensed how the corpse of the dead beast was being torn apart.

    His mana perceived how it disintegrated into millions of tiny particles before they began to float in the air.

    Slowly and steadily, they surrounded the destroyed mana core and the particles that began to merge with it.

    Through his mana, he could sense the creation of something that made Nial smile vibrantly, dispersing the shock he had felt just a moment ago.

    "An Origin crystal!!"

 Chapter 5 Empty Innate Ability

    The mysterious seed inside Nial was slowly beginning to transform, pushing out some of the traits he hated the most about himself.

    Amongst this was his fear of the unknown.

    Though he was not the only person to have this fear.

    Almost everyone had this deep-rooted fear and it was extremelymon.

    However, for him, almost everything fell under the unknown category as he was blind.

    Thus, he would always prefer staying at home and seldom dared to venture out alone earlier.

    He might be deemed as an optimist by his family, and would always portray his happy self in front of them.

    But, in reality, he had faced too many ugly incidents owing to his condition his family didn''t know about.

    In the past, his trust had been broken and his confidence shattered.

    Yet, right now, his entire baggage of emotions and cruel experiences of the past seemed to be less significant. They felt nothing more than distant and fleeting memories.

    Through the repulsive energies that seemed to be stored within the mysterious seed, it seemed to gradually transform.

    One of the energies seemed to be the Divine energy he had taken from the goddess.

    But that wasn''t the only energy stored in it. He could sense the presence of another unknown energy that seemed to alter Nial''s entire being, including his mindset and specific traits about his personality.

    This was scary, but at the same time oddly reassuring because it made him feel much better andfortable in his own body.

    ''Maybe if I wouldn''t have be blind, I would be different, like what the changes are doing with me? Braver and without that many worries?'' He wondered. Though, he quickly discarded the thought only a momentter.

    What could have been or what he could have done was not important anymore.

    In the end, Nial became who he was through everything he endured and overcame.

    As such, Nial would never forget his past and how he had been treated.

    Though painful, he would retain these memories to serve as a ring reminder of how far he hade and from where had he started.

    He was of the belief that while aiming for the sky one should never lose sight of the ground below

    With a mysterious smile on his face masking theplex emotions he was currently feeling, Nial pocketed his phone.

    Leaning towards the ground, he picked up the origin crystal, picking it up without any hesitation.

    There was no definite reason as to why it happened, but all kinds of beasts that emerged from dungeons had a small chance to leave behind origin crystals moments after being killed.

    Some researchers said that these crystals were the umted energy of the deceased beast''s origin.

    Meanwhile, others were of the opinion that the dungeons had been sent over by something unfathomable to nurture mankind.

    This mysterious existence wanted to make them stronger, and prepare them for something terrifying they couldn''t even imagine.

    And then, there were those people who genuinely believed that everything was nothing but a game!

    However the number of people who believed so was low, and only a handful to be precise.

    Mankind had suffered a lot, and the dungeons'' dangers seemed to be endless.

    As such, nobody sane would even think that the dungeons were used as some sort of a game, and mere toys designed for the entertainment of higher existences.

    Yet, there were also otherworldly beings that made everything even more difficult than it already was.

    In the end, Nial felt as if he didn''t know anything. Everything seemed new to him and he was thoroughly confused to have seen and met a true goddess.

    And the worst was that her face had been filled with fright at the end of their encounter!

    Recalling the look on her face, the moment something within his conscience had deprived her of a part of her divine energy made him shiver involuntarily.

    Nial could only shake his head as difort surfaced from the depth of his mind.

    It was something unforgettable, but at the same time, unbelievable, which caused him to tightly clench his fist around the origin crystal.

    However, at this moment he felt that something was weird.

    ''There is no mana inside it?''

    Confused, he frowned deeply, only for realization to strike Nial as a bright smile appeared on his face.

    Without a single moment of hesitation, he inserted some of his mana in the crystal, and felt a stream of information entering his mind.

    [Mana perception(Poorest)]

    "An ability crystal?!" Nial eximed in shock as he brushed his fingers on the crystal carefully.

    He knew that the first beast one killed had a higher chance to drop an origin crystal.

    However, the fact that the origin crystal he held in his hand was, in fact, an ability crystal shocked him greatly.

    After all the chance to get an ability crystal was extremely rare and only 5 in 1000 origin crystals!

    He almost felt giddy at his fortune and felt that somehow someone was trying to help him end his misery.

    Perceiving the words that seemed to be engraved on his mind, Nial was overjoyed.

    Because of the high probability of receiving an origin crystal for someone who was killing dungeon beasts for the first time in their life, many people were exploited. Some were even forced to kill beasts, despite not even being Originals.

    However, that was a different topic.

    In the end, it was odd.

    ? Mana perception was exactly what Nial required because it would indirectly help him sense his surroundings much easier.

    Yet, the ''Poorest'' tag was what caused Nial to hesitate in his pursuit to bind the ability to his mana core.

    ''I won''t be able to bind another ability for a very long time...should I really choose this one?'' He asked himself, not sure whether it was better to sell the ability or bind it.

    The price for ability crystals was massive and would go up to 50,000$ for the poorest quality ofmon ranked ones.

    Even if the ability crystal he held in his hand was useless for most people, the lowest possible price he could get was likely to be at 10,000$!

    While Origin crystals were very expensive because powerful weapons, potent potions, endurable armors and all kinds of unique devices were produced by them, ability crystals had only one use- they strengthened all the Originals who made use of them!

    Originals were the wealthiest, but also the pickiest about the choice of their abilities because they could only pick a few in their entire lifetime.

    As such, Nial knew that 10,000$ was what he would most likely receive in exchange for the crystal, even though most abilities were more expensive.<sub> </sub>

    However, 10,000$ was already enough to purchase medicines worth two months for his sister!!

    Torn between the choice he had to take, Nial didn''t even notice that he was grasping the ability crystal so tightly that its sharp edges had cut into his palm.

    This caused fresh droplets of blood to trickle on the ability crystal which began to glow faintly.

    At that moment, something in the depths of Nial''s conscience began to rumble. It dragged him out of his thoughts as he realised what was going on.

    "The...seed is showing signs to be willing to bind the ability to it...are theypatible?..Wait, is the seed possibly...an empty innate ability?!"

    He was confused, but his hand was trembling in excitement.

    Nial''s mind was bombarding him with a lot of thoughts and a momentter, he forgot about every single worry he had just a moment earlier.

    Shaking his head, he focused on the opportunity in front of him which was worth so much more than a few thousand dors.

    ''If this is really what I think it is...I¡­''

    Yet, before Nial could even finish his train of thoughts, his body began to creak, while the ability crystal shattered into thousands of tiny fragments.

    Almost instantaneously, tremendous pieces of information flooded his mind, only to pave their way to the seed that had fully transformed.

    It almost looked like the seed had finally merged with Nial.

    From its initial ck color, it was now dyed into a multitude of colors that seemed to repulse each other.

    While the seed''s base color was crimson-ck, it was intertwined with white-silverish strand-like veins, creating a huge contrast.

    The seed felt weird, but the binding process of the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability was even more ufortable.

    In the end, he assumed that the ck seed was something Originals usually called ''empty innate ability'' which would mean that Nial was an anomaly.

    He had not only awoken as an Original but he had two free ability slots to bind to him, instead of one.

    There was only one distinct difference in empty innate abilities whenpared to normal abilities; one had to search for apatible ability to bind it to the empty slot!

    Originals that had awoken an Innate ability were extremely rare because innate abilities would grow ording to the Original''s strength.

    This made them much stronger inparison to others.

    And as of today, Nial seemed to have transformed into someone like that...an Original with an Innate ability!

    It would take some time before the ability settled down, but Nial could already notice a change.

    ''It is both..a passive and an active ability?''

    While passive abilities were constantly activated, active abilities required a specific amount of mana in order to be activated first.

    However, he felt that his perception of mana increased without him doing anything, which confused him at first.

    Not even the faintest traces of mana within him were consumed to achieve this, either!

    Only after several minutes passed did the enhancing process stagnate, leaving Nial with a significant increment in his mana perception!

    With a few quick tests, he had easily figured out that his perception of mana had increased, including his control and uracy over it.

    It was only then that Nial realized how strong abilities and Originals truly were!

    Before, it had been hard for him to grasp the difference between Originals and unawakened humans, but now, he understood it better.

    As such, he couldn''t help but gulp nervously, only to insert a little bit of mana into the Odyssey seed, which was the name he gave to the mysterious seed.

    In the end, the Odyssey seed was what caused his biggest misfortune.

    But at the same time, Nial felt as if it was also the start of a journey that would be filled with adventures, joy, but also pain, sadness, and numerous life-threatening dangers.

    Because he felt that this seed was an embodiment of all the above things, he simply called it ''Odyssey'', even if it might sound big for a seed.

    However, that didn''t bother Nial, who had inspected his surroundings with a newfound interest.

    Feeling how everything around him was vibrant and full of life force, Nial subconsciously smiled as he turned towards the small training area his father had set up for him.

    With the crude spear still in his hand, Nial took slow but confident steps in a specific direction as he carefully picked up the pouch he always carried along. Attaching it to his belt, he turned his attention back to the dungeon portal.

    After that, he took a deep breath.

    "I didn''t make a mistake, right?" He mumbled to himself as his insecurity began to resurface.

    However, only a momentter, Nial was overwhelmed by a weird sensation.

    All of a sudden, he got a feeling that his decision had been correct and he shouldn''t doubt himself about it.

    Thus, by telling himself that he had just ''wasted'' 10,000$, Nial knew that he had to at least earn the same amount in the following days and weeks.

    And the best way to earn such a fortune, in the shortest amount of time, was either gambling, selling his organs in the ck market, or conquering dungeons!

    Of all the choices avable, only thetter sounded rational to him.

    With that thought in mind, Nial used the passive effect of the mana perception to observe the slime dungeon before giving his family a quick heads-up.

    They would be away for a few more hours and return home quitete from their dungeon trips.

    Only after leaving the dungeons would his parents be able to use their phones as there would be no signal inside.

    Thus, he had more than enough time to prove it to his parents that his choice to take responsibility for the dungeon and to bind the ability crystal to him had not been a mistake.

    It was also enough time to prove himself, and show everyone that the blind person they made fun of was not as useless as everyone believed!

    With that in mind, and recalling the humiliation he had to endure from his former ssmates, old rtives, and everyone else, who was not his closest family, Nial''s resolve turned firm.

    He grasped the crude spear with both hands, ignoring the slight pain in his hand that was still bleeding as he stepped through the dungeon portal.

    There was not a single trace of hesitation left within Nial.

    Just a momentter, he felt as if his surroundings were twisted.

    It felt as if he was being pulled through something at a tremendous speed before his senses recognized that his entire surrounding had changed all of a sudden.

    As he tried to understand where he had been suddenly dragged to by making use of his extraordinary senses and mana perception, Nial couldn''t help but smile weirdly.

    "Is...that a cave? Quite ironic, isn''t it? Neither I nor the slimes can see...so why do we need light to begin with!"

 Chapter 6 Cave

    Without making a single sound, Nial tried to hear and smell if there were any immediate dangers around him.

    At the same time, he used the few mana particles inside his body to figure out more about his surroundings.

    Under normal circumstances, he wouldn''t be able to sense much even with the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability consistently activated.

    However, what Nial didn''t know was that the Odyssey seed would further enhance the ability that was bound to it, making it more potent.

    This was extremely helpful and gave Nial the necessary push to allow him to sense everything in the radius of slightly more than a meter.

    It was, by no means, a lot, but after adding his other senses to the mix, he was only required to visualize what was immediately around him.

    Because of that, he could ''see'' the bushes of grass he had stepped on.

    Everything was visualized in his mind, moments after his mana swept past it.

    As such, for Nial, mana worked like a tool to scan his surroundings and transmit the data to his mind, where the information would be quickly digested and made use of.

    Owing to this, Nial didn''t feel that his blindness was a major hindrance anymore.

    In the end, this was but a lie that he told himself to feel even better about his ability.

    After all, a sight limited to the radius of one meter inparison to tens, if not a hundred meters made a devastating difference.

    Even a single arrow shot at him from a distance would be enough to kill Nial after all!

    However, Nial knew this quite well, and he was already thinking of a way to counter such seemingly normal scenarios that could ur at any time.

    It wasmon to encounter dungeon beasts that had the capabilities to attack over a long-range, and Nial would certainly die if he had no countermeasures to deflect or tackle such attacks.

    With that in mind, he couldn''t help but feel d that slimes were rtively harmless beasts he didn''t have to be afraid of.

    Given enough time, and slimes as his opponents, Nial first wanted to improve his spearmanship, the utilization of the [Mana Perception] ability.

    But more than that he had to pay special attention to his control over mana which had improved drastically.

    Nial had yet to assess the potential of his mana vein and mana core, let alone register his awakening at the Originals association.

    But that could wait for now.

    First, he wanted to be able to understand the changes in his entire being, including his physique, and most importantly, his behavior!

    After that, he would face the government, knowing that they wouldn''t really care about him, even after his awakening.

    Crippled Originals were mostly seen as demolished and unwanted goods, after all¡­

    Wielding the crudely forged spear, Nial tried to distract himself, preventing anxiety and other negative emotions from influencing his mind.

    Silently sneaking in the cave, he took small steps, while he had his ears perked up to not miss even the faintest noise.

    At the same time, his acute sense of smell pointed out where he would find something.

    Beasts had their own unique smell which would usually make things easier for him.

    However, he was unfortunate that it was not exactly easy to find traceless slimes in a cave full of moisture.

    Despite that, Nial quickly found his first target that approached him at a slow pace, making weird squelching noises.

    Piercing out with the crude spear, he prated the slime''s liquid jelly-like outeryer without much resistance.

    However, Nial noticed only a momentter that he had missed its core. But, he had managed to severely injure it.

    Because of that he had to retract the spear before taking a small step forward.

    nting his feet firmly on the ground, he aimed for the core and thrust forward the spear once again.

    This time, he hit the slime''s core, and the spear''s pointed tip prated it without any issue, ending the beast''s life.

    All he heard was a squelch as the body of the slime fell apart.

    Even if there was no blood sttering through the surrounding, or painful screams bouncing off the walls of the cave, there was no denying the fact that he had just ended a life.

    As such, he should feel remorse, guilt, or at least a little bit sad for killing an innocent being.

    Yet, despite being a first-timer and a rookie Nial felt nothing, which could only be described as abnormal.

    But without minding it too much, he simply continued to walk ahead.

    Through the [Mana perception] ability, most of his initial problems had lost their meaning.

    It was not perfect, by any means, and still needed work and polishing.

    But, as he was already in an unknown and dangerous territory, he had to make use of this opportunity.

    It would serve as a live tutorial for him to train hisbat prowess, and improve hisbat experience, spearmanship, mana control, and his perception.

    The dungeon''s dangers were not life-threatening because even mutated slimes wouldn''t be much stronger than the two he had already encountered.

    As such, Nial was able to challenge himself by fighting multiple slimes at once.

    At the same time, he stayed focused on the remaining things that had to be improved.

    ''Please let it be arge-sized dungeon!'' He thought, hoping to encounter hundreds of slimes in the next few hours.

    Money was a necessity and the bare minimum everyone required in the modern era, and Nial was desperate to earn it, more so for his sister than for himself.<sub> </sub>

    With his sick sister in mind, he grasped the spear''s shaft tightly after wiping his sweaty palm on his shirt. Determination flickered in his eyes as he advanced towards the next batch of slimes he heard ahead.

    A batch of seven slimes was ahead of him.

    Sensing all of them through his mana perception, Nial was able to gauge their position, the speed of their advancement, and the path they were likely to take.

    His mind was processing everything at a rapid pace.

    It was fast enough for Nial to get a headache and make him feel dizzy but he shook his head once and aimed at the slimes, thrusting the spear into their mucus-filled bodies.

    Hearing the familiar sound of the spear piercing in their slimy bodies, he pulled out his makeshift weapon before stabbing them over and over again.

    While training in his backyard for years, Nial had worked on improving his attacks by using a simple, yet heavy and long metal pipe to train.

    After all, they didn''t have the money to provide him with a proper weapon.

    Using the crude spear after he turned 18 was different. But even then, the difference was not enough to make him miss every single attack.

    Many things had changed now once he was able to perceive mana. The biggest change was probably the vast amount of information he received.

    As he was still learning how to use mana efficiently, his mind was unable to process attacking while simultaneously digesting the influx of information he received.

    However, what astonished Nial was the fact that the Odyssey seed didn''t even budge. It simply stayed as it was, unmoving and stationary.

    After the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability was bound to it, the seed wentpletely silent.

    However, that was not really something Nial felt likeining about.

    A single misstep would cost him his life!

    That was also the reason his parents had told him not to go looking for dungeons, even after the awakening of his origin.

    His parents were too worried that something would happen to him, and Nial could understand their concern.

    From a rational point of view, he shouldn''t even enter the slime dungeon because he could identally encounter a Large slime.

    This kind of beast was probably the Boss monster of the cavern dungeon he had entered!

    Every single dungeon had a boss, and what made them special were the rewards one would receive upon killing them.

    The chance for the boss of a dungeon to drop one origin crystal was 100%. That meant that he would kill a boss monster, and he would definitely receive an origin crystal.

    What made him more excited was the fact that it was likely to drop not just one but multiple origin crystals at once! This thought made a faint trace of greed flicker in his eyes.

    Other than that, the dungeon''s boss beast was also more likely to drop unique crystals such as ability crystals.

    Despite that, Nial couldn''t get carried away. There was an obvious reason why boss monsters dropped more rewards which were their enormous strength!

    Normally, a Boss monster''s strength was around five to ten times greater than the average strength of beasts inside the dungeon.

    Thus, Nial didn''t want to encounter a boss before increasing hisbat prowess a little bit further.

    He might not be much weaker in terms of physical strength, but his control over mana was most certainly weaker than the Slime Boss''s!

    In the worst-case scenario, the beast might even be faster, and devour him, as if he was a stalk of grass.

    That was not something anyone would ever want to encounter.

    While thinking about the possible scenarios, Nial finished off the batch of seven slimes.

    It had been much easier than expected, and a bright smile emerged on his face as thest slime he killed turned into an origin crystal.

    Picking it up, he felt the concentrated mana swirling inside it.

    Through this sensation, Nial''s hand began to pulsate as his veins grew desperate to devour it.

    He was eager to absorb it to strengthen his body, mind, and vessel.

    Draining it of its mana would leave it like a hollow shell. Unfortunately, this would empty the crystal, render it useless, and be valueless which was not something he wanted.

    In order to be stronger, one had to absorb and annex mana.

    To achieve this, there were two ways.

    One could absorb mana directly from the dungeons or do the same with the use of origin crystals that had the mostpressed, and purest mana of the same quality and rank.

    An origin crystal was tens of times better than absorbing the mana from the surrounding, but at the same time, it was horrifyingly expensive.

    There were also ways to improve the absorption speed of mana, which would further elerate the speed at which one would grow stronger, using either of the two ways.

    Despite that, Nial wouldn''t be able to make use of either of these methods because they required even more wealth, connections, and talent.

    Simply purchasing origin crystals would not necessarily make someone stronger if they didn''t have the tenacity to do it!

    Storing away the origin crystal that was of the poorest quality, Nial continued walking through the cave that was permeated with faint mana currents.

    The further he went, the more slimes he encountered and the denser the mana currents in his surroundings became.

    Through this, the amount of mana his mana veins passively absorbed increased, indicating that they had far higher potential than Nial thought.

    At the same time, the extremely rich and dense mana around him made it possible for Nial to perceive more of his surroundings. It was also how he was able to visualize the massive number of slimes in front of him.

    "That has to be a joke!"

 Chapter 7 Carnage

    If his mana perception was not faulty, there were more than 30 slimes in his immediate surroundings.

    But that was not all!

    He could hear the sounds of many more slimes beyond the radius he was able to perceive with his mana.

    As such, Nial instinctively backed off, changing his stance the moment he felt that he had retreated far enough.

    Listening intently, he heard that a few slimes had toppled to the ground when they had attempted to charge at him and almost squashed each other.

    A few of them smacked their slimy bodies on the ground, the sounds ricocheting off the cave walls, causing Nial''s ears to twitch.

    Yet, only a momentter, all the other noises got drowned as all he could hear was his wild thumping heart that sounded like mini-explosions.

    At the same time, Nial grasped his spear tightly as he gathered his courage and tried steadying his heartbeat.

    Taking brisk steps, he charged forward before piercing out, only to retreat a momentter.

    Prating the core of the closest slime, Nial instantly killed it even before he had stepped back.

    Since setting foot in the cave, he had already defeated more than 20 slimes.

    As such, Nial''s senses were on high alert as he listened intently. It allowed him to gauge the distance between him and the slimes based on how far or how near the sounds he could hear were.

    This was something he had already learned to do during thest few years in order to avoid running into people when he was forced to leave his home.

    It had only been a handful of instances, but when his sister was still well, she had always wanted to y outside with him.

    With time Nial had learned to adapt to most situations, and it was only when he was in a very busy and noisy area that problems would ur.

    However, with the [Mana Perception] ability, the disadvantage of being forced to rely on the noises around him was nullified.

    His biggest limitation had now been removed, and the stronger he would be, the less his dependency on the restriction would be.

    Maybe, it was possible for the burden of being unable to see to disappear in its entirety.

    That was something Nial couldn''t imagine in his current circumstances. Though, now that he had killed some slimes, he realized that it was not impossible to fight, despite being unable to see!

    The slimes might not be a threat to him, or even unawakened people, but that did not matter right now!

    It all boiled down to how effectively he could visualize what he perceived through the surrounding mana!

    He was still learning so his mastery over it was extremely crude, and inurate, but oddly enough, Nial had quickly adapted to his new state.

    This was quite fast, considering that it had only been three days since he had awoken his origin, and regained the ability to sense mana.

    As such, it was evident how fortunate Nial was, even more so because it was a slime dungeon that had manifested in their backyard, and not something more dangerous, like a dungeon filled with goblins.

    They were more ferocious and would have attacked him with a much higher speed than the slimes, without any hesitation.

    This would have certainly endangered him, and had this dungeon been infested with goblins, he would have died long ago.

    He was deep in thoughts and didn''t even notice that he was attacking instinctively, using the simple advance-thrust-retreat movement sequence he had trained for years.

    There were not many movement sequences Nial had trained in, but the one he knew was amongst the simplest of all.

    But even then, it was extremely efficient.

    Adding his exceptional senses and mana perception to the movement made him aim with perfect uracy, hitting the target with most of the thrusts.

    Only a few hits missed their target, but that was not a problem because Nial acted quickly enough to avoid being attacked.

    This was not exactly difficult, thanks to his opponents'' speed.

    Nheless, Nial wouldn''t dare to give the slimes a chance toe even close to him.

    Because of that, he would rather react too quickly and prevent any kind of tricky situation before it urred.

    In the end, this was the best he could do, and it worked perfectly fine.

    However, that was only the case because the slimes he faced were the mostmon ones. They were extremely slow had a weak membrane around their body, and had no intention to attack him, to begin with.

    As such, Nial had it quite easy to kill the masses of slimes that were slowly moving towards him.

    Though they appeared harmless, the visualization of their collective mass was terrifying. Despite the nervousness, Nial had a vibrant smile on his face as he couldn''t help but feel happy.

    It was not the fact that multiple origin crystals were scattered across the ground, providing him a small fortune, or the adrenaline that surged through his veins that excited him.

    Rather, it was the simple fact that he didn''t feel useless anymore.

    The more he moved using the passive effect of the [Mana Perception] ability, the easier it was for Nial to move without feeling restricted.

    During thest few years, he was always forced to pay attention to where he stepped, and avoid bumping into everyone else, who was in a hurry.<sub> </sub>

    While being outside the house with his family, Nial had to be extra careful and focus on his senses to perceive what was going on in his surroundings.

    He would always fear getting lost and never being able to find them if he were to get distracted.

    All of these burdens were now slowly dispersing, and the umted tension in his body was gradually being released.

    His stiff movements were now more fluidic while his attacks got swifter and more urate.

    This gave Nial the opportunity to focus on the surrounding mana with a free mind.

    Now, he could sense things around him much better and his mind was fast in processing the data it was gathering from the surroundings.

    Excitement was coursing through his body, while his entire body was sweating profusely. And despite the exhaustion, Nial felt truly happy!

    It was the first time in what seemed like an eternity that he felt like this.

    Nial''s arms began to hurt because he strained his muscles to deliver the multitude of spear thrusts, and the fat drops of sweat that trickled down his back were a clear sign of his hard work.

    Yet, all of this didn''t matter anymore, as he smiled brightly while fighting the sheer and supposedly endless number of slimes that were slowly reaching Nial.

    Forced to retreat a little, he had to focus fully on every single step, but that didn''t seem to be an issue anymore.

    Cutting through the air while clutching the crude spear tightly in his hand, he sometimes shed out with it, killing several slimes at once.

    Afterward, he immediately advanced ahead, forcing his way through the slimes.

    Increasing his pace with every step, he hacked, shed, and pierced at the slimes making him realize that all the hours spent in training in his backyard with the heavy stick, and afterward, with the crude spear had not been in vain.

    It was now paying off and every kill gave him a renewed sense of confidence- of not being useless, of being strong enough to support his family financially, and of curing his sister.

    Being a fast learner, Nial had adjusted to the given situation as quickly as possible.

    He moved around, tried to search for the paths with the fewest slimes, only to suddenly retreat.

    This confused the unintelligent beasts that were solely following their instincts, giving Nial the chance to finish off the small army of slimes in a matter of half an hour.

    Afterward, his arms felt like they were on fire because of the hundreds of thrusts he made in a short amount of time.

    They were sore and it was almost as if they would fall off at any moment.

    There had been two cases when he had almost slipped on the wet ground, that was covered in the slimy and gooey remains of his opponents.

    Thus, his entire body quivered from the immense pressure that weighed down on him while his heart palpated wildly.

    Once the battle was over and he had killed all the slimes, Nial just wanted to copse on the ground and stay there. But, he forced himself to move ahead.

    His rewards were lying on the ground, waiting to be picked by him. Thus, after taking lungfuls of air, he decided to pick up the origin crystals that dropped from the masses of slimes he had ughtered as if they were lifeless objects.

    It was still hard for his mind to digest that he had gone on a rampage and killed living beings for the selfish cause of earning money, but at the same time, he told himself that everything had a reason.

    The stronger would always exploit the weaker, and Nial was, in fact, the stronger party in the current circumstance.

    In the end, the dungeon had manifested in their backyard, and had he not done anything, his parents would have cleared the dungeon anyway.

    That was just an excuse, but everyone had toe to a consensus with themselves before killing beasts.

    As such, Nial was trying to do this, only to ask himself if the slimes would have spared him had they been stronger than him.

    In the worst-case scenario, if nobody would have cleared the dungeon, the slimes would have broken out of the dungeon and emerged inside the shelter.

    With dangerous beasts, a dungeon outbreak would be a ticking time bomb and an absolute disaster.

    And even if that was not the case for ordinary slimes, it would change once they would mutate, or evolve!

    However, that was not something Nial was worried about.

    Instead, he bent down on the slippery ground, picking up the first of many origin crystals as he smiled lightly.

    ''Was I really an optimist all these years, or had I just been forcing myself to be happy enough to make myself feel that I was actually happy?'' Nial suddenly asked himself as he realized what true happiness and joy felt like.

    It was hard to exin, but he had always felt happy around his family, but at the same time, he couldn''t help but question whether this happiness had been real, or just a portion of true happiness?

    Nial knew for sure that he loved his family and that he would do everything for them.

    Yet, he had always hated himself for having been a burden, useless, and weak.

    ''Just what had I been doing during thest few years?'' He asked himself, his fingers curling tightly around the origin crystal he had just picked up.

    On this day Nial changed in his entirety, writing a new chapter in his meaningless life that was about to be meaningful for others, and most importantly, for himself!

 Chapter 8 Boss

    Freed of the shackles he had put on himself in the past, Nial was able to ignore his blindness for the first time in a very long time.

    While carefully walking over the slippery ground, he collected all the origin crystals from the ground before storing them away.

    He noticed that his small pouch was almost filled to the brim which caused him to smile wryly.

    Having enough origin crystals to fill the pouch was good, but he was running out of storage space.

    There were several more crystals but he had nothing to store them in.

    And, he had just begun clearing therge cave that had yet to end.

    Stretching his exhausted body, Nial decided not to think much about it and rest for some time instead.

    Thest traces of adrenaline that had been coursing through his body vanished, leaving him in an even more tired state.

    ''Let me sleep for an entire week!'' He thought while stifling a yawn, knowing that this was not how his body worked.

    Leaning against one of the cave''s walls, Nial rested for a while though he still clutched his spear tightly.

    There could always be beasts roaming through dungeons, or lurking in the dark which was why Nial remained vignt.

    It was unlikely for something to happen in the slime dungeon.

    Nheless, he had heard many cruel stories, which made him believe that it was better to be careful than too full of himself.

    Time seemed to pass slowly, and he had no idea how long had he been in the cave.

    So, once he felt a bit more invigorated, he decided to end his short rest.

    Moving the crude spear around his body made his muscles groan.

    It was not difficult for him to figure out that his body was not ustomed to the arduous movements he had repeated more than a hundred times.

    Practicing spearmanship and fighting against beasts was vastly different, and Nial had yet to adapt himself to everything perfectly.

    Fortunately, his mind had already adapted to the change, which was mostly owed to the Odyssey seed.

    Feeling much better than he had initially thought, Nial assumed that his stamina had replenished much faster than usual as well.

    ''Is that another perk of being an Original?''

    Nial had heard many rumors about Originals and their superhuman capabilities, but until now, he had never truly believed them.

    After all, he had never witnessed any superhuman fights.

    Meanwhile to him, his parents were just ordinary people who overworked themselves to provide for their children.

    They had never looked like superhumans to him, but just any other ordinary parents who would sacrifice everything for their children, even if they would have to walk on a path filled with pain and blood.

    Having sensed their hardships all his life, he had been under the impression that mana was just a means to activate abilities, but that was wrong.

    Not only did Nial feel much stronger than before, but all of his extraordinary senses had been enhanced.

    To put it simply, his entire being had be stronger because mana coursed through his body.

    Nial took a long time to realize this, and it was only inside the dungeon that he truly grasped everything.

    As such, he was slowly understanding why many Originals felt that the sensation of cultivating mana was addictive.

    It made them stronger, and unique amongst ordinary people. Being able to sense mana allowed them to be powerhouses who could earn huge fortunes without too much effort.

    Many dangers were involved in procuring wealth, but if one paid attention to the dungeons they entered, it was difficult to die or be fatally injured.

    Nial was an exception because he had simply entered the slime dungeon without actually testing its rank.

    Additionally, he had just awoken his origin.

    With a newly awoken origin, one would, under normal circumstances, umte some mana in order to erge their mana core before entering even the lowest ranked dungeon.

    However, Nial did no such thing.

    He was still at the 1st rank of the Origin stage, and his tiny mana core was almost as empty as a hollow shell!

    As such, he was far away from the first breakthrough that would allow him to reach the 2nd Origin rank, which would in turn, erge his mana core by using the gathered mana as energy supply.

    Nial hadn''t even thought about absorbing mana yet, and it was only his mana vein that had subconsciously gathered some of the mana around him.

    Because of that, he was able to actively use the [Mana Perception] ability.

    There were also other things Originals were able to do with their mana such as circting it through their body to reinforce it, but Nial had yet to learn how to do this.

    He was still a beginner and ate-bloomer at that.<sub> </sub>

    Under normal circumstances, if nothing went wrong, those with the necessary talent would awaken their origin at the age of 10.

    There were also prodigies, or those belonging to an influential family who could awaken their origin earlier.

    However, the norm to awaken the origin was at the age of 10!

    Thus, he waste, which was why he wasbeled ate bloomer, but that didn''t worry Nial.

    In the end, he was d because it was still countless times better to awaken his originte than never.

    Nial had many things to learn in order to catch up to his peers. Sadly, that had always been the case since the day he had lost his eyesight.

    His blindness made him the bullies favorite pick and he would often be harassed and made fun of by the other Originals.

    Yet, now that he recalled those days again, Nial was able to remain oddly calm.

    His thoughts averted to his sister as he faintly touched the origin crystals in his pouch.

    This caused a rattling noise, and Nial smiled faintly in response, sensing that there were more than 15 crystals inside.

    These 15 poorest quality,mon grade origin crystals were the cheapest one could find, but each of them was worth 30$, nheless.

    As such, he had earned 450$ without the need to deduct even a dime to the dungeon owner, let alone the fee the Originals association demanded from everyone who entered their dungeons.

    The slime dungeon was theirs, after all.

    Secretly, Nial hoped that the slime dungeon was one of the few permanent dungeons that had manifested in their small shelter.

    It would make many things easier for himself, and his parents, who could save a lot on fees, and time to travel.

    However, the most important fact would be that the slime dungeon was less dangerous and perfectly suitable for a single, slightly stronger individual to conquer without issues.

    Unfortunately, the probability for a permanent dungeon to appear was small, and the odds that the slime dungeon that had appeared in their backyard to be a permanent dungeon were minuscule.

    In the end, Nial thought that a permanent slime dungeon would only be an additional bonus on top of everything he had already been rewarded with.

    That''s why he wanted to focus on clearing the dungeon first before anything else.

    Nial was confident of defeatingrge numbers of slimes without getting himself into trouble.

    As such, he slowly got more confident in his capabilities, which included defeating the slime boss that should be arger version of the ordinary slimes.

    As such, it would be slightly more dangerous, but that was not really something he was worried about anymore.

    With a danger level that was almost non-existent in his previous kills, Nial had been way too worried about sustaining injuries.

    This had been an unfounded worry of his which ended up being a great training course for him and a foundational level to help him assess his strengths and weaknesses.

    Because of that, Nial couldn''tin.

    Feeling prepared to fight more beasts, Nial actively attacked the smaller andrger slime groups he encountered, killing them quickly.

    His aim had improved over thest few hours and the spear thrusts pierced urately. Nial''s precision in both attacking and sensing the exact position of the slimes'' cores had increased drastically.

    This would be useful for the future too as every living being had vital spots.

    urately sensing and targeting them was something Nial wanted to be able to do at any time.

    Though he had no idea about the exact time, he assumed that his parents would soon return from their trips into different dungeons.

    Maybe they had already returned, which was something he didn''t hope for.

    p After all, he could already imagine how his mother would react when she would realise that he had really entered the dungeon that manifested in their backyard.</anda>

    Visualizing her reaction was dreadful, and Nial didn''t really want to encounter that.

    Nevertheless, he had already reached the end of the cave that was, in fact, a single but lengthy pathway.

    He couldn''t be certain if he had reached a dead-end, but something in front of him blocked the sound.

    Thus, Nial simply assumed that there was a wall and the end of the dungeon.

    Entering abat stance, he held the spear in front of him while his senses were on high alert so as to not miss even the slightest noise or movement around him.

    Through this, he figured out that there were still a few batches of slimes within the radius of a few meters.

    However, the loudest noise seemed toe from the front as something approached him at a pace ten times faster than the ordinary slimes could reach.

    This caused a vibrant smile to emerge on Nial''s face, without him even realizing it. Determination flickered in his eyes as he swung around his spear, wielding it as if it was the extension of his arm.

    Now, he would be facing the first of numerous challenges that awaited him on his thorny path.

 Chapter 9 Limit Breaker

    If his senses weren''t failing, there should be more than 30 ordinary slimes left.

    Additionally, there was also the Slime Boss that was approaching him from the deepest parts of the cave at a fast pace.

    Nial concluded that the Slime Boss would arrive in front of him before he could defeat the remaining slimes.

    As such, he entered a defensive stance, with the spearhead pointing towards the Boss, awaiting its arrival.

    Only a momentter, Nial''s mana perception recognized the fast approach of therge slime that was at least ten times the mass of themon slimes.

    Thus, without hesitation, he adjusted his stance once again, before thrusting out with the crude spear the moment the Boss Monster was close enough.

    There was still a meter of distance between them, but with a short step, and the spear thrust, Nial crossed the distance in the blink of an eye.

    He hit the target, which was confirmed when he heard the squelching sound of his spear piercing through the slime.

    A momentter, he wanted to instinctively retract the spear but strangely he met some resistance.

    The moment the spear pierced through the thick membrane of the slime, it clung to the spear in an attempt to prevent it from being pulled out.

    Only by using his entire umted strength was it possible for him to retract the spear.

    Its resistance gave Nial an idea about the Slime Boss''s strength, forcing Nial to retreat with fast steps.

    Through this short encounter, Nial understood some of the Slime Boss''s traits.

    Though it was stronger than the other slimes, it was not a life-threatening opponent.

    First, it was slightly slower than him, and slightly weaker, if one were topare the strength it used to cling onto the spearhead with physical strength.

    At the same time, its defenses were extremely strong and much higher than Nial had expected.

    It was obvious that the Slime Boss was stronger, and he already knew that it wouldn''t be that easy.

    However, to think that his spear thrust had been rendered useless made him feel a bit disappointed.

    Fortunately, that feeling dispersed only a momentter because he had no time to waste thinking about his failure.

    Instead, he had to find a way out of the predicament.

    Just as he wanted to try slicing out parts of the Slime Boss''s membrane, and slowly close the distance between the spear tip and the core through this tactic, Nial perceived several sounds from behind him.

    They were ordinary slimes that were gearing up to attack him from behind.

    Yet, rather than being a formidable force, they were more like annoying obstructions, and without minding them too much, he swiftly pierced out with his spear, killing them one after another.

    Afterward, he moved around the corpses, while trying to find the best spot to start the onught of attacks on the Slime Boss.

    However, just as he raised his spear, the Slime Boss jiggled over the corpses of its now deadrades and devoured them.

    As Nial watched in a daze, its size increased by a small margin. His face turned ashen white as he gave it a disbelieving look.

    ''It can devour its brethren and grow?! What kind of cheat is that¡­?''

    Gritting his teeth, Nial now realized that he shouldn''t kill the remaining ordinary slimes first, even if they were to attack him.

    This was annoying, but also something Nial couldn''t risk after he had witnessed the Slime Boss''s ability.

    His mind rattled while trying to think of a solution to attack the best, but there was not really an opening for him.

    As such, Nial gave up on attempting a perfect attack.

    Halting his retreat, he switched to attacking with shes in order to overwhelm the Slime Boss. Using the sharp tip of his spear, he sliced at the Slime Boss''s outermost membrane, cutting out small and uneven pieces.<sub> </sub>

    This seemed to work, and the small parts wriggled on the ground for a bit before spilling over the floor a momentter.

    Nial had already noticed that Slimes wereparable to jellyfishes, and it was their core that held their form together.

    As such, their entire body was made of an unknown liquid that enveloped the slime''s core like multipleyers of a membrane.

    Nevertheless, as every individualyer was rtive weak, Nial''s spear was not strongly resisted.

    Thus, he was able to swiftly sh out, using multiple approaches to cut at its big, slimy body so as to easily reach the core.

    This seemed to work in the beginning, but once a certain mass had been cut off, the liquid membrane became firmer and stronger, resisting his attacks more and more.

    It was still possible to cut through the membrane, but it took him a lot more energy than before. And, the short fraction in which he was forced to halt his movement gave the Slime Boss enough time to counterattack.

    That was bad, and when it happened for the first time, Nial had almost been overwhelmed.

    After the first time, he became more careful, knowing that a single mistake would be his death.

    If the Slime Boss reached him, it would try to gobble him up in its liquid, devouring him in his entirety.

    No way would he want to end up like that which made Nial try harder to kill the Slime Boss.

    They had been fighting only for thest ten minutes, yet Nial''s back was drenched in cold sweat.

    Though it was disappointing, he did not let himself be overwhelmed by the inability to kill the Slime Boss within that duration. Nial''s body which had grown tired was moving to inflict more damage and have fewer wasted movements than hours before.

    When Nial noticed this, he was astonished, and it gave him enough motivation to exceed the limits of his body, which he thought to have already surpassed, once again.

    The moment Nial made this decision, he moved subconsciously as heshed out with his spear once again.

    However, this time he targeted the slime''srge core without hesitation as faint currents of mana enveloped the spear tip.

    Nial had attempted to use faint traces of mana within his body to lead it through his body towards the spear.

    Unfortunately, that hadn''t been useful enough as it barely strengthened him.

    Thus, Nial inserted thest ounce of his strength and mana in this seemingly simple spear thrust that would also be hisst attack.

    After he had inserted his mana, the spear began to vibrate wildly making Nial almost lose his grip. He was barely able to hold it as faint cracks began to spread out from the de.

    The spear was not equipped to make use of mana, but Nial had ignored this, knowing that he had only onest chance to attack before he would be forced to retreat.

    As such, the moment the mana inserted spear tip pierced through the slime''s membrane, Nial heard faint crackling sounds as a cobweb-like pattern spread over it.

    Yet, instead of breaking apart, the mana enriched de seemed to ignore the highly resistant liquid that enveloped the slime. It swiftly pierced into the slime''s core, shattering it, followed by the spear tip that broke apart as well.

    A secondter, the liquid that had been held together was released, sttering on the ground.

    The Slime Boss''s body exploded throwing a sticky liquid all around which made Nial slip and lose his bnce.

    His body was on the verge of breaking apart, and he fell to the ground. While gasping for air, he sensed that therge slime''s body was disintegrating into countless particles.

    Following this, he could hear the clinking noise of origin crystals falling to the ground.

    However, even after hearing this sound, he didn''t move because his body didn''t want him to. He simplyy on the rocky, uneven cave floor that suddenly felt like a bed made of the softest feathers.

    At that moment, the passive effect of his [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability allowed Nial to perceive something. It caused him to feel like his tiredness had been washed away as he mumbled,

    "It really is a permanent dungeon...what a surprise...was about time for our family to have some luck, after all¡­''''

 Chapter 10 Defeat

    An hourss filled with mana manifested above the spot the Slime Boss''s corpse had been lying before, hovering in the air.

    It had yet to be turned around, starting the countdown indicating the respawn of monsters. But, he had no reason to worry right now because Nial knew that it was the sign of a dungeon being permanent.

    Permanent dungeons required a specific amount of time to be essible again after they had been cleared.

    However, in order to reset the timer, the Boss beast had to be dead, and no Original was allowed to remain inside the dungeon.

    The dungeon''s reset timer just gave him an additional boost, making him gather the will to get up again.

    Thus, Nial rolled over to his side and ced his hands to push himself up.

    Swaying a little, he managed to get back on his feet, and quickly killed the remaining slimes that would devour him, if he were to copse on the ground.

    This took him quite some time, but after every possible threat had been eliminated, Nial began to collect the origin crystals that were scattered over the ground.

    He hoped that one of the Slime Boss''s drops was an ability crystal, but the chance was extremely low.

    As such, he was not further astonished that all of the crystals were ordinary origin crystals.

    However, Nial was not disappointed with that.

    Instead, he was happy that the number of origin crystals the Slime Boss had dropped were a total of 10, further enriching his wealth.

    ''I should have more than 30 poorestmon origin crystals now!'' He made a quick mental calction with a faint smile on his face.

    Because his pouch was filled to the brim, Nial had to carry his broken spear in one hand, while his other hand, or to be precise, his entire arm was carrying around several origin crystals.

    There was nothing else for him to do inside the dungeon.

    As such, left the dungeon through the portal with a faint smile on his lips that turned even wider because he clearly understood that the slime dungeon was a permanent one.

    This was exceptional, and he was even happier to not have sold the dungeon than he was before.

    The current situation was simply too perfect, which made him forget the aftermath of his decision to enter the dungeon- his mother''s wrath!

    However, the moment Nial stepped through the dungeon portal, he recalled his parents.

    His hope that they were not home yet, also quickly shattered into smithereens as he heard them the moment he emerged in their backyard.

    "NIAL ORIN!!" The loud booming voice rang in his ears and Nial flinched instinctively.

    A few origin crystals fell to the ground, and before he could even think about picking them up, he sensed two beings appear in front of him.

    A momentter, he felt two hands grasp his shoulders and shake him wildly.

    This made his grasp around the broken spear loosen, while the remaining origin crystals fell to the ground with a loud nk.

    However, just a momentter, he felt another pair of hands brushing all over his face and clothes as he was scanned through.

    "Are you okay? Does something hurt? Tell me immediately!" His mother blurted out in concern, while his father simply continued to check for any possible injuries on his precious son.

    Even before he could answer her questions, his mother intervened again.

    "Why did you enter a dungeon alone?! You do know that you are still too weak, right? Don''t you know how dangerous dungeons are? How could you do this to me??"

    Not sure of an answer, Nial simply closed his mouth that he had opened and hung his head a bit low.

    His father sighed in relief as he stepped back, only to mumble,

    "No external injury...that''s good¡­"

    His voice sounded concerned just like his mother''s, and it was because of their concern that Nial fumbled before muttering an apology.

    "I''m sorry...I just wanted to share your burdens¡­"

    Nial had aimed to calm his mother with these words, but instead of achieving the wanted effect, it seemed to work in the exact opposite way, as he heard the anger in her trembling voice.

    "NIAL!! So you wanted to share our burdens by making us even more worried?! If that is the case, you perfectly executed your n!! Entering an unknown and unverified dungeon after just having awoken your origin, without an ability¡­while being blind at that¡­

    I cannot believe this!! How foolish and irresponsible!!"

    Hearing his mother''s quivering voice that was filled with anger and worries, Nial clearly understood that he had made a mistake.

    He fell silent again and waited for her to scold him but his father intervened.

    cing his hand on Nial''s shoulder reassuringly, he tried to calm his wife.

    "Maline, calm down, please. Nial is unscathed, right? And look, he even brought back origin crystals!"

    Maline was just about to retort that nothing was fine, only to see the number of origin crystals that were scattered on the ground.

    Under normal circumstances, this would impress her, but Maline quickly noticed the broken spearhead.

    She peered at it intently before asking in a low, yet eerie voice,

    "How...did the spear break?"

    Nial felt as if a sudden cold washed over him to hear his mother''s pointed question, and goosebumps sprang up all over his body.

    Somehow he felt that the current situation was more pressuring than the fight against the Slime Boss, but there was no way to escape!

    Not even his tired body paid any heed to hismands, and Nial simply epted his fate as he revealed the truth.

    As he recounted his adventurous escapade right from the start, his mother gasped and her breath hitched in her throat.

    His words made her instantly forget about her anger, as shock reced it, while his father nodded his head.

    He was much calmer than his mother right now, yet, Nial noticed that even Miles would have loved to lecture him thoroughly.

    Fortunately, this feeling disappeared after Nial finished summarising everything that had happened.

    "I thought you didn''t conquer the entire dungeon...but to think that it''s a permanent one...amazing!" Miles remarked, noticeably overjoyed about the revtion, only to turn quiet the moment he saw his wife''s eyes.

    They seemed to pierce through his entire being, and tear him apart.<sub> </sub>

    Because of that, he quickly averted his attention as he tried to correct himself.

    "I''ll report that the dungeon is a permanent one and is essible to only one Original at a time."

    Leaving him behind, Miles turned around to report to the association before mumbling "Good luck¡­" and vanished inside the house.

    However, Nial didn''t even hear this because something confused him as he shouted out loud.

    "Why restricted?"

    Maline heard this, and Nial only heard her taking a deep breath as if she wanted to stop herself from exploding again.

    "You idiot! Did you really believe we would stay idle in front of the dungeon, and patiently wait for you to return, if not for a restriction? If the dungeon wouldn''t have been restricted to being essed by one Original at a time, we would have entered it, obviously!!"

    Nial only muttered an "Oh" afterward, only to quickly add "Sorry¡­" barely a momentter.

    Sighing deeply, Maline shook her head, not sure what to think about her son.

    In the end, she was just d that he was safe and sound.

    Deep inside her, she was also proud that Nial had been able to conquer the slime dungeon on his first try.

    But, that was not something she would tell him, not right now, at least!

    "What was that about the seed within you again? The first slime you killed dropped an ability crystal, and you bound it to the empty innate ability, which is in fact your seed? Is that correct?"

    This was something that had confused her, and Nial was not less confused either.

    However, he just nodded his head as he decided to distract himself by picking up the origin crystals that had fallen to the ground.

    Seeing what her son was doing, Maline frowned, before she helped him out.

    Afterward, they got up from the ground and Nial thrust all the crystals into his mother''s arms while saying,

    "Take them Mom...it''s not much, but it should make up for a portion of the money we need for Sabrina''s medicine!"

    Tiredness washed over him once again when he recalled that he had just finished a lengthy ordeal and that his body was begging for rest.

    The entire tension that had umted in his mind and body while fighting the slimes all by himself, disappeared as he sagged in relief.

    His shoulders dropped a little, revealing how exhausting conquering the dungeon was to him.

    His mother saw all of this and worry gleamed in her eyes.

    A momentter, Nial''s left leg gave in and he would have fallen if not for his mother who broke his fall and grabbed him by the shoulders.

    Helping him straighten up again, she admonished him, not for the first time since he had appeared out of the dungeon.

    "Before caring about your sister, you should first take care of yourself. If you want to make her even more worried than she already is, continue with what you''re doing!"

    Hearing this, Nial flinched, and he immediately bit his lower lip.

    "She knows about it?"

    But rather than receiving an answer directed at him, he heard his mother mumbling to herself.

    "Of course, she knows...it''s not like Sabrina is deaf¡­orcking behind.."

    Nodding his head, Nial fell silent as his fingers reached for the spear, trying to assess the damage.

    Maline saw this, and after pondering about something for a moment, she thrust the origin crystals she was holding back into his arms.

    "Take the origin crystals and buy a new spear. You cannot use that one anymore!"

    Hearing his mother caused Nial to lift his head before his lifeless eyes stared at her.

    "You don''t want me to believe that you won''t enter the slime dungeon ever again, right? Just purchase a proper spear with the money you''ll get in exchange for the origin crystals!

    Do that while registering at the Originals association too!"

    His mother''s attitude seemed to havepletely changed after scolding him heartily.

    It was as if she had epted something and Nial somehow believed that she was taking him more seriously now.

    Conquering a dungeon alone was not a feat everyone could do, let alone someone with a disability.

    It was only a slime dungeon, but Nial had just awoken his origin.

    As such, he was barelyparable to a slightly stronger ordinary person.

    Giving him a quick look-over, Maline sensed that he had given his all just to conquer the dungeon and earn a small fortune.

    It was a lot of money that he had earned in a span of a few hours, but at the same time, it was not nearly enough to purchase the medicine for his sister.

    Because Nial loved his sister dearly, Maline realized that he would definitely keep entering dungeons, now that he had awoken his origin.

    He already possessed an ability that allowed him to perceive his surroundings much better as well.

    As such, Maline was forced to ept that Nial was growing up too, that he was not her little kid anymore, and that he would give his best to support them by conquering dungeons, even if she was against it.

    Knowing this, she decided to support his decision, even if her heart was against it, and not willing to ept that her little baby should never encounter anything dangerous.

    Unfortunately, parents were not able to protect their children in every situation for their entire life.

    They had to be independent, learn how to take care of themselves, and protect themselves and those they loved!

    Thus, Nial had already learned the first lesson- taking responsibility of his family, even if it would mean that he had to face countless dangers.

    However, how could they have known that the dangers looming over their entire family were far more horrifying and threatening than they could have ever imagined?

    Inparison, their current life could be considered to be a walk in the park!

 Chapter 11 Tricked

    It was already afternoon, and Nial was dead-tired due to his first dungeon trip that had been rather exhausting.

    Thus, he could barely take a shower before he fell into his bed.

    After sleeping for almost 20 hours, he woke up with a sore body, but a clear mind and felt fully energized.

    Getting up from the bed, he decides to take a shower once again so as to wash his sleep and drowsiness away. He then put some clothes on before leaving his room.

    Initially, Nial wanted to meet his father and have a talk about the permanent slime dungeon.

    However, when he walked past his sister''s room, his mana perception allowed him to perceive her for the first time.

    He could visualize her room in his mind, and Nial gently pressed on the door handle he had subconsciously grasped before walking inside.

    Approaching her bed slowly, Nial bit his lower lip as various emotions swept through him the moment he visualized his sister''s malnourished face through the faint currents of mana he released.

    They lightly grazed her face, and it didn''t take long before his attention turned to the oxygen mask, and the IV drop that was filled with the medicine she required to weaken the life-threatening effects her illness caused.

    Nial sensed that the medicine was mostlyposed of pure mana which made him realize why it was so expensive.

    The purest mana was required to allow her to barely stay alive!

    Nial tried to hold back his tears upon seeing his sister for the first time in more than a decade.

    Recalling the little optimistic and energetic girl who always wanted to y around, the tears began to trickle down his cheek.

    ''And I told myself that I''m an optimist, who am I to fool?...'' Hemented before lightly caressing his sister''s hair as he mumbled,

    "I wille back soon, with more medicine...just endure it a little bit longer¡­.just a little!"

    Saying so, he turned around and left the room with a dead-serious expression.

    Walking down the stairs, Nial entered the living room, where he heard his mother''s voice from the kitchen.

    This surprised him a little bit as he didn''t expect her to have time to cook, not after the tiring day followed by the shocker he gave her.

    Yet, the moment he took another step he heard her voice.

    "Nial, you''re already awake? That''s earlier than expected. Your dad is in the slime dungeon, so don''t even think about entering it right now!"

    Even before Nial was able to say anything, the n he was beginning to think of was already shattered.

    Unable to say anything in response, he grumbled iprehensible words before deciding to help his mother to cook.

    Though he was blind, his taste and smelling senses had been sharpened for over a decade making him be pretty good at seasoning as well.

    Once dinner was ready, they all gathered around the dining table, and his mother told Nial what had happened during thest 20 hours in which he had been asleep.

    In the end, this was not much.

    His father had reported everything necessary to the Originals association that had attempted to purchase the permanent dungeon because of its exceptional value.

    Not only could Originals that had just awoken their origin enter and conquer one the weakest existing dungeons, but there were many other advantages as well.

    For example, a permanent dungeon had an abundance of fortune they could earn in a single day.

    Additionally, newly awakened Originals could train and absorb mana inside the dungeon, and that too without the need to put in any effort.

    Even his father, who was barely at the 3rd Origin stage, required only 10 minutes to clear the entire dungeon!

    That was pretty fast, but not even close to the speed of Originals who were able to erge their mana core even more than his father could, let alone those who had already reached a higher rank!

    His father''s talent was not that high, which was the reason why he was unable to erge his mana core any further.

    There were two types of talents that had to be tested at the Originals association when one awoke their origin.

    First, the Original''s mana core would be tested in order to figure out how many erging procedures their mana core could undergo without possibly breaking apart.

    For example, someone with an ordinary talent could reach the 4th Origin rank and undergo a total of three ergements.

    Meanwhile, those with higher talent were able to withstand more erging processes, increasing the size of their mana core beyond that of their peers.

    The second innate talent that could be tested revolved around the mana vein one had awoken.

    The higher one''s talent was the faster one could circte mana through the mana veins.

    At the same time, one''s mana control, uracy, perception, and most importantly, the absorption speed of mana depended on the mana vein''s potential as well!

    In the end, both rankings were important for someone to be considered a talented Original, or possibly even a prodigy with the talent to be truly powerful and scale new heights.<sub> </sub>

    That was also why his mother was nagging his father to let his talent be tested as quickly as possible.

    "Because the slime dungeon is sorge, we can earn a small fortune every single time one of us enters it. We only have to wait four hours before the slimes within are respawned, and then we can enter it again!

    If we carefully divide our shifts during the day and night, we can earn more than usual, and one of us will always be here to take care of Sabrina.

    But before you get your hopes high and ask us for chances, you should go out and let your potential be tested. You will have to be registered, either way.

    And when you''re out, you can also purchase a new spear!"

    Advising Nial on the next steps, she got up and walked to the living room.

    A minuteter, she returned with a small backpack, whose content rattled.

    "I have kept the 32 origin crystals you farmed for yourself in this! Use them well!"

    Nial only looked at her mother wide-eyed.

    He was currently holding the spoon in his hand and was about to continue eating when he realized what was just happening.

    "Wait, I want to enter the slime dungeon too! Don''t let me out of your ns!!"

    Jumping up from the chair, he identally tossed it over, only to quiet down and pull the chair up again after seeing his mother shake her head.

    Maline saw this with a faint smile on her face, only to add further,

    "We are more than enough to enter the slime dungeon. You should focus on strengthening yourself first! Afterward, we cane up with a proper way to create a schedule of who will enter the dungeon at what time, alright?"

    Nial had not expected his mother to agree so readily, which caused him to remain silent.

    At least, she was not arguing about how dangerous it was for him.

    He wanted to say something and remind her of how he had cleared the dungeon on his first try without any experience. But just like it had always been, his mother was one step ahead of him.

    This was frustrating, and he would love to find a way to retort to her.

    At that moment, Nial got an idea, which he immediately initiated as he replied in a low voice.

    "Okay, Mom. You''re totally right!"

    Grasping the backpack, he acted as if he wanted to leave.

    Turning his back to her, a faint smile emerged on his face as he added in a mumbling tone as if he was talking to himself.

    "There was a permanent goblin dungeon in the next district, right? Maybe I should try to get an appointment to enter it... I will injure myself a little bit, but the drop rate for origin crystals is said to be quite good there¡­"

    Sighing deeply as if he was contemting his choices, he kept fiddling with the backpack. At the same time, he perceived his mother''s reaction and movement through his mana perception as she already appeared in front of him.

    "Are you insane?! Why would you enter the goblin dungeon while being at the 1st Origin rank?! You cannot even properly fight yet!!"

    The moment his mother appeared in front of him, Nial hid his smile and asked her with an innocent expression.

    "Does that mean I can enter the Slime dungeon, at least once a day? It will help me gain practicalbat experience after all!"

    With a hopeful expression, Nial stared at his mother, who bit her lower lip. It took her a minute to, realize that she had just jumped straight into her son''s trap.

    "You little weasel!!" She blurted out and sighed deeply as she further added in a stern voice.

    "Yes, you can enter the dungeon but only once a day. And, the moment you get injured by the Slime Boss, I''ll tie you to your training dummy, and wait until you naturally umte enough mana to undergo your first erging!!"

    Smiling brightly the moment he heard that his mother had agreed, Nial rushed outside the house, following the way he always used to. He did not want to give her time to change her opinion and hence zoomed out of the house through the backyard as he shouted.

    "Hehehe...Love you Mom, bye!!"

    Shaking her head, Maline couldn''t help but mumble.

    "What am I supposed to do with my little weasel...why can''t he be a little bit calmer?..."

    However, just a momentter, the other weasel she knew returned to the house as a loud exmation resounded in their backyard.

    "HONEY, look what I got here!!!

    Blinking her eyes, Maline was momentarily startled at the voice as a single thought shed through her mind. Grinning faintly, she thought to herself.

    ''I guess, even someone blind won''t question if they are father and son¡­''

 Chapter 12 Originals Association

    Using the tram, Nial was able to find his way into the most crowded area of the shelter in a mere half an hour.

    It had been a long time since he had visited the central of the district, but upon entering, he recalled why that had been the case.

    Therge open area was bustling with a lot of people who were going about their usual business.

    A cacophony of noises of talking, yelling, andughing of hundreds of people made him feel momentarily dizzy.

    They all were roaming through the tightly packed streets which made it impossible for him to hear anything clearly.

    There was not even the possibility to use his senses to pave a way through the crowd to find the route to the Originals association.

    Fortunately, he didn''t have to rely on his normal senses anymore.

    Nial could use his mana to visualize the people around him and evade them if necessary without the need to change his direction.

    Because nobody usually cared about others walking through the center district, many bumped into each other, and Nial recalled several past instances when he had been lost due to being pushed around.

    Shaking his head, he tried to ept that it had been a matter of the past and that things were different now.

    As such, he walked through the crowd of people, only to notice that others were retreating at the mere sight of him.

    This astonished Nial for a moment, only to sense that the people who were giving him a wide berth weren''t Originals.

    The mana Nial released was directly perceived by them, even if they couldn''t do anything with it.

    One could easily figure out whether someone was an Original or not, and the ordinary citizens immediately realized that Nial was one of them.

    Because of that, they made space for him and ensured that they did not bump into him.

    They only eyed him warily and did not dare offend him even if he was blind.

    At least that was what most citizens were doing, thinking that it was better to maintain a low profile.

    In the end, it was just too much of a hassle to offend even a blind, newly awakened Original.

    Even a disabled Original was stronger and had more importance than ordinary citizens.

    Having a clear path before him, Nial found his way to the Originals association without issues.

    Initially, he hadn''t known where the association was but finding it wasn''t a problem.

    When he reached his destination, he saw arge crowd of Originals who had gathered around the Originals association. The surrounding buildings were also used by Originals, in order to train all the young and newly awakened, sell items, or purchase corpses and all kinds of devices.

    There were even a few cksmithing and alchemy shops around which Nial wanted to visitter.

    Due to his heightened mana perception, Nial could visualize the surrounding in the radius of two meters after he used his [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

    However, if he didn''t focus on visualizing anything, the range at which he could perceive things was much higher.

    Thus, he could clearly sense the masterpieces of metalwork and pure mana harbored within some medicinal solutions that were put on the disy panels of the shop windows.

    Ever since he had awoken his origin, and the Odyssey seed, Nial felt much more joyous and rxed.

    As such, he didn''t feel ufortable in the central district as it was usually the case.

    Now that he could perceive his surroundings better, he found roaming around the streets rtively easy, and intriguing.

    However, what shocked Nial, was that he could even see letters by using his mana perception.

    That was amazing and made him smile vibrantly, with the sole issue being that he was not able to read.

    He had only learned the alphabet of the blind, and even that had been useless.

    The government didn''t really support blind people as they were deemed as useless and an unnecessary burden on society.

    They discriminated against most of the disabled citizens, and Nial couldn''t even describe how angering this was.

    Yet, in the end, he was unable to do anything against the government''s unfair behavior because he was powerless and a weakling.

    Even after he had awoken his origin, Nial had yet to perceive anything that allowed him to live easily with his blindness.

    That was if one excluded his mana perception that was innately already exceptional. And it received another boost when it was further enhanced by his [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability!

    ''Mother said that they don''t even have a dungeon guide for the blind or the visually impaired...what kind of bullshit is that¡­?''

    His good mood worsened at the thought of the government''s behavior and attitude towards the disabled.

    Fortunately, he reached the Originals association not long after, distracting him from the depressing thoughts that shed through his mind.

    As he had seldom stepped into the association before, Nial was not aware of therge number of Originals that he could now see.

    He had thus believed that his parents were special even if their talent was considered below average.

    However, this belief changed over the short period he had been inside the central district.

    Less than 15 minutes had passed, yet, Nial assumed that he had encountered more than a thousand Originals already!

    That shocked him a little bit if he were to be honest.

    Upon taking his first step while entering the Originals association, he couldn''t help but stiffen.

    It was a huge and magnificent structure that was so wide that he could not even see its ends that seemed to stretch for miles.

    The moment Nial stepped through the automatically opening door, the world around him changedpletely.

    If the central district was considered to be densely packed with mana then the Originals association was overflowing with it!

    The open areas and wide streets of the district held ample mana that originated from the surrounding dungeons and permeated the air around the entire district.

    Though the mana he could feel inside seemed to be more invigorating.<sub> </sub>

    Just by standing in the doorframe, Nial was already able to feel how his mana veins were craving for the mana inside the entrance hall.

    Greedily absorbing everything, his body seemed to have acquired a mind of its own, and Nial felt unable to move for a moment.

    Suddenly, this sensation disappeared as he was distracted by someone who had appeared behind him.

    "Don''t block the door, kiddo!" A deep voice spoke to him, resounding in his ears as he felt arge hand gently pushing him forward.

    "You have to pay more attention to where you''re standing, kid.

    Otherwise, some Originals who have experienced bad luck in their dungeon conquests might vent their anger on you!"

    Without turning around, Nial sensed a small, middle-aged man with a bulky physique and a long beard walk past him, followed by the rest of his group.

    Bowing lightly, he thanked the man, who simply nodded his head.

    This encounter made Nial feel that not everyone was as selfish and bad as many Originals were rumored to be.

    At this moment, Nial noticed something through his mana perception.

    He could tell that the entire group around the dwarf-sized middle-aged man was much stronger than his parents, or many other Originals he could see around him

    However, he was unable to tell how strong they truly were which was disheartening.

    Nial''s eyes kept flitting to the dwarf-like leader because he felt that there was something unique about him that made Nial curious.

    Shaking his head, Nial dragged himself out of his thoughts.

    He had arrived here for a different task and meddling in others'' business or bothering them needlessly, just because they had been kind to him was not the best way forward.

    <o>,m Thus, Nial turned towards the likely direction of the reception and activated his [Mana Perception] ability once again.</o>

    This in turn helped him increase the range at which he could perceive everything to arge extent.

    Without the necessary mana to keep his ability activated for a long time, Nial could barely perceive where he had to go before the range of his perception returned to its usual once again.

    After that, he was able to take the direct path to the reception.

    Sadly, every single counter was upied so he had to wait for more than 10 minutes.

    Meanwhile, the queue was quite long.

    Nial noticed this, but he didn''t know whether it was normal, or if something had happened.

    But after listening to the discussions around him, he realized that there was nothing special going on anywhere.

    His timing to enter the Originals associations just seemed to have been extremely bad.

    When it was finally his turn, the receptionist introduced herself, while storing away the origin crystals she had received in exchange to money that she had handed to the previous Original.

    "I want to be registered and tested as a newly awakened Original. Furthermore, I want to sell a few poorest qualitymon grade origin crystals, please!"

    Without looking up, the receptionist pointed at a box Nial sensed right next to a magic device before she replied,

    "Put all origin crystals inside the big box, and please scan your ID at the card reader right in front of you!"

    Doing as instructed, not even a minute had passed before Nial heard her announce,

    "32 poorestmon origin crystal, each worth 30$. That would be a total of 960$.

    Do you want to receive cash, or should I transfer the 960$ to the bank ount that will be created after your Innate talent has been tested? You will receive a special Originals ID with which you can also do transactions.

    There are also several other kinds of functions, but you can read the guide for that!"

    After she said so, the situation turned a little bit odd.

    The receptionist next to the young woman eximed and tapped on her shoulder while trying to tell her something.

    On the other hand, Nial just smiled, because even the Originals around him had turned quiet, bing very interested in what would happen next.

    They wanted to see how he would react, but instead of throwing a fit or doing anything odd, Nial just answered her.

    "Please transfer everything to my Originals bank ount once it has been created!"

    Nodding her head to indicate that she had understood him, the female receptionist kept doing her work while her head was still bent.

    She was fully focused on her task, and without lifting her head, she simply pointed at a feeble-looking young man, who was standing next to a small door.

    It almost looked like he was guarding it.

    "Alright. It has been done. Now, please follow my colleague. He will test your Innate talent!"

    The situation had already be awkward, the moment the receptionist said that Nial should just read the guide about Originals and their ID.

    However, it was only when she pointed toward her colleague that she lifted her head to see Nial staring at her with his white, lifeless eyes.

    "Eh¡­I¡­I''m sorry¡­I..w-will...take you to my colleague, plea-..."

    Embarrassed about her mishap, she wanted to make up for her blunder. But before the receptionist''s colleagues could approach Nial, and try to pacify him, Nial lifted his hand.

    "Alright, thank you for your help, have a nice day!"

    Afterward, he turned in the young man''s direction, and approached him, walking around the counter as if he could see it.

    ''Didn''t he say that he is newly awakened? How can he use his mana to visualize his surroundings...or is he just barely sensing that there is an obstruction?...He might have lied about the time of his awakening too¡­ well whatever.''

    Shaking her head, the receptionist tried to forget about the incident and Nial as quickly as possible.

    Thus, she stubbornly continued her work as the next Original who was already waiting to get his origin crystals exchanged approached her desk.

 Chapter 13 Superior

    The young man Nial was supposed to follow didn''t say anything.

    Instead, he lightly pulled him through the door, by holding his arm. His touch confused Nial a little bit as he could sense the young man''s feeble and soft hand.

    ''Is he a baby, or what?!'' He nearly blurted out but held himself back.

    Sensing a railing through his mana perception, Nial''s hand instinctively reached out for it so as to support himself.

    When the young man saw this, he nodded his head before slowly walking through the hallway that was void of people.

    It didn''t take long before the young man stopped as a feminine-sounding voice echoed through his ears.

    "We are there. If you can perceive me with mana, just follow me. If not please tell me beforehand, otherwise, the evaluation will take longer!"

    Nial''s brows furrowed to hear the feminine voice yet again because based on the outer appearance he clearly sensed that there was a young man in front of him.

    But, after a moment he just shook his head.

    ''It''s not my business!'' Nial quickly told himself before answering his doubt.

    "I can sense you!"

    Nodding his head at Nial''s answer yet again, the young man with a feminine voice entered a particr room followed by Nial, who tried to perceive everything around him.

    Unfortunately, this made him stumble backward because the mana he perceived suddenly repelled him as it was drawn to somece else.

    This astonished him, and he could barely sense the young man, who was already walking ahead, without looking back to see whether Nial was keeping up with him or not.

    "What is wrong with the mana in here? It seems to repel me?" Nial mumbled to himself.

    When the young man heard this, he slowed down as he answered Nial''s doubt.

    "It''s nothing special, just the Original association''s automatic protection mechanism.

    In specific rooms, you won''t be able to sense mana properly, and absorbing it would actually harm you.

    To put it simply, it''s transmuted mana that repels Originals, or to be precise, all kinds of animate lifeforms."

    Nial thought that he understood what the young man said, but at the same time, it was quite confusing. He had barely started to sense mana so he didn''t know that something like repelling mana existed, let alone for what reason.

    However, before he could ask another question, the young man had already stopped in his tracks. Nial would have almost bumped into him, if not for the fact that he barely stopped himself a few centimeters away from him.

    Turning around, the young man looked straight into Nial''s white and lifeless eyes. It made him instinctively take a step back, while Nial caught the unmistakable scent of conditioner lingering in the air.

    Nial only smiled at this, before he heard the young man clearing his throat.

    "There are a total of three tests you have to take. One of them is optional but rmended by the Originals association. You only have to take it if you have a Unique trait such as an Innate ability, something simr, orpletely different.

    Most newly awakened Originals take several weeks, months, and some even take years to find out if they have an Innate ability.

    As such, I would rmend you to take the optional test as well. It''s free of charge too, so you don''t have to be bothered about additional expenses.

    As for the other two tests, they''repulsory if you want to be registered at the Originals association, and to get the government''s support funding and other benefits.

    First, we will test your mana core''s limit. That will check the number of times your mana core can undergo the erging process in a natural manner.

    To put it simply, it tells you how much mana you will be able to store once you reach your mana core''s limit.

    This limit, most people call talent or potential, will determine what kind of rank you will be able to reach in the future.

    The average talent is around three erging processes which would allow you to reach the 4th rank of the Origin stage. With hard work, you might be able to gather enough mana to create an Origin ring, but it''s difficult.

    As for the second test, we will evaluate your mana veins by circting different types of mana through your veins. Afterward, you will be requested to do a variety of things, like trying to manipte unannexed mana, and so on.

    This will give us enough data to assess how fast your mana vein absorbs mana passively, how high your mana perception is, and all kinds of other properties of your mana vein.

    Withmon, or normal mana veins and a normal mana core limit, you will need around six years before you reach your maximum capacities.

    After that, you will have to start exceeding your natural limits, if you want to strive for more strength.

    But, to be honest, I don''t rmend doing this if you have a weak will or a low pain tolerance!"

    While saying thest sentence, the young man seemed to be a little emotional, as his feminine-sounding voice seemed to fluctuate in frequency a lot.

    At the same time, his mana was fluctuating wildly as well. After sensing both the things, Nial felt that the young man was on a roller coaster of emotions.

    So...now back to the question I wanted to ask. Do you want to take the optional test as well? Some people know that they have an innate talent, but they don''t want to reveal it to others. That''s why I have to ask you beforehand."

    The young man''s intel was very informative, and his voice sounded very kind and pleasing. It might be a little bit feminine for a boy, but Nial was not someone who bothered about something as trivial as that.

    However, he was more astonished that the young man spoke so much at once and shared the information eagerly.

    At first nce, he appeared to be more of an introvert.

    "Please test me for unique traits too. I would like to know if I have a special trait or Innate ability!"

    Before, Nial had pondered about what he should do.

    However, the answer had been quite simple.

    He didn''t know anything about the Odyssey seed, and his memories of the dungeon incident from 15 years ago were bleak and hazy.

    Living the life of a blind person for more than a decade had washed them away.

    As such, Nial wanted to find out more about the Odyssey seed, even if that meant he had to expose it to the government.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately, he felt that it wouldn''t be as easy as he hoped.

    Having received Nial''s consent the young man immediately got to work before instructing him,

    "If that''s the case, please lie down on the examination table and take off your shirt!"

    Not sure if Nial could perceive what he wanted him to do, the young man gently pulled him towards a table that was ced next to a small pir.

    On top of the pir was a cushion on which an orb was ced.

    Right next to it, one could also see arge machine that looked just like a capsule.

    Lying down on the table as instructed, the young man attached more than a dozen electrodes to Nial''s naked torso.

    Barely a momentter, small streams of mana coursed through him.

    There was also something different within the mana that seemed to examine him from the inside, making him feel extremely ufortable as it touched his mana core.

    While he was trying to endure the difort, the young man pushed a button.

    As a reaction, the mana was retracted before he said,

    "Done. The results should be there soon. Let''s continue with the other two tests in the meantime!"

    Nial just nodded his head and began pulling off the electrodes.

    He wanted to put on his shirt too, but the young man suddenly remarked.

    "Don''t bother. You''ll have to enter a capsule which we will fill with water that is infused with different types of mana. So it would be best if you remove your pants too.

    I can give you a towel if you don''t want to enter the capsule naked, but¡­we don''t sell underwear in the Originals association.

    I doubt you have a second pair of underpants with you as well."

    Nial thought that the young man was having a nice time making fun of him, which was obvious because he was speaking more and more, only to end up in a giggle.

    Not giving it even a second thought, Nial pulled down his pants before he approached the capsule, leaving the young man dumbfounded.

    ''He is definitely not ashamed of anything¡­'' Thinking so, the young man coughed delicately. Meanwhile, Nial had already entered the capsule.

    Nial''s perception was much better than the young man had first expected, and that made it only more obvious that his mana veins'' potential should be above the average.

    Thus, the young man had some expectations from Nial, even if there was literally no reason for him to expect anything from a stranger.

    Yet, somehow, Nial seemed to be quite optimistic and strong-willed to be able to live a normal life without being able to see.

    But then again, the young man didn''t know anything about Nial''s past, or the fact that his entire demeanor and mindset had slowly been conditioned to the changes that awakening an origin brought forth.

    Nial didn''t feel much until the test was done, and once the capsule opened, his mind felt a bit muddled.

    "It will take a few minutes before you will feel normal again. You were bombarded with different types of mana. It is perfectly normal to feel weird the first time! Dry yourself and the test result of your mana veins ranking should bepleted by then!"

    Throwing a towel to Nial, who had just gotten out of the capsule, the young man seemed to have forgotten for a moment that Nial was blind.

    However, oddly enough, Nial was able to catch it as if he was able to see it.

    ''He can still sense his surroundings...despite his muddled mind?''

    Throwing him a surprised look, the young man eximed while Nial put on his clothes once again.

    "Ohh, very good! Superior mana veins that have yet to be fully matured..that''s amazing!!"

    Nial was not sure what exactly this meant, but he just nodded his head with a smile because the ''superior'' prefix definitely sounded good.

    Yet, only a momentter, the young man seemed to turn more serious as he further remarked,

    "The test result of your optional test arrived too..you have yet to bind your first ability and you don''t have an Innate ability¡­that''s unfortunate."

    After that, the young man suddenly quieted down, a little disappointed at the result. Nial could only perceive the outline of the young man who was standing in a confused and disappointing way.

    His shoulders were drooping a little but then something piqued his interest.

    Suddenly, he threw a lot of questions at Nial who was only stunned at the words.

    "Your eyes¡­.are an adverse mutation? Or something like that?! To be honest, I''ve never seen a chart like this...just what happened to your eyes?"

    The young man seemed to be baffled, but Nial couldn''t help but feel the most disappointed.

    Not only did the young man say that he didn''t have an Innate ability, but the test had also failed to detect his Odyssey seed.

    As such, it was as if his eyes and the seed didn''t exist, which they certainly did!

    "It''s unfortunate that you''re blind and that you don''t possess an Innate ability. But with your mana vein''s potential, you might be able to get some funding from the government as long as your mana core talent is good!"

    The young man seemed to be trying to lift Nial''s mood which was not necessary in his opinion.

    And, based on the way the young man had been acting for the entire time, Nial couldn''t help but ask.

    "It might sound rude, but why are you being so friendly to me? We don''t know each other, and the Originals association does not think that highly of disabled Originals to begin with¡­or am I wrong?"

    Nial''s question was straightforward, but he couldn''t help but feel weird about the young man''s behavior that was out of the ordinary.

    Yet, the young man''s answer caused Nial to feel that he shouldn''t have even opened his mouth in the first ce.

 Chapter 14 Mediocre

    "To be honest, my elder sister was also blind, just like you. When she awoke from her origin, she was able to visualize all kinds of objects and perceive her surroundings better.

    It helped her to live a normal life, but that was not enough for her.

    Unfortunately, because of her low talent, she tried to exceed her mana core''s limit.

    Through this, she had aimed to be stronger and receive the chance to bind one more ability to her core.

    Unfortunately...she didn''t seed in breaking through her limit, and her efforts had the exact opposite effect.

    As a result, her mana core is now severely damaged!

    I hope you don''t misunderstand my behavior or intentions. I just wanted to help you. It''s not like I have any ill intentions. Please, just don''t do the same mistake as my sister if your mana core''s limit is not as high as you hope it would be!"

    Nial had not expected such a story, and he nodded his head, unsure of what he was supposed to say.

    Thus, he blurted out, "Ah...my condolences for your sister''s loss?"

    ''Is that even correct to say to her?'' Nial asked himself immediately after, only to hear the young manughing.

    "You''re really odd. But I think we shall resume the evaluation, don''t you think so?"

    Saying so, she guided him through thest of the three tests, which was quite easy.

    Doing as instructed, Nial ced his hand on the orb thaty on a cushion in front of him after which Nial inserted mana into it.

    Afterward, the orb began to heat up, and through his mana perception, he also noticed that it began to glow faintly.

    Not knowing what exactly that indicated, Nial waited for a moment, only to hear the young man sighing deeply.

    He had already assumed what this could mean, and the next words of the young man only cemented his theory.

    "I''m so sorry to tell you this, but your mana core limit barely reaches the average range...so you will barely be able to erge your mana core three times!"

    Nodding his head as if he had known it all along, Nial simply smiled at the young man as he asked,

    "Alright...when will I get my new Identity card? I wanted to purchase something with the money I transferred into the bank ount that is linked to my ID."

    Nial didn''t want to look up the information of his bank ount because it was a hassle with the phone he was using.

    Furthermore, he couldn''t even read anything but blindnguage.

    Thus, there was anguage barrier he wanted to avoid with the use of the Originals ID card.

    Meanwhile, the young man was confused about Nial''s reaction.

    He had expected Nial to be a bit disappointed by the test result.

    But instead of asking that right away, he simply kept looking at Nial''s face.

    He had wanted to see if the reaction was genuine, or if Nial put on a facade.

    However, Nial''s expression stayed as it was, calm and neutral, which caused the young man to say.

    "I can give you your new ID card in a minute. Let''s leave the examination room first, and I''ll bring you the card while you wait in the hallway!"

    That being said, he was led outside the room. While he was waiting for his new ID card to be brought by the young man, he suddenly held out his hand toward Nial.

    "By the way, my name is Shana, I wish you all the best for the future, and don''t be as reckless as my sister!"

    ''Wait¡­that''s not a boy''s name¡­?! He is a Girl??'' Nial immediately thought, utterly dumbfounded at the unexpected revtion.

    Yet, before he could even say something Shana gently ced her hands on his shoulder, and turned him in the direction of the entrance hall while mumbling,

    "It''s a little secret, so don''t tell anyone, alright?"

    Her voice sounded amused, but Nial could tell that Shana was doing all of this to console him, in any possible way. Maybe, he reminded her of her elder sister a lot.

    This was something that Nial found to be very nice of her, even if there was no need for her to console him, at all.

    He was perfectly fine, even though his mana core''s limit was not special. Having awoken his origin itself had been a boon for him. As such he was not excessively greedy.

    In the end, one could break through limits, even if it was an insane task and required one to risk a lot. And, if he were to be desperate enough, Nial knew that he would try, and ovee it, if necessary!

    Fortunately, it was not necessary for him to try something as stupid as trying to endanger his life.

    He just wanted to earn enough to improve his family''s financial situation, while trying to search for a way to heal his sister.

    That was all he wanted, nothing more or less!

    Thus, he straightened his back before smiling as he introduced himself yet again,

    "It was nice meeting you, Shana. I''m Nial Oran, let''s meet again in the future!"

    After he said this, he heard a light chuckle before she replied,

    "Yeah, let''s meet again, bye!"

    He smiled while tightly holding the ID card he had been given as he returned to the entrance hall through the small door.<sub> </sub>

    His encounter with Shana was pleasant, but Nial didn''t really think that they would cross paths again.

    There were more important things for him to achieve now!

    However, he then recalled that it would not be further unlikely because she worked at the Originals association which he had to visit to exchange his origin crystals!

    While he was thinking about that, he heard his phone ring.

    This astonished him, because he had only four numbers saved in his contacts.

    The name of the caller was announced through the application for blind people Nial was required to use in the past.

    [Iing call from ''Father'']

    Hitting the receive button, Nial answered his father while ignoring the looks he received. Meanwhile, he kept walking ahead, paving his way through the crowd of people.

    Unfortunately, avoiding other Originals was easier said than done.

    Most of the originals did not bother retracting their mana fluctuations, making things more difficult for him.

    Countless mana fluctuations of multiple people ovepped, which was quite annoying in Nial''s case.

    It was quite difficult for him to try to distinguish them and avoid running into people while simultaneously talking to his father.

    "Dad...what did you just say? I couldn''t understand you!" Nial shouted the moment he finally found a way outside the Originals association.

    Taking a breath full of fresh air after leaving the crowded hall, he listened to his father.

    However, his words made Nial cough and wheeze when he identally swallowed his saliva owing to the news his father told him.

    "You found what? Are you serious?? Do you know how high the chances are!? And it''s just the second day since the dungeon manifested..that''s amazing!"

    His excited voice made several other Originals turn around and look at him. But, once they sensed that Nial was just a newly awakened Originals with barely any traces of mana within his body, they thought that he was just shocked about everything new he was learning at the moment.

    "I sold the Mana Perception ability crystal at the merchant nearby. He gave us 15,000$ for it! Give me your bank details, and I''ll wire you some money!"

    When Nial heard this, he instinctively shook his head while disagreeing with his father,

    "No, I don''t need anything, I got almost 1000$ for the origin crystals I sold. There is no need to wire me more money! Use it to purchase better medicine for Sabrina. That''s where the money should go!!"

    Nial was of the opinion that his father had to take a good look at his priorities. Yet, a momentter, he heard his father taking a deep breath as his frustrated voice could be heard through the phone.

    "Just use the money to purchase a spear, will you?! You never want something from us, not even a proper phone! But don''t forget that you are our child, just like Sabrina! AND we do NOT want to see you get injured inside a dungeon just because your equipment is of no real use!

    What do you expect to purchase for a thousand dors, to begin with? Don''t tell me you wanted to purchase an unranked weapon! Just because the more expensive unranked weapons are properly forged, you don''t necessarily get more value out of them!!

    For Originals, it is akin to intentionally crippling yourbat prowess! If your mother knew what you nned, she would probably beat the shit out of you!!

    Now give me your Bank ount information, or I''ll tell Maline, and even Sabrina about everything, once she wakes up!! I don''t think you want that to happen. Right?

    With that in mind, I just decided to transfer you 10,000$. The rest and our savings will be used to purchase medicine for your sister, alright? If you want to help your parents, just earn more money with the equipment you''ll purchase!... And don''t even try to purchase a cheap weapon, I''ll inspect itter!"

    ''Scary!'' Nial could only think as his father rained down orders on him. He had no option but to obey his father and meekly gave him his Identification number.

    His father just grunted in response as he wired the said amount to his Originals ID card.

    Afterward, his father warned him once again before hanging up, telling him to return home once he had purchased a good weapon.

    ''To think that he found an ability crystal so soon after I got one. That''s good...but I''m sure that I would have found an okay-ish weapon for less than 1000$.

    Would I not be wasting too much money if I were to purchase a weapon for more than 10,000$?''

    Even though Nial didn''t know the prices he had to pay for a proper weapon, 10,000$ seemed a bit too much for a normal Low-quality Common grade weapon.

    Little did he know that he was in for a surprise, the moment he entered the cksmith shop he had walked past less than an hour ago.

    Visualizing the cards that held the prices of goods ced behind them made Nial freeze in his tracks.

    ''Those are probably the better ones...right?'' His earlier confidence about being able to purchase a weapon disappeared into thin air.

    Now, Nial grew worried that he might just have to go home empty-handed.

    ''Is that some prestigious cksmithing shop? It must be...right, I forgot...how could a shop that is so close to the Originals association and right in the central district not disy and sell some of the most skillfully crafted weapons¡­''

    Nial realized that he wouldn''t be able to find anything for him, but somehow, he wasn''t able to take his eyes off the weapons, that shone in the soft light falling upon them.

    It felt wrong and out of ce for him to be there.

    Luckily, he was the only customer in the shop at that moment.

    Whether this was because the cksmith''s weapons were not as unique as Nial assumed them to be, or because of a different reason didn''t really matter.

    Nial just needed a weapon, right now!!

    ''Please let me find something good, but cheap!'' Nial hoped, fully aware that he was just challenging his luck.

    However, at the same time, Nial had yet to understand what kind of shop he had just entered, and that his luck was a lot more terrifying than he could ever imagine!

 Chapter 15 Change Of Attitude

    The first weapon Nial''s eyes had visualised was a broadsword that was brightly glowing owing to the mana that coursed through the metal it had been made of.

    Because of that, he could somehow ept that its price was extremely high.

    Yet, when his eyes roamed through the prices listed and visualized the numbers written on the cards, Nial felt somehow lost at the cksmithing shop.

    There was not even a single weapon whose price was below 1,000,000$, which was overwhelming.

    But the truly scary thing was that most of the weapons were tens, hundreds, and even thousands of times more expensive.

    This made Nial believe that he should just turn around, walk outside the shop, and never set his foot in it again.

    Yet, his gut feeling told him that if he were to look carefully, he might just find a weapon that suited him, in both price andbat style!

    Nial also knew that the shop owner was present because he seemed to be forging a weapon in the open smithy when the smell of burning and melting had hit his nostrils before.

    The rooms didn''t seem to be separated because the sound of the hammer striking on heated-up metal was not muffled either. This made Nial wonder if he should just ask the cksmith for help.

    In the end, he decided against it because the cksmith was still working, and Nial didn''t want to interrupt him. At the same time, he wanted to figure out what he had to do by himself.

    Unfortunately, he was having trouble testing things on his own.

    The mana fluctuations radiated by every single weapon swept through the room, ovepping each other.

    This prevented Nial from properly visualizing anything that was more than half a meter away from him.

    Thus, the best option for him was to walk slowly through the shop.

    Focused on the heated up ingot, and his forging process the middle-aged cksmith didn''t even notice Nial first.

    And, and it was only when he heard the constant noise of muffled footsteps near him, that he spared a second to scan through Nial''s body in order to figure out why he was loitering around.

    "Brat, are you a newly awakened Original? If so, you will find some cheaper, used weapons in the right corner, next to the counter!"

    Nial wasn''t wearing any mana-intertwined equipment, and it looked like he was ate-bloomer because he was already a young man, yet the amount of mana inside his mana core was not worth mentioning.

    As such, the cksmith could easily guess that the young man did not possess much money.

    Trying to find his way to the counter, and afterward the right corner, Nial took some time.

    He had his hands outstretched to feel around for obstacles.

    His mana perception was heavily influenced by all kinds of weapons and other equipment that released strong mana fluctuations.

    This was noticed by the cksmith who heard Nial fumbling through the shop.

    It annoyed the cksmith, who wanted to continue working without any disturbance.

    As he shook his head and was about to strike the ingot with the hammer again, Nial''s voice reached him from the corner of the shop.

    "Am I allowed to touch the used weapons? I want to tes-...."

    Yet, before Nial was even able to finish his sentence, and give a proper exnation for his request, the cksmith yelled at him in a hoarse voice.

    "You are not allowed to! I don''t want anyone to touch my goods without the desire to purchase them. And it doesn''t really feel like you want to buy anything!"

    These somewhat insulting words frustrated Nial. It was true that he didn''t want to purchase used daggers or simr weapons, but in order to understand the merit of a specific weapon, he had to understand the value of other weapons first!

    That was something Nial understood, which was the reason why he wanted to test all kinds of things with other weapons.

    Doing so would give him an idea if the prices for spears, ives, and other weapons he could use with his meager wealth were even feasible.

    There were all kinds of prerequisites one had to pay attention to when purchasing a weapon, and Nial had once been taught about them by his father.

    Unfortunately, in order to figure that out, he would have to touch the weapons, and he was sure that the cksmith knew it very well.

    However, somehow, it seemed like the cksmith either had something against him, newly awakened Originals, or just the fact that he might look poor!

    What Nial didn''t know, however, was that the cksmith hadn''t even taken a single nce at Nial, since he had entered the shop, which would have frustrated him only more.

    "If that''s the case, I cannot purchase anything. I will take your leave, I''m sorry for interrupting your business, mister."

    Nial''s sudden change in behavior was unexpected, and the cksmith stopped working. He had just finished the shaping process of the weapon''s de and would have to work on something different now.

    Yet, instead of starting the next task, he took a good look at Nial, only to see that he was walking past him from the narrow space between the two lowered shelves.

    At that moment, the cksmith saw a glimpse of something, which caused him to subconsciously blurt out.

    "Brat...are you blind?"

    Somehow, this question annoyed Nial a bit, realizing that the cksmith had just looked at him for the first time since he had entered the shop.

    As such, he couldn''t help but frustratingly think,<sub> </sub>

    ''Why is nobody paying attention to others...like what the hell is wrong with everyone?! Am I blind or are they?''

    Through this incident, Nial understood that the majority of Originals would simply be minding their own business, and not bother about others, which was something that baffled him.

    He and his family were always supporting each other, and his parents were always attentive to him and his sister. No way would they just mind their own business as if it had nothing to do with them.

    Because of that, Nial''s mindset had been conditioned to think that others would pay at least a little bit of attention to others, which was evidently not the case.

    This realization made him blurt out his thoughts which were filled with sarcasm.

    "I certainly don''t wear contact lenses¡­"

    Afterward, Nial had almost reached the door of the shop, only to hear a loud voice ordering him, "Stop, right there!"

    Trying to ignore it, Nial was about to turn the doorknob when he noticed that he had suddenly been rendered incapable of moving.

    His waist was enveloped in a dense amount of mana that was shaped just like a fist.

    ''Ability?'' That was the first thought to cross his mind as he felt that he was being pulled backward.

    This was a bad sign, and Nial realized that he had almost thrown a tantrum, only to hear the cksmith''s voice once again.

    "You probably had your origin awakening less than a week ago, right? Are you using a special ability to be able to walk through my shop, or do your mana veins have an extraordinary quality?"

    Nial was confused to be asked these particr questions, but sensing that he might get punished for being rude to the cksmith, he decided to stay honest...to some extent.

    "I awoke my origin three days ago, early in the morning! So you can say it has almost been four days now. And my mana veins are extraordinary, yes...unfortunately that''s the only unique thing that the Originals association found about me¡­"

    Inclined to avoid talking about the Odyssey seed, Nial behaved as if he was frustrated that only his mana veins were great.

    He had realized that it might be too dangerous to expose something not even the Original association could detect.

    His revtion told the cksmith that Nial''s mana core''s limit was not high, which seemed to affect him much more than it was for Nial.

    "Low mana core limit, blind and great mana veins¡­" He just mumbled before continuing to pull Nial towards him with his affinity.

    Meanwhile, Nial only felt how the heat around him increased as he was dragged towards the smithy, which made him want to avoid getting scorched.

    "If it''s not too much to ask for...can I be released, please?"

    Not realizing what he had done, the cksmith only now saw that he had activated his affinity to pull Nial, which caused him to dissolve the arm within an instant.

    "Sorry, for that. I instinctively pulled you back. You reminded me of someone."

    Nial didn''t expect to receive an apology, but instead of throwing an angry retort he just nodded his head as a weird thought popped in his mind.

    ''Why am I reminding everyone of someone today? That''s weird¡­''

    However, what he heard afterward was even more confusing as the cksmith continued,

    "Without being able to look at the weapons, you obviously have to touch them in order to know what are they made of and what kind of engravings I''ve done on them. Feel free to test out everything!"

    This statement was the most suspicious in Nial''s opinion because the cksmith''s behavior seemed to have changedpletely.

    Because of that, he couldn''t help but mumble to himself, apparently puzzled at the abrupt change.

    "Why is everyone being so nice to me today? It''s not like my blindness affects me a lot?! I thought crippled Originals would be bullied, but first Shana, now the cksmith too..."

    This was not exactly the truth, but Nial didn''t like the way in which the cksmith''s attitude had changed.

    He was not mistreated or looked down upon, but the pity which the cksmith had for him annoyed Nial extremely. It was clearly noticeable based on the expressions he bore.

    "How do you know¡­." The cksmith stopped midway and left the sentence hanging and instead added,

    "Don''t overthink it, Brat! Just take a look at the weapons!"

    Nial felt like the cksmith had wanted to say more, but instead of pressuring him to speak his mind, he fell quiet. He was simply relieved to be able to take a look at the used weapons because there were quite a few weapons that seemed affordable to him.

    They had been the worst of the worst amongst the batches of weapons, but even the worst was iparably better than the crude spear he had used before.

    Returning his attention to the weapons, Nial perceived one particr weapon he wanted to take a good look at, even if it would be too expensive for him.

    There was something about the weapon that attracted his attention, and it might be something Nial was able to save up for!

    Picking up the said weapon, Nial wielded it around, before inserting the traces of mana he had umted within his mana core to test out its capabilities.

    Seeing him wield and inspect the weapon made the cksmith ask him out loud.

    "You...like that weapon?"

 Chapter 16 Viper Spear

    "You...like that weapon?"

    The cksmith sounded oddly affected by the fact that Nial had picked the spear to swing around in short movement sequences.

    As such, he stopped swinging it around, and turned around, smiling lightly as he nodded his head in response.

    Somehow, Nial felt a unique connection to the spear as if it was perfectly suitable for him.

    After touching and inspecting the other weapons, he had not felt this connection which he felt to the spear, as if it was beckoning him.

    Because of that, he felt a little bit restless as well as hopeful.

    It made him ignore the cksmith''s weird question as he asked,

    "It has no price tag...how expensive is the spear? It should have been a custom weapon...so I know that I won''t be able to purchase it right now, but...if possible...can you let me save up for...a while to earn enough to purchase it?"

    Nial knew that he had nned to support his family financially, but that was exactly why he wanted to get his hands on the spear thaty in his hands as if it had always belonged to him.

    It was almost as if it had be a part of Nial, even though he had just wielded it for a few minutes.

    What Nial didn''t notice was that the cksmith looked at him with an extremely sad expression.

    "Do you like the Viper spear that much?"

    His words were filled with agony, which was not difficult to notice, and Nial instinctively halted in his tracks.

    He understood that the cksmith had a deeper connection to the spear than he had expected.

    Nevertheless, he couldn''t help but lightly caressed the cold metal staff, trying to figure out every single characteristic of it as he mumbled.

    "Viper spear...it''s a good name¡­"

    While Nial''s thoughts were focused around the Viper spear, the cksmith couldn''t avert his attention from him, recalling a faint, ¨Cold memory.

    ''He is just like her...if she were still able to wield mana, would she be as joyous as this young brat? I...don''t think so¡­''

    Clenching his fist, he recalled his daughter''s greed and desperation. It took him some time to forget the painful memories but he managed to shake his head to get back to his senses.

    ''They''re not the same!'' Trying to get his act together, the cksmith took deep breaths.

    His gaze never left Nial, and once he had calmed down he suddenly asked,

    "Do you want the Viper spear?"

    Arnold, the cksmith, had always wanted to sell the Viper spear, but to date, he had never been able to muster the courage to let go of it whenever a customer had expressed an interest in purchasing it.

    Because of that he had moved it to the farthest corner of his shop which was an area designated for used goods.

    None of his customers so far had bothered sparing a nce at used goods.

    Only Nial, the blind young man, who had just undergone his origin awakening had done so.

    It seemed as if fate was ying into his hands, and Arnold felt oddly relieved seeing the bright smile on Nial''s face while he held the Viper spear.

    Even though Nial knew that he couldn''t purchase the weapon, it was evident that he was extremely keen to purchase it.

    As such, the moment Nial heard what the cksmith said, he reacted instinctively.

    "Of course! But I don''t have enough money...if possible, can Ie backter and purchase when I have enough funds...we are not exactly rich, you know. So it might take a while, Sir."

    Nial was clueless about the Viper spear''s value, which the cksmith had noticed.

    As such, he couldn''t help but smile seeing how Nial acted like a little kid who had found his favorite treat.

    It was almost like he had given the young man a treat, only to hold it too far away for him to reach.

    In the end, Arnold had never intended to keep the Viper spear, to begin with.

    It had only been his selfish desire to keep something that had both good and bad memories of a time that had long since passed.

    Because of that, and the fact that the Viper spear would continue to simply collect dust, if he wouldn''t sell it, Arnold decided to give it to someone.

    But, he wanted the owner to be someone who valued it even more than his beloved daughter, who had been consumed by greed.<sub> </sub>

    "I didn''t ask you if you wanted to purchase it, but if you want to have it!" Arnold thus repeated himself in a clearer way.

    This made Nial''s expression change from his initial joy to be able to purchase it to confusion, and even more confusion.

    Soon expressions of astonishment, and shock chased each other before doubt settled on his face yet again.

    "Sir...are you sure...This is not a simple Lowest quality Common grade weapon, right? I cannot take something so valuable for free¡­ Why would Sir give me something so valuable..there is no reason¡­?"

    Nial was utterly dumbfounded because it made no sense for him to receive such a valuable gift.

    He didn''t even know the cksmith less than half an hour ago either!

    Upon hearing his remark ''lowest qualitymon grade weapon'', the cksmith suppressed a chuckle as he thought of a proper solution.

    A secondter, he got an idea.

    "You said something about Shana before, right? The boyish girl working at the Originals association?"

    Nodding his head, he stared at the cksmith in astonishment.

    He was taken aback by the revtion that the cksmith knew that Shana was a girl.

    This told Arnold that his earlier assumption was right. Thus he simply added further,

    "Let''s say it is thanks to her and the fact that you made me recall the pleasant memories of someone, that I consider it to be payment enough for me."

    Arnold stopped for a moment, awaiting Nial''s adamant refusal upon seeing that the doubt was still lingering in his eyes.

    Wanting to reassure him, the cksmith offered,

    "If that''s not enough for you, just give me a tip, and help Shana if she were to need help in the future!"

    The ''tip'' was just something he said to make Nial feel better, while thetter held more ground.

    Nial was stunned to hear the cksmith''s generous offer, quite literally.

    He seemed to have frozen on the spot and it took him several minutes to articte a hesitant response.

    "Okay...It would be stupid to deny the offer...I guess?" He was confused all the same and was still struggling to understand what kind of opportunityy in front of him.

    But then, he realized that it would be extremely stupid to reject it. Nevertheless, Nial felt ufortable about paying nothing. Thus he used the entire umted wealth of 10,960$ in his Originals ID card to tip the cksmith, who had introduced himself as Arnold Birg.

    After the deal, the cksmith even gave Nial his contact details, which were simply stored in the Originals ID card.

    Finally havingpleted his purchase, and bought a nice weapon Nial went home.

    On the way, he continued to wield the Viper spear, whose de was retracted. It had an additional feature wherein the de on the tip of the rod could be controlled to a certain extent.

    That was as long as one inserted mana. Meanwhile, the main function of it acting as a rod, and a simple spear with a seemingly simple de were usable without the need to use up arge amount of mana.

    This was extremely beneficial for Nial.

    In the end, the spear could be used as a rod, halberd, ive, and spear, which was, in fact, perfect for Nial.

    It had an additional ability, but Nial didn''t have enough mana to activate it. The only thing he knew was that there was a unique crystal that was embedded at the top of the staff, right below the freely adjustable des.

    The crystal had unique mana in it and seemed to have been engraved with some unique words or runes, which Nial was unable to decipher.

    Because of all the unique features the weapon had, Nial was confused why this weapon was ced in the section for used goods, even more so because it seemed as if nobody had used it before.

    Yet, the moment he arrived at home, he left the cksmith shop with a bright expression on his face.

    It felt like he had only taken a second to reach home.

    Nial didn''t even think about the unique encounters he had today as he wanted to brag to his father, confident that he had made an extremely good purchase!

    ''I have to test the Viper spear as soon as possible!! Hopefully, the respawn time would be over soon!'' Nial thought, only for his smile to vanish with a sad expression to rece it as he entered the house.

    ''Until the timer runs out, let me have some fun teasing dad!!''

 Chapter 17 Myth Weapons

    Seeing Nial''s expression and the spear which he was trying to hide behind his back, Miles looked at his son in doubt, the moment he saw him entering the living room.

    "Hello Nial, you are back earlier than I thought. How about you show me what you bought?!"

    By giving Nial 10,000$ Miles wanted to teach his son how to handle his finances.

    Nial never had the need to do anything with money as he would seldom leave his home.

    At most, he would only toil in his backyard while the sun scorched his back as he practiced with his now broken spear.

    It was because of this, that his fundamental knowledge about saving money and efficiently using it to earn even more was restricted.

    Miles had wanted to teach his son about all of this in the past, but it had been much harder than one could expect.

    Not only was Nial upied with all kinds of other things his mother taught him, but even his wife seemed to have sided with their son and betrayed him.

    "He doesn''t need to use money. We will take care of him, forever!"

    Unable to say anything to his overprotective wife, Miles had been forced to obey her.

    As such, Nial had just experienced his first business deal, and that too with an amount of money that was high for their family''s standards.

    Even if Nial bought something bad, it would be a good lesson.

    Though an expensive one, it would be even better because Nial would try to never make the same mistake again!

    As such, Miles didn''t say anything even after seeing his son''s expressions which told him that something was not good.

    Yet, the moment Nial handed Miles the spear, an involuntary gasp escaped his lips.

    Nial could only sense his father almost tearing the spear out of Nial''s hands as he inspected it, full of shock.

    "You got that for 11000$....? Are you sure...like seriously...you didn''t rob a bank or so?! It have a unique function and even a special effect? Do you even know what that means?" Miles'' voice climbed an octave with every question and there was no mistaking the disbelief and dumbfounding in it.

    Letting his father marvel at the spear, Nial smiled innocently as he asked,

    "I have no idea! What do the unique function and special effect mean?"

    This was the truth because Nial just knew that the Viper spear was extremely good, and something he had only received because of his great fortune.

    He was also thankful to the cksmith who had simply handed him the best weapon he could have everid his hands on.

    It caused a bright smile to emerge on his face, recing the sad expression Nial had tried to maintain.

    Miles saw this, and he felt like punching his son for the first time in his life. Not only was Nial ying with him, he didn''t know what kind of magnificent weapon he had obtained!

    "So, you want to tell me that you were able to purchase a Myth weapon for 11,000$, and you had no idea what you were doing? Where the hell did you buy it?!"

    Unable to hide his envy, Miles almost shouted at Nial, whose lifeless eyes were staring straight at his father.

    Seeing his innocent expression, Miles couldn''t help but sigh and try his best to calm down as he reluctantly returned the weapon to his son.

    Nial epted the weapon with a faint smile and he was just about to answer his father''s question when he heard him exining the big difference between Myth weapons and normal weapons.

    "Son, I know that we cked off a bit in teaching you, but how can you not know what Myth weapons are? With 11,000$ you should have already been d about being able to purchase a Common grade weapon at the lowest quality.

    The quality of a weapon determines how much mana you can insert into it, and how sharp, durable, and tensile the raw ingredients used to forge a weapon had grown.

    Meanwhile, a Myth weapon is somethingpletely different! Even the de adjusting and retracting function alone is already aplex mechanism that is connected to the use of profound engraving on the spear.

    One indicator for a Myth weapon are its engravings.

    When you insert mana in the engravings, a weapon bes much stronger than the material''s limitations are.

    Additionally, functions like the retracting and readjusting of des are unique.

    That means the cksmith, who forged this weapon must be extremely talented. However, the spear you purchased for...less than 11,000$ has an additional effect. There is an extremely rare poison crystal embedded into the tip of the weapon, and the entire staff is connected to it, including all des!

    By injecting mana into the poison crystal, you will be able to poison every foe as long as you manage to scratch them! The poison crystal is also not a simple one. I cannot even figure out its maximum capabilities because my mana is not enough to test its potential to the max.

    As such, the crystal alone should be worth more than everything we own!!"

    Nial had expected a boring exnation, but what he heard shocked him to the core. "Just the crystal...more than everything we own? Even our house and the dungeon?!"

    Even after seeing Nial''s bbergasted reaction, Miles didn''t think that it was enough yet.

    It seemed as if his son was still oblivious to what he had brought back home.

    "The entire Myth weapon you brought back might only be at themon rank, but in order to wield it properly, you need to have undergone 9 erging processes and manifested at least 1 origin ring additionally!

    Its value is tens of times everything we possess and had ever possessed in our entire life!

    Just where did you get this weapon from?!?"

    Nial''s mind went nk upon hearing his father reveal everything he had been oblivious to.

    They had been so engrossed in discussing the weapon that he even forgot to tell his father about the result of the evaluation of his mana core limit and mana vein''s talent.

    Even Miles forgot about it momentarily because he was utterly bewildered to see his blind son carry a treasure as if it was an ordinary dagger.

    ''Was that why heughed like this?!'' Nial suddenly asked himself, recalling Arnold Birg''s reaction. This made him feel embarrassed because he realized that he had made an utter fool of himself due to hisck of knowledge back at Arnold''s shop.<sub> </sub>

    There were too many things he was currentlycking, and time seemed to be running away from him.

    While he was deep in thoughts, Nial didn''t even notice that he had subconsciously answered his father''s question which he had repeated for the third time.

    "I was given the Viper Spear in the cksmith shop which is located in the Central district, and is close to the Originals association!"

    There was no reason for Nial to lie about the fact that he had been given the spear by Arnold Birg, even less in front of his family.

    Yet, his father seemed to misunderstand him once again.

    "This stingy geezer sold the Myth weapon for less than 11000$?!?! How is that possible?! He forged it himself too?"

    Nial didn''t know the real reason for Arnold''s generosity either, but before he was even able to say a single word, his father added with an incredulous look.

    "Are you the God of fortune himself or what?!"

    It was evident that his father was jealous of him, but Nial could understand this.

    He was still struggling toe to terms with the truckload of information his father had dumped upon him.

    And, it shocked him no less than anyone else to learn about the spear''s true value.

    He had been under the impression that the spear was of a slightly higher quality, and not something that was worth more than anything they possessed, by several times.

    At that moment, Miles recalled something, which caused him to calm down within an instant.

    "Ahh, now I remember!! I heard that one of the cksmith''s daughters was blind and that she is now bedridden....maybe it''s because of that! Did he possibly ask you weird questions?"

    While his father awaited an answer from him, Nial couldn''t help but be shocked as his mind began to rattle wildly.

    ''Wait...don''t tell me that the cksmith was Shana''s father?''

    This seemingly simple realization cleared every single doubt he had.

    Now everything fell into ce as he finally understood what was going on.

    Yet, it caused Nial to feel weird.

    ''Does that mean..the Viper spear belonged to Shana''s sister? Is that also why the cksmith was so oddly emotional?''

    Nial was just about to give his father a proper answer when Maline, his mother, entered the living room.

    "Why are you two creating such a ruckus? Was your evaluation at the Originals association that good...or is it worse than ours?"

    Her sudden question made both Mn and Nial look at her and smile dryly, recalling that there had been something theypletely forgot about- Nial''s evaluation as an Original!

    Calming down, Nial decided to tell his parents everything that happened from the moment he left home up to the point he returned, attempting to not leave out anything important that could shock them.

    It took a while, but both his mom and dad were bbergasted when theyprehended what had happened to their son in such a short amount of time.

    "So, the girl that tested your talent was one of the daughters of the cksmith Arnold Birg? What kind of coincidence was that? You really are lucky that they seemed to like you¡­

    I heard that the cksmith has a bad temper and that he is stingy. If rumors are to be believed, he does not sell weapons to people if he doesn''t like them.

    But he is said to love his daughters over everything, so maybe you made him recall his sick daughter?"

    Maline said with a shrug and Miles could only nod his head.

    "That''s likely...either way, the dungeon should have reseted...do you want to ughter some slimes with your new weapon?!"

    Hearing this, Nial jumped up from his seat, while Maline could only sigh deeply as she worried about her son even before he entered the dungeon.

    However, now that he had received an extremely strong weapon, killing the slime boss should be rtively easy and it was only Nial''s strength that wascking.

    Despite that, Maline was especially worried about Nial''s confidence that would rapidly soar owing to the weapon he used, which might be the reason for him to overestimate his capabilities.

    Unfortunately, she knew just how stubborn Nial was.

    As such, she told him to be careful, and to retreat if it was necessary.

    After that, Maline added all kinds of warnings, but Nial couldn''t hear them anymore because he was already rushing toward the portal.

    "He is really fast...it''s good that he has great mana veins to perceive his surroundings...he is almost unrestricted¡­"

    Miles could only nod at his wife''s emotional and a bit proudments on her son.

    Upon hearing her, his envy about Nial''s weapon dispersed, recalling the hard times Nial had undergone.

    "To think that he grew up so fast after awakening his origin...it is as if his entire demeanor changed...It doesn''t look like he is forcing himself to smile for us¡­not anymore"

    Holding each other, Miles and Maline looked at the retreating figure of Nial, who disappeared inside the permanent slime dungeon.

    Their expression was filled with joy, pride, and relief.

    At least Nial was able to ovee the disability that had been holding him back all this time.

    He had finally awakened his origin, even if it was prettyte.

    Now, they could pay theirplete attention to Sabrina, which was more than necessary because the medicine she took was being used up much faster than they could replenish it!

 Chapter 18 Public Dungeons

    First, Nial had thought that his father had simply exaggerated how extraordinary a Myth weapon is.

    However, after entering the slime dungeon several times during the following days, Nial understood that the present he had been given by the cksmith was much more terrifying than he had assumed.

    That was also why he had also dialed cksmith Arnold''s number with the intention to return the Viper spear, thinking that the present was just too much of a burden to ept.

    Yet, the cksmith''s reaction upon hearing his words confused Nial.

    "I can understand how you feel, or at least I think I do, but the moment you insult me by returning the Viper spear, you will get to know my temper!

    If you dare step in my shop with the thought of returning the Viper spear, I will break your neck! If you want to thank me, ept the gift, be quiet and let me never see the spear again! And don''t you dare sell it because it will always find a way back to me!!"

    Nial was utterly dumbfounded about the sudden harsh words he had to listen to.

    The unexpected and aggressive words of the cksmith caused him to flinch because only his mother had been so loud in lecturing him before.

    Yet, he understood that the anger was masking the trace of sadness in the cksmith''s voice.

    Realizing that Nial fell silent and calmed down while trying to not shout back an angry retort.

    But it looked like the cksmith was not far from done as he continued with his outburst.

    "This fucking cursed spear, I should have never forged it!"

    Yet, a momentter, he heard a familiar voice talking to Arnold from behind him.

    "Dad, calm down! You know that it was not the spear''s fault! Didn''t you want to keep it for the day Jenny wakes up? She will definitely survive thea caused by the mana overload!"

    Not understanding anything, Nial kept silent and simply waited for the cksmith to reply.

    Because of that, he heard the cksmith''s low voice.

    "You know that it''s just an unattainable dream. She should give up on healing her mana core while being partially in aa and instead focus on recuperating!"

    Afterward, the cksmith''s voice turned louder as he spoke to Nial.

    "Either way, Nial, never mention the Viper spear, if you ever n on entering my shop again!.. I was just able to let go of it¡­"

    With the final words of warning, Arnold Brig hung up, leaving Nial dumbfounded, not sure what he should expect from the Viper spear.

    It was now his weapon, and his parents, who knew that he wanted to return the spear he had been gifted, had heard his entire conversation.

    After that they had simply exchanged nces before shrugging their shoulders.

    "If he doesn''t want it back, just keep it. With your mana core talent, you won''t be able to exhibit its entire capabilities, but it''s more than enough to take care of the lowest and low ranked Rookie dungeons!

    You shouldn''t have problems conquering them once your Origin rank increases!"

    Nodding his head, Nial understood that there was no need to return the Viper spear to the cksmith.

    As such, he spent his days utilizing it to his heart''s content without neglecting the other things he had to pay attention to.

    Since he was able to do many more things than before, owing to his awakening as an Original, a shortage of time was what held back Nial the most!

    Acquiring knowledge about Originals, dungeons, and other things, and learning how to read and write were among his high priority tasks.

    What followed next was his practice with the Viper spear, getting to know his new weapon, how much mana was required to utilize all of its functions, and how to wield mana properly.

    However, that was not all, and Nial tried to maximize the effects of his [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability without the need to use up any mana.

    Instead, he tried to bnce out the natural absorption rate of mana with the utilization of his ability.

    Unfortunately, this was not exactly worthwhile, and Nial had to discard this step.

    Mana gathering techniques existed, and there was also the chance to absorb origin crystals owing to the fact that he conquered the slime dungeon once a day.

    Despite that, Nial handed every single origin crystal to his parents, knowing that they required the money for Sabrina''s medicine.

    With every single passing day, her situation was bing worse, and Nial knew that he had the capabilities to change their financial situation.

    He might still be blind, but with the mana weapon he was wielding, hisbat strength might even soar higher than that of his parents.

    That sounded weird to Nial, but he realized that the Viper spear was strong and sharp enough to pierce through his parents'' weapon and armor without any issues.

    It was because of this that he thought of giving the Viper spear to his parents instead, but they had rejected it, telling him that he had been gifted the spear, and nobody else.

    Both his mother and father wanted him to have the best possible weapon while fighting beasts in the dungeon and as such vehemently disagreed to take it from him.

    As such, Nial had proposed to enter the nearby goblin dungeon, which was called one of the lowest ranked dungeons.

    ording to the government''sws, every dungeon spawned on their property belonged to them.

    Meanwhile, the others would naturally belong to the government, guild, and Originals association.

    There was only one way that ordinary citizens could enter a dungeon which was through public dungeons!

    Every 4th dungeon that spawned on the government''snds would be open for public use.

    As such, the public also had the chance to enter such dungeons as they were not restricted to only the government or private individuals.<sub> </sub>

    At the same time, if Originals were not satisfied with this, they could still look for other dungeons in the wilderness.

    The immediate surrounding of the shelter was still protected, yet, overflowing with Rookie dungeons.

    However, nobody would be responsible for the death of anyone, if something were to happen in the open!

    As such, Nial wanted to focus on public dungeons or dungeons that belonged to private individuals who charged a rtively low fee from individuals looking to enter them!

    His mother didn''t like Nial''s idea of him entering a different dungeon than their slime dungeon that was extremely safe.

    After all, it was almost impossible for Nial to be injured while fighting slimes, but Miles held his wife back from dampening their son''s spirits.

    After awakening his Origin, Nial was bing more responsible than he had ever been and his entire personality was slowly developing, which was extremelyte for his age.

    Yet, considering how he had lived in the past with his confidence getting crushed every other day as his peers advanced while he struggled to evenplete the most basic tasks, he had now turned a new leaf.

    Being able to sense mana and much more instilled him with newfound confidence.

    Thus, Miles wanted his son to take responsibility for his own life, and be independent and strong enough to not end up like them.

    They did not want their rotten luck to cast its evil shadow on their beloved children wherein they would be too poor and powerless to protect and help the ones they loved the most!

    Nial''s mana core limit might not be high, but there were always ways to ovee obstacles as long as one was determined enough to give their best!

    With enough willpower and money most problems could be solved, and amongst them, breaking through their limits was possible.

    There were quite a few problems that could ur which Nial was aware of, but being fully focused on something worked wonders in multiple ways, such as oveing one''s limit!

    Using his mana to perceive the different types of notifications about public dungeons on the official Originals website, Nial figured that there were quite a few dungeons that had manifested on the government''s grounds.

    That was not at all surprising, but it was quite annoying because the military and other organizations belonging to the government were given the first priority to enter governmental dungeons.

    Thus, Nial knew that he had to make an appointment at a private dungeon despite their high entrance fees, or he would have to figure out the best way to enter one of therger, lowest Rookie dungeons that belonged to the government.

    ''Because I''m blind, the military will exempt me from the mandatory duty¡­ that would require me to be employed by the Originals association and attend a three year apprenticeship¡­ what else can I do?!''

    Trying to figure out ways on how to earn money the fastest way would be to leave the shelter, but that was not feasible.

    Not only was he too weak, but he would have to pay a fare for a shuttle to drive him around in the wilderness.

    Either of the above ways was way too expensive and dangerous for someone who just wanted to enter lowest Rookie dungeons.

    Suddenly, just as Nial wanted to avert his attention back to studying as there were still many things he didn''t understand, his old phone rang.

    [Pseudo Merchant]

    Hearing the name, Nial couldn''t help but smile.

    Leaving everything else he had been doing, Nial epted the call of the one and only friend he had still retained after all these years.

    "Hey Melvin, how are you? I haven''t heard from you for ages!"

    Nial was excited to hear from his old friend, who hadn''t been in the shelter for almost an entire year.

    He belonged to a merchant family that were on a business trip to one of the new shelters that was further away from Katu.

    Katu was one of the calmest shelters that faced the fewest beast tides, dungeon breakouts and manifestation of overly powerful dungeons.

    As such, many Originals would leave the shelter if their talent was high enough, and their hunger for strength equally high as well.

    Other than Originals, merchants who wanted to make business deals with the other shelters to keep all of them thriving, and well-maintained were required to travel through the wilderness.

    Because of that, he was d that Melvin was not only alive but apparently also back in Katu!

    "Hey Nial, I''m obviously fine. My family just came back from Merc, and it was amazing!! You''re home, right? I cannot wait to see you. There are so many things I have to tell you.

    Miles and Maline are fine with meing over, right?"

    Nial only smiled, and before he could reply, he heard the ovepping voice of a ringing doorbell, both through the phone and also from outside his front door.

    "You''re already here? That''s great. I have something amazing to tell you too!"

    Excited about meeting his old friend after a long time made Nial feel extremely happy, which Melvin noticed.

    It had been a long time since he had seen his best friend so excited, and when he stressed his memory a little, he was a little bit bbergasted to realize that it had not only been a long time but more like Nial had never sounded as excited as today.

    Hearing Nial''s joy felt good and Melvin felt even better now than he had shown up outside his door to surprise him.

    As such, the moment Nial opened the door, he immediately blurted out the reason for his own joy.

    "Nial, I awoke my Origin!"

    This caused Nial to freeze in ce for a moment, only to smile slyly as he replied,

    "What a coincidence, me too!"

 Chapter 19 Quarrel

    Melvin simply stared at his best friend wide-eyed, who smiled at him innocently.  The shock was apparent on his face as he blurted out.

    "You too?! You had a natural origin awakening??"

    He seemed to be more shocked than Nial was astonished about his friend''s revtion.

    When Nial nodded his head to answer Melvin''s question, he could only hear his best friend mutter under his breath.

    "...and I had to nag my father to get me a medicine to forcefully awaken my origin¡­"

    Nial knew that there were certain medicines that could increase the chance of being able to be an Original, but they cost a fortune.

    As such, these medicines were well beyond the reach of ordinary citizens.

    Before, he believed that Melvin''s family were ordinary merchants, but Nial could probably not even guess the price of such medical treasures.

    His visit to the cksmith shop had left him stunned as it is when he had checked the prices ofmon grade Myth weapons.

    Nevertheless, he smiled at his friend, happy that he got to awaken his origin too.

    "Why does it matter how you awoke your origin. Nobody will ask about thatter, right? We should definitely venture into dungeons in the future together, alright?!

    Nowe inside!"

    Melvin noticed it toote that he hadined out loud.

    As such, he quieted down before entering the house.

    Walking into the living room as if he had been living in the house for years, the first thing Melvin noticed was the backyard and Nial''s parents.

    "Oh, your parents are home. I should greet them, and sis Sabrina!"

    This caused Nial to freeze in ce before he eximed,

    "Wait!"

    Nial''s smile had instantly disappeared and Melvin noticed this when he turned around to see the abrupt change in Nial''s expression.

    "Don''t talk to my parents about Sabrina...her illness has worsened in thest few months¡­ She is now bedridden and most of the time asleep because the illness leaves her with no energy to even move.

    My sister even needs an oxygen mask to breathe¡­The medicine to barely keep her alive is expensive too, and her situation is bing worse with each passing day..."

    Hearing this, Melvin''s face turned ashen, before he turned angry.

    Rushing towards Nial, he held him by the cor before shouting,

    "WHY didn''t you call me!! I can help you, even if it''s only financially! What the hell is wrong with you? I know that you don''t socialize and that you don''t like asking people for help, but it''s your sister we are talking about!"

    Nial knew that Melvin was concerned about his sister a lot, and in their childhood, they had always yed in a group of three.

    As such, his friend''s reaction was perfectly normal which made Nial sigh deeply as a specific memory shed through his mind.

    It was a memory of the secretary of Melvin''s father visiting their home, only to threaten them to never bug his son for financial aid.

    He threatened all his family members that if they would ever ask Melvin for money, he would make their life a living hell!

    Maybe this had been for Melvin''s sake to prevent his friends from exploiting him, or it had apletely different reason.

    But in the end, neither Nial nor his parents had ever thought of asking for Melvin''s family''s help, to begin with.

    They were righteous and always believed that exploiting their friends and family was wrong!

    But, Sabrina''s declining health hit them the worst and it might have made Nial''s parents think of asking Nial to request help from Melvin.

    If that thought had crossed their minds, they never spoke it out loud, fearing that Melvin''s father''s anger could worsen their situation.

    Because of this, Nial was not sure how to respond to his friend''s questions.

    So, he only let Melvin rant and vent out. Meanwhile, he felt at a loss and his frustration about the entire situation was threatening to escape through his lips in the form of some very harsh words.

    He pushed his friend''s hands away that had grabbed him by the cor, only to do the same to his friend.

    "What were we supposed to do, huh? Did you expect me to ask for your help, just to end up in an even worse state?!"

    Their nice reunion seemed to have taken on the form of a fierce debate that was now escting towards mild violence, but Nial couldn''t help himself anymore.

    He was frightened about his sister''s situation which had worsened in thest few days.

    Yet, his parents had told him to wait while farming other dungeons than the permanent slime dungeon in their backyard.

    It was frustrating and made him angry like nothing else. Thus, he didn''t hold back when Melvin, his one and only friend, tried to find fault with him without knowing the truth in its entirety.

    Meanwhile, Melvin was astonished for a moment to see the way Nial''s movements were smooth and perfectly executed as if he could see everything around him.

    It took him a second to recall what his friend had just said as his words reyed in his mind multiple times.

    "What...are you even talking about??...Wait...My family did note to threaten yours...right?"

    Loosening the grasp around Melvin''s cor, Nial lowered his head with a sigh, but he didn''t say anything. In the end, his sister''s worsening condition was not Melvin''s fault, and asking for financial help was only something they would do if they were extremely desperate.

    This would happen soon, but Nial knew that his parents would apply for a loan from the Originals association. The loan Originals could take was high and with aparatively low-interest rate. Yet, it was restricted to the talent one had.

    As such, without the ability or resources to umte enough to pay back, his parent''s loan would only eat their money without relieving Sabrina of her pain for a long time.

    "Let''s just forget about that, alright? I will start earning money by conquering dungeons, helping my family, and continuing to improve so that I can earn more!

    Only that way will I be able to help my sister, and fighting with you won''t help me, right?<sub> </sub>

    Just forget whatever I said..."

    Nial didn''t want Melvin to quarrel with his family because of the incapability of his and his parents to look after Sabrina.

    As such, even after asking several times, Melvin was unable to get to know an answer.

    This was frustrating, but at the same time, Nial understood that Melvin just wanted to help him and that he was even more frustrated about their situation.

    Awakening his origin should be something to celebrate, but because of their financial situation, they were unable to do so.

    Instead, Nial seemed to be desperate enough to enter dangerous dungeons if necessary.

    Initially, Nial seemed to be happy about having awoken his Origin and finding the Viper spear, but recalling their situation forced him back to reality, and his mood plummeted.

    Melvin felt the same, and the two of them gave each other a brief overview of what had happened to them during thest few months before Nial heard that his parents returned.

    Miles had visited the surrounding dungeons to earn some more money, while Maline had been inside the slime dungeon.

    Upon seeing Melvin, they felt happy, and they invited him for lunch, but Melvin wanted to politely decline the offer.

    However, Nial''s parents insisted, and thus he was forced to stay.

    After their short quarrel, both Nial and Melvin felt a little bit at odds with each other.

    The tension between the two was clearly visible and was noticed by Nial''s parents as well.

    This was also another reason they had insisted Melvin stay.

    They knew that Melvin was Nial''s only friend, and somehow, it felt weird that their reunion was not happy as both had awoken from their origin, but they were staring in opposite directions with sulky faces.

    Yet, after catching some of the words of their quarrel where it seemed like Melvin spoke about lending Nial money in order to allow him ''purchase new equipment'', they could roughly gauge what must have happened.

    Melvin''s expression was not that of belittlement or pity about their financial situation but filled with determination to help, which was not something one would normally do.

    His best friend never discussed the financial situation of his family so Melvin had never spoken about lending them something because it was rude.

    Yet, upon learning about Sabrina''s condition, he was willing to do everything.

    "We are merchants who are directly employed by the government, so we have quite a bit of money and additional rights, like prioritized ess to government dungeons and potent medicine!

    There are also specific discounts we get, so the government''s additional fee is not applicable to us, and sometimes we receive even more perks!"

    Melvin suddenly shared this information, which caused the others to stop eating for a moment.

    Looking at Nial for a moment, his parents averted their attention back to Melvin, as his father sarcastically added.

    "That''s great for you. We have a dungeon in our backyard too¡­"

    Yet, Melvin was not even focusing on Miles anymore and he was simply staring at Nial, who felt his stare on him as he fidgeted with his spoon.

    "Nial...let''s go to one of thergest, lowest ranked Rookie dungeons. We should be able to earn a fortune, even without the knowledge of my family, right? Do you think you can cope with that, Nial? There are multiple types of beasts, like slimes, goblins, but also kobolds and so on!"

    Hearing this, Nial instinctively looked up and stared at Melvin with his lifeless eyes. He was unsure if he was doing the right thing as he asked him.

    "Permanent dungeon?"

    Melvin assumed that he had piqued Nial''s interest because entering a dungeon together wouldn''t make his merchant family suspicious about anything.

    It was perfectly normal to enter a dungeon with other fellow Originals after all!

    "No, it''s an instance dungeon with active respawn times, so it''s even better, isn''t it?!"

    Nial seemed to be astonished, but he took his time formting a response as he was not sure whether his and Melvin''s definition of an instance dungeon were the same.

    He was reluctant about doing anything that could offend Melvin''s father and the rest of his family.

    "I also have a spatial ring, let''s just store the origin crystals and so on inside them. I already have everything I want, so you can even have the gains!"

    Somehow, Melvin seemed to have arrived perfectly prepared to depart right off the bat, and Nial hastily shoved the food down his throat as he eximed,

    "Alright, let''s go then!!"

    Following that Nial stood up while Melvin finished his te with a bright smile on his face that seemed to say ''Finally, I got you!''

    Rushing towards the corner of the room, where he had ced the Viper spear, he held it in his hand and beckoned for his friend to hurry up.

    Melvin eyed the spear for a short moment, before nodding his head, which only looked like a rod to him as its des were retracted.

    "The rod has quite a few engravings...and a special function at the tip...I didn''t think Uncle Arnold improved that much¡­ Either way, let''s leave and earn a fortune for sis Sabrina!!"

    Filled with vigor that seemed to have disappeared after their small scuffle, Melvin felt much more relieved to be able to help in any way.

    And, even Nial figured that Melvin had found a great way to help him and his sister without irking his merchant father.

    Leaving the house in a hurry, they sprinted through the front yard as Maline and Miles stared at each other.

    "Did Nial tell Melvin about his father''s threat, did I miss something, or are they simply suicidal?"

    It was Miles, who asked this question, the confusion visible on his face.

    Yet, a momentter, Maline pped him on the back of his head gently as she answered him.

    "Nobody is suicidal here!! They''ll return soon!"

    After saying this, she mumbled thest few words to herself, "...hopefully without an injury¡­"

 Chapter 20 Instance Dungeon

    Nial was a little bit embarrassed about his earlier behavior because Melvin had no idea what had been going on or that his father had threatened his best friend''s family.

    As such, his friend''s reaction had been perfectly normal.

    Nevertheless, the tension that had umted within Nial was unintentionally released when his friend started toin.

    Fortunately, Melvin didn''t seem to be that bothered about his outburst anymore and it even seemed that he had realized that his family was involved, somehow.

    At least that was what Nial assumed after he noticed Melvin''s change in attitude.

    Instead of trying to force Nial to ept money, he quickly adjusted his stance during lunch, changing to speaking about dungeons.

    It was not weird for Melvin to enter dungeons, and with Nial''s awakening as an Original, it wouldn''t look suspicious if they were to enter any kind of dungeon together.

    "You should be at the 1st Origin stage, right? Can you already visualize things in your mind? If so, how far is the range up to which you can do that?"

    Dragged out of his train of thoughts by Melvin''s sudden questions, Nial took a moment to answer them, while simultaneously running after Melvin.

    This was more difficult than Nial had expected because his friend seemed to be much faster than he was, and only by using his entire focus on sensing his mana fluctuations could he follow him.

    "Slow down first!" Nial thus shouted, which Melvin immediately did upon realizing that he had been running too fast.

    Nial reached him while gasping for breath as he added,

    "I awoke my Origin not too long ago, and without absorbing an origin crystal or owning a mana gathering technique, it will take a while before my mana core is filled! My range of visualization is around two meters, so it''s decent!"

    Nial refrained from mentioning his Odyssey seed, or the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability for now.

    He didn''t think that was really necessary because the ability was not something that would help in theirbat.

    It was just forpleting their daily tasks...at least for now.

    Melvin had slowed down, nodding his head in approval of Nial''s visualization range which was exceptional in his opinion.

    Meanwhile, Nial decided to focus more on perceiving everything in his surroundings.

    He didn''t want to be lost, which was only logical when roaming through an unknown ce.

    Meanwhile, Melvin had forgotten that Nial was blind for a moment because he had acted just like anyone who could see.

    However, he didn''tment on that, and neither did he mention his family again.

    The way Nial had abruptly stopped himself from revealing more was proof enough that his family had done something to make Nial and his parents feel reluctant to ept his financial help, despite their desperate situation!

    The dungeon was thus the best choice, and he had be too eager to conquer any kind of dungeon as long as he could help Sabrina!

    However, helping Sabrina by risking their life and limb would result in more loss than gains. As such, Melvin began to bombard Nial with a series of questions that would help them to fightter.

    "What''s your talent? How many beasts have you killed yet? You don''t have any martial art training or technique yet, right? You shouldn''t have an ability either...Maybe we should just enter the first floor of the dungeon, otherwise, it will be too dangerous.."

    Nial was d that Melvin had let go of their previous quarrel and was discussing things with a rational mind.

    Rather, he had grown increasingly positive, and his determination to enter a dungeon further increased the more he spoke.

    In the end, Melvin didn''t notice that his words had indirectly indicated that Nial was poor and did not have the necessary resources to grow strong either.

    The moment he realized this, he bit back his tongue, but before Melvin was able to say anything, Nial answered the questions.

    "My mana veins are superior and have still not matured, which is why I can visualize everything in a radius of around two meters. Unfortunately, my mana core limit is three erging processes, so it''s just the average. As for the rest, you know it already.

    Nevertheless, I got an ability crystal for the first slime I killed so I have th-...."

    Before Nial could even finish his sentence, Melvin cut him abruptly as he eximed in surprise.

    "You didn''t bind the ability that dropped from one of the slimes in the Lowest Rookie dungeon that manifested in your backyard, right? Please don''t tell me that''s true...you would have wasted your precious ability spot if you did so!!!"

    Now that they were running slowly, there was no problem for Nial to speak while moving, but that didn''t help him in enduring his friend''s sudden lecture.

    However, Nial could only smile as he realized his friend''s concern and reassured him.

    "My ability slot for the Origin stage is still there, don''t worry! Either way, even without sufficientbat experience, I shouldn''t have too many issues fighting weaker beasts in closebat.

    My reflexes are decent and I have a good weapon to make use of! By the way, what''s your talent, and current rank?"

    At this, Melvin sighed in relief before he nodded his head and answered Nial''s question with a pride-filled voice.

    "I''m at the 3rd Origin stage, and I have a high talent for my mana core limit and mana vein. I already have an ability, but let me surprise youter...hehe!"

    Melvin sounded much more joyous than before and eager to reveal his ability to Nial in a dramatic way.

    His joy and excitement were infectious and Nial couldn''t help but feel the same.

    However, in his case, it had multiple reasons.

    First, his friend had returned from a far away shelter to meet him after a long time, and second, they were about to enter arge Instance dungeon with active respawn times.<sub> </sub>

    It would be extremely dangerous if too many beasts were to be lurking inside the dungeon at a time.

    But it was actively regted by the government so the chances of this scenario urring was a lot less.

    With that in mind, Nial hoped that he would be able to make a huge fortune in the next few hours, even more so with Melvin''s help.

    His friend had always been exceptional at everything he did. As such, he must have a great ability too, while hisbat prowess should be extremely high as well!

    "The Viper Spear is a Myth Weapon, so you won''t have too many problems killing slower beasts, but tackling long-range attacks will be quite a hassle¡­ I should take care of everything that can attack us via long-range before they can react. That''s probably the best!"

    Melvin was mumbling all the ideas popping up in his head as he shared the tactics and other stuff he was preparing in order to advance through the dungeon at a rapid speed.

    Meanwhile, Nial was only listening to him half-heartedly while he simultaneously tried to use his mana more efficiently.

    With the Viper spear in one hand, he tried to time his moves so that the de would be released and retracted when he wanted it to.

    Fighting with a rod was exceptionally useful, even more so if he released a hidden de that could create a second impact.

    It had not been difficult for Nial to realize that the force and speed at which the de was normally released was several times more than what Nial would currently execute with his entire strengthbined.

    As such, using the rod, while subtly controlling the release and retraction process of the spear''s de would allow him to fight much more efficiently.

    Only the focus he had to use to actively retract and release the de was a little bit high.

    Thus, Nial had to either let it be or train it.

    Because both young men were in their own world, they didn''t even notice how much time had passed as they reached the district thaty between Nial''s home and the central district.

    Only when Melvin was doneputing a n allowing his mind to stop working furiously did he realize that they were near their destination.

    Thus, Melvin tapped gently on his shoulder to make him change his direction to take a shortcut, dragging him out of his thoughts.

    In the end, it took them more than an hour to reach the dungeon, and they could have taken a shuttle to shorten the time to arge extent.

    Yet, the time was well spent as, during their journey on foot, the two of them were able to make up their mind about everything they had been thinking about.

    As such, by the time they reached the front of the gate, Nial was sweating profusely, while Melvin took a heavy breath as he tried to raise his friend''s spirits.

    "Let''s first earn as much as possible for Sabrina. Afterward, you should really increase your strength, while I will try to find out as much as I can about her disease!"

    Nial knew that Melvin liked Sabrina, but for him to be so concerned about her meant that she was probably more important to his friend than Nial had expected.

    Even if he didn''t assume it, that was not something Nial could be bothered about right now...maybeter if Melvin''s family would bother them once again, but definitely not right now.

    As such, he just nodded his head before thanking Melvin for his kindness.

    It had been almost a year since he hadst seen him. And, sometimes friendships could change within days or even hours.

    Despite that and the fact that they had had a small scuffle, Melvin was still eager to be of some assistance. There was no need for him to help their entire family, after all.

    However, Melvin just shook his head before he mumbled.

    "I''m sorry that I couldn''t help earlier...but my family would have probably prevented me from doing something either way¡­"

    Sighing deeply, Melvin was growing increasingly sure that someone from his family must have visited Nial''s family, and threatened them to not ask for favors.

    Otherwise, they would have definitely told him that Sabrina was ill!

    Anger for his own family, particrly his own father, red up within him, but he knew that there was no way for him to do anything.

    Rather, if he were to throw a tantrum and disobey the family, his father would send him away, which was definitely not something that could help Sabrina!

    As such, they had to act passively, which prevented Melvin from sending a doctor straight away to check Sabrina.

    Even if it was annoying, the most he could do was to search for a cure and earn a fortune by entering dungeons!

    Nial didn''t say anything to Melvin''s apology, knowing that it was not his fault and he had been in the dark all this time.

    Instead, he pped his friend''s back before smiling brightly and spoke in a determined voice,

    "You''re the best friend I could ever get, and I think Sabrina will be happy to see you too, once she wakes up.

    Let''s earn a fortune and find a way to allow her to stay awake longer!"

    Both were determined to give their all to protect and heal Sabrina, even if that meant they had to exceed their limits and enter dangerous fields.

    Yet, what both didn''t know was that the dungeon was currently used to train newly awakened teenagers of the military middle school.

    A new batch of young teenagers of the military was currently approaching the gate.

    They were led by their extremely young instructor, who looked at Melvin and Nial with doubt as she mumbled while shaking her head.

    "They''re gonna die!"

 Chapter 21 Plain

    While the female instructor of the military pointed out at both Nial and Melvin to make an example out of them and show the trainees how one should not enter any kind of dungeon, the two ambitious young men were oblivious to what was going on.

    They were fully focused on themselves and the dungeon in front of them.

    Joining the queue outside the dungeon to allow interested folks to enter it, they found themselves right in front of the Military instructor and her young students.

    Therge group was busy discussing in excited voices, talking about all kinds of things concerning the mana gathering techniques, dungeons and so on.

    At the same time, they were staring at Nial''s weapon, which seemed to be extremely interesting in their eyes.

    Their collective gaze made the female instructor curious and even she flitted her eyes to look at what her students were intently staring at.

    Yet, before she saw the spear, her eyes were drawn to Nial''s face because she sensed something from his mana fluctuations that confused her.

    ''There is not a single trace of mana around his eyes...oh! He is blind?''

    From the way Nial had been moving, nothing indicated that he was handicapped in any way.

    As such, she was a little bit astonished to find out that Nial was blind. However, this made her believe that her earlier assumption was correct.

    ''They will definitely die...he is blind and seems to be ate bloomer in his origin awakening, while his friend...I don''t have high hopes from him either''

    Melvin didn''t show any signs of being exceptional, but to her eyes even he seemed subpar like his friend. In the end, he was just a nk piece of paper for the female instructor, who realised that it was the duo''s turn to enter the dungeon.

    But before entering, they had to pass the soldiers that governed the government''s dungeons andplete the security check.

    "Name, Originals ID card, and appointment certificate please!" One of the soldiers said in a dry tone.

    He gave the two young men a quick onceover, before averting his attention to a holographic screen, manifested through the bracelet he was wearing.

    "We don''t have an appointment, but please take a look at this Sir!"

    Melvin''s first few words were enough for the soldier, who was busy looking through a list with all appointments, to send them away.

    But, when he looked up his eyes fell on the token Melvin had taken out from his spatial ring.

    It was a seemingly ordinary symbol engraved on the token in a tinum color.

    ''The government''s emblem.'' Nial realised as he perceived the token with his mana, and so did the soldier, who looked at Nial and Melvin for a moment before nodding his head.

    "You guys can go in! Don''t die and follow the government''s dungeon rules!"

    The soldier''s eyes remained on Nial for a moment, while he said this which meant that the warning was especially for Nial. But without bothering about it, Nial nodded his head in a polite manner before following Melvin, who had already passed by the soldier as if he was familiar with the entire procedure.

    Standing next to his friend, Nial couldn''t help but smile as he poked his friend.

    "I never knew you can act so shamelessly prideful, did you learn to walk around with your chest pushed out in Merc?"

    Making fun of Melvin with the things he was able to visualize thanks to the mana he was able to control, Nial asked him cheekily.

    Thus, he didn''t even notice that one of the young awakened children from the group of the military middle school children, asked the female instructor a very important question.

    "Ms. Melion, howe this blind man was able to move around like anyone else? Haven''t we been taught that such Originals don''t enter dungeons? Was that wrong?"

    Looking down at the young girl, Nina Melion, their young instructor, maintained a neutral expression as she corrected her student.

    "That''s why you should listen properly if I teach you something. You''ve got it all wrong! Blindness may be a handicap, but with enough training to control their own mana and perceive the surroundings with unannexed mana, blind people can ovee their restrictions to arge extent, even if it''s not a perfect solution!

    In some scenarios, it might be a disadvantage, but sometimes, being unable to use one sense, can give you the proficiency to sharpen your other senses to a rtively higher degree. At least as an Original this is possible. It''s hard, but not impossible!"

    Nodding her head, the girl fell silent so as to not be subjected to a long lecture and embarrass herself more in front of her peers.

    Her expression signified her thoughts, ''If only I had not asked¡­'' before she turned around with a head that was filled with knowledge she would forget in less than half an hour.

    While the female instructormented about the punishment of being forced to temporarily teach at a military school, Nial and Melvin had already appeared in the middle of arge in.

    Unable to perceive anything but the surrounding mana flow in addition to the loose soil that squished below his feet softly, Nial immediately figured out another big disadvantage of being unable to see.

    ''I will get lost in dungeons that lead me to big ins¡­what would happen if a dungeon throws me into the depths of an ocean...that would be even worse¡­''

    Shaking his head, Nial wanted to prevent his mind from running wild.

    He tried to get his act together and told himself to focus on the given scenario.

    "Is the entire area a in? If so, you''ll have to provide me with intel, otherwise, I won''t be of any real use!"

    Quickly analysing the situation, Nial sensed the dangers that could crop up and didn''t even hesitate to ask for Melvin''s help.

    Meanwhile, Melvin had already realized that the in area they had emerged in, was one of the worst ces to be.<sub> </sub>

    At least if he were to consider Nial''s situation.

    "We have emerged on the first floor''s in area. More than a dozen meters above us is a wall, so they won''t attack you from above that altitude.

    There is currently no beast around us, and the forest, which is right at the center of the Instance dungeon''s first floor, is approximately 100 meters behind you.

    However, on the outskirts, we can find the weakest beasts, especially inside the ins¡­"

    Nodding his head, Nial showed that he had understood his friend as he tightened his grip over the spear and replied,

    "Alright, let''s stay here. Just tell me when beasts appear around us. You will see them before I can sense them, let alone perceive them with mana!"

    Yet, Nial''s ears twitched and he instinctively turned around before the words had even left his mouth.

    A fraction of a secondter, he hadunched himself in the direction he had turned to, and pierced the Viper spear into the ground as he stopped a few meterster.

    Melvin frowned at this sight, only to hear a painful squeal followed by the sickening sight of blood sttering all around.

    "Maybe...I can hear them before you can even see them!" Nialmented.

    He then wiped his face which had turned ghastly pale with his free hand to get rid of the warm blood sttered on his face.

    Killing a single beast that was made of flesh and bones caused different emotions to surge up within Nial than killing hundreds of slimes had.

    Thus, he retched while feeling disgusted with himself.

    Yet, only a few momentster, Nial realised that he was acting like a hypocrite.

    ''What is even the difference between slimes and beasts made of blood and flesh? Am I really acting like a softie right now?''

    Nial was not sure how exactly he was able to calm down his mind that fast, but it was definitely advantageous.

    Nevertheless, the disgust on his face didn''t disappear immediately, and Melvin noticed that Nial was fighting with himself.

    However, that didn''t matter to him right now because he was too bbergasted to realize that Nial was way better than him.

    This fact made him ignore the fact that his friend seemed to have killed a beast other than slimes, for the first time in his life.

    ''His other senses are heightened and better than mine...by leagues!''

    This was the realisation that shook Melvin made as he watched Nial nonchntly pick up the origin crystal that had materialized the moment the Lesser Earth Mole disintegrated in a daze.

    Afterward, Nial threw the crystal in Melvin''s direction, indicating to him to store it inside the spatial ring, which he did.

    At the same time, Nial cleared the negative thoughts in his mind, convincing himself that he had to kill in order to save his sister.

    However, a small voice in his head repeated that this was just the excuse of a hypocrite.

    He mercilessly shoved that voice down and concentrated on the task at hand.

    Shaking his head, Nial realised that he had toe to a consensus with his mind that seemed to y a tug of war, pulling him back from doing what was necessary at the moment.

    He knew he had to quicklye to terms with the fact that killing beasts without feeling guilty, every single time he took a life, was the best way forward.

    If it had been before the awakening of his origin, even killing slimes would have been impossible because he was against violence.

    It was already odd that his demeanor had changed, which Melvin had also noticed.

    Despite that, it was a well-known fact that many Originals changed after their origin awoke, giving them enough confidence to turn into their real selves, without being forced to change for others.

    Meanwhile, researchers stated that some Originals might change ording to specific emotions that had been sealed within them from a young age, and that they were only released with the origin awakening.

    Feeling these awakened emotions made those unique Originals stronger than the rest, particrly if they were feeling a specific emotion from the depths of their conscience.

    Because of that, young children that seemed to be unable to respond with the use of emotions were observed by the government, unsure whether they would awaken their origin, how talented such Originals were, and if the Emotion-amplification theory was true!

    Having watched Nial mercilessly kill a beast, Melvin stared nkly at Nial, not moving a single inch.

    "Melvin? Is there something on my face?  Can you stop staring at me? I''m fine now. Let''s start our hunt!"

    Dragged out of his thoughts, Melvin couldn''t help but smile bitterly, thinking that his friend''s disadvantage of not being able to see, might not be as bad as he had thought.

    However, that was just wishful thinking because Melvin didn''t want to ept that he hadn''t been vignt about his surroundings. On the other hand, Nial''s body had been trained to hear his surroundings 24/7 because his life depended on it!

    That was the big difference between Nial and Melvin- one of them used only a portion of his senses, and relied mostly on his eyesight to spot opponents, while Nial tried to maximize the utilization of every single of his senses!

 Chapter 22 Nobody Is The Same

    In the following minutes, Melvin had calmed down before sharing his intel about the Mnd Dungeon, which was the name of the dungeon they were currently in.

    Apparently, the dungeon was divided into fouryers, with the weakest beasts living on the lowest floor which was the one Nial and Melvin had entered.

    All fouryers inhabited the same type of beasts, but the difference in them was the amount of mana they had umted in order to strengthen themselves.

    As such, the firstyer was suitable for young children who had just awakened their origin, or those who were already at the 2nd Origin stage.

    Afterward, they would enter the 2nd and subsequentyers, where the inhabiting beasts were much stronger.

    However, corresponding to their increase in strength, either the drop rate of origin crystals would increase, or the quality of the dropped origin crystal would be better.

    Thus, many would decide to make quick money once they reached the required rank.

    Nevertheless, the dangers were not to be underestimated because there was a wide variety of beasts.

    Amongst them were the Lesser Earth moles, Melvin and Nial had already encountered, followed by Slimes, Goblins, Kobolds, Ferocious Dodos, and Vine Wolves.

    Vine Wolves were said to be the strongest owing to their racial advantage as agile predators, but Nial felt that Kobolds and Goblins were much more dangerous.

    Much like humans, they built their societies, hunted inrge groups, and had a decentbat lineup with archers, or those who used blowpipes with poisoned arrows!

    As such, after Nial digested the information provided by Melvin, he could roughly gauge what opponents would be the biggest threat for them, and who he could finish off without even the slightest issue.

    While the Moles and Slimes were easy to fight and kill, possibly also including the Ferocious Dodos, the remaining three types of beasts were slightly more problematic.

    And, the human-like beasts were the most annoying of all.

    However, Melvin said that he would take care of them, and Nial believed that his friend would be able to do this.

    They would remain in the open in after all not giving attackers any chance to hide andunch a surprise attack.

    Because of that, even smaller groups of Kobolds and Goblins should be easily visible.

    There was only one thing that caused Nial to feel a little bit confused.

    Instead of taking out a bow and arrows tounch a long-range attack, Melvin wielded a wand that looked simr to his Viper spear.

    The only difference was that Melvin''s wand was much shorter than the Viper spear. Furthermore, there was a sphere at the top of it, marked with unique runes, and materials that were rich in mana.

    Through the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability, Nial was even able to perceive tiny electric currents within the wand''s sphere, which caused him to open his mouth in astonishment.

    Melvin noticed this, only to smile proudly.

    "The Electra wand is a Myth weapon, just like your Viper spear. The only difference is that it has a lightning sphere embedded into it with a special type of engraving that enhances lightning.

    They''re enhancing my [Lightning affinity(Comprehension)] ability!"

    The more Nial heard, the less believable his friend''s words became.

    "Your family is really¡­ rich and generous, I guess?"

    Smiling ruefully, Nial didn''t even want to imagine how expensive amon grade Lightning ability crystal of the poorest quality was.

    Yet, his friend had a Lightning affinity with the [Comprehension] tag, which meant that the limit of Melvin''s ability was directly rted to his understanding of Lightning.

    Thus, the more Melvin would learn about the essence of Lightning, the stronger his ability would be.

    This also meant that it was a limitless affinity without any restrictions, and had an infinite potential, which, in turn, meant that it was extremely foolish to underestimate it!

    After adding the price for a Myth Wand that was solely focused on enhancing a single, rare ability to this sphere, Nial''s head began to spin.

    Calcting the price for both the wand and affinity was simply impossible, and he felt slightly jealous of his friend''s luck and impressive family connections that made him have the best of the best.

    However, shaking his head, Nial decided to nip the issue in the bud.

    He had long since known that everyone was born with different family background and fate.

    Hence, there was no way someone would be the same as others.

    As such, it had been forever since he had epted that some were more fortunate than others, and were born with a silver spoon in their mouth while others had to work for years, tirelessly, to just hope to receive the same benefit.

    If he were to be unable to ept such a simple fact, Nial knew that he wouldn''t have ovee his disability that would have otherwise crippled him along with the fact that he had been unable to even sense mana.

    Those who said the world was fair, had never been at their lowest, and it was only obvious that they would believe and trust the fair world.

    However, it was because Nial knew that no fairness existed in the world that he was able to ept killing living beings, much easier than expected.<sub> </sub>

    While Melvin was bragging about his affinity and the Electra wand, they were walking over the ins.

    He was making use of his eyesight which was further enhanced by small traces of mana he circted through them.

    On the other hand, Nial was walking with his eyes closed almost entirely.

    He was unable to see but didn''t really like closing his eyes.

    It was simply ufortable because something seemed to strike on the back of his eyeballs the moment he closed them.

    This sensation would vanish when he was gathering mana or going to sleep which was odd.

    Initially, he had tried exining to his parents who had taken him to the best doctors they could afford, but there had never been someone who could answer his questions about his blindness.

    There was no reason for him to be blind, everything was perfectly fine with his eyes...or so Nial had been told.

    At least until the Originals association had tested his limitations, and traits!

    It was only then that he figured out that the incident that had ured15 years ago had caused an irreversible mutation in his eyes.

    However, even the Originals association couldn''t give him a reason for this, or any kind of solution that would help Nial figure out what had caused the mutation.

    In the end, he alone had to figure out what was happening to his body, and it would take some time to procure the necessary pieces of information to solve this mystery.

    But for now, this was unimportant because Nial was more worried about his sister.

    <o>,m Healing her was a priority over finding faults in his own body, and possible issues that could ur by not knowing what was going on.</o>

    Her pale face with a bright smile would keep shing before his eyes which made him determined to stabilize her current condition, before improving it slightly.

    Afterward, Nial would start with his own research, even if Melvin said that he would help in finding a cure for it.

    Nial knew that two researchers were better than one, and even if it was his friend, he never knew when his family would get to know what Melvin was doing.

    As such, trusting that he would find a cure, without his family''s intervention was something he shouldn''t do.

    He was already happy enough that his friend had given him the opportunity to enter the government''s dungeon, and hunt alongside him with the aim to help his sister.

    With that in mind, Nial''s entire focus returned to the dungeon as he heard faint sounds from a particr direction while Melvin cautioned him.

    "A group of Goblins seems to have rushed outside the forest. There are at least fifteen in total! Four of them are archers."

    Having understood everything, he nodded his head, as Melvin materialized a small ball of lightning.

    However, it was just a momentter that he could hear his friend''sbored breathing.

    It was a strong indicator of the fact that controlling an affinity that relied on the wielder''sprehension was extremely difficult.

    Nial had not taken this into his calctions while designing his n because he had assumed that Melvin was a genius at using the lightning affinity.

    Everything he did always worked out, after all.

    Unfortunately, Nial''s overestimation of Melvin''s capabilities was his own fault, and he immediately entered abat stance.

    Gripping the Viper spear tightly, he held the pointed end towards the Goblins that gave a high-pitched squeal in their grotesque voice, making the hair stand on the back of his neck.

    "I''ll stall the closebat units, just kill the Archers first please!" Nial stated clearly before catapulting himself towards the Goblins. At the same time, he inserted a tiny trace of mana into the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability.

    Rushing towards the Goblins, he was ready to fight with his life on the line, just as Melvin roared out. A fraction of a secondter, an immense amount of mana was suctioned towards him.

    Nial felt this subtle change, and his body instinctively moved towards the left.

    He felt a sting of heat on his right arm for a short while as a bolt of lightning shot past him with a shocking velocity.

    This caused Nial''s eyes to widen, and he cursed out loudly.

    "What the fuck?! Don''t kill me, but the Goblins!" Nial had reached the first Goblins while eximing angrily.

    He was about to raise his Viper spear and stab them, only to realize that three of them had already been pierced by the lightning bolt Melvin had fired.

    As he watched in shock, the bolt continued with its advance before reaching its final target- one of the Goblin archers.

    ''Is he unable to urately control it, or is he an insufferable show-off?!''

 Chapter 23 Problem

    When Nial realized that Melvin was unable to urately control the strength of his Lightning affinity, he felt extremely lucky to be alive.

    Rushing further to the left, he realized that it was best if he were to clear a path for his friend so that he could attack freely, without hitting anyone identally.

    While he did so, the Goblins that were proficient in fighting at a close range followed him, but that was not further bothersome.

    There were only eight Goblins left, and Nial could clearly perceive half of them around him.

    He could only visualize the closest one, but that was more than enough for him to thrust the Viper spear out in its direction.

    With a breakneck speed, the Viper spear pierced through the closest Goblin that had lifted its daggers to deflect his attack.

    Unfortunately, the spear''s released de cut through the stone weapon as if it was made out of butter before advancing further.

    As the spear''s sharp tip prated the hide of the Goblin, Nial could clearly feel how the spear cut through flesh, organs and even bones.

    He only met a slight resistance when his weak strength wouldn''t let the spear pierce entirely through the body.

    With a higher physical strength, Nial would have been easily able to cut the Goblin in half or pierce through it in its entirety, but for now, this was impossible.

    After a fraction of a second in which he was too stunned to move, and filled with disgust, he could finally think again.

    Luckily, this crucial second didn''t cause a major disadvantage as it took the other Goblins the exact same second to reach him.

    Just at that moment, an extremely loud sound echoed through the surrounding, amplified by the dungeon walls it bounced off. And, even without being near Melvin, Nial knew that his friend had fired another of his lightning bolts.

    This caused him to sigh inwardly because Melvin took way too long to fire a single attack.

    Nevertheless, he couldn''t stay focused on his friend because there were pressing matters that needed his attention.

    While the tip of the Viper spear was still lodged inside the Goblin he had just killed, the three other Goblins had initiated their attack.

    Meanwhile, the other Goblins had entered the range at which he was able to tell that something was moving around him.

    Through this, he knew that the next few seconds were extremely important.

    Firmly holding the Viper spear with both hands, he smoothly pulled it out of the Goblin''s corpse before he took half a step backward, allowing himself more room to move freely.

    Because of that, Nial was able to enter a suitable position to defend and attack.

    Yet, instead of acting defensively, he ignored the disgust he was feeling about himself as he pushed forward, thrusting out the spear at the Goblin.

    Within seconds, the spear pierced into the Goblin too as Nial''s entire demeanor had changed.

    He was no longer the timid youth who would hesitate to take a life, he now realized that it wouldn''t do that, his opponent for sure would not bat an eyelid before taking his life!

    And with his death, Melvin would be further endangered too.

    As such, he had to kill in order to survive. It was as simple as that.

    Thus, he let his survival instinct kick in as the Goblins surrounded him, but there were fortunately only three who were extremely close to him, while the others would need at least one, or probably two seconds before they reached him.

    With the Goblin in front of him slowly sumbing to its injuries, Nial didn''t even hesitate as he retracted the de.

    This allowed him to move the Viper spear without the need to pull the de out of the dying corpse of his opponent.

    Such an advantage was tremendous in the face of several opponents.

    It gave him the necessary moment to use his entire force to pull back the spear.

    Nial did this in order to shove the other end of the Viper spear into the abdomen of the Goblin that had wanted to attack him from behind.

    With a painful squeal, it slumped to the ground, leaving Nial with only one unscathed Goblin in his direct range.

    Twisting his body while moving forward, he almost lost his bnce. But that was fine as long as he could narrowly evade the Goblin''s spear thrust that had almost pierced into his upper body.

    Through his high mana perception which was further enhanced by the [mana Perception(Poorest)] ability, Nial was able to sense certain attacks the moment they were issued.

    Unfortunately, this was more difficult against weapons that didn''t radiate any mana because to him they simply looked like mana-less spots.

    But it was exactly this that allowed Nial to understand that those seemingly empty areas he visualized were, in fact, also objects!

    Because of that, he was able to perceive the movement of the spear that had been thrust toward him.<sub> </sub>

    After Nial evaded it, he quickly swung the Viper spear towards the mana-less spear, pushing it away.

    Immediately after, he pulled back his leg towards his stomach a little before exerting as much strength as possible to kick the Goblin.

    His impactful kick flung the tiny beast away along with the one behind it.

    The Goblin was hurled like a weightless feather and it collided with the one that was struggling to get up after Nial''s spear had knocked it out earlier.

    Only moments after Nial had killed the Goblin, the remaining Goblins reached him.

    However, now he had already adjusted to their fighting style, moves and was better prepared.

    That was one and a rather massive advantage Nial had, he could quickly determine his opponent''s strengths and weaknesses.

    At least that was how it had worked until now, even when he had sparred with his father!

    In the end, Goblins were rtively less threatening creatures, and so was theirbat style, which was focused on attacking straightforwardly without any scheming.

    The only tactic they could use was a numerical advantage which they would use to surround their opponent in order to slowly wear him down.

    Unfortunately, this was not something they were able to aplish while fighting the blind youth. Nial was preventing them from splitting up, to begin with, as he adjusted his grip on the Viper spear, before inserting the majority of his mana into it as a de emerged on the side of the tip.

    Utilizing the Viper spear in order to sh horizontally, Nial decimated three Goblins at once, only to continue the massacre he had started earlier.

    As the Goblin''s bodies copsed on the ground one after the other, a simple thought shed through his mind.

    ''This spear is...amazing!!''

    After he had defeated all the Goblins, Nial took a deep breath, only to flinch before he instinctively jumped backward.

    Even though he was not sure what was happening, it was barely a momentter that he heard something whip through the air. His mana perception sensed something approaching him with a rapid pace.

    Unable to move further, the arrow that had been shot towards him, missed Nial by a hair''s breadth as it lodged itself into the ground and vibrated before going still.

    Just a secondter, the fourth bolt of lightning resounded through the surrounding before Melvin shouted excitedly, "I got all of them!"

    Yet, Nial couldn''t be happy about his friend''s exmation as he pulled the arrow out of the ground.

    With a serious expression, he approached his heavily sweating friend, not sure what he should say as he grasped the arrow tightly, only to hear Melvin trying to exin himself.

    "Well...I have onlyprehended the lethality of the lightning affinity...not its speed and neither how to control it¡­"

    Even though Nial didn''t ask a single question, Melvin felt the need to exin himself.

    That spoke volumes of the fact that he was guilty of his actions and the two young men were aware of the mistake Melvin had done.

    As such, Nial didn''t want to shout at his friend who had already epted one fault.

    Unfortunately, the situation forced him to say something, even if it might hurt his friend''s pride. Nial valued his life, after all!

    "You don''t have to tell me that, I could feel it!! Don''t you have a bow and arrows? That would be less dangerous and more useful right now, because I cannot see if the Goblin Archers ignore your attacks, and focus on shooting at me¡­.¡­."

    Nial didn''t want to sound harsh, but Melvin''s attacks were simply...devastating and way off the mark if Nial were to put it nicely.

    If there were dozens of opponents in a straight line, Melvin could kill them all, but if they were surrounded by beasts, he wouldn''t even be able to release Lightning currents from his body owing to the huge pressure.

    That was bad, to put it simply, and Nial could clearly tell why Melvin''s family was able to purchase the Lightning affinity crystal with the (Comprehension) tag.

    It was simply too difficult to learn everything about the Lightning affinity that wasbeled as one of the most dangerous and difficult toprehend.

    At least that was what Nial remembered from the few days he had been in school.

    ''Well, Melvin is still young, and if his family hires an instructor, it shouldn''t be an issue for him to learn to make use of the (Comprehension) tag!''

    Yet, in the end, Nial couldn''t help but feel ufortable fighting Goblins and Kobolds that had more than three long-range units.

    Not only did it exhaust Melvin, and use an extremelyrge amount of mana, but Nial''s safety as well was also endangered.

    That was obviously not something anyone would want.

    Thus, Nial forced Melvin to have a serious discussion about their teamwork because it couldn''t go on like that!

 Chapter 24 Sound

    Hours passed after Nial had lectured Melvin, and his best friend was still sulking because he was not allowed to use his affinity anymore despite his repeated protests!

    Instead, Melvin was forced to use bow and arrows as Nial found it to be a safer option!

    However, that was exactly what increased their hunting speed by several times as Melvin''s archery skills were quite decent.

    This made it possible for him to kill every opponent with long-range weapons before they were even able to shoot at them twice.

    Afterward, Nial entered closebat, while Melvin covered him, while urately shooting all dangerous opponents.

    This allowed them to defeat and kill numerous groups of beasts that dropped an origin crystal once in a while.

    Unfortunately, both Nial and Melvin were still somewhat new to the feeling of killing as well as the distinct utilization of mana.

    As such, they wasted lots of mana that could have been employed differently. For example, mana that had once been annexed and stored within the mana core would naturally replenish after it was used up.

    It wouldn''t even take long and allowed Originals to increase their strength without actively doing it.

    The speed would be rtively fast as well if they were to pay more attention to their mana replenishing rate.

    Because Nial didn''t know this beforehand, he tried to actively replenish the mana he had used up after every fight.

    Melvin found this to be odd, but only when they got a breather did he ask why Nial was doing this, before exining the alternative clearly.

    Getting to know more about mana, and the mana core erging process, along with tips about how and when to absorb and annex mana made N feel exhrated.

    He felt that he was not only improving in terms ofbat experience but also in other aspects and broadening his horizons.

    More questions popped in his head as he intently listened to Melvin answer him about everything rted to mana. Simultaneously, Nial started to absorb and annex mana instead of trying to replenish the used-up mana!

    Through this, Nial was able to increase the amount of mana inside his mana core while partially increasing the speed at which his mana replenished owing to therge amount of mana that coursed through his entire body.

    In the end, Nial had a superior mana vein that was still growing.

    Thus, he had been astonished to know that his strength was increasing so slowly.

    However,ing up with excuses by saying that he couldn''t absorb the mana from origin crystals or that he didn''t have a proper technique to absorb and annex mana had prevented him from finding faults with himself.

    ming the entire world for one''s problems or incapability to achieve something was easier than introspecting and understanding that one was wed, after all!

    Fortunately, Melvin had given him a nudge in the right direction.

    Through this, Nial was even able to regain his stamina at a much higher pace, which meant that he didn''t slow down their hunting trip anymore.

    Melvin wanted to continue experimenting with his Lightning affinity, but he realized that his control or understanding of it was simply too shallow.

    Right now, instead of focusing on growing stronger, beyond the past self, their immediate focus should have been on procuring more origin crystals.

    Yet, while Melvin was just using amon-grade bow to hunt all kinds of beasts, he noticed that Nial was growing more confident with every fight.

    His start had been rough, and even though his first opponents had been the nasty but rtively weak Goblins were opponents, Nial could barely defeat them without being injured.

    However, that had been mostly because of the Viper spear that was sharp enough to cut through everything on the first floor of the Mnd dungeon.

    Nevertheless, over the short course of a few hours, his blind best friend seemed to have adapted himself well to thebat style of all beasts they had encountered.

    Using his mana perception and sharp senses, Nial had absorbed everything like a sponge, learning their opponents'' attack pattern in every single scenario.

    This frightened Melvin a little bit because he had never realized how talented Nial truly was.

    Sometimes his best friend seemed like a genius, but on other asions, he was a fool, yet, his talent to fight was superb, to put it simply.

    It was also because of this that Melvin was frustrated about Nial''s blindness, possibly even more than Nial himself!

    Unfortunately, there didn''t seem to be a way to help Nial, who had told him about the adverse mutation, which was frustrating.

    Because of that, he wanted to release his frustration about his incapability to help both of the Orin siblings, who he liked the most.

    Nial was his best friend, and Sabrina...was Sabrina!

    As such, Melvin had first started to hunt using his affinity, thinking that the lethal lightning bolts were the best way to earn a huge fortune while releasing his frustration.

    Unfortunately, hunting with a bow and arrows was much better, especially while Nial was entering closebat.

    It was because of this that they were able to acquire a total of 52 origin crystals of the poorest quality!

    This was a great gain, given that it had been their first hunt and not something they could obtain from many dungeons in a matter of a few hours!

    At least not with their current expertise, rank, and multiple other factors that were holding them back for now.

    Even the permanent slime dungeon had much lower gains than what they had procured because the drop rate of the Slime Boss had decreased significantly after Nial had defeated it for the first time.

    In permanent dungeons, the first loot was always the best, and it would already be astonishing if conquering the entire slime dungeon would fetch them a total of more than 15 origin crystals in one go.<sub> </sub>

    The amount of origin crystals they had already procured inparison to the slime dungeon''s loot wasrge. This made Nial wonder about the exact size the Mnd dungeon''s first floor.

    Not even once had they left the outskirts of the dungeon, and he had no way of telling where exactly they were right now.

    The only thing Nial was able to do if he were to be lost was to walk in one particr direction until he encountered a dead end.

    Fortunately, with Melvin by his side, getting lost was almost impossible as his best friend would not leave him stranded in an unknown territory.

    They had nned to advance together and as such he could see the forest they would have to conquer in order to leave the dungeon, but also to enter the second floor.

    After five hours, they were overly exhausted and Nial knew that his mother must be already worrying about him.

    Because of that, he felt that it was better to leave the dungeon and call it a day.

    Melvin was of the same opinion and turned towards the direction of the forest before he started to approach it.

    They were likely to encounter a few more beast groups, but that was fine as long as it wouldn''t take several hours to leave the dungeon.

    Just as they were walking through the in, they encountered the female military instructor, and the young Originals, whose faces were ashen pale, and smeared with blood.

    Tears and blood had been mixed together and their previously clean clothes were blotched and smeared with sweat and blood. W

    When Nial walked past them, he could feel their trembling mana fluctuations that reflected their fear, disgust, and multiple more emotions they had to ovee after killing beasts.

    A few of the children were even injured, which astonished Nial because their Instructor was more than strong enough to easily protect all of them.

    However, that was not something the Instructor had done. Instead, she had just protected them to a certain extent, and let them tackle the beasts while preventing them from being seriously injured.

    Originals had to learn how to kill beasts, whether they were small children, old, or disabled senior citizens.

    Mankind''s survival relied on Originals, and it was a given that dungeon breakouts were devastating urrences that should never ur within one of the few shelters that were still standing strong.

    In the end, mankind''s situation was far from good, and Nina Melion had long since learned about the cruel world that had changed in the worst possible way since the dungeons had appeared out of nowhere.

    It was exactly because of this that her teaching methods were cruel, yet extremely efficient.

    Because of her mindset, she didn''t care who it was, or what family background did one belong to. As long as they were working hard to be stronger, and never backed off in the face of danger, they were worth being nurtured.

    Unfortunately, the government didn''t have the same opinion because some disabilities were simply too disadvantageous.

    These shorings were not worth the effort to nurture some Originals as they would restrict them tremendously.

    Nevertheless, Nina couldn''t help but feel curious when she saw Nial and Melvin.

    They were sweating profusely but not a trace of their previous nonchnt attitude which they had showcased before entering the Mnd dungeon was visible.

    ''Oh...they''re still alive. Well, I guess they''re more serious than I expected...and their mind is steadier than these little brats I have to teach...but I guess that''s normal. These twote bloomers are much older, after all.''

    With that thought in mind, she averted her attention for a moment, before sensing faint mana fluctuations from Nial''s direction that distracted her a little bit.

    ''The mana fluctuations are...weird¡­''

    In the end, Nial had inserted a little bit of his mana into the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability to erge the radius at which he could visualize everything around him.

    He wanted to visualize the instructor because he had only heard her voice before. Furthermore, she had been staring at him, so Nial wanted to roughly visualize how she looked if he was already being stared at.

    Yet, before he was able to do anything like that, his ear twitched, while Nina''s mind was distracted as well.

    A weapon manifested in her hand, and she was just about to issue a warning as Nial''s voice echoed through the surrounding area.

    "Attention, attack from below!!"

    Nial had faintly heard the earth far below him being pushed away as if something was digging its way up towards them.

    And, by averting his entire focus towards the ground, he was able to perceive mana fluctuations that rushed towards them at a fast pace.

    Because of that, he had instinctively shouted out that someone was attacking them from below, only to grasp Melvin with his free hand as he pushed him backward.

    It was just a momentter that Melvin figured out what was going on while trying to break his fall.

    Looking at Nial, who was fully concentrated, he couldn''t help but curse his friend.

    ''Who the hell are you to save me, if you cannot even hold your weapon properly?!'' Melvin thought the moment he saw Nial''s trembling hand.

    Merely a fraction of a secondter, the earth next to Nial shook before it crumbled asrge pincers pierced out of the ground.

    Soon after, the ten-meter-long mud-smeared body of a beast crawled out of the ground.

    Just as it was opening its wide and gaping mouth to let out a roar, Nina''s voice reached Nial and Melvin.

    "Fuck, that''s a Sekyr Sound Centipede! Immediately seal your ears with mana!!"

 Chapter 25 [Shockwave Barrage]

    Just as Nina''s shrill voice warned everyone of the iing attack, a thunderous roar shook the entire surrounding, making the ground below them violently tremble as a shockwave radiated from the Centipede''s entire body.

    Nial, who had noticed that something was off from the beginning, didn''t even hesitate a quarter of a second.

    He used the entire mana left within his core to tightly seal his ears, only to realize that he was way too weak.

    Piercing through theyer of mana, the shockwave reached Nial''s ears that felt as if a hundred gongs rang at a time creating a horrifyingly high pitched noise that would make his ears bleed.

    Just a momentter, he was unable to hear anything as his eardrums began to ring, almost bursting them open.

    Without being able to see and hear, Nial''s situation was extremely dangerous because even his mana perception seemed to grow shaky through the ear-piercing sound.

    Yet, just as he wanted to enter a defensive stance to protect himself as well as possible, blood sttered over his face.

    This confused him because he was not injured at all, and it took him a few moments before his perception realized something that shook him to the core.

    A crescent de manifested out of pure andpressed mana had pierced through the Sekyr Sound Centipede''s body, killing it immediately!

    Following the flow of mana, Nial realized that the Female Instructor had manifested this crescent de of pure mana.

    This astonished him, but now he was wondering why she didn''t attack the Centipede even before it could issue the shockwave.

    However, it was just then that Nial perceived a thick membrane of mana enveloping everyone around the young female instructor.

    Her priority had been to protect the children she taught before doing anything else.

    Meanwhile, Nial was not quite sure how long it would take him to hear something again.

    For now, he felt as if his hearing senses had either gone numb or left him for good.

    This was extremely bad, even more for someone who couldn''t even see.

    As such, he was currently forced to solely rely on his touch and taste senses, with the most focus on his Mana Perception.

    Because of that, he didn''t even realise themotion that was going on, and the only thing he felt was that his ears were bleeding.

    Touching his ear, Nial couldn''t help but grimace while he sensed that Melvin was rushing towards him.

    A momentter Melvin grasped his shoulder, shaking him wildly, but Nial was unable to hear even a single word uttered by his friend.

    Thus, Nial told him the same in an extremely loud noise as he was unable to hear that he was almost shouting.

    His loud voice attracted the attention of Nina and her small group that was perfectly fine and unharmed.

    "Ms. Melion, is he now also deaf??" One of the younger girls asked, shocked to see his ears bleed because she had heard him shouting a warning earlier.

    It was due to this that she felt the situation was unfair, only to feel her instructor''s hand ruffling through her hair.

    "He will be fine, don''t worry too much, little troublemaker!"

    Looking up, the little girl saw her instructor''s serious expression as she approached the corpse of the Sekyr Sound Centipede that disintegrated into countless particles, turning into a small crystal.

    Picking up the crystal, Nina couldn''t help but feel that her luck was quite good, yet, she stashed it away and averted her attention to Nial and Melvin.

    Melvin seemed extremely worried, and extremely anxious, thinking that his friend had just lost his hearing sense permanently.

    Meanwhile, Nial was quite calm despite being unable to hear, and see, which was the worstbination.

    This made it clear that Nial was fully aware of what had happened to his body, and the fact that he had only temporarily lost his hearing sense.

    Instinctively turning his body to face Nina, the moment she approached them, even Melvin followed suit.

    Bowing deeply, Melvin thanked her for defeating the Sekyr Sound Centipede.

    Afterward, he lifted his head once again, only to see that the woman was holding out a vial and a crystal.

    "Give the vial to your friend. It will help him recuperate much faster. He should be able to hear shortly after taking it. As for the crystal, give it to your friend.

    Consider it as a thank you note for warning me to save these little troublemakers behind me!"

    Melvin was confused, but after he got the hang of the situation, he quickly thanked her before taking the vial and the crystal.

    Yet, even before examining the contents, he almost shoved the vial into Nial''s mouth, overwhelming the young man, who could barely grasp the situation through his mana perception.

    Forced to gulp down the sweet liquid, Nial could feel an effect kicking in just a momentter.

    The mana rich serum within the vial invigorated his body, while simultaneously boosting his cells to work faster.

    This allowed him to recuperate from his exhaustion, and his mana recuperation elerated tremendously too!

    After his mana core was filled to the same extent he had annexed mana before, he felt that the healing property of the serum was slowly circting through his entire body, soothing the pain and repairing his damaged ear veins.<sub> </sub>

    In the end, he was perfectly fine, if one were to exclude his ears, and the dull high pitched ringing voice that made him feel dizzy as it reverberated through his mind over and over again.

    Fortunately, this noise began to die down, a few minutes after Nial had gulped down the sweet serum.

    Only shortly after that, he was finally able to hear once again as he sighed in relief.

    "The female instructor just left, right?"  Nial suddenly asked, dragging Melvin out of his train of thoughts.

    Hearing that Nial wasn''t shouting anymore, Melvin hoped that his friend could hear once again.

    Thus, he answered with a slight trace of joy in his voice.

    "Yes, she handed me the vial of healing serum and the ability crystal that dropped from the Sekyr Sound Centipede and left with her group immediately after!"

    Nial was astonished to hear that the Centipede had dropped an ability, but even more shocking had been the Military instructor''s strength.

    "I wonder how strong she truly is¡­ she didn''t sound old either, probably around our age...Melvin, do you know if everyone in the Military is as strong as she is?!"

    Somehow it was odd. Melvin thought that Nial would ask about the ability crystal''s grading, but he was more interested in the Military''s instructor.

    However, after thinking about it for a moment, it was understandable. The young woman had been around their age, but much more powerful, and had easily obliterated the Sekyr Sound Centipede with one smooth flick of her wrist.

    But that was not all, because Melvin could faintly sense Nial''s desire to find out more about the Military.

    That was something Melvin had noticed earlier, but it made him rather sad to think about it because Nial would never be epted into the Military, not even the mandatory service!

    Upon entering the military, one would receive tremendous benefits as an Original from the government, and one''s background or social status wouldn''t matter either.

    As such, only strength would determine how many resources one would receive, in addition to the rights to enter the majority of the government''s dungeons!

    The advantages of being recruited into the military were many more, and the few benefits Melvin had named in his mind were just the tip of the iceberg.

    Noticing Nial''s expression, Melvin knew that he had to distract his friend, which he started to do by stating simple things.

    "Do you even understand how lucky we were? The Sekyr Sound Centipede is a Rare Boss! They''re even stronger than the Boss on the same Floor!!"

    Afterward, he looked at Nial''s expression that seemed slightly interested, before Melvin continued to share excitedly.

    "Well, that is probably the reason it dropped an ability crystal, to begin with. Rare Bosses are stronger but have a higher chance of dropping more origin crystals, other unique drops, or an ability crystal.

    Still, we were quite lucky, even more so that she handed us, or rather you, the ability crystal!"

    It was only now that Nial truly realised that they had survived the attack of a Rare Boss, and that it had dropped an ability crystal.

    Because of that, he couldn''t help but ask curiously.

    "What kind of ability did it drop? The shockwave or is it something else?"

    The rarer an ability the greater would be its selling price. As such, it was obvious why Nial became so interested in the ability crystal.

    Melvin knew the price of rare ability crystals, but he had misunderstood his friend''s excitement.

    ''Does he want to know if it''s the Shockwave ability, so that he can bind it? That cannot happen!'' Melvin thought as he answered Nial.

    "The ability crystal is called [Shockwave barrage] and it is a Low quality Common grade ability. That means its quality is above the norms of the Low Rookie Mnd dungeon.

    At least if we were to only take the first three floors into consideration. I think the ability is strong, but I wouldn''t rmend you to bind it!"

    Melvin didn''t want to lie to his friend, which was also the reason for him to honestly review the ability.

    If Nial were someone he didn''t know, the ability might have been useful to him, but not only was Nial his best friend, whose best interests were always on his mind, but he was also blind, which was a terrifying disadvantage that Nial had topensate first.

    Thus, the first ability had to be something that could bnce out his disadvantagepletely!

    What Melvin didn''t know was that Nial had already learned an ability that would achieve this.

    However, it would take some time for the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability that was bound to the Odyssey seed to grow and be stronger.

    Despite that, Nial wanted something different to be the one and only ability he could bind at the Origin rank.

    "Oh, don''t worry, I just wanted to know if we can sell the ability crystal for more because this [Shockwave Barrage] seemed to be extremely powerful! I don''t want to bind it to my mana core!"

    Nial''s nonchnt rejection of the ability caused Melvin to stare at his friend in doubt, wondering what had made him change so much.

    Not only did he not hold back in doing anything anymore, including violence, but Nial''s entire demeanor and mindset seemed to have undergone a big change.

    ''Just what happened to you when I was away?''

 Chapter 26 How Is He?

    Melvin was sure that the sudden change in Nial''s entire behavior had something to do with his awakening as an Original.

    However, at the same time, it was not like an emotion of his had been sealed before.

    As such, Nial was not one of the unique Originals who could be stronger by feeling a specific emotion.

    Rather, Nial''s personality, and attitude had changed a little bit, which in return, changed his behavior, and even mindset.

    Nevertheless, Melvin couldn''tin because this new version of his friend was much better than the old, easily frightened Nial.

    He used to behave as if he was optimistic and put on a mask of happiness to hide his true feelings, just to make his parents worry less about him.

    Unfortunately, they could see right through his pretense.

    In the end, the new Nial was much better, and someone Melvin could respect a lot, even if they hadn''t been best friends.

    Being blind, yet still being able to fight properly, or even better than some newly awakening Originals was not easy, but Nial seemed to work hard to make that possible.

    It was just for his sister''s sake, but that was more than enough in Melvin''s opinion.

    In the future, his friend would have tended to Sabrina''s illness, and only then Nial''s first trial to find more about himself and assess his strengths and weaknesses would start.

    However, for now, Melvin was d that Nial was not restless or anything like that, and they could leave the Melind dungeon without any more issues.

    There were a few beasts that attacked them every now and then but Nial was determined to fight them, even though his hearing sense was still a bit weak.

    This had astonished Melvin, yet, after his friend exined to him that he wanted to train his mana perception in that way, Melvin simply epted it.

    Once they reached inside the forest, Nial was able to make use of his mana perception much better than before.

    Nina''s healing serum had helped him ovee his exhaustion to arge degree and now he was feelingpletely fit and confident of fighting everyone without any issues.

    In the beginning, he thought that the [Shockwave Barrage] ability was extremely strong, which made him want to bind the ability for a fraction of a second.

    However, this random thought had only popped up in his head in a moment of greed and jealousy and not something he would ever do as long as he could think properly.

    Right now, he had many other things to pay attention to, and the [Shockwave Barrage] ability was definitely not suitable for him, not in his current strength.

    At least, it didn''t increase hisbat prowess to an extent that allowed him to make up for the money he could procure by selling the ability crystal.

    Nial knew that he had yet to learn how to control mana properly, including the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability, while hisbat experience was severelycking, as well as his capabilities to fight overall needed improvement.

    He required proper training, but without anyone''s help or guidance this was extremely difficult.

    As such, he hoped that Melvin woulde back to their house in the following days so that they could enter the Melind dungeon.

    Other than that, sparring with Melvin would probably help him even more than doing the same with his father. Owing to his father''s connections and wealth, Melvin had attended special training conducted by extremely powerful war veterans.

    Meanwhile, Nial knew that his father was not exactly known for his highbat prowess. To be precise, Miles''bat talent was even below his mana core''s limit which was already below average!

    Because of that, Melvin was his best chance to be trained by someone knowledgeable enough as he hardly had any money to hire an instructor.

    Sparring and clearing the dungeon with Melvin would help him hit two birds with a stone.

    It would increase hisbat awareness while simultaneously allowing him to procure a huge fortune every single day too!

    In a few hours, they had procured a total of 52 origin crystals and a rare ability crystal, after all.

    This was exceptional, and not something Nial would be able to retrieve from the dungeon, without paying a hefty fee, but Melvin''s social status made it possible!

    While Nial had already been astonished about the amount of origin crystals they had amassed, the ability crystal at the low quality was even better.

    The origin crystals would fetch them a fortune of more than 1500$, while the single ability crystal was worth tens of times that fortune.

    His eyes glinted with greed and excitement as he thought of the wealth they had collected.

    As such, there was no way that Nial could be frustrated with himself, but that was exactly what was going on.

    They would have died against the Sekyr Sound Centipede if the female Instructor hadn''t rescued them!

    To be precise, she had just protected her students, and nothing else.

    In the end, it was only because she was thankful for his warning that they had gotten their hands on the ability crystal.

    As such, it was luck, and Nial didn''t think that they deserved the ability crystal.

    However, right now, he had no other choice but to take it. His sister was in dire need of money so he couldn''t afford to be righteous.

    Time passed slowly, and Nial didn''t even notice that they had already left the dungeon and were on their way back to the shelter.

    Both him and Melvin were subjected to weird gazes of the other people who wanted to enter the dungeon.

    And there was a good reason for them to be stared at.

    Their clothes were drenched in blood and dirt, while a trail of dried blood was visible on the side of his face that went down his ear and neck, disappearing beneath his shirt.

    As such, Nial looked as if he had been severely injured while massacring his way through a horde of beasts, only to be somehow fine at the same time.

    Meanwhile, Melvin''s clothes werepletely clean, which created a stark contrast between Nial and Melvin''s appearance.<sub> </sub>

    There were many young men and women standing in the queue while waiting for their turn to enter the dungeon.

    Several of them belonged to families that worked for the government and nobody could grasp what exactly had happened to Nial and Melvin to look like that.

    Nial was evidently blind, but his weapon painted a different picture making him look like he was filthy rich, misleading others into believing that he was just another spoiled brat though disabled.

    Thus, seeing two rich youths that seemed to have awoken their origin extremelyte, the others thought that it was forcefully awoken.

    All of this created misunderstanding within the minds of the people that stared at them, but neither Melvin, who saw this, nor Nial, who felt their stares, cared about them.

    Melvin called a shuttle before handing him a wet and a dry towel that had been stored in his spatial ring.

    "At least clean your face, otherwise Maline will kill you for having been injured, and me immediately afterward¡­"

    Imagining his mother''s reaction upon returning home, Nial immediately grabbed the towels and began to rub his face thoroughly.

    Afterward, the shuttle arrived and they entered it to drive back home.

    Only 20 minutes passed before they arrived home, and when Nial left the shuttle he felt a chilly wind brushing into his hair.

    Through this he realized that they were a lotte to return than they had hoped.

    Dread filled his heart at the thought of his mother''s face scrunching in worry and anger and thus Nial slowly tiptoed through the front door.

    But, it proved to be futile as shortly after he heard the hurried footsteps of his mother and father rushing towards him.

    They appeared in front of them a momentter and were staring at Nial and Melvin.

    Initially, they had wanted to say something, but looking at the shocking difference in Nial and Melvin''s appearance, they were taken aback.

    To say that they were utterly shocked would be an understatement and Nial could feel the intense gaze of his parents upon him.

    Melvin immediately figured out what was going on, which caused him to exin the entire situation in a matter of mere seconds.

    "Don''t misunderstand the situation!! I didn''t use Nial as bait or something like that!! Let me exin everything

    ¡­

    ..

    So to put it simply, I acted as an archer and hunted all the beasts while Nial entered closebat!"

    Wiping off the sweat on his forehead, Melvin finished his retelling of their first hunt while he felt the stare of Nial''s parents weighing him down.

    And if he were to be honest, the stare of angered and worried parents was the worst.

    It made him feel even more pressure than the hellishbat training he had undergone. Thus, he quieted down the moment he finished speaking.

    Fortunately, Maline didn''t say a word, and she simply stared at Nial, who felt her gaze lingering on him. It was ufortable, but he forced himself to smile lightly as he heard his father''s voice.

    "OK, but how can there be such arge amount of blood all over him? And what''s this green fluid, weren''t you guys inside the Melind dungeon?"

    After hearing this, Melvin understood that he couldn''t hide the incident that had urred at the end of their hunt, but fortunately, Nial''s parents listened to him rather quietly.

    As such, he exined the situation in a detailed manner, while Nial was enduring his mother''s gaze that grew more burdensome the more time passed.

    Yet, instead of scolding him for his recklessness, she just sighed deeply, relieved that nothing had happened to the two of them before she said in a resigned voice.

    "Alright, as long as you two are fine, there is nothing I canin about."

    A momentter, she mumbled to herself as her shoulders drooped a bit, "..even if I would like to¡­"

    Afterward, Maline regained herposure, and tried to hide her worry as she ordered her son,

    "Nial, go take a shower, you smell like a trash can!"

    This sudden change in their topic confused Nial, but escaping his mother was a wee move. As such, he exited the living room quickly, leaving behind Melvin, who stared at him with a betrayed expression.

    Just a momentter, Maline stared at Melvin with a serious expression.

    "I want you to be honest with us! How dangerous is it to let Nial enter a dungeon independently? Is he just risking his life trying to support his family financially?

    Do you think he can really survive without relying on anyone other than himself?"

    Melvin had expected a simr question because he was worried about the same thing as Maline. It was evident that someone with a problem like Nial faced more issues in a dungeon that required the entrant to bet on his skills and his life every single time he stepped inside, let alone kill beasts.

    And as Nial''s friend, and his best friend, it was obvious that he didn''t want Nial to sacrifice his life needlessly.

    As such, he tried to recall the events of thest few hours in the finest detail, before thinking about a proper answer. Yet, what he recalled was one fight after another, and the subtle changes in Nial''s fighting style.

    This caused Melvin''s eyes to widen because he hadn''t realized something very important beforehand- Nial had never received any professionalbat training, let alone tips on how to fight any kind of living being properly!

    ''How...did I not notice that?!'' Melvin thought, shocked as realization struck him deep.

    ''Did I miss something, or is it truly as frightening as I think?''

 Chapter 27 Guilt?

    As the memories of every single fight inside the Melind dungeon shed past his eyes, Melvin involuntarily shuttered.

    Goosebumps appeared all over his body, and it was only then that Melvin noticed how Nial''s parents were staring at him worriedly, anxious about his answer.

    Because of their expressions, he didn''t even think about tweaking his answer a little to appease his parents.

    Neither did he n on exaggerating, to begin with.

    Instead, Melvin was beginning to grow envious of his friend, which was not something he was ought to do, not in this situation, and not about his best friend!

    Thus, he answered truthfully without holding back.

    "I don''t know about the dangers he will have to face once he fights alone but he...is definitely talented. Without being blind and the restriction of his mana core''s limit, Nial would definitely turn into a true monster.

    He might have awoken his originte, but his reaction speed, in addition to the way he perceives his opponents and remembers every single habit of theirs...it''s frightening!

    To achieve something like that without any previousbat training, or a long adjustment period in which he learned how to perfectly control mana makes him no less than a freak¡­ and even that is definitely an underestimation in my opinion."

    Nial''s parents had already assumed that Melvin would exaggerate their son''s progress, but seeing the sincerity in his voice coupled with the faint trace of jealousy in Melvin''s eyes, made Miles feel bbergasted.

    ''Is Melvin¡­ really jealous of Nial? Melvin has everything, yet¡­'' Miles was not even able to finishprehending the reason behind Melvin''s envy.

    That was how confused he had just be.

    However, Maline didn''t look any better. She was not sure what she had hoped for, but hearing her transform into a freak was the least expected.

    Thus, she turned quiet for some time, trying to digest the information while figuring out a way to help her son in the best possible way.

    She didn''t like or support that he wanted to enter dungeons on a daily basis, but there was nothing she could do about it.

    As such, Maline figured that it would be best to support him instead of holding him back from experiencing the dangers of the world.

    At the same time, she wanted Nial to clearly understand that he should not overestimate himself.

    However, Maline doubted that her little kid wouldn''t know that! She had raised him and knew that he was responsible and reasonable enough to understand the consequences of his actions.

    Because of that, she voiced out an idea she just got, astonishing both Miles and Melvin, unsure if her idea was truly as good as she thought it was.

    Yet, Melvin couldn''tin as he smiled brightly before taking a look at his bracelet as a semi-translucent holographic screen emerged in front of him.

    **

    Scrubbing himself well to get rid of the soot and blood, Nial left the shower, and quickly brushed his teeth before putting on some clothes.

    Afterward, he walked downstairs, only to notice that his parents and Melvin had suddenly quieted down as if they had a secret he shouldn''t know.

    Frowning, Nial wanted to talk about going to a merchant tomorrow because they had to sell the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal for some good money.

    However, before he could even say something, Nial was interrupted by Melvin who sounded quite happy.

    "I will be staying here for the next few days! My father agreed too!"

    Even though Nial was suspicious about his mother''s behavior before, and the fact that Melvin was now suddenly staying with them with the permission of his father at that, he couldn''t help but feel even more confused than before.

    "What the hell did you even tell your father to make him agree?!" Nial thus asked, clearly recalling the day on which the secretary of Melvin''s father had barged into their house, and threatened them.

    In that sense, Nial was not in a mood to care about his friend''s privacy, at all! His family''s well-being was much more important than a little bit of privacy, at least to him!

    "Eh¡­"

    That was all Melvin said before the room wentpletely silent once again and Nial realized that Melvin didn''t want to answer him.

    However, seeing Nial''s serious expressions, he seemed to have changed his mind, as he heard him answer reluctantly.

    "I just said that I will stay out for a few days...and hung up afterward..."

    Somehow, Nial felt that Melvin was brave to not fear his father''s wrath, but that didn''t mean that he was not worried about the aftermath that maye forth with his friend''s decision.

    However, after averting his attention to his parents, he realized that they seemed to be aware of what his friend had done.

    He could easily sense that because they were quiet and their mana fluctuations were stable too.

    As such, they didn''t seem to be surprised, enraged or anything like that even after hearing Melvin.

    Thus, Nial simply shrugged his shoulders, deciding that it was Melvin''s business of how he dealt with his father and that he should take responsibility for everything that may happen before replying,

    "In that case, we should sell the ability crystal and origin crystals first thing in the morning tomorrow, before purchasing some more of Sabrina''s medicine. After that, we can either enter another dungeon or spar a little bit.<sub> </sub>

    I still feel my movements are too stiff, and I have no idea how exactly I should move in some situations! I can visualize almost everything, but the more opponents I have to fight against, the more sluggish my movements be owing to the focus I have to use to even visualize every single movement."

    There were many more things that Nial was stillcking, and he was fully aware of this.

    But that was exactly how the first step was taken- epting that one was wed and that one could always improve.

    Nial''s situation was obvious, and even if he knew that he had improved quite a lot during thest few hours, hisbat prowess was far from being average, let alone great.

    What he had done was simply fighting against a few of the weakest possible beasts in the dungeon.

    And, the fact that he had already been exhausted after fighting a few beast groups like them showed clearly that not only his mana core was of a low rank, but also the amount of movements he wasted while fighting was pretty high.

    Sparingly using his stamina was important inside a dungeon, even more so in unknown dungeons that could berger than estimated.

    If one were to waste their stamina unnecessarily, death was inevitable.

    As such, Nial was determined to fix his mistakes as quickly as possible, and Melvin noticed this.

    "If you really want to change something, you''ll need to learn abat technique, also known as a martial art technique.

    Right now, you might think that they''re a waste of precious money, but they will clearly show you how you can use every muscle in your body to fight properly.

    Your current physique is pretty good, but the way you use it, makes you look like a stiff log that is unable to move.

    Your movements were more smooth and refined towards the end of our dungeon trip, but it was still far from good.

    As such, I would rmend that you apply for a copy of a basic body movement technique. A single copy may cost tens of thousand of dors, but it''s definitely worth it. All of you can use it together too, so it''s not wasted if you want your parents''bat prowess to increase as well.

    If I could, I would just give you the technique, or one of the few I''m currently learning, but I cannot share them with you, and if I do...well, it won''t end well...let''s just say that...sorry!"

    Melvin gave him a forced smile after ending his short exnation, and Nial realized that Melvin had changed a lot during the time he hadn''t been in Katu.

    However, he knew that he, himself, had changed a lot too.

    As such, there was nothing to say about that. Instead, Nial began to think about his friend''s words.

    Shelling out tens of thousand dors didn''t sound nice, but Nial had also heard a lot about martial art books, and that everyone sought rare techniques.

    Such techniques were extremely expensive, and could apparently only be found in unique types of dungeons.

    Because of that their price was enormous, and inparison being able to get a copy of a basic body movement technique for only a few tens of thousand dors could be considered to be a gift.

    Even though the technique was bound to be one of the weakest possible the government possessed, it would be much better for Nial than having nothing.

    Nevertheless, Nial shook his head as he suggested,

    "First, we will have to tend to Sabrina''s illness. I''m not selfish enough to prioritize small gains that may increase over a long duration with the possibility of Sabrina''s illness that might bacsh! Even if the possibility of her illness bing worse is infinitely small, it''s never zero, and I don''t really want to take that risk...not anymore¡­"

    Melvin didn''t know what Nial meant with ''not anymore'' but his parents clearly understood what Nial meant.

    ''Is he really feeling guilty because he used the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability crystal on himself?''

    They felt that Nial was being too harsh on himself by thinking of the benefits they had missed by letting him use the 15,000$ the ability crystal he had absorbed would have gotten them.

    And that was the highest possible price they would have received. With Nial''s business proficiency, it would have been at most 10,000$ if he would have sold it.

    Adding the gains he got from binding the ability to the Odyssey seed, there was no way that the benefits didn''t outweigh the cost.

    Nial and Melvin had gotten their hands on a Rare type of Low Common ability crystal, and they were unscathed!

    Who knew if that would have been the case without the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability?

    Miles and Maline were not sure about that, and even Nial would never be able to find out whether or not it had been luck or his ability that had saved their lives.

    Because of Nial''s words, both his parents and even Melvin realized one more issue Nial had to face in the future- He worried a lot about past events, and if the decisions he had taken had been correct, or not!

    However, due to this, Miles had something to tell his son, even if he hadn''t been asked to.

    The responsibility of a father was to take care of his children, and to turn them into better people than he and their mother was.

    Thus, he said a few simple words to his son.

    "Don''t let the past haunt you! You are living in the present and you do everything in the present to create a better future!

    Always remember that, Nial!"

 Chapter 28 Unbending Will

    After a lengthy discussion with his parents during dinner, Nial had be convinced that a basic body movement technique was necessary for him to be stronger.

    Through this, he would be able to earn more money, protect himself better, and even more important, his parents could also use the technique he would purchase from the Originals association.

    It was not limited to be used by just the buyer and the entire household could use it.

    This was extremely advantageous, and Nial wouldn''t be so worried about his parents either.

    Both his parents would enter dungeons every single day without fail and would return home bruised and injured but they would still get up the next day and re-enter a dungeon.

    At least, by purchasing this technique Nial could assure himself that his parents would be safe to some extent.

    Because of that, his opinion had slowly changed from using the entire money they would receive from selling the origin crystal and the Low Common ability [Shockwave Barrage] for his sister, to using a majority of it for her.

    As such, when both Nial and Melvin retired to their respective beds, they were satisfied with how the day had progressed and what they had achieved.

    **

    Waking up early in the morning the next day, Nial felt refreshed even though his entire body felt sore.

    Getting up from the mattress he hadid on the floor, he perceived that Melvin was still sound asleep in his bed.

    Based on the light snores he could hear, Nial could tell that Melvin was exhausted as well, even though the amount of mana Melvin had stored was much higher than his own.

    Shaking his head, he decided to let him sleep a little bit longer.

    Thus, he went out of the room without making any noise, freshened up, and entered the kitchen afterward.

    Preparing a simple breakfast for himself and Melvin, Nial ate his own portion before cing the rest on the table for Melvin to eat.

    Changing into a trackpant and a simple t-shirt, Nial thought it was best to train his spearmanship and learn how to improve the fluidity in his movements without being forced to have some short intervals in which he had to change his stance to attack from a defensive position.

    This was what he had been struggling the most the day before, which was also the reason why he focused the most on it right now.

    Fixing mistakes was important in order to prevent turning them into habits.

    Thus, Nial wanted to make as few mistakes in the early stages of his practice as possible.

    It was difficult, but attempting it until he perfected himself was important.

    As such, Nial was determined to improve and didn''t even care how early it was, or that his parents were still sleeping soundly.

    This was umon because they were normally the first ones to get up, and Nial had assumed that they were already out, entering other dangerous dungeons while leaving him the slime dungeon behind.

    Because of this assumption he had beforehand, he didn''t pay attention to his surroundings, and only began to move around with the Viper spear.

    Nial felt extremelyfortable while wielding the Viper spear, and did not want to let go of it even for a minute.

    It was weird as he had gotten the weapon just days ago, but he feltfortable holding the spear, knowing that he would be able to use it in order to protect himself.

    Furthermore, when he retracted its des to make it look like a simple rod, it was not even illegal to walk around the central district with it.

    That meant, he didn''t even need a storage device, such as a spatial ring for it.

    Spatial rings were extremely difficult to craft, and the materials they were made of were rare too.

    As such, only citizens with a high social status or wealth were able to procure them.

    Not being one of them, Nial was even more d that the Viper spear had the function to retract its des, which made many things much easier.

    Moving around with it made him feel at ease, and this exact feeling was something rare to encounter with weapons one wielded.

    There were rumors that Myth weapons had a certain degree ofpatibility with their wielder, meaning the higher theirpatibility was with the wielder, the better one would be able to fight using that weapon.

    However, this was just a rumor and not something Nial had ever believed.

    Yet, perceiving the Viper Spear as an extension of his arm made him feel surreal as the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

    ? It was a weird sensation, but extremely satisfying, and not something bad at all.

    He didn''t know how high hispatibility with the Viper spear was, but it was definitely not low, which was something that made Nial extremely happy.

    Nial was so engrossed in his training, and the fact that he had to improve a lot because he wascking behind everyone else, that he didn''t even notice that it was not even 4 am. It was still dark outside, and his parents had yet to wake up.

    The wind was chilly, but Nial didn''t notice that at all.

    Instead, he felt that the soft wind currents were showing him ways in which he could move better.<sub> </sub>

    Trying to use every single means to his advantage, Nial began to sweat despite the chilly wind. There were many things Nial couldprehend from his surroundings.

    Nevertheless, it didn''t help him to fix his issues, which only practice could do.

    He had yet to learn to read and understand all words, which was why Nial took short breaks between practicing spearmanship before using his Mana Perception to learn the writtennguage.

    In the end, learning to write and read was less difficult than he had assumed and the biggest issue was to link the written words to the respective object, or specific meaning of said words.

    Fortunately, this was not much of a problem because he could speak and listen well, which was why he used the speaking function of the children''s books in order to connect the written words to the spoken ones.

    Hours passed and Nial''s sore muscles were aching even more than when he had woken up from sleep.

    What he didn''t notice was that both of his parents had now woken up too, and Melvin had just entered the living room. Rubbing his drowsy eyes, he found Miles and Maline looking out of the window, staring into their backyard.

    Confused, yet also curious, Melvin had an assumption about what they could see, but after thinking about it for a moment, he shook his head, thinking that it was impossible.

    His arms were sore after shooting arrows for hours, and Melvin didn''t think that Nial felt any better.

    Yet, the moment he stood next to Miles, Melvin''s jaw dropped to the ground, looking at Nial, whose clothes were already drenched in sweat.

    Seeing his best friend taking deep breaths while gasping for air, all the sleep in his eyes disappeared.

    He peered his eyes trying to ensure that it was in fact Nial who was clutching the Viper spear in its rod form tightly while his other hand was ced on his knee as his shoulders drooped a little.

    Blinking his eyes rapidly, Melvin couldn''t help but blurt out his confusion.

    "How...long has he been training for?!"

    Miles and Maline didn''t even have to look at Melvin to know what his expression looked like because it was evident that he was as dumbfounded as they were.

    By the time they woke up, it was 6 am and they had wanted to do their usual chores, preparing breakfast for everyone, and tending to Sabrina for some time before leaving for the dungeons.

    Maline had wanted to enter the slime dungeon before paying more attention to Nial, Melvin, Sabrina, and the entire household.

    Meanwhile, Miles wanted to enter the Goblin dungeon, where he had made an appointment.

    However, after seeing a dish of breakfast that had gone cold on the dining table while crumbs of bread in the sink as if someone had gulped down some food in a hurry, they had a premonition.

    Because of that Miles had looked into their backyard, only to see that Nial was practicing his spearmanship, trying to improve even the simplest movement.

    But, weirdly enough, Nial was fully soaked in sweat and panting at that time, so Miles couldn''t answer Melvin''s question properly.

    "We woke up at six, and he already appears to be exhausted...maybe a little bit less sweaty, but...well...I think I sort of agree with your evaluation of my son...without the blindness and mana core limit, he would definitely be a freak¡­"

    Miles had never thought that his son would be talented. To say this as his father might be cruel, but that was how reality seemed to him.

    Nial had never been a very bright student or interested in studying a lot, even if he had the necessary intelligence.

    There was simply no need for Nial to learn because most well-paying upations were already upied by Originals.

    As such, even without good grades, he wouldn''t have been able tond a prestigious job as those were not awarded to cripples.

    It was sad, but that was how the world had be, a sad ce where Originals, and able bodied ones, received everything!

    Because of that Miles had never seen his son being invested in anything which was sad, but not something he could change as he was upied with earning money to improve his family''s financial situation.

    Thus, Nial''s abrupt change in attitude was shocking to him, and even Maline couldn''t help but be bbergasted.

    Initially, she had wanted to retort something to her husband''sment.

    However, in the end, she remained quiet, reluctantly agreeing with her husband after she had seen how quickly Nial was improving.

    But that was not all!

    Not only was Nial quickly improving, but he was also working hard to reduce the amount of mistakes.

    As such, Maline felt that the seemingly tireless will of her son was the most shocking attribute of a youth who had been mocked by society for his disability.

    She had never seen him work so hard for something and was amazed to see his tenacity.

    Nial was not even taking proper breaks because he was studying how to write and read properly using his mana perception.

    As such, tears trickled down her cheeks seeing that her son, who had forced happiness and optimism upon himself since he had lost his eyesight, was finally blooming, and revealed a spark of interest in something he was eager to obtain!

    ''Finally!''

 Chapter 29 Spar

    While they all were observing Nial work relentlessly, Miles was notified that his permission to enter the Goblin dungeon would soon expire.

    As such, he quickly left the house, to earn money instead of wasting the dungeon''s appointment fee.

    Meanwhile, Maline decided to enter the slime dungeon and use the respawn timer efficiently, while reminding Melvin to eat the breakfast Nial had prepared for him before doing their stuff.

    The day before, Melvin had been told that he can stay at the Orin family''s house for as long as he wanted, which was something he didn''t expect to happen after what he assumed to have happened years earlier.

    His family must have threatened them, but the Orin family wasn''t inclined to hold a grudge against him.

    Neither did theyment on the incident except for Nial''s unintentional slip of tongue when he had been angry nor did they scorn him in any way because of what happened in the past.

    Rather, Melvin had been weed with open arms which was something that wouldn''t happen in his family, if Nial were to show up unannounced.

    Seeing their heartwarming wee gave him even more reason to help Sabrina.

    Not only did he like her and care about her a lot, but Melvin felt that such kind people as Nial''s entire family, should not be allowed to suffer in any way.

    Thus, he readied himself and suppressed the feeling of envy in the depths of his conscience as he left the house, and entered the backyard.

    Nial had already heard his parents'' footsteps from behind him, and he had been astonished about that.

    Before, he assumed that they were already awake and outside the house, entering some dungeons together.

    However, that had not been the case. Yet, instead of thinking about that any longer, Nial simply decided to focus on himself, and everything he had wanted to do.

    This was mostly to improve hisbat prowess, or to be precise, his movement, control over mana, spearmanship, and how to properly make use of the effects of the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability.

    At the same time, Nial wanted to focus on learning to read and write because his parents and even Melvin had instructed him to take a look at a basic body movement technique after selling everything they had acquired the day before.

    Not knowing what was written somewhere would be a hindrance if he wanted to progress further.

    At the same time, it would make many things much more difficult because he wanted to find out more about his sister''s disease in the shelter''s Library.

    He might be able to find something there, but without being able to read, entering would be more than rude, not only to himself but to the librarian too.

    Even if it was not considered rude, wasting his own and others'' time, definitely was.

    Not wanting to waste his time, he practiced tirelessly and sensed that his best friend was approaching him with a set of daggers in his hands.

    Entering abat stance, Melvin simply handed him over the daggers. He didn''t say much, but the choice of his weapons made it clear that he had already figured out Nial''s biggest disadvantage.

    Under the pressure of surviving the horde of beasts, Nial had made too many mistakes the day before, and a barrage of attacks overwhelmed him enough to force him, a spear wielder, to retreat.

    This was not something that should happen if he wanted to fight and defeat his opponents, and Nial was fully aware of this.

    As a spear wielder, he should be fast, agile and able to hold back his opponent, even more so because the Viper spear could be used as a rod, ive, halberd, spear, and possibly even as a trident.

    In the end, the Viper spear was an extremely versatile weapon that felt as if it was tailor-made for him.

    Nheless, as he was unable to wield it perfectly, Nial''sbat prowess was much worse than it could be if he were to be properly trained.

    And it was exactly this task that Melvin wanted to take over for the next few hours. He knew that Nial was able to ovee the hurdles by himself, but they didn''t have enough time to let him test everything on his own. Besides, Nial was way too impatient, which was obvious.

    His sister was bedridden, and her disease was worsening by the day.

    As such, the expenses for her medicine had shot through the roof and their meagre earnings fell short of the required amount to heal her.

    They had yet to find a cure, and even if one existed, it would be extremely expensive, considering that the medicine that barely slowed down her disease from getting worse was already overly expensive!

    Despite the change in his behavior, Melvin knew his best friend well enough.

    Because of that, it would be best to exhaust Nial to the extent that he would not be in the condition to even think about entering a dungeon, knowing that he would die inside.

    Thus, Melvin didn''t even think of holding back.

    Instead, he decided to inflict shallow injuries on Nial which would force him to pay more attention to himself.

    With that in mind, Melvin circted mana through his body, increasing his speed that was already further enhanced than Nial''s as he rushed towards his best friend.<sub> </sub>

    shing at Nial without hesitation, Melvin showed how serious he was, and it was at that moment when Nial realised that his friend was not going to be nice and sweet while showing him his mistakes.

    Rather, Melvin chose the cruel path to make Nial never forget his mistakes, which was something he understood almost instantly.

    Comprehending what was about to happen, Nial forced his worn-down body to move, and let out a roar.

    Staring at Melvin, who beckoned him toe forward, he pushed himself to ovee the limits he had already broken through hours ago as he thrust the Viper spear forward.

    Yet, instead ofpleting the thrust, Nial retracted the Viper spear''s de before he switched the movement, and moved the rod in the direction at which he had predicted Melvin to move.

    Nial''sbat experience might be low, but he knew his friend and his tactics extremely well.

    As such, Nial knew that Melvin wouldn''t want to face his attack directly.

    ? Instead, Melvin would want to show him in the cruelest possible way what kind of ws he had.

    His best friend was the nicest person he knew, but when it came to pointing out mistakes, he was harsh and didn''t beat around the bush!

    Knowing this, Nial didn''t even try to cken.

    Rather, he wanted to learn as much as possible to prevent facing a second cruel lesson when Melvin pointed out his mistakes.

    Bombarding him with attacks, Nial tried to hit Melvin in any possible way, obstructing his smooth attacks.

    Yet, he was unable to even scratch Melvin''s clothes, and he emerged in front of Nial with his body leaned forward that almost reached Nial''s calves.

    shing out, he inflicted a handful of shallow cuts close to Nial''s knees. Through this, Melvin wanted to clearly show that he could have rendered Nial unable to continue fighting if he wanted to.

    Just a momentter, Melvin jumped to the side, before twisting his body and turning it towards Nial as his hand began to glow in a bright light.

    At that moment, even Nial''s mana perception perceived the bright light, and his brows furrowed, perceiving the lightning currents that shot out of his friend''s hand.

    Ignoring the throbbing pain around his knees, Nial knew that he had to move, otherwise, he would have quite a few more issues than just dealing with the pain.

    Not knowing whether Melvin could control his Lightning affinity the way he wanted to, Nial could only recall the first battle that had happened the day before.

    Chills covered his entire body by the mere thought of being hit by a ball of lightning.

    Moving instinctively, Nial used the movement he had already attained by swinging the Viper spear at Melvin. This made it possible for him to increase his own speed, if only by a fraction as he simply continued the swing.

    He might not have hit Melvin like that, but the subtle boost he received was enough to evade Melvin''s attack that was inurately shot at him.

    The lightning currents were drastically weaker than the one Melvin had shot with the Myth wand, and even if he would have been hit by the currents, they would have, at most, burned Nial.

    Nevertheless, having avoided the lightning currents by a hair''s breadth, Nial''s entire side was left defenseless.

    Unable to move aside owing to the movement he had just made use of, he could already tell what Melvin would do, which caused him to grit his teeth.

    At that moment, he perceived Melvin roll on his back which allowed him to stand on his two feet in the quickest time.

    This had strained his body a lot, but Melvin had been trained in making quick decisions since a young age.

    As such, he had waged the advantages of being quicker in getting up to initiate a new attack inparison to having to get up slowly, giving Nial enough time to enter a defensive stance once again.

    With that in mind, Melvin rushed towards Nial once again, without giving him a single breather that may allow him to think of a way to gain an upper hand again.

    Having been trained professionally, Melvin knew that a single fraction of a second, as well as a subtle motion with which one executed one''s ability could be enough to end someone''s life.

    Because of that, the young man was fully alert and ready for any kind of attack, only to realise that nothing happened when Nial''s entire sports clothes were cut open, hundreds of cuts inflicted to his best friend.

    Initially, he had nned to teach Nial a lesson, but the situation seemed to have turned in Nial''s favor after he had been able to avoid the electric currents.

    Something in the seemingly simple move Nial had executed at that moment caused Melvin''s instincts to be triggered, it was something that made his entire being believe that his opponent was more terrifying than one could perceive at the first nce.

    This realization made Melvin freeze in his tracks only to curse out.

    "Fuck, I went overboard¡­"

 Chapter 30 Father In Distress

    "Was that really necessary, Melvin?" Nial asked with a frustrated expression, knowing that his friend could have lectured him without inflicting dozens of light cuts on his body.

    Melvin heard Nial''sints but instead of acknowledging his mistake, he remained stubborn and made no effort to soothe the situation.

    "Well, you now know what you arecking Nial, remember that!"

    Hearing this, Nial felt like punching Melvin, but being forced to focus on enveloping the dozens of cuts with his mana to heal them gave him no time to do so.

    A few minutes passed and once Nial stopped the bleeding of all cuts he had sustained, he walked in his room to change his clothes.

    Afterward, he felt like punching Melvin as he heard his teasing voice.

    "Nial, are you afraid to spar with me now? Hehehe¡­did you finally ept that I''m stronger than you?!"

    His friend''s abrupt change in behavior confused Nial once again, and he was unable to understand how Melvin could switch from being serious to being childish that quickly.

    However, if Nial knew that Melvin was trying to savor the days in which he was still stronger than his friend, he would think differently.

    The more Melvin thought about it, the more terrifying his friend''s natural instincts seemed to be.

    Hisbat awareness, perception, movement, and so on were simply too fearsome and he was working on it tirelessly to polish himself even further.

    And that was just a few weeks after he had awoken his origin.

    Nial had yet to learn how to control mana as if it was something natural to him. At the same time, Melvin knew that Nial''s first ability would be a crucial point in his friend''s development path.

    It could either open the pathways to a broad future or seal off his entire future, destroying the potential he had!

    That was not something Melvin wanted, which was why he had nned to be extremely harsh and strict with Nial, while trying to feel happy about winning against his friend as long as possible.

    Unfortunately, Nial was not happy with his n, and instead of bothering to answer his question he simply asked him pointedly.

    "Instead of trying to kill me by covering it up as training, how about we let several merchants take a look at the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal, and see who is willing to pay us the most?

    The origin crystals have a standardized price, so it doesn''t matter who or where we sell them, but I don''t want to lose out on profit with the ability crystal!"

    Melvin thought that Nial wouldment on his harsh way of teaching things, but instead of doing so, he kept a straight face.

    Thus, Melvin calmed down too, hiding his difort about the spar against Nial that was much more fearsome than he liked to acknowledge, as he smiled slyly.

    "Why do we need to search for the best merchant, if you have me by your side? I have connections to the best merchants, and they won''t dare to con us. Otherwise, they will have to fear the wrath of my family, which everyone avoids, and that has a good reason!"

    It was not like the idea of approaching Melvin''s father had not crossed his mind, but he had discarded the idea a momentter.

    Even though he trusted Melvin, his family was extremely fearsome, and Nial felt that it would be best to avoid them.

    From the looks of it, Melvin understood Nial''s thoughts and the situation they were currently in pretty well, otherwise, he would have said that they should directly visit their shop.

    With that in mind, heprehended that his friend was probably not as oblivious to his family matters as he first thought.

    At least that was what Nial assumed as he pulled Melvin towards the door of their backyard.

    Melvin''s family was far more foreboding than he had initially thought, and if Nial had even the faintest inkling of how the entire Tyr family was already looking for Melvin, he would feel even more burdened than it was already the case.

    In the end, Melvin had just told his father''s butler that he would not be home for the next few days before hanging up. He hadn''t even called his father directly, knowing that he would throw a fit.

    Because of that, the entire shelter was about to bebed through and turned upside down just to find Melvin, which was something neither of the two young men expected.

    Only Maline thought that Melvin''s father was a tad bit overprotective in a sense she was familiar with.

    As such, she had decided to do something Nial and Melvin didn''t know about yet.

    Thus, without letting others know, she secretly wrote a message to the Tyr family that Melvin was doing fine, and that he was currently staying with her son in their house.

    Because she assumed that Melvin''s father would just storm into their house upon reading the note, she scribbled in the words stating that nothing happened to Melvin, and that he was just worried about his friend and trying to help him.<sub> </sub>

    Afterward, she added a few more bits of information, including the location they lived, with the request to do nothing that would make Melvin hate his family because it looked like he had figured out what happened a few years prior.

    Upon reading through the message his butler had forwarded to him, Melvin''s father''s first reaction was to be enraged, but the further he read, the calmer he became.

    Recalling that in the past his son had made friends with a pair of siblings, he also remembered that he had sent his butler to them in order to threaten them.

    This caused his expression to sour after reading about the incident of the Orin family''s son that had urred years before Melvin had befriended them.

    He also clearly recalled hearing about another incident that happened a short while after they had threatened their family to bring hell upon them if either of them were to try exploiting his son.

    Maline had clearly written that they never mentioned anything about the incident that had urred a few years ago, but it was possible for her son to have been a little bit too emotional. As such, she couldn''t promise anything that her son might do, for which she apologized multiple times in the letter.

    Procuring more information about the Orin family, Serl Tyr, Melvin''s father''s expression turned grave, and the emotions depicted in the letter clearly showed how the writer''s turmoil while writing those words.

    Adding the facts written in the few sheets of information their information department had acquired in a matter of minutes, to that of the contents of the letter, Tyr grew certain of one fact- the financial situation of their family was not at all good. They were in huge debt.

    And all of that seemed to be because of the expensive medicine they had bought to try tending to the son''s blindness as well as their daughter''s unique and unknown disease that seemed to be lethal.

    However, even after their miserable situation and extreme financial crisis, they didn''t ask for any help from Melvin, knowing that something worse would happen.

    Serl had already been confused about why Melvin was so happy when they had arrived in Katu, only to call in the evening, saying that he won''te home for the next few days.

    Yet, after recalling how he had threatened the Orin family while seeing the information about their current condition in front of him, Serl Tyr could already tell what his son had seen, heard, orprehended about his family''s doings.

    Understanding this, Serl couldn''t help but hold his head in his hands as he ced his elbows on the table he was seated in front of.

    "What kind of mess is that even?! How can a family be so naive and selfless while facing so many tragedies¡­"

    Serl was one of the merchant tycoons, who was sly and knew what he had to do in order to receive what he wanted, but the moment the situation switched from making business, to personal matters, Serl turned into a useless and clumsy man, who was known for saying and doing wrong things at the worst possible timing.

    As such, he was currently trying to figure out what he should do in order to mend his rtionship with Melvin, which he seemed to have almost cut off unintentionally,

    In the end, Serl hadn''t even thought about what he did years before to his son''s best friend''s family.

    The only thought he had in mind when it was something concerning Melvin was to protect him.

    Because of that, he had assumed the Orin family to be leeches, which was the first mistake he did, followed by the second, which was to threaten them without even knowing them.

    Fortunately, an idea popped up in Serl''s head, the moment he received a call from one of the merchants in Katu, who was a distant business associate.

    At first, he had wanted to reject the call, but when the butler, who had forwarded the call told him that it had to do with his son, and a blind friend of Melvin, Serl received it without hesitation.

    Even if Serl looked like a tall, cold man, with an athletic physique, short brown hair, and ice-cold brown eyes, his core was soft.

    The only issue was that he had been betrayed and exploited too often, from every possible side, which made it difficult for him to trust anyone easily.

    Other than that, he wanted to protect his family from all kinds of possible harm before anything could even happen to them.

    That was also why he had special attention to Melvin''s training and turned him into someone who knew how to fight, while having a calm mind in face of adversity, even if a friend, his family, or a lover were to betray him.

    Melvin''s only problem was hisprehension of the Lightning affinity. Other than that, there was nothing Serl couldin about because his son was simply perfect.

    Yet, that was also the reason why his sudden announcement of him staying away from home irked Serl the most.

    Trying to calm down, Serl looked at the holographic screen in front of him, where he saw a somewhat familiar chubby face of a craftily smiling middle-aged man who was shouting excitedly through the holographic screen.

    "Your son, Melvin, and his friend are really unique kids. It looks like they obtained a [Shockwave Barrage] ability inside the Melind dungeons. Are you trying to let your farm team of Originals grind rare bosses in Katu?

    What are you even teaching your son to not know the value of the [Shockwave Barrage] ability? Or did you try to lure me into your honey trap by sending your kid to make business?

    Either way, if you need something, just tell me. I offered your son a price higher than most people would get, but I doubt he knows that other shelters would pay a fortune for the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal!"

 Chapter 31 Little Trickster

    Having entered one of the most prosperous stores in Katu, Melvin didn''t hesitate to reveal his identity to the secretary.

    This caused the secretary to stare at him for a moment before rushing towards the manager who immediately called someone as if something huge was just about to happen.

    Perceiving the sudden change in the atmosphere their arrival had caused astonished Nial.

    He only knew that Melvin belonged to a rich and somewhat powerful family.

    But he had no idea just how influential and wealthy his family actually was until he saw the way everybody in the shop scurried towards Melvin as if he was some sort of elite of the elite.

    That was even more evident as a chubby, brightly smiling man arrived in front of them only a few minutester. He was sweating profusely and greeted Melvin heartily.

    Throwing a short nce toward Nial, the chubby man quickly decided to ignore him which didn''t bother Nial at all. He was used to being ignored by now.

    Instead, he was able to use his mana perception to figure out more about his surroundings.

    In the end, they were somewhere in the central district after spending just half an hour riding the shuttle.

    Using the shuttle, Nial never actually knew where they wouldnd. A single mistake of the shuttle, and he might end up at the other end of the shelter.

    As such, he liked going on foot much better as he could trace back the path he had walked or run along to travel home.

    This was not possible with a shuttle, but also not further problematic right now.

    Rather than minding this minuscule issue, Nial reverted his attention back to the chubby merchant and Melvin who were already in a heated debate about the price of the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal.

    Meanwhile, Nial had decided to upy the vendor and exchange the 52 poorest Common origin crystals with money.

    Through this transaction, a total of 1560$ were now transferred to his Originals ID card.

    This was a small fortune for their family, but considering that Sabrina''s medicine for an entire week cost about 10,000$ it was far from enough.

    Going out hunting every two days given the risks they take and receiving such small gains in return, wouldn''t even be enough to generate the required money to cover up the expense of his sister''s medicine.

    That was also the reason why his parents had been going out to hunt every single day, for more than 12 hours a day, if possible.

    Considering that he and Melvin went only out a few hours while trying to adapt to each other''s fighting style, in addition to familiarizing themselves with the dungeon''s interior and specific characteristics.

    As such, Nial couldn''tin, but he was still not satisfied.

    Because of that, he slowly noticed that he was bing greedier and for the first time in his life, thinking about money. But it was something that normally urred with Originals who were making their first huge gain by selling an ability crystal.

    However, even after selling an ability crystal, Nial didn''t think that they would be able to make a huge fortune.

    Little did he know that the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal was highly demanded by one particr shelter that had many issues with dungeons inhabiting Bat beasts.

    In the end, the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal might only be a Low ranked Common ability, but it was one of the strongest sound attack abilities for Origin ranked Originals that had been found by humanity!

    Melvin knew this because he had learned a lot from his father, and the numerous tutors he had received knowledge from along with many other influential individuals who imparted lessons to him.

    As such, he was able to increase the price of the ability crystal he was holding by manifold.

    Yet, Nial noticed something that made him feel ufortable about the way both of them were stringently negotiating with each other, which was somehow entirely one-sided.

    ''Why is the merchant just epting the high price Melvin quotes without even trying to lower the price in any way? It''s almost as if the starting price was way too low to begin with!''

    Realizing this, Nial approached his friend and the merchant to understand more but realized that they were already shaking their hands, and had already concluded the deal.

    Initially, Nial had wanted Melvin toplete the business transaction because he seemed to be a better businessman than him.

    After all, the only business transaction Nial had everpleted in his life was with Arnold Birg which he doubted if it could be even called that.

    However, now, when he looked at the two men in front of him, he was not sure of that anymore.

    He furrowed his eyebrows to see the chubby merchant walk past Nial with the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal in his hand, only to murmur to himself.

    "That''s a true treasure...perfect for the Bat gue in Titur!"

    Hearing the merchant''s whisper caused Nial''s mood to sour even further, only to grasp Melvin''s arm as he quickly said,

    "You do know that we could have gotten more. The chubby merchant just said something about a Bat gue in Titur. Isn''t the ability we sold perfectly suited to make a huge profit if transferred and sold to Titur? You cannot tell me that you didn''t know about this, your dad is a merchant?!"

    Nial was confused about Melvin''s attitude, and he almost shouted at him for making them receive a far lower profit than possible.

    Yet, instead of throwing an angry retort at him, his friend remained calm, and he seemed to be even smiling at that as he tried to reassure Nial.

    "I''ve nned something Nial, just trust me!... And don''t be so restless, why wouldn''t I know about Titur...and that the biggest Merchant who supplies resources to Titur is in fact, Juan, the chubby merchant, we just sold the ability crystal to!"

    Nial''s mouth opened and closed several times before he fell silent, calming himself stupid for not trusting his friend, and he apologized quickly.

    However, rather than holding a grudge against Nial for not trusting him, Melvin simply pushed him with his shoulder as he added in a hushed whisper.

    "By the way, register a tinum membership with your Original ID card. As a new member, who directly purchases a tinum membership, you will get a 30% discount for the first 5 items you purchase!"<sub> </sub>

    Nial was not sure what exactly Melvin was nning, but instead of doubting his best friend like before, he simply did as he was told.

    Yet, before he could even purchase it, the vendor apologized after checking his card''s limit and stated that Nial didn''t have enough money in his bank ount.

    "I''m sorry sir, but you need to have 10,000$ in your bank ount to purchase the tinum membership. It''s a monthly subscription that costs 10,000$ after all!"

    This caused Nial to feel a little bit off, but no sooner had the chubby merchant disappeared and reappeared in a moment, everything changed.

    The chubby merchant seemed to have been busy with his holographic screen a moment earlier, but had heard his words. Thus, he quickly whispered something to the vendor, who nodded his head while holding out his hand for Nial to hand in the card again.

    "Sir, please give me your Originals ID card for a moment, I will immediately transfer the entire money for the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal to your bank ount! After that, I''ll deduct 10,000$ and you will be registered as a premium member of our store!"

    After hearing that Melvin nodded his head, and Nial just threw him a curious look before proceeding to do as asked without knowing what exactly his friend was nning.

    Yet, hearing his friend''s voice that was directed toward the merchant, he slowlyprehended something.

    "Sir, you told me that If I sell you the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal, we will be able to get a 10% discount for all products we purchase this week, right? That doesn''t affect the discount Nial receives on his new membership or does it?"

    Looking innocently at the chubby merchant, Melvin just wanted to hear him clearly state his affirmation, which happened only a few momentster.

    "A merchant...keeps his promises¡­"

    Nial could clearly hear that the chubby merchant was already displeased based on the tone of his voice. But owing to the profit he made from purchasing the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal, he reluctantly epted everything.

    However, the moment he saw Melvin''s scheming smile, the merchant knew that he had made a mistake. Just a secondter, Melvin lifted his hand as an overly familiar emblem around the size of a baby''s fist manifested in it.

    "Your store has a merchant agreement with the Tyr family, is that correct? In that case, this emblem is proof that I belong to the Tyr family, and I would like to have another 10% discount on all items I purchase!"

    Somehow, the chubby merchant felt as if the Tyr family was on a mission to drain him of his wealth.

    First, Serl Tyr wasughing when he had tried to ridicule Melvin in front of his father, and now the little Tyr heir was doing exactly what the chubby merchant had been trying to avoid- amassing discounts!

    In order to get their hands on more Originals that would prefer shopping at their store over every otherpetitor outlet, they had implemented some exciting schemes such as handing out memberships, and the profits one can gain by subscribing to them.

    Sometimes people tried to make use of them, and find loopholes one could exploit, but this didn''t work in most cases.

    Unfortunately, Melvin had found one of the ws his store had yet to figure out.

    Thus, he had to reluctantly nod his head, even if he didn''t want to.

    "That is correct¡­"

    With the merchant''s verbal agreement and the vendor and Nial as witnesses, the deal waspleted.

    Once that was done, Melvin began to search for all kinds of things, leaving behind an utterly dumbfounded Nial, who didn''t even realize what was going on.

    "What are you doing Nial? Is my almightiness dumbfounding you?" Melvin asked with a scheming smile when he returned to the counter with exactly five items.

    Looking at Nial, he instructed him like he was his loyal sidekick.

    "Pay for them, you got our entire money, and the membership!"

    Handing Nial the emblem of the Tyr family as if it was worthless, the young man turned around and tried to figure out what else they could purchase when they were to return.

    Meanwhile, Nial paid for their purchase had a total price of 2,000,000$, which was reduced to 900,000$ after all the discounts.

    This shocked Nial extremely, but instead of letting his surprise show, he just handed the vendor his Original ID card once again while trying to keep a straight face.

    However, the sweat trickling down his cheeks clearly showed how nervous he was because there was one particr question in his mind.

    ''Just how much did Melvin earn through the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal?? I think I grossly underestimated its price...just how much of a problem is the bat gue for amon ability crystal to be worth at least 1,000,000$?!?''

    Yet, Nial didn''t notice that Melvin had still been nice to the merchant because influential individuals on Titur would pay up to 3 million dors for that ability crystal.

    Considering that amount, the chubby merchant had made a huge profit, even if one were to deduct the transportation costs, and risks.

    As such, nobody shouldin about the resulting situation as the Tyr family had no cheap means of transportation like the chubby merchant, who had also the necessary connections to make everything possible.

    Unfortunately, Melvin was not yet done, as he dealt the finishing blow, once they had purchased a total of five goods.

    "Sir, we would like to cancel the tinum membership after the purchase has beenpleted! Thank you very much!!"

    **

    Only a few minutester, the mentally exhausted merchant mmed his fist on the table in front of him and dialed Serl Tyr''s number.

    "I take everything I said back, Serl...your son is a little trickster!! He tricked me into paying much more than I wanted to!! The majority of my profits have now disappeared into thin air!!"

    While ranting to Melvin''s father, the chubby merchant had hoped to hear something reassuring, yet, instead of getting an appeasing answer, the chubby merchant could only hear a loudugh as Serl Tyrmented,

    "You know, there is a reason I teach my children properly so that they won''t get scammed by older people who cannot take youngds seriously!"

 Chapter 32 Anger

    After Nial had paid for the five items, Melvin stored them away without allowing Nial to get a good ''look'' at them.

    Instead, Melvin dragged him outside the store and they turned to their left. After walking for more than ten minutes, they entered a side alley where a gigantic gate appeared in front of them.

    It looked ancient, and based on the mana fluctuations, Nial was able to sense that the wooden gate had been intertwined with mana since the appearance of the first dungeon ever, or so he assumed.

    The density and purity of the mana leaking from the gate were astronomical, and Melvin had to continue pulling him so that they would finally enter the pagoda that was surrounded by flourishing greenery.

    Nial didn''t see anything, but he could smell the fresh grass, and lush trees, and his sensitive ears picked up the noises made by various beasts.

    This astonished him, but oddly enough he didn''t feel threatened at all.

    Everything seemed extremely calm, and it was almost as if the dangers of the outside world didn''t exist in the ce they had entered.

    "Where...are we?!"

    Nial had remained quiet since Melvin had dragged him out of the shop. However, he couldn''t remain silent anymore.

    The surroundings were way too extraordinary, and considering that they had passed by soldiers that were hidden under the shadows of the gate, the ce they had entered seemed to be difficult to enter under normal circumstances.

    Yet, Melvin entered it as if it was his home, which astonished Nial.

    "Oh¡­did I forget to tell you? We are in Junades'' Dojo. I trained under him, and he sells copies of the techniques he invented! Other than that, it should be possible to rent certain techniques from him if we ask nicely!

    If I''m not wrong he is should have returned home from the expedition he started when I left Katu."

    Nial just nodded his head, intrigued about Melvin''s teacher, whose name was Junades. The name rang a bell, but Nial had never really been interested in news, let alone magazines or any kind of social media. As such, other than the fact that the name felt familiar, he didn''t have much to go on.

    But then he realised something that astonished him.

    "He went on an expedition, wow! That means he must be strong to search for special dungeons and other survivors of the dungeon''s descent¡­Wait, do we even have money?! I thought we utilized every single penny to purchase Sabrina''s medicine?"

    Earlier, he had been able to barely perceive the outlines of the five items Melvin had instructed him to purchase.

    As such, he knew that there was one bow, an armor, and a total of three medicinal solutions among the items they had purchased.

    Even though he didn''t have the time to figure out what kind or rank the purchased items belonged to, considering that they costed a total of 900,000$ even after the discount of more than 50%, each item had to be extremely expensive.

    Thus, Nial had expected that the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal to not only is extremely valuable but that its selling price was around a staggering sum of a million dors.

    After deducting the 10,000$ for the tinum membership at the store, they should have slightly more than 90,000$ left.

    Yet, Melvin was acting as if they could easily purchase some techniques from a master who was strong enough to leave the shelters and return without any issues!

    "Didn''t we want to purchase a basic technique from the government...what are we doing here?!" Nial thus asked aloud when Melvin had dragged him inside the pagoda that smelled like old, yellowed paper.

    Unfortunately, his friend continued to ignore him and didn''t answer any questions.

    As such, Nial fell silent and tried to assess his surroundings to understand where he was being taken.

    Right now, he was not even able to think properly as his mana perception was severely restricted the moment they entered the pagoda.

    The surrounding mana weighed him down, infiltrating his pores, and invigorated him.

    Under normal circumstances, this would have been great, and Nial would dly start gathering and annexing mana in order to fill his small Mana core.

    However, Nial was unable to sense his surroundings at the moment. His mana perception was restricted owing to his incapability to release his mana fluctuations to the outside which was annoying.

    Because of that, he had to rely on his other senses while slowly adjusting his mana perception to the extremely dense mana.

    While following Melvin, who kept walking briskly, Nial had a hard time memorizing the paths they were taking, while simultaneously adjusting to the surrounding mana.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, he gave up on keeping track of the paths after some time and focused on the adjustment process instead.

    While walking behind Melvin like a little duckling, it took Nial only ten minutes before he could finally use his mana perception once again.

    Afterward, he was finally able to sense his surroundings much better once again.

    Thus, he could focus his attention on the area around him, and the fact that they were currently at the highestyer of the pagoda.

    "Why didn''t we look at the manuals at a lower level? Even if your teacher is back, there is no way I can afford one of the more expensive techniques!"

    Nial assumed that the higher the floor he had reached in the pagoda, the rarer the books and techniques avable for purchase would be.

    This assumption was also supported by the fact that the mana radiating from the books and manuals increased with each floor they had walked through in order to reach the stairs that led them to the next floor.

    Yet, what Melvin said nonchntly caused him to freeze for a second.

    "Nial, since when have you be so restless? We still have more than 300,000$ left! With that and my rtionship with Master Junades, it shouldn''t be a problem for us to rent one of the stronger manuals for an indefinite time!"

    "We...have 300,000$ left?!" Nial almost screamed in astonishment, only to shout out "MELVIN! Why didn''t we purchase another Medicinal solution for my sister then? We would have a lot more time to save some money then¡­."

    Upon hearing him, Melvin seemed to be annoyed in the way Nial thought only about his sister. It was almost as if Sabrina was the only reason for Nial to be still alive.

    Thus, he turned around and yelled at him.

    "If you don''t start to use that brain of yours, I''m gonna get angry!! The three medicinal solutions I choose are exceptional and will be more than enough to help Sabrina to maintain her current state for several months!

    If we want to improve her situation, the medicinal solution should also be helpful. It might decrease its potency at a faster speed, but even then, we will have more than three months to take care of everything!!

    During that time, do you want to be stronger, or do you want to remain as weak as you are right now? If its thetter we should leave and mindlessly conquer dungeons.

    Just try to conquer the Melind dungeon''s fourth floor without a single technique¡­ Why did you think I negotiated so much with the merchant? For fun? Definitely not! The medicine your sister got is from Titur, the ce with the best alchemists. So Sabrina will be fine, and the merchant might be displeased for a moment, but he will still make a profit, so he shouldn''tin.

    Rather than being so annoying and selfless, be stronger and improve your strength so we can move on. The treasures that we can find in the firstyer of the Melind dungeon don''t bring enough money to earn enough to even hire an ordinary Originals doctor...and your sister has a weird disease so we need to start saving up!!!

    I have already chalked out a n, but what the hell are you doing? If you don''t start thinking about your own situation, or that of your parents, I will be mad!!"

    Staring at Melvin with his lifeless, white eyes, Nial, was not even sure what he should say. He was utterly dumbfounded and was not even able to move a muscle.

    He thought that Melvin had already been angry when he had found out that Sabrina was ill, and that nobody had called him to help them.

    Yet, right now, while standing in the center of the highestyer of the Pagoda, his best friend had given him a lecture, and the more he thought about it the more reasonable Melvin''s way to approach the situation seemed.

    He had just thought about the momentary gains that were the medicinal solutions for Sabrina, while Melvin had even thought about Nial''s parents, and purchased a few goods for them to protect themselves much better, in addition to the three medicinal solutions Sabrina required.

    Thus, Melvin had thought about every single step he would take which allowed him to purchase a strong bow for Nial''s mother, who was a bad closebat fighter, and an armor for his father, who was known for injuring himself easily if he had even the slightest chance of defeating a boss or strong opponent through this.

    Yet, now that Melvin wanted to purchase a martial art technique that could be used by the entire Orin family, Nial wasining, and this had annoyed his best friend to the extent that his anger erupted.

    "I''m sorry¡­.I was just worried that we might be making a mistake by purchasing an expensive martial art technique."

    Sighing deeply, Melvin wanted tounch yet another lecture but saw that Nial was already feeling guilty. Thus, he refrained from saying anything about that topic, except for two sentences.

    "Just stop being so selfless and look after yourself too. What would your parents think if you were to be severely injured or even worse, die inside a dungeon just because you cared about others more than yourself?"

    After taking a deep breath, Melvin changed the subject as he ordered Nial with a sly smile on his face.

    "Now take a look at the techniques, and tell me if you find a suitable one!! If we are still short of money, we shall beg Master Junades to give us a discount...hehe!!"

 Chapter 33 Control Of The Ancient Monarch

    Ever since Nial had awoken his origin, he had never really thought about his own situation, and the most important goal he had in mind was to support his parents financially in order to allow them to purchase better medicines for his sister.

    Every single thing he had done since the day of his awakening had been for Sabrina, and Nial hadn''t even noticed that until his best friend scolded him.

    Recalling the short period that had passed since then, he realized that he could have done most of the things differently.

    Knowing what he had to do in order to gain the most benefits was important, and that was exactly what he hadn''t done because he had been way too focused on short-term gains.

    Even though he had a rough n on what specific traits he had to improve on, the way in which he was supposed to proceed was something Nial didn''t know.

    At least, that was his current condition, and when Nial thought about the feisty lecture his friend had given him, he slowly understood that he had made substantial mistakes, which he had to fix.

    Nial knew that this was not something that would happen overnight, but realization and eptance of mistakes were considered the first step to bing a better version of yourself.

    With that in mind, he averted his attention to releasing his mana fluctuations in order to visualize his surroundings.

    Grabbing the closest manual that was just an arm''s length away from him, he read the title that didn''t sound special in any way.

    Yet, instead of judging a book by its cover, Nial flicked it open and read a few pages, only to frown the moment he realized something that caused his mood to plummet.

    ''I don''t know what some of the terms mean¡­'' The first page was filled with dozens of terms he had never heard of before and the fact started to bother him.

    Based on the contents inside it, the technique seemed like any other ordinary one, and even if it was possibly something he could be interested in, there was one thing he understood clearly- many techniques had requirements such as affinities, specific abilities, or a specific amount of mana one required to possess.

    With that in mind, Nial understood that it was unlikely to find any great techniques at the higher floor of the pagoda because they had to be the best of the best.

    Thus, the required amount of mana someone would need to practice such techniques would probably be tens of times higher than what he could provide.

    Yet, when he averted his attention to Melvin, Nial was able to hear the excited exmations of his friend.

    "Nial, look here! My Master found the technique [Path of a Thousand Lightningstrikes]! That''s so amazing!!! My father had searched for that technique earlier but he had failed to procure it. Nobody was willing to sell it...Maybe I should ask my Master if he can lend me the technique...I will be able to improve my understanding of the Lightning''s essence!"

    Nial just smiled upon hearing Melvin''s excited babble.

    He was always astonished by how Melvin''s mood could change so quickly. Sometimes, he was envious of this ability, but then, it could also be extremely distracting, and unsuitable in certain situations.

    With that in mind, Nial was able to let go of his envy after a few moments.

    Nevertheless, based on the technique''s name, Nial grew certain that it would suit Melvin.

    As such, he agreed with his friend and remarked,

    "If possible, try to convince your master to lend it to you. It would be great if you wouldn''t st me away with your uncontrolled bolts of lightning¡­"

    Nial tried to tease his friend, and it seemed to work as he heard footsteps rushing towards him from behind.

    This caused his faint smile to widen as he added,

    "Your Master must be one of the stronger powerhouses in Katu, right? How else would he be able to procure a technique your father could not obtain?"

    After he had raised his doubt, Melvin''s footsteps muffled down as his friend''s voice which was filled with pride echoed through the room.

    "Master Junades is amongst the strongest powerhouses in the entire Stinon alliance! He is probably amongst the top 1000 Originals in the nine shelters of humanity!"

    Nial was astonished by the news and realized that Junades was a mighty cultivator.

    But he still felt that other humans who had survived the dungeon''s descent might also have constructed some shelters.

    After all, the dungeon descent had happened several decades after the first dungeon had emerged.

    Yet, instead ofmenting on something with half-baked assumptions, Nial chose to remain silent.

    Rather than starting a discussion that might turn into a heated debate, he continued to search through various techniques.

    He knew that he didn''t understand mostplex terms, which originated from hisck of knowledge about Originals, dungeons, martial art techniques, as well as the fact that he was not yet proficient in reading things.

    In the end, he had a lot to catch up to so he was a bit relieved at his reading progress that showed significant improvements.

    As such, he tried toprehend the things he had yet to learn, which in turn, made him extremely interested in getting to know more about the techniques.

    Learning a technique would allow him to be much stronger because he would slowly start getting to know his body, how to move it in the most efficient way, and how to employ all necessary groups of muscles to attain the highest strength!

    Because of that, Nial wanted to find the best possible technique for his current condition which was far from perfect.

    After some time of reading multiple techniques, Nial noticed that the way in which he wanted to tackle his issues waspletely wrong.

    He was not even sure what exactly he was looking for. Would a movement technique be the best as his first technique, or would it be better to learn aplete martial art technique, right off the bat?

    Weapon-based techniques were not what Nial was looking for because he and his parents should be able to learn and use the selected technique.

    To make the most out of it, the technique should be something that could be used universally.<sub> </sub>

    While thinking about that, Nial got frustrated because there was no such technique, and he turned towards Melvin, who was excitedly skimming through different techniques.

    "By the way, where is your master? It would be great if I could seek his advice on the best suitable technique for myself¡­"

    Even if Nial couldn''t be sure that Master Junades would answer his questions, let alone help him to pick a suitable technique, he could at least ask. There was no harm in trying.

    He wouldn''t kill him, just for asking a question- that was something Nial was rtively sure about.

    Unfortunately, Melvin''s answer was not really helpful.

    "I have no idea, but I doubt we will find him. He will probably find us first, either way!"

    After that Melvin shrugged his shoulders before he approached Nial and tried to appease him.

    "What technique are you searching for? Is it something to help you improve your control over mana, including your mana perception to visualize any kind of object in a longer range, or do you want to improve your movements first?"

    His question stumped him as Nial had not even thought about either of the options.

    In an attempt to avoid answering Melvin, he just picked the closest book from the next shelf without thinking.

    "[Control of the Ancient Monarch] odd name¡­" He mumbled before he opened the first page, and read the first few sentences while using his mana perception.

    Owing to the mana fluctuations that radiated from the book that felt like it was extremely old and tattered, his hands had reached for it subconsciously.

    His mana perception was slightly off, but that was not further problematic.

    Barely a few minutes passed in which he had adjusted to the manual''s mana fluctuations, only to frown deeply as he let out a sigh.

    "I don''t understand it!"

    Earlier, it was only theplex terms and jargon he had not understood, but in the manual, he was currently reading, almost every single word seemed to be written in an entirely differentnguage.

    Nial knew that this was not the case, but he simply couldn''t understand the words he was reading.

    This frustrated him because he felt like the manual might be useful owing to a single sentence he had understood.

    [The first step of bing a mighty Combatant is toprehend the energy you are using, and how to utilize it perfectly!]

    That was interesting, and Nial wanted to continue reading it, understand it, and learn what the writer of the manual truly meant!

    But before he could continue reading, a stern voice floated towards him making him involuntarily stiffen.

    "Brat, isn''t it obvious that you cannotprehend the technique right off the bat? Do you expect to understand everything the moment you read it? You are too naive,d¡­"

    It was just after the calm and vigorous voice resounded through the small hall that Nial perceived the arrival of a young man with an athletic body through his mana perception.

    He hadn''t heard, smelled or sensed any vibrations from the surrounding which astonished Nial, because the man had suddenly appeared behind them.

    The young man was less than a meter away from them and both Melvin and Nial turned around to face him.

    At that moment, Nial felt a bolt of electricity spreading through his entire body as his mana perception was now fully averted from the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique to the young man.

    ''He is fucking strong!!'' Gulping down nervously, Nial''s body instinctively retreated and he bumped into the wooden shelf where he had picked up the old manual before.

    However, instead of reprimanding him further, the calm and vigorous voice turned joyous the moment Nial felt a calctive gaze run over his entire body.

    "Oh, I think I know you, brat! You should be Melvin''s blind friend, right? This poor disciple of mine never had many friends, so he always talked about you and your sister!

    I always wanted to see you, and it seems like today is the day. Nice meeting you, and I apologize for my disciple''s behavior. He has been pampered too much by his mother...ah, by the way, my name is Junades!"

    Standing in front of Master Junades with a nk expression, Nial didn''t know what to say and merely blinked.

    He didn''t expect one of the top 1000 ranked Originals of humanity to be such a mood bomb.

    His voice sounded cheerful and based on the way Nial was able to perceive Junades'' outlines, his entire body was overflowing with joy.

    Because of that, he was bbergasted, and could not think of a proper way to greet Junades. Melvin seemed to have understood his hesitation so he mumbled beside him.

    "Don''t be too astonished. He is one of the unique Originals. He was unable to feel any joy and excitement before he awoke his origin. You remember the unique Originals, right? They grow stronger when they feel the emotions that had been previously sealed!"

    Melvin spoke in such a low voice that Nial had issues hearing him properly. Yet, the moment he heard everything, even he couldn''t help but be excited.

    "Ohh! That''s amazing, so he must grow even more powerful the more joy he feels! I wonder if he gets more excited when he fights and, in turn, if it further increases his strength! That would be extremely powerful."

    Nial''s voice sounded extremely curious and he didn''t even notice how his hushed whisper had transformed into an excited squeal.

    Thus, it was no wonder that Junades was able to hear Nial, which caused him to smile slyly as he asked,

    "Do you want to test it out? I won''t use any mana, and only my emotions to fight you."

 Chapter 34 Unique Original

    Astonished about the sudden invitation to spar with one of the top powerhouses of humanity, Nial couldn''t help but feel that this was a great opportunity for him.

    However, upon sensing the excitement in Melvin''s mana fluctuations, his initial reaction changed almost instantly.

    He sensed that something was off because Melvin was way more excited at the prospect of his master and best friend fighting than he should be.

    Thus he couldn''t help but bow lightly before politely rejecting the offer.

    "Master Junades, I have to apologize, but I''m currently not worthy enough to spar with you. I''m currently searching for a suitable technique in order to learn how to fight as I''m still a rookie in the fields ofbat experience,bat knowledge, and many other topics that are necessary to know to fight.

    Furthermore, my condition makes everything a little bit more challenging, and I do not want to bore Master Junades with my ineptitude."

    When Nial finished speaking, he immediately noticed how Melvin''s excitement had died down and had been reced with confusion.

    Yet, seeing that Nial had turned to face Melvin, Junades noticed something that made him smile faintly.

    "It seems like you are not as slow-witted as your friend thinks, otherwise, Melvin wouldn''t have lectured you that loudly!"

    Speaking to Nial, Junades looked at him curiously after having figured out why Nial was reluctant to spar with him.

    Thus, one of the things Melvin had used his friend of seemed to be wrong.

    Because of that, he wanted to personally see if the otherints Melvin had about his friend were true or not.

    In the end, there may not be a reason for Junades to show any interest in Nial, but for Melvin, who he had taught to be level-headed and control his anger, Nial had to be extremely important to his disciple.

    That was already more than enough to test the blind young man, who Junades knew almost nothing about.

    Excluding the information provided by Melvin, there was no intel he had yet procured about the blind youth. As such, Junades wanted to spar with Nial in order to figure out what kind of person the young man was.

    Wanting to know more about him, Junades tweaked his earlier suggestion and asked again.

    "Alright, if you don''t want to spar with me just like that...how about I give you the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique for arge discount so that you can afford it?

    For that to happen, you will have to hit me anywhere you want, three times in total!"

    Nial had already figured out that Master Junades had eavesdropped on them, but that was not exactly something that astonished him.

    Instead, it would have been weirder if he would have had no clue of a stranger entering his home.

    After all, it was a given to keep an eye on who enters your private property.

    Meanwhile, Melvin seemed to be more astonished about the sudden offer his Master gave Nial.

    In his opinion, it had already been illogical for Nial to decline his master''s request for a spar.

    Yet, the fact that stingy Junades gave Nial such an offer clearly showed that he was interested in something about the young, newly awakened blind young man.

    As such, he remained quiet and simply watched his friend and master discuss the further course of action without meddling in it.

    It was a lucrative offer, one which he could not refuse, certainly not after he checked the price tag of the technique, which caused his hand to tremble violently.

    While carefully cing the manual back on one of the numerous shelves, Nial was fully aware that Master Junades was itching to figure something out, otherwise, he wouldn''t make such a tempting offer.

    This caused Nial to wonder if there was something special about him, which was not the case as long as one was unaware of the Odyssey seed within his body.

    For a fleeting second, Nial thought that Junades had figured out something about his Odyssey seed, but discarded this thought a momentter.

    If someone knew about his Odyssey seed they might be interested in him, but this interest would be different inparison to what Master Junades was trying to get the hang of.

    To Nial, it felt as if Master Junades was interested in finding out more about him, including his personality, determination, and so on, and not just one specific trait of his.

    That was even more confusing because it made no sense, but instead of continuing to assume things and interpreting actions and people''s attitudes in different ways, he cleared his mind in an instant.

    His friend''s words were still ringing in his mind, and Nial nodded his head while he grinned lightly and replied,

    "It would be an honor to spar with a true Master! I hope Master Junades would restrict his strength, so I won''t be beaten to a pulp."

    Having epted the offer, Nial bowed slightly once again and followed the proper formalities. Meanwhile, Master Junades shook his hand with a joyous smile on his face.

    "Obviously, I will restrict my strength, kiddo. What kind of request is that? Hahaha¡­ Alright, follow me to the elevator, we will go down to the basement!"

    Saying so, he walked past Nial in a specific direction while simultaneously releasing a faint thread of mana with which he enveloped the [Control of the Ancient Monarch].

    It hovered in the air for a moment before being pulled towards Junades andnded on his hand.

    As Melvin followed him, he couldn''t help but feel somewhat odd about both Master Junades'' and Nial''s behavior.

    Something bothered him but he was not sure what exactly it was.

    Yet instead of saying anything, he wanted to drag Nial along with himself, but surprisingly, Nial had already fallen in step behind Junades, and his expression was serious.

    This told Melvin that Nial was ready to give his all in the spar against Master Junades.

    Whether this was solely in the hopes of hitting Junades a total of three times in order to afford to purchase the technique, or because he wanted to show himself, and possibly the others, that he was not as weak as others believed he was, Melvin wasn''t sure.

    In the end, he might be at a disadvantage due to his disability, but that allowed him to focus on other things that cultivators with vision would otherwise miss out on.

    Now that the moment of the spar was upon him, Nial tried to think of a way to hit Master Junades a total of three times.

    He knew that this would be an extremely challenging task, but attempting it with all his might was the only choice he had.

    On the bright side, he didn''t think that Master Junades would hurt him in any way. It was more likely that he would defeat him in a single move, and fight like Melvin, cruelly showing him what exactly he wascking.

    Other than that, Nial hoped that Junades would guide him, but that was just his wishful thinking.

    Less than a minute passed after they had entered the elevator, and reached the basement before walking into a room that seemed to be rtively empty.

    Dozens of different types of weapons were hanging on the walls, and there were a few poles that jutted out of the ground.

    Yet, even they disappeared after Junades pressed a button next to arge board where dozens of different levers, buttons and all kinds of monitors could be perceived by Nial.

    This told him that they had entered a high technologybat hall that could be used for training purposes, spars, as well as evaluation ofbatants using technology.<sub> </sub>

    The entire room could probably be customized, which was pretty cool.

    Nheless, it was expensive, and Nial had only heard about such rooms from Originals who would proudly boast about their purchases on the Inte.

    However, instead of trying to make sense of the buttons, levers and all of the stuff he didn''t understand, to begin with, he entered thebat ring that was ready to use.

    There was not much to prepare and it was just an enclosed empty space.

    With that in mind, he turned towards Melvin, who had already taken out the Viper spear from his spatial ring before he threw it toward his friend.

    Shooting his hand in the air the moment he sensed the Viper spear approaching him, he caught it before beginning to spin it as a warm-up.

    With the Viper spear''s de retracted, Nial stood opposite Junades, who was also taking out a rod from one of the walls in order to spar with him.

    While Nial was not sure if that was Junades'' main weapon, Melvin knew that this was not the case.

    To be precise, Melvin had never seen his master fighting with a rod, spear, or any kind of weapon like that.

    Yet, rather than having a weak spearmanship, the moment Junades swung around the rod, and tested out multiple movements, Nial, who had barely perceived anything owing to the distance he was keeping from Master Junades, couldn''t help but gulp.

    ''Was that really a good decision?'' He wondered, but before he could regret his decision, Junades remarked,

    "I won''t use any ability or any mana, just my physical strength which I would restrict to the 1st Origin rank and emotions! Pay attention, kiddo!"

    Smiling brightly, Junades pushed his feet from the ground and advanced towards Nial, who grew tense the moment he felt his entire body being enveloped in pressure.

    It felt like he was surrounded by joy, yet, at the same time, the same joy was slowly morphing into an intent to fight against Nial.

    With that in mind, Junades emerged in front of Nial before executing a simple thrust that targeted Nial''s abdomen.

    However, just as Nial moved the Viper spear whose de had been retracted to create a perfect bnce between the rod''s tip and bottom, he perceived that the attack''s target was suddenly changing.

    From targeting his abdomen, Junades made subtle movements in order to change the thrust''s trajectory.

    Through this, the rod was not targeting his chest, which Nial noticed early enough to react.

    Because of that, he swung the Viper spear, and tried to block Junades'' attack, only to realize that he had miscalcted something!

    In fact, Junades'' change in trajectory was only a preparation for the real attack and a feint to distract Nial.

    Junades didn''t want to attack his abdomen or chest, but his lower body!

    The subtle move towards his chest was simr to moving backward in order to gain a little bit more space to take a good swing, which was exactly what Junades did.

    Nial was so bbergasted by this sudden change in the attack pattern that he could only feel extreme pain in his right leg that had to endure the impact of Junades'' rod''s swing.

    However, as he was gritting his teeth and trying to bear the pain, Junades'' dealt another blow.

    After hitting his right leg, Junades smoothly moved around Nial, pulling away his leg with the rod that seemed to be coiling around his entire lower body like a ginormous snake that had him in its grasp.

    Not even his mana perception was able to follow Junades'' quick movements as the visualization was too slow in order to process everything directly.

    Nheless, even his other senses seemed to be too slow to keep up with Junades'' speed, which was mostly due to the fact that the noises Junades made were muffled and alsopletely different from how he actually attacked.

    Suffering an onught of heavy attacks, Nial knew that both of his legs would be covered in bruises.

    Yet, instead of bothering about the pain that tried to influence his mind, and makes him give up, Nial gritted his teeth.

    He couldn''t even deflect Junades'' attack, how could he think about attacking him?

    There was not a single opening, and Nial''s senses were betraying him, clearly showing him the issues he had to ovee.

    First, his mana control wascking severely as a single attack by Junades was enough to distract and prevent him from sensing his surroundings.

    Other than that, his focus on the remaining senses was also wavering.

    Knowing what mistakes he made, Nial was trying to work a way around his ws, fixing them at a pace that seemed to be extremely slow.

    Yet, what seemed slow to Nial shocked Melvin once again, and even Junades had to acknowledge that Nial was much faster at figuring out and acknowledging his mistakes than he had expected.

    With that in mind, he increased the difficulty for Nial slightly, elerating the speed at which he swung the rod around himself.

    The additional pressure caused due to the sudden burst in speed was unbearable, and his body was just screaming in pain leaving him no room to even think of evading or defending against a single attack Jndes initiated.

    This enraged Nial, not because he was being yed around with, but because he had overestimated himself, hisbat experience while underestimating the strength one could utilize as long as one had undergone proper training.

    Even if he wanted toin, there was nothing Nial was able to do at this exact moment.

    He could only try to endure the attacks while eliminating his ws in order to be hit less or to evade and deflect attacks.

    This shouldn''t be impossible but in order to achieve this, he suppressed his emotions forcefully, allowing the analytical part of his brain to take over, and figure out how Junades was moving, what kind of mistakes he made, and how exactly Junades countered every move of his.

    More than an hour passed as they continued sparring, and Nial''s entire body was covered in bruises, but he had yet to give up!

    Melvin looked at his friend in shock, and he had wanted to intervene many times.

    Yet, every single time, Master Junades held him back as if he was trying to see how long Nial could go on.

    Master Junades could barely contain his excitement, and it was at exactly this moment when Melvin saw something.

    Whether it was a coincidence or Nial''s instincts, Melvin was not sure about that, but it didn''t matter.

    Just as Nial took a step backward, he leaned forward, expecting the rod thrust as well as Junades'' moves over thest hour or so which helped him predict that Junades would move forward.

    And as expected, Junades took a step forward, followed by the rod he thrust forward, targeting his abdomen just like he thought.

    However, just as Nial thought he could deflect Junades'' attacks for the first time by moving in ordance to the expected trajectory, he sensed that the atmosphere seemed to be overflowing with excitement.

    Following that, Junades'' movement elerated and the rod reached Nial before he couldplete his own move, defeating him without much effort.

 Chapter 35 Seal

    While lying on the ground, Nial breathed heavily.

    He wanted to move, but his body rejected his plea, and Nial was barely able to look at Junades, who gave him a faint smile.

    However, instead of giving up now that hey on the ground, Nial didn''t want to ept his defeat.

    His mind was still working relentlessly telling him to not give up. There was a reason that his origin had suddenly awoken, and giving up just because his body didn''t want to move anymore was not something he would ept easily!

    It was at that moment, when Odyssey seed pulsated for the very first time in Nial''s life, shaking his conscience.

    His body flinched, and despite its unwillingness to move, Nial''s mind was forcefully taking over control of his body, urging it to exceed his body''s limits.

    At first, he thought that he had already exceeded the limits of his body, but that was not entirely correct because more uncontroble strength was hidden behind a second limiting factor that prevented his body from breaking apart.

    "I..can still go on!" Nial grumbled while gritting his teeth in order to bear with the sudden pain that coursed through his body that could barely move owing to the removed restriction.

    Even though he didn''t know where exactly the pain he felt originated from, he knew that the Odyssey seed had something to do with everything that had just happened, and was about to happen.

    Not only was he able to move, but also his [Mana Perception] ability seemed to have be stronger just now, and the fact that the surrounding mana was being pulled towards him listening to his everymand.

    It was almost as if he was in full control of everything within the range of the [Mana Perception] ability!

    Unable to ept being defeated so easily, even if his opponent was countless times mightier than him, Nial overcame his limits, creating a forced reaction of the Odyssey seed that finally listened to his plea and gave him the chance to retaliate.

    It was this unwillingness and his desire to win and to be strong that he was feeling for the first time in his life that allowed Nial to meet the first requirement of bing the true holder of the Odyssey seed and break through his mortal limits with his sheer willpower.

    Even if it looked like he was only sparring, the fact that he was not even able to deflect a single attack clearly showed how powerless he truly was, how insignificant, and useless his entire existence was.

    For the first time in his life, Nial was sincerely seeking strength as he tightly grasped the Viper spear that began to vibrate lightly as if it was awaiting Nial.

    Both Nial and his spear were ready to give their all in order to fight Master Junades, who stared at him with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

    "Kiddo, you are...amazing!!"

    Swinging the rod around his body, Junades'' increased the speed of his movements which further improved when he was unable to suppress his excitement anymore.

    Under normal circumstances, he wouldn''t be that excited to fight against ate bloomer Original, but given the fact that Nial was still standing on his feet after more than half an hour of being beaten into a pulp, he couldn''t help but be amazed at his resilience.

    When he had first fought Melvin, it had been astonished that the young brat had managed to hold his ground for 15 minutes, which was a record in itself.

    As such, Nial was setting a new record that was way farther than Melvin''s old record.

    Yet, even after Junades had dealt the finishing blow, the young man was still standing on his feet.

    Even though he was blind, Originals with disability were not to be taken lightly. That was because disabled Originals would either wallow in self-pity, or their determination would allow them to be monstrous existences.

    It was due to this fact that Junades hadn''t even considered sparring with Nial lightly in order to give him leverage.

    Instead, if he were topare his first spar with Melvin and Nial, the current one was something Junades took much more seriously.

    That was something he would have never expected to happen because Melvin had had years of training before they first met.

    Yet, it was obvious that Nial was just a greenhorn, a pure rookie, but his determination and tenacity made him several times more threatening than Melvin had been then!

    Because of that, Junades couldn''t help but feel excited as he thought that he might be witnessing a real monster and future prodigy right now.

    Nial wascking a lot, but his determination and unbending will allowed him to stand his ground, and swing the Viper spear around.

    His movements were shaky, but the change in atmosphere Nial was currently causing was something that seemed to attract the surrounding mana, and pull it towards Nial.

    At first nce, this didn''t change anything, and it looked like a wasted tactic, but upon using a faint thread of mana, and breaking the rules he had enforced just to satiate his curiosity, he couldn''t help but feel astonished.

    ''Is he controlling the mana in his body to forcefully move?..Is he awakening an Innate ability?...No that cannot be, this would force him to consistently activate his ability until his mana core is dried¡­ or maybe he is learning how to ess his ability.''

    By using more Mana to envelop Nial with it, he investigated the young man intently.

    Melvin noticed that Master Junades was going against his own rules, but he was unable to say a single word.

    His eyes were glued to Nial and the fact that he was exceeding his limits over and over again.

    The moment Nial had been defeated earlier and thrown to the ground, Melvin had sighed in relief, thinking that neither Nial was abnormal, nor he himself was too weak.

    Yet, when Nial got up from the ground despite his entire body being covered in blue and purple bruises, Melvin couldn''t help himself anymore, and his entire being was utterly shocked about what he was just witnessing.<sub> </sub>

    Nial moved the Viper spear with much more precision than earlier, and the danger emanating from him had increased drastically.

    Nial''s entire mind was clear, yet, his head was aching heavily simr to the rest of his body that was moving owing to the supply of mana it got from the surrounding.

    He was not sure how or what he was doing, but what he was clearly aware of was the fact that the duration for which he would be able to move his body, was short, extremely short.

    If his assumption was correct, he had barely half a minute to make a move.

    Right now, Nial had discarded the idea of hitting Master Junades three times. Instead, one hit was more than enough in order to ept his defeat a bit gracefully.

    Winning was not an option anymore, and that was something Nial was fully aware of, but his desire and determination to not lose without having been able to retaliate fueled him with energy.

    That being said, and the short span of time that was left, Nial pushed his feet from the ground, catapulting himself towards Master Junades, who had been awaiting his attack.

    While staring intently at Nial, he quickly retracted his mana before concealing it in order to prevent him from identally using it again.

    In the short moment in which he had to avert his focus, Nial''s movements started to confuse Junades because it felt like Nial was barely moving a muscle.

    Yet, Master Junades knew that this was not the case. Instead, it was the crude control of mana that made it seem like Nial''s body was a puppet whose strings were being pulled by a skilled puppet master.

    Nheless, instead of moving slower owing to the restricting factor of his movements, Nial grew much faster than before.

    His movements were sharp and the way he wielded the Viper spear was more lethal than before.

    It was almost as if Nial was mimicking Junades'' moves, and both Junades and Melvin were able to see this, while Nial waspletely unaware of anything he did.

    By thrusting the Viper spear in the direction of Junades, Nial attacked but Junades easily deflected it, while continuing to swing the rod, and trying to hit Nial with the lower end.

    However, contrary to before, Nial had instinctively repeated the same process, causing the lower ends of their weapons to collide.

    Suddenly, a faint smile emerged on Nial''s face as he inserted the much-needed mana into the Viper spear that began to vibrate lightly.

    A fraction of a secondter, the lower end of the Viper spear that was still in touch with Junades''s rod, moved as a de was suddenly released, pushing away Junades'' rod, before it was retracted again.

    The Viper spear had only des at the tip, thus, the current lower end, was in fact, the tip, which Nial had turned while swinging it upside down earlier before their sh..

    Owing to this, Nial was able to make use of the small gap the released and retracted de gave him, allowing him to use the fraction of a second Junades would need to realize what happened in order to take a swing after Master Junades'' upper body.

    At that moment, Melvin''s hand quivered, seeing his friend barely a few centimeters away from achieving something he was not even able to do after years of training.

    Yet, there was no envy in his eyes, but only joy, as he subconsciously blurted out.

    "GO FOR IT, NIAL!!!"

    Unfortunately, just as Melvin shouted out his excitement about his friend''s achievement, Master Junades decided to show Nial and his disciple what it meant to be a Unique Original!

    Within an instant, the entire room was shaking owing to the pressure his sheer excitement to fight and defeat the opponent in front of him emanated.

    Even though this was just a demonstration, Junades wanted to clearly show how dangerous and ruthless some Originals were.

    As such, making use of just the pressure he released, he forcefully halted Nial''s attack that was just about to hit him in his chest.

    With all his might, Nial tried to push through the invisibleyer of pressure he was not even able to perceive, only to sense that Junades was smiling as he loosened his grasp over the rod he was holding.

    "Good job, kiddo, but now, sleep!"

    Saying so, he used the t of his hand as a means to sh at Nial''s neck before taking a step back.

    It was just a momentter that everything returned back to normalcy, including the eerie pressure that simply disappeared as he lost his consciousness.

    Slumping to the ground, the battle that was just supposed to be a spar finally ended, leaving behind a bbergasted Melvin, who stared at his unconscious friend, and Master Jndes, who stared at Nial with a bright smile.

    On that day, a true monster, in the form of a blind young man was born, taking the first of the many steps towards Godhood.

    **

    Far away from the blue, at a ce filled with nothing but endless darkness, a being noticed something that had caused it to awaken from a deep slumbersting eons. Holding a small crystal in his hand he injecting energy into it, mumbling a single line before quieting down, re-merging with the darkness that enveloped him greedily.

    "Initiate the second phase on Jundra...but don''t allow the others to find out!"

 Chapter 36 Lottery Win?

    After waking up, Nial felt as if a memory that had been sealed in the depths of his conscience had somehow resurfaced.

    It was rted to the incident from 15 years ago when he was a toddler.

    A hazy memory consisting of the outlines of someone...or something emerged in his mind, only to disperse a momentter.

    His mind was rattling as he forced it to recall the memory but the more he tried, the more it slipped away from him just like grains of sand that would trickle out of someone''s fist no matter how hard they tried to hold on to it.

    A searing headache shot up his mind as it began to ache heavily, without giving him a second nce of the being he had seen.

    Suddenly, the pain intensified and spread through his entire body making it hard for him to even lift his hand to hold his head.

    ''Fuck, I cannot move!'' Nial thought, realizing that every single cell in his body was begging for rest after being injured due to his reckless act of exceeding his body''s limitation.

    Tired, he wanted to sink into a deep slumber in his bed, only to notice something the moment he took a deep breath. The space smelled familiar to him.

    ''I am...in my room?''

    At that moment, he heard noises from next to him, and Nial didn''t even have to think, who it was as he had already smelled and sensed it.

    "M-Melvin, how much...time passed since we returned?" It took him a lot of effort to even speak a few words but he was d that he could utter them.

    He had already thought that he wouldn''t be able to move his mouth either, let alone speak, and it was extremely difficult.

    Nheless, it worked, and that was important.

    When Melvin, who was getting ready to sleep, heard his voice, he jumped up from the mattress and stared at him in shock.

    "Nial?! You are already awake?? How are you? Don''t move! Master Junades said that you need to rest to allow your body to recuperate from being strained too much!"

    It was great that Melvin was worried about him, but Nial couldn''t help but feel that his friend didn''t sort his priorities first.

    As such, Nial simply said one word, "Infos" in order to show that he couldn''t speak much and that he wanted to get some information.

    His body didn''t want him to move while it was a heavy burden to speak, hence that was the only thing he could do, which Melvin fortunately realized.

    "Of course, but I''ll first tell Maline and Miles that you are awake, they were really worried about you!"

    Saying so, Melvin turned towards the door, but before he could leave, he heard Nial say just one more word again.

    "Later"

    Right now, Nial wanted to get information. If his parents were to find out that he had woken up, they would storm through the room and create pure chaos.

    To understand this, one didn''t even have to know his parents really well.

    Only now did Melvin understand why Nial was adamant on getting some information first.

    Thus, he turned back to his friend before sitting down on his mattress.

    "You are really a nutcase, Nial! I never thought that you would be masochistic enough to fight against Master Junades for more than half an hour without copsing on the ground.

    I barely made it 15 minutes on my first try. Well, but you slept for three days straight, so I guess your willpower is truly something to be frightened of¡­"

    Nial was astonished to hear that he had slept for three days because even after a rest of 72 hours his body felt like it was tearing apart.

    As long as he didn''t move, everything was fine, but even thinking was painful.

    Thus, Nial couldn''t help but wonder if his effort was really worth it because he had lost against Master Junades. He hadn''t even hit him a single time though he had tried his best.

    Yet, what he didn''t know was that Master Junades had cheated, which Melvin mentioned only now.

    "Did you know that Master Junades first thought that you had awoken an innate ability that strengthened your willpower or something like that? Because of that he got curious and used some mana in order to figure out what was going on with you.

    That means, he lost against you! That is really something you can be proud of, you''re a real monster, Nial...hehe!!"

    His friend''s excited squeal caused a faint smile to emerge on Nial''s face.

    It hurt, but even if his entire body was aching, he knew that he couldn''t simply continue lying in bed.

    As such, he forced his body to move, knowing that he was healing rapidly owing to the effects of multiple healing serums that were already tending to his injuries and exhaustion.

    Thus, while listening to the summary of events that urred during thest three days, Nial began to do a warm-up and stretched his body to rx his sore muscles.

    "Either way, Master Junades knocked you out because he was not sure if you would harm yourself any further by continuing to fight if he wouldn''t have done that.

    After that, he brought you back home, and your mother scolded him left and right.

    In the end, I had to tell Maline that she was just lecturing one of the strongest powerhouses in Katu, which I should have done a little bit earlier because she almost fainted upon hearing that.

    Fortunately, Master Junades is a sensible man, and he could clearly understand why Maline reacted that way¡­.you looked like dozens of people had thrashed you, after all¡­

    Either way, because he cheated, Master Junades gave me the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique in addition to a letter, which he asked me to hand over to you. If you want, I can read the letter out loud once I''m done summarizing everything.

    After he handed me the letter he had hastily scribbled, Master Junades also thrust three healing serums in my hands. They were of a high grade and quality.<sub> </sub>

    In the end, it was only because we fed you one every day that you woke up so soon, otherwise you would have slept for one more week, at the bare minimum!

    Either way, we also fed one of the healing serums we purchased to Sabrina, and they seem to be even more potent than I thought.

    Today, Sabrina was awake for a total of two hours, and she asked about you.

    You should really meet her tomorrow, she looks much better than before, and you will be astonished once you hear her voice. She is as stubborn as ever!

    Oh..I think I strayed away a bit so¡­back to the main topic.

    Yesterday, your parents seemed to have won something from the Originals lottery. They won a total of five permanent membership cards to Katu''s central library, isn''t that great?

    Other than that...nothing special happened. I ventured into the Melind dungeon to test the [Path of a Thousand Lightningstrikes] technique, and it''s truly miraculous.

    I''m really eager to see how you will handle the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique!"

    Nial had not expected so many things to happen when he was unconscious. The best news was that his sister was now able to stay awake for a total of two hours.

    That was reassuring and clearly showed Nial that his path had been the correct one and his efforts hadn''t been futile...at least to some extent.

    Because of that, he began to exert a bit more force while moving and ignored the pain spreading through his body that felt like light faint electric currents zapping his body.

    "What about the letter?"

    Nial asked once he made sense of what exactly had happened.

    Having expected Nial''s question, Melvin took out the handwritten letter, creating rustling noises before he began to read out loud.

    [Hey Nial, I don''t want to make any excuses so I''ll be blunt; I cheated in our spar, so you won our small bet.

    Despite that, I don''t want to sell the technique. Instead, consider it as a gift from me! Use the rest of your money however you please, but there is one condition; You have to use it for yourself!

    I heard Melvin lecturing you, so I kind of understand that you don''t like purchasing things for yourself. Nevertheless, as an Original it is important to be in your best shape.

    Either way, you might wonder how exactly I deflected thest attack of yours. In fact, it''s no secret, but I can control my emotions almost perfectly. I''ve honed and sharpened that skill for more than a decade because I''m a unique Original.

    There are specific techniques only unique Originals can use, and they''re sort of simr to abilities that can be utilized without mana, so don''t be too disappointed.

    Your talent is endless, never give up!!

    P.S If you want to be stronger, improve your knowledge first, and go to the library in the central district. Tell the librarian that I sent you. That way, he will probably let you through without any issues.]

    After reading the letter out loud for Nial, Melvin couldn''t help but feel impressed.

    "You made one of humanity''s powerhouses acknowledge his mistakes, and reveal one of his secrets...not bad.

    It looks like he likes you. That''s great!"

    Nial didn''t really understand why Melvin was so overjoyed, and he wanted to figure out more about humanity''s powerhouses and their real strength which made him open his mouth to ask numerous questions that weighed on his mind.

    Yet, before he could utter another word, he heard loud footsteps from outside his room.

    Just a momentter, his parents barged into his room, flinging the door open that was almost hanging on its hinges.

    "Nial! Are you awake? How are you? Can you move?"

    It was his mother whose voice resounded through the entire house, almost waking up Sabrina, who was in a deep slumber.

    Sighing deeply, Nial couldn''t help but feel overwhelmed by his mother''s overprotectiveness.

    Earlier, this had already been a mess, but now that he was actively exposed to dangers, where he would often be injured, his mother seemed to be even more paranoid.

    It showed that she was truly concerned about him, but it burdened Nial even more because he knew that even the slightest scratch on his body would worry his mother, thus giving him more pressure to conquer dungeons unscathed or not to take bold risks.

    Because he didn''t want to be restricted in that way, Nial simply averted the attention from his injuries to something Melvin had said earlier.

    "Yes I''m awake mom, and I''m perfectly fine. Don''t worry too much. By the way, I heard that you won in the Originals'' lottery. I didn''t even know that we had purchased a lottery ticket!"

    Lifting his body, he ignored the pain and smiled in the direction of his mother. He didn''t know what he looked like, but when he sensed his mother''s wildly fluctuating mana, he knew that it might now have been the best move to get up from the bed.

    ''I must look really bad..well, if I look as bad as I feel, it''s truly the worst¡­'' Smiling dryly, he had already tried to change the topic, which his father noticed.

    Making use of it, he tried to further distract his wife by replying hastily,

    "We don''t have a ticket, and we won because it was one of the ''random Originals'' that was chosen as a winner, which coincidentally hit us.

    I n to sell our permanent membership coupons. I just wanted to keep two for you and Sabrina, once we find a cure for her!"

    Nial had nned to ask for one of the permanent membership coupons as it allowed him to visit the library, which he wanted to enter either way.

    It would be great to improve his knowledge as much as possible, and due to his body''s condition, it would take at least one more week before he was well-rested and could bounce back on his feet once again.

    As such, he made up his mind to learn the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique by reading all kinds of other books first!

 Chapter 37 Library

    Because it was stillte at night when he had woken up, Nial was told to rest a bit longer before doing anything.

    His entire body looked like he was beaten ck and blue with a baseball bat, and the truth was not far from that because Master Junades hadn''t held back when hitting him with the rod.

    Nevertheless, Nial couldn''tin because he got valuable information from everything that had happened three days ago.

    Digesting all of it was important, which was exactly what Nial did as long as he could remember everything.

    First of all, he felt that his Odyssey seed was not just any ordinary invisible innate affinity holder or anything like that.

    Rather, it was something that belonged to him, but at the same time, it was not hispletely, not yet.

    Right now, the Odyssey seed felt a lot different to Nial than it was the case before the spar with Master Junades that seemed to have changed something.

    He was not sure what it was but Nial was certain that the spar was the case why the Odyssey seed felt different to him right now.

    At least that was the most logical approach he had because the Odyssey seed that would otherwisey dormant had reacted in his spar with Master Junades, giving him the necessary energy to continue fighting even though his body had already been severely injured, and not a single muscle obeyed him.

    Other than being beaten up, and the incident with his Odyssey seed, Nial had also noticed that his senses were not strong enough to work to the extent he wanted them to reach if he were to be distracted.

    He had expected his mana perception to be severelycking during a fight, or when he would be injured, but not his other senses that would work properly under normal circumstances.

    This was something he was bothered about, and only practice, as well as slight adjustments, would allow him to fix them with time.

    Other than that, there was still the technique he had been gifted by Master Junades, the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique that he had to learn!

    He wanted to read through it right off the bat, but not only was his body utterly exhausted but his mind was a mess so Nial knew that he would be unable to understand anything.

    With that in mind, he shook his head and decided to sleep for a few more hours before it would be time to pay a visit to Katu''s main library.

    With the tickets they had obtained, it would be very helpful if they were to be able to procure more knowledge about Sabrina''s disease from the vast number of books inside.

    However, at the same time, Nial knew that he had to be stronger in order to help his sister because the ingredients and the process of producing the medicine were likely to be extremely expensive.

    As such, for his sister and his own sake, he had to increase his knowledge about every possible topic, learn how to read properly, and understand the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique before conquering more dungeons.

    In his current situation, Nial felt as if he had yet to reach the starting point of the level most Originals that awoke their origin below the age of ten are at.

    This was annoying, but not something he could change, and instead ofining, he had to improve and be stronger.

    Thus, after waking up, Nial ignored the pain spreading through his body and got up from the bed.

    After a quick shower, he put on some fresh clothes and prepared himself mentally before he entered his sister''s room.

    Right now she was still asleep but when he walked past her room, his mana perception had sensed that her fingers twitched.

    As such, Nial assumed that she would wake up at any time.

    Because of that, he stayed in her room for some time, and just as he was about to leave thinking that he had misinterpreted the situation, he sensed her movements with his mana before he finally heard her voice after several months once again.

    "N-Nial? Is..that you? How...what happened?"

    Instead of saving her breath, Sabrina gently opened her eyes and looked at her older brother in worry.

    Her voice was filled with concern and she was frightened about what happened but saw him smiling lightly.

    "Hey Sis, you sound much better than thest time we spoke. It has been quite some time, right?" Reaching for her head, he lightly caressed her hair.

    This was only possible because he was able to sense his sister''s outlines owing to her mana fluctuations.

    Earlier, he had always been afraid of making things worse by identally toppling or pulling at something that shouldn''t be touched, and in turn, injuring his sister.

    With that thought in mind, he had always been extremely careful in Sabrina''s room because everything was fine as long as she was alive, and he didn''t destroy anything.

    Feeling her brother''s touch, Sabrinaughed lightly but soon began coughing.

    This caused Nial''s hand to stiffen until his sister had finally stopped coughing.

    "How are you feeling? Your voice sounds much healthier than a few months ago, where you could barely speak, but I don''t like seeing you cough!" Nial remarked, not sure what exactly he should say.

    In front of his little sister, Nial was always a fool who struggled with the right words, even more after she had be sick.

    In the end, he was just never sure if his words would hurt her, which was something he didn''t want to happen.

    As such, he was in most cases careful when he spoke with her.

    "Brother, I''m fine...I feel much better since you and Melvin brought this...new medicine¡­I''m d that you and Melvin are spending some time together¡­ But..can you tell me what exactly happened to you during thest two weeks? I didn''t feel your presence when I was asleep, so I was worried¡­"

    Since she had fallen ill, and was forced to sleep for most of the time, Sabrina was able to sense the presence of others in the vicinity.

    Thus, she knew who visited her and had a rough idea of how long they were there.

    Because of that, Nial was unable to make an excuse. Thus, he honestly told her about everything he had gone through since he had awoken his origin.

    It was a lot, and most things are probably repetitive because his sister had heard it already from Melvin or his parents, but that didn''t matter.<sub> </sub>

    She cherished the time she got to spend with her brother as it reminded her of the days when they would y for hours on end until that fateful day when she had fallen ill.

    Thus, she didn''t mind the repetition.

    Yet, in the end, Nial sighed as he added in a guilty voice,

    "I''m sorry for neglecting you Sabi, but I don''t think I can visit you for the next few days either. I will visit the library and if possible I''ll stay there, so we can finally find a cure for your disease.

    However, instead of receiving a sad response, his sister seemed to be fine.

    "That''s okay brother...but improve your knowledge too, otherwise I will have a dumb brother once my disease is cured! You should really learn how to read after you awakened your origin!"

    Smiling dryly, he knew that Sabrina was teasing him. As such, he yfully ruffled her hair a little bit more before staying with her until she drifted back to her slumber.

    After that, he said that he woulde back soon before he went downstairs to eat something.

    As he strolled towards the kitchen, he sensed that his parents were preparing breakfast, followed by Melvin who was setting the table.

    "Nial, you''re finally here. Did you have a nice talk with your sister?" His mother suddenly asked, to which Nial simply nodded with a bright smile on his face.

    "Everything about her seems more vibrant. She is almost unrecognizable considering how bad her health was only a few days ago. I see some color in her otherwise pale face¡­"

    Nial was happy about how the overall situation was improving, and if everything would continue like this, they would soon be a happy family once again.

    His blindness was a minor issue, which Nial had already epted, and it was not something that would obstruct him from being happy.

    With that in mind, he finished breakfast with his parents and Melvin.

    After that, Nial and Melvin took a shuttle which brought them to the central district where Melvin walked ahead with fast strides.

    He was eager to enter the shelter''s library in order to research all kinds of unique diseases to figure out if one of them was simr to Sabrina''s.

    While he would do all the research, Melvin had sternly reminded Nial to improve his knowledge so that he wouldn''t embarrass his sister once she was healed.

    His friend was of the same opinion as his sister, which caused Nial to feel embarrassed because he had never expected them to think of him as someone who was educated, let alone knowledgeable.

    He knew that he was not the smartest, but he didn''t expect the people who were close to him to constantly remind him of the same.

    Sighing deeply, he felt like punching his friend, but just as he was about to rush after Melvin, pain spread through his entire body, forcing him to slow down.

    Meanwhile, Melvin had only stepped aside and was trying hard not to giggle.

    ''Soon, I''ll get you, and then I will be the one whoughs!'' Nial told himself as Melvin finally let out augh when he was further ahead.

    Yet, instead of leaving him alone, Melvin stopped once in a while to start teasing him once again. This made him repeat the same sentence over and over in his mind before they finally reached the library that was a gigantic building ording to his friend.

    Unable to see it, Nial could only perceive the mana fluctuations of the building''s materials followed by the mana dense interior that was simr to the pagoda''s interior.

    Through this, he understood that mana seemed to be very good at preserving something from rot, rust and decay.

    That was interesting and something Nial would remember for the future.

    While Melvin had quickly entered the library using his ess pass, as he had shot towards the books directly, unable to contain his excitement to find out what exactly Sabrina''s disease was, Nial had to search for the librarian first.

    It didn''t take long before he found her, standing behind a counter, reading a book which made him politely ask.

    "Hello, I''m sorry for interrupting your work, but I would like to use this coupon, please."

    Looking at Nial, while hearing about the coupon, the librarian was confused for a moment before she frowned. Her eyes flicked towards Melvin, who had shown her his ess pass moments earlier, and she seemed to remember something as she replied,

    "Coupon¡­..ah yes I heard about that. Please give me your Originals ID card, I willplete the procedure...but kiddo, why are you looking like that?"

    "I just lost in a small spar, Ma''am. There is no need to be worried about me¡­" Nial tried to assure her though he was confused as to why she had thrown a nce at Melvin, who had already entered the library.

    Because his family were merchants directly employed by the government, everyone had permanent ess to most ces, including the libraries of all nine shelters!

    "Oh, don''t misunderstand me. I was not worried, but rather curious. Either your body is extremely sturdy or your resistance to pain is enormous because a true master must have taught you a lesson...a pretty violent lesson at that¡­"

    Astonished by her observation, Nial couldn''t help but feel a little bit odd about the librarian because she had been able to analyze his body''s situation within seconds and further enquired.

    "Don''t tell me it was Junades who did this?" She suddenly asked, recalling that Master Junades had bragged about a merchant youth who was extremely talented.

    This had been a few years ago, but when she recalled it, Melvin''s face resurfaced in her mind. Thus, after connecting the dots, in addition to some other information she had, such as the true origin of the ''lottery'' coupons that give permanent ess to the library, she was able toprehend everything.

    Hearing her question made Nial be even more confused, which made him ask.

    "Huh, how do you know that?"

    The only thing he heard in response was her swear a little.

    "This fucking bastard...he still hasn''t learned to hold back¡­"

 Chapter 38 Found!

    While passing by the librarian, Nial couldn''t help but feel a little bit odd.

    The woman''s reaction had been weird when he had mentioned the coupon about the permanent membership to Katu''s main library, but that was not all!

    ''Calling one of the shelter''s strongest powerhouses ''a fucking bastard''...who the hell are these people I encounter all day long?''

    Since his origin awakening, many weird things had happened, and the number of encounters with unique people seemed to be on the rise.

    It was not that Nial had something against this, but that was only fine as long as the uniqueness of specific people didn''t cross a certain threshold beyond which it could be extremely dangerous.

    Nevertheless, now that he had entered the library, Nial''s first task was to read all kinds of basic books about the appearance of dungeons, and much more information that was quite easy to digest.

    This was a necessity for him to build a proper foundation of his knowledge, while simultaneously stimting his reading capabilities.

    With that in mind, he focused on reading familiar things instead of diving straight intoplex stuff that would dampen his spirits.

    Knowing many things was great, but it was even better if one could connect the dots, which was the reason for Nial''s approach to the given situation.

    After walking through the first floor of the library for a few minutes, he found a holographic log that allowed him to search for specific books before giving him the row and column numbers where they were ced.

    This was quite an advantage and a tool he would have to use quite a lot in order to prevent wasting too much time while searching for a specific book.

    Thus, while searching for a handful of books, he wanted to know where Melvin had disappeared because he had stored away the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique.

    While reading the basic history books followed by that of dungeons, origin crystals, ability crystals, sighting of other races and much more information, he could always try to read a few sentences of the manual Master Junades had given him.

    Having set the goal of finishing the entire [Control of the Ancient Monarch] book before he would enter a dungeon once again, Nial began to read attentively.

    Hours passed with Nial trying to read various books with the use of his mana perception that allowed him to perceive the words written in them.

    Initially, he felt as if he would fall asleep at any moment, knowing that he was not used to reading for a long time, however, after some time, Nial realized something that caused his sleepiness to be washed away in an instant.

    ''Is it just me, or did my brain suddenly improve?'' Nial asked himself in confusion.

    Trying to make sense of the situation, he furrowed his eyebrows but then dug his nose back in the book knowing that reading intently was said to be better than just hearing the information.

    However, he hadn''t been fully focused earlier because his mind had always averted to Melvin, who had ced the manual Nial wanted to read, in front of him at the table.

    He had yet to understand that a few hours of reading wouldn''t turn him into a bookworm, let alone someone who could readplex words right after learning how to read, in the first ce.

    Nheless, Nial was astonished about the pace at which he was able to learn, andprehend most pieces of information he procured from the books he was reading.

    The books were not really interesting because he had heard this information somewhere, but in the end, he had never really learned these things because blindnguage was not something many schools taught, and books about history written in the blindnguage were rarely found.

    As such, so far he had learned most things from hearing about it from his surroundings, whether it was his mother, father, or other people who had spoken about things around him.

    Nial felt that the information was easy to understand, even if some of them were not exactly interesting to him.

    Thus, he found out that nobody really knew when exactly the first dungeon had appeared, which was weird because someone should have noticed it when a levitating mass of liquid manifested out of nowhere.

    At least Nial felt like that, and after asking Melvin about it, he could only shrug his shoulders and respond,

    "That''s one of mankind''s mysteries. There are quite a few of them, and the more you get to know, the scarier the situation we are in will feel to you...just try to ignore it, that''s what most Originals are doing either way, or you can face the mysteries head-on. Whatever suits you best."

    Melvin was rather nonchnt with his answer, and Nial sighed deeply at his friend''s words before he went back to his seat.

    Having spent a total of three days on reading, Nial got to know a vast amount of information which he digested much faster than he expected.

    He had finally learned how to read properly with the use of his mana perception, and there were no issues in reading through the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique, which was something he achieved much earlier than he had first assumed.

    However, he was dead-tired and both his brain and eyes hurt. Hence he decided to take a nap after staying awake the whole time.

    The healing serum that was still coursing through his body was probably the reason for his energetic state that had allowed him to stay awake for three days without any issue.

    Closing his eyes, Nial didn''t even think about checking on Melvin, who had already left the library in order to do something with the shocking information he had procured.

    If he would have perceived Melvin''s mana fluctuations the moment his best friend had informed him that he had something to do, Nial would have definitely been worried.

    Yet, Nial hadn''t heard Melvin properly. Instead, he had just told his friend to go ahead.

    As such, Nial didn''t know that his friend was currently doing something that could lead to a disastrous situation.

    Melvin was nning to return home to report Sabrina''s deteriorating health to his father.

    He hoped that his father would find a way to stop the illness from worsening further.

    It might look like her condition had improved after she had received the medicinal serum, but that was not the case because her illness would resurface in an even worse state once they ran out of it and were unable to procure better resources for her.

    This had shocked Melvin the moment he had found a clue that the description of a disease he had read in a book matched the one Sabrina had.

    He couldn''t be certain of this, but even the smallest possibility of this being the truth was more than enough for him to return to his father, and if necessary, beg him to help Sabrina.<sub> </sub>

    That was because Melvin had found out what kind of disease Sabrina had, after starting his research in the section pertaining to books about all kinds of super rare and mysterious diseases, mankind hadn''t found a cure to yet!

    Melvin had hoped that he wouldn''t find Sabrina''s disease there, but his worst fears hade true, and not a single cure was named in the book he had read.

    Even after reading the chapters about the details of the disease, Sabrina seemed to have, Melvin was unable to figure out a single way to even tend to her disease or ease it for a longer period of time.

    Because of that, Melvin forgot the grudge against his family for threatening Nial''s family, and he returned home as quickly as possible, leaving Nial, who had no idea what was going on, alone and sleeping on the pile of books in the library.

    In the end, this was not the issue because nothing could happen to Nial, while the same could not be said about Sabrina, whose health worried him the most.

    Meanwhile, Nial was ignorant to everything that happened, and it was only the librarian, who had seen the tears in Melvin''s eyes.

    As such, she had been curious to know the reason for Melvin''s disappointment.

    Hence, she approached the wooden table Melvin had been reading and where dozens of books were still spread open.

    ncing through the open pages, the librarian read through some before she stopped on a page and a frown appeared on her face,

    ''Myset Hoeart?''

    Recalling that the young man, who had been searching for something for several days, was from the Tyr family, she remembered that the government had informed a few higher echelons that special guests were researching a new type of dungeon that had emerged inside the shelter.

    Thus, given the fact that each of the books had the page of the exact same diseaseid out in front of her, the librarian was able to put two and two together.

    ''I hope none of his friends has that disease, and if¡­ he shouldn''t be running home, not right now¡­ the jerks are definitely resting in the Tyr family''s manor...aren''t they?... I hope they will be out of the mansion when thisd arrives home...otherwise, chaos will descend¡­''

    Even if she tried to think positively, that was not possible right now, not with the dread that was filling her heart about the oue.

    This caused her mood to plummet, and she couldn''t help but turn to the blind, young man, who had arrived with the descendant of the Tyr family.

    Sighing deeply, she felt that she had to do something. As such, she ignored her principle of not bothering the visitors of the library and she shook Nial, who had been sleeping soundly, awake.

    "Brat, you should eat something... and go home, sleep, and returnter. You shouldn''t sleep in the library.

    Furthermore, you should go and take a shower because you stink. I don''t want my books to stink of the sweat and perspiration of an overzealous brat."

    By saying all of this at once, she wanted to break the ice between them, which didn''t really seem to work because Nial was yawning, while rubbing his eyes sleepily.

    "You should be ate-bloomer, right? I understand that you feel like you are in a hurry, but you are blind, and there are too many restrictions that hinder you from advancing. That being said, work thoroughly and advance with slow but steady steps! A proper foundation is the most important."

    Yawning once again, Nial didn''t understand why she was suddenly reprimanding him and only tried to answer her while stifling a yawn.

    "Miss...I''m currently building up my foundation...It''s not like I can improve my knowledge within a single d-..."

    Nial wanted to reason with the librarian, clearly saying that he was not only ate bloomer in terms of his origin awakening but almost everything.

    Yet, before he could do anything, his phone began to ring as a robotic voice resounded through the room.

    <Iing call from "Arnold Birg">

    When the librarian heard this, followed up by an annoying ringtone, she first wanted to shout at Nial to maintain silence in the library.

    <Iing call from "Arnold Birg">

    However, when she heard the name "Arnold Birg" once again, she frowned as she stared at Nial in confusion.

    ''You know not only the heir of the Tyr family, but also Master Junades, AND Arnold?''

    Cursing out while fumbling to get hold of his phone, Nial quickly apologized to the librarian and answered the call before he began whispering.

    "Hello Mister Birg, how can I help you?"

    When his Original ID was created, Nial had to import his contact details into the ID too. As such, by exchanging the contacts, the cksmith got his phone number.

    However, Nial didn''t expect the cksmith to call him ever again which was the reason for him to ept the call readily despite the librarian standing next to him as he believed it had to be something serious!

    "Eh...kiddo, I initially didn''t want to call you, but I need to ask you for a favor..."

    Nial was astonished because he had never heard the cksmith sound so desperate, and even the librarian, who could easily hear Arnold''s voice, couldn''t help but feel shocked.

    "Of course I will help you, I need to repay my debt for the Viper spear, either way! How can I help you?"

    There was no need for Nial to be hesitant, and when the chance to make up had presented itself, he was openly offering his help.

    Yet, what he heard next caused Nial to stiffen as Arnold''s voice wasced with desperation and worry.

    "My daughter...Shana...she is¡­.please help her!"

 Chapter 39 Request

    After listening to what cksmith Arnold Birg said, Nial couldn''t help but frown, and the librarian next to him couldn''t help but do the same.

    ''Why would Shana and other students enter a mana core restricted dungeon when it just emerged? The researchers have yet to start their research... Are these students suicidal?'' She thought and Nial was simrly confused.

    "There are dungeons that prevent Originals with a certain mana core rank from entering it? I didn''t know!" He was astonished about the new information he had just received, and could now understand the reason behind the cksmith''s worry.

    As such, he made his stance clear as he voiced his concern.

    "Mister Birg, if only Originals at the 3rd Origin rank or below can enter it...why me? Wouldn''t hiring mercenaries be better? You know that I have just awoken my origin...and I''m blind¡­"

    It was not like Nial didn''t want to help, but he knew that he was far from an ideal rescuer. He had no idea why students would enter an uncontrolled dungeon that showed signs of being an anomaly, to begin with.

    Sighing deeply, Arnold could understand his hesitation and knew at the back of his mind that he shouldn''t ask Nial to enter the dungeon in order to rescue his daughter. He was a precious child to his parents too.

    Despite that, Arnold couldn''t help but plead with him to rescue his daughter, who was the most precious to him.

    Hence, he tried again and spoke earnestly while trying his best to convince Nial.

    "Your blindness is exactly why I want you to go...a few groups of students that entered the dungeon with Shana''s group were able to leave the dungeon alive!

    ording to them, the majority of beasts inside the dungeon are Petrification rats...hundreds of them!! If you look into their eyes for just a fraction of a second, you will feel lightly paralyzed for several seconds, and if you stare for a longer time, they willpletely petrify you.

    Most people below the 3rd Origin rank are extremely young, and they''re not extremely strong or well trained. Meanwhile, my daughter is amongst the oldest, but herbat prowess is not that strong, and it has been 5 days since her entry in the dungeon!!

    I know that I''m asking for too much, but please try searching for her¡­petrification rats are not strong per se, and even amon goblin should be able to defeat a handful of them as long as he closes his eyes, and counters their strongest capabilities which are their petrification eyes! Please, I will give you anything you want!"

    While listening carefully, Nial realized that the task wasn''t as easy as Birg made it look. Nheless, he also knew that he should return the cksmith''s favor because he had given him the Viper spear.

    As such, he didn''t think that it would be a problem to enter the dungeon as long as there were only petrification rats inside and no other beasts.

    However, the biggest issue Nial perceived was the fact that Shana had been stuck in the dungeon for a total of five days.

    That means, the worst oue, which was her possible death, was not unlikely.

    Because of that, Nial was not sure what he should do because it would be extremely dangerous for him too.

    Nevertheless, given the fact that Shana had been extremely nice to him, while even cksmith Arnold had treated him nicely, and given him the Viper spear that was supposed to be used by Shana''s blind sister, he couldn''t help but sigh.

    "I don''t need anything from you, Sir! But I''m currently in the shelter''s library, and my friend stored the Viper spear because I was here with him. Unfortunately, he is not here anymore and went somewhere, so I''ll have to look for him to retrieve the Viper Spear first, otherwise, I cannot fight."

    Saying so, Nial truly realized for the first time that Melvin had simply abandoned him and gone somewhere.

    Before, only his subconscious had realized that his friend was not around, and he could only scratch the back of his head, wondering where exactly he was.

    ''Maybe I should call him once my call with Mr. Birg is over¡­?'' However, before he could even think of a proper solution on what he should do, the cksmith interrupted him.

    "NO! Please, don''t waste any more time. I will give you every weapon and armor you want, but the sooner you start searching the earlier we will find Shana!"

    Arnold Birg was not sure why he was desperately trying to convince Nial to enter the dungeon, but his entire being screamed to him that the young, blind Nial would be able to rescue his daughter, which the military''s cadets below the 3rd Origin rank were unable to do!

    There was no reason, let alone evidence that Nial was suitable for the rescue mission.

    After all, he had recently awoken his origin and wasn''t trained inbat. But Arnold''s gut feeling told him that Nial''s blindness would turn into an asset for him in this rescue mission and ensure his daughter''s safe return.

    Hearing the cksmith''s desperation, Nial nodded his head as he calmly answered,

    "Alright, I wille to your store. It should take me only a few minutes if I remember the path correctly. If not, I''m going to call you again, is that fine with you, Sir?"

    Right now, Nial knew that he had to be calm and pacify the cksmith or he would certainly go crazy.

    In the end, he had to be considerate of the situation the Birg family was in because they had already faced an incident with Shana''s blind sister overestimating her capabilities and damaging her mana core.

    Given his family''s situation which was oddly simr, but riddled with many more unfortunate incidents, Nial knew how the cksmith was feeling.

    Despite that, he didn''t expect that Arnold Birg, the cold cksmith, would react so weirdly and hastily ask him to rush to his store instead of looking for Melvin, who had stored away from the Viper spear.

    Nevertheless, he understood the concern and panic. Thus, he turned towards the librarian, who had heard everything and simply asked,

    "I''m sorry, but can I leave the books here? An ident seems to have urred, and I need to go now¡­"

    In the end, even if the librarian had told him to return the bookster at his free time, he would have turned them in as soon as he was done, but given the current situation, Nial wanted to leave as quickly as possible.

    His body was still not perfectly healed, but he was not restricted in any way, and the only issue was the pain in his sore muscles he felt while moving around.

    However, that was not really problematic given that everything else was perfectly fine.

    The healing serum was still effective even after six days, and as long as he was not injured in any way, one more day''s dose would have been enough to let the pain he felt recede further before it would havepletely disappeared.

    "You can go brat, but be careful. Dungeons with an anomaly can have many unforeseen dangers, and if you are not sure that you can survive, either don''t go, or flee the moment you sense that anything is off.<sub> </sub>

    If you have any issues in the future, just visit the library, and ask for Mara Lyx, that''s my name!"

    Nial was not sure why exactly the librarian seemed so friendly all of a sudden, but he had no reason toin. After all, it was good to get to know more people, even more so if they were powerful.

    "Thank you for your concern. My name is Nial Orin, I''lle back soon! See you!"

    Bidding her farewell, Nial disappeared from her sight and rushed towards the cksmith''s store, who was pacing through his shop, waiting for Nial impatiently.

    Today''s decision to enter the anomalous dungeon would change Nial''s entire life.

    He was about to enter a new chapter of his life, a chapter that was filled with pain, betrayal, and even more so loneliness due to the fateful incidents that were waiting to unfold.

    The same was just happening to Melvin, who would remember this day as the day on which he made both the best and worst decisions of his life because his best friend would have to suffer due to the choices he made.

    While Nial had arrived in front of the cksmith''s store, Melvin had already arrived home.

    Storming inside his father''s office, he didn''t see the two robed men who were sitting on the couch.

    Instead, Melvin''s eyes were solely focused on his father as he quickly blurted out.

    "Father, I need your help, please!!" His voice wasced with desperation and panic was clearly visible on his face, making it look like he was on the verge of losing it.

    He was flustered, and that was something Serl Tyr hadn''t seen his son be, for a very long time, long enough to clearly show that something serious must have happened.

    As such, he even forgot to reprimand his son for noting home for an entire week, which had never happened before.

    Serl, even ignored his prestigious guests, as he approached his son with fast strides, before holding him by the shoulders to give him some support as he asked,

    "What''s wrong? Is everything okay with you?"

    Hearing his father''s concerned voice, Melvin seemed to regain his senses, and his worry about Sabrina resurfaced once again.

    Thus, he quickly exined her situation to his father, who just nodded his head, recalling everything about Sabrina that Melvin had told long ago, and the fact that she was bedridden.

    Yet, when Melvin said something in particr, not only Serl was astonished, but even the two guests who had been patiently watching his spontaneous outburst, couldn''t help but lift their heads as they stared at Melvin with interest and a glint of excitement in their eyes.

    "I think Sabrina has the Myset Hoeart disease¡­ can you help her...somehow, please!!"

    Melvin was desperately pleading with his father because not a single book he had read so far gave even the slightest hint of a solution about a possible cure to Sabrina''s disease.

    As such, Melvin was sure that his father was hisst resort to know if they were approaching a dead end, or if there was a way out of the misery that he couldn''t find.

    However, upon hearing Melvin''s words, Serl Tyr''s breath hitched in his throat and his eyes subconsciously nced over to the robed men.

    ''This foolish, reckless kid!!!'' He could only think in disappointment because he had heard about someone being diagnosed with the Myset Hoeart disease, but that had had a semi optimistic ending...only because of the government''s interference.

    As such, he couldn''t help but feel concerned, the moment he saw that the robed men''s interest seemed to have been piqued.

    One of the men was unable to remain quiet anymore when he heard about Sabrina''s disease as he mumbled to his colleague.

    "Myset Hoeart...isn''t that the first stage to awaken a Mana heart¡­."

    While the said man was astonished about the words the Tyr family''s heir had uttered and doubted him, his colleague just nodded his head before he took out a faint sky blue glowing crystal.

    "Let''s take a look at her, maybe we didn''t waste our time,ing here after all¡­"

    When the talkative man heard his colleague speaking, he smiled brightly as he remarked.

    "Your ability is truly a treasure! To find a potential treasure like someone with a Mana heart awakening...in Katu at that, who would have thought that? Shall...we make use of that?"

    Yet, instead of receiving a reassuring answer, the silent man just replied as he got up from his seat.

    "Who knows if it''s already toote? She might be on the verge of death!"

    **

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    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 40 Fate

    At first, Melvin was unable to hear, let alone see the robed men because he was focused on his father, who was staring weirdly at him, trying to indicate something by gesturing towards the side.

    There seemed to be something wrong, which he had missed out on earlier. Only after he had calmed down from his first desperate attempts to make his father help Sabrina, who was very important to him, did he look towards his left side.

    It was only then that he saw the robed men, who were quietly speaking with each other, and turned to look at Melvin once they hade to a consensus.

    Both of them looked at Melvin and their eyes seemed to be able to stare into the depths of his soul, and he instinctively took a step back.

    Yet, just a momentter one of the two robed men said in a loud, and dominant voice that left no room for interpretation.

    "Where is this friend of yours, who you presume to have the Myset Hoeart disease? Bring us to her!"

    Mana amplified his voice, and there was something else in it that caused Melvin to feel as if his entire body was petrified.

    He was unable to move, and he felt short of breath as if his lungs were slowly being sealed. It was just a momentter that he felt as if his senses were slowly being sealed too as his sight began to blur.

    But all of this was less shocking than what he was witnessing at the moment. His father was doing something he had never seen- Serl Tyr, his mighty father, was acting submissive.

    "Please, my esteemed guests, don''t scare my son. I have pampered him too much. He will lead you to the girl you are searching for in a minute."

    Bowing to the robed men, Serl Tyr tried to appease them and avoid problems before they could even ur.

    Afterward, he turned towards Melvin, who was finally able to breathe once again. He was holding his neck with wide eyes only to look towards his father in shock.

    As he took deep breaths, he stared at his father in confusion, unsure of what was going on, which made his father sigh deeply as he mumbled.

    "I''m sorry Melvin...but you shouldn''t have stormed inside my office, let alone blurting things out without assessing if anyone can listen to you¡­ This mistake is on you...you should start praying for the best oue¡­and even that is not something I would wish for."

    Melvin was not able to understand a word his father said, even less who the hell the robed men were to be able to do order around him and his father, who was just bowing, apologizing, and trying to prevent the situation from escting, without actively doing anything.

    He stared at the robed men for a moment, and it was only when they began to move, that he snapped out of his thoughts.

    Even though they were approaching him, their feet made no noise that astonished him.

    He could only look straight into the eyes of the silent-robed man that stared straight passed him, giving Melvin the chills as he saw something that was somewhat familiar, yetpletely different from Nial''s eyes.

    ''His eyes...are without any life...or are they?''

    **

    While Melvin was forced to lead the robed men towards the Orin family''s house and was unable to do anything against it because he feared that they would hurt his family, he could only desperately pray that they wouldn''t do anything bad to Sabrina, let alone her parents, or Nial.

    Thinking about Nial, he hoped that he was not home, because he knew that his friend would never ept if something were to happen to Sabrina, but in fact, Melvin was fully aware that he wouldn''t ept it either.

    Thus, he began to think of a solution to find a way out of the chaotic situation he had created, which made him curse himself countless times.

    However, there was nothing he could do, and his entire body tensed the moment he knocked on the Orin family''s door, and Maline opened it.

    Tears trickled down his cheeks as he mumbled to himself.

    "I''m such a brainless idiot¡­"

    While he wasmenting himself, it only took one look at the robed men behind him for Melvin to realize that the robed men were interested in Sabrina, and not in terms of experimenting with or helping her.

    Though he knew they had some secret agenda, he couldn''tprehend it even with his profound knowledge that seemed to becking more than he had expected.

    As such, rather than being apologetic to Sabrina or anyone else, Melvin felt that the person, who would suffer the most owing to his actions, would be Nial!

    That was just his gut feeling, but if that was correct, nothing would happen to Nial''s parents and his sister. On the contrary, they were to be blessed by the mistake Melvin had done, while Melvin would bear the misfortune, betrayals, and horrible encounters with people and beings that could tear him apart with a snap of their fingers.

    However, that was everyone''s undisclosed fate, and Melvin knew that he was just trying to make himself feel better after mindlessly barging into his father''s office and blurting out all kinds of things, without taking a single nce through the office.

    If his gut feeling was telling the truth, or if it was just wishful thinking, only the future could tell, and Melvin was unsure whether to wish his gut feeling was true or not.

    In either case, somebody he cared for would suffer, be it Nial, or the rest of his family.

    Because of that, tears continued to trickle down his cheeks as the robed man passed by Melvin the moment the blind man replied,

    "I can sense her. She is upstairs. Talk to the parents, I''ll take a look!"

    The talkative robed man nodded his head without saying anything in response.

    Instead, he took a unique-looking emblem out of his spatial ring that had the government''s insignia on it.

    Seeing the emblem, Maline was confused, but seeing the shock in the eyes of the crying Melvin, it had to be something huge.

    If she knew what Melvin was just thinking, she wouldn''t be as calm as she was right now.

    ''Is that the Emblem of the Eclipse A-... No, that would make no sense, why would they be here¡­ Or are they..?''

    As realization struck Melvin, he instinctively turned his head towards his father, who had apanied the small group with a neutral expression.

    Serl Tyr was trying hard to maintain a poker face as he saw that his son was slowlyprehending the severity of his seemingly small mistake.

    Entering the house after Maline asked them to make themselvesfortable, the blind man ignored her and Miles, who had just entered the house through the backyard. He simply found his way towards the stairs that led to the second floor and climbed up the stairs.

    His mana fluctuations enveloped the entire house, preventing anyone from doing anything against the blind man, even if Miles wanted to obstruct the blind man.

    Having conquered the permanent slime dungeon, he was still fully armed, and ready to fight with his life on the line if it was necessary to protect his daughter.

    Yet, a single move towards the blind man was enough to make the mana around him react. It was almost as if an invisible wall had suddenly erected every single time Miles attempted to approach the blind man, or the stairs he was slowly ascending.

    At that moment, he roared out and brandished the longsword at the invisible wall ofpressed mana, only for it to shatter into dozens of pieces upon impact.

    This caused Miles'' eyes to widen just before the mana around him began to move, chaining him up. His legs and arms were suddenly tightly enveloped by mana, and a momentter Miles slumped on the ground, as no sound escaped his mouth that had been sealed.

    It was just a secondter that the talkative robed man stood in front of him, sighing deeply.

    "Why are you guys always so reckless? It''s not like you could approach him, even if he were to be asleep. Just keep quiet, and let us do our work!"<sub> </sub>

    Previously, the talkative man''s voice had sounded joyous without a trace of annoyance or frustration.

    However, right now, he was staring down at Miles in anger, barely holding back from letting the situation turn more chaotic than it already was.

    "Pray that your daughter has the Myset Hoeart, otherwise, you will see hell from up close!"

    He said this in a low voice that was barely loud enough for Miles to hear before he turned around, ignoring the shivering man as he turned his attention to Maline.

    "Please, Mrs. Orin, you must be confused. Sit down, and let me exin the situation to you!"

    As if on cue, Maline nodded her head and walked towards the living room.

    She didn''t even realize that she had seated herself on the couch, listening to what was going on in a daze.

    Averting her attention from the talkative man, who was mumbling something about a blessing in disguise, a great opportunity, and healing Sabrine, Maline looked at Melvin in confusion.

    Yet, seeing that he was as confused as her about everything that was just happening, he could only stand stiffly.

    It looked like he was going to remember this day as the day he had received one shock after another when he saw that the blind man had returned with Sabrina''s body that was levitating right next to him, following the blind man''s steps.

    This caused Maline''s eyes to widen and she was about to jump up and rush to her daughter, only to hear the talkative man''s voice issuing a seemingly simplemand, "Stay seated!"

    After that, she was barely able to move her head, but that was already everything.

    Looking at her daughter, Maline was not sure how to feel as conflicting emotions surged up within her.

    On one hand, the talkative man was saying something about healing her, but the entire situation made her doubt their true intentions!

    Thus, she wanted to say something, and do something in order to help her daughter, however, in the end, she was powerless, just like her husband.

    Unable to move, she could only listen to the discussion of the two robed men thatsted for less than a minute.

    "She is already in thete stage, and about to die due to mana scarcity. It looks like her advance to the second stage was postponed due to the medicine they used, but with the mana scarcity around Katu, this saved her from dying." The blind man said nonchntly.

    "So..she really is the second one of her kind¡­and we found her? That''s great. Fortunately, we took this boring mission. You have truly great insights."

    The talkative man''s voice sounded overjoyed, almost as if he had just found a treasure, and while looking at Sabrina, his eyes were gleaming, indicating that he was truly thinking that the little girl was an unpolished diamond!

    "Yes, she has the Myset Hoeart, we''ll leave immediately. Returning to Liondra is a must, otherwise, she won''t be able to absorb enough mana¡­if that''s not already toote!"

    "What will we do about them?" The talkative suddenly man enquired, pointing at Maline and Miles before moving his finger towards Melvin and his father, Serl Tyr, and added, "Should we kill them?"

    At that moment, the robed man''s voice turned ice-cold, and not a single trace of mercy could be heard in his voice. It made their faces drain of all color as Sabrina''s parents and the father-son pair of the Tyr family stiffened while staring at the robed men in shock.

    Even Serl Tyr was not sure what would happen, knowing that these two men in front of them were allowed to do everything as long as it was deemed necessary by them.

    As such, goosebumps spread over his entire body, only for the blind man to say.

    "Don''t go overboard, Kril. If we kill her parents, what do you think will happen? She will obviously start hating us. That''s unnecessary. Just take them with us."

    He then turned his attention to the father-son duo and continued, "As for the Tyr family, they should know what happens if someone dares to go against us, you recall the Desyx family, right?"

    Throwing a warning at them, the talkative man smiled lightly as if it was a good memory, only to see a glint of murderous intent in his eyes that quickly vanished as he regained his senses.

    "Alright, we''ll take the parents with us, and the Tyr family shall keep their mouth shut, otherwise, I will visit you at night, and blood will be spilled¡­starting with the youngest member of your family!"

    Shivering at his words, Melvin and Serl remained to keep silent, only for Maline to wail in pain as she squealed out two words.

    "My son¡­!"

    Halting in his tracks, the blind man turned to face Maline, who had forced herself to speak, worrying about what would happen to Nial, if they were to disappear suddenly.

    Having visualized the picture of the family of four, the blind man knew that the Orin family''s son was blind, and thus, faced the same crippling disability as himself.

    Yet, instead of showing any mercy, his entire body seemed to release the intent to kill as he added in a cold voice,

    "You can also decide to stay here, but then, your son will find nothing but a lifeless corpse!"

    After hurling another threat at the already scared family, the blind man took out the same crystal he had been holding earlier when they were still in the Tyr family''s mansion.

    He then inserted some mana into the crystal, post which the holographic image of a middle-aged woman appeared.

    "What is it now, Old Dreg?" the middle-aged woman asked, annoyed by the sudden call, only to see the surrounding of the ce the blind man was in.

    Yet, she was not even astonished, which only changed when Old Dreg, the blind man, said a few words.

    "We found someone with the Myset Hoeart. We''lle back to Liondra!"

    Saying so, he hung up, before turning to Miles and Maline, who had been freed of their shackles, and ordered them.

    "Now, please pack your stuff and follow me, or we will be forced to kill everyone in this room!"

    Turning to the Tyrs he just told them to leave, which Serl did, only to notice that Melvin was still frozen in ce.

    Tightly grasping his son''s arm, he dragged Melvin with him, who could only mumble.

    "I''m sorry¡­I''m so sorry¡­I didn''t know¡­"  Maline heard this, just before she moved away from the couch.

    Yet, instead of being enraged, or feeling betrayed, she forced herself to smile as she asked him a favor.

    "I know you just wanted to do the best¡­please take care of Nial¡­"

    After that, Melvin was forced outside the room, and it was only a few minutester that everything was over¡­

    Meanwhile, Nial was oblivious to anything that had just happened, and that he would find an empty home, whose only living beings were the slimes inside the dungeon in the backyard!

 Chapter 41 Re-Encounter

    Oblivious to the devastating result of Melvin''s reckless mistake, Nial had entered cksmith Arnold''s store, who was eagerly waiting for him.

    Before he could announce his arrival, a draft of wind brushed into his face as he heard the cksmith''s desperate voice right in front of him.

    "¨¬''m d that you were able toe directly, Nial. Sorry for the inconvenience, but you are the only one I can rely on, I can feel it!"

    Not sure whether the cksmith was currently confused and thus misinterpreting his strength, Nial only gave him a hesitant smile.

    He was unable to tell if the cksmith was making him feel more powerful than he truly was, or if he was ying at something else.

    However, what he was able to figure out was the fact that cksmith Arnorld Birg was genuinely under the impression that he would be able to rescue his daughter.

    Because of that, Nial nodded his head without saying anything. He knew that the anomalistic dungeon would be somewhat hard to conquer, but from what he had understood, the military had sent out their newest batch of cadets to be trained too.

    It might be their youngest cadets'' first mission, but it was better for them to be able to enter an unknown dungeon with others than alone.

    With that in mind, he was reassured that nothing bad would happen and grew confident that he would be able to protect himself if he were to receive good equipment.

    Thus, instead of beating around the bush, Nial simply stated his demands.

    "If possible, I need a weapon that has simr, or at least, the exact same capabilities as the Viper spear. I have only fought with the Viper spear and my weapon proficiency is bad, to put it simply.

    Other than that, a leather armor for my entire body, as well as serums for healing, replenishing stamina, antidotes, and the best disinfection serums would be great.

    If possible, I would like to have ropes, preservable dishes, water, bandages, sh grenades, and a few more items.

    To store everything and carry it around easily, I''ll need a spatial ring too, please!"

    Somehow, Nial''s voice was extremely calm and his behaviorposed, which was the exact opposite to the cksmith''s behavior, who was frazzled and anxious.

    Thus, he found it oddly reassuring to hear the young blind man listing down more than 20 items he required to enter the dungeon.

    Under normal circumstances, it was a little bit over the top, but the current situation was anything but normal.

    As such, the cksmith could only nod his head as he hastily replied,

    "Of course, please choose any kind of weapon you need, while I will collect everything else!"

    Nial nodded his head, and once he perceived that the cksmith had left, he began to sweat profusely.

    Wiping off the sweat, Nial was d that his voice didn''t crack when he nonchntly demanded to receive items that were dozens of times more expensive than their house, including the permanent dungeon in their backyard.

    However, considering that he had to risk entering an unknown, newly emerged dungeon just to save the cksmith''s daughter, it was more than feasible to ask for items that he could temporarily borrow.

    He would simply hand over everything once he returned, while hopefully bringing back Shana and repaying the favor in kind.

    The Viper spear was extremely valuable, and it had been gifted, if one excluded the payment of a meager amount of slightly more than 10,000$, which was nothing inparison to the Myth weapon''s true value.

    With that in mind, Nial had decided to help and to demand nothing from the cksmith in return for helping him save the resources that were necessary.

    It might be dangerous to enter the dungeon, but Nial could clearly understand how one would feel at the prospect of a loved one being in danger while you could do nothing but just pray and wait helplessly for their safe return.

    It would be more frightening if an ident with another family member had already happened.

    Thus, Nial didn''t even think of asking anything that could lead to the cksmith''s worry intensifying, except for the known information about the unknown dungeon.

    There was not much to figure out because the information about the dungeon was shallow, but Nial still read the file he had received using his mana perception.

    Meanwhile, the cksmith returned with a spatial ring that had everything he had asked for stored inside.

    The only items that were missing were the leather armor and a weapon.

    Fortunately, searching for a suitable weapon didn''t take long because there was a proper working prototype of the Viper spear which Nial had quickly found in the shop.

    As for the leather armor, he also got knee protectors and seemingly ordinary boots with the sole difference of having a pointy, steel cap with which he could kick beasts without sustaining any injury himself.

    Once everything was done, the cksmith led him towards the dungeon that was in one of the outermost districts inside the Katu shelter.

    After he was fully prepared, Nial grew confident in himself which made him feel a little bit weird. However, after thinking about it, he sensed that he had be rtively calm ever since the Odyssey seed and his origin had awoken.

    Thus, he could calmly get out of the shuttle, and approach the dungeon portal that radiated weird transmuted mana currents of two repulsive energies.

    Nial felt odd after sensing the mana currents that were transmuted by something that felt like endless darkness, and a trace of light that made him visualize a ray of hope at the end of a dark tunnel.

    Somehow, this visualization struck Nial much deeper than it should, and it was at that moment that a premonition swept through his entire being, emerging from the depths of his conscience.

    ''Why...does it feel like I was just deprived of something extremely precious¡­and as if someone betrayed me?'' He mumbled to himself in confusion.

    How could Nial know that his best friend had unintentionally betrayed him by making a small, avoidable mistake, while his entire family had been snatched away from him with no clues of their whereabouts?

    In the end, after getting out of the shuttle, Nial was able to sense the energy radiating from the mysterious rift.

    At the same time, there were dozens of people standing around the portal, facing it, with another group of smaller figures standing around a woman whose outlines and mana fluctuations were oddly familiar.

    "Isn''t that¡­?" He suddenly mumbled, recalling the woman from the military academy, who had killed the Sekyr Sound Centipede inside the Melind dungeon.

    ''It really is her,'' he thought after focusing his mana fluctuations on her the moment they passed by the barriers that had been set up to allow entry to a select few.

    The dungeon was not only restricted ording to one''s mana core size, but it also radiated two repulsive transmuted mana currents.

    Some dungeons were known for having a specific element and an easy way of identifying them was their signature trait of having transmuted mana found within the dungeon. It was simr to a signature, and apparently, the color of gates would sometimes change too.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, dungeons that were in or near a volcano would naturally release fire transmuted mana.

    Yet, after sensing the darkness mana that had faint traces of a light affinity within them, Nial couldn''t help but feel odd because there had never been a dungeon with two elements.

    However, there was someone who felt even weirder about the entire situation. It was, in fact, Nina Melion, who had noticed cksmith Arnold, the moment he passed the barrier, followed by the young man she recalled from the Melind dungeon.

    ''What is he doing here? How do they know each other?... Did Mr. Birg¡­no he wouldn''t do that, right? This kid has just awoken his origin¡­or would he?'' Dozens of questions shed through Nina''s mind, but after a moment of confusion, she decided to mind her own business.

    Some cadets she had trained had received their first mission and she wanted to give them as much information and tips before they would enter the dungeon to rescue the missing students that had mindlessly barged into the dungeon just because they thought that they would im other worldly treasures inside it.

    Some students that had emerged from the dungeon had said that they were told to enter the dungeon because treasures awaited them, others were simply challenged to enter and prove themselves, and some were even saying that their teachers had always told them to enter dungeons and gain experience.

    Whether thest, small number of students were correct or simply making up stuff to excuse their misbehavior was still debatable, but that didn''t matter because the lives of the Originals were the most important.

    However that was only the opinion of the government, but Nina had a different opinion because she thought that her cadets of hers had to survive first in order to rescue others.

    Thus, she told them to stay alive and protect themselves before others.

    As such, she ryed the information she had received from her superior, only to see that cksmith Arnold was approaching her.

    Bowing lightly to the renowned cksmith, Nina could see the worry in his expression, as he asked her.

    "Are you Nina Melion?"

    Nodding her head, she wanted to ask what he wanted, yet, before she could do so, Arnold Birg continued to speak, not wasting any time.

    "I have received permission from General Tergan to let one Original enter the dungeon with your cadets!"

    Hearing what the cksmith said, Nina was momentarily dumbfounded, and her eyes automatically flicked to Nial, who simply listened to the cksmith''s words with a steadfast expression.

    In the end, the government owned the dungeon owing to it being an anomaly which was something ordinary Originals couldn''t control.

    Thus, the first conquest was set up by the government and nobody other than the highest echelons, military and specific organizations that belonged to the government would be allowed to enter it right now.

    With that in mind, cksmith Arnold used his connections to allow Nial to enter the dungeon.

    Yet, when Nina heard this she didn''t believe her ears, because General Tergan was known for being conservative, strict, and for having an unbending will.

    However, that was not all because she had seen Nial''sbat prowess merely a week ago, which meant that she believed he was not suitable for the mission.

    Thus, she wanted to object, but before she could do so, she received a voice message from General Tergan, which caused her to frown.

    After listening to it, her frown deepened, and she swore under her breath, ming the bad timing.

    "Alright, but if he wants to enter the dungeon with my cadets, he shouldn''t be a burden on my group! If he grows too weak, they will abandon him because they have better things to do than babysitting someone!"

    Nial was not offended despite her harsh words, because they were not directly meant to insult him. Nevertheless, he couldn''t help but retort with a faint grin on his lips.

    "Don''t worry Miss, I have be stronger sincest week!"

    This simplement caused cksmith Arnold to turn towards Nial as he mumbled.

    "Do you know her? Are you guys acquaintances?"

    In the end, they were not acquaintances, and more like strangers, but that was not something the already worried cksmith had to know, thus he came up with something on the spot.

    Shrugging his shoulder, Nial just answered,

    "You could say so, one could say we helped each other¡­but that is probably a little bit far-fetched!"

    Upon hearing his answer, Nina recalled that she had given Nial the [Shockwave Barrage] ability.

    Thus, her eyes gleamed for a moment as she asked him curiously.

    "Did you bind the [Shockwave Barrage] ability crystal to your mana core? If so, you might be useful!"

    Somehow, Nial couldn''t help but feel hurt by herment, but instead of showing his discontent, he just shook his head and replied,

    "We sold it, but may we proceed further, or do we have to wait for something. I would prefer rescuing the students as long as they''re alive!"

    Hearing Nial saying this, Nina couldn''t help but raise her eyebrow, thinking that he had changed a little bit.

    The change was in a good way, which made her feel a little bit more at ease, thinking that Nial might not turn into burden for her cadets.

    Yet, the cadets that were several years younger than Nial couldn''t help but stare at him with discontent.

    However, instead of disapproving openly, they remained quiet, preventing themselves from harassing Nial in front of their teacher, which would in return earn them a lecture from her because they seemed to know each other.

    Despite that though, the cadets didn''t even think of conquering the dungeon with Nial owing to his blindness and evidently weak mana fluctuations.

    Fortunately, this was not something he wanted to do, to begin with.

    Nial might be d that others would enter the dungeon, but so far, he had only relied on his family and Melvin when it came to saving his life.

    As such, he felt morefortable conquering the dungeon by himself.

    How could Nial know that everyone he trusted his life on had either disappeared from his sight or would be the reason for the pain and agony he would have to go through in the future?

 Chapter 42 Two-Element Dungeon

    While standing next to the cadets, Nial felt like a giant, which caused him to subconsciously sigh.

    There was no standard age at which one had to awaken their Origin. As such, there were toddlers that became Originals only a few months after being born as well as old people whose prime-age had already passed in waiting for their awakening.

    Nevertheless, the vast majority would awaken their origin between the age of 8 to 10 years.

    Thus, the cadets next to him were around 12 years old at the 3rd Origin stage.

    With that in mind, Nial knew that they would act rather childish, even if they had been trained for a few years already.

    Military school was a ce for families that were not poor, but also not wealthy enough to enter one of the influential schools that had connections everywhere around the nine shelters.

    Nevertheless, owing to the fact that the military belonged to the government, it was always in need of more soldiers to clear as many dungeons as possible.

    Traumatic incidents such as deaths or permanent disablement of soldiers who would enter such dungeons were fairlymon.

    Hence, it would allow enrollment of arge number of students as long as they showed some inclination to fight and train hard.

    Because of that, military school might only be considered above average, but if one worked hard enough, it should be possible to be transferred to one of the greater military schools in the other shelters, or even to a prestigious university with the help of rmendation letters.

    This was something most average families wished for their children, but Nial had already figured out that most younger Originals were too full of themselves.

    At least that was the case if the other students of the military school were to be as idiotic as the small group of students around him.

    He didn''t say anything but he felt their angered gazes on him which made no sense.

    Nial hadn''t done anything to them so they shouldn''t have any bias or prejudice against him.

    That was under the assumption that they didn''tbel him a weakling already for being blind and ate bloomer!

    However, in the end, it didn''t really matter because he would go his own way once they would enter the dungeon.

    Fortunately, this didn''t take too long, and Nial used the time in which they had to wait to receive the government worker''s approval to scan the spatial ring that cksmith Arnold had given him.

    He had never really liked wearing any essories, so he had half-expected the ring to be ufortable to wear, but luckily that was not the case.

    It was ratherfortable and after inserting some of his mana into it, he felt as if an entire dimension had opened up and expanded in his mind, allowing him to visualize the various items stored inside the spatial ring, followed by an evenrger empty space.

    ''So that is how a spatial ring looks from the inside!'' He thought with a faint smile on his face before he began to investigate the items inside the spatial ring.

    At that moment, the soldiers requested cksmith Arnold to leave which he reluctantly did.

    Meanwhile, Nial didn''t even notice anything. He was simply staring at the contents of the ring in fascination because none of them were of a low rank and grade.

    The lowest ranked item he found were Mid rank Common quality vials because they were the most potent serums Nial was able to drink without damaging his body.

    Additionally, there were various types of sh grenades, at least a hundred liters of water, preservable food for an entire month, and much more.

    Other than that, the Fang spear, which was the prototype of the Viper spear, was also stored inside the spatial ring.

    In fact, the Fang spear was exactly the same as the Viper spear, in terms of looks and ability to release and extract its des.

    The only thing it wascking was the poison crystal but it was not much of a jarring difference for now.

    He was not able to use the crystal either way. As such, the Fang spear was as good as the Viper spear, even if Nial felt that his connection was not as good with the Fang spear as it had been the case with the Viper spear.

    However, that was negligible and nothing he would fuss about.

    Satisfied with the inspection, Nial turned his attention to the government worker, whom he had just perceived walking towards them.

    "Because this is the first mission of the Junior military unit #243, survival will be the highest priority, followed by gathering of information, and the students'' rescue! Thews of the government and military won''t change just because you will enter the dungeon, so I expect everyone to behave properly!

    I hope I have expressed myself clearly enough and you all would behave, otherwise, we might encounter each other again, but not in a dungeon, or anywhere near it, but in the court! Last but not the least, do not look into the eyes of the petrification rats as instructed earlier.

    Now, go!"

    While the loud, yet high-pitched voices of the cadets shouting, "Yes, Sir '''' resounded in Nial''s ear, he couldn''t help but turn towards the government worker.

    He didn''t feel that the middle-aged man was friendly and approachable enough for him to ask a doubt.. Nevertheless, Nial was confused by his words.

    ''Is the order really like that? Information before rescue?''

    However, even if that was the case, his priorities were different than the military''s, to begin with.

    With that in mind, he followed the kids that ignored him as they went through the dungeon portal without a sliver of hesitation.

    He was amazed by their confidence but apart from that, there wasn''t anything else that he found interesting about the bunch of kids so he simply stepped through the portal with them.

    Just before entering the dungeon, he had taken the Fang spear out of his spatial ring, followed by a belt with a few vials that he strapped across his waist to make use of in emergencies.

    After stepping inside the dungeon portal, he felt the two intertwining energies of the dungeon enveloping him tightly, and it did not take long before he emerged on the other side of the dungeon portal.

    However, during the short moment in which he was transported to the designated position, Nial couldn''t help but feel odd.<sub> </sub>

    Somehow, he felt as if the darkness and light energy that enveloped him were something he was familiar with.

    Yet, it was much weaker than he thought it should be, and just as he stressed his memory to recall something about the darkness energy, his mind went nk.

    He remained in that state just for a second but that was more than enough to give him the chills as it felt like he should definitely know what exactly the darkness energy truly was.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t remember where exactly had he heard of the darkness transmuted before, or where he had sensed something that felt simr to it which bothered him, even more so as he heard the young cadets'' annoying voice.

    "It''s so cold here¡­why did we have toe to this God-forsaken ce? It''s muddy and it doesn''t look warm inside the cave either¡­ I should have remained in school..."

    Following thatment, Nial frowned, only for his frown to deepen as one of the young cadet''s friends nodded in approval whilementing further.

    "Why did these stupid students have to enter the two-element dungeon¡­they''re really fools, and Ms. Melion even says that some of the students that are still missing are older than us..hahahha!"

    Nial realized that the young cadets didn''t take the dungeon seriously. As such, he ignored their rant and diverted his attention to trying to recall where exactly he had felt the darkness transmuted mana before.

    However, even after a few minutes had passed, he had no idea, which was different for the light affinity.

    It was not the same as he recalled, but how could he forget the divine energy of the Goddess who had awoken his Odyssey seed as well as his origin?

    The divine energy had been much more profound, but he could clearly feel a trace of holy energy within the minuscule amount of light energy that was intertwined in the seemingly endless darkness transmuted mana!

    As such, he was intrigued by the dungeon.

    Nevertheless, he didn''t let his excitement make him forget his mission and the fact that he had entered the two-element dungeon in order to rescue Shana.

    That was his only mission, and given the fact that the petrification rats were unlikely to be around the open field they had entered, they must be inhabiting the cave, of which the young cadets had spoken about earlier.

    Nial might not be able to see anything, and even his mana perception didn''t allow him to perceive anything beyond the range of ten meters, but that was no problem because he could hear, sense and smell his surroundings.

    As such, he knew that they were in the ins that had turned into a muddy and slightly marshy field owing to the rain.

    Other than that, he heard the rustling of trees from behind and next to him.

    The almost inaudible sound of the faint gust of wind blowing through the leaves came to him from far away, but he was able to hear it.

    Given the information provided by the young cadets, he could also pick up the faint scent of mold and ammonia that became intenser the closer he approached the cave.

    In the end, he simply followed the young cadets that approached the cavern entrance without any hesitation as if it was just an ordinary school trip.

    They wereining about their situation and gossiping with each other, but by focusing on the young cadets, Nial noticed something interesting.

    ''They''re just nervous?'' Given the fact that it was their first mission, that should be the case.

    However, because all of them had put on a rather brave and nonchnt expression, Nial had simply disregarded this possibility.

    Despite that, the closer they came to the cave, the quieter they became, and Nial was able to clearly perceive their mana fluctuations that were stiffening at every single noise that came from the interior of the cave.

    There were many noises he could hear, and after sensing their mana, which exposed how they actually felt, Nial couldn''t help but feel that the kids were simply being childish and might not be as bad as he had thought before.

    They might be ignoring him, but that was possible because they had always been trained to work with their small team.

    Other than that, trusting a stranger was something almost everyone was taught not to do.

    As such, he was not only a blind person at the 1st Origin rank to them but also an unknown variable that could most probably turn into unnecessary baggage.

    With that in mind, they had unanimously decided to simply ignore Nial as their teacher had told them that it was fine to do so.

    Because of that, Nial followed them but kept a certain distance from them, knowing that he shouldn''t throw a fit right now.

    In the end, he wasn''t too keen on being a part of their group either, but he had to get to know more information about the dungeon too, and given the fact that not a single beast had shown up until now, something was definitely wrong!

    Yet, just as he thought about the scarcity of beasts, numerous squeals resounded through the walls of the cave, reaching the cavern entrance in no time, only for a thunderous roar to follow suit, rming Nial and the young cadets.

    ''And¡­that is where I''m supposed to go down?''''

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 Chapter 43 Thorough

    When the echo of the thunderous roar had finally subsided, Nial and the cadets were finally able to breathe properly once again.

    Neither of them were aware of the fact that their breaths had caught in their throat and looked at each other in fear.

    Meanwhile, Nial continued to release his mana currents, and felt oddly calm after the short moment of shock was over.

    ''There are definitely beasts that are stronger than petrification rats in this dungeon¡­.'' He thought, but that was quite obvious.

    In the end, there had to be at least one boss, and there could also be rare bosses and other types of beasts than the petrification rat lurking in the dark.

    As such, the dangers of the dungeon were not surprising to him.

    Nevertheless, the thunderous roar was not even amplified by mana or initiated by the utilization of an ability, yet, it shook him and the cadets to the core.

    This meant that they were innately weaker than the beast that had just let out a booming roar.

    Because of that, Nial knew that he had to be careful of the dangers inside the cave.

    However, instead of letting himself be affected by his surroundings or the cadets'' nervousness that had intensified after they realized that the dungeon was more dangerous than they had previously predicted, Nial used his senses and mana perception to get to know the surrounding area.

    Thus, without wasting any more time, he turned around and left the cavern entrance, ignoring the confused gazes of the cadets who were staring at him.

    "Looks like he is too afraid to follow us inside the cave¡­and here I thought that I might have underestimated him..."

    One of the cadets said in a mocking tone, only for one of the other cadets to nod approvingly while replying,

    "Our prediction was correct, as always! Are you guys brave enough to enter the cave with me or will all of you cower in fear just like this blind little fawn?!"

    Listening to the oldest of them, the other cadets felt reassured as they saw how brave the strongest of them was.

    Little did they know that they were forcing each other to be encouraged, and not lose their morale, fight, and ovee the hindrances that would obstruct their paths towards bing strong soldiers.

    Since they were young, their parents and teachers had taught them that determination, fearlessness, bravery, and ambition were the strongest characteristics higher authorities of the military would seek in potential candidates after innate talent, which was the most important.

    However, once their new teacher, Nina Melion, had been appointed, she taught them many new things that were differentpared to what the cadets of other military units had been taught.

    This had confused them, and even their parents after they had gotten wind of it, extremely.

    Yet, after asking their new teacher why exactly she felt that knowledge, survival skill, and everything else that had remotely to do with surviving longer was necessary for their kids, she had not provided them with the required exnation.

    Instead, she told them that their first mission would allow them to clearly understand everything she was teaching them as long as they paid attention to everything she taught them beforehand.

    Unfortunately, Nina seemed to have miscalcted the entire situation, and grossly underestimated the stubbornness of parents to teach them what they thought to be the correct way.

    This alone wouldn''t be problematic, but it was followed by the naivety and ignorance of children who were barely 12 years old to understand why certain things were important yet boring to learn.

    Meanwhile, other topics were less important even though they seemed fascinating for young teens.

    In the end, her underestimation of these two variables turned into the reason why the young cadets had entered the cave without reassuring them that there were no other beasts that could backstab them or heavily injured students on the surface area.

    While they were ignorant, Nial had thought about the possibility of beasts being at the surface, even if his senses didn''t provide him with any substantial proof to verify his assumptions.

    Nheless, he was not able to sense the vast surface of the entire two-element dungeon at once, which meant that he couldn''t be certain if there were beasts anywhere, or possibly even other students who were huddled in some dark corner, and unable to move due to severe injuries.

    With that in mind, he began his investigation of the surroundings before he would even start thinking of entering the cave!

    As he was slowly walking through the muddy and damp soil, Nial had lots of time to think about the current situation.

    Five days had passed since the dungeon emerged, and owing to the restrictions and uniqueness, many young Originals had presumed that they would be able to find treasures inside the dungeon and im it for themselves.

    Because of that they had entered the dungeon, ignoring all the warnings they had been given by other Originals, and their school.

    Their haste and greed made them ignore the most basic instruction which was that they were supposed to stay away from newly emerged dungeons that looked like anomalies.

    Yet, instead of paying heed to the advice, they not only disregarded it, but some students had also convinced their ssmates to enter the dungeon with them.

    This was a grave mistake, and also part of the reason why many students had been needlessly killed inside the two-element dungeon.

    Nial hoped that Shana was fine because she seemed to be nice when he had met her at the Originals'' association, which was most likely her part-time job, but the chances were slim.

    Even if it was frustrating, and would most likely turn the cksmith, who was already extremely worried, into a living corpse, he could somehow understand Shana''s eagerness to explore the dungeon.

    He had been the same when he had realized that the slime dungeon had manifested in their backyard and had been unable to hold himself back from entering it.

    Luckily, he had faced rtively harmless beasts and had emerged from the dungeon without any injuries.

    However, that wasn''t the case with Shana, who had been overconfident.

    Meanwhile, Nial was able to remain rtively calm as he focused on his surroundings while essing the spatial ring.

    He wanted to see what items other than the few serums and other misceneous items he had requested had been thrown into the spatial ring.

    In fact, cksmith Arnold had dumped almost everything Nial could make use of into the spatial ring, hoping that it would be helpful to rescue his daughter.<sub> </sub>

    Not caring about the price of items was quite helpful in this situation because it allowed Nial to use everything he had as long as he would be able to rescue Shana.

    However, Nial also knew that he should use the items inside the spatial ring sparingly for now because he couldn''t be certain that she was even alive at the moment.

    Thus, he made notes about what items the spatial ring had stored within while continuing to investigate his surroundings.

    The items in his spatial ring were useful, and there was even one serum he hadn''t expected the cksmith to store inside the spatial ring because it wouldn''t directly help him to rescue Shana.

    Yet, after thinking about the use of the serum, he could roughly gauge what the cksmith had meant.

    ''Basic Improved mana absorption'' was thebel on the vial, allowing Nial to get to know what exactly the serum''s use was, to begin with.

    The name was nothing special, and it was simply shortened to [BIMA potion] but neither of these names were fancy or truly great.

    However, that didn''t matter because the usage of the potion was important.

    In fact, it did exactly what its name suggested; improving his mana absorption, and Nial was relieved at the cksmith''s forethought.

    The mana inside dungeons was much denser, purer, and of a higher quantity than the faint mana that permeated Katu.

    Thus, one could absorb and annex mana inside dungeons the best, and with an additional potion that increased the mana absorption, one didn''t even have to absorb the mana from origin crystals.

    It was a great potion whose effect wouldst approximately for 24 hours, but unfortunately, it was extremely expensive.

    As such, it was not something Nial wanted to use, even less because he had yet to truly start absorbing and annexing mana, to begin with.

    Since he had awoken his origin, the amount of mana he had annexed was extremely shallow, and he hadn''t even done that while being in a fully focused state.

    Because of that, he had yet to figure out the limits of his mana vein without the use of a potion to enhance his mana absorption.

    With that in mind, he decided to test his strength and limits and for the time being ignored the temptation to take it right away so as to increase his chances of finding and rescuing Shana!

    While he was deep in thought Nial realized that there was not much to see in his surroundings.

    In the end his prediction about the outskirts of the enclosed area being a forest, while the existence of a cave which could be found in the inner part of the dungeon that was a muddy in seemed to be correct.

    Owing to the rain he was not able to use his sense of smell much, but with the use of his other senses and his mana perception, it took him only two hours toplete investigating the surface in its entirety.

    Because of that, he was able to be sure that there was not a single being, except the trees and bushes around him, or at least he didn''t find them for they were experts at hiding.

    Nial knew that there were existences that could hide their mana fluctuations to an almost perfect degree, but in that case, his mana perception would detect theck of mana in a specific area, indirectly outlining the existence he was unable to perceive.

    Thus, there was nothing he should be worried about as long as he was not missing out on some important facts which he was supposed to be aware of.

    Fortunately, there was nothing inside the two-element dungeon that he could be missing out on, but that was his great luck as hisck of knowledge brought forth many issues.

    It was one thing being unsure about something, but another to be oblivious to things and thetter was definitely risky.

    While being unsure would allow him to know that something could be wrong, or that specific beings were able to transmute their mana, and adjust it to the surroundings while they were hiding, being oblivious to these possibilities was extremely dangerous for himself and those around him!

    Nial was the second, the oblivious kind of person not because he did it intentionally but because he wascking the fundamental knowledge.

    Nevertheless, he was thorough with everything he did, which allowed him to make up for theck of knowledge to a certain extent.

    Thus, when he returned to the cavern entrance, he was reassured that nobody could stab him in the back.

    Tightly holding the Fang spear, he slowly entered the cave that was wider than and in some ces even higher than what his mana perception could reach.

    This was disadvantageous, but still, something Nial could cope with by moving in a zig-zag pattern, or inserting tiny traces of mana into the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability.

    His hard work had paid off as he could now make use of it much better than the very first day on which the Odyssey seed had pulsated once.

    Slowly approaching one of the several tunnels he could roughly gauge, Nial slowly descended the tunnel, entering the depths of the cave within a few minutes.

    The pungent smell of urine, blood, and excrements filled the air, and it was extremely difficult to stay unaffected by them. Nial wrinkled his nose in disgust and tried his best to ignore it.

    By remaining fully focused on the surroundings and possible attacks of beasts that the other students from five days ago, or the young cadets might have missed out on, Nial was able to decrease the effect of the horrid stench in his head.

    And that was necessary because not much time passed before loud screeching sounds bounced off the cavern walls, as multiple groups of rats emerged from holes inside the walls all around him.

    The wall appeared no different than a sieve with holes everywhere, and Nial had already assumed to encounter beasts sooner orter, but he had hoped that his first group of opponents would be a handful of petrification rats, and not arge group of them, at once!

    This was a big problem because he had yet to understand the petrification rats''bat strength, attack pattern, and everything else, he would like to know before encountering any kind ofrge beast group for the first time.

    Sighing deeply, Nial knew that he couldn''t change his situation anymore.

    With that in mind, his expression turned serious as he entered abat stance that allowed him to attack his opponents as well as defend himself against them!

    ''I guess it''s time¡­.let this nightmare begin!''

 Chapter 44 Excitement

    Taking a deep breath, Nial was ready to fight against therge group of petrification rats that had surrounded him.

    After they had crawled out of the numerous holes that were in every wall of the entire cave, it was not difficult to overwhelm Nial, but instead of attacking him one after another, their n had been different.

    Waiting for the entire group to emerge from the holes, they had surrounded him from all sides, before slowly closing the distance towards Nial.

    This was not difficult to be perceived by Nial, whose mana perception was also released, providing him with intel about the current situation.

    Making use of the pieces of information, he quickly realized that there were roughly 50 petrification rats, which caused him to frown deeply.

    ''Why are there so many already?!''

    Under normal circumstances, bigger groups of beasts would only emerge in the deepest parts of a dungeon.

    As such, in a in area like the center of the dungeon, and in the case of the two-element dungeon, they should only show up when he would venture into the deeper parts of the cave.

    Unfortunately, they didn''t seem to follow the norms right now as the rats, which were all roughly the size of a cat, were ganging up against him.

    Despite the dangers of facing 50 opponents at once, Nial realized that cksmith Arnold''s words about the petrification rats'' strength were probably correct.

    His mana fluctuations were already weak, but the petrification rats could barely be considered dungeon beasts through their mana fluctuations that were barely perceptible.

    In the end, the only threat from them was their ability to petrify, and the fact that they harbored numerous diseases.

    Thus, Nial would normally try to avoid being scratched or bitten by the petrification rats, but would not bother about it if he were to face arge horde at once.

    Instead of focusing on individual rats, he quickly decided to defeat the majority of them at once as he came up with a n.

    Fortunately, the Fang spear had the same ability as the Viper spear.

    As such, he inserted some mana into it before releasing the de on the spear''s tip while doing the same to the de that could be released on the side of the tip.

    In fact, there were two des that could be released at the tip of the spear, and Nial simply chose the de that seemed to be only a small part of arger de.

    Using small traces of mana to release the two des, he saw them be connected to each other and turned the spear into a ive that had a lengthy de.

    With a ive, Nial was not able to attack multiple opponents at the same time instead of being forced to thrust or urately swing the Fang spear.

    uracy was still important, but even more so was brute force, and velocity while tackling multiple opponents.

    The ive didn''t look perfect ording to what he had sensed with his mana perception, and Nial realized why the Fang spear was considered to be the prototype of the Viper spear.

    Nevertheless, it was more than enough to fight against therge group of petrification rats.

    Confident about the razor-sharp weapon he was holding, Nial didn''t wait until the rats had closed the distance to him.

    Instead, he initiated an attack, shooting forward without any hesitation.

    Having learned a little bit about the control of his body on the day he was beaten up by Master Junades, Nial''s movements were more fluidic and smoother than ever before.

    This allowed him to advance, only to halt the moment the petrification rats were about to initiate their counterattack.

    The moment both of his feet touched the ground at the same time again, the entire umted mana within the petrification rats was released in their eyes.

    Yet, Nial didn''t even notice anything as he shed horizontally at the closest batch of petrification rats, cutting through them as if their hide was as thick as the paper-thin membrane of slimes.

    Even though he had expected the rats to be weak, the fact that he had just killed five of them with a single sh of the Fang spear in its ive form clearly showed that cksmith Arnold''sparison of a Goblin being able to kill a handful of petrification rats was not exaggerated, at all.

    Emboldened by his first of the several kills, Nial was able to continue fighting with ease as he began to advance once again, leaving the encirclement of the petrification rats through the small gap he had created.

    When they noticed him slip out, all of them let out a horrid screech whilepletely ignoring the death of their brethren.

    They hadn''t expected that Nial would be able to avoid being petrified even with his eyes open, which was something the petrification rats had never encountered before.

    Not knowing that Nial was blind, let alone what being blind even meant, they had always thought that someone with open eyes would be easily affected by their ability.

    Thus, they had been momentarily distracted, and reassured of their victory, only for Nial to prove them wrong, as he weilded the Fang spear expertly to cut and sh a tenth of their entire group while beingpletely unaffected by the petrification curse!

    After he stepped outside the encirclement, Nial was able to take control of the situation, at least much better than it was the case while being surrounded.

    Being able to sense whaty behind him up to more than 10 meters, he could ignore it for the time being even if it was still dangerous as his position was quite¡­ disadvantageous.<sub> </sub>

    In fact, he was in the middle of the open tunnel and beasts could emerge from everywhere at any moment.

    As such, every little noise the petrification rats made was lethal for him as it would attract other beasts.

    To avoid the urrence of this risky scenario, they had to be defeated and killed as quickly as possible.

    With that in mind, he circted mana through his body, while smoothly wielding the ive around his body, and adjusting himself to the slightly altered weight of arge de, Nial couldn''t help but smile lightly.

    Right now, he might be at a numerical disadvantage, and his mana reserve was depleting rapidly as he was using it to circte throughout his body, but that didn''t matter as his speed increased subtly.

    With a higher speed than the petrification rats, he was strong enough to lunge out at them, killing a single petrification rat before it could do anything as he retreated a step, preventing the other petrification rats from attacking him.

    Following that, he changed his tactic from attacking groups, and individual rats one after another, to try out something he painfully recalled from Master Junades'' beating.

    Having been thrashed by Master Junades was painful and so was the memory. Nevertheless, it had been extremely helpful because his mana perception had allowed him to visualize the movements of a true master for more than half an hour!

    If Master Junades had held back, this wouldn''t be as useful, but Nial knew that he had given his all, even if that was without the use of mana and a restricted physical strength.

    In the end, what mattered to Nial was Master Junades'' expertise in the martial art techniques he had showcased.

    Recalling what he had visualized, Nial began to smile as he attempted to replicate one of the simple movement sequences he had seen him perform.

    As he was fully focused on his task to defeat the petrification rats as quickly as possible, Nial didn''t even notice that his entire demeanor had just changed.

    Previously, his mana fluctuations had been unstable, but right now, they were extremely calm and smoothly following every single movement he was doing.

    Through this, the problems of continuously circting mana through his body despite sudden movements were fixed before they even urred.

    Thus, he was able to push his feet up from the ground, sh at the closest lot of petrification rats, and use the momentum in order to continue attacking.

    The more momentum he attained, the faster his attack became, and by continuing to move ahead without halting in his tracks, only now did he notice that the muscles of his forearm were starting to cramp as they were receivers of the biggest toll of being moved, stretched and twisted to an extent like never before.

    Due to the cramps of his forearms, he was forced to slow down by arge margin. It made him realize that his body was not yet trained enough to move every single muscle to the extent he wanted.

    Clearly seeing his limitations, Nial could only sigh inwardly, yet, a bright smile emerged on his face because the more ws he was able to figure out about himself, the more ways to improve were unveiled.

    Knowing that he wascking was the first step, but precisely knowing what exactly he had to improve was the most important because that enabled him to fix the problems one after another!

    However, right now, nothing of that mattered, whether it was hisbat proficiency, the little amount of mana he possessed, his blindness, or even the fact that he was wielding apletely different weapon than usual while facing dozens of opponents at once.

    That was because his heart was wildly throbbing as he was advancing through the rows of opponents, the stench of blood gushing out of the deep cuts he created in the petrification rats reeking the air intermixed with their pained squeals and chittering that made his skin crawl.

    Blood sshed on his clothes, face, and organs were spilling out of the body of the deceased, turning the ground more slippery than it already was.

    Yet, Nial''s feet were firmly nted as he evaded them because his body was instinctively reacting to what the mana perception allowed him to perceive and visualize.

    Owing to that, therge group of petrification rats, that had worried Nial a few minutes before, had been eradicated, leaving not a single one of them alive.

    In the end, most of them had been cut in half through the Fang spear''s ive form, as well as the fact that Nial''s physical strength had allowed him to pierce through their thin skin as if it was not much.

    Being in possession of a strong weapon was quite advantageous, and this was even easily noticeable if one found opponents with a great numerical advantage but bad defenses such as the rats.

    Nial hadn''t even been required to exert lots of physical strength¡­or so one would normally think.

    Unfortunately, this was not the entire truth because one required a trained body to expertly control a ive, even more so if one wanted to create a lengthy movement sequence that was precisely created in order to defeat masses of opponents.

    Right now, his body might have only been trained to do some basic workouts, but he was far from having attained a physique that allowed him to fight, let alone a state in which he could fight for hours and not sustain a physical injury due to overstraining of muscles.

    Thus, he had to grit his teeth and take the first healing serum the moment he finished off the first group of petrification rats.

    Even though it was not necessary in order to stay unharmed, if another group of beasts was to arrive, he would be unable to fight them with his highestbat prowess.

    He might be weak but being practical and using his mind was important to even out his ws.

    With that in mind, he gulped down half of the healing serum before he began to pick up 7 origin crystals that had dropped from the corpses of petrification rats before leaving the battlefield, and entering the depths of the cave.

    *

    A/N: Support me with powerstones and golden tickets for more chapters.

 Chapter 45 Blood

    Somehow, Nial couldn''t help but feel astonished about everything.

    After his first encounter with a petrification rats group, he had yet to be encircled or attacked a second time.

    Not even a single stray beast approached him which was umon in a dungeon that was reported to harbor several hundred petrification rats at the bare minimum!

    This was weird but Nial was unable to focus on this because his entire body felt much lighter after he had strained it a little bit in order to defeat therge group of petrification rats.

    He had given his best to eradicate the threat as quickly as possible, which had worked quite well but owing to the movement sequence, his mind was currently tormented.

    Right now, his entire mind wanted to continue unraveling the secrets of Master Junades movement sequences and adapting those into his fighting style.

    But, the knowledge seemed to evade him and Nial had to try hard not to think about it.

    Unfortunately, this worked exactly in the opposite way, because the more he tried to prevent thinking about it, the more his thoughts went in that direction.

    Thus, he was quite happy, when he reached an intersection that led him to threerge tunnels.

    ording to his mana perception, there were dozens if not hundreds of small tunnels within therge ones, but that was useless for him because he was unable to squeeze himself through the thigh tunnels.

    Only the petrification rats and simr beasts of that size could move in and out of those tunnels swiftly, but that was currently not important to Nial, who tried to make up his mind on what tunnel he should enter.

    Despite using his senses and mana perception to figure out the differences in the tunnels, they felt the same to him.

    When he touched them, all of the entrances felt cold with some spots being wet and other spots infested with weed and moss.

    This astonished Nial a little bit because if moss grew in the depths of the tunnel, the entire cave had to be rtively bright and receive sunlight to allow its growth.

    Yet, even though it was unexpected, he quickly averted his attention to focus on his other senses before he tried to evaluate the dangers of the caves.

    ''The one on the left smells like urine, extremely distinct, and it''s worse than in the other tunnel in the middle that has the smell of blood in the air¡­as for the right tunnel¡­I cannot smell anything from there¡­that''s odd!''

    In the end, the tunnel on the right felt the most dangerous, and Nial didn''t believe that anyone would survive in that tunnel.

    It was simply too ominous, and when he recalled the thunderous roar when he had been with the cadets at the cavern entrance, Nial couldn''t help but give an involuntary shudder.

    When he recalled the cadets, he noticed that those faint remnants of their mana fluctuations lingered in the air, pointing towards the direction of the right tunnel.

    When he sensed this, Nial couldn''t help but wonder if they were extremely intelligent, or in stupid.

    They had gone searching for the boss monster because they were confident of defeating it, and also tried to be the saviors of the students who were stuck inside while simultaneously aiming for bonus merits for solving their mission with an excellent score.

    Either way, Nial was definitely not one of the Originals who were confident in defeating the boss monster of the anomalistic two-element dungeon.

    As such, he ignored the tunnel on the right and went into the tunnel that reeked of blood.

    While the overpowering stench of urine might not indicate anything, it was likely the tunnel that would lead him to their nest.

    That was not somewhere he wanted to be even remotely close to. Thus, he chose the tunnel that reeked of blood as it could mean that many petrification rat corpses might be found there.

    At the same time, it was also possible for the missing students'' corpses to be lying there, but that was not something he hoped to find.

    Either way, he entered the blood reeking tunnel with vignt steps, knowing that beasts could attack him from all directions.

    However, he felt oddly reassured, knowing that it was impossible to avoid being surrounded without an escape route because there were dozens of small tunnels that seemed to connect to each other like an anthill!

    This was interesting because Nial was able to roughlye up with a blueprint of the cave in his mind..or so he first thought.

    Yet, after recalling that some students were stillbeled ''missing'', Nial couldn''t help but believe that the two-element dungeon might berger than it appeared.

    Considering that the Melind dungeon had several floors, it was possible for the two-element dungeon to have multipleyers underground!

    If the entire space of the dungeon''s underground was riddled with tunnels, Nial could only make a rough estimate of just how ginormous the dungeon might be.

    He had been walking on the surface and knew how vast the space was, after all.

    ''That''s¡­ crazy.'' Nial could only think, hoping that he was interpreting too much into the fact that the governmentbeled the students as ''missing''.

    Averting his attention from the horrifying thoughts, Nial began to visualize the movement sequences he recalled from the time Master Junades had beat him up.

    His body might not be able to cope with the burden yet, but it should be possible to trim down the lengthy sequences into shorter ones which he could quickly utilize one after another.

    A small break in between each sequence should be more than enough to give him just a moment to catch his breath so as to not let his muscles cramp.

    He wanted to test out if that would work, but before that he would have to find new opponents. Furthermore, he had yet to properly imagine the movement sequences, let alone repeat them until he perfected them.

    Not only were his muscles too weak, but his entire constitution should bepletely different to Master Junades, who was anything but frail, rigid, andcking the necessary strength like him.

    With that in mind, Nial moved the Fang spear in its ive form, trying to replicate the movement sequence in its most basic and crude form.

    It didn''t allow him to do anything special or move extremely fast, but slowly repeating the lengthy movement sequence was possible.

    This was a great achievement because he now knew that it was possible for him to move ording to his imagination, even if it was just Master Junades'' most basic movement sequence that was correctly initiated.<sub> </sub>

    From the outside, it might look weird and rough, but that did not matter to Nial because it was fine as long as it felt good to himself.

    Unfortunately even that was not exactly the case because there were some inconveniences that were quickly solved by tweaking the movement sequence a bit, and prolonging certain movements while changing something else.

    If someone else were to know what Nial was currently trying to achieve, they would either call him crazy and idiotic or a prodigious talent.

    The former would be the case if he knew nothing about the anatomy of the human body, while thetter was the case if he knew what kinds of movements and alterations were dangerous for his body to make after previous movements.

    Having no idea about the human body''s anatomy, Nial turned into the former, an idiot with crazy ideas, and he was fully aware of this.

    But though his ideas were a bit reckless, he could not just sit and waste precious time as he had yet to learn abat technique.

    As such, Master Junades'' movement sequences were the only reference points he could take in order to create some simple means to attack.

    Other than that, he could only attack with simple thrusts and shes while trying to move somewhat correctly, preventing to interrupt his already crude movements.

    Having memorized Master Junades'' movements had saved him from being gravely injured as replicating those had enabled him to fight therge group of petrification rats even if it had strained him.

    Thus, given the fact that he was fighting with his life on the line, he would rather be an idiot with crazy ideas than dead.

    It was as simple as that!

    After entering the depths of the blood reeking tunnel, it didn''t take long before he found dozens of rat corpses that littered the ground.

    The corpses seemed to be decaying, indicating that the rats were killed days ago, and the stench intensified when he passed by them.

    Trying to not gag, he focussed on stepping on the clear ground so as to not slip and fall in the reeking mass of corpses.

    Using his mana perception with more uracy, Nial tried to figure out if it was possible to get to exactly know how old the corpses were.

    Unfortunately, that was not possible, but what he noticed was something else that gave him a ray of hope- there were fresh remnants of mana!

    This was great, and something Nial had hoped to encounter.

    The remnants were strong enough to be from beings stronger than petrification rats, and based on his assessment, he could tell that they belonged to two different kinds of beings.

    Nial had yet to learn how to clearly separate mana fluctuations, but there were still certain things he could roughly gauge.

    While a fraction of the mana remnants felt like it was wild and unstable, indicating that it belonged to a  stronger kind of beast, the majority of mana remnants belonged to the Originals, which would be great.

    Despite being able to tell that the mana remnants were fresh, Nial couldn''t deduce the exact time that had passed since the strong mana currents had been released!

    As such, he had found a clue but was unable to tell how useful it was.

    Nheless, it was better than nothing, and with vignce, Nial continued to descend the tunnel, and finally, after spending ten minutes in tension, a group of petrification rats attacked him!

    Nial was unable to express how happy he was about finally encountering a group of beasts that attacked him because he felt ufortable with the blood reeking stench permeating the air inside the entire tunnel, only to encounter not even a single beast.

    Thus, after sensing the petrification rats and hearing their screeches, he smiled vibrantly. Without hesitation, he pulled the Fang ive backward, holding it in one hand as he rushed ahead, avoiding stepping on the wet spots on the cold stone ground.

    Emerging in front of the closest petrification rats, who had gathered its mana in the area around its eyes, to activate the petrification effect, it tried to intimidate Nial who was unaffected, and shed out with the ive, cutting the rat in half.

    No hesitation could be detected in his movements that were a lot smoother than they had been during the first time he fought the petrification rats.

    Learning and adapting to the movements quickly, Nial was adjusting to the given circumstances at a pace that shocked him, as he threw his body around, avoiding several petrification rats that jumped toward him.

    After that, he supported his back by pushing the lower end of the ive towards his back, preventing him from falling on the wet ground.

    He had to avoid falling at all costs as once he fell, it would have been over because his movements would be restricted, and the time which he would require to get back on his feet would be longer.

    As such, instead of pushing himself up from the ground, or the ive, he inserted faint traces of his mana into the Fang spear that quickly released a de from the spear''s rear end, pushing him upwards.

    The sound of metal shing with stone caused his ears to prick, but Nial ignored it as he evaded the follow-up attacks of the other petrification rats.

    Under normal circumstances, or even in thest battle, he would have retreated by now.

    Yet, contrary to his own beliefs, Nial advanced ahead, forcing hisbat instincts and everything he hadprehended aboutbat during thest few weeks to resurface.

    His movements had already improved from the previous battle and Nial knew that this originated from the fact that he tried to imitate the way Master Junades moved, just in his own customized version!

    Because of his ambition to grow stronger, he was able to defeat his opponents, and it took only a few minutes until the smaller group of 20 petrification rats was eradicated, and left behind a single origin crystal.

    Picking it up, Nail ignored the corpses, and he continued to pave his way through the cave while analyzing the fight he had just won.

    Yet, just as he was about to start focusing on the fight he visualized in his mind, Nial halted in his tracks when his mana perception sensed something that caused him to feel extremely ufortable.

    The hazy outlines of a dead Original were beginning to unfold merely 10 meters away from him. And, despite his mind entering a chaotic state, only one thought shed through his mind, repeating itself over and over.

    ''Please, don''t let it be Shana!''

 Chapter 46 Death

    It was a selfish thought but Nial hoped that the corpse of the Original thatid in front of him was not Shana.

    He felt light-headed right now and was unable to decipher the remnants of the corpses'' mana fluctuations clearly.

    As such, he gulped down his saliva before approaching the corpse with slow steps.

    Even if it wouldn''t affect someone with a rational mind, visualizing the dead corpse of another human made him shudder.

    His mind nked out, and after bracing himself for the worst oue, he turned around the corpse once he was in front of it, and finally witnessed that it was of a different female student and not Shana.

    This caused him to feel relieved, but at the same time, he was able to visualize the corpse of the young student which was nothing to be happy about.

    Her innards were spilling out of her abdomen with some of them had been viciously bitten, torn out, and eaten.

    Meanwhile, her eyeballs were missing, followed byrge chunks of flesh.

    At this moment, Nial was happy to not be able to see something, for the first time in his life.

    Chills spread over his entire body, and he took a moment before he could finally think again.

    Thus, he enveloped the corpse of the young female student with his mana which allowed him to store the corpse inside his spatial ring.

    ''I should at least give her family the opportunity to give her a proper burial¡­'' Nial was not sure if he was doing the correct thing, and he was not even sure what he would want to happen if one of his family members were to die.

    Would he want to see the mutted body of his loved one, or hope against hope that a miracle would happen and save them?

    He was not sure, but that was not his decision, to begin with.

    In the end, he decided to hand over the corpse to the military.

    This would free him from the responsibilities, and guilt he would feel if he were to simply pass by the student''s corpse.

    The death of the female student had left a bad taste in his mouth and his mood dipped but there was no time for sorrow.

    He had to be even more vignt about possible dangers if he didn''t want to end up like her.

    That was the only reasonable thing to do because there was one stronger type of beast, and if his assumption was correct, his estimate of several hundred petrification rats waspletely off the mark too.

    Rather, it was ten times that, which caused Nial to feel a little bit ufortable.

    Nevertheless, after making all kinds of predictions, while using the proven information, it would be stupid to ignore the fact that the number of several hundred petrification rats was nothing but a foolish thought, and a gigantic underestimation.

    This assumption was proven correct because he came across more groups of petrification rats that varied in size, some wererger, while others were small in size.

    In the end, he was able to defeat all of them and sustained minor scratches because the surrounding environment was bing more difficult to use to his advantage to fight than before.

    The ground was wet and slippery, and he had to move even more carefully than before in order to avoid slipping and falling to the ground because this would be his definite death sentence.

    With that in mind, Nial became more careful about everything he did, which was the cause of his injuries as he was unable to vigorously attack the masses of petrification rats as before.

    Thus, even after being surrounded once in a while, he fend them off while simultaneously enduring the rats'' attacks, and the pain they caused.

    Fortunately, owing to the leather armor he wore, his vital spots were protected, and he merely sustained flesh wounds that were quickly infested with countless deadly bacterias.

    ? Yet, owing to cksmith Arnold''s generosity, Nial had more than enough vials with antidotes, and disinfection pastes inside.

    Because of that, he didn''t have to be worried about getting ill through infection and his wounds festering into something bad.

    This was an advantage that the other students that entered the two-element dungeon five days ago didn''t have.

    That being said, he couldn''t help but think that many students might have been strong enough to survive until now, but that infections should have caused them great harm.

    After thinking about this possibility, Nial felt that it was the only reason for the students to be unable to reach the surface, apart from death¡­other than that, he couldn''t think of many usible reasons.

    However, sometimes, fate worked in mysterious ways, even less inside dungeons, let alone anomalistic dungeons!

    As such, he was baffled when he encountered one of the biggest groups of petrification rats fighting against three Originals.

    It had only been a few hours since he had found the student''s dead body, and right now, he could hear the pained screams of two young men and one woman.

    Their flesh was just torn out of their body, but that was not something Nial could see. He was barely able to perceive the weakening mana fluctuations of the three Originals that were buried under the masses of petrification rats that were viciously attacking them.

    In their haste and greed to devour human flesh and blood, they trampled fellow brethren, while solely being focused on the direction in which they smelled fresh blood.

    The moment Nial perceived this, he instinctively acted.

    He might be too weak to defeat more than a hundred petrification rats at once, but they were currently distracted while tearing apart the three Originals.

    As such, Nial was able to act without hesitation, using the Fang in its ive form in order to sh apart the petrification rats that were trying to push aside their brethren in order to reach the severely bleeding Originals.

    Blood sttered through the cave as well as organs and decapitated bodies that were flying all around but luckily Nial couldn''t see the sickening sight.

    He massacred the petrification rats that hindered his path towards the Originals like a tornado sweeping away everything in its wake.<sub> </sub>

    Even though he was sure that he didn''t know them, letting them die was not something he could do as long as he was able to move.

    He was not someone who would allow people to die when he knew that it was possible to save them.

    With that in mind, he loosened one hand from the Fang ive and swung it around with only one hand, while his other hand moved towards his belt.

    The moment Nial wielded his weapon with only one hand, even the most ignorant petrification rats had noticed him.

    However, it was already toote for them to do something because Nial had been holding the pin of the sh grenade in his hand while the remaining part was in the air.

    It was less than a secondter that he threw it towards them and the moment it touched the ground, it exploded, issuing an ear-piercing sound that was followed by the painful squeals of more than 50 remaining petrification rats that threw their half-burned, half mutted bodies, writhing in pain and trying in vain to escape death.

    This indicated to Nial that the sh grenade had worked, allowing him to move through the rows of petrification rats, smoothly shing through theirrgest batches without showing any signs of remorse.

    Following that, his face was already smeared with blood and flesh and gastric fluids that had sttered through the air owing to his merciless shes.

    Thus, he paved his way through the ground that was littered with blood, intestines, brain mass, and corpses as he reached the young Originals.

    Freeing a hand once again, he quickly pulled out his healing serums before throwing them at the young female who was the only conscious person, while the other two young men had tried to protect her, bearing with the endless pain of being eaten alive.

    Luckily, Nial had arrived before the worst could happen.

    While continuing to wail and sob, the woman''s trembling hands epted the serums which she quickly gave to her friends, hoping for the best.

    She had only taken a single nce towards Nial, and after seeing how he wielded the Fang ive, she knew that he would be fine, otherwise, all of them would die!

    As such, while she gave her friends the healing serums, Nial was killing the remaining petrification rats.

    Only a few minutes passed because the petrifaction rats seemed to possess sensitive eyes which he blinded owing to the sh grenade he had used.

    Once he was done, he quickly returned to the female student handing her a first aid kit before distancing himself to allow her to continue crying.

    There was nothing he could do right now because he had never learned how to administer a bandage orfort a sad person.

    It might not look like one could do many mistakes, but that was not exactly wrong as disinfecting wounds and applying bandages to the injuries created by carriers of pathogens was not exactly something one should do nonchntly.

    Because of that, Nial just gave the young female student everything he assumed to be somewhat useful before he picked up the origin crystals.

    There were quite a few of them, and when he picked up thest crystal he noticed something odd.

    ''An ability crystal?'' He wondered, only to insert a trace of mana into it as three words manifested in his mind.

    [Petrification eyes(Poorest)]

    It was amon grade, lowest quality ability with the same tag as his Innate ability ''poorest''.

    Yet, his innate ability would grow stronger while the petrification eyes would remain of the poorest possible quality.

    With that in mind, he realized that they might be worth at least something under specific situations, and with enough mana utilized they might as well be extremely powerful.

    However, for Nial, they were utterly useless.

    Nevertheless, he stored it away, and prepared his mind to sell it in order to earn some money which he could use to tend to his sister''s illness!

    It had been a few days since he had seen his sister, and parents, and Nial began to wonder how they were doing. He hoped that they wouldn''t worry about him and that they wouldn''t ever find out that he was currently in an anomalistic two-element dungeon!

    How could Nial know that only fate could tell whether he would meet his family ever again, let alone the fact that they had other things to worry about than Nial''s well-being.

    That was even more so the fact for Sabrina, who was currently lying inside a ginormous room, crying out in pain as her heart began to palpitate.

    Her entire body was glowing in a bright white hue stemming from the fact that her heart was enveloped inyers of whitish-silver membranes that began to infiltrate her weak heart, slowly causing a metamorphosis.

    At that moment a middle-aged woman looked at Sabrina with a vibrant smile on her face and she merely said one sentence to the other people that were in charge of observing Sabrina before she left.

    "If anything goes wrong, or she dies, each one of you will hope to have never been born!"

    With these words, amplified by her aura that immensely pressurized the minds of the people wearing white coats, she left the room in an imposing manner, unbothered by the pained cries of Sabrina.

    **

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 Chapter 47 Evolved Rat

    Thinking about his family, Nial couldn''t help but sigh deeply as he approached the young female student and the two students who had just regained their consciousness.

    They were staring at him, noticing his lifeless, white eyes that were highlighted by his blood-smeared face, but theirmon sense told them to not ask rude questions and stay quiet instead.

    Pain spread through their bodies, and the two young men forgot about their curiosity as they grit their teeth in order to hold back tears.

    At that moment, their female ssmate stood up from the ground before she deeply bowed to Nial.

    "Thank you very much for helping us, Sir! You are our savior!!"

    When Nial heard this, he just nodded his head while inspecting his surroundings with his mana currents.

    "Are there any other survivors, or did you lose the others?" He simply asked before the two young men noticed Nial''s mana fluctuations brush past them.

    "I¡­don''t know if anyone else survived¡­we were together with a friend of ours, but she was separated from us a day ago, and we were just looking for her."

    It was the female student who said this, and dread filled his heart as he asked the next question.

    "Was her name Leonie Mil?"

    Having seen her Originals ID card, he knew the name of the deceased student, whose corpse he had stored inside his spatial ring.

    The moment he asked the question, the three students were immediately intrigued, and the female student answered with an excited squeal,

    "Yes, that''s her name! Did you meet her? Where is she?"

    Nial could only sigh deeply before he conveyed the news of her death to her friends.

    "I''m sorry to tell you this, but she is dead. She was attacked by petrification rats, just like you guys, but she wasn''t as lucky to escape them!"

    He stated it matter-of-factly without any emotion because they had to realize what was going on as soon as possible.

    After having survived the near-death experience of therge petrification rats group, they should have gotten a hang of the situation.

    Nevertheless, they were oddly nonchnt about their pain¡­or so he thought.

    What Nial didn''t know was that the two male students had taken a serum that tranquilized them, to the extent that they were still able to move, but didn''t let them feel any pain.

    This was something they took after waking up from their unconscious state, and not knowing this, he simply assumed that their wounds looked worse than they truly were.

    It was great because he thought that he would be able to procure some information from some of the students who had been inside the cave for much longer than him, which should be helpful.

    Yet, the moment the young female student began to cry out, while even the badly injured young men''s eyes turned moist, Nial realized that he was the one who was too nonchnt.

    ''I thought death was quitemon in the era of dungeons¡­is that not the case?'' He asked himself, confused by their reaction.

    However, before he was able to think about this thoroughly, his ears perked up, and he immediately ordered the small group of students to stand up.

    "We don''t have time to cry right now. Either follow me or die!"

    In the end, Nial didn''t want the students to die, but that didn''t mean he would recklessly sacrifice his life either.

    Because of that, he rushed deeper into the cave, and in the direction the three students had juste from.

    Upon seeing where Nial was heading, the students were confused, thinking that Nial was insane for walking down the wrong direction.

    But it was exactly at this moment that they heard a loud growling noise from the higher end of the tunnel causing them to stiffen as they quickly got up.

    While the two young men were feeling that their body was healing, their movements were sluggish due to their partially tranquilised state. Hence, the female student helped them move faster and tried to force herself to stop crying.

    However, the more she tried to force her tears to cease, the more they spilled out of her eyes and sttered on her dress.

    Nial noticed this, but there was nothing he could do for her.

    As such, he focused on the surroundings and the fact that it was likely for the noises the three students behind him made, to be heard and attract lurking beasts.

    With that in mind, he grew even more alert than before, and it was because of this fact that he even decided to absorb the mana out of two origin crystals in order to replenish his mana core.

    Afterward, he tried to cultivate a little bit, increasing the amount of mana he annexed that slowly filled his mana core.

    He knew that it wouldn''t help him a lot, but even a little bit was better than nothing.

    Thus, the three students could only see Nial quickly absorbing mana out of the origin crystals before he stored the empty crystals away.

    Some said that empty origin crystals could be naturally filled in order to act as storage medium or vessels.<sub> </sub>

    However, in order to do that, one was required to do something to the empty crystals, and change their structure.

    Thus, Nial decided to store the empty origin crystals for now instead of throwing them away.

    Following that, some time passed as they slowly approached the deeper parts of the cave, and it was only when Nial was confident to have reached a rtively secure position that he asked,

    "Do you know where the other students are? Other than Leonie, I didn''t find anyone, and there are still more than 10 students missing. Even if it''s a small possibility, you guys must have a better understanding of the cave than anyone else¡­"

    Even after Nial asked this, the three students didn''t say anything. They first acted as if they hadn''t heard him, and only when Nial stopped in his tracks did they notice that he was speaking to them.

    This caused him to frown, but instead ofmenting on their feigned ignorance, he simply repeated his question.

    After that, the young female remained silent for a moment, only for one of the young men to answer in her stead.

    "We saw how they were attacked by a group of several petrification rats¡­and thoserger things that were able to order the rats around¡­ First, we were caught too, but an explosion urred near the ce we were held and Leonie opened the cage¡­afterward all of us could run¡­but only we four were able toe this far¡­"

    The young student''s voice sounded like he was drunk, and Nial had to focus to understand everything.

    But once he had heard everything, he couldn''t help but feel baffled.

    "Whatrger things? Exin what they were!"

    Suddenly, Nial''s demeanor changed from his calm and rather rxed behavior to demanding an answer from the young man in an authoritative tone.

    He did this almost subconsciously because he suddenly felt that something was off, and that the attack of the petrification rats group made more sense.

    After digesting all the provided information, he had an inkling of what must have happened.

    ''They''re gathering every living being for something, and kill those that flee? Was that why I felt like the groups of petrification rats from before didn''t want to tear me apart, but that they would just injure me to the extent that I''m unable to defend myself?''

    Nial tried to make sense of the situation, but the more he thought about it, the deeper his frown became because the entire situation of the anomalistic two-element dungeon alongwith the behavior of the rats was weird at the least.

    In fact, he could roughly figure out that the petrification rat groups he fought had been sent after him to capture him if possible, and not to kill him.

    Thus the stronger beasts knew of him, and only when the young student told him about their appearance did he understand more about the dungeon that harbored far more intelligent beasts than petrification rats.

    "If I had to describe them in simple terms, therger things are probably the evolutions of the petrification rats. They''re walking on two feet and are definitely more intelligent than the petrification rats.

    I don''t think their hide is thick because some of the other students were able to injure them quite easily, but their reflexes and behavior is a lot different inparison to the petrification rats!

    Despite that, their control over the petrification rats was fearsome and their mana currents are strong. I would consider it to probably beparable to Originals at the fourth Origin rank, but I have no idea.. "

    It was the other young man who said this, and based on the information he had provided, the young man seemed to know more about evolutions of beasts and so on than the rest.

    The students that had entered the two-element dungeons should all be more knowledgeable than Nial, and he was fully aware of this.

    However, from his point of view, utilizingmon sense was not something the majority of students had been taught, otherwise, they wouldn''t even have considered entering the dungeon.

    Keeping that in mind, Nial knew that he had to tweak his earlier approach of ''hack n sh'' while obliterating the rats, even more so after he got to know the intel about the beings he simply called Ratmen.

    He knew that it was unlikely for the dungeon to harbor only one type of beast as it had two elements but considering that the Ratmen seemed to be evolutions of the petrification rats, Nial couldn''t help but feel that there was something else.

    Yet, even if the Ratmen were to be the biggest issue, Nial felt that they were an annoying hassle that could be avoided if one paid more attention to the situation.

    After giving it some more thought, he realized that the military should have already sent more units of junior soldiers to the dungeon.

    Taking this into his calction of the current dangers, the explosion mentioned by the young man should also be something caused by the military''s cadets.

    It might have been caused by some brave young students that hadn''t been caught too, but Nial doubted that anyone of the ordinary students had a spatial ring let alone the necessary means to cause an explosion with them.

    ''Maybe Shana has a spatial ring, and with her equipment, she might even be able to cause an explosion.''

    He thought, blindly hoping that Shana had caused the explosion and that she hadn''t been caught by the Ratmen.

    Yet, before he could even finish concluding his theory, desperately clinging to the hope that the chance of Shana being alive had increased substantially, a roar resounded behind him.

    Using some of the replenished mana, Nial used the [Mana Perception(Poorest)], and targeted the direction from which he had heard the roar.

    As such, he could clearly perceive the being the young man had described earlier.

    "So that''s one of the Ratmen?"

 Chapter 48 Weakest Shelter

    Upon sensing the mana fluctuations of the Ratmen, Nial immediately noticed that it was not only stronger than the petrification rats in terms of physical strength, but that almost every possible trait of it was rtively enhanced.

    This became only clearer when one of the young men let out a squeal.

    "Close your eyes!"

    His voice resounded through the cave and alerted one of the Ratmen who quickly used a portion of his mana to circte it towards its eyes, making it seem as if they were glowing, even in his visualization that dispersed only a momentter.

    Having used some mana in order to be barely able to visualize the Ratmen, Nial''s assumptions were reaffirmed that it was just a gigantic Rat that could walk on two legs.

    Other than that, it looked just like any other rat ording to what he visualized.

    There might be some other factors the others had noticed, but Nial had to digest the information he could procure because he was unable to trust the otherspletely.

    They might be trapped in a misconception, which would be bad.

    Thus, he simply decided to ignore the young man''s babble and hoped that they had closed their eyes early enough, before he pushed his feet from the ground, and charged toward one of the Ratmen that was astonished for a moment.

    It had never seen someone with weird eyes as Nial''s,pletely white in color and lifeless.

    Nevertheless, it was even weirder for the Ratman to see that someone dared to look into its eyes while it cast the petrification curse.

    This reaction of Nial dumbfounded it for a moment, but it overcame the shock much faster than the petrification rats were capable of.

    Through this, it was able to perceive Nial''s straightforward attack and skirted to the side. It was able to evade Nial''s spear thrust by a hair''s breadth before its tail stiffened, tripping Nial, who stumbled several times.

    Having noticed this toote, Nial swayed a little as he had been too confident in his attack despite the earlier clues he had received.

    Thus, after falling over the stiffened tail, he hastily got up and looked around for his opponent.

    However, at that moment, it was already toote, because he felt a sharp scratching on his leather armor which was probably the Ratman''s ws.

    Yet, instead of panicking, Nial kept his calm, knowing that his armor was exceptionally strong.

    Thus, he could push the Fang ive backward, whose de on the rear end was still released.

    Through this, it was possible for Nial to pierce the lower end of the Fang ive into the thigh of the Ratman.

    Following that, he tore it out, while trying to inflict as much damage as possible.

    This was semi-useful, as the Ratman charged towards him the moment the ive''s pointed end was ripped out of the thigh.

    Nial hadn''t expected that the Ratmen would be able to ovee its fear, cry out in pain and retreat as it simply charged towards him with the ws stretching out, ready to tear out his innards.

    He was only able to stare at it in shock, and for a fleeting moment, Nial felt that his life might be over right now.

    However, instead of letting dread consume him, he forced himself to ovee his worries as he circted the entire mana he had umted through his body, thereby increasing his strength and speed by a small margin.

    It was only a little bit, but the increase was enough to allow him to evade the Ratman''s attack that scratched his armor once again.

    Following that, he swiftly moved the Fang ive, ignoring the pain in his cramping muscles as he shed at the Ratman that was less than half a meter away from him.

    Cutting through its abdomen, the semi myth weapon easily killed the Ratman that fell to the ground with a loud thud.

    All three students were astonished to witness the short fight between Nial and the Ratman as they had barely opened their eyes after everything was already over.

    After that, Nail perceived that the Ratman was still alive despite the deep gash he had inflicted.

    This was most likely some sort of innate survivability trait it had, allowing the Ratman to survive severe injuries, but making it look like it was dead.

    Yet, instead of falling into this trap, Nial didn''t show any hesitation as he thrust out the Fang ive, piercing through the beast''s skull, and killing it in an instant.

    Afterward, its body dispersed into countless particles that gathered into one origin crystal at the lowest quality of themon grade.

    This astonished Nial because he had expected the origin crystal to be at least low quality.

    However, instead of grumbling, Nial focussed on the fact that his earlier assumption might have been wrong.

    ''Is the Ratman really an evolved version of the petrification rat? Couldn''t it be a mutation?''

    It was weird for the evolved version of a beast to drop the exact same origin crystal.

    There might be some exceptions but it was certainly notmon.

    Because of that, Nial was confused when he picked up the origin crystal.

    Despite that, he simply absorbed the crystal while replenishing his mana in order to be prepared for a possible attack of more opponents.

    After he was fully recuperated, Nial inspected his armor by using his mana perception before he averted his attention to the depths of the tunnel.

    Yet, before he could think more about a safe way to enter the deeper parts of the cave which his senses and mana perceptionbeled as extremely dangerous, the three other students began to express their opinion about the current situation.

    "Eh¡­Sir..I''m sorry but I don''t know your name, Sir! I can tell that you want to go deeper into the cave, but wouldn''t it be better for us to reach the surface instead, and report the current situation to the military?<sub> </sub>

    After receiving the additional intel, more militants should be able toe and help the other students!"

    When Nial heard this, the first reaction he gave was to stare at the young female student using his lifeless eyes.

    In fact, he didn''t even stare at her, but he simply turned in her direction, which made her feel ufortable the moment she finished her ''well-meant advice''.

    Yet, instead of epting or even acknowledging her opinion, Nial could only frown as he countered her.

    "So, to put it simply, you want me to take you three back to tell the military things they should already be aware of, if they''re not stupid?

    You do know that it will take me more than a whole day to take you guys back and return to this spot, right?

    What do you think will happen in one day? Furthermore, are you guys even worth being rescued? From the looks of it you three are but a burden, and I''m just an Original at the 1st Origin stage!"

    Nial''s bluntment hit the three students hard and they were taken aback by his harsh but honest critique.

    Yet, instead of epting that Nial wanted to venture further into the deeper parts of the cave in order to solve the mission he had been given, the female student wanted to continue convincing him but was held back by one of the young men.

    It was the one who seemed the most reasonable¡­or so Nial initially thought.

    Unfortunately, the young man seemed to be the exact opposite which Nial only noticed after he heard him speak.

    "Who cares about the others? I can give you everything you want if you bring us back. You saved our lives, so I''m already obliged to thank you, owing to our family''s motto.

    If you help us out, I can promise you to give everything within my power!"

    Nial was unfazed by what the young man believed to be a tempting offer, and the only thing he could answer was,

    "Don''t fret about it. There is no need to return any kind of favor. Just let me go my way and you can go yours. I want to save someone else, and if you guys don''t want toe with me, the exit can be found easily.

    Just walk upwards!"

    Even though he could understand the students'' mentality as they had been stuck in the cave for days and they must be afraid of dying, their mana core had already undergone one or more erging processes.

    As such, if they had learned to fight, it would have been possible for them to fight against the petrification rats and the Ratmen.

    Thus, even if they were injured, they would be able to survive as long as they would be desperate enough to return to the surface.

    However, that was not the case, and they had visibly rxed after Nial''s arrival and hoped that he would turn into their bodyguard and deliver them to the outside world with a smile that was clearly visible ording to their body''s stance.

    It was almost as if they had simply fooled around in school, doing nothing special, other than learning math,nguages, dungeons, and much more.

    This was ridiculous, and Nial didn''t think that they deserved to be treated with a priority just because one of them belonged to a somewhat affluent family.

    With that in mind, Nial continued to walk down the cave, ignoring the obviously dumb students, who thought that wealth was the answer to all problems.

    In the end, it might be possible to lure certain individuals with wealth, but Nial was not one of them.

    Neither did he like getting anything he didn''t deserve, and even less did he adore not keeping his end of the bargain.

    He might not have promised the cksmith to bring Shana alive to him, let alone that he was capable enough to protect her, but that didn''t mean he wouldn''t give his utmost efforts to save her as long as the slightest possibility of her being alive was still there.

    With that in mind, bringing the three students back to the surface before returning would mean that he had to waste precious time that might turn into a deciding factor between life and death of the captured students.

    Right now, he didn''t even know what had happened to the students or what the Ratmen nned to do with them.

    Because of that, Nial felt ufortable about the entire situation.

    In fact, if possible, he would rather encounter many opponents sooner, than see how his opponents overwhelmed the other students, killing them in a gruesome manner.

    It might not be possible for Nial to fight against hundreds of petrification rats at once, but at least he harbored the will to fight against them, which was something most students didn''t seem to have.

    However, this was even more confusing than everything else because in his opinion students should have been taught that it was important to clear dungeons to make them disappear so that it was possible for mankind to regain their territory if the dungeons were not permanent.

    And even if there were permanent dungeons, figuring out the period until they would have their breakout, and a perfect tactic to clear the dungeon would be enough to solve this too.

    In that way, they might even be able to regain some of theirnds and expand their control beyond the nine shelters.

    Yet, Nial also knew that the nine shelters werepletely different from each other with Katu being considered the ce where everything was still cozy and rxed.

    And this was exactly what Nial was currently witnessing, the rxed andid-back attitude of students that didn''t even realize how dangerous the situation was they were currently in.

    This didn''t even changepletely after they had been injured severely, which was something that Nial couldn''t understand, at all.

    Whether it was his mindset that was closer to reality or them being simply too stupid, he was unable to tell, and in the end, it didn''t matter because he left them on their own, epting whatever they wanted to do with their time and life.

    Yet, when he heard them shouting after him, Nial couldn''t help but feel a little bit frustrated.

    ''Couldn''t they have just left¡­?''

    Despite that, he halted in his tracks and tried hard to not turn around and give them a nice scolding.

 Chapter 49 Blood Sacrifice

    While staying calm on the outside, Nial was furious on the inside.

    The three students were entitled and still under the impression that they could try convincing him to do everything they wanted.

    In the end, they even tried to use their background in order to make him reconsider their offer.

    However, nothing seemed to work, and it was only when the three students became too loud that Nial finally reacted.

    Yet, his reaction was different than the three students had expected.

    Brandishing the Fang ive, Nial stopped the tip of the de barely a few centimeters away from the arrogant young man''s neck, who was the noisiest.

    His words died on his tongue as he stared wide-eyed at the blood of the beasts he had killed not long ago, dripping from the de.

    Had he not stopped at the young man''s neck, the de would have easily sliced through the flesh, beheading the young man without any hesitation, using actions instead of words to convey that Nial had no intention to bring them outside.

    Following that, Nial put his free hand in front of his closed mouth as he added in a low voice,

    "I may not be allowed to kill anyone inside dungeons, but you three should know that nobody will find out what happened to you if I were to kill you first and let  the petrification rats feast on your corpses¡­because there is literally nobody around to witness anything¡­So¡­please don''t even make me consider this, and keep your mouths shut, alright?"

    In order to quiet down the three students, he threatened them with his weapon and words, both of which were sharp.

    Even if they were annoying, he wouldn''t kill them, but that was not something they had to know.

    Earlier, they had considered him as a pushover, who got lucky but he ensured that they got to see what he was truly capable of.

    As such, he made them change their opinion of him, by acting as if he would kill them if they were to annoy him.

    Following his words, he retracted his de, turned around, and nonchntly continued to walk into the deeper parts of the cave.

    It didn''t take long before he encountered another intersection, but this time, Nial was fairly quick in understanding that the vast majority of beasts were inside the tunnel towards his left.

    With that understanding, Nial decided to enter the left tunnel without hesitation, because he was eager to find out why the Ratmen had ordered the petrification rats to capture Originals.

    This didn''t make sense to him and he sensed that there had to be something that made the Originals interesting enough for the Ratmen to sacrifice hundreds of petrification rats, just to capture a few students.

    In the end, understanding this interest of the Ratmen might even allow Nial to understand the bigger picture about the two-element dungeon, its anomalistic behavior, and what other factors made the dungeon unique.

    There might be even more than he and the military knew for now, and Nial wanted to figure it out if it meant that he could rescue Shana.

    Prioritizing the young girl, who had recklessly entered this dungeon just to secure a small part-time job at the Originals association, was the most important, and the lives of the other students and Originals followed directly after.

    While Nial didn''t even know the reason for Shana to work at the Originals association, it should mean that she was not as weak as cksmith Arnold had told him.

    That was something Nial realized only recently and he hoped this to be the case as it further increased the chances for Shana to be alive

    Yet, the moment he reached the area that was near the ce from which the thunderous noises of hundreds of rat squeals originated, he couldn''t help but feel flummoxed.

    Even though he was not able to see anything, all of his senses began to warn him about something, telling him to stop moving and even his mana perception stagnated, behaving as if it had frozen in ce.

    Meanwhile, the three students stared at the gigantic hall they had escaped from with a perplexed expression.

    "It¡­ didn''t look like that before¡­"

    The girl mumbled, only for one of the young men to cover her mouth with his hand, preventing her from speaking another word.

    And this was necessary because the young female student began to scream, but thankfully the hand muffled her voice as she saw what the other student had spotted a moment earlier.

    Because of that, Nial noticed that something was wrong, which made him turn around to reach the other male student as he asked in a low voice.

    "Why is she screaming?"

    Not being able to see, Nial could only resort to asking questions.

    Right now he was feeling a suffocating amount of mana around him, which he was unable to absorb, let alone control in any way.

    As such, it brushed past his body and face without moving along his body''s outlines as it would under normal circumstances.

    This was umon and Nial had never heard about or experienced such a phenomenon.

    However, that could be based on hisck of experience and knowledge, which forced him to ask the young man what was going on.

    There had to be a reason for how ufortable he felt, and the young woman''s outcry!

    With that in mind, Nial waited for the young man to speak, only to receive an answer that was filled with shock, uncertainty, and fear.<sub> </sub>

    "They¡­tied five Originals to a pir each¡­and cut open their wrists?...the blood is filling a weird runic circle, which seems to be the origin of the weirdly transmuted mana you might be sensing¡­

    I¡­do not know what is currently going on in the center of the runic circle of blood¡­but it looks like the mana is gathering there, and something is urring.

    Maybe it needs more time¡­or blood¡­or mana, I''m¡­not sure, but the Originals are still alive¡­I think."

    Even if he was unable to see or sense anything right now, he could imagine that something ominous was going on in the center of the gigantic hall.

    As such, Nial''s first task was to regain full control over his body and mind.

    Trying to stay calm, he first asked the young man, who was stuttering in fear about a description of the Originals'' that were tied to the pirs.

    The young man''s first reaction to this was confusion because he was not sure what Nial wanted to achieve with a description of the Originals'' appearance, but after thinking about it for a moment he understood it.

    ''If he is searching for someone¡­he would probably charge forward, and try to save the person he is looking for¡­is that it?''

    Imagining that this was highly likely, the young student felt unsure of what exactly he should hope for.

    Did he want Nial to find out that the person he was searching for was currently dying a slow death while being tied to a pir that was surrounded by thousands of petrification rats, or did he want Nial to stay by their side?

    In the end, it was thetter because he and his ssmate were still injured and also unable to feel any pain owing to the tranquilizer that made their movements rigid.

    As such, the young student told Nial about the appearance of the Originals that were tied to the pirs, hoping that the person Nial was searching for was not among them.

    Fortunately, this was the case, and weirdly enough when he began to tell him about the appearance of the other Originals that were imprisoned in the cage nearby, none of the imprisoned seemed to be the one Nial was searching for either.

    There were mostly young students that were caught and only a few slightly older Originals.

    From the looks of it, they were all injured, but the majority of blood staining their clothes and on the floor probably did not belong to them as the amount was simply too much.

    After hearing the young man, Nial nodded his head, understanding that Shana was either roaming through the cave after almost six days had passed since the two-element dungeon had emerged, or she was already dead.

    Ignoring the possibility of her death, Nial began to procure more information about the ginormous hall, such as the number of beasts, the number of tunnels that were connected to the cave, and the cave''s structure, including its interior.

    It was annoying to depend on someone else, but he had to ept that the only thing he could do right now, was to ask questions that allowed him to figure out the things he was currently unable to perceive on his own.

    Others wouldn''t be able to swallow their pride but Nial was pretty sure that pride was not what kept him alive.

    The alternative to this was to blindly enter the ginormous hall just to procure the basic information that was easily seen by the others simply because they had what Nial was never able to gain ever again- They could see!

    Once again, Nial felt the big disadvantage of being blind, but he tried to keep his calm and not to show how displeased he was with the given situation.

    ''The ability I''ll bind to my mana core has to solve every problem my incapability to see causes, or at least I shouldn''t be at a disadvantage whenpared to someone who can see if I use an ability inbination with the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] Innate ability that will improve ording to my strength¡­''

    Comining didn''t help him, and after he figured out all the necessary information, Nial nodded his head as he mumbled.

    "That sounds like a blood sacrifice¡­but it could also be a summoning¡­"

    There were many things that could suit the descriptions he heard, but a summoning required a tremendous amount of mana, which was not something the Originals that were deprived of their mana would likely possess.

    Yet, if he were to take the blood and life''s sacrifice of all present Originals into ount, this might change.

    It was terrifying, and Nial had only found out about all of these unique things in the library as he had heard rumors about blood sacrifices and summonings performed by beings like Lichs, Vampires, and other beings to allow even stronger beings to emerge.

    Because of that, he was currently a little bit in distress, believing that the Ratmen wanted to summon a stronger being by sacrificing the Originals they had caught.

    A stronger being inside the two-element dungeon would mean that it was even more difficult to conquer, which would in return mean that it might be impossible for ordinary Originals to clear it.

    There was a restriction on the strength an Original was allowed to have in order to enter the two-element dungeon after all.

    In the end, this might even lead to a dungeon breakout inside the shelter, which would be quite a disadvantage for the military''s reputation and a hassle to tackle it while saving the lives of all those around and inside it.

    Yet, somehow, Nial believed that this might as well be the best option if the summoning were to be sessful, and the remaining Originals rescued.

    Sending weak Originals inside the dungeon only for them to be killed by a summoned being that might as well be stronger than the dungeon''s boss itself was not exactly a smart move.

    However, even though he was worried about the summoning, Nial was even more confused about why such aplex and tricky ritual was being performed in a Lowest Rookie dungeon.

    That made no sense, but if the young man was not lying to him, which shouldn''t be the case based on their shocked reactions, a ritual was definitely happening.

    ''Wasn''t this supposed to be a two-element dungeon¡­with the light affinity¡­where is the light?!? I can only feel darkness¡­and everything seems to be darker the more time passes¡­and that¡­also includes my chance to survive¡­''

 Chapter 50 Mission... Complete?

    The more time passed the lessfortable Nial felt about the situation inside the two-element dungeon.

    Because of that, he quickly retreated to thest intersection, where he took one of the other tunnels and entered it.

    Moving without any hesitation, he briskly walked ahead making the three students feel astonished as they hadn''t expected him to recover so quickly from the shocking things he had heard.

    Their bodies seemed to have frozen on the spot after what they had just witnessed.

    However, considering that Nial didn''t see what they had seen, the description of the scene might not have been as harrowing as the scene itself allowing him to be rtively unaffected.

    With that in mind, it was logical that Nial recovered faster than them.

    Yet, it was their ignorance that made them gloss over the possibility that Nial was aware how dangerous the situation was, and that it was exactly because of this fact that he moved so fast.

    He began actively using the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability up to the point at which the surrounding mana could barely maintain a bnce between using mana, absorbing and annexing it.

    Worried about the summoning that could ur at any moment, if the description of the young male student was sinct, Nial moved through the empty tunnel, and the moment the earth beneath them began to shake, he broke into a run.

    Moving faster and faster, Nial started circting mana through his body, enhancing his entire being, including his senses which he used to rush through the tunnel.

    With each passing second, he felt that something bad could happen, and unbeknownst to him, his feet carried him faster than the others, increasing the distance from himself to the three students that followed him considerably.

    But seeing this made them forget their fear of the surrounding, and the ritual as the fear of losing Nial took over their minds.

    They believed him to be the only person who would bring them outside the cave and two-element dungeon.

    It was just something the three of them felt to be the case, and even if Nial was at a lower rank, he was, in fact, much stronger than them.

    Thus, the young female student let out an anxious shriek and shouted after Nial, who was forced to halt.

    He would have never expected the female student to be stupid enough to shout out his name loudly, at least, not after she had witnessed how Originals had been tied and their wrists slit open to sacrifice them.

    Because of that, he forced himself to slow down, which caused the young female student to fall silent.

    Suddenly, out of nowhere, several voices from the opposite direction to the one he was rushing at could be heard.

    This astonished Nial a little bit, but at the same time, it told him that it had not been that disastrous for the young female student to shout after him.

    Otherwise, the few voices in front of him would have already been attacked by petrification rats or the Ratmen.

    Fortunately, it looked like the Ratmen and petrification rats were currently all upied with sacrificing the Originals that had already been caught.

    And this was also the most important topic the Originals that he and the other three students approached were talking about.

    "We have to save the other students and Originals! They will die if we do nothing, don''t you know that Jack!?"

    A young female student asked indignantly, as the young man, presumably Jack, sounded firm, and disciplined as if he was ready to do everything if he was ordered to.

    "I think thest five days you spent in the cave caused your brain to get too little oxygen. Who the hell do you think is strong enough to defeat dozens of these¡­Ratmen and thousands of petrification rats?

    Do you think the military would send out one of their elite military units?! Even if they did, what would apprentices of their elite units at or below the 3rd Origin rank do about so many opponents?

    I''ve been sent to save everyone, but if you think that I would needlessly sacrifice my life for dead people, you are wrong¡­no thanks!"

    Saying so, the young man, called Jack, made his stance clear.

    Nial concluded that he was one of the older men of the military that had been sent to save everyone.

    ording to his origin rank and age that was around Nial''s, Jack must have been ate bloomer.

    Thus, he was able to think more rationally than almost everyone around them, which Nial found to be a pleasant sight.

    With that in mind, he cleared his throat to announce his arrival.

    Upon seeing Nial and the other three students, the small group of students and the junior unit of the military tensed for a moment, only to calm down when they saw that they weren''t being pursued by any kinds of beasts.

    Jack and the others had already heard them from further away, and it was fortunate that there was no petrification rat nearby.

    Because of that, he could calm down as he introduced himself.

    "Hello, my name is Jack Namid, I belong to the Junior Military Unit 8562. Pleased to meet you!"

    Staring at Nial, Jack immediately noticed that the young man was blind.

    However, that didn''t mean he was weak, even less because the three students that were all at the 2nd or 3rd Origin rank seemed to huddle behind him, believing him to be their savior after their confidence had been shaken by something.

    Seeing that a blind young man was strong and as old as he was, Jack sighed inwardly, relieved to finally encounter someone who was able to think clearly.

    Introducing himself quickly, he revealed his identity and the three students behind him got to know his name for the first time, which was noticed by the others, clearly showing that they didn''t know each other.

    Yet, at that moment, a bbergasted voice could be heard from behind the group Nial had encountered.

    "Nial..?! What are you doing here¡­?"<sub> </sub>

    Confused about the sudden appearance of the young and blind man she had assessed only a few weeks ago at the Originals association, Shana stepped forward.

    Perceiving Shana''s outlines and her familiar mana fluctuations he smiled lightly before he countered her.

    "I could ask you the same! Don''t you know that your old man is worried? Even to the extent of sending someone blind at the 1st Origin stage into the two-element dungeon!"

    Hearing the short summary that exined the reason why Nial had entered the dungeon, the Originals couldn''t help but look at Shana, wondering how her father could be cruel enough to send a blind person in a dangerous dungeon!

    Furthermore, Nial seemed to be ate bloomer, and he was barely at the 1st Origin rank, indicating that he had recently awoken his origin.

    From the way he walked around, Nial didn''t seem to be professionally trained either, even if his movements were smooth.

    As such, Jack was momentarily confused because he had not expected someone to enter the dungeon with so many bad prospects only to save someone, who was supposed to be much stronger, and neither could heprehend why the military didn''t send more units to rescue those who had been stuck in the dungeon.

    Did nobody return to the surface, and ask for help?

    He was sent to the dungeon four days ago, and until now, there was no sight of other military units!

    That was the case if one were to exclude the useless brats that behaved like powerful Originals, only to be heavily injured the moment they faced a group of less than 50 petrification rats.

    If that was all, the military''s situation or intel was much worse than they could find out themselves.

    However, Jack was the most worried about the situation beneath them because the ground was shaking, and he was able to sense tremendous waves of transmuted mana from there.

    Because of that, he assumed that the boss monster was lurking below them and would pounce upon them at any moment.

    This gave them the necessary time to flee under the condition that everyone agreed to leave.

    Unfortunately, this was not the case because almost half of their group wanted to rescue their ssmates and friends and not just save themselves.

    Jack gave this thought lots of credit, and he respected their opinion even more than before.

    However, what use would it be to die while rescuing others?

    With that thought, he hoped that Nial and the students behind him had more intel than them about the situation below.

    "By chance, do you guys know what is going on below us?"

    The moment Jack asked this question, he knew that the newly arrived group knew more than they were showing.

    This was evident based on how the three students frowned deeply while turning pale, and Nial let out a sigh.

    While answering the question thoroughly, the young man who had described everything he had seen in the hall to him earlier didn''t leave out anything.

    Rather, he described it in harrowing details than before, owing to the fact that he wanted to leave the cave, or to be precise, the entire two-element dungeon as quickly as possible.

    There had been no need to be so explicit because it was already devastating enough, but Nial had to acknowledge that the young man''s storytelling skills were exceptional.

    Even he couldn''t help but feel a little bit intimidated about the situation, even though he was aware of it!

    At that moment, just as everyone had lowered their guard to intently listen to the story the young man told, Nial flinched as he sensed something nearby.

    Compressed mana in the shape of an earth spike was shooting towards them, or to be precise, Shana, who stood in the center of the group, along with the others.

    The velocity at which the projectile zoomed at them exceeded everything Nial had seen until now, and he knew that he was not fast enough to move.

    Yet, knowing that his senses had perceived the attack earlier than everyone else, he couldn''t help but force his entire being to move just fast enough to protect the person for whom he had risked entering the two-element dungeon.

    Not only would it be a waste of his time and efforts if Shana were to die right now, but also the knowledge of the rituals being carried out in the deeper parts needed to be told to the concerned authorities.

    Rather, it would be a shame if Shana were to die just as he found her, right in front of him, without him being able to do something against it.

    Feeling that he had to move, his mana shot through his veins, coursing through his entire body, and allowed him to take a small but important step that was followed by him thrusting the Fang ive forward despite barely touching its lower end.

    Meanwhile, Jack had already begun to move, as he sensed Nial''s movement followed by him perceiving the sudden attack.

    Making use of his exceptional martial art talent, and superior instincts, he figured out the situation in a moment, allowing him to realize that Nial''s ive thrust would block the earth spike.

    Yet, at the same time, it would fling the ive out of Nial''s hand, rendering him defenseless and without a weapon.

    The ive could possibly injure others too.

    Thus, Jack circted arge amount of mana through his body with the majority directed towards his leg as he kicked out, hitting the t end of the ive''s rod just a fraction of a second after Nial had thrust it out.

    A momentter the earth spike impacted on the ive''s de.

    ''How¡­did he know?'' He wondered how Jack was able toprehend the situation so quickly. But there was no time to think about it as he turned around and activated the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability that targeted the direction from where the earth spike had been shot towards them.

    When he sensed who, or rather what had attacked them, Nial clearly understood that he had no time to waste on the abilities of Jack, or anyone else because the beast that emerged in front of them was the biggest problem.

    That was because it was the boss of the dungeon that had just emerged in front of them.

 Chapter 51 Boss Monster?

    Nial might be unable to see the Boss monster of the two-element dungeon, but he could clearly sense its outlines owing to the distinct mana fluctuations it released.

    On the first evaluation, it was almost as if the Boss monster was just arger version of the Ratmen with horns jutting out of its head.

    However, that was not the case and it was more like arge part of the horned bipedal beast''s body that had the facial features of a rat was, in fact, manifested from earth transmuted mana!

    The physique of the Boss Monster was bulky and Nial felt that it had a striking resemnce to the physique of a furry Minotaur, which was a beast he had first read about in a book in Katu''s library.

    This was interesting, but also a clear indicator that the Boss monster was not only able to use an elemental affinity but that its physique was not to be underestimated either.

    Yet, contrary to his earlier doubts about the Boss monster having a light affinity that was intertwined with the darkness affinity which radiated from the dungeon portal, it looked like the Boss monster had apletely different affinity!

    Other than that, it was strolling through the enormous cave, without any subordinates.

    There was not even a single Ratman, let alone petrification rats around it, which was truly confusing, and Nial began to wonder if they had encountered a rare boss instead of the Dungeon Boss.

    However, before he could even start expanding on this theory he quickly retracted the Fang ive, while Jack took a step forward.

    Taking out two daggers, he went into one of the most basic fighting stances that were taught by the military.

    Yet, the way he stood coupled with his bodynguage and demeanor turned him into something that was simr to what Nial had sensed from Master Junades.

    It was almost as if a rtively inexperienced Combat master was standing right next to him, which was weird, but oddly enough, affirmed by Jack a momentter.

    "I didn''t bind an ability to my mana core yet, but I have an Innate ability, called [Weapon Master]. It increases my proficiency with weapons, and my reflexes are much faster than that of others!"

    ? By telling Nial this information, he revealed everything necessary for him to consider fighting together. It allowed them to build trust, and gauge how strong their partner was.

    Unfortunately, Nial knew that he paled inparison to Jack and his prowess.

    The information about him would be rather demotivating, which made him remain quiet about the time he had awoken his origin or the fact that he was not proficient in fighting, at all.

    Instead, he simply replied while trying to summarize his strengths in a few words.

    "I''ve got no ability either, but I do have great mana perception and strong senses!"

    Jack had hoped for Nial to have a strong ability, but even after revealing that this was not the case, the calmness with which the young blind man was standing next to him allowed Jack to remain calm too.

    Though he had a powerful ability, he was not confident to fight against the beast he presumed to be the boss or a rare boss of the dungeon, not alone.

    However, with Nial, who had reacted even before him, by his side and the otherrades he had in his small group, defeating the rare boss shouldn''t be too much of an issue.

    "Lea, use your poison to prepare long-range trajectories, Mark, I''ll rely on your aim, and Nino, I want you to restrict its path with your fire affinity, just as we practiced during thest few months, alright?"

    Distributing tasks within his unit, he quickly chalked out a n and his team members readily prepared themselves, the moment they were dragged out of their train of thoughts.

    Meanwhile, the other Originals could only stare at the five young men and women that were already fully upied, epting the fact that they were just about to face a beast that was much stronger than them.

    In fact, Jack and Nial started preparing themselves for the battle too immediately after Jack''s instructions had ended.

    Both of them started to circte mana through their body, almost at the same time before they pushed their feet up from the ground, elerating their speed at a shocking pace and rushing toward their opponent without any signs of hesitation.

    Jack was once again astonished by Nial because it would be hard to tell that Nial was blind if one didn''t see his white lifeless eyes.

    Nial had learned to ovee his disability and move as any ordinary person could see.

    He would also go as far as to say that Nial''s movements were better with fewer unnecessary steps than his own, which allowed the young blind man, who looked like he had never been trained by a professional, to run as fast as him.

    Under normal circumstances, this would have annoyed Jack, and his useless pride would have forced him to challenge Nial.

    However, right now Nial was a perfect and trustworthy ally, and the stronger his ally, the better their chances of survival!

    Jack knew that he required the strongest possible ally because the Horned Earth Ratour, which was the name of the boss, was a beast that was feared owing to its physical strength and its high proficiency in the earth affinity.

    This allowed the Horned Earth Ratour to fight against higher-ranked beasts while beingparable to an Original at the 4th Origin rank.

    Being at the 4th Origin rank, and able to defeat a Boss Monster that had the mana fluctuations and also the same amount of mana as an Original at the 5th Origin rank, the Horned Earth Ratour shouldn''t exist inside the two-element dungeon, to begin with.

    Unfortunately, it was a fact that it was standing right in front of them, and because of that, Jack was d that Nial''s reflexes and instincts allowed him to reach a fraction of a second before him.

    His mind seemed to be calm too, which allowed Jack''s earlier impression of Nial to improve another notch, making himpletely forget about his blindness.

    Both of them turned their attention to the Horned Earth Ratour who was now standing less than 20 meters away from them.

    It had yet to move after throwing one earth spike towards them as a clear warning to not bother it.

    Yet, Nial and Jack attacked it before the Horned Earth Ratour hade up with the second step of its n.

    As such, it followed its instincts and manifested a batch of earth spikes in mid-air which it shot toward Jack and Nial.<sub> </sub>

    The speed at which the earth spikes flew towards them was blindingly fast, and Nial could barely evade one, while another earth spike blocked his advance, forcing him to deflect it by moving the Fang ive ordingly.

    Meanwhile, Jack was able to sh through the earth spikes easily as he swiftly moved his dagger. But, then suddenly an earth wall shot out of the ground, right in front of him.

    It was only a thin wall, but it forced Jack to halt in his tracks, giving the Horned Earth Ratour the opportunity to initiate the counterattack.

    Using this opportunity, it shot towards Nial, who was deemed as the weaker opponent of the two. Manifesting earth spikes while advancing ahead, it shot them towards him, forcing Nail to retreat while deflecting the attacks.

    Though he was unable to see, his other senses were much stronger, but even then it barely allowed him to make sense of the entire situation.

    This was because his mana perception had to perceive the few fast-moving earth spikes followed by the Horned Earth Ratour''s advance.

    However, that was less of an issue for Nial than Jack, who had perceived Nial''s struggle as he deflected the earth spikes.

    Moving around the earth wall, Jack was now approaching Nial from the side, but he knew that he would be a littlete owing to the gap that had formed between them.

    Yet, at this moment, Jack was able to see how Nial''s movements changedpletely, making him much faster, and agile.

    His bodynguage reflected his increased confidence, and most importantly, a higher level of control than before.

    From moving like a rtively good amateur martial artist, Nial''s movements now rivaled that of someone he had seen in a video once, a long time ago, astonishing him greatly.

    But that was not the only wee change in his demeanor as Nial not only deflected the earth spikes easily, but the Fang ive transformed all of a sudden, turning into a seemingly normal spear that had a lengthy de.

    Using the Fang spear, Nial thrust it towards the Horned Earth Ratour that had emerged in front of him. His entire mana was circting through his body as his mind was rattling.

    The moment he had noticed that the Horned Earth Ratour was targeting him, Nial had sensed that death was looming over him, and it was almost as if his entire being perceived the sudden appearance of the Grim reaper, whose cold de was digging into his neck.

    There was no way Nial would have perceived this, and stayed idle.

    Because of that, he had forced himself to release his entire mana, while utilizing one of the more difficult movement sequences, without short breaks in-between.

    Thus, his movement looked smooth and graceful, almost like a dancer making it look like he had suddenly gained a higher understanding of martial arts.

    However, his body felt as if it was breaking apart at the same time because he had pushed his legs against the ground, in order to allow his remaining body to face the brunt of the Horned Earth Ratour''s attacks.

    In fact, Nial was not able to pierce the Ratour with his spear even once, because it seemed to be able to move with much higher flexibility than its body suggested.

    Despite that, it was barely able to deflect his attacks, using earthen gloves that enveloped its ws in order to prevent them from being cut off by the razor-sharp tip of the Fang spear.

    Fortunately, Nial was not alone when the Horned Earth Ratour made its way through the bombarding attacks of his spear thrusts, almost flinging the Fang spear out of his hand.

    With three earth spikes manifested, and its fist punching out to hit Nial, the Horned Earth Ratour attacked viciously and Nial realized that it would be impossible to evade everything, without being hit by at least one or two projectiles.

    Nheless, this was something Nial epted, owing to the fact that the Horned Earth Ratour was fully focused on only him,pletely forgetting about the existence of Jack, who had already appeared next to the Ratour.

    shing out with one of his daggers, he cut through one of the earth spikes, while his other dagger was approaching the Ratour''s thick arm, cutting into it without any mercy.

    Because of that, the Ratour''s punch was dyed, and Nial could evade one of the earth spikes, while the other one tore a sizable chunk of his leather armor before it brushed past his abdomen.

    His body gave an involuntary shudder at the near miss, but he couldn''t stop right now because Jack was already moving ahead.

    At the same time, the Horned Earth Ratour circted mana through its body which increased its physical strength considerably as it flung Jack through the room, and deliver its dyed punch.

    Through this, Nial was pushed backward, and he could only endure the impact, because the attack of the Horned Earth Ratour had weakened owing to the injury it had sustained.

    However, this was rather disadvantageous, because Nial had to face the onught of the Ratour without anyone by his side¡­or so he thought.

    It was just at the moment Nial thought that he had to go all-in, that his Odyssey Seed showed signs of pulsating once again as an itching spread through his body.

    Though, it was just a momentter that the itching disappeared and he saw an iing attack. It was a volley of fireballs and poison-soaked arrows that soared through the air making the two youths shout.

    "Sorry for acting sote, you guys were in the way!"

    **

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 Chapter 52 Collapsing

    Now that the surrounding area of the Horned Earth Ratour was clear, the fireballs and poison-soaked arrows couldn''t hit Jack or Nial anymore.

    Instead, they were flying towards the Ratour that had been distracted for a brief moment and looked up when it was already toote.

    Two arrows hit it, and a handful of fireballs exploded next to the Horned Earth Ratour, preventing it from evading the following attack.

    Even though nobody on Jack''s team could know for sure that he would be able to act, they trusted their leader, and that he would save them from a disaster no matter what.

    Owing to their unwavering trust in him, they bombarded their target with attacks by using a vast majority of their mana.

    But that was fine as long as their leader received the opportunity to counterattack and kill the beast they presumed to be the dungeon''s boss.

    However, astonishingly enough, Nial, the blind young man who they had presumed to be unable to continue fighting, was the first to react after the fireballs exploded.

    Sensing the unstable mana fluctuations of the Horned Earth Ratour, Nial was confident that it would be unable to use its affinity for a brief period.

    Because of that, he ignored the pain that spread through his entire body as he crossed the short distance thaty between him and the Horned Earth Ratour while simultaneously piercing out the Fang Spear.

    Thrusting the razor-sharp de into the muscr shoulder of the Ratour, he heard its horrendous screech, but contrary to Nial''s expectations, it didn''t budge even a single millimeter as its ck eyes that were filled with wrath stared right into his white eyes.

    Nial didn''t see anything, but he could still perceive the Ratour''s wrath and unbending will to tear him apart, which further increased after sustaining another injury.

    However, it was just at this moment that Lea''s uniquely concocted poison which was further enhanced through her ability began to show its effects.

    It had paralyzed the Horned Earth Ratour for a quarter of a second, giving him barely enough time to force himself to use a fraction of mana in order to retract the de of the Fang spear and move it.

    Through this, he could take a step backward, just as another fireball was thrown at the Horned Earth Ratour, colliding with its head, and exploding into a cloud of smoke.

    Following that, another high-pitched squeal that was filled with pain was issued by the Ratour that began to release earth-transmuted mana from its whole body, manifesting earth spikes that shot out of the ground, and aimed for Nial.

    This caused Nial''s expression to stiffen because he knew that he was unable to deflect the attack.

    Yet, before the earth spikes could reach him, the speed at which they shot towards him slowed down, giving him the necessary time to evade them as he flung himself to his right side.

    Jumping up a momentter, his mana perception visualized the Horned Earth Ratour, followed by Jack, whose daggers were pierced into the beast''s back before he ripped them out.

    He had been unable to kill the Ratour because it protected its vital spots urately.

    As such, instead of killing it immediately, he thrust his spear hard enough to cause two deep injuries that bled severely.

    Afterward, he relied on his team that continued to assault through long-range attacks such as fireballs and poison-coated arrows.

    Yet, oddly enough the second batch of arrows that flew towards the Horned Earth Ratour consisted of a much higher numberpared to the previous batch.

    Even Nial was astonished, but he quickly sensed that they were enveloped in mana fluctuations of multiple people.

    Amongst the mana fluctuations that enveloped arrows, he could also sense Shana''s.

    Because of that, he knew that the Originals that had been standing around and merely watching their battle as a bystander had finally begun to help them.

    They might not support them in a closebat fight, but that was not necessary, to begin with.

    Instead, it would end up being more of a nuisance if someone were to suddenly jump into the closebat fight Jack and Nial had with the Horned Earth Ratour.

    However, that was currently not something Nial could afford to think about.

    Rather, he charged towards the Horned Earth Ratour that had just turned towards Jack, only to sense the volley of around 10 arrows flying towards it.

    Lifting both of its broad arms, the Ratour shielded its head from sustaining any serious damages.

    Unfortunately, that was exactly what sealed the Horned Earth Ratour''s fate because it was unable to react in time when Nial appeared right in front of it.

    As its hands blocked its vision, it had no idea of Nial preparing himself to attack it. Its attention was drawn towards the poison it had been attacked with which was slowly wearing it out.

    Its senses were blurred, and just as it lifted its arms that felt much heavier than a moment ago, it spotted Nial through its blurry eyes.

    Though it tried to react in time, it was already toote, and it was at that moment that Nial thrust the Fang spear out again.

    Yet, oddly enough, it didn''t even notice anything when Nial''s spear hit the Horned Earth Ratour''s neck.

    Even Jack could only stare at Nial in doubt, wondering what was going on, and why the Ratour, he had already assumed to be spurting a fountain of blood, was still standing on its feet.

    However, what the others were missing was that the Fang spear''s de was retracted.

    Thus, the moment the corner of Nial''s lips curled upwards as he opened his mouth to say a single word, many things urred at the same time.

    First, he issued an order, while gritting his teeth.

    "Die!".

    It was followed by him overstraining his mana veins and mana core which had been forced to utilize thest traces of mana as he released the de of the Fang spear without hesitation.<sub> </sub>

    Following that, the Horned Earth Ratour''s eyes widened, only for another fireball and volley of arrows to hit the Ratour, and almost hit Nial as well, whose body was suddenly covered in chills.

    ''Are they nning to kill me?!?'' He suddenly wondered, as his grin died on his lips.

    Retracting the Fang spear, he saw a fountain of blood gush out of the deep wound he had inflicted, but even if it was not an attack that had instantaneously killed the Horned Earth Ratour, it had died, nheless, owing to thebination of attacks that had assaulted it at the same time from multiple directions.

    As such, when the Fang spear''s de was retracted, its head that had been resting on the de buckled backward, followed by the entire body that fell on the ground.

    Perceiving that the mana of the Horned Earth Ratour was quickly depleting, he presumed that it had died which made him take a relieved breath.

    Suddenly, Jack appeared above the Ratour, shing into the area of its heart, stabbing it over and over before the mana fluctuations had dispersed, leaving a dead corpse behind.

    Just at that moment, the corpse disintegrated into countless particles, and it was not long after that the nking sound of several origin crystals could be heard.

    This was not surprising for any of them because it was expected for origin crystals to drop after the death of a boss monster.

    However, it could be considered an astonishing fact that there was a different crystal among the few origin crystals that dropped.

    It had a faint earthen touch to it, which Nial immediately noticed, while the others saw the brown discoloration.

    Because of that, everyone became excited for a moment, but Jack simply picked all the crystals and threw the brown crystal toward Nial, while throwing the other origin crystals toward the other participants of the battle, one for each.

    He kept one crystal for himself, and it was extremely fortunate that there were enough crystals for everyone because it would have been troublesome if one or two participants of the battle would have remained empty-handed.

    While the others stared daggers at Nial because he got the unique crystal, he was baffled that Jack gave him the said crystal without even thinking twice about his decision.

    This was truly astonishing, and when Jack saw Nial''s expression he could only shrug his shoulders before he remarked.

    "Don''t frown like that. I just wanted to avoid trouble, and by far, you have the highest contribution in that battle, let alone braved a higher number of dangers you were exposed to than the rest of us! As such, the affinity crystal should obviously belong to you!"

    Nial didn''t move, but he thanked him before he gulped down one of the vials that had mana replenishing serum inside them.

    This allowed his mana to replenish at a much faster rate as long as he was not inbat.

    Thus, he could use his mana to inspect and get to know what exactly the crystal truly was because Nial sensed something unique about it.

    As such, he tried to keep a poker face, when he realized what kind of extraordinary crystal Jack had just thrown at him.

    [Earth affinity(Comprehension)]

    Keeping a straight face, Nial''s first question was whether Jack knew what kind of crystal he had just thrown at him, or if he was oblivious to the fact that he had just given him a crystal worth more than everything either of the Originals inside the two-element dungeon had ever possessed in their life.

    Based on Melvin''s intel, he knew that the Lightning affinity with the prehension] tag was considered one of the strongest abilities one could bind to one''s mana core as the first ability.

    In the end,prehension-based abilities and simr abilities that would continue to grow and improve along with one''s understanding or strength were the most beneficial in the early stages of one''s path to be stronger.

    That was because one would have a devastating advantage the further one''s strength improved.

    Even Nial couldn''t grasp how valuable the elemental crystal he was holding in his hand, truly was.

    As such, he stored it away without dwelling on its value, because it would just distract him.

    Just a momentter, the entire room began to overflow with an ominous feeling that was followed by strong mana currents, making all of them feel queasy.

    As if that was not enough, a thunderous roar reverberated through the entire cave that began to violently tremble.

    Oddly enough the roar sounded familiar to Nial, and after giving it another thought, he realized that it was the same sound he had heard when he and the young cadets of the military had been standing in front of the cavern entrance.

    Recalling that moment, Nial wondered if the kids were doing fine, but just a momentter, his attention was dragged to the present as he looked around.

    That was not possible owing to the fact that the cave didn''t stop shaking even after the thunderous roar had stopped.

    Rather, the tremors became stronger with each passing second.

    Through this, the group of Originals realised that something bad must be happening and when the first of the numerous walls of the tunnel started to copse, everyone understood that it was time to flee.

    There was no time to even consider saving the other Originals that might still be imprisoned in the cave because they had to save themselves first.

    Not only was the cave copsing, but the sound of thousands of petrification rats'' cry could be heard, followed by the ominous sensation that was dragged through the entire cave owing to the mana that permeated it in its entirety.

    Combining all of it, they were truly at a disadvantage to even consider thinking about the lives of others because their own life was currently on the line!

    Realizing this, everyone ignored their exhaustion, or their jealousy about Nial receiving the elemental crystal because they had to be alive in order to feel anything.

    Even Nial, whose entire body felt as heavy as if it was made of lead and weighed a ton, ignored his exhaustion as he turned towards Jack who tried to keep his calm and announced,

    "Let''s leave!!"

 Chapter 53 False Hope

    Everybody was terror-stricken and was trying hard to appear calm, but Jack was the calmest amongst them, which was the reason why he was in charge of their group right now.

    Meanwhile, Nial was just exhausted, and could barely use his senses and mana perception to understand what was happening.

    His thoughts were still distracted by the elemental crystal, but that was something that had to wait for a moment.

    Forcing himself to stand firmly on the ground, he shook his head to clear it and followed the others that were led out of the cave by Jack.

    The young man who was around his age was still filled with vigor and it was almost as if he waspletely unaffected by the fight they had just fought and won.

    His breathing was steady and so were his mana fluctuations.

    This made Nial wonder if Jack was simply holding back or if his Innate ability had improved his stamina regeneration.

    That was a feasible possibility which made Nial wonder if his own ability would receive simr benefits once it improved.

    Yet, instead of daydreaming about turning into an almighty existence, he forced himself to pay attention to survive the disaster unfolding around them.

    Even if his mind wanted to distract him, and make him think about something else other than his possible death, it was bing hard to do that.

    His mind, against his orders, was doing a fine job of vividly painting a picture of his flesh being ripped apart by thousands of petrification rats or possibly even worse ways to die.

    A scowl escaped his lips as he closed his eyes forcibly and opened them again to help himself focus on the surroundings.

    Quickly following the others, he caught up to them, and it didn''t take them long before they reached the intersection he and the three students had been previously at.

    Because of that, Nial tried to focus his senses on one of the tunnels- the tunnel out of which the petrification rats should emerge.

    It was the tunnel he and the others had left just a few hours ago after all.

    As such, Nial looked at Jack, who didn''t seem to know which of the few tunnels they had to choose.

    Thus, he simply pointed at one of the tunnels while shouting Jack''s name.

    The young man saw his trembling hand which was a clear indicator of just how difficult it was for him to move.

    However, even after seeing this, Jack couldn''t do anything because the screeches of the petrification rats were bing louder with each passing second.

    Because of that, he nodded his head before rushing inside the tunnel Nial had pointed at, without bothering to question or inspect if that was the correct one or not.

    Meanwhile, Nial took another serum that invigorated him and made his hand stop trembling.

    His body was still aching and begging for rest but that was perfectly fine with him.

    Instead, he was more concerned about Shana, who was also shivering as she arrived next to him.

    Initially, he had wanted to go to her, but Shana moved before he did and Nial could only hear her bber several things at once, making it hard for him to understand her.

    "Why¡­do I have such a bad feeling..?"

    "There was not a single treasure¡­just how can I help my sister¡­?!"

    "Was the voice wrong when it told me that I''ll find a solution to every question I seek an answer to??"

    Her words made him want to ask several things at once instead of trying to calm her down first.

    Neither did Nial understand what kind of treasure she wanted to find nor did he know what voice Shana was talking about.

    However, in the end, he slowlyprehended why Shana had entered the dungeon.

    ''She thought that the dungeon would have a treasure that would bring her sister out of thea¡­and a voice told her that?''

    When he understood this, Nial''s mind began to rattle, making him momentarily forget the chittering and squeals of the petrification rats that were slowly nearing them.

    The question about why everyone entered the two-element dungeon was now solved by a simple theory he hade up with just now.

    He assumed that the voice was something that came from the two-element dungeon, beckoning weaker Originals in the proximity of the dungeon portal to enter it upon its emergence.

    From the looks of it, school had just ended during that time, and it made sense for some students to walk past the main alley that was not far away from the location of the two-element dungeon.

    Thus the voice had reached the depth of the Originals'' conscience promising them all kinds of treasures they were seeking, including a treasure that could help Shana''s sister.

    Nial felt that this was even more terrifying than anything else, because he had never heard about a dungeon, or beasts from within being able to speak to someone in their mind, let alone that it was possible for them to figure out their deepest desires.

    Goosebumps spread over his entire body, and Nial could only continue running away from the copsing walls, hoping that the voice was the most dangerous threat the two-element dungeon had.

    Yet, it was at this moment that he sensed something that caused him to subconsciously slow down.

    What he felt was distinctly transmuted light mana that filled the entire room they were inside in bright, blinding light.

    It came from behind them, the direction where the petrification rats were charging toward them.

    Normally, transmuted mana wouldn''t be anything special and only indicate that it was different than neutral mana.<sub> </sub>

    In most cases, the mana was just transmuted in the form of an affinity, which was supposed to be the case here too.

    However, right now, the light transmuted mana dispelled Nial''s fear of the petrification rats. His tension subsided, resulting in his speed slowing down.

    At the same time, the others felt the same sensation envelop their entire being, making them believe that the petrification rats were not hostile towards them.

    Yet, it was just as all of them slowed down that both Jack and Nial got out of their trance-like state, releasing that they had been affected by some sort of illusion.

    In fact, the two of them didn''t know what was going on, and Jack was still under some kind of spell, and it was just a fraction of a secondter that his Innate ability had freed him from the misconception that everything was fine.

    However, this fraction of a second was toote as he had cut himself with one of his daggers.

    Afterward, he felt the pain coursing through his injured arm, but he somehow forced himself to keep going.

    Meanwhile, Nial had been affected by the misconception, only for a short moment before everything seemed to changepletely.

    From sensing a trace of hope that radiated from the light affinity, everything changed to darkness.

    It was almost as if the true and hidden intention of the bright light that was radiating from the entire two-element dungeon was unveiled, revealing that the trace of hope was misleading, and a misconception to turn their hope against themselves.

    When Nial noticed this, he couldn''t help but feel shocked, but his mind was still foggy owing to the effect the unknown was caused.

    He presumed that it was the act of the beast summoned through the blood ritual but that was not something Nial could be sure of, for now.

    Owing to the fact that the others had slowed down as well and his speed that had been less for a short period, Nial was able to sense that the petrification rats had already closed the gap and were almost in front of them.

    As such, given the fact that his group was still severely affected, Nial could only do two things.

    First, he stored the Fang Spear which he should have done before already, and secondly, he took out several grenades which he held in both of his hands.

    Calling out Jack, who was the only one who had recovered from the eerie sensation, Nial threw a few grenades towards him as he shouted instructions at him.

    "Insert mana into them to amplify their effects, but I guess you know how to use grenades as a cadet of the military. Let''s leave this fucking ce with everyone alive, alright?"

    Smiling lightly, Nial was trying to encourage himself, holding onto the belief that everyone would survive.

    Thus, only moments after he threw a few grenades toward Jack, he pulled the pin out of one of the grenades he had been holding.

    Most of the grenades he had were shbangs, but that was perfectly fine because they could be thrown one after another in rapid sessions, and the loud noises they caused would hopefully pull the other Originals out of the effect the light transmuted mana caused.

    With that hope in mind, he threw the grenade behind himself, while dragging Shana along whose speed continued to decrease.

    And as expected, the moment the shbang exploded, everyone was forcefully dragged out of the effect the light transmuted mana caused.

    Shaking their heads, they looked around in confusion as fear and disbelief could be seen in their eyes about what they had been doing.

    Regaining their senses, they immediately hastened their pace without any other warning or instruction.

    They barely realized what had happened, but that was already more than enough for the Originals to be scared witless.

    While they were on the run, their body began to tremble heavily, but with each sh grenade that detonated, they became more confident of their survival and escape from the nightmarish dungeon.

    In fact, they were forced to shut their eyes tightly relying on their mana to perceive the surrounding area.

    Through this they were able to hear and perceive that the beasts behind them were influenced by the bright shining light.

    Not being proficient in relying on other senses like Nial, they collided with each other, and restricted one another, halting the advance of the petrification rats'' flood.

    This allowed Jack and Nial to throw more and more shbang grenades behind them as explosions rocked the entire room, until theyslowed down their throwing speed in an attempt to lure the petrification rats to open their eyes, only for one of the two young men to throw another shbang grenade.

    The continuous assaults of the grenade injured most of the rats and only one of the beasts was able to pursue them without too many restrictions through the thinning crowd of petrification rats.

    In fact, the beast Nial sensed had to run on its four legs in order to not hit the ceilings as it was simply toorge, and was trampling the petrification rats under its feet as it pursued the humans.

    Fortunately, the explosions caused by the shbang grenades were still strong enough to slow it down, followed by decreasing its control over the light transmuted mana that had some unique type of effect.

    As such, not much time passed, until two things happened at the same time.

    First, they ran out of shbang grenades, allowing the weird beast that must be the newly summoned monster, to use its light transmuted mana to the fullest while its speed also increased.

    Secondly, they reached the next intersection which caused Nial to shout with all the remaining air left in his lungs.

    "TAKE THE ONE IN YOUR FRONT!"

    Yet, it was just at that moment Nial felt his entire being enveloped in an extremely distinct light transmuted mana, restricting his steps, forcing him to be glued to the spot.

    However, instead of panicking or feeling helplessly stuck, he felt extremely calm, as if everything was how it was meant to be. This feeling only intensified when something weird originating from the Odyssey seed was released.

    "You fucking ugly beast! Let go of me, RIGHT NOW!!"

 Chapter 54 Second Pulse

    "...RIGHT NOW!!"

    Just as Nial was done shouting in the direction of the huge being, the distinct light transmuted mana that had shackled him down disappeared.

    It was almost as if the mana had never existed in the first ce, but Nial didn''t seem to realize this fact.

    Instead, what Nial noticed was that his Odyssey seed pulsated just once, releasing the natural restrictions of his body, and allowing him to release every single bit of his strength at once.

    At the same time, his control of the mana within his body, and perception of the immediate surroundings increased several times over, and by instinctively activating the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability, Nial could visualize everything in the room.

    This change that happened out of nowhere should have shocked him, but Nial was eerily calm as his entire demeanor changed, making everyone believe that he was the overlord of the dungeon, instead of anyone else.

    Upon seeing a human standing confidently in front of it and even dare speak to it, the huge being that had just been summoned halted in its tracks, forgetting the orders it had received for a quarter of a second.

    Yet, it was just a momentter that it roared out, making the entire cave tremble, alongwith the deepest part of the Originals'' conscience that had been unable to stop themselves from helping Nial.

    Even Jack felt himself to be incapable of rescuing Nial, even though the young man had given his all to defeat the Horned Earth Ratour.

    After all, everybody would prioritize their own lives over that of others and Jack was no exception to this no matter how much he liked Nial.

    He hoped that Nial would survive, but the chances were nill¡­or so Jack thought.

    Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to look back, guilt-ridden by the fact that he had left behind someone to die, someone with an even greater naturalbat talent than he possessed.

    Jack knew it very well that hisbat prowess was mostly owed to his Innate ability and without it, he wasn''t that good of a fighter.

    Meanwhile, not only did Jack feel incapable of looking back, everyone else including Shana was unable to look back, let alone return and help Nial.

    Their mind was shut off, and their body was just running away from the ghastly being that had been summoned, knowing that they had no other choice but to run as fast as possible and save themselves.

    Being trapped in the cave for days had already shaken their confidence and even the slightest danger made them jumpy.

    As such, when they spotted the summoned being, their survival instincts took over as they ran for their lives knowing that even a single nce backward could lead to their doom.

    And that was not only the case because the petrification rats could petrify them, but also owing to their morale that was already crumbling.

    Seeing the huge beast that looked like a cross between a four-armed ape and a rat from up close would be the final straw to make their morale shatterpletely.

    On the other hand, Shana was not sure why, but despite the fear that swept through her entire body, she was sure that nothing would happen to Nial.

    There was no reason for her to think so, and it was close to insanity to believe that Nial, the blind young man, who was already struggling to stand on his feet after the overly exhausting fight with the Horned Earth Ratour, would be able to somehow escape the summoned beast unscathed, but Shana was sure of it!

    Because of that, her mind was clearer than that of anyone else, sure that it would be a nuisance for Nial if she and the other Originals would be nearby because they would simply turn into a burden, instead of being of any help!

    Yet, when some minutes passed in silence, Shana and the other Originals couldn''t help but feel odd, and a few more minutes passed before they reached the surface and safety, which was much faster than any of them had expected.

    Only then, Jack dare to look back and took a relieved breath to see that not a single petrification rat, let alone the huge gray furred beast had followed them.

    Not only did they hearplete silence from the inside of the cave that had a giant beast and arge horde of petrification rats, but it was even weirder that not a single beast had followed them.

    However, it was just at this moment, that the entire cave began to violently tremble again, followed by the ground below the Originals'' feet that shook as well, before a gloomy and ominous aura began to emit from the ground all around them.

    At the same time, the purest essence of darkness seemed to be released from the depths of the cave as everything turned dark, causing Jack to swallow nervously as his legs gave in the moment the aura came in touch with it.

    Meanwhile, the others had already slumped to the ground, unable to stay conscious as they fainted on the wet ground, while fat raindrops poured on them.

    Luckily, new military units entered the two-element dungeon that was sent as reinforcements, who felt their mana being drained at a rapid pace, the moment they stepped in.

    It was followed by a dark, gloomy, and ominous aura that severely affected them.

    Yet, they were able to handle the situation better and did not faint immediately, they were able to spot Jack, who was slowly losing his consciousness, followed by the others.

    The military returned to the shelter with the Originals they rescued from the dungeon, leaving Nial and the beasts of the dungeon alone in the darkness¡­.without actually realizing that he was still inside.

    However, in fact, it was only Nial who was left alive, because he was the origin of the darkness that had been released.

    The moment the Originals had left the tunnel he, the flood of petrification rats, and the huge summoned beast had been inside, many things changed.

    First, Nial''s entire body began to control the mana around him as if it was an extension of his arm, which made it possible for him to prevent any kind of mana-based attack directed at him.

    One could also say that he even nullified the attacks that came from the huge beast, which realized that it had found a tough opponent.

    Neither of the Originals would believe this fact if someone were to tell them as the summoned beast had overwhelmed all of them.

    The Originals were not sure what rank it had attained, but it was certainly the strongest existence that inhabited the dungeon.

    In fact, it should have never been able to enter the dungeon to begin with.

    Yet, owing to the mission it had received, the beast was forced to do various tasks, irrespective of its will to perform them.

    However, the moment Nial''s Odyssey seed had pulsated for the first time, it and the petrification rats had sensed a unique presence that was radiated by Nial.

    This was already enough for them to believe that they should leave him alone or risk their lives, and instead of acting rushed, ignoring their mission for the moment was the best they could do.

    Thus, instead of letting its instincts overwhelm its mind, the huge beast used the little intelligence it had to stare at Nial in vignce.

    How could the beast know that this was exactly what would cause its own end, and that of the petrification rats as well as the Ratmen.

    The few seconds of standstill gave Nial the necessary time to follow his instincts thoroughly.

    He had no idea what he was currently doing and only knew that his body was moving of its own ord, as if it had acquired a mind of its own.<sub> </sub>

    But, that was not the case for the Odyssey seed causing all of this.

    It was also the Odyssey seed that was currently forcefully pulling every single trace of mana that was in the range of Nial''s [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability towards him.

    After being activated and amplified several times owing to the first pulse, the activated ability enveloped the entire room they were in, absorbing more than enough mana within a single second that something huge happened.

    In fact, Nial''s entire body was currently filled with mana, but every single particle was slowly moved towards the Odyssey seed that was fully prepared for the second step

    As such it issued the second pulse, for the first time in Nial''s life.

    When it pulsated the second time, Nial felt as if his entire body was torn apart.

    His pores had suddenly closed, preventing mana from entering his body.

    But that was not the issue, because the darkness the Odyssey seed had released within Nial was unable to be released from his body!

    Thus, he opened his pores without knowing how he did while a pained groan escaped his lips. Meanwhile, the beasts opposite him that were frozen in ce just a moment before had started to act.

    It was as if the darkness he released made them take action, and Nial knew why that was the case causing him to smile subtly as he pushed his feet off the ground.

    This seemingly simple push towards the back allowed him to cross a distance of over ten meters, reaching a distance even the huge being required a second to catch up to.

    Owing to that, the darkness his Odyssey had released got enough time to expand explosively and envelop Nial in a protectiveyer as it spread further, slowly encroaching forward and reaching the beasts that cried out in fear the moment the darkness aura reached them.

    Nial was not sure what exactly he was feeling but it was certainly not an affinity as he had sensed one from the fire affinity wielder earlier, and his best friend was able to wield the lightning affinity.

    And whatever he was feeling at the moment mirrored neither of them.

    Because of that Nial was pretty sure that the darkness the Odyssey continued to release by draining the surroundings of its mana was something different to an affinity.

    It was more like the darkness was nothing but that¡­simply darkness.

    Unable to sense anything about it, Nial, who was blind, couldn''t even perceive it properly.

    Because of that, he had to rely on his other senses to understand that the darkness was ice-cold, causing great pain to everyone who came in touch with it, with the sole exception being Nial, himself.

    He was not sure what exactly this meant but owing to him being the origin of the darkness, he presumed to be immune to the effects it caused.

    However, that was also not something Nial could be absolutely sure of.

    In fact, the Odyssey seed was something that didn''t belong to him, in the first ce!

    Nial was certain that the Odyssey seed was something that had been forced upon him when he was three years old and had been trapped inside the dungeon that had held him for an entire week, only to release him afterward.

    No matter how hard he tried, the memories of that fateful week eluded him which is why Nial couldn''t be sure of anything.

    However, after considering that his mana senses had been sealed off and that the Goddess'' energy was what had been required to awaken his origin and the Odyssey seed, he became even more confused.

    Everything was questionable, including the second time the Odyssey seed had pulsated.

    Neither did he know what requirements he had to meet in order to make the Odyssey seed pulsate, or what functions these pulses had, let alone if they were harmful if they urred too often.

    His knowledge about this was simply abysmal, but all of this took a backseat whenpared to the rather astonishing realization that he could control the darkness and that it changed ording to his will.

    Feeling the unparalleled power in his grasp made him feel euphoric and the beasts began to sense that Nial was slowlyprehending how to wield the power.

    As such, they wanted to attack him, but it was just a momentter that Nial lifted his hand, which caused the entire darkness to shoot in the direction of the huge beast and the petrification rats.

    Nial had to simply think about what he wanted to do, but that caused his mind to feel like it was being pulled apart in opposite directions, which was not a great feeling.

    It was at this moment that Nial realized that his mind and body were not prepared for the Odyssey seed or any of the functions it caused.

    Rather, Nial was scared about the issues the Odyssey seed could cause just after he had awoken his origin a few weeks ago.

    Yet, just at the moment, he was distracted, Nial perceived that the huge beast was devoured by the darkness that swallowed it whole, killing it mercilessly as it struggled in vain to save itself while being deprived of every single trace of mana within seconds.

    Meanwhile, arge crystal dropped from its body that dispersed into countless particles, nurturing the darkness that expanded all of a sudden, devouring the remaining petrification rats that had been paralyzed with fear and thus were easy prey to the ever-increasing darkness.

    As they were being devoured, the rats supplied the darkness with enough energy to expand further and further, and the power Nial gained all of a sudden, made his senses go numb as he seemed to nk out.

    As such, he hardly noticed that the cave was copsing.

    However, it was just at this moment when the Odyssey seed stopped releasing more darkness.

    On the contrary, everything was retracted in a matter of seconds, leaving behind the corpses of thousands of mana drained beasts, and hundreds of origin crystals!

    **

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    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 55 Variable

    After regaining his senses, the memories of the past few minutes shed through his mind.

    Everything felt blurry to Nial and he had trouble recalling everything he had done in the past few hours.

    To be precise, even the memories that shed through his mind were somewhat unclear to him, and Nial doubted that he was the one to do all of this.

    Yet, when he stressed his brain to recall the missing pieces, he could remember nothing that had urred after he had felt the second pulse.

    He knew that he had done something but not what or why.

    This confused him, but before he could spend time thinking about it, Nia''s attention went to the corpses of thousands of beasts that were wrung dry of everyst ounce of mana and left to rot on the ground.

    Their bodies that were void of mana were outlined by the subtle mana currents that filled the room once again.

    As such, he was able to perceive his surroundings, which allowed Nial to sense and pick up the crystals that had dropped from the numerous opponents.

    In fact, there were more than a hundred origin crystals, one more [Petrification Eyes(poorest)] ability crystal, and the special crystal that had dropped from the summoned beast.

    Storing all crystals away except the special one, Nial tried to inspect it through touch in an attempt to figure out if there were any kinds of dangers he had to be careful of.

    Meanwhile, he was walking back to the surface without realizing that the cave was copsing.

    His mind was drawn to the crystal he was holding, and only when he reached the surface did Nial dare to insert his mana into it.

    It was just a momentter that four words reverberated through his mind, causing him to feel utterly dumbfounded.

    [Mana core limit enhancement]

    First, he didn''t believe what he had heard, but after the words shed through his mind over and over again, Nial could barely digest that what he was hearing was true.

    However, this confused him because he had never heard that it was possible for a crystal such as the one he was holding in his hand, to exist, in the first ce.

    ''Is¡­that a new type of crystal? Or did I just not know about it?'' Nial wondered while tormenting his mind for an answer which never came.

    Yet, he didn''t make the mistake of throwing the crystal away or even thinking of selling it as he thought that he had more than enough resources to sell in order to rescue his sister.

    With that in mind, he smiled lightly as he epted the energy of the crystal without hesitation.

    Just at that moment, the vast amount of energy that was stored in the special crystal shot through his arms before it arrived in front of his mana core.

    It invaded his body and his mana core, metamorphosing his core while causing tremendous pain.

    This was something Nial had expected, but it was just at this moment that his entire body felt like it was zapped by a bolt of lightning as the overstrained muscles, mana veins and even his mana core were reacting to the additional strain he was putting on his body by epting the crystal''s energy.

    Through this, his entire body went rigid as a stone, and he could feel his brain bing fuzzy as his eyes grew heavy. He was slowly losing his consciousness and thest thing he could think was a simple thought.

    ''Why am I so fucking restless?!''

    Afterward, he lost his consciousness, but fortunately enough, his body had taken thest step before he arrived in front of the dungeon portal through which his unconscious body fell to the ground with a soft thud.

    No sooner had he slumped to the ground, face down, weapons were pointed in his direction by several soldiers that were ready to ughter him.

    Yet, only a momentter, the dungeon portal behind him closed because the dungeon had been cleared by Nial, and every single boss had been defeated.

    This shocked everyone and the soldiers quickly retracted their weapons as a familiar woman, who had been standing next to a familiar young man stepped forward.

    "It¡­really is him¡­" She just mumbled before turning around to Jack, who stared at the unconscious Nial in shock as if he was seeing a ghost¡­or someone who should have died.

    As her eyes flicked from the unconscious Nial to Jack, the young woman named Nina Melion couldn''t help but smile.

    Her cadets had long since returned, but they had been severely injured after encountering the first group of petrification rats.

    Yet, the young blind man, whom they had ridiculed before, had achieved something, not even the trained military units had been able to do.

    Single-handedly he had not only helped several students to survive an attack by arge petrification group, but he had also helped Jack and his unit to defeat the Horned Earth Ratour.

    However, that was not all because even though he was currently unconscious, Nial had evidently survived the onught of a petrification rat flood and the huge beast that Jack described as powerful enough to annihte every possible prodigious human they could have sent inside!

    The fact that Nial survived without anyone''s help, while facing more than a thousand weaker opponents, and one seemingly undefeatable force all by himself, spoke volumes about the hidden talent he had!

    And that was even more so the case when the dungeon closed behind him, which meant that he had cleared the two-element dungeon that had forced the entire military in the small shelter to gather the strongest junior units!

    They had just finished their preparations to conquer the dungeon and had barely taken their first step when the scouts returned from the dungeon portal, with the copsed survivors right next to them.

    Only Jack was still conscious, and he had readily told Nina, who was currently in charge of most juniors of the military, everything that happened.

    Thus, she knew about Nial''sbat prowess, the fact that Jack regarded him highly, and that he should have died but miraculously he was just passed out.

    As such, she first sent him to the infirmary before calling the Originals association to cross-check the information of Nial''s awakening once again.

    There had to be something wrong, and she wanted to figure out what exactly it was!

    However, even after she read through the information, there was nothing odd that she could find out.

    This only approved Jack''s information about the fact that Nial had yet to bind an ability to his mana core.<sub> </sub>

    Yet, even then, Nina was unable to think that Nial had simply survived using just hisbat skills andmon sense.

    As such, she told the nurses to conduct a second test on his mana core.

    When they ran the test they could spot slight changes of his mana core, but nobody was able to figure out what exactly they were.

    Nheless, there was still no ability bound to the core, which caused Nina to be even more confused as the changes in Nial''s mana core seemed to be simr to breaking through one''s mana core limit.

    Yet, right now, Nial was not undergoing his mana core''s first erging process, but it was more like the limit of ergings he could undergo was changing.

    At least that was what the results of the examination the nurses and doctor that were present in the quickly constructed infirmary had figured out.

    This was weird, and a natural breakthrough in one''s mana core limit was unheard of.

    As such, he would have to take some kind of medicine, which caused Nina to look at his spatial ring in doubt.

    ''cksmith Arnold doesn''t have the means to procure a medicine that allows the mana core''s limit to erge naturally¡­otherwise, he would have given it to his eldest daughter. He shouldn''t be in possession of a forbidden serum either...the dealers haven''t reached Katu yet¡­''

    Trying to figure out the answer about Nial''s survival, Nina could only reach the conclusion that Jack was lying to her.

    However, that was close to impossible because Jack knew that the others would be able to tell the truth once they regained their consciousness.

    Thus, it was unlikely for Jack to lie, even less because she knew him to be an honest, and straightforward man.

    This made him very likable even if some younger cadets made fun of him for having awoken his origin quitete.

    Fortunately, this was something Jack made up for with hard work and the fact that he had awoken an Innate ability that increased his strength by arge margin.

    He was amongst the strongest young cadets Nina had trained so far, and his evaluation of opponents was shockingly urate, which was also owed to his Innate trait that enhanced his instincts.

    Because of that, Nina couldn''t help but do something she never believed herself to do- she tantly ignored the military''sws for the first time in her life.

    In fact, the only thing Nina did was to satiate her curiosity by adding Nial''s contacts to her Originals ID card in order to contact Nial whenever she wanted.

    She believed that this was something she would soon do either way once the higher-ups would find out about Nial, a blind young man who had cleared an anomalistic dungeon by himself, while being at the 1st Origin rank, without an ability and just had awoken his origin a few weeks ago!

    Nial didn''t even have a high standing in the society or any connections¡­or so Nina thought, which made her believe that he might be the perfect candidate for the military.

    ''If..only if he truly managed to defeat the beast Jack spoke about¡­he might be able to enter the military!''

    This thought caused her to smile subconsciously because it was rare for someone with a disability to be able to enter the military in the first ce. Furthermore, most of these people awoke an innate affinity that made use of their disability, turning their weakness into a major strength.

    Through this their disadvantage was turned into an advantage, but even then most of these individuals belonged to families with a great heritage.

    As such, Nial was an exception and owing to the military''s conservative behavior, they might think that Nial''s blindness might be too much of a disadvantage as he didn''t have something that would bnce out this weakness.

    Because of that, even his highbat prowess might not be enough to change their opinion.

    With that in mind, Nina could only wait before the other Originals woke up.

    When they finally did, they were bombarded with all kinds of questions about the two-element dungeons, and everyone said the same thing- Nial saved them, he fought on par with Jack, and reacted even faster once to save them from the ape rat''s attack.

    However, in the end, everyone also said that he must be dead, and that there was no way for him to have survived the flood of several thousand petrification rats and the huge beast.

    As everyone said the same thing, they were allowed to leave once they had undergone the necessary examinations and tests to check their injuries and overall health.

    Most of them were taken home by their parents and other family members that had already been waiting in front of the barricades the military had put up.

    Thus, when Nina saw cksmith Arnold and Shana reuniting, she couldn''t help but approach them, asking the cksmith why he had asked Nial to enter the two-element dungeon to search for his daughter.

    The request of cksmith Arnold to send a blind newly awakened Original to the two-element dungeon was something she had recalled just now, which was both extremely weird and unheard of, to begin with.

    Adding the dangers of the dungeon to the mix, Nial was destined to die.

    As such, Nina felt obliged to ask the cksmith about his reasoning.

    However, Arnold was unable to give her a rational answer. Instead, when he found out that Nial was the reason for the survival of most Originals, including his dear daughter, he was as astonished as everyone else. Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, he mumbled faintly to himself.

    "To think that my intuition was correct¡­"

    He had long since realized that it was pure madness to send someone like Nial inside the two-element dungeon, but that this madness had saved the lives of more than a hundred Originals was truly bewildering.

    Yet, he also understood that this decision could have caused Nial''s death, even more so after he heard how dangerous the dungeon had truly been.

    ''And I told Nial that there were only a few hundred petrification rats¡­It doesn''t look like I simply used up the favor he owed me, but almost sent him to death''s door¡­don''t I owe him a favor now¡­?''

    Confused, cksmith Arnold went home with his daughter, who was bombarded with the information of everything that happened inside the two-element dungeon.

    Meanwhile, Nina was still wondering about what exactly had been wrong with Nial, only for a young familiar man to appear in front of her.

    His expression was filled with worry, and guilt and his face looked haggard.

    ''Isn''t that Nial''s friend? The one from the Tyr family?''

 Chapter 56 Truth

    After waking up, Nial felt as if his entire body had been torn apart, which caused a faint smile to emerge on his face.

    Pain indicated that he was still alive, and being able to sense every single muscle that ached horribly when he tried to move, sending jolts of unbearable pain through his entire body was simrly reassuring because it meant that he wasn''t missing out on anything.

    When he tried to move,a fresh bolt of pain shot through his body, hitting his brain and making him see stars in broad daylight, but instead of slowing down, he continued to lift his upper body at the same pace.

    Sensing that his body was barely coping with that burden, his smile widened.

    At least, all his limbs and organs were intact though they hurt a lot, which was oddly reassuring.

    As he struggled to get in a sitting position, he heard the voice of someone familiar, which caused him to turn his head as he mumbled with all the strength he had.

    "Mel..vin? What..are..you doing here?"

    Nial was confused because his mana perception allowed him to visualize a simple tent and that he was inside it, with a few other injured Originals.

    As such, he believed that he was in the infirmary that should have been built near the two-element dungeon.

    Thus, Nial couldn''t help but feel that it was weird for Melvin to know where he was ande looking for him. There was nobody who could have informed his friend about him being in the two-element dungeon, after all.

    This was already odd, but when he didn''t hear a reply from his friend he grew even more suspicious as Melvin was one of the most talkative people he knew of.

    In the end, it took Melvin only a few more moments to say something, yet, the moment Nial heard his friend''s sobbing, and guilt-ridden voice, he knew that something was terribly wrong!

    "Nial...I''m so sorry¡­"

    Melvin said only four words but just as he finished his words, he threw himself on the ground, burying his head in his hands before continuing to repeat the same words over and over again- "I''m sorry."

    After perceiving the state in which Melvin was alongwith his apology rendered Nial was speechless for a moment and it was as if his breath hitched in his throat.

    Momentarily forgetting about his injuries, Nial moved his body hastily as he jumped up from the bed he had been lying on.

    A momentter the astonished sounds of the nurses that came rushing towards him could be heard.

    "Sir, pleasey down!! You will copse if you move too much! Your body is already on the brink of breaking apart!"

    "Please calm down Sir!!"

    Yet, Nial couldn''t hear anything they said as his entire focus was on Melvin as he asked him in a silent but ice-cold tone.

    "What happened?"

    It was as if Nial knew what was going on. The premonition that had been eating at him and making him feel that something was off ever since he had entered the two-element dungeon had yet to disappear.

    Contrary to his earlier beleif, it was only bing stronger as if it had nothing to do with the two-element dungeon, to begin with, which was even strange.

    His head was brimming with multiple thoughts, and his muscles groaned with every move, but Nial couldn''t care less because Melvin was not answering him, worsening the dread that was filling his heart.

    This caused him to move a step ahead as he grasped Melvin''s cor, lifting him on his feet before he asked once again.

    "What happened?!!"

    However, this time, his voice was filled with anger, and a portion of the few remnants of the darkness that hadn''t been stored inside the Odyssey seed were subconsciously released from his body.

    Owing to this, Nial''s entire demeanor changed, and soldiers from outside the tent came rushing inside, armed with weapons and prepared to fight a battle of life and death if that was necessary to protect the citizens inside the tent.

    Yet, what they saw was a young blind man, who was on tenterhooks, grasping the cor of a sobbing young man, who didn''t even try to defend himself a tiny bit.

    "They¡­they¡­took Sabrina and your parents¡­." Melvin only said before he bit his lower lip so hard that it started to bleed.

    A momentter, he felt Nial''s grasp around his cor loosen while the unique presence he had released disappeared.

    Stumbling backward, Nial almost fell to the ground, but was saved from the fall when his back hit the bed behind him.

    When that happened, the nurses regained their senses before they rushed toward Nial to help him get back on the bed, while only one soldier remained inside the tent, silently observing the situation, and ready to intervene if something were to happen.

    However, there was only one more question that the young blind man asked, causing everyone''s attention to be pulled towards Melvin, whose blood and tears were mixing together as they trickled to the ground.

    "...and what do you have to do with that?!?"

    Nial''s voice was weak, and hoarse, and it was only a matter of time before he would lose his consciousness once again.

    Yet, thest thing Nial heard was Melvin apologizing once again,

    "I¡­It¡­was my fault¡­I''m so sorry¡­ When I found ou-..."

    Even if he wanted to, his body defied his orders and dragged him back to unconsciousness, as the nurses barely managed to lift and put him to the bed again, before a doctor rushed inside the moment he heard themotion.

    Yet, upon seeing the scene of more than a dozen people staring at a sobbing young man, who stood right in front of an unconscious youth, there was no way of figuring out what the hell had happened.

    *[Several dayster]*<sub> </sub>

    Regaining his consciousness, Nial found himself lying in a cozy bed and a room that was void of sounds. He could smell a distinct aromatic scent that invigorated his body.

    However, Nial''s heart and body felt empty, as if it had been drained off everyst ounce of energy to live.

    Unfortunately, even this was not enough to make him sink into a deep slumber.

    His pained body was full of vigor, while his mind had regained the energy it required to work relentlessly, preventing him from slinking into unconsciousness to forget about his worries.

    Rather, the energy coursing through his body caused him to think back on the moments before he lost his consciousness for the second time.

    Fortunately, it was at this moment that he heard an old voice that sounded somewhat familiar from the end of the room as the sound of a door opening apanied it.

    "Sir, you are finally awake! Please don''t move too much, and rest a little! "

    After instinctively releasing his mana, Nial quickly figured where he was and who the old man that spoke to him was.

    It was the butler of the Tyr family, who had threatened him and his family, years ago, in their own house to prevent the slightest possibility of them ever trying to exploit the Tyr family through Melvin.

    As such, Nial could tell that he was in the Tyr family''s mansion, which caused a mixture of emotions to wreak havoc within him.

    Without thinking too much, he took out his old, battered phone that looked like it would crumble to pieces any moment as he dialled his parents'' numbers, one after another.

    Afterward, he tried to call home, but nobody answered him.

    This didn''t mean that his parents had been taken away, but considering Melvin''s reaction and repeated apologies, it was unlikely to be a lie.

    Trying to make sense of the situation, Nial felt anger surging within him, and he wanted to get up from the bed in order to go home and see for himself before harassing Melvin to tell him about what had truly happened.

    Yet, before he could do anything, the butler stood up as he said,

    "I''m sorry, Sir. But please stay in the bed¡­ If necessary, I will call for the young Lord, or I can tell you everything you want to know¡­"

    Hearing pity in the voice of the butler caused Nial to stiffen as the dread that had filled his heart was beginning to constrict his chest.

    The butler continued to look at him with pitiful eyes, and Nial felt as if it was suddenly difficult for him to breath as he was forced to ept that everything Melvin had said might truly be the case.

    Even if he was not sure if he could trust the butler''s words, Nial was unable to stop himself from asking in a shaky voice.

    "Is...it true? Was my family forcefully taken away?... By whom?...Why?...Where?... Just what happened?"

    The dread turned into hopelessness that found its way out of his eyes in the form of tears that began to trickle down his cheeks, and even though the butler saw this, he didn''t move.

    Instead, he told Nial everything he had personally witnessed from the moment Melvin had stormed inside his father''s office, up to the moment when the robed men had forced Melvin and his father to lead them to Nial''s house.

    Afterward, the butler ryed whatever his master and Melvin''s father had told him, including how miserable Melvin had felt, and that the young master had disappeared in his room for several days, only to storm outside the moment he had heard about Nial having entered the two element dungeon and that he had returned.

    In the end, the story was nothing grand, but it was more than enough to knock out Nial, and making him go numb with shock as his brain seemed to have lost the ability to function for a while.

    It was almost as if his entire mind had been blown away, and he couldn''t make sense of anything, but the fact that he was truly alone and that his family was taken to some unknown ce.

    Calling his parents over and over to receive no response before he rushed to his empty house would be thest and finally evidence that he was truly alone, without anyone left by his side.

    Holding his head that began to ache owing to the information and thoughts that shed through his mind, he didn''t even hear the soft footsteps of another man entering the room, and it was only when Nial was able to regain his senses that he repeated one more question he had previously asked.

    "Where¡­have they been taken to¡­do you know that?"

    Yet, instead of hearing the answer to this question from the butler, he heard the unexpected voice of a middle-aged man.

    It would have astonished Nial under normal circumstances, but he was astonished about how calm andpletely unbothered he was about the person who answered, as only the content of the answer was important to him.

    "They were taken as captives and whisked away to Liondra, the strongest shelter of mankind! Why? You might ask us that, but neither I nor Melvin has the faintest idea about that.

    We can only tell you everything we know, and I can reassure you that your family has not been killed. This shouldn''t happen in the future, either!

    Rather, I believe they would receive the best treatment because the Eclipse Assassins that belong to the Heaven''s Gates organization wouldn''t waste their time taking in someone who isn''t useful to them.

    Instead, your parents would have been killed if they were only in need of your sister! Because of that, you can be confident that your family is doing fine!"

    Nial was still not sure who the hell was speaking to him.

    A sudden fear emerged in his mind and only questions shed through his mind.

    "What is this Heaven''s Gates¡­and who in hell''s name are the Eclipse Assassins?!"

    Yet just as he asked this question out loud, his mind had begun churning out apletely different n which would be initiated once he knew the answer to a different question.

    ''What is the fastest way to reach my family?!''

 Chapter 57 Dispute

    Nial was still not sure what to believe, and what to discard as lies.

    In fact, he assumed that Serl Tyr, Melvin''s father, was speaking to him, but it didn''t make the situation any better.

    Instead, it clearly told Nial that the situation wasplicated enough for Serl Tyr to personally exin everything to him, and the next words said by the middle-aged man made the situation even worse.

    "I...don''t really know what to tell you, Nial...but I''m truly sorry for what happened to you. Nevertheless, I hope you won''t be too harsh on my son. He didn''t take away your family intentionally, and everything was an ident.

    I believe you must have realized this yourself after listening to James!"

    Nial''s assumption that it was indeed Serl Tyr who was speaking to him was now proven, but he felt as if someone had punched him in his gut because one of the wealthiest person in Katu was apologising to him, pleading him to forgive his son.

    An awkward silence filled the room after this, and Nial''s mind turned nk for a moment, not sure what to think about everything that had happened.

    Yet, after a short moment of silence, Serl Tyr decided that enough time had passed for the young blind man to simply sit on the bed and dwell in misery.

    "Nial, I do understand that you are currently feeling overwhelmed, and angry at Melvin, but I want to tell you a few things. Listen to me, will you!?"

    Saying so, Serl Tyr approached Nial and held him by the shoulder before he repeated something that Nial had already heard several times.

    "Remember, your family is still alive!! They''re not dead or anything like that, and if you ever want to meet them again, you have to buckle up. If you just sit with that nk look on your face, you would make others feel miserable as well.

    Furthermore, for your information, I should add that your sister, Sabrina, would have died in a few days, at most, if the Eclipse Assassins wouldn''t have taken her away!

    This is obviously something the two robed men from the Eclipse Assassins told me, but I believe that this is the truth, so don''t be too harsh on yourself or Melvin¡­ you guys did nothing wrong!

    Both of you have just awoken your origins, and nobody expected you two to change this little girl''s inevitable fate, to begin with.

    In the end, it was a great coincidence that the Eclipse Assassins found them, even if you don''t like the fact¡­or would you have rather let your parents despair because they wouldn''t be able to help your sister and end her suffering¡­or possibly mourn her death when you were in the two-element dungeon?!?"

    Serl Tyr''s words were harsh but he had spoken the bitter truth. Nial bit on his lower lip, while clenching his fists to the extent that his fingernails dug into his palms. He wasn''t even aware of droplets of blood trickling to the ground as he said in an annoyed voice, "Of course I don''t want that to happen¡­"

    Even though Nial could grasp that it was best for his sister to be taken to a ce where her diseases would be cured, and it was even better that his parents could take care of Sabrina, he didn''t like the fact that they were taken away from him.

    How was he supposed to trust the Eclipse Assassins, the Heaven''s Gates organization or whatever kind of organization had taken them away from him when he knew nothing about them?

    At first, he had been shocked that he was suddenly left all alone, but that didn''t bother him all that much anymore.

    Instead, what was more important to know was if his family was truly doing fine, or if everything was just a big bubble of a lie.

    "Is¡­it possible for me to reach my family somehow?" He thus asked after having sorted his thoughts and emotions and forced himself to think rationally.

    Yet, the moment when Nial sensed the butler''s stiffening mana fluctuations, he already knew what he was going to hear as Serl Tyr answered.

    "To be honest, the fact that we told you about the Eclipse Assassins and the fact that they took your sister and parents with them is already enough reason for all of us to be executed!

    So¡­the moment you try to call the Eclipse Assassins headquarters thinking that you will get to talk to your family, my entire family will be killed."

    To say that Nial was shocked was an understatement as he could not understand why the Head of the Tyr family told him something so secretive then.

    Despite this earlier thought, Nial quickly understood what Serl Tyr had tried to do as he recalled how Melvin had reacted when they had encountered each other in the infirmary.

    "Does that mean, you''re currently just trying to salvage the damage Melvin caused?" Nial asked, hitting the bullseye as Serl simply nodded his head before exining further,

    "The fact that Melvin almost exposed everything while trying to apologize to you inside the infirmary, while being surrounded by soldiers was not really smart.

    As such, I decided that it would be best to provide you with all the information you want, so as to avoid a repeat incident wherein my family, and even you could die needlessly.

    In the end, with the pieces of information, I can give you, it might even be possible to set up a n to look for your family.

    After all, I can use my connections to help you reach closer to Liondra. It might be a little bit difficult to reach Liondra because I don''t have enough connections to enter the strongest, but also the most dangerous shelter right now, but¡­ you can make use of me!"

    Serl Tyr''s offer sounded nice, but instead of feeling overjoyed, or thankful, Nial felt weird.

    His white, lifeless eyes stared at the middle-aged man.

    Knowing what Serl Tyr had indirectly stated, Nial asked him bluntly,

    "However, in that case, I would have to trust you, and you''ll be in lots of trouble too¡­to the extent that it might even be better for you to get rid of me, isn''t that the case?"

    Even if Serl Tyr sounded as if he was kind, Nial could clearly visualize what type of person Melvin''s father was- a true businessman who weighed his profits and losses beforemitting anything.

    That might not be the entire truth because Melvin seemed to be important enough for Serl to cause him to forget thinking rationally, but Nial was not Melvin, as such Serl Tyr had no obligation to help his friend.

    As such, there was no way for him topletely trust Serl, which caused him to stand up as he picked up the equipment thaty next to his bed.<sub> </sub>

    In fact, the moment Nial picked up the spatial ring that was lying on the leather armor, he sensed that both the Viper spear and Fang spear were inside it along with a small note below the spatial ring., Serl Tyr found the perfect opportunity to avoid the topic about ''getting rid of someone'' as he remarked,

    "I didn''t expect you to have a connection to Arnold, but he seemed to be thankful."

    Nodding his head, Nial used his mana perception to read the message, while trying to clear his mind and ignoring Serl Tyr''s offer.

    [Take everything. Thank you for saving my daughter. I owe big time!]

    Yet, even after reading through the message, neither his emotions nor his facial expression changed as he couldn''t care less about the content of the message.

    It was great that he was allowed to keep the spatial ring, the Fang spear, and all the serums inside the spatial ring, but he would rather have his family back or spend even one more day with them than have these treasures.

    Sighing deeply, he turned towards Serl Tyr as he asked,

    "Where is Melvin?"

    There were many reasons for him to meet Melvin again, and the most important was to figure out if he was truly sorry for what he did, or not.

    Yet, even without asking Melvin anything, Nial knew the answer. As such he didn''t feel as if it was necessary to make him feel more guilty.

    Instead, Nial felt that both he and Melvin had to do something in order to clear their mind and emotions.

    Thus, he followed the butler and Serl towards Melvin''s room which was locked from the inside.

    Serl hoped that Nial would ept the apology of his son, and himself, but what happened just a momentter was something he didn''t expect.

    "Yoo, Melvin, I''m awake! Fight with me!!!"

    Nial didn''t even think of epting Serl Tyr''s offer because that meant he had to rely on someone he couldn''t trust, which was the worst thing one could do. And even if Serl was someone trustworthy, what use were the merchant''s connections if he could not even reach Liondra with them?

    And would anyone in Liondra even listen to him..a blind nobody, who had just awoken his origin?

    Certainly not!

    Appearing in front of some organisation''s headquarters and banging on their doors to let him meet his family that was most likely hidden away, was also not something he could do even if he somehow reached Liondra.

    Because of that, Nial knew that he had to clear his mind of ming Melvin and thinking that his friend was at fault for everything.

    In the end, it might as well be a blessing in disguise that Melvin had identally informed the robed men of the Eclipse Assassins about Sabrina''s existence.

    She might have died otherwise already¡­

    With that thought in mind, he wanted to fight and train with his best friend once more before trying toe up with a way to enter Liondra and reunite his family!

    In the end, the situation was just messed up, and the more time passed, the less fault could Nial find in his friend''s decision.

    He couldn''t thank Melvin for what he did either, but the faint chance that his sister might already be cured of her disease was more than enough to forgive Melvin for his unintentional mistake.

    Yet, all of this seemed to be insignificant, when he sensed the weak mana fluctuations of Melvin from behind the closed door. He approached the door, and unlocked it, as he opened the door of his room.

    At this moment a pungent smell hit him, causing Nial to wrinkle his nose as he couldn''t help but ask.

    "What¡­the hell have you been doing for thest few days?"

    His question was void of any emotions, and the situation turned awkward because Melvin simply stayed silent and didn''t give him an answer.

    Only now did Nial get more time to evaluate the state in which Melvin was currently in.

    Not having eaten, slept or moved his body for thest few days, Melvin couldn''t be considered to be more dead than alive as if he had given up on himself.

    This made Nial angry, to the extent that he couldn''t help but shout at Melvin.

    "What the hell are you doing Melvin??? What makes you think acting like a loser just because of a mistake you did would solve everything? Are you some sort of perfect machine, or what? You are a human and making mistakes is what makes you that- a human.

    However, I never expected you to be someone who acts like a loser and give up after making a mistake, instead of trying to fix the mistake you did?!?

    Fuck you! Did you ever consider us to be friends, to begin with, or was everything a joke to you?!?!"

    Gasping for air, Nial wanted to continue lecturing Melvin, venting out his frustration on him for acting like a victim, and a moron who couldn''t even take the burden of making a single mistake.

    Yet, before he was utter another word, Melvin had already rushed up to him, grasping his shoulders as he shouted.

    "THEN WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?"

 Chapter 58 Sincere

    "THEN WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?"

    The desperation in Melvin''s voice reverberated through Nial''s entire being as he shook him hard.

    It made Nial feel incapable of saying a single word for a few moments after hearing Melvin''s loud exmation that was filled with guilt and hurt. It made him ovee the biggest obstacle he had to face until now- himself and his emotions that had wreaked havoc in his heart.

    "You¡­weren''t supposed to do anything, but to fight for those you like and love. After making a mistake you should fix it, or apologize to the people you hurt.

    I don''t care if you hurt me, but what about the rest of my family¡­have you apologized to them yet? No, you haven''t¡­so how about you start, right there!"

    Nial tried his best to stay calm and rational but rationality was something he had lost ever since he found out that his family was not with him anymore.

    Emotions had already overwhelmed him, which was also the reason why he pushed away his friend''s arms before he remarked,

    "If you are not a pushover and truly sorry for what you did, show me your resolve. If you''re just empty talk, never show your face to me!"

    For his own good, and that of Melvin, Nial felt that they had to fight against each other with all they got.

    It was useless if he were to fight against someone who had given up on himself because that would mean he would punch a lifeless sandbag.

    Clearly showing his determination to fight Melvin and train harder, Nial had made his stance clear- either give your best, or be a pushover and let''s never meet each other again!

    If Melvin was truly giving up on himself, then Nial doubted if he had ever known anything about his friend.

    As such, he was gambling on the fact that Melvin would ept his challenge, which was exactly what happened.

    Both were still not sure how they should feel about each other because the entire situation was too messed up.

    However, even then, Nial was unwilling to let go of his friend, even if he was disappointed with his best friend''s naivety.

    But there was no point thinking about the past, and as long as his family was doing fine, he should be thankful to Melvin, instead of hating him.

    As such, he hade to the decision that he had to forgive Melvin for everything he had done, which, however, didn''t mean that he would ept how his friend was treating himself.

    This was something unforgivable to do to oneself, and Nial decided to take matters into his own hands because it looked like Melvin couldn''t forgive himself for what he had inadvertently done more than anything else.

    In the end, he hade to terms with the fact that his family was safe and not in immediate danger.

    Nial might have lost contact with his family for the time being, but the longer he thought about it, the better it was that they were with Sabrina. He would do fine without anyone''s help but his sister definitely needed them.

    At least now he could learn to live independently, and it wouldn''t be a problem for him to conquer all kinds of dungeons as long as he continued to improve his mana perception.

    The limit of his mana core had also increased, which meant that his potential had been artificially heightened as well.

    Nial felt that this was something great, but at the same time, he was not sure how exactly he should feel about the situation. Thus, he was trying to look at the brighter side and cheer himself up.

    Furthermore, he was far from being as poor as only a few weeks ago, where he didn''t even have a graded weapon.

    Because of that, he had more than enough means to be stronger in a short time as nothing was holding him back.

    On the contrary, Nial had enough reason to work even harder than ever before, because he wanted to meet his family once again.

    And, in order to achieve this, he required strength, wealth, and connections that were even better than Serl Tyr''s to allow him to fulfill his true goal-meeting and rescuing his family.

    This would be hard to achieve on his own, which was why he had hoped that Melvin would help him.

    Unable to control his anger once again, Nial approached his friend before grasping his smelly shirt by the cor as he turned towards the dumbfounded butler.

    "Where is the bathroom?? Can you bring some new clothes, his armor and weapon, several healing reagents, highly nutritious food¡­ ah.. and I need to know where thebat room is!

    The Tyr family has one, don''t they?"

    He simply bombarded the butler with a lot of orders not caring about the fact that the Master of the house was standing right next to the butler.

    Yet, instead ofmenting anything, Serl remained quiet, which allowed him to do as he pleased, which was exactly what Nial did.

    He had already figured out that Melvin''s father wanted him to drag his son out of the miserable state he was in because that was not something Serl Tyr was capable of.

    In fact, Serl Tyr had tried to convince his son that the entire situation was not his fault, but it had been a futile effort.

    Thus, after seeing how Nial was bossing his son around, a small smile crept up his lips as if his n had worked out in a perfect manner.

    Nodding his head at the butler to signal him to do as Nial asked, there was no hesitation in the eyes of the old man anymore as he rushed outside the room to lead him to the bathroom.

    Meanwhile, Serl followed Nial, who dragged his son along with him, making it look like the young blind youth was the owner of a dog that was unwilling to move anymore.<sub> </sub>

    Yet, Melvin allowed Nial to do whatever he pleased, and only half an hourter, he was done bathing. Nial couldn''t believe that Melvin had hit such a low point in life in a matter of days that he even let his friend wash and bathe him like a puppy.

    In fact, Nial would have never expected to bathe his friend before they would fight with all their might to vent out their sorrow, guilt, and frustration.

    It was a ridiculous situation but nobody was smiling,ughing, or feeling great.

    Instead, the situation was tense and awkward as nobody spoke because they felt burdened by the surrounding atmosphere.

    Even Serl Tyr thought that a single word might cause the situation to worsen even further, which was why he remained quiet and simply observed the situation with his hands folded in front of his chest.

    ''Am I really doing the right thing?'' He wondered, looking at Nial, who was motivating his son to get back on his feet.

    It was not difficult to perceive that they were best friends and knowing this, Serl couldn''t help but feel bad about what he had thought to do with Nial earlier.

    If he were to be honest, Serl had thought more than once that it might be easier to get rid of Nial once they went their separate ways.

    That was the safest way to prevent anyone else from finding out about the fact that he knew that the Eclipse Assassins had kidnapped the Orin family, after all.

    Getting rid of the people that knew the truth would be the easiest way to protect his family, and by pretending to help Nial, Melvin would believe that his father was helping him reunite with his best friend.

    Serl had believed that after years of not meeting each other, Melvin would have gotten to know other people, and slowly forgotten Nial.

    However, Serl''s opinion about Nial changedpletely, and his initial thoughts of quieting him down with force or violence, if necessary, disappeared into thin air as he scratched the back of his head.

    Instead, he decided to give Nial a better option that would allow him to reunite with his family, using his own means, namely, strength, wealth and connections.

    And to build all of this, there were multiple ces he could go to, which was attending a private school, followed by a prestigious university where most of the students belonging to influential families studied.

    Other than that, he could try to reach a high position in the military, but that was quite difficult, considering Nial''s disability, and the fact that he was likely to die before he would be able toe even close to attaining his goal of meeting his family.

    In the end, there were also other ways toe close to Liondra, which was through specific organizations just like the Heaven''s Gates, and the elite teams they were in control of such as the Eclipse Assassins.

    In fact, hundreds or thousands of elite teams, guilds and ns simr to the Eclipse Assassins existed, and as long as they were powerful enough, and had the necessary influence, they would be able to enter Liondra easily.

    Thus, Serl shared his opinion with Nial and Melvin, when they stood in thebat arena, fully prepared to fight¡­if one were to exclude the loose grip with which Melvin held his weapon, his eyes that were still void of the desire to live, and hisplete unwillingness to fight.

    "Nial¡­you know, if you ever need someone to barter items for you¡­I might be able to help you. The Tyr family can also auction off items in your stead, which means you''ll receive a higher profit because we can attend and have ess to private auctions¡­and if you need a rmendation letter for any kind of school, academy, or university¡­just tell me, I''ll help you out¡­"

    Hearing these words caused Nial to avert his attention from Melvin, whom he wanted to p once again, and he stared at Serl Tyr with a wide-open mouth.

    It was the first time Nial had sensed sincerity in Melvin''s father''s words indicating that he had no hidden agenda.

    The honesty in his voice made him feel as if he wasn''t the shrewd emotionless businessman who only sought personal gains and also harbored ill intentions.

    Serl Tyr was sincere right now, and hearing what he said caused Nial to doubt his ears, unsure if he had heard correctly.

    Even Melvin, who was only half-heartedly listening to them couldn''t help but stare at his father in astonishment.

    Never in his life had he heard his father saying or doing something so generous and being selfless instead of plotting to offer help in order to achieve something grander or to destroy someone else in order to take his sweet revenge.

    As such, Melvin couldn''t help but instinctively believe that something would happen to Nial, which caused him to take a step forward so that he stood in between his friend and father.

    Only a momentter he realized what he was doing, which caused him to step back.

    Yet, he had already reacted and both Nial and his father had noticed that¡­it was more difficult not to note that Melvin had moved, after all!

    "So, you are finally done sulking? If that''s the case, let''s spar!"

    Pulling Melvin towards thebat ring, which he could clearly visualize with his mana perception, Nial was ready to fight his friend, even if that meant he had to beat somemon sense into him.

    Yet, before he thought about starting the fight, he turned back to Serl Tyr as he bowed to him, showing his gratitude.

    "We will definitely discuss your offer in the future¡­thank you very much¡­" Nial acknowledged Serl Tyr''s help before turning towards Melvin, who seemed to have regained some of his vigor.

    It was not enough but the first step had already been taken. As such, the following steps would be much easier¡­or so Nial thought as he manifested the Viper spear in his hand.

    A light zap coursed through his body and it was almost as if the spear was greeting him, which caused a subtle smile to emerge on his face.

    Thest few days had been a mess, but the burden weighing on his shoulders felt less heavy with the Viper spear in his hand.

    Everything seemed to be much easier than before and Nial''s mind was slowly drawn to the fight, in which he would give his all, in order to allow himself to regain his senses as well as prepare for the future!

 Chapter 59 All-Out

    While tightly holding the Viper spear, Nial was calmly standing inside thebat ring.

    He was ready to fight Melvin, who looked at him with determination.

    After perceiving the mana fluctuations of his friend, Nial found that they had stabilized which was great.

    They were still far from perfect, and Nial knew that his friend was sleep-deprived andcked nutrition but before dragging him to thebat ring he had been given three different types of serums and highly nutritious food in order to allow Melvin to fight without holding back.

    From the looks of it, the butler and Serl Tyr felt that Melvin''s fight against Nial was extremely important, which they showed by not just caring about Melvin but also him.

    He was handed two vials, and Nial quickly noticed that they were a stamina replenisher and a mana replenishing potion.

    Both the potions elerated the speed at which he replenished his stamina and mana, allowing Nial to reach his highestbat prowess by taking them.

    They were worth quite a bit, and Nial gulped them down without hesitation, knowing that he needed them.

    Now that both were ready to fight and boosted by the serums they had gulped down, they went into their respectivebat stance before awaiting the start of the battle.

    This happened only secondster as the butler of the Tyr family initiated a countdown.

    Thus, once the battle started, the Viper spear''s tip with a retracted de pointed towards Melvin, who was wielding a set of daggers.

    A momentter, both shots towards each other as Melvin''s body was enveloped in faint lightning currents, while Nial was circting mana through his body in order to increase the speed at which he could move.

    In fact, the amount of mana both the opponents possessed had a huge difference because Melvin had erged his mana core two times already.

    His mana control, martial art proficiency, andbat experience were much higher, in addition to the fact that Melvin had already acquired an ability of which he made use right now.

    However, all of this didn''t matter to Nial, who was rushing toward Melvin with an eerily calm demeanor, knowing that he had only one chance to defeat his friend.

    Owing to the numerous disadvantages, and Nial''s rather lowbat experience, there shouldn''t be a way for him to win against Melvin.

    This was only obvious in ordinary conditions!

    But owing to the circumstance, Nial was confident that he could deliver a great battle as long as he gave everything.

    Having nned to do so, he could also feel the remnants of the darkness lingering around the Odyssey seed.

    Nial had no idea what exactly this darkness was, or how the Odyssey seed created it.

    But what he knew was that it had extremely destructive properties, including that it could devour mana!

    Even though Nial didn''t want to use it, he was certain that it was his only way to emerge victorious in the spar which he wanted to win by all means.

    This was not only necessary for him, but even more so Melvin¡­that he knew Nial was not as weak as before!

    Holding back was not something Nial would do in this spar, otherwise, he would only betray his own feelings and that of his friend.

    With that in mind, Nial didn''t hesitate to release the darkness lingering around the Odyssey seed.

    As he tried to control it precisely, Nial''s head began to hurt.

    But he kept trying and slowly led it through the Viper spear that began to emanate the darkness of his Odyssey seed from its entirety.

    This made the Viper spear with its retracted de look more dangerous and lethal than it truly was¡­or so Nial initially believed.

    Yet, the moment he brandished the Viper spear in its rod form towards Melvin, Nial perceived something he didn''t expect to happen.

    A replica of his first attack seemed to form out of the darkness that the Viper rod emanated, following his first attack closely.

    He was not able to see anything but owing to his mana perception, he could clearly feel that the first attack was blocked by Melvin''s lightning enveloped daggers, only for a second impact to follow suit, surprising both him and Melvin.

    This caused Melvin''s defense to break apart, allowing the rod to advance forward, and hit his shoulder.

    Only a momentter, Melvin''s body slumped to the ground, astonishing everyone around.

    In fact, even Nial hadn''t expected his attack amplified by the darkness of the Odyssey seed to be so impactful.

    Without any expectations, he had just exerted his strength, and everything seemed to have worked out on its own.

    However, the spar was far from over, and Nial quickly changed his stance, pulling the rod back before he thrust out with it once again.

    He had yet to release the de of the spear, and Serl Tyr presumed this to be a precaution taken by Nial to prevent identally injuring Melvin.

    This was something Serl thought to be useless, but little did the Master of the Tyr family know that Nial was not afraid of injuring Melvin.

    That was the least of his worries because neither of the two were currently afraid of injuring each other as Melvin''s desire to win this spar surfaced from the depths of his heart.

    With a loud shout, he lifted one of his hands holding a dagger before a bolt of lightning manifested in his palm.

    Shooting out the ball of lightning, the dagger Melvin had held a moment earlier was flung towards Nial with a shocking pace that exceeded the ball of lightning he had fired towards him.

    Considering that he had manifested and fired the lightning within a second, it was not strong enough to severely injure Nial.

    However, that was not the case for the dagger that was flung toward him.<sub> </sub>

    Barely fast enough to twist his body the moment Melvin gathered lightning transmuted mana in his hand, Nial was able to evade the attack by a hair''s breadth¡­or so he thought.

    What he had failed to realize was that the dagger that had brushed past him had actually hit him, causing a deep gash on his upper arm.

    Yet, Nial didn''t notice anything because the adrenaline coursing through his body was suppressing any kind of pain he was currently feeling.

    Because of that, Nial was able to give his best, and exceed his limitations without being forced to rely on the first pulse of the Odyssey seed.

    Thus, the moment he lifted his body, he thrust the Viper spear towards Melvin with only one hand.

    In the end, by twisting his body, he had lost his bnce, which his now free hand had fixed.

    Unfortunately, this prevented him from attacking with a powerful thrust as the attackcked the necessary stability.

    However, Nial had already prepared himself for a simr scenario, whcih was why his mind was calmer than one might expect.

    He had predicted a different scenario, but the actual case didn''t really matter because it served as a leeway to get himself out of trouble.

    This was exactly what was currently happening as he thrust the Viper rod forward aiming at Melvin''s chest.

    Yet, just a fraction of a second before he hit Melvin''s chest, he heard a metallic ng of the dagger hitting his rod as the remaining dagger Melvin was wielding changed the trajectory of his attack.

    Through this and the instability of Nial''s thrust, the attack was bound to narrowly brush past Melvin''s right shoulder, revealing an opportunity for the young Original.

    But it was at this moment that the corners of Nial''s lips curled upwards, clearly indicating to Melvin and the two spectators that something was wrong.

    ''Did I mess up?'' Melvin wondered for a moment.

    Despite knowing that something was bound to happen, the butler, Serl Tyr, and even more so Melvin, couldn''t help but stare at what happened just a fraction of a secondter as the Viper spear''s de shot out of its tip, piercing into Melvin''s right shoulder.

    This could only happen owing to Melvin''s underestimation of the spearde''s length and the fact that he had never expected Nial to release the Viper spear''s de at this moment and to actually hurt him.

    It was truly baffling because Nial''s determination to win was clearly perceived with that attack.

    However, Melvin could only grit his teeth and tell himself that the battle was not yet over.

    Twisting his body instinctively the way he had done in the numerous hellish training sessions he had undergone with Master Junades, he was able to evade a severe injury.

    Nial''s attack might have been a surprise but Melvin had much more experience!

    Nheless, it was crystal clear that Melvin was at a disadvantage right now because his shoulder was injured, preventing him from moving his entire right arm as smoothly as before.

    This caused Melvin to frown, wondering how Nial had been able to learn how to wield his weapon and how to fight as good as him in a matter of a few days.

    After all, he had been unconscious for several days.

    As such, there had to be something else, which made him wonder if Nial''s natural talent was at a monstrously high level or if Nial was giving his utmost efforts to defeat his opponent for the first time in his life¡­or it had always been the case and it was only Melvin who was experiencing this for the first time.

    Unfortunately, before Melvin coulde to a conclusion, Nial''s free hand had already reached the Viper spear, allowing him to regain better control over the Viper spear followed by much better stability, and fierceness in the attacks he dealt.

    Most of his attacks were simple shes and thrusts, but these attacks were more than enough to annoy Melvin, to the extent that he was unable to hold back anymore.

    Exerting a technique he had begun to learn only a short while before his re-encounter with Nial, Melvin gritted his teeth as lightning transmuted mana coursed through his entire body.

    Through this, his speed increased tremendously, but owing to his weakmand of the technique, it caused his body to ache severely.

    But that was perfectly fine with Melvin, who saw nothing but victory in front of him as he smoothly evaded the spear thrust that was aimed towards the center of his chest.

    As if Nial knew that Melvin would evade or block his attacks, he attacked fiercely while gritting his teeth.

    Unfortunately, thest fierce attack caused him to lose his bnce because Nial was certain that his spear-thrust would be blocked or the trajectory would get changed instead of getting entirely evaded.

    Because of this miscalction, he almost lost the fight against his friend.

    Yet, instead of thinking about giving up, Nial twisted his body once again until he felt the ufortable sensation creeping up his spine that something extremely bad would happen if he were to continue.

    As such, he knew that he had reached his limit, which allowed him to let go of his right hand in order to brandish the Viper spear in the direction Melvin was moving.

    Through this, Nial attempted to hit his side, which didn''t work as Melvin''s entire body was d in lightning for a fraction of a second, blocking the attack.

    Leaning his body forward, Melvin used the wide-open area to jump towards his blind friend, thrusting his dagger out that sent Nial flying towards the ground.

    "You''re dead!"  Melvin said in between heavy breaths, with a faint grin on his face as he held his dagger on Nial''s neck.

    It was the first grin that had appeared on his face since the day he had made the huge mistake.

    This caused Serl and the butler to smile, only to see how Melvin stiffened as he felt something sharp sticking into his abdomen.

    Looking down, he saw how a perfectly normal dagger, held in Nial''s hand was piercing through his clothes, faintly cutting into his skin.

    "So are you!"

 Chapter 60 Alone At Home

    The dagger Nial was holding in his right hand was one of the weapons he had picked up from the two-element dungeons.

    A few Ratmen had attempted to wield the weapons of the Originals they killed, which yed into his hands.

    Unfortunately, this was not the case for the Ratmen because it was the incident in which his Odyssey seed had released the eerie darkness that had shattered their dreams to wield a proper weapon, killing them even before they could use it.

    However, Nial was able to make use of the dagger, ending the spar with Melvin in a draw, and dealt the final blow with the dagger, instead of the Viper spear Melvin had been fixated on.

    Minutes had passed since the spar had ended, but both youths were still sitting on the ground, catching up their breaths as if they had just run a long, tiring marathon.

    Nheless, both of them were smiling, and the tension that had umted within their body during thest few days had been fully released, helping them free their minds of any ill thoughts.

    This didn''t mean that they had forgotten the abduction of Nial''s family or the fact that Nial had no certain way of reaching them.

    After emptying themselves of all the pent-up aggression, they were able to think straight ahead, and it was finally time for the two of them to make up their minds while being unaffected by emotions such as anger, guilt or frustration.

    p Despite that, Melvin was unable to think about how he could help Nial to reunite with his family because he was still looking at his friend, in utter dumbfounding.</anda>

    "How...did you be so much stronger in only a few days?" He couldn''t help but ask, dragging Nial out of his thoughts.

    "I became stronger?..Hmm¡­maybe I gained a little bit ofbat experience, and I tried to replicate Master Junades'' movements, but they''re too difficult because my body feels like it''s tearing apart while performing the entire sequence.

    But I managed to perform parts of the whole sequence¡­a little bit at least.

    If you mean that by bing stronger, maybe I did get a little bit stronger...I guess."

    Shrugging his shoulders, Nial pointed out that he had no idea what his friend meant, and even Serl Tyr and the butler of the Tyr family couldn''t help but look at the profusely sweating boy in doubt.

    It was almost as if they were not looking at a blind and crippled boy anymore but a ferocious little monster, but they refrained from making ament because they were not sure what to say, to begin with.

    In the end, there was too much to say, but too little time and words¡­or so it looked like.

    As such, an awkward silence filled the arena which confused Nial as he thought that he had said something wrong.

    Yet, what puzzled him was the fact that nobody mentioned the darkness the Odyssey seed had released.

    As if on cue, Melvin pointed out what Nial had been thinking about, just without mentioning the darkness as if it didn''t exist.

    "By the way, how did you create the double impact hit at the start of the spar? Did you use your mana to aplish that?"

    It was confusing that Melvin seemed to have been unable to see the darkness that created the second impact, and when he turned his attention to Serl Tyr and the butler, he noticed that they were looking at him with curiosity too.

    They were interested in figuring out the answer to Melvin''s question, and without knowing why, Nial nodded his head before he replied,

    "Probably? To be honest, I just followed my instincts and released everything from the inside!"

    Even though his entire being screamed that he had to keep the darkness the Odyssey seed released his secret, Nail didn''t like lying.

    As such, he tried to tweak his answer and y around with words so that he wouldn''t have to lie.

    Nevertheless, Nial was still feeling guilty, but that didn''t matter right now.

    After all, his sister had been just taken away without his knowledge for having a unique disease!

    He didn''t want to imagine what would happen to him if others were to find out that he had the Odyssey seed inside his body. The fact that it was simr to an Innate ability holder, just more unique, but also ominous made him want to keep it as his personal secret for now.

    Nial was unable to describe it properly, but he felt bothfortable and ufortable with the Odyssey seed around him.

    Not wanting to add more worries to his mind, as well as wanting to be a little bit morefortable with it, he chose to hide it even from his best friend.

    As such, after he gave his uncertain answer, Nial tended to his wound on the arm and bandaged it before taking a healing serum.

    His mind came up with numerous things to say to Melvin, but Nial felt incapable of saying anything.

    Melvin appeared to be in a simr state, but it was clear that he had ovee his depression, which caused him to hug his friend, before he muttered, "I''m sorry!"

    Returning the hug, Nial reassured his friend that it was fine and that it might have been for the best for Sabrina whose disease might have been cured already.

    In the end, the only diforting factor for Nial was the fact that he couldn''t be certain about his family''s well-being.

    This was annoying, but also not something he could change right now. It made his heart ache, so painfully that he could barely breathe.

    Yet, Nial also knew that he would reunite with his family, that was something he was certain off and the only requirement was for him to be stronger, stronger than anyone else!

    As such, he bid farewell to his friend before he turned to Serl Tyr, and the butler, to whom he bid farewell too.

    Nial had received Serl Tyr''s contact information in his Originals card, and he already knew that he would have to use it soon because he had one particr item which he wanted to barter- the [Earth affinityprehension)] crystal!

    Instead of selling the elemental affinity crystal, Nial nned to barter it with an ability crystal which he wanted to bind to as his mana core''s first ability.

    Unfortunately, he had yet to figure out what kind of ability he wanted to bind to his mana core.

    It had to be suitable to his body and constitution, the fact that he couldn''t see, and if possible, it would be the best if it could interlock with his [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability.

    This meant that he wanted them to ovep and enhance each other even if only one of the two was utilized.

    Doing such a thing was tricky, and Nial knew that the most important factor was to outweigh the disadvantage of being blind.<sub> </sub>

    Though it was difficult andplex, he was confident in achieving it...somehow.

    It would only take some time, which was something he had more than enough of.

    Other than that, he could be considered to be rich because he had a Pseudo-Myth weapon aka the Viper spear, arge spatial ring, a leather armor, numerous potions, and other misceneous items, a permanent dungeon, and¡­an empty house.

    As for his utility expenses, there was nothing he would have to pay for except water and electricity bills, and the rest was for his personal needs.

    With that in mind, Nial couldn''t help but feel a sudden emptiness spread through his entire being as he left the mansion of the Tyr family.

    While dragging himself towards his now empty house, he walked past a middle-aged woman, who was staring daggers at him, followed by a young woman who looked at him, with a mixture of sadness and worry.

    She had heard about what had happened, and even more so, she knew what her brother, Melvin had done.

    As such, she felt as if it was her obligation to say something tofort him, but before she could do so, her mother forcibly dragged her ahead, not giving her a chance to do anything.

    Left on his own, Nial was walking through the streets with empty hands as everything was stored inside his spatial ring.

    Hours passed in which he seemed to wander through the streets, and oddly enough, he somehow found himself in the backyard of his house.

    Having no idea how he had arrived at home, Nial sat on the wooden bench as his mana perception focused on the permanent slime dungeon.

    He had to try hard not to use his mana perception to sense his family''s presence in the house because he wanted to deny the sad truth.

    However, after a few minutes passed, Nial gave up this futile effort as he entered the house where he took a deep breath.

    Walking through the entire house, he found out that everything was as he was told- his parents and sister were not there anymore.

    From the looks of it the living room was a mess too, which was exactly what Serl had told him.

    As such, the first thing Nial did was to clean the entire house before he prepared himself some dinner while trying to suppress his emotions.

    Yet, when he tried to force himself to eat, Nial felt incapable of holding back his tears.

    Despite the bitter tears of anguish and hurt flowing down his eye, he kept forcing himself to finish the food, and as if it was onmand, the tears ceased the moment he was done eating.

    After washing the dishes, he went outside and stared at the permanent slime dungeon knowing that it wouldn''t take long before it would break out, and slimes would rampage his backyard.

    A wry chuckle escaped his lips because he felt that the slimes dungeon had lost its value.

    ''Do I even need the constant supply of money the dungeon provides?'' He asked himself, believing that the permanent slime dungeon had turned into a nuisance more than anything else.

    It was at this moment that he received an email on his phone that looked more like a piece of junk.

    In fact, it was nearly destroyed owing to the events that had happened during thest few weeks.

    Though it was in tatters and had cracks on the screen, he could still read the mail he received, using the application that read the content of the message out loud, if only barely.

    Most of the message was cut off because his phone didn''t work properly anymore, but Nial caught the most important part, causing him to freeze on the spot.

    [All properties of the family ''Orin'' have been transferred to Nial Orin!]

    On one hand, this was shocking and something that made him shiver despite a warm breeze of air that brushed past him.

    But, on the other hand, he realized that the property transfer had a hidden meaning, which caused him to smile faintly.

    ''They''re doing fine, right?''

    He couldn''t be sure if he understood the meaning of the property transfer correctly, but considering that he had inherited their property, meaning that the government indirectly acknowledged that they had taken away his parents and Sabrina.

    Other than that, he couldn''t exin the given situation that was more messed up than he initially wanted to acknowledge.

    Yet, when Nial was able to move once again, the Viper spear manifested in his hand as he prepared himself to fight against a few slimes.

    After entering the dungeon, he cleared his mind by killing the slimes, and the slime boss, which was easy after having fought much stronger beasts, and he finished all of them in less than half an hour.

    When he was done, he picked up the origin crystals before he stored them away as he mumbled to himself.

    "Should I just sell everything?"

    **

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    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 61 Rich?

    In the end, Nial was alone at home, and given the fact that he wanted to move to Liondra as quickly as possible, he couldn''t help but believe that it was best to sell everything that held him back from moving on.

    At the same time, it made him feel a little bit ufortable to leave behind everything that made him recall the great times he had spent in this home with his parents, Sabrina and even Melvin.

    Yet, instead of letting emotions get to him, his resolve was only bing firmer because Nial thought that he would have never been able to see his house, to begin with.

    He tried to make himself less gloomy because the people who mattered to him made the memories special, not the bricks and walls.

    Even if he were to continue staying inside the house, it would not necessarily make him feel any better.

    Instead, the house would be the clear evidence that he was missing something; the rest of his family.

    Loneliness was not great, but at the same time, it could be used as a fuel to drive himself harder to achieve whatever he wanted!

    With that in mind, Nial didn''t hesitate anymore as he essed the phone.

    Unfortunately, just as he was about to dial the number of the Originals'' association in order to sell the permanent slime dungeon, including the property the dungeon portal was located on, he heard a loud crack.

    Two pieces that had once been Nial''s phone fell to the ground, causing the young man to frown deeply before he sighed.

    ''It looks like I need an Originals'' bracelet too¡­''

    Without being able to contact anyone, he felt the need for a device with which he could ess the inte and if possible the official websites of the Originals.

    Not just that but he also nned to browse through a variety of online stores and much more. With that in mind, Nial decided to visit the Originals'' association.

    The empty house was beginning to eat at him and he wanted to quickly step outside.

    Thus, he quickly packed everything that would serve as memories of his family inside his spatial ring before leaving the house¡­forever.

    Even if he could save lots of money by staying inside the house instead of lodging in a small room somewhere, he didn''t want to train hard, just to return to the empty house every single day.

    As such, Nial ran towards the direction of the main street, where he tried to hail a shuttle.

    His phone had broken, after all, so he had to manually get one instead of booking it online.

    Because of that, it took him almost an hour before he reached the Originals'' association which Nial entered with much more confidence than just a few weeks ago.

    Queuing up in a line, he waited patiently, and when it was his turn, he didn''t waste any time either.

    "Hello Sir, how may I help you?" The woman standing behind the counter asked, and Nial quickly held out his Originals ID before answering,

    "I wish to sell my property. A permanent slime dungeon manifested on it a few weeks ago, but that was already reported.

    The dungeon has a four hour respawn period, a restriction that allows only one Original to enter it at a time, and there are around 150mon slimes including the slime boss inside."

    Stating the necessary facts in a few short sentences, Nial let her know his purpose of arrival.

    The receptionist nodded her head in a slight confusion and many questions shed through her mind.

    However, instead of enquiring further, she began to work using a special configured calctor to add the information Nial had provided.

    Sufficient documents and photos of the property and the dungeon needed to be provided as a proof to verify his ims, but for now, she couldpute a rough price as the information about the Orin family''s property were thorough.

    "With everything you said, including the small house, and the sale ofnd the property is built on, you would receive around 1,000,000$. We''ll need proof and documents for them both, but are you willing to sell your property for this price?"

    Nial nodded his head, without saying anything because he could feel a lump in his throat.

    Despite noticing him getting emotional the receptionist did not console him in any way. She came across such situations quite frequently so she was not really affected. Wanting to finish the task quickly, she simply moved the holographic screen closer to Nial so that he could sign it and leave quietly.

    The receptionist didn''t even bother trying to help him find the holographic screen, despite knowing that he was blind, and after he signed she asked if he had something else she could help with before turning towards the next client.

    In the end, he would receive the said amount after everything was verified, which would take a day or two.

    Nial was in no hurry either and he left the Originals'' association toplete his next task.

    Entering a few stores, he tried to figure out which merchants paid the most for the dozen weapons he had amassed inside the dungeon.

    Unfortunately, even the highest bid he received was not up to his expectations, and by selling a total of 12 Mid Common ranked weapons, he merely received 2 million dors in return.

    This was a lot, but at the same time not exactly satisfactory for Nial, who had just sold his house and the permanent dungeon for half of that.

    After the weapons were finally sold, Nial wanted to get rid of the two [Petrification Eyes(poorest)] ability crystals too.

    They were also sold for the highest prices, which brought him a total of 300,000$. Under normal circumstances, ability crystals at the Low Common rank were priced at a minimum of 100,000$ which was also said to be amongst the highest price offered for Poorest quality Common ranked ability crystals.

    Nevertheless, that was not the case for the [Petrification Eyes(poorest)] ability crystals because they could be used quite efficiently inbination with other abilities.

    Owing to this, Nial had earned more than 3 Million dors in a mere hour, which would have exhrated him under normal circumstances.<sub> </sub>

    But what he felt now was just a dull ache which served as a constant reminder of his missing family and his inability to find them.

    Nothing excited him anymore, and the only goal he had in mind was to use the fortune he had earned in order to make use of it.

    He still had more than 120 origin crystals left, but selling them would be wasteful because he wanted to be stronger as quickly as possible.

    Thus, Nial was ready to use all of them to absorb and annex the mana that was stored inside the crystals.

    This should be more than enough to enter the 2nd Origin rank¡­or so Nial thought.

    Little did he know that the quality of the mana inside the origin crystals he had was so little that he would barely progress if he were to use only a single one.

    Even with 100, his chances to undergo the first erging procedure of his mana core were slim. In fact, he would probably require 1000 poorest qualitymon ranked origin crystals.

    As such, it was better to use origin crystals with a higher quality which was also more cost-efficient.

    However, Nial was still oblivious to the bitter truth, thinking that his fortune of 3.6 Million dors was enough to sponsor his advancement to the 5th Origin rank, which was his current limit.

    This bubble would soon burst, but for now, he was still under the impression that he was truly rich¡­which was true. But it would not be the case by solely looking at the amount of origin crystals and money he possessed.

    What made Nial truly rich was his equipment, and even more so the [Earthprehension)] affinity crystal.

    But even then, Nial would never sell his equipment because he required it to fight and survive, while the Earth affinity crystal was something he wanted to barter, but not now.

    The master of the Tyr family might have warmed up to him, but that didn''t mean Nial felt the same about him.

    Contrary to that, Nial was even more vignt of Serl Tyr than it had been the case before.

    There were multiple reasons for this, but the most important was his gut feeling that told him it was better to be safe than sorry.

    As such, Nial had decided to search for a suitable ability crystal to bind to his mana core before considering making use of the Tyr family''s connections.

    However, before all of that, he rented one of the cheaper ts that were in the district adjacent to the central district.

    This cost him 1500$ rent for an entire month, which was the period in which he wanted to chalk out his future ns.

    Giving himself a specific time limit was important, and also necessary to pressurize himself, which was exactly what Nial was trying to do.

    Determined to make every second count, Nial entered the sparsely decorated t.

    It had the bare minimum furniture that he would require to livefortably.

    The first thing he did upon settling down was to take a shower before he put on his underwear, and fell asleep the moment his back touched the bed.

    Thest 24 hours had been extremely stressful, and the information he had received was hard to digest.

    Because of that, Nial needed a good amount of sleep which was what he did.

    Several hourster, he woke up with groggy eyes, not knowing where he was.

    But then all the memories of thest day came rushing to him.

    This caused him to sigh deeply before he got up from the bed.

    Stepping into the shower to wash away his sleep, he put on some more clothes, before he tried to ess his online bank ount.

    However that was not possible because he was stillcking an Originals'' bracelet.

    It made him react by pping his forehead when he realized that he had forgotten to purchase the Originals'' bracelet, with which he could ess everything he required.

    In fact, not just him but the device was a must-have for every single Original because it came with a variety of functions just like a smartphone.

    Even people who had not awakened their origin used the Originals bracelets as its use was simply too great.

    After having taken sufficient rest, Nial decided to purchase one for himself too.

    Luckily, he could purchase things using his ID as well, and thus he made use of it half an hourter.

    Purchasing one of the simple, yet further tempered and reinforced versions of the Originals bracelets for around 199.999$, Nial ensured that it wouldn''t break, even if his entire arm would be mashed.

    This visualization was cruel, but it was something that could happen.

    Shaking his head to get rid of the gory image of his mashed hand, Nial purchased the Originals bracelet before essing it with his Originals ID card.

    Merely a few momentster, he heard the pleasing voice of a female, originating from the Originals bracelet.

    [Hello Master, how may I help you?]

 Chapter 62 Restart

    Configuring the Originals'' bracelet didn''t take long because it scanned his ID, and imported all the previously stored information about him in seconds.

    This allowed him to ess all websites only Originals were permitted to look at.

    There were many things he had to pay attention to, but Nial''s mind seemed to be a mashed pulp of thoughts, simr to the visualization of his mashed arm- chaotic, tangled and broken.

    For a moment, he was unable to make sense of the situation he was currently in that rendered himself incapable of thinking of the next step of his non-existent n.

    Unable to think of anything he was supposed to do right now, Nial simply sat in his new home while staring at the walls.

    He felt extremely useless, his mind felt empty, but at the same it was as if he had too many things that were important to be solved right at this instant.

    As such, while trying toe up with the perfect n, several possible ideas popped up in his head, making it hard for him to pick one.

    It was extremely difficult, and an extreme burden for his entire being.

    After all, he had always had his parents or Melvin to discuss his issues if he were to get stuck somewhere. But, he would take some time in getting used to doing and deciding everything on his own.

    Because of that, Nial''s brain was overflowing with ns but none of them was perfect which prevented him from doing anything.

    Forcing himself to get his act together, Nial picked the one he found the most feasible and started to think on it further.

    With that in mind, he began to absorb the Mana out of the origin crystals he had at hand, annexing every single trace of mana out of them.

    This allowed him to increase the amount of mana stored inside his mana core tremendously.

    However, even after two days passed and thest origin crystal had been emptied, Nial realized that the ''huge'' amount of mana was only slightly more than a tenth of his entire mana core.

    That meant he had to purchase close to 900 poorest quality Common rank origin crystals in order to fill his mana core to the brim.

    If he were to purchase Low ranked origin crystals instead, he would require less but that did not make much difference because the advance to the 2nd Origin rank would cost him far less than 50,000$.

    This was unexpectedly low, considering that his current fortune was more than 3 million dors.

    Maybe it was even enough to allow him to enter the 3rd Origin rank but it would eat up almost his whole fortune because every subsequent rank demanded far more mana of higher quality than the previous rank.

    But even that was not something Nial paid much attention to because he couldn''t think about purchasing something.

    Instead, he wanted to distract his mind from anything that could possibly make him recall his family, or the fact that he waspletely alone.

    Thus, he left his new t for the first time in almost three days, with a familiar destination in his mind.

    It was a ce where he was able to release all his emotions without hurting anyone¡­ except monsters.

    His goal was the Melind dungeon!

    Unsure of how much time had passed, Nial was deep in thought as his feet automatically carried him to the Melind dungeon, which he wanted to enter without wasting too much time.

    However, what he didn''t think about before was the fact that he didn''t have the free pass, aka Melvin, by his side anymore.

    Realization struck him only when he was asked to show his Originals ID card, which Nial did with some reluctance.

    This was noticed by the soldier, who took a nce at the Originals ID card before he frowned a little.

    Yet, instead ofmenting, he returned the ID card before allowing him to enter the dungeon.

    Even though Nial hadn''t thought about the restrictions beforehand, he was fully aware of the fact that only government officials and a select group of individuals with special permission were eligible to enter the Melind dungeon.

    In the end, this was owing to the fact that the dungeon was in a tricky area with a dense poption of humans, followed by the fact that it was a permanent dungeon, where the monsters within respawned at a quick pace.

    As such, the government was forced to send in their troops in quick session, while their reasons to prevent other Originals from entering the dungeon were mainly based on materialistic gains.

    After all, the Melind dungeon had many rare bosses, such as the Sekyr Sound Centipede that dropped very rare ability crystals.

    This was not everything but more than enough for Nial to clearly understand that the government was sending in their own troops to fill their own pockets, even if it was only to pay the bills of the increasing number of soldiers they had to nurture on a monthly basis.

    Nial didn''t me the government for this strategy as it required huge amounts of funds in order to control their shelters, and taxes were falling short of the ever-increasing expenses which wasn''t the case before the first dungeon emerged.

    Multiple reasons caused the old tax system to break down, and Originals wouldn''t voluntarily create an Originals ID, if they had to pay high.

    Otherwise, they would simply create a barter system with which they would use the goods from dungeons, physical money or other necessities that couldn''t be detected by the system.

    Thus, taxes were a difficult matter and in order to create a working system in a world with dungeons, the government had found several ways in order to fund themselves, which worked rtively well in a world where the weak would do everything in order to make their ends meet.

    One such way was to hire the poor and weak to nurture them to turn them into teams of Originals, whose sole goal was to clear permanent dungeons, in order to earn origin crystals which in turn would allow more people to be nurtured.

    Wealth would umte slowly but steadily, and after some huge investments of countless powerhouses, everything seemed to work perfectly fine.

    Nial didn''t know all of this because history was something he had yet to study properly, and it would probably take a while to increase his knowledge up to the point that he would beparable to his peers.<sub> </sub>

    However, that was perfectly fine, and for now being able to enter the Melind dungeon was a top priority.

    It would help him calm his mind and he had already reminded himself of one particr task which he couldn''t neglect.

    ''I should definitely return to the library, and study as much as possible. Acquiring knowledge is important but that''s not all! If the librarian¡­Mara, I think was her name, is still there, I might be able to ask her about Liondra.

    She knows Master Junades, after all, so wouldn''t she know one or two things about the strongest shelter of mankind?''

    Nial was not really sure how influential Master Junades, Librarian Mara, or even cksmith Arnold were, but he knew that they would be able to help him better than Serl Tyr, who was still hiding some things from him.

    As such, while being inside the Melind dungeon which he was allowed to enter, Nial''s mind began to work once again.

    Freed of the countless ideas that had tormented his mind earlier, he was finally able toe up with a good n to solve all the issues he had at hand.

    However, before thinking of anything else, or fighting in order to ease the tension in his coiled muscles, Nial enveloped his Originals ID card with mana, in order to figure out what kinds of changes had happened.

    The Originals ID card was simr to a smartphone application that would be updated on a regr basis.

    As such, Nial, who had been struggling to fight the loneliness surrounding him, he had been unable to see the newest updates, including the special remark that was added to his ID card.

    Only now was he able to visualize it, and upon reading the words he was a bit astonished.

    [Civilian Honor Badge(Bronze)]

    He had not done a lot in the dungeon, except trying to find and take care of Shana, but after thinking about it for a moment, it did not matter what task of his made him receive this honor badge.

    Rather, he should make use of everything he received in order to find a way towards the Liondra shelter and his family.

    Thus, ignoring the honor badge, he visualized his surroundings by using some of the mana inside his mana core to empower the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability, allowing him to perceive a bigger range of his surroundings.

    It was not even important for Nial to visualize anything around him because being able to perceive his surroundings, and the moving masses of mana was already more than enough for him to locate his opponents.

    He knew that there were many Goblins inside the Melind dungeon, and after having emerged in the middle of the ins, there was not a single sign for him to figure out which direction the forest was.

    Even if he were to find the forest, after venturing in the deeper areas of the first floor, Nial was not sure if he should enter it because the dangers were several times higher than it was the case with the outskirts that were represented by the ins.

    As such, Nial knew that he had to be a little bit careful about what he was supposed to do as he could not pay attention to several things at once.

    What was more important was to fix the issue he had with long-range opponents, which meant that he had to figure out how to find and kill them without the need to see them.

    Sensing them would be the easiest, but the mana consumption of the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability increased exponentially the further he wanted to see.

    This was obvious because the range increased to an exceptional degree despite the ability itself being at the poorest possible of the lowest quality at the Common rank.

    Such a ranking spoke volumes about the ability itself, the amount of mana that was required, and how potent the ability was in rtion to the used mana.

    With that in mind, Nial knew that he would have to be stronger in order to increase the rank and thus the strength of his Innate ability, oveing even the disadvantages he had of being blind.

    He was fully aware of the fact that he kept thinking about his disability a lot, but it was simply too much of a disadvantage not to think about.

    Dying at the hands of someone who would attack him from a long distance, or the possibility that he was unable to sense the advance of specific beings was certainly not eptable.

    Thetter would have a low chance, but would still be possible.

    As such, Nial got carried away in his thoughts once again and momentarily went nk.

    Goosebumps sprang up all over his entire body in an instant, and it was just at this moment that Nial moved his leg left backward.

    Twisting himself, he tilted the Viper spear before he pierced out with it.

    *ng* *ng* *ng*

    Hearing three sounds as different objects collided with the Viper spear''s de, Nial understood that he was facing three different attackers as the direction of each of these attacks was different.

    Having expected only one opponent, the Earth Mole that shot out of the ground quickly disappeared, realizing that its attack failed, leaving Nial with two unknown attackers that were to his right and left.

    "So¡­you guys want to y? Good for you, but I don''t like ying around!"

    Growling out these words, Nial''s already bad mood only worsened, and without hesitation he released the majority of his mana in order to utilize the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

    Through this, he was able to perceive many masses of mana to his right and left, numbering more than two dozen on each side.

    Normally, this would be something to be afraid of, but Nial couldn''t help but smile lightly as his frustration disappeared into thin air, sensing that he was able to let off some steam!

    "Being in the wrong ce at the wrong time was never good¡­but now..DIE!!"

 Chapter 63 Carnage

    By entering the Melind dungeon, Nial nned to start from scratch once again.

    This didn''t mean that he would forget his past or do something extremely stupid.

    Rather, it meant that he wanted to test his current capabilities with a clear mind in order to evaluate his strengths and weaknesses.

    Thus did not only include hisbat strength, but also hisprehension, and the depth of his knowledge.

    In the end, all of his characteristics should be rather low, with the sole exception being hisprehension and everything concerning the control of mana.

    By assessing himself, he should be able to find out more about his own persona, the things he wascking the most, what was the most important to fix right away, and a n to tend to all the issues one by one.

    This was what Nial had nned initially, but after encountering tworge groups of beasts that he presumed to be goblins, Nial was unable to even think about holding back, or assessing himself.

    Instead, his mind was fully upied with sensing his opponents for a short moment before he retracted the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

    The mana consumption was simply too high, and Nial knew that he was in dire need of mana.

    Otherwise, he would have too little to circte through his body, which was what he did right now in order to increase his strength and speed by a small margin.

    Following that, he catapulted his body towards one direction, charging at one of the two groups that had approximately 30 beings each.

    ? This was a huge numberpared to what Nial wanted to fight right now because he first wished to adjust to the subtle increase in strength he had received by absorbing and annexing mana.

    Unfortunately, this was not possible, and his first opponents after Melvin were around 30 goblins each on his right and left.

    He was not sure how many of the goblins were archers, but it was just at this moment that his mana perception allowed him to sense the rapid approach of eight arrows, five from the back and three from the front.

    A total of eight archers was less than what Nial had presumed, but it was already more than enough to pressurize him to the extent that he was barely able to evade and deflect them.

    In fact, two arrows hit his leather armor, almost piercing into his skin which caused Nial''s heart to skip a beat before he continued to advance.

    Increasing the speed at which he ran, knowing that he might have to encounter another volley of arrows, Nial circted more mana through his body.

    With an attempt to lessen the unnecessary movements he did, he felt as if he could further elerate, but that was not something he could be sure of.

    As such, Nial decided that make a note of the movements he was currently doing as he began to swing the Viper spear when he was able to visualise the first Goblin from a closer distance.

    This meant that his opponents were not that far, which barely gave him the necessary time to react quickly by attacking the closest Goblin that was standing in front of him, holding a manaless broadsword in its tiny hands.

    Thrusting the Viper spear forward and into the Goblin''s flesh, Nial''s arms shot out, allowing him to reach the required distance in order to prate the Goblin''s head.

    Blood and brain mass sttered through the air the moment Nial retracted the Viper spear, leaving behind the corpse of the goblin that had been unable to notice what had happened.

    Meanwhile, the other goblins stiffened, when they perceived how easily theirrade had died.

    It had not even been able to stall Nial for a single second before dying of an easy thrust which took only a moment as well.

    As such, not even death seemed to be able to force the young, blind man to halt in his tracks as he used both hands to hold the upper and lower ends of the Viper spear in order to utilize all kinds of unique movements.

    This was only possible because Nial had prated their formation and entered the center of therge goblin group, preventing the three archers from attacking him without firing at his upper body, or one of their own.

    Because of that, he had many more options to finish off his opponents, including more space to fight and evade other attacks.

    Through this, it was possible for Nial to understand that his current strength was higher than that of the individual goblins, whosebat style was extremely simplistic.

    There were no feints, hidden attacks or scheming. Instead, they were screaming out in pain, anger, and wrath while trying to kill him and rushing at him rather mindlessly.

    Yet, before they were even able to reach him, a razor-sharp de pierced through their body, cut their weapon, or shed their entire body apart, reducing them to mere bone and limbs.

    Being equipped with the Viper spear, a Myth weapon, Nial would never have to face an issue in destroying weapons that didn''t possess any mana.

    Even some Common ranked weapons might break if they were not forged out of highly durable ores, wlessly crafted or purified perfectly.

    As such, he had simply turned into a tornado of destruction, crudely destroying the weapons of the goblins that attacked him, killing them without any mercy.

    Having mercy would only cause problems, and in the current situation, he might as well die.

    Thus, moving around gracefully, Nial killed the first group of Goblins within a few minutes. The speed at which he moved was extremely fast, making his body revolt against his sudden movements, preventing him from moving however he wanted.

    Sore muscles made pain shoot up from every cell of his lower body. While he was able to visualize the way he wanted to move, but at the same time, his body was not able to follow suit fast enough.

    Because of that, the problems began to umte, clearly telling Nial that he had many things to solve.

    Working on strengthening his physique was something he already knew about, but his constitution was just another important factor which he had momentarily forgotten.

    While fighting in a crude manner, Nial also noticed that he was relying too much on the Viper spear which would be a huge disadvantage if beasts were able to evade his straightforward thrust.

    This was not an unlikely scenario, and something perfectly normal because too many powerful beasts with strong defenses existed.

    Hence, he had be more analytical when encountering beasts he knew little to nothing about.

    But being analytical was not possible for him right now.

    Which is why he was focusing on using the best time-efficient way to defeat all opponents. His trick seemed to work as the first goblin group nowy on the ground, with their blood seeping into the now wet soil.<sub> </sub>

    Given the current situation, Nial wanted to take a deep breath but even that was not possible as he heard the unmistakable sound of several arrows that shot through the air.

    By circting mana through his entire body, his senses had also been enhanced, which allowed Nial to hear the arrows, in the first ce.

    Evading the arrows was much easier because Nial had chosen to take the easiest possible defensive measure; using a meat shield!

    Picking up the biggest goblin, he lifted the corpse easily.

    Adjusting the angle in ordance to the trajectory in which the arrow flew, Nial was able to block three arrows from hitting him, which was a great achievement, inparison to the effort he made.

    Because evading the attack didn''t force him to twist his body in an ufortable angle, or do something else, which would have forced him to halt in his tracks, Nial was able to push his feet off the ground.

    This gave him a great boost in speed, allowing him to reach his speed limit within a fraction of the time he normally required.

    Thus, he arrived in front of the closest goblin, which was wielding a spear just as he did.

    Thrusting the spear out, the goblin almost pierced Nial, who was taken aback by the fast reaction speed of his opponent.

    Nevertheless, such a speed was not enough to kill Nial as his reflexes were great enough to lift the Viper spear.

    A ng echoed through the surroundings when the two spears collided with each other, his higher strength, both quality and grade of the Viper spear were clearly shown as he pushed back the goblin''s spear.

    Flinging it out of the goblin''s hand, Nial moved swiftly before he thrust the spear in his opponent''s chest, piercing through it.

    With the use of every muscle in his arms, shoulders, and back, the strength he was able to exert was almost strong enough to pierce through the body of the goblin behind the one he just killed.

    The goblin behind was staring at the Viper spear''s de that was only a few centimeters away from its face, and Nial could only grimace before he tore the spear out of the chest of the goblin he had just killed.

    Afterward, he quickly moved towards the side, evading two shes of longswords, and before anything could happen, he counterattacked, thrusting at the swords that shattered into countless fragments.

    Nial couldn''t help but feel that the Viper spear was just too strong, but there was no way that he wouldin about this.

    Rather, he was overjoyed to own such a powerful weapon, even if it might alter his perception of his opponent''s strength.

    However, he had only survived inside the two-element dungeon because he owned a weapon that was as strong as the Viper spear.

    Despite that, the Viper spear was still much better than the Fang spear because Nial felt as if the weapon had been custom-built for him, and not for Shana''s sister.

    It fit perfectly in his hand, and there was close to no dy between the moment in which he inserted mana in the Viper spear, and could utilize the Viper spear in order to make use of the mana.

    After the first goblin of the secondrge group had been killed, and two weapons destroyed, Nial felt that his breathing was bing irregr.

    The moves he had used had been too strenuous for his body that had been forced to rest for over a week ording to the words of the Tyr family''s butler.

    As such, after fighting with Melvin, Nial spent four days doing other things than working out and preparing his physique to practice martial art techniques.

    He didn''t even take a single look at the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique since he had left the two-element dungeon.

    Even now, Nial felt that there were more important things he had toplete before paying attention to a technique that allowed him to increase his control over mana.

    In the end, increasing one''s control over mana, and improving the ways to utilize it was said to be the most difficult, but for Nial, this was one of the smallest issues right now.

    The biggest was his disability and the disadvantages his blindness brought forth, followed by his physical weakness.

    Hisck of strong physique was connected to his other concerns which were the number of techniques he had, and that he had no way to procure more of them.

    At the same time his knowledge, or rather theck of knowledge was also an equally big concern, andst but not least the fact that he had nobody to look up to as a mentor.

    It was not necessary to have a mentor, but after he had witnessed how Master Junades had moved, almost soundlessly, and without any ws, or wasted moves, Nial was sure that it would save him ag great deal of time and efforts if he were to have someone to teach the proper movements.

    With that in mind, Nial was slowly finding a path to move ahead, to figure out what he had to know, improve, and pay attention to.

    All of this could be considered his starting line, and the journey to figure out more about himself.

    However, before he was able to start a chapter in his life, and journey, Nial had to defeat those that obstructed him in this process.

    Thus, he caused carnage as he finished off the remaining goblins that died miserably while a devious smile was stered on Nial''s face.

    **

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    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 64 Mutant

    After killing thest few goblins, Nial picked up the origin crystals that had dropped before he distanced himself from the crime scene.

    Once he reached a certain distance, he slumped to the ground, and took a few deep breaths.

    While actively replenishing his mana, Nial simply used an origin crystal to hasten up the process, not bothering about the hefty sum of 30$ he paid for the crystal that was pulverized within seconds.

    It didn''t take long before he was reinvigorated, and his mana core was filled to the brim, but instead of shing against dozens of goblin groups, Nial wanted to do something different.

    However, on second thought, releasing his pent-up frustration would probably be the best. At least for now.

    His body was aching lightly, but by straining his muscles they would be tempered and trained for such rigorous physical activities.

    Thus, after gulping down a single stamina replenishing potion, Nial chose to turn the outskirts into a field of massacre with the sole purpose of allowing his body to adjust to strenuous movements and to release his tension.

    With such a simple mission at hand, several hours passed, and his entire body was streaked with blood and brain mass as he stood in the middle of a battlefield with more than 50 goblins.

    Having fought against several hundred of them, he was now well versed with theirbat style that was not too special, to begin with.

    As such, he could easily kill a handful of them while evading arrows, spear thrusts and other des thrust toward him.

    Possessing a great perception had always been one of Nial''s strongest advantages, but right now, he was also able to absorbrge amounts of mana currents passively while walking around.

    This was something he didn''t expect to be capable of doing while being on a killing spree because there shouldn''t be too much time left for him to focus on absorbing mana.

    Yet, after having killed hundreds of beasts, his appearance and demeanor coupled with the way he wielded his spear was enough to prevent any of the weaker beasts on the outskirts from attacking him.

    Nial knew that he was just at the outskirts of the Melind dungeon''s firstyer, so he should be able to enter the central area without being ripped apart.

    However, he didn''t want to enter the central area except for the purpose of leaving the dungeon, which was what he would do soon.

    Unfortunately, his n to keep ughtering beasts while absorbing some mana to annex it kept getting interrupted by other Originals that hunted the prey he had nned to attack, or he encountered groups of beasts that were already attacking someone else.

    As such, without intervening in their hunts he tried searching for other beasts, only for a slightly more problematic intervention to ur.

    Facing a small group of 10 goblins, Nial first assumed that he would be able to ughter them quite easily.

    To his misfortune, there were unique goblins amongst them, which was odd toe across in Rookie dungeons.

    While the mostmon forms of goblins were green-colored ones, which Nial perceived as the ones that had little mana, evolved goblins could either turn into Goblin Warriors, Hobgoblins, or Goblins with unique professions that might even allow them to wield elemental affinities.

    However, Nial wasn''t supposed to encounter such goblins in the Melind dungeon, which was why he presumed the goblins in front of him to have two Mutants amongst them.

    Being able to perceive their mana fluctuations, he realized that these two Mutants were much stronger, and one of them even had faint signs of transmuted mana.

    This indicated that one of the mutants was likely to have only received a physical enhancement through the mutation, while the other one was likely to have gained an elemental affinity seed.

    To say that Nial was not astonished about this would be a lie, but he was able to keep his calm. After all, he had been facing much more powerful existences in thest few weeks.

    Because of that, he took a deep breath before he charged toward his opponents like a tornado, swiftly killing the eight goblins that were trying to attack him mindlessly.

    They roared out in wrath while trying to intimidate him, only to understand toote that the two truly strong goblins were simply going to spectate their death as they didn''t even budge while seeing the eight goblins getting ughtered.

    Nial had perceived this from the beginning, which was why he had acted so quickly, preventing the Mutated goblins from changing their mind.

    After the eight goblins were dead, the two mutants made their first move as one of them manifested a water jet in front of his body, and shot it towards Nial without hesitation.

    Evading it by a hair''s breadth, Nial twisted his body at an ufortable angle but that prevented him from evading the attack of the physically stronger goblin that shed at him with a longsword.

    Wielding the Viper spear, Nial deflected the attack in the nick of time.

    Lifting his body, and returning it to the stance he had been in a moment earlier, Nial used his strength by circting arge amount of mana through his arm and back.

    This allowed him to move the Viper spear at a rapid pace, making a slight curve with it in order to hit the physically strong goblin''s side.

    At first, Nial presumed that the attack had hit it, but the goblin was able to use its quick reflexes to block off the attack, while the other goblin shot another water jet at him.

    At the same time, the Water attributed goblin advanced toward him, entering closebat while continuing to use its affinity.

    This was annoying but far less dangerous than having a long-range attacker.

    Two closebatants were still fine, and considering that the Water attributed goblin was just a goblin with an elemental attribute, Nial was able to injure it rtively quickly.

    Unfortunately, the moment he attacked it, the physically strong goblin changed the trajectory of his spear thrust, preventing Nial from killing the water-attributed goblin in a single attack.

    Nevertheless, Nial didn''t back away and the moment his spear pierced into the water attributed to the goblin''s arm, he released the de on the side of the spear tip.

    Through this, Nial was able to worsen the injury he had created, and by using some more force, in addition to mana, the seemingly light injury turned into a deep cut that caused enough blood loss to kill the goblin over time.

    This was great, which caused him to forcefully tear the Viper spear out of his opponent''s injury.<sub> </sub>

    Predictably, the inflicted injury worsened, giving Nial the necessary time to focus solely on the physically enhanced goblin.

    Not wanting to give his opponent the time to react, he thrust the Viper spear forward, and his brute force coupled with the sharp de was enough to break the weapon the goblin used to block Nial''s attack.

    The goblin ended up in a miserable state as it wanted to twist its body to evade the attack.

    Blood gushed out of its wound while the goblin howled in pain as the Viper spear''s de shed through its abdomen.

    More blood trickled out of its mouth, and it began to gasp for air while clutching its stomach, seeminglyining about the unfairness of life, and the difference in their equipment''s grade, but Nial was unmoved.

    Instead of feeling pity, he twisted the Viper spear inside the physically enhanced goblin, killing it as he finally tore the weapon out of its body.

    Following that, Nial threw himself backward, evading two water jets that flew past him, and it was only then that he was finally able to kill thest opponent before a small origin crystal dropped to the ground.

    Taking deep breaths, he ignored the fact that he had no mana left inside his body as he picked up the origin crystal before quickly leaving the ce.

    Thest battle had been more than enough for Nial to loosen up his coiled muscles and release his tension, which was why he decided to leave the Melind dungeon.

    He had been inside the dungeon long enough, and without further dy, he focused on reaching the center of the first floor.

    This was much easier than he initially presumed and it was only half an hourter that he emerged in Katu, where a few soldiers eyed him weirdly.

    Not caring about his current state and his bloody clothes that were subjected to odd gazes, Nial wanted to hail a shuttle, and leave the area of the dungeon portal.

    But before he could do anything, one of the soldiers holding a towel in his hands stopped him.

    Pushing the towel in Nial''s arm, he told him that leaving the dungeon dirty is not necessarily bad. However, on the other hand, it was not eptable to run around with bits of flesh and intestines sticking to his leather armor, and blood trickling down his clothes.

    As such, Nial was forced to clean himself a little bit before he was finally allowed to leave the area.

    He quickly essed the Originals'' bracelet and a holographic screen manifested in front of him.

    Nial could only perceive it, however, that was more than enough to read the message that popped up in the middle of the screen.

    [Hello Nial,

    I''m not sure if you remember me, but I''m Nina Melion, one of the teachers at the Lasia military academy.

    We encountered each other a few times in thest weeks, and owing to the information Jack, his team, and the civilians provided, we would like to offer a special opportunity to you!

    Would you like to be a soldier?

    If you are willing to do so, I can send a word of rmendation about you to the junior training program for newly appointed militants. If you do well, you might be able to finish the primary training, join the military, and within a few years, you should be able to receive a promotion as well.

    This means you will get more responsibilities but also receive more resources to be stronger!

    Please message me back, once you read this message,

    Sincerely Nina]

    Nial recalled the teacher of the two military junior troops he had encountered, once inside the Melind dungeon and once more in front of the two-element dungeon.

    His impression of her was pretty good because she had defeated the rare boss that would have killed him and Melvin before handing them the ability crystal that had dropped.

    As such, his doubts about the possibility of her having a hidden intention disappeared quickly.

    However, this didn''t help him to understand what exactly she would gain from helping him.

    ''Maybe she was asked to invite me because of what I did in the two-element dungeon? Or did Jack try to create an opportunity for me?'' Nial was not sure about the answer, but what he knew was that he didn''t want to join the military like that.

    First of all, it restricted his advance severely owing to multiple factors such as an obstructed freedom to do whatever he pleased.

    He would have to follow orders and do what others said, and this was not something he wished for.

    Thus, bing an ordinary soldier had never been on his to-do list.

    Entering the military was something Nial thought of doing but not as an ordinary soldier.

    After all, the military worked for the government, and through this, he would have it much easier to enter Liondra, and reunite with his family.

    Unfortunately, being a soldier was not enough, and it would be best to join associations such as the Eclipse Assassins.

    But for this, Nial had to attempt to go somewhere to make use of the few connections he had.

    With that in mind, he didn''t answer Nina''s message right away and thought of doing itter when he might be desperate enough to ept her offer.

    However, this day would nevere!

 Chapter 65 Library

    Before doing anything else, Nial had to clean himself properly.

    This was necessary to look decent in front of others if he wanted to ask them for help.

    As such, the shuttle drove him home and towards the t he had rented, where Nial quickly showered before putting on a new set of clothes.

    That was the most difficult to do because he didn''t have any clothes that would count as formal attire and make him look presentable.

    Because of that, Nial put on the cleansed leather armor before he hailed another shuttle that brought him to Master Junades'' Dojo.

    There, he wanted to talk with Master Juandes and hopefully receive more intel about the quickest way to enter Liondra, and see his family.

    Unfortunately, Nial was not even allowed toe close to Master Junades because the guards prevented him from entering the dojo.

    Even after he said that this wasn''t his first visit and that he had even received a martial art technique as a reward, the guards didn''t budge.

    They simply asked him to leave and he was told that Master Junades was not even in the dojo.

    In fact, he was not even inside the shelter anymore, which was something Nial was oblivious to.

    As such, his efforts to meet Master Junades were for naught, and it was only when he realized this with a frustrated expression that he thought of the next best thing to do.

    Hailing a shuttle once again, Nial advanced towards his new destination; therge Katu library, which he had visited with Melvin before.

    He had permanent ess to the library, which meant that it was possible to study for however long he wanted.

    However, spending his time to study the books was not his current n because he had something else to do.

    Hoping to find librarian Mara, he walked through therge open gates of the library before releasing his mana fluctuations to perceive his surroundings with much more precision.

    There were many more people than usual who wanted to enter the library and perceiving that the majority of them were gathering around a particr woman, he released his fluctuations in their direction.

    Unfortunately, the woman was not the one he was looking for which caused him to sigh deeply before he entered the library.

    The current librarian was not behind the counter, and most likelypleting some basic tasks in the library.

    With that in mind, he used his ess card and passed by the other people that were flocking around the woman.

    Paying no attention to her, he diverted his focus to finding librarian Mara.

    There was no need to waste any time either as he had too many things to pay attention to, including training his body, adjusting to the physical enhancement he had received through the mana stored in his mana core, and many more things.

    Nial was not sure how exactly it worked, but it was a known fact that beings that possessed more mana had stronger physical capabilities.

    Even their senses were enhanced to arge margin, which was what Nial was awaiting eagerly to happen to him.

    His senses were already great, but the more he absorbed and annexed mana, the higher their enhancement would be.

    The same could be said about his Innate ability, but that was somewhat obvious.

    With the overwhelming number of tasks at hand, he swiftly walked through the rows of bookshelves, releasing his mana fluctuations to the widest possible range Nial was able to control.

    However, even then, he didn''t find librarian Mara, which caused him to be disappointed as he continued to search while walking through the same rows over and over again.

    The library was huge, but given his released mana fluctuations, it shouldn''t be a problem for Nial to find someone whose mana fluctuations he was already acquainted with.

    Unfortunately, luck was not on his side, and he sat down on a chair to rest for a few minutes, while simultaneously trying toe up with a proper solution to this issue.

    Right now, he had only two ns in mind because Master Junades and librarian Mara were the only people he could ask about the things that were bothering him, and only with their help, Nial would be able to make this possible.

    He could try finding other people who might be willing to help him, but Junades was the strongest person he had encountered until now, with the strongest martial art proficiency, while librarian Mara spoke about Junades as if he was weaker than her.

    At least that was how Nial interpreted the situation.

    He might be wrong, but that didn''t really matter as the most important factor was that librarian Mara had offered her help to him.

    It was evident that librarian Mara was not an ordinarydy, and getting her help was a relief.

    Thus, she was almost hisst ray of hope as cksmith Arnold and Serl Tyr were not influential enough for what he wanted to achieve.

    Not knowing what to do next, heid his head on the desk in front of him, and rested for a few minutes, trying to figure out how exactly he could modify his n in order to receive the same result he had in mind before.

    Yet, just before he was able to make up his mind about what he should do for now, which was most likely to leave ande backter, someone pulled a chair next to him and a sonorous voice of a female could be heard next to him.

    "Hey little one, are you looking for something? Maybe I can help you out!"

    Lifting his head, Nial used his mana perception to visualize the woman, who had begun to speak to him out of nowhere.

    It was the same woman who had been surrounded by a small group of men before, but now there was no one else around.

    Rather, there were only he and the woman, which confused him a little bit as the men had flocked to her like moths would fly towards a me.

    This meant that she was either extremely charming in a unique way, powerful, beautiful, wealthy, or possibly all of this together.<sub> </sub>

    Yet, Nial couldn''t care less about her looks or materialistic wealth, and simply answered her,

    "I''m not searching for something, but someone. I came here to meet librarian Mara, but I cannot find her anywhere."

    After that Nial began to mumble iprehensibly, of which the young woman could only pick a few words,

    "Master Junades was also not there¡­what kind of rotten luck is that?"

    His words made her smile lightly at the young man, ignoring the fact that he didn''t even turn to look at her, or open his eyes, at all.

    She felt that this was weird, but his behavior could have its reasons, so she kept her mouth shut about this.

    Instead, she averted her attention back to the things Nial had mumbled.

    "I don''t think she is here right now. If I remember correctly something important came up, so I have no idea where she is, but why are you looking for my sister?"

    Hearing thest two words finally made Nial raise his head as he felt as if he had suddenly found a solution to his issue.

    "You are her sister? That''s great, can you help me please?"

    Without thinking, Nial blurted out that he needed the librarian''s sister''s help, which caused her to feel a little bit stumped.

    "Can you not see how simr we look? There are many people calling us twins, even though she is older than I¡­which is not really nice to hear from them." She gave an audible sigh and continued, "By the way, why are your eyes closed?"

    Being unsure what thest question had to do with librarian Mara, or them looking simr, Nial just understood that the sister had not yet realized that he was blind.

    As such, he opened his white and lifeless eyes, before he perceived that the sister''s mana fluctuations were stagnant which astonished Nial a bit.

    "asionally I close my eyes when I know that there is a big group of people. Others are sometimes ufortable when speaking to me as they see my eyes, so it became a habit¡­ I guess?"

    There were more reasons for his eyes to be shut but that didn''t matter, and librarian Mara''s sister didn''t seem to be bothered about that either.

    "Oh, don''t worry, I''m fine with that. I don''t think I''ve introduced myself yet. My name is Kira Lyx, nice to meet you!

    Either way, let me help you out a bit. What is the problem you have, little one? I don''t think you would have searched for my sister for more than half an hour if it wouldn''t be important."

    Irked by the way she treated him like a toddler, Nial''s first thought was to retort to her, but instead of inly blurting out his thoughts, he waited for a few seconds before voicing his opinion.

    "Please don''t call me little one, thanks. I''m Nial Orin, it''s nice to meet you, Kira.

    The reason I was looking for your sister is rtively simple. I want to be strong enough to enter Liondra and to meet someone who has probably been hidden by the government.

    Unfortunately, I don''t have any idea how I''m supposed to do that. As such, I thought Master Junades or your sister might be the best to give me some helpful tips or guidance.

    After all, they''re the strongest powerhouses I know of¡­

    I do have some ideas in mind, but I''m not sure which one is the best."

    Saying so, Nial turned quiet, only to realize that Kira was waiting for him to continue speaking, and reveal the thought he had in mind.

    His encounter with her was weird, but even if he was unable to know for sure that Kira and Mara were siblings, he sensed that the woman in front of him was powerful.

    Thus, she might be able to help him.

    Because of that, Nial didn''t even think of the possibility that Kira was someone who worked for the government, which he should have thought about earlier.

    As such, he had already revealed something that should have been hidden from strangers; the fact that he knows someone who was hidden by the government, in Liondra, at that!

    Fortunately, Nial didn''t run into someone like the Eclipse Assassins as they would kill him the moment they got to know that he was openly speaking about specific information that was a well-guarded secret and not supposed to be known by others.

    Instead, he encountered Kira, who waspletely different from those people.

    "I nned to apply to Katu''s military training camp. If I heard correctly it should be different to the normal soldier training camps, and if I excel in everything that will be evaluated, it should be possible for me to enter one of the promising Military academies, where one can be a high-ranked authority in the military, or enter specific organizations with enough influence¡­

    But, I need someone''s rmendation if I want to enter Katu''s military camp because my own reputation or that of my family cannot be considered extraordinary, so I won''t be epted with a normal application¡­even less while being blind!"

    Nodding her head, Kira indicated that she could understand Nial''s predicament.

    His situation was truly tricky, and she understood why he would try to get Junades or her sister''s rmendation.

    However, there was one point she didn''t feel was correct.

    "So, you want to tell me that you want topete with the younger generation of influential families of Katu? Despite being blind, and having less wealth, power, and connections? You know that is just foolish, and the Katu shelter''s military training camp is definitely not somewhere you should go!"

    Nial could hardly disagree with Kira, but he had his reasons for nning to do so. He wanted to justify himself, exin what he wanted to do, and clear her misunderstanding.

    Yet, before he could even say something, Kira continued to speak, revealing her thoughts to Nial.

    "Even if the Katu shelters training camp is not the correct one for you, how about you enter the Teradan military camp, the 10th training camp?"

 Chapter 66 Gut Feeling

    Nial had only heard about nine military camps, one in each shelter.

    As such, hearing about a tenth camp confused him.

    At the same time, it was intriguing because if something was not revealed to the public, it was either something extremely bad or something extremely good.

    In the case of the Teradan military camp, Nial believed that it was likely to be extremely good.

    There was no reason for him to think like that, except for the fact that Kira spoke about it with visible excitement.

    He might not know much about Kira, but Nial could feel that she wanted to help him.

    This trait of helping others might run in the family, or Kira was simply intrigued by him when she learned that Mara had wanted to help him.

    In the end, her reason didn''t really matter to him.

    What mattered was to grasp every single opportunity he could find, and hope for the best possible oue.

    As such, he didn''t directly ask about the Teradan military camp and learn more about it.

    Instead, Nial was more interested in the difference between a normal military camp of the respective shelter and the Teradan military camp.

    "What exactly makes the Teradan camp so special if you rmend it instead of Katu''s military camp?"

    Turning his head towards her, he asked her the question. She could clearly see his dead, white eyes that were staring past her.

    But the sight didn''t make her feel ufortable. Rather, she thought that Nial might be more interesting than she previously thought.

    Kira believes this to be the case owing to the way in which Nial reacted.

    His desire to be stronger was distinctive and that was even to the extent which made him ask questions despite doubting her intentions.

    She had also heard a few rumors that ran rampant through the streets of Katu, which were mostly the reason for her toe to the library today.

    As she could control beings with a weaker will, she could easily procure information.

    <o>,m Fortunately enough, her sister was not present, otherwise, Nial would still be a stranger to her, and the rumors that were most likely coursing around Nial were something she wouldn''t have gotten to know either.</o>

    Somehow, she had been drawn to the young man in front of her without knowing why and having heard him speak about Junades and her sister, it was pretty clear that she was not the only one to feel like that.

    If someone as weak as Nial could attract the siblings'' attention, something must be unique about him, and after connecting the dots, which were, in fact, the rumors about the two-element dungeon that spread through Katu like a wildfire, Kira was easily able to figure out that Nial had been the reason for everything.

    Thus, owing to her curiosity, she didn''t intend to hide anything. Rather, she chose to exin everything in detail.

    "Hmm, if I were to exin it with a few details, which is the only exnation I can offer if I don''t want to spend a couple of hours seated in this ce, the major differences between the Katu military camp and the Teradan military camp are the dangers, the desperate participants, the massive amount of resources you can possibly im by being one of the most talented inside the camp, and the teachers.

    While the Katu military academy leans towards training a high quantity of powerful soldiers, and a select few that are likely to be Corporals, this is not the case with the Teradan military camp.

    In fact, the Katu military camp is known for training those that will remain ordinary, and the same applies to most the other military camps.

    After all, you need normal soldiers and higher authorities that are trained in thinking strategically, to protect the shelters, the huge poption and clear all kinds of dungeons and so on.

    However, the Teradan military camp is extraordinary in that sense. If you want to find a way to Liondra you''ll either have to be one of the most influential people in the military, or you should think of finding an organization which you should enter.

    And in order to achieve this, you will have to be the best, the strongest, and someone irreceable for mankind''s goal to reim thends that have been wrongfully taken from us!

    The Teradan military camp might be the deadliest, and I don''t want to lie to you, it''s highly likely that you and others might die, but at the same time, it is THE stepping stone you will need to make use of to ovee theck of power, wealth, and connections!

    The cream of the crop will gather in the Teradan military camp, whether they''re rich or poor, crippled orpletely unscathed as long as they have the necessary talent, and willpower to ovee all possible issues. They will give their all to prevent sumbing to the dangers they will have to face to change their fate.

    If one excludes the big families, who can provide better resources to their descendants, that is the ce for you to find the most talented individuals.

    In fact, what you have to understand is the value of the Teradan military camp and the fact that you will be able to enter Liondra, and search for whoever you are looking for if you are strong enough.

    Strength is everything that matters in the Era of dungeons, and the beasts that took everything from us!"

    After a rather lengthy monologue, Kira ended her long speech that was filled with euphoria, evidently showing how highly she thought of the Teradan military camp.

    Nial was not sure how genuine her praises were, but what he knew was that the military camp he was looking for was likely to be the Teradan military camp.

    In fact, Nial could also sense how Kira was nting an idea in his head and wanted to direct him, which was something he didn''t dislike.

    Yet, at the same time, he had also not missed catching the hidden intention in her speech.

    Though he was debating with himself if it was suitable to say to someone he had just gotten to know, or if it was utter nonsense.

    Death was certainly he wanted to steer clear of, but the more dangerous something was the higher the benefits if he was able to ovee them.

    Adding the fact that she spoke about Liondra and that it was easier to enter it if he were to join an organization, particrly if he were to enter the Teradan military camp, Nial knew that it was best for him to give it a shot.

    And that was exactly what Kira had attempted to do; presenting the Teradan military camp to him as the perfect opportunity Nial was looking for!

    Thus, he could gauge what she was going to say at any moment.

    "Should we help each other?"

    Even though he knew what Kira was about to say, hearing this seemingly simple question made him feel confused.

    For a moment he simply wondered if he had truly expected her to ask him this particr question, or if he had simply hoped to hear it!<sub> </sub>

    What he knew for sure was that he expected Kira to borate on what exactly she wanted from him, which she did almost as if she had read his mind.

    "To put it in simple terms, I want to make a fair trade. I rmend you to the Teradan military camp, and in return, you will be the camp''s number one trainee in terms of strength, or talent, I don''t care! If that''s not possible, at least be the most known person in the camp, not for making trouble, tho¡­"

    This confused Nial a little bit because Kira had first talked about the camp as if every single student was some sort of monstrous talent.

    As such, he couldn''t understand Kira''s offer as he didn''t think highly of himself.

    He knew it would be difficult topete against others that were likely to have more than a decade''s worth of experience than him.

    Because of that, Nial decided to voice out his doubts.

    "What kinds of benefits does that have for you? I doubt you get much from being the person who rmended me to the Teradan military camp. I''m blind, weak, my knowledge is extremely shallow, I am ate bloomer and you don''t know what exactly I would do in the camp¡­except dying!

    How can you be certain that I''m capable enough to beat someone who has talent, proper training, and resources?"

    The offer seemed too good to be true and he was trying to figure out the reason for Kira''s generosity to a total stranger like him.

    Putting in a good word for someone was a risk as the said person could tarnish their reputation if he stepped out of line.

    Hence, people were picky when it came to rmending someone and would generally do a favor to a descendant of a wealthy and reputable family.

    Nial didn''t meet a single condition when it came to the above criteria and he couldn''t be considered especially powerful either, which made him doubt Kira''s intentions and the tempting offer which she gave to him after interacting with him just for minutes.

    "I have my reasons but I''ll let you know what is in it for me. First, if I rmend you, and you be the strongest or the most talented, it would mean that I was the one to find a prodigy, or monster, whatever you want to be.

    Thus, as long as you''re strong enough, I will get rewarded by the organization that might pick you.

    However, that''s not the important point because I do not really need any kinds of rewards, and they''re simply not valuable enough for me.

    Instead, through you, my reputation in the government will increase, which in turn, would help me increase my influence and find more connections in the military and the organizations they''ve invested in.

    That is, under the condition that you prove yourself to be great enough to attract the attention of the Teradan military camp''s management!

    I have a few more reasons, but do I really have to tell you everything?

    If you are eager enough to get to know everything, I also want to snatch you away from my sister because I believe she can see the same in you as I can see and feel right now."

    Nial didn''t understand much about scheming or crafting ns that were made in order to achieve something through multiple detours. Neither did he have any clue of how he was supposed to be a prodigy, or a monster, which meant that she was totally gambling¡­with his future on the line!

    This caused him to frown deeply as he murmured in a frustrated voice,

    "And¡­what is it that you feel about me? Darkness, and someone blind with a little bit of potential in terms ofbat?"

    Nial knew that he was not bad atprehendingbat styles, and he was also quick at figuring out the attack patterns of the beings he fought.

    As such, he was not boasting when he spoke about hisbat talent, but only gave her points he thought of himself to be worth considering. But, instead of nodding her head, Kira shook her head and replied,

    "I haven''t seen you fighting yet. The only thing I heard were rumors, and I don''t really believe in those before I have seen the rumored person myself.

    As for what I see, I''m not sure if I should be impressed by the fact that you don''t look malnourished despite seeing that you are not exactly good at taking care of yourself, or if I should be disappointed about the little fraction of mana inside your mana core?

    However, what I''m sure about is that I believe that you are worth handing out my rmendation. In the end, you are either a flop or my little treasure trove!"

    Nial could only shake his head while hearing her mixed review about himself.

    It was somewhat ridiculous, but if she wanted to make use of him, why should he be bothered by this?

    In the end, he would make use of her even if Kira didn''t receive any benefits from helping him out.

    As a result, given the fact that she had shared her idea and the perfect solution to his issues right at the start, Nial gradually calmed down.

    Taking his time to think about everything, he fell silent and a few minutes passed, in which Kira didn''t say a single word.

    She kept her calm, sat next to him, and merely observed Nial with interest, d that he wasn''t greedy to hastily grab the opportunity, just because she stretched out her hand to give him some help.

    He was currently calmly reconsidering the advantages and possible disadvantages of being rmended to the Teradan military camp by Kira, whom he had just gotten to know.

    Kira believed that there were many more disadvantages owing to the trust factor because it was too soon for them to have developed it.

    Thus, both of them were taking a great risk, but simultaneously, both trusted their gut feeling more than anything else.

    This was also why they were currently sitting next to each other, speaking about the Teradan military camp; owing to their gut feeling!

    **

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 Chapter 67 Accepting

    Even if it seemed like a stupid idea to ept Kira''s offer, Nial thought that it was the best option, so he readily agreed to be the strongest as long as he was rmended.

    He had no idea how difficult it was to be the most powerful or talented youth in the Teradan military camp, but what choice did he have?

    Instead of thinking too much about the possibilities he didn''t have, which were many, Nial chose the only opportunity he perceived right in front of him.

    Thus, he exchanged his contact details with Kira, before trying to make sense of her reasoning to help him.

    ording to him, the increase in her reputation owing to his performance in the camp wouldn''t be too high, but that couldn''t be said about the Organisations that might pick him up.

    Getting rmended to the Teradan military camp seems to happen through the Military, the government''s higher authorities, specific organizations, the Guild, and families with tremendous influence in the administration and proceedings of the nine shelters.

    As such, Kira must be a member of one of them, but what he didn''t know was that a select group of individuals had the right to rmend someone to the Teradan military camp.

    By attempting to transform Nial into someone mighty and powerful, her already unique way to rmend Nial would attract enough attention for whatever she was nning to achieve. In him she saw an infinite potential to be a true prodigy or a monster.

    Nial wasn''t aware of her long-term goals, and Kira was not going to tell him either.

    Thus, he had to ept the secretive behavior of Kira as he was desperate enough to ask a stranger for help.

    Demanding more from her when she had already offered him a great opportunity would make him look unnecessarily greedy.

    Because of that, he kept quiet and listened to everything she had to tell him.

    The information she shared with him was extremely detailed and Nial tried to digest everything because he knew what kind of risk Kira was taking to rmend him.

    It was nothing inparison to the dangers he would be thrown in, but if he were to be untalented and someone without even the slightest bit of potential, Kira would never get another chance to rmend someone to the Teradan military camp.

    With that in mind, he believed that she must have seen something extraordinary within him. s, he had no idea what it was and was clueless about his own potential.

    At first, he assumed that she might have sensed the Odyssey seed, but if not even the examination devices of the Originals'' association could sense it, how was Kira supposed to know?

    Nial felt that it was illogical, and even after asking Kira why she trusted him to the extent that she would use her one and only chance of rmendation on him, she was unable to answer him properly.

    "To be honest, I don''t know. Hearing the rumors about the two-element dungeon and a blind, newly awakened youth at the 1st Origin rank, who had been sent out by cksmith Arnold to rescue his daughter, whose rank is much higher, is already impressive.

    I hoped to encounter you, but I had never expected to find you while you were searching for my sister, and talking about Junades.

    Your presence is¡­mysterious, to put it simply, and my gut feeling tells me that you are going to live upto my expectations¡­maybe excel even beyond that."

    The answer she had provided was not exactly helpful, but at least he found out that Kira knew a bit about him.

    This made it easier for Nial to believe that Kira was not solely following her gut feeling but that she hadprehended something that was beyond his grasp for now.

    With that in mind, he felt a little bit relieved as he epted the fact that he would soon enter the Teradan military camp in order to be as strong as possible in the quickest time.

    Simultaneously, he could gain some attention from various influential people while trying his best to be even stronger.

    The only difficulty he had to face was his restricted mana core talent which was not high enough for what he wanted to achieve.

    However, this was something the newly emerged dungeon seemed to be able to change.

    The mana core limit enhancement crystals were a small stepping stone and the first of the many chances he would receive to change his fate.

    Other than this crystal, there were also simr items mankind had found or created to allow the enhancement of one''s mana core''s limits.

    This was great for everyone with enough wealth, connections, and strength. Unfortunately, Nial had none of that, which made it a bit more difficult for him to procure these items.

    Yet, if he were to reach his limit, forcefully breaking through with specific preparations should also be possible.

    At least, Nial felt as if it would be possible for him to achieve everything as long as his willpower was strong enough.

    The Odyssey seed told him this, even if Nial was not really sure how he was able toprehend what exactly the seed wanted to convey to him. Somehow he could sense it.

    In the end, it was rtively simple because by being able to control the pulse of the Odyssey seed, he would be able to control mana to an almost perfect degree, which would allow him to erge his mana core with extreme precision.

    Through this, the chance of failure would slowly decrease to the extent that it would be close to negligible.

    However, even that was not important right now because he would need quite some time before he woulde close to his potential limit, to begin with.

    As such, there was still more than enough time for him to be stronger, and to learn more about the world, dungeons, the anatomy of the human body, how to exceed his limit without permanently injuring himself, and much more.<sub> </sub>

    The more he thought about it, the more his decision seemed to be correct.

    The Teradan military camp seemed to be the best, and Nial had gauged this since Kira had begun to speak about it.

    He had only wanted to ensure that the gamble was worth the risk hence for the next few hours he bombarded her with numerous questions. Nial knew that he had to figure out everything about the Teradan military camp, otherwise, he would be flinging himself into an unknown ce with unknown dangers.

    With that in mind, other than the exact location and time of his entry to the camp, he wanted to know the average strength of the Originals that would enter the camp with him.

    Other than that, it was also important to steer clear of some prodigies and not identally get into an argument with anyone, which was something that might happen.

    It was not like he was confident in himself and believed that he would topple the strongest person there in a matter of minutes. Though, his doubt made Kira presume that he was getting a bit overconfident. Her assumption was noticeable when she stared at him with a scheming smile the moment he asked this.

    But, he was no fool and simply wanted to know what would happen under the possibility that he was to defeat someone of higher authority with a bad temper.

    He didn''t n to be tortured or to die just because a petty person would seek sce in revenge after Nial had defeated him.

    While Kira had no idea where exactly the camp was located owing to its highly secretive position that only a few individuals were allowed to get to know, the meeting point would be a month from now, in a specific location everyone would receive the details of merely a few hours before departure.

    This was apparently everything about the time and ce Kira knew, which told Nial that the Teradan military camp was even more intriguing and dangerous than he previously assumed.

    After all, it was not normal to prevent the general public from finding out the location of the camp, if it was not something extremely important, or also very dangerous.

    Taking this into consideration, Nial should have felt scared, but that was not the case, at all.

    Instead, he thought that the opportunities he could receive in the Teradan military camp were even higher than he initially presumed.

    His day seemed to have turned from a futile search to a fruitful discovery and he was relieved that he now had a rough path to walk on in order to achieve his goal.

    Trusting his own gut feeling more than anything else, he listened to the answers to the other questions he had in mind before leaving Kira''s side in order to return to his small t.

    There he made numerous notes on the Originals bracelet, with which he wanted to clear his mind and jot down every single thing so that he wouldn''t forget itter.

    To his fortune, the majority of things he thought about were truly bing clearer, but the information heprehended was not really great, to put it simply.

    Rather, it was worrisome because the strength of Originals seemed to differentiate a lot.

    First, there were those who had awoken their origin rtively early, which allowed them to reach a higher rank even if they didn''t use origin crystals.

    Second, there were some individuals who had awoken both their origin and an innate ability early. Those originals were, in most cases, from influential families that were known for having talented descendants.

    Meanwhile, there were also a few dark horses that were simr to these powerful highborn humans, which was what they liked to call themselves.

    As for the third type of Originals inside the Teradan military camp, they werete bloomers, amongst whom the majority had an innate ability.

    Apparently, the longer one required to awake one''s Origin naturally, the higher was the chance to awaken an Innate ability.

    Because of that, Kira was curious about Nial, believing that he might have an Innate ability as well.

    However, he didn''t tell her about it because the devices of the Originals'' association were unable to perceive it either.

    In the end, the average strength of the Originals inside the military camp was between the 5th and 7th Origin rank, and they were around Nial''s age.

    Around half of them were said to have unique traits, Innate abilities, or other unique factors that made them eligible to be rmended for the Teradan military camp.

    ording to Kira, he was also eligible because he had cleared the two-element dungeon, which not even the stronger junior military units were able to clear.

    This was something Nial had been oblivious about, but it didn''t really change a lot, except the fact that he was allowed to enter the Teradan military camp.

    That could either be considered as a small or a big change, but instead of thinking too much about it, Nial was devising a n to be strong enough topete with others from the Teradan military camp¡­in just a single month.

    In order to achieve this, he had to reach the peak of his mana core talent in a single month, or be on par with them in terms ofbat prowess, and widen his knowledge in order to not be lost in whatever they wanted to teach them at the camp.

    Following that, he was required to increase hisbat experience,bat awareness, and if possible, learn martial art techniques that would allow him to possess a decent level ofbat prowess with which he was able to fight others at the same rank, or preferably at a higher rank without an issue.

    And in order to achieve all of this, he had to acquire his first ability, and bind it to his mana core!

    **

    [A/N: For more chapters support me with golden tickets]

 Chapter 68 Blessings And Curses

    The biggest hurdle he had to ovee was his body, including his blindness.

    However, while his physical traits could be adjusted rtively easily with arduous training and proper nutrition solutions, this was not the case for his disability.

    Because of that, Nial began his research about the various kinds of abilities once he finished making notes, which was his means to clear his mind.

    What hecked in intelligence, he more than made up for in hard work and determination.

    He took a bit longer to figure out specific things, however, the weird part was that he could easily decipher things once he found a great point to start at.

    As such, it had always been the most important for him to organize everything and have a blueprint ready that allowed him to follow the paths the procured intel would unveil to him.

    Thus, his mind was clear, and he made a few adjustments about the criteria the ability he was looking for required.

    With that, the pool of avable results with ability crystals decreased drastically, hitting a big zero the moment he finished writing down all requirements.

    Reading and writing was not problematic for him anymore, and thus Nial could utilize the Originals bracelet rtively easily.

    There were no further restrictions than being able to perceive the holographic screen, which was a relief as long as he had even a little bit of mana free to be used.

    Because of that, Nial browsed through the online stores to search for some abilities, but that was not really helpful.

    As such, he decided to change the way he approached the situation.

    Instead of looking for specific requirements, Nial now started to read through the register of all abilities, whose information had been anonymously shared with the Original''s association.

    Through this, they could create a register with numerous abilities.

    These abilities and their information had different trust factors, which meant that the anonymously shared intel could be trusted if it had a high trust factor.

    This in turn would mean that hundreds of people had the same opinion about the ability''s characteristics, potency, strength,s and weaknesses.

    Meanwhile, a low trust factor didn''t mean that the intel was wrong but it meant that there were only a few individuals that bound a specific ability to themselves.

    With that in mind, Nial first wanted to take a look at all the abilities with a high trust factor.

    There were many of them, even after he added the requirement that the ability had to be Common ranked.

    Unfortunately, this was a necessity because the first ability one bound to their mana core could only be at the Common rank, otherwise, the binder''s mana core would get overloaded, and in the worst case, explode.

    There were quite a few people who ignored this, and they had met an unexpected death or were permanently injured.

    Only a few individuals with specific Innate abilities or unique traits survived binding a stronger ability crystal to their mana core, but this required the ability to be perfectlypatible with the host!

    Nial was not searching for something like an ability crystal that might cause his death owing to its high potency.

    Thus, he added the requirement of the ability''s rank to be on the safe side.

    He even added a few more criteria such as not being an ability that allowed him to fly, nightsight, underwater breathing, transformation abilities, and abilities that had to do with auxiliary upations like cksmithing, forging etc.

    Other than that, abilities to attack, defend, elemental affinities, and simr abilities, were also filtered out.

    Now what was left for him to choose from were mainly support abilities.

    The number of abilities he found in the section with a high trust factor was lowered to a handful, which caused Nial to add all abilities, even those with a low trust factor.

    He knew that it was better to be careful while picking them because their information could be wrong, but that was not something he could bother about right now.

    As long as he found the clue to something, it couldn''t matter less how high or low the trust factor was.

    Thus, hours passed in which he looked at all abilities that might help him even if it was only a little bit, but each of them seemed to have slight disadvantages, too little effect, or other things he found problematic.

    Finding a perfect ability to make up for all his disadvantages was quite difficult, and it was only obvious that it would take time to find a perfect ability.

    Unfortunately, a month was not exactly a lot of time to find a proper ability, and the only thing he could think of while searching for an ability was to add two specific things.

    There were not only normal abilities, Innate abilities, and special traits, humans could awaken at birth or during their origin awakening.

    Rather, there were also conditions, unique effects, and other means that could be awoken, and even externally bound to the mana core instead of an ability.

    All of these things could be put together under two broad categories, officially called [Blessings], and [Curses]!

    While Blessings were something great and had the sole purpose of enhancing something such as one''s mana core''s endurance, mana cirction speed, the potency of one''s mana, the potency of other abilities, and so on, curses were a mixed bag.

    In fact, there were many Curses that were considered the exact opposite of a Blessing, owing to the several negative effects they provided.

    However, at the same time, there were even more Curses that had just one particr negative trait, mixed with multiple other advantageous traits.

    Earlier Nial had never known nor understood why Cursed crystals that could be bound to the mana core instead of an ability were so scary for some people.

    However, it was only today that Kira had exined to him the reason behind this.

    In the end, a Cursed crystal could bepared to a curse and a blessing at the same time.

    While several traits of the Curse''s binder would be enhanced just as it was the case of the blessings, only one trait would be cursed, to the extent that it was never usable again.

    Unfortunately, many foolish humans believed that the cursed trait of a Curse was not bad enough to outweigh the advantages of the enhancements one received!

    Thus, there were more than enough humans that bound Curses to their mana core, gaining monstrous abilities, only to lose much more than they could have ever expected.

    Some gained all necessary capabilities to control enormous amounts of mana, all possible elemental affinities, and much more, only to lose out on the most important to make use of this; their mana veins!

    By cursing their mana veins, the specific Curse destroyed the future of the few humans that had been tempted by the Cursed Crystal.

    As such, Cursed Crystals had been forbidden for some time before the authorities of the government removed the restriction on them once again.

    Nial was not sure why the trading of Cursed crystals had be legal once again, but it didn''t really matter because not many people dared to make use of these crystals due to fear and worry.

    It was only the most desperate people that purchased Cursed crystals.<sub> </sub>

    And, in the end, Nial felt that he was bound to be added to the rows of the desperate people that were deemed insane.

    The trust factor of the cursed abilities was close to zero because there were more than enough humans who lied about the Cursed crystal''s curse in order to make others believe that they were not as bad as deemed.

    However, everyone knew that Curses were horrifying, most sellers were trying to trick someone into binding them, and Nial was currently running intentionally into a trap.

    That was the case because Blessed Crystals were always sold out, which was quite obvious owing to their tremendous value.

    Nobody sane would sell them, and even while bartering a Blessed Crystal, the item one would receive in return was bound to have a shocking value.

    As such, Nial did the stupidest and most ignorant thing he could think of; he looked at Cursed Crystals and their descriptions in order to figure out what kind of crystal he might be able to use.

    "There¡­.is a shop selling Cursed crystal?! Great!"

    The shop even had the government''s approval which was something Nial didn''t expect, and furthermore, it provided others only with information that was revealed by trustworthy individuals who tested the Curses themselves.

    As such, there was not much Nial could understand by looking at the information, and there were numerous crystals with just their names and nothing else.

    A few revealed the name and appearance of the beast from which they dropped.

    Given that, Nial was able to figure out some things because the beast must have a curse in order to drop a Cursed crystal.

    At least that''s how it was with abilities. A beast had to possess the ability to drop the ability crystal.

    With that in mind, everything was bound to be easier, but that was not the case.

    Instead, Nial felt that everything became more difficult, which was the reason for him to go and take a look at the Cursed crystal shop instead of solely looking at the Holographic screen.

    He needed to feel the Cursed Crystals and inspect them himself, and understand if his body felt a connection with one of them or not.

    It was extremely dangerous to bind a Curse to his mana core, but Nial felt that it was the best he could do if he wanted to be stronger, as fast as possible!

    That being said, less than an hour passed before he entered the shop, in which he was immediately greeted by a skinny attendant who hadn''t awoken his origin.

    As such, Nial simply stated that he would be inspecting the Cursed crystals through touch while pointing at his eyes.

    Being unable to see, he had to feel everything in order to get the same sensation about an ability crystal, or in this case, Cursed crystals.

    Quite some time passed, and Nial was not sure if he was doing it right because none of the Cursed crystals attracted him or made him feel like he had to bind it.

    Yet, just as he was about to give up, and leave the store to continue his research, his Odyssey seed began to pulsate.

    It was out of nowhere, and he had no idea what was going on but continued with the task at hand. Suddenly, he picked up one particr crystal that caused his expression to lift as a faint grin manifested on his face, while the Odyssey seed sent him obvious signs!

    [Hodur''s Heir(Basic)]

    The merchant, who had been looking at Nial, since returning from the storage room saw the crystal Nial was holding, and with widened eyes, he rushed towards him before taking away the ability crystal.

    "This Curse¡­I do not sell this one. I''m sorry, but it looks like my attendant made a mistake here¡­" Looking back, the chubby man stared daggers at his skinny attendant, who was already shivering in fright, while trying to find an excuse.

    "I-I¡­It was in t-t-the section of selling¡­it¨C....I''m SORRY!!"

    While the attendant was stammering for a response, Nial felt a little bit odd. He couldn''t help but be sorry for the attendant, but at the same time, his attention was drawn to the Cursed Crystal which the chubby merchant had taken out of his hand.

    "How about an exchange?" Nial blurted out before realizing what he had done.

    This caused the chubby merchant to turn back to Nial before he began tough.

    "Hahaha, good joke youngster. Do you even know how valuable the Cursed Crystal [Hodur''s Heir] is? I really don''t want to be rude or offensive, but I seriously doubt that you have just anything that has the same value as the Cursed Crystal!"

    Under normal circumstances, the chubby merchant''s words would have been true, and Nial was fully aware of this.

    However, in thest few weeks, many things had changed, and he had found quite a few items that could be interesting enough for the chubby merchant.

    With that in mind, he first manifested the Fang spear in his hand, holding it out to the chubby merchant in order to allow him to inspect it.

    "Is that something you might be looking for?"

    Nial was sure that the Fang spear was worth a fortune, but at the same time, he knew that it was probably notparable to the Cursed Crystal [Hodur''s Heir].

    There might not be any information provided about the Curse, but considering that the Odyssey seed reacted to the Cursed crystals, it seemed to be perfectlypatible with him, just like the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

    In the end, there were slight differences in the Odyssey seed''s reaction, but that didn''t matter right now, because Nial knew that he needed the Cursed crystal!

    His future advancement speed was on the line after all!

    "It looks like I underestimated you. For that, I do apologize, but I''m sorry, you''re still not understanding the value of this Cursed Crystal.

    The being that dropped this crystal was certainly strong enough to obliterate an entire shelter of mankind, so we can be fortunate that it was defeated before it could cause further harm.

    If you don''t have anything better, please search for a different Cursed Crystal or leave my prestigious shop!"

    Nial was not sure if the chubby merchant was just exaggerating about the terrifying being from which the Cursed Crystal had dropped.

    However, what Nial knew was he needed the Cursed Crystal, which caused him to sigh deeply as he took out the [Earthprehension)] affinity crystal.

    Taking back the Fang spear, he stored it away before handing over the elemental crystal.

    "If the spear is not enough, this will certainly be. If it''s not, you are simply pulling my leg, or you never intended to do anything with the Cursed Crystal, to begin with!"

    Nial''s mood was already bad, and he was unable to hold back anymore.

    There was no sign of his usual calm demeanor anymore because the chubby merchant was getting on his nerves.

    "Do we have a deal or not?"

 Chapter 69 Hodurs Heir

    When the chubby merchant saw the crystal Nial had pressed into his hands, he was momentarily confused.

    Even though he thought more highly of the young man than before, he presumed the Earth elemental crystal to be of the Common rank, and not ungraded with the [Comprehension] tag.

    As such, he frowned for a moment and was about to tell Nial that the elemental crystal was not worth enough.

    However, when he saw Nial''s expression, the chubby merchant knitted his eyebrows and took a second nce at the crystal.

    After inserting a trace of mana into it, he was able to read its full name, including the [Comprehension] tag, causing his eyes to widen in shock.

    "You¡­where did you get it from??"

    There were only a few dungeon beasts that dropped unique crystals like elemental crystals, but the number of beasts that dropped elemental affinity crystals with the [Comprehension] tag was even rare, and the chance to receive one was less than one in a million.

    As such, the number of elemental affinity crystals just like the one he was holding was close to zero. Maybe¡­the one he was holding was the only Earth affinity crystal with theprehension tag that existed!

    Swallowing his saliva, the chubby merchant didn''t even need a second toprehend that the Cursed Crystal [Hodur''s Heir] was way more valuable than the elemental affinity crystal Nial offered him.

    This had multiple reasons, but the simplest would be his son.

    He was ate bloomer and had just awoken his origin a few months ago, yet, he didn''t dare to bind a single ability to his mana core owing to the Innate ability he had awoken.

    His son''s Innate ability was called [Elementalprehension] but there was no further information about it.

    However, given the fact that there was news about this Innate ability existing in the form of a single element,prehending the meaning of the Innate ability was not difficult.

    To put it simply, the chubby merchant''s son was able toprehend everything about the elements much easier than everyone else¡­or so it was supposed to be.

    Given his Innate ability, binding just any powerful ability to his mana core was useless, and the chubby merchant knew that his son required an elemental affinity with the [Comprehension] tag to make the most use of the Innate ability.

    Thus, he didn''t hesitate to hand over the Cursed Crystal [Hodur''s Heir(Basic)] without even negotiating further.

    He was simply too relieved and happy to have found the perfect crystal for his son.

    The Cursed Crystal was useless for him, but the [Earth affinity(Comprehension)] crystal would finally help his son advance.

    "We have a deal, but keep in mind that our shop doesn''t take any responsibility for ANYTHING that happens when you use the sold goods! Keep that in mind, and¡­stay alive!"

    All of a sudden, the chubby merchant blurted a warning and looked like he wanted to excuse himself. Saying so, he impatiently walked through the room, and into the warehouse, only toe out with a jacket.

    From the looks of it, he wanted to leave his shop too, and seeing that Nial was simply staring at the Cursed crystal, the chubby merchant shook his head before heading home to find his son.

    ''I did it! There is still one more month left, maybe¡­just maybe my little rockstar can do it!'' He thought while leaving his attendant and the one and only ordinary customer they had for the entire month, alone.

    The skinny attendant was confused by the sudden excitement in the eyes of his boss, but instead of minding it, he sat down on the small chair behind the corner before he closed his eyes once again, returning to the sweet dreams he had before Nial had appeared inside the Cursed Crystal shop.

    As such, Nial was left alone, but he didn''t even notice anything as he was simply staring at the Cursed crystal in his hand with excitement.

    He didn''t even question if he was doing the correct thing because the Odyssey seed was vibrating wildly.

    It was almost as if it was trying to share its excitement with Nial which was weird but also quite intriguing.

    However, instead of fulfilling his desire to bind the crystal to his mana core, right away, Nial returned to the t he had rented.

    On his way home, he purchased many origin crystals for himself so as to bind the crystal to his mana core.

    In most cases, binding an ability to the mana core was not difficult, and could be initiated rtively easily.

    With stronger abilities, one used mana to slowly transfer the ability, the information of the ability, and other properties through the crystal, catalyzing them with mana in order to prevent causing damage to the mana core.

    This was very important if one was of weaker nature, or the ability was too potent.

    Unfortunately, in Nial''s case, both the cases were true. On one hand, he was weak and the Cursed Crystal was very potent ording to his gut feeling, the Odyssey seed''s reaction, and the chubby merchant''s words.

    Thus, he decided to be a little bit more careful, instead of adding another thing to the list of reckless tasks he was doing.

    After all, even considering binding the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] to his mana core was the purest form of insanity, to put it simply!

    Yet, everything within him screamed that it was fine and that it was his fate to bind this Curse!

    With that in mind, he spread out hundreds of low-quality origin crystals in the room and loosened a small thread of mana from all of them, which he then connected to the Cursed Crystal.

    Afterward, he took a deep breath to calm himself as excitement along with a trace of fear red up from the depths of his conscience when he inserted his own mana into the Cursed Crystal.

    [Hodur''s Heir(Basic)]

    At that moment, the familiar words manifested in his mind, and he grasped the words with his conscience while moving them towards his mana core.

    There, he tried to connect his mana core with the words, slowly draining the Cursed Crystal of its energy.

    When Nial started his first attempt, the mana threads which he connected to the Cursed Crystal were quickly being used up, allowing the Cursed energy that was intertwined with mana to enter his body at a slow pace.

    This was quite advantageous because the provided mana gave him the necessary energy to properly bind the Cursed energy that was forming and binding the Curse to his mana core.<sub> </sub>

    Piercing through his mana core, the Curse didn''t take long before showing its potency, as it coursed through his body, reaching every single cell.

    Feeling the energy of the Curse, Nial''s white eyes began to glow, only for the Cursed energy to course through his head, targeting his almostpletely white eyes and changing the milky white pupils into those with ck outlines.

    This made his eyes seem more alive, and less devilish, yet, at the same time, the eerie sensation radiated by the pitch-ck color caused everyone who looked into his eyes to shudder in fear.

    That was under the condition that their will was weaker than the Curse that had infiltrated Nial''s eyes.

    Yet, the curse was notpletely bound to Nial yet.

    Rather, it had just begun the process as ck miasma was released from his body, which was slowly filling the entire room, and trying to expand further.

    However, this was not possible owing to multiple factors, with the biggest being Nial''s abysmally weak strength and the measly amount of mana he possessed.

    As such, the energy of the curse that was coursing through his entire body was slowly damaging him.

    It was too potent for him to handle and soon began to scream.

    The pain engulfed him and he could do nothing but endure it while writhing and twitching on the floor uncontrobly.  The ck miasma tightly enveloped him like a shroud of darkness.

    At this moment, Nial felt that something was happening to his body.

    Every single cell within him was starting to change owing to the cursed energy. It was a slow process and seemed to take an eternity, but Nial gritted his teeth, while trying to ignore the pain by all means.

    Yet, despite all of his efforts, it was impossible for him to stop screaming.

    Through this, the cursed energy was partially released from his body, strengthening the restricted mana that began to expand even further.

    In this very second, the window''s sses shattered and shot out in all directions, but Nial didn''t notice any of this.

    He was even oblivious to the cracks that began to spread through his room, followed by the door that was torn out of its frame, releasing the ck miasma that spread through therge corridor.

    It could be his fate or just an unfortunate coincidence that urred the moment the ck miasma advanced through the hallways. A young woman with blonde hair walked through the hallways, wearingbat clothes, blood smeared on the fair skin on her wless face.

    Having returned from one of the most dangerous dungeon conquests she had ever been, Be, the young blond-haired woman didn''t even notice that the entire hallway in front of her was suddenly filled with ck miasma.

    Her only desire had been to take a good amount of sleep inside her room, but sensing the ck miasma, it looked like her sleep was bound to be eternal if she were to go near it!

    Be''s golden eyes widened, and bright mes flickered in her eyes as her hair began to burn in a bright golden light, making it look like she was prepared to tear apart the miasma with her bare hands.

    Though she had imagined herself doing that, she could feel an eerie feeling crawl up her spine in the presenceof the miasma. She felt oddly insignificant in front of the ck miasma which had never happened to her before in her life, EVER!

    It was almost as if she was bound to be devoured at any moment if nothing were to change.

    When Nial perceived what was just about to happen, that too because of him, he managed to shout out with all of his remaining strength.

    "STOOPP!"

    The moment he shouted out, darkness shot out of Nial''s body, enveloping the ck miasma with an even darker tone before everything was retracted, leaving behind nothing but the destroyed surroundings, and a heavily breathing young woman that stared at the empty hallway with fear spreading through her entire body.

    ''Was¡­I just dreaming?!''

    Meanwhile, Nial was oblivious to what was going on as severe pain spread through his entire body, as if electricity was crackling through him, thousands of milliampere at once.

    The only thing he realized was that his Odyssey seed had saved him from killing an innocent person¡­or so he thought.

    Yet, his Odyssey seed that had released the darkness to retract the ck miasma which had its origin in the cursed energy, didn''t pulsate twice as it was the casest time when it had released the darkness.

    What confused him is that it didn''t pulsate at all, meaning that Nial had instinctively essed the Odyssey seed to manifest the darkness from within it in order to retract the ck miasma.

    Forcing the ck miasma inside his body, where it was supposed to be, the changes urring within Nial were taking on a proper form.

    After that, they slowly merged with each other before epting the remnants of the ck miasma which had merged with his body as well.

    Under normal circumstances, these changes would be the part in which everything within him would be enhanced, while the curse would slowly start showing signs of doing something.

    Yet, Nial was unable to feel a single negative property, let alone some enhancements.

    At most, he was able to perceive something around his eyes, something dark, which was probably the curse that was blinding him¡­if that was even possible to do to someone who was already blind!

    At this moment, Nial noticed that the Odyssey seed had not only known about the area the curse would affect him, but owing to the seemingly ordinary seed, the (Basic) tag of the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] had disappeared!

    This was already shocking enough, but that was not everything because the Curse was not only bound to his mana core, but it was, in fact, also connected to the Odyssey seed!

    He was unaware of the exact meaning of this, and even if he were to know, it would be impossible for him toprehend the truth behind it.

    Having endured the excruciating pain, his body began to feel extremely heavy, the pain that had seeped through his body began to disperse at a slow pace, and was reced by unbearable drowsiness that pulled him into a deep sleep out of which he couldn''t escape.

    Oblivious to the truth, he didn''t even understand that he had been dragged into something he had never wanted to be a part of- the War of the Gods!

 Chapter 70 Metamorphosis

    Shock swept through Nial when he regained his consciousness.

    Springing up from the bed in a sitting position, he began to breathe heavily as he clutched his chest, or to be precise the area near the Odyssey seed.

    ''Was that another dream?'' Nial wondered, not sure what exactly he had just seen.

    Yes, he had definitely seen something odd and mysterious!

    Because of that, Nial was sure that it was just a dream, yet, oddly enough, this dream was simr to the one he had lived through for years until he encountered the Goddess on top of the pce stairs.

    In the dream he had just woken up from, he had just been a curious spectator, witnessing a battlefield that was littered with millions of cruelly torn apart corpses.

    However, that was not the weirdest part because Nial was sure that it was his battlefield, his army, hisnds, everything belonged to none other but HIM!

    This confused him extremely, and thest thing he could remember was dozens of razor-sharp weapons piercing through his body.

    "What happened?" He mumbled to himself, trying to make sense of the situation that was iprehensible to him.

    Yet, he hadn''t realized the presence of a stranger in his room.

    "Well, what happened was that I found you. Did you bind an ability to your mana core, by any chance? If that''s the case, it was certainly an ability that was too strong for your body to handle¡­that was a foolish move! Well, somehow it worked out, and you''re still alive, so it''s fine!"

    It was Be, the young woman with blonde hair and golden eyes who said all of this to Nial, however, she quickly noticed that he was not even listening to her.

    Nial''s senses were a chaotic mess, and so was his mana perception, but none of it was as chaotic as the insides of his body that seemed to be about to process the ck miasma with which they had merged.

    ''Did I¡­absorb the cursepletely?'' Nial wondered, ignoring Be, who was looking at him with a confused expression.

    ''He¡­looks weak¡­but the ck miasma definitely came from him¡­weird!''

    Sighing deeply, she checked what time it was before shaking her head, knowing that she had wasted precious time by looking after Nial.

    She tried consoling herself by reminding herself that she had managed to increase her Origin rank while waiting for him to wake up, but still, Be wanted to leave and do the other things she had nned.

    Unfortunately, she had to deliver him a message, and her mother was of the opinion that it was Be''s task to do this.

    As such, Be took a step closer to Nial and firmly grasped his shoulders in order to gain his attention before she would ry her mother''s message.

    But, the moment she touched him, Nial flinched before his head turned towards her in a fraction of a second.

    White eyes that had a deep dark outline stared into the depths of her heart, causing an eerie sensation to spread through her entire being.

    Nial didn''t do anything in particr, yet while looking into Nial''s dead eyes Be felt the same dread creep up her heart when the ck miasma had almost devoured her!

    However, it only took a second before she regained her senses. Her willpower had erected a wall around her mind, protecting her from the eerie sensation.

    "By the way, my mother said that you should pay for the repairs as soon as possible. I think the damages were something around 40,000$, but I''m not sure, my mother should have messaged you the exact details already.

    And.. eh..use a proper ability awakening room if you feel like binding another strong ability to your mana core! You nearly killed me three days ago¡­"

    Initially, Nial was going to ignore herment, but after hearing that he had to pay for the repairs, the memories of the mishap that had urred during the binding process of the Curse flooded him.

    Right now, he was able to sense the words [Hodur''s Heir] engraved on his mana core, gleaming in the ck ink in which they had been carved.

    The (Basic) tag had vanished, but Nial was already aware of it.

    It was the reaction of the Odyssey connecting to the Curse [Hodur''s Heir], after all.

    He had no idea what exactly had happened, but he knew that he was in apletely new room and that the other room was probably a wreck, thanks to him.

    This was quite interesting, considering that it was the ck miasma that originated from the Curse that was bound to his mana core right now.

    As such, [Hodur''s Heir] should be an extremely strong curse, which was blindingly strong and potent!

    Being blind, Nial couldn''t care less if the curse would further deteriorate his eyesight.

    Instead ofining, he was overjoyed because he had expected worse.

    Fortunately, he had trusted the Odyssey seed that seemed to have guided him very well.

    This was great, and something to be happy about, which he was.

    Nevertheless, he had yet to find out what exactly had been enhanced about his body because he was still adjusting and adapting to everything.

    Nial was unsure how much longer it would take, and the fact that already three days had passed, he could only hope that his wait would end soon.

    At this moment, Nial stilled for a moment when he registered her words a bitte.

    "Wait¡­you just said ''three days ago''...You mean I was unconscious for three days?!"

    Be had expected to hear an apology from Nial for the destruction he had caused, but not only did it seem like he didn''t want to apologize, but rather, it was more like he was not even listening to her, at all.

    As such, even Be with her bright personality couldn''t help but stare daggers at Nial, feeling like stabbing him with her sword.

    Fortunately, she had great control over herself, which allowed her to calm down by taking a deep breath.

    "Yes, I said you were unconscious for three days, but nothing seemed to be wrong with you. I didn''t expect you to stay unconscious for three days either, otherwise, I would have called for a doctor to check your health."

    After saying a few words, Be hadpletely found her cool once again, and from the looks of it, she had also gained his attention.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, she used this moment to ask the questions she had in mind.

    "You seem to be extremely powerful, otherwise you wouldn''t have survived binding such a powerful ability to your mana core. What''s your name, and from which school did you graduate?

    I''ve never seen you in Katu. You must be one of the hidden prodigies if I am not wrong?"

    p Ignoring her earlier frustration, she began to talk to him excitedly, and Nial was dragged out of his deep thoughts.</anda>

    Shaking his head a little, he turned towards Be, giving her the attention she seemed to want.

    "My name is Nial Orin, and neither am I powerful nor am I a hidden prodigy. To be frank, I didn''t even graduate from any school, but I was taught at home by my parents! What''s your name?"

    Having regained little control over his mana, he was able to release it to perceive how Beatrice looked.

    Yet, the outlines he was able to visualize were extremely blurry, and an excruciating pain shot up his head when he tried to release his mana right now.

    These were the repercussions Nial had to brave by binding a powerful ability, or in Nial''s case, a powerful curse, to his mana core.

    However, to the young woman in front of him, he was a nobody because she seemed to be around his age, yet, she was at the 7th Origin rank.

    This meant that she was extremely powerful, and eligible to enter any kind of military camp, even if she didn''t hail from an influential background.

    Yet, Nial couldn''t be sure about the depth of her background, but it was not something he had time to think about, to begin with.

    Rather than thinking about her background, Nial was solely fixated on the time he left before the Teradan military camp would start.

    "My name is Be Morningstar, and I''m 16 yea-..."

    "So¡­there''s only 27 days left¡­"

    Before Be could even finish her introduction, Nial interrupted her and held out his Originals ID card with a confidence she didn''t expect him to have.

    This dumbfounded her and she merely stared from his face to the ID card and back at him, feeling unsure of what exactly she was supposed to think of Nial.

    However, even without saying anything, Be understood what he wanted, causing her to instinctively take out her own Originals ID card to exchange their contact details.

    She did it instinctively and only a momentter did she realize that she was sharing her contact details with someone she had just met. But now, it was toote either way.

    "Sorry for the ruckus I caused. If we meet again, let''s eat something, I''ll pay¡­ and I''ll wire the money to your mom immediately!"

    After saying this, Nial felt restless, knowing that his time was running out.

    His mind was filled with a lot of confusing thoughts, and even though he knew that he had ignored Be quite a few times, it was impossible for him to rx and calm down.

    Thus, he jumped up from the bed, leaving the room hurriedly, narrowly avoiding bumping into the stash of clothes kept on the side before he walked into the hallways.

    Without much difficulty, he found the exit and rushed out of it, almost sprinting his way out of the building.

    He had too many things to do, and his well-crafted n had been destroyed.

    There were only 27 days left before the Teradan military camp would start, and he had just solved one of his problems without knowing what kind of benefits he had gained by binding the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] to his mana core

    ''Did he just ignore me for the whole time and now¡­he sneakily asked for a date, while apologizing?...Eh..Ok¡­'' Be furrowed her eyebrows and was mostly feeling suspicious about Nial''s behavior.

    However, she was not mad at him anymore, which was also odd.

    Instead, she kept gazing at the retreating figure of the young blind man, who had run out of the room as if he could perceive everything with perfect precision.

    Even if Nial didn''t seem to think highly of himself, the presence he gave off was theplete opposite of a rookie and under-confident person.

    He was only at the 1st Origin rank, indicating that he was not only ater bloomer but that the first ability he bound was what caused the ck miasma to emerge.

    A faint smile appeared on her lips as she thought of something that caused her to wonder if their encounter was only a coincidence, or if it was fate.

    Soon, the faint smile blossomed into a grin, revealing a radiant smile on her beautiful face as she mumbled,

    "Maybe we will see each other sooner than you might think¡­"

    Little did she know that her prediction was spot on, and that they would not only encounter each other soon again but that their encounter would be different than anything she could expect.

    Unfortunately, Nial didn''t have time to think about his encounter with Be because the moment he had sprinted outside the room, his entire body began to ache, making him aware of the numerous changes he had undergone.

    It was almost¡­as if he had gone through aplete metamorphosis.

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

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    https://discord.gg/EdsDgFVWwZ

    Link also in my description.

    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 71 Overwhelmed

    Everything felt weird around him, and all of his senses made him hyper-aware of the surroundings, whether it was his sense of hearing, touch, taste, smell, or mana perception.

    Not only did it feel like all of his senses were in a disarray, but his muscles were aching as well.

    ''Just what is going on with me?'' He looked at his hands and feet and ced the back of his hand on his forehead to check the temperature but Nial didn''t sense any differences, which was slightly reassuring.

    Yet, he knew exactly what was happening just now.

    ''It''s the curse, right? Looks like I will have to adjust to it over time¡­I hope I didn''t make another mistake¡­''

    While rushing outside the house, he was oblivious to the fact that he was sensing everything down to thest detail which boggled his mind wasn''t used to the sensory overload.

    Standing in the middle of the street, he took a moment to catch his breath as his loose clothes were fluttering in the faint breeze that brushed past him.

    It was oddly calming, giving him the time to recall what exactly had happened.

    ''So, this girl, Be, helped me when she found me unconscious, and she is the daughter of the house owner¡­great¡­ Either way, let''s go back to the main topic.

    [Hodur''s Heir] has been bound to the mana core, and only my eyes were cursed¡­I think.

    Other than that, I feel a little bit stronger, which probably is the reason for this weird itching all over me.

    But that''s not everything, my senses¡­they''re¡­odd¡­''

    Nial was unable to describe what had happened to his senses, but he knew for sure that there was something going on.

    Nevertheless, he didn''t really think that it was something bad.

    Instead, it felt like his senses were strengthened, tempered, and enhanced multiple times, over and over again.

    This was, in fact, exactly what was going on, as the enhancements of the Curse amplified all of his senses while giving him an additional boost in his physical strength.

    Nial couldn''t say that he had expected all of this to happen, but he was d that it happened!

    Yet, despite feeling the changes in his body and being able to roughly gauge what aspects of himself were enhanced, Nial felt incapable to be certain about literally anything that was going on right now.

    The whole ''binding the curse to his mana core'' had gone a little bit wrong and spiraled out of his control before he could reverse it, which was impossible, to begin with.

    What it had left him with was a destroyed t and a huge bill to pay for the damage.

    With that in mind, he quickly opened the holographic screen, where Nial almost immediately perceived the message icon and saw the message of Be''s mother waiting for him to be read.

    Before opening the message, Nial realized that he was able to perceive mana much better once again, causing a subtle smile to brighten his mood.

    It was great to be in control over his own mana once again, while his mana perception allowed him to sense everything around him down to the finest detail.

    In fact, the surroundings felt much more vibrant than before, and Nial was rtively sure that it would be possible for him to expand his range of visualization and mana perception further.

    Sensing that this was possible made him happy, and he didn''t even care about the lecture of hisndlord as he answered her message.

    The first thing he did was to wire the money she wanted in addition to the advance payment for one more month''s rent.

    Afterward, Nial thought carefully about what to write, before he decided to reply in a calm manner.

    [Hello Miss Morningstar,

    I hope nothing major happened to you, and that the little incident I caused was the worst that urred. I''m terribly sorry for the inconvenience I caused, but I didn''t expect that binding an ability to my mana core would cause such a terrifying reaction.

    The next time, I will search for a safer ce to bind a new ability to my mana core. I''m sorry for the mishap.

    I would like to rent a simr t for a month and have already sent the additional payment to you.

    Once again, I would like to apologize for the trouble I caused!

    Kind regards,

    Nial Orin]

    He felt like adding a few more sentences, but after reading through it again, Nial understood that he had apologized often enough in the mail.

    With that in mind, he pressed the [send] button before sighing in relief.

    However, just as he sent the message that included the wired money she demanded the repairs, a pungent smell hit his nostrils as if something was rotting.

    It was just a secondter that Nial realized it was his own sweat which he smelled due to the breeze that carried it to his nose.

    Lightly lifting his shirt, his fingers began to tingle, and the moment his nose touched the shirt, he took a deep breath.

    Oddly enough, it was not him who was reeking of a stench.

    As he looked around in confusion, he realized that his entire body felt the tingling sensation of his shirt rubbing over his body.

    All of his senses were drowning him in information, befuddling his mind but thankfully his pain receptors were rtively subdued, which Nial figured by pinching himself.

    Yet, even pinching himself felt weird.

    It was an indescribable feeling, but these few changes in his senses were not even the worst.

    Rather, it was the overwhelming loud voices that would almost tear his eardrums apart the moment he sensed that a bunch of people was walking past him.

    From the vibrations he could suddenly perceive, Nial knew for sure that they weren''t shouting.

    Instead, they were talking to each other normally, but that didn''t make a difference to him because even the normal breeze of wind began to sound like a thunderstorm.<sub> </sub>

    Unable to withstand the noises that seemed to be even louder and louder, Nial''s legs gave in as he lost his bnce.

    Quickly lifting his hands, he tightly shut his ears, but that was not enough to protect his ears from hearing the thunderous noises all around him.

    His breathing grew erratic, and it was clear that Nial was hyperventting, and panic began to overwhelm him.

    The people all around him were staring at him in confusion, and some even with disgust owing to the foul smell, yet nobody seemed to want to help him, though a few hoped that someone else would rush to his aid.

    Yet, in the end, he was alone and had to figure out how to protect his ears from the deafening sounds.

    Suddenly an idea popped in his head which caused him to control the mana within his body, and circte it to his ear, covering it with a faint mana membrane.

    This required precise control of mana, and it was quite difficult to maintain it under normal circumstances.

    However, Nial was able to do it well on his first try which confused him just as the noises all around him became bearable.

    ''What the fucking hell was this¡­All of my senses now have an unimaginably high perception level. Or did they be stronger?''

    Unsure of the correct answer, Nial could only assume things.

    Unfortunately, none of the assumptions were really great, and he wondered how she should live normally with the hearing sense.

    Covering his nose and mouth with a thin membrane of mana as well that blocked off the majority of air supply, Nial was still able to breathe properly, but the reeking stench was filtered partially.

    This was quite helpful, but the amount of mana he had to consume to maintain all of this was quite high and the process was burdensome.

    It was not much, but enough to prevent him from using his entirebat prowess, including his focus to fight other beasts.

    ''Should I just try wearing earplugs and a specially crafted mask that filters the air?''

    Nial felt that this idea was the best for now, and even though he hesitated to move and be attacked by the sensory overload once again, he couldn''t simply lie in the middle of the street.

    Telling himself that he would get adapted to this quickly, he dragged himself up to his feet.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t really say the same about his other senses.

    ''I don''t mind wearing earplugs and a mask all the time, but will that really be helpful?''

    In the end, it was an exceptional feat to have his senses enhanced to the extent that he could smell the sweat of people that were more than ten meters away, while his hearing sense had be even more extraordinary.

    However, receiving an enhancement to the extent that it restricted him was certainly not great.

    Rather, it was disadvantageous, which caused Nial to feel as if he didn''t know whether he should be frustrated or happy.

    When he summarized the disadvantages and advantages received, there was, by all means, no way that Nial wouldin.

    After all, there were more than enough means that could restrict one''s hearing or smelling senses!

    With that in mind, he couldn''t help but test out his mana perception, with and without the use of the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

    Releasing his mana fluctuations up to the range at which he could visualize everything, Nial was more than stunned to witness the changes.

    Yet, the further he released his mana fluctuations, the greater his shock became.

    ''I¡­can visualize the entire length of the alley?! Isn''t that more than 10 meters? That is an increment more than ten times that of before!!"

    Nial was bewildered by this, but he predicted that his mana perception was around ten times higher than that.

    And this was without the use of his ability!!

    Digesting this information, a vibrant smile emerged on Nial''s face as he murmured,

    "I¡­bnced out the disadvantage of my ability with the curse¡­didn''t I?!"

    Earlier, he had always felt restless and wary of visiting unknown ces for the fear of getting ambushed or attacked from further away.

    However, this wouldn''t be a problem anymore because the beasts inside Rookie dungeons were unlikely to attack him from a range beyond 100 meters.

    If that were to be the case, he would still notice an attack the moment a projectile would enter the range of his mana perception.

    Understanding this was important, and it made him feel even more excited than it was the case just a few moments ago.

    After all, he had not only outbnced the disadvantages of his disability right now, but his physical strength and other senses had enhanced too.

    As such, if required, Nial could hear anything in a certain range, or even smell or touch.

    Other than that, his control over mana increased even further, causing him to feel even more excited to start practicing the technique he had received from Master Junades.

    He hoped that the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique would allow him to gain a better understanding of the properties of mana.

    This and other factors were supposed to strengthen his control over mana, guiding him to being able to control mana for good.

    Nial wanted to do exactly that because utilizing mana properly could further enhance his senses, and with the additional help of the enhancements he received owing to the Curse, everything seemed to be possible.

    ''Wait¡­if I can hear and smell everything, followed by sensing the vibrations every time a person or thing moves¡­doesn''t that mean, It should be possible for me to use all of that to predict my opponent''s move?

    At least being able to sense my opponent and how far they''re from me should be possible even without my mana perception, right?''

    [A/N If you like the novel and you want more chapters, support me with golden tickets]

 Chapter 72 Changes

    Nial''s mind was overflowing with all kinds of thoughts about the enhancement that the Curse had brought forth.

    They were by far more useful than he first assumed, and there was no way he couldin about that.

    Thus, instead of grumbling, he entered a shop to purchase a filter mask and earplugs.

    Once he acquired them, Nial put on the filtering mask that covered his mouth and nose, while looking like an Oni.

    Afterward, he wore the earplugs before dissolving the mana membrane that had covered his ears, nose, and mouth.

    This made his appearance look quite odd owing to the fact that he was evidently blind.

    However, Nial couldn''t be bothered about what others thought of him because he was able to hear and smell everything clearly, in a slightly filtered way.

    Yet, the mask was still not enough to filter everything, which caused him to frown before he forced himself to adjust to the intense smell.

    After all, he wanted to find a way to live without the artificial restrictions of his senses.

    If that was possible, it would be great because it was certainly important to hear, feel, and sense everything around him.

    And that was even more crucial if one was unable to see!

    As such, Nial was slowly trying to adjust himself to the sensation and was tweaking the level of the filtering system every now and then to check its efficiency.

    The earplugs he had purchased were also not normal earplugs and had the option to configure the extent of the soundproofing however one pleased.

    This was great, and more like a necessity to Nial who wanted to adjust his ears to the higher sensitivity, they seem to have received.

    With that in mind, he decided to spend a few hours inside the Library which he visited while wearing and adjusting both the filtering mask and the earplugs.

    It was frowned upon by the attending librarian, but there was no rule against wearing either of them.

    Because of that, Nial paid no attention to the librarian after realizing that she was neither Mara nor Kira, either of whom would be able to answer his questions about the Teradan military camp.

    An alternative to this would be to message either of them and clear his doubts.

    But instead of chatting to them individually, he created a group chat with the two siblings and began to ask all kinds of questions.

    He was not sure if librarian Mara was okay with that but only hoped that neither of them would find this behavior rude.

    If she didn''t want to be a part of the group, she could exit it any time and nobody would force her to stay. But considering that she did no such thing, Nial took a breath of relief.

    As such, there was no need for Nial to feel guilty as he prepared a huge list of questions.

    It mostly included questions about the Teradan military camp, but Nial was also eager to figure out more about the organizations like the Eclypse assassins, how powerful they were, and if their juridical power could intervene in the doings of the military.

    In the end, Nial could predict some answers, but assuming something to be the case, and his prediction being urate were two different things.

    With that important difference, Nial felt as if his questions were bing longer, and more profound.

    Yet, ending his questions with onest but also an important point, he exined his n, including the fact that he had bound a Curse to his mana core in order to bnce out the disadvantage of his blindness.

    Afterward, he exined his experience of the curse, including the fact that his physical strength had increased and that his senses were currently wreaking havoc in his mind and entire being because they had been amplified manifold.

    If Nial were to known that the two sisters were currently sitting next to each other, looking at their holographic screen with a confused expression on their faces, and waiting for him to send the message he had been typing for half an hour, he would have behaved differently.

    Yet, the moment he sent the message, he averted his attention to the books about the basic knowledge mankind had procured about the dungeons, the various types, and ways of detecting a mutation in them, believing that everything was perfectly fine with himself.

    After all, he was feeling healthy, and there was nothing wrong with him.

    Rather, his entire being was brimming with energy, and Nial was ready to devote the next four weeks and arduously work to be as strong and knowledgeable as possible!

    Unbeknownst to him, the huge message caused the two sisters to simply stare at the screen with wide eyes before reading everything in one go, the bowl of ice cream that was ced next to them turning into a bowl of milkshake, while they read his long essay that ended with the exnation of his Curse-binding adventure.

    "He¡­didn''t really do that, right?" Kira asked, not sure whether Nial was joking or not.

    However, the moment she looked at Mara, Kira realized that it was neither a bad joke nor a lie.

    Rather, it was the truth only Mara was able toprehend because she had researched the disease called Myset Hoeart after Melvin had left his friend, Nial, inside the library.

    Afterward, she had been informed about a specific individual forcefully taken away by two of the Eclypse Assassins that were supposed to keep an eye on the anomalistic two-element dungeon.

    When she put two and two together, the bigger picture manifested in front of her.

    Everything made sense, and Mara couldn''t help but sigh as she mumbled,

    "To think that he was that desperate¡­"

    Turning towards her sister, Mara''s expression turned angry as she scolded her.

    "So¡­you didn''t only convince him to enter the Teradan military camp, but you left him alone while he was under the highest level of pressure he probably had ever faced in his entire life?! Don''t you feel the slightest responsibility for Nial''s well-being after you rmended him to the camp?

    I didn''t know that I had such an irresponsible sister!"<sub> </sub>

    Kira had already been baffled by the fact that Nial had bound a Curse to his mana core. However, her sister''s reaction waspletely out of the ordinary.

    Normally Mara was extremely quiet, and would never show off her knowledge. Even while fighting, she would never lose her temper.

    Yet, for a little young man she didn''t even know well, Mara lost her cool, causing Kira to feel utterly dumbfounded.

    "Sis¡­what is going on? Didn''t I tell you that my gut feeling and Innate ability told me about him? What''s wrong¡­?"

    Unsure what she was even supposed to say anymore, Kira felt as if she was crouching below the ever-increasing form of her sister who was towering over her like a titan.

    "You are¡­unbelievable! Okay, then let me tell you something that you might have already forgotten-..."

    Saying so, Mara began to tell her sister a story of their childhood. It was a story Kira had already forgotten, but after hearing it once again, her eyes widened in shock.

    However, when Mara finished telling the story of their childhood, or to be precise, their best friend, she began to tell Kira everything she knew about Nial, his friend Melvin, and the time at which the Eclypse Assassins had been residing in the mansion of the Tyr family.

    "Why¡­does that sound so familiar¡­almost as if it''s the¡­same?!"

    While it was almost as if Kira''s world had shattered, Mara could only nod her head, trying to calm herself once again.

    Though Kira had been unaware of his background, she had been a bit reckless by handing Nial an opportunity without knowing how desperate he was to go to Liondra, in order to reunite with his family.

    "Oddly simr, right? So¡­What are you going to do now?"

    Staring in the depths of Kira''s soul, Mara seemed to have returned to her calm demeanor, looking at Kira as always with a calm and knowing expression while awaiting her answer.

    p "Fuck this shit!! How was I supposed to know that he will bind a curse to his mana core¡­or that his situation was like that¡­.where the hell is this little monster¡­let me find him and give him a nice lecture with a beautiful beating first¡­</anda>

    Only then will he learn to value his life a little bit more¡­afterward, I can mentor him!"

    **

    Unaware of what had just happened between the sisters, Nial continued to read several books that imparted basic knowledge.

    At the same time, he continued to tweak the configuration of his earplugs and the filtering mask.

    The library was quite silent so the difference between the things he was able to hear clearly was not that grand.

    Nevertheless, it caused great pain to his ears, and the adjustment to the loud noises was much more difficult than previously imagined.

    His smelling sense was giving him an additional headache as the smell of the old books prated his nose.

    Yet, owing to the multitude of materials used to bind the book''s cover and serve as its pages, including the skin of certain beasts, Nial could adjust to the overwhelming smell extremely fast.

    The time he decreased the filtering intensity was horror, terrifying Nial extremely.

    Slow but steady was one way to proceed, but the extreme speed at which he attempted to adjust to the drastic changes in his body forced his entire being to ept everything much faster than it was usually possible.

    Maybe, the changes in every single cell of his body yed a huge role in this as well, but Nial couldn''t know this for sure.

    The only thing he was aware of was adjusting himself to the several changes he was undergoing.

    Furthermore, his mana core and Odyssey seed seemed to have created a subtle connection through the engravement of the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] on his mana core.

    It was connected to both the Odyssey seed and his mana core, making things within him moreplicated.

    At the same time, Nial was able to sense the Odyssey seed much better than before.

    Yet, oddly enough, he couldn''t tell whether this was something advantageous or not!

    In the end, the Odyssey seed was something that caused him a lot of misfortune because Nial was sure that he would have awoken his origin several years ago if there hadn''t been the unfortunate incident 15 years ago.

    The Odyssey seed and the incident he had been involved in were linked to each other, but Nial had yet to find out how closely tied they were.

    As such, he was vignt about this little grain-sized thing that seemed to be growing in proportion to his increase in strength and saved him from certain death multiple times just in thest few weeks.

    Several hours had passed in which he had adjusted to his new senses to some extent, and Nial could feel the way his fingers were starting to itch.

    This was not because of his heightened sense of touch, but because he was thinking of entering a dungeon.

    Even if he had sold the permanent slime dungeon which had manifested in his backyard, there were more than enough dungeons inside the shelter, which he could enter.

    As such, he opened the Originals bracelet''s holographic screen, ignoring the barrage of messages he had received, thinking that they were answers to his never-ending list of questions.

    Instead, he used his mana perception in order to perceive the numerous dungeons that had appeared in the shelter in thest two weeks.

    "Aren''t there too many dungeons all of a sudden¡­only a dozen dungeons should have manifested in thest two weeks, why are the information speaking close to a hundred??"

    It was at this moment that Nial noticed that something huge and grand was approaching mankind.

    Everything that urred seemed to take a long time toplete, but the changes were being set in motion one after the other in rapid session, unbeknownst to the vast majority of people!

 Chapter 73 Evaluating New Strength

    There had always been instances in which the number of newly manifested dungeons suddenly increased.

    It would just be a random and sharp spike that wouldst only for a short period of time.

    As such, nobody was concerned about the growing number of manifesting dungeons.

    However, that was notpletely true, because Nial felt that it was odd.

    At first, the two-element dungeon had appeared, in which many incidents happened, and now he learned about the huge number of dungeons that had manifested as if they had appeared out of thin air.

    The news about some of them was not really terrifying but there seemed to have been a few untoward incidents.

    This was worrisome, and the only positive thing he could determine was that most dungeons seemed to be cleared after being conquered a single time.

    Given that, there was even less reason for anyone to be worried, except Nial, who suddenly felt goosebumps appear all over his body.

    Despite that, he also felt excited because this meant that there were many public dungeons that he could enter.

    That was great and gave him the opportunity to test the effects of the Curse.

    Getting up from the chair, he left the library.

    Searching for the shortest route to the closest public Rookie dungeon, he didn''t waste much time and paved his way to his destination through the crowds of people.

    No sooner had he neared the crowd did he feel his senses being overwhelmed once again.

    His excitement disappeared for a moment, forcing the reeking stench of sweat that seemed to have beenpressed over and over again, followed by the thunderous noises of the surrounding people talking with each other.

    His expression stiffened, and he felt himself incapable of moving for a moment but forced himself to adjust to the differences in the surroundings.

    From the quiet and less reeking library, it was almost as if worlds had copsed when he pushed himself into throngs of people.

    Everything felt different, and when he identally bumped into someone, his entire body felt the vibrations reverberating through him.

    It was odd, but he could tell that he was adjusting to his enhanced senses, which was great.

    In fact, it seemed as if he could actively restrict them, while the other way around was also possible by making use of his curse.

    [Hodur''s Heir] was a unique type of curse which, in Nial''s case, meant that it was a curse and an ability at the same time.

    At least that was what Nial assumed because he believed that he could activate [Hodur''s Heir].

    Unfortunately, even after he had inserted his entire mana into the Curse, only his senses had received a momentary enhancement.

    To his fortune, he had tested activating the curse inside the library, and not outside, otherwise, he would feel much worse now.

    After adjusting himself to the new circumstances, Nial arrived at the closest public Rookie dungeon.

    There, he perceived that nobody was present, which astonished him.

    This confused him as the Map of the shelter was actively updated every five seconds.

    It wasparable to a live update, where the mana radar determined the fluctuations of a newly emerged dungeon.

    Thus, the government might not have reached the dungeon in front of him yet to check and verify its existence.

    It had very little mana fluctuations and was considered a Lowest Rookie dungeon, which was perfect for him.

    His goal was not to earn a huge fortune, nor did he aim to increase his martial art proficiency by fighting powerful beasts that would pressurize him.

    Instead, he wanted to test the limit of his senses, his enhanced physique, and how powerful his mana perception had now be.

    Being able to sense, circte and release mana at a rapid pace was essential to being a great fighter.

    This was not a strength but a bare minimum that you needed to possess in the Era of Dungeons and mana.

    Knowing that very well, Nial had chosen to learn the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique.

    And that was even more so the case now that his senses had been enhanced!

    After all, being better at controlling mana would increase his strength only further.

    Determined to adapt himself to everything as quickly as possible, he entered the dungeon in front of him.

    There was no hesitation in his movements, and the Viper spear appeared in his hand, which he tightly gripped.

    He was ready to kill and to learn more about his strengths and weaknesses.

    Thus, Nial released his mana perception to the highest possible level. Hed even inserted some of his mana to activate the [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability, allowing him to sense everything in his surroundings.

    Because of the enhancements he had received and his Innate ability, he was prepared to face the dangers lurking in the dungeon ahead.

    Right now, he was in arge in without many nts. The temperature was extremely hot, making Nial feel like taking off his clothes.

    Yet, instead of doing something as stupid as running around naked, he bent down to touch the ground he was standing on.

    ''Is that¡­ash?'' He wondered, not sure what exactly he was feeling.

    It was somewhat warm, but not to the extent that he would burn himself.

    At the same time, when he took a pinch of ash and rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger, he felt something distinct and odd.

    By perceiving everything in a radius of close to 150 meters, Nial was able to tell that there were a total of two beast groups in his surroundings.

    None of them had noticed him, but it wouldn''t take long before that was bound to happen.

    As such, he quietly turned in the direction of the smaller beast group that was slightly further away from his current position before he set off.

    Only now did he sense that the purity of his mana seemed to have increased while he circted it through his body.

    ''Is it really the purity of my mana, or certain characteristics of it that changed? Why does it feel more powerful¡­''<sub> </sub>

    Nial was sure that the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] was at fault for all of this, but he couldn''t really tell how strong the difference in strength he received was.

    At first, he had no idea how much his physical strength had elevated, while the same could be said about his mana.

    However, that was not something he could pay too much attention to as the beasts radiated even more heat than the surrounding had noticed him.

    They came in all shapes and sizes, and the groups of beasts inside the dungeon seemed to be different from the ordinary packs of beasts that would mostly roam around with their own kind.

    This was interesting, but not to the extent that he would start researching them.

    Making use of the information he received through his heightened perception of senses, Nial''s mind was quickly flooded with intel.

    Most of it was useless, and sorting useful information from useless stuff was amongst the most difficult, even more so in a life and death fight, where he could die at any moment.

    Thus, given the data he had acquired even before his first sh with the group of beasts, Nial was able to figure out new things he had to pay attention to.

    Oddly enough this was something he looked forward to, thinking that his strength would increase even more as long as he was able to make the most out of the things he had.

    After bing the best version of himself, absorbing and annexing mana would only continue to make him stronger leaving him no problems to fix.

    However, this was easier said than done, and doing everything simultaneously would yield the best results.

    At least in this case.

    After all, perfection was something one could acquire if one were to change and adapt, which meantprehending the truth behind absorbing mana, improving one''s understanding, and altering the body in a perfect way in order to be stronger!

    Determined to excel, Nial emerged in front of the closest beast and faced a canine, which he killed with a simple thrust of his Viper spear.

    It hadn''t even been able to evade, let alone attack him as the Viper spear had already been retracted.

    Nial''s instincts were on high alert, his physical state much stronger than before, and the mana circting through his body was pulsating powerfully.

    Thus, he had no problem moving through the hordes of the beasts, which he decimated with precise, yet also powerful thrusts and shes of the Viper spear.

    It was much easier than he first imagined, and every single beast fell to the ground, with a loud, almost metallic sound.

    This made him curious, and when he noticed that the tip of the Viper spear was a bit warm, Nial stopped his onught to properly inspect the bodies of the beasts he had killed.

    However, before he could finish his inspection, he sensed an eruption of searing hot metal masses that were flung toward him.

    At first, he was confused by this attack tactic but making use of his senses to perceive the noises, the smell, and his mana perception allowed him to understand what was going on.

    He was being attacked by a beast that could throw zing metal masses around the size of a ping pong ball.

    Evading them was not difficult because he was able to sense them clearly, which was a great advantage.

    Making use of everything he perceived, Nial turned in the direction of the second beast group that had noticed him.

    They had already spread out and were trying to surround him, while a bipedal being was firing the zing metal clumps at him.

    The metal clumps were fast, and if not for his range of perception, Nial would have much bigger issues evading them.

    It almost looked like the beast was trying to distract him, but that was hardly possible owing to the non-existent difficulty it took him to evade the attacks.

    Nevertheless, he couldn''t help but feel that the zing metal clumps were weird, almost as if two elemental affinities had been merged together, or that the ping pong ball-sized metal clumps were sentient.

    It was truly weird.

    His mana perception clearly detected that something was odd, but Nial had yet to figure out what it was.

    However, before doing so, he catapulted himself towards his left in the least crowded area of beasts.

    With a sharp thrust, he killed an ape, by crushing its skull¡­or so Nial thought.

    The moment his spear touched the skull he heard a loud ng as if metal shed against metal, and that was exactly what happened.

    He had no idea that the beasts he was attacking were called Machnam. Under normal circumstances, one could easily detect them ording to their appearance.

    But, because Nial was unable to see, his senses had only been able to tell him that something was wrong, such as the fact that not a single drop of blood had spurted out of the wounds of the beasts he killed.

    Simultaneously, he could clearly sense that the metal-like brain was more liquefied than solid which further confused him.

    Rather, it was the bitter truth..or to be precise, the bittersweet truth!

    Not only were the bodies of Machnam beasts precious because they were used to create various potions but their brain was utilized to create specific parts of the Originals bracelet too!

    The moment, Nial perceived the somewhat familiar metal clumps, he figured out what type of beasts he was facing.

    ''Machnams? That''s amazing!''

    The realization about what the beast he was facing would have made Nial extremely happy, if not for an issue, which he figured out only now.

    ''If the metal clumps are the brains of Machnam beasts¡­why is that beast firing zing Machnam brains at me?!?''

    **

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 Chapter 74 Machnam

    The little humanoid beast was out of the ordinary, and something Nial had never even heard of before.

    Machnam beasts were rare, and so were their dungeons.

    As such, Nial thought that the information avable about them was simply too little to understand everything thoroughly.

    This reassured him that everything might be normal, even if it didn''t look like this.

    Facing the other Machnam beasts that were right beside him, Nial quickly made use of his enhanced senses to perceive and evade the attacks that were about to hit him.

    Most of the beasts around him fought without any grand attack patterns which he would have to be careful of.

    Only the bipedal Machnam was a little bit different because it kept throwing a portion of the brains of its own kind at him.

    But what Nial understood a secondter was that the Machnam didn''t attack him directly.

    Instead, it attempted to restrict his movements with the zing brain clumps.

    This worked rtively well in favor of the bipedal Machnam, or so it thought.

    Nial seemed to be struggling to evade the attacks of the other Machnam beasts while doing exactly the same with the zing metal brain clumps.

    In reality, Nial''s issue was not to evade the attacks but to keep his focus on the beasts, because the information his senses received overwhelmed him.

    It was extremely burdensome, and to the extent that he was unable to move his body properly.

    When the beasts roared out, his body twitched and he felt as if he had frozen on the spot.

    This was how distracting the sounds, smells, and vibrations that reached him were.

    In fact, the physical attacks of the beasts were not even half as problematic as their unintentional attacks on his senses.

    As such, it was Nial''s fortune that the beasts in front of him were a little dumb to understand why he was struggling to evade the attacks.

    Having that advantage, he was able to hack and sh with the Viper spear, ending the life of a few Machnam beasts while they attacked him relentlessly.

    The pressure that weighed on him was much greater than he expected it to be in such a low-ranked dungeon that had a density simr to the mana fluctuations of the permanent slime dungeon.

    Because of that, Nial was barely able to hide his smile as he felt how advantageous the current situation was to the process of his adjustment.

    It was simply perfect, even if he sustained a few light burns owing to the Machnam beasts'' ws that grazed at his shirt and legs.

    However, that was all they could reach.

    As the beasts were unable to touch him, they grew desperate to attack him, and even the bipedal Machnam couldn''t help but feel restless.

    He was killing its kind, causing rage to umte within the small bipedal being that began to control a total of four metal brain clumps at once.

    The Machnam ignited them, and mes erupted all around the clumps, turning them into little balls of inferno that were burning at a searing hot temperature.

    Aiming at Nial, the Machnam threw them at him, who perceived everything with extreme precision.

    After slowly getting a hang of his senses, he evaded the attacks, though he missed them by a hair''s breadth.

    Afterward, it was almost as if his senses hadpletely calmed down, giving Nial the feeling that he could control them.

    Owing to this, he was able to kill the remaining Machnam beasts that surrounded him in a loose circle, smoothly depriving them of their life force as he thrust, shed, and cleaved at them.

    Nial attacked them viciously, and it took him only two minutes to finish off thest beast, leaving him and the bipedal Machnam alone.

    It was staring at him furiously, its body shaking in wrath.  Nial could clearly feel this, however, that didn''t matter because it would die anyway.

    As such, he charged at it, piercing out with the Viper spear.

    But before he was able to reach the Machnam, Nial''s senses began to riot once again, providing him with intel he couldn''t grasp.

    There were so many detailed pieces of information, yet only so little time to process them.

    However, even though he was unable to clearly understand what was going on, Nial realized that he was in danger.

    With that in mind, he abruptly halted his steps that almost broke his ankles before he pushed himself to the left, making himnd on the ground.

    Just a momentter, he heard the crackling sound of mes ring up, and his mana perception allowed him to visualize a circle of searing hot mes that had erupted from the ground.

    This caused him to frown, and only after he sensed that the bipedal Machnam had done this, did Nial realize what was going on.

    ''Did it try to make me believe that it could only ignite the metal clumps? Was that some sort of trap?''

    Nial was not exactly sure, but he knew that the bipedal Machnam had created the zing circle.

    As such, Nial wondered what kind of reason it had for not attacking him with fireballs or something simr to that.

    What he didn''t know was that the bipedal Machnam was simply unable to maintain a specific shape with its fire affinity.

    It could only create mes at any ce it wanted. The longer the distance of the ce it wanted to make the mes appear was, the higher the mana consumption.

    Thus, it used its racial ability to control the metal brains of its brethren as a means to attack its foes.

    What use would they have of their brains after dying, to begin with!<sub> </sub>

    The bipedal Machnam was under the impression that his attacks would curtail Nial but it only stared in shock as Nial evaded its trap, the zing circle.

    It should have burned Nial to cinder, but it only drained thest reserves of the bipedal Machnam.

    Because of that, it was possible for Nial to initiate his second attack, the moment he jumped up from the ground.

    In a matter of seconds, the Viper spear pierced through the bipedal Machnam''s throat, only for Nial to release the spear''s side-de, ending the beast''s life for good.

    A momentter the beast turned into an origin crystal.

    Only Nial was left behind, standing in the searing hot ins all alone. If he were to see his surroundings with exceptional rity, he wouldn''t be able to take his time to breathe and collect the precious corpses of the Machnam beasts.

    Instead, he would be afraid of being forced to face the eruption of a volcano, just like the one that was erupting far away from him.

    It would take a while before he would be affected by it in any way, and everything looked surreal as if someone was creating a high-quality illusion in front of Nial.

    However, all of this was useless because Nial was not able to see it either way.

    As such, illusions wouldn''t affect his mind, to begin with.

    Being able to rx a little after the fight was over, Nial took a few deep breaths of air.

    He had just experienced how dangerous it was to fight more than twenty beasts at the same time, even more so because his condition was critical, to put it lightly.

    Calling himself stupid was not enough, but being foolish or dumb was not something new for him.

    He was just doing what he thought to be correct, and even if it was wrong, the experience he would gather through his mistakes was essential.

    Only through mistakes could one grow at a much faster speed because one would realize what was important and what to discard.

    The same was something Nial had just faced, with the sole difference that he had lost his family before he could truly realize how important they were to him.

    It was great to know that his sister was likely to be healed and that his parents were probably alive too.

    However, it was the uncertainty that made him restless, which was something he couldn''t stand.

    Thus, bing stronger in the fastest possible way was the most important, even if the ways he would improve were to be a bit reckless and dangerous.

    As long as he believed himself to walk on the correct path, everything was fine.

    Once that was not the case anymore, Nial would have to think of a different solution, which was, fortunately, not the case yet!

    By attempting to stay optimistic, Nial decided to conquer the entire dungeon by facing all Machnam beasts, earning a huge fortune while adjusting himself to his senses.

    He was excited to figure out how powerful he would be once his senses were to be under his full control, which included his mana perception.

    There was a lot for him to do, and after he adjusted himself to the changes caused by the curse, would the real progress start.

    After all, his physique was still too weak, even after the enhancements.

    However, his physical strength was not the issue but his constitution and the fact that his muscles, and physique were not trained.

    He was not skinny, but at the same time, Nial didn''t really have a muscr or athletic body, which was something he wanted to change in order to make use of every single muscle in his body.

    If Nial wanted to release his entirebat prowess, he required more strength, and that was something he could only do by giving his utmost efforts in every possible subject¡­including studying.

    Sighing deeply when he realized that there was a lot on his te, Nial gave a wry chuckle.

    Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he decided to distract himself by conquering the dungeon.

    He didn''t know when the others would arrive, and the moment the military arrived to examine the dungeon, they would dere that the dungeon was not dangerous.

    Simultaneously, they would start conquering it because every single body part of Machnam beasts was precious and quite rare.

    Thus, Nial had to hurry up.

    Wielding the Viper spear smoothly, he was able to release his tension real quick.

    This was one of the few unsolved mysteries for him.

    Moving the Viper spear all around his body and wielding it oddly calmed him, releasing the tension coiled in his muscles.

    Whether this was because of the distraction or because the Viper spear sometimes felt like the extension of his arm, Nial didn''t know.

    What he knew for certain was that he felt at ease with his weapon, which was the most important for him.

    Thus, while running through the dungeon that was overflowing with vein-like streams of magma, Nial was adeptly wielding the Viper spear, improving the way in which he practiced urately controlling his weapon of choice.

    While searching for the Boss Monster he was looking out for groups of Machnam beast groups that he wanted to finish off, but unfortunately, there were not that many for him to find.

    The groups he found were mostly spread out and rtively small in number.

    However, this was perfectly fine for his goal, and only when he encountered a three-meter tall golem that towered at a far greater height as it stood on a small hill, did Nial lick his dry lips.

    "That''s unexpected¡­but how could Iin about ying David against Goliath?!"

 Chapter 75 One Blow

    It was obvious that the Boss monster ahead of him was notparable to the opponents he had faced inside the two-element dungeon.

    The Lava Golem, whose mana-infested magma was dripping on the ground, was evidently weaker than the two bosses he had faced there.

    However, there was one major difference that made the Lava golem as dangerous as the other bosses.

    It''s entire body was made out ofva and Nial quickly realized that even approaching it was extremely difficult because the searing heat around the beast would slowly burn him.

    Facing theva golem was quite tricky and the moment his skin was to touch the body, he would turn to a pile of ash and charred bones, or so he presumed.

    As such, the Viper spear had to obliterate the beast with a single strike, to avoid dying at its hand the moment he reached its range.

    Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

    After all, he couldn''t be sure that theva golem''s brain would be in its head.

    The shape it had taken was just that; a shape without any rtion to a body''s physical anatomy.

    With that in mind, Nial''s first task was to figure out the area he had to attack in order to kill the Lava golem with one blow.

    Using his perception to sense the magma dripping from its body, Nial began to focus on sensing the remaining parts of its body.

    He would be able to find what he was looking for in the areas that were mana dense.

    Unfortunately enough, there were three such areas which could be considered quite disadvantageous.

    In the end, one of the mana dense areas was its brain, the second was its mana core, and the third one was something Nial had no idea about

    His knowledge was too shallow to answer the questions he had in mind.

    As such, he could either poke and hit one after another or try to destroy all mana-dense areas at once.

    The Viper spear wouldn''t be affected despite the searing heat of the Lava golem''s body.

    Because of that, it was possible for him to pierce through a particr spot before continuing to hit and attack the second and third spot.

    shing through the body of theva golem shouldn''t be as difficult as doing the same with normal beasts made out of flesh and bones.

    After all, its body was liquefied and held together by something Nial had yet toprehend.

    Thus he continued to rack his brain and think of a proper solution, which made him miss another group of Machnam beasts that was slowly approaching him.

    Only when his other senses other than the mana perception noted something was he dragged out of his train of thoughts.

    Turning towards the Machnam beasts, he catapulted in their direction without hesitation.

    Having adjusted to the enormous enhancement [Hodur''s Heir] provided him with, Nial could only move his body at a much faster speed.

    His movements were much smoother too, and the number of injuries he sustained was minuscule as well.

    However, this was only obvious because all of his senses were sending him ring warning signals of attacks even if they happened right behind him.

    One time, more than ten fast Machnam beasts had attacked him, yet owing to his enhanced senses, he had managed to evade their attacks easily.

    This was exceptional even if the beasts he fought were from a Lowest Rookie dungeon.

    Nial was already excited to start training his physique properly before learning the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique.

    With 27 days left, he should be able to fix his physique, as well as start understanding the technique he had received from Master Junades.

    The only problem was to procure enough knowledge to be on par with the other youths that would enter the Teradan military camp.

    Most of them hailed from influential families that wanted to make use of the military camp in order to gain fame for their family, and form deeper connections with the military through that.

    At the same time, their children ought to build up their own connections with other youths they deemed as useful, whether it was owing to their talent or background.

    That was what Nial presumed to happen, but he couldn''t bother about that, at all.

    He just wanted to be stronger, and only by smoothly eliminating the threat in front of him, was this possible though it would take time.

    ''I hope the camp''s lethal training methods are as promising as Kira made them sound to me¡­'' Nial could only hope for the best while killing thest Machnam beast.

    His senses were fully unleashed when he sensed that the Lava Golem had noticed him.

    However, that was not further surprising because the Machnam beasts had been quite loud.

    Oddly enough, he could keep his calm and collect the corpses of the beasts he had killed, before continuing to fight the Dungeon boss with his back facing it.

    In the end, it didn''t matter whether he faced it frontally or not because he was using his senses to perceive the beast to begin with.

    As such, as long as he deflected the attacks and came up with good counterattacks, he would farewell.

    Taking his opponent for a fool to fight like this, the Lava Golem tiptoed towards him, while it even attempted to stop magma dripping on the ground.

    Nial found this quite adorable, considering that he was facing a more than three meters high bipedal Laval golem, whose entire body was made out ofva.

    Despite it being adorable, he had to kill it because it would attempt to do exactly the same.

    With that in mind, he crushed the origin crystal that had dropped from one of the Machnam beasts, absorbing the mana that was released greedily.

    By refilling his little mana core, Nial felt fully vitalized as he tightly grasped the Viper spear.

    Nheless, he didn''t turn around yet and tried to make use of a surprise attack in order to defeat the Lava Golem.

    Through this, his heart began to beat wildly as he tried to make use of his mana perception in order to properly sense the exact location of the three mana-dense spots of its body.

    Nial had to know this in order to think of a proper attack to execute.

    As such, he changed the Viper spear and turned it into the ive form, making things much easier for him.

    After inserting some mana into the des, he enhanced their sharpness, which would allow him to defeat the Lava golem without an issue.

    Everything was prepared in a perfect manner, and there was no reason for him to be worried about anything.<sub> </sub>

    The defenses of the beast he was about to attack were weak, and so were its mana fluctuations.

    Repeating this in his head over and over again helped him be at peace, and it was only a matter of time before he perceived that he had begun to act.

    Using up the remaining mana, he attempted activating [Hodur''s Heir] curse.

    This drained him of everyst droplet of mana, further enhancing his senses to a higher peak, giving him a clear perception of every single inch of the Lava golem''s body.

    Oddly enough, this allowed him even to sense rough outlines of what the things in the mana-dense area looked like.

    Nial would be interested in getting a better understanding of everything if the situation was not extremely dangerous.

    However, because that was exactly the case, he had to be mindful of every single step.

    Making use of the muscles in the midriff, he twisted his waist along with his entire upper body to reach the highest momentum as he thrust the Viper spear into the Lava golem that was now within the spear''s range.

    Nial targeted the closest mana-dense area that seemed to be the most crucial before continuing his attack by diagonally thrusting the Viper spear in its ive form.

    It didn''t leave the body of the Lava golem even for a single moment, but pierced through the designated target, before cutting through the second one.

    Unfortunately, he was unable to reach the third target, but that was owing to droplets of magma that burned his hair.

    In fact, Nial felt as if his entire body was boiling, which was, most likely, exactly what was happening.

    The moment he shed out with the ive-form Viper spear, the Lava golem retaliated.

    The boss monster moved slowly, punching him with its fist.

    Owing to his extraordinary senses, Nial was not really having issues evading the attacks.

    However, that was not the problem he was facing.

    The Lava Golem''s punch caused several droplets ofva to be spread in the surrounding area, narrowly missing Nail, who felt as if time had suddenly slowed down.

    It made him feel almost as if death was approaching him, even though it was evident that the droplets wouldn''t hit him.

    His heart skipped a beat, and only when he sensed that the two destroyed organs of the Lava golem caused the beast to crumble was he finally able to sigh in relief.

    The droplets ofva shot past him, and there didn''t seem to be a single issue.

    Nheless, the moment the Lava Golem copsed, Nial jumped backward, before continuing to retreat a little.

    <o>,m A ssh resounded in the surrounding area, but before the remnants of the Boss monster could spread on the ground, it began to turn into countless particles.</o>

    Only this gave Nial the necessary reassurance that the fight was over.

    The tension in his body was released and he couldn''t help but feel that the battle itself was quite unproblematic.

    Instead, the nerve-wracking period before the fight had been the most burdensome for him but had ended rather unspectacrly.

    However, that was perfectly fine with Nial because he would rather have an unspectacr fight and survive instead of almost dying in a spectacr fight.

    But, before he could calm his rapidly pounding heart, his focus was averted from the reminiscence of the fight against the Lava golem towards the drops of its corpse.

    There was not much he could see.

    In fact, what he saw were a bunch of origin crystals at Low Common grade and arge mass ofpressed magma that was infused with strong mana currents.

    It looked almost as if the entire mana of the Lava Golem was stored in the mass of magma, which astonished Nial a little bit.

    The scorching heat had cooled down to the level of heat prevalent in the dungeon''s surrounding before he had approached the Lava Golem.

    This was quite intriguing, and by moving his hand slowly towards the mass of magma, his doubt was proven to be correct.

    ''It''s not even hot? Just what is this?''

    He was confused, but by touching the mass Nial could clearly tell that there was no difort. Rather it was a great feeling!

    In the end, the magma packs felt like the packaged liquefied cooling elements, except that they were just warm.

    They were radiating a heat that wasparable to the surrounding temperature, but somehow, it made him feel as if it was radiating a soothing feeling.

    It was impossible to deny that he found it interesting to touch the magma elements, and by picking them up, he noticed that it was much more than he first assumed.

    ''They are 5¡­maybe 10 kilograms in total? It should be worth quite a bit¡­but, maybe they''re quite useful to rx my muscles after training martial arts as well? They should have a simr effect to a massage¡­I guess?''

    Nial was quite confused about the magma elements, which was why he didn''t even notice how much time had passed.

    At the same time, he didn''t even realize that the surrounding area was crumbling, the vein-likeva streams had turned thicker, and it was time for him to leave.

    As such, only when it was almost toote did he sense the increase in the surrounding temperature, which made him act quickly.

    Storing everything away, he quickly left the dungeon, only to step out of the portal just before it disintegrated.

    Little did he know that a few Originals had just appeared in front of him, prepared to enter the dungeon before the military would take a look at it.

    "Fuck, we are toote!"

    **

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 Chapter 76 Killers

    Nial sensed six Originals that were at or above the 3rd Origin rank only moments after he emerged from the portal that closed behind him.

    "Fuck we''re toote," was the first thing he heard, and from the anger evident in their voice, he immediately knew that they meant trouble.

    He couldn''t be sure about that, but the chances that his gut feeling was wrong were slim.

    Thus, he quickly retracted the des on the Viper spear, hiding some of its mor before attempting to walk past them.

    If there was a different way to leave, Nia would have taken the other path, but the alley was a dead end.

    This was kind of troublesome, but he still tried his best to avoid getting dragged into unnecessary trouble.

    "Greetings."

    Bowing towards the Originals, he greeted them politely before he continued to walk away.

    His heart began to beat wildly when he started to walk past them, and it almost skipped a beat when he brushed past thest one of them.

    Unfortunately, the Originals had spotted his leather armor, the spatial ring on his finger, and the Viper spear.

    Nial might not be able to see, but the others could, and they didn''t need to be intelligent to understand the value of his equipment.

    Easily perceiving that he was blind and only at the 1st Origin rank, they presumed that Nial was an easy target to take out, which caused them to smile.

    "My little sweetheart, wait a moment!" One of the female Originals called out to him in a seductive voice.

    While her charm would have worked on others, Nial figured that she was a sly fox, which caused him to hasten up his steps.

    To his misfortune, this didn''t make the situation any better, as the female Original''s voice turned furious.

    "I SAID WAIT!"

    Hearing her switch from talking like a sultry siren to a furiously angry woman within seconds was unexpected, but sensing that the other Originals had finally turned their attention to him as well, Nial could only halt in his tracks.

    Simultaneously, he prepared himself to run for his life, but he would wait a moment.

    "Miss, what may I help you with?"

    He asked her in a carefully neutral voice signaling that he didn''t want any trouble, but that was easier said than done because the Originals that spoke to him were definitely seeking trouble!

    "Brat, don''t you want to apologize for taking away our dungeon?"

    The moment Nial heard the woman''s annoyed tone, he felt that he had found himself a brand new problem to tackle.

    There was no way he could reason with someone, who was being a hypocrite and acting as if she was eager to recreate one of the most basic clich¨¨s from the fairy tales his parents had read to him when he was younger.

    But he could sense that his life was on the line, which made him act even more carefully than before.

    "I''m sorry Miss, I only saw that the dungeon wasbeled as ''open for public use''... If that was wrong, I will apologize!"

    Even though he was trying his best, Nial knew that it was to no avail.

    However, what he didn''t expect were the faint traces of killing intent that began to leak from the bunch of Originals.

    This caused him to swallow his saliva, and his throat tightened, making it more difficult for him to breathe when he heard the next words.

    "If you didn''t know about it, you can seek forgiveness by handing over your entire equipment. We would consider that as an apology. That''s fair, right?

    Just like their attitude, their request was ridiculous too, even more so because their bodies were releasing killing intent.

    That meant, even if he would give them everything he had, it was not safe for him!

    ''Fuck this shit!''

    His mind was working relentlessly, but there didn''t seem to be a solution to what he was supposed to do.

    Meanwhile, while he was thinking, the Originals began to speak amongst them.

    At that moment, he heard steps from further ahead of him, giving him the necessary courage to take the risk of running away.

    Within a moment, the Viper spear disappeared inside his spatial ring, while he circted the entire mana reserve in his mana core throughout his body.

    Pushing himself off the ground, Nial attempted to flee toward the few Originals that were ahead of him.

    Even if he was not sure if they were kinder, or possibly much worse than the group of Originals he had already encountered, they might take out each other, and free him of the worry of taking down a few high-ranked Originals.

    That had been more than enough for Nial to rush ahead as he heard angered voices from behind him that made him sprint even faster.

    "Catch this rat!! By all means!"

    "It doesn''t matter if we injure or kill him, we just have to dispose of his body afterward! GO!!"

    Though he was extremely tired, he used every bit of strength he had left in his body to run away.

    Yet, before he was even able to cross half of the distance toward the people in front of him, Nial sensed that one of his pursuers was closing in.

    From the looks of it, the ability of the Original that was the closest to him was rted to the enhancement of his speed.

    This was quite an advantage for hunting purposes, but certainly not great for Nial.

    He quickly realized that it would be impossible for him to reach those ahead of him, whom he had yet to identify, causing him to grit his teeth in frustration,

    ''If they catch me now, they''ll definitely kill me and store my body away before the others can even hear my voice.''

    The only plus side of the situation he was in seemed to be the fact that speed was the only strong property of the Original behind him.

    He was fast but only at the 3rd Origin rank.

    ''I can face him head-on for a few seconds, right?'' He asked himself, but the exhaustion of his body was already wearing him down.

    Knowing that he required some rest and that he was already using his entire storage of mana, Nial just continued to run for a few seconds.

    Thankfully, his desperation seemed to have made him run faster, closing the distance between himself and the noises in front of him which became louder. His mana perception perceived several Originals in front of him at a closer range.<sub> </sub>

    This meant that they were only 100 meters away!

    However, these 100 meters felt like a thousand kilometers because it was an endless distance contrary to the distance of five meters the Original behind him, who had pursued him, was.

    Everything felt quite disadvantageous and he regretted not having bought shbang grenades.

    Even a single one of them would have been enough to attract the attention of the Originals in front of him, while his pursuers would have been distracted, or possibly even dazzled.

    Sighing inwardly, he continued running, attempting to close the distance he had to the new Originals that were hisst hope.

    Nial had already attempted to make his Odyssey seed pulsate or vibrate just once, but that didn''t happen.

    Rather, nothing happened, leaving Nial with nothing but the fear of his untimely death.

    Since awakening the Odyssey seed, it had been rare for him to fear something if he were to exclude the fear of not seeing his family again.

    But even that had disappeared when he had promised himself to grow stronger and rescue them.

    Nevertheless, the Originals that pursued him were truly odd, and not the bunch of people he would want to encounter if he were to be in his prime condition.

    They seemed ferocious and merciless, which caused Nial to curse his bad luck.

    It was just a momentter that he seemed to have jinxed his luck once again.

    Instead of being able to run further ahead, he noticed that one of the Originals from further away had stopped in their tracks.

    A premonition shed through his entire being, and as if he knew what was about to happen, he suddenly heard the noise of a bowstring releasing an arrow.

    Fractions of a secondter his ears pricked up, and the noise of an arrow flying through the air filled his entire mind.

    Unable to predict the arrow''s target, Nial had to wait for a moment, attempting to figure out a way to evade the sudden long-range attack.

    Unfortunately, the speed of the arrow was much faster than he had expected, and by the time he figured that it was simply aimed at his back, it was toote.

    Instinctively moving towards the left, the arrow had already reached him, only to make a sudden curve towards the ground.

    This gave Nial some hopes of evading the attack.

    Yet, before he could rejoice, Nial was once again deprived of his joy as the arrow pierced into the back of his thigh, throwing him off bnce.

    He crashed to the ground, preventing him from continuing to flee from his pursuers!

    His heart almost jumped out of his throat, even faster than it had been the case before.

    Nial believed that he was done for good even if the distance of the Originals in front of him was lesser than before.

    He could feel death approaching him, crawling towards him like a predator but Nial still didn''t want to give up.

    That was not who he was, and he had more than enough reason to continue fighting, even if death was the final end.

    At least, he would die knowing that he tried saving himself till hisst breath.

    With that resolution, he was just about to manifest the Viper spear in his hand and fight, when he suddenly felt a heavy weight crushing his hand.

    It was the male Original who had pursued him.

    He was angered about the fact that he had to pursue Nial, but that was not something the young blind Nial, whose heart was racing, could bother about.

    Out of nowhere, his mana core seemed to react in ordance to his heartbeat, making the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] react.

    ck miasma was released, yet before anyone could notice something about the sudden change in the atmosphere, a loud and thunderous voice echoed through the entire dark valley.

    "What is going on here?!"

    Hearing the voice, Nial felt instantly reassured, and the pain in his thigh momentarily disappeared.

    This was even more so the case when he recalled the voice as a small figure emerged right next to him.

    Meanwhile, the other Original who had been standing on one of his hands had been sted away, as if he weighed no more than a feather.

    A strong draft of wind and dust brushed into his face, but he couldn''t care less.

    Instead, he perceived the dwarf-like figure of the middle-aged man he had encountered when he entered the Originals association for the first time in his life!

    It was exactly the same man, who had given him advice out of kindness.

    His words were hard to forget and feeling that he finally had help, he got up from the ground, ignoring the searing pain that spread through his thigh as he bowed deeply.

    "Hel-lo Sir¡­Nice me-eting you again!"

    Speaking while trying to gasp for air, Nial greeted him while the middle-aged man didn''t understand what he meant.

    Yet, when he looked at him again, he felt that he was oddly familiar.

    Seeing his eyes, the dwarf-like figure recalled Nial, which was not difficult.

    After all, his eyes were a distinct mark of his appearance that remained stuck in the mind of others.

    It wouldn''t even be unlikely for someone who had just walked past him to remember Nial.

    Turning his attention from Nial''s eyes to his injured thigh, and seeing the several Originals who had pursued him, Kark Mandra, the dwarf-like man understood what was going on as he sighed deeply.

    ''Fortunately, we have someone with good ears in our group¡­''

    Looking towards Nial, he couldn''t help but feel anger surging up within his entire being, understanding that the youth had been running for his life.

    As such, he immediately asked,

    "Kiddo, do you want me to help you a little?"

 Chapter 77 Team?

    If he hadn''t been familiar with Kark, the little middle-aged man who had just rescued him, Nial wouldn''t have been able to feel reassured.

    However, because he knew him, Nial was able to take a breath of relief.

    And, after hearing about his offer, he quickly nodded his head, barely suppressing a sigh of relief.

    "Yes¡­please!"

    He could clearly feel that the ck Miasma would have almost been released from his body, but since he was interrupted, it was retracted into his back.

    As such, he would die, the moment he rejected the helping hand.

    After all, he was not insane, let alone eager to die at the hands of Originals who wanted to take everything from him, including his life.

    "Alright, just rx, it will be over soon!" He said in a calming manner before a mace manifested in Kark''s hands.

    Releasing his mana fluctuations, he enveloped the Originals in front of it with the fluctuations before it erged, intimidating the batch of Originals that could only stare at Kark in fear.

    "Y-y-you are¡­Kark Mandra, right?! We¡­We just wanted to take back what had been stolen from us..this youth stole our weapons and equipment before taking away our dungeon!!"

    It was the same female Original who had dragged Nial into the mess, and her bewitching voice bounced off the walls of the alley.

    However, it was only a momentter that Kark disappeared from his position, appearing right in front of the women, the maze lifted over his head as he ordered.

    "Sleep, you cheap bitch!"

    Owing to his mana fluctuations that enveloped everyone, Kark could clearly determine whether he was being lied to or not.

    There were people that could lie well, but even they had to train to control their heartbeat, and mana fluctuations while tantly lying.

    As such, Kark immediately knew that the woman had lied to him.

    Smashing the maze on her head, blood sttered through the surrounding, and Nial was too stunned to even move as he heard the noise of a cracking skull.

    ''Did¡­he just kill her?'' He asked himself, as the blood drained off his face. But a momentter, he perceived that she was perfectly fine.

    This confused Nial, because his hearing sense was exceptional.

    Because of that, something must have gone wrong, but he had no idea what it was.

    Perceiving the mana fluctuations and outlines of the woman through his own mana, he figured that she was perfectly fine.

    She fainted, but that was the only thing that seemed to have happened to her.

    As such, the moment Kark moved, eliminating the threat of the other Originals in the same way, Nial''s confusion only intensified further.

    He was still unsure about what had happened, but he could clearly tell that there was something unique about the maze.

    The moment before it impacted the Originals, it seemed to pass through the physical body of the Originals, hitting them at random ces.

    This was confusing, and Nial had no idea how he was doing it.

    To avoid his mind from getting muddled, he just kept telling himself that it was an effect of the maze, which helped him stay sane and level-headed.

    After the Originals had lost their consciousness, Kark simply ignored them as he approached Nial, who was still lying on the ground.

    Extending hisrge hand that was anti-proportional, Kark gave him a smile.

    "How about you get up from the ground? It''s cold and dirty!"

    Reaching for his outstretched hand, Nial grasped it and got up.

    "Thank you for helping me. I''m not sure how I would have survived without your help!"

    Thest statement of Nial was not true, because he was fully aware of what his ck Miasma would have done to the Originals.

    From the looks of it, Kark seemed to think the same as heughed before questioning,

    "Do you really think so? In my opinion, I saved them from dying in this dark and dirty alley!"

    Flinching upon hearing Kark''s words, Nial took a few moments before he was able to smile lightly.

    He refrained frommenting, and it was only when the pain spreading from his thigh overwhelmed him that he twitched, and a painful grimace appeared on his face.

    Grasping the arrow, he attempted to envelop it with a trace of mana in order to pull it out more easily.

    Unfortunately, there was not a single particle of mana left in his entire body, forcing him to pull the arrow out of his thigh.

    Clenching his teeth, he tore the arrow out of his thigh before throwing it to the ground.

    A momentter, his entire leg began to tremble, and he could barely take a single potion out of his spatial ring before a fresh bolt of pain shot up from the wound.

    Without any painkillers, Nial could only endure the pain, and wait until the injury would heal.

    With the supply of enough potions, this would probably take only a few days.

    However, this meant that he would be rendered incapable of entering any kind of dungeon for several days while working out was bound to be extremely difficult, or even close to impossible.

    This caused him to sigh deeply as he mumbled,

    "Another obstacle to ovee¡­healing this frustrating wound¡­it''s not like I have lots of time left¡­Well, at least I''m alive!"

    Nial''s mind was filled with countless thoughts and he had just blurted out a few of them before realizing that he had said them out loud, instead of solely thinking about the mess he had entered in his head.

    Lifting his body, he bowed once again to Kark Mandra, who was calmly standing in front of Nial, looking at him with a glint of interest in his eyes.

    "Once again, thank you very much for saving me. My name is Nial Orin, we met each other earlier in the Originals association a few weeks ago if I remember correctly. But you probably don''t recall me, so¡­ it''s nice meeting you!"

    Nial seemed genuinely thankful for Kark''s arrival, which was only obvious.

    It was forbidden to kill others inside the shelter, and Nial didn''t really n to kill other humans, to begin with.

    If Nial were to identally do something to others just because he was unable to control the ck miasma of the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] or the darkness of his Odyssey seed, he would certainly regret itter!

    "I remember you, kiddo. Nice to meet you again, I''m Kark Mandra, and behind you is my small but exquisite team!"

    Turning around, even if it didn''t make a difference to his senses, Nial perceived that five other Originals had finally arrived near them.<sub> </sub>

    "It''s already over? What a shame¡­Couldn''t you have let me fight them?"

    The voice sounded extremely young, but Nial perceived that it came from the direction of the voluptuous woman.

    She had shoulder long hair, and seemed to be nearly as powerful as Kark, yet the battle intent she released was frightening.

    None of the present Originals were as strong as Master Junades, Librarian Mara, or Kira.

    However, it didn''t mean that they were weak.

    On the contrary, everyone present was quite powerful, which was oddly reassuring as he asked something that confused him.

    "I can tell that they''re powerful¡­but exquisite?"

    This simple question caused a few of the Originals tough lightly as one of the taller men answered him in a gentle tone.

    ? "We are just a bunch of random people with all kinds of abilities, but our boss likes to call us exquisite, don''t mind that!"

    Nodding his head, Nial returned the smile, while taking another recuperation potion out of his spatial ring, in addition to a bandage.

    He wanted to tend to his wound because he felt that dirt must have entered it and could lead to an infection.

    They were in one of the dirtiest alleys inside the central district.

    As such, he wanted to avoid the risk of the wound festering into something uglier.

    However, when the youngest member of Kark''s exquisite group saw the wound she quickly approached him. A one-meter-long staff with a crystal embedded in it manifested in her hand.

    Nial had barely torn his pants to tend to his wound while the young woman had already emerged next to him. She bent down, and pushed away his hand before inserting some mana into her wand.

    "Don''t move, or you might make it worse!"

    Getting bossed around was not really something Nial had hoped for, but he simply epted everything the young woman was doing.

    Her mana had a faint transmutation that made him feel extremely calm. The soothing sensation of solely sensing her mana further away calmed him down.

    As such, the moment she catalyzed her mana through the wand that targeted his wound, he felt a sudden cold wash over him, soothing the pain that spread through his entire leg.

    The cold reced his pain, and it was just a secondter that the cold feeling was also dispelled.

    A soothing warmth reached him, causing a faint tingling sensation around the area of the wound the arrow had caused.

    However, that was not where the soothing feeling stopped. It spread through his entire body, and eased his tension, calming him in a matter of seconds.

    This made him believe that the cold somehow cleansed his body, while the warmth initiated the healing process, elerating it tremendously.

    It was a weird but miraculous feeling.

    Nial could only sense how energy was seeping from his body while his nutrition was being used up.

    He felt that this was extremely interesting, but also quite dangerous as he was not sure what would happen if he were to have too little nutrition.

    Thus, he could only keep his quiet, and hope that the woman knew what she was doing.

    Meanwhile, Nial''s focus was solely on the women, and the few types of energy she used to heal him, questioning what kind of ability, or possibly abilities, she bound to her mana core in order to have a purification and healing property in her mana.

    However, after giving it some more thought, he felt that it had been her wand that caused these effects, which made him feel intrigued about the wand she wielded.

    Yet, before he could ask any of the questions that filled his entire mind, Kark began to speak up,

    "Earlier, you said that you don''t have much time anymore. Are you preparing yourself to apply for a University, an Academy, or possibly a training camp for the military? I''m just curious, so ignore me if that''s too personal for you to answer!"

    It looked like he was interested in Nial, which was not really challenging to figure out.

    Nial himself had already sensed something about the dwarf-like man as he had doubted that he wouldn''t have been able to defeat the Originals that were still unconscious.

    As such, Kark must have seen the ck miasma, which caused Nial to feel like he had to answer honestly.

    After all, an obvious lie wouldn''t allow him to gain Kark''s trust.

    "I got rmended to the Teradan military camp, and I awakened my origin a few weeks ago¡­so I''m in a bit of a hurry. That''s why I''m bothered about my injury!"

    Just as Nial finished his sentence, the soothing warmth in his thigh disappeared as the young woman got up from the ground.

    "I''m done. It might itch a little bit, but there won''t be any issues. You were lucky that only your flesh was pierced through and it didn''t reach your bone!"

    Bowing deeply to the young woman, he thanked her and meant to ask a few questions, but he was interrupted by Kark once again.

    "Is the rmendation from¡­the government, the higher authorities of the military, or an organization?!"

    He was genuinely curious, which was clearly visible in his voice, and even the other Originals drew closer, interested in what Nial had just said.

    They didn''t expect the youth they had just saved to be worthy of receiving a rmendation for the Teradan military camp.

    The camp was not to be taken lightly, and Nial didn''t look strong, at least to them.

    Furthermore, he was only at the 1st Origin rank.

    "Oh, I was rmended by someone I know, not the government or anything like that!"

    Answering honestly, Nial quickly realized that the others were even more interested in him than before as almost everyone began to speak at the same time.

    His ears began to ache painfully upon hearing the loud voices of five people speaking to him while being less than two meters away from him.

    As such, he groaned, while firmly cing his hands on his ears to shut out the noises.

    His act made the others fall silent as they looked at him in confusion, while the young woman and Kark looked at him with interest.

    ''Does he have sensitive ears¡­or is it more?''

    Intrigued by multiple factors that revolved around the individual Nial Orin, Kark presented him with another offer.

    "How about you join our team until you depart?"

    [A/N: If you like the novel support me with golden tickets]

 Chapter 78 Blow After Blow

    When Kark, his group, and Nial left the alley, they ignored the unconscious Originals, knowing that the government wouldn''t imprison them for such a trivial thing.

    Lecturing the others who were still conscious, Kark gave them a stern look, hoping that they wouldn''t try harming Nial anymore. He gave them a final warning in the form of a sweet letter that had the following words written in it.

    [If you guys try to be funny one more time, I''ll twist your necks!]

    Nial was d to have met Kark and his group.

    Not only did Kark help him, but they were kind enough to take him into their group.

    He didn''t understand their reason behind this, but from the way Kark looked at him, he seemed to know more about the secrets Nial wanted to hide.

    This would have worried him, but oddly enough, it was the exact opposite case.

    Somehow, Nial felt reassured that he was taken in, and by exining the situation to the group around Kark, even they agreed with their leader''s decision of taking him under their wing.

    "You killed a Lava Golem by yourself?! That''s¡­ are you really sure that you''re only at the 1st Origin rank, and a newly awakened Original?"

    It was the tall youth, who had asked him this question, not sure whether Nial was bluffing or not.

    However, when Nial nodded his head in order to summon the Viper spear, and release its de, nobody doubted his answer anymore.

    The weapon Nial wielded was a masterpiece, and the way he wielded it made it hard to ignore that he waspletelypatible with it.

    Thus, nobody rejected Nial as they epted him with open arms.

    It was a great feeling to be epted somewhere, even if it was only for close to four weeks, maybe even shorter.

    What was even better was the fact that the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] had not awarded him with a single disadvantage, owing to his already existing blindness.

    This was simply too great, and something that made Nial happy as he was able to turn a curse into a blessing, quite literally at that!

    Due to the advantages he received, his blindness was easily countered, and if he were to be precise, the enhancements he received were even stronger because he was already blind.

    He would be stupid toin about receiving something good, which happened only once in a while.

    Come to think about it, his luck had been extremely good for thest few weeks, if one were to exclude the fact that he was alone, and had no one by his side who he could be stronger with.

    Melvin was upied with his own issues, and Nial didn''t even know what his friend was currently doing because his own tasks were already too many for him to solve in a matter of weeks.

    Thus, he was d to state his rough situation to Kark and his group, who listened to him, and were quite astonished about the troubles he had ovee in thest few weeks.

    Nevertheless, Nial left out the fact that his sister and family had been kidnapped.

    Instead, he had reced it with a lie of how they had readily left after finding an important clue to a solution to her issue.

    Adding a fewplications and a sad backstory, Nial created a believable story, ending his exnation with the incident in the dark alley.

    Feeling reassured about their decision to have epted Nial into their team, the entire group couldn''t help but smile weirdly.

    They had not expected Nial to have suffered and already ovee so much, let alone be familiar with a lot of powerful individuals.

    This was truly unexpected, but instead of saying anything about it, they had decided to go to the Originals association to do two things.

    First, they wanted to add Nial officially to their team so as to prevent trouble from creeping on him.

    Secondly, Nial wanted to sell the corpses of the Machnam beasts, which was something he could easily do at the merchant store that was attached to the Originals association.

    In fact, the hired merchant was one of the government employees, meaning that the goods he purchased and sold were always genuine. They were not from the marketce and were never faked.

    This was great, and extremely helpful if one wanted to purchase goods from a blindly trusted source.

    Yet, simultaneously, the goods were more expensive to purchase, and selling those to someone would bring him a slightly lower value.

    However, that was something Nial could ept as long as he would figure out more about the government merchant''s reaction to seeing the corpses of the Machnam beasts he had killed.

    Furthermore, there should be a small bonus for selling a high number of rare goods which he was eager to receive.

    This was something the government added in order to make Originals sell their rare goods at the government''s merchant store instead of private merchants who would attempt to make even more money than they already possessed.

    It was a little bit tricky, but owing to the time the government had already spent in using political tools to their advantage, it had been quite easy to sway the Originals and make them sell the goods to the government.

    With that in mind, Nial didn''t hesitate to approach the assistant in the section for beast corpses.

    After exchanging a few words with the assistant, he and Kark''s group entered arge room where he took out all Mahnam corpses.

    Seeing the corpses, the assistant took a second nce at Nial before averting his attention to the group behind him, thinking that Kark and his group killed the Machnam beasts.

    Not just him but also Kark and the rest looked intently at the beasts. They could clearly see that each beast had only sustained a single injury that had been enough to kill the threat in front of them.

    This was quite intriguing and indicated to everyone that Nial''sbat proficiency was not as bad as he had said.<sub> </sub>

    In fact, Nial had shared some of his problems with all of them, including that he had to improve his physical state in a mere four weeks.

    It was a very short period, and some may think that it was weird for Nial to exin everything he had to aplish for the next few weeks, but it was not only a sign of him trusting Kark''s group, but also something that was great for himself.

    After all, he was able to figure that his ns had been modified slightly.

    There was not a big difference, but his physique required less focus, which meant that the practice with the spear and workouts, followed by the correct supplements of nutrition was more than enough.

    However, for the current situation, none of that mattered.

    The attendant epted the corpses of the Machnam beasts before they were first counted and sorted ording to the damage to their most precious parts.

    After he was done with his evaluation, the attendant stated the amount he would receive in exchange.

    There were 112 Machnam beasts and owing to the rarity of the materials they provided in addition to the little damage their body received, Nial earned 25,000$, which included the bonus.

    This was an exceptional amount of money, considering that the dungeon was at the Lowest Rookie grade, but Nial was not exactly overjoyed.

    He also had the Magma elements but selling them was out of the question.

    Their heat that provided a soothing sensation, could release the tension in his body, thereby preventing the soreness that was bound to ravage his body in the following four weeks, and overwhelm him!

    As such, Nial felt that their value which was likely to be in the thousands of dors was exactly what he required for himself.

    He was not as poor as he had been in the past and could afford to keep the Magma elements for himself, using them however he pleased.

    With that in mind, after the Machnam beast corpses had been sold, he moved along with the rest of the group towards the counter of the Originals association, where they registered Nial as a temporary member of their group.

    This may not be a necessity, but it was better if everything was documented in order to preventplications.

    Thus, after the formalities werepleted, Kark and the others were ready to search for a new dungeon because Nial had already cleared the one they had wanted to enter.

    In the end, the dungeon might have been at the Lowest Rookie rank, but that didn''t change the fact that there was a chance for a rare boss to appear and drop an ability crystal.

    After all, it was a newly emerged dungeon, where the beasts were supposed to drop more crystals.

    However, Nial had been quite unfortunate in today''s dungeon conquest. Despite that, he had already obtained more than enough luck in thest few weeks.

    Given the fact that he bound the [Hodur''s Heir] curse to his mana core without receiving an additional curse other than his blindness, there was not a single problem, which was his extreme good luck and a God-given fortune.

    Kark''s team was simr in that sense because Kark had rescued him from killing other humans while inviting him into their team.

    He could have rejected that, but there was no reason to do so. Instead, he believed the gut feeling that told him to follow Kark for the time being.

    Nial saw his encounter with Kark and his people as an opportunity that was supposed to make him much more powerful than he had ever been before.

    This was necessary and the stronger he could be, the better.

    Kira might be an even better opportunity for him to reach an even higherbat prowess in four weeks, but he didn''t want to burden her more than he already did by gaining a huge favor and receiving her rmendation.

    What Nial was oblivious to was the fact that Kira was already searching for him, and flooding his inbox with dozens of messages while Librarian Mara was slowly answering all questions he had asked in the group chat.

    This would help him a lot, and provide him with the necessary insights about specific topics Nial was clueless to.

    He might not be the smartest, or the most scheming, but Nial was certainly diligent, to the degree which was a bit frightening.

    However, that was not something Kark and his team were aware of¡­yet.

    Right now, they were simply of the belief that Nial was someone with great talent, who was ate bloomer.

    This might paint a different picture about his talent at the first nce, but all of them knew that mostte bloomers awoke an Innate ability, which meant that Nial was likely to have an innate ability as well.

    Even if that was not the case, having seen the beasts'' Nial killed with a single strike, and the way he had wielded the Viper spear, their curiosity about him kept on increasing.

    And this was to the degree that they were eager to enter a dungeon in which even amon beast was powerful enough to kill Nial easily.

    That was if he were to be an ordinary 1st Origin rank, which was certainly not the case.

    To be precise, the healer of their team, Elena, knew for good that Nial''s physical strength was manifold higher than that of an ordinary 1st Origin rank.

    Thus, she believed that he had a specific ability or some other means that enhanced his strength, which she had shared with the others.

    As such, their goal was to enter one of the newly emerged dungeons at the Low Rookie rank; solely to test Nial''s strength!

    **

    [A/N: If you like the novel support me with a golden ticket. If not, gimme a review to help me improve]

 Chapter 79 Tested

    Nial didn''t really n to enter another dungeon so soon, but he was eager to figure out how powerful the others were.

    As such, he didn''t say anything and silently followed them.

    Making use of the fact that he was surrounded by several people to his advantage, he wanted to figure out how exactly he could adjust his hearing and smelling sense.

    Right now everything sounded extremely loud and the air that he smelled was somewhat between good and horrifyingly bad.

    Thus, he didn''t dare to breathe through his mouth either and felt filthy doing so.

    Attempting to do all kinds of things by using tiny traces of mana, Nial slowly got the hang of the enhancements he had undergone.

    Everything was both simple andplex at the same time.

    While some tasks were rather simple, trying toplete them with something else turned them into weirdlyplex tasks.

    He knew that he had to use his entire focus, while simultaneously paying attention to the changes urring inside his body which prevented him from understanding where they were going.

    They had already entered arge shuttle in order to reach one of the newly emerged dungeons that were a little bit further away.

    Not sure how much time had passed, he left the shuttle after they reached their destination before continuing to follow the others.

    Initially, they were trying to talk to Nial in order to get to know him, but it didn''t take long before everyone realized that he was in his own world of thoughts, and thinking about something.

    After that, none of them said anything to him, believing that it was best for them to leave him to his thoughts for the time being.

    This was the most important to figure out what one wanted to do in the future, and even more so to fight properly, without any distractions.

    As such, the entire group walked toward the dungeon entrance in a rather calm manner.

    They were conversing with each other in hushed whispers, in a volume that wouldn''t allow a passerby to hear them¡­or so they believed.

    Because they became quieter, Nial''s mind was less strained from their voices, which allowed him to understand the basics of the enhancements and how to control them.

    His timing was perfect because right when he figured it out, they arrived in front of a gate. It had three to four times the density of mana fluctuations than that of the Machnam dungeon portal.

    This meant that there were either four times more beasts, the strength of the beasts inside was four times higher, or it was a mixture of both.

    However, knowing that he wasn''t alone and had skilled Originals by his side, that didn''t really bother Nial as it was crystal clear that they were able to easily take care of every single threat inside the dungeon.

    At the same time, he figured that they wanted to test him, which they had, most likely, told him already but he hadn''t been paying attention.

    Thus, after entering the dungeon with them, Nial told himself to keep his focus on the surroundings, and not be overwhelmed by his enhanced senses.

    Hence, he allowed his senses to be fully unleashed, bombarding him with a lot of information at once pertaining to everything within a radius of 100 meters.

    This allowed him to quickly realize that there were no other Originals inside the entrance area of the dungeon, which didn''t astonish him.

    After he had regained his senses, one of the first things he heard was that the dungeon had just manifested.

    It wasbeled as a public dungeon, and thus open for everyone to enter.

    With that in mind, Kark and his team had decided to clear it quickly, reaping the benefits of being the first ones to clear it, while testing Nial.

    Such abination was perfect for them, and exactly what they required.

    They had been searching for all kinds of ability crystals but the ones they were almost desperately looking for still eluded them.

    Thus, they were mostly focused on finding the boss monster before giving Nial the opportunity to show that the Machnam beasts were not the only foe he could defeat.

    Yet, before that was possible, a group of more than a hundred beasts emerged near the horizon of the dungeon.

    Hearing the thunderous footsteps of numerous beasts owing to his heightened sense of hearing, Nial was informed about their appearance, which made him instinctively issue a warning,

    "More than a hundred beasts east from us! They''re heading towards us!"

    A fraction of a second after he had issued the warning, the beasts were revealed to the others who hadn''t seen them owing to the dense cover of countlessrge, redwood trees.

    These trees were known for their ginormous height and width, and resistance to basic elements.

    Owing to that, everyone believed that the dungeon would be exploited before one would kill the dungeon boss.

    Probably a few lumberjacks would be ordered to clear a path towards the dungeon in no time, once the military would find out about the redwood trees.

    Unfortunately, Kark and his group were the first ones to encounter the redwood trees.

    Thus, the entire forest was ought to be cut down by them¡­or so Nial thought.

    Yet, instead of focusing on the redwood trees, the small group of Originals looked at him in astonishment.

    "Did you just sense them with your mana fluctuations¡­or did you hear them?"

    The former sounded more usible, but with the way in which Nial''s ears twitched, Miriam couldn''t help but voice out her second assumption too.

    However, in the end, none of that mattered because they were able to see the outlines of a horde of nearly pitch-ck bison running through the forest and the gaps between the huge trees.

    The noises they created were overwhelming, but they reached them in a slow manner as if a flood was suddenly bursting out from faraway.

    As such, given the huge number of opponents they had to face, Kark''s group disregarded their earlier idea to create an opportunity for Nial to show his truebat prowess.

    Instead, weapons manifested in their hands, as they entered a basic battle formation in a simple, but smooth manner.

    It was clear that they had fought hundreds of life-and-death battles together, giving them the necessary courage and calmness to face more than 100 bison.

    Their eyes were pitch-ck too, and there was only a small dot in the center of their forehead that was faintly red-colored.

    This was considered as their mark of weakness, which woulde in handy for Kark and the rest to fight their opponents.

    Other than that, their entire body was extremely powerful, much stronger than that of other beasts at the same rank.

    Given that, therge horde was able to trample through the redwood forest dungeon as if it was a walk in the park.<sub> </sub>

    They were simply marching through their territory, or so they believed.

    Unfortunately, with the emergence of the unique bipedal beings, their supremacy was challenged and quickly went downhill as several arrows pierced through them, hitting the red marks on their foreheads urately.

    This was not even necessary, but the archer of Kark''s group killed several bison while honing his archery skills.

    As such, he was able to both perfect his skill and get rid of multiple opponents.

    ? Perceiving the speed at which the archer of their group shot one arrow after another, Nial could only gulp nervously.

    The man stood right next to him, and the sound of the bowstring being released followed by arrows flying through the air repeated itself over and over again.

    The rapid pace at which the arrows were shot astonished Nial a moment because he could clearly hear and sense that the archer didn''t make any extraordinarily fast movements. Rather, he was moving smoothly seemingly without wasting a single moment.

    Oddly enough, the noise was not displeasing, and ratherfortable for Nial''s ears.

    Thus, he smiled lightly, while focusing his attention on hearing the horde of bison that had still not entered the range of 100 meters.

    Through this, Nial got to know that the archer next to him was phenomenal in his skills and could kill one beast after another while his designated target was still more than 100 meters away from him.

    Under normal circumstances, this was extremely difficult, but Nial was clearly able to sense the few dozen redwood trees that were in their way.

    Because of that, Nial was truly awed by the archer''s expertise so much that he couldn''t help but feel like praising the archer.

    Yet, just when the injured bison entered the range of 100 meters, many things started to change.

    First of all, Miriam, another woman, and a young man, whose name Nial had already forgotten, began to release their abilities, confusing Nial.

    Miriam shouldn''t be able to do anything but heal their teammates, yet, when he sensed how she manifested two marbles of mana with the use of her mana, Nial realized what she was doing.

    Using neutral mana, enhancing it with the use of her wand, and turning it into a marble that would work like the bullet of a pistol, she shot them towards her opponents, while the others used fireballs and icicles to attack their opponents.

    However, that was not enough to attract Nial''s attention because he had already witnessed Melvin''s lightning affinity, which was much grander than a fire or ice affinity.

    The lethality and speed of lightning were simply too powerful to forget just like that.

    Despite that, Nial was not interested in that kind of affinity, while his current interest was focused on Miriam, who seemed to be smiling subtly while shooting out another batch of mana marbles.

    While only a few seconds had passed, more than half of the charging bison had been killed.

    The other half continued with their advance, only for Nial to notice that Miriam, the archer, and everyone else had stopped attacking.

    Only Kark, and the tall man, who had been speaking to him were left behind.

    While Kark was still wielding the maze, the tall man had manifested a huge battle-ax in his hand.

    Just a momentter, they charged ahead, with the intention to ughter everyone.

    At this moment, Nial couldn''t help but feel that it would be much smarter to just kill every single bison with long-range attacks.

    He believed that this was the best tactic.

    Yet, before he could implement it, four hands went around him before pushing Nial out of the circle he had been in as everyone shouted,

    "Go"

    "What are you waiting for!"

    "Go little rockstar!"

    "Fight for your life!"

    If he were not sure that they were serious and stronger than him, Nial would have loved punching them at least once.

    He didn''t want to fight against 50 pitch-ck bison that were much stronger than normal beasts at the same rank as them.

    In fact, he was not even close to reaching their rank, in the first ce.

    As such, how was he supposed to fight even one of these bison?.

    Unfortunately, there was no way for him to escape his foes anymore as even his allies forced him to fight.

    With that in mind, Nial chose to give his best in order to fight everyone who dared to go up against him.

    In that case, he could either fight Kark''s group, or the bisons, which caused Nial to smile lightly as he circted mana through his body.

    Sensing the vibrations of the ground that originated from the two closebat fighters and the remaining bison ahead of him fueled him with determination.

    They were about to sh with each other, and the distance he had to cover was still close to 50 meters.

    Sensing the noises of a battle, the smell of blood, dirt, and sweat, followed by the vibrations that stimted his heart, Nial was unable to hold back as the lust for fighting ignited within him once again.

    ''Argh¡­fuck it! Let''s kill all of these bison!!''

    **

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 Chapter 80 Slaughter

    Charging ahead, adrenaline began to course through him as he became even more motivated to kill all the bison ahead of him.

    This excitement red up all of a sudden, giving him the necessary push in order to elerate the cirction of his mana that was already fast, to begin with.

    While his senses had undergone an enhancement that strengthened every single sense several times over, his control, and perception output of mana was exactly the same.

    Thus, he was able to charge up to Kark, the battle-ax wielder, and the horde of bison that were fighting against them.

    Giving their utmost efforts to overwhelm the humans, the bison released strong mana currents that were supposed to protect them from more harm.

    Unfortunately, everything turned useless against the brute strength of their opponents.

    As such, the two closebat fighters were slowly killing one bison after another.

    They didn''t even rush, knowing that Nial would be sent after them.

    Expecting a great fight to break out, they eagerly waited for Nial, who arrived next to them just a few secondster.

    The moment he appeared next to them, he pierced out with the Viper spear, whose tip prated the red mark on the head of the bison.

    His precise attack astonished everyone, only to sense a sudden inflict of mana inside the Viper spear as one of the des on the side of the tip was suddenly released, only to be retracted.

    This sudden attack that pierced through the red mark on the forehead of the bison, caused its skull to break open from within, and soon enough brain matter spilled out of the wound that had burst open.

    Nial''s cruel method to reassure himself that the bison was dead caused shivers to run down Miriam''s spine, and the other woman, who was standing next to her.

    Yet, instead of being disgusted, the woman next to Miriam was staring at Nial with gleaming eyes, which was noticed by the archer.

    "She cannot be serious right now?!?" He could only blurt out, before averting his attention, trying to forget what he was seeing.

    While Nial was eyed oddly by the woman, he couldn''t care less. Pulling the spearhead out of the bison''s head, he quickly activated the ive form of the Viper spear before he brandished the weapon diagonally, severing the chest of the bison in front of him.

    Without wasting a single moment, Nial moved smoothly through the battlefield, cleaving the ive form of the Viper spear down into the third bison he attacked.

    Hitting his designated target, which was the head of the bison, it was cut in half, thereby ending the bison''s life.

    Panting a little, he continued thinking about the way he was attacking.

    Under the current circumstances, he was not able to execute morous and efficient movement sequences like others.

    Instead, he was the type of fighter, who could use his strength and senses in order to gain an advantage with the use of the Viper spear.

    Without the Viper spear, and its razor-sharp de that could cut through every single beast inside Rookie dungeons, he would be at a loss.

    After all, the Viper spear was a Myth weapon! It might be just a Common graded Myth weapon, but given the exceptional functions it had, the grade of the weapon was restricted solely owing to the materials it had been forged with.

    The unique runes, and functions, especially the poison crystal were something Common grade weapons were not supposed to have.

    Knowing this, Nial knew that cksmith Arnold had intentionally restricted the grade of the Viper spear by carefully selecting the materials he then used to forge it.

    This was quite interesting, but at the same time, both advantageous and disadvantageous for him.

    On one hand, the advantage was that he could use the Viper spear without too many difficulties, even though his rank was still at the 1st Origin rank.

    However, on the other hand, Nial believed that he wouldn''t be able to use the weapon once he would reach the 10th Origin rank or the subsequent ranks.

    Yet, given his circumstances, there was no need to think so far ahead.

    After all, it would take quite some time to reach higher ranks and advance.

    In fact, he was not even sure what the second rank that followed after the Origin rank was called.

    There were too many things he was oblivious to, but from what he knew, not many citizens of the Katu shelter were aware of the mostmon things talented Originals were supposed to know.

    ''Well, it is not like our shelter has many prodigies, to begin with. Only the powerhouses that are tired of fighting, or on a different mission would usually end up in Katu¡­or like the Tyr family, to quietly train their descendants while doing all kinds of business deals!''

    Nial believed that there were many reasons for powerful beings to enter the Katu shelter, but there was not a single one to remain in the shelter, and settle down, if one nned to be stronger.

    This was exactly what he nned to do, and by retrieving his focus on the important task that was ahead, Nial''s mana perception began to visualize every single opponent that was in his range.

    Wielding the Viper spear, the de on its side was retracted, which made it possible for Nial to thrust the Viper spear straight into the red mark of the next bison that charged at him from the side.

    His surrounding was slowly being filled with corpses, and with every single kill, Nial felt changes within him.

    The changes were subtle and almost untraceable, but his mind was slowly getting ustomed to the sensation of killing.

    This was something he was slowly realizing, and Nial couldn''t help but be a little bit scared of himself.<sub> </sub>

    There was nothing he could do about it, yet, it scared him.

    Death was something that would taunt and tease most Originals that participated in the conquest of dungeons almost on a daily basis.

    Yet, instead of epting the fact that he was killing, and that he had already taken the lives of hundreds of beings, Nial felt that epting death itself was what his mind was currently doing.

    He was not sure if this was normal, but it felt a bit odd because his entire being was slowly coping with the fact that death might get him in the future.

    This felt just too weird, but it didn''t distract Nial.

    Instead, it made him enter apletely focused state, in which the death of his opponents or his own were the only possible oues.

    Under normal circumstances, this would frighten Nial, but since the Odyssey seed had awoken within him, fear and othermon emotions that could crop up at any moment, or make his heartbeat erratically, were slowly being taken from him.

    It was not like he didn''t have any emotions left, but the degree to which he sensed them in most scenarios decreased drastically and was nearly negligible in some cases.

    However, Nial didn''t even notice this anymore because his mind was currently upied with only the beasts in front of him.

    In them, he saw the first step on the long road to bing stronger in order to reunite with his family, and following that was to be strong enough for nobody to be able to separate him from his family again.

    As long as he had his family, everything would be fine, and Nial didn''t even want to imagine how his life would be if he were to lose his family.

    The sole thought of the possible death of his parents, or sister caused a shocking amount of wrath to emerge from within him.

    Owing to this, the Odyssey seed pulsated once, without a prior warning, causing a strong reaction as the pulsation was directly transmitted to the Curse [Hodur''s Heir].

    Being connected had its advantages.

    As such, instead of receiving only the first pulse''s enhancements which originated from the Odyssey seed, faint traces of ck miasma began to emerge from Nial''s mana core.

    Receiving perfect control over his body, and the mana within his body due to the first pulse of the Odyssey seed, Nial was also able to control the ck miasma.

    Releasing the ck miasma from his hands, he immediately enveloped the tip of the Viper spear, further enhancing it.

    At this exact moment, Nial understood that not a single beast inside the dungeon they had entered would be able to reach a defense that was even remotely strong enough to endure a single hit of the Viper spear.

    Yet, knowing this, and making proper use of the advantage he had were different things.

    With that in mind, Nial didn''t even hesitate a single second as he pushed his feet off the ground.

    Catapulting himself towards the biggest group of bison that had been left behind, Nial swiftly moved the Viper spear, allowing himself to reach a shocking pace in which he smoothly circted the spear around his body.

    Executing short thrusts, Nial pierced most of the bison at their vital points, before moving ahead, and continuing to assault with his trusted Viper spear.

    Cutting off the head of a bison that was on his way to reach the center of the entire group, he didn''t even flinch when hot blood sttered on his face.

    Through the first pulse of the Odyssey seed, Nial was unable to realize that his emotions had been further suppressed, preventing him from thinking emotionally and helping him stay clear-headed.

    Only his rational mind was left behind, and the part of his brain that was working relentlessly told him that not a single beast in the surroundings should be left alive.

    Acting on that thought, Nial''s movements became even faster as the control over his body allowed him to create movements he had never been able to do.

    Doing movement sequences that had been impossible for Nial to make use of, or even think about exerting them, he used up tremendous amounts of mana, in order to keep his body from breaking apart.

    Severe pain spread through his entire being, and this was only obvious.

    After all, his body''s physical limits had been removed owing to the pulsation of the Odyssey seed.

    However, that was perfectly fine with Nial because he had had enough of people doubting his capabilities.

    With that in mind, he clearly showed Kark and his group that they shouldn''t take him lightly, which was what they had been doing before.

    Killing every single bison that stood in his way, Nial''s movements resembled that of a true killer.

    The grace of his movement, followed by his fluidity that rivaled a dancer caused everyone to doubt if Nial had been faking his blindness.

    Yet, the moment everyone regained their senses, they perceived the ughter he had caused, the blood that sttered through the air, the intestines that spilled out of the bodies of the bison''s, and the subtle smile on Nial''s face as he finished off thest bison.

    Having deprived it of its life, Nial released his mana perception to see if there was just one more opponent to kill.

    But there were only Kark and the battle-axe wielder left, and when he turned towards them, even Kark couldn''t help but stiffen.

    Just at that moment, Nial''s muscles began to groan, and it was almost onmand that he regained his senses when the effect of the Odyssey seed''s first pulse had worn off as he cursed out,

    "Fuck, my muscles!"

 Chapter 81 Acceptance

    Having regained his senses, Nial felt as if his entire body was on fire.

    Chugging down an entire vial of the healing serum, he didn''t even realize that Kark and the others were looking at him oddly.

    He was just focused on himself, and the fact that he had killed the horde of bison just as demanded.

    Yet, sensing the weird mana fluctuations of the others, Nial was unable to remain quiet.

    "What''s wrong? I didn''t steal anyone''s prey, right?"

    Unsure how exactly the allocation of prey worked in a team, Nial grew ufortable and felt as if he had been too greedy about killing the other bison.

    However, he had wanted to show everyone that he was not as weak as they assumed him to be.

    Little did Nial know, that this doubt was not onlypletely shattered, but that everyone was also scared of him now!

    Nobody answered his question, which made him feel ufortable.

    With that in mind, he turned towards Kark, feeling as if he had to say something.

    "Mybat prowess was decent enough, right? Does anyone have some pointers for me? I need to improve my physique because I''m still not strong, agile, and flexible enough to cope with the strain of doing difficult movement sequences because I fear that my muscles might tear¡­"

    In the end, Nial was trying to ease the tension that seemed to have umted within the others, but that was more difficult than expected.

    Before the fight, everyone had been at ease, which was what Nial found the most confusing.

    After all, he was subjected to surprised stares, and only after some time had passed did Kark regain his senses as he answered,

    "Yourbat prowess¡­is definitely more than decent. About pointers¡­we might be able to give you some advice on how to build up a proper physique. As for the rest¡­I don''t really think I or anyone else in our group ispetent enough to give you advice."

    The others just nodded their heads, thinking exactly the same as Kark, which confused Nial.

    He was only perceiving that they had suddenly gone numb when before the fight they had been eager to see his potential which confused him a lot.

    Nial expected to receive excellent pointers to improve his cultivation speed, fight better, train his body, and much more.

    However, from the looks of it, the others were reluctant to teach him.

    This was quite discouraging, and Nial could only sigh deeply, feeling as if he had done something wrong.

    ''Maybe they find my fighting style weird? After all, I''m blind, and it might only look cool in my imagination!''

    Having no idea what he had done wrong, he just thought that anything could be the reason for their sudden change in behavior.

    Seeing Nial''s disappointed and gloomy face upon hearing their answer, everyone felt bad.

    Yet, even if they wanted to, giving Nial pointers on how he should move might lead to teaching him something wrong.

    It might even cause tremendous damage in terms of Nial''sbat talent being wrongly used just because they had misguided him.

    This was not something they wanted to happen, which was the main reason for each of them to refuse giving him pointers about his fighting technique. Though after seeing him fight, their initial n to show Nial that he was not yet powerful had crumbled to dust.

    Having miscalcted Nial''s strength, they could only help in the topics they were knowledgeable enough about.

    As such, they approached him, knowing that their earlier answer made him sad.

    "Rather than giving you pointers in martial arts, how about we help you with other things? There is not much we know about, but Miriam is an alchemist and is specialized in healing, which also includes her ability to heal others in multiple ways.

    Meanwhile, I and Dwayne can provide you some support in terms of building up a proper physique. It might be hard and you might not notice a world-shattering difference in only a month, but over time you will figure that our suggested n will help you.

    As for the others, you can ask them anything, maybe they can help!"

    By clearing the misunderstanding, Kark gave his best to ease Nial''s mind which was polluted by all kinds of groundless reasons for Kark and the others to possibly hate him.

    Hearing what Kark said, followed by the encouragingments of everyone else, a heavy weight was lifted from his heart as he began to smile once again.

    "In that case, is it possible for someone to help me figure out a way to hasten up the absorption process of mana? My mana vein is quite strong, but absorbing and annexing mana smoothly is much more difficult than simply using mana, which is quite easy for me!"

    Nial had not encountered even a single problem while absorbing and annexing mana, but that didn''t mean he was using the best possible technique in order to do these two processes.

    There might be things he was missing out on, and as long as he was able to increase his strength at a faster pace, everything would be fine.

    Knowing that he had asked the questions he had in mind, fully aware that he had yet to reach the limit of his mana perception, including the control of the mysterious energy that permeated the air of every single dungeon!

    Nodding their heads in response to Nial''s question, some even spoke out loud, saying that everyone could help with this.

    Kark and his group knew that Nial had just awoken his origin, not too long ago.

    As such, it was already amazing how easily the young, blind man had learned to control mana.

    To be precise, his control over mana had been exceptional, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t give a few pointers.

    After all, they had decades worth of experience using mana!

    Giving Nial enthusiastic and favorable answers, the group around Kark was trying to please Nial.

    This was not because he was strong or talented.

    Rather, when Nial''s expression had changed, he looked extremely sad, and lonely, as if he had been abandoned by everyone.

    Seeing this made them pity him which was why they began encouraging him.<sub> </sub>

    Even if they only provided a shoulder to lean on when it was difficult, this was more than enough.

    In the end, Kark and the others didn''t even realize that they had epted Nial into their group as if he was someone who belonged to them since the day they had created their small and cozy group.

    Looking at Nial, they smiled brightly, feeling that the kind and weirdly emotional youth waspletely different from how he had been before the fight, let alone during the ughter he had unfolded.

    If they were to know that Nial''s suppressed emotions had been temporarily released after the first pulse of his Odyssey seed, they would probably pity him even more.

    After all, his revealed emotions were bound to be restricted once again, and be tightly sealed, letting only a fraction of them be released.

    What most people didn''t know was that Nial was an emotional kid who had been unable to hold back his emotions in the past.

    However, not only the incident 15 years ago, but even more so the awakening of the Odyssey seed had changed everything for Nial.

    It was as if his past self had been exchanged with a tougher and emotionally resilient version of himself, only for his memories to stay behind.

    Yet, Nial knew that he was still the same, and if something had changed, it was the fact that the Odyssey seed was influencing him.

    This was certainly not great, but nothing he could really change.

    As such, he was not yet sure about his opinion of the Odyssey seed, because it had first changed his life negatively, only to drag him out of the swamp of doubtful and negative thoughts a few weeks ago, allowing him to awaken his origin.

    Everything was quiteplicated, but with Kark and his group next to him, Nial felt much better.

    Roaming through the dungeon for some time, they encountered a few more groups of beasts, but Nial was not even able to pay any attention to them because Miriam was soothing his sore muscles.

    Everyone had noticed that he was barely able to move, and after he exined what had happened during the fight without exposing the Odyssey seed, the others were shocked and relieved at the same time.

    It was shocking to find out that a youth, who had just awoken his origin, was able to ovee his limits and release 100% of his strength.

    On the other hand, it was equally relieving because they had presumed Nial to be some sort of monstrous prodigy.

    Because that didn''t seem to be the case, everyone was much calmer while conversing with Nial, which allowed them to realize that his knowledge was far behind what he was supposed to be aware.

    This eased their mind even further, even if it was quite a hassle to exin somemonly known facts to him.

    Even five-year-old kids would know certain things which Nial was oblivious to.

    Yet, somehow, everyone thought that this was adorable as the young man was embarrassed about not knowing everything.

    It irked Nial, and given the seriousness with which he asked all kinds of questions, the others couldn''t help but answer them seriously as well, while smiling brightly.

    Meanwhile, they annihted the hordes of beasts that had attacked them while searching for their boss.

    They didn''t even care about the fact that the redwood trees were extremely valuable because this would make them lose time and postpone their ns which they did not want to do owing to Nial.

    After all, they had to conquer five more dungeons in order to meet their newly established daily goal.

    Finding new ability crystals, even more so rare ability crystals, rare bosses, and other types of loot dungeon beasts could drop was the most important, and wasting several days to cut down trees that were worth a few hundred thousand dors was certainly not worth it.

    Rather, they would leave the dungeon behind for others to make some pocket money.

    With that in mind, they kept killing the beasts until they found the dungeon boss an hourter.

    It was a Small ck horned minotaur that wasrge enough to reach the height of Dwayne.

    Nial found this quite intriguing, but instead ofmenting on its size, he tried to sense the exact strength of the ck-horned minotaur.

    However, it was at this moment that Nial sensed that his mana fluctuations had been blocked for the first time in his life.

    They had been repelled as the body of the minotaur did not ept the mana fluctuations, which intrigued Nial.

    Yet, instead of focus for too long on the minotaur, Dwayne, the battle-axe wielder charged toward the boss monster.

    Bringing down the battle-axe, Dwayne cleaved through the broadsword of the minotaur, before reaching its head.

    Cutting the minotaur''s entire body from its head to tail in two parts in just one powerful swing, Dwayne turned around only a momentter as he casually remarked,

    "I''m done, let''s eat something!"

    The way in which Dwayne acted nonchntly caused Nial to gulp nervously as he suddenly mumbled to himself.

    "I''m d to be on his side¡­"

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

    More character images and nice chats about the HideVerse:

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    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 82 I Found You!

    Leaving the dungeon, Kark and his group returned to their base which was also their home.

    As they had purchased arge building for all of them to livefortably, they stayed together almost all day.

    Nial felt that this was quite interesting and good to build team trust, but at the same time, he wondered if he was being a burden to them.

    However, this doubt quickly dispersed as nobody questioned if Nial was truly going to stay with them or not.

    Even if they were not sure why, they trusted him a lot.

    It might have scared them a little bit when he had ughtered the pitch-ck bison horde but they were not worried about that anymore.

    Nial had told everyone bits of his past, and that was more than enough to invoke pity in their hearts for them.

    Thus, they couldn''t even imagine that he could ever harbor ill intentions for them.

    With that thought in everyone''s mind, they returned to theirrge house, where they all had a sumptuous and filling lunch.

    Afterward, they decided to create strategies to conquer a few more dungeons in order to hopefully procure rare and exotic ability crystals.

    Meanwhile, Miriam had requested to stay back with Nial in order to tend to his aching and sore muscles that had been horribly strained.

    In thest few weeks, he had strained his muscles way too much, which had caused much more issues than Nial was currently facing.

    Thankfully, her ability, and the wand she owned, helped Miriam to figure out someone''s condition.

    And her discovery had shocked the young woman a lot.

    It was much worse than she could have imagined, which was also the reason for her to request to stay behind with Nial.

    Her team was okay with that as the others didn''t really need her because the dungeons Kark and his group wanted to conquer had mana fluctuations that were at or below the equivalent to an Original at the 5th Origin rank.

    The quantity of beasts might differ, but that was not something Kark or anyone in the group had to pay attention to.

    Instead, they could easily defeat hordes of such groups all by themselves.

    Hence all of them agreed for Miriam to stay behind, tend to Nial''s issues, and to help him learn how to properly absorb mana.

    There were still many things Nial had to learn, and he was quite happy to have found such a nice group of people that wanted to help him.

    Nial knew that they were genuinely kind and not helping him for some ulterior motives, which was rare to find in the Dungeon Era, and he would remember their help!

    An interesting observation of his was that all the rooms he was able to visualize were different.

    He even found a whole room that was filled with stuffed animals which caused him to smile while eating.

    Not being able to see the house, the color of his surroundings, the furniture, and so on had bothered him the most in the past.

    However, now Nial felt that having awakened his origin was amongst the most interesting to happen to him as he was able to visualize almost everything.

    His brain had the faintest recollection of colors from before the time he had lost his eyesight, or the time he had dreamt of the Goddess who resided in the pce on top of the clouds, Nial knew how it was to see the colored world.

    Yet, instead of being all that bothered about not seeing colors, or anything, to be precise, Nial used other means to imagine what people looked like.

    Gentle and kind people were the most beautiful in his opinion, and it didn''t even bother him a little bit if his mana perception visualized them, and allowed him to see their appearance with every little w they had if one could call it as such.

    Not a single being was perfect, and this was exactly what was important.

    Imperfection made everyone strive for perfection in his opinion, and subtle ws in other people was what made them humane.

    This was at least what Nial believed.

    Nevertheless, sometimes he asked himself if it was really what he believed, or if it was just something his mind tried to think in order to make him feel better.

    After all, his imperfection was apparent.

    But, thinking about it was not exactly helpful, and using all his other senses to imagine what something looked like was far more interesting.

    As such, Nial was able to figure out that therge house that belonged to Kark and his group had a total of three floors.

    The first floor was used by everyone, while the second floor belonged to the women of the group.

    As for thest floor it belonged to the men.

    However, after unintentionally infiltrating everyone''s privacy in order to perceive his surrounding, Nial figured that the remnants of mana fluctuations in a few rooms were intertwined with each other, while other fluctuations were several days old.

    When he tried finding a reason for this, he figured that everything was quite normal.

    If one was together with the same people for a very long time, he or she might develops feelings for someone in particr, and it looked like Kark''s group had been together for a very long time.

    As such, it was not umon to be romantically involved with a group member, even if it might create lots of trouble.

    With that in mind, Nial attempted not to pay any attention to the things he visualized.

    Instead, he was listening to the discussions of the others, feeling extremelyfortable as he relished the meat on his te.

    In thest few days, he had eaten half-cooked things as he was no expert in the kitchen. Hence, it felt nice to taste well-cooked, tender meat again.

    But, he was asked to eat lots of meat in order to supply his body with the necessary proteins. If he were to eat so much every day, Nial felt like he would soon turn into a pig.

    A smile appeared on his face when he thought that and he was at ease, feeling as if he had found a great ce to stay.

    After dinner, everyonepleted their specific tasks to finish the chores without any conflicts.

    Once everything was done, there was only a short break before Kark left with arge number of people in their group, leaving only Miriam and Nial behind.

    During lunch they had decided to split up in order to conquer more dungeons as even more had manifested during lunch.

    This was the only downside Nial perceived from the happenings in thest few hours.

    The initial number of a hundred dungeon portals that manifested seemed to have been a low number, inparison to what was truly manifesting over the whole day.

    In the end, the government reported that roughly 300 dungeons were appearing within the shelter every single day. More than 95% of them were one-time dungeons, meaning that they needed to be conquered only once to make them disappear.

    The other 5% were unique dungeons, temporary dungeons, permanent dungeons or those that had to be conquered multiple times before they disappeared.

    Nial was stillcking a lot, butmon sense told him that something huge was currently happening.

    Whether it was a change in thews of the world, something else that made more dungeons appear in Katu, or something else, he couldn''t know.<sub> </sub>

    However, what Nial could be sure of was the fact that he had to be stronger as quickly as possible.

    Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to meet his family ever again, let alone survive inside Katu!

    With that in mind, he bid the others farewell and a great conquest before Miriam dragged him to the living room.

    There, she had already spread out a few origin crystals at the Mid Common quality in order to allow Nial to use them.

    "As you should have figured out, it is quite difficult to absorb the mana that permeates the air in Katu.

    The same is the case everywhere, except in specific areas with dozens of dungeon portals cramped in a tight space.

    That is because the dungeon portals release the mana currents that permeate the air.

    As such, the more dungeons appear, the thicker the mana density in Katu bes. Maybe you will notice the difference soon, but you shouldn''t be too worried about that for now.

    Focus on cultivating and let the stronger Originals take care of everything!"

    Miriam wanted to calm down Nial, but she failed to keep her voice from trembling a little bit.

    From the news she had heard during lunch, some were new for her too.

    Because of that, Miriam required a few seconds for herself to find herposure.

    While Miriam was a little bit worried about the situation mankind was facing, Nial wasn''t too affected or nervous.

    After all, the denser the surrounding mana the better it was for him as he could use the mana in his surrounding to empower himself directly.

    Through this, he might be able to passively expand the range of his mana perception.

    However, on the downside, he also realized that more dungeons meant more dangers.

    This would, fortunately, be solved by more Originals that would probably awaken their origin due to the presence of a higher mana density in the surroundings.

    Yet, when he thought about more Originals and dungeons manifesting, Nial couldn''t help but frown. Just like Miriam, he took a few seconds to sort his thoughts.

    He was already sitting on the ground, holding an Origin crystal which Miriam had handed over for him to test a few things with.

    Nheless, he didn''t start doing anything because it was simply too weird.

    Recalling the Goddess he had seen in his dreams once a month for 15 years, Nial felt the urge to enter deep thoughts again.

    It seemed like he was almost figuring out something as Miriam shook him lightly.

    "Hey, are you fine? Can I start with my demonstration?"

    She had regained herposure and looked at Nial with newfound confidence, believing that people like the blind youth were the solution to the issue of more dungeons.

    Thus Miriam wanted to give her utmost efforts to provide the best guidance, even if she was aware of the fact that she wasn''t a licensed teacher with exceptional knowledge.

    At least, she had some talent, and had been taught by great teachers that had found and brought forth many prodigious talents!

    "Oh, I''m sorry, I''m fine. Please go ahead, I''ll focus!"

    Shaking his head to dispel the thoughts he had in mind, Nial began to focus his entire mana perception and mind on Miriam.

    This caused her to flinch for a moment as her entire body was being enveloped by dense mana currents.

    Looking straight into Nial''s white, and lifeless eyes, she almost felt like he was still seeing her, only that it was a much deeper sight than it was possible with just bare eyes.

    In fact, it was almostparable to him seeing her deepest secrets, along with everything she wanted to hide. But for the current circumstances, the most important was the fact that Nial was able to sense her mana veins and fluctuations.

    In the end, Nial had never solely focused on a single individual.

    As such, he was astonished by what he was truly able to see without actually seeing someone.

    He could visualize every single strand of her hair, her freckles, and even the moles on her skin that were covered by her clothes.

    This caused him to divert his full focus once again, and concentrate just on Miriam''s mana veins while trying to ignore what he had been able to perceive.

    Instead of saying anything, or apologizing, Nial hoped that Miriam didn''t notice anything. If he were to say just anything she might be embarrassed.

    Thus, after hearing her speak, Nial sighed inwardly, only to focus on her demonstration.

    ''I really have to pay more attention to what I''m doing¡­''

    Watching the different ways in which Miriam was extracting mana out of the origin crystals, before circting it through her body, and annexing it momentster, Nial was distracted almost immediately.

    Using the different ways that came with their own set of difficulties to absorb and annex mana, he repeated them exactly as described.

    The first few ways were quite easy, but Nial still felt the difference inefficiency.

    The moreplex the way to absorb and annex mana, the more efficient it seemed to be.

    As such, Nial didn''t give up and continued to repeat whatever Miriam did.

    Like this more than half an hour passed, and he was quite satisfied with what he was doing.

    Even Miriam couldn''t help but feel that his mana control, perception, and cirction of mana were all exceptional, just like his mana vein''s grade.

    Thus, Nial used his entire focus on getting better and better because he realized that there might be ways in which he was able to enter the 2nd or even 3rd Origin rank in a matter of weeks as long as he gave his utmost efforts.

    *Knock*

    *Knock* *Knock*

    *Knock* *Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

    Suddenly, Nial was pulled out of his fully focused state by the sound of numerous hurried knocks on the wooden door that resounded through the entire living room.

    Miriam was just about to stand up, andin, knowing that none of her group member was expecting a visitor.

    However, just before she could even stand properly, the door was torn out of its frame and sted into the air as someone familiar entered her sight.

    A woman entered the house, and stared straight at Nial as a sly smile appeared on her face as she said,

    "I found you, you little bitch!"

 Chapter 83 Frightening Encounter

    "I found you, you little bitch!"

    The moment Nial heard this, he froze in ce.

    Stupefied by the adjective used to refer to him, and the fact that Kira had just appeared in the living room of the house that belonged to Kark and his team, Nial couldn''t even focus on the origin crystal in his hand anymore.

    Instead, he was about to jump up and ask her the reason for storming into the ce. But before Nial could do so, Miriam''s confused voice rang through the room.

    "Kira??"

    Miriam was bbergasted to see Kira, even more so because she seemed to know Nial. Her choice of words meant that she had been looking for him desperately, to the extent that she entered their house by breaking their door.

    Knowing Kira''s temperament and attitude, meant that Nial was important to her.

    However, the moment Kira saw Miriam, she couldn''t help but feel simrly confused, and her anger evaporated.

    "Huh¡­Miriam, is that you?"

    Both of them had been childhood friends and ssmates in elementary school, meaning that their friendship had never ended.

    Nevertheless, they had gone their separate ways after Kira had awoken her origin, in addition to other incidents that followed suit.

    In the years that followed, they had encountered each other quite a few times but never had their encounter been that unique.

    Initially, Nial wanted to pay more attention to his mana absorption and annexing process because that was quite important in his opinion.

    Unfortunately, this seemed to be sidetracked for now as he intervened in the staring contest between Miriam and Kira.

    "What¡­are you doing here, Kira? Aren''t there only four weeks left before I have to leave for the Teradan military camp?"

    Turning around, Kira could only smile dryly, feeling a little bit bad about quite a few things, while Miriam twitched as she turned her attention towards Nial too.

    "She¡­is the person who rmended you to the Teradan military camp?!?"

    This was the most shocking information Miriam got to know, and by looking at her childhood friend, she was unable to grasp how different their lives had be.

    It was simply madness because she had always thought that the difference between her strength and connections to the prodigies of her former ss was not that much.

    But after learning that Kira, her childhood friend, had be someone with the power to rmend a child to the Teradan military camp, Miriam was shell-shocked. For a while, she simply stood staring at Kira as doubt and confusion spread through her entire body.

    "I have lots of things to teach you, and Mara will help you too! We should leave, we don''t have that much time!"

    Suddenly Kira announced her intention of barging in along with the deration that Nial should leave with her.

    She had multiple reasons to think so but the most important was that the young blind youth was just too naive in terms of the dangers posed by the dungeons, abilities, and even more so, curses.

    Kira figured that she had been cking off too much, which was the reason she had been almost desperately searching for Nial.

    It was not hard for Nial to understand that Kira was mostly concerned about his well-being because her voice sounded different from when she had made the offer to rmend him for the first time.

    With that in mind, he considered her offer for a moment but felt a little bit reluctant.

    "It''s not that I''m not thankful for that offer, but can''t I stay here a little bit? Miriam, Kark, and the others helped me a lot today, and leaving them just like that would be a little bit rude, right?

    They''re kind, and I don''t want to hurt their feelings by leaving abruptly¡­at least not until they''re back and I could speak to them¡­"

    Miriam had predicted that Nial would simplyply with Kira''s offer, and ept it without any hesitation.

    After all, his rmendation to the Teradan military camp could be revoked at any moment.

    Receiving the opportunity to enter any kind of military camp was already a great thing, but the Teradan military camp was on apletely different level.

    And that was not only in terms of opportunities, potential to grow, and possible connections one could build.

    Rather, one might even be able to find a mentor who would take a meritious student under his wing and be his godfather.

    This would mean that as long as Nial had the talent, which he certainly had ording to what Miriam perceived, it was possible to turn Nial into one of the stronger individuals of mankind.

    She had never seen true prodigies, but at least in the Katu shelter, nomoner would be able to do what Nial was capable of.

    Miriam was sure of this, and it was because of all the advantages Nial would receive just by entering and surviving the Teradan military camp that she was taken aback by his reluctance and rejection.

    Hearing what Nial had said, Kira looked at the youth for quite some time, but instead of using brute force, she just nodded her head.

    "Alright, you can have a good talk with the others, but I''ll stay here with you so that we can leave once you are done.

    Keep in mind, you bound a Curse to your mana core¡­.you do know what kind of stupid action that was, don''t you?!"

    Ending her short lecture in a frustrated voice, Kira was unable to hold back her tirade as she continued,

    "By the way, howe you are absorbing the mana out of origin crystals, but have no time to take a short nce at the Originals bracelet?! Do you even know how many messages I and my sister wrote to you?!?!"

    Trembling with fury, Kira wanted to continue to rant even more but was stopped by the arrival of someone which Nial learned based on the sound of footsteps from behind her.

    "You are still as ill-tempered as before. What kind of nasty behavior you have!"

    It was the voice of Tim, the archer of the group, that floated towards them through the entrance of the house.

    He seemed to be enraged, and Kira flinched the moment she heard his voice, feeling as if today was one of her least fortunate days.

    Turning around, she saw Tim, and Nicole, the voluptuous woman, who had been eager to fight all of their opponents earlier on her own.

    Nial already knew that they were in a rtionship owing to the mana fluctuations he had unintentionally perceived in the rooms above him.

    Nevertheless, he couldn''t help but feel a little odd because Kira was clearly showing her disgust as she spit out,<sub> </sub>

    "Oh, howe I can see a speaking rat, holding an overused mattress right in front of me¡­sigh, looks like I have to wash my eyes with soap today, otherwise, I might suffer an eye infection owing to the filthy sight!"

    This statement clearly showed that Kira didn''t favor Tim and neither Nicole, which also indicated that she was familiar with both of them.

    And from the spiteful words that had left her mouth and directed at the couple, Nial could figure out quite a few things.

    However, instead of allowing things to escte, he reached for Kira''s hand and dragged her back, feeling that he had to intervene before they would get involved in a fistfight.

    Kira was just about to use her strength to thwart Nial''s attempts, but it was just at this moment that Kark returned too as he asked in an rmed voice.

    "What the hell happened to my door?!"

    Ignoring the tension that seemed to envelop the entire house, Kark approached the wooden door.

    Picking it up, he carried it back to the door frame before he mumbled.

    "Cleanly torn out¡­.looks like someone was quite angry¡­"

    Nial was not sure why, but Kark''s amused words calmed everyone down, and it was even possible for him to pull back Kira, who didn''t move a single muscle to restrict him.

    Instead, she was half inclined to let Nial drag her back as she realized that being enraged about the sudden change of events wouldn''t help her anymore.

    Thus, she turned towards the dwarf-like Kark before bowing lightly.

    "I''m sorry for the sudden intrusion, I was just worried about Nial. The child is a little bit overzealous, and I had to see him now.

    If possible I would love to take him back to teach him everything necessary and prepare him for the Teradan military camp.

    I hope this won''t cause any trouble to the group¡­"

    Swallowing her pride in order to take Nial back with her was the quickest way to leave the rotten couple in front of her.

    As such, Kira did just as she believed to be the right thing at the moment.

    If Mara were to be present right now, she would have probably killed the two in front of her, recalling what kind of pain they had brought forth.

    However, to everyone''s fortune, this was not the case, and Kira had matured a lot, allowing herself to regain herposure.

    Turning towards Kira, and Nial, who continued to pull her back, Kark radiated utter calmness as he replied,

    "Nial can decide what he wants to do by himself. Correct me if I am wrong but even if he might be overzealous, it looks like he is healthy andpetent enough to decide for himself? As for teaching him in order to be prepared for the Teradan military camp, we can help him too.

    If that''s not fine with you, or you have something else to say to him, you might as well stay here for a few days!"

    Nial felt that Kark''s answer was quite weird.

    Somehow, it seemed like he was familiar with Kira, but on the other hand, this was not the case too.

    It was certainly odd, but Nial felt that the tension only increased the moment Kark issued his offer.

    "We are not running an Inn, Kark!! Furthermore, we have already established that every single decision that involves all of us has to be epted unanimously!! Why would I ept this vixen of a woman in our house, even if it were only for a few days?!?"

    Nicole couldn''t hold back anymore either.

    At first, she had wanted to keep her image of a peace-loving woman, but after being insulted by Kira, she came up with a seething retort.

    The sudden change in Nicole''s behavior astonished even Tim, who thought that Nicole was a feeble and cute woman despite her seductive appearance.

    He had been irked by Kira''sment too, but he knew why she felt betrayed about him and Nicole.

    It was only obvious¡­after all, he had cheated on Kira with Nicole, for a long period of two years!

    And it was Nicole, who had initiated their affair, despite knowing that her good friend, Kira, was in a rtionship with Tim.

    As such, Tim had nothing to say about their sudden encounter and the insults that had been hurled at him.

    Unfortunately, Nicole was theplete opposite, and it was her character that caused the tension in the house to rise once again.

    Meanwhile, the earlierfort and bonding Nial had sensed in between Kark and his entire team seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden.

    He felt ufortable in the house,prehending that Tim and Nicole must have done something extremely bad to Kira.

    This was not hard to figure out because Tim didn''t say anything at all, and his expressions clearly showed his guilt though Nial didn''t know the reason behind this.

    As such, Nial feltplicated, but he knew one thing for sure.

    ''Rather than feeling ufortable, I should simply follow my gut feeling.''

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

    More character images and nice chats about the HideVerse:

    https://discord.gg/EdsDgFVWwZ

    Link also in my description.

    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 84 Who The Hell Are You?!

    Nobody had expected Nicole to hide her true personality to such a great extent.

    For several years, she had behaved like a coy, and gentle woman who always gave importance to etiquettes and mannerisms, only to reveal her true color out of nowhere.

    Even Nial was astonished about her sudden change in behavior that only intensified as it looked like Nicole wanted to attack Kira.

    Unable to imagine what the others were thinking, Nial could only hope that Kira wouldn''t do anything stupid because she was stronger.

    This was only obvious, and everyone realized this, just from the hatred that came off of her, turning the atmosphere tense.

    As such, it was already a wonder that Nial was currently unaffected by Kira''s presence, and pressure, which allowed her to be distracted.

    Turning towards Nial, who was tightly holding onto her arm in the hopes of holding her back from doing anything stupid, she couldn''t help but smile lightly.

    It had already been years since she had found out about Tim and Nicole, and the first thoughts she had blurted out were everything Kira had wanted to say.

    As such, the only thing that was left for her to do was to bring Nial back.

    This was not only an order from her sister but also something she wanted to do, even more so after finding out that Tim and Nicole were in the team that had taken him in.

    Ruffling through Nial''s hair, Kira tried to calm herself down as the painful past memories had unexpectedly hit her, opening old wounds again. This astonished her the most because she was aware of her bad temper.

    ''That little brat is really good at helping me calm down, huh?'' Kira could only think, smiling subtly at Nial before turning around.

    "We''ll go now, you two can continue to be each other''s ymates. As for the rest, I hope you all will be able to cope with someone who has been hiding her real intentions for years¡­ goodbye!"

    After saying this, Kira spun around on her heels and began walking toward the door.

    Nial was still grasping her arm, but that didn''t prevent her to move, at all.

    Thus, he was dragged along with her, but he let go for a short moment.

    This caused Kira to halt in her tracks, wondering if she had been wrong about Nial.

    Yet, seeing that he bowed towards everyone, she smiled lightly.

    ''His parents taught him well!''

    "Thank you for everything all of you did for me¡­I''m sorry about this sudden incident, but I hope that everyone will be able to live a long life and prosper without any issues!"

    Saying so, Nial rushed after Kira and even passed her to reach the street.

    He didn''t want to slow down at all even after he had entered the middle of the street.

    As he had been able to sense every single mana fluctuation inside the room, he could sense that the tension inside the house was palpable.

    This was burdensome and Nial felt somewhat guilty because it had been his fault that so many issues had suddenly cropped up out of nowhere.

    However, it was just a momentter that Kira emerged next to him as she mumbled,

    "Don''t even think of ming yourself. I entered their house without permission, and Nicole is the one who was hiding her true personality!"

    Somehow, Kira sounded sad, but at the same time, it was almost as if a heavy weight had been lifted off her heart.

    This confused Nial a lot because he wasn''t aware of the backstory of Tim, Nicole and Kira.

    In the end, this was not important, and Nial felt that it was of much more importance that Kira had been searching for him.

    After all, this meant that she didn''t saw him as a sole means to broaden her own connections and improve her social standing but that there was something else as well.

    Whether it was her first impression of him, the fact that he knew Junades, and her sister, or just her gut feeling didn''t matter.

    What mattered was the fact that she didn''t leave Nial alone, acting like a loan shark, who would demand everything she had given to be returned a thousand times over.

    Taking responsibility was not an easy choice, and understanding that a part of her reason was that Librarian Mara had said something, Nial was curious to know what would happen next.

    He was frustrated about the end of his journey in terms of learning how to absorb and annex mana as Miriam''s teaching had been quite helpful.

    However, even if Kira wouldn''t appeared, the moment he sensed that something was wrong, Nial would have left.

    Even if it meant that he would be left alone, or feel ufortable, he would not sit around and endure being in a space he didn''t feel secure and safe.

    With that in mind, he followed Kira, who was blunt and very straightforward.

    She didn''t even hide the fact that he was likely to die in the Teradan military camp.

    However, this was apanied by the information that only those who would not learn from their mistakes and act overly confidence were more likely to die.

    As for those who were prepared, whether it was mentally or physically, and would know the difference between being bold and being reckless, nothing should happen.

    Upon entering a shuttle with Kira, they rode it for half an hour before they returned home.

    In the meantime, Kira received a few messages from Miriam, which astonished her a little because she never received a message from her former ssmates before.

    She had only re-encountered some prodigies who had awoken their origin in the elementary school, just like her but that was it.

    One of those prodigies was Master Junades, and without even realizing Kira began to share quite a few stories about her past life with Nial.

    Somehow she felt that it was important to gain Nial''s trust, which became even more apparent after he had witnessed the incident with Tim and Nicole.

    Feeling the need to justify herself, she blurted out all kinds of things, including the messages of Miriam as she read them aloud.

    "I¡­really thought you were the bad woman in their rtionship¡­I didn''t know¡­I''m sorry!"

    The moment Nial heard this, he realized that the matter had not ended with his and Kira''s abrupt exit from the house.

    Rather, he was sure that there were quite a few topics the group had to speak about.

    If the problems were to umte, it would require only a small spark for everything to explode, wreaking havoc in their team''s trust, teamwork, and reliability.

    In fact, Nial had felt that the group would be trying to bury the incident, but he was d that it didn''t happen.

    ''Maybe they can save their team¡­I really hope so!''<sub> </sub>

    It was not that he liked everyone on their team, but it would be a shame for a team that has known each other for years to suddenly disband.

    Not knowing a lot about Kark and his group didn''t change anything about that.

    As such, he didn''t even notice when the shuttle arrived in front of a ginormous mansion.

    It was surrounded byrge fences, and Nial was oblivious to the fact that he was not even able to sense anything from the inside of the mansion.

    This should have astonished him because the fence itself radiated mana currents with the density and purity several times higher to what one could find inside the entrance hall of the Originals'' Association.

    Distracted by this fact, Nial only noticed that something was off when they drove through therge gate that sported an emblem that had a white Lion with golden eyes.

    All around the fences, one could sense smoothly connected runes that spread through the entire perimeter of the fences.

    From the outside, one could not sense anything that was inside the fences.

    However, blocking others'' perceptions was not their major function.

    Neither was the main function of the fences to protect someone nor to prevent someone from breaking into the mansion.

    Instead, the main function of the fences were to prevent the dense mana inside the mansion from escaping out.

    This was also what Nial noticed just a few secondster when they entered the territory of the mansion.

    It caused him to stop moving and he lifted his head, as his mana perception spread to over a radius of two hundred meters.

    Subconsciously he had used his mana to activate the [Mana Perception(Poorest)] ability.

    Through this, Nial could perceive the existence of numerous flowers, trees, and different types of vegetation that radiated strong mana currents.

    However, at the same time, he was genuinely shocked by the other things he was able to perceive.

    Being able to sense several dungeon portals in his surrounding, Nial couldn''t help but wonder where the hell had Kira brought him.

    This feeling got even worse when he realized that the portals were neatly ranked, from low to high in a proper order which should be impossible.

    After all, it was impossible to move dungeon portals...or so Nial believed.

    Yet, after sensing the dungeon portals to his right and left, ranking from Lowest Rookie, the weakest of the weak ones right at the entrance, followed by the slightly denser dungeon portals only a few meters behind, Nial was confused.

    "Don''t be too rmed, we are testing quite a few things for the government. In most of the dungeons we left behind only one beast to figure out how useful it would be to prevent the portals from closing.

    As you can feel, the mana density around us should beparable to that of a High Rookie rank dungeon¡­Maybe you cant sense this because you''ve never been inside a dungeon of such a rank.

    However, to put it simply, we figured that ovepping lower-ranked dungeons can only give us a low mana density!

    If we want a higher mana density in the surrounding, we need a high quantity of mana-dense dungeon portals!"

    Nial just nodded his head, while trying to process this information, but his following questions were apparent.

    As for the most important question, Nial couldn''t help but just ask it as he was unable to hold back anymore.

    "I was already aware that you two are anything but ordinary Originals¡­but the mansion, the surroundings, and the dungeons¡­that is not something you can simply do inside mankind''s shelter, just because you want to¡­

    Just who the hell are you and Librarian Mara?!"

    Kira had hoped that she could maintain a straight face while hearing this question, but sensing Nial''s curiosity, it was impossible for her to not feel pressured.

    She pressed her lips into a thin line and shrugged her shoulders without saying anything.

    This made Nial only more curious as he began to ask himself even more questions.

    In order to be requested by the government to test out how useful it would be to allow a low-ranked dungeon to stay open, and provide mana to the surrounding area, they had to belong to a high-ranked family.

    However, from what Nial had understood beforehand, Mara seemed to be quite ordinary, and not someone who would bother about her family matters.

    At least, if she was an ordinary librarian earning pennies from her measly job.

    ''Well, maybe she just likes the quiet surroundings and peace that would keep her away from her family''s business?''

    This was just a thought that shed through Nial''s mind, but he was genuinely curious about what exactly Kira and her sister were doing.

    Maybe it was also their parents or entire family who had strong business ties with the government, but it seemed weird.

    What he sensed seemed so weird that he was unable to tell what was going on, and Kira kept quiet during their entire journey until the shuttle arrived right in front of the mansion.

    While he was busy trying to clear his confusion, therge front doors of the mansion opened.

    Nial sensed Librarian Mara standing in front of them, wearing clothes that could be worn on every single asion.

    It made her look innocent and charming at the same time from what Nial sensed.

    However, that was not something he could focus on as he heard Kira''s cheerful voice right next to him.

    "Wee to the mansion of Katu''s governor!"

    **

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 Chapter 85 Lead

    Upon hearing Kira''s words, somehow everything began to make sense to Nial.

    Owing to her background Kira was likely to have received many resources, which allowed her to be a powerful Original in a very short time.

    Adding her own talent to it further increased her chances to be considered a prodigy.

    As such, Nial believed that Kira was currently trying to expand her ownwork and build more connections.

    And, if that were to be the case, the Teradan military camp was likely to be the best choice for her to achieve this.

    However, instead of going by herself, which would be illogical, she had to send a dark horse into the fray.

    Being the biggest underdog she could have stumbled upon, Nial was the best pick for Kira.

    Understanding this was not difficult, and as long as he was promising enough, Kira would reap countless benefits.

    Maybe the same would even apply to her entire family, but that was something Nial was not sure of.

    In the end, Kira had used her rmendation as an individual with connections to the government''s higher authorities to give Nial a chance.

    This was a big gamble and a risk for her because Kira didn''t know anything about Nial.

    She had not even bothered to do a background check before proposing to rmend him to the Teradan military camp.

    That was mostly owing to his noble reason to be stronger, and the fact that Kira had a good feeling about Nial.

    Kira had already interviewed hundreds of youths in Katu, but none of them had been impressive enough to shake her.

    Only Nial seemed to be an exception, and Kira didn''t even know why this was the case.

    It was solely her gut feeling telling her to gamble her one chance on him.

    Because, when she had heard a few things from her sister, followed by Nial''s revtion that he bound a curse to his mana core, Kira knew that it would be a big mistake to allow Nial to roam around in Katu without proper guidance and teachings.

    As such, she brought him to her mansion.

    Having listened to her sister, who was now waiting for Nial at the door of the mansion, Kira was of the opinion that it had been quite useless to take Nial away from Mara.

    ''In the end, she will teach him a few things, either way¡­Well, at least, I got to rmend him and not Sis!''

    Convincing herself that everything was going ording to her n, or at least, to some extent, Kira followed Nial who was already standing in front of the stairs.

    His mana perception fully released, Nial was able to sense everything.

    In fact, he was even able to control a bit of the surrounding mana particles.

    It was not much, and his control was quitecking because the mana particles hadn''t been annexed by him, thus being natural and raw.

    Nevertheless, it was fascinating, and Nial couldn''t help but smile lightly.

    The revtion about the background of the siblings was quite a shocker, but he had had a hunch that there were not ordinary Originals from the beginning.

    As such, it didn''t take long before he was able to regain hisposure.

    His interest overwhelmed his other senses, and Nial tried to figure out how dense and pure the surrounding mana was.

    ''It''s a few times denser than the mana inside the redwood tree dungeon, but that''s it. The mana is not as pure as mana that originates from Origin crystals!''

    This fact was quite interesting because even the Lowest Common Origin crystal was rtively pure, which was noticeable right now.

    Hence, Nial felt that the experiment of the government seemed to have failed.

    But, the way in which Kira had spoken about the test made him a bit doubtful.

    It was not difficult to figure out what Nial was thinking about because most guests were doubtful of the exact effect of the experiment they were conducting.

    However, most people were missing a simple fact, which Mara wanted to hint to him.

    Yet, even before she was able to say something, Nial suddenly mumbled.

    "Do they want to elerate the awakening process of Originals?"

    This was just a thought that shed through Nial''s mind and he blurted out more to himself than the sisters, but when they heard this, they halted in their tracks.

    It took Kira a moment to realize that Nial had arrived at the conclusion pretty easily.

    This reaffirmed the fact that her choice had been correct, and she began to smile, proud about having chosen Nial as her rmendation.

    "Absorbing and annexing the surrounding mana works too, but the purity is not exactly great. You probably noticed that too.

    However, your assumption was correct. The government is currently trying to figure out ways on how to naturally awaken more Originals.

    The reason is obvious, right?"

    Mara had regained her senses quite fast, and she didn''t seem to hesitate to reveal some facts about the government that was likely to be a secret.

    This was unexpected, but Nial simply nodded his head.

    The reason to start the experiment, to begin with, was the obvious threat the dungeon posed to mankind.

    Not only were there only a total of nine shelters left on the continent, but even they weren''t safe.

    If the so-called safe havens of humanity were not safe and secure enough, problems would ur.

    Unfortunately, the biggest issue was the fact that more dungeon portals seemed to emerge inside the shelters.

    Some of them seemed to be quite dangerous too.

    Luckily, there hadn''t been the emergence of the more disastrous dungeon portals inside their shelter, but Nial had heard more than enough rumors about their other shelters. Those shelters had been destroyed before he was born.

    It was great that mankind had never given up, and with nine shelters left behind, their situation was not that bad either.

    Yet, the situation was, by no means, great, or on the way to improving.

    On the contrary, it was obviously bing more dangerous for the military to pay attention to all dungeons, and the attacks of beasts from the wilderness.

    Otherwise, there wouldn''t be so many public dungeons that were still pending verification.<sub> </sub>

    First, there was the Machnam dungeon he conquered, and afterward, the Redwood tree dungeon that had all items the government required.

    The public might be unaware of the real dangers that the wilderness posed, but Nial had figured it out to some extent.

    If the few dungeons inside the shelters were already posing a lethal threat to mankind''s survival, outside it would be tens, if not hundreds of times worse!

    Nial didn''t like what he wasprehending, but it was a bitter truth and one more reason for him to strive to be stronger, possibly the strongest.

    He was not sure if that was feasible or not.

    However, he could not afford to dwell any further on that.

    If something had to be done, one had to take the first step, even if he were to be the first.

    That was what Nial was currently imagining, only to recall that he was way too weak to even think about taking the first step for anything.

    Shaking his head, he got rid of the confusing thoughts and smiled lightly at Librarian Mara before he nodded his head.

    "We are living in a dangerous world, after all!"

    He knew that he didn''t have to answer the rhetorical question, but when Mara heard him she nodded her head before opening the door.

    "Come inside, we have lots of things to talk about, and even more things to take care of¡­.your Curse, for example is one such thing!"

    Nial could imagine what Mara wanted to talk about.

    Nevertheless, he couldn''t really understand why her voice had be angry as if she wanted to lecture him.

    He was confused by the abrupt change in her tone but simply followed her up the stairs.

    After entering the mansion, Nial didn''t sense anything special.

    The exterior of the shelter governor''snd was the most interesting, and the interior was in luxurious.

    Wealth and luxury hardly mattered to him so he didn''t even give it an appreciating look.

    As such, instead of admiring the morous interior, Nial focused on the mana fluctuations of every single object inside the mansion.

    Because he was able to perceive the vast majority of the mansion with his extended mana perception, it was quite easy for him to identally infiltrate the privacy of others.

    However, in order to perceive his surroundings properly, there was not really much he could do about it, except suppressing his perception.

    This was exactly what he did after gaining some understanding of where he was.

    Approaching a quite ordinary living room, if one were to exclude the fact that his entire house and backyard would fit into it, he walked inside.

    Kira sat down on the lengthy couch before pointing next to her.

    "Sit down. Once Mara starts, it will take a while. Be prepared for a long talk."

    Kira seemed ustomed to her sister''s behavior because she was nonchntly sitting on the couch, her head leaning on the backrest.

    She was already annoyed, knowing what was about to happen, and her body reacted instinctively when Kira heard that her sister was returning to the mansion as well.

    With a jerk her upper body leaned upward, and only due to her legs resting on the ground did she not shoot into the air.

    This made it pretty clear as to who had the upper hand in the household, which caused him to smile lightly.

    "Do you want to drink something? Water, Tea, coffee? Maybe you''ll need something stronger¡­how about wine? Or do you prefer something Vodka-based, a cocktail?"

    Nial felt that Librarian Mara was quite nonchnt, which was quite different to how her sister seemed to think about her.

    This told Nial that Mara was currently being polite, and not disying her usual behavior.

    "I don''t really like alcohol. If possible, I would like to get some water."

    Nial didn''t really need anything to drink, but he didn''t want toe across as rude to reject such an offer.

    Mara just wanted to ease the tension and to show him that she was friendly to guests.

    As such, she returned to the kitchen, only to stop midway as she gathered arge amount of mana around her.

    Moving the stream of mana towards the kitchen, she turned it into a hand which was retracted a few momentster, and now held a ss of water in it.

    Afterward, the mana hand disappeared and was reced by Mara''s hand that grasped the ss of water that she held out to Nial only a momentter.

    It was obvious that she wanted to demonstrate her strength, the extent of her mana control, and much more.

    However, Nial didn''t mind that, at all.

    Rather, he felt that it was quite interesting because her precise movements made him eager to find out more about how exactly she was doing everything.

    Nial''s control over mana had improved, even more so after he had bound the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] towards his mana core.

    As such, he was eager to find out more about learning more to have precise control over mana.

    Yet, before Nial could do anything, Mara sat down next to Nial, who was squeezed between the sisters as she said.

    "I guess you can already figure out what my first question will be¡­.why the hell did you bind a Curse to your mana core?!"

    The question was truly not unexpected, and Nial was ready to answer it.

    Unfortunately, the pressure that radiated from both the siblings rendered Nial unable to say a single word, and it nearly suffocated him.

    It caused his heart to beat wildly loudly, and the two sisters could only look at him in confusion not knowing what was taking him so long to answer.

    But after seeing Nial''s beet red cheeks, both cursed out simultaneously.

    "Fuck, sorry!"

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel support me with golden tickets]

 Chapter 86 Plan

    After the two sisters had apologized to him, they retracted their pressure and immediately Nial felt relieved.

    What he hadn''t realized until now was the factor that not only his senses had improved, giving him advantages, but that also the presence, aura and intent of others were clearly perceptible to him.

    As such, Nial sensed the anger and suffocating pressure released by Kira and Mara which was ten times more intense than what he had felt being around anyone else.

    Thus, they were slightly baffled by his reaction and relieved once they retracted their inadvertently released pressure.

    Yet, after Nial had begun exining everything, stating that his senses and physique had been enhanced through the Curse he bound to his mana core, they were slowly starting toprehend the big picture.

    Initially, Kira hadn''t been all that impressed by Nial. It was mostly his unbending will and desperation to reunite with his family by all means, followed by her gut feeling that made her choose Nial as her rmendation.

    In the few days that had passed after their first encounter, Kira realized that he had changed quite a lot.

    And to think that the biggest change originated from a Curse that acted just like a blessing baffled her a little bit.

    There were quite a few powerhouses she knew, who had bound Curses to their mana core.

    However, most of these Curses had been tested with hundreds of volunteers in order to figure out even the slightest disadvantage the Curse could bring forth.

    They had taken extreme care and precautions before binding one after being satisfied with its efficiency and ''harmlessness''.

    This waspletely different from Nial''s case because she had never heard about the curse called [Hodur''s Heir].

    Even Mara was clueless about the curse, which made her use the governor''s ess permit in order to look up the Curse.

    Oddly enough, the Cursed crystal had only been found once, and its origin was shocking enough to turn Mara speechless.

    She didn''t say anything for a few minutes and then mumbled.

    "The monster that destroyed Tiara, Nicoan, and Orit¡­you bound the Cursed Crystal that dropped from this beast?!?!"

    Her voice climbed an octave with each spoken word and Nial felt as if she was suddenly lecturing him as if he had done something terrifyingly bad.

    Unfortunately, Nial had no idea what she was talking about as he exined where he got the crystal for the curse from.

    "Katu has a Cursed Crystal shop, and I just bartered it with an Earth affinity crystal that has theprehension tag. It looked like the owner of the Cursed Crystal shop needed this crystal because he left the moment he got his hands on the Elemental affinity crystal!"

    Now that he thought back about it, the situation was truly quite weird.

    Both the sisters were stunned to hear his words.

    "You¡­got your hands on an Affinity crystal with the Comprehension tag?? How¡­and why didn''t you bind it to your mana core¡­it could have helped you much better than a Curse, even if it looks like you were quite fortunate with the organ of your body that is cursed!"

    Nial figured out what Kira wanted to convey, but he didn''t answer directly.

    He knew that the Earth affinity might have been helpful to him, but it wouldn''t have solved the issues of his blindness.

    This waspletely different from the Cursed crystal to which the Odyssey seed had been attracted.

    As such, Nial was confident that there hadn''t been any dangers for him in binding it.

    Rather than his barter turning out to be a huge loss, he was sure that the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] was much more valuable than the Earth elemental affinity crystal, even if it might only be for him as an individual.

    In the end, it was his decision, and the sisters could tell that Nial was able to act and move around just like any ordinary Original without being restricted due to his blindness.

    This was something extremely important in order to fight against powerful opponents that were able to see.

    Yet, from what they understood, Nial had used up his one and only ability spot in order to even out his disadvantage.

    It was great that he had managed to achieve all of this alone, but from their point of view, he had a disadvantage against those who were born with an Innate ability, while being able to bind any kind of powerful ability to their mana core.

    Thus, they figured that it would be the most important to find out every single condition of the Curse, what it might have enhanced, and how the Curse affected him.

    Did the Curse really only affect his eyes negatively, or was there a hidden condition, not even Nial knew about?

    Unable to tell this right now, they listened to Nial''s exnation about the Two-element dungeon, and how he had procured the Earth Elemental crystal.

    After he finished his exnation, Nial chugged down the water because his mouth had gone dry from speaking for more than half an hour.

    The sisters hadn''t even given him the time to properly breathe in between his sentences as they kept bombarding him with questions the moment he took a pause.

    They were certainly being nosy, but Nial didn''t dislike this.

    Rather, he liked the fact that they were genuinely inquiring about information from him in order to find out his current situation, his strengths, weaknesses, what kind of restrictions his talent had, and much more.

    This astonished him quite a bit because it was not something he had expected from the sisters that had been uninterested in his condition before.

    What Nial was oblivious to was the fact that many things had changed in a matter of days, which included the biggest factors revolving around the lives of all three of them.

    First, he epted Kira''s rmendation to the Teradan military kingdom, which meant that he had to be powerful enough to fight against the prodigies of numerous families from the nine shelters.

    This may exclude the prodigies from the well-off families, and some other specific individuals that had been scouted by all kinds of organizations, but that was not something Nial would be concerned about.

    After all, hispetition was fierce enough, and to the extent that even the weakest participants were likely to be stronger than him¡­.if one were to exclude Nial''s unique trait which allowed him to release the ck miasma, or the second pulse of his Odyssey seed.

    However, these unique conditions, or traits, what Nial liked to call them, were something that didn''t belong to his individualbat prowess.<sub> </sub>

    Rather, it was something he would consider an emergency protection function of his body.

    He was being a little bit harsh on himself, but Nial was fully aware of the fact that he was just too weak, ignorant, andcking in numerous ways.

    As such, he didn''t even realize that he was opening up to the two sisters just because they showed their concern towards him.

    Fortunately, their concern was not only based on the first reason and factor to help him.

    Rather, the first factor harbored many reasons for them to help Nial, whether it was for their own good, to strengthen him, or their attempts to support him in searching for a proper way to enter Liondra.

    Nial required all kinds of strength, including knowledge, physical strength, mental strength, a highprehension, innate talent, battle awareness, and so on.

    Thus, once the two sisters figured out nearly everything about Nial, excluding the pieces of information that had to do with the Odyssey seed, they felt thoroughly informed.

    The siblings fell silent while trying to process everything whileing up with the best and most efficient ways to provide proper tutge to Nial.

    It didn''t seem like he was stupid, even if Nial thought of himself like that.

    Rather, Kira and Mara believed that the discrimination against disabled people was much more of a problem than either of them wanted to acknowledge.

    He said that he had left school because his mother had wanted to homeschool him, but she was obviously not qualified to do that owing to the little time she had to teach him properly.

    Other than that, Nial''s mother seemed to have no idea what exactly she should teach him first, or how to teach him.

    Thus, everything Nial knew was self-taught, which was pretty impressive in the two sisters'' opinion.

    On the flip side, it was the reason for Nial''sck of knowledge about too many subjects.

    Even if he were to spend three months studying, it should be close to impossible for him to be on par with everyone else in terms of knowledge.

    And this included only the most basic topics.

    Nial was embarrassed about the bitter truth, but there was nothing he could do against it.

    As such, instead of running away from it, he faced everything head-on.

    ? "I just learned how to read and write thanks to my Mana perception and the fact that I can visualize everything in my surroundings.

    Shouldn''t that help me to study much faster than using books that were written in thenguage for blind people? Just give me a crash course on the most basic topics, and some books that teach everything more in-depth, and I''ll take care of that!"

    Nial came up with an idea that made both the siblings feel weird.

    It was evident that he was hiding the facts about the part in his past where he had been bullied.

    However, if he had really been bullied previously, his confidence was just too odd.

    He had awoken his origin just a few weeks earlier, and shouldn''t have had the time to build up his confidence.

    At least not to the extent Nial was behaving, including the numerous things he had already ovee and lived through in the short time he was able to make use of mana.

    For the two sisters, it was simply too weird, but it was nothing worthining about. They simply took Nial''s words into consideration before focusing on preparing a schedule.

    While Kira and Mara were doing this, Nial began to walk through the mansion, wondering why there was no one else.

    ''It must be quiet and lonely here¡­I''d rather live in a small house that is filled with people¡­''

    Nial might not like it if the surroundings were too loud which would obstruct his senses from perceiving better, which happened quite easily in crowded ces, but loneliness was what he hated the most.

    Yet, in order to grow, he would have to ovee the sadness of being lonely.

    That was something Nial was fully aware of, and instead of evading it, he should rather embrace the loneliness, and use it as a driving force to grow stronger at a much faster pace!

    Thus, walking through the mansion, Nial didn''t focus on the loneliness that permeated the entire ce.

    Instead, he tried to find a good spot for him to start working out.

    Knowing that Kira and Mara would take quite some time to create a proper schedule for him, Nial didn''t want to stay idle.

    However, he didn''t have many origin crystals to absorb either, and his mind rejected the surrounding mana, thinking that it was too impure.

    It was just a weird sensation to be exposed to the impure mana in his surroundings, and it felt wrong to absorb, let alone annex it.

    With that in mind, he expanded his Mana perception and found a perfect ce to train with his spear outside.

    Behind the Mansion, Nial sensed an outdoor training station with many wooden poles, through which one could move, or even utilize it as parkour.

    Leaving the mansion through the backdoor, he entered the training station, but instead of using the parkour he perceived, or simply training his spearmanship by attempting all kinds of different movement sequences, Nial tried something different.

    Lifting his hand, he manifested the Viper spear in it.

    Jumping on top of the wooden poles that were ced at a short distance from each other, he moved on them, while slowly moving the Viper spear.

    ''That should work, right?''

 Chapter 87 Clear Understanding

    After jumping on top of the wooden poles, Nial required a second to find his bnce.

    However, after that, he began to move the Viper spear while attempting to take a few steps and moving along the top of the poles.

    This was quite interesting, and it made Nial smile like a little child.

    It required lots of focus because a single wrong step on the wooden poles would mean that he would fall to the ground and injure himself.

    Meanwhile, a single wrong move while wielding the Viper Spear meant exactly the same as he would lose bnce, fall to the ground, or smack his head into the wooden poles.

    As such, every single mistake was quite dangerous, just like it was the case while fighting against beasts or other humans.

    He had never heard about anyone using wooden poles to train themselves on mastering the art of bncing one''s body, but that didn''t mean nobody was really training as he did.

    In fact, Nial was sure that there were quite a few training programs that required one to focus on multiple factors such as the body''s movements and that of one''s weapon.

    Changing one movement would inevitably change something in the entire aesthetic and also how much strength one could release during an attack.

    Right now, Nial might only be focusing on two different factors, but there were many more such as his mana cirction, the opponent one was facing, the environment one was in, and much more.

    This only meant that he had many things to learn because Nial felt himself struggling already.

    His body might not be fully tended against the injuries right now and his muscles felt quite weak, but that was no excuse.

    In the end, there would often be times in the future when he was bound to be dead-tired while fighting ferocious beasts, only to be forced to exceed his limitations in order to survive deadly battles.

    Nial was aware of this, and there was not even a need to question whether this would happen or not.

    It was obvious, after all.

    If he were to search his memory, he would be able to tell that he faced many simr situations, which was why Nial ignored his physical condition as he continued to move ahead.

    Wielding the Viper spear in a smooth manner, he mostly focused on it, while doing small steps.

    There was no need to go over the top, but Nial loved wielding the spear of his, to begin with.

    As such, his smile never ceased, even after he nearly missed the wooden pole he wanted to step on after nearly 20 minutes had passed.

    Sweating profusely, he tried to regain hisposure and focus despite his exhaustion and continued to move ahead.

    Rather than slowing down, Nial''s movements were slowly but steadily elerating.

    The fierceness of some spear thrusts was quite shocking, and he continued to move through the poles as if he was gliding in the air.

    Every single move of his was graceful as if his body was made of liquid that swirled and hopped from one pole to another like a dancer.

    Kira and Mara had initially been surprised to notice that Nial was missing, only to find him in their practice areater.

    They had created multiple areas to practice all kinds of exercises and techniques, and Nial was currently using their parkour.

    Yet, instead of activating the runic system with which they had mechanized a few functions of the parkour, Nial continued making use of the wooden pole area.

    Seeing his movements, his joy, and all kinds of other traits about his body, which they had only spoken about before, Mara suddenly mumbled,

    "He can really visualize everything. I doubt if he would consider himself blind anymore¡­ To think that his curse turned into a blessing by negatively affecting only his eyes¡­that''s crazy!"

    Kira could only nod her head, beaming yet again at the fact that she was the one to rmend Nial.

    It was almost as if he was sent by God to help her out.

    Yet, the more Kira looked at him, the more ws was she able to see within the movements of Nial.

    This was not surprising as he was mostly self-taught, but it made her realize that the young blind man in front of her was far from perfect.

    She didn''t expect that, but upon recalling his issues, Kira could only add a few more.

    Nevertheless, her joy didn''t cease because she figured that Nial was truly talented, which was kind of obvious after everything he had told them.

    Hisbat experience was insignificant, yet his achievements were great.

    They spoke volumes about Nial''s talent, giving Kira the confidence to reveal most of her critiques and observations about Nial without holding back.

    "His movements are smooth, but without any real power. Only when he thrusts out with the spear does it feel like he can utilize some of his strength properly. His physical condition is much worse than I expected, and I doubt he will be able to move much longer.

    Only his unbending will seems to force him to advance ahead, which is great considering that his mana core talent is quite low. That means with some resources, we will be able to force his breakthrough.

    There is no need to waste years on procuring a heavenly treasure or some sort of limit-enhancing treasure.

    He doesn''t even know how to wield a spear properly, but oddly enough his moves look very professional. Yet, he doesn''t have a great set of varieties to fight with as his moves seem repetitive.

    His body''s movements are also not efficient¡­ From the looks of it, Nial would also recklessly enter the most dangerous zones where the strongest opponents are located because he is oblivious to what he is supposed to do¡­

    That means his knowledge iscking too¡­His mana perception is great, but his control and cirction speed have to be improved.

    Meanwhile, his rank is simply disastrous and has to be improved as quickly as possible.

    If he stays the same as he is right now, he won''t survive the Teradan military camp¡­but in four weeks...probably we could change something!"

    Normally, criticism was seen as something bad, but for Kira the exact opposite was the case.

    By picking out Nial''s issues and addressing them one after another, she was confidently stating that he would be able to fix them as long as he worked hard on them.

    If she were to see someone without talent doing something great, it wouldn''t affect her at all.

    That would be the case because she figured that it was the limit of the Original who had given his utmost efforts to reach that kind of strength.

    In the end, she might even praise the said Original.<sub> </sub>

    Yet, Nial''s issue was somethingpletely different.

    He had never received proper tutge in any kind of subject, whether it was theoretical or practical.

    As such, everything he had achieved on his own was through his own efforts, in a matter of a few weeks at that.

    Thus, Kira''s eyes gleamed, which was clearly perceived by her sister, who began to smile lightly.

    ''Did you finally find your next victim?''

    In the end, both Kira and Mara were not exactly old.

    They might look younger than they truly were, but that was mostly owed to the rejuvenating trait mana had.

    The more mana one possessed the younger one looked, and the longer one could live.

    As such, Kira and Mara looked not much older than Nial, who thought that they were merely a few years older than him.

    That was even more reason for him to show them proper respect as they had reached a tremendous strength and status in the ranks of mankind.

    Yet, oddly enough, he felt that they were more like older sisters to him than anything else.

    Thus, the moment he couldn''t move anymore, Nial noticed Mara looking towards him, while Kira seemed to be returning to the Mansion.

    Her steps were steady, and she seemed to have a goal in mind, which made Nial curious.

    Initially, he thought that both of them would present their n on how to make him as powerful as possible, while not suggesting ways that would kill him.

    However, in the end, it didn''t really matter whether one or both sisters were going to tell him their n.

    Hence, when he was done with his training for now he felt pretty satisfied. Both the sisters had watched him for thest few minutes of almost an entire hour which he spent on training himself arduously.

    It was because of this that Nial''s legs felt wobbly, causing them to give in the moment hended on the ground.

    Having jumped from the wooden poles, Nial immediately knew that it would be quite a hassle as his legs were much more exhausted than he initially presumed.

    Fortunately, he had a little bit of mana left which he used to envelop his lower body, forcing himself to remain strong and steady, andnd on the ground a bit clumsily once he retracted his mana.

    Holding a ss of water in her hand, Mara extended it to Nial while smirking subtly as she said.

    "Don''t worry about my sister. She is purchasing everything you''ll need to be stronger.

    After all, we want you to shine brightly once you enter the Teradan military camp, right?

    To be honest, this will be quite difficult, and you won''t be able to be as strong as them, but that''s not necessary. Slowly show everyone your true value and potential!"

    Nial couldn''t tell if Mara was trying to motivate him or if she was attempting to talk him down.

    However, in the end, he could understand her concerns.

    Mara''s sister had only one rmendation and she would only get more attention from the government and other high authorities, let alone another rmendation to use if he performed well.

    There were many other risks that came forth with rmending a stranger from a middle-ss family, but that was not something Nial knew about.

    In fact, when Mara encountered Nial for the first time, she had also thought that there was something special about Nial and his friend.

    Unfortunately, the situation had been different inparison to his encounter with Kira, otherwise, everything might have ended differently.

    Nevertheless, Mara was not someone who regretted her past decisions.

    Instead, she epted the past, and stepped forward, while embracing her mistakes and right choices equally.

    This was something Nial was attempting to do as well.

    It was easier said than done, but Nial believed that he was doing great right now.

    Right now, he was quite lucky to have encountered the sisters, which made him happy.

    After all, he wouldn''t be able to receive any kind of professional training, advanced knowledge, and learn even better ways to absorb and annex mana.

    In fact, Nial believed that the [Control of the Ancient Monarch] technique he received from Master Junades might have a way to allow him to absorb and annex mana in the best possible way.

    This caused him to subconsciously take the book out of his spatial ring as he opened it while drinking some water.

    He didn''t feel like answering Mara''s question because she confused him too much.

    Thus, he remained seated on the ground and asked instead,

    "Do you think it would be a good idea to learn the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique first, before learning how to properly absorb and annex mana, or should I do both simultaneously?"

    Trying to change the topic, Nial asked her a question and noticed that it worked perfectly fine, only to hear Mara''s dumbfounded question.

    "Did Junades really give you that technique??!"

    He had expressly stated that he had received that technique from Master Junades, but the way Mara was asking him that with squinted eyes made him share the truth.

    Hence, he mumbled in a low voice.

    "Yes, I got it because I won a challenge against him."

    Initially, Nial thought that she would let go of the topic, but when he heard Mara''s next question, he couldn''t help but be a little bit confused.

    "Don''t tell me you sparred against him¡­and you won the technique you are currently holding¡­That''s a lie, right?!?"

 Chapter 88 Tight Schedule

    Mara was the most dumbfounded about the fact that Nial had been rewarded with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    She couldn''t understand why Junades would have given it to Nial voluntarily along with many other things that didn''t make sense to her.

    ''He would never hold back if it was about that technique¡­Or would he?''

    Shaking her head, Mara became sure that she was missing some important pieces of information.

    Unfortunately, it didn''t really help her when Nial let her read through the technique.

    ''It''s the original¡­''

    Utterly dumbfounded, she could only stare at Nial, confused about who the hell was the blind youth exactly to have met so many powerhouses and even gained their favor.

    Not only she, but her sister and Junades seemed to think highly of Nail, but the same could be said about cksmith Arnold and a few individuals of the military that had messaged him not too long ago.

    Initially, Nial had ignored the majority of text messages he received, thinking that they were a scam, but after he showed them to Mara, she told him that they were from the actual people they imed to be.

    ''He conquered the two-element dungeon. Maybe that attracted the attention of some authorities?''

    Unsure if that was already everything, she could only sigh deeply and handed over the technique back to Nial as she suggested,

    "Read the entire introductory part and the first Stage of the technique until tomorrow afternoon. If you don''t understand anything, just ask me, I''ll exin it to you!"

    By assigning Nial a rather difficult task, Mara wanted to show him that he needed her intellect and guidance.

    She knew that he was not knowledgeable enough to understand everything without any help.

    At the same time, the task she gave him was interesting and would only add to his knowledge further.

    After all, understanding more about mana, and how to control it would solve numerous issues.

    With that in mind, she had given him a task that required time¡­time they didn''t have.

    Thus, 24 hours were everything he got, which was certainly not enough as long as he tried to do everything alone.

    As such, by giving him the task, Mara wanted to figure out how stubborn Nial was and when he would start asking her questions after giving up on trying to understand everything on his own.

    She had expected him to take two hours and was ready to go back inside the mansion, and cook dinner while tweaking and modifying the schedule the sisters had prepared for him.

    Yet, the moment Nial opened the book he said.

    "I read a few pages of the introductory part, but there are quite a few things I don''t really understand. What are the magjen, seiga, liandr, and poiat points in one''s mana veins?

    Other than that, I really don''t understand what the technique is speaking about with ''divide your mana into multiple threads and let them cultivate contradictory to each other''.

    There are a few more things I don''t get, but I think I might be able to understand them a little bit better once I start studying¡­"

    It was obviously embarrassing to ask questions about the facts that the vast majority of Originals considered to be basic knowledge, however, it was important for him to learn everything.

    As such, he had to let go of his hesitation and ask owing to hisck of time.

    Maybe, if he had enough time at hand, and no pressure from anywhere, Nial would be able to figure out things by himself, but certainly not now!

    Because of that, he began to bombard Mara with questions.

    These questions included a few answers she had already given in response to the massive text of questions he had asked a while ago on the group chat.

    However, until now, Nial had not received enough time to look at the messages she had sent him in the group chat.

    Thus, he felt helpless while trying toprehend the situation.

    Having expected Nial to, at least, shower, change his clothes, and to sit somewherefortably before deciding to start reading the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, Mara couldn''t help but smile dryly, as he looked at her expectantly.

    He had made himselffortable on the ground while using his senses to intently focus on every single word that was written in the book. After asking the doubts, he dug his nose in the books again.

    His trust in her knowledge seemed to be endless, and all of a sudden, Mara felt burdened by the thought of answering everything.

    ''Huh¡­what a weird fellow¡­''

    Nial was a unique case of a human who didn''t mind embarrassing himself as long as it helped him toe closer to his goals.

    His final goal was the most important to him, and he would do everything necessary to achieve it.

    As such, he didn''t hold back from asking questions some people might think of as idiotic.

    Yet, the more Mara heard of his doubts, the more focused she became.

    ''What are these questions¡­weren''t we supposed to teach him the basics first¡­''

    The questions Nial asked became more profound with each new one he asked.

    It was almost as if he was answering the questions he asked earlier, by himself.

    By repeating his questions and the text he read in the book, he was subconsciously trying to find all kinds of answers by himself.

    Nial didn''t even notice that this was happening as his confusion increased over time.

    Perceiving this, Mara took a deep breath as she essed her spatial ring.

    Tworge cushions manifested right next to them, and she sat down on one while pointing at the other for him to sit.

    "It''s warm outside, so we can stay here. Take a seat before we begin."

    Even if Nial had been sweating profusely, owing to the hot summer, the heat wasn''t life-threatening even if he were to stay outside and read instead of taking a shower to get rid of the sweat.

    Looking at Nial, who peered into the book as if he was reading it by actually seeing the words, Mara could only shake her head.

    With his eyes still glued on the pages, he reached for the cushion with one hand and tried to pull it towards him which she found to be quite adorable.

    After all, the only thing he required to read the book was to insert his mana perception into it.

    It might be better for him to open the page he wanted to actually read, but that was not necessary for Nial.

    His behavior while trying to finish the book and the way he flipped the pages as if he was truly reading it like any ordinary person made Mara smile.

    However, only a momentter she shook her head and regained her senses.

    Turning more serious, Mara began to answer every single question Nial had asked her.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, as time passed, the temperature decreased, while the hot sun rays didn''t scorch Nial''s back anymore.

    However, Nial didn''t even notice anything as he was engrossed in the book in front of him and the highly informative answers he received.

    Digesting everything at a rapid pace, Nial just nodded his head, while quietly trying to process the answers he received.

    He demonstrated his understanding by asking questions that had to do with the procured knowledge, pointing out things he understood and other stuff he still didn''tprehend.

    A small smile appeared on his face, indicating his excitement to get to know things he had never known before as he started to put the puzzling pieces together.

    This smile caused Mara to knit her eyebrows.

    ''Is he seriously happy about all this information?! I feel like he is draining my energy!''

    In the beginning, she was happy to help Nial, but right now, Mara felt worn out, and void of energy after answering him for hours.

    Thus, she was overjoyed the moment she heard that her sister had returned.

    As such, she simply shot up from the cushion and rushed into the mansion, before dragging Kira out, and making her sit on the cushion instead.

    "Take care of your overly inquisitive kid."

    After she said this, Mara pointed out a few more pieces of information, shocking Kira about the fact that Nial had mastered the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    A momentter she disappeared, throwing herself in the bathtub where she rested for a few hours.

    Her entire being felt exhausted owing to Nial''s never-ending questions.

    It wasn''t even that bad in the beginning, but rxing alone in the bathtub made her feel truly happy.

    Her head that had started to ache due to his questions now felt fine and a small smile crept up her lips.

    ''The next few weeks will be more interesting¡­and more lively!''

    With that in mind, she closed her eyes, savoring theyer of foam that had formed on the water surface.

    She yed around with it, forgetting all the trouble she had endured in thest few weeks, only for her mind to avert to Nial and her sister.

    ''They''ll be fine without me, right?''

    Sighing deeply, she thought that nothing bad could happen if she were to rest for only a few hours.

    As such, she handed over the responsibility of tutoring Nial back to Kira, which was exactly how it was supposed to be.

    Still engrossed in the book right in front of him, Nial was slowly figuring out the things he had topletely understand.

    Yet, owing to the fact that Mara had left him with her sister, Nial didn''t receive detailed answers anymore.

    While Mara was good at exining things, Kira seemed to be the total opposite.

    Thus, Nial figured that the introductory part was the only thing he would be able toprehend by himselfter.

    The information he had procured was more than enough, and only the Primary stage was something he had yet to understand.

    However, because he required Mara for that, Nial had to wait.

    As such, his focus switched from the book to Kira, once he was done with the first part.

    She was silently looking at him and had given up on attempting to properly answer his questions.

    Instead, she wanted to change the topic.

    "I bought you a few hundred origin crystals of all qualities at the Common rank. If you start with the Lowest quality ones, you should be able to increase your proficiency in using origin crystals rtively fast.

    If I saw correctly, Miriam already demonstrated a few things about cultivating to you. I can show you the most basic cultivation stepster too.

    With your mana perception, there shouldn''t be a problem with that.

    As for your nutrition, instead of focusing on food, I thought that it might be better to purchase some supplements in the form of serums.

    These serums are really good, and I think it will be best in your situation to consume them instead of eating a lot.

    Otherwise, you will probably vomit your food because I want to focus on tempering your body and muscles with constant training of different body parts.

    Through that, your lower body would be able to rest while you train your upper body, back or whatsoever!"

    Kira told him a few more things, but Nial suddenly felt like she was going too fast.

    It waspletely different from the slow and steady way in which Mara exined things to him.

    Somehow, Nial felt as if she was simply throwing random words at him, without giving him a proper or reasonable exnation about anything.

    Yet, he didn''t dislike this difference between the sisters.

    One was focused on rational exnations, and theory, while Kira, the younger sister, was mainly focused on practical demonstrations.

    Kira believed that Nial would understand everything much faster as long as she showed it to him.

    With that in mind, she said lots of other things, before handing him a small spatial ring that was filled to the brim with everything necessary in it.

    "We will start training at 6 am tomorrow morning. I doubt you will be able to rest properly until your departure, so¡­.rest well tonight, I guess?"

    Smiling craftily, Kira got up before returning to the Mansion, leaving Nial alone with his book.

    Upon hearing her words, and recalling some information about the schedule she had shared with him, Nial could only nod his head, thinking that she was correct.

    He needed some good rest!

    Yet, there was one problem he hadn''t thought about before as it was seemingly uninteresting.

    ''By the way¡­where am I supposed to be sleeping?''

    Jumping up from the cushion, he stored both of them in his spatial ring before rushing after Kira.

    "Kiraaa, wait!!"

 Chapter 89 First Enlarging

    After waking up in the morning, Nial was not sure whether he was feeling energized or fully drained.

    It was a weird feeling he got.

    On one hand, he was eager to move, but on the other hand, the bed in which he slept felt like he was enveloped in the softest feathers imaginable.

    Yet, the moment he recalled that Kira had warned him to wake up early, or that she would throw an ice cold bucket of water on him in his sleep, his drowsiness disappeared.

    Getting up from the bed, he shook his body once before approaching the small bathroom that was connected to the guest room he was residing in.

    Sshing some water on his face, Nial felt refreshed, and it didn''t take long for him to be fully awake.

    Changing intobat clothes, Nial just noticed that he had only two pairs of them.

    This was probably too little to change every other day as he would have to clean and wash them regrly.

    ''Do I have to go out and purchase some more necessary items? Toothpaste and a new toothbrush wouldn''t be bad too¡­''

    Wanting to check the time, he essed the Originals bracelet to figure out howte it was.

    But, when he saw that it was only 5 am, Nial decided to do something different.

    Using the online shop service, he purchased everything required, paying with the money that was on his Originals ID Card before leaving the mansion.

    There was no need for him to leave the mansion, to begin with.

    However, instead of staying in his room, Nial took out the cushions he had stored inside his spatial ring before cing them in the backyard, where faint breezes of wind swept through the parkour he had used the day before.

    It was neither cold nor warm.

    Thus, everything was perfectly fine for him to read through the First stage of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    Attempting to practice it outside would be quite helpful too, even more so because the released mana upon failing specific movements was said to be quite dangerous for others in the surrounding.

    Nial was not sure to what extent unintentionally released mana could be dangerous.

    Nevertheless, it was better to be safe than to do something stupid.

    As such, he decided to spend his time reading the manual when suddenly he sensed a drone flying toward him.

    Having been officially epted as a temporary resident of the mansion, Nial''s Originals ID card was more than enough for him to be allowed entry and exit from the mansion at will.

    In fact, the same applied to the drone that was sent to the coordinates Nial was currently at, replicating his ID card that was scanned by the AI defensive system of the mansion.

    Thus, only registered beings were allowed to enter the mansion, while others would be thrown out.

    Nial knew only little about this, but fortunately, it didn''t pose any problems to him.

    Picking up the items the drone dropped in front of him in a box, Nial stored them away before returning the box to the drone that disappeared only a momentter.

    Afterward, he didn''t pay any attention to his surroundings anymore and solely focused on the manual in front of him.

    He had read through the entire manual in an hour, but his understanding was stillcking severely.

    However, he didn''t want to nag Mara with questions just moments after she woke up.

    Because of that, he tried his best to prepare himself for his first practice session using the technique.

    But, before he could do anything, he heard steps approaching from behind him.

    Sensing the mana fluctuations of Kira, Nial understood that she was ready to instruct him about the workout he was supposed to do.

    This excited him, but upon sensing the excited fluctuations of mana that Kira radiated, he was not sure how happy he should actually be.

    To Nial''s misfortune, he had grossly underestimated Kira''s training method, and it was only half an hourter that he found himself lying on the ground, gasping for air.

    His gut felt oddly twisted, and only the vial Kira handed to him seemed to help relieve the pain.

    The content of the vial energized him while soothing the pain of his strained muscles.

    It was oddly relieving, but only a momentter Kira destroyed all of his hope to rx his aching muscles.

    "If you want to have a physique that is remotely simr to that of the prodigious descendants of semi-powerful families, you will have to workout like this, three times a day.

    The nutrition serums and other supplements which I purchased will help your muscles recuperate faster, but it doesn''t mean that your training sessions or their difficulty level would decrease. It will still be exhausting.

    In fact, with every single day, you''ll probably feel worse, but that''s your mental exhaustion not your physical exhaustion!

    With that being said, you will have to train your mentality too, along with your stamina, flexibility, mana control, Mana core rank, andbat proficiency.

    However, for now, read your little book a little bit. Afterward,plete 30ps by running along the mansion''s fences!"

    Kira seemed to be extremely happy the moment she gave him more tasks to do and brightly added that every single workout focused on a different body part.

    Thus, the resting period wouldn''t be only a few hours before his muscles would be strained once again.

    Instead, a certain area of his muscles would rest for the entire day only to be strained once again.

    That was under the condition that he wouldn''t train his spearmanship or venture into dungeons to gain practical experience, which was something he ought to do.

    Somehow, Nial couldn''t help but feel that all of these straining workouts and other exercises were something Kira felt happy to put him through.

    Even though she looked quite feeble to him upon sensing her for the first time, when he tried visualizing her in detail, he realized that she was certainly someone who knew how to build muscles.

    Her body was slim, but she had enough muscles.

    In fact, Nial believed that she didn''t have a single muscle that was not trained properly causing him to feel respect for her.

    She was certain to be respected as she knew what she was doing, while her sister, Mara was the same, just in a different aspect.

    As such, bybining theoretical and practical knowledge together, the sister duo could train Nial extremely well.

    He also realized this, but the more days passed, the less he liked the situation he was in.

    Luck was by his side that he had found not one but two perfect instructors, but upon feeling himself unable to think, let alone move for the next few days the moment he fell in his bedte at night, Nial couldn''t help but curse at them more often than he wanted to acknowledge.

    They certainly wanted the best for him, and he knew that time was ticking much faster than he wanted to acknowledge it.

    Nevertheless, the burden on his body and mind was manifold higher than he had hoped to endure.

    Thus, after two weeks had passed, Nial was not even able to distinguish his front from his back.

    He had already undergone the first erging of his mana core, but upon encountering problems with the erging procedure there were a few things the sisters had to modify their teachings.<sub> </sub>

    In fact, Nial knew that he wasn''t facing problems.

    Rather, his condition was slightly different from others.

    Erging his mana core meant that it would have to be filled with mana to the brim but sadly Nial''s mana core never had enough mana.

    The excessive mana was greedily devoured by the Odyssey seed, which was quite interesting, but also disturbing.

    After all, an overflowing mana core was helpful to naturally erge it.

    Thus, not having this natural support, Nial had to initiate the erging procedure all by himself.

    It was not exactly difficult, and his talent was more than enough to undergo the first erging process.

    Nevertheless, it was quite a hassle that could have been avoided.

    Fortunately, his control over mana had skyrocketed during thest two weeks as he was slowly starting to exert the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    Despite that, Nial had not yet met the conditions to practice the first stage of the technique, which was an additional factor he and the sisters had to pay attention to.

    In their opinion, Nial''s biggest advantage was his control over mana and his proficiency with the spear.

    His movements were smooth, and they could see daily improvement in him when he started to show signs of growing more muscles.

    Training with a workout that focused on an athletic and flexible body, instead of brute force, Nial''s body was not bulking up. But neither did they intend to do that.

    Instead, the existing muscles were being refined slowly, making it much clearer to see them on his thin body frame.

    The sisters even told him that he looked much healthier now, which allowed his face, and entire appearance to look more handsome, however, his looks had never been important to Nial.

    Rather than focusing on looks, the erging procedure had been much more important to him.

    It took him more time to undergo the erging, and the amount of mana he required was a lot more than it was normally the case, but that was not something he could pay much attention to during thest two weeks.

    After all, he had only been able to erge his mana core once in two weeks, and even that had nearly caused an incident.

    Having been forced to initiate the erging process all by himself without receiving natural support, cracking one''s own mana core to allow it to erge and grow was not only more painful but also a mind game.

    Cracking one''s own mana core too much might destroy the entire core, but doing too little would also cause issues.

    Thus, Nial had to take his time to erge the mana core, and enter the 2nd Origin rank, only to understand that the following erging would be even more annoying.

    However, that was perfectly fine with him as long as he was slowly getting the hang of how he was supposed to erge his mana core properly.

    With precise control over mana this would be easily resolved as he could hold together the core, even if he were to make a mistake.

    This reassured him a lot and made Nial even more eager to train in the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    As such, it was a blessing in disguise as it would take him at least a week, or two before he would be able to enter the 3rd Origin rank.

    After all, a mana core had to recuperate from the pressure it had undergone while being erged before it could undergo another erging.

    Because of that, Nial could only umte more mana inside his erged mana core for now, without actually being able to erge it until a few days before the final date of departure.

    Mira and Kira had expected Nial''s mana core to be stronger, and that his in-built support mechanism would allow him to have less trouble.

    Unfortunately, that was not the case, which was why the n of the sisters waspletely shattered.

    In the end, they had expected too much from him, thinking that Nial''s mana core would be as great as his mana veins.

    However, that was not the case and their calctions had been way off the mark as based on the current scenario Nial would end up as 3rd Origin rank at the end of the period instead of a 5th Origin rank.

    In fact, even that was not rtively high because most prodigies were likely to be between the 5th and 7th Origin rank in the Teradan military camp.

    With that in mind, it was fine for Nial to be at the 3rd Origin rank, as long as his other traits and attributes were on par with the other participants of the military camp.

    They thought that there were no problems with hisbat talent, and even hisbat experience seemed to be quite decent, considering that they had observed him while conquering a few dungeons during thest two weeks.

    In fact, Nial seemed to be a born fighter because he was able to evade attacks before they were even directed at him.

    Kira and Mara knew that this was also owing to the [Hodur''s Heir] Curse, but this was something that still bothered them.

    Nial''s talent was undeniable, but the Curse he had bound to his mana core made them feel ufortable.

    As such, they observed everything intently, only to sense ck miasma radiating from the tip of his spear when he started fighting the Boss monsters of the dungeons in closebat.

    To be precise, every single time, Nial felt that he was close to death, and his body seemed to react by instantly activating [Hodur''s Heir] to reveal traces of ck miasma.

    However, in the end, he only used this miasma to envelop the tip of the Viper spear with it, ending the life of the Boss monster he had fought.

    Other than that, Nial wasn''t really doing anything with it.

    This confused the sisters because there was certainly a wide variety of things he could do with the miasma.

    Yet, instead of bothering him about this, they understood that only dangerous situations allowed this ck miasma to emerge and save him in dire circumstances.

    That indicated to them that Nial was not able to actively release the ck miasma.

    Nial was too mysterious for them and he had too many things the sisters were unable toprehend.

    However, what they clearly understood was that he had the unbending will to be stronger, and to reunite with his family.

    This was also the reason why hisbat prowess increased drastically in a matter of only two weeks.

    He was hungry for knowledge, knowing that it would help him in the future, which made him ask numerous questions without neglecting his practice in any of the tasks which the sisters had given him.

    And this was not something to take lightly because the sisters were known as the Instructors from Hell itself, and the Devils of the Government!

    **

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 Chapter 90 Gathering

    Thest two weeks had passed in a blur, and it was now time for Nial to receive the coordinates for the gathering point to meet up with the other participants of the Teradan military camp.

    It would be a lie if he were to say that he was not nervous, but he had learned to not let them overwhelm them to arge extent since the day he had awoken his origin.

    ? However, today Nial felt restless even without his emotions being unsealed by the Odyssey seed''s faint pulsation.

    As such, he tried to calm his jittery nerves and try resting a little bit.

    For thest two weeks, he had mostly focused on increasing his control with mana, which was quite easy thanks to the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    Testing out the different movements, while circting mana through his body in aplex way was taxing for his body and mind.

    Nheless, it was quite helpful, and Nial gained a lot from thest four weeks that had been extremely straining.

    Only during thest few days had he been able to focus more on allowing his body to adjust to the drastic changes it had undergone, followed by doingbat training.

    Even the intensity of workouts he did was drastically reduced, which was mostly owing to the fact that Kira and Mara were sure that Nial would need his entire physical strength from the day he would set foot in the Teradan military camp.

    It would be extremely harsh for him and probably even more taxing than thest four weeks.

    Thus, Nial was not supposed to further drag the exhaustion of his body and unnecessarily strain him.

    Instead, he should be in his prime health and physique for the big day when he would encounter the other participants because they would certainly focus on taking out the other Originals that were deemed as the weakest.

    As such, Nial, who had barely undergone his second erging was a perfect target for them.

    With that in mind, he was supposed to pay more attention to everyone else and to clearly demonstrate that he was not someone any Tom, Dick and Harry could bully just because they wanted to.

    This was very important in the opinion of the sisters, and Nial could understand them to a certain extent.

    If not even his peer and those around his age were to respect him for any of his traits, what should the military, government, or even the affiliated organizations think of him?

    The final goal he and the sisters had in mind was the same, and it was quite obvious.

    Bing the strongest and most surprising dark horse should be his way to go, and Nial was quite confident to achieve this.

    It was not like he knew what kind of challenges he was bound to encounter.

    However, Nial was sure of the fact that his training and hard work would definitely allow him to bounce back on his feet, even after a defeat.

    This was essentially the most important.

    After all, if he were to keep lying on the ground after being defeated, what would be the use of nurturing him?

    Standing up as long as he was not dead was the most important in Nial''s opinion.

    Even if he was stillcking a lot in all the ways one could imagine, Nial wanted to improve and learn from his mistakes.

    He believed that this was an important trait.

    Nevertheless, surviving was the most important to achieving this.

    As such, Nial''s n was simple- survive and improve!

    Ignoring his body''s pleas for sleep and rest he had pushed himself relentlessly to keep training along with improving his knowledge during thest few weeks.

    Hence, he was certain to have reached a certain threshold of basic knowledge.

    Unfortunately, this was still far from those descendants that had learned about many things for their entire life.

    There were certainly a few youths that had been trained for the Teradan military camp their entire life, and Nial shouldn''t underestimate anyone.

    Thus, with a mixture of excited, and worried emotions coursing through him, he tried to calm himself, while attempting to prepare himself mentally.

    Yet, the moment he received the message from the government''s artificial intelligence, Nial jumped up from the cushion he was leaning against, attracting the sister''s attention.

    "Did you get the message? Where do you have to go?"

    "Is there any more information like what things you are not allowed to bring, or something else???"

    Both sisters had been as restless as Nial, if not even worse.

    As such, they bombarded him with questions, which he answered after he read through the message two times.

    Reading it out loud, he repeated the message to them.

    "Dear Mr. Orin,

    As per the rmendation of an independent individual, you will receive the address of the 10th gathering ce. There you will encounter other participants that have been rmended by independent individuals.

    Nobody is allowed to follow you, and sharing the exact information is strictly forbidden. Anyone who leaks the address will immediately be expelled!

    As per regtions, the Teradan military camp forbids the participants to make use of their background in the camp. The only ''advantage'' that is allowed to be used is that one''s spatial rings and weapons, in addition to necessary misceneous items such as clothing and hygiene items can be brought along!

    The Spatial rings will be searched through. If an item that has been listed in the forbidden section is found, the staff will confiscate it, and it won''t be returned!

    Address¡­well I''m not supposed to say that¡­."

    After sharing the message, except the address, he pointed to the list of items that were forbidden to be brought along.

    This was something perfectly normal, but Kira and Mara still read through it, while spending a few minutes trying to figure out if it was possible to find a loophole.

    "This year they even forbid you to bring your own cultivation techniques with you. Only techniques like the Control of the Ancient Monarch seemed to be exempted¡­"<sub> </sub>

    "Ohh..they even forbid hammers, a portable forge, vials, syringes, an ink brush for inscriptions, and so on to be brought too!!"

    Listening intently, Nial was intrigued to figure out more about the forbidden items.

    Initially, he had simply expected that some descendants of rich households would attempt to build their clique by luring poor, yet promising Originals into their trap.

    Baiting them with ability crystals or mountains of origin crystals should have been enough to allow them to increase their strength drastically

    However, owing to the fact that even the Originals ID cards, or to be precise, ess to their bank ounts was restricted in the Teradan military camp, let alone resources to strengthen oneself, Nial was intrigued.

    After all, not even equipment for auxiliary upations such as forging, and concocting were allowed to be brought with.

    This meant that those few individuals with an Innate ability that focused on auxiliary upation would have quite a few restrictions.

    Furthermore, Nial even got to know that herbs and ores were forbidden to be brought with them, and the same was said about vials that harbored all kinds of serums.

    When he figured that out, he immediately took out all of the original crystals Kira and Mara had brought him before grasping one of the potions he was still left with from the treasures cksmith Arnold had given him.

    "If I cannot bring this little treasure with me, I might as well use thest few hours here to absorb more mana!!"

    Feeling challenged, but also as if the Teradan military camp was providing an almost fair chance to the rich and the poor, if one were to ignore the fact that one was allowed to bring one weapon in one''s possession to the camp, Nial''s restlessness vanished into thin air.

    Thus, Nial kept throwing out everything he was not allowed to bring, followed by the origin crystals that were separated from the other equipment.

    Gulping down the potion he sat down before starting to absorb and annex the mana that leaked out of the origin crystals.

    He had loosened faint threads of mana from each crystal leading them towards him, filling his body rapidly.

    This allowed him to start utilizing the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, which was the means he used as a recement for a proper mana absorption and annexation technique.

    Kira and Mara had pondered handing him one of such techniques, but in the end, the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique was simply better.

    It was not a means to strengthen one''s body, but it was everything Nial required for now, and even more.

    With the said technique one could learn to control mana at a terrifyingly high level, after all!

    Spending thest few hours he had left until it was the appointed time he was supposed to be at the stated address, Nial was able to absorb a decent amount of mana.

    This was mostly owed to his precise control over mana, and the fact that cksmith Arnorld''s serum had allowed him to circte mana through his body at a rapid space.

    As such, he was now ready to depart.

    After booking a shuttle for his travel from the mansion to the secret meeting point, he spent the following ten minutes with Kira and Mara, who were oddly silent after they had been intrigued by the list of forbidden items for a moment.

    Having spent close to a month with Nial, both the sisters felt weirdlyfortable around him because he was not like other men, who were only interested in them owing to their strength, family background, or beauty.

    Instead, Nial was genuinely interested in everything he asked, even if that had mostly to do with other things than doubts rted to their personal life.

    In fact, he didn''t really ask any personal questions, such as where the governor of Katu was currently, or why they were alone in such a huge mansion.

    In the end, he didn''t even ask Kira to exin the situation to Kark and his group.

    Because he was never nosy or went too deep into their personal matters, he wasfortable to talk to, and neither Kira nor Miriam felt any difort to reveal anything.

    asionally, both of them would even tease him a bit and see him go mad with frustration, which they found to be quite adorable.

    As such, it was difficult for the two women to bid farewell to Nial.

    They were worried that something might happen, knowing that their lessons and efforts were not worth causing a miracle that would magical make Nial be at par with those that had been preparing for an entire decade or longer.

    This was simply impossible in only one year, with the given issues.

    Because of that, the two sisters were standing stiffly in the doorframe of the mansion as they saw Nial walking down the stairs.

    "If a woman approaches you, be careful!! You never know what their intention might be!!"

    "When you get your first challenge, think about it thoroughly, and fulfill the requirements slowly! Don''t rush anything and think rationally!!"

    "If you die, I''ll kill you!"

    "..."

    ".."

    "."

    Throwing all kinds of words at him, the two sisters gave him suggestions and warnings about hundreds of things. Nial felt touched at their concern, and he couldn''t help but smile lightly.

    He was d to have encountered the sisters.

    It was hard to describe how thankful he was, but Nial was sure that without their help, he would have a much more difficult time.

    Because of that, his sole purpose of going to the Teradan military camp had been affected a little bit.

    Nial wanted to thank the sisters for all their help and guidance, and there was only one way for him to return the favor- by bing a remarkable individual in the military camp, and a rising dark horse.

    Thus, with a smile on his face, he left the mansion, and bid them farewell before getting into the shuttle that had arrived for him.

    A new chapter in Nial''s life was about to be unveiled, and he was expecting lots of things to happen.

 Chapter 91 Re-Encounter

    Getting outside the shuttle half an hourter, Nial first scanned his surroundings with his mana perception.

    Right now, he was in one of the least developed districts of the shelter.

    Not many Originals were living in this area, which made it easier for him to sense the mana fluctuations of the Originals, all of whom were heading in a particr direction.

    On his way towards the 10th gathering ce in Katu, Nial followed two young men that were calmly walking through the streets.

    They didn''t seem to be all that bothered by the surroundings which werepletely different in his case.

    However, this was only obvious because the reeking stench that reached his nostrils was much worse for him than for anyone else.

    It was a slight downside for him to sense everything far more intense than it was the case for others, but that was something he had to live with.

    In fact, Nial was certain that his body had gotten used to the increment of his senses'' sensitivity and intensity by now.

    Unfortunately, it looked like he had underestimated his Curse''s strength, which caused him to smile bitterly.

    Yet, instead of wearing the filtering mask, he forced himself to endure it,paring it to just a test that would help in training his senses, while continuing to follow the two Originals.

    After a while, they entered a small alley and Nial followed them quietly before realizing that they had halted in their tracks abruptly.

    Turning towards him, they sized Nial up for a moment followed by a snort as he heard them beginning to gossip about him.

    "To think that I felt weird upon sensing that someone like him was following me¡­maybe my sense of danger is malfunctioning¡­"

    "It probably is, otherwise, why would you feel ufortable to know that someone at the 3rd Origin rank follows you¡­he is blind too!"

    Upon hearing this, Nial''s lips curled upward, but none of the two youths noticed it.

    They had already turned back to continue their walk, only for the first young man to ask in a curious tone.

    "Do you think he will also join the Teradan military camp? Doesn''t that mean he is heading towards the 10th gathering ce, right now? Wouldn''t that indicate he was rmended by someone remarkable as it is tough for students like him to get in on their own?!

    Maybe we shouldn''t take him too lightly¡­"

    In Nial''s opinion, the first youth was rather calm, and rationally observing the situation while concluding the facts.

    Furthermore, he seemed to be trusting his senses a lot as he didn''t think it was malfunctioning.

    This was quite intriguing andpletely different from the free behavior and nonchnt mindset of the other youth, who waved his hand.

    "Even if you are right, there are too many people that can rmend others. Some distant family members or their close friends in Katu might have rmended him in order to cut him off in a neat manner.

    The death rate in the Teradan military camp is quite high, and you know that a cripple with a low mana core rank won''t be able to do the same as we can¡­at least not naturally!"

    It was not that the second young man was wrong about his assumptions.

    Nevertheless, he had underestimated Nial, just because he was blind and at a low mana core rank.

    However, the young man should have considered that Nial might as well be ate bloomer.

    This would lead to a rational conclusion that he was likely to have awoken an Innate ability.

    Yet, because the second young man was hastily jumping to conclusions, Nial believed that he was rather gullible, and someone who would take the provided information at face value without questioning them.

    This was everything Nial concluded, which was already more than enough to figure out the mindset of the two young men that entered a small pub.

    Nial followed suit, approaching the counter just like the youths that spoke a few words to the bartender before they were led to a different room.

    Returning back, the bartender looked at Nial for a second before tilting his head as if he was confused.

    "How may I help you, Sir?"

    Sensing that Nial was an Original, the bartender refrained from saying ''brat'' or other words that would insult an Original if spoken by an unawakened.

    Nial noticed this but instead of smiling arrogantly, he maintained his poker face.

    "I would like to order arge dragonic steak, with silvermoon potatoes. As for a drink, can I get a dark kiana juice with vodka¡­lots of it?"

    It was not long ago that he had received a second message from the government''s AI, telling him the passcode to enter the secret gathering ce where he and the other rmended entrants were supposed to meet up.

    Nodding his head, the bartender''s confusion dispersed after realizing that Nial was truly one of the youth that had gathered in their secretive room.

    Thus, he led Nial to the backside of the pub.

    Pressing a specific brick into the wall, the bartender stepped behind a little. Nial heard rattling noises resounding from the wall before it moved away.

    It was a secret door, but that was something Nial had already noticed.

    In fact, his mana perception had already enveloped the entire building, sensing the presence of several dozen Originals who had gathered in the underground.

    Because of that, he knew that he might be one of thest participants to arrive.

    As such, he took a few deep breaths before walking down the stairs to calm himself in the meantime.

    He was nervous but also excited because he would meet many new people, face dangerous obstacles, and encounter bountiful opportunities.

    While climbing down the numerous stairs that felt endless, Nial could feel the excitement coursing through himself.

    His nervousness was slowly dispersing, giving way for calm and excitement, which was clearly noticeable as his steps became firmer.

    Owing to his feelings Nial didn''t even hear the secretive door behind him open before someone rushed down the stairs with heavy breaths.

    "Please don''t let me be toote!" An exhausted voice resounded behind him.

    It was a soothing voice that caused Nial to feel even calmer.

    Yet, oddly enough he felt that the voice was quite familiar, which confused him.<sub> </sub>

    He hadn''t met that many young women in his life and the handful of girls that he had the pleasure of knowing should not be on their way towards any kind of camp either.

    Thus, Nial instinctively halted in his tracks and turned in the direction of the door before he focused his mana perception in the same direction.

    Somehow, facing the direction his mana perception was focused on was easier.

    This was probably owing to psychological reasons as his mana perception reced his sight in various ways.

    Yet, the moment his mana perception enveloped the woman who had been talking to herself in a panicked voice, she emerged in front of her.

    Because of that, Nial''s visualization of her happened all of a sudden, followed by him being able to sense her familiar fluctuations.

    ''Isn''t that..?'' He was not sure if he recalled correctly, but Nial was sure to have met her just once for a short while.

    Fortunately enough, the woman he encountered halted in her track, noticing that there was someone ahead of her who was climbing down the stairs as well.

    However, the moment she saw Nial, and his familiar blind eyes, Be Morningstar realized who was standing in front of her.

    "Oh?! Aren''t you my mother''s tenant? You almost killed me, do you remember? It was a month ago!"

    Of course, he remembered! How could he forget the time around which he had bound the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] to his mana core?

    As such, he smiled lightly, feeling relieved to encounter a familiar face as he extended his hand.

    "I don''t think you are easy to forget. Nice meeting you again!"

    Nial said everything lightheartedly but Be could onlyugh before she teased him,

    "If I''m not that easy to forget, why did you take my contact details, but didn''t message me?"

    She clearly recalled how flustered she was when Nial had taken her contact details and even suggested going out to eat in a nonchnt manner.

    This had made her believe that he would message her, but that had never happened.

    If she were to know that Nial hadpletely forgotten about the fact that he had her contact details, Be would probably be utterly embarrassed.

    Fortunately, Nial was not that oblivious to do something as foolish as that.

    Instead, he remained honest and told the truth.

    "I didn''t expect to be so busy preparing my body, mind, and heart for the Teradan military camp. After all, I''m ate bloomer and I awakened my origin less than two months ago!"

    There was no need to hide certain facts.

    Instead, by sharing something with Be, he felt that it was possible for him to get close to her.

    The sisters Kira and Mara had told him to make friends, and create a small clique in order to survive the Teradan military camp.

    They had suggested forming a small group because one could get to know each other much better, and form a bond of trust faster.

    After all, if a task said that one was supposed to conquer a dungeon with the team one had built, it was better to have only a handful of trustedpanions instead of dozens that would split each other''s heads in order to get the rewards of the dungeon conquest.

    As such, Nial thought that it was a lucky coincidence to re-encounter Be as she had helped him once, even after the incident that had almost killed her.

    "Only two months? Doesn''t that mean you are extremely talented to be rmended for this year''s camp?"

    Rather than feeling weirded out around him, Be was quitefortable.

    It was out of the ordinary for her because she was weird around strangers.

    This was also the reason why she was overjoyed to encounter Nial, a person she was a bit familiar to as well.

    They might not know each other very well, but they were at least notplete strangers to each other.

    In fact, Be had already expected to encounter Nial here, but getting to know that he had not been an Original for long confused her a little bit.

    More than that, Nial''s answer was even more confusing and Be could only think that he was trying to act humbly owing to their first encounter.

    "I''m not really talented, and just fortunate with my encounters. Furthermore, I cannot really wait for next year''s military camp because I don''t know what would happen in this one year that I would have to wait!"

    In the end, Nial truly believed that he was not talented per se.

    Rather, it was his fortune and great senses that allowed him to do many things others were slower in.

    Thus, his disadvantage of being blind and cursed could be said to be a blessing in disguise, which sounded weird even to Nial himself.

    Wasting a year was a big no and he had been trying to find ways to be stronger in a shorter time when Kira and Mara had proposed to him to join the camp.

    They had told him that it was possible for them to turn him into the strongest participant of the Teradan military camp if he gave them only one more year.

    However, that was something Nial bluntly rejected because there were too many uncertain factors.

    Be just nodded upon hearing his answer, not minding it all that much.

    She believed he had something in mind, and a good reason to do whatever he did.

    After all, it was extremely dangerous to enter the Teradan military camp with his strength.

    However, she also knew he was capable of killing her, and that was more than enough to consider him extremely powerful.

    As such, she felt that he might be a threat to herself if she were to underestimate him.

    And like him, even she believed that teaming up would be beneficial for her during her stay in the camp.

    Her gut feeling told her that this was the best to do.

    Little did she know that this was truly the case and that her decision was the best she could have ever taken!

 Chapter 92 Focus Of Attention

    Even after reaching the basement, Nial and Be did not stop talking to each other.

    They liked the genuinity all of them showed, and it was even morefortable to have someone around who they were a bit familiar.

    And this was something they truly needed because the two of them quickly noticed that groups had already formed.

    The moment they entered arge hall, the smaller andrger groups of several dozen people turned around.

    Yet, Nial didn''t really focus on them, knowing that they kept their gazes on him, quickly singling him out for his blindness and low Origin rank.

    However, that was perfectly fine with him as his attention quickly switched to Be.

    She seemed to be attracting lots of attention too, which was most likely owing to her eyes. Not only were they beautiful but also quite unique.

    They were golden in color, and gleaming in vigor, clearly showing that she was powerful.

    And this was what a single gaze allowed everyone else to realize.

    Her eyes had been metamorphosed owing to the awakening of her Innate talent, but that was not something others could know, at least not with absolute certainty.

    Nheless, what attracted most Originals in the room was Be''s appearance which was extremely bewitching. She was not just beautiful, but otherworldly gorgeous owing to her eyes that highlighted her beauty even more.

    Nial couldn''t know that as he was only able to visualize her outlines and some details about her appearance without being able to differentiate between colors.

    Yet, he still knew that she was beautiful, which was something that would attract numerous men.

    Thus, Nial believed that she would be able to join any kind of group as long as she adjusted herself to fit them, even if it was only a little bit.

    However, instead of doing that, it almost felt like her eyes had turned ice-cold the moment the others started to throw weird gazes at the duo.

    Only after she turned her head back to Nial did her cold features rx a little bit.

    "Did you eat lunch already?" She suddenly asked before pointing towards the banquet on their left.

    It was only a momentter that Be realized what she was doing, pointing out something Nial was unable to see.

    Biting her tongue, she was about to apologize and exin where she wanted to go, only to see that Nial approached the leftmost table of the banquet where tes and cutleries were ced.

    "Not yet, let''s eat something!"

    Nial knew that it was quite easy to forget the condition of other people, even more, if one was just starting to get to know each other.

    As such, he didn''t think much about her behavior.

    Instead, Nial showed her that he was able to move around and manage things on his own, just that it was a little bit different; and with the help of his other senses.

    Smelling the pleasant smell of roasted meat to their left, and the aroma of drinks to their right side, followed by his mana perception that allowed him to visualize everything, Nial started to serve himself.

    urately picking up whatever he wanted to eat and cing the food items neatly on his te, he continued filling the te while ignoring the onlookers that were starting to discuss amongst each other, wondering if he was conning them with his ''seemingly'' lifeless eyes, or if there was something they didn''t know.

    But after a while, they decided that he wasn''t worth their time and attention and quickly returned to focus on their own talk.

    They bragged about their own achievements while showering their friends with praises, showing off their social background, and connections.

    As for their strength, most Originals held back from revealing too much about their strength, the abilities they bound to their mana core, or even the Innate abilities some of them had awoken.

    Thus, most of the discussions were rather superficial, which caused Nial to smile lightly.

    He understood every single word that was spoken in the entire room, which was quite inconvenient and hence not required in his conversation with Be.

    She had quickly adjusted her mindset to what she saw.

    Because of that, Be believed that Nial might be blind in terms of eyesight, but that his other senses and perception reced everything.

    As such, she filled her own te before sitting down on the bench next to Nial.

    There were not many benches to sit down and eat as it was something unlikely to do during times such as the period before departure to the Teradan military camp.

    After all, everyone was nervous, and forcing themselves to eat in such a state would only make them puke at the most unfortunate time.

    Owing to this, the drinks and food were, in most cases, just decorations.

    However, Nial and Be felt quitefortable right now as they were eating the food that had been prepared by a master chef.

    Never having eaten something so great, Nialpletely disregarded the stares at him that were filled with various emotions.

    On one hand, nobody knew Nial, and from the way he was clothed, the blind young man was certainly not from an influential family.

    This indicated that he didn''t really have a great start.

    Adding to that, he had either awoken his originter, or he had taken a very long time in order to reach the 3rd Origin rank.

    However, all of that became insignificant when they recalled the fact that not a single individual with the right to rmend someone to the Teradan military camp would waste their rmendation letter on a nobody, and a talented being.

    As such, Nial was bound to be special in one way or another.

    The only issue was to figure out how special he was, if he was a threat to the others, or if he had just been fortunate, and someone was gambling on him due to their gut feeling.

    If the participants knew that the biggest reason for Kira to rmend Nial for the Teradan Military camp was her gut feeling, they would curse her for taking such a bold risk.

    After all, the gamble could crush one''s entire career if it led to a disastrous and unfavorable oue.

    However, on the other hand, given the fact that the rmendation had gone through, and that it was approved, something was certainly going on in the 10th gathering ce.

    It was weird, but the participants of the Teradan military camp felt odd, especially because those participants of the 10th gathering ce knew that each of them was rmended and how the process of the rmendation was held!

    The conclusion of all of these facts pointed at only one thing- it was not easy to meet the requirements of the Teradan military camp, at all.

    Yet, that was something Nial was oblivious to because the sister duo Kira and Mara had taken care of everything, solving the hurdle of him ticking all the boxes with the use of their connections.

    If he were to know everything the sisters had done for him, Nial would feel even more grateful to them.

    Nevertheless, even if he were only to consider the few things that he knew, Nial was already overjoyed to have encountered great people like Kira and Mara.

    They were certainly worth getting to know even if he would have to go through hellish training.<sub> </sub>

    Smiling lightly while eating, he savored every single bite of the food, which caused Be to look at Nial with a small grin.

    She had already figured that he belonged to an ordinary family, otherwise, he wouldn''t have lodged a room in her mother''s apartments.

    Thus, she found him to be even more likable as he didn''t hide his emotions.

    With genuine interactions and heartfelt emotions, it was easy to make people around you morefortable.

    As such, they didn''t even notice that after seeing them eat casually, more groups had decided to eat something.

    Initially, they had been extremely nervous, and unable to eat much for thest two days.

    Yet, seeing how Nial was enjoying his meal, the others'' stomachs began to growl.

    Soon, the aroma of the food began to overwhelm their nervousness as all of them made a beeline for the banquet, and soon filled their tes with a few small portions of various food items.

    They didn''t dare to eat too much, but their mind and body were clearly relieved as the intense nervousness they had felt had dispersed and was reced by hunger.

    Despite seeing Nial eating, and even enjoying himself there were still many other Originals that didn''t dare to eat a single bite.

    For all they knew, this could be their first test of the Teradan military camp that had already started.

    Poisoning the food was something the cruel instructors of the Tearadan military camp were certainly capable of.

    As such, even though some of them were feeling hungry once their nervousness disappeared, they didn''t dare to eat at all.

    If Niall were to know their anxiety which was clouding their judgment, he would have calmed them down.

    After all, his mana perception, tasting, and smelling senses were exceptional.

    Thus, the moment he would have smelled something odd, Nial would have refrained from eating.

    There might be specific types of poison that couldn''t be sensed by one''s tasting, smelling, or even mana perception.

    However, they were in a military camp, most of them were below the age of 20, and he believed that they would be at least given a chance to figure out if something was poisoned or not.

    As such, there should be, at least, one rtively easy indicator to figure out if someone was harmful or not.

    Otherwise, it couldn''t really be considered a test, but simply curb one''s temptation to eat, and a clear indicator that one couldn''t trust the Teradan military camp''s instructors.

    He believed that worrying too much about traceless poison in food before they even stepped into the camp was a little bit over the top.

    Knowing that he was calmly having his food even though some young men and women began to take out certain testing devices with which they tested the food for poison.

    These devices would be taken awayter, but for now, they were quite useful.

    Because many Originals were eating, Nial didn''t even notice that a young man had walked towards their bench, and sat right next to him.

    Not catching even a whiff of the disgusting stench of sweat had already astonished him when he had encountered Be as she didn''t smell as bad as the others.

    This was quite favorable for Nial because he smelled the slightest bit of purities in sweat, which was something Be didn''t seem to have much of.

    Meanwhile, the youth next to him smelled slightly unique as if he was refreshing.

    It was weird to describe, even more so because Nial sensed that the youth next to him was able to precisely control mana.

    The refreshing scent also had traces of soil, and several types of dirt, astonishing Nial a bit.

    Soil smelled much better than sweat, after all.

    This was quite obvious, but refreshing to Nial in a sense as the entire room was filled with Originals that had used all kinds of perfumes, cologne and so on, just to smell better, and to mask the smell of sweat that flowed naturally from their bodies owing to their nervousness.

    Unfortunately, all of those mixed scents had made it ufortable for Nial to be around them.

    But, with just Be and the unknown youth, it was now much better to endure.

    Because of that, he turned towards the youth next to him, while smiling lightly before he spoke.

    "Hey, sorry to interrupt your meal, but I wondered if you already found a group to stay with?"

    Nial didn''t have any ill intentions, but owing to his bad socializing skills, he spoke utter nonsense, causing the young man to look up from his te.

    He had been thest to arrive, and just randomly chose to sit in a less crowded ce, which was right next to Nial.

    As such, he felt quitefortable that nobody had spoken to him, only for Nial to start a small discussion.

    Yet, instead of answering, the young man could only look into Nial''s eyes, without saying a word.

    This caused Nial to feel a little bit weird, thinking that he must have said something wrong as he gave it another try.

    "My name is Nial Orin. Nice meeting you¡­ what''s your name?"

    Despite giving his best, Nial began to feel ufortable under the gaze of the young man, and even Be, who noticed what was going on next to him, couldn''t help but wonder why Nial was even continuing to try.

    To be precise, even Nial had no idea why he was trying to befriend the silent youth, only to hear him mumble.

    "M¡­Mathias¡­C-Car¡ªCartel¡­nice me-meeting you t-too!"

    **

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 Chapter 93 Instructors

    Mathias Cartel was a timid young man, who was not good at conversing with others.

    His socializing skills were even worse than Nial''s, which made the situation quite weird the moment he finished his introduction.

    However, instead of allowing the awkwardness to go on any longer, Nial replied to him with a smile.

    "Alright, Mathias, I can call you like that, right?"

    Nodding his head, Mathias agreed without saying anything and started ying with his spoon. Sensing his hesitation, Nial continued to chat as he asked curiously,

    "If that is not something too personal to ask about, howe you have this refreshing scent of soil around you?"

    Nial could guess the answer to this, but there were numerous possibilities.

    Furthermore, he required a topic to speak about, which was why he asked what came to his mind straight away.

    The question stumped Mathias and he looked at Nial, not sure if he was genuinely curious about him, or if Nial simply wanted to figure out hispetition.

    Yet, seeing the subtle smile on Nial''s face, and the way he wasn''t being too pushy or nagging him for an answer in an annoying manner, Mathias couldn''t help but feel at ease.

    "Refreshing¡­S-soil? Ma-ybe¡­it''s my affinity?"

    Struggling to answer because he was still not sure whether to trust Nial or not, Mathias stammered a bit while muttering an answer that was more of a question.

    But, Nial understood what he wanted to say, which was everything he needed to know.

    Mathias loved silence very much.

    However, being enveloped by silence for the entire time was something even Mathias didn''t adore.

    After all, excess of something one loved would slowly wear off your liking of the thing and make you even despise it after a while.

    This didn''t apply to everything, but there were specific things one shouldn''t give one''s entire focus to.

    Thus, Nial''s slow advances in the conversation were refreshing as he was not too pushy, and neither was he annoying.

    As such, Mathias felt that it might have been a good idea for his father to force him into joining the Teradan military camp.

    At first, he had been annoyed by his father''s behavior, but he had given his best to support Mathias, whose Innate ability was exceptionally rare.

    Because of that, the moment his father had returned home with an Earth elemental affinity crystal that had the [Comprehension] tag, Mathias knew that he would have to attend the military camp.

    Only a month had passed since that day, but owing to the [Elementalprehension] innate ability he had awoken with his origin, the Earth affinity he had gained was something Mathias understood thoroughly.

    As this gave him the chance to learn many new things he liked, Mathias didn''t think about cursing his father, which he had done in his head months ago.

    On the contrary, now he was thanked his father in his mind while smiling subtly at Nial, the first person he had ever thought about bing friends with.

    If Mathias knew that it was Nial, who had given his father the Earth elemental affinity crystal in exchange for the curse he had bound to his mana core, he would have been even more surprised.

    However, this surprise would be to their advantage.

    Despite that, both Nial and Mathias were oblivious to how fate had brought them together and they were simply talking to each other until Be joined them easily.

    Her participation didn''t lead to any awkwardness and she adjusted her demeanor to the given situation pretty well.

    Being good at moulding her behavior to make her seem approachable and a good team member, she could fit in every kind of group.

    But, instead of faking being someone else, Be was curious to figure out more about Nial, whose expression made him seem like a genuine person as he spoke with Mathias.

    The young and timid Mathias was slowly warming up to both of them, and his expression had brightened up too.

    However, he spoke in a low voice, forcing Be to move closer to Nial, and pushing them together.

    Thus, the three of them ended up in a very close space, forming their own small group as they befriended each other while waiting for the Instructors to arrive.

    Everyone was eager to leave for the Teradan Military camp, after all!

    However, rather than waiting anxiously, Nial and the two young Originals next to him focussed on getting to know one another, which included finding out one''s bound ability.

    Nobody exposed their Innate ability, but neither of them was truly scared of exposing the ability they had bound to their mana core, which was quite weird.

    Nial was astonished about the elemental affinity Mathias had bound to his mana core but did not believe it was the same elemental crystal that he had bartered for the Curse [Hodur''s Heir].

    Meanwhile, Be shared her ability with the two of them quite easily.

    "My first ability is called [Outburst] and it can be utilized once every minute. It''s nothing special, but the ability increases the output of my mana by 50% for 15 seconds!"

    In the beginning, Nial didn''t expect anyone to reveal their abilities because they could bepared to a lifeline.

    If something were to happen, using one''s ability as a means to save oneself was a person''s ultimate move.

    This included the possibility of teammates turning against each other.

    Yet, oddly enough, both Be and Mathias didn''t even think about being secretive about their first ability.

    In fact, Nial almost spit out the water he had been drinking when Be announced that her ability is nothing special.

    Receiving an increase in the outburst of mana worth 50% meant that her attacks would be strengthened by 50%.

    This meant that its efficiency would never decrease even if she would use this ability now, or several yearster,.

    In fact, the stronger she would be, the higher the potency of the [Outburst] ability would be.

    As such, even Mathias couldn''t help but be astonished.

    Both Nial and Mathias felt that Be had a unique aura which was mostly owing to the Innate ability she had.<sub> </sub>

    However, because Be didn''t say that she had an innate ability, neither he nor Mathias could be sure about that.

    When it was Nial''s turn to speak about his ability, he hesitated a little bit, which Be and Mathias noticed.

    While Be had already figured that Nial''s ability was something rather dangerous, and eerie, owing to their first encounter, Mathias became suddenly aware of Nial''s difort.

    ''Did he expect us to reveal our abilities while being secretive about his own? Is he second-guessing his decision to befriend us?''

    All kinds of thoughts churned through the mind that made him believe his earlier happiness about having befriended someone so easily had been for naught.

    Yet, when he heard Nial''s answer, he turned eerily silent, mentally cursing himself for jumping to a wrong conclusion.

    "Well, I don''t know if I should really say this, but as everyone can probably see, I''m blind¡­ that''s why I bound a Curse to my mana core¡­"

    Nial knew how this must sound like, but he sensed Mathias'' change in behavior and that he had scooted back a bit, and was eyeing him warily.

    He was still seated next to Nial, but it was impossible not to notice Mathias'' stiffness.

    Thus, Nial had decided to be as honest as possible.

    To his misfortune, not just Mathias but even Be froze on the spot, stupefied about what they had just heard.

    A few minutes of awkward silence passed by, and Nial began to wonder how they were feeling.

    ording to what he had sensed, their mana fluctuations had stiffened too as if they were unable to digest the fact Nial had thrown at them.

    "You¡­bound what?!"

    Finally, after some time had passed, Be was able to regain her senses.

    Nevertheless, she felt that his answer was still unbelievable.

    After all, it was extremely dangerous to bind a Curse to one''s mana core.

    Even after hundreds of humans voluntarily agreed to bind a specific cursed crystal to their mana core in exchange for a massive sum of money, mankind had yet to find out if there were differences between the exact same curse or not.

    Sometimes, it felt like a specific cursed crystal was different to another one even though they had the exact same name.

    Adding the fact that the organ of the body would be cursed nine out of ten times, curses were simply too disadvantageous.

    Because of that, both Be and Mathias couldn''t help but look into his eyes, while trying to grasp what was going on.

    But that was close to impossible, and Nial had to help them out.

    "The curse only affected my eyes, so there is nothing to worry about. Because I''m already blind one could say that the curse was more like a blessing because all of my senses have been enhanced manifold.

    It''s still quite ufortable, but one could say that I can clearly see the surroundings with my senses!"

    In the end, Nial didn''t know much about the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] either.

    As such, he could only reveal the things he knew for sure.

    Thus, Mathias and Be could only continue looking at him, confused and unsure about what the hell was going on.

    Yet, instead of saying anything about his Curse or the fact that he bound one to his mana core, both of them remained silent, and tried to change the topic.

    They felt ufortable interrogating Nial because his expression told him that he had been desperate enough to bind a Curse to his mana core.

    He didn''t look oblivious to the truth of Curses'' dangers, which showed that he very well knew the dangers and risks of binding a curse.

    As such, they were even happier when they were saved from the effort to break the ufortable silence by the appearance of two women and one man.

    One of the women looked tough, as if she could tear apart all kinds of monstrous beasts with her bare hands, and was wearing an ordinary military uniform.

    Meanwhile, the other woman was d in a grayish skirt and a white blouse, smiling gently at the youths that eyed her in shock.

    The vast majority of people seemed to know her, and their expressions clearly indicated that they were not sure whether to be happy or scared.

    Nial was oblivious to the identity of either of the women, and he only sensed the young man''s familiar mana fluctuations as he mumbled.

    "Master Junades?!"

    To his fortune, nobody heard him because everyone was eyeing the three Instructors with wide eyes, and excitement spread through their entire being as the beautiful-looking woman raised her hand.

    This simple motion caused everyone to quiet down in an instant as she introduced herself.

    "Hello dear participants, as some of you may not know I would like to introduce myself first. My name is Kassandra ke, and I''m the representative of the Golden Crow! Nice to meet all of you.

    Let''s have a great time at the Teradan military camp!"

    Nial had never heard about the Golden Crow, and neither about a woman called Kassandra ke.

    Yet, after hearing the thunderous apuse that echoed through the small room of 100 eager entrants, Nial was able to figure out that she was quite popr.

    Nevertheless, this was not something he could be bothered about.

    However, when he sensed that Be stiffened for a moment as Kassandra looked over the batch of rmended Originals, he could tell that something was wrong.

    "Did she rmend you?"

    Nial just blurted out without thinking too much, only to receive a nod from Be, while Mathias looked at them in astonishment.

    It seemed as if Nial didn''t bother about Kassandra ke, while Be turned out to have been rmended by someone of much higher social standing and importance than Mathias, and, most likely everyone else in this room had.

    ''Just who the hell are you two?!''

 Chapter 94 Last Chance

    Baffled by the nonchntments of the friends he had just made, Mathias''s gaze jumped from the Instructors to the two on his right side.

    p Because of that, he couldn''t properly listen to the introduction of the woman who represented the military.</anda>

    Thankfully, Nial had heard her so he repeated her words easily.

    "Her name is Orian San, and she will be in charge of our physical training¡­"

    Nial was not sure if that was good or bad, but from the way he perceived the situation, the Instructors had been allotted the subjects in a simple manner.

    While Junades was most likely to be in charge of their martial arts andbat training, Orian San was in charge of physical training and improving their physique.

    Meanwhile, Kassandra was supposed to help everyone improve their proficiency with mana and the abilities they used.

    She also said that nobody had to tell her what kind of abilities they bound, but if they did, it would only allow them to improve faster.

    After all, if she knew the name of the abilities it would be possible for her to focus on teaching the most important points of her respective ability.

    In Nial''s case, this was quite difficult, which was the reason for him to question whether he should share that he had bound a curse to his body or not.

    ''If I say that I have bound an ability that enhances all of my senses several times over, there shouldn''t really be a big difference, right?''

    In the end, Nial''s assumption was most likely correct as the difference between his curse and the said ability was negligible.

    At least, he couldn''t detect much of a difference if one excluded the ck Miasma that his Curse could leak at specific asions.

    With that in mind, he was rtively calm, while Be, who was beside him, sighed deeply.

    She could barely contain her excitement and tried speaking in a low voice.

    However, her attempts had failed and Kassandra, who had her eye on the young woman nearly all the time, had heard her.

    Somehow, this made Nial feel sorry for her, even though he had no idea why this was the case.

    Smiling bitterly, he could barely avert his attention as Junades looked in his direction.

    Master Junades seemed to be slightly astonished about finding Nial here.

    But then he realized that it wasn''t truly surprising to find Nial here as even he had noticed that the young boy had a spark in him.

    Only a momentter he recalled that Nial had just awoken his Origin.

    It hadn''t been that long, after all.

    Thus, Junades had been against Kira and Mara''s idea of rmending him to the Teradan military camp.

    However, somehow, he ended up helping them to fill out all the forms and ensure that there are no errors in the application.

    Nevertheless, Junades still felt weird.

    It was not that he had something against Nial, but it was obvious that he was rushing things too much.

    As such, Junades just shook his head, before returning his attention to the points that required more focus.

    These were the other Originals that had also been rmended by the influential families of Katu.

    There were not many, but owing to specific circumstances, there were still a total of 103 participants that had been rmended in Katu alone.

    Such a high number of rmendations had never been seen in Katu, and even other shelters had a sudden spike and an oddly high number of rmended youths.

    Owing to that, the number of instructors had increased, while the total number of entrants to the Teradan military camp had reached a high number like never before.

    Thus, the most important thing was to figure out if everyone was worth being nurtured, to begin with.

    "Before everyone reaches the camp, you all will be tested to assess yourpetence.

    Your first test will be to find a way to the camp. There is a teleportation circle in the second basement in which five Originals can be teleported at once.

    The location to which you get teleported will differ a little bit after every usage, but the final destination will be the same.

    Your first task is to bring all Originals to the Teradan military camp! You have to ensure that nobody is left behind, and the degree of everyone''s injury will be directly proportional to the deduction of points in the overall evaluation.

    Everything will be observed, but nobody will rescue anyone!

    To make it clear, everyone should be aware of the high death rate of the Teradan military camp, and the fact we won''t rescue anyone, just for the sake of your family!"

    Upon hearing this, Nial initially thought that thest part was a lie.

    He knew that the death rate was high, but Kira and Mara had been quite rxed every single time he had mentioned his possible death in the camp.

    As such, he was not sure whether they had been simply trying to calm him down, or if some of the participants would die even before entering the camp.

    In the end, mankind always imed that they required more and stronger Originals.

    Allowing future prodigies to die just because they were young made no sense to him, and even the others doubted this.

    However, when they saw Junades'' ice-cold expression while sensing his eerie aura, it was impossible not to believe him.

    When he thought about it further, he realized that even if they were to fail and be possibly rescued, in the end, they would be disqualified.

    For some, dying while heroically advancing towards the Teradan military camp was much better than being disqualified, and returning to their family with shame.

    But that was fortunately only the case for a few descendants of extremely influential families.

    After giving it a second thought, Nial realized that he could not afford to fail, either.

    Yet, death was something he epted even less.

    Thus, he figured that they would have to search for two reliable partners to team up with.

    After all, they would be teleported somewhere and had to pave their own way towards the Teradan military camp.

    As such, Nial used his mana fluctuations to sense if there were any other trustworthy participants.

    Meanwhile, a few other participants lifted their hands, indicating that they had certain doubts.

    "I heard that we are not allowed to bring cultivation resources and other means of protection with us.

    It''s not that I have something against this, but will it be possible for us to receive a little more information about the ce we will be teleported to?

    If that would be possible, we could, at the bare minimum, prepare ourselves mentally¡­"

    The young woman, who had asked this question, had gathered all her courage to ask this question but had kept her eyes glued to the table instead of looking at the instructors straight ahead.<sub> </sub>

    And, the moment she dared to look up, she realized that everyone including the three instructors was staring at her.

    All of them had identical cold expressions, but that was only what her anxiety had caused her to visualize.

    Only when Junades smiled faintly, did the young Original realize that her breath had caught in her throat as she sucked in air after seeing his reaction.

    Taking a few deep breaths, while keeping her gaze on Juandes, she awaited his answer that followed suit a momentter.

    "Don''t be nervous to ask questions. Being informed and clearing your doubts is very important before a mission. As such, you made a great point right there.

    There will be a little information I will share in a while, but before that, I want to make it clear that everyone will have five minutes of time to clear their spatial rings.

    These five minutes start right now, and we will search through your spatial rings one by one.

    For every single item found in your possession that has been forbidden by the camp''s list, we will deduct one merit point.

    In that case, everyone who attempts to cheat us will have minus points before they even set foot in the camp!"

    After Junades stated this, more than 30 Originals essed their spatial ring at once, before throwing out all kinds of smaller devices.

    There were even quite rare tools that were considered a necessity for auxiliary upations amongst them.

    Sensing their mana fluctuations, Nial couldn''t help but be a little bit astonished about this as he had not expected to witness the current situation.

    It was kind of obvious that some Originals would attempt to bring stuff to the camp which they were not supposed to, just to gain a small advantage over others.

    As such, Master Junades'' statement was obviously a warning, which most young Originals took to their heart.

    However, despite the warning, Nial presumed that many Originals were willing to ept negative merit points in exchange for the risk of gaining an advantage.

    After all, a single merit point was not noteworthy inparison to the minuscule chance that the three Instructors might miss out on detecting something.

    The advantage they were bound to make was much higher than the risk in their opinion.

    If even Nial had figured this out, Master Junades and the other two female Instructors wouldn''t be stupid enough to no gauge this either.

    Because of that, Nial questioned himself if it had been stupid to have been honest.

    Just at that moment, his mana perception sensed something which was the mana fluctuations of the three instructors to be precise.

    While their expressions remained the same, with Master Juandes preparing to continue speaking and providing the answer to the young female Original''s question, the two women made specific engravings on the items that nowy on the ground.

    It were the items Originals had thrown out of their spatial rings, confusing Nial for a moment.

    Yet, when he sensed that the engravings were different in shape and density, he couldn''t help but tilt his head.

    ''The items that have been taken out by one Original look the same, but the density isn''t. Origin crystals have only a thin mark, and the same goes for potions. But the forging hammer that radiates strong mana currents has a thicker mark¡­

    Does that mean Junades lied about the deduction of only one merit point per item, or that everyone has five minutes of time to expose themselves?''

    Nial was not sure what was on the mind of the Instructors, but the marks etched on the items were quite clear.

    In fact, Nial sensed that the marks signified a much more serious punishment than deductions in merit points.

    ''Maybe the instructors will make the life of a cheater harder? They will have a bad impression of them, that''s for sure¡­but other than that, what could these marks mean?''

    Unfortunately, he could not think about it further as his ears caught the words being spoken by Master Juandes, providing the necessary information about the first task.

    "The Teradan military camp is in a specific ce that is easy to protect, and at a location, we can reach quite easily.

    What I just said should act as the first clue because the ce you guys will be teleported to is the only ind mankind reimed¡­partially!

    In fact, there is even a small town, which is the ce the lot of you will stay! However, don''t even think that everything will be easy just because you guys will be teleported to an ind.

    The beasts living in the area you guys will be teleported to are as powerful as Originals between the 5th to 7th Origin rank.

    However, there are many more powerful beasts on the ind, which we left alive owing to multiple reasons.

    If you can kill them, go for it. You might receive additional rewards from that.

    Without revealing a lot, I will just conclude my short speech and hope that everyone would stay vignt as there are beasts with a reverse day-night cycle too!"

    After he was done, an awkward silence filled the room.

    The pieces of information had just been thrown at them without any link.

    As such, it was quite annoying to piece them together.

    However, that was exactly what Junades had wanted to achieve- to make it sound like a puzzle and make the participants solve it before trying to teleport.

    A few Originals looked at each other, not sure what to think about the provided information, while others nodded their heads, confident to reach the camp with the given information.

    Even without the information, the vast majority of Originals were confident to reach the Teradan military camp.

    However, that was only obvious.

    After all, they had been trained for years just for this moment!

    Yet, all of a sudden, while everyone was deep in thoughts, someone lifted his hand.

    Turning his head in the direction of the hand that was lifted high in the air, Master Junades could barely keep a poker face as he asked while suppressing his frustration.

    "I won''t repeat myself, and I provided enough information¡­ What is the matter?"

    Junades was facing Nial, who was smiling lightly as he asked seemingly nonchnt,

    "Sir, if I didn''t mishear there are 103 participants present, right? If that is the case can I form just a team of three?"

    **

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 Chapter 95 As Promised

    Nial had decided to team up with only Be and Mathias, and nobody else.

    That was not because he felt as if it was enough for him to face the future dangers with just twobatants.

    Rather, his reasoning was much simpler.

    He didn''t trust the other participants!

    In fact, Be and Mathias had revealed that they felt the same, and thought that the other young Originals were not reliable.

    Having discussed this a few moments earlier, Nial believed that the words he spoke had been not just his decision, but that of his entire team.

    It was just that he had been the one to say it out loud instead of the other two and be the spokesperson without meaning to.

    This irritated Nial a little bit, but he felt that both Be and Mathias were pushing him to be the scapegoat.

    As such, he had epted his fate, only to face Master Junades head-on.

    "So the three of you want to be teleported to the ind without anyone else?"

    It was a simple question, but the meaning behind it could be interpreted in many ways.

    Yet, instead of beating around the bush or feeling too intimidated to speak with Master Junades, Nial could only be thankful that it was someone he knew rather than aplete stranger whom he was facing right now.

    "To be honest, nobody will want to team up with me either way. After all, I''m blind and only at the 3rd Origin rank, which means they''ll see me as a burden.

    I''m dead weight to them, and they don''t want to get merits deducted because I will die either way.

    That is at least what most Originals here think of me.

    I don''t want them to think that they''ll be failing because of me, so we should pay attention to their mental health.

    Allowing them to realize that they''re trash who would fail even without me being a dead weight to their team should serve as a good reality check!"

    In the beginning, Nial quickly noticed that many gazes were drawn toward him.

    After visualizing everyone in his room, it was easy to see that their expressions were filled with disgust, or uncertainty when looking at him.

    Thus, he decided to change the way in which he exined the situation before lightly taking a jibe at them.

    Earlier, Nial had already told the others that he had been asked to do something, in particr, which might attract the anger of many.

    As such, Be and Mathias figured that Nial had a n, which is why they didn''t try to stop them when he started speaking.

    Yet, even they had not expected their new friend to openly insult the other Originals, stating that they would fail even if he were not to be on their team.

    His taunt had hit more than a dozen young Originals who had jumped up from their chair, and clenched their fists as if wanting to beat him into a pulp then and there.

    However, the moment they jumped up, the said Originals realized that Nial had not singled out anyone.

    Reacting to him would only mean that they considered themselves to be weak. After all, empty vessels make the most noise.

    Thus, only those who were actually not confident in themselves had jumped up, causing the others to eye them with cold gazes, making mental notes of theirpetitors and dismissing the others as weaklings.

    The others that were unaffected by Nial''s insult told themselves not to team up with the Originals that had jumped up after clearly understanding the situation.

    Meanwhile, Kassandra, and Orian looked at Nial for a moment before nodding their heads lightly.

    They couldn''t tell whether Nial was brave, stupid, or possibly both.

    Yet, it was a fact that his voice didn''t tremble, while his mana fluctuations, breathing, and stance were stable as he became the center of attention of more than a hundred Originals and three Instructors.

    He was bound to have created enemies right now, but simultaneously, there weren''t too many as only those with weak self-esteem would have been affected by his words.

    After all, Nial had targeted this group of Originals especially, which was not difficult to figure out.

    Suppressing a faint, and mysterious smile, Junades turned around towards the two Instructors that nodded their heads before he turned back to Nial.

    "Because 103 Originals that participate in the Teradan military camp are present right now, you will be allowed to make a group of three before leaving.

    You''ll leave first, while the others can make up their teams! Come up to me!"

    Thest sentence was a little bit unexpected, but it was not like Nial could care about it.

    As such, he got up from the bench before moving towards Master Junades while precisely avoiding the young Originals that stood in his way, in addition to the items that were spread all over the ground.

    Initially, the young Originals had wondered what they should think about Nial.

    Underestimating anyone who had been rmended to participate in the Teradan military camp would be stupid, yet there was still a minority that was acting foolishly and looking at Nial as if he was a pushover.

    Meanwhile, another group of minorities felt extremely vignt of Nial because they had noticed something odd about him from the moment he entered the basement.

    However, the majority of the present Originals were neutral about him, despite the provocative words he had spoken.

    Having been trained psychologically to ascertain if somebody was ying a mind game, the majority realized what Nial had done, and if they were to be honest, it was impressive.

    Offending a minority of Originals, while gaining the attention of the Instructors, along with receiving permission to proceed with the only people he trusted had been achieved with a few simple sentences.

    Stating how weak he was while sharing that others would see him as a dead weight was a good tactic in order to gain what he had hoped for.

    Simultaneously, directing his insult to those Originals with low self-esteem, and speaking his words right in front of everyone, including the Instructors meant that he was confident.

    And that was despite his earlier statements about his low Origin rank and blindness!

    It was only obvious for him to gain the interest of the Instructors, which was noticed by the majority of people, who couldn''t help but think that Nial was far more calctive and intelligent than they credited him to be.

    Maybe that was his strength and forte; to use his intelligence in order to exploit other people to make them act like he wanted?<sub> </sub>

    Funnily enough, they didn''t even know that Nial didn''t think highly of his own intelligence.

    He was only able to focus on one thing at a time, and multitasking was something he was unable to do properly.

    As such, even his fighting style was stillcking.

    While fighting it was slightly easier for him to control mana while moving around, but that was mostly because mana felt like an extension of his body.

    It was not exactly that, butparable while he felt the same about the Viper spear too.

    Nevertheless, there were still issues he had to face with multitasking even during battles.

    Thus, rather than thinking tooplicatedly, Nial just did what he had been asked to.

    The sisters, Kira and Mara had asked him to attract the Instructors'' attention, whether it was by creating trouble, or by being the strongest.

    As such, Nial decided to take the first step toward both paths before he clearly understood which path of the two was feasible for him to choose.

    In the end, this simply meant that he didn''t think about all the things the other Originals believed Nial to have thought about.

    Rather, it was theplete opposite!

    Yet, while the other Originals and even the two female Instructors were interested in what exactly Nial had nned to doter, Junades couldn''t help but look at Nial when he stood in front of him, holding out the spatial ring in order to be inspected.

    ''Just what did these two troublemakers do to you? I thought you would be someone righteous¡­is that still possible under the sisters'' influence?''

    He was not sure about the answer, but given the serious expression on Nial''s face that allowed Junades to realize lots of things, he could only shake his head.

    Nial must have ovee many obstacles, and lived through numerous dangerous situations, only to face frustrating times since they had encountered each other.

    As such, Junades didn''t say anything as he picked up the spatial ring, which he received permission to ess.

    Doing this, he noticed that everything inside the Spatial ring was sorted neatly and did not have too many items.

    There were just two weapons, a few misceneous items, and that was already it.

    Thus, only half a minute after he was done, Junades nodded his head.

    "Alright, you can go down to the second basement!"

    That being said, Nial retrieved his spatial ring and walked away from Master Junades while ignoring the gazes of the other Originals.

    In his opinion, they had be too curious about him, instead of the anger and hospitality he had expected.

    It made the entire situation a little bit weird for Nial, who was wondering what was going on in the heads of the other Originals.

    Unfortunately, there was not much he could do about their behavior, and instead of minding them, he gave them a cold shoulder.

    At the same time, Be and Mathias had gotten up from the bench, and handed over their spatial rings to Junades for inspection, and like Nial, were given permission to go ahead a minuteter.

    Nobody paid much attention to Mathias because he was trying to make himself as small as possible, and hide from everyone''s gaze if possible.

    Yet, the fact that Be teamed up with Nial made a few Originals gossip in hushed whispers.

    Some men that were eying Be with naked lust, had wanted to approach her during the formation of the team.

    However, now that she left with Nial, this was hardly possible.

    This caused them to sigh deeply while feeling jealous of Nial, who could gaze at Be''s bosom even after being teleported.

    Only momentster did they realize that this was not even the case, which caused them to feel a sudden wave of pity towards Nial.

    After all, Be would certainly not even look at Nial. Her fair skin that was without any imperfections, her big golden eyes, long eyshes, and seemingly otherworldly facial features that were only further highlighted by her long blonde hair that cascaded down to her lower back made them confident that she would not even look at some of the best looking men let alone Nial.

    However, if Be were to be only beautiful owing to her face, this wouldn''t be enough for some male Originals to feel pity towards Nial.

    Rather, it was her bombastic figure, her slender figure that had the curves in all the right ces.

    Her ample breasts and hourss figure were entuated by the tightbat clothes she wore, making her appearance seem even more divine, and dangerous for the eyes of men as was already the case.

    Yet, it was exactly because Nial didn''t harbor any improper thoughts for Be that she feltfortable around him.

    He was not approaching her needlessly either, which was something she wasfortable with.

    It was a great change, and iparable to how she had lived in the past while being subjected to constant lustful gazes, and unbending desires.

    Even the thought about everything that had happened in the past made her stagger a bit as she quickened her pace to catch up to Nial, only to notice for the first time that she was almost one head shorter than he was.

    ''Wasn''t he shorter before?'' She wondered, not sure if she recalled directly.

    Yet, when she recollected their first meeting, Nial seemed to be interesting in many more ways than one would expect upon taking a first nce of Nial.

    In fact, after today''s event, Be believed that it would never be boring to walk around with Nial.

    All of these emotions were something Mathias felt too, and he was d to havee to today''s gathering, even if he had hated the idea earlier to the core!

    It hadn''t been as bad as Mathias had imagined, and he was quitefortable with Nial, and even Be around.

    Though Mathias believed that only Nial was connecting Be and him, which both noticed.

    Nial was oblivious to this, as even his new friends'' emotions were something he had yet to figure out.

    However, he would learn this with time, and Nial was quite sure of the fact that they had more than enough time to spend together in the wilderness on their search for the Teradan military camp, or rather the town in which everyone would be staying.

    And that included every single participant of the camp from all the shelters who would pass the first test which might be in the hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands!!

 Chapter 96 Teleportation Circle

    Nial felt that everything was quite rushed right now.

    He didn''t expect that the instructors would readily agree to his request.

    As such, his movements were a little bit uncertain as he had no idea what to do.

    Feeling weird, Nial just looked around for a moment because there was no way for him to figure out where he had to go, to begin with.

    After all, there were three different doors, one on each side.

    Be and Mathias felt the same, but they were rather calm after reaching Nial''s side.

    Thus, only Nial seemed to be confused, while the others took deep breaths in an effort to calm down.

    However, when the Instructors noticed what was going on, they also understood that their initial n had been disrupted due to Nial''s interference.

    It was not troublesome because the team selection would start once Nial and his team would leave, and everyone''s spatial ring has been inspected.

    Nevertheless, Junades felt like giving the group of three a little head start.

    This was not necessarily advantageous because the spot of their teleportation was still random, even if it was within a specific area.

    The said area was properly secured to prevent stronger beasts from reaching them, but that didn''t mean anything.

    After all, they could stille across beasts much more powerful than their current strength if not the most deadly ones.

    From what Nial understood, even the government didn''t have it easy on the ind.

    ording to the exnation, Nial understood that only a small portion of the ind was controlled by them, while the rest was jam-packed with dungeons, and beasts.

    Because of that, he was not sure what kind of thought process made the government believe that sending potential prodigies of mankind to such a dangerous ind would be smart.

    In the end, an ind couldn''t be that humongous, after all.

    Yet, after thinking about it, he realized that there were quite a few things Nial didn''t know about the they lived on.

    There was not even a standard scale that differentiated continents from inds.

    In fact, Nial only knew what continents and inds were owing to some ancient books.

    He had never been at ake, either.

    Nial had spent his entire life in Katu, and nowhere else.

    Going outside the shelter was suicidal, after all.

    Now that he thought about it, Nial began to wonder why he assumed that an Ind had to be small, to begin with.

    ''Just what is wrong with my mind? I never read information about what constitutes an ind, and what are some factors of a continent¡­ weird¡­''

    Somehow, it felt like distant memories that didn''t belong to him swept through his mind.

    It made him even more ufortable than the feeling he got from simply waiting to be teleported to the said ind.

    Scratching his head in difort, Nial hoped to find out answers that would exin the existence of memories in his mind that did not belong to him.

    In the end, it made him sigh out loudly, attracting the attention of Kassandra ke, who had her eyes glued to Be for quite a while now.

    Junades and the two women had been talking about what they were supposed to do, and they chose the simplest answer as Kassandra stepped forward.

    "I will lead them to the basement, activate the teleportation circle, ande back once they have left. There is no need to overthink anything.

    The scouts should be ready by now too!"

    There was no reason to go against Kassandra''s words.

    Thus, the two other Instructors nodded their heads before turning back to therger group of Originals.

    "Now that everyone got a few minutes to clear their spatial rings, please step forward, one after another. We will do a quick search and once we''re done, everyone can create their own group!"

    While Junades continued to speak, Kassandra approached Nial and his small group as she looked at them rather nonchntly.

    "Follow me."

    Saying two simple words, Kassandra turned towards a particr door that opened automatically allowing the four of them to walk through it before the door closed behind them.

    Nial noticed runes on the door that were constantly activated and required a minuscule amount of mana to be maintained.

    These runes sensed their approach, creating a chain reaction that activated multiple runes.

    Using up a little bit of the surrounding mana, the door had automatically opened.

    This was quite intriguing, and the most important factor was that it had calmed Nial down.

    As such, the moment the door closed behind Kassandra and the group of three, he sighed in relief.

    Even his mind was now rtively doubt-free and he could think a bit clearer.

    Though there was quite a bit he didn''t know about the ind they would be teleported to, let alone the reason why the government wanted them to enter a ce that was suicidal for young Originals like him and the others.

    After all, they were simply too young to have gained much strength and experience.

    However, even after he had thought about it earlier, Nial couldn''t help but doubt that it was too dangerous for them, as even the government had just managed to build a small town, or rather a shelter on that ind.

    This would mean that the mainds are more dangerous as the threat of the destruction of a shelter was always looming on them.<sub> </sub>

    Only shelters like Katu that were in a remote ce could be described as somewhat safe.

    Thus, rather than feeling burdened by the thought of encountering dangers that were impossible to ovee, Nial felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted off his chest.

    Be and Mathias felt weird seeing that Nial''s tension had suddenly eased up.

    Yet, it was great considering that they would soon enter a dangerous area, which made them worry a lot.

    After all, the unknown was something most people were afraid of, and being in a group of three instead of five had its advantages but also disadvantages.

    Nheless, due to Nial''s earlier calmness and first impression they had chosen to go with him and form a team.

    Thus, his worried and nervous expression from moments earlier made them think a lot.

    Even Kassandra, who didn''t belong to their group understood this quite clearly.

    She knew that Be didn''t have any friends, which was why she also knew that Nial and Mathias were, in fact, strangers to her.

    As such, one of them had to be confident, and a true leader in terms of choosing what they were supposed to do next.

    And from the way it had looked, Nial had be the leader, only to act weird for a few minutes after he had stepped forward, and let his spatial ring be inspected.

    Every member of any kind of team would feel odd if their leader were to act like that, and this did not only include newly formed teams!

    Because of that, it was good to see that Nial''s confidence and posture which showed how rxed he was now, had returned.

    His demeanor had changedpletely, and both Be and Mathias felt at ease.

    Even Kassandra nodded her head before throwing another nce at Be, just before they reached the second basement.

    Nial was finally able to focus on the surroundings and was using his mana perception that visualized the medium-sized room they had entered.

    There was not a single piece of furniture in the second basement, but that was not important.

    After all, the room they had entered was where the teleportation circle had been engraved.

    The room was not affected by the mana fluctuations around it as the metal used to build it, repulsed mana from the outside while enhancing the mana from inside the room.

    This was quite interesting as Nial was able to sense everything with a much higher intensity the moment he arrived at the basement.

    Clearly sensing the huge circle that had been engraved all over the ground, Nial''s curiosity in how a portal towards a different location could be created was piqued.

    As such, his entire mana perception focused on the engravings, causing him to freeze in ce as he noticed something shocking.

    "Those are¡­thousands of intertwined runes¡­wow! And there is a sphere with umted transmuted mana in the center of it? Embedded into the ground, where runes have been intertwined with the concrete¡­that is¡­amazing!"

    Eximing in excitement, Nial momentarily forgot that an Instructor was standing right next to him.

    However, Kassandra didn''t say anything about his sudden exmation.

    Instead, she threw a single nce at him before pressing her lips together, tilting her head to the side before ignoring the doubts in her mind.

    ''I cannot grasp who he is, let alone what he wants to achieve¡­.His behavior is also weird! Just where did someone find such a transparent character, and thought of rmending him, at that?!''

    It was not only Kassandra, who was not sure what to think about Nial.

    In fact, most people would need some time to get a hang of Nial''s unique personality.

    As such, after a moment of silence, Kassandra sped her hands together as she said,

    "Enter the circle in the center, and don''t repel the energies that will envelop you after I activate the teleportation circle!"

    Her instructions were quite simple, and the group of three followed her words without hesitation.

    Even if Mathias felt nervous, to the extent that he felt as if his heartbeat was loud enough for everyone else to hear, there was no hesitation in his eyes.

    Rather, a glint of determination had now appeared in his eyes, which was unlikely for Mathias.

    Yet, after finding someone, whom he found interesting and likable, Mathias realized that the Teradan military camp was not only his first chance to grow much more powerful, and change his timid personality that annoyed him the most, but also a ce where he would get to know the first friends he made in his entire lonely life!

    Meanwhile, Be just wanted to be stronger, and avoid a repeat of incidents from the past.

    This was the most important for her, and the Teradan military camp was said to be best to achieve this.

    Meanwhile, there was also the thought of getting to know Nial, and even Mathias.

    However, the two young men were not that important to her yet, to make her question if she should enter the Teradan military camp or yield!

    Even their death wouldn''t affect her to the extent that she would quit the Teradan military camp.

    But that was not something she would tell them as she thought that Nial and Mathias were quite simr.

    In fact, Nial liked his new friends, but his mind was still focused on his family.

    It was evident that something extremely important allowed Nial to strive forward, to advance and never stop.

    In the end, Nial wouldn''t allow anyone to affect him negatively¡­not if it had to do with his family''s safety!

    **

    [A/N: Some readers may believe that this chapter was a filler, but if you manage to pick up the small hints, the importance of this chapter might surprise you!]

 Chapter 97 Island

    Standing in the innermost circle of the teleportation circle, the group of three was ready to depart at once.

    Yet, instead of focusing on the numerous runes all around him, Mathias was nervously fidgeting with his fingers.

    On the other hand, Be was simply looking at Kassandra, while Nial''s mana perception was glued on the runes.

    There was a look of excitement on his face which was noticed by Kassandra, who wondered what exactly Nial was able to see while being blind.

    ''His senses seem to be on apletely different level than his peers. Maybe, he will be able to make use of thister as long as he is able to digest the information without thinking too much about his next moves.''

    But, instead of saying any of that out loud, Kassandra simply activated the teleportation circle.

    In the first seconds, nothing seemed to happen, and it was only after the teleportation circle had been activated that the runes on the ground began to glow faintly.

    The glow became intenser over time and kept expanding to reach the spatial transmuted mana orb that also began to glow brightly.

    Just like the ground below, even the spatial mana orb was engraved with runes, and a range of coordinates, all of which began to glow brightly enough to envelop the innermost circle.

    All the three youths were standing in this circle and were enveloped by a bright, goldish-orange glow.

    "Nobody is allowed to die! Keep that in mind!!"

    Kassandra shouted a warning just before the teleportation happened, causing three different reactions in the youths.

    While Be couldn''t help but shudder at her words, Mathias had apletely opposite reaction and calmed down.

    Only Nial was slightly confused about the words she said as they were contradictory to the initial behavior of the Instructors.

    At first nce, it felt as if they didn''t care about the life of the Teradan military camp''s participants.

    However, this was likely to be something the Instructors had been told to say in order to make the participants believe that they were on their own.

    The instructors wanted to pass on the message that the participants shouldn''t rely on others, fight for their own survival, grow independently, and be the strongest.

    As such, Nial took Kassandra''s words as a sign that they did care about the lives of the participants they were supposed to Instruct.

    With that in mind, Nial turned much calmer too.

    Yet, before he was able to digest that Kassandra''s voice was filled with a trace of worry, which was the only thing Be had noticed, and caused her to stutter, Nial''s senses were already overwhelmed by other things.

    First, the position in which they were standing felt like the door to apletely different world.

    It was almost as if space and time were twisting around them, and his body was being pulled and pushed at the same time.

    This caused him to feel an extremely strenuous feeling to ovee his entire being, as his entire body was drained of mana.

    A fraction of a secondter, his senses were wreaking havoc within Nial, bombarding him with a lot of information, followed by a cold draft of wind that brushed his face.

    After that, the mana that seemed to have been drained from his body returned at once.

    Utilizing it at once, Nial tried to circte it through his body that was still trembling uncontrobly as if it was a sprint that would stretch itself and return to its original shape only to repeat the process over and over again.

    The experience of being teleported was hellish, and only the binding process of the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] could be described as even worse than he had experienced so far.

    As such, Nial could be considered as someone who had felt even worse before.

    Yet, the nausea he felt only a second after the teleportation had caused his legs to give in as he fell to the ground and puked.

    Momentster he heard the others next to him vomiting too.

    Fortunately, after he was done retching and emptying his stomach, he felt the unease leave him, allowing him to sense his surroundings and feel the wet soil he was clutching between his fingers

    Through his senses and mana perception, he was able to sense the surroundings at once.

    However, he seemed to be in a hurry to figure out things instead of letting his body and mind calm down a bit. As such, it resulted in his head beginning to ache heavily.

    Groaning in pain he took deep breaths only to notice that the bacsh forced him to vomit once again.

    His stomach was emptied at once, and the same urred to Be and Mathias, who whimpered beside him.

    This caused Nial to shake his head when he was finally able to regain control over his entire body.

    "I shouldn''t have eaten that much¡­"

    Smiling dryly, he couldn''t help but feel extremely exhausted.

    Taking a few more breaths, he regained some of his energy, only to notice something.

    "Salt?"

    Smelling that salt was in the air, he quickly got up from the ground, wondering where the smell wasing from.

    The air was refreshing, yet it was something Nial had never smelled.

    It was overwhelming his enhanced smelling sense that was manifold stronger than the usual smelling sense.

    Yet, even Be and Mathias couldn''t help but be confused about what they smelled.

    "Is..that the air thates¡­from the ocean?" Mathias mumbled, not sure if he recalled the information his father had provided to him.

    He had learned a lot about the ancient times in which mankind had reigned a part of the blue.

    There was not much information about the time before the Dungeon''s appearance, and even the exact data about the time when the first dungeons had appeared was not known.

    Some scientists said that the first dungeons had appeared a century ago, while others were confident with their theory that at least a few centuries had already passed since the first dungeon portals had appeared.

    Yet, in the end, nobody knew the truth and millennia might have already passed since dungeon portals had appeared.

    After all, even the Old Ones of mankind didn''t recall the time before the dungeon''s appearance, let alone when exactly it had happened.

    Interestingly, the existence of the Old Ones was not known by the vast majority of mankind!

    Too many things were kept a secret, and one of these secrets was unveiled by Nial, Be, and Mathais, all of whom smelled the air of the ocean.<sub> </sub>

    Getting up from the ground, the three of them ignored their exhaustion from having been teleported as Nial expanded his mana perception, reinforcing it with some of his mana, only for Be and Mathias to look in a particr direction.

    Their eyes were gleaming in excitement, and their body began to move instinctively as Be asked in a surprised voice,

    "So¡­beautiful! Is that the Ocean???"

    It was already dark and quitete, but the bright rays of the moonlight shone onto the tranquil surface of water that reached far beyond the horizon.

    Standing on top of a small hill, they were able to look at the tall trees lined across the beach, only for them to see the seemingly endless ocean¡­for the first time in their life.

    Yet, while Be stared at the ocean, feeling mesmerized by the view, even Mathias couldn''t help but mutter.

    "It''s even more beautiful than I imagined¡­"

    Smiling brightly, the two young Originals exchanged nces, evidently exhrated by what they saw.

    This caused Nial to smile dryly, feeling a tinge of jealousy igniting within the depths of his conscience.

    However, instead of being truly envious of them, he was happy that they were able to see something new.

    He was able to sense, smell, and feel the ocean air, and his mana perception allowed him to perceive the beach that was covered with countless tiny grains of sand followed by the sound of waves gently crashing onto the numerous rocks and shore before they traveled backward.

    Fine sand, pebbles and shells were whaty in front of them before they saw the ocean stretching upto the horizon, and Nial was able to perceive all of it.

    Despite that, his mana perception was unable to reach the ocean, which caused him to take a few steps towards the direction his friends were staring.

    At the same time, he used even more mana to expand his mana perception.

    A momentter, Nial even changed his focus from perceiving his entire surroundings to one particr direction.

    "I agree"

    It was only when Nial agreed to theirments that both Be and Mathias noticed what they had just said.

    When they recalled that Nial was unable to see anything, sweat beads formed on their forehead before they turned to look at him.

    Both of them saw a brightly smiling youth, whose eyes were directed at the vast ocean.

    They knew he was unable to see anything, but the way he looked, it was almost as if Nial was able to see much better than any of them.

    That made their sudden anxiety about having hurt Nial''s feelings disperse into thin air.

    Minutes passed in which Nial simply continued to stare at the sea, his lifeless eyes directed at the endless horizon while his senses were trying to perceive even the smallest detail about the new things around him.

    Nial couldn''t help but feel that he was dreaming.

    After all, he never believed that he woulde close to the ocean that was but a legend in Katu.

    However, exactly the same could be said about entering an ind, where countless beasts called the woods their home and were ready to tear every single living being apart.

    This caused him to frown deeply as he spoke out what he had in mind, disregarding their mission at hand.

    "How about we go to the beach for a moment?"

    Nial''s voice was low but filled with a varied range of emotions as he kept his attention on the ocean.

    Somehow, it made him feel as if he was free, just like the seagulls that spread their wings wide and flew over the never-ending ocean.

    The ocean could be a life-giver as well as a harbinger of death. On one hand, it contained a huge amount of water that harbored countless existences, and the very same water could flood thends in an instant, taking away many more lives than what it nurtured. Somehow his mind turned philosophical as he perceived the ocean that made him feel even he could be like it; calm and gentle to those he loved while wrathful to those who would try to harm him.

    Sighing deeply, Nial felt at ease, and his exhaustion sted away as he heard Mathias mumble.

    "Y-Yes. Let''s take a look!"

    Just as Mathias and Nial decided to walk down the hill to approach the beach in order to be closer to the ocean, they saw that Be was frozen in ce.

    She had turned around to the opposite direction of the Ocean as her instincts told her to be vignt of the surroundings.

    "By the way, why did I know that we would get into trouble? Every single time she says somethingforting or whatsoever it ends badly!!!"

    It was Be who was referring to Kassandra''sment that warned them to not die.

    However, this was perfectly fine as even Nial felt like cursing her out for jinxing them.

    After all, there was an entire pack of horned wolves advancing forward from the direction Be was looking at.

    Their yellow eyes glowed in the dark of the night, piercing through the shadows of the darkness.

    Unfortunately, that was not even the worst because there were beings riding on them!

    In fact, the said beings were human-like monsters Nial was already familiar with.

    Goblins wielding spears that radiated strong mana currents were sitting on top of the wolves that growled aggressively, ready to pounce on Nial and his team.

    Showing their thirst for their blood, the wolves opened theirrge maws and even the Goblins that were wearing leather armors were having a tough time controlling them.

    Yet, the thing that made all of them stare at the Goblins was the ne with the bright crimson colored gemstone that was embedded into it!

    **

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 Chapter 98 Goblin Wolfriders

    While admiring the ocean''s beauty and nature, Nial had momentarily forgotten about the fact that he and the others had been teleported to the Ind as a task to train and ovee numerous dangers.

    Because of that, he was shocked for a moment when he perceived a dozen Goblins that were riding on horned wolves.

    Both existences radiated an energy that was equal to Originals at the 5th Origin rank, which was quite worrisome, considering that he was barely at the 3rd Origin rank.

    However, Nial had already epted the fact that he would have to fight more powerful opponents on the ind that was said to be gigantic.

    Nevertheless, what bothered Nial were the gemstone nes.

    They radiated some sort of energy that influenced the horned wolves.

    It was probably the Goblins'' means of controlling the wolves, which allowed them to ride them, to begin with.

    Yet, it was exactly this fact that seemingly ordinary Goblin Warriors were able to ride the wolves like warriors would ride horses only because of the gemstone ne that caused him to feel ufortable.

    After all, the horned wolves and Goblin Warrior were supposed to fight each other, and not work with one another.

    With that in mind, the Viper spear manifested in Nial''s hand, and he clutched it tightly as his senses went on high alert.

    Taking a step ahead, he entered hisbat stance and was surprised to see that Be had be eerily calm.

    The unique presence around her had intensified, and faint golden streams of energy intertwined with her long hair that fluttered in the cold wind of the gloomy night.

    Two sharp shortswords had manifested in her hands that were gleaming faintly owing to the mana that had been inserted into them.

    She was ready to activate her ability [Outburst] in order to massacre the majority of the beasts ahead.

    Yet, looking at Nial right next to her, she was not sure whether to leave him alone or to pay attention to him.

    However, the moment Nial noticed this, he clicked his tongue, understanding what Be had in her mind.

    She knew that Nial was not weak, by any means, but even Be had never encountered that two beasts of a different kind were working together.

    To add to it, there was a trace of intelligence in the eyes of the Goblin Warriors, which made things further difficult for them.

    Nheless, the moment Be heard him click his tongue in disappointment, she knew that by attempting to protect him, she would lose some of his trust.

    Because she didn''t want this to happen, Be took a step ahead as she mumbled.

    "I will take care of the left side, and help out once I''m done!"

    Nial just nodded on hearing this, understanding that Be was confident of defeating a dozen opponents at the 5th Origin rank with ease.

    As such, there was no need for him to worry about her.

    "I will protect the two of you, and throw in a few attacks to act as a means of support as well!"

    It was Mathias, who suddenly shouted as loudly as possible, nearly knocking him out of breath.

    His legs were shaking, and his breath was irregr, clearly showing that he had never fought against any type of overly powerful opponent.

    However, this was perfectly fine because Mathias was never supposed to fight enemies in closebat, to begin with.

    In fact, Nial had already thought of a few ns on how to fight as a team, which he had wanted to share.

    Unfortunately, the perception of the ocean, followed by the appearance of the Goblin Wolfriders made everything quite difficult, preventing him from telling his initial n.

    Nevertheless, everything seemed okay, with the sole annoyance that Nial had to fight against a dozen Goblin Wolfriders alone.

    Yet, instead ofining, he couldn''t help but smile lightly.

    <o>,m Moving the Viper spear around himself, he quickly adjusted his body to the cold temperature around him, followed by his mind that was fully focused on perceiving the Goblin Wolfriders'' movement.</o>

    He wanted to understand their pattern of attack and predict their next move but this was quite difficult as there were two beings moving in one spot.

    As such, the moment the first Goblin Wolfrider shot forward, Nial''s body stiffened.

    His mind startled to rattle, and he quickly changed hisbat stance.

    The horned wolf alone was already a meter tall, and the Goblin who was sitting on the wolf reached another 60 centimeters into the air.

    Taking that into consideration, he was not fighting against some small opponent, but two opponents whose most vulnerable areas of their body were at the height of one meter and one meter and 60 centimeters.

    Thus, he was neither fighting normal beasts, nor a human that was his height, turning the stance he had first taken unsuitable.

    Releasing the de on the side of the Viper spear''s tip, Nial was ready to sh through his opponents'' bodies if thrusting out were to be unsuitable.

    But before he could do so, the faint click of the side de reached the sharp ears of the other Goblin Wolfriders who began to move towards him as well.

    Driven by hunger while advancing toward the three opponents they had encountered in their search for food, the wolves reached a remarkable speed.

    Using this to their advantage, the Goblin Wolfriders wanted to get rid of their strongest foe at once.

    This made them focus on Be, who was suddenly attacked by a total of 8 Goblin Wolfriders.

    Meanwhile, only one attacked Nial, while the other three cornered Mathias.

    It irked Nial, but it made sense to act like this.

    After all, he was the weakest, and not considered a threat by the Goblin Wolfriders.

    Nevertheless, it made him smile a little as he circted mana through his entire body before pushing his feet off the ground.

    Catapulting himself towards the Goblin Wolfrider that was ahead of him, Nial lunged at him. His swift movements astonished the Goblin for a moment, while the horned wolf growled in anger.

    Lowering its head, the wolf''s horn pointed at Nial, causing the blind youth to smile lightly.

    Dismissing him as a weakling, the wolf simply followed its instincts, ignoring the fact that it was not able to see very well with its head lowered.<sub> </sub>

    This made it difficult for the wolf to change its trajectory.

    However, by receivingmands from the Goblin Warrior that told it how to move, the disadvantages of a restricted sight were outbnced.

    Yet, instead of epting this fact, Nial knew that there was a short moment the Goblin Warrior took to react beforemanding the wolf, who would also need a fraction of a second before it could work on the orders.

    With that in mind, Nial was exhrated about the fact that the wolf made the entire fight easier for him, voluntarily at that.

    Meanwhile, as Nial reached the close range of the Goblin Wolfrider in front of him, Mathias had used his elemental affinity in order to terraform the surroundings.

    Erecting spiked walls out of the ground to Nial''s right side and Be''s left side, Mathias created an obstacle for the three Goblin Wolfriders.

    They would either have to make a detour around or charge through Nial and Be.

    They were already fully upied with their respective opponents, but Mathias'' trust in them was far higher than he wanted to ept.

    He had just encountered Nial and Be, but contrary to his usual behavior, Mathias was able to trust them in the fight of life and death.

    That had also been the reason why he epted forming a team of three because he thought Nial and Be were the only trustworthy people around.

    Considering that they felt the same, it only reaffirmed that his thoughts and instincts had been correct.

    As such, he had created a four-meter-tall spiked wall before focusing on utilizing his mana sparingly.

    He might be at the 6th Origin rank, but that didn''t mean that his mana was endless.

    Having used more than a quarter of his mana to manifest the spiked walls, Mathias figured that protecting his friends instead of attacking the Goblin Wolfriders might be the best idea.

    Yet, the moment he thought this, Mathias got a glimpse of something he took as a request to attack.

    It was Nial, who had deflected the Goblin Warrior''s spear with a swift movement, pushing it aside, and giving him an opening.

    However, instead of being able to issue a quick follow-up attack, Nial had been forced to avert his attention from the Goblin Warrior to the wolf, whose horn nearly pierced through him.

    He had barely been able to adjust his spear, using the lengthy shaft in order to sh with the horn.

    This caused a loud tingling noise to resound through the area, only for a quiet voice to follow after.

    "Earth spike ising, Nial!"

    The moment Nial heard this, he knew what was going on.

    Thus, he used his entire strength to try holding down the wolf, preventing it from moving away.

    Yet, its brute force and weight overwhelmed Nial, forcing him to be pushed back on the wet soil, making him almost slip.

    It caused Nial to feel burdened, which didn''t take long, to his fortune.

    After all, his mana perception had already sensed that Mathias had formed a small earth spike, and released it at once.

    With a terrifyingly high velocity, the earth spike shot through the air, piercing through the chest of the Goblin Warrior that had lost bnce only moments earlier and was now leaning on the side.

    It had attempted to regain control over its seat on the wet fur of the horned wolf after Nial had bashed the Goblin Warrior''s spear aside.

    Not having expected the youth at the 3rd Origin rank to have the physical strength to rival its own strength, the Goblin Warrior had been taken off-guard, only to end up with an earth spike in its chest.

    Perceiving the death of the Goblin Warrior, Nial rejoiced, while the Horned wolf couldn''t help but howl in confusion.

    The Goblin Warrior had fallen from the back of the horned wolf, freeing it from the gemstone ne''s spell.

    Yet, it still advanced past Nial, nearly trampling over him, before moving to the right side, where nobody was standing.

    It kept turning from left to right restlessly, unsure of what to do.

    It still had themands of the Goblin Warrior in its mind, but the spell that forced it to obey had expired already.

    As such, nobody could force the horned wolf to do something it didn''t want to.

    Nheless, seeing its pack, its yellow eyes turned ice-cold, and a ferocious growl stemming from the depth of its body was issued.

    Only a momentter it charged back towards Nial.

    Yet, instead of even trying to attack it, Nial stood where he was as he felt it brushing past him, unbothered by his existence.

    Somehow, he had guessed that the Horned wolf wouldn''t attack him right now.

    If it were under normal circumstances, Nial was sure that it would have torn him to pieces.

    However, it did no such thing right now.

    Having shot past Nial, it pounced towards the closest Goblin Wolfrider, wing at the Goblin, attempting to tear it apart.

    Feeling that something about the Goblin had to be the reason that rendered the wolf unable to even think properly, he sensed that it was instinctively trying to save its pack from being imprisoned.

    Yet, just before the sole freed horned wolf could react and attack the being sitting on one of its brethren, the Goblin Warrior smiled hideously,

    "Kikiki"

    It issued a high-pitched sound as if it wasughing hysterically, only to pull at the horned wolf''s fur, causing it to rear up, blocking the attack of its own kind.

    Only a momentter, Nial couldn''t help but feel shocked by what he saw.

    The horned wolf that was still under control by the Goblin Warrior attacked the freed horned wolf, mercilessly sinking its teeth into the other wolf''s throat before violently shaking its head, tearing the neck apart.

    This caused Nial to freeze in ce for a quarter of a second, as one question shed through his mind numerous times.

    ''What the hell are these gemstones?!''

 Chapter 99 Two Little Monsters

    Being able to take control over a beast to the extent that it was not even able to retaliate the slightest bit when ordered to tear apart its own kind meant that the gemstone ne was no less than a treasure.

    Yet, when sensing what was happening, Nial stayed glued to the spot, only to regain his senses as a total of three earth spikes shot past him.

    Piercing into the reared up wolf, the sharp ends of the spikes killed it on the spot, while the Goblin Warrior fell to the ground.

    Meanwhile, the freed wolf, whose throat had been ripped apart was whimpering pitifully, causing Nial to grit his teeth.

    Circting mana through his body, he ignored the numerous thoughts that shed through his mind.

    Catapulting forward, he jumped over the slippery ground below him in tworge strides as he emerged in front of the whimpering wolf.

    With a thrust of his Viper spear, he ended its life, and the pain it was feeling quickly.

    Averting his attention to the Goblin Warrior, who was slowly getting up from the ground, Nial shot forward once again before he lunged out with the Viper spear held in one hand.

    In his other hand, Nial umted a little bit of his mana which hepressed, and inserted it inside a small pebble-sized crystal, causing a bright light to emerge in it.

    Only a momentter, he threw the crystal that seemed to have appeared in his hand out of nowhere, blinding the Goblin Warrior that had been moving to enter a proper defensive stance.

    Not wanting to give the Goblin Warrior a chance to see him, Nial pierced out with the Viper Spear the moment he entered the range of the dazzled beast.

    Piercing its throat with the Viper Spear, Nial ended the Goblin Warrior''s life at once, which turned into an Origin crystal momentster.

    ''I thought monsters outside the dungeon cannot turn into an Origin crystal?''

    From the looks of it, he had been misinformed as the intel came from his parents, which caused him to smile lightly, thinking that he had a lot to learn about.

    Nial had no issues with learning things on his own, but right now he had to pay attention to the other opponents instead of focusing on the crystal that fell in the mud.

    Upon clearly hearing the pained voices of the Goblin Warriors and the Horned wolves they were riding, Nial smiled lightly, thanking Kira and Mara for their extraordinary job in finding a loophole in the list of forbidden items.

    ''The Illumination crystal is truly powerful, and when its overclocked it is even more potent!''

    He might not be able to see the bright light he caused, but that was not necessary to notice the effect on his opponents as he was clearly able to hear and feel the efficiency of the Illumination crystal.

    Nheless, his smile vanished quickly as he understood that there were too many opponents they had to defeat.

    Nial and Mathias had worked together to kill a total of two Goblin Wolfriders, with only two were left for them to defeat.

    Meanwhile, Be was fighting eight of them at once, in the light drizzle that was making the ground slippery, while moving on the muddy ground as if it was a solid foundation.

    It looked like Be was proficient in fighting on mud, or every kind of environment, to be precise.

    This astonished not only Nial but also Mathias, who clearly understood that he should support Nial first before extending his support to Be.

    Her blonde hair was sticking to her back owing to the drizzle that drenched her hair and clothes, allowing Mathias to see her curvaceous and plump figure clearly.

    Nial might be unable to see everything, but he could still sense it.

    Yet, rather than being affected by it, he grew worried about Be because she was fighting against eight Goblin Wolfriders alone.

    The thought of her being injured because of his weakness tormented his mind, and he forcefully injected mana inside [Hodur''s Heir] so as to help her.

    Through this, his senses were further enhanced, including his control over mana.

    But that was fortunately not everything as by now he had also figured out how to release the ck Miasma, or at least a little portion of it.

    Using half of the mana he possessed as a 3rd Origin rank, many things had changed from before.

    After having undergone two ergings, Nial''s mana core could store more than five times the amount of mana than before when he was still at the 1st Origin rank.

    This clearly showed how much of a difference every single grade at the Origin rank meant.

    Because of that, the amount of mana Nial was currently used solely for the purpose of releasing a handful of the ck colored Miasma, was truly extravagant.

    In fact, it was wasted and could have been used better if his physical strength would have been strong enough for him to fight both the two Goblin Warriors and the two-horned wolves at once.

    Without further help, this was impossible, which was why he used [Hodur''s Heir] to enhance his senses before enveloping the tip of the Viper spear with the ck miasma.

    This made many things much easier as he could cut through the horned wolf''s horn and the Goblin Warrior''s spear without a lot of issues.

    His weapon was superior to the two formerly stated objects, to begin with.

    As such, only Nial''s strength was rtively weaker.

    But even without higher physical strength, Nial was now able to do everything he pleased as the ck color which the binding process of the curse had caused in his eyes seemed to darken further.

    It was only for a moment, but his eyes shed in eternal darkness, causing the four beasts that attacked him simultaneously, to stiffen.

    A moment of utter silence passed, only for the beasts to realize that Nial had never stopped moving.<sub> </sub>

    The moment of their negligence led them to their doom as Nial had emerged in front of them, his face a mask of cold fury as he brandished the Viper spear.

    Swinging it at the height of the horned wolves'' neck, the Viper spear''s tip gleamed lightly, enmantled by darkness that nobody was able to see owing to the utter darkness in which the surrounding was suddenly enshrouded.

    Even Mathias was unable to see what was going on, which irked him.

    He wanted to help Nial but felt incapable of doing so as he didn''t see anything going on around his blind friend.

    This frustrated the rather quiet Mathias as he took a step forward, only to notice that his feet had sunken into the mud below him.

    Mathias wanted to free himself of the wet mud and approach the battlefield to be of any help.

    Yet, upon hearing the painful noises of the dying horned wolves, which were quickly followed by the shrill cries of the Goblin Warrior, he instinctively halted in his tracks in astonishment.

    ''Wait..he did it?''

    Confusion followed Mathias'' astonishment, but even before he could do anything, Mathias'' heard Nial''s voice clearly, ringing through the night.

    "Be, are you fine? I''m on my way!!"

    Instead of taking a few deep gasps of cold air in order to calm himself from the horror of escaping death by the two spear thrusts the Goblin Warriors had issued as theirst resort to end his life, Nial killed them mercilessly the moment he evaded their attack.

    And, even then he did not take a break and called out for Be in between his heavy breaths.

    Nial was fully prepared to charge toward her in order to help out, even though he knew that she would not be defeated easily.

    In the end, she was not only at the 7th Origin rank but had numerous other advantages that Nial''s distinct senses had perceived since the battle had begun.

    "I can see in the darkness, don''t worry about me!" Be suddenly stated, loud enough for both youths to hear.

    She was breathing regrly, and the rattling noise of metal shing against meta could clearly be heard in addition to her voice, indicating that Be was not even panting like them while fighting the eight Goblin Wolfriders with ease.

    In fact, the Goblin Wolfriders had now been reduced to four, making things much easier for her as she paved her way through all of them.

    Nial was not exactly astonished about this because he had already sensed that Be''s eyes were unique.

    Meanwhile, Mathias had the exact opposite reaction as he nearly shouted out in surprise.

    This was unusual of him as he seemed to be a reserved type of guy but he was currently behaving out of character as his mind was trying to digest what kind of monsters he had teamed up with.

    ''One of them is able to see in the darkness, has a powerful ability, and certainly an innate ability, and a special trait that might as well stem from her innate ability¡­''

    Mathias thought while staring in the direction of Be, only to realize that he was unable to see further than five meters ahead of him.

    The moon was hidden behind therge pine trees, preventing the moonlight from illuminating their surroundings.

    This made him wonder if it would have been better to bring some lightsticks with him.

    Yet, only a momentter his expanded mana perception made him notice a person rushing through the shadows as his eyes subconsciously followed the movements he perceived through his mana.

    ''And then there is Nial¡­Why can''t I figure out anything about him?? He told us about his Curse, and what it does, but¡­is that really everything?''

    Even though Mathias was known for being quiet and rtively timid, his behavior changed duringbat.

    It was something his father had forced upon him, and despite not liking it, Mathias was thankful for his father''s strict attitude when it came to training.

    The same could be said about his analytical skills.

    Once he encountered something he didn''t understand, Mathias wanted to figure out the issue at hand.

    That was likely to be another reason for him to sit next to Nial, the first time he had walked in the basement.

    After all, it was not normal for a blind youth at the 3rd Origin rank to be able to enter the Teradan military camp, even with the necessary background.

    Weirdly enough, he had bound a curse to himself owing to his desperation to be stronger, which had been Nial''s genuine emotions.

    As such, the question if he truly had backing or not was¡­questionable!

    To add to it, Nial had shocked Mathias a little bit just a few seconds ago by disying hisbat prowess.

    He had defeated two goblin Wolfriders in a matter of two seconds, despite requiring Mathias'' help with the opponents before!

    This was simply too suspicious, and interesting which made Mathias smile without realizing it.

    Once again, he felt exhrated to have chosen to attend the Teradan military camp for that was the reason for him to have stumbled upon this mysterious blind youth.

    Mathias was smiling brightly despite his clothes being soaked in water, his feet covered in mud, and him being unable to see his surroundings properly!

 Chapter 100 Beauty

    While swiftly moving through the darkness, Nial''s inability to see turned into his advantage.

    As he was ustomed to not relying on his sense of sight, he used his other senses to reach Be only seconds after he said that he would help her.

    Meanwhile, owing to the moonlight that barely managed to peek through the small gaps in the dense foliage of therge and tightly packed pine trees, Mathias was unable to see anything properly on the small hill.

    Only his mana perception allowed him to make it have some idea of his surroundings.

    But it was nothingpared to his eyesight which would have allowed him to see clearly, and Mathias was fully aware of this.

    Sighing deeply, he could only wish that it was daytime, as it would allow him to fight along with Be and Nial.

    They were risking their lives to sh and fight the wolf riders, while he was far behind just trying to find his way in the dark.

    He was supposed to protect them, but somehow was now being protected from greater harm.

    It make him feel useless all of a sudden, and he clearly noticed that he was unnecessarily relying a lot on his ability to see.

    Even Be relied too much on her sight, but her situation was different.

    After all, there were not many people that could see in the darkness, without actually having a nightvision-like ability bound to themselves.

    And that ability was, rarely considered powerful enough for most of the ordinary people to consider binding to their mana core!

    There were a limited number of abilities that could be bound which was why most people focused on using powerful abilities to make the most out of it.

    As he recalled this, Mathias noticed something he hadn''t truly realized earlier.

    ''Wait¡­we were for an hour, or at most two inside the basement¡­ How can it already be well past midnight??''

    Earlier, he had been sulking about his incapability to join the fight which forced him to listen to the sh of Nial and Be''s weapons against that of the four remaining Goblin Wolfriders.

    p But given the thought that had shed through his mind just a moment earlier, Mathias was unable to keep his calm anymore.</anda>

    ''Where the hell have we been teleported to?!?''

    If he were to ask this question to any Instructor of the Teradan military camp, they would just shrug their shoulders in an attempt to hide the fact that not even they knew the answer to that question.

    It was just another day many years ago when the government had reported that a teleportation circle to a specific part of arge ind had been created.

    The said ind was thend on which the Teradan military camp had been built upon and was proudly standing for many years.

    Yet, if someone were to add the question about ''Why'' the Teradan military camp had to be constructed on an ind that was not even fully protected by the strongest of mankind, not many would be able to answer with certainty.

    Not even Junades was able to give an answer as his authority was simply too little to know of the reasons for the government to do so.

    It was already a wonder that he had been asked to be an instructor of the military camp as his rank in the military was not supposed to be high enough.

    From the looks of it, the government had simply deemed him responsible andpetent enough to nurture the camp''s participants, meaning that he was highly regarded by the highest authorities.

    Even Junades was of the opinion that the ind was rather eerie and not the perfect ce for young prodigies to be trained in.

    Little did he or the other instructors know that there were more than enough reasons for this to be the case.

    Mathias was still not sure where they had been teleported to, but while trying to advance towards his friends through the slippery mud he was being forced to remain vignt.

    The surrounding beasts must have been woken up due to the noises created by their fight against the Goblin Wolfriders, which was certainly an added disadvantage.

    Be and Nial were still fighting, but when he perceived the swift movements of Be as she emerged right amidst everyone, Mathias knew that the fight was almost over.

    Upon exerting the [Outburst] ability, her mana fluctuations became more powerful as her golden eyes began to gleam brightly.

    The passive effect of her Innate ability had been activated, allowing her to see the mana fluctuations of her opponents.

    Through this, and her nightsight, Be was able to sense the exact moment when one of the Horned wolves would pounce on her.

    It was an extremely advantageous ability, but on the flipside drained her of her mana and mental energy drastically.

    With that in mind, she decided to face her opponents using her entire strength and shed her razor-sharp shortsword through the darkness.

    Fountains of blood sttered through the gloomy space but it didn''t deter her from moving ahead and killing everything that stood in their way.

    Angered by her moves, Be sensed the attack of two Goblin Warriors that thrust their spears toward her.

    They had willingly sacrificed their mounts in order to distract Be and take her by surprise with a killing blow after realizing that she was the most dangerous being they had encountered in their entire life.

    The issue was not what they were currently seeing in front of them.

    Instead, the presence of Be, and what she ought to be hiding was the most dangerous to the Goblins, whose wild instincts told them to flee at once.

    As this was not possible owing to multiple reasons, they had to give their best to kill Be.

    However, it was only when Be moved her shortswords and charged up to them to deflect the spear thrusts that they noticed something- Be was not alone!

    A shadow with white, lifeless eyes emerged in between the two-horned wolves that had just died, swiftly moving his spear, only to inflict tiny cuts¡­or so it seemed.

    Both the Goblin Warriors felt a faint sting on their neck but didn''t think much about it.

    Moments passed without them noticing anything and they were just about to lunge at Be, who was already fully prepared to defend herself when they noticed something change.

    Their sight began to blur and their body stiffened as if it was of lead.

    It became increasingly difficult to move, and even lifting their arm to thrust the spear at Be made them sweat profusely.<sub> </sub>

    Time seemed to pass at a ridiculously low pace, and it was at this moment that their head seemed to move without them even doing anything.

    Only when their neck seemed to twist at an impossible angle which made them see their own shoulder upside down did they realize that something was wrong¡­horribly wrong!

    A momentter their blurred sight saw blood spurting out of their own neck, as it began to flow down their armor like a dam that had suddenly burst open.

    Was their head not supposed to be attached to their neck? Why could they suddenly see their own neck, bleeding like a beheaded pig?

    As thest piece of skin that was holding it together tore off, their heads slumped to the wet mud. All of this happened within a second and they didn''t even realize what or how they had just lost their lives.

    Nial had simply shed his Viper spear like a high-speed razor de that cut through their flesh and bones in one move. The blind youth they hadbeled a pushover had beheaded both the beasts that were two ranks above his own.

    All of this was owed to the Viper spear''s sharpness which was far more terrifying than one could think, while the ck Miasma was something nobody was truly familiar with.

    Even Nial was unable to tell every single characteristic it had.

    Yet, one of the peculiar characteristics of the miasma which he had already figured out was that inflicted injuries would only be noticed momentster and that the sharpness of his Viper spear was increased several times, without the need to insert more mana into the des!

    There was much more about the ck Miasma Nial had yet to figure out, but the things he got to know until now, were already enough to tell that the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] was extraordinary.

    The only downside was that it was extremely difficult to control the Curse, and the ck Miasma it released upon receiving enough mana.

    As such, Nial was experimenting a lot right now, but he was happy to have taken down two opponents at a time. The corners of his lips curled upwards in a smirk as he slithered over the slippery ground.

    He felt excited to fight with his own team for a change, and to defeat a group of powerful Golin Warriors that rode Horned wolves together.

    His mana core''s rank was much weaker than that of his opponents, yet, his physical strength was on par with the foes he faced.

    As such, adding his precise use of mana, there shouldn''t have been a problem for him to defeat his opponents, to begin with.

    He only took a short moment to adjust his stance, which was possible to do owing to Mathias'' support.

    Having defeated the opponents on his side, Nial wanted to help Be tackle her opponents, but after sensing her entire being brimming with energy, he began to wonder if it was truly necessary.

    ''Maybe I would obstruct her from having fun fighting with some pressure if I were to jump in?

    This thought might sound ridiculous at first, but after giving it a second thought, Nial could only grimace.

    From the looks of it, she had been enjoying herself as not even a single scratch could be found on her clothes or body.

    In the end, this meant that not even a total of 16 beasts that had attacked her at once, were able to injure her.

    Nial felt a little bit weird when he realized this as he couldn''t help but question her motives behind joining the two of them.

    She didn''t belong to a great background which could be inferred from the fact that her mother leased apartments, but at the same time, her social standing seemed to be much higher than Nial''s had ever been.

    This meant that she was likely to have received a pretty basic education, followed by weaponry practice with the ssmates she had been in school with.

    It might as well be a wrong conclusion, but Nial hadn''t expected her to be as powerful as she seemed to be.

    His knowledge about Be was insignificant because he knew nearly nothing about her.

    Even the things he guessed or knew might not be the entire truth, orpletely false, at that.

    With that in mind, the mystery revolving around Be became even moreplex, and to the extent at which Nial simply stood aside instead of interfering in her fight.

    Through this, he gave Be the freedom she wanted in order to reveal her truebat prowess.

    However, even then Nial clearly detected that Be was hiding a lot from him, and had restricted her prowess to be fully unleashed.

    Holding herself back, she knew that her hidden power was not required to be released in order to defeat the puny opponents that caused Mathias and Nial to struggle to defeat them.

    Yet, instead of feeling as if they were a burden to her, Be was overjoyed to witness Nial''s fight.

    Mathias had also quickly buckled up and switched from protecting her and Nial to attacking the beasts along with Nial in order to defeat the minority of opponents before getting ready to help her out.

    This might have not been required, but it was obvious that Mathias'' eyesight wasn''t adapted to seeing well in the darkness, thereby forcing him to rely on his mana perception and other senses, while Nial was facing opponents he had never encountered.

    It caused her to smile brightly as she became certain to have picked the right opponents, just as she finished off thest of her beasts with quick shes of her razor-sharp shortsword.

    Just at this moment, the moon reached the zenith as the bright rays bathed the muddy hill in a bright light and entuated Be''s appearance.

    This made her look like she was a Saintess, who was surrounded by blood trickling down the beasts'' dead bodies and soaking into the ground.

    Nial was unable to see all of this in detail, while only Mathias could see everything, his eyes widening in shock.

    **

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 Chapter 101 Beast Controlling Necklace

    Only two origin crystals had dropped from the beasts they had killed, but nobody was really bothered about that.

    All three of them gathered a bit farther from their small battlefield and looked around for rocks to sit on. Nial let out a deep sigh that also released the tension that had coiled in his muscles.

    "You guys are awesome!"

    He praised his teammates in a voice loud enough for both of them to hear.

    There was no need to hold back onplimenting Be and Mathias as he simply revealed his thoughts.

    Nheless, the two couldn''t help but feel a little bit embarrassed as Nial''sbat prowess was, by far, the most impressive amongst their small group of three.

    Be and Mathias might have not shown their entire strength owing to the circumstances of the battle, but they presumed that Nial had yet to reveal his entire strength as well.

    In fact, Be knew that this was the case as she had perceived the lethality of the fully unleashed ck Miasma on the day Nial bound the [Hodur''s Heir] to his mana core.

    This made her understand that Nial must have improved quite a lot considering the fact that his mana core rank had increased by two grades within one month.

    It was not an impressive feat, per se, as Nial had been at the 1st Origin rank when Be first met him.

    However, it could be considered quite a significant improvement as hisbat prowess, including his control over mana, and proficiency in wielding the spear had not degraded.

    He seemed to have been trained in the major aspects ofbat, which indicated that he must have found someone, who had acknowledged his talent.

    Each of them had their own mystery and secrets which made the group a rather interesting one.

    While Be was simply smiling, and letting her mind wander, Nial''s attention was fully focused on rewinding the battle in his head from the moment it had started as if it was a motion picture reying in his head.

    He was not sure whether his actions had been perfect, let alone if his movement sequences had been correctly utilized.

    A few things bothered him, including the fact that he had not considered a situation wherein he would be forced to move and fight on the wet, muddy ground.

    This had been the worst issue he had faced, followed by the fact that his first thoughts during the battle had nearly cost him his life.

    Making mistakes irked Nial, and he believed that it was not only him who was annoyed.

    Averting his mana perception towards Mathias, Nial would easily distinguish that his friend''s facial expression was that of a frustrated and annoyed young man.

    Unable to be of much use after he had helped Nial in the first few seconds of the fight, Mathias couldn''t help but hide his emotions.

    He was a rather timid and reserved person who didn''t like talking, but his emotions were clearly noticeable, even for Nial, who could only visualize his friend with the use of his mana.

    "Don''t think about it too much. It''s only obvious that we have to slowly figure out what we arecking in order toe up with counterattacks.

    I might be able to see in the darkness, but it''s not much either. I mostly used my mana perception to support my poor sight in the darkness to kill the Goblin Wolfriders!"

    Be had obviously noticed Mathias'' dissatisfaction with himself too.

    Because this was something perfectly normal to feel after being useless in a fight that could have ended rather disastrously, she tried to make him feel a bit better about himself.

    This might be easier said than done, but considering that she could easily gauge his potential, Be felt that it would be pointless to allow him to sulk.

    In the end, it would adversely affect the team''s strength and morale, if Mathias were to be dissatisfied with his own strength.

    Mathias might even do something reckless and act stupid enough to endanger their entire team.

    Nial sensed Mathias'' impatience too, which made him join Be''s attempt to fix the issues before it could even form, to begin with.

    "How about you try to use Illumination crystals if we are forced to fight in the night, once again?

    I believe with your Earth affinity, you can simply erect a few replicas ofnterns as long as you use Illumination crystals!"

    A sudden idea popped in Nial''s head when he thought about ways of helping Mathias for a mere second.

    As such, it was a half-cooked idea, but it was still better than nothing.

    And to their fortune, Matthias nodded his head, slowly epting the fact that he was not perfect, that he had to learn a lot, and that there were external means that could help him improve in the areas he wascking in.

    Understanding that improving himself was, in fact, the quintessence of the entire Teradan military camp, Mathias couldn''t help but smile bitterly.

    "I''m¡­a little impatient, aren''t I?"

    His voice was rhetorical, and Be could only sympathize with him, while Nial clearly understood the intention behind it.

    After all, Nial had gone through the same after losing his family to some powerful people.

    Though he had worked hard on sharpening his senses, somehow he began ming himself for his ignorance which made him feel like he was much worse than both Be and Mathias might think.

    ''I should have heard, smelled, and sensed the arrival of the Goblin Wolfriders, from much farther away¡­I was not focused enough on my surroundings!''

    Clearly recalling that his entire focus had been on the ocean before, Nial could only shake his head, embarrassed about the mistake he made.

    He had let his guard down, and if not for Be''s warning, they might even have died tonight.

    Nheless, Nial knew that he was supposed to rectify his mistakes during their stay in the Teradan military camp.

    With that in mind, he was ready to make a mental note of his weak points before fixing them one after another.

    This should be the best way to improve himself.

    Having calmed down, Nial wanted to clear the tension that still lingered around them by proposing an idea on how they could find the Teradan military camp as quickly as possible.

    Unfortunately, even before he was able to say something, Be sped her hands together, and let out an excited squeal.<sub> </sub>

    Both the boys turned to look at her smiling subtly at them with her eyes slightly squinted, making it seem as if her eyebrows were crescent-shaped.

    "If we are done now, let''s go to the ocean! Who knows when we will ever get the chance to encounter the legendary ocean!!"

    She seemed excited as she tried to improve the mood of both of her friends.

    Mathias was taken aback by her suggestion as he had presumed that Be would tell them to search for a good hideout in which they should rest until the morning.

    Afterward, it would be much easier to start searching for the location of the camp.

    Against his expectations, Be wanted to do something different, and when he looked at Nial, Mathias noticed that a bunch of Illumination crystals had already manifested in his hand.

    Nial had taken them out of his spatial ring to hand them over to Mathias before he focused on something different.

    Walking away a few steps, he approached the closest Goblin Warrior corpse before he bent down, and reached for its neck.

    Picking up the red gemstone ne that hung around the Goblin Warrior''s neck, Nial inserted his mana into it, but was unable to ess it.

    He tried again and inserted even more mana, but it was impossible.

    This caused him to tilt his head in confusion as he attempted to envelop the ne with his mana in order to find out more about its characteristics.

    Meanwhile, intrigued by what he was doing, Be and Mathias followed his example.

    They attempted to insert their mana into the red gemstone ne too.

    "Marked objects? I didn''t think that any kind of low intelligence life form could create something like that!"

    While Nial had no idea what marked objects were, Mathias seemed to understand what Be meant as he replied in understanding, "Ahhh!"

    "So you think someone crafted this object that maniptes weak-willed beasts and makes them lose control over their own body while giving the sole control of it to ordinary Goblin Warriors?"

    Mathias was so astonished that he forgot about his shyness to speak out loud.

    However, this went unnoticed by Be and Nial, both of whom began to think of his words.

    A momentter, Nial asked,

    "Does marked objects mean that only specific beings are given the rights to use specific objects?"

    He didn''t know what marked objects were, and before Be and Mathias were to advance their discussion to a level at which he was unable to follow suit, Nial wanted to ensure that they were all on the same page.

    Be, unbothered by the fact that Nial asked such a simple question, answered calmly while moving the red gemstone ne in her hand.

    "That''s roughly correct, but under normal circumstances, a marked object can be said to be bound to only a few individuals.

    After all, you will have to imprint your individual mana fluctuations into the object of your choice, before it waspletely manufactured!

    This is mostly called ''Mana imprint''!"

    Listening to her intently made Nial understand that it was the weak repelling force that he had sensed when he had attempted to insert mana inside the red gemstone ne.

    Now he understood why this was the case, but their current predicament was, by all means, not solved yet.

    "In that case, why do I only sense one pair of mana fluctuations inside the gemstone? I thought that the ne formed a faint connection between the horned wolf and the Goblin Warrior, but I guess that is wrong now¡­"

    Nial''s mind was rattling as he was trying to find a solution to unlocking the usage of this weird artifact.

    "I think only a single Goblin Warrior''s mana imprint was inserted into each gemstone, and they got their hands on a horned wolf, each. Otherwise, I don''t know myself what exactly is going on!"

    ? Mathias'' conclusion sounded logical, but that was exactly what was weird.

    From the logical point of view, nobody should be able to create an objectparable to the red gemstone ne, let alone allow such a treasure to receive a mana imprint from an ordinary Goblin Warrior.

    After all, this would mean that the beast controlling red gemstone was not valuable enough!

    "Can Goblin Shamans inscribe gemstones to create such a beast controlling one?" Be suddenly asked, staring at the red gemstone in her hand.

    The carvings in it were unique and exquisite, which made her believe that Goblins were unable to do so.

    However, based on her knowledge mankind had yet to find any kinds of runes that allowed one to take over control of beasts.

    Abilities that allowed such a thing existed, but not seemingly ordinary runes.

    If that were to be the case, mankind''s stance to oppose the dungeons and surrounding beasts would bepletely different.

    They would also make use of the opportunity to turn beasts into mounts that would drastically cut down their travel time and increase their speed while traversing through the wilderness.

    At the same time, the mount could act as an additional member of one''sbat force, thereby addingbat strength to protect its rider, and defeat all opponents that obstructed one''s path!

    Unfortunately, as mankind didn''t have the capabilities to control even the beasts with a weak will, this ought to be impossible.

    Or so the three youths thought!

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel support me with your golden tickets and powerstones. If you''re interested in my Multiverse, read my other novels. I have a discord as well.

    You can find the link of my discord in my profile!]

 Chapter 102 Unforgettable

    Storing away the red gemstone nes, they left the beast corpses behind.

    At first, they wanted to take the corpses with them because the wolves'' corpses were likely to be worth a little bit.

    But after thinking about it, it was likely for them to encounter a few dozen groups of monsters on their way to find the hidden basement of the Teradan military camp.

    As such, they left the corpses behind, thinking that it was not that much of a loss.

    Later, they would take more valuable corpses with them, but not for now.

    In their current state, the small group of three just wanted to approach the ocean.

    At least that was what Be proposed to do, which Nial and Mathias willingly agreed to after thinking about it for a few seconds.

    The three of them believed that their first task would be assessed.

    However, that didn''t mean they could rx and savor the sight, or feel the ocean breeze for a moment.

    It might dy their time of arrival at the camp, but Be was sure that they had earned their moment of rest. She knew that the umted tension would ease up, and calm their senses, by a lot.

    Thus, they made their way down the hill, advancing towards the direction of the beach.

    ording to Be and Mathias, the time now was around midnight, which astonished Nial a lot.

    He had only subtly noticed that the air was growing cold, and the most likely reason for this was the advent of night.

    However, without being able to ess thework system of the government on the ind, Nial couldn''t even use the Originals bracelet properly.

    He was not able to see the time, or figure it out, except through the other senses that helped him gauge the flow of the wind, the surrounding temperature, and a few more factors.

    It might not be perfectly urate but was still better than nothing.

    Despite that, having someone, who was able to see, right by his side, allowed him to be certain of the time of the day.

    Nheless, Nial was still shocked when he got to know that it was already midnight, while Be was utterly calm.

    "It''s obvious for the two of you to be shocked about this, but what you guys might not have noticed yet is the fact that the few shelters of mankind are located extremely far away from each other."

    She stated the fact rather nonchntly, but her words caused both Mathias and Nial to avert their attention to Be.

    Be noticed this and started to exin further without halting in her tracks for even a second.

    "If I remember correctly, mankind had around 50rge shelters a century ago. Before that, there were far more of them.

    However, now, only the well-hidden, and the best protected shelters that make use of their particr environment are left behind.

    They survived the attack of monstrous existences, whose numbers slowly dwindled owing to therge distance between all the remaining shelters.

    Traveling from one ce to another takes a few months, and every single day, a minute, or even a second, one could be attacked, overwhelmed, and killed by the surrounding beasts!

    In fact, Katu is one of the most peaceful shelters as we are located in a small, well-hidden valley, at the most secured position at that!"

    Nial had never heard about all this information, and after sensing Mathias'' reaction, he figured out that his friend was equally confused.

    From what he remembered nobody knew whether the dungeons had been in existence a century ago or not.

    Yet, given the information that 50 shelters had existed during that time, including that there were more beforehand, Nial couldn''t help but be confused.

    ''If what Be said is correct, the dungeons appeared more than a century ago. But then, doesn''t that mean the provided pieces of information I read were wrong?''

    Mathias was probably feeling the same as Nial and both had identical expressions of doubt on their faces.

    Given the additional information, Nial also figured out that Be must have lived in a different shelter beforehand.

    As such, she must have moved with her mother.

    This confused him even more as he had not expected it.

    ''With the talent and innate traits of hers, why would she move to Katu? Our shelter is said to be one of the weakest in existence?''

    While trying to untangle the jumbled mix of thoughts, Nial felt an iing headache that began to pound his head only a bunch of minutester.

    He felt that everything was much moreplex than it seemed.

    "Did you procure this information from a different shelter? And it shouldn''t be too difficult to move around the shelters as long as you can move through the teleportation circles, right? So the distance between shelters shouldn''t really matter if we were, to be honest¡­"

    Unable to hold back from prying into her privacy, Nial felt like he had to ask all of these questions to clear his doubts.

    It was not that he wanted to act rude or nosy, but his curiosity and confusion overwhelmed his rational senses.

    As such, he simply blurted out all the questions he had in mind, without holding back too much.

    "Creating teleportation circles is not as easy as you might think. I''m already astonished that Katu possesses one, but I think I can gauge the reason behind this.

    In the end, Katu and presumably also the other shelters have only one-way teleportation circles without an exact location tond on.<sub> </sub>

    The teleportation circle in Katu is probably only configured to fit a certain range of coordinates, nothing more than that.

    However, the teleportation circles I have heard about have a restricted limit of distance to allow teleportation.

    As such, all nine shelters of mankind have to be within reach of the ind we are currently situated on, otherwise, I''m not sure if my information is even correct, to begin with.

    As to how I know this information¡­yes, I procured it from a different shelter.

    That was because my mother ad-...I mean, when my mother and I lived in a different shelter I learned a lot.

    It was onlyter that we decided to move to Katu due to the numerous dangers everyone is facing in the other shelters.

    There are more and stronger Originals in other shelters than in Katu, but this little shelter here is like a paradise for the unawakened!"

    Be''s long speech exined a lot about the reason for her vast knowledge and even more about certain things revolving around the existence of the nine shelters.

    Yet, Nial couldn''t help but feel that Be left out quite a few important pieces of information and he had not missed the way she had corrected herself midway.

    Whether this was because she didn''t want to expose that she knew far more, or that it would make her identity seem suspicious, Nial didn''t know.

    But what he was sure of was that Be''s slip of the tongue had something to do with all of this.

    And even though Nial was unable to know the truth, he had a theory in his mind that caused his expression to soften.

    When he had tried to digest the intel Be provided them, Nial thought that she was acting suspiciously as if she knew literally everything about mankind''s history and the true motives behind why certain things were done by the government.

    After giving it some time, Nial''s suspicion subsided as he realized that he might have been too far-fetched in his assumptions, causing him to change his way of thinking to some extent.

    ''So we don''t even have a way back to our shelter? Or does the base of the Teradan military camp have a total of nine teleportation circles that can transport us around the borders of Katu and the other shelters, once we want to return?''

    A few theories manifested in his mind and Nial felt that he was slowly grasping a rough understanding about the military and government''s way of handling the military camps. But then again, he couldn''t be certain whether or not his theories were correct or not.

    Shaking his head at this assumption, Nial''s mind added a few more doubts to his confusion.

    ''I should forget about Katu, but what about Liondra? There will be a teleportation circle to Liondra, right?''

    He momentarily forgot about Be''s slip of the tongue, while Mathias'' thoughts had wandered to formte strange theories.

    ''50 Shelters only 100 years ago¡­now there are 9 left¡­and the hidden shelters, I guess¡­ Does that mean mankind''s situation is bad?..: Or are we able to retaliate against the forces of monstrous beasts?''

    Mathias didn''t really think much about the fact that Be exposed information that an ordinary citizen of Katu was not supposed to know.

    No citizen would be able to feel safe knowing that it was only a matter of time for mankind to go extinct, after all.

    Yet, at the same time, it was important to understand mankind''s stance against the dungeon beast''s danger and ferocity!

    Rather than focusing on that, the fact that only the most secured and best protected shelters were left behind worried him a lot.

    To his misfortune, hecked information, and couldn''t even remotely tell whether they were fighting a losing battle, or if there was a chance for mankind''s survival.

    ''Even the situation in Katu had be more dangerous in thest few weeks¡­''

    Recalling the fact that more dungeons manifested in Katu during the prior few weeks, Mathias could only bite his lower lip, while clenching his hand hard enough for the white of his knuckles to be visible.

    ''I¡­no¡­WE have to be much stronger..as quickly as possible!!''

    While numerous thoughts shed through the mind of the three young Originals, caused by Be''s words that made even her think a lot about different things, they had reached the outskirts of the forest near the beach.

    The salty smell of the ocean''s air permeated their skin and nostrils as a faint breeze whirled around them.

    This was enough to drag them out of their train of thoughts as the beach and the seemingly endless ocean came into their view.

    Illuminated by the moonlight, everything was clearly visible to Be and Mathias, who were momentarily stunned.

    The moonlight shone on the darkish-blue water, making it seem as if the entire ocean was draped in a faint milky hue and stars that erupted when the waves crashed upon each other.

    Due to this, it was difficult for the two to clearly tell where the ocean ended and where the sky began as the horizon seemed to merge them both.

    Not a single cloud dotted the beautiful night sky, and the bright shining stars of twinkling high above were unveiled to them.

    However, the two young Originals could only momentarily be exhrated, forgetting about all their worries and hardships as a wave of guilt suddenly washed over them.

    Subconsciously their heads moved towards Nial, which allowed Be, who was on the right side of Nial, to see that Mathias had the exact same feeling.

    This caused her to smile drily, only for Mathias to return it before both averted their attention back to Nial, whose lifeless eyes were staring straight at the endless horizon.

    A bright smile had emerged on his face, and if the two young Originals didn''t know that Nial was blind they would think that he was able to see everything they could witness just at this moment.

    Yet, for Nial, everything he sensed was more than enough for him to be exhrated.

    After all, the ocean was something memorable, and while standing next to his new friends, the first true friends he made after getting to know Melvin, Nial knew that this exact moment was something he would never forget¡­in his entire life.

    And that would be the case, even if he were to live for Eons!

 Chapter 103 Plan

    The three friends spent some time observing the magnificent view of the Ocean, unsure of when they would be able to feel such calm and ease again.

    Having been forced to live in the shelters since their birth, even the view of a natural forest was something they could only expect to see inside dungeons.

    However, the same could be said about the appearance of monsters.

    ? In Katu, there hadn''t been a single dungeon breakout for thest ten years.

    That meant it was umon for the group of three to sleep in the wilderness, knowing that beasts could attack them at any moment.

    They were fully aware of the dangers they had to face, but the Ocean had calmed their anxious minds and fueled them with renewed confidence.

    After a long time had passed, Nial was the first one to fully regain his senses.

    "How about we search for a good ce to rest? Or should we just stay at the beach for the time being?"

    He knew that some beasts lived inside the water because his mana perception had already sensed a few weak marine beasts near the beach.

    But that didn''t worry him, at all.

    Instead, he began to wonder if he should just try to hunt a few marine beasts in order to procure food for themselves.

    He had never tasted fish before so when he could clearly sense them swimming in the ocean water, Nial was eager to catch a few.

    Unfortunately, Be shook her head upon hearing his questions.

    "Let''s search for a ce that is a little bit more secure. After resting we should also think of a n because I don''t think it will be that easy to find the Teradan military camp.

    As for advancing straight through the forest, I don''t really think that we should do that either.

    If there are more Goblin Wolfriders or possibly even Goblins with other engravings on gemstones, we should try to procure them too.

    I think that the Instructors of the military camp either intentionally allowed the Goblin Warriors to get hold of the gemstones, and the government is secretive about the existence of runes with which one can control weak-willed beasts, or they really don''t know about this, and we''ll have to face lots of trouble in the future.

    If it is thetter, we should be rewarded with many merit points once we reach the camp and report everything!"

    Mathias just nodded his head, without sharing his opinion on the suggestion, leaving Nial no choice but to also agree.

    "Alright, in that case, I saw a prettyrge tree earlier. It had a densework of branches and leaves, and I didn''t sense the presence of even a single beast that might inhabit the tree.

    So we should be safe there, and rest on the branchesfortably!"

    Once again Mathias just nodded his head, causing Be and Nial to frown lightly.

    "Alright, let''s do that!" Be thus said before eyeing Mathias for a moment

    Both Be and Nial noticed that their friend had turned quiet once again.

    This was quite a big difference to how he had behaved during the battle against the Goblin Wolfriders.

    Even afterward, he had spoken quite a lot, until now.

    They thought it was a little bit weird, but at the same time understood that it might be difficult for some people to open up to others.

    Giving Mathias a few days, or even weeks was no problem as long as he wouldn''t suddenly change his behavior during fights.

    While they were busy thinking of ways to make Mathias speak more to them and make him feel morefortable, they didn''t even realize that the young man was perfectly fine with being quiet.

    He might be timid, but at the same time, Mathias felt veryfortable right now.

    If he had something against their ideas, it might have been difficult for him to speak up, but he would have done so nheless.

    Be and Nial were worried for no reason but neither of them said anything as they returned to a specific part of the forest thaty between the hill on which they had emerged, and the beach.

    Though it was still dark, Nial could keep up with them both easily. This was revealed by the fact that when they took a small detour towards a different location, Nial''s mana perception and the range of his visualization allowed him to follow them.

    After walking for slightly more than 10 minutes away from the Ocean, they had finally reached arge tree, whose trunk was quite wide.

    Mathias doubted that they would be able to reach around it even if the three of them were to hold hands.

    While this was what interested Mathias, Be could only see the deep gashes on the tree trunk that seemed to have been inflicted by a powerful beast with razor-sharp ws.

    Nial also noticed the gashes, and before his friends would start worrying, repeated himself once again.

    "From what I can sense, there are no remnants of mana fluctuations anywhere around the tree, so you don''t have to worry too much about the gashes.

    As for the possibility of a beast that conceals its mana fluctuations to live on the tree, I can smell that thest time a beast was here has been a few days, which you can probably also tell based on the gashes carved onto the tree that are not freshly made!

    If my senses aren''t failing me, the tree seems to be healing already, so it has been a few days!

    I can provide a few more pieces of evidence to prove that no powerful beast has been here for quite some time.

    Just trust me¡­due to the Curse I bound to my mana core, my senses were enhanced to the extent wherein I sometimes wish I would never smell anything ever again¡­"

    No sooner had Nial said thest sentence, Mathias instinctively lifted his arm before moving his nose towards his armpit to smell if he was reeking of sweat.

    This caused Nial to smile lightly as he said,

    "Don''t worry, you don''t smell that bad. Your Earth elemental affinity seems to cover the natural stench of sweat.

    Upon hearing him, Be began to look at him intently, not sure whether she should also smell herself to figure out if she was reeking.

    However, that would be quite udylike, and rather tough for her to do.

    So she could only stare at him, not even daring to say something.

    ''I don''t smell, right?!?''

    Momentarily, she had forgotten about the fact that there might be a powerful beast in their surroundings.

    The possibility of being smelly was much more horrifying to her than the existence of a powerful beast!

    Sensing that Be was suddenly fidgeting with her hair in difort he averted his attention to her.

    Unable to suppress his smile anymore, Nial felt like teasing her, only to recall that one should never joke about certain things with a woman.

    ''I nearly forgot that¡­thanks mom!'' He could only think, clearly remembering how often he had been lectured about how sensitive women were about their smell and looks.<sub> </sub>

    "Don''t worry Be, you smell good!" Nial reassured her without going too much into detail.

    After all, if he were to add a few more words, he feared that he might sound creepy, and like a pervert, which was certainly not what Nial was working towards.

    In the end, he didn''t lie either because Be smelled really good.

    Nial presumed this to be the case owing to her Innate trait that prevented impurities from entering her body, to begin with.

    If that were to be true, it meant that she had a powerful Innate trait.

    Unfortunately, now was not the right time to inquire about this.

    Be sighed in relief upon hearing him and stopped fidgeting almost instantly.

    This caused even Mathias to smile lightly before he quietly muttered,

    "So¡­are we climbing up¡­or not?"

    Be wasn''t paying attention, but Nial just nodded his head as nobody had opposed the idea.

    If either of his teammates were to be ufortable about staying on the said tree, they would have searched for a different ce to stay.

    Yet, given the fact that they only wanted to rest for a few hours, they readily agreed.

    "Alright, let''s go up!" Be said while dusting her hands.

    Momentster she ced a foot on one of the crooks caused by the gashes and pulled herself up the tree, which she swiftly climbed.

    ording to her technique, Be seemed to be proficient at climbing a tree efficiently too.

    This made Nial wonder if she was bad at anything.

    But then it was certainly better to be good at everything than be an expert in one thing and know nothing about the rest.

    Thus, he just shrugged his shoulders before starting to climb up the tree too.

    It took him far longer than Be.

    Nheless, Nial was still faster than Mathias, who seemed to be struggling.

    Yet, he didn''t ask for help as he was embarrassed about the fact that his team could do something rtively simple as climbing a tree only for him to fail.

    "It''s quite slippery, I almost fell earlier! Here, take my hand!"

    It was true that the bark of the tree trunk was quite slippery.

    However, Nial lied about the fact that he nearly fell earlier, but it had been a necessity.

    After hearing him, Mathias decided to grasp his hand, and ept his help when he heard that Nial nearly fell.

    Pulling him up, Nial smiled lightly while Mathias breathed heavily, feeling as if he had ovee a huge hurdle.

    This made Be feel as if she had to react in some way, which caused her to give Mathias a thumbs up.

    However, the young man couldn''t help but sigh when he saw this, shaking his head a bit.

    ''Why do I feel like she is humiliating me without even trying?''

    Feeling a little bit bitter, Mathias thought about something before trying to distract them.

    "Will it be more important to arrive at the camp fast, or to kill and procure information before reaching the camp?"

    At first, Nial didn''t understand why Mathias would say this all of a sudden.

    However, Be could grasp what he was trying to say.

    "You mean that the camp Instructors of the Teradan military camp want us to procure information about the happenings on the ind such as the sudden appearance of the red gemstone nes?

    It is true that it''s unlikely for the Instructors not to know about the Beast controlling runes¡­but still¡­Wait!"

    Halting in her tracks for a few seconds, she seemed to be excited, only to calm down before she added,

    "I don''t think that many participants of the military camp were ever forced to survive in the wilderness while being surrounded by beasts.

    Because of that, we are likely to be tested on every single characteristic we show during the entire first test.

    This includes ourbat prowess, the teamwork we disy during the following days, how we procure information and far more!

    As such, rushing ahead will only harm us¡­I believe. Rather than pushing ahead without a n, let''s try to work on our teamwork, on procuring more intel about the Goblin Wolfriders, and fixing the ws we figure out while fighting other beasts!"

    Nial was not sure if he understood everything Be said, but he couldn''t find fault with her words.

    Rushing to find the camp right now would be pointless. After all, they didn''t even know for sure if it would give them more bonus points if they were to be faster than others.

    In fact, improving their ws and fighting in a team was likely to be the best for them to grow ustomed to the given situation.

    With that in mind, Nial was more than willing to start creating a n, while Mathias had once again turned quiet, turning into an observer instead of a doer.

    This caused Nial and Be to smile dryly, feeling that it would be the most difficult to adapt to the behavior and personality of their new friend!

    **

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 Chapter 104 Experience

    After figuring that it was useless for them to rush towards the camp as they didn''t know whether the benefits outweighed the dangers they would have to go through, their small team of three decided toe up with a proper n to solve the most apparent issues at hand.

    Those issues were their teamwork which was still far from perfect, their inexperience in fighting within specific environments, and times during the day, followed by theirck of knowledge.

    There were probably a few more things they had toe up with, such as procuring food and drinking water, but that could be done quite easily.

    By collecting some of the rainwater their biggest issue would be solved at once.

    Food could be procured by killing beasts as well.

    Hunting a few beasts to obtain meat was also what Be proposed them to do, to begin with.

    Not only would it allow them to procure meat that they could eat without any issues as they were Originals who could endure the mana inside the meat and blood of beasts, but their teamwork could improve while hunting as well.

    Furthermore, hunting beasts would also allow them to improve their experience in fighting within specific environments and during odd hours of the day.

    If they were to encounter more Goblin Warriors, it would even be possible for them to get to know more information about the gemstones.

    As of now, it was not known whether all Goblin Warriors possessed a marked beast controlling gemstone ne.

    This was something their entire group wanted to change as quickly as possible, which they could do by actively hunting beasts.

    Following the hunt of Goblin Warriors, Nial proposed that they should also pay attention to the existence of gemstones that had other unique types of runes inscribed.

    It might be possible for more socializing beasts that innately possessed a trace of intelligence to live on the ind.

    In fact, Nial didn''t think that it was unlikely for such beasts to exist!

    They might even possess capabilities simr to that of the Goblins who could inscribe some unique runes, or do something simr.

    With that taken into consideration, they had rested for quite some time before climbing down therge tree and enacting the n they hade up with.

    Rays of sunlight shone through the thicket of the densely grown trees, warming parts of Nial''s body.

    It was still long until the sun would be high up in the sky, and he knew that barely a few hours had passed since they had climbed up the tree.

    Nevertheless, everyone was eager to hunt down beasts, procure information, and to be stronger as a team!

    Be was the most excited amongst them which Nial was able to sense even without his mana perception''s visualization!

    On the other hand, there was their oddball, Mathias, who simply began to smile in an inconspicuous manner.

    He didn''t express himself in another way, causing Nial to wonder if Mathias had a split personality or if he was just a reserved and shy person who would be a totally new person when he would fight.

    But somehow, thetter sounded rather odd, let alone the possibility of Mathias having a split personality.

    ''Just what makes his personality suddenly change while inbat?''

    Even if it was something intriguing that made Nial want to get to know the answer, it was not like he should be that much affected by that question.

    It was weird that he thought about Mathias'' personality for so long, but upon averting his attention to Be, he couldn''t help but sigh deeply.

    Be was equally mysterious to him, keeping his interest held high up as more questions shed through his mind the moment he got to know more about her.

    This made him understand that both of his friends were rather peculiar.

    What Nial didn''t know was that Be and Mathias'' thought the same about him.

    Even they were keen to know more about Nial''s capabilities, and his motives behind entering the Teradan military camp.

    Despite being a newly awakened Original, who was blind, he had been desperate enough to bind a powerful curse to his body which intrigued them both, and much more.

    Being curious about each other was pretty good as each of them would want to get to know one another.

    However, at the same time, they had to keep in mind that being too secretive and mysterious about themselves might harm their rtionship.

    And this was something that could happen without them realizing it.

    As such, they had to be careful.

    But all of them knew that it would take them to form a strong bond but for now, as long as they trusted one another, nothing bad would happen.

    At least that was what everyone firmly believed, which was reassuring from multiple perspectives.

    Thus, the three settled down on the branches and began scanning their surroundings for beasts.

    They didn''t n to leave therge tree on which they had rested for the entire day as they wanted to save their energy and focus on fighting.

    With that in mind, they climbed down their temporary hideout and walked through the pine tree forest with a calm demeanor.

    Nial had fully unleashed his senses and the mana perception, allowing him to sense the mana fluctuations 100 meters around him.

    Only beasts that could conceal their mana would escape his mana perception, and even they were unlikely to be able to prevent him from hearing, smelling, or feeling the vibration of their steps.

    As such, Nial turned into a human radar, while Be and Mathias kept their guard up if Nial were to miss out on something.

    However, owing to the incident with the Goblin Wolfriders, where he had missed picking on their arrival before it was already toote, Nial wouldn''t dare to make another mistake.

    Thus, Nial was probably thest person, who would forgive himself for making a mistake as grave as allowing beasts to approach their vicinity!<sub> </sub>

    He was almost being jumpy and pointed them towards the direction the moment even a single small beast entered his range.

    He kept informing his team about every little thing, and they couldn''t help but feel as if their mind was overflowing with information about the positioning and strength of the beasts that scavenged through the surrounding territory.

    Most of them were not even out to attack them, let alone bother about the lives of the three Originals.

    Upon realizing this, the three young Originals couldn''t help but feel that the entire situation was slightly different than what they had expected.

    "Why¡­won''t they attack us? Dungeon beasts are always highly aggressive¡­but not now?"

    It was the first time that Mathias had spoken since they had departed.

    Roughly three hours had passed since they had left the tree and both Nial and Be had epted that they had someone mute in their group.

    As such, they were slightly astonished the moment they heard him mumble something in a low voice.

    Be was about to answer his questions, thinking that she would provide great intel to both Nial and Mathias, only for Nial to be the first one to speak up.

    "Isn''t that because most of the beasts are born outside the space of a dungeon? In fact, dungeon beasts born outside dungeons are considered irregrs because they rarely drop any kind of crystal.

    Even if they drop some, they''re mostly defective or have mutated.

    But I don''t know why this is the case.

    Either way, beasts born outside dungeons are slightly different from dungeon beasts.

    Their mindset is probably different due to theck of mana, or something around that."

    Because the sisters Mara and Kira had known that Nial would face beasts in the wilderness, they had given him some basic information about them.

    This had allowed him to answer Mathias'' doubt to some extent while receiving Be''s intrigued gaze.

    Most things Nial was unable to answer were even unanswered by Kira and Mara, which spoke volumes about the knowledge mankind had about many topics revolving around dungeons, their beasts, and the offsprings!

    It was bad, really bad!

    Thus Be knew that her answer would have been simr to Nial''s, which was unexpected from her point of view.

    ''Just who rmended you?''

    First, she had assumed that someone had simply betted on Nial''s superior traits owing to some gut feeling.

    After all, Nial had lived in her mother''s apartment and even recklessly bound a Curse to himself.

    However, in the end, Be didn''t know the truth about the events that happened after she and Nial had parted ways in the apartmentplex!

    She was oblivious to a lot of things that had happened behind her back and drawing her own conclusion made her mind feel like she had messed up something.

    Thus, she kept stealing nces at Nial as she became even more intrigued than before, while Mathias mumbled, "Alright, makes sense!"

    Nial didn''t think that any of this made sense, but he simply epted Mathias'' word-scarce art before his focus retracted to the surrounding area.

    After hours of beasts evading them due to several reasons, Nial finally found something that attracted his attention.

    "I think I found a small hideout of Goblins. There are at least two dozen Goblin Warriors with the same strength as the ones we encountered earlier, and three more beings with more powerful mana fluctuations!"

    Turning towards Be, he continued, "I think the three beings have roughly the same density of their mana fluctuations as you have.

    When they heard Nial''s intel, Mathias halted in his tracks, while Be quickly walked up to him.

    "Did you find beasts other than the Goblins?"

    Be''s question obviously indicated that she wanted to know if there were horned wolves or other beasts that were under the control of the beast controlling gemstones'' will.

    However, Nial just shook his head as he replied,

    "I cannot sense any other beasts than the Goblins that are close to 30 in number!"

    This was interesting because all of them had expected the red gemstone nes to be an object of high quality.

    "What¡­if they''re hunting for mounts? They''re too short¡­"

    It was Mathias, whose whispered voice broke through the silence and reached the ears of Be and Nial.

    At this moment, Nial figured out what his quiet friend had imagined.

    "You mean that they''re just a small group of arge settlement, sent out to catch their own mounts? That''s possible!!"

    If that were to really be the truth, the settlement of the Goblins would be muchrger than initially expected.

    After all, this would mean that the prior group of Goblin Wolfriders they had encountered, followed by therger group of close to 30 Goblins would belong to onerge settlement.

    Considering that thousands of young Originals, including more than half of them being women, were to arrive on the ind soon, Nial couldn''t help but feel that it was extremely bad.

    Goblins were known for their extremely high reproduction rate, and short pregnancy time, meaning that they could multiply at a rapid pace.

    Thus, there might be thousands of Goblins who were merely waiting for the female Originals to show up, which caused Nial to question the meaning and hidden intent of the Teradan military camp''s first test!

 Chapter 105 Speaking Monster?

    The more he thought about it, the weirder the first test of the Teradan military camp felt.

    Too many things made no sense in his opinion, including the fact that there might be hundreds of Goblins with red gemstone nes.

    However, in order to be sure that they were not mistaken about this, Nial and the others would have to defeat the group of close to 30 Goblins first.

    Be decided to tackle the three strongest goblins of the group and focus on killing them first.

    Meanwhile, Nial and Mathias reassured Be that they would take care of the others.

    They hade up with a simple, yet efficient n, which they initiated after making use of the right momentum.

    Their timing was nearly perfect as they had quietly approached the location of the little Goblin camp.

    The bright daylight allowed Mathias to see clearly, giving him the confidence to be of great use to his team as he remained hidden within the thicket of a bush.

    His distance to the closest Goblin Warrior hovered around 50 meters, which was the closest he could go without being noticed.

    Meanwhile, Nial and Be made a big detour around the settlement, one on the right and the other one on the left side.

    They maintained a distance of around 50 meters from the Goblins.

    It was only when Mathias saw that everyone had arrived at the position they were supposed to be that he made use of his Innate ability and the Earth elemental affinity.

    Using more than half of his umted mana at once, his entire body felt drained of energy as two huge pieces pierced out of the ground fifty meters away from him.

    With a length of more than 30 meters, a height of six meters, and a breadth of more than a meter, the two walls forcefully separated the group of 30 Goblins.

    While Nial was now facing more than 15 Goblin Warriors that were cut off from the others, the Goblin Warriors on the other side of the wall were thoroughly confused.

    On the other hand, Be was facing the three stronger Goblins out of which two were Elite Warriors, with one Lesser Goblin Shaman.

    There were also three other Goblin Warriors, but Be simply ignored them as her focus was on the stronger opponents.

    She had quickly realized that the Goblin Shaman was, by far, the strongest of the opponents, which made her eyes linger on that particr beast for the longest.

    The six opponents Be had to face didn''t bother about being separated from their group.

    Instead, they roared out at the sight of the beautiful woman, and their eyes gleamed in naked desire.

    Be just rolled her eyes in disgust, clearly showing her hatred towards the pathetic Goblins.

    A fleeting and distant memory of eyes that were just like that of the Goblins resurfaced in her mind as she grit her teeth and two shortswords manifested in her hands.

    Her eyes began to gleam in bright golden light, while her hair fluttered in the air, unveiling faint star-like streams.

    If Mathias were to see this, he would be shocked, while Nial only had to sense this in order to understand that Be was far more powerful than they knew.

    Unfortunately, his distance from her was too big, and his mana perception didn''t reach her.

    Be knew that Nial was unable to sense her as he had told his group about the limit up to which the radius of his mana perception could reach.

    As she knew about this, Be didn''t even think about holding back her strength, even more so because this would mean that she had to endure the Goblins'' disgusting gazes longer than necessary.

    Without showing any signs of the slightest hesitation, she reached the first Goblin Warrior.

    It was the beast that was the closest to her, but as it was unable to react in time, the Goblin died at the hands of Be.

    She had initiated a seemingly simple sh with the two shortswords of hers.

    Yet, what nobody knew was that a faint stream of golden light followed her high-velocity attack that not even the Elite Goblins could keep up with.

    Be''s physical strength had been enhanced severely, allowing her to break through the limits of an Original at the 7th Origin rank.

    The potency of her mana enhanced her speed only further, giving Be the necessary speed to eliminate all three Goblin Warriors within two seconds.

    Her quick and wless movements had allowed her to stay unscathed.

    Thus, only the beasts behind the Earthen wall and the three powerful Goblins were left behind.

    However, in the face of Be''s wrath, they were nothing more than lustful beasts that were bound to die at any moment.

    Pushing her feet off the ground, Be shot towards the closer Elite Goblin.

    It swung a heavy longsword at Be, but she didn''t even see the need to evade it.

    Instead, she twisted her body, while brandishing one of her shortswords, while shing it at the t side of the longsword.

    Even though the gravitational force increased the impact of the heavy longsword, it barely affected Be.

    Using her entire strength, her Innate ability, and the [Outburst] ability, she inserted arge portion of mana inside her Dagger.

    It began to vibrate while releasing golden currents of energy the moment the dagger collided with the heavy longsword.

    Barely a momentter, a loud cracking noise resounded through the close surroundings.

    Cracks spread all over the heavy longsword''s de which broke apart only momentster, revealing Be''s shortsword to the Elite Goblin.

    Its eyes widened in terror as it noticed that Be was far from done.

    Gleaming brightly, the Elite Goblin could clearly see its reflection in the de, allowing it to see its own fear, and horror just before the dagger pierced through its throat.

    Ending the Elite Goblin''s life within a second, the dagger prated through its throat, only to leave the body of the Goblin.

    Blood spurted on Be''s face and trickled down her face without smearing it crimson red.

    The blood of the beast was repelled from her wless face due to a paper-thin semi-translucent membrane covering it tightly simr to how wax would repel water.

    However, Be didn''t even notice that as her focus returned to the second Elite Goblin.

    It looked at her in fear and was ready to retreat at once.

    Yet, before it could even move a single inch, Be had already vanished from the Goblin''s sight.

    A fraction of a secondter it had already reappeared next to the Goblin with a draft of wind sshing into its face.

    It turned its head towards the right side, only to see a glint of Be''s golden eyes.<sub> </sub>

    This was also thest thing the Elite Goblin saw as its sight blurred a momentter while the remnants of its life force quickly drained from its body.

    Clutching its chest tightly owing to the unbearable pain, the Elite Goblin sumbed to its injuries as it slumped to the ground, dead.

    Be had pierced her other shortsword in the chest of the Elite Goblin, mercilessly ending its life.

    She had defeated her opponents as if they were mere pawns, and unworthy of her attention.

    This was a huge contrast to what she had showcased to her team just the day before.

    However, it was just a momentter, the temperature in Be''s surroundings seemed to shoot up by several dozen degrees out of nowhere.

    Everything lit up brightly, dazzling her.

    Forced to close her eyes, only her mana perception allowed her to figure out what was going on around her.

    Several balls of fire were flying towards her with a rapid velocity.

    However, just before she could prepare herself to evade or destroy them with ease, Be froze in ce as something unprecedented in the history of mankind happened.

    A beast¡­began to speak in the samenguage humanity used!

    "H-ell¨Cloo H-Hchuman!"

    **

    While Be had encountered the Lesser Goblin Shaman that seemed to be different to other Goblins, and proficient in the humannguage, Mathias had overwhelmed the Goblin Warriors that had been trapped between the two Earthen walls.

    On the other hand, Nial was facing more than a dozen Goblin Warriors.

    Each of them had stronger mana fluctuations and more mana stored in their body.

    Their physical condition was also ought to be better than Nial''s.

    Nevertheless, he faced his opponents fearlessly while wielding the Viper spear with unparalleled confidence.

    Even though he was unable to see, Nial''s senses and reflexes helped him sense the movements of his opponents at the earliest point.

    In some cases, it was not umon for him to know where the Goblin Warrior wanted to hit him before they knew it themselves.

    This was how powerful his enhanced senses were!

    Since a young age, he had been highly sensitive to sounds, vibrations, smell, and his gut feeling.

    But right now, his perception was leaps and bounds stronger than ever before. He was able to tell when he was attacked at which exact moment, which was why Nial had a huge advantage in the battle.

    He could easily react before the other party couldplete his attack, to begin with.

    Furthermore, when he added his extremely high affinity to the control and perception of mana, Nial had it even easier to evade the attacks of the Goblin Warriors.

    That was even less the case as some of them didn''t even wield their weapons.

    Nial''s group had surprised them, preventing the group of Goblins from recovering from the shock and being fully prepared.

    Most of them might be wielding their weapons, but there was a small number of them that were forced to attack him with their ws and the sharp nails that could easily tear through flesh.

    Those unarmed Goblin Warriors were overwhelmed by Nial''s usage of the Viper spear, and his physical strength that was far higher than it was supposed to be.

    Having undergone two ergements, he was barely at the 3rd Origin rank.

    Under normal circumstances, the amount of mana he possessed wouldn''t allow his body to reach such a high strength as he possessed.

    Yet, his physical strength had been enhanced to a much higher state owing to the Curse he had bound to his mana core.

    Through this, the number of opponents that opposed him after a minute was reduced to less than 10 Goblin Warriors.

    They were unable to exhibit their entirebat prowess due to theirck ofbat experience and proper knowledge of martial arts.

    This was something Nial had practiced for thest few weeks, while relentlessly training how to move, whether it was with weapons or without them.

    His body had been steeled, and so had his mind!

    Being able to move ording to his will, Nial''s smooth and nearly wless movements made it seem as if he was dancing through the row of Goblin Warriors.

    They had surrounded him, brandishing their weapons in order to sh, thrust or cleave them towards Nial.

    Yet, within seconds, Nial tookrge strides, moving around with the grace of a dancer and eliminating goblins as if he was merely swatting the flies.

    Hacking and shing with the Viper spear, he killed them one after another, retracting the weapon a moment after he lunged at them.

    It was almost as if he had turned into a snake that shot out at its opponents delivering one fatal blow after another.

    Unbeknownst to Nial, his movements became quicker, the more he moved, and the moment he issued thest attack, the Goblin Warrior that was struck by fear of the being in front of it met its death.

    Nial didn''t look like a human to the Goblin.

    Instead, he appeared to be a monster that was faintly enveloped in darkness that oddly resembled the Grim Reaper.

    Or was it the Lord of Death, itself¡­ or something entirely different, something much darker?

    **

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 Chapter 106 Armed To The Teeth!

    After Mathias and Nial defeated the Goblin Warriors, they quickly rushed toward Be.

    They hoped that she was fine, and reached her in no time.

    However, upon nearing her, both of them were dumbfounded.

    While Nial had already sensed that Be was perfectly fine, he was still unable to hide his astonishment.

    After all, the energy she released was far stronger than her Origin rank.

    The mana of Be had even taken on a different color which Nial was able to perceive.

    This had never happened to him and shocked him as he had never visualized something different than the usual, blueish tone that mana seemed to have.

    On the other hand, the energy currents of thest remaining beast that opposed Be were extremely powerful.

    Those currents belonged to the Lesser Goblin Shaman, and it could be the fire affinity, to some extent.

    Fireballs were floating all around the Goblin, but it didn''t fire them at the three humans.

    Both of them found that something was weird as neither Be nor the Goblin was moving.

    Only when he and Mathias arrive did the entire situation change.

    While Mathias instinctively shot several earth spikes out of the ground, Be retreated several steps. Her eyes were still closed as she shouted in a near-hysterical voice,

    "It speaks!!! The Goblin just spoke to me in the humannguage!!"

    Be''s voice was overflowing with all kinds of emotions, clearly indicating her shock.

    Yet, even then both Nial and Mathias couldn''t really believe what they had just heard.

    ''A speaking beast?! What kind of nonsense is she spouting??''

    But even before they could speak out their doubts, Nial sensed faint, nearly untraceable mana currents originating from under the torn pieces of cloth that covered the Goblin''s upper body.

    "Hchuuummaannnss MOARRR!"

    The moment Mathias heard this, he froze in ce, looking at the Lesser Goblin Shaman as if it was some sort of otherworldly existence.

    However, on the other hand, Nial was unfazed as he shot forward.

    He had perceived something that both Bell and Mathias were oblivious to.

    Without the help of another device, Lesser Goblin Shaman was not able to speak, and it was just its means to intimidate its opponents, using the humannguage!

    It was weird, and definitely not something normal, but in order to understand what was going on, they had to defeat the Lesser Goblin Shaman and figure out what kind of device it had been using.

    The Lesser Goblin Shaman was wearing multiple rings, nes, and earrings, which made it look like a decorated Christmas tree.

    The mana currents that were naturally released from all the devices the Goblin was wearing caused him to have a slight headache.

    But this was mostly an umted reaction owing to the surrounding noises, the pungent smell of the Goblins'' blood, the Goblins themselves, the vibrations that were caused by Mathias'' terraforming the ground to initiate another attack, and everything he perceived owing to his high mana perception.

    In fact, the major reason for his headache was likely to be Be as her golden mana currents were bombarding him with a lot of information.

    And he was not even able to decipher them which was probably the worst.

    Nevertheless, Nial had already appeared in the range of the Lesser Goblin Shaman and was obstructing it from attacking Be.

    She seemed to have been affected by something that prevented her from properly seeing or moving around.

    It was weird, and Nial was unable to tell what exactly was going on with Be.

    But for now, he had to ignore her issues as the situation ahead of him was likely to be far more dangerous than initially expected.

    Upon activating multiple pendants, bracelets, and earrings at once, a multitude of fireballs manifested around the Lesser Goblin Shaman, adding to the few that were already floating in the air.

    Following that, Nial felt as if somebody was hammering his head, making him understand that he had to face mental attacks as well.

    This was certainly not great, but something Nial could ept.

    It was not bad enough to distract him from protecting Be, who began to visibly struggle.

    ''Are the pendants simr to some sort of curses?''

    Nial''s first thought was unlikely to be the case, but he had no idea what else could cause Be to be restricted in such an obvious way.

    She was barely able to move after the Lesser Goblin Shaman had activated the numerous armament in its possession.

    In an effort to counter the attacks, Nial began to slowly move ahead, ignoring the severe pain that pierced straight into the depths of his mind, while circting mana through his entire body.

    Focusing on his legs, the amount of mana he utilized was more than half of his remnants.

    Thus, his speed elerated exponentially as he shot past the corpses of the two Elite Goblins.

    Nial was able to sense that they were also in possession of a few armaments.

    But instead of being worried about this, he leaned forward, while moving the Viper spear to his side in a smooth manner.

    Followed by this, traces of mana entered the spear that began to gleam lightly as Nial advanced ahead through the barrage of fireballs being shot at his group and the stinging headache.

    Noticing that Nial showed no signs of slowing down, the Lesser Goblin Shaman quickly fired a batch of three fireballs at Nial.

    It had sensed that Nial didn''t possess that much mana, while his mana core was much smaller than its own as well.

    Thus, the Lesser Goblin Shaman was of the opinion that three fireballs were more than enough to obliterate Nial.<sub> </sub>

    The remaining fireballs were required in order to defeat the other two humans, after all!

    Like all the previous opponents, even the Lesser Goblin Shaman had dismissed Nial as a weakling.

    Which is why it was surprised to see Nial start moving in an eerie manner, allowing him to know the exact timing at which each fireball would reach them.

    They might have been fired at the same time, but owing to the different factors such as the supplied amount of mana and the additional variables such as the force, velocity, and explosiveness of each fireball differentiated.

    Others might not be able to notice this, but it was mostly owed to Nial''s exceptional senses and mana perception that he could perceive the slightest difference in mana within each fireball.

    This even included the outlines of the fireballs'' structure.

    As such, while moving ahead at a rapid speed, he swiftly destroyed the three fireballs ahead of him.

    The impact of the explosions that followed after the de of the Viper spear pierced through it didn''t affect Nial at all.

    Rather, he was able to twist the spear in a way that allowed him to make use of the explosions.

    With a seemingly simple push of the exploding fireballs, his attack was elerated as his momentum reached its peak.

    In a single swipe of the spear that looked too smooth to have been made with his sheer instincts, the three fireballs were destroyed, giving leeway for Nial to advance.

    When the Lesser Goblin Shaman noticed this, it hesitated for a moment, letting all possible oues of the battle run through its mind.

    Only after it thought of a solution did it finally react, using the remaining fireballs that were now reduced to eight, to attack him mercilessly.

    All the fireballs advanced toward him at a rapid pace, and some fireballs even began to spin, reaching an even higher speed.

    This made Nial even more vignt than he had already been.

    He wanted to evade the attacks if possible but quickly noticed that this was far more difficult than first predicted.

    Be was only a few tens of meters behind him. Her demeanor had changed entirely and the golden mana of hers had dissolved.

    She was holding her head between her hands while the shortswords were lying on the ground.

    Blood oozed out of her ears, and her previously stable mana was fluctuating wildly.

    All of this had been caused by the influence of multiple factors.

    They had ovepped with each other, creating the condition in which Be was caught right now.

    While releasing her Innate ability, and [Outburst] ability respectively was not very dangerous, activating them at the same time was very taxing.

    This was something Be knew, but her disgust followed by her rage about the lustful gaze with which the Goblins had looked at her had been too much for her to not want to kill them right then and there.

    She had wanted to defeat the Goblins as quickly as possible, and using her Innate ability and [Outburst] ability had been the easiest way to achieve this in no time.

    Unfortunately, Be had overestimated herself as she didn''t expect to be attacked by the Goblins that focused on causing psychological harm to others.

    Attacks that focused on damaging the spirit, mind, or even soul were something Be had yet to face, and a Goblin was not supposed to be able to do so.

    Initially, she didn''t have any problem evading and destroying the fireballs she had been thrown at.

    But the mental attack she had to face had been unexpected, thereby worsening her control over thebination of her Innate ability and the [Outburst] ability.

    This had reached the extent to which Be was unable to control her overly potent many anymore, only to enter an even worse state as the effect of the [Outburst] ability had worn off.

    Under normal circumstances, she would have entered a weakened state owing to thebination of her two abilities.

    To her misfortune, as she was still in a life-and-death battle, this was not possible.

    Be had to continue using her Innate ability, even though her condition was bad, and kept worsening over time.

    Even when Nial and Mathias had arrived, Be didn''t dare stop using her Innate ability, in fear that her group would be unable to defeat the Lesser Goblin Shaman without her help.

    However, that was a groundless worry of hers as Nial alone was already enough to protect her.

    After getting back to his senses, Mathias was also ready to help.

    His first action was to build a protective shield of earth around Be with tiny holes inside to let some fresh air inside it.

    This was more than enough to allow Be to take a deep breath as she could not continue using her Innate trait anymore.

    Afterward, she broke down on the ground, cursing herself for requiring the help of others just because she had acted recklessly.

    ? ''For what did I even undergo a decade-long training¡­to make ridiculous mistakes that could have cost my life?!''

    Gritting her teeth, Be felt even more useless than Mathias had felt the day before.

    She never expected that the Teradan military camp would teach her something without even stepping in it. Her reason to join the camp waspletely different than everyone else''s, to begin with.

    Yet, what she learned on the second day since the trials of the Teradan military camp had started was more than enough to show her that she was far from being perfect, let alone unparalleled!

    And, oddly enough, the worst realization was that someone, who was considered a newly awakened Original was currently protecting her.

    But that was not everything, because Nial was also several grades lower than her, he had less mana than her, less experience, even less knowledge¡­and he was blind.

    She had nothing against Nial, on the contrary, Be really liked him and his personality.

    However, right now, Be couldn''t help but feel useless and somewhat jealous as she could clearly sense that Nial was able to stay unaffected by the mental attack that had incapacitated her.

    Little did she know that Nial was fighting not just the attacks but the severe headache that made him feel as if it was imploding and that only the thought of protecting the others as the only unscathed closebatant allowed him to strive forward!

 Chapter 107 Armaments

    After Mathias took all safety measures to protect Be, he switched his focus on helping Nial.

    The newly awakened Original might be extremely powerful, but the Lesser Goblin Shaman they faced was not ordinary either.

    It was already weird for it to owe more than a single armament, to begin with.

    Yet, considering that there were several rings that could manifest fireballs and that it was able to converse in the humannguage, too many things were off.

    This gave Mathias the necessary intel to know that he had to act fast.

    After destroying three fireballs, Nial had garnered the Lesser Goblin Shaman''s entire focus.

    As such, he had expected the remaining fireballs to be fired at him.

    Mathias perceived this quite early on, giving him the necessary time to react.

    Nial didn''t have much mana left, and destroying a total of eight fireballs at once was not something he could do just because he wanted to.

    It was obvious that Nial was powerful and quite stronger than those at his rank, but there were still certain things he was not capable of doing.

    At least, not right now!

    Being a team, they were supposed to take care of and protect each other.

    Thus, without hesitation, Mathias used the vast majority of his remaining mana.

    Materializing a wall of Earth a meter ahead of Nial, and towards his left, Mathias gave his friend the opportunity to use it as a means of protection.

    At the same time, Mathias manifested a bunch of Earth spikes which he shot toward the Lesser Goblin Shaman.

    When Nial sensed the mana fluctuations of Mathias, and what he was about to do, he made use of it.

    Moving slightly to the left, he quickly reached the Earthen wall.

    Yet, instead of halting in his tracks, Nial simply used it as a means to hide his appearance before he pushed ahead.

    While he continued to run ahead, the fireballs that had been shot in his direction missed him as he kept evading them and they collided on the Earthen wall instead.

    The wall began to crumble and dirt flung through the air, stirring it up.

    Because of that, Nial was hidden from the sight of others for one more second than he had calcted.

    This allowed him to change his trajectory once again, shooting toward the Lesser Goblin Shaman that had to endure an attack from two sides.

    Mathias'' earth spikes had already reached its designated target, inflicting small cuts on the Goblin that was barely able to block most of his attacks.

    Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible for the Lesser Goblin Shaman to survive Mathias'' attack.

    After all, manifesting new fireballs required some time, and they were certainly not considered a means of protection.

    However, by using some of the other rings it was wearing, the Lesser Goblin Shaman was able to materialize icicles with which it blocked most of the Earth spikes.

    The fact that the Lesser Goblin Shaman was able to utilize two different elemental affinities caused Mathias'' eyes to widen for a moment.

    But he quickly recovered from the shock and readied himself to protect Nial by creating more means to attack their opponent.

    In the end, Mathias noticed that neither his defense nor means of attack were required anymore.

    Nial had already emerged in front of the Lesser Goblin Shaman while brandishing the Viper spear and thrust it forward and into the opponent''s throat.

    No mercy could be sensed in his attack as he grit his teeth, pushing it inside the flesh, sealing the Lesser Goblin Shaman''s death.

    It was overly exhausted after using the armaments it had in possession, and couldn''t even move anymore.

    Despite having used up the vast majority of its mana while fighting against Be, the Lesser Goblin Shaman was forced to fight both Nial and Mathias, which is why it was bound to give its all.

    Yet, even in the face of Nial''s attack, it looked unwilling to give up.

    ring deep into Nial''s dead eyes, the Goblin groaned loudly, while the pendant that was hidden below its tattered clothes lit up for a moment.

    "Diee!!"

    It was only a momentter that the Viper spear''s depletely pierced through the Lesser Goblin Shaman''s throat, ending its life in the seconds that followed suit.

    His opponent''s lifeless body slumped to the ground when he forcefully tore the de out of the Goblin''s throat after he had killed it, but Nial didn''t really feel anything.

    Somehow, it was a little bit weird.

    He was neither happy about having killed a powerful opponent, nor frustrated that he had required the help of others to do so.

    It was just that they had killed their opponents as a team, and that was it.

    Remaining vignt for a few more seconds until thest traces of mana left the body of the unmoving beast, Nial sighed in relief.

    The tension that had umted in his body was released as he blurted out.

    "Fireball and icicle creating rings¡­ That''s something new!"

    Bending down, Nial picked up all the armaments that belonged to the Lesser Goblin Shaman.

    With some mana left in his body, it was even possible for him to test out a few things.

    He quickly inserted mana in one of the rings, and instantly a subtle connection was formed, allowing him to use the ring he was holding.

    As such, with some more mana utilized, it was even possible for Nial to create a fireball.

    This astonished him slightly as he had presumed that the elemental affinity rings were some sort of marked objects.

    But that didn''t seem to be the case.

    Continuing to test a few things, both Mathias and Nial quickly noticed that all the elemental rings had already been configured.

    That meant they required a specific amount of mana in order to shoot out a fireball or icicle.

    There were differences in the structure of both the fireballs and icicles which pointed out that they were created by hand and not machines.

    ''At least we know that they shouldn''t be able to mass-manufactured these rings¡­''

    Nial had never heard about any kind of essory or device that could reproduce the ability of an elemental affinity with uracy.

    As such, he should be happy as their find would elevate mankind''s technological knowledge by leaps and bounds.<sub> </sub>

    But even after giving it lots of thoughts, and trying to feel happy what he felt was just emptiness.

    His brows were knitted, and his entire focus was on the batches of rings, pendants, bracelets, and gemstone nes.

    There were simply too many, and all of them had been worn by the Lesser Goblin Shaman, allowing it to be stronger than its mana fluctuations hinted at.

    ''Why does it even need more than one of each elemental rings?''

    This was one question Nial had in mind as it made no sense in his opinion.

    At the same time, it was even weirder for only the Lesser Goblin Shaman to possess all the armaments.

    The other Elite Goblin and Goblin Warriors didn''t really have many armaments, only one beast controlling ne each.

    ''So the Shaman is the most important, or possibly created the armaments on its own?''

    Nial''s conclusion was quite simple and probably hit the bullseye.

    Just at this moment, he noticed something that he had missed out on before.

    "Be!?"

    He hadpletely forgotten about Be and quickly turned around to sprint towards her.

    Mathias'' earthen walls were still protecting her, but that didn''t mean she was free of pain.

    Nial knew that her condition had been weird, which was also the reason why he couldn''t help but feel a little bit worried.

    When Nial shouted out Be''s name, Mathias also recalled that they had forgotten something.

    Thus, he quickly dissolved the earthen dome to reach her.

    She was breathing heavily and was barely holding onto her consciousness.

    Reaching her in a matter of seconds, Nial quickly checked her vitals.

    ''Just exhausted and overexerted her mana¡­that''s great!''

    Nial had already expected the worst, but that was not the case.

    As such, he would have preferred to hand her a few recuperation vials.

    Unfortunately, this was simply not possible because they had no healing or mana recuperation vials with them.

    They were forbidden to be brought to the Teradan military camp, which made the situation at hand quite difficult.

    "Just sleep for a bit. We''ll quickly rummage through the small settlement, take everything important with us, and leave, alright?"

    Nial knew that Be could barely hear him.

    It still annoyed her that Nial seemed to be unaffected by the mental attacks.

    However, if she were to be honest, it was better for Nial to be fine.

    She didn''t want him to be injured or possibly die.

    Thus, Be forced a smile on her lips, telling herself that she would be stronger, be perfect, and make no mistakes in the following fights.

    Unable to stay conscious, she just grit her teeth before allowing the darkness to overwhelm her senses

    As Be fell into a deep slumber, Nial decided to carry her on his back.

    They had yet to plunder through the Goblin settlement, and take all the armaments with them, but the noises of their battle and the smell of blood would quickly attract other beasts.

    Because of that, they couldn''t leave Be on the ground.

    Binding her on his back with some ropes, to prevent her from restricting Nial''s movements, they quickly collected their spoils of war before leaving.

    In total, each Goblin had a beast controlling ne, while the Lesser Goblin Shaman had more than 15 armaments.

    This caused both Nial and Mathias to feel a little bit dumbfounded as they hadn''t expected the final result to be like that.

    Other than the ice and fire elemental rings, the Lesser Goblin Shaman had some sort of pendant that could induce dizziness and nausea to the intended target opponents.

    Then there was still the pendant with which the Goblin was able to converse in the humannguage and some bracelets whose use neither of them was able to figure out.

    This was a lot, but given the fact that the beast controlling nes were marked objects, their use was not of high importance for the current strength of Nial and Mathias.

    However, it was different in the case of the mental attack pendant and the elemental rings.

    Their use was quite decent for each of them as it allowed both of them to utilize an elemental affinity.

    It was quite difficult, and its usage was restricted, but it was still quite decent.

    <o>,m Yet, what all of them understood clearly was the fact that even the Instructors of the Teradan military camp might be oblivious to the things that were happening on the ind.</o>

    ''If someone were to know that elemental affinity rings existed, even the public would have found out about it by now, right?''

    Nial predicted that they had made a huge discovery and almostnded a treasure by defeating the Lesser Goblin Shaman.

    But if he were to know that all of this was just the beginning, he wouldn''t feel as rxed as was the case right now.

    Instead, without the Odyssey seed, he might even shiver in fright while feeling uncertain about mankind''s future the moment he got to know the bitter truth!

    **

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 Chapter 108 Mankinds Future

    There was no point for Mathias and Nial to advance towards the center of the Ind, right now.

    Be was sleeping soundly, and they would rather avoid being attacked than to face anyone hostile.

    As such, the two young men had decided to leave the small battlefield and find a rather secure spot without too many beasts around.

    They had to research the armaments they had found on the corpse of the Lesser Goblin Shaman.

    But that was not all as they had thoroughly checked and emptied the small base of the Goblins, without leaving anything valuable behind.

    Happy with the oue of the battle, the two were walking through the forest and shared their opinion of the given situation.

    "Do you think that a more intelligent type of beast is behind this? That there is someone else who is helping the Goblins advance?" Mathias asked all of a sudden.

    Their earlier topics had been rather ordinary and revolved around whether mankind knew about the existence of the runic armaments, or not.

    This included the existence of something simr to elemental rings, with which one didn''t even require the possession of an elemental affinity.

    Both young men understood that there was a big difference between a fire elemental affinity and the fire elemental ring that could only create a small fireball of a standard size and might.

    However, even then, for someone, who had already bound an ability or affinity to their mana core, the existence of the fire and ice elemental rings was shockingly great.

    Each of the rings could materialize and control one fireball or icicle at a time.

    Because of that, Nial and Mathias had decided to wear the rings that slid into their fingers pretty easily.

    There was not too much difort, and even if it would feel odd, the use of being able to manifest a total of 10 elemental attacks was more valuable than a subtle itching sensation on their fingers.

    "A more intelligent type of beast helping the Goblins? Don''t you think it is possible for more advanced Goblins to manufacture runes?"

    Nial had never really thought about the intelligence of beasts.

    But even then, he had heard a lot about the fact that Goblins were said to be more intelligent than other types of beasts.

    They were also bi-pedal and hunted in groups to make up for their weak strength.

    As such, Nial thought that it was possible for some Goblins to know about specific runes, which allowed them to create the armaments he and Mathias were wearing right now.

    While thinking about Nial''s answer, Mathias'' gaze kept flicking towards his friend more often than he would usually look at him.

    However, this was mostly owed to Be, who looked like a sleeping beauty while resting on Nial''s back.

    Her entire body was tightly pressed against that of Nial, making Mathias wonder how his friend was able to act as if he was unbothered.

    After all, it looked like Be was snuggling up to him, even if it was unintentional!

    ''I should have insisted on carrying her around¡­Fuck!''

    But what Mathias didn''t realize was that Nial was trying hard to distract himself by talking to his friend.

    His senses were a lot more sensitive than that of someone else, usually causing severe headaches.

    This meant that even a subtle touch from others could lead to difort for Nial.

    Right now, Be''s body was tightly pressed onto him, her scent lingering around him, while her shallow breathing pierced through his ears as if a whirlwind was attacking his eardrums.

    It was disturbing, but also quite helpful as Nial was able to experiment with his senses.

    His highly sharp senses prevented him from having any weird thoughts too, which was exactly what Mathias was having, making him regret his decision to allow Nial to carry Be around.

    However, what both didn''t know was that Be would have twisted Mathias neck the moment his thoughts would have reached her.

    Nial was walking through the forest, but even if he was rather careful, it was not as if he had the time to focus on paying too much attention to providing Be with great service andfort.

    After a few minutes of silence, both Nial and Mathias started thinking about different things, and Nial couldn''t help but mumble,

    "Do you think the government knows about these elemental rings, the beast controlling nes and so on?"

    Asking this while simultaneously materializing a fireball in front of him, Nial clearly understood that theplex mechanism of the fireball creation ring was much higher than most of mankind''s technology.

    That meant if the government knows about all of the runic armaments, they would be far more secretive about disclosing those kinds of things that could allow mankind to grow stronger.

    After all, it should be able to make use of the runic armaments by researching them thoroughly.

    Nial was not even able to imagine all the miraculous deeds they would be able to achieve with the researched intel.

    However, dreaming about it was not exactly helpful either.

    As such, he could only sigh deeply, shake his head, and make up his own theories.

    "I have no idea¡­and If I were, to be honest, I''m not sure if I want the government to be oblivious to the runic armaments, or if I want them to know about it!"

    Mathias said, before shrugging his shoulders and sharing his opinion.

    ''Is he too excited about the runic armaments to be shy, or what else is making him act like this again?''

    Even if Mathias didn''t notice it right away, Nial understood that his friend was ratherfortable right now.

    After the fight, he hadn''t acted shy, timid, or even resumed to be quiet.

    He found this to be relieving because he knew that he would have gone insane if no one would have been around to talk to him about what they had just witnessed.<sub> </sub>

    The fact that the Lesser Goblin Shaman had runic armaments was already more than enough to feel like they were suffocating, but what both Nial and Mathias didn''t speak about was the humannguage pendant.

    It allowed the Lesser Goblin Shaman to speak a few words in the humannguage.

    This was truly fearsome to Mathias, while Nial only felt like he was missing out on something big.

    Yet, in the end, they were unable to tell what was going on.

    In their opinion, reaching the Teradan military camp as quickly as possible had be a necessity.

    It waspletely different than their initial n to be stronger, work on their teamwork, and fix their mistakes without the Instructors by their side.

    However, it was certainly necessary to share their intel and retelling of their battle with Goblins with the Instructors of the Teradan military camp.

    They had to find out whether mankind was aware of the runic armaments, whether it was the existence of the mass-produced marked devices, the beast controlling nes, the humannguage pendant, the mental attack pendants or the elemental rings!

    With that in mind, Nial and Mathias didn''t even feelfortable resting too long.

    But even then, it was necessary to allow Be to rest and wake up with renewed energy to continue fighting by their side.

    Their team was the smallest, and it was important for the three of them to be in their peak condition.

    As such, upon finding a good location to rest, they stayed there, while continuing to discuss the runic armaments, a possible n to find the Teradan military camp as quickly as possible, and testing the armaments for themselves.

    Using them was quite easy, and it didn''t even take that long before Nial and Mathias gained some proficiency in creating a fireball and an icicle.

    Even utilizing the mental attack with the use of one of the pendants was rather easy.

    "Just where are these runes from¡­" Nial mumbled. It was already dark and just a few hours left to midnight.

    He was a little bit tired, but Nial had allowed Mathias to rest as he had used up the most mana during the rest of the day.

    It was time for him to wake up his friend soon to change shifts in guarding their temporary resting spot.

    All of a sudden, he felt that Be twitched a little.

    She was lying on a nket next to him and Mathias and regained her senses after sleeping for nearly half a day.

    Rubbing her drowsy eyes, Be could recall only some words that had reached her mind when she had been sleeping.

    "The rings, and so on¡­I think they''re from a newly emerged dungeon¡­"

    Be was still tired, but she had wanted to tell Nial and Mathias about the things she had in mind.

    "Newly emerged dungeons¡­"

    While repeating these three words, Nial recalled the twin element dungeon and the fact that the number of newly emerged dungeons had increased during thest few weeks.

    There had also been far more dungeons with unique beasts that the humans living in Katu had never encountered before.

    Nial had even heard about new types of dungeons such as temples, castles, and ancient ruins.

    Recalling this, he knitted his brows before mumbling.

    "Soo¡­the Goblins coulde from some ce that either allows them to get hold of the runic armaments, or they learned to manufacture them by themselves with the use of whatever they found in the dungeon they came from?"

    He thought that his mind was going wild with what he imagined.

    But, when he visualized that Be was nodding her head, Nial could only take some deep breaths.

    "Doesn''t that mean there might be multiple such dungeons that inhabited intelligent beasts that lived in amunity of some sort? With what will theye at us next? Other elemental rings? Highly advanced crossbows, bows, or other weaponry? Explosive devices?"

    Nial felt as if his mind was spinning, and Be couldn''t help but agree.

    There were too many things that had happened during thest few weeks.

    She might not have gotten as much intel as it was in the past, but she knew that the government was mostly oblivious to the existence of elemental rings.

    Recing an affinity with the use of armaments would be a revolutionary decision for the government.

    But at the same time, the government had no idea how to create items that could use elemental affinities, not without the use of invaluable materials!

    Be''s drowsiness had now been reced by curiosity.

    She looked around, only to notice that they were resting somewhere quiet inside the forest.

    As such, she could switch her focus to the elemental rings and other armaments that Nial just handed over to her.

    He felt as if Be was more knowledgeable than both him and Mathias in that regard.

    Thus, he stayed quiet and waited for her to do something. She peered at the weapons in front of her intently and let out a gasp.

    "Are the runes alive?"

    Hearing this caused Nial''s eyes to go wide and her next words just made his jaw drop to the ground.

    "No¡­that''s not it¡­ The runic armaments are constantly being empowered with the surrounding mana as well¡­.just what is that??"

 Chapter 109 Search & Secrets

    Be understood a lot more about the runic armaments than both Nial and Mathias did.

    Thus, she was able toe up with multiple theories about the existence of the elemental rings and the other unique armaments.

    But even then, it was impossible for her to understand theplexities associated with them thoroughly.

    This was obvious as Be was not only young but also in an environment that was tense.

    The time she had spent oning up with some theories was quite less yet her thoughts were not wildly off the mark.

    Meanwhile, Nial grew so interested in what Be hade up with that all the sleep and drowsiness were driven out of his eyes in an instant.

    Instead of sleeping, he discussed quite a few things with Be, while waiting for Mathias to wake up.

    After their friend got up, they decided on what to do next before leaving along with the first rays of sunlight.

    Their n was quite simple- to rush to the Teradan military camp and inform the authorities about the runic Armaments.

    The most likely cause they had in mind was that a new type of dungeon had emerged on the nameless ind.

    Be believed that stronger, more intelligent and advanced Goblins emerged from this dungeon and passed on their knowledge and teachings to their kind inhabiting the ind.

    None of the three could be certain about that theory as even theirbined knowledge was shallow.

    Because of that, they began to advance through the forest, searching for the Teradan military camp as they believed that the Instructors would be able to provide more insights.

    Even if the Instructors were oblivious to what was going on with the runic armaments, they could, at the least, contact the government to initiate an emergency n.

    Nial didn''t believe that an emergency n was necessary. ording to him, it would be better for the Instructor to simply annihte the Goblins on the ind before doing anything else.

    The Goblins were far too dangerous for the participants of the military camp, but for Originals like Junades, and the other instructors, they were but tiny, weak ants.

    From the way Be spoke about it, the strongest individuals of humanity had already advanced to a higher rank way beyond the Origin rank and were progressing towards bing existences that couldn''t bepared to ordinary humans.

    Mara and Kira had already informed him of such Originals when they were helping him prepare for the camp.

    However, during that time, he didn''t pay much attention to it as Nial was sure that knowing more about them would only make him feel worse about himself.

    His mana core''s potential was simply too bad, and he could only enter the 5th Origin rank as per the assessment conducted by the Originals association.

    As such, Nial knew that he shouldn''t bother about higher ranks if he was already struggling to be on par with his peers in terms of rank and grading!

    Hence he consoled his mind telling himself that the higher ranks were out of his reach for now.

    But this was not the case for both Be and Mathias, whose talent was far higher than Nial''s.

    Their knowledge of the ranking system was far better, and they could roughly gauge the strength of their Instructors.

    Be knew the most as she had been taught by Instructor Kassandra.

    She knew that her teacher was very knowledgeable, even if Be didn''t want to acknowledge it.

    After all, who would want to believe that a pervert,bat maniac, and sadist was one of the most intelligent humans he or she knew?

    From a young age, Be had believed that this was just wrong, and the thought shed with the image of an ideal Original in her mind.

    But even then, she had to ept it right now!

    "Let''s go up the hill right there. Even if the Teradan military camp won''t be there, we should hopefully be able to see a few glimpses of the camp from that height!"

    Making use of nature to their advantage, they climbed up the hill that was much taller than they initially expected.

    However, when they reached the top of the hill just a few hourster, they sighed in relief.

    The height was good enough to allow them an aerial view of the ind that spanned up to several kilometers in all directions.

    Had the Teradan military camp been easy to find, it wouldn''t be their first task as participants of the camp.

    With that in mind, Be and Mathias looked around intently for the tiniest clues to find it.

    They came across quite a few clues of the interference of intelligent beings, such as chopped trees, terraforming, and the destruction of the surrounding.

    However, not a single clue indicated that the camp was nearby.

    Everything they saw was likely to have been created by the other participants, and powerful beasts.

    This caused Mathias and Be''s spirits to dampen but they continued to search through their surroundings.

    Meanwhile, Nial''s face had a deep frown while he released his mana perception before inserting some of his mana into it to further expand his range.

    ''Not a single beast¡­''

    Since they had begun to climb up the hill, Nial had been unable to sense a single beast roaming around them.

    Not even the smell of or sounds of beasts reached him, let alone the vibrations of any beasts from the underground that his senses would otherwise pick could be sensed.

    ''Is there any kind of overly powerful beast hibernating on the hill?'' He wondered, not sure about what was going on.

    The entire situation made him feel suspicious about the existence of the hill, worsened by the utterck of beasts.

    Every single nt around him was flourishing, and overflowing with vigor, owing to the density of mana that increased the higher they climbed.

    As such, many beasts would love to be high up, where they were.

    ''Wait¡­more mana¡­that means we have more dungeons around here!''

    From the moment they had arrived on the nameless ind, Nial had been feeling that something was off.

    And now he knew why he felt like this!

    ''Our¡­doesn''t release mana naturally. Doesn''t that mean that there are countless dungeon portals on the nameless ind?''<sub> </sub>

    Nial knew that his theory was correct. Jundra was unable to release mana actively.

    This was something the sisters Kira and Mara had exined to him over and over again.

    It was also the reason why the sisters had ''collected'' a multitude of Rookie ranked dungeon portals in their front yard, to begin with.

    "Ehm¡­guys¡­"

    Nial said after a few moments as he sensed something.

    The Viper spear manifested in his hand, and he began to circte mana through his body.

    Yet, even then, the others were too focused on straining their eyes in order to find clues to the Teradan military camp.

    They didn''t hear him, and neither did they sensed the approaching danger, trusting that Nial would warn them.

    "GUYS!!" he hissed, making use of mana to enhance his voice reached the two other members of his team nearly instantaneously.

    At once both of them turned around and stared at Nial in unison, only to see that Nial was focusing on a particr direction.

    There was a small path leading further away from the hill.

    However, because there was arge wall, blocking the view, the group of three had ignored the path before, believing that they had found the best spot to take a good look at the surrounding area.

    "I can sense a few mana fluctuations five hundred meters ahead, fighting against each other!! There is also something big and very strong!"

    Under normal circumstances, the radius at which Nial was able to sense mana fluctuations didn''t exceed 300 meters.

    And this was after inserting mana in his [Mana Perception(poorest)] ability.

    But right now, owing to the density of mana that surrounded him and the entire area around the hill, it was possible for him to get a glimpse of mana fluctuations farther than his normal range!

    Nial had yet to share the realization about the fact that mana reached every nook and cranny on the nameless ind.

    He was not sure why, but he felt that this was far less important than the fighting beings ahead.

    It was almost as if he was being pulled towards the location as if someone was calling for him.

    Because of that, he didn''t spend a lot of time thinking anymore, and simply let his instincts take over.

    Pushing his feet off the ground, Nial shot ahead without even telling Be and Mathias what he wanted to do.

    He just left their side, forcing them to follow suit because they could tell that he was behaving quite weirdly.

    Knowing that Nial''s senses were manifold higher than their own, the two decided to trust him.

    Thus, within a few seconds, they fell in steps beside him and prepared themselves to fight alongside their friend.

    All of them wore some of the runic armaments, giving them an additionalyer of protection, and an increment in theirbat prowess.

    Because of that, their mind was at ease as they knew it would be possible for them to flee when everything else would fail.

    But even then, Mathias couldn''t help but feel a little bit restless.

    ''Nial is not someone who acts reckless¡­even while fighting it looks like he always has a n¡­''

    It was obvious that Mathias didn''t know everything about Nial.

    They had be friends just two days ago, after all.

    However, even then, it was possible to understand the mindset of someone else, or at least a portion of it, by spending all the time with someone else for a few days!

    Thus, Nial''s current behavior was odd, which only he seemed to mind.

    This became even more obvious as he looked over to Be, whose eyes were gleaming brightly, almost as if she knew that something exciting was about to happen.

    ''She is a battle maniac, isn''t she?'' He could only wonder before sighing deeply.

    ''Why did I join these two, to begin with?''

    Smiling lightly at this thought, Mathias also his reasons for forming a team with them.

    But never would he allow anyone to get to know what was on his mind.

    After all, it was his opinion, his secret, and he would never allow someone to understand everything about him¡­not even his dearest people¡­too many secrets revolved around him, and even Mathias was scared about revealing them!

    Most of the secrets were something even his father didn''t know of, and this was all for a good reason.

    Who would still love their son, if they knew that he had died long ago and now the body was just a vessel for some other soul to wander around, iming itself to be their son, to begin with?

    Shaking his head, Mathias tried to dispel his anxious thoughts and worries at once.

    Unfortunately, this was not easy, and only the thought that Nial was acting weirdly gave him the necessary distraction to get his act together.

    Reaching Nial, the three of them ran together for a few seconds.

    However, all of a sudden both Mathias and Be struggled to continue running as their eyes widened.

    Both of them were staring in a particr direction, in front of a huge crevice that spread through the mountain wall ahead of them.

    "Just what the hell is this?!" Be asked, forgetting to act in her character as she stared nkly at the huge human-like existence ahead.

    Nial didn''t know what kind of existence they were facing ahead either, but if he were to give it a guess, he wouldpare it to an armored giant, or even a Titan!

    The beast ahead was powerful enough to cause tremors in the ground, sending warning signals to Nial that an encounter with it would be too dangerous.

    But even then, it was not possible for him to halt in his tracks because he sensed that multiple groups of humans were ahead.

    All of them were fighting desperately and using their entire strength to not join the four corpses that were already lying on the ground.

 Chapter 110 King Of The Hill

    Upon sensing the four corpses, Nial couldn''t help but knit his brows.

    He was not familiar with any of them and had maybe just seen them in the basement while having lunch, but the death of his peers made him understand that nobody would save them here.

    The Instructors wouldn''t help them in a tricky situation, and they would just die upon making mistakes.

    This was something that caused Nial to feel that the reason behind the creation of the Teradan military camp was wrong.

    Every single participant was a human being with enough potential to be powerful.

    Nial was pretty sure that everyone had the necessary talent to support mankind in their fight against the ever-increasing number of dungeon beasts and manifesting dungeons.

    As such, he couldn''t help but feel that the Instructors made a big mistake right now by letting potential prodigies just die.

    ''They are probably just understaffed,'' Nial tried to convince himself.

    However, even while trying to tell himself that the behavior of the government was different than it looked, the situation in front of him didn''t change.

    With that in mind, he pushed ahead, sending dust and sand around as his feet catapulted him towards the Armored Giant.

    Dense mana currents circted through his body, allowing him to further elerate his speed.

    At this very moment, the Armored Giant noticed the small team of three advancing towards itself.

    Yet, instead of worrying about them, it picked up one of the other Originals before smashing him into the ground.

    The Armored Giant was barely fifty meters away from them, which caused the scene ahead to look extremely cruel.

    Mathias instinctively swallowed his saliva as he stared at the mangled corpse that had been smashed into the ground.

    ''Are we really doing the right thing?!''

    While Mathias felt chills spreading all over his skin at the sight of the easily killed Original, Be geared up her speed.

    She had fully recuperated from her overly exhausted state and was ready to go all-in once again.

    There was no need for her to hesitate, even less because Nial was charging toward the Armored Giant without any hesitation.

    If she were to know that Nial''s entire being was screaming at him that it was a necessity to kill the Armored Giant, Be would feel utterly confused.

    Nial might feel like saving the others, but he was well aware of his shorings and knew that his individual strength was not enough to make this happen¡­not without the help of something that was hidden deep within him.

    He had no idea what exactly the Odyssey seed was, and the same could be said about the Curse.

    Being connected, they had some sort of synergy but Nial was still oblivious to the true powers or potency of both the Curse and Odyssey seed.

    At this moment, the Armored Giant turned towards the neers, while emitting an ear-splitting roar.

    Pounding its huge fists on its inted chest, it tried to disy its dominance and strength much like a huge Ape.

    As his senses were much more refined and sharper than others, it was no wonder that Nial''s ears began to bleed, while his face scrunched in difort.

    It was as if severe pain spread through him, without him being actually injured.

    But all of this was not something Nial was able to clearly notice.

    Somehow, it felt as if his heart skipped a beat the moment the ear-piercing roar reverberated through his entire being.

    He was not sure what was happening, but the moment the Armored Giant''s roar fell on his ears, Nial felt as if a series of memories reached him.

    They were certainly not his memories because he was able to see vivid images of something he had never seen before.

    Even in his dreams of the divine pce, he was never able to see more than the clouds, a marble staircase, the divine pce, and the Goddess seated on her throne.

    As such, he could ascertain that the memory of him standing on top of a ginormous rock, and looking down at a raging storm certainly did not belong to him.

    Below the raging storm that hindered his sight, he was able to sense the life force of millions of bloodthirsty beings that were fighting against each other in a war thatsted longer than a millennia.

    On both sides, ginormous beings towering several hundred meters above others could be seen squashing their opponents under their feet, while other, smaller beasts scurried over the ground in the blink of an eye.

    A fierce battle was being fought with opponents tearing each other apart mercilessly, and even sacrificing themselves for the sake of gaining an advantage in the war they had started for the sake of the existence they swore allegiance to.

    Moments turned into hours, seconds into weeks, and before Nial knew what was going on, the images that had shed through his mind disappeared as abruptly as they had appeared.

    It was almost if they had never existed, leaving behind only the memories and flood of information that now ravaged his mind.

    "Lesser Titan youngling¡­" Nial blurted out without realizing.

    He was still running towards the Armored Giant that seemed to be a Lesser Titan youngling in reality.

    It was as if time had stopped when the memories, images and information that didn''t belong to him had shed through his mind.

    And what Nial didn''t notice was that his body was shrouded in a faint membrane that gleamed in dark color.

    His speed had elerated further, and his Odyssey seed had pulsated twice in a row, the moment his mind had been bombarded with the memories.

    Right now, Nail''s mind felt like a mess as it was trying to make sense of all the provided information and digest it at once.

    Thus, instead of inducing a headache caused due to the strain, Nial decided to avert his attention to the suction force his Odyssey seed was issuing.

    The surrounding mana was quickly pulled towards him, only to be annexed by the Odyssey seed that absorbed everything, without distinguishing between impure and low density of mana.

    Moments that felt like minutes passed, before the Odyssey seed began to tremble, releasing currents of darkness.

    Not knowing what was going on, or why, Nial could only sense instinctively that he was able to control the currents of dark energy.

    At the same time, he was still continuing to charge toward the Lesser Titan youngling that looked at Nial in anger.

    However, there was also a trace of something in therge, nearly pitch-ck eyes of the Titan youngling, that the others hadn''t seen before- fear!

    But this fear was not something Nial could either detect or even be bothered about!

    After all, the dark energy currents he released were overflowing with vigor, causing great pain to his entire body.<sub> </sub>

    His constitution might have been strengthened already, but he was still too weak to withstand the pressure of the dark energy currents.

    This made him realize that he was not yet ready for whatever was going to happen.

    Yet the desire to devour the living beings around him, prevented him from thinking straight as the dark energy currents continued to influence his mind.

    He was not sure whether it was intentional or his subconscious that acted, but Nial inserted the vast majority of mana that was left in his mana core to activate the Curse [Hodur''s Heir]

    The sudden activation of his curse caused his mana core to react in a familiar way as it began to faintly tremble.

    It was just like the Odyssey seed would tremble, almost as if something exciting was happening.

    ck miasma was released from his mana core only a momentter as the inserted mana was enough to activate the Curse.

    The moment the ck miasma was released from his body, he felt that he regained control over himself.

    His mind was not influenced by the desires of the dark energy currents anymore.

    This gave him the moment he required to perceive the situation ahead, with the Titan youngling roaring out once again.

    The distance between him and the Titan youngling was now less than ten meters which were enough for the Titan to reach him with one pounce.

    Yet, that was not what the beast did.

    Rather than focusing solely on Nial to eliminate the biggest threat ahead, the Titan released the vast majority of mana that was residing within it in order to dete its body.

    A momentter, it looked like the Titan disappeared from its position as its body deted, decreasing to a size of five meters.

    It took only a second for the Titan youngling''s appearance to change drastically, and it was a mere moment after the change that it began to move.

    In a single stride, it appeared in front of another Original.

    Punching its fist into him, the Titan youngling sted away the upper body of the Original, causing blood, flesh, organs, and bones to stter through the surroundings.

    Yet, instead of being delighted at the sight of its opponent''s blood, the Titan youngling threw a mere nce at Nial before disappearing from the sight once again.

    The eleration of the Titan youngling was shocking, and even before Nial was able to reach it, another two Originals had died at its hand.

    Only then did Nial finally reach the Titan.

    When he enveloped the Viper spear in a mixture of both the ck miasma and the dark energy currents, it hummed loudly before Nial thrust it forward.

    Swirling the de of the Viper spear around, he allowed the ck miasma and dark energy currents to merge, only to turn into an additionalyer of enhancement.

    This allowed Nial, whose strength was lower than that of the other Originals to pierce through the abdomen of the Titan youngling, whose eyes widened at the sight.

    Nobody on the nameless ind had been able to even scratch its armor.

    Yet, Nial, the being that had made it feel fear despite his evident weakness, was able to pierce through its armor, skin and flesh without much resistance.

    Angered by this, it reached for the Viper spear to shatter it into pieces before tearing apart the dwarf-like existence ahead of itself.

    But the moment the table-sized hands of the youngling reached out for the shaft of the spear, the dark energy currents and ck miasma lunged out for its hand.

    <o>,m Like ferocious serpents, they shot out towards the youngling''s hand and tightly coiled around it at once.</o>

    This astonished Nial as he was not controlling either of the energies right now.

    In fact, Nial''s n had been to retract the Viper spear a moment after piercing through the armor of the Titan.

    His gut feeling had told him that the Viper spear and the enhancing effect of both the ck miasma and the dark energy currents would be more than enough to prate the high defense of the Titan.

    But somehow, everything seemed to go on differently than first expected.

    None of the Originals, including the group of three, could have assumed that the fight against the Titan youngling would result in such chaos and confusion.

    And Nial was, by far, the most confused about the given situation.

    After all, he was the one to have been bombarded by memories in the middle of the fight coupled with the fact that his Odyssey seed suddenly went on a riot upon encountering the Lesser Titan youngling ahead of him.

    But even the Titan was utterly dumbfounded about the situation.

    It had been thrown in an unknown world, at an unknown ce, with the sole order to grow, cause destruction,, and be stronger¡­

    As such, getting defeated was not on the list of tasks that the Titan was allowed to pursue.

    Recalling its task, it ignored the pain that spread through its abdomen and the right hand as it roared at Nial.

    Interestingly, while everyone else could only hear an ear-piercing roar that caused the overly exhausted Originals to slump to the ground, the roar felt different to Nial.

    It was almost as if he could understand the intent behind the roar.

    However, this caused him to knit his eyebrows even further as it made him feel even more crazed than the situation had already been before!

    "I am the King of the Hill!!!"

    **

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 Chapter 111 Work Of A Team!

    Nial was still overwhelmed by the influx of information and memories.

    However, he also knew that he was responsible for Be and Mathias because he had led them to the Lesser Titan youngling.

    This forced him to get a grip on himself, calm down, and defeat the threat in front of him without losing anyone!

    Nial thus retreated swiftly after the spearhead out of the Titan youngling. While taking a few breaths before he scanned through his surroundings.

    The vast majority of Originals were either heavily injured, exhausted due to overexertion of mana, or dead.

    As such, he didn''t even need to ask them for help.

    With a few more strides, he retreated further and reunited with Be and Mathias, who finally reached him.

    The deafening roars of the Titan shook their entire being. It was almost as if their body dissolved into a pudding when the Titan roared at them, making them give an involuntary shudder.

    But after seeing that Nial was nearly unscathed despite having been right in front of the Titan when it had roared, they could only force themselves to appear strong.

    They acted as if they were perfectly fine and used mana to support their body.

    Nial could sense the surrounding mana fluctuations, and use all his senses other than sight.

    Through this, he was able to tell how others were feeling even before they might realize it.

    Sensing the issues and condition of both members of his team, and even the state of the other Originals, Nial clearly understood that he had to act as their pir of support.

    ''''Being the backbone while having Be in my team¡­feels odd.'''' He could only mumble to himself before averting his attention back to the being that was overflowing with mana.

    Never in his life had Nial faced a beast with such a high density of mana.

    This should be more than enough to intimidate him and instill a sense of fear.

    Yet, while the dark energy currents and ck miasma enveloped his body tightly, Nial felt even less fear and distracting emotions than usual.

    The Odyssey seed prevented him from being easily influenced by emotions, but the current situation made him seem as if he was cold and unapproachable.

    It was still fortunate that he was able to be in charge of controlling himself.

    After all, when the dark energy currents had enveloped him, they had tried to influence his mind, to lead him to the path of destruction and chaos.

    That was something Nial had never nned to do as he had always been a rather cid youth.

    However, ever since the Odyssey seed had awoken within him, Nial realized that his mind was being tempered, and slowly being overwhelmed by the dangerous, bitter and bleak reality that would soon be the future of mankind.

    They were not far from going extinct, their poption was slowly dwindling, and their situation didn''t seem to improve, not a lot, at least!

    His mindset was slowly changing due to external and internal factors, including the influence of the Odyssey seed. After a while, Nial''s expression grew cold as he forcefully subdued the dark energy currents.

    He knew that his body was not yet capable of properly controlling even a single darkness current.

    But that was not something he could currently care about.

    Instead of acting like a coward, Nial embraced the pain that came forth with taking control of the darkness currents.

    Simultaneously, he controlled the ck miasma and tried to fuse them into one type of energy and objective.

    He hoped that it would be easier to control them upon merging them.

    However, Nial noticed that he was covered in chills on his first attempt.

    It was a small warning given by his body, and Nial understood it almost instantaneously.

    ''Merging the ck miasma and the dark energy currents will kill me, okay, understood¡­''

    Yet, even after he forced his control over the darkness currents, the Odyssey seed did not stop rioting.

    ? It continued to tremble violently and influenced Nial''s mana core which were subtly connected to each other.

    It was almost as if the appearance of the Titan youngling in front of them caused all of this, which was certainly weird!

    While Nial sensed and experimented with everything, only two seconds had passed in reality.

    The Titan youngling stared down at Nial, sensing that it had to eliminate the threat as quickly as possible.

    Otherwise, its mission was in danger, which it couldn''t ept whatsoever.

    As such, while beating its fists upon its armored chest, the Titan released tremendous amounts of mana.

    It was equal to the energy, Be, Mathias, and Nial possessed altogether, causing Be and Mathias to frown.

    Meanwhile, Nial was just quiet, had fully regained his senses, and was ready to fight against an existence that might even exceed the capabilities of someone at the Origin rank!

    The Titan youngling pushed its feet off the ground, bursting it open owing to the brute strength that was released at once.

    With a single, yet powerful move, the Titan sted its heavy body forward, cutting down the distance toward Nial in no time.

    Reaching out with its fist, the beast''s punch reached a shock velocity as it flew through the air.

    When Nial perceived the attack, he nearly flinched and remained in the same position.

    Fortunately, his instincts caused him to react in time as he thrust the Viper spear out.

    He knew that his physical strength alone was not even close to that of the Titan youngling.

    Yet, with the additional enhancements, Nial felt that his strength would be enough to withstand the beast''s barrages.

    It was impossible for him to evade the punches, either way, as Mathias was standing less than a meter behind him.

    Meanwhile, Be was also not that far from him and was clearly within the reach of the Titan.

    As such, Nial had to attract the attention of the beast while preventing his friends from being attacked.

    That was even more important when the impact of the Titan''s armored fist reached him.

    Enveloped in mana, the defenses of the Titan youngling were even more terrifying than before.

    Using its terrifyingly high defensive measures in order to attack, the Titan youngling''s fist didn''t even move an inch as it collided with the Viper spear''s de.

    The de might be enveloped by the dark energy currents and the ck miasma, but even their enhancement had limits.<sub> </sub>

    This was even more so the case owing to the little amounts of mana that had been used to empower them.

    In fact, when the Viper spear collided with the Titan''s fist, it was a wonder that the spear didn''t instantly crumble into countless pieces.

    That did little to make Nial feel satisfied because the impact of the mighty and high-velocity punch swept through the spear, reaching him in no time.

    The faint noise of the cracking of bones could be heard, causing his teammates'' eyes to widen as they followed the trail of Nial being flung through the air.

    He was sted away, but didn''t loosen his grip around the Viper spear, and was smashed into the ground several meters ahead.

    Rolling on the ground, his arm twisted as Nial didn''t dare to let go of his spear.

    That was because his biggest fear was that the Titan youngling wouldunch a second attack right after.

    However, even worse to Nial was the thought that the others might get attacked in the process.

    After all, they were not even able to inflict an injury by prating the Titan youngling''s high defenses.

    Nial couldn''t be sure about that, but he knew that Mathias'' affinity wouldn''t be able to break through the armor of the gigantic beast.

    Meanwhile, Be''s Innate ability and the [Outburst] ability were something mystical that Nial had yet to gain an understanding of.

    Despite all of that, he shot up from the ground, ignoring the severe pain that stemmed from his arms and shoulders.

    He could clearly sense that something was broken and that it was not just a small bone in his fingers, but something serious.

    For now, he simply inserted some mana, some of the dark energy currents, and ck miasma inside his body to momentarily fix the issues of his broken body.

    Groaning in pain, Nial staggered back and took a deep breath while the healing took effect. Now was not the time to hesitate.

    As such, he used some more mana to insert it into the [Hodur''s Heir] curse.

    More ck miasma was released from his body, which Nial used to envelop around the tip of his spear.

    ''One lethal blow should be enough¡­''

    He thought, forcing his exhausted mind to think of an action n.

    Nial knew that his body and mind had crossed their limits, and still functioning with ease.

    This was something the first pulsating of the Odyssey seed allowed him to do.

    Now, he could even go beyond this without any issues, if one were to ignore his body''s pain and the strain he put on it.

    Thus, in no time, he returned to the Titan youngling, who had averted its focus on Be to eliminate the second-most threatening opponent.

    However, contrary to Nial, Be didn''t face the Titan''s punch head-on.

    She ducked and pushed herself forward to evade the fist of her opponent before shing out with her two shortswords.

    The sound of metal colliding with metal rang through the area as Be''s attacks were simply blocked off.

    This astonished the young woman, only for her face to turn eerily cold as her eyes began to gleam in a golden color.

    At the same time, her hair began to shine brightly, and her mana currents gained a subtle golden touch.

    Having activated her Innate ability and the [Outburst] ability at once, Be knew that she had only half a minute to finish off the Titan.

    Otherwise, instead of helping her team, she would turn into a burden, just like it happened not too long ago.

    Determined to not repeat that mistake, Be circted the golden mana inside her shortsword, while also coating them in her mana.

    Through this, they began to gleam brightly.

    Her mana was, at least, twice as powerful as usual, giving her the confidence to easily cut through the Titan''s armor.

    Yet, the moment she brandished the shortswords while shing them at the calf of the youngling''s right leg, Be''s ice-cold and serious expression crumbled.

    ''I don''t believe it¡­''

    The shortsword with which she had first attacked the Titan, pierced through her opponent''s calf.

    Searing hot blood shot out of it, but it was just when she wanted to pull out her weapon that Be noticed it was impossible.

    It was almost as if she was trying to pull Excalibur out of the stone without being Arthur himself.

    Be was only able to tug hard at her shortsword once, before the Titan''s arm had already shot towards it.

    Moving towards the back of the Titan, she prevented the beast from reaching her.

    However, she lost one of her weapons in the process, and lots of time, causing her to be visibly irritated.

    At this moment, Be''s eyes fell on Nial who was enveloped in a cocoon of darkness.

    He rushed past Mathias, who was trying to use his elemental affinity to obstruct the Titan, rather than attacking directly.

    When Nial brushed past his friend, he gently touched him, while releasing some of the ck miasma towards him.

    While he was unable to control the dark energy currents, the ck miasma was fully under his control.

    As such, it was also not too much to ask if he wanted to use the new information and memories that shed through his mind.

    In an instant, he separated some of the ck miasma to allow Mathias to make use of it, and enhance his elemental attacks by coating them with it.

    A secondter, he appeared in front of the Titan that had turned towards Be to end her life.

    Perceiving the golden mana currents around her sword, Nial also realized that Be''s mana was wreaking havoc in the calf of the Titan.

    Because of that, Nial got an idea, which made him focus on the Titan''s other calf.

    He knew that it would be near impossible to reach the Titan''s chest, let alone his throat to pierce through it, without being flung away by the beast.

    Its reflexes were simply too fast.

    As such, Nial activated the poison crystal of the Viper spear for the first time in his life before piercing the tip of the spear in the calf of the Titan.

    ''Let''s see if you can move after both calves are crippled!''

 Chapter 112 Defeat Of A Titan

    A poisonous green light shimmered within the darkness of the ck miasma that enveloped the Viper spear''s tip.

    It was only faint, but one could clearly tell that its function was lethal, just like the venom of a snake.

    Thus, upon piercing out with the Viper spear, Nial could instantly tell that his attack would leave his opponent on the brink of death.

    Even if he would feel that his arms were going numb, that his strength was constantly decreasing, and that his arms would fallf his shoulders or he would be ripped apart into shreds at any moment, he could not let exhaustion or nervousness hold him back.

    Rather, it caused Nial to understand that the situation ahead of them was not as easy or simple as it had felt when he had first encountered the Titan youngling.

    The beast in front of him was not just an ordinary creature, and far stronger than anyone else thought.

    After all, it would grow the more destruction and death it caused to the surrounding, and the fighting experience would slowly let it umte the prowess to destroy and devour worlds!

    Nial was not sure why he knew all of this, and many more things, such as the fact that only a few Titans were born every few centuries.

    It was the knowledge that he was not supposed to possess, which caused him to feel odd and very ufortable.

    Yet, as his emotions had been suppressed, the difort he felt was but a tiny fraction that floated around the nearly empty space of his conscience.

    With slight resistance, the de of the Viper spear pierced through the calf of the Titan youngling.

    The poison crystal was activated, and immediately the poison spread through its veins while the ck miasma that enveloped the spear tip did exactly the same.

    A painful roar could be heard reverberating through the surrounding merely a momentter.

    This roar was the final straw and caused some of the dead-tired and overstrained Originals to copse on the ground.

    Their willpower to stay awake had dispersed into thin air, barely leaving those few Originals up on their feet who were fighting a losing battle against their weakening consciousness.

    They knew that once they sumbed to the darkness and let exhaustion take control, they would never be able to wake up again.

    Even if they were to stay awake, their chances to survive were slim, and to the extent that they wondered if it might be better to ept death and free themselves of the unbearable pain.

    If not for Nial''s team, most of them might have already died by now.

    As such, faint traces of unwillingness and a glint of hope was emerging within them.

    These feelings further intensified when they perceived that both of the monstrous opponent''s calves seemed to have been injured.

    Nial''s attack was far worse than Be''s, owing to the poison crystal, and the ck miasma that were wreaking havoc within the injured calf of the Titan youngling.

    Meanwhile, Be''s golden mana currents that had been enhanced by her [Outburst] ability were doing the same, just not on as big a scale as Nial''s attacks!

    But even though they seemed to be gaining an upper hand, Nial knew better. Seeing the Titan youngling stagger back made Mathias and Be smile.

    They were sure that their victory was sealed and it was only a matter of time before the Titan youngling''s legs gave in.

    Unfortunately, Nial was in no mood to celebrate, causing him to abandon his attack the second he had initiated it.

    A single thrust of his spear might have been enough to pierce through the defense of the Titan''s protective armor, and also to further worsen the severe injuries to its calf.

    However, in the end, they faced an existence that was of a higher rank than them, even if the Titan seemed to be quite young and still not an adolescent.

    This brought up the question of how a newborn Titan had appeared on Jundra, or to be precise, the nameless Ind.

    It was just too odd, causing Nial to retreat as quickly as possible after he had pulled the Viper spear out of the Titan''s calf.

    And this was barely in time as the beast twisted its body to attempt flinging the measly existence away that dared to attack it from the back.

    With the back of its hand swinging behind it, the Titan nearly hit Nial, which would have caused an even worse injury than he was already being forced to endure.

    Afterward, the Titan required a few moments in order to regain its senses, cope with what had just happened, and get up from the ground.

    The situation it was forced to face had escted way beyond its control.

    Anger swept through its entire being because of this, making the Titan release even more mana from its body.

    With the additional mana, it enveloped its lower body, focusing on the calves as they were the most injured.

    Meanwhile, the wound at its abdomen had already stopped bleeding.

    This was owed to the strong mana currents the Titan youngling had circted around the area of the injury, slowly soothing the pain before elerating the healing process to an unprecedented level.

    Seeing Nial not stand back and wait for the beast to fall down, Mathias jumped back to action as well.

    He had manifested a total of a dozen earth spikes that protruded out of the ground, allowing him to envelop them with the ck miasma that Nial had provided.

    Mathias was still not sure what exactly the ck miasma was, and how Nial was suddenly able to use the ck mass as if he had practiced with it for years, but he could worry about itter. Right now, it was more important to defeat the terrifying beast ahead of them.

    His legs were shivering, and Mathias couldn''t help but contemte the day he was born on this before shooting the spike towards the Titan youngling.

    Instead of focusing on the abdomen, or causing the most lethal damage to its vital points, Mathias wanted to damage the calf that Be had attacked earlier.

    With this, he wanted to cripple the Titan youngling, and prevent it from being able to stand up once again.

    Nial''s attack had been a sess that forced the monstrous beast to stagger and slowed down its pace severely.

    This also allowed Mathias, Nial, and Be to team up once again, while the earth spikes caused lots of distraction to the young Titan.

    When gathering up, Nial split up thest traces of his ck miasma and shared it with Be and Mathias.

    He knew that his own attacks would only grow weaker as the pain in his arms and shoulder was increasing, preventing him from moving as he wanted.

    His body had already broken through its limit by releasing far more ck miasma than Nial had ever done after the fateful day on which he bound the [Hodur''s Heir] curse to his mana core.

    Adding the burden of the dark energy currents that held his body together, but also prevented his arms from going limp as the broken bones in his arms would usually cause, helped him keep going.<sub> </sub>

    It allowed him to fight even if every move sent a fresh jolt of pain straight to his head.

    Because of the unfamiliar, high, and painful pressure his body had to endure, Nial knew that he had to end the battle with the next onught of attacks.

    Otherwise, something extremely bad was bound to happen.

    Be was facing a simr problem as Nial.

    Her [Outburst] ability would onlyst around ten more seconds, and the moment the duration of her ability''s effect would be over, Be would grow extremely weak.

    After all, it was not normal for her body to endure a drastic transformation that enhanced every single characteristic of hers tremendously, followed by another means of support that amplified her mana outburst even more!

    Only Mathias was not facing any issues, except for the soleints he had in mind wherein he wished to have been born in a cid world, a world he was familiar with.

    But even then, he knew that the obstacles he was facing right now were something that would help him in the long run.

    It was an opportunity, one that Mathias would face once, and never again in his life¡­

    Not wanting to die, knowing that it was painful, Mathias got his act together.

    His expression grew serious, while he tightened his hold and control over the mana within him.

    The Innate ability [Elementalprehension] was actively exerted by using up faint traces of Mathias'' mana, while allowing him to use the surrounding ground ording to his will.

    While only a few earth spikes had reached the Titan youngling, even less had pierced through its high defenses.

    In the end, there was only one earth spike that had pierced through the thick armor that d the beast''s entire body.

    However, this one spike was already more than enough for Mathias to know that his attacks could pierce through the armor of the Titan youngling as long as he made use of Nial''s ck miasma.

    With renewed confidence, he manifested more than a dozen earth spikes and enveloped them in the ck miasma before he began to spin the spikes on their own axis.

    He was ready to attack at once while retaining his focus on the surroundings to create defensive walls or obstacles for the possibility of other beasts or even the Lesser Titan youngling attacking all of a sudden.

    Meanwhile, Be had coated her remaining shortsword with her own mana, and the ck miasma of Nial, knowing that it was strong enough to pierce through the armor of the Titan.

    If even this attack would fall short of inflicting a single severe injury on her opponent, Be knew that she should just give up and flee with the others.

    As such, she took a deep breath before throwing a quick nce at Nial and Mathias before catapulting herself towards the thinking Titan.

    The beast had slowed down tremendously, providing several opportunities for the team of three to attack.

    Nial thus followed Be, ignoring the pain all over his body, and understanding that they had only a few seconds left to finish the beast in front of them.

    Because he realized the gravity of the situation, Nial circted thest traces of mana through his body, while leading them to his hand.

    He ignored the possibility of enhancing his speed by a small margin.

    Instead, he brandished the Viper spear and moved it around his body causing searing pain to spread through his upper body.

    However, somehow, Nial was sure that this was necessary in order to distract the Titan as he led some of his mana towards his hand to empower two of the elemental rings he was wearing.

    Two fireballs manifested around him, which Nial shot towards the head of the Titan, who had not expected the sudden appearance of zing balls of fire.

    On the other hand, Mathias fired the dozen spinning earth spikes toward the Titan''s abdomen while targeting its organs.

    Barely a fraction of a second after he shot out the attacks, he supplied some of his remaining mana to the pendant that caused great dizziness with which Mathias targeted the ignorant Titan.

    For the entire fight, they didn''t use a single runic armament.

    As such, the Lesser Titan youngling was suddenly being bombarded from three different sides with dozens of different attacks.

    Every single one of them was strong enough to injure it, but unfortunately, it was not able to evade all of them.

    Thus, it lifted its arms, released every single trace of mana from its body, and prepared itself for the impact.

    With its head covered, the titan expected to face severe pain any moment, but even after three to four seconds passed, only the earth spikes, the mental attack, and the fireballs had reached it.

    It was painful without a doubt, but Nial and Be''s attacks were far more dangerous and lethal.

    The Titan youngling had no idea that both Originals had been pushed into the air with the help of Mathias'' earth affinity.

    Just as the Lesser Titan youngling lowered its arms to see what was going on ahead of it, Nial''s dead eyes came into its view as a sly smile covered his lips before he thrust out the Viper spear.

    After piercing it through the Titan''s throat, Nial knew that the fight was over.

    But even then, the Odyssey seed had never stopped trembling in excitement, not even as Be reached the Titan''s back, and pierced through its neck, ending its life for good.

    *Thump*

    Instead of falling silent, the Odyssey seed pulsated for the third time the moment the Titan died right in front of him, ushering in a new era for young, and kind youth.

    **

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 Chapter 113 Titan Heart

    It was the first time that his Odyssey seed pulsated for the third time.

    As such, he expected something miraculous to happen.

    The first pulse released his limits, while the second one allowed him to unleash the dark energy currents.

    Meanwhile, the third one didn''t seem to have any use.

    Nial was, at least, not able to figure out what kind of effect the third pulse caused.

    The surrounding mana was pulled towards him just like before, coursing through his body, and invigorating it.

    His body was slowly recuperating, but that didn''t really help him in enduring the pain of his broken arms.

    Landing on top of the Lesser Titan youngling that smashed into the ground with a resounding thud, Nial took a few deep breaths.

    Trying to pull out the tip of the Viper spear, he figured that it was impossible.

    The pain in his arms was now bing increasingly unbearable as the adrenaline within his body had been released.

    Following that, Nial instinctively released the dark energy currents from his body, causing his arms to go nearly numb.

    From feeling nearly nothing about his broken arms and the shoulder that was severely injured, it was almost as if he had been crippled, and forced to endure intolerable pain.

    However, it was at this moment that he noticed the mana in his body move of its own ord without Nial doing anything.

    It caused a slight itch while passing through his veins, only to end up inside the Odyssey seed.

    The Odyssey seed was still absorbing loads of mana, but instead of generating dark energy currents, it radiated a soothing sensation.

    Nial was not sure if that was the effect of the third pulse or something else, but the soothing sensation that coursed through his body, allowed him to continue moving despite the pain.

    In fact, the unbearable pain was slowly decreasing as he could feel his overly strained muscles rx a bit and enter a state of recuperation.

    Only his arms and shoulders continued to ache heavily.

    With a firm grasp around the Viper spear''s shaft, he retracted the de, turning it into a staff.

    This allowed him to pull the spear out of the Titan''s throat without the need to use much force.

    After Nial held the spear in his hands, he stored it away without giving it a second thought.

    He was distracted by something else and couldn''t give even a portion of his attention to anything other than the trembling Odyssey seed that was dragging him towards the Titan''s chest.

    Unsure of what was going on, Nial simply followed his instincts and the pulling force of the Odyssey seed after realizing that there might be a great opportunity ahead.

    ''I always gained something when it reacted like this¡­so it should be fine''

    Before he knew it, Nial had reached the left side of the Titan''s chest before kneeling down right above the head.

    The closer he came to the heart, the intenser the reaction of the Odyssey seed became.

    And even his mana core was reacting as the Odyssey seed had a subtle connection to it.

    As such, Nial was not even astonished when the dark energy currents around him were slowly detaching from his body, and seeping into the Titan youngling''s chest.

    These darkness currents were still connected to him and an odd feeling overcame Nial as they enveloped the Titan heart that was around the size of his torso.

    It was not pulsating and was unmoving, but to the young blind man, it felt as if he was touching the Titan heart.

    This was even more so the case when the Odyssey seed stopped moving all of a sudden the moment the darkness currents came in contact with the Titan heart.

    Nial had no idea what was going on, how much time had passed, or what to expect next.

    But despite his imaginative mind that coulde up with the most bizarre scenarios to ur, what Nial would have never expected to happen was what actually happened after the darkness currents enveloped the Titan heart tightly.

    He swallowed his saliva, and goosebumps sprang all over his body as his right hand that touched the chest of the Titan went ice-cold.

    The temperature of his arm dropped below zero in an instant and reached a state where Nial began to wonder if it would break into numerous shards of ice the moment someone would touch it.

    But his freezing-cold arm was not something he was able to pay even a sliver of his attention as the shroud around the Titan heart shrunk visibly.

    Seconds passed, turning into minutes. And minutes turned into hours while Nial was crouched in an ufortable position, leaning on the Titan''s chest but dared not move for the fear of missing out on the situation that urred ahead of him.

    He was trying to understand what had happened but was unable to do so.

    After all, the heart of the Titan had just been devoured by the dark energy currents.

    It was iprehensible because there was no sign to denote that something had changed about the dark energy currents as they emitted the same density of energy.

    At the exact same time, the huge heart had just disappeared, leaving behind no trace of its existence causing Nial to knit his brows.

    Yet, what only the young, blind man could know was that fragments of the Titan heart had been distributed amongst his own heart, the mana core of his, and the Odyssey seed.

    A faint silver hue enveloped the three organs of Nial, nourishing them with the energy of a True Titan''s heart.

    While his heart''s functions received a boost, the nourishment spread over to his veins that were further enhanced.

    The exact same urred to his mana core, with the sole difference that the mana core was increasing in size without the need to undergo an erging.<sub> </sub>

    It was a painful procedure, but something that Nial endured willingly.

    After all, not only his mana core was erged, but he could clearly tell that the limitation put on his mana core was crumbling owing to the massive energy that the Titan''s heart provided.

    The process was gradual, and the pain was even beyond what he had felt due to his broken arms and shoulder.

    However, this kind of pain was something Nial epted willingly.

    Even if it were to be several times higher, he would be eager to endure it for the sake of bing stronger.

    To get closer to his goals, Nial wouldn''t hesitate to do anything, and if need be, would even go up against mankind itself.

    If Nial were to know that his determination and the readiness to kill for the sake of the ones he held dear was what drove the Odyssey seed, he might act differently.

    But as he didn''t even know what the Odyssey seed truly was, Nial could only ept the fact that the Titan''s heart was also nourishing the seed that his body harbored.

    However, the biggest nourishment the Odyssey seed received originated from Nial.

    It was his determination to advance, never give up, and reunite with his family by all means that allowed the Odyssey seed to pulsate, provide memories, and show what it had once been.

    But that was not all because the major nourishment the seed received originated from depriving Nial of a portion of the emotions that made him human.

    Slowly but steadily it was molding him into something he wasn''t, something that would transform him into the perfect existence the Odyssey seed seemed to seek; a vessel!

    While his heart, mana core, and the Odyssey seed were being enhanced, and all of their functions strengthened, erged, orpletely metamorphosed, Nial''s understanding of the situation ahead changed drastically.

    He noticed that his entire constitution was being strengthened to a level that ordinary Originals were not supposed to reach.

    To him, it was evident that the Odyssey seed was benefiting him a lot and could have saved his life while facing some dangerous beasts. It had allowed him to regain his sense over mana by devouring the Divine Goddess'' divine energy by leading him to the [Hodur''s Heir] curse, giving him temporary boosts in strength whenever he required them, and by strengthening him with all means.

    At first nce, it looked like the Odyssey seed was a Godly treasure, but Nial was not so naive to believe that there was no hidden agenda behind its doings.

    First of all, the Odyssey seed, his lost eyesight and his loss of being able to sense mana were all things that had been forced upon him at the tender age of three, when the dungeon portal had manifested on the yground and made him disappear from the yground.

    He had no recollection of the week he had spent inside the dungeon.

    However, even then, it was obvious that the things that happened after that fateful incident had caused his blindness, his loss of being able to sense mana, and the imntation of the Odyssey seed.

    And now the seed was slowly changing his mindset, depriving him of some of the emotions he felt while strengthening his entire being in a manner that broke the mortal standards¡­

    If anyone were to tell him that this was just for his own sake and that the Odyssey seed simply reacted instinctively, Nial might agree, but only to some extent.

    He was willing to ept that the Odyssey seed had reacted instinctively against the threat of the Lesser Titan youngling, upon sensing the [Hodur''s Heir] curse and other things.

    But the reason for its reaction was mostly to help Nial grow stronger, in a sense where he was likely to crush his peers even without being on par with them.

    Right now, he was only at the 3rd Origin rank, but owing to the enhancements he had received over thest few weeks, it had been possible for him to defeat beasts at the 7th Origin rank.

    The amount of mana they possessed exceeded his own by, at least ten times, most likely even more than that!

    By possessing more mana, their entire body ought to be stronger than Nial''s but that was not the case, at all!

    And now after ruminating over everything that had happened in thest few weeks, Nial was pretty sure that the enhancements he received were supposed to increase his innate talent, his constitution, and tweak his emotional range to adjust to something¡­or someone!

    In the end, this didn''t even include the pieces of information and memories that shed through his mind every once in a while.

    He knew that he had never witnessed anything he had been able to see in the memories, yet in all of the scenarios Nial would always know who was fighting, and what was going on.

    Connecting all the dots of the small clues, pieces of information and some insane theories, Nial came to the conclusion that the Odyssey seed was preparing him for something.

    Whether these preparations were to turn him into the vessel of some sort of higher existence, or for specific events that were bound to happen, he couldn''t tell.

    Maybe it was even somethingpletely beyond his imagination, and all the theories that made him believe he was crazy were wrong.

    But even then, deep within his heart, Nial knew that something big was going to happen and that the Odyssey seed was not something he could fully rely on!

    And this was the worst thought that shed through his mind.

    His independence had been shaken since the day he regained his ability to sense mana because it was also the day on which something that didn''t belong to him started to change him¡­

    Never had he been able to defeat the opponents in front of him without any intervention and all by himself

    This was the worst while fighting against the Titan youngling as he felt like some of his moves had beenpletely different from how he used to move earlier.

    It caused his mind to enter a state of panic.

    He started to believe that his body and mind was slowly being taken over by something else, something that was not him.

    For a very long time, he was once again afraid and doubtful of his actions and ns¡­.

    But it was just at this moment that two hands reached out for his shoulder, lightly touching it as two familiar voices rang through his ears.

    "Nial¡­.hey Nial!! Are you fine, you have to wake up now!!"

    "You have toe back to us!! Just where are you wandering?"

 Chapter 114 Value Of Friendship

    It felt as if he was pulled out of the darkness when both Mathias and Be grasped his arms, shaking him lightly.

    During thest few hours, Nial had been unmoving, while the dark energy currents had enveloped him tightly.

    Massive surges of energy had entered his body, but they had been sure that nothing serious was going to happen to Nial.

    Both of them could sense that he was gaining from what was happening, even though they had no idea what exactly he was doing.

    However, it was only a few minutes before they finally reached Nial that something fundamental was changing around their friend.

    His facial expressions were worsening, turning his slightly pained but rather calm expression into something that was overflowing with unbearable pain and desperation.

    When Be and Mathias saw this, they knew that something was going wrong.

    Without even thinking about it, the two friends rushed towards Nial, ignoring the darkness currents that were tightly enveloping Nial''s body as if they were a secondyer of his skin.

    Oddly enough, the darkness currents seemed to have partially merged with his skin, preventing Be from getting through it as the darkness repelled her.

    Meanwhile, Mathias was not repelled by the darkness, but upon getting hold of Nial, his hand felt as if it had been set on fire.

    And when he retracted it, the young man noticed almost instantaneously that Nial''s situation was far more dangerous than initially expected.

    Mathias'' hand seemed to have shrunk in size, theyer of fat on his entire arm devoured, making it look as if his arm was malnourished and thin as a stick.

    Upon seeing him stare in horror at his hands, Be instinctively activated her Innate ability before circting golden mana currents through Mathias'' entire arm.

    Her control over her Innate ability was far from perfect, and the extent to which her Innate talent was released was well below 0.1%, but even then, she was considered the most powerful among the three.

    After all, there was a reason her Innate ability was called [Celestial transformation], and it was certainly not only to provide her entire being with drastic boosts in all of her characteristics upon activation!

    Right now, she was exhausted from fighting the Lesser Titan youngling as she had activated both the [Celestial Transformation] and the [Outburst] ability, ovepping them with each other.

    But even then, Be was unable to hold back anymore as both of her new friends seemed to be in danger.

    Thus, she prevented Mathias'' entire body from being deprived of nutrition with the use of her highly purifying mana that was intertwined with healing traits.

    Enveloping Mathias with it, and even provided him the opportunity to grasp Nial firmly.

    Be got hold of Nial, ignoring the repulsive force as she forced her way through the darkness currents, while tightly grasping his arm with worry glimmering in his eyes.

    "You have toe back to us!! Just what are you doing?" She screamed at the top of her lungs, not sure what was going on with Nial.

    On the other hand, Mathias had reached his friend''s other arm, ignoring the ufortable sensation that spread through his right arm as he began to shout out as well.

    "Nial¡­.hey Nial!! Are you fine? You have to wake up now!!"

    At this moment, Nial''s eyes that had slowly been adopting a pitch-ck color that resembled the darkest parts of the abyss regained their white, andckluster color.

    Seeing this, both Be and Mathias couldn''t help but sigh in relief, smiling brightly as they looked at Nial.

    After a few moments, they turned their heads toward each other before giving their friend a thumbs up.

    They were unsure of what had happened to Nial, but seeing that he was regaining his senses, everything seemed to be fine.

    Taking a few heavy breaths, Nial''s mind was a mess.

    He was still hyperventting, but the Titan heart had finally been devoured, and the changes within his bodypleted.

    As such, the darkness currents were slowly receding and returning to the Odyssey seed.

    It had grown in size, forcing Nial''s constitution to adjust in a minuscule manner.

    From the looks of it, the young and athletic Nial had gained some muscles.

    It might not be much, but the difference was visible.

    The same could be said about the fact that his constitution had been improved, including his physical strength, the size of his mana core, and his ability to wield mana.

    Earlier, his skills were exceptional in the fields of absorbing and controlling mana.

    His mana veins were still growing and of the superior grade, after all.

    But right in this second, Nial felt that the surrounding mana was fully under his control and that his further erged mana core could annex everything within seconds.

    This didn''t decrease the panic that spread through his mind, but it forcefully distracted him.

    Circting mana through his body, while absorbing more from the surrounding, Nial could still feel the pain radiating from his arms.

    It was not an unbearably painful sensation anymore, but owing to the fact that both the Odyssey seed and the mana core had now calmed down, the pain was the only thing that he could clearly feel.

    Letting out a sigh, he perceived his friends, their exhaustion, and also the remnants of his dark energy currents that had affected Mathias'' arm.

    This caused him to jump up from the Titan''s chest as he swayed a bit while walking towards Mathias, and slumped to the ground right in front of him before he cursed,

    "Fuck¡­was that my doing?!?"<sub> </sub>

    Nial had no recollection of what he did while absorbing the Titan heart.

    As such, he was not sure what had happened, and how his friends had awoken him.

    But when perceiving how severely injured Mathias'' entire arm looked, Nial couldn''t help but feel as if his throat was constricting.

    Not a single word of an apology left his mouth, and he was too stunned about what was going on.

    It was almost as if he had momentarily turned mute, only to hear Mathias'' voice ringing in his ears.

    "Don''t worry about that. I needed to lose some weight either way. I will just consider this as the result of my dieting!"

    Clearly perceiving that Mathias was genuine with what he said and that his friend was not angry about what had happened, Nial couldn''t help but feel as if a heavy weight had been lifted from him.

    Meanwhile, Be could only look at the situation ahead with conflicted emotions.

    She was not affected by the dark energy currents because her transmuted mana had been more than enough to dispel before any kind of permanent side effect would kick in.

    But even then, Be was unable to lift her gaze from Nial, and was trying to analyze what must have happened to her friend uponing in contact with the Lesser Titan youngling.

    He was the one to have spotted it first before calling it a Lesser Titan youngling all of a sudden and then spent several hours sitting on top of its chest, right above its heart.

    In the end, this was not even everything that was confusing as Be had also noticed the subtle difference in Nial''s demeanor.

    This was something she noticed only once, and it was just a few seconds that he acted out of the ordinary.

    But even then, his control over the ck miasma and the dark energy currents was quite high, which was confusing as it had appeared as if he was losing it.

    Be knew that Nial could manifest the ck miasma with the use of arge amount of mana.

    However, even then, his control over it had never been that precise before.

    She wanted to believe that his proficiency had elevated owing to whatever he did with the Titan heart, but the entire situation seemed to be different from before.

    And, as if it was the final sign, Nial''stest reaction had also been weird, making her feel as if the darkness currents had taken control over him.

    This made her worry a lot.

    It was not about her own safety or anything like that, but more about what would happen to her friend.

    Despite feeling as if she was weaker than initially thought, Be knew for a fact that she could survive any kind of situation if demanded.

    Her Innate ability was not as simple as an ordinary transformation, after all.

    Just like hers, Be could tell that Nial''s situation was not ordinary, either.

    ''He is definitely hiding something. Even if he bound a Curse to his mana core¡­.this is definitely not normal!!''

    It was obvious that he was hiding things, but Be and even Mathias were the same.

    All of them had their own huge secret, and it would take some time before they could trust each other to the extent that they feltfortable revealing their deepest thoughts and the secrets nobody knew about.

    They had their own reasons to hide those secrets from even their close ones, but they knew that right now they needed one another.

    This was what brought them together- the feeling that they would be able to understand each other, that it was possible for them to be a pir of support for the other.

    Whether it was their destiny or a mere coincidence that had led them to meet each in that basement didn''t really matter.

    Right now they were together, and they had to survive the first mission of the Teradan military camp.

    As such, even if it was impossible for them to fully trust one another, for now, they had to ovee the hurdles and find a way to pave their through the numerous obstacles without losing anyone!

    The group of three took several minutes to calm down, speaking to each other in order to be fully informed about everything that had happened, the three of them began to smile once again.

    Thest two days had been quite harsh, and all of them were quite exhausted.

    But even then, the time the group of three had spent together was enjoyable, and they got to know each other quite well.

    After the dangerous situations they had ovee, they now had a fair idea of the ws of their friends, what they were good at, and even how to help them to improve further.

    If they had the necessary time, they would train for a few days, or possibly weeks before searching for the Teradan military camp''s base.

    However, their current situation certainly did not allow them that luxury.

    After all, the runic armaments they picked up from the Goblin Shaman were a bad sign, and so was the Lesser Titan youngling.

    The situation on Jundra, their beloved, yet extremely dangerous, seemed to be much worse than initially expected.

    This worried the three as mankind''s future seemed bleak causing them to worry a lot.

    At that very moment, a familiar voice rang out from behind them.

    "I just came out for a smoke, and what the hell am I seeing here?"

 Chapter 115 Disbelief

    After turning in the direction of the voice, Be, Mathias, and the other Originals sighted Instructor Junades.

    He was standing in front of the huge crevice, wearingfortable clothes, while holding a cigarette in one hand.

    It looked like he was truly astonished to see so many Originals lying in front of the basement''s exit.

    Yet, upon seeing the corpse of the Lesser Titan youngling and realizing that the youths were not simply passed out but some appeared to be dead hisplexion changed.

    ''How the hell did they die? Why didn''t the Guardians intervene?!''

    He frowned deeply, but even without rushing to the dead Originals, Junades could clearly tell that they were beyond saving.

    His frown only deepened at this before he cursed in a low voice.

    "Fuck¡­"

    But, instead of allowing anyone to understand his confusion, Junades put on a poker face before he pointed at the beast he presumed to be an Armored Giant.

    "Was this little fe defeated by you guys?"

    In the reports provided by the government''s scouts, there hadn''t been any information of an Armored Giant.

    But even then, a new dungeon portal could have manifested, meaning that it was not abnormal for such a mighty beast to emerge on the nameless ind.

    However, under normal circumstances, the Guardians should have killed such beasts already in order to protect the participants of the Teradan military camp from being forced to face the danger.

    The fact that he didn''t sense the presence of the Guardians in the surrounding area, made it clear that they might be oblivious to the Lesser Titan youngling''s arrival.

    ''There is not even a trace of their mana fluctuations around¡­are they too upied with protecting the others?... No, they would have reported back to us in that case¡­''

    Junades couldn''t help but feel worried, not only about the fact that too many Originals died right at the back of the military camps'' backside but also about the possibility that something might have gone wrong.

    This thought made it impossible for him to keep a straight face as he scanned through the present Originals once again.

    The Originals in front of him must have defeated the beast that exceeded the limitations of the Origin rank!

    It might not make up for the fact that a few of them had died in the process of killing the beast, but it gave Junades a trace of hope, something he hadn''t felt in years.

    "We¡­didn''t defeat it together¡­ it was just the three of them¡­" A young woman voiced out in a defeated tone.

    Her voice barely reached Junades, causing him to look over at her.

    She had shoulder long brown hair, a beautiful face, and quite an ordinary physique.

    If one were to ask Juandes, he wouldbel her as just another girl.

    However, his beauty standards were much higher than that of others, so he presumed that she must be revered for being quite pretty.

    But given the situation, her appearance didn''t matter.

    It was more important what the trembling young woman told him while pointing towards the group of three in the back.

    She was barely able to stand on her feet let alone stop her arm from trembling while pointing at the person who killed the Lesser Titan youngling.

    Yet, the moment his eyes fell on Nial after his gaze followed her pointed finger, he looked at her in disbelief.

    Nial''s arms appeared to be slightly deformed, while the other members of his group were frazzled. Upon realizing what she was suggesting, he couldn''t help but make a grimace.

    ''Is she nuts? Maybe she is too shaken to think properly?!''

    It was already unexpected that anyone would be honest enough to not take the credit for someone''s hard work and reveal that they hadn''t killed the gigantic beast.

    After all, by telling their Instructor that only Nial, Be, and Mathias were enough to kill it, the young woman also revealed that her group and the others had been massacred, just like pigs in the ughterhouse.

    However, Junades refrained frommenting and approached her quietly.

    He raised her hand and touched her forehead, making the young woman flinch before she sensed a calming and soothing sensation spreading out from his hand.

    "Congrattions, you reached the basement!"

    Junades knew that he was not supposed to let Originals enter the Teradan military camp''s basement before they reached one of the entrances.

    But the current situation and the condition of the participants were harrowing, to say the least, and there were too many uncertain factors.

    ''''The priority is ensuring humanity''s survival!'''' Junades mumbled to himself before walking from one traumatized Original to the next one.

    Repeating the process of touching their foreheads, he sent some of his mana through their body, which eased their tension before he subtly made use of his ability.

    This allowed them to distract themselves from the events that had just happened.

    Only when he stood in front of the group of three that had defeated the Lesser Titan youngling did he halt in his tracks.

    "Good job, guys!"

    If what the young Original said was true, the group of three had exceeded his expectations.

    However, Junades didn''t want to praise them a lot as he knew that the young blood would easily get influenced and start thinking too highly of themselves.

    This would lead to more problems, and possibly make the three youths recklessly overestimate themselves, and die in a battle they should have avoided by all means.

    As such, Junades was d when the three youths couldn''t even smile despite his words of praise.

    Mathias'' gaze wandered towards the dead Originals, and he looked at them with pity in his eyes, while Be was fully aware of the fact that she would have been lying amongst them if she had fought the Lesser Titan youngling all by herself!

    Meanwhile, Nial turned around towards the corpse of the Titan and stored the corpse in the spatial ring to keep it safe from rotting away.

    The corpse should be worth a small fortune, and even after sharing the spoils amongst their group, it should allow them to gain some wealth.

    ''Maybe I should purchase some Origin crystals to fill my Mana core?'' He wondered, only to scrap this thought a short whileter.

    Right now, Nial was not even sure what was going on with his body.<sub> </sub>

    This made him feel as if he should give himself some time to reflect on himself, and regain the strong will he was known for.

    His mind was a mess and his self-esteem which he had built up during thest few weeks was in tatters.

    As such, Nial couldn''t help but sulk as he heard Junades'' voice once again,

    "The three of you seem quite calm. That''s also good.

    I would appreciate it if either of you could provide a short summary of what happened. Also if you noticed something weird since your arrival on the nameless ind, report it as well!"

    Given the fact that Instructor Junades wanted to know if something was weird, he seemed to sense that something was off.

    This included that they had no idea what was going on, which was what their small group of three had concluded as well.

    As such, as if they had decided on doing this beforehand, the three took off the runic armaments they had been wearing in unison before holding them in front of Junades.

    "We fought groups of Goblins, including Warriors, Elite Goblins, and even a Lesser Goblin Shaman. However, the worst were the Goblin Wolfriders!

    Each Goblin is in possession of a marked pendant that allows them to control weak-willed beasts.

    As for the other essories you can see, they''re runic armaments that allow the Goblins to speak in the humannguage, to summon fireballs, icicles, and to attack one''s mind directly."

    Be summarized everything they had wanted to say about the Goblins in just four sentences.

    However, the information she provided had everything important for Master Junades to hear.

    She had only left out the theories they hade up with because they were mere assumptions and they had no credible evidence to support them.

    But even then, what Junades heard caused him to be stunned.

    He had hoped that they would say nothing out of the ordinary happened.

    Yet, seeing the runic armaments followed by Be''sment clearly showed that they had gone through a lot more than the first task had expected them to ovee.

    ''For real, what the hell are these idiots doing outside? And they call themselves Guardians¡­Is that some kind of joke?!''

    While starting to curse the Guardians in his mind profusely, he took one of each runic armament in his hand.

    He began studying the armaments intently while thinking about what Be had meant with the things she said.

    Ignoring the restless Originals behind him, Junades focused on the runic armaments for a few minutes.

    Meanwhile, Nial had calmed down due to the presence of his friends by his side.

    The changes within his body had been extreme, including the fact that his heart had been strengthened, giving him a subtle control over his blood flow, a faster healing process, and much more.

    Adding his erged mana core led to an enhancement in his physical strength, followed by the erging of his Odyssey seed, there were too many things his body had yet to get ustomed to.

    Because of all of these changes, Nial thought that it was best for Be to take charge of exining what all they had faced, including the summary of how they had defeated the Lesser Titan youngling.

    There was a risk of letting her take charge as she could have simply revealed everything she had witnessed, including the dark energy currents he released.

    This wouldn''t be a problem as she had no idea what exactly this was.

    If he were to be forced to exin what it was, Nial could always say that it had to do with his Innate ability.

    Saying this wouldn''t even be considered a lie as the Odyssey seed wasparable to an Innate ability holder, just that it was more extreme, and likely to be far more dangerous as well!

    And this danger which he sensed from the Odyssey seed was what caused the most disruption to his mind!

    His mentality was far more shaken than his body had been changed.

    It would be a lie if he were to say that he was not afraid of what the future held for him.

    In fact, he was thinking about the future, and what the Odyssey seed was causing to him, ever since he regained his senses.

    The thoughts in his mind were so distressing and filled with worry that he even reconsidered choosing a suitable ability to prevent others from possessing him as the second ability to bind to his mana core.

    From what he had heard, every new rank created the necessary space to bind one more ability.

    Thus, existences like Junades were likely to have bound two or more abilities to their mana core.

    However, there were other theories that believed that the mana core was just a human being''s connection to the soul.

    This meant that binding an ability to the mana core wasparable to engraving the said ability on his soul.

    And only with a big enough soul was enough space generated to bind another ability.

    For now, all of this was too far-fetched for Nial to know more about.

    But even then, he knew that he should carefully reconsider what kind of second ability he was willing to bind to his mana core.

    ''If an ability that allows me to never worry about being possessed exists¡­should I really bind it? Will that allow me to feel more at ease?...''

    **

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 Chapter 116 Camp

    Nial was still in his world of thoughts and trying to figure out the best solution to his problem.

    Unfortunately, he was not even sure what the problem at hand was, or if there was even a problem, to begin with.

    In the best-case scenario, every single theory he had in mind was groundless and just something he believed to be a consequence of his great luck.

    Meanwhile, it was the worst-case scenario that caused Nial to be truly concerned as it would result in the inevitable death of his soul, which was obviously something he wanted to avoid.

    Not wanting to let himself get lost in depressing thoughts, Nial reminded himself that overthinking wouldn''t help him right now.

    Instead, it was more likely to make things worse.

    He would miss out on other things while being fully focused on solving an issue that might be far less problematic than he currently thought.

    As such, he shook his head lightly before regaining his senses.

    This allowed Nial to realize that another Instructor had arrived near them, leading the other Originals towards the huge crevice.

    After a while, only their small group of three and Master Junades were left, with Be giving a rough exnation on how they had defeated the Lesser Titan youngling.

    However, instead of sharing the existence of the darkness currents, Be only pointed out the ck miasma.

    Even if Nial didn''t say anything to them, she figured that the dark energy currents were not something he wanted everyone to know about.

    She wouldn''t want others to know the details about her Innate ability either.

    "Alright, I understand now. You three did really great. Kassandra was right about you, Be Morningstar. You''re not half bad!"

    Nodding his head, Junades praised them, before turning to the side while taking something out.

    It was a device simr to a phone, with the sole difference that it could also be used on the nameless ind and in the wilderness.

    As long as the recipient was not too far away, the signal that was sent out by the mana empowered runes would connect to the recipient''s device.

    "Please follow me. And Be¡­if you are not too tired, could you please recount your experience on the nameless ind, once againter, in front of the other Instructors and staff?"

    Junades gave a quick call to someone and talked on the phone for a minute before he waved at them, asking them to hurry.

    He had handed over the runic armaments to them.

    But even then, his eyes had never left them as a glint of worry spread through his eyes.

    ''I hope there are not too many of them in cirction!''

    While Nial was still confused about why the ind was literally called nameless, it was not exactly something to be bothered about.

    Other things of far more importance were currently happening, and Nial wanted to focus on them instead.

    Having perceived the mana fluctuations of the other Instructor from earlier, he knew that the young woman had been unable to keep up with her facade.

    She had been visibly flustered at the sight of the four dead Originals, and quietly stored the corpses away with a deep sigh.

    That had been a sign of the apparent distress of the Instructors and the government, pointing out to him that the young participants of the Teradan military camp were not actually supposed to die.

    This was contrary to the highly publicized statement of their high death rate and how the camp was grueling, but Nial presumed that this was more of a means to intimidate the younger generation.

    ''If nobody was supposed to die, while the existence of the runic armaments was unknown, the responsible staff was either cking off¡­or they were not oblivious to anything that was going on!''

    Even if Nial was not the smartest, he felt that the responsible staff was dead.

    It was the most logical conclusion Nial was able to arrive at, and from the way Junades'' mana fluctuations were asionally acting out of the ordinary, this was improved.

    After all, he was trying to call dozens of different numbers while walking back toward the three of them.

    Upon entering the huge crevice, Nial perceived a huge metallic gate that was more than twenty meters both in height and width more than a hundred meters away.

    The range of his mana perception had erged and now extended to more than 150 meters without the need to supply mana to expand it.

    Little traces of mana were enough to erge the range by tens of meters, and Nial was curious to know how far his range of perception could go.

    But he didn''t try it out and instead focused on the surroundings.

    Dense mana currents swept through the huge crevice, invigorating Nial and the others.

    His arms and shoulder were, and not even tended to in a proper manner, let alone healed but that was Junades'' smallest worry right now.

    He had given Nial a few potions before telling him to go to the infirmary once they entered the camp.

    Nial had just nodded in return, while Junades took some big steps through the gate that opened for them.

    Entering the base, Junades was approached by a young woman, who saluted him.

    "Greetings, Sir Lieutnant Junades!! Corporal ra is my name and I was sent out to follow your orders!"

    Nial was pretty sure that this was not the proper way to greet your superior in the military, but he might as well be wrong as he perceived the young woman''s mana fluctuations that made him feel suspicious about her.

    "Take the two young men to their Team''s temporary home before leading Nial to the infirmary. He has multiple broken bones that need Miranda''s attention!"

    After saying this, he dismissed the young woman.

    He then turned towards Be before saying,

    "Let''s hurry up. I want to get over this as quickly as possible!"<sub> </sub>

    It almost looked as if he wanted to say a few more things, but after considering that the three Originals in front of him were just participants of the Teradan military camp, he reconsidered it.

    ''They will worry needlessly¡­''

    Be nodded her head, but instead of following him immediately, she closed her eyes before two of her spatial rings began to glow.

    A momentter she brought them near.

    Uponing in contact with one another, a few seconds passed before the glow dimmed down, and she opened his eyes.

    "Here, take all of this, and sell it. We can share our spoilster when I''m back!" Be said as she turned towards Nial while handing over one of the spatial rings.

    Afterward, she just added,

    "Ah, and don''t sell the beast controlling nes yet. They might be worth more once I exined the situation.

    As for the runic armaments, let''s split them up ording to our needs before we reconsider selling some of them to the government! It''s not like we need to reveal everything to the government."

    When Be added thestment, she nced towards Junades in an inconspicuous manner, who was unable to hide his unease. He furrowed his brows for a second, only to revert to his poker face.

    ''Looks like we might be able to raise the price for the runic armaments as long as we negotiate properly!'' She thought with a sly smile that she quickly hid under the cover of a nonchnt expression before leaving Nial and Mathias behind.

    Even Mathias noticed what Be was trying to do, causing him to smile sheepishly.

    He was unable to control his emotions as well as others could, making him look like a naive and foolish person.

    But that was also what Nial and Be liked about him, making them feel as if Mathias was unable to hide anything.

    If they were to realize that Mathias was hiding something huge, something that was on par with Nial''s secret, they wouldn''t be able to believe it at first. That was for sure!

    However, by the time Mathias would be ready to expose his big secret, a lot of time would pass as so far he had not even told his father about it!

    "Mathias, I think we should postpone selling the corpses and everything else for the time being ande up with a strategyter. That would make things easier, won''t it?"

    Nial suddenly asked Mathias, dragging him out of his thoughts.

    Be and Junades had just left, leaving him alone with Nial and Captain ra, who couldn''t hide her slight disappointment.

    She had hoped to get some time to talk with Junades, but given the situation, and his disinterest in Captain ra, he didn''t seem to be inclined to do so.

    Meanwhile, Mathias took a look at his exhausted friend, asking himself what Nial had said before recalling it a few secondster.

    "If¡­Be returns by the time wee back from the infirmary, we should go together to the market. Though I do not know how long you will need to be taken care of¡­your arms look¡­bad, if I were, to be honest!"

    Mathias was already much morefortable talking to Nial than just a few days ago.

    This was mostly because of the few fights they had fought side-by-side.

    Knowing that Nial would never allow his friends andrades to be injured, and if required even face the brunt of the attacks of the Lesser Titan youngling to prevent them from being hit in any way, Mathias'' trust in Nial skyrocketed further.

    It even took away a considerable chunk of his already exhausted brain to think about multiple scenarios his words could lead to before he even spoke them out.

    Upon realizing this Nial was happy, but it was only a momentter that he recalled his broken arms causing the corners of his lips to twitch.

    "I knew I was forgetting something¡­" Nial suddenly mumbled. As if on cue, the pain in his arms seemed to return, and he got conscious of it.

    His expression and voice sounded genuinely confused, and when Mathias noticed this, he couldn''t help but look at his friend a bit worriedly.

    ''Just what is he thinking about that made him forget his broken arms?! Doesn''t it hurt like hell??''

    Ever since Nial had killed the Lesser Titan youngling, his behavior had been nothing short of weird and worrisome.

    The few hours he spent sitting on top of the Titan were already confusing enough, and only by distracting themselves by looking after the other Originals that had been present, had he and Be be able to pass their boring time.

    While Mathias threw Nial a worried nce, the young female Captain took her first nce at the two young Originals she was supposed to lead to the barracks.

    Yet, when her eyesnded on Nial, she was unable to keep her mouth shut.

    ra''s eyes widened upon seeing his arms, and she subconsciously gulped down her saliva before asking him in a horrified voice,

    "How the hell are you not screaming in pain?!"

    Nial''s upper arms were badly bruised, had a dark purplish color, had been twisted, and his shoulder didn''t look any better either.

    As such, she ignored themand to lead them to the barracks first as she hurriedly added,

    "Let''s go!! The sooner our Medic takes a look at you the better!"

    Captain ra didn''t even give Nial or Mathias the chance to continue speaking with each other as she pushed them towards the inside of the Teradan military base.

    Leading them through the ce, she gave them no chance to get to know their surroundings, let alone the entire base.

    ra hadpletely forgotten about her earlier disappointment and had now realized that tending to the blind youth was far more important.

    Upon sensing that she was a good person and wanted to sincerely help them, Nial and Mathias remained silent as they rushed through the ce, ignoring their exhaustion.

    Because of that, they ended up in front of a unique-looking house less than 15 minutester.

    "Our Medic is the best, so you should be fine!! But be careful¡­she is a little bit, let''s just say special¡­" ra said before taking another step towards the wooden door that was barely hanging on its hinges.

 Chapter 117 Blessing Or Curse

    Contrary to the other buildings, Nial had been able to perceive while being rushed through a part of the basement, the hut of the Medic seemed quite ordinary inparison.

    In fact, the hut looked much older than the other buildings, and Nial was not sure what exactly was going on with the mana currents in the surrounding.

    It was almost as if the hut itself released mana, which was something Nial had never sensed before.

    While it was not unheard of for materials to radiate mana, the current situation was a bit different.

    Not only was the hut radiating mana but it seemed as if it was generating mana as well.

    This made Nial curious about the hut, and the crazy Medic.

    Following Captain ra, he entered the two-story hut.

    Within seconds, he took in all the different smells, sounds, vibrations, and the things he was able to visualize with his mana perception.

    It was certainly not easy to digest everything at once.

    But from the smell of rotten meat, the aroma of various herbs, ethanol, clean clothes, and other medicines, Nial was able to tell that he had entered the abode of a great Medic.

    However, it was the sounds and vibrations that made him feel as if he had entered the house of a witch, who specialized in brewing mythical potions and experimented on all kinds of living beings in order to pursue her dark goals.

    This caused shivers to run down his spine, but luckily his mana perception helped him get over his nervousness.

    The sounds, smells, and vibrations were helping him form an image of the surroundings in his head with everything he was able to perceive, making it seem as if he could see everything in a seemingly perfect manner.

    Even without his precise mana perception, it would be possible to visualize a few things, but misunderstandings were unavoidable if he could not clearly see something.

    After all, just by relying on his hearing, smelling, and touching sense, it was impossible to get to know everything.

    With a faint smile on his lips, Nial stepped through the door frame and approached therge bronze cauldron that hung above a small fire.

    He was not sure what the Medic was brewing inside it, but it had a distinct smell that pierced into his nose, overwhelming him.

    Meanwhile, as Nial was struggling to not let his overly sensitive senses affect him, Mathias entered the hut hesitantly.

    If not for the sake of his friend, he would have waited outside, instead of daring to venture into the Medic''s hut.

    He could see everything clearly, and that was exactly what made him feel as if the Medic was truly insane.

    Stuffed corpses of beasts could be seen far back in the warehouses of which Mathias got a fleeting glimpse when the Medic forgot to close the door that separated the living room from the warehouse.

    As such, Mathias felt like turning around and bolting out of the hut.

    He was already bad at interacting with other people and would prefer to slink into the furniture instead of forcing himself to small talk with strangers.

    It had to do with his experiences in the past¡­long before his childhood in Katu began¡­long before he was born on Jundra, to begin with.

    After all, his father had already spoiled him while trying to give him the best possible education, to send him to the best school, and provide everything Mathias could have ever wished for.

    However, even then, it had been too much for him to face other people, let alone be in a crowded ce.

    And all of this was because of the traumatic events of his past; the past he wished to forget.

    Yet, even after death, it was as if his past had never left him and was still tailing him.

    He was reborn in a deste world where confidence and powers were required to fight against the hordes of ferocious beasts, and to prevent the mighty Originals from turning him into a doormat.

    In such an era, being timid and hesitant could lead to the death of oneself, or the team one was traveling with. Sadly, it was in this exact era that Mathias'' past life''s memories were dragging him down, and turning him into a social cripple, an outsider¡­

    Only through the unbending efforts of his own will, his father''s resources, and unconditional help and love, had it been possible for him to gain some confidence while fighting beasts.

    But even that was not enough to tend to the wounds of his past life that had left scars on his mind and heart.

    It merely soothed the pain until Mathias was able to awaken his origin, where he was tested as a potential genius owing to his talent, the innate ability, and the natural mana affine constitution of his body!

    This gave him the necessary confidence to apply to the Teradan military camp as his instincts told him that this was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

    Yet, even then, it was impossible for him to act confidently, let alone as if he was able to interact with others normally.

    He had felt like a social cripple once again, questioning himself again whether his reincarnation was a blessing or curse, only for his fate to make him encounter Nial.

    Being blind, and at the lowest rank amongst all the participants of the Teradan military camp, Mathias believed that Nial would also be struggling like him.

    Mathias felt drawn to him, as he had seemed to be in the same boat. However, Mathias quickly understood that Nial was neither shy nor an insecure person.

    Instead, he was quite confident, in his own ways.

    And that was the case even if he had some disadvantages owing to his blindness.

    Oveing the hindrances and advancing through them with an unbending will was what Nial had to do to be the person he was right now.

    He didn''t even believe that he was extremely powerful, let alone would reach the threshold to be on par with the average participant of the Teradan military camp.

    Some Originals would think that Nial was simply exaggerating, or that he was just trying to get praised by others with that type of mindset.

    But Mathias knew that his friend was genuine of the belief that he was just weak, that he had too many ws, and that there were too many things he had to improve and work on.

    Because of that type of mindset, Mathias had warmed up to Nial, only for him to end up being befriended by Be as well.

    As such, after recalling the way in which Nial had protected them, leading to the severe injury he sustained, Mathias felt that staying by his friend''s side was the bare minimum he could do.

    After all, even after sustaining a brutal injury from the impact of the Titan''s punch, Nial was forced to continue fighting to prevent his friend from getting wounded, or even killed.<sub> </sub>

    Be was not there right now and was doing her best to warn everyone about what was happening on the nameless ind, and now, it was on him to act as a pir of support!

    Thus, Mathias was trying to calm himself down by clenching and unclenching his fist, repeating the process over and over again, only to silently wait near Nial.

    While Mathias'' mind had been upied by the tormenting thoughts that made him relive his past, Nial was pulled to a medical bed on which an old woman pushed him.

    It was the crazy medic Captain ra had told them about.

    However, Nial didn''t expect the Medic to not say a single word, but just move him however she pleased.

    "Lie down!" She instructed in amanding tone.

    Nial followed her instructions before sensing transmuted mana currents sweep through his body.

    The Crazy Medic had inserted her mana into his body for a quick check-up on his condition.

    As such, she could clearly sense his arms and shoulder''s condition causing her to lift her eyebrows.

    "You don''t feel any pain?" She asked nonchntly. Simultaneously, she was inspecting his arms while waiting for Nial''s answer.

    This caused a pained expression to appear on his face that disappeared a momentter.

    "It''s fine as long as nobody treats it like you are kneading dough¡­" He blurted out, feeling as if the old woman was intentionally manhandling him.

    "Looks like it''s not that bad if you can still joke around. Your body is in a really good condition considering that you are at the 3rd Origin rank.

    Even if I were to do nothing, you would be healed in a few weeks. Maybe it would take less time with the use of some bone healing serums!"

    Nial listened intently and was silently agreeing with her statement, only to sense that she suddenly flinched.

    He visualized a change in her expression, and couldn''t help but frown upon perceiving this.

    "You¡­what kind of energy did you use to hold together your broken bones?" She suddenly asked, startling him.

    She could sense nearly untraceable remnants of the dark energy currents, which piqued her interest.

    Smiling from ear to ear, the Old woman looked truly crazy, causing chills to run down Mathias'' spine.

    He nearly jumped up, feeling that his friend might be in danger, only to sense that Captain ra was holding him back.

    Mathias had nearly forgotten about the young woman and turned to look at her with an uncertain expression.

    "It will be worse if you intervene¡­.even if she looks old and weak, most Instructors, let alone you, or the other participants of the military camp, will be squashed by her wrath the moment she feels like killing you¡­"

    Captain ra was whispering in a low voice, but Mathias could clearly hear her.

    This made him forget the fact that he didn''t like being touched by others as it would usually cause his mind to react by forcing him to relive memories of his past life.

    Staring at her in dumbfounding, his disbelief was visible, and so was the question he had in mind.

    ''Are you joking with me?''

    However, Captain ra was just shaking her head, indirectly answering his question as she let out a weak sigh.

    But it was not only Mathias who heard ra, but also Nial owing to his exceptional senses, and the Crazed Medic herself, as well.

    Her senses had been enhanced owing to the vast amount of mana that coursed through her body.

    Thus, both Nial and the old woman turned their head toward Captain ra, though their reason for doing so was different.

    ''I cannot sense any mana from her. How can she be the strongest?!'' This was Nial''s first thought, only for realization to strike him.

    ''Concealment?''

    Nial had never fought an opponent, who was able to perfectly conceal one''s mana currents.

    This was quite interesting because there had to be a specific technique behind the concealment.

    However, that was not something Nial was able to focus on much as he sensed a soothing sensation spreading through his body.

    The potency of the soothing sensation increased as it flowed through his body and reached his arms momentster.

    All of a sudden, his upper body issued several cracking noises followed by various other weird noises that caused everyone inside the room, except the Old woman to flinch.

    Nial felt the weirdest as he heard, sensed, and felt everything that urred in his body.

    Several minutes passed in which Nial felt like his upper body was being twisted, torn apart and the bones and muscles re-attached themselves over and over again before everything stopped.

    The ability of the old Medic seemed to have worked wonders, healing Nial almost entirely.

    It was a painful process, but he couldn''t help but feel quite satisfied with the end result.

    After all, he had already epted that it would be impossible for him to move around for a few days.

    However, just when he was done, Nial sensed that the Old Medic had already vanished from his side.

    She was standing next to Captain ra and holding her arm as she asked,

    "Little Princess, it looks like you decided to help me out, and do the hard work that I, the old woman cannot do anymore, right!?"

 Chapter 118 Voice In The Mind

    "Little Princess, it looks like you decided to help me out, and do the hard work that I, the old woman cannot do anymore, right!?"

    Even though the Old Medic spoke in a calm manner, the suppressed fierceness in her voice left Captain ra no choice but to nod her head.

    "...Of course I will help you¡­"

    Agreeing to help her, ra mentally chided herself.

    Even though she was sure that she didn''t say anything weird, the mind of the old Medic was way too confusing for her.

    In fact, she was an entric olddy who wouldn''t ept any kind of bullying, let alone someone making fun of another person.

    She didn''t tolerate it even as a little joke or a casual statement.

    This not only included herself but also others.

    And asking ra to help her was beneficial to her as she was always in need of more attendants to work for her so as to be able to work on quite a few things.

    Being not only a Medic, but also a Mystic Alchemist, there were too many things she wanted to research and was always in need of rare and exotic ingredients.

    Procuring them, or simply carrying them around was supposed to be the task of the small team of workers that usually followed her.

    But oddly enough, every single time she hired someone, they either resigned or absconded only a few monthster to escape from her strict work schedule.

    Knowing this, and the way many of her workers would try to run away, she always grasped those that seemed suitable before delegating a few tasks to them.

    Ignoring the scarcity of working force in her small hut, the Old Medic refocused her attention on the remnants of energy she had sensed from the broken bones of the young blind man!

    Thus, she pointed at him, fully aware that he had used his mana to perceive his surrounding as she suddenly announced,

    "And you! Don''t you dare to believe you''ll escape my clutches! I still want to know how you injured yourself that severely, and what type of transmutation of mana held your arms together!

    It tried to devour the mana I inserted into you¡­"

    It was obvious that the Old Medic wanted to know more, but Nial was not willing to reveal anything about the dark energy currents.

    Because of that, Nial behaved as if he had not even heard her.

    Turning around, Nial began to make use of his non-existent acting skills as he got off the bed before grasping the edge while standing up.

    "Are the healing expenses included in the treatment of the government, or do we have to pay for that by ourselves?"

    Nial was not sure about the exact service the government would provide them.

    The Teradan military camp seemed quite weird to him from the get-go which was quite apparent based on the way they were just thrown on the nameless ind without any further information.

    Other than that, Nial had yet to figure out the rules of the camp, but that shouldn''t take long.

    After all, he could already guess that every service provided came at a cost owing to the fact that it was forbidden to bring any type of currency with you, including origin crystals.

    In the end, this clearly pointed out that nobody had an external advantage, and that one had to use their innate talents to umte wealth to fully use the Teradan military camp''s benefits and services!

    "Well, usually you would have to pay for every single service you make use of.

    But considering that Lieutenant Junades told me that you saved several Originals from the Armored Giant, the military will pay for it¡­or rather the Guardians that neglected their work."

    While talking about the Guardians, Captain ra seemed to recall something as she added while cursing,

    "What are these idiots doing?¡­Can they not even protect a few thousand youths¡­?"

    She couldn''t believe that some Originals had died at the backside of the small mountainside, right at the camp''s exit.

    This was a huge disgrace, and something every single staff member would be held ountable for.

    As such, it was only obvious for her mood to be bad.

    At this moment, Mathias, who had been silent for the entire time, unintentionally blurted out.

    "It was a Lesser Titan youngling though¡­"

    His voice had barely been a whisper but owing to the silence in the entire hut, everyone had heard him.

    Nial just smiled at his friend''s sudden exmation, understanding his frustration about the fact that they had to keep correcting others who would repeatedly take a wrong name or state incorrect facts.

    Both the Old Medic and Captain ra had momentarily forgotten about Mathias'' existence.

    As he was standing near the entrance of the hut, and away from everyone else while acting as a silent spectator, nobody had even realized that he was around.

    In fact, it would have been possible for him to slink out of the door at any moment without anyone''s notice.

    And now that he had blurted out, all the eyes turned to him, making him want to disappear into thin air. As he was no magician, he simply held the door and swallowed nervously while enduring the stares.

    It was because of this reason that both Captain ra and the Old Medic looked at Mathias with squinted eyes.

    They had heard about Titans, but only in fairy tales, and that was already more than enough for them to know that an encounter with any kind of Titan should be avoided, by all means!

    "Why do you believe it''s not an Armored Giant? Well, I did not see the corpse of the beast, but Lieutenant Junades was pretty sure that the appearance of the beast was that of an Armored Giant.

    And it had one Origin ring, marking it as an existence at the Prym rank, so that fits the description of smaller Armored Giants too!"

    Captain ra doubted Mathias'' words which were why she stated her point of view.

    Not only was it unlikely for the youth to have ever seen an ordinary Giant, she doubted that he knew the difference between a Giant and a Titan.

    Even ra had no idea about that as she never seen a Titan before.

    As such, it might just be a slip of his tongue, owing to hisck of knowledge.

    And while thinking about his slip of the tongue made her realize that she had erroneously stated the words she shouldn''t have.

    "Prym rank? Origin ring?"

    Repeating the few words over and over again, Nial racked his brain to recall something the sisters Kira and Mara had told him.<sub> </sub>

    However, just as the memory of Kira and Mara shed through his mind, he started to get bombarded by more and more memories that he was not even trying to reach.

    In fact, these memories were once again from something, someone, and somece he had never been to before.

    Before he knew, a hoarse voice spread through his mind, filling it in its entirety.

    "When a certain amount of mana has been umted within the mana core, it can be liquified and shaped into a hollow ring.

    This ring revolves around the mana core and elerates the mana cirction, the umtion, and purity of mana, which in return strengthens the output, and much more.

    Keep in mind that the more mana is used, the stronger the hollow ''origin'' ring will be, providing stronger effects, and leading to a more prosperous future!

    A total of nine hollow origin rings can be created, with each hollow ring marking one rank. The fourth and seventh origin ring will lead to a new rank that has the following names.

    Firstest Prym, then Se-...NOOO!!"

    Fighting against the voice in his head, Nial was oblivious to the fact that he had been mumbling what the hoarse had said, repeating it word by word out loud.

    He was extremely ufortable with the memories, words, and knowledge of a strange being resurfacing in his mind.

    And, this was only obvious which was why Nial had given his utmost in order to get rid of the voice.

    Only when he was finally able to dispel the voice, which was supported by his outcry did he finally regain his senses.

    This allowed Nial to be himself once again, without anyone spying or infiltrating his mind.

    Taking a few deep breaths, he wiped the droplets of sweat that formed on his forehead while groaning a bit owing to the high pressure he had just endured.

    Mathias appeared next to him, and stopped him from falling down as he was swaying dangerously,

    "Are you okay? What is happening to you?!?" He asked in a worried voice, only to recall that there were two outsiders behind him before he leaned forward to add in a barely audible whisper.

    "Has it something to do with what you did to the Lesser Titan youngling after we killed it?"

    Mathias knew that Nial''s hearing sense was exceptional, so he could speak as quietly as possible, and he would still hear it.

    This was great, and certainly enough to prevent anyone else from hearing him¡­or so he thought.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t know that the Old Medic''s hearing sense was even better than Nial''s.

    As such, even though she remained unmoving and acted as if she didn''t hear anything, she was able to understand every single word!

    Her only reaction was a glint that appeared in her eyes as she stared at the utterly exhausted young man, whose expression couldn''t be worse.

    Nial noticed the gazes on him, but he couldn''t care about that at all, right now.

    ''Am I really turning into the vessel of some creature that wants to possess me?!?''

    In the current situation, it was only possible for him to question whether his theory made sense, or not.

    However, even if he wanted to say that it made sense, it was, by no means, logical.

    As such, he couldn''t even answer Mathias properly as he just shook his head.

    It was not a lie though he needed some time to say it verbally.

    After all, it was his Odyssey seed that acted weird and was doing all the things. Meanwhile, the fact that he devoured the heart of the Lesser Titan youngling served as a catalyst to elerate the things that were happening to him.

    This would usually be considered extremely bad, but Nial was, in fact, thankful for that.

    It allowed him to improve the state of his body, and existence, after all!

    Before, the transformation and the doings of the Odyssey seed had been rather¡­shallow and inconspicuous.

    Thus, Nial had never really noticed that anything was off.

    The things that had urred to him were weird, and only when the dark energy currents had begun to infiltrate his mind had everything started to spiral out of control.

    That clearly indicated a few things, for example, that something was weird about the nameless ind, or that the Odyssey seed had sensed the proximity to the Lesser Titan youngling since they arrived on the ind!

    Because of that, Nial could indirectly say that his journey to the nameless ind had already been beneficial.

    After all, he was able to figure out more about the Odyssey seed, its intentions, and how it was possible for him to postpone the progress of the possession, or what he presumed to be a possession!

    At least, Nial hoped that he had found a decent way to do so.

    But for this, he had to do many things, which caused him to stand up and wipe the sweat from his forehead.

    He was ready to leave and was about to turn towards the door when he perceived that everyone was staring at him.

    "Instead of this feeble woman working for me, I want you!!" The Old Medic suddenly pointed towards him, the glint of interest in her eyes shimmering brightly as she looked at the blind youth.

    She had expected to hear an overjoyed exmation from the youth, but her joy of having found a perfect assistant deted like a balloon upon hearing his answer.

    "Eh, no thanks¡­?"

    **

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 Chapter 119 Double Rejection

    "Eh, no thanks¡­?"

    Nial bluntly rejected the offer of the Old Medic.

    He didn''t even think about epting it.

    But what he was forgetting to consider was that the Old Medic was possibly one of the strongest existences in mankind''s history.

    After all, Captain ra had already said that the Old and feeble-looking woman was stronger than Master Junades, a listed Original, and one of a few hundreds of the strongest Warriors that mankind had!

    Because of his blunt refusal, Captain ra merely blinked her eyes while switching her attention from Nial to the Old Medic in a hurried manner.

    ''She won''t do anything to him, right?''

    Nial''s straightforward way to reject her offer had been even more surprising than the Old Medic''s sudden offer. As such, the young Captain could only hope for the best.

    And what happened next shocked her even more. Instead of being angry or throwing a fit, the Old Woman startedughing.

    It sounded like a hysterical cackling, which made Mathias have the mad urge to pull Nial towards the hut''s door.

    He moved a few steps while continuing to drag his friend with him, wondering what the hell such the old granny was doing inside the Teradan military camp.

    After all, she might be the most dangerous amongst all the existences they had encountered until now.

    ''Should we just return to the wilderness? Maybe it''s more secure there?'' Mathias even began to wonder as he startedparing the dangers of sleeping outside in the open with the Old Medic''s craziness and potential threat.

    A few minutes passed, and Mathias felt like they could simply sprint out right at this instant.

    But it was just at this moment that the Old Medic stoppedughing.

    She took a few deep breaths and wiped off the lone tear that trickled down her cheeks.

    "Oah..I didn''tugh like this in a very long time¡­" Her expression had eased, but it didn''t take her long to look at Nial seriously.

    "But back to the topic¡­ I guess you don''t want to waste your time helping me by doing some seemingly unimportant tasks that just anyone could do.

    You want to erge your mana core, widen your horizon in terms of knowledge, umte wealth, improve your proficiency in fighting, and be the strongest.

    Is my assumption correct, or at least close to what you want to do?"

    ''Wasn''t that obvious¡­everyone wanted to do that¡­''

    But that was not the point.

    Mathias was slightly astonished about how calm the Medic was, and even Captain ra felt the same.

    She had heard more than enough rumors about Miranda, the Old Medic, how crazy she was, and how frightening it was to work for her.

    In fact, a single sweeping nce through the hut was enough to tell her that the rumors were mostly true.

    Because of that, she felt slightly baffled upon seeing how calm the Old woman could stay despite having been rejected in a blunt, and rather rude manner.

    However, that didn''t bother Nial as he nodded his head faintly, agreeing to nearly everything the Medic had said.

    He was not exactly sure why Mathias or Captain ra were so scared of the Old Medic.

    In fact, if he were, to be honest, Nial felt quitefortable right now, ignoring the fact that his nostrils were being tormented by the smells that clouded the entire hut.

    "In that case, you shouldn''t be too worried. I can make you the strongest, and teach you everything you want!!

    Of course, that means you have to support me as well!"

    Rejecting such an offer would be a shame, and everyone could clearly notice this upon understanding that Miranda was considered to be one of the strongest humans.

    However, even then, Nial could only frown deeply as he felt a sudden difort spreading all over his body.

    "But there must be a reason for you to do so, or am I wrong?

    We hardly know each other, and providing me with such an opportunity means that you have some other intentions¡­it has to be like this¡­ I don''t believe it''s just your curiosity about the remnants of energy currents in my arm¡­"

    Nial wanted to figure out her true intentions, and to do so he spoke thest sentence out loud. Thus, after he said it, Nial focused on his senses, including his mana perception to figure out what exactly the Old Medic had in mind.

    "Well, you are interesting, and I want to find out more about your energy. For example, take a look at my little timid friend¡­.or sense him with the use of your mana¡­ Did you even perceive his arm, once? I believe you caused this identally, or are my assumptions wrong?"

    Of course, Nial knew about Mathias'' arm, and he was grateful to the Old Medic when he saw that she approached Mathias, using her ability to heal him.

    The Old Medic had not even been asked to do this, but in order to make Nial feel indebted to her, she did so nheless.

    Despite that, too many things made him feel suddenly ufortable about the situation at hand.

    And this was the worst owing to the things that urred to him during thest few days, and even hours.

    Everything revolving around the Odyssey seed was something Nial wanted to find out first before making use of it once again.

    "I''m sorry, but I still have to reject¡­I don''t want to be in contact with this type of energy for the time being, and I know that you would want me to show it to you, I can sense your curiosity about it."

    When Nial rejected her once again, the Old Medic squinted her eyes. Not many people dared to reject her even once, let alone twice.

    Her patience was waning, which was something everyone could see as the Old Medic''s expression was slowly changing.

    This was something ra was able to perceive as well, causing her to feel like intervening.

    However, on second thought she felt that this might worsen the situation which prevented her from doing anything.

    Miranda was slightly angered, and couldn''t help but feel like forcing the young man to reveal his secrets.

    Never in her life had she been rejected, and now the young chick in front of him dared to reject her twice, after all the effort she took to convince him to join her.<sub> </sub>

    She was about to give him a piece of her mind when the Old Medic saw his expression. Something deep within her conscience held her back from doing anything.

    Her body reacted drastically, forcing her to take a second to think about what she was going to do right now.

    This made her question her agenda for a moment, while her curiosity about Nial only increased further.

    ''Such a reaction¡­from a youngling at the Origin rank?... Why?!''

    In the past, her body had only acted up before something dangerous was about to happen.

    This had saved her life several times, whether it was owing to an exploding cauldron or the attack of a ferocious beast that was far more powerful than her.

    As such, the fact that her body reacted could have been caused by multiple reasons.

    One of it could be that her body reacted to something other than Nial, but that was unlikely.

    She presumed that it was the energy remnants or the origin of the remnants that caused her body''s reaction.

    However, instead of believing it to give her a sense of foreboding of something that was about to happen, Miranda presumed that it was more of a warning not to overdo it right now.

    This was quite interesting, and it caused her curiosity about Nial to increase even further.

    There was also the possibility that Nial harbored some sort of Innate ability that had grown to such a great extent that his body couldn''t cope with it.

    In fact, there were some overly powerful Innate abilities that could kill anyone around them.

    Miranda had seen something like this a few times already, and the beings that died had been the wielder of the Innate abilities, and existences that were on par with her strength, or even stronger!

    And that was just because the powerhouses wanted the prodigious youths to be their disciples, for research purposes, to obsess over them and strengthen them to be pirs upon which mankind''s future could rest and so on.

    Thus, what was urring right now was not rare as many Originals could tell whether a diamond in the rough was right in front of one, but hidden under piles of dirt.

    Miranda was one of such Originals, who could sense whether it was worth paying attention to someone, or not.

    And Nial was certainly worth it.

    To be precise, Nial was worth far more than Miranda''s measly offerings, which made her even more agitated.

    Just thinking about it caused her to feel likeshing out at not just him but everyone around her.

    Fortunately, Nial noticed that he might have overdone it, making him think of a way out of the misery.

    "As an apology for my rudeness, I would like to present you with something that our team procured on the nameless ind!"

    With that being said, a familiar red gemstone ne manifested in Nial''s hand.

    He took it out from his spatial ring, and handed it to the Old Medic.

    Miranda had already calmed down a bit, but that didn''t mean her anger had subsidedpletely.

    Only after she received the present from Nial did she fully calm down.

    ''So he is really sorry for not epting my offer, and not just acting as if he''s worried about divulging the truth about the energy that held his arms together¡­''

    The old woman squinted her eyes and figured that the youth would be willing to show her the origin of the remnants she had sensed if he were to be confident in controlling them.

    In fact, for her to gain interest in the mysterious energy, it had to be unique, powerful, or have some sort of special trait!

    With that in mind, the Old Medic shook her head, ignoring her earlier thoughts as her understanding of the youth''s behavior increased drastically.

    ''If he is not even confident of being able to release it without injuring himself or those around him, he should really be stronger and wait for it.

    Maybe I should wait for him, just a little bit?''

    She thought, while moving her hand that held the red gemstone ne.

    After understanding the youth''s mindset a little bit, her little grudge against Nial subsided, and was reced with a tiny trace of respect.

    He solved the dilemma in a nearly perfect manner, preventing anyone from feeling offended.

    This caused Miranda to wonder what kind of background Nial had in order to wriggle free out of situations and possible aftermaths as if it was a walk in the park.

    However, instead of starting a background check, she was attracted by the faint mana currents the red gemstone ne radiated.

    Peering at the ne intently, she interested her mana in it.

    Through this, numerous runes were unveiled to her.

    Those runes revealed secrets to the Old Medic that nobody else had yet figured out, owing to her vast knowledge.

    But even then, she couldn''t help but stare at the runes with squinted eyes.

    "This¡­"

    She trailed off, feeling confused as the runes on the marked object were not something she had ever seen in her life.

    ''I knew it!'' Nial could just think, not sure whether he should be happy or devastated by her reaction. Perceiving her confusion, he informed her,

    "This is a beast controlling ne¡­one of the few that were bound to ordinary Goblin Warriors, at that!"

    **

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 Chapter 120 One Room

    Miranda was more astonished about the fact that ordinary Goblin Warriors were able to get hold of a beast controlling ne, such as the one she was holding in her hand.

    As such, she averted her attention to Nial for a moment before saying,

    "I doubt the controlling effect is strong, which means that the Goblin Warriors can probably only control beasts that are weaker than them¡­"

    After the Old Medic said this she couldn''t help but quietly add,

    "If we can learn how to manufacture such pendants, it should be possible to get our hands on mounts, and beasts that would fight by our side¡­this would strengthen mankind''s prowess by a huge margin¡­"

    Her conclusion was correct, and it was also why Nial and his group were quite interested in figuring out whether it was possible to remove the mana imprint of the Goblin Warriors, or even reproduce the beast controlling nes.

    However, neither was something they could achieve, which was why they had to rely on the stronger and more knowledgeable ones to figure out more.

    Thus, Nial thought about something for a moment before taking out one of each runic armament they had gotten their hands on.

    "We even found runic armaments on the Shaman Goblin we killed. A representative from our team went to the government already, so they should know about everything by now as well."

    Even if the Old Medic had been interested in Nial, how he sustained a severe injury such as breaking his arms and his shoulder, and what the weird energy he harbored, she was still astonished by the things she was learning about him.

    Carefully taking the runic armaments that didn''t look like anything special at the first nce, Miranda began to frown after only a few seconds.

    "That''s bad¡­these items should originate from an intermediate dungeon¡­" She mumbled, only to tilt her head before looking at Nial once again.

    "Wait¡­but you said the Goblins were merely at the Origin rank, right?"

    Without saying much, Nial just nodded his head, and even Mathias followed suit, while subconsciously moving his head along with Nial''s.

    He was not that suspicious about the Old Medic anymore, but he still wanted to leave.

    It was fine that Nial showed the old woman everything they had gotten their hands on because she was deemed as one of the strongest.

    That meant she would find out about it sooner orter, either way.

    And by telling it on their own instead of letting her learn from elsewhere should make them gain more trust from her.

    Thus, Mathias stopped dragging Nial through the door and hoped for the Old Medic to say something interesting.

    However, she seemed to be quite confused, while looking at the different runic armaments, followed by the intel about the Goblin''s strength.

    ''If they were only on par with Origin ranks, a Shaman Goblin shouldn''t be capable of manufacturing the runic armaments. Even the mass-manufactured beast controlling nes are tooplex for their mind toprehend¡­''

    By connecting the dots, Miranda was slowly figuring out what was the most likely truth behind the existence of the runic armaments and the beast controlling nes.

    ''The nes were definitely newly manufactured, otherwise, they wouldn''t be marked objects, and of a high quantity to be given to ordinary Goblin Warriors¡­but the runic armaments?''

    "Maybe some Goblins conquered a ruin-type dungeon? After the stronger brethren looted everything valuable, the Shaman Goblin might have pilfered through some of the scraps?"

    "But if something more valuable exists, and those are the leftovers, don''t we have some problems? Doesn''t that mean the Guardians that didn''t do their job of protecting us from the Lesser Titan youngling are not neglecting their job..but they''re dead?"

    "Oh, is that so?...The Guardians messed up big time, huh? Well, that would exin how you could get so heavily injured, and be showered with praises by Junades¡­

    Seems like I have to pay the higher authorities a visit, otherwise, they might do some dumb shit again!"

    Saying so, she advanced towards the door of the hut, lightly pushing aside Nial and Mathias.

    "By the way, my offer is still open. Once you feel morefortable with this weird energy of yours, I would like to know more about it. I will teach you in exchange!"

    Blurting all of it in one go while leaving the hut, the Old Medic disappeared not long after.

    As such, only the two friends, and Captain ra were left behind, only for the owner of the small hut to have something better to do.

    At this moment, Mathias noticed something as he blurted out,

    "Wait¡­ Did she just steal one of the runic armaments?!"

    He didn''t see her handing over the ne back to Nial, and his hands were empty as well.

    As such, Mathias couldn''t help but squint his eyes, feeling as if the old Medic was far more sly than expected.

    On the other hand, Nial was quite rxed and shrugged his shoulders as he tried to appease him.

    "We will get them back. Calm down, Mat. Let''s go to the barracks. Be should return soon. That is if she is not already waiting for us."

    Nial was pretty sure that Be woulde back with all the runic armaments.

    Even if Miranda looked quite entric and as if she wanted to force her will on others, in reality, she didn''t do anything like that.

    The Old Medic had backed off at the sight of Nial''s difort while talking about the dark energy currents.

    Thus, he was slowly feeling that she wasn''t as nosy or prying into his secrets as she seemed to be at the first nce.

    ''Why am I feeling bothfortable and ufortable around her? It''s almost as if she is a ticking time bomb¡­''

    However, even then, Nial just shrugged his head.

    He was thankful for Miranda''s offer to teach him.<sub> </sub>

    But before he would think about epting it, Nial had to understand the darkness energy, and even more so, the Odyssey seed.

    While thinking about the Odyssey seed, he noticed that something had changed about it.

    This didn''t involve any changes in the seed in itself, but more about the ability that was bound to it.

    [Mana Perception]!

    ''The ''poorest'' tag has vanished!'' Nial realized with a start.

    He knew that his mana perception had improved quite a bit since the Titan heart had been devoured by the darkness energy.

    Since then, there had been tiny changes in his mana perception, but he assumed them to be a resultant of the aftermath of the Titan heart''s potency.

    However now, he figured that it was the change in his Innate ability that grew stronger!

    This made him smile lightly, giving Mathias a wrong understanding of the situation.

    ''So he trusts the Old Medic? I guess that''s fine then.''

    Nodding his head in return, Mathias turned towards the hut and was ready to return to the barracks, only for realization to strike him.

    "Eh¡­Nial¡­do you know¡­where the barracks are?"

    In response, Nial just shook his head which made them wonder who to turn for directions.

    It was at this moment that Captain ra entered Mathias'' view, astonishing him greatly as he stepped back.

    ''She was still here?? I didn''t know!'' He felt quitefortable after the Old Medic had left, and thought that only he and Nial were the ones left in the hut.

    But that was not the case, and upon seeing ra, Mathias'' timidness returned as he quieted down, while moving closer to Nial.

    Captain ra noticed this, and it caused the forced smile on her face to vanish.

    ''Am I really that unlikable?'' She suddenly asked herself, sighing deeply.

    ra had been unable to grasp what exactly was going on with the runic armaments, the potential ruins-type dungeon, and so on.

    Thus, her mood was already bad, but she was forcing herself to fake a smile, and make it seem as if she was not worried about the incidents that urred on the nameless ind.

    However, the moment she noticed Mathias'' action, she couldn''t hold herself back anymore as she sighed deeply, releasing all her frustration.

    "I will show you the barracks and your team''s room, and I will leave you alone then, no worries¡­"

    It looked like Captain ra was truly disturbed by what had happened.

    This made Nial feel odd as he had not expected the young Captain to be emotionally controlled¡­or at least not that much.

    Thus, while following her outside the hut, he simply observed her for the duration of their trip through the Teradan military camp.

    After perceiving everything around his surroundings at the same time, it was not difficult to figure out that most Soldiers were far stronger than the participants of the military camp.

    However, that was only obvious because their responsibility was to protect the base and shelter.

    Other than that, there were also quite a few shops, whether it was for potions, weapons, armors, other devices, and even manuals to improve the speed at which one was absorbing and annexing mana.

    Imprinting everything he perceived in his range, Nial smiled lightly as the base felt like a highly protected shelter, and not like a military camp.

    He had expected a camp for young Originals to look different.

    But given that they entered the nameless ind without too many things in their spatial ring, it was quite interesting to see how much one could actually buy.

    ''So learning how to manage finances and procure wealth is something one will have to manage on their own here as well. At least, if one wants to work efficiently.

    That''s quite interesting!''

    As he looked around, he came across small food stalls in the base and some luxurious restaurants.

    He found it to be entirely useless because Captain ra informed them that there was a canteen that handed out food for free.

    She even said that the food had enough nutrition to build up a proper physique.

    After exining to the two young men lots of things about the military base, ra''s frustration was quickly released.

    Their interest in the topics she spoke about was evident, and the 30 minute short trip through a small part of the base was over in the blink of an eye.

    They reached the barracks which were a five-story, lengthy, and rectangr building that looked anything but special. It was the most ordinary building Mathias had ever seen. In fact, it looked less impressive than most ordinary buildings in Katu. And that spoke volumes.

    As such, Mathias didn''t have high hopes of finding anything special in their rooms.

    Yet, when Captain ra led them to a single room before pointing at it, Mathias couldn''t help but squint his eyes, while slowly realizing what was going on.

    "Wait a moment¡­every team has only one room?!

 Chapter 121 Calm Before The Storm

    "Wait a moment¡­every team has only one room?!

    Mathias seemed to be bbergasted as he stopped in the doorframe while peering inside therge room that had five beds.

    Two were ced on the left side of the room and three were on the other side, creating a small path in the middle for Nial to walk through.

    Small wooden bedside cabs were ced next to each bed, and rays of sunlight streamed through therge windows, lighting up the boring-looking room whose wallpaper was a in grey.

    Despite theck of bright colors, Nial felt it was cozy as he sat down on the left side of the room where two beds were ced next to each other.

    There were no wardrobes in the room, but that was not necessary because they had spatial rings, anyway.

    His eyes spotted a tiny bathroom that was attached to their room.

    For just the three of them, this ce was way too big, which gave Nial the opportunity to question if they should just throw out the extra beds and bedside cabs to change the interior of their room.

    "Maybe a small ce to workout, or to stretch in the morning would be great¡­"

    Hepletely ignored Mathias'' worry and was unbothered to sleep with Be in one room.

    His mission in the Teradan military camp was not to find love, or have casual flings, but to be stronger and meet his parents as soon as possible.

    Because of that, Nial nearly epted the Old Medic''s invitation to be her disciple.

    It would help him tremendously, and if it was not for the fact that he didn''t trust the dark energy, let alone the Odyssey seed that would act up randomly, he would immediately join her.

    ''Once I am sure to be able to control myself even under the influence of the Odyssey seed, or the dark energy, I will think of joining her¡­''

    Unfortunately, for now, it was too dangerous to even consider releasing his dark energy.

    And that also reminded him that he had to prevent the Odyssey seed from pulsating twice.

    Otherwise, the dark energy would be generated and released by the Odyssey seed!

    In a fight of life-and-death, this was not exactly easy to control, and Nial knew that he had to change many things.

    ''I need to undergo more ergings, and find a way to block off the influence of the thing that is within me!''

    The memories and pieces of information that shed through his mind once in a while were not all that bad.

    He was aware of their immense value.

    However, the benefits didn''t outweigh the disadvantage of possibly being possessed by whatever the Odyssey seed harbored.

    Thus, he had far more pressing matters to pay attention to thanining about sharing rooms.

    "If you want, you can just change the interior of your room. That''s possible." Captain ra suddenly said.

    She had heard the words Nial had mumbled, and ra simply passed by Mathias and simply ignored him while entering the room as well.

    They talked for a few minutes before ra looked at her watch, and realized that it was alreadyte.

    Thus, she decided to leave because she had quite a few other tasks toplete.

    And then there was the issue with the disappearance of the Guardians, indicating that the nameless ind had be far more dangerous than it had been during thest few years.

    This meant that the participants of the military camp were endangered.

    If all of the young Originals were to die, it would be a horrifying loss for mankind because they would lose thousands of potential humans in the listed ranks.

    All of them were future powerhouses that might be able to strengthen mankind''s position amongst all other living beings in the world!

    With that thought shing through her mind, ra rushed off, leaving behind the two Originals.

    Meanwhile, Mathias could only stare at her with frustrated eyes as he mumbled,

    "But sleeping in the same room with a woman??"

    He was still unable to cope with the fact that he had to eat, sleep and pretty much share all of his time in the same room with Be.

    But when Nial heard hisint once again, he sighed before saying,

    "I really don''t understand your problem, Mat. Normally a woman would feel more ufortable in such a situation.

    If you want, just put on some curtains to divide the room in half. The room is big enough, isn''t it?"

    Though he had wanted to say more, Nial stopped himself and sensed that Mathias wanted to retort to him.

    However, before his friend could say something, Nial lifted his hand to prevent Mathias from speaking.

    "Don''t bother about it, let''s focus on discussing what we have learned so far instead. There are lots of things we have to do, and Captain ra''s intel will be really important for the next few weeks or months!"

    Even if it was only reluctantly, Mathias nodded his head and plonked himself into the bed next to Nial''s with a deep sigh.

    "Alright, let''s do it!" He said before they began to discuss the appearance of the military base, how they should use their finances acquired after selling the runic armaments, the beast controlling nes, the corpses of the beasts they hunted, and many more things.

    Be was currently missing, but once the two friends hadpleted their discussion, it would be easier to inform her about the rest, while asking about her opinion of the various ns they came up with.

    Using the appearance of the base as a point to start with, they came to a consensus that the camp had been built in a huge cave of a mountain range.

    There were multiple sources of light, originating from luminous stones that served as a recement for ordinary streetmps.

    But there was also a huge hole in the ceiling of the mountain.

    With a shape simr to that of a volcano, Nial wondered if it was an extinguished volcano or not.

    They also questioned how exactly they could sense an abundance of mana currents in the military camp, without seeing any dungeon portals.

    This was weird, but Nial quickly noticed that most mana currents flowed through the base, leaving the cave through the hole in the ceiling.

    Thus, he concluded that the deeper parts of the cave had numerous dungeon portals or other means to generate mana.

    By the time they came up with a few ns, it was alreadyte at night and Mathias went for a shower.

    Once he finished, Mathias came out with some fresh clothes to wear feeling as if he was reborn, only for Nial to disappear in the bathroom as well.<sub> </sub>

    He also showered in the small shower, rubbed off the dirt and grime off his skin, and put on fresh clothes to feel even morefortable before he threw himself into the bed.

    It was alreadyte at night, yet Be hadn''t returned.

    They were a bit worried about what was taking her so long which is why, instead of sleeping, Nial decided to wait for her.

    Initially, both of them wanted to stay awake, but Mathias was so tired that he couldn''t control his body anymore.

    He simply closed his heavy eyelids and sunk into a deep slumber before even realizing it.

    Nial could understand his friend''s exhaustion because they hadn''t been able to sleep much during thest two days, and the pressure on their minds during each battle had also been quite high.

    Nheless, he didn''t sleep and instead focused on circting mana through his arms and shoulder.

    ''Have I really¡­healed? That''s crazy!''

    Not expecting the Old Medic''s healing ability to be so powerful, Nial couldn''t help but feel that the Old Medic was far more skilled and stronger than he had expected.

    This made him change his outlook on mankind''s strength.

    ''If she is already that strong, there should be a few more Originals like her? But¡­if that''s the case, why do we have only nine shelters left? Be said that those are the most isted ones as well¡­''

    Nial knew what this meant, and he didn''t like it, at all.

    If mankind was unable to construct another shelter in the wilderness, it indicated that the dungeon beasts that roamed in Jundra were stronger than even the strongest Originals of mankind.

    This was bad, to put it simply, and Nial didn''t feel like thinking about it for long.

    Thinking about his own situation was not that great either because it made him recall everything about the Odyssey seed.

    Because this bothered him even more, Nial shifted his focus to the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual.

    Using his mana perception to focus on the manual, he began reading it once again.

    In order to gain a thorough understanding of every single word in the manual, Nial was ready to read it for a month if required.

    Being patient and reading carefully was important as it would allow him to perceive something deeper behind the words written within the technique.

    It was something he had not sensed when he first read it.

    However, the more he concentrated, the more he began to understand the deeper meaning behind what the words conveyed.

    Thus, right now, he could sense something with his mana perception that was hidden before.

    One could say that it was the core essence of the book, its most crucial information, and something that Nial shouldn''t miss, by any means.

    Because of that, he continued to read it for several hours and tried to greedily absorb the knowledge in its pages.

    Meanwhile, while reading, Nial tested out the things heprehended.

    His control over mana was already exceptional, but that was only in terms of a newly awakened Original.

    If he were topare it with the control of those that had created their first Origin ring, he was just a toddler that was still taking his first baby steps and learning how to walk.

    Ever since his mana core had been erged by the potent energy of the Titan heart, Nial could sense a change within him.

    He was pretty sure that his mana core''s limit had been extended.

    At the same time, Nial understood that he was now able to create his first origin ring.

    This astonished him a little bit, but Nial didn''t even consider trying to materialize it.

    After all, the more mana he could use for his first origin ring, the higher its efficiency, and potency were bound to be.

    With that in mind, erging his mana core as much as possible would be best to achieve this!

    Because of that, he was rather content with his progress.

    First, he had to store lots of mana inside his mana core, before erging it a few more times.

    This would take quite a while but as long as he worked relentlessly, it would be possible.

    Thus, Nial calmly leaned against the wall of the room while continuing to read.

    The higher his control over mana was, the faster he would be able to advance as well.

    And it would additionally increase hisbat prowess as he would quickly gain an upper hand when faced with tricky situations in a dangerous battle.

    While thinking about the various possible future scenarios, Nial didn''t even notice anything about the trouble that was brewing not only outside the safety of the military camp but within the walls of the camp''s cave as well!

    Nial knew that he was just witnessing the calm before the storm.

    And this storm was bound to wreak havoc on the nameless ind that would be known in the history of mankind as, Karatox, the ind of blood and terror!

    The sound of footsteps broke him out of his reading spell and he looked up from the book thinking that Be had finally arrived.

    And soon enough she barged into the room blurting something that shocked him to the core.

    "The Guardians¡­are all dead and¡­the dungeons are undergoing a breakout!!"

    **

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 Chapter 122 Terror

    Even the warning Be let out in a loud voice was not enough to wake up Mathias.

    He was sleeping soundly, recuperating from the stress of thest few days, and oblivious to whatever was going on.

    However, even Nial who had heard her could not understand how this could happen.

    For a second he thought it was a cruel joke or he was probably hallucinating. But the shock and fear on Be''s face told him that it was anything but a nightmare.

    In a smooth move, the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual disappeared in his spatial ring, while Nial shot up from the bed.

    In a second, he appeared in front of Be, and handed her the spatial ring she had given him not too long ago.

    As if they had decided it already, Be epted the ring with one hand and returned the runic armaments that the Old Medic took with her while leaving.

    Without bothering about the runic armaments, Nial put them on and went straight to the crucial point.

    "Calm down, and tell me what exactly is going on!"

    Like them, Be was extremely tired due to the pressure and strain of thest few days, only for another incident to happen, keeping her fully awake.

    Thus, it must be something very important.

    "To put it simply, the meeting took way longer than expected because they tried messaging the Guardians.

    There was no response from them, which led to the assumption of their presumed death.

    Only shortly after the radar that is configured to perceive the fluctuations of dungeons went haywire, it showed that more than 50 dungeons on the nameless ind were about to break out!

    And that only includes the dungeon portals in the radar''s range!

    Miranda, or whatever her name is, came over in the middle of the meeting saying that she will take care of the dungeon breakouts and the stronger beasts.

    When she said that, everyone was astonished but also visibly relieved because everyone was already discussing whether they should weaken the defenses of the military camp to save the other participants.

    Either way, the old woman left, leaving behind the runic armaments, telling me to return them to you, and to ask you to survive.

    It looks like she sensed that something was going on, but that''s enough of this topic¡­

    We have to act quickly!! After the old woman left, the radar went still for a short time, only to act up again a few minutes ago¡­ more than 30 dungeons in the deeper parts of the cave are breaking out!!"

    While trying to keep his calm, Nial could barely prevent his expression from turning into a hideous grimace.

    A dungeon breakout was always considered to be dangerous.

    However, there was a big difference between a dungeon breakout for temporary and permanent dungeons.

    While temporary dungeon portals would close once every single beast within had been released to the outside, permanent dungeon portals wouldn''t close and would allow more and more beasts to emerge from the dungeon.

    And they would stay wide open until the boss of the respective dungeons had been killed, sealing the dungeon portal once again.

    "How strong are the dungeon portals? Will the military be enough to take care of everything?"

    Nial knew that the news about the death of all Guardians was extremely worrisome.

    But given the current situation, the dungeon breakout of 30 dungeons in the deeper parts of the cave was more important.

    All the traces of sleep had been wiped away from his eyes and now Nial''s mind was rattling with the possible oues of this devastating urrence.

    Yet, the moment he saw that Be shook her head, Nial was unable to prevent the hideous grimace from appearing on his face again.

    "Junades said that three dungeon portals belong to a unique type of dungeon each that never broke out before.

    They''re permanent ones but the dungeon bosses within them have only been defeated a few times¡­and always by one of the strongest listed Originals of mankind.

    And¡­the old woman is not there right now¡­so the higher authorities of the military will have to focus on killing the dungeon bosses of the three unique permanent dungeons, otherwise, the newly spawning monsters will destroy the military base within moments!"

    Nial''s frown would have deepened if that would have been possible.

    Right now he was simply d that his body had been healed by the Old Medic.

    This gave him, at the least, the opportunity to try fighting.

    "Have we been told to run away, or to fight?" He thus simply asked while trying to figure out what the Military wanted from them.

    Just when Nial asked this, Mathias woke up.

    He yawned and stretched his body in the bed as if he was a cat.

    "What is going on?"

    Mathias'' voice was sleepy and tired. He was still not fully awake and was just rubbing his eyes while stifling another yawn.

    As such, only when Be gave him a brief report about the current situation did he shoot up from the bed, fear clearly visible in his eyes.

    Yet, before Mathias could suggest that they should flee, Be decided to answer Nial''s question.

    "We have been given our first mission¡­ In the current situation, leaving the camp is too dangerous. Nobody can tell what dangers await us on the nameless ind right now.

    As such, our first mission is both to survive and to fight!"

    Under normal circumstances, such a mission would sound too risky, but Nial could only nod his head.

    He knew that the situation that unfolded in front of them was everything but normal.

    Nobody could reassure their safety right now which meant that they were on their own.

    Perceiving the bitter truth of mankind''s state, Nial bit his lower lip, while continuing to listen to Be''s next words.

    "The cave branches out into several cavern halls, and tunnels.<sub> </sub>

    Because we are one of the first Originals, we''ve been told to join a few younger Soldiers to enter the cavern halls where Rookie ranked dungeons have manifested."

    Apparently, the allocation of caves had been done in ordance to the rank of the Originals.

    This was quite interesting under normal circumstances, as dungeon portals couldn''t be moved.

    In the end, this meant that the dungeon portals in the caves must have materialized in a specific order, allowing mankind to ssify the dungeon portals ording to the rank of Originals and send them to fight, to begin with.

    Nial would have loved to get to know more about this¡­but now was not the time to do it.

    Right now, he was only d that they wouldn''t have to face more Prym-ranked beasts, or worse, even stronger beasts.

    After all, they would be torn apart in an instant without even being able to retaliate.

    "And how many Rookie rank dungeons are undergoing a breakout right now?" Nial thus asked calmly.

    Even if the situation was shocking, his mind was rtively calm and almost unbothered.

    However, Nial knew that this was owing to the Odyssey seed, and the influence the seed had on his emotions.

    As such, it bothered him that he was not feeling much in the given situation.

    This was something that Be sensed faintly. She understood that something other than the extremely high dangers in their immediate surroundings bothered him immensely.

    Nevertheless, she had no time to bother about the things that annoyed Nial, hence she quickly revealed the information she knew.

    "As I already said, three permanent dungeons have powerful bosses that cannot be easily defeated. However the ordinary beasts within have been killed, and they won''t spawn for a short period of time. Other than that, there are slightly more than 20 dungeons in the range of the Rookie rank that will or have already broken out!

    The rest are the dungeons inhabiting beasts on par with or stronger than the Lesser Titan youngling!"

    The information shocked Mathias tremendously as he visualized being forced to fight against the beast tide of tens of thousand beasts that were bound to emerge from 20 Rookie ranked dungeons!

    His expression paled, and he didn''t even want to leave the barracks anymore.

    He imagined himself hiding somewhere and praying to just any kind of God who would provide a better chance of survival.

    Yet, when he looked at Be and Nial, he couldn''t help but feel a bit bothered.

    Be''s face was drained of all color, but her expression was firm, giving him the impression that she was ready to fight.

    On the other hand, Nial''s hideous grimace had disappeared, revealing a calm young man, whose corners of his lips curled upwards.

    "That''s great!" Nial suddenly blurted out, astonishing both Be, who was fully awake, as well as Mathias, whose tiredness was almost fully washed away.

    "How the hell is this great, Nial?! Are you still asleep?" Mathias shouted out in a panicked voice.

    Mathias just wanted to run away, leave everything behind, and ignore the fact that he came to the Teradan military camp to ovee the trauma of his past life, to be stronger, and live a life he could be proud of.

    Even if he was still tired, it was obvious that 20 dungeon breakouts were more than what their small team of three, and a few younger soldiers could handle.

    As such, Mathias felt like shouting even more at his friend, saying that he was insane, and possibly even curse at him.

    But Nial''s unruffled bodynguage and calm expressions in face of the dangers they would have to face in a short while prevented Mathias from saying anything.

    "Well, with more than 20 dungeon breakouts for Rookie ranked dungeons, the remaining dungeon breakouts will be of higher-ranked dungeons.

    Isn''t it obvious that it''s better for us if more low-ranked dungeons break out than higher-ranked ones?"

    Nial expected that both Be and Mathias would understand the reason behind his subtle smile.

    After all, it was much better to face tens of thousand weak beasts rather than being stampeded by the same number of powerful beasts.

    Even a single powerful beast in the possession of a single Origin ring would be strong enough to kill them as long as Nial didn''t make use of the Odyssey seed''s dark energy currents!

    And the Odyssey seed was something Nial wanted to avoid making use of, right now, by all means.

    He feared losing control over his own body, and he would seek its help only if there was no other way of rescuing him.

    That was under the condition that he could freely control the Odyssey seed.

    But that was, unfortunately, not the case, at all.

    Thus, instead of being bothered about the possibilities of facing tens of thousands of beasts ranging from the 1st to the 10th Origin rank, Nial had other problems.

    Neither of them had the faintest idea of just how dangerous the following hours were bound to be.

    Yet, even before any of them was able to prepare themselves for anything, Captain ra emerged in the doorframe of the still open door.

    "Is everyone ready? We have to set out now, otherwise, Lieutenant Junades and the others won''t be able to leave the first defensive line to tackle the Giganodes!"

    Nial''s body shook the moment he heard the word ''Giganodes.''

    A distant memory shed through his mind, and it was as if the Odyssey seed was trying to speak to him once again.

    However, Nial actively ignored it, and set his focus on the situation ahead.

    Little did he know that the Odyssey seed was not trying to take charge over his mind and body right now.

    Instead, it wanted to give him a warning about the things that urred on the nameless ind, and the entire.

    After all, the Odyssey seed was fully aware of what kind of existence the Giganodes served!

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel support me with your golden tickets. If you like multiverses, read my other Novels and join my Discord. Link in my profile!]

 Chapter 123 Army

    Following Captain ra, they made only a short stop near the military''s warehouse.

    There, almost everyone was currently gearing up, choosing their equipment and fastening straps of their armors to be fully prepared to ughter thousands of beasts.

    "Even if I hope it is not necessary, take some protective garments, potions and other things you believe are necessary with you!" She simply ordered them.

    All traces of her earlier calm,posed and happy attitude had been wiped away and only a grim expression was left on her face.

    It was as if ra had been reced with a tough and gritty Captain, someone, who was ready to fight and kill without mercy as long as it allowed her and the people she was responsible for, to survive.

    Nial liked this because it calmed Mathias down a lot.

    Even Be seemed to be much calmer thanks to Captain ra, which caused Nial to smile.

    Thus, without asking the unnecessary question of why the military would suddenly allow them to carry things that were previously on the taboo list, Nial rushed into the warehouse.

    He was fully aware of the fact that surviving was far more important than attending any kind of training camp.

    And this was also what the higher-ups knew.

    Because of that, Nial didn''t waste much time either as he grasped a few potions, a suitable leather armor, a set of daggers, and some other misceneous items.

    Owing to his exceptional mana perception, he could pick objects of the finest quality, such as the set of daggers that were Common grade mythical weapons!

    But even if someone were to throw weird looks at him, Nial wouldn''t care.

    After all, he had to be prepared for the possibility of being stomped by a huge beast tide.

    Fighting against hundreds of beasts in his immediate surroundings with a spear would be foolish.

    With that in mind, Nial decided to prepare daggers for the worst case, even if he hoped that it wouldn''te to that.

    Only ten minutes had passed before he was fully prepared.

    Be and Mathias required a few more minutes while the Soldiers and higher ranks of the military had already been dispatched.

    Captain ra was waiting, with her hands folded behind her back patiently.

    However, deep down, Nial could sense her unstable mana fluctuations, which reflected her worry, and impatience.

    Nheless, there were quite a few young Originals that would join the fight against the beast tide.

    More than 30 Originals had already entered the military base, and even if almost a dozen were still injured owing to the fight against the Lesser Titan youngling, the rest were ready to fight!

    With nearly 20 more Originals by their side, the military could defeat hundreds, or even thousand more beasts as long as they managed to hold back only a few beasts.

    Nobody in the military had expected the young Originals to be able to endure the pressure of fighting thousands of beasts.

    But even then, it was a great experience for them to witness and participate in a fight that they were bound to encounter in the future as well.

    It might seem cruel at first nce, but Nial also felt that it would be a great opportunity for them to assess their strengths and weaknesses.

    By only using the ck miasma, and that too when it was absolutely necessary, Nial could learn to be more independent.

    At the same time, it would allow him to reach a much higherbat experience, to learn what true ughter is, and how arge-scale battlefield smelled and felt like.

    Owing to his extraordinarily enhanced senses, Nial ought to be bombarded with a lot of information and face great difficulties with his hearing, smelling, and even touching senses.

    As such, it would be an even more memorable experience for him.

    However, what made him feel frustrated was that he still didn''t feel any fear, which ra could sense clearly.

    Oddly enough, Nial''s calmness influenced her as well, visibly calming her down.

    But she was not the only one to feel a bit more confident, as those who rushed out of the warehouse once they were ready could feel the difference in the atmosphere.

    Except for Nial and a bunch of otherte bloomers with a humble background, each participant of the Teradan military camp had received rigorous training for several years in order to ovee the dangers of the wilderness, but even then, their experience was limited to conquering known dungeons.

    Not many had conquered a mutated dungeon, an unexplored dungeon, or fought against dungeon beasts stronger than themselves.

    All of this was something Nial had already ovee, indicating that his experience was not as shallow or insufficient as he always presumed.

    Furthermore, owing to his highly enhanced physique, and the additional erged mana core, he was not as weak as before, if one could even call him that now- weak!

    His physical strength was now on par with a 7th Origin rank, while his mana core was erged to be on par with a 5th or 6th Origin rank.

    And that was the case when he had merely undergone just two erging.

    All of the enhancements he received were owed to the [Hodur''s heir] curse and the fact that the Odyssey seed devoured the Titan heart.

    This was great in the current situation, but the hidden agenda behind the Odyssey seed''s actions was still unknown.

    There was the possibility for it to be something good and purely y a supportive role in hisbat prowess, but the chances were slim.

    Thus, he distracted himself once again.

    When everyone was fully prepared, their armors, scabbards, and potion belts neatly worn, Nial clenched and unclenched his fists multiple times before swinging his arms, and rotating them.

    Nial''s movements gained some interest that was even more than what he had received just a few days ago.

    Out of all the present participants of the Teradan military camp, only Nial, Be, and Mathias were from Katu.

    It was the weakest and most isted shelter of mankind, which was why nobody expected them to have any overly powerful participants.

    And from the rmended batch from Katu, only their team of three gained some interest.

    Having heard some gossip from those Originals that had been saved by Nial and his little team, the others couldn''t help but look at the youth they had presumed to be the weakest.<sub> </sub>

    It was obvious that Nial was just at the 3rd Origin rank, and his blindness was evident as well.

    However, the rumors were more than enough to believe that his calmness was not a farce, but that he was truly not worried about dying in the following hours.

    Thus, without meaning to, subconsciously they all flocked near Nial as if he was their beacon of light and hope.

    Only Nial knew that he was miles away from being rted to anything that had to do with light, purity, or whatsoever.

    He was cursed, and it felt as if this not only included the curse he had bound to his mana core, but far more than that!

    But even then, he was certain of not meeting the Grim Reaper today, which allowed him to follow ra with firm steps.

    Mathias and Be were by his side, soaking in the confidence he radiated, which helped calm down the restless Mathias, and Be, who was unsure what to think of the situation they had been dragged into.

    She knew for sure that the Teradan military camp was far less dangerous than what they were facing right now ording to Kassandra, her teacher, who had told her so.

    And the fact that a blind young man was unfazed infused her with some much-needed confidence.

    Meanwhile, Nial was oblivious to the effect he had on the others. He was simply perceiving every single trace of mana in his surroundings, to sense everything.

    But even if he wanted to, he decided against saying something, knowing that it might lead to conflicts in the mindsets of some Originals.

    This would be quite troublesome as it could lead to an existential crisis in the worst-case scenario, possibly followed by the consequence of their death in the battle against the dungeon beasts.

    Several minutes thus passed, and their small group went deeper into the mountain until they reached an intersection with three tunnels.

    Through the remnants of mana fluctuations and the mana currents that flowed through the three cavern tunnels, it was not difficult to determine where they had to go.

    The tunnel on their left had the lowest purity and density of mana even if the quantity was not all that bad.

    With that in mind, everyone turned in that direction. No sooner had they turned, ear-piercing roars, and hisses reverberated through the entire cave.

    It originated from the right tunnel, where Junades and the other more powerful Originals had gone.

    Meanwhile, the elite soldiers went inside the middle cavern tunnel.

    ''Origin rank, Prym rank¡­and the Se¡­the rank that follows with four to six origin rings¡­Is that the distribution of the tunnels?''

    Nial''s conclusion was nearly perfect, and the only mistake he made was to presume that thest dungeon on the right side was devoid of beasts with seven to nine origin rings.

    As such, his conclusion that mankind''s strongest existences had between six and seven origin rings had been a misleading one.

    Unable to digest just how weak mankind was, he could only shake his head as they entered the cavern tunnel to their left.

    It was the smallest tunnel in the entire intersection. The entrance was only six meters wide and less than five meters high.

    This clearly showed that it should be possible to defend the tunnel with four to five Originals as long as they could endure the heavy pressure of facing attacks head-on.

    Simultaneously, by using Mathias'' Earth elemental affinity to their advantage, they could gain an upper hand in an underground fight.

    At least, that would be the case as long as Mathias covered the ceilings with numerous spikes, preventing beasts from trampling over their own brethren to reach them.

    This would bring forth unnecessary trouble that could be avoided rather easily.

    However, the further they walked, the more frustrating the tunnel''s height and width became, and Nial''s mood plummeted.

    As such, he couldn''t help but quicken his pace to reach ra before he asked,

    "Shouldn''t we go back and protect the base at the narrow spots of the tunnel? Wouldn''t that be less dangerous?"

    He could clearly perceive the Soldiers ahead, fighting against beasts in the broadest area of the entire cavern tunnel.

    In fact, Nial presumed that one could consider it as one of the cavern halls inside the mountain of the nameless ind.

    Under normal circumstances, Captain ra would have agreed to Nial''s opinion, but not now, in the given situation.

    "Normally yes, but amongst the 20 breakouts of Rookie ranked dungeons, there are several rather unique beasts with powerful elemental affinities.

    If one of them were to spit out huge mes, for example, then everyone would be distracted, injured, or possibly die upon facing the searing hot mes.

    You cannot even avoid them in that case¡­"

    After she answered his question, Nial just nodded his head, but didn''t slow down and continued to advance towards the Originals Soldiers.

    They didn''t have to walk for long and soon their eyes fell on the army of thousands of roaring beasts that were fiercely trying to overwhelm their opponents. Meanwhile, the Originals were desperately trying to prevent every single beast to break through their defenses.

    However, this was impossible, which was also why the higher-ups of the military had decided to enlist the young participants of the Teradan military camp in the fight against the Army of beasts.

    The participants of the Teradan military base and the small batch of 20 Originals were supposed to free the Soldiers of their worry to block every single beast from advancing through their defensive line!

    **

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 Chapter 124 Last Line Of Defense

    Seeing that the young Originals had finally arrived, the soldiers visibly calmed down.

    Within seconds, the tightly packed soldiers began to move, creating space between one another to allow some dungeon beasts to pass through.

    Though they didn''t let all of the beasts trample them and shoot past the four rows of Soldiers, meaning that the number of dungeon beasts that were able to pass through all of them was minuscule.

    Besides, most of the stronger beasts were already injured, posing only a little threat to the young Originals.

    Once the first row of soldiers holding the defensive line would grow exhausted, the soldiers from the rows behind would take over, letting the front row soldiers catch up on their breaths a little.

    Through this, the most exhausted Soldiers would be able to defend the base from the fourth row, while recuperating slowly.

    This would distribute the pressure weighing down on everyone tremendously.

    But even then, Nial felt that something was wrong.

    His mana perception sensed that the beasts ahead were of no real threat.

    What he sensed was that the soil all around them would create an issue for them.

    "Mathias, do you sense something within the walls around us?" Nial thus asked Mathias.

    He had an Earth elemental affinity and should be more than capable enough to sense everything within the soil all around them.

    His range of perception might even be higher than Nial''s.

    This was why he asked Mathias, but sadly his friend only shook his head.

    "There is nothing. Why do you ask? Do you sense something?" Mathias was still quite worried, but owing to Nial''s rather calm demeanor, he was able to hold his ground as well.

    "No idea, I only felt a bit weird, that''s it!"

    No sooner had he said that the ground below them trembled as tremendous energy waves swept through the tunnels, only to be followed by a thunderous roar that shook humans and dungeon beasts to the core.

    Several seconds passed until everything around them stopped rumbling, and Nial regainedplete control over his body once again.

    His Odyssey seed had begun to vibrate for a moment, but Nial''s body quickly subdued this with the use of his mana without noticing it.

    He didn''t fear the beasts around him, but the Odyssey seed had begun to make him ufortable ever since the day it absorbed the Titan''s heart.

    As such, once he regained his senses, Nial took a few steps forward before wielding the Viper spear, calming him tremendously.

    A few powerful dungeon beasts that regained their senses almost as quickly as Nial were able to pass through the defensive line of the Soldiers.

    Thus, Nial didn''t hesitate to push his feet off the ground as he catapulted himself towards the Foxes that looked eerily bulky.

    They were almost a meter tall, and it looked like the vast majority of their body was made out of muscles.

    Based on their mana fluctuations, Nial realized that the more than a dozen Bulky Foxes were at the 7th Origin rank.

    It was much higher than Nial''s original ranking which was just at the 3rd Origin rank.

    But that was not something he worried about, at all.

    He prepared himself by circting mana through his enhanced body, and was ready to face the dungeon beasts head-on, alone if necessary.

    And this was truly how it looked because the other young Originals were still behind him.

    All of them including Captain ra were yet to move.

    However, this was the case owing to the [Berserk Roar] ability that had been issued by the Giganodes just a few moments earlier.

    It instilled fear and paralysis thatsted for a few seconds in every being that it reached.

    The effect was weaker towards the beings, whose mind and the body was further developed, of higher natural resistance, or simply of higher willpower.

    While Nial''s body had received a high natural resistance to such effects owing to the Odyssey seed''s passive effects, the others didn''t have any such advantage.

    The required willpower to not let the [Berserk Roar] affect them was not something the rest of the humans had, at least not in the face of Giganodes.

    They were also feared as the King-devourer and Giant-eaters.

    But that was only the nickname Nial was aware of.

    After all, mankind couldn''t know this!

    However, Nial couldn''t care less about the Giganodes right now because he had to face over a dozen Bulky Foxes, alone, at that.

    The Soldiers in front of him had started moving again, and from what his mana perception told him, Captain ra, Belle, and two more Originals were able to move once again as well.

    It would take them a moment before they would reach him.

    Changing his stance, Nial switched the Viper spear''s form to a ive.

    Through this the de on the side of the spear tip pierced out, allowing him to use more brute force instead of perfect precision.

    And that was exactly what Nial needed right now.

    Not halting in his advance, he pushed himself ahead, reaching the first Bulky Fox.

    It was ready to tear apart the young human in front of it and growled intimidatingly.

    Yet, it was just at this moment that Nial''s speed elerated.

    He leaned forward and pushed himself ahead, only to halt all of a sudden.

    Using the great momentum he had umted, Nial brandished the Viper spear in the ive form, while shing at the first Bulky Fox.

    The sudden change in his moves hit the Fox off-guard, preventing it from deflecting the attack.

    It could only try to use its maw to block the advance of the attack in ast-ditch attempt to save itself.

    However, this proved to be its doom and gave Nial the perfect opportunity to kill the Fox by cutting off the upper part of its head.

    Nial truly hadn''t expected the Bulky Fox to be so dumb.

    He had predicted it to be sly and intelligent, which was something Foxes as a breed had inmon.

    But after witnessing the way the Bulky Fox clumsily fought, Nial''s opinion about the beasts in front of him changed.

    Nial wasn''t going to grumble about it as it made him put in fewer efforts to eliminate one of the several threats. The tension that had coiled in his muscles body eased up, providing him with the chance to move with much more confidence.

    Using several difficultbat sequences, Nial tested out his body''s capabilities after he devoured the Titan''s heart to assess the level of enhancements he had received.<sub> </sub>

    Without giving his best, it was difficult for him to do so.

    As such, Nial didn''t even think of holding back.

    He moved around at his highest speed, using every inch of force within his body to fight while circting mana through his mana vein.

    The speed at which the mana circted through his body allowed him to enhance himself even more than usual.

    It even provided him with the opportunity to spread his mana into multiple strands to focus on different body parts at the same time.

    This required precise control of mana, which was usually quite difficult to achieve while fighting with his life on the line.

    However, the current opponents were rather dumb and posed hardly any threat to him.

    Using his highly enhanced physique, the tremendous amount of mana that coursed through his body, and his high control over both his body and mind, Nial''s movements became faster and faster.

    With shockingly high agility and flexibility, he passed through the crowd of more than a dozen Bulky Foxes effortlessly.

    Smoothly switching between the various forms of the Viper spear, Nial switched between thrusting the Viper spear out to end the life of his opponents with a single thrust and shing at them by using his trusted weapon in its ive form with which he beheaded a Bulky Fox.

    Nial''s way of fighting attracted the attention of the young Originals, and even Captain ra couldn''t help but look at him in dumbfounding.

    Yet, she didn''t stop moving and appeared right next to him with the intention to protect him.

    That was not required so she didn''t do anything either.

    Even if the current situation was a mess, the higher-ups of the military told her not to overdo it.

    She was supposed to protect the young Originals from dying in the dungeon breakout, not to babysit them.

    And this was exactly what she was doing now, looking over Nial to see if he would need her help.

    However, as it was evidently not necessary, ra swept a nce through the surroundings to assess how the others were faring.

    The Soldiers ahead of them had only thrown a short nce behind in order to see if everything was fine.

    Seeing Nial, and how easily he defeated the Bulky Foxes they felt visibly relieved which allowed them to return to their task at hand, to defend the Teradan military base from the dungeon breakout.

    At the same time, Be and two more young Originals appeared near Nial. All of them now faced a total of five Bulky Foxes.

    The rest had already been killed by Nial, and one of them had even dropped a Mid rank Common grade origin crystal.

    Nial didn''t even think about picking up the origin crystal as his entire focus was on defeating the other beasts.

    He felt surprisingly clear-headed and even forgot to worry about the Odyssey seed.

    It was a great feeling for his mind to be at ease, giving him the chance to feel the excitement to fight, once again.

    He was way too worried about something that had not even happened yet, and Nial didn''t know whether the Odyssey seed was something bad or not, either.

    From his past experience, the more he worried about things, the more was the likelihood of his worse fears turning true.

    Thus, if he would keep worrying that the Odyssey seed was bad or evil, it was most likely to be the case.

    Yet, when seeing fighting everything other than the battlefield in front of him turned negligible.

    It was only the moment that counted as every single moment could be yourst one or thest one of your opponent.

    With that in mind, Nial brandished the Viper spear in the ive form, shing it across the battlefield.

    Using the tremendous momentum to his advantage, he moved the spear around his body, ending up inflicting several injuries to the beasts around him.

    Three Bulky Foxes had nearly reached him, and once their sharp ws would reach him, he would be torn into countless pieces.

    Fortunately, Nial''s sudden movement pushed them back, preventing them from doing anything to him.

    And it was at this moment that Be activated her [Outburst] ability and reached his side.

    Through this, the mana that circted through her body reached a new height in potency.

    Emerging next to one of the subtly injured Bulky Foxes a momentter, Beshed out.

    Piercing through its neck, Be killed it as the Bulky Fox could barely squeal once before it sumbed to the deadly injury.

    Without hesitation, she left the corpse that slumped to the ground and advanced ahead to kill the next Bulky Fox.

    Meanwhile, the other two young Originals were doing the same.

    They tried their best to kill at least two Bulky Foxes, as they wanted to be on par with Nial.

    However, they quickly understood that the embarrassment of having been affected by the [Berserk Roar] of the mighty beast that the higher-ups of the military were fighting was not as big a deal as they thought.

    Nial might have been lucky for his ability to counter the effect of the Beast''s ability, or there was something else that allowed him to be unaffected by the ability.

    Nheless, they wanted to show that they were not useless and that Nial was not the strongest.

    Even more so because the young Original was only at the 3rd Origin rank, and, most importantly, blind!!

    Yet, his movement sequences and his ability to fight were evident, showing everyone clearly that they shouldn''t hold prejudice against Nial.

    Nial couldn''t care less, and the only thing he sensed after the short skirmish ended with the foxes was that the number of dungeon beasts in front of them was much higher than initially expected.

    ''Looks like this will be quite bloody, even for us, thest line of defense!''

    But instead of feeling bothered, Nial simply waited for the beasts to dare ande fight him.

    Right now, he felt that he was ready to face everyone and everything, even Gods if necessary!

    **

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 Chapter 125 Wall

    Half an hour passed since the [Berserk Roar] had numbed everybody''s senses for a short while except Nial''s. By now, all the soldiers were extremely exhausted.

    Under normal circumstances, they would have been able to fight for hours until a dungeon had been conquered.

    However, the given situation was beyond any possible norms.

    The number of dungeon beasts that pushed through the rows of the overly exhausted Soldiers was still increasing.

    And even though the Soldiers had already formed their first or even second Origin ring, it was not possible for them to fight against more than 20 Dungeon bosses, the rare bosses, and more than thousands of dungeon beasts at once.

    After all, the number of Soldiers that were present in the cave of the Rookie dungeons was less than 150.

    The other two caves required far more Soldiers, as the strength of the beasts was far higher around there.

    In fact, a single dungeon boss of an Expert dungeon posed a tremendous threat to far more than 250 Prym ranked Soldiers with just one Basic Origin ring!

    Expert dungeons were dungeons that inhabited dungeon beasts with, at most three Origin rings, while a Basic Origin ring was an Origin ring that had been materialized with just the basic amount of required mana.

    Meanwhile, an Intermediate Origin ring used the liquefied mana of a 7th Origin ranked Original.

    As such, the dangers posed in the other two caves were much higher as the dungeon bosses alone were enough to wreak havoc.

    It was likely to be because of this reason that the military had been unable to send more Soldiers to the Cave of the Rookie ranked dungeons.

    But this was not something most participants of the Teradan military camp could understand.

    They were fighting for their lives, some of them cursing their fate which made them face more and more monsters as time progressed.

    Meanwhile, Nial and Be remained quiet as they could clearly understand the gravity of the situation.

    Their expressions were grim as they paved the way through the rows of Shadow Tigers that had broken through the four defensive lines of the soldiers.

    Unable to do something against the special traits of some beasts, the soldiers could only hope that the young Originals were capable of protecting themselves.

    Yet, instead of feeling threatened by the Shadow Tigers, Be, Nial and a few other Originals killed them without too many difficulties.

    "ra, how about you and two or three Soldiers take charge of killing the dungeon bosses?!

    This mess has to stop, and if the dungeon beasts continue to crawl out of the permanent dungeons, we would keep fighting them for eternity!" One of the young Originals shouted in frustration.

    The young man, whose entire face was smeared with the blood of the beasts he had killed, didn''t even care about addressing her formally owing to his frustration.

    He had certainly not entered the Teradan military camp to fight against thousands of dungeons beasts at once.

    Instead, his task had been to be the strongest and show everyone that he was the best!

    In the given situation, this was simply not possible, but that was not it.

    ''All of us will die if this goes on, even if it''s only for half an hour!!''

    Looking around worriedly, Yves didn''t even have to know the number of the beasts that tried to push their way through the Soldiers'' defensive lines. The intense pressure weighing on the soldiers in front of him was not hard to decipher.

    Just a single nce was enough for him to figure that the dungeon beasts showed no signs of slowing down and that the dungeon bosses had yet to be defeated.

    Realizing how killing the boss would automatically decimate its pawns, Yves had a mad urge to go for the head of the dungeon bosses by himself.

    But he knew that he would die the moment he broke through the defensive lines of the soldiers that were facing the steady outpour of dungeon beasts and fought the monsters all by himself.

    With that in mind, he decided to use his ability and Innate ability for the sake of the others, and unveiled it to them.

    "You guys need to be protected, I cannot leave you-.." Captain ra had begun but was cut abruptly by another youth who shouted.

    "Stop with that nonsense!! We are going to die if nobody kills the dungeon bosses. So either you and some other soldiers have to go¡­otherwise, we are going to die!!"

    It was a rather bulky young man''s voice, who was fighting several beasts at once with a huge mace.

    After shouting at ra, he angrily smashed the mace onto the head of the closest beast that was a Heavy Armored Rhinoceros, followed by loud noises of its skull cracking into pieces that resounded in the surrounding.

    "Captain ra, go. We will handle this." Nial suddenly yelledskull-cracking, his eerily calm voice reverberating through the surroundings as his lifeless eyes encountered hers.

    His confident voice and demeanor snapped her out of her trance as she gave him a tight-lipped smile and nodded her head.

    Earlier, she was just too worried that something might happen to the young Originals.

    However, she also understood that the situation would not improve if she didn''t do as asked.

    Even with more than 150 Soldiers at the Prym rank, the number of Rookie dungeon beasts was simply too high.

    As such, she was thankful that Nial was able to keep his calm and reassure her that they would be fine even without her help.

    With that in mind, Captain ra circted mana through her body before catapulting herself toward thest defensive line.

    There, she picked the three best soldiers of the lot, whose abilities she was familiar with before instructing them to follow her.

    A momentter, they broke through the soldiers'' defensive line, advancing straight in the direction of the closest dungeon boss.<sub> </sub>

    Detecting the dungeon bosses was not further difficult because their mana fluctuations and presence were quite obvious, and hard to miss.

    Thus, they forced their way through the masses of beasts, using one of the Soldier''s [Warrior''s Rush] abilities to push everyone away to create a path for the others.

    A momentter, it looked like the pressure on the defensive lines had decreased.

    But, unfortunately enough, this was not the case, and the opposite urred.

    The dungeon bosses noticed the change in the situation, causing them to react with the use of their own abilities.

    While utilizing them, they didn''t even care about hurting the beasts around them.

    Thus, most beasts were driven by their fright, leading them to start running around helter-skelter, thereby increasing the pressure on the defensive lines.

    Adding the exhaustion of most of the Soldiers to it, the situation seemed to escte, only for four to five young Originals to appear near the first defensive lines.

    It was Nial, Be, Mathias, Yves, and Shariq, the bulky man, who had appeared in between the rows of the soldiers.

    However, none of them held their weapons right now.

    Instead, they held some seeds that Yves had pushed into their hands.

    "Spread them out!" He just shouted before throwing the seeds in front of him with a smooth wave of his hand.

    The others followed suit, unsure of what exactly was supposed to happen.

    Yet, it was Nial, who first noticed that Yves was doing something as his entire body was enshrouded in a greenish transmuted mana.

    Using his ability [n growth] and his Innate ability [Nature''s wrath], with all of his mana, roots, vines, andrge flower stems grew out of the seeds that were sprinkled throughout the cave.

    Growing with a rapid speed, a huge of protection formed in front of all soldiers spanning the entire cavern hall.

    ording to the thickness of the veins, everyone presumed that they wouldst for a few seconds before crumbling due to the beasts'' attacks, possibly even more.

    "I can hold it for 10 seconds, afterward, I will be drained of mana and unable to fight due to overexertion of my ability!"

    Under normal circumstances, one wouldn''t think that Yves'' abilities were extremely powerful, and they may not seem mighty right now.

    But once some time passed, and he grew further, the lethalbo of his ability and Innate ability would turn into something extremely fearsome.

    Yet, for now, the only thing he could do to help was to create and cast a properly working of protective vines.

    However, this was already enough to give the Soldiers a few seconds to take several deep breaths.

    Mathias, who was still scared of the numerous dungeon beasts tearing him apart, recalled that he hadn''t done anything great yet.

    Inparison to Be and Nial, his contribution was close to negligible in the current situation.

    He was not supposed to simply idle around. Thus, with the aim to do something, Mathias used up his entire mana at once.

    With the used up mana, Mathias empowered his Earth affinity with which he created a huge earthen wall within the of protection.

    Through this, and the sudden coboration of both Yves and Mathias, they created a firm and seemingly indestructible wall.

    Several moments of utter silence passed, and it was only when both Yves and Mathias slumped to the ground in utter exhaustion that the surroundings seemed to turn alive again.

    A collective sigh of relief escaped the soldiers after they saw the gigantic wall of vines and the additional earthen wall of protection that had been manifested.

    For a few moments, the pressure around them had been too high, and it was only fortunate that the wall of protection seemed to be quite sturdy.

    This led Nial to avert his focus on both Mathias and Yves as a faint trace of interest emerged within him.

    ''Interesting ability,'' He could only think, believing that the young Original at the 8th Origin rank was anything but ordinary.

    Not only had Yves undergone seven ergings, but he owned a powerful ability and Innate ability as well.

    For now, they might not be overpowered, which was quite obvious as the necessary preparations took time and some effort.

    However, Nial was pretty sure that Yves hailed from an influential background, and had the necessary means to be extremely powerful¡­far more powerful than he already was!

    There were many interesting Originals Nial was interested in.

    Almost all of them had Innate abilities as well, causing Nial to wonder if he was just lucky to encounter so many Originals with Innate abilities, if most participants of the Teradan military camp had Innate abilities or simr traits to that, or if they were just the cream of the crop!

    But it was at this moment that Nial noticed something that caused him to halt in his tracks.

    "It''s great that we can protect ourselves, but¡­we didn''t kill Captain ra and the soldiers who went with her with this, right?"

    Nial asked in a horrified voice, epting that he would be partially responsible for this mess as well if something had really happened to them.

    However, Shiraq just waved his hand as he pointed towards the wall where huge tusks had already pierced through, leaving gaping holes behind.

    "Don''t worry, the fight is not yet over. There are still some Rhinos, Elephants, and other huge targets, whom I have to show just how beautiful my Bloody mace is!"

 Chapter 126 Change

    In the following minutes, Nial, Be and the bulky man named Shiraq sent back Yves and Mathias.

    They were utterly exhausted as they had used every single trace of the mana within their body while activating both their ability and Innate ability at once.

    When they returned, Nial and Be got to know that Shiraq had a unique physical condition.

    [Gigantus Strength] was what his condition was called. It would permanently increase his strength, and allow him to be the most powerful in terms of brute force.

    This allowed him to easily wield a mace that weighed more than 100 kilograms that could be easily bashed on the head of his opponents and crush them.

    But he couldn''t simply bulldoze his way through the opponents as his stamina was not endless, which was why he was happy to have received a short break from fighting when the wall of earth and of vines and roots had been constructed.

    By quickly scanning Nial and Be''s mana fluctuations, Shiraq couldn''t tell exactly gauge their true power in terms of physical strength, but their presence was quite intimidating.

    At least others would feel intimidated around both of them.

    Feeling quitefortable around the two young Originals who could clearly take care of themselves, Shiraq quickly gulped down a few potions.

    They invigorated him and healed some shallow wounds the beasts he fought had inflicted on him.

    Nial and Be drank some potions as well and decided to catch up on their breaths while observing the earthen wall.

    Moving along the wall, they chose to stay at the spot where most of the earth crumbled.

    Seeing this, Shiraq smiled faintly.

    He was increasingly feeling good about being with the two Originals as they appeared confident and the more he saw them, the more he was inclined to just tail them without saying a single word.

    "Seven out of the 43 stronger mana fluctuations dispersed. It should only take 20 minutes before the remaining Dungeon bosses and Rare beast bosses have been killed!"

    When Nial suddenly said this, Be just nodded her head, while Shiraq wondered how the young, blind Original had figured this out.

    If he were to know that Nial focused the [Mana Perception] ability to learn of the situation in front of him, which would allow him to scan everything ahead, the young man would probably be astonished.

    And that was without adding his other senses as they were currently rather distractive instead of being helpful.

    Sensing the vibrations within the cave, in addition to smelling the dirt, blood, and sweat of the soldiers around him as well as hearing everything at a much higher sensitivity than anyone else was certainly not something Nial wished for anyone to feel.

    Thus, he had to quiet down after the few words he spoke, feeling as if he would vomit if he were forced to breathe in the surrounding air through his mouth.

    Brandishing the Viper spear around him, Nial calmed himself before he sensed the approach of arge beast.

    It was about to ram into one of the crumbling parts of the wall.

    When he saw this, Nial quickly changed his stance and pierced out the moment the Rhinoceros'' tusk pierced right through the wall.

    With a precise thrust, the Viper spear reached its designated target at the perfect time.

    While the head of the Rhino prated through the wall, the mana-coated tip of the Viper spear reached the unprotected part between its neck and head.

    It was just a small gap that was not shielded by the heavy armor that protected therge beasts, but Nial hit it perfectly.

    Thus, the moment he retracted the Viper spear, the Rhino died on the spot, leaving behind a faintly gleaming Origin crystal.

    Shiraq, who had already been ready to attack the same Rhino couldn''t help but take a second nce at Nial.

    ''He sensed it before me¡­His reaction speed is nothing to scoff at as well. Not bad!''

    Even if Nial''s background might not be extraordinary as he had never heard of a blind prodigious male Original from the younger generation of therge families, Shiraq felt that this waspletely unimportant right now.

    Nial was certainly one of the strongest participants of the Teradan military camp, and that was the case even though he was only at the 3rd Origin rank and blind.

    This realization led Shiraq to be even more motivated to give his utmost to be stronger.

    He was ready to fight with more vigor than before, and this was certainly necessary.

    After all, the earthen wall was crumbling, revealing the horde of innumerable beasts that were pounding on the wall in order to go through and stomp on the humans.

    Being fully prepared, everyone began to circte mana through their body before activating various abilities.

    Instead of letting the chance go by, the short momentum in which the earthen wall fell had to be utilized properly.

    With that in mind, their next slew of attacks killed several hundred beasts at once as the Soldiers at the Prym rank were able to overpower the ordinary beasts.

    ? Having recuperated with the use of potions, the Soldiers were ready to fight with all their might.

    Because of the overflowing vigor and high morale of the Soldiers, the closerbat fighters with great abilities to hold the defense line at the front stepped ahead.

    Meanwhile, the spear wielder and mid-range fighters used the small gaps between the front fighters to kill various beasts, only for the long-range fighters to do exactly the same.

    On the other hand, the Soldiers with elemental affinities or supportive abilities acted as a means of support in the areas that required the most help.

    As such, once the following minutes passed, the human soldiers gained an upper hand.

    And this was mostly owing to the fact that the dungeons that broke out were mostly closed.

    While the temporary dungeon portals had closed already, more and more dungeon bosses had been defeated, ending the dungeon break of permanent dungeons.

    Making use of their advantage, therge-scale battle seemed to have reached its climax.

    This was great, and both Nial and Be didn''t even have to use their runic armaments in order to survive.

    They moved swiftly between a high number of various types of beasts that wanted to escape the narrow and gloomy cave at all costs.<sub> </sub>

    However, while evading the beasts, the two of them didn''t even think of showing any mercy as they pierced, shed, thrust, hacked, and shed at their opponents if necessary.

    Fighting close to each other, their surroundings were soon overflowing with the corpses, intestines and blood of dungeon beasts.

    This created an additionalyer of obstruction to the dungeon beasts that could only rush in one direction.

    Owing to this, the difficulty to evade fighting against the powerful Soldiers, or intimidating young Originals increased by a thousand times.

    Forced to fight, the dungeon beasts became more desperate, which only worsened when they sensed that the strongest of their kind were actively hunted down.

    Everyone was exhausted including the dungeon beasts, but nobody wanted to die.

    Thus, desperation was overflowing in therge cavern hall.

    However, it was exactly this desperation that seemed to nurture Nial, providing him with excitement, with the necessary energy to push him ahead, and to force him to exceed his limits over and over again.

    The blood, death, and gloominess all around him was exactly what Nial, or to be precise, the Odyssey seed required!

    It began to absorb the essence of the deaths he was responsible for, while umting everything within his seedling, only for a tiny, nearly minuscule change to ur to the appearance of the small seed.

    A crimson-red vertical stroke could be seen in the center of the seed. It was still dim, and nearly untraceable to the bare eye, but one could still see it!

    But Nial waspletely oblivious to this as he fought with his life on the line.

    He gave his utmost efforts to kill all beasts around him to prevent them from reaching the others.

    Yet, Nial quickly lost his observance of the surroundings as his senses were overwhelmed owing to the bombardment of smell, touch, and sounds.

    Even the mana currents around him were in disarray and utter chaos.

    Nial was unable to control them, which prevented him from sensing anything that was further away than five meters.

    This was barely enough for him to sense and battle the beasts around him.

    As time seemed to pass in a blur, he couldn''t even tell where he was anymore as his entire surrounding was filled with beasts, and not even a single Original could be seen.

    He lost touch of Be a while ago, and simply fought with all his might.

    The Viper spear was already slick with the blood of the beasts he had killed.

    It nearly slipped out of his hand, which would have been his death sentence.

    As such, it was only fortunate that he could still hold onto his dear and trusted weapon.

    Continuing to fight, Nial''s entire body was smeared with blood that seemed to heat up.

    This was unexpected, but what was more intriguing was that the blood that touched his skin seeped into his open pores.

    Only dark impurities were left behind, and their reeking stench permeated the air around Nial.

    It restricted his ability to sense anything else.

    However, that was not something Nial realized either as his body began to move much faster.

    If he were to know that his heart was causing this, while generating more adrenaline within his body to ovee the boundaries of a mortal body, he would be shocked.

    After all, until now, only the Odyssey seed had acted up and was behaving weirdly.

    Yet, the changes that had been caused by the Titan heart affected not only his mana core, and Odyssey seed, but also his heart.

    His regeneration capabilities and other bodily functions had been enhanced drastically, allowing him to fight with more determination than what most other young Originals had left in them.

    Even Be and Shiraq were slowly feeling worn out, holding back in their advances as they kept on killing.

    They stayed next to the Soldiers that manifested at least one Origin ring.

    Thus, they were rtively safe and sound without too many issues at hand, except their exhaustion.

    Nial was lost in his surroundings but he kept on advancing ahead without a way to return as he couldn''t see or sense anything.

    Unfortunately, it took the others a while to figure out that the mana fluctuations in the surroundings were in utter chaos, and that this might harm Nial.

    As such, it was impossible for them to help him as their entire surrounding was overflowing with dungeon beasts.

    That was also why it could only be described as his good fortune that Nial''s entire being was shrouded in a bloody-red shroud that seeped into his body.

    It was something that nobody could truly understand, but the beasts around tried to avoid him by all means.

    They would rather choose to fight the Soldiers at the Prym rank than Nial, the young blind Original, who was ughtering his way through all beasts that entered his range of perception.

    Everybody lost the track of time as they kept pushing themselves and finally were able to take a breath of relief when the final dungeon boss had been defeated, and the remaining beasts within the cave killed.

    And it was only when everything was over that Nial noticed themotion within his body, his wildly beating heart, and the change in the Odyssey seed.

    However, this time, instead of being scared, Nial was able to remain rtively calm because he could instinctively feel that something was differentpared to before.

    It was almost as if a voice was speaking straight into his mind, saying a few words that reverberated through his ears over and over again.

    [The Trials are waiting for you!]

 Chapter 127 Casualties

    [The Trials are waiting for you!]

    Nial had no idea what this was supposed to mean, but this time, he could tell that the Odyssey seed was not going to harm him, right now.

    It was just a feeling, but he was pretty sure to be correct.

    And after having racked his brain enough for thest few days, even if the Odyssey seed wanted to do something to him, there was not really something he could do to prevent or fight it.

    At least, he was not able to do anything against it right now.

    Instead of worrying too much, Nial had to ept that the Odyssey seed was somehow causing changes in his behavior, mindset, and even body since the day it had awoken.

    This was something he had to understand ande to a consensus with.

    Otherwise, he would simply keep worrying about this, his entire life.

    And this was also not something Nial wanted to do.

    Thus, he epted the Odyssey seed for the time being and decided to only focus on the present issues instead of tormenting himself with issues he might have to face in the future.

    With that in mind, he slumped to the ground, feeling drained of all his energy.

    Nial could barely store away the Viper spear before hey on the ground, his entire back drenched in cold sweat and blood.

    His heart had stopped beating wildly and had now reverted to its usual heartbeat.

    ''I wonder what this stroke means¡­'' Nial just thought as he kept trying to gauge and understand the reason behind its sudden appearance.

    He figured that it had been formed due to the fight, and from what his gut feeling told Nial, it was something that had to do with the high number of beasts he killed in thest hour.

    But that and the fact that the current change in the Odyssey seed was not something dangerous were the only things his gut feeling told him right now.

    Unable to sense his surroundings properly owing to the chaotic mana currents, he continued toy on the ground, while his superior grade mana veins continued to absorb the mana from his surroundings to refill his dried-up mana core.

    He was overly exhausted, and his body could hardly move, but Nial had to acknowledge that he was quite happy right now.

    The dungeon breakout released all the tension within his body, taking away his worries for the time being as well.

    This was something he had not expected, and it gave him the necessary energy and willpower not to copse just now.

    After resting for a few minutes, Nial noticed that a young familiar man had appeared next to him.

    It was Shiraq, who stared down at Nial, his gaze traveling up and down his body to assess him.

    ''From further away, he looks quite feeble, but it seems like he has a decently well-trained physique that focuses on flexibility and speed instead of brute force¡­not bad!''

    His thoughts were quite simple, and after everything he had seen, Shiraq arrived at the conclusion that Nial was powerful.

    That was not something one could deny.

    However, there were far more powerful existences participating in the Teradan military camp, such as the nt guy, the easily frightened Earth elemental wielder and the mysterious woman, with whom he fought together.

    As such, Shiraq believed that the Teradan military camp would be far more interesting than he had expected initially.

    The boredom he had expected to face disappeared into thin air, and an excited expression lit up his entire face as he said,

    "Good job!"

    Afterward, he was ready to leave, only to see that Nial lifted his arm, and gave him a thumbs-up before getting up from the ground as well.

    ''I thought he was about to copse¡­well, it''s good, either way.''

    Shrugging his shoulders, Shiraq just left, not further bothering to keep up the conversation with Nial.

    Nial was not interested in small talk either.

    He had to fight against the reeking stench that shrouded his entire body.

    Holding his nose between his thumb and forefinger, he focused on listening to the sounds of the other Originals as well as the vibrations of their steps and movements.

    Owing to his heightened senses, it was not difficult to find Be and Mathias.

    They were standing facing each other and Be was forcefully opening Mathias'' mouth to make him gulp down a bunch of potions.

    She was not gentle and used her strength to force the timid young man to obey her.

    Be was behaving like a strict school teacher and her actions made Nial to smile when his mana perception entered their range.

    p He ignored the corpses of the dungeon beasts which he passed by, and he picked up a bunch of Origin crystals before handing a few of them to Mathias.</anda>

    "Use them. You shouldn''t copse right now." Nial said with a faint smile on his face. Mathias epted them willingly and immediately absorbed the essences.

    While Mathias did consider Be as one of his friends, he was still morefortable with Nial.

    Thus, there was no problem for him to ept Nial''s help.

    But even before he could thank Nial, his friend had already turned towards his right side to speak to another youth.

    "You are Yves, right? That was a great idea of yours, to create a of vines and roots!"

    Handing Yves the remaining potions, Nial took a step back before giving both Mathias and Yves a thumbs-up.

    "Thebination of an Earthen wall that was reinforced by the of vines and roots changed the tides of the battle, preventing many casualties from happening! Good job!"

    Yves deserved the praise as his presence of mind had saved a lot of lives.

    Not just him but everyone did a great job, and if he perceived it correctly, only a few Soldiers had been injured, and merely one or two died!

    This was way above Nial''s expectations, and it made him somewhat happy.<sub> </sub>

    Having assessed the strength and tactic of most types of dungeon beasts during the breakout, Nial could roughly gauge what it would take to conquer some of the permanent Rookie dungeons.

    Some dungeons seemed to have only defensive-type dungeon beasts, such as the long-tusk Elephants and the Heavy-Armored Rhinoceroses, while other dungeon beasts mostly harbored beasts known for lethal surprise attacks such as the Shadow Tigers.

    Thus, Nial was already eager to find out how exactly the Teradan military camp would go on, and when they could go out to conquer some of the permanent dungeons.

    ''Considering that many dungeon breaks had urred during thest few hours, the military will want to figure out more about it before they will allow us to enter some dungeons, once again''

    Nial was only assuming this, but he believed that it was likely to be the case.

    As such, he could only sigh, wondering what was going on with the world, and himself as well.

    Yet, even before he could continue to question anything, a pained roar filled with anger and frustration reverberated through the three tunnels, shaking every single living being.

    Instinctively, Nial grasped the center of his chest, where the Odyssey seed was located.

    "The Giganodes are dying¡­" He mumbled, only to add inwardly ''and are desperately requesting for help¡­but from whom?''

    At this moment, it felt as if his Odyssey seed wanted to tell him something, but contrary to before, no memories shed through his mind.

    Somehow, Nial had expected this to happen, which was why he felt a little bit conflicted for a few seconds.

    ''Earlier, I had been scared of the memories, and now I expect them to sh through my mind every single time I don''t understand something? Am I already crazy, or just on the path to insanity?''

    His own thoughts made him smile while shaking his head.

    He might be exhausted, but that didn''t prevent him from thinking properly.

    Nevertheless, there were quite a few difficulties he had to face, which was why Nial couldn''t help but feel d when Captain ra appeared next to them.

    "Hey kids¡­are all of you fine? Is someone heavily injured?" She asked in an exhausted voice.

    Her expression was pale, and it was clear to the eye that Captain ra had given her all, and even more in order to defeat the dungeon bosses and rare bosses.

    It was for the sake of everyone in order to end the dungeon break as quickly as possible.

    But even after she was done with the task at hand, Captain ra didn''t even think about resting.

    Instead, she had thrown a cursory nce around to see if all the young Originals were fine.

    Thus, when she saw the small group of four, followed by the other groups of exhausted young Originals, ra sighed in relief.

    Taking a look at her Originals bracelet to see if she had received some messages from the base, Captain ra saw that there were a few messages in her inbox waiting to be opened. Hence, she quickly read through them and received some information about the situation of the other two caves.

    But after reading through the messages, her expressions gradually worsened.

    This attracted the interest of the Originals, and after a short moment, Be couldn''t help but ask,

    "Captain, what is going on in the other two caves??"

    Earlier, she had not been worried about the other two caves as she was well versed with the capabilities of her master, Kassandra.

    For Be, it had been obvious that everything would be fine¡­at least, until she saw Captain ra''s expression.

    Without realizing that she was surrounded by young Originals, that were, in fact, the participants of the Teradan military camp, Captain ra began to blurt out the information that Nial and the others were not supposed to find out¡­

    "The Expert dungeon cave has been cleared by now¡­but more than 100 Soldiers and 15 members of the Special unit died¡­"

    Nial only knew the rough strength of the ordinary Soldiers he fought with side-by-side a short while ago.

    As such, he knew that they had manifested Basic Origin rings with only a little amount of liquefied mana.

    Some soldiers might have already created a second Basic Origin ring, but their overall strength was much weaker than the special units with only one Origin ring.

    That was mostly the case owing to the fact that one could only enter the special units if one was capable of creating Intermediate Origin rings, at the bare minimum!

    They were far more powerful than the Basic version and required far more liquefied mana to be created as well.

    However, even then, 15 of them had been killed in the gruesome battle to end the dungeon breaks of Expert ranked dungeons.

    While Nial thought that this number was quite small, he had no idea that the death of 100 Soldiers and 15 members of the Special units at the Prym rank was a heavy loss to the military.

    After all, there had only been a handful of Expert dungeons that broke out, and there had been far more than two thousand Soldiers that had been sent out to clear the dungeon breaks!

    As such, despite their efforts, and the knowledge of all dungeon beasts of the familiar Expert dungeons, 115 Originals had lost their lives!

    But that was not even the most terrifying piece of information they received as Captain ra mindlessly continued to speak.

    "The two Giganodes seem to be dead by now¡­but more than 3 higher-ups died and more than 10 were gravely injured¡­with more than 5 Origin rings each¡­they were unable to defeat the Giganodese¡­ and they had to be saved."

    If one didn''t know that the number of humans that were able to create five or more Origin rings was extremely low, one might think that the death of 3 higher-ups was a minor loss, if one was able to save the military base from being devastated.

    However, if one were to understand that less than 10 in 1,000,000 Originals were able to achieve such a feat given the scarcity of resources, and talent in various aspects, the death of 3 higher-ups was devastating for mankind in its entirety!

    **

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 Chapter 128 Giganodes

    *An hour earlier*

    "Is everyone ready?" The loud voice of Junades reverberated through therge tunnel as he looked over the rows of higher-ranked soldiers.

    Each of them had at least two Intermediate Origin rings, indicating that they were the Elite units amongst Soldiers.

    However, right now, even the elite was not able to keep their calm as they sensed the terrifyingly high mana fluctuations that originated from the depths of the tunnel ahead.

    Despite the fear that was visible in their eyes, the Soldiers straightened their back the moment they heard Junades'' question before they saluted.

    "Yes, sir!!!"

    Nodding his head in satisfaction, Junades stepped back in order to allow the higher-ups to lead their small army in the fight against the two Giganodese.

    He was not the strongest present militant, and even Kassandra and Oria didn''t dare to lead their army in the fight against the two terrifying existences that had gained control over all the beasts that emerged from the dungeon portals.

    This was something that rarely happened, showing that both Giganodese had already attained intelligence.

    Considering that their strength was way above that of the higher-ups, who had manifested five or more Origin rings, the fact that they were also intelligent made things even worse.

    Even if a beast was stronger than them, as long as they didn''t use tactics or their brain, it was still possible to defeat them.

    However, once a beast gained higher intelligence, it was not impossible for them to be more intellectuel than humans.

    And this was what most Soldiers feared right now.

    Yet, by telling Junades'' to step ahead, the higher-ups of the military wanted to keep everyone under their control.

    This was owing to one of the abilities Junades had bound to his mana core.

    The said ability he made use of was called [Bravery] and it had both a passive and active skill.

    Bravery''s passive skill was that Junades wouldn''t be afraid to fight stronger opponents.

    Through this, it was possible for him to keep a calm mind while fighting, and to think rationally. Through this he coulde up with ns in tricky situations, thereby allowing him to save his life even in the most desperate situations.

    Meanwhile, the active skill of Bravery was that he could strengthen the morale of hisrades, giving them not only a boost in their courage to fight but also a tiny enhancement in strength and mana cirction while fighting more powerful opponents.

    And this boost in strength was certainly required because their opponents were two Giganodes that had the strength of Originals with 6 or more Advanced Origin rings!

    The Giganodes were beasts with a body structure and size simr to that of Giants. Their skin was ck in color, and they emanated an overpowering stench that made it seem as if their entire being was rotten from the inside out.

    With a height of over ten meters, they nearly touched the ceiling of the cavern hall.

    Meanwhile, their overproportional ws wererge enough to grasp a handful of humans at once.

    The Giganodes had a huge humpback, making it seem as if something huge would crawl out of their back at any moment.

    However, that was not the case as their humpback was merely supporting their weird facial structure which was a gigantic head of an earthworm with a spiked mouth.

    One could almostpare the mouth of the Giganodes to a shredder, that would shred everything it would touch in an instant.

    But the worst were the crimson eyes that stared down at the human Originals as if they were seeing tiny ants poking at their feet in an attempt to resist the mighty force of an elephant!

    The Giganodes were the worst of the worst possible opponents for the defenders of the basement, considering that not a single Original with such a highbat prowess was currently residing in the base.

    The only individual capable of killing them was tackling the menace of the dungeon breaks outside the military base, saving the thousands of young Originals from the dangers of being flooded by ferocious beasts that numbered in the thousands.

    Recing the dead Guardians'' to fulfill the task in protecting the young Originals from beasts that they couldn''t tear apart with ease kept the Old Medic more than upied.

    The number of dungeon breaks outside the basement was more than 50.

    Adding to that, there was the mystery about the Goblins, the fact that they had mass-produced beast-controlling nes, and runic armaments of much higher quality than mankind was in possession of.

    Closing the dungeons was no problem for the Old Medic. Though she was a bit annoyed to be forced to use her entire strength to speed through the small part of the nameless ind. This wasn''t her task and mankind ought to have it under control. But, she easily cleared everything.

    But even then, she didn''t spot any signs of masses of Goblins, let alone the corpses of the Guardians.

    Other than that, the number of beasts that the other young Originals encountered was extremely low.

    As such, after finishing her job at lightning-fast speed, the Old Medic couldn''t help but feel as if something was wrong.

    A premonition spread through her entire being, and it was at this moment that the Giganodes let out a [Berserk Roar], entering a berserk state.

    The battle in the cave with the most dangerous beasts had already been going on for more than half an hour, and corpses of both humans and beasts littered the ground.

    It was a massacre led by the strong, where the weak could only attempt their best to avoid the attacks of the powerful.

    However, even then, surviving against the tides of mighty beasts was not easy, as it posed a far bigger threat than initially presumed.

    Through the [Berserk Roar] the Giganodes'' ck skin turned red, radiating steam that blocked off elemental and mental attacks.

    In addition to it, the berserk state of the Giganodes was unique, allowing it to repel physical attacks to a certain extent.<sub> </sub>

    The drastic increase in the beast''s defenses elevated itsbat prowess to a whole new level, preventing the Elite Soldiers from inflicting even the tiniest of scratches!

    However, that was not all as the Giganodes'' roar provided the opportunity for its subordinates, and the other dungeon beasts to attain a lesser version of the same Berserk state!

    The number of dungeon beasts that were still alive had been drastically reduced since therge-scale battle had begun.

    Nevertheless, there were still quite a few fearsome existences within the rows of the two Giganodes that seemed to bepletely unscathed.

    Only one of them was injured, and it had entered a Berserk stage shortly after, increasing its strength and ferociousness a thousand times over.

    But all of this was not something the Old Medic could know about.

    She simply felt that something terrifying was about to happen in the Teradan military base.

    Because of that, Miranda even halted her rescue mission, telling the young Originals she had apanied to search for the others and to lead them towards the mountainside.

    The first mission of the military camp''s participants was currently insignificant.

    After all, her premonition told Miranda that the life and death of every single being in the entire base depended on her.

    This feeling was something she didn''t encounter often in her entire life.

    Yet, the moment she felt it, she knew that she could not afford to cken as time was of the essence.

    With that in mind, her speed increased further, and only a few minutes passed before she appeared in the cave where only the two Giganodes were left alive.

    Somehow, thebined efforts of all Originals within the cavern hall had been enough to kill all the dungeon beasts.

    Even the other dungeon bosses had been killed without further ado.

    However, this was not something the humans had been capable of without the sacrifice of three higher ups that owned five Intermediate Origin rings.

    And just when Miranda emerged in the cavern hall, she saw that the leader of the Teradan military camp was using his everything, and was on the verge of sacrificing his life force to hold back both Giganodes at once.

    A powerhouse with six origin rings was sumbing to the lethal force of the Giganodese in an attempt to save the Soldiers that fought under his banner.

    Just like that with thest remnants of his life force being used up, one of the Giganodes smashed him into the ground, creating a crater in the ground.

    Just when he was about to copse, and take hisst breath did the middle-aged man finally see a dark green sh pass right in front of him as a faint and knowing smile emerged on his face before he epted his fate.

    ''Finally¡­she is here¡­''

    Knowing that everything would be fine now, his heavy eyes finally closed, and he began his journey towards the afterlife.

    Only a momentter, a frustrated and pained roar reverberated through the surroundings as thunderous noises could be heard.

    The Old Medic made use of various abilities and her overbearing strength to kill the two Giganodese as if they were mere toys that she could easily squash in her hands.

    However, what she really did was to use her prowess of seven Advanced Origin rings in addition to the enhancements of multiple supportive abilities that Junades, Kassandra, Oria, and several higher-ups made use of, instinctively.

    But what the soldiers in the surrounding presumed to be a reflex was in fact the Old Medic''s doing as she used one of her abilities.

    [Puppeteer] was the ability Miranda used to force everyone to use their supportive abilities on her.

    Knowing the abilities of everyone came in handy and gave her the power to control the beings weaker than her to a certain extent.

    This allowed her to reach abat prowessparable to an Original with no less than eight Advanced Origins, which proved to be enough to behead the two Giganodese.

    A momentter the two ginormous bodies left behind several crystals, with one of them shining in a bright crimson red color.

    However, the Old Medic didn''t notice this as she had appeared right next to the corpse of the military camp''s leader.

    "Fuck you! If you die now, I will kill you!!" Miranda shouted as she used her ability [Asclepius'' Arts of healing].

    Her ability forced a way through the body, mind, and soul of the middle-aged man.

    Raging storms of mana enveloped his body, filling his nerves and cells that were about to turn cold, slowly flooding him with vigor.

    Just a momentter, life returned to the seemingly dead corpse, and with a deep breath, he opened his eyes.

    ''She¡­just revived me, didn''t she?!'' He could only think in horror, his eyes fixated on the Old Medic.

    A trace of fear could be seen within his eyes, but he still wanted to thank her for saving his life.

    Yet, when the Old Medic turned towards him, he was unable to say anything.

    "I have no intention of taking responsibility for these young Originals. So stay alive, or else, I will really kill you!!"

    Miranda''s words rang through his head, and it was just a momentter that she had disappeared and went her own way, leaving a confused man behind.

    ''Did she just save me¡­because she doesn''t want to take care of the young Originals all by herself?!''

 Chapter 129 Portal

    Due to the dungeon breaks inside the deeper parts of the base, and outside, where most young Originals were located, chaos had descended upon the humans on the nameless ind.

    As such, even after the dungeons had been closed and the most powerful beasts around had been killed as well, there were lots of things for everyone to do.

    Most young Originals within the camp had been told to rest, but only a few followed this instruction.

    The others helped store away the beast corpses, the Origin crystals, the ability crystals, and even some other unique objects some beasts left behind.

    With a team effort, the caves were quickly cleaned, mostly in order to prevent other beasts from getting attracted to the pungent stench of the blood of more than ten thousand beasts wafting through the air.

    This had been an important task, followed by the retrieval of all young Originals from outside the camp.

    Most of them might not have encountered Goblins as it was the case for Nial, Be, and Mathias, but there were still some that had encountered Goblin Wolfriders.

    Luckily, there had been no second encounter with a Lesser Goblin Shaman, let alone the emergence of more runic armaments.

    Because of that, the military had calmed down a little bit, allowing them to get over the pain and sorrow of having lost more than 3 higher ups, and 10 more that had been gravely injured.

    All of them owned at least 4 Intermediate Origin rings, which made them one of the strongest in the rows of mankind''s Originals.

    The fact that so many powerful Originals were injured, or even dead, clearly indicated what mankind''s ce was in the food pyramid.

    They might not be at the lowest, but to be the dominating race of Jundra once again they needed far more strength.

    And this was something that every single human could clearly sense.

    Owing to this feeling, the Soldiers that were in charge of the Rookie dungeon breakouts felt quite relieved.

    It was not that they were happy about the death of their higher-ups or anything like that.

    Instead, they were witnessing the strength of the new generation, which allowed them to feel a trace of hope.

    Even the blind youth, they had expected to cower in fear had shocked them to the core.

    Not a single of the 20 young Originals, who fought by their side was weak, but there were a few exceptional cases that attracted the Soldiers'' attention.

    These Originals had received a special mention in the reports which Soldiers had been told to hand over to the authorities about the entire situation, once the previous tasks had been fulfilled.

    And this included that all participants of the military camp had finally entered the basement, andpleted the first mission that had been given to them.

    In the end, it had been chaotic, but the only Originals that died had been those who had sumbed to the terrifying force of the Lesser Titan youngling.

    This astonished everyone quite a bit, but it was considered a small trace of luck and a relieving factor within the misfortune of the dungeon breaks.

    Meanwhile, as the other participants of the military camp flocked towards the base within the mountainside, Nial and the others handed over all the corpses of the beasts they picked up after the dungeon breaks were over.

    They were about to hand over the Origin crystals and ability crystals they had picked up as well, but the young man, who worked in the warehouse, quickly shook his head.

    "I have been instructed not to ept the Origin crystals or anything other than the beast corpses. If you don''t want them, please go to one of the few stores in the base, and sell them there.

    You will be allowed to retain everything you picked up as a means of gratitude from the military for your contribution today."

    Nial, Mathias, and Be simply nodded their heads without thinking about not epting the gains they had made before they returned to their rooms.

    After taking a well-deserved shower, they changed intofortable clothes, only to fall into a deep slumber, as they gave in to their body''s demand for rest.

    All three of them took a rather long nap of more than 18 hours and woke up the next day.

    Their eyes felt heavy and their body sore while the mattress was simply toofortable to get up.

    As such, both Mathias and Be gave up on their efforts to wake themselves up and simply fell asleep once again.

    That left just Nial who was now awake, his lifeless eyes staring at the ceiling of their room.

    He was also tired, but his Odyssey seed was bothering him right now.

    The ''I'' that had been engraved on it in a crimson color was something he didn''t understand.

    But something within him told Nial that it was important and that there were things he should do with it.

    Thus, after giving it some thought, he inserted a few traces of mana inside the crimson ''I'' stroke.

    Nothing happened at first, and Nial began to think that he was doing something wrong.

    However, it was just when he felt like stopping the supply of mana that he noticed something.

    ''The stroke is disappearing?''

    The more mana Nial supplied to the crimson stroke the dimmer its crimson color turned, changing from a brighter, vibrant crimson to a mellow, pale red.

    This confused him a little bit, but he also understood that the Odyssey seed and the stroke had no distinct connection with each other.

    It was different from the connection that his mana core and the Odyssey seed had, owing to their bond to the [Hodur''s Heir] curse.

    As such, Nial was slightly confused, only to continue supplementing traces of mana inside the crimson stroke.

    Hours passed, and Nial had to stop his supply several times in order to replenish his mana naturally.

    As such, instead of solely focusing on tending to the crimson stroke, he attempted to hasten up his mana recuperation process as well.

    For this, Nial used the knowledge he had procured from the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    The technique provided him with numerous tips and tricks on how to use mana in a better way, irrespective of whether it was for fighting purposes or to absorb and annex mana!

    He simply continued to switch between supplying mana to the crimson stroke and altering his mana replenishing process for a few hours. He was so engrossed in the task that he didn''t even notice that it was already early in the morning.<sub> </sub>

    What he didn''t notice as well was the fact that now only faint crimson outlines were left behind from the stroke on his Odyssey seed.

    And even the remnants were slowly dimming down, changing to a ck color.

    However, this ck tone was much deeper than the Odyssey seed''s natural shade, which made Nial curious about it.

    Unfortunately, his entire focus was on the abyss-like ck stroke that the outside world and the surroundings around him were something Nial barely noticed.

    As such, the fact that a swirl of dark energy had emerged from the left side of his back was also something he didn''t notice at first.

    Congregating at one ce, the darkness swirl turned into a small pitch-ck portal that began to erge right next to Nial.

    But until he noticed this quite some time had already passed, and it was only when he regained his senses that Nial froze in ce, realizing that a portal had just manifested near him!!

    "Wait¡­no!" He suddenly blurted out with shock reverberating through his voice, waking up both Be and Mathias.

    They jumped up from their beds, thinking that something bad was about to happen.

    Yet, upon casting a nce through the room, they could only see that Nial was sweating profusely.

    There was nothing else wrong, and the small ck portal had disappeared.

    This happened the moment Nial had eximed in astonishment and voiced out his unwillingness for the portal to manifest.

    In reaction to his outburst, the crimson outlines around the stroke reappeared once again.

    ''I¡­just manifested a portal with the use of this weird stroke?!''

    Though he realized this, it didn''t make him feel any better.

    But at the same time, he had clearly felt that the portal of darkness hadn''t been something bad.

    There was no reason for him to truly believe that nothing would happen to him by stepping through the darkness portal.

    Yet, somehow he felt drawn to the portal.

    And this was the truly bothersome part because Nial had no idea whether he had this feeling because of the Odyssey seed''s intention, or if it was his own conscience that was urging him to manifest the darkness portal once again.

    ''The Odyssey seed is not reacting, at all¡­but does that really mean it is not influencing my decision, right now?''

    Nial was unable to answer this confidently.

    Unfortunately, it was a very important question, which led him to reconsider manifesting the darkness portal, once again.

    He was not worried about it as he knew that he could do at any time, as long as the crimson outlines of the ''I'' shaped stroke would turn ck.

    If he were to be in a predicament because of a shortage of time, he wouldn''t have entered the Darkness portal.

    After all, the incident from 15 years had been more than enough for him to think that the sudden emergence of portals was certainly bothersome.

    This was even more so the case if it was not even a normal dungeon portal but something entirely different, something created out of pure darkness.

    "Nial¡­are you fine? Did you have a nightmare, or is there some other problem?" Be asked all of a sudden, appearing near him.

    <o>,m She didn''t have any problems with the death of thousands of beasts or seeing dead humans in the worst possible condition.</o>

    However, not everyone was like her, and she might have expected too much from Nial and Mathias.

    Only a single nce towards Mathias told her that he was not feeling all that well either.

    As such, she began to wonder if there was something she could do to help the two young Originals.

    If Kassandra or someone else, who had known Be for a longer time, were to see her right now, they would be shocked.

    Their first thought would be to wonder whether this was still the same cold-hearted Be they knew from a few years ago.

    After all, the young girl they knew would never even think of worrying about the mental health of others.

    Yet, this was exactly what happened as she was genuinely concerned about Nial, only for him to shake his head.

    "I''m fine. Do not worry, and I am sorry for waking you two!"

    Forcing a small smile on his lips, he hid his worries from his friends.

    They shouldn''t know about what had just happened, or the fact that he had just manifested a portal in their small room.

    But it was not difficult to see that Nial was hiding something from them.

    Nheless, instead of forcing their friend to tell them what bothered him, they didn''t say much about it.

    While Mathias kept his silence, knowing that he was not able to tell them about his deepest secret as well, Be just smiled before saying,

    "In that case, don''t worry too much. If something is bothering you, just know that you can talk to us!"

    Nial just nodded his head after hearing her words and knew deep within him that Be''s words were true and that he could trust them.

    However, the current situation was not even close to being considered simple.

    As such, before telling his new friends about the darkness portal, Nial wanted to figure out what was going on with him first!

    Little did Nial know that this was far more difficult than expected and that this was likely to endanger everyone close to him even more.

    After all, Nial''s secrets were far more dangerous to others especially because nobody knew about them!

 Chapter 130 Advice

    For the next few hours, Nial was unable to think straight.

    While Be changed her clothes behind a small partition she had set up to prevent anyone from peeking, he began to test out a few things.

    Meanwhile, Mathias was taking a shower, brushing his teeth, and trying to prevent himself from going insane due to the events of thest few days.

    As such, Nial received a short period in which he could test out manifesting the darkness portal before letting it disperse once again.

    He was trying his best to keep his calm, but the moment the darkness portal emerged in front of him, Nial froze in ce.

    ''It''s really working¡­ I can materialize this weird portal¡­''

    Only by inserting mana in the crimson outlines of the ''I'' was it possible for him to manifest the portal.

    This meant that it was not only Nial''s doing but mostly a reaction to his supply of mana.

    But even then, it was quite hard to keep his calm.

    Fortunately, the portal seemed to be harmless as he couldn''t feel a dungeon portal''s mana fluctuations.

    They were unique, and the portal in front of him was just something that used his mana and thus also his mana fluctuations.

    Because of that, neither Be nor Mathias noticed that anything was off.

    Owing to their high sensitivity towards mana, they could sense that Nial was doing something, but they had no idea what it was.

    And the moment they took a look, the darkness portal had already disappeared.

    In the short period where he could test a few things, Nial even reached for the portal and touched it.

    His fingers lightly brushed its surface but nothing seemed to be off, and he felt eager to jump throughpletely.

    However, instead of doing so, Nial felt that it would be odd to disappear just like that.

    As such, he wanted to make a few more experiments, and wait until the military gave them updates on what would happen to the Teradan military camp.

    It was almost lunchtime when the first piece of news reached them, issued through the notification sender of the Originals bracelet that everyone wore.

    [Hello dear participants of the Teradan military camp. I hope everyone can hear me!]

    The voice of a calm, middle-aged man came from the Originals bracelet, reaching out to every single participant of the military camp.

    [First of all, I hope everyone is doing well, and nobody is facing any major issues after the dungeon breakout. Most of you might not know what I am talking about, but I want to say that all of you did a great job in protecting your own life, whether inside or outside the base!]

    After the middle-aged man said this, the Originals bracelet turned quiet for a few seconds before the man began to speak once again.

    [Because not every participant has reached the military camp yet, and due to the gruesome battle that we are still recovering from, the next mission will be given out after one week of rest! Everyone shall recuperate from the events of thest few days.

    The Originals, who sustained serious injuries, please stay patient, our Medics will tend to your injuries!]

    It was not a surprising decision to let the young Originals rest for a few days.

    After all, the military had to send out various reports owing to the losses they had faced, because of the various incidents that urred so far, and to request reinforcement.

    Even if it was not for the sake of the military camp, they required reinforcement to hold the fort of the hidden basement on the nameless ind and prevent further mishaps.

    As such, they requested the reinforcement of more Soldiers, including powerhouses, and Scientists that were ought to research the issues at hand.

    It was unusual and unexpected for a total of a hundred dungeons to break out at the same time, all of them on the nameless ind at that.

    There had to be a reason for the sudden breakout and the scientists were supposed to figure out what kind of cause lead to the dungeon breaks.

    If it was something natural, the government wanted to know how to be informed about it beforehand in the future, and if it was something intentionally done, they would try to figure out what, or who had caused the dungeon breaks and punish them.

    Nial could think of a few more reasons why a sudden break was initiated, apart from the fact that they wanted to allow all originals to be fully healed once the second mission was to start.

    He didn''t even think about the possibility of the military camp being canceled because this would prevent the young generation from understanding the dangers of reality, and just how much stronger they had to be in order to survive in the wilderness.

    And there were many people who had thoughts just like Nial in many regards, only for Be to have a slightly different opinion about the speech of the basement''s leader.

    "I guess that is a disguised mission. They want to test out if we''re really resting after witnessing just how weak we were against the forces of the dungeon beasts, or if our motivation to be stronger has been strengthened after what we''ve witnessed!"

    Be said this rather nonchntly, feeling that it was obvious for it to be a hidden mission.

    However, Nial was not so sure about that.

    He thought that the few days of rest were more of a mental healing period for the young Originals who had never witnessed something as terrifying as the dungeon breaks.

    The reality check they had to face, understanding that they were extremely weak, and that even mankind''s current position in the race to absolute control over the was far behind than expected, should have hit quite a few young Originals deeply, mentally more than physically.

    Because of that, the resting period could be considered as both, a hidden test for a few individuals who might have faced simr situations in the past already and to see if the new generation of Originals was able to ovee the pressure and dangers of reality.

    But Nial had too many thoughts running through his mind to start a debate with Be.

    As such, he simply agreed to her before he began wondering.

    ''Should I just tell them about the darkness portal? Be seems to know much more about the unique conditions of certain Originals¡­''

    Nial was not sure if a situation simr to his had ever urred in mankind''s history, but if he could ask someone about unique situations, then it was Be.<sub> </sub>

    She might not be that old yet, but oddly enough, Nial felt as if Be might know something about his current condition.

    Deep inside him, he was also able to tell that he was just overreacting and that his mind was simply making him worry about something that might not even happen for sure.

    With that in mind, he sighed deeply, making both Be and Mathias turn to look at him before he unveiled a portion of his secret.

    Clearing his throat he said,

    "I am not sure if this is the right moment to speak about this, but I have a weird feeling about something. Ever since the end of the dungeon break when I was fighting alone, and was separated from everyone, something changed about me.

    And I''m not sure if that has to do with my Curse, or if it is something else¡­"

    There were a few more things Nial wanted to say, but instead of beating around the bush, he manifested a te-sized darkness portal.

    He didn''t supplement more mana in the ''I'' stroke to allow it to erge but kept it at a small size.

    This was something he decided to do while questioning himself about how to exin the situation to his friends.

    In the end, he simply thought that the small darkness portal was less dangerous owing to its size.

    Nial even added the curse to make it seem as if he had truly no idea what was going on, which was, somehow, the case.

    Staring at the darkness portal, Be and Mathias quickly noticed that it had Nial''s mana fluctuations.

    As such, it was not a dungeon portal, which caused Mathias to sigh in relief.

    But Be on the other hand was quite excited which was evident if they looked at her eyes that were gleaming brightly as she asked,

    "Are you sure that this has nothing to do with an innate ability? I heard that sometimes portals appear if an innate ability is about to be stronger?

    To be honest, I already thought you had an innate ability, but I didn''t want to bother you too much about it.

    Mind if I take a closer look at it?"

    Because Be had an Innate ability as well, she had been taught a lot about them.

    Kassandra had given her a lot of information about Innate abilities, including the fact that there were many different ways for them to undergo major advancements.

    It was publicly known that Innate abilities would grow and enhance as their host advances further in strength.

    However, only a few knew that powerful Innate abilities required more than just the growth of their host to develop further.

    Minor changes could happen just like that, but that was not the case for big changes.

    ''But my mana perception just got stronger¡­and my innate ability is not exactly normal owing to the Odyssey seed''s influence, and¡­its existence.''

    Nial was d to have asked his friends about what was going on because Be could provide him with quite a few pieces of information and clear his confusion to some extent.

    Matthias hadn''t known the information Be shared, as well.

    Thus, his first reaction of astonishment and a slight trace of fear changed to curiosity.

    He wanted to get to know more, which was why he stared at Be with gleaming eyes, instead of focusing on the darkness portal that disappeared only momentster.

    "If you can manifest the portal whenever you want, through some sort of ''door'', which your innate ability creates, you should be fine. This ''door'' will only open after you meet the requirements to undergo a major improvement in your Innate ability."

    Though she had told him things he didn''t know earlier, he was still clueless of what to do next.

    This led her to think that Nial''s situation might be a little bit differentpared to others.

    As such, she decided to prevent him from overthinking as she added.

    "Either way, shall we go out and sell our goods, first? I think I heard some originals talking about the beast-controlling nes¡­ and we wanted to sell all of them for the highest profit, right?"

    Smiling brightly, she averted her focus from the dungeon portal, before leaving their room.

    Yet, just when she crossed the doorframe, Be couldn''t help but point out onest thing.

    "About this darkness portal of yours¡­It''s probably not that bad, just try it out if you have a good feeling about it. If you don''t feel like giving it a try, just ignore it.

    Just do what you think is correct, and don''t regret itter¡­because regret is the worst¡­"

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

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 Chapter 131 Sold

    While they were walking to the Original association''s branch inside the military camp, Nial''s mind was in turmoil.

    He had not expected Be''s words to hit him that hard.

    Be didn''t want him to regret the decision he was about to take.

    She had revealed all the information Kassandra had shared with her, without leaving out anything important.

    As such, both Nial and Mathias were much more knowledgeable about Innate abilities than was the case before.

    Considering that Be could roughly gauge what the darkness portal might be, Nial could rest assured that it was nothing bad.

    But even if it were to be bad, was it possible for him to let go of any kind of opportunity to strengthen himself?

    ''If it would increase my strength, and I don''t grab the opportunity, maybe I won''t be able to protect my family in the future¡­ If they were to die in front of me just because I was too weak, I would regret being too weak for my entire life¡­''

    This thought shed through his mind over and over again.

    Then again, there was the possibility of losing himself in the portal.

    With the Odyssey seed changing his behavior from the day it had awoken, it continued to influence him actively.

    Of course, this was bad if it crossed a certain threshold, which it almost did in the past, but Nial was always able to keep it under check.

    Furthermore, he had no bad feelings about the darkness portal. On the contrary, Nial was pretty sure that it was advantageous.

    As such, even if it were to be something bad at the end of the day, he didn''t want to regret anything.

    ''If the Odyssey wants to take me over, I will simply endure it and fight against it with all my might!''

    Clenching his fist, Nial was ready to enter the darkness portal.

    His mind was set in stone, and a subtle smile emerged on his face.

    The tension saturated in his body was released after the encouraging words of Be.

    Perceiving this, both Be and Mathias looked towards him, the corners of their lips curled upward as they understood that Nial made his decision.

    Because Be knew what it meant to be able to create a trial portal to enhance their Innate ability, she was a little bit jealous.

    After all, her Celestial transformation had yet to gain the chance to undergo a major development!

    ''Well, my Innate ability was powerful from the get-go¡­so I will just unlock the already existing paths of my transformation¡­maybe that''s different in Nial''s case?''

    In the end, she simply shrugged her shoulders but felt happy for Nial.

    This was even more so the case because Nial had decided to trust them enough to share his secret.

    It might have been only one small secret, and he didn''t tell them what his Innate ability was, but that was just a matter of time.

    Understanding that Nial had taken the leap of faith, Be felt great. Meanwhile, Mathias started contemting.

    ''If Nial can share his secrets, maybe I should do that as well¡­Though, though I do not really need any help, and it doesn''t really make a difference if I were to tell them about it or not, right?''

    Asking himself various questions, Mathias decided to let his secret continue to be one for a while.

    There was no need for him to rush and force himself out of hisfort zone right now.

    It might relieve him from a big burden if he were to talk about his reincarnation and so on, but the bigger issue he had to take care of was to be stronger and learn how to act more confidently.

    The fight against the beasts of the dungeon breakout clearly showed him that there was no time to waste.

    He might have reincarnated, had great talent in terms of mana core and mana veins, followed by a powerful Innate ability.

    But without hard work, he wouldn''t be able to grow stronger, and survive in Jundra and the world that was reigned by powerful beasts, not humanity!

    Mathias had hoped that the Teradan military camp would give him a glimmer of hope, showing him that mankind was on the rise.

    He had wanted to see the glorious day when humans would reim their sovereignty over all other living beings which would automatically make him not work overly hard to live afortable life.

    There were many things he wanted to do in a world where mana existed, where everything he knew out of legends, novels, and games seemed to be reality.

    Unfortunately, the Teradan military camp showed him the other side of the coin; the darkness of the world which made it far more dangerous to live on Jundra than expected.

    The dangers of dungeons were constantly increasing, and Mathias could clearly sense this!

    Even Katu was not as safe as a few years ago, anymore.

    Thus, gaining strength was the most important thing right now!

    Being timid would only weaken him, which was something Mathias was fully aware of.

    As such, while Mathias was busy thinking of a way to be more confident, change his frustrating behavior, and ovee the traumas of his past life, they reached the Originals'' association.

    Because everyone had been told to rest, there were not many Originals in the small branch of the association.

    But that was perfectly fine for them as they gained the receptionist''s entire attention.

    "We would like to sell a few corpses of beasts we hunted before the dungeon breaks!" Announcing the reason for their arrival, Be was about to release all the corpses they had collected, only for the receptionist to lift his hand.

    "I am sorry, but can you prove that the monsters are not from the dungeon break? If not, I will have to make some deductions because the amount paid in exchange for the corpses of the dungeon break is supposed to cover the costs of support and rehabilitation of the fallen Soldiers'' families."

    The way in which the receptionist spoke was quite calm, and Be simply nodded her head before saying,

    "There was no Horned Wolf, or Goblin dungeon in the Rookie ranked dungeons that broke out, so there won''t be a problem, right?"

    Smiling lightly, she looked at the receptionist, who just nodded his head.

    Because he had more than enough time at hand, he personally led them to the merchant section of the Originals'' association before telling them to release the monsters in a specific room that was used to count beasts, the value of their skin, bone, organs, flesh and so on.<sub> </sub>

    Following the instructions, the three young Originals released all corpses of beasts, only for Nial to hesitate with onest corpse.

    "I have another corpse but it''s quite heavy. Should I release it in a second batch?" he asked, feeling like the Lesser Titan youngling''s corpse might squash a few body parts of the wolves and Goblins.

    The receptionist just nodded his head before pressing a few buttons on the mainboard next to the door of the special corpse assessment room.

    Afterward, the corpses within the room disappeared as they were moved toward one of the attached storage devices.

    "You can go on." The young man said before Nial moved, releasing the huge corpse of the Lesser Titan youngling.

    Its weight was more than five tons, and the special corpse assessing room shook wildly when the Titan youngling smashed into the ground.

    Seeing the sudden appearance of the Titan, the young receptionist couldn''t help but look at the group of three for a few seconds in surprise.

    It took him some time, but he recalled reading the report about a few Originals that had managed to defeat a beast at the Prym rank the afternoon before the dungeon break.

    ''So it was them?'' He wondered only to shrug his shoulders a momentter.

    "What mode of payment do you prefer? Merit points, or Origin crystals?"

    Because he thought that the young Originals were done after selling all corpses, he didn''t think that it was necessary to postpone the question about the type of payment they would want.

    However, it was just a momentter that Mathias held out a few red gemstone nes.

    They were the beast-controlling nes that the receptionist had also heard about.

    Yet, what followed suit was Be stretching out her hand as well, with two rings, and three pendants in her hand.

    After debating it for quite some time, their team of three had chosen to sell the runic armaments they didn''t need.

    Amongst these were two Elemental rings, the humannguage pendant, and two pendants that were capable of inducing subtle dizziness in the designated target.

    Seeing the runic armaments that had numerous unknown runes engraved on them, the receptionist could only swallow nervously.

    He looked at them for several minutes only to nce at the three young Originals every now and then.

    "If I may ask¡­do the higher-ups know about these runic armaments¡­and that you want to sell them?"

    In the beginning, Nial and the others had looked like perfectly ordinary Originals to him.

    Maybe their presence was a little bit special but it was nothing too extraordinary considering that they were in the Teradan military camp, where the strongest prodigies were usually discovered and nurtured into future powerhouses.

    But after seeing the Lesser Titan youngling, and now even the runic armaments, the young receptionist couldn''t help but look at the three young Originals with newfound respect.

    "They know about the runic armaments, and they told me to sell them here when I would not want or need them anymore."

    Be was the only one in their group, who had been in contact with other higher-ups.

    And that was only because of the runic armaments as well.

    Thus, she answered the questions about the runic armaments, while Nial and Mathias remained silent.

    Nodding his head faintly, the receptionist realized that he had to ask his superior to handle the situation.

    With that in mind, he excused himself before rushing off in order to report everything to his boss.

    While they waited for a few minutes, the three took a look around the shop.

    Nial perceived all devices, weapons, potions, and other objects within the merchant shop that was attached to the Originals'' association.

    Thus, he understood that the quality of all goods was extremely high.

    However, even then, it was pretty difficult to find anything that was on par with the Viper spear.

    At least, if he were to only consider goods at the [Common] grade, irrespective of whether it was a mythical weapon or an ''ordinary'' one.

    There were weapons that could be used with more mana. Some of them even required liquefied mana to be used.

    But those were already at a higher grade, which was not something that interested Nial.

    After all, he had nned to undergo 9 ergings to reach the 10th Origin rank before creating Superior Origin rings by using more mana than an ordinary 10th Origin rank Original could possess.

    That was his rough n to be the strongest, even if building up the foundation would take a while.

    He had the best preconditions and a perfect constitution to create Superior Origin rings. This was attributed to the artificial ergement of his mana core which he had received due to the potency of the Titan''s heart!

    With that in mind, Nial felt that it would be best to make the most use of it.

    As such, it would take quite a while before his dear Viper spear would lose its value.

    While he was still browsing through the various items, a loud voice suddenly resounded near them, prating Nial''s ears, and startling him.

    "Hey kiddos, I have heard a lot about y''all! Let''s do some nice business!!"

    **

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 Chapter 132 God?

    Less than half an hour after the Boss of the Originals association of the Teradan military camp apperead, the group of three left with joyous expressions.

    After selling everything they didn''t need, they had procured a huge fortune.

    Most of it came from the Lesser Titan youngling corpse, and the runic armaments, including the beast controlling nes.

    With a total of 33.216 merit points, each of them received 11.072 merit points.

    This was a huge number, considering that 1 merit point was enough to purchase 10 Mid quality Common grade Origin crystals.

    Even if Nial had expected to earn a fortune, he wasn''t delusional to hope and be wealthy overnight!

    The Lesser Titan was something mankind had never encountered before and its body was a lot tougher and sturdier than the body of an ordinary Small Giant.

    And that was also why Nial, Be, and Mathias received additional merit points from the military camp''s management directly.

    They had protected several Originals by risking their lives to fight the Lesser Titan youngling.

    What the military didn''t know was that this had not been a heroic act of will and courage, but that Nial had been pulled towards the Lesser Titan youngling by the Odyssey seed, forcing his teammates to follow him, and to fight by his side.

    But in the end, only the result mattered, which was why the management of the Teradan military camp had decided to award them for their bravery and efforts.

    In total, they received 500 extra merit points each for protecting the other participants of the military camp.

    Additionally, the fact that they were the first to inform the military about the weird incidents with the Goblins, the odd mass-manufactured beast controlling nes that were marked objects, and the appearance of the never seen before runic armaments, the military awarded an extra 1000 merit points to each of them!

    As such, Nial and the others were now the three wealthiest participants with 12.572 merit points each!

    Most other participants had yet to receive even a single merit point, which clearly showed that their team of three was at a terrific advantage.

    As long as they made use of their merit points in an efficient way, they were bound to soar and leave the others behind.

    However, before making use of the points to purchase anything, they had to figure out what kinds of services the entire military camp provided.

    With that in mind, Be and Mathias decided to take a day or two to get to know the entire military base.

    Nial''s n was a bit different as he wasn''t even going to stay on the nameless ind for the following days.

    He chose to follow his gut feeling and to take Be''s words to heart.

    Even if it might be dangerous to enter the darkness portal, thest thing Nial wanted to happen was to regret being unable to protect someone he loved dearly.

    As such, if he were to reject the opportunity that was unveiled right in front of him, he might end up being too weak to protect them.

    Of course, Nial was not sure if the darkness portal would make him the strongest, or if he would be able to return alive, or even as himself, but that was a risk he had to take in order to be strong¡­or possibly the strongest.

    Even if the thought had not yet set foot in Nial''s mind, he could tell that mankind was currently simply too weak.

    If their strongest individuals would have still been at the first steps of solidifying Origin rings, the future of the entire human race would be bleak.

    After all, the mysterious memories in Nial''s mind clearly showed him that even beings with several Advanced Origin rings had been the weakest force in the armies he saw fighting against various existences.

    They were the weakest force but the highest in number, with each of them posing a huge threat to the entire human race. Luckily, there were just a handful of human Originals who seemed to be capable of defeating them right now.

    Because Nial had shards of memories from an unknown existence in his mind he knew that his strength was non-existent and that he had to be stronger as quickly as possible.

    And that was not only to reunite with his family but also to protect them, whether it was from other humans, powerful monsters or¡­foreign races!

    "You should be back in 6 days. Though, I doubt you will be able to tell how much time would be required for the trial of your Innate ability. Some reports say that it feels like months have passed, but in reality, only a few days have passed.

    So don''t worry too much and be confident in what you do!"

    Nial was not sure why, but he felt as if his mother was speaking to him, and giving him a lecture.

    As such, he smiled lightly, and the three of them arrived back in their rooms.

    "The two of you should give your best and be stronger as well. But don''t rush, otherwise, I won''t be able to catch up with you two anymore!"

    Making fun of the situation a bit, Nial seemed to be quite calm about the forting challenges and dangers of the trial he would have to face, alone.

    Partially, Be understood that he wanted to make it seem as if his mind was calm enough to face all dangers.

    But even then, it truly seemed like he had calmed down after his initial shock.

    One could say that Nial''s mind had been a mess since the day they had hunted down the Lesser Titan youngling.

    Something had happened to him when Nial had spent several hours sitting on top of the Lesser Titan youngling''s chest, and nobody except him knew what exactly it was.

    Even Nial was not sure of what was happening to him either.

    Since then, he had been a little bit odd, and only after the beast breakout did he finally calm down.

    It was almost as if hunting hundreds of beasts had been necessary for him to calm down, allowing him to take a breather.

    Be predicted that a certain requirement of his Innate ability had been fulfilled during the beast breakout.

    Thus, he was now capable of creating the darkness portal that would lead him to the trial of his Innate ability, which would either advance it, or provide major improvements in a different way.

    And since Nial had been thinking about it for quite some time already, he hade up with a conclusion, giving him the necessary confidence to have a calm mind!<sub> </sub>

    This was great, and necessary as the trials were extremely dangerous in most cases.

    But Nial should be aware of this as he could sense the predicament of whatid behind the darkness portal best.

    "I guess, it''s time for me to leave for a few days. Don''t destroy the military base, and don''t dare to run away from me when I return!"

    With a rather awkward farewell announcement, Nial manifested a pitch-ck dungeon portal right in front of him.

    The Viper Spear appeared in his hand, only for him to take a deep breath before he stepped through it.

    Afterward, the portal disappeared into thin air without leaving behind the slightest trace of its existence.

    The I-stroke on the Odyssey seed was pitch-ck, camouging itself to match the seed''s color in a subtle way before merging with it.

    Its task had beenpleted, and nothing else was required for it to do!

    p Once he stepped through the darkness portal, Nial''s world turned pitch-ck.</anda>

    It was not his non-existent sight that turned dark all of a sudden, which was impossible to begin with.

    Rather, Nial was unable to sense a single trace of mana around him.

    Everything around him had gone silent, there was nothing to smell, and he was not even capable of sensing the faintest vibrations.

    Under normal circumstances, this would be a nightmare for Nial.

    Being unable to know where he was, what the surroundings looked like, if there was someone around him to be careful of, and so on were what Nial had feared the most in the past.

    But it was odd. Right now, he was not afraid, and could easily take a step forward.

    The ground below him felt firm and somewhat solid, but also gaseous.

    It was as if he was walking on a fluffy cloud.

    This was a very simr sensation to how the clouds around the divine pce had felt in his monthly dreams before he had awakened his origin.

    Taking one step after another he walked through the unknown space, and was unable to hear, smell, or sense anything except the cloud-like surface his feet touched below him.

    Unsure of where he was going, he kept trying to sense in vain and only felt a sharp tug as if his entire being was pulled towards a particr direction.

    As such he followed the said direction with a calm mind.

    Only a small part in the corner of his heart was nervous, thinking that he was being pulled towards something that created the Odyssey seed in order to alter Nial''s body, to turn him into the vessel the being required for its selfish needs.

    But even then, right at this moment, Nial was calm.

    Unsure of how much time had passed, he stopped once he thought he had reached his final destination.

    There was still nothing around him, or at least, Nial was unable to pick up anything.

    Because of that, he remained at the spot he presumed to be his destination, waiting for something to happen.

    Time passed but he could sense no change around him which made him doubt his gut feeling, only for a hoarse voice to reverberate through his mind all of a sudden.

    [What do you desire, mortal? Is it unlimited strength? The ability to be an Immortal, to live until the universe ceases to exist? To create your own Empire and conquer other nations to enve them? Or maybe even to retrieve your eyesight?]

    The voice was exactly the same as the one he had heard in the abode of the Old Medic.

    As such, Nial could figure that some sort of a being wasmunicating with him through the Odyssey seed.

    It was certainly something to be vignt of, but Nial was unable to hold himself back and he revealed his desire to the hoarse voice.

    "Right now, I just want to reunite with my family and protect them from the dangers of the dungeon beasts. Even if they would have been with me right now, I wouldn''t be confident that they''ll be safe with just me to protect them.

    Mankind''s strength is too low to protect their shelters if a single Prometheus rank were to appear and attack us. Everyone would die¡­"

    While Nial spoke, memories he had already seen once shed through his mind. Thus, he subconsciously blurted out ''Prometheus rank'' even if he had no idea what it actually was.

    [Looks like fractions of my memories have reached you by now. You are faster than I expected, mortal. I can sense that your heart, mana core, and the little fragment have been refined once..

    It''s just a faint enhancement, but nheless, it''s an achievement. I never expected a lot from a human being, to begin with.]

    Listening to the voice in his head, Nial couldn''t help but feel offended. He was giving his best, but this ''thing'' was just disregarding everything he had achieved with thest few months'' hard work as if it were child''s y.

    "Never expected much from a human? Then why was this seed, fragment or whatever it is, forced onto me 15 years ago? I doubt I ever requested to be blind, or for my mana senses to be blocked. If it were not for the Divine Goddess, I would still be unawakened!!"

    Even if Nial was sure that it was not the best toin to the mysterious voice, he was unable to hold himself back.

    [It''s exactly this attitude of yours that makes you the right candidate! I do not know which Goddess you met, but I can sense divine energy within my fragment. That should have elerated everything a little bit.

    But from the looks of it, your body can endure my power and strength, otherwise, you wouldn''t even be here talking to me right now!]

    Nial''s understanding of the situation was non-existent.

    As such, he couldn''t help but blurt out,

    "The right candidate for what?"

 Chapter 133 Fragment Of A God

    "What did you just say?" Nial felt as if his entire body froze at some point.

    The voice of the mysterious being echoed through his mind over and over again until Nial felt incapable of speaking.

    [To be a God, or to be precise, to be my reincarnation!]

    Nial was stunned and had no idea how to react to this answer. In the end, the mysterious voice didn''t provide him any further information about what was going on.

    Furthermore, there was the fact that the mysterious voice didn''t seem to be inclined to reveal why it chose him to be ''its reincarnation''!

    "Soo¡­ you are precisely a God, and you want to reincarnate within me? Does that mean, you''re dead?"

    Nial was unable to understand how it worked so he bluntly asked whatever came to his mind. He was simply too confused about the current situation.

    But even if he was confused, bing someone''s reincarnation could be interpreted in two ways.

    Either, he would be thrown out of his body, and the fragment would rece him, or he would receive the mysterious being''s memories, and thereby its legacy.

    Thetter sounded the best, but it was less likely.

    Nial was also able to think of a third possibility; for both of them to coexist in his body!

    [I have lived long enough not to feel like reincarnating, just to undergo all the trials and tribtions that I lived through over and over again. The path of the God Of Darkness is riddled with thorns and unimaginable pain, after all!

    But even then, if you are too weak, my fragment will slowly devour you. When it is done, it will allow me to reincarnate within you, and send your soul to the journey afterlife.]

    It was hardly possible for Nial to remain calm right now.

    He had never asked for this weird fragment that seemed to belong to some sort of Darkness God, or whatever to be thrust upon him.

    The pieces of information which he received might help him a lot, but Nial didn''t really like the way the conversation was progressing.

    [That''s why the trials are here. To test you, and to provide you with more power, and everything I told you before¡­]

    This hardly made any sense, which was why Nial couldn''t help but tilt his head in confusion.

    The entire situation was a mess in his opinion, and the words of the being seemed to contradict themselves as well!

    "Why take my eyesight away if I can retrieve it?"

    He thus asked straightforwardly.

    Right now, his mind was confused. Everything was chaotic, even more so in his mind.

    As such, he tried to listen to the next words carefully and it astonished him greatly.

    [I never took your eyesight away. You might not recall it, but even as a 3-year-old you were quite feisty. Thus, my fragment reached you, allowing you to survive, in the first ce.

    Who knows how you lost your eyesight, and what blocked your mana veins? It was definitely not me. I was dead for way too long, and my fragment awoke with your origin.

    To be precise, the remnants of energy inside my fragment were what allowed you to stay alive, which forced my fragment to enter a state of hibernation!]

    When Nial first heard this, he was unable to believe it.

    For his entire life, Nial was certain that the Odyssey seed had been the reason for his pain, and sorrow.

    But now he suddenly learned that it was his savior and the very reason for him be still alive. This was ridiculous.

    It was hard to ept this, but Nial didn''t really see a reason for the mysterious being to lie to him.

    After all, Nial was pretty sure that the Odyssey seed could devour him right now!

    If a few days ago, somebody would have told him that the Odyssey seed was strong enough to overwhelm him, to allow the Dead God to reincarnate, or something simr to that, he would haveughed at them.

    ''Considering that it only pulsates when I truly need it, and that the Odyssey seed''s dark energy didn''t kill me when it had the chance, it might be true¡­''

    The voice sounded tired as well, which gave Nial even more than enough reason to think that the Odyssey seed was just acting on its own ord, and testing him.

    It was likely to test whether he was even worthy of undergoing the trial to be stronger, to begin with, and if he was even worthy to be a possessor of the fragment of a God!

    All of a sudden, a few memories streamed into his mind, memories about a little toddler, who was wielding dark energy currents as if they were extensions of his limbs.

    What followed suit were memories of several years of the toddler''s growth that shed through Nial''s mind.

    He had no idea why the mysterious voice was doing this to him, and as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing, a specific memory slowed down the moment it appeared in his mind.

    The toddler was now a ten-year-old kid, and he was trying to reach some sort of translucent orb.

    However, the kid was unable to grasp the orb, which led him to release the dark energy currents that turned into a ck whip before they grasped the orb tightly.

    Yet, instead of being able to pull the orb down, the kid struggled against it as it devoured all of his dark energy.

    Something began to happen to the orb.

    And at this moment, dozens of Gods emerged all around the youth, looking at him with fear, disgust, and the intent to kill.

    Nial was interested in what happened afterward, but the memories ended.

    This disappointed him far more than he had expected, just to hear the mysterious man''s voice in his head once again.

    [You might not understand what happened there now, but the orb is pretty simr to the one you used in order to assess your talent in the Originals'' association.<sub> </sub>

    The only difference is that your talent is also awakened with the very same orb.

    It is called a True Soul awakening orb, an item we used in ancient times to awaken the hidden potential in our bodies.

    But that is probably not important for you, and you are more interested in what happened after the other Gods appeared, right?]

    Nial would have been lying if he were to shake his head and tell him to proceed with the information of the True Soul awakening, or whatever it was.

    As such, he just smiled lightly, before the mysterious being continued to speak.

    [Well, to put it simply, all of them are dead now¡­ I killed them one after another simply because they were after my life and power.]

    The voice of the mysterious being was emotionless and it held no trace of remorse for the act of killing Gods.

    However, when the man continued, Nial couldn''t help but feel chills running down his spine.

    [In the end, millions of years had passed before thebined forces of Gods and their subordinates were able to kill me, and I was never able to live a peaceful life again.

    I don''t want to go through the same thing again. It is just too painful, and certainly not enjoyable.

    As such, if you choose to take my power in order to be strong enough to protect your family from all possible dangers, you do have to understand that Gods might flock around you in order to take away your life, and powers.

    After all, the power of the God of Darkness overshadowed all the life of the Universe!]

    Processing all of the provided information was certainly not easy.

    Rather, it took quite some time for Nial to digest everything, just for the voice to resound in his head once more.

    [You must have noticed it already. They''re alreadying for your tiny but beautiful!]

    It was quite obvious who thete God of Darkness was talking about.

    He was speaking about other Gods; about beings that were powerful enough to destroy the entire once they were to descend on Jundra.

    The only advantage Nial had against them was the fact that they were unable to enter the due to its natural restriction against certain beings, whose strength crossed a certain threshold.

    It was just like a natural barrier of protection against the power that could harm the.

    Apparently, theary core was subtly connected to every single dungeon portal, imposing restrictions on them if it was necessary.

    This was something Nial didn''t really understand, but that was not necessary to know how it worked, to begin with.

    After all, the most important was the fact that it would take a very long time for Gods to be able to enter Jundra without destroying the just with their presence!

    Considering that their n was to nurture powerful new subordinates if Nial had understood the situation correctly, the destruction of Jundra would be disastrous.

    Some Gods were likely to try to im Jundra for themselves as well. The was quite big, and if conquered in its entirety, hundreds of billions of beings could probably colonize Jundra.

    At least that was what Nial presumed because he knew that nine shelters of humanity harbored far more than a billion humans!

    The true size of Jundra was not something Nial couldprehend on his own.

    But that was also not necessary right now because the memories of the God of Darkness were bothersome enough.

    As such, Nial couldn''t help but shake his head in frustration, feeling that his issue with the Odyssey seed had partially been solved, just for something even more annoying to now seek his attention.

    [I have to agree, they found a beautiful ce to find new subordinates, nurture them, and make them feel special.

    Your friends are certainly among the special creatures as well.

    This Be Morningstar, you should be careful of her¡­the moment she awakens the memories of her ability, your friendship might be tested.

    As for your other friend, Gods will be interested in him as well.

    Protecting all of them might not be the best, because you will never know when they will betray you, and I can tell you, betrayal hurts the most when ites from an unexpected source, and from the people you love the most!]

    Even if Nial didn''t want to ept it, the God of Darkness seemed to be genuinely trying to help him.

    Whether this was for his entertainment or because the God of Darkness was sincere in his attempts to prevent Nial from going through the same ordeal he had faced was not something one could be certain of.

    However, Nial didn''t even have the time to bother about being suspicious about anyone close to him, even if it was thete God of Darkness, Be, or Mathias.

    Rather than doubting their actions and future behavior, Nial''s focus was on reuniting with his parents.

    And he knew that he required far more strength than he had right now in order to face Gods in the future!

    **

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 Chapter 134 Fight Yourself!

    Somehow, Nial thought that it was quite easy to talk to the God of Darkness.

    But he was not sure if that was because he was just talking to the Fragment of the God of Darkness, or because the Darkness God was dead.

    Maybe it was something entirely different that allowed him to remain calm.

    In the end, the reason didn''t really matter, and it was more important that he figured out what exactly was going on.

    Nial had entered the darkness portal because he wanted to be stronger.

    Knowledge was power as well, which was why he wouldn''tin about receiving important pieces of information.

    And almost all the information the Fragment of the Darkness God told him was highly advantageous to help him figure out more about himself and the Universe in general.

    The fact that Gods were the culprits in the creation of the dungeon portals was something he understood now quite well.

    Apparently, the weaker dungeon portals were meant to enhance Jundra''sary core and surface, so that it will ept mana much faster.

    They wanted to artificially awaken theary core of Jundra in order to let it create mana itself, and to be stronger.

    This was a great n but the issuey in the fact that there were simply too many impatient Gods that were vying to gain supremacy over Jundra even before the was ready to endure the might of stronger beasts.

    "And why would they even bother about Jundra? I mean, there should be quite a fews that are more interesting than our?"

    The more he heard, the more confusing everything seemed to him.

    [I think exining it right now would only further confuse you. Maybe aparison would make it easier¡­

    If you pick up something wed, it will never be perfect, right? If a vase breaks, it is not possible to return it to the original state! In that case, what if you create something from scratch? The answer is quite simple- as long as you work tirelessly to fix your mistakes, perfection will be the final result!]

    Nial just nodded his head as if he understood everything.

    His senses were still feeling odd because the only thing he could hear was the voice of the deceased Darkness God.

    Meanwhile, his other senses simply felt nothing except an empty void around him.

    Fortunately, this sensation didn''t remain for long as something wondrous happened.

    Dark energy currents swept through his entire body, shrouding him for several seconds.

    An icy cold reached every single cell within his body before the dark energy currents separated from his body.

    They gathered in one spot, turning into a huge ball of darkness.

    However, it didn''t take long before the ball of darkness began to change its shape.

    Within a single minute, a human being was formed.

    It began to walk around and suddenly started to exhibit various types of movement sequences, which caused Nial to focus on the being intently.

    "Is that¡­me?"

    p Nial couldn''t help but feel a little bit bbergasted as he perceived every single trait of the being in front of him.</anda>

    Its movements were exactly the same as his own. This was not only confusing, but it caused chills to run down his spine.

    The only difference between the two of them was the fact that his doppelganger was able to wield the dark energy all around him!

    [Your primary Trial of the Gods is to ovee yourself and defeat your Darkness Doppelganger! There is no time limit, and you cannot die here, so fight with all your might!!]

    The first Trial didn''t soundplex, but Nial knew that defeating his Darkness Doppelganger was everything but easy.

    Not only was its physique constructed to be on par with his own body down to thest detail at that, but it was also wielding the very same weapon, and efficiently controlling dark energy.

    Nial even presumed that it was able to use the ck Miasma from the Curse [Hodur''s Heir].

    With that in mind, the fact that he would be able to evade death in the Trial was relieving.

    At least, it allowed Nial to try his best without the need to pay attention to any kinds of injuries he was bound to sustain.

    This was pretty nice, which was why he simply nodded his head and was ready to fight the Darkness Doppelganger.

    He had only six days left to finish the Trial, otherwise, he would miss out on the lessons at the Teradan military camp.

    And the fact that he was not even in the military camp would arouse suspicion as well as attract the interest of too many people.

    Even if the sisters had asked Nial to attract the attention of others, and be the strongest, he felt ufortable telling others about the fact that he had an ''Innate'' ability.

    But that was only normal because the Odyssey seed was far from being considered an ordinary holder of his Innate affinity!

    Furthermore, not even the Originals'' association had been able to detect the Odyssey seed, let alone the [Mana perception] Innate ability!

    If others were to figure out what was going on, things would only be moreplicated, and Nial wanted to avoid problems for now.

    He wanted to focus on bing stronger as quickly as possible, which meant that he had to give his all!

    After all, he didn''t know how long it would take before existences like unrestricted Giganodes would reach Liondra, and his family!!

    The sole thought about reuniting with his family was enough for Nial to give his all, and fight until he found them.

    [I forgot to tell you something. It won''t be possible for you to leave the Trial before you defeat the Darkness Doppelganger. And as already mentioned, If you stay here for too long, my Fragment will slowly devour you as well.]

    Afterward, the voice turned quiet for a moment, leaving a dumbfounded Nial behind, just to add,

    [The flow of time within my domain is also different. Your brain might not understand it yet because it might feel a little bit weird, but one hour on Jundra is equivalent to 5 hours in here!]

    Nial felt like twisting the neck of the already deceased Darkness God when he heard his firstment.

    However, upon hearing the words the voice added, he calmed down in an instant.

    ''That means¡­I have around 30 days before the Teradan military camp starts again¡­That''s more than enough!!''

    Even if Nial was not confident to defeat his Darkness Doppelganger right now, by ''sacrificing'' his life over and over again he was pretty sure to find a tactic to defeat the stronger version of¡­ himself!

    Taking his own time limit into consideration, Nial took a deep breath before the Viper spear manifested in his hands.<sub> </sub>

    Wielding it properly, arge amount of mana was circted through his body.

    He focussed most of it on his lower body and was able to catapult himself several meters ahead.

    His speed was high enough to reach the Darkness Doppelganger in seconds.

    However, the moment he reached it, Nial understood that he had grossly underestimated the might of the Darkness Doppelganger.

    sting a wave of dark energy towards Nial, the Darkness Doppelganger seemed to merge with it.

    Just a momentter the dark energy swept through Nial, only for the Darkness Doppelganger to manifest behind him.

    Nial was able to sense all of this, but even before he could think about evading the attack that was bound to be initiated, the dark energy currents around him shackled him down.

    The strength behind the shackles was not especially high, but it was more than enough to restrict Nial for more than a second.

    And this was more than enough for the Darkness Doppelganger to thrust his spear at him

    Nial''s heart was pierced just a momentter, and he slumped to the ground, dead.

    A fountain of blood spurted out of Nial the moment the Darkness Doppelganger retracted the spear.

    In seconds, a puddle of blood formed below Nial, only for him to start twitching as he began to breathe once again.

    It was almost as if time began to rewind as the blood around him slowly seeped back into his body.

    Even the hole in his chest was mended once again.

    Not even a full minute had passed before Nial was able to get up from the ground.

    "Well, I''m still alive, but it hurts like hell¡­"

    It was like he was in a death simtor where he died a thousand deaths but somehow survived miraculously, just for the pain he felt from being pierced through the chest to remain within him.

    Nial was definitely not a fan of this, but instead ofining, he chose to ept the pain.

    Taking a few deep breaths, Nial prepared himself to fight once again.

    Even his mana had recuperated entirely, which was quite helpful considering that he would have to fight hundreds of battles.

    At least that was the number of necessary fights Nial hade up with before he was able to fight the Darkness Doppelganger head-on.

    Maybe it would be more or fewer fights, but that did not matter right now.

    Wielding the Viper spear in his hand once again, he pierced out.

    Simultaneously, he led mana inside the Curse [Hodur''s Heir], which resulted in ck Miasma being released in an explosive manner.

    His entire body was shrouded in ck Miasma.

    It umted around his spear, which he pierced out at once.

    The moment he pierced out with the Viper spear, thepressed ck Miasma was released explosively, as if a dam had broken.

    Nial knew that he wouldn''t be able to block this attack, not with his current strength.

    As such, the Darkness Doppelganger shouldn''t be able to survive the attack either!

    Unfortunately, it was necessary for the attack to reach the Darkness Doppelganger in order to injure him.

    Releasing the exact same attack Nial had fired, his opponent mimicked his move causing thepressed ck Miasma from both sides to devour one another.

    They grew weaker and weaker, followed by the dark energy intertwining with the Darkness Doppelganger''s ck Miasma!

    Through this, Nial''spressed ck Miasma was overwhelmed and devoured.

    It strengthened the fused state of the dark energy and the ck Miasma of the Darkness Doppelganger, just to envelop Nial.

    The moment it touched him, the dark energy Miasma began to eat away his skin, flesh, organs, and even bones as fire would consume tinder.

    This was the worst feeling had ever perceived in his entire life.

    It made him feel as if he was being eaten alive, by millions of tiny leeches at once.

    The time it took for the dark energy Miasma to decay him in his entirety was less than an entire minute, but this minute was the worst in his life.

    After he died, his body was reconstructed within a minute once again.

    However, this time he was unable to stand up or to even breathe properly.

    He was just lying on the ground and trying to feel his entire body again.

    "Just what the hell is going on here¡­" He mumbled after five minutes passed.

    His mind was a mess, and before he could react the Darkness Doppelganger loomed over him, and thrust the spear it was holding.

    ''What the hell?! Why can''t I have even a moment of respite???''

    **

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 Chapter 135 Dying Over And Over Again

    The Darkness Doppelganger''s spear pierced right through the center of his chest.

    This led to Nial puking blood, while his expression worsened gradually.

    But his opponent wasn''t done yet and it was just a momentter that the spear in his chest was twisted before it was pulled out abruptly.

    What was left behind was arge hole in Nial''s chest, and him writhing on the ground in unbearable pain.

    His facial expression clearly depicted the feeling of being tortured.

    Nial couldn''t even breathe properly owing to the pressure he felt.

    Blood spurted out of him, while he felt his heartbeat slowing down.

    Time seemed to havee to a standstill, and Nial felt as if he would never die.

    Fortunately, he sumbed to his fate just a momentter but was resurrected a minute after his death.

    Nial''s body twitched several times before he regained consciousness.

    His muscles moved without him wanting them to.

    However, Nial was unable to stand up for a moment and continued breathing heavily.

    But he was unable to remain idle because his body moved the moment the Darkness Doppelganger made the slightest move.

    Forcing himself to fight again, he jumped up from the ground in an instant and prepared himself to be killed once again.

    It was only at this moment that Nial noticed that his legs were trembling a bit.

    There was not even the need for him to search for an exnation about the reason for his legs to act like this because he was fully aware of the same.

    ''Why is every single way in which the Darkness Doppelganger kills me so painful?!?''

    Of course, Nial understood that dying was painful in most cases, but he couldn''t help but think that the Darkness Doppelganger worked especially hard in order to make him go through new and inventive ways of dying while feeling hellish pain.

    That was possible, and Nial could even understand why it did this, even if he didn''t like it.

    ''The weaker my will grows, the easier it will be for the Fragment of the Darkness God to initiate the process of his reincarnation!''

    Nial was not yet sure if the Darkness God''s desire to reincarnate was truly close to zero, or if everything was but a joke in his mind.

    However, even if it was just a child''s y for him, Nial was pretty sure that it shouldn''t really affect him, at least, not if the voice of the Darkness God didn''t lie to him about various other topics.

    Nial didn''t even want to think about the possibility of every single word and memory he had witnessed inside the darkness portal being a lie.

    This would probably be a lot worse than being killed a few times.

    And that meant a lot, considering that the Darkness Doppelganger had given its utmost efforts to reap his life in painful ways.

    Nial realized that there wasn''t much time left before the Darkness Doppelganger would start fighting him once again.

    As such, his stance changed in an instant, while he regained some control over his body.

    It was obvious for his mind to be utterly shocked as he died three times in a matter of a mere few minutes.

    However, the fact that he was still not even remotely close to losing his sense of reasoning, or giving up on himself gave him the confidence to strive for more and give his utmost efforts.

    With that in mind, Nial waited for the moment in which the Darkness Doppelganger would attack him once again.

    He was patient and fully focused and his opponent made his first move not long after.

    Dark energy shrouded the Darkness Doppelganger, and it catapulted himself towards him in a shocking pace.

    Precisely controlling the mana within its body, the Doppelganger was able to reach a higher strength than Nial owing to the simple fact that the young blind man had yet to find the best ways to enhance specific body parts of his body using mana.

    This was something Nial had to focus on pretty soon, but there was something more important for now, surviving and defeating the Darkness Doppelganger.

    The moment his opponent shot ahead, Nial released his own dark energy.

    He didn''t show a single sign of hesitation as he used arge amount of mana to receive ess to the dark energy within the Odyssey seed.

    Shooting out of his body at once, the dark energy currents smashed in all directions with a terrifically high velocity.

    If there were to be a single solid object in his surroundings, everything around him would have been destroyed in an instant.

    However, right now, the only thing that could be considered semi-solid was the Darkness Doppelganger.

    And this kind of existence was not afraid of the dark energy current because it was able to use them as well, with much more control than Nial at that.

    Thus, it made use of some of the shroud of darkness around it to build a wall of protection at the locations it would be hit by Nial''s uncontroble attacks.

    After the first batch of attacks was blocked off, the Darkness Doppelganger reached in front of Nial.

    It pierced out without hesitation, aiming for Nial''s throat.

    Yet, instead of reaching the designated target, the tip of the spear brushed past his neck and through empty air.

    Right now, Nial noticed that his Odyssey seed was not required to pulsate in order to break through his limits, to make use of the dark energy and to feel the soothing sensation that the seed''s third pulse caused.

    There was no mana in the surroundings as well, which meant that he couldn''t make use of the seed''s first pulse in a perfect manner.

    Despite that, every single time he got defeated, his mana simply recuperated as if it had never been used, to begin with.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, Nial couldn''t even try to outsmart the Darkness Doppelganger by absorbing mana before erging his mana core once again.

    Yet, all of this seemed to be insignificant because Nial had been able to push the Doppelganger''s spear aside with the use of his own spear and the dark energy currents which he had managed to tame.

    Nicely put, his control over the dark energy currents was crude.

    It bordered on being worse but he was simply miserable with the control.

    Somehow, it was still enough to evade the Darkness Doppelganger''s first attack.

    Unfortunately, the Darkness Doppelganger was not ying games, let alone holding back in its attempts to kill Nial.

    As such, its spear disappeared the moment he missed just to reappear a momentter.

    It was now floating a meter above Nial''s head, and he was clearly able to perceive that the spear was being controlled by the Darkness Doppelganger''s dark energy currents.

    ''Even teleporting other objects is possible?!'' This was the only thing Nial could think of as the spear of the Darkness doppelganger swooped down on his head, piercing through it easily.

    With the powerful thrust that sliced into his brain, Nial died once again, just to be resurrected not long after.

    After taking a deep breath, Nial shuddered.

    "This is just disgusting¡­ if there is someone who likes feeling pain or death over and over again somewhere out there, this person has to be insane¡­"

    The feeling of his skull breaking and his brain being pierced was certainly not something he wanted to ever feel again.

    As such, Nial knew that he had to change his way of thinking.

    He might still be in a state of shock, but thest fight was a good first approach.

    His control over the dark energy wasughable, and its influence was far stronger than before, but all of this was fine.

    ''I should probably start with forcing my way through by learning how to properly control the dark energy within me¡­''

    There were many things Nial needed to improve, and fighting against the Darkness Doppelganger allowed him to realize that his current fighting style was restricted to some simple moves.

    Whether it was his control over mana or the dark energy, Nial knew that both had room for improvement.

    His strength was oddly restricted right now, and it didn''t even have to do with the fact that he was currently unable to erge his mana core.

    There were simply too many things one had to consider in one''s strength other than the number of ergings the mana core had undergone, or the number of Origin rings one possessed!

    Taking that into consideration, Nial''s mind was rattling, trying to process all the deaths he had undergone.

    Followed by that, it was necessary for him toe up with a proper n on how to approach controlling the dark energy within him.

    Meanwhile, there were also other factors such as the ck miasma, the proper use of mana, hisbat experience, tactics, and much more.

    ''Are 30 days really enough¡­?'' Nial suddenly wondered, not sure if it was possible for him to improve everything to end up being on par with the Darkness Doppelganger that seemed to be a perfect existence.

    With the question of how to achieve his goals in the given time frame, 20 days passed.

    It was like the blink of an eye, yet it seemed as if years had passed.

    But Nial''s mind was too fogged to keep track of time because Nial died far more than a hundred times.

    In fact, it might have been a thousand times as well but he simply lost count of the numerous times he died.

    The mere thought of having died more than a hundred times in less than three weeks was simply ridiculous.

    However, the gains were tremendous, which was even more important, in Nial''s opinion.

    Because it didn''t seem necessary to sleep, eat, drink or rest after an exhausting battle, Nial fought, lost, and died for 20 days straight.

    The biggest break he received was never higher than five minutes.

    But that was something Nial didn''t even make use of anymore as he simply continued to fight which was akin to breathing now.

    He was fighting even without actively noticing it as if it was now a subconscious reflex.

    Dying seemed to have be a joke to him, and Nial couldn''t even deny that this was the case.

    This kind of mindset worried him a little bit because he would have died outside the darkness portal if he had fought the Darkness Doppelganger outside it.

    It sounded logical, but not inside the darkness portal!

    However, Nial also understood that if he didn''t allow anyone to be as strong as him, nobody would be capable of killing him, to begin with.

    To his misfortune, it was easier to say that he would be stronger than anyone else, to prevent his influenced mindset from epting that he could be reckless because death wouldn''t be forever.

    Because it was a fact that death was something, one couldn''t reverse¡­at least not in a natural way.

    But Nial was currently quite calm about the situation outside the darkness portal.

    After all, his mind had already recognized that the deaths inside the darkness were different to the real world.

    The primary Trial of Gods was certainly fierce, but his willpower had only been strengthened since he was shrouded in darkness.

    He was powerful and headstrong as never before, and his goals were now deeply ingrained in his mind.

    Nial was ready to go all-in!!

 Chapter 136 Willpower

    Nial had 10 days left before he had to leave the darkness portal.

    However, he wanted to finish the torture ofpleting the primary Trial as quickly as possible.

    It might be an advantage that he had more time inside the darkness portal than outside, but that was not especially helpful if Nial was not allowed to have a longer break.

    A long break would allow him to digest all the pieces of information he had received throughout thest 20 days, and make use of it to help him have a much higherbat prowess.

    Unfortunately, Nial understood that he should be patient and that a break was something he could receive once he was done with the primary Trial.

    Patience was something he had gained by enduring every single death, without trying to rushpleting the Trial before he understood the crux behind the Darkness Doppelganger''s abilities.

    The Darkness Doppelganger was an exact replica of Nial''s traits, with the sole difference being their experiences andprehension.

    Due to this ring difference in their strengths, Nial had lots of things to learn, and understand while fighting the Darkness Doppelganger.

    Because Nial''s mind had been rattling wildly for thest 20 days, it was possible for him to get to know lots of things and to fight for more than five minutes within the darkness portal without sumbing to death.

    The Darkness Doppelganger was a fierce opponent, which was why Nial was quite satisfied with himself forsting in the fight for five minutes.

    This was the longest he had been able to fight and stay up on his feet. At the same time, it was the time when he had been overwhelmed the most.

    It was a humiliating feeling to be easily defeated, and killed by someone, who was a copy of oneself.

    As such, Nial''s determination to defeat the Darkness Doppelganger had increased manifold.

    He not only wanted to be stronger than the Darkness Doppelganger overall but defeat it just once.

    Defeating it once was certainly possible, but Nial presumed that the Darkness Doppelganger was already an existence that had been enhanced to the limits of the given characteristics.

    That would be great because it indicated that his own strength had yet to reach its limits!

    With various thoughts running through his mind, Nial stood in front of his opponent, calmly breathing as he wielded the Viper spear around his entire body.

    This seemed to help him be calm and focussed, which Nial made use of as he shot ahead all of a sudden.

    The Viper spear halted in his right hand in an instant, before he pierced it out with a rapid pace.

    Releasing both ck miasma and dark energy currents, Nial was trying various techniques which he had seen the Darkness Doppelganger make use of.

    Unfortunately, it was not easy to copy them, which was why he was unable to jump through the dark energy currents as easily as the Darkness Doppelganger.

    But that was not even necessary because his ck miasma and dark energy were able to intertwine with one another.

    They turned into a lethal force that decayed Nial''s opponent, while rapidly deteriorating its strength

    It even looked like he could restrict his opponent''s movements, which was quite advantageous.

    The Darkness Doppelganger was able to do the very same, and even more.

    That made it quite difficult for Nial to gain the momentum to initiate a lethal blow.

    In fact, Nial was quite sure that he had yet tond a single serious blow on the Darkness Doppelganger.

    Having been defeated countless times without being able to even seriously injure his opponent made him try harder yet again.

    He wasn''t blinded by rage owing to the repeated failures and understood that he had to improve much more.

    When he sted the intertwined dark energy and ck miasma out, the resulting dark miasma shrouded the Darkness Doppelganger at once.

    A momentter, Nial diverted his first attack.

    He turned the thrust in a sh which allowed him to move rapidly to the side before he appeared beside the Doppelganger and attacked once again.

    Restricting the Doppelganger''s ability to jump through the darkness with the use of the dark miasma gave Nial a tremendous advantage.

    Issuing one attack after another, he felt that his movements finally gained speed.

    Nial was slowly getting morefortable with using the dark energy. Its former tremendous influence on his body and mind had disappeared because he had already overwhelmed it.

    His mind had grown much stronger and so had his willpower in thest 20 days.

    Each death would make him think hard if his resolve was strong enough, and if dying was truly worth everything.

    And each time, the answers he gave himself were overflowing with his intention to reunite with his family and protect them.

    This was the only goal that kept him going, forcing him to get up every single time after dying and try again. He could not even imagine their death.

    Nial would rather die protecting them than helplessly watch them die right in front of his eyes.

    Thus, he kept pushing himself and didn''t even realize that his entire body had released the dark miasma, that the mana within him was churning, and that his movement speed approached the same speed as the Darkness Doppelganger possessed.

    His only goal was to exceed his own limits, break through all of them, and gain full control over the dark miasma.

    Individually, both were quite powerful means to attack and defend himself.

    However once merged, Nial felt as if the dark miasma was a ferocious and uncontroble beast.

    He had to tame it, and take it under his control.

    But for that, he first had to witness the potency and lethality of the dark miasma.

    This was exactly what Nial was doing right now, issuing one thrust after another, while the Darkness Doppelganger tried to block them using both his spear and the very same dark miasma.

    Yet, the moment Nial used his own dark miasma to fight against that of the Darkness Doppelganger, it looked like they tried to devour one another.

    Both miasma were trying to dominate the other while desiring to devour one another and to grow stronger.

    Wanting to do the same to his opponent, Nial''s movement elerated once again.<sub> </sub>

    All of a sudden, the side de on the Viper spear was released before he shed out with all his might.

    The Viper spear had turned into the ive form, which gave Nial the opportunity he required to initiate a blow with all of his might.

    Both the Darkness Doppelganger and Nial had the very same strength.

    However, what Nial had noticed not too long ago was the fact that the Darkness Doppelganger''s weapon was not the Viper spear''s replica, but simply a spear made of darkness!

    Turning this to his advantage, Nial shed the Viper ive at the Darkness Doppelganger.

    At the same time, he pushed ahead, using his weight to increase the force he was able to sh with.

    Upon colliding with the shaft of the darkness spear, the Viper ive was forcefully put to a halt.

    But Nial noticed something interesting, which led him to smile brightly as he concentrated the released dark miasma around the Viper spear''s ive.

    The des were instantaneously shrouded in dark miasma, enhancing their sharpness, and endurance, while providing them with additional destructive and corrosive characteristics.

    Using his own weight to leverage the force, Nial could clearly perceive a crack in the darkness spear''s shaft.

    Especially because the darkness spear was not a proper solid object it was quite easy to destroy it making use of all his might.

    Forcing his way through everything and everyone, the darkness spear broke.

    Its one and only means of defense had been broken, and the Viper spear in the ive form continued to cut through the remaining space, reaching the Darkness Doppelganger.

    It took merely a moment but Nial finally managed to cut through the Darkness Doppelganger.

    However, something was weird¡­

    ''Why did it feel as if I just cut through the air?!''

    Nial was aware that the Darkness Doppelganger was fond of ying tricks.

    To gain the highest possiblebat prowess at a specific rank, tricks were just one more means to defeat stronger opponents, to outwit them and to gain an advantage over them.

    But even then, Nial didn''t expect to encounter what was about to happen.

    He had been too sure of his victory.

    All of a sudden, the Darkness Doppelganger turned into millions of strands of darkness, just to manifest behind Nial.

    The unscathed darkness spear manifested in the Darkness Doppelganger''s right hand before he thrust it forward, aiming for Nial''s heart.

    Owing to his high mana perception, Nial was able to sense the change in the Darkness Doppelganger''s position.

    As such, he was able to twist his body at once, and evade the spear thrust.

    It had been a close call and left Nial with a minor scratch as the tip of the spear grazed his skin.

    Ignoring it, Nial was able to counterattack using the momentum he had gained while twisting his body.

    Piercing out with the Viper spear that had regained its original appearance after retracting the side de, Nial also released his dark miasma.

    But contrary to his previous tactic, Nial didn''t concentrate the dark miasma around the de of his spear.

    Instead, he shackled the Darkness Doppelganger, preventing it from jumping through the darkness, or dispersing into countless strands of darkness as it did before to trick him.

    Using all of his might and the vast majority of his mana to elerate the speed and strength of his attack, Nialshed out again, knowing that he would lose if this attack didn''t work.

    Yet, even though his attack worked as it pierced into the Darkness Doppelganger''s half-solid body, there was one thing Nial noticed.

    ''It''s unaffected!!''

    The Darkness Doppelganger had twisted its body to prevent Nial from piercing into his flesh and around the area of its heart.

    This made Nial realize that it was protecting its heart because it was not immortal!

    It was great to finally figure out one weakness of his opponent as it helped him to continue fighting.

    But even then Nial had hoped for a slight restriction in the Darkness Doppelganger''s movement orbat prowess.

    After all, it had been pierced by a razor-sharp de that was stuck in its chest.

    Nial knew that the de would severely restrict his opponent from fighting freely.

    As such, he simply endured the pain while trying his best to defeat the Darkness Doppelganger.

    Because of that, he released the side de of the Viper spear once again.

    Through the sudden release of the de, the ''injury'' of the Darkness Doppelganger deepened further.

    A momentter, he used all his might as he tried to push the spear deeper and tear open its entire body in order to reach the Darkness Doppelganger''s heart!!

    **

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 Chapter 137 Life Lesson

    The battle was not over yet!

    Nial was trying his utmost to worsen the injury of the Darkness Doppelganger.

    It didn''t affect his opponent much, but that was not important because Nial''s only goal was to reach its heart.

    Using all his might into advancing with the Viper spear that had once again taken on the form of a ive, Nial could clearly perceive that his use of the dark miasma was nearly perfect in the given situation.

    His dark miasma restricted the jumps through the darkness, while simultaneously coating the Viper spear''s des.

    The coat of dark miasma made many things easier, including worsening the injury Nial had inflicted.

    It decayed the Darkness Doppelganger from within, weakening it simultaneously.

    This made things much easier for Nial, but on the downside, he was restricted, and his body had begun to decay as well!

    Like Nial, the Darkness Doppelganger used the same tactic and coated the de of the darkness spear with dark miasma.

    The only difference was that the darkness spear seemed to elerate the speed at which the dark miasma spread out.

    Nial had not expected this to happen, and it forced him to try doing the same because he could clearly sense that the Viper spear wouldn''t reach the Darkness Doppelganger early enough.

    Releasing all his strength, mana, and the mixed dark miasma at once, it was possible for Nial to further push his weapon into the Darkness Doppelganger''s chest, only to halt a few centimeters away from its heart.

    The Darkness Doppelganger''s heart was like a vessel that stored all of its energies. Even the ck miasma was not excluded as it was also stored in the vessels of Nial''s opponent.

    For Nial, it was not difficult to sense that owing to his high Mana perception. However, that made things even more frustrating because it seemed as if the heart of the Darkness Doppelganger was its only weakness.

    Nial had to destroy it, by all means, otherwise, it would be impossible for him to return.

    Thus, he even attempted to move forward in order to use his bare hand to pierce out.

    He believed that coating it with dark miasma should be enough to pierce through the semi-solid body of the Darkness Doppelganger.

    However, it was not possible for Nial to even move because his chest had been pierced by the darkness spear, while dark miasma restricted his movements.

    Because both sides had used the same tactic right now, they were in a stalemate, and neither party could move.

    They could only use their strength and the dark miasma to see who was going to die first.

    This would needlessly drain him of his energy which was why Nial decided to try out something different!

    Retracting a trace of his dark energy, Nial concentrated it right in front of his chest.

    Gathering it with all his focus, he began to shape it into a paper-thin needle.

    Under normal circumstances, long-range attacks were nothing Nial would use.

    His blindness simply prevented him from creating truly powerful long-range attacks that hit their target over a long distance.

    But right now, both of them were in a deadlock, unmoving, and had run out of energy.

    Nial noticed that his own body would soon sumb to the injury he had sustained, and its aftermath.

    As such, his final attack was to try out something that even the Darkness Doppelganger hadn''t done yet; creating a projectile with dark energy to fire at his opponents!

    The final product was rather crude, but Nial felt that it was decent for the efforts of someone with no experience in doing something like this with the dark energy.

    He presumed that adding mana to the dark energy needle would give it more stability, but he did not have the time to test his theory.

    With that in mind, Nial shot out the crude construct of the dark energy needle.

    It was easy to perceive that the dark energy needle shot towards the right location.

    His mana perception told him so. Through everything he sensed, Nial couldn''t help but smile faintly, only to witness something that caused his bright expression to turn gloomy all of a sudden.

    Out of nowhere, three dark energy needles manifested in front of the Darkness Doppelganger.

    It took the Doppelganger only a fraction of a second to manifest them.

    As if that was not frustrating enough, one of the needles shot straight at Nial''s crude construct of a dark energy needle.

    Nial''s dark energy needle shattered in an instant but that of the Doppelganger kept advancing.

    Followed by that, the remaining two needles advanced through the short distance between the Darkness Doppelganger and Nial.

    Never would Nial have expected that it would be possible for the Darkness Doppelganger to block off his attack.

    After all, it didn''t take him that long to manifest it, and the needle''s speed was not that slow either.

    But at the end of the day, Nial had just witnessed that the Darkness Doppelganger was able to do far more than he could have hoped for.

    Blood trickled out of the corners of Nial''s mouth, followed by the unbearable pain of his chest being punctured thrice.

    The pain had reached him only a second after the impact of the dark energy needles.

    However, that made it even worse for Nial because he had still hoped for the Viper spear to prate through the heart of the Darkness Doppelganger.

    His eyes blurred and his legs grew weak in an instant.

    ''This fucking bullshit!!!'' He cursed in his mind.

    Nial simply wanted to kill this resilient andplex type of opponent, but this achievement appeared to be near impossible.

    But this time he had made considerable progress ad knew that it was not impossible to defeat the Darkness Doppelganger.

    And that was all that counted!

    What did it matter, whether he died once more or less within the darkness domain of the God of Darkness if he could achieve his goal?

    Nial simply epted the pain, while trying to force his mind to keep thinking, and create an attack with the help of everything he had understood during thest 30 seconds!

    Time passed slowly, and Nial died, just to heal once again.<sub> </sub>

    However, instead of getting up from the ground, Nial focused his attention on creating a n of attack.

    His mind came up with several ns on how to defeat the Darkness Doppelganger.

    As such, a slow smile formed on his lips.

    He wanted to try using the dark energy needles more often, and add anotheryer to his attacks with the Viper spear.

    This would provide him with the chance to defeat the Darkness Doppelganger in no time.

    But that was only under the condition that it would be possible for him to gain a higher proficiency with the dark energy.

    Otherwise, it would be a hassle to start multitasking in a fight where he was usually overwhelmed.

    Wielding the Viper spear in a swift and powerful manner, while controlling the dark miasma followed by long-range attacks that were conjured around his body was certainly not easy.

    Nial thought about the given situation a lot. However, in the end, he simply epted the fact that he had 10 more days left before he had to go back. That meant the Darkness doppelganger had to be defeated until then!

    His former n was slightly different, and Nial would have loved to be outside the darkness domain right now.

    However, not everything would go ording to his n in the future. This was something Nial understood, which was why he simply epted the current situation.

    In the end, it wouldn''t even be devastating if he were to take longer than 10 days before he could defeat the Darkness Doppelganger.

    The only issue was that the Military was likely to ask him where he was, and if his excuse was not valid enough, he would receive a harsher punishment for being toote.

    But that was something Nial epted without hesitation.

    He didn''t think that the Odyssey seed would be able to eradicate his soul and reincarnate the God of Darkness within him.

    This was simply something that would not happen because too many factors spoke against this.

    First of all, there was the fact that he hadn''t heard the voice of the Darkness God after day 1.

    Adding the fact that the influence of the dark energy had decreased drastically, and that Nial barely noticed it now, he was able to remain quite calm at the thought of staying longer in the darkness domain.

    The darkness domain allowed him to improve at a rapid pace. Each minute was extremely valuable for Nial, which was why he wanted to make use of it.

    Clenching his hand, Nial grasped the Viper spear''s shaft tightly before getting up from the ground.

    The Darkness Doppelganger hadn''t attacked despite him resting longer than five minutes.

    This was the first instance ever since they started fighting against each other 20 days ago.

    As such, Nial kept his attention on his mana perception and the noises which the Darkness Doppelganger made.

    It was a little bit odd, but the Darkness Doppelganger didn''t even move towards him.

    Moving sideways, it was as if the Darkness Doppelganger was thinking about something, and contemting about itself.

    This was a little bit weird because Nial had presumed that the Darkness Doppelganger was an unintelligent existence that had been created by the Fragment of God.

    He thought that it had just gained all of Nial''s traits,bat awareness, and a few more traits that were necessary to exhibit the highestbat prowess.

    As such, perceiving the state of the Darkness Doppelganger was quite weird for Nial.

    Nial spent half a minute thinking about the most efficient n before utilizing it.

    Releasing three crude dark energy needles at once, they were manifested in a single second before Nial shot them out.

    Their speed was slower than the previous dark energy needle, but that was perfectly fine.

    With a blinding speed, Nial shot up from the ground.

    Lots of mana circted through his body, enhancing his physique drastically as he reached a terrifically high speed.

    Shooting forward like a flying arrow, Nial emerged on the Darkness Doppelganger''s side.

    The Darkness Doppelganger had noticed the three dark energy needles that shot towards it.

    Evading and blocking them was quite easy for his opponent, who perceived Nial''s presence next to it a momentter.

    Nial thrust the Viper spear in his hand forward.

    Dark energy coated the spear''s de, while ck miasma oozed out of him, enveloping the Darkness Doppelganger at once.

    Just a momentter, Nial made use of his entire energy as he manifested a total of five crude darkness needles next to him.

    One was manifested above Nial''s head, and two on each side of him.

    Without hesitation, Nial released them, each targeting the Darkness Doppelganger''s heart, while the Viper spear was gleaming in a faint green light.

    He had activated the Viper spear''s poison crystal, to add a poisonous trait to the de.

    The poison was forcefully merged with the dark miasma, giving it a faint green touch.

    Due to this, it didn''t even matter, whether Nial thrust the Viper spear in the Darkness Doppelganger''s chest or not.

    However, the Viper spear still pierced into the left side of the Darkness Doppelganger, while two of the five crude dark energy needles prated directly through its heart.

    The moment Nial sensed that the heart was pierced through, the corners of his lips moved upward.

    ''Never be distracted in a fight, if you can only die once!!'' Nial could only think, understanding that even thest second of the Darkness Doppelganger''s life served as a crucial lesson for him.

    **

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 Chapter 138 Im Back!

    After the Darkness Doppelganger died, the primary Trial of the Gods ended.

    Nial sensed that now he was able to leave the darkness domain whenever he wanted.

    He could also perceive that he wouldn''t be able to return to it for quite some time.

    This was because it would take time for him to meet the requirements for the secondary Trial of the Gods.

    Nial was not even sure what the requirements were, but he could not think about it for long as a weird sensation crept through his entire being.

    The sensation was the most intense around the Odyssey seed, the Mana core, and his heart.

    It itched a lot, and only after an unknown amount of time had passed did the sensation disappear.

    Upon perceiving his own body with his mana perception, Nial quickly understood that the range of his mana perception had increased and that he could sense everything with much more rity than before.

    There was not a single thing that escaped his perception, which was not exactly difficult because the darkness domain was just that- darkness.

    Nial was not sure how much his Innate ability must have been enhanced, but it was certainly a huge enhancement.

    With that in mind, he tried to perceive his Innate ability that was imprinted on the Odyssey seed, only to notice two particr things.

    First of all, Nial could tell that he was able to create dark energy currents whenever he wanted and that he wouldn''t need to wait for the Odyssey seed''s pulses before the dark energy would react to him.

    However, this was possible only inside the darkness domain, and not something that was permanent.

    Because it was not ought to be permanent, Nial felt that it was an exceptional achievement to be able to manifest dark energy as long as he had enough mana!

    It was highly advantageous, and Nial was happy about it.

    But even if the information about the dark energy was already great, the second thing Nial noticed was that the name of his Innate ability had changed!

    His [Mana Perception] had now changed to [Mana Sense]!

    Inside the darkness domain, it was difficult to figure out the true extent of the upgraded Innate ability, but Nial was able to tell that it was very powerful.

    And this made him quite happy because it would always be advantageous to be able to sense everything in his surroundings at a wider range at that.

    He was happy about the changes his Odyssey seed underwent because all of them were advantageous for him.

    His Innate ability''s enhancement and the changes in the dark energy''s requirements to be utilized were great, which led Nial to avert his focus to his Mana core and heart.

    Something should have changed about them. At least, Nial felt so.

    However, other than a semi-translucent paper-thin membrane of darkness around both his heart and the Mana core, Nial was unable to sense anything.

    The semi-translucent darkness membrane could be perceived within his entire body, along with his mana veins.

    Thus, Nial presumed that the membrane enhanced his mana cirction and everything rted to mana.

    It was not as if Nial was sure about that because the darkness domain was void of mana for him to absorb, but he felt like testing everything once he went outside.

    But before going out, there was something Nial wanted to test out first.

    It was not often that he received the opportunity to spend five times the time within a specific space when the time coursed at its usual pace on his lovely home.

    Because of the 5:1 time ratio, Nial decided to spend 5 more days within the darkness domain.

    There would still be one day left before the Teradan military camp was to start, which was more than enough for him to get to know everything he had to understand.

    In the said five days, Nial wanted to digest the intel he procured while fighting the Darkness Doppelganger for 20 days without much of a break.

    He had yet to figure out the reason behind the odd behavior of the Darkness Doppelganger before he initiated thest attack.

    It had been quite weird, but Nial didn''t believe that it had something to do with the fact that he injured the Darkness Doppelganger seriously in the secondst battle.

    Nial knew that it didn''t really matter at the end of the day, but it still confused him.

    However, instead of thinking too long about things that were iprehensible for now, Nial focused on processing every single bit of information that he procured inside the darkness domain.

    It was also important for him to test out replicating a few amazing techniques and movements of the Darkness Doppelganger.

    Some of them had helped his opponent overwhelm him easily, and win the fights of two equal forces easily.

    Through the fights of thest 20 days, Nial gained lots ofbat experience and heprehended that it was important to know a few tricks, including specific techniques if he wanted to fight and win against powerful opponents.

    Nial took this into consideration and put his time to good use with meticulous work.

    Unfortunately, most techniques were not something Nial was able to recreate, such as the jumps through the darkness.

    It was quite sad but Nial had already expected to encounter failure in this regard.

    That was also why he decided to leave the darkness domain with a free mind and heart after the five days had psed.

    The same darkness portal as before manifested in front of him, and Nial stepped through it, just to return to the same ce he had entered the darkness domain through; his room and that of Be and Mathias.

    It took only seconds for him to emerge on the other side of the darkness portal.

    However, instead of being able to sense everything instantaneously, his entire being took a few seconds to ept the sudden change in his surroundings.

    Nial was overwhelmed with the fact that he could hear, smell, feel, and perceive everything, which was why he was standing in the room like a petrified statue.<sub> </sub>

    Once he could perceive his surroundings, Nial tried to find his friends.

    But Nial quickly figured that they were not around, which was why he chose to figure out how strong his [Mana Sense] was.

    Thus he spread out his Innate ability and increased its range as wide as possible without using a single trace of mana to supply it.

    The final result was quite shocking because Nial presumed that he was able to perceive everything within a radius of 500 meters.

    And that was without using even a trace of mana.

    With that in mind, he used some mana to expand his range of perception.

    The result was just as shocking. This led Nial to slump down to his bed as a smile appeared on his lips.

    "I think I won''t have problems with perceiving archers and other long-range fighters anymore¡­"

    He subconsciously mumbled while his mana was being replenished passively.

    His mana veins were passively absorbing mana. This had already been the case since the day he had awoken his origin.

    However, right now, the mana veins'' passive mana absorption was several times higher than before.

    Nial sensed that the passive effect of his Innate ability [Mana sense] had something to do with this.

    But that was not all because the semi-translucent darkness membrane around his mana core and mana veins seemed to elerate his cirction and absorption of mana.

    Even the process of annexing mana was elerated. This was amazing and widened Nial''s smile as he noticed one more change that had urred thanks to the primary Trial of the Gods.

    ''My mana core''s limit increased as well??''

    Nial had just realized this, and it would have caused his smile to get even brighter if it were to be possible.

    He was not sure what his mana core''s limit was right now.

    But even if he was not sure about this yet, Nial was pretty confident that he would be able to expand his mana core even after reaching its limits!

    Anything below the 9th ergement was too little because it would mean that he was unable to unleash his mana core''s potential to the fullest.

    It would be a waste to create his first Origin ring before the 9th erging, even more so because it would restrict his future potential quite a bit.

    On the first nce, one might not notice the difference, but the more time passed, and the higher ranks he reached, the wider the gap between an Origin ring created after the 8th erging and the 9th erging would be

    Nial understood this precisely, which was why the darkness mana membrane around his mana veins and mana core was exceptional.

    It would help him a lot, both now, and in the future.

    Due to all the enhancements and changes he had undergone after participating in and passing the primary Trial of the Gods, Nial was happy to have entered the darkness portal.

    His initial worries disappeared, and he didn''t even bother about the fact that the Odyssey seed, or Fragment of the Darkness God, wanted to hit two birds with one stone.

    Its goal was to strengthen Nial and to transfer the Darkness God''s strength to him. At least, that was what Nial made of the situation.

    However, the oue could either be that Nial was able to endure the potent and raging power of the God of Darkness, or that Nial''s soul would be torn apart in the attempts to integrate the Darkness God''s power with his body!

    After his soul would be torn apart, the Darkness God would reincarnate, whether he wanted to or not.

    Nial believed this, even if the truth could be a little bit different.

    There were too many possibilities with what the Fragment of the Darkness God would do to achieve what he wanted.

    But Nial chose not to mind it anymore.

    He had already wasted too much of his precious time thinking about unnecessary scenarios that might or might not ur.

    That was why he began to absorb the mana that gathered in the Teradan military base.

    The mana originated from the dungeon portals that were deep down in the cave, only to pass through the Teradan military base before it would be released outside the mountain.

    Nial wanted to enter a few dungeons to procure Origin crystals in order to absorb mana even faster.

    This thought made him recall his merit points, and that he should consider learning a Martial art technique, preferably a movement technique first!

    At that moment, Nial''s focus averted to his quantum bracelet, where he was able to perceive the screen that showed a five-digit number.

    [Merit points: 12.572]

    Everyone in their group of three had the same amount of merit points.

    As such, Nial was quite interested to figure out how much stronger the others became in thest week.

    The merit points were quite valuable and beneficial after all!

    And it was exactly when Nial thought about this, that the doors of their team''s room were pushed open.

    He had already sensed the arrival of his team members which lead him to smile brightly as he gave them a peace sign.

    "Hey guys, I''m back!"

 Chapter 139 Ruins

    Be and Mathias looked at Nial with bright smiles.

    They had been worried that it would be difficult for their blind friend to return before the Teradan military camp would officially resume.

    Fortunately, this was not the case, and he returned a whole day earlier.

    This was more than enough time for them to provide him with all the necessary information that he required to be up to date!

    And that was definitely necessary because the events that had urred in thest five days were no less intriguing than the dungeon breakout.

    Rather, the events that were about to unfold seemed to have to do with the dungeon breakouts.

    It was highly likely that they were connected to each other in some way!

    But instead of focusing on the news about what happened, Be and Mathias could easily notice that Nial''s demeanor had changed quite a bit.

    Thest five days had changed a lot about him which was visible just by looking at the way Nial was simply sitting on his bed.

    One could say that it looked almost as if Nial was ready to risk his life and fight at any moment at that.

    This was quite surprising because it took even the most experienced War Veterans quite some effort and numerous near-death experiences to end up in a condition simr to what Nial seemed to be in!

    Be understood this because she had seen such War Veterans already, which led her to take a closer look at Nial.

    She sized him up over and over again. But even then, Nial still seemed to be at the 3rd Origin rank!

    However, that was the only thing that seemed to have remained the same.

    Faint, and almost untraceable currents of some sort of dark-colored and eerie energy revolved around Nial.

    The dark energy she sensed was something Nial had already used in the past.

    If she remembered correctly, she had seen him make use of it in the fight against the Lesser Titan youngling, where Be had sensed this type of energy once again.

    After the fight, this type of energy had been released from his body to do something to the Titan''s corpse.

    And afterward, his mood had plummeted because he was contemting something.

    Be clearly recalled how worried Nial had been earlier, which was why it was the most confusing for her to see that he was unbothered by the dark energy around him.

    But even if the dark energy was already quite intriguing in Be''s opinion, the naturally released mana fluctuations of Nial were simr.

    They attracted Be''s interest because they swept through the entire room while rapidly absorbing mana.

    Nial''s mana fluctuations could be sensed in arge range, and if he wanted to it might even be possible for him to absorb the mana everywhere his mana fluctuations reached.

    Understanding that Nial was able to rece his eyesight with the perception he received from the mana fluctuations, it was quite obvious the extent to which Nial''s natural ''sight'' had increased.

    If Be was already astonished about the improvements Nial had undergone in mere five days, Mathias was totally baffled.

    His first thought upon seeing Nial was, ''Who the hell is this guy, and what did he do to Nial?!''

    However, the more he looked at Nial, the more obvious was the fact that it was truly his first friend, who was sitting in front of him.

    This led him to smile brightly as he asked,

    "Why did you take so long? We were worried that you would miss all the fun!"

    Mathias was not sure if the Teradan military camp would be fun but he still said so to tease Nial.

    After all, there had been way too many incidents since all the Originals of the new generation had appeared on the nameless ind.

    But even then, Mathias couldn''t help but feel relieved that Nial was back.

    He even forgot his shyness for a moment which led him to appear in front of his friend and ce his hand on Nial''s shoulder.

    "We still have a day left, or am I wrong?" Nial asked in confusion, not understanding why Mathias was in a hurry.

    Be nodded her head in response.

    "You are not toote, don''t worry! But a few things happened after you left, including that we received more information from the government about the future of the Teradan military camp!"

    Upon hearing this, Nial''s eyes flicked to Be.

    He had wanted to keep absorbing and annexing mana before, but that was something he stopped doing now.

    "Did something bad happen again? And what did the government say?"

    Considering that Be and Mathias were still here and that Mathias spoke about ''missing all the fun'', it was unlikely for the Teradan military camp to have been terminated.

    Thus, he kept his calm and waited for Be''s answer.

    "Well, to put it simply, the Teradan military camp will continue. In fact, the government looks at the situation quite seriously, and they have even considered retreating from the nameless ind.

    However, this was only the case before Miranda, the Old Medic you already know, found a quite special Dungeon portal in the deepest parts of the mountain cave!

    After some research, it was found out that the dungeon portal released altered mana fluctuations through which dungeons that were close to oversaturation of beasts broke out earlier than they should have under normal circumstances!"

    Nial was quite astonished about what he heard. He could tell that Be was not yet done speaking, but his mind had already started to theorize why it must have happened.

    Based on the memories he had received from the Fragment of the Darkness God, no other God had ever used such dungeon portals to attack the race that inhabited the they wanted to conquer and im for themselves.

    The tactics of most Gods were quite simple when it came to the conquest of an unawakened. They would open weak dungeon portals to nes where the weakest type of monsters inhabited.<sub> </sub>

    It was necessary to slowly nurture an unawakened, otherwise, it would end in a rather disastrous situation.

    Using a dungeon that forced other dungeon portals to break out all of a sudden was simply too weird because it could lead to a high release of mana.

    And this, in turn, could lead to an unstable state of mana in the surrounding area of the unique type of dungeon portal.

    "Did they already find out what kind of unique dungeon this is? It shouldn''t be an ordinary one, that is for sure. Is it an intermediate or Advanced one, like thest hideout of a fallen colonization, ancient ruins, both, or something like that?"

    The news about a newly manifested dungeon portal was not really something to be afraid of.

    However, the fact that the government didn''t move away with the entire military base after what had happened meant that the unique dungeon was a bit special.

    Nial understood this due to the knowledge he had procured from the memories of the deceased Darkness God.

    "Oh? How did you know that they found an Ancient ruin?!" Be thought, slightly surprised.

    But when she gave it some more thought, she understood Nial''s way of inference.

    As such, she nodded her head as if she answered her own question before Be resumed the exnation of the events Nial had missed out on.

    "The dungeon portal is truly connected to a ne that looks like the ancient ruins we found in the past.

    In fact, the government believes that the Goblins we fought earlier got their hands on the runic armaments and the blueprints for the beast controlling ne from there!

    They should have found the cave from one of the other entrances!"

    After she said this, Be stopped to allow Nial some time to digest the information.

    But seeing that he was not even frowning, let alone that his facial expression changed only a tiny bit, Be blinked a few times before she continued,

    "The dungeon portal in the depth of the cave is presumed to belong to a highly technologically advanced race that was able to inscribe all kinds ofplex runes.

    Their way of creating the runic armaments we own is exceptional, and several centuries more advanced inparison to what we are capable of.

    As such, the government wants to send a few scouts to inspect the dungeon¡­

    The only issue is that there is a restriction on the dungeon, namely that no one with an Origin ring is able to enter it.

    I believe that the Lesser Goblin Shaman was able to procure some runic armaments due to this specific restriction.

    Without the restriction on one''s rank, it wouldn''t have been able to get its hideous hands on anything.

    That is something the government understands as well, which is why I believe they will send us inside the ancient ruins-type dungeon for the next mission!"

    Nial just nodded his head at that. Her words made sense, and her thoughts were quite easy to understand as well.

    If mankind was able to improve its knowledge about runic armaments which equaled several hundred years'' worth of knowledge, it would certainly be helpful.

    This was only obvious, which was why it was also obvious to send the most prodigious Originals inside the dungeon to procure more information.

    But there was one point about Nial having a different opinion.

    "I guess we will be trained for a month or two before we''ll be ordered to enter the ancient ruins. The government will probably send reinforcement to prevent other beasts from entering the dungeon.

    Of course, they will also kill every beast that would emerge from the ancient ruin''s dungeon portal.

    Additionally, they will also make preparations to send more talented members of the military academies to join us as well."

    It would be stupid to send the participants of the Teradan military camp into the ancient ruins dungeon right at this instant.

    Some participants were not exactly professionally trained. Though most of them were, even they wouldn''t be able to handle an ancient ruin-type of dungeon.

    Not only strength, but also intelligence, and specific knowledge were required to enter such a dungeon.

    It was a fact that Goblins were able to get their hands on specific runic armaments, but that simply meant that they were not that hard to procure.

    Thus, the elemental rings and the other armaments Nial and his friends wore were, at most, scrap that one could find in the not so dangerous areas.

    The government couldn''t gamble on the survival of the Teradan military camp''s participants as well.

    After all, most of them had only been trained professionally but had little to zero real-life experience in the fight against dungeon beasts.

    That was, of course, not something involving everyone, but from what Nial sensed the participants of the camp had chosen this camp in order to gain what they werecking the most; an enormous amount of experience in every single aspect, and to train in the best, and in the worst kind of a somewhat safe environment.

    Nial''s case was simr. He understood that his dream to be as strong as possible in the quickest time was only possible in the Teradan military camp, simply because the investments of the government were the highest for that particr camp!

    And this had its reason; the strongest new prodigies emerged from the Teradan military camp in 9 out of 10 cases!

    **

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 Chapter 140 Three Weirdos

    Nial was highly interested in knowing more about the ancient ruins-type of dungeon.

    He had gained quite a few pieces of information from the memories of the Darkness God.

    Through them, Nial would be able to tell a lot about runic armaments, the different types of dungeons, and the dangers that are connected to them.

    The memories even allowed him to gain a higherbat prowess and a better understanding of the dark energy.

    While circting through his body, the dark energy''s influence upon him was minuscule and barely noticeable.

    In the end, it was not even noteworthy, which was why Nial didn''t bother about it for now.

    Instead, he listened to Be and Mathias, who shared with him what exactly had happened in thest five days.

    Nial did the same and shared the details of the crucial point about his trial, once his two friends were done.

    It could be helpful for them if he told them what exactly he had to do.

    Both Be and Mathias had an Innate ability as well. As such, it was not unlikely for them to undergo simr trials in order to enhance their Innate ability''s strength!

    Thinking about their Innate abilities, Nial couldn''t help but be reminded about the warning the Darkness God had given him.

    While Mathias might even be able to gain the interest of some Gods with his Innate ability in the future far ahead, Be''s Innate ability seemed to have some sort of memories sealed as well.

    And from the looks of it, the memories of her Innate ability would lead her to be Nial''s enemy or something like that.

    He didn''t really believe that this would happen. In the end, the memories of other existences fighting against each other wouldn''t lead to her hating him.

    Maybe the Darkness God had not just killed numerous Gods, but possibly even entire civilizations had been annihted by him.

    But all of that was not important anymore because Nial was not the Darkness God. That was a fact, and once Be would unlock the memories of her Innate ability, she would understand this as well.

    Nial was sure of this, which was why he didn''t even think of keeping a distance from Be, let alone Mathias.

    While sharing details of his fight against the Darkness Doppelganger, Nial didn''t hold back on a lot of information.

    It was not really something that had to be kept a secret, to begin with.

    Both his friends heard him patiently and when Nial was done roughly exining what had happened, he sensed the gazes of the two Originals on him.

    "What is wrong?" He asked, not sure what was going on.

    "You do know, that you didn''t have to tell us what you faced in your trials to enhance your Origin ability? After all, we might be able to figure out a few things about your Origin ability now that you told us what happened."

    Be was the first one to start speaking. She was quite calm while telling Nial why he shouldn''t have divulged every little detail about his trial.

    There were still a few more reasons for him to not tell them anything, but the most important was that they could roughly gauge what kind of Innate ability had.

    However, Nial didn''t really seem bothered about that. He knew that his Innate ability waspletely different than what his friends could guess.

    "Doesn''t your first trial mean that you gained control over the dark energy of yours? Defeating someone with the exact same traits, and just a higher control over mana and this dark energy, or whatever you call it, means that you were forced to exceed your limits, right?

    It should have been quite useful, considering that your body releases the dark energy faintly!"

    Because Mathias never really had friends before, he didn''t know how to present his thoughts in the right words.

    He spoke without a filter, and revealed everything that was on his mind.

    But that was something Nial liked. Even Be felt that it was a wee change to have someone around them, who would speak his mind.

    Mathias was a rather silent young man, but there was nothing wrong in being reserved either.

    That was why Be decided to be friends with Mathias as well, despite her first impression of him being not so good.

    Mathias'' opinion was simr to that of Be. At first, he had not been sure what to think about her. But right now it felt quite nice to have her around.

    "Does it really matter if I told you guys or not? I just felt like it, and it is a thing of the past either way. Traveling back in time to change it is not something I''m capable of. I don''t really worry about it, either way."

    Shrugging his shoulder, Nial wanted to change the topic.

    He was more interested in finding and trying out the most efficient ways how to use the merit points, which he had yet to make use of.

    Be and Mathias didn''t use too many merit points for now. Instead, they focused on improving theirbat strength as well.

    After the dungeon breakouts, they noticed that there were too many things for them to fix, and improve themselves in.

    Mathias'' fighting style was rather crude and one-sided. He was simply not able to fight in a versatile manner, while Be was too focused on herself.

    She was not exactly a great strategist, who focused on teamwork.

    Rather, honing her skills was a lot more important to her.

    This had its reasons but nheless, it was not very great for the given circumstances.

    Be understood this as well, which was why she and Mathias had gone to conquer the permanent Rookie dungeons.

    After the first dungeon breakout that had been artificially caused, there were no problems with the dungeon portals anymore.

    They were as calm as never before.

    That was also one of the reasons for the government to abandon considering retreating.

    With the biggest issues having been solved, the Teradan military camp was the safest location they could be in right now.

    The sole exception was the possibility of the ancient ruins-type of dungeon being exceptionally dangerous.

    However, the restrictions on the dungeon portal were a clear sign that the current higher authorities of the military werepetent enough to take care of everything.

    Nial was also quite content with staying in the Teradan military base.<sub> </sub>

    The number of dungeons in the lower cave was extremely high, which was something Nial liked a lot.

    He didn''t want to waste his precious merit points to purchase Origin crystals.

    Nial''s n was to conquer the Peak Rookie dungeons to procure everything necessary to erge his mana core as quickly as possible.

    It would take a while, but there was no need for him to pressure himself.

    Right now, time was on his side, and the calmer and meticulous he was, the faster he would be.

    Making use of the information he received from the Darkness God, Nial was sure that everything would be fine.

    Somehow, he was quite eager to undergo the secondary Trial of the Gods!

    The improvement he underwent in a short period was simply too great.

    With that in mind, Nial and his friends began to discuss their future ns in ordance with the possible decisions the military and government could take with regard to the Ancient ruins-type of dungeon in the depths of the cave.

    In the end, there were only three logical choices.

    First, the participants of the Teradan military camp would be ordered to enter the ancient ruins dungeon right away.

    Second, the participants would be trained properly for a specific period before they would be ordered to enter the ancient ruins dungeon.

    Or third, that they would leave the choice to the participants on what they wanted to do. This meant that one was free to choose whether to enter the ancient ruins dungeon right now or to train properly for a specific time before entering the dungeon.

    They began toe up with ns on how to act if either of the three choices were to turn into reality.

    However, the most likely decision of the government and military would be the third one.

    It allowed everyone to decide for themselves what the best course of action would be.

    At the same time, the government and military could figure out what exactly each Original, who participated in the Teradan military camp was thinking.

    Would they rush and enter the dungeon with the thought of procuring runic armaments that were currently invaluable, or would they gather information, fix their ws, and then enter the dungeon with a calm mind?

    In the end, the three believed that entering the dungeon directly might not be a mistake.

    After all, there were more than enough Originals without actual weaknesses.

    They had been sent to the Teradan military camp with the sole purpose of attracting the government''s interest, socializing with other geniuses, and maybe to even using their new connections to build their very own organization of promising prodigies!

    The rest of the day passed as the trio continued toe up with crazy ideas.

    Only when they got tired did their small group of three go to bed.

    After they reunited, there was no need for them to be worried about anything.

    With that in mind, everyone was able to sleep soundly.

    The next day would be the deciding factor on which n they would put into action.

    Only a few hours had passed before Nial woke up.

    A thunderous growl escaped his stomach, which led him to jump up from the bed.

    After a quick shower, he changed into a new set of clothes to set out to eat something.

    As such, while being outside alone it would be possible for him to adjust to the [Mana sense] Innate ability, and the dark energy.

    He wanted to test quite a bit now that he was finally freed from the trials.

    However, even before he could leave the room, Be woke up.

    Her hair was sticking out as if someone had ruffled through it the entire night.

    That was at least what Nial perceived thanks to his mana perception that visualized even the smallest detail of the people around him.

    His perception had received a tremendous enhancement, which meant that he could perceive every single detail of nearly everything and everyone in the entire huge dorm they were in.

    This was quite interesting, even more so because most Originals did not seem to sense the fluctuations of his Innate ability''s passive effect.

    Only the Originals with high sensitivity and innate affinity to mana were able to perceive his range of perception.

    Nial didn''t know that this was a thing until recently. Mathias had asked him whether the extremely faint, and almost untraceable mana fluctuations he released were his way to sense his surroundings.

    After all, it shouldn''t be possible for a blind person such as Nial to move in a terrifying manner that even people, who could see, would have a hard time getting adapted to.

    Fighting while being restricted was certainly difficult, but Nial seemed to have an innately highbat talent since day one!

    Maybe some would say that he was simply a fighter, but that was not actually what Nial thought about himself.

    If one had to describe him in a way, Nial would most likely say that he wasparable to a cockroach in terms of their tenacity, and the fact that they were hard to kill.

    "Wait for us!" Be quickly said the moment she saw Nial, who nodded his head.

    Thus, she threw a pillow towards the other side of the room in order to wake up Mathias before hurriedly getting ready.

    Coated with mana and her [Outburst] ability, the pillow bashed straight into Mathias'' face, ending his sweet dreams at once.

    "Who attacked us?!!? I''m ready!!" Mathias eximed, his fists punching the empty air before drowsiness overcame him once again.

    Seeing this, Nial smiled faintly, just to shake his head.

    ''I wonder what made me be friends with them? It''s not bad though¡­and it''s not like I''m less of a weirdo than them, to begin with!''

 Chapter 141 Ambition

    After having breakfast with everyone in the dorm''s canteen, the group of three walked through the military camp.

    Be and Mathias told him about many things Nial had missed out on when he was gone for almost five days. His earlier calction had been a little bit off because he had missed out on considering that all Originals were supposed to gather up on the evening of the 6th day.

    As he had missed out on taking this into consideration, Nial didn''t have an entire day left to explore the camp, but only half a day to do so.

    But that was more than fine because it wouldn''t make much of a difference to him.

    Thus, the three friends spent their time in a rather rxed manner, and hours flew by in the blink of an eye.

    In these few hours, Nial found out many things that were bound to be useful to him in the long run. This included information about ces that possessed specific rooms with runic arrays.

    These specific arrays ought to allow everyone inside to improve their control with mana and to make it feasible to absorb more mana in a short period of time.

    It was quite useful for people to make use of such rooms, even more so if one was slower in terms of absorbing mana.

    Nial was, by no means, slow in absorbing mana. If one had topare him to the other participants of the Teradan military camp, he was in the Top 5, at the very least!

    The only downside was that Nial''s mana core had undergone only two ergings, while the required mana for a third erging wasparable to the amount of mana other Originals required for their sixth erging!

    This was due to the fact that his mana core had increased in size after being nurtured by the Lesser Titan youngling''s heart!

    Nial required more mana than anyone else in the Teradan military camp to erge his mana core.

    As such, he considered using the Master Mana proficiency room to test out its efficiency.

    But before doing so Be and Mathias led Nial to a dojo that felt eerily simr to Master Junades'' home.

    Numerous shelves with all kinds of martial art manuals were lined across the walls of the entire dojo, and the grade of the avable manuals increased the higher one went.

    The best techniques were on the highest floor, but Nial could sense that he wouldn''t be able to reach this ce because the security measurements were way too high.

    In order to reach the higher floors, one required special permission, while entry to the highest floor was restricted only to the camp leader and a few more unique authorities.

    When they kept looking for other ces, Nial realized that there was not only one Dojo that belonged to the military, but that there were many ces that belonged to specific organizations.

    In exchange for signing a part-time contract, or even a permanent contract with one of the said organizations it would be possible to learn certain techniques.

    However, the contracts bound the Original to the said organization in most cases, and only some techniques were allowed to be made use of by the different types of Originals that were ranked ording to their future growth potential.

    Nial didn''t like being bound to an organization for an indefinite period, which was why he didn''t even think of signing a contract.

    He wasn''t one to be easily fooled which was why Nial didn''t think of entering the buildingplexes that belonged to any organization.

    Be and Mathias thought that Nial was being unnecessarily cautious but it was not as if they really cared.

    After all, they didn''t want to sign binding contracts as well!

    While Be could already be said to belong to a certain ce, Mathias was not sure what exactly he wanted to do in the future.

    After reincarnating he felt as if there was a need for him to do something big, something with a certain purpose.

    There had to be a reason for him to have been reincarnated on Jundra, after all.

    Even if he was timid and shy as a result of his past life''s events, he still had a certain pride within himself.

    He had reincarnated and received a second chance, which meant that the Universe had big ns for him!

    That was at least what Mathias told himself from a young age, only to start gaining confidence muchter.

    Mathias was pretty sure that his bad mental condition had begun to improve from the fateful day when he encountered Nial for the first time in the basement of the pub.

    Since that day he felt as if he was gaining more confidence in his power, and that it was not necessary to change himself as long as he was around the right people!

    With that in mind, gaining the strength to ovee the hurdles, that living on Jundra posed could be said to have be the most important for Mathias.

    And these hurdles were certainly not something one could ovee by beingzy, or overly timid.

    This was even more apparent in Mathias'' case after everything he had witnessed on the nameless ind.

    The first five days after leaving the basement and trying to find a way to the ind had been the most fearsome days in his entire life, and this even included his past life!

    As such, it was great to have powerful friends by his side.

    Mathias wanted to know their secrets, but in order to achieve this, he would have to be ready to reveal his own secret!

    But that was not something he was ready to do yet.

    After they passed by the shopping district, they came across the district for the three basic auxiliary upations as well as out of the box upations.

    Most Originals simply called this district ''the business and craftsmen'' district, while others called it the ''Lair of ferocious Beasts.''

    The second name was something that originated from the fact that Miranda''s abode was situated within this district!

    However, the Old and slightly crazy woman was not the only reason for the Liar of ferocious Beasts to be called such.<sub> </sub>

    There were only a handful of people that were like Miranda, with the sole difference that they were not as strong as her.

    But even then their strength and ingenuity had caused way too many issues, even more so after the information about the existence of unique runic armaments surfaced.

    Too many cksmiths, runic inscribers, and even alchemists were trying to find out the synergy of the runic armaments, how they were created and how they actually worked, allowing the use of elemental affinities without the need to actually possess the said affinity!

    This was something that was not ought to be possible. In fact, even after researching the runic armaments for several days, the information they had been able to procure was far less than they could hope for.

    As such, everyone in the business and craftsmen district was eager to send out Originals, who would enter the ancient ruins dungeon in exchange for receiving special resources.

    Be and Mathias had been approached by many craftsmen to purchase their runic armaments, but they didn''t do so.

    After all, their runic armaments were enough to possibly allow them to survive a dangerous fight.

    The runic armaments might not look like much in the first ce, but they were actually quite powerful, and good to use in a versatile fighting style.

    When Be and Mathias told him about the business and craftsmen district, Nial got an idea which was why he was quite eager to reach it.

    Thus, without any hesitation, he went into the abode of the Old Healer, whom he had been nning on visiting either way.

    Nial had now gained control over his dark energy, which was why he felt as if it would be for the best to gain another mentor!

    The teaching and memories of the Darkness God were helpful, but it was not as if the Darkness God was actually trying to hone his skills and polish him to be a wless diamond.

    That was mostly owed to the fact that the Darkness Domain was one of the only ces where thete God of Darkness was able to speak to him.

    He had been astonished that Nial received some of his memories so early as well!

    This only indicated that the Darkness God was unable to see everything Nial was doing. Merely a few pieces of information seemed to seep through and reach his mind.

    However, that was not an issue because the little help of the Darkness God was more than enough for Nial.

    It made him feel more reassured as well, which was also great.

    With that in mind, Nial wanted to discuss the Old Medic''s offer again, and request her to ept him as her disciple or something like that.

    If Nial were to be honest, he had already forgotten the details of Miranda''s offer.

    The entire day after he defeated the Lesser Titan youngling was riddled with blurred memories and times he didn''t remember anything that had happened.

    Nial understood that this was because he was simply too distracted by the fright he had about the intentions of the Odyssey seed, and the dark energy''s influence.

    Now Nial was not afraid anymore, and it was as if he had received a major boost in his confidence. One could actually say that he became an entirely new human.

    His strength was also much higher than before, while his motivation to be stronger had increased even more!

    Earlier, Nial was not even sure if his ambition could grow further.

    However, after he obtained some of the Darkness God''s memories, everything changed.

    The dangers Jundra faced were far more threatening than he had initially expected.

    Mankind would have to encounter situations that were beyond any kind of mortal reasoning.

    After all, Gods were on their way toward Jundra because of whatever reason they had.

    And the worst was that Nial was not even able to tell others about his secrets because he believed that there were spies hidden in mankind''s rows.

    If anyone were to get wind of the powers he was inheriting, the threats he and everyone around him would have to face were bound to increase manifold.

    As such, he should be careful about who he would trust to divulge the secret of his dark energy as well because if an incarnation of a God would descend on Jundra to conquer the at a much faster pace, his identity would be exposed as well!

    This was not something Nial could ept, which was why he entered the Old Medic''s abode with a determined expression.

    The moment he encountered the Old Medic, whom he had sensed from far away, the corners of his lips curled upwards while Miranda could only say,

    "So¡­you are finally here?"

    **

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 Chapter 142 Why Should I?

    Miranda had already been waiting for Nial to return to her to discuss the offer.

    Since the day after the dungeon breakout, he seemed to have disappeared, only to reappear all of a sudden.

    Not even his mana traces could be sensed for the period in between.

    Because of that, Miranda hoped that Nial had learned to control this weird type of energy he released by now.

    When she sensed his presence from further away she realized that her assumptions were proven to be correct. Nial was actively releasing dark energy, even if it was not much.

    And the moment she was able to see him, Miranda could tell that the young man had changed quite a bit.

    His demeanor had changed radically and he seemed to be much more confident than before, and it looked like he had grown more ambitious.

    Of course, there were things the Old Medic didn''t know, but she was oddly confident in the young man.

    He would make the right choice; the choice that would allow him to be stronger as quickly as possible.

    Miranda knew that she was the key for him to be the strongest in the shortest period which was why it was not surprising for her to see him walking into her small abode!

    "Hello Miss Miranda, I hope we''re not disturbing you right now!"

    Nial''s voice was quite gentle and he greeted her politely.

    Right behind Nial were his two friends, Be and Mathias, who were quite confused about what they wanted to do.

    Mathias clearly remembered Miranda because she was the one to be able to tend to Nial''s wounds and the dark energy that had infiltrated his body.

    He also remembered that the Old Medic had expressed her interest in taking Nial as her assistant or something of that sort. In fact, Mathias had been way too distracted to focus on their discussion that day.

    As such, he only knew that the Old Medic had presented a weird offer to his friend.

    But considering that Miranda was everything but ordinary, Mathias began to wonder what Nial was nning.

    His blind friend had changed quite a bit, and the ratherx attitude that he would sometimes exhibit had disappearedpletely.

    It was almost as if Nial was ready to work without break as long as he would be able to achieve his goals!

    This was only normal for some, but there was a trace of overzealousness and desperation that radiated from Nial, which could harm him in the long run.

    "Of course, you are not disturbing me. Are you here for what I think you''re, or am I getting excited for no reason?"

    Miranda didn''t like to beat around the bush. As such, she acted rather straightforwardly.

    Nial liked this kind of behavior because it made things much easier for him.

    "How about you get your hands on three assistants, or rather disciples instead of one? We are a great package, and have the necessary potential!" Smiling brightly, Nial gave her a tempting counter offer.

    Of course, his question coulde across as a rather rude one, but after sensing the Old Medic''s mana fluctuations, Nial knew that there was nothing to fear.

    "You mean, I should let all three of you work for me? Earlier, I just said that I didn''t want Captain ra to work for me, but wanted you instead. And you outright denied my offer to work for me, didn''t you? That doesn''t exactly mean you cane forward and make demands like this, to begin with, you know?"

    Miranda looked at Nial with a trace of interest. Her mind was rather calm, even though she had not expected this change of events.

    Averting her gaze from Nial, Miranda quickly noticed that Nial didn''t even discuss it with his two friends before blurting out his offer to her.

    Both Be and Mathias were staring at him in utter confusion. While it was easy to sense that Miranda was stronger than them, they were not exactly sure how an Old Medic should help them to be the strongest.

    As Originals, it was easy to determine the rank of weaker Originals, while more powerful Originals were able to conceal their rank from the sight of others.

    That simply meant every single Original with a single Origin ring was able to hide his or her rank from Originals at the Origin rank.

    Because that was the case, Be and Mathias couldn''t know that Miranda was the strongest Original within the Teradan military camp, and one of the strongest Originals in the entire human race.

    If they were to know this, Nial''s friends wouldn''t even hesitate to ask the Old Medic for help.

    There were not many Originals that had reached Miranda''s prowess, be it her healing capacities, brute force, or knowledge in various subjects.

    In fact, Nial didn''t know everything about Miranda either.

    However, he could tell that she was far stronger than one would think. After all, he was pretty sure that she had defeated the Giganodes after solving the issues outside the Teradan military camp.

    The longer Be looked at Miranda, the stranger she felt.

    ''Haven''t I seen her before?'' She wondered, only for several seconds to pass before realization struck her.

    ''Isn''t she the one who brought me the runic armaments that belonged to Nial?! Even the camp leader was being so polite and respectful toward her!!''

    It was as if Be''s mind was bombarded with resurfacing memories as she recalled the day of the dungeon breakout.

    She clearly recalled that an old woman, Miranda, was treated with the utmost respect.

    And that even included the Originals with five advanced Origin rings!

    Slowly understanding what Nial was trying to do, Be''s eyes widened a little bit as she stared at her weird friend.

    ''Why the hell did you reject her offer before?!''

    Unable to grasp Nial''s reason for doing so, Be could only stare at Nial, who smiled lightly at the Old Medic''s words.<sub> </sub>

    "Back then, I rejected your offer because I had to fix my condition first. I will spare you the details but can only tell you that I''m fine now.

    If the offer is still valid, I would like to work for you! I hope that you can consider my two friends as well, they''re even more interesting than I am!"

    Nial was eager to get both his friends in as well which was why he kept mentioning them again and again.

    However, Miranda had already lifted her hand indicating Nial to stop speaking.

    ''More interesting than you? I really doubt it! After all, that would mean I would be able to have my fair share of fun with three young students!''

    Smiling lightly, Miranda couldn''t help but like Nial''s attitude. It was not as if he had transformed into an entirely new person in just a week.

    But there were slight changes in his demeanor, meaning that he became more confident in himself, less worried about his issues, and so on.

    This was more than enough for Miranda to be inclined to ept Nial''s offer. She sensed something unique about Be; something divine which intrigued her quite a bit, while she had already perceived that Mathias was not an ordinary Original as well.

    That was something Miranda had already realizedst week.

    However, even if Miranda was a little bit intrigued, it was not as if she was willing to teach three students at the same time.

    This would deprive her of way too many resources, and time! It would be impossible for her to properly focus on their growth!

    "In that case, what would you do if I were to say that my offer is not valid anymore, and that I don''t need any of you?"

    Nial was aware that he was risking quite a bit with every single word he uttered.

    But even then he had not really expected to hear this kind of question. Thus, he was stunned for a moment and was unable to say anything.

    "Would you change your mind if we were to reveal the details of our Innate abilities?" Be suddenly asked, before Nial could speak because she had sensed that Nial was struggling to find a proper answer.

    Thus, Be did her best to help, and to prevent the Old medic from rejecting them.

    However, even Nial shook his head at Be''s question as he mumbled,

    "It''s not like we can keep our abilities a secret if we want to be taught properly, to begin with¡­"

    Nial''s mind was rattling as he was trying to find an answer that was convincing enough to make Miranda reconsider his offer.

    At the same time, Miranda was already smiling faintly because Nial''s reply to Be''s question was correct.

    Telling her about their innate ability right now wouldn''t make much of a difference because she would get to know it either way.

    As such, Nial thought that he would have toe up with something else that might be more important. While the two friends were now lost in thought, Mathias decided to intervene as well by stating his opinion.

    "In that case, how about we procure more runic armaments within the ancient ruins dungeon?"

    He was still not sure why even Be had decided to jump in and help him gain the Old Medic''s favor.

    Miranda''s appearance was quite ordinary for an old woman and she did not exude the aura of a mighty original.

    Nial''s behavior had confused him already, but the fact that Be joined him was even weirder.

    ''Is she really that important for our growth?'' Mathias wondered, tilting his head in the attempt to figure out more.

    Yet again, Nial shook his head upon hearing Mathias'' proposal. The Old medic didn''t really need more runic armaments from them because she was bound to receive more than enough research material in the form of the runic armaments which the military would procure and hand over to her.

    That was something he was quite sure about.

    In the end, luring her with materialistic treasures was not exactly helpful, and Nial couldn''t help but believe that it would mean much more if they were to provide her with information she would never be able to find out without any help.

    However, this would mean that the others would have to tell her something Miranda didn''t know, or he would have to make use of the memories that belonged to thete God of Darkness!

    Nial knew what was going to happen, but considering that Miranda had already sensed his dark energy, it was not like she should be an incarnation of the Old Gods. He wouldn''t be alive anymore, otherwise.

    With that in mind, Nial chose to pick out one particr fact that wouldn''t exactly reveal his secrets, but at the same time was something the Old Medic didn''t know.

    "How about I tell you about the origin of the dungeon portals?"

    Nial''s voice was low and cautious, but everyone in the room heard him.

    While Mathias and Be had thought about more things to provide the Old Medic with, Nial chose the easiest way to get what he wanted.

    His lifeless eyes stared at the Old Med, as he fell silent after the small bomb he had just dropped upon the old Medic.

    "You¡­know the origin of the dungeon portals?" Miranda asked, bbergasted to think how a blind youth would know the details about this.

    Even if her earlier question had just been a small attempt to exert her superiority and make the three Originals realize that they didn''t have anything she needed, Nial''s words had caught her interest.

    "Rather than knowing the origin of the dungeon portals, I think telling you what kind of existences create the dungeon portals would be more interesting, am I right?"

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel, leave your golden tickets and powerstones with me. If you like my writing style, test out my other novels. All of them belong to one big Multiverse. You might find the characters and hints about certain events in other novels :P.

    Link to my Discord is in my profile]

 Chapter 143 Revelation?

    "What kind of existences create the dungeon portals? Are they not naturally manifested?"

    Despite the fact that Nial''s question had been directed at the Old Medic, it was Be who asked this question in utter confusion.

    It had always been mankind''s assumption that the dungeon portals were naturally created. The process and reason for their manifestation were unknown, but it was thought to be the result of Jundra''s evolution.

    Some even presumed that Jundra itself caused all of this in order to awaken its own mana.

    However, in the end, nobody knew the truth, which was a bitter fact.

    That was why Nial''sment was weird. After all, it meant that he knew about ''existences'' that created the dungeon portals.

    This also included that he was likely to know their reasons to create the dungeon portals.

    ''Did his Innate ability reveal some memories to him after hepleted the first enhancement?'' Be wondered, recalling that some Innate abilities were known for providing memories after they had been enhanced.

    This was rare but certainly not something that had never happened. With that in mind, Be stared at Nial, hoping that he would reveal more about the things he got to know.

    But Nial didn''t even notice Be''s gaze that was fixated on him because his entire attention was on Miranda.

    "Existences that create the dungeon portals¡­?"

    By looking at Nial''s expressions, Miranda could clearly tell that he was serious with every word he spoke.

    Intrigued by this, she couldn''t hold herself back anymore.

    "Okay, then tell me. If I''m satisfied, I''ll ept the three of you!"

    She knew that information as important as this had its price, and if the price for something as invaluable as knowing more about the reason behind the dungeon portal''s appearance and existence, it was worth training three Originals that were quite talented, to begin with!

    However, Nial just shook his head after he heard Miranda''s answer.

    "By telling you that there are existences that create the dungeon portals, I already gave you a firsthand taste of the information I have. I''m not here to negotiate. If you are not interested in the information, we should take your leave.

    It''s not like you are the only Original with seven advanced Origin rings."

    After ward, Nial turned around just to mumble to himself,

    "You are not even at the Prometheus rank, why are you acting all high and mighty?"

    Nial was already on his way to the door when he heard the sound of rushed footsteps behind him.

    "Who allowed you to leave, little brat?" It was obviously Miranda, who appeared behind him, preventing him from leaving as she held his shoulder tightly.

    Nial didn''t even allow her to speak any further and had simply decided to leave. This was something that annoyed Miranda even more than the attitude he showed to her.

    Everyone treated her with the utmost respect because she was one of the strongest humans in existence.

    As such, Nial''s behavior was amongst the worst she had encountered.

    Everyone, who didn''t give her the respect she deserved, was always punished harshly.

    Miranda didn''t n on punishing Nial as she could easily overlook a single act of disobedience.

    After all, Nial was unlikely to know better.

    But the words he had mumbled to himself were something she had clearly heard as well.

    Because Miranda had heard everything, she didn''t feel like allowing Nial to leave before he revealed everything he knew.

    And that seemed to be quite a lot, considering that he had spoken something about a certain ''Prometheus'' rank which she had never heard of before.

    However, the moment Nial''s head turned towards her, Miranda froze in ce.

    "Let go of me!" Nial growled in a barely controlled voice. Every single word was spoken in an eerily cold but fierce tone.

    It was weird and felt like some sort of mind manipting energy was intertwined in his words, which led Miranda to freeze in ce.

    Or at least that was what she presumed while looking at Nial''s lifeless eyes that radiated a faint crimson hue.

    His entire facial expression was filled with anger, while his Odyssey seed pulsated three times at once.

    Due to this, he was able to control the entire mana in his surroundings.

    However, that was not something Nial was bothered about as he snapped his fingers.

    Just a momentter every single trace of mana under his control was altered by his dark energy.

    Thus, the entire abode of the Old Medic turned pitch-ck.

    Mere momentster brightly glowing crimson eyes pierced through the darkness and stared straight into Miranda''s soul.

    It was as if she was unable to keep anything about her body a secret from the crimson-glowing eyes that bore into her.

    A trace of fear manifested in the depth of her heart and as if a bolt of electricity zapped her, Miranda let go of Nial''s shoulder.

    Letting go was something she instinctively did without realizing as Miranda felt how her hand was slowly going numb.

    The mana that coursed through her hand and entire arm slowly decayed as Nial released the purest form of his dark energy into the outside world.

    Only when Miranda let go of him did everything return to normal.

    The darkness disappeared, while Nial''s eyes turned the same as before, pale white and lifeless.

    Even then, the dark energy he had released was retracted.

    Only remnants were left behind in addition to Nial''s ice-cold expressions.

    He knew that the Old Medic was the best to exploit. She had numerous connections, resources and even specific knowledge Nial might require.<sub> </sub>

    Though it was not as if he would face much more problems even without her.

    Conquering dungeons to gain the resources he needed was more than enough.

    It would provide him withbat experience, to begin with.

    And experience was something he would always require because Nial was fully aware that he would have to experiment a lot with the dark energy to fully grasp it.

    With the Odyssey seed''s support, it was possible for him to do whatever he imagined, but without the Odyssey seed''s pulsing, it was quite difficult for him to do whatever he wanted to.

    This would require practice; lots of practice which was something Nial could do as long as he had enough time.

    While staring at the Old Medic with his lifeless eyes, Nial couldn''t help but be quite disappointed.

    He had approached her on a whim because he thought that bing her disciple would be the best for their small team of three.

    However, it looked like he had been wrong.

    Thus, his angered expression softened, only to be reced by disappointment before he turned his head once again.

    "Wait, a moment!" Miranda suddenly said, only to add "please¡­" in a low voice, even without meaning to.

    "I will ept all three of you if you tell me about it. In fact, even if you don''t tell me about the existences that create the dungeon portals, I can ept you and your team!"

    Even if it felt to Miranda as if she had thrown away her pride just to know the truth behind the existence of dungeon portals, it was quite obvious to her that it would be worth everything.

    The fact that she felt fear the moment Nial''s lifeless eyes stared at her was enough of an indicator that Nial was bound to be stronger than her.

    Miranda could clearly sense that Nial was not an ordinary Original.

    This was something she was already able to tell a week ago, but it was even more apparent right now.

    Nial had changed a lot during thest week, and Miranda could tell that if she didn''t rope him in now, she would never get her hands on him.

    From the looks of it, she might already be toote!

    The way the situation had turned was entirely unexpected for her, which was why Miranda felt the need to rush things.

    Meanwhile, Be and Mathias could only look dumbfoundedly at the unfolding situation.

    They had never seen Nial that angry. As such, their gazes were fixated on his back.

    Neither of them dared move an inch because they could decipher that Miranda was their ticket to be extremely powerful in a short amount of time.

    The fact that the old Medic was an Original with seven advanced Origin rings contributed to their reason quite a lot.

    After all, mankind was said to have only one being with eight advanced Origin rings, while only a handful of Originals possessed seven advanced Origin rings!

    And the most ridiculous thing was that Nial seemed to have one of these Originals in his grasp.

    This was beyond the understanding of Mathias'' poor mind, while Be could hardly hold herself back from smiling brightly in excitement.

    ''He is even better than I could have dreamed of!!''

    Be thanked her gut feeling for making her approach Nial after she encountered him twice.

    It was the best that could have happened to her.

    As such, she was quite happy to hear Nial''s answer after he considered a few things for a few seconds.

    "I ept your offer, and I''m grateful for epting the three of us! Greetings, new Master!"

    Bowing lightly to Miranda, Nial formally greeted her but the Old Medic couldn''t help but feel that something had gone wrong.

    The attitude of the young blind man had changed at once, which made her feel as if his eptance wasparable to a p in her face.

    But that was not what Nial intended to do, at all!

    Nial thought that he should be respectful to someone with the highest authority because the old Medicmanded it

    In that regard, he had been a bit harsh and blunt to her a while ago.

    However, this was the pride of thete Darkness God that seemed to have begun to merge with him.

    Having seen numerous memories of the God of Darkness, Nial could tell that his mind was adapting itself to the real dangers mankind was bound to face.

    With that in mind, he had mistakenly disregarded mankind''s hierarchy, which was something he realized toote.

    But even then, he wouldn''t allow anyone to disregard him, let alone his decisions in any way.

    Mankind was simply too weak for that to happen, to begin with!

    That was what Nial understood, only to be even more aware of the fact that he was even weaker than them.

    It was just his mind, knowledge, and the power he ought to possess in the future that led Nial to revert to his usual behavior.

    "If we were to speak about the existences that create the dungeon portals, you can give them many different names¡­" Nial started to speak all of a sudden, making everyone look at him, just to continue revealing some of the most important information he had deducted from the distant memories of thete Darkness God.

    "Some call them Saints, some Devils, others Destructors, Immortals¡­but at the end of the day most beings with the power to create dungeon portals are known as Gods!"

    The memories had be clearer in his mind after he passed the primary Trial of the Gods. This made things much easier for Nial as he learned a lot about the life the God of Darkness had lived.

    The moment Nial finished thest word, sharing the shocking information he could hardly believe at first, as well, silence swept through the Old Medic''s abode before Miranda asked,

    "...Gods? Like literal Gods?!?"

 Chapter 144 Teacher?

    Miranda''s mind was rattling when thinking about Nial''s words.

    If his words were anything but false, Gods were the creators of the dungeon portals. This was simply insane and not something Miranda could actually believe if she were to be honest.

    But Nial''s expression made her falter a little bit, and he shrugged his shoulders when he noticed the unstable mana fluctuations of Miranda and his friends.

    "Of course, I could be lying, or making up stuff. So, even if you tell others about this, it''s not like they''ll believe you.

    Furthermore, nobody would believe me because I''m just a blind Original at the 3rd Origin rank. How should I know such things?

    That being said, I don''t really care if any of you choose to believe me or not. I''m not in danger either way as most Orignals won''t trust my words, either way!"

    Nial was pretty sure that he was not risking his life even after divulging the truth about the creators of the dungeon portals to Miranda and his friends.

    While Mathias was quite simple-minded, he did not feel like ruling out the possibility of his friend stating the truth.

    Meanwhile, Be couldn''t help but frown as she kept ncing at Nial and was trying to process the information. Standing beside her, Miranda tilted her head, while her frown deepened even further.

    "If his words are true¡­what would be the reason for Gods toe to Jundra? Gods¡­have probably their own race and a home to live on.

    Maybe they want to expand their territory by nourishing Jundra with mana?¡­Humans are either in their way or the perfect cannon fodder or meat shields to nurture as well¡­Innate abilities provide memories asionally¡­ is that how it is?"

    But even if Gods were the creators of dungeon portals, there was no reason for them to create ancient ruins type dungeons and other types of dungeons.

    This was simply too confusing under the condition that they didn''t want to nurture the human race, and strengthen them.

    If that were to be the case, everything humanity had theorized so far would change radically, which was why Miranda''s mind kept rattling.

    In the end, she believed that Nial''s nonchnt attitude originated from the fact that only a handful of Originals would believe what he said earlier.

    However, even then, it didn''t seem as if Nial noticed the dangers of speaking about Gods so easily.

    The human race was known for following different religions. Even until now, they prayed to all kinds of Gods.

    As such, too many humans would turn the government upside down if they were to know that it was possible for Gods to have created the dungeon portals.

    ''Some would think of the dungeon portals as a connection to heaven, or maybe even doombringer, and that mankind is bound to be annihted owing to the sins wemitted as an entire race.

    It doesn''t matter if his words are true or not, he shouldn''t speak out his mind so easily¡­''

    It was not really difficult to sense that Nial wasn''t weighing his words carefully and had no clue that they might lead to severe problems.

    As such, Miranda could only shake her head in an attempt to clear her mind before she said,

    "Even if what you said is a lie, don''t tell others about it. This will just lead to unnecessary problems, which we can avoid if you would just stay put¡­"

    Nial was not really bothered by the fact that Miranda seemed to think that he was lying.

    It was easily discernible given the fact that he himself couldn''t help but doubt various memories of thete Darkness God.

    Some things were simply tooplex and he was having a hard time figuring out everything.

    As such, it was only obvious for the others not to believe him.

    Miranda, however, was still thinking about his words and came up with an idea to find out whether Nial was lying or not.

    "Either way, just tell nobody and you will be able to avoid lots of trouble. However, what I want to know is whether you underwent a Trial for Innate abilities during thest few days or not!"

    Her question was directed at Nial but her eyes studied all the three young originals.

    After seeing everyone''s reaction when she mentioned the Trials for Innate abilities, Miranda didn''t even feel the need to receive an answer to her question.

    She could tell the answer already, which was reflected in the way Nial''s suddenly stiffened.

    ''His Innate ability must be more powerful than expected if he received memories from it so early!''

    Miranda chose to believe Nial''s words. There was no reason to do so, but if she were to be honest with herself, it was the first time a theory about the dungeon portal''s existence and creation made somewhat sense.

    Earlier, most people tried to make sense of the dungeon portals by using science and some otherworldly phenomenon.

    These exnations were so bizarre that one even included the possibility of a huge being connected to Jundra due to various reasons, just to merge together once certain requirements were met.

    Thus, Miranda chose to give Nial the benefit of the doubt before changing the topic because it was something that made her feel a little bit depressed.

    ''Our chances of survival, let alone freedom, are close to nil if Gods are out for our lives¡­''

    Reality was cruel, but thinking too much about it made things worse, which was why Miranda took a deep breath to disperse her worries.

    "Alright, let us forget about that for the time being¡­ I have already epted the three of you as my employees, disciples or whatever you want to call it. And before we move ahead, it would be best for everyone to tell me about your Innate abilities and bound abilities!"

    Contrary to before, when Miranda had been a bit apprehensive of Nial, she was now able to keep her act together.

    Numerous thoughts shed through her mind, but Miranda felt like clearing her mind by distracting herself.

    Nial could also tell that the Old Medic was slowly regaining herposure, which was quite helpful. Thus he cleared her throat before answering,<sub> </sub>

    "I have bound the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] to my mana core. It increases my senses manifold, curses my eyes, and allows me to create ck miasma with a decay trait and other characteristics.

    My Innate ability has no name. It is a mixture of the dark energy you''ve already sensed before, and a mana sensory ability that allows me to perceive the mana currents in my surroundings, without attracting anyone''s attention.

    Most Originals don''t even notice my Mana sensing ability."

    Even if it looked like Nial was foolishly revealing everything he kept a secret before, he had put considerable thought and carefully weighed the pros and cons before speaking it out loud.

    Be and Mathias were only looking at him dumbfoundedly, not sure what exactly was on Nial''s mind.

    On the other hand, Miranda felt like the young, blind man had grown way too much in thest few days.

    ''I guess it is good that he is on our side.'' She thought before averting her attention to the other two young Originals.

    p They took a while but after some consideration, they followed suit as well.</anda>

    In the next two hours, everyone had revealed what their Innate abilities were about, roughly what their Innate ability and bound ability were capable of, and the extent of their strength.

    Numerous pieces of information were exchanged, and Miranda patiently listened to everything each of them had to share without saying much.

    She was thinking of the best way to teach them while ncing at Nial every now and then.

    Allowing three young Originals to be trained by one of mankind''s five strongest existences in exchange for the tiny pieces of information she had received about the origin of dungeons, might not be worth it for most people.

    Furthermore, the information Nial shared with her might not even be true, if one were to think about it in all honesty.

    But even then, Miranda felt that Nial and the others were worth it!

    This became even more apparent after she got to know theirbat prowess, the extent of their abilities, and Innate abilities.

    Mathias could be said to have the best chances to be something called an ''Elementalist'' in the future; someone who was adept at wielding several elemental affinities at once.

    Meanwhile, Be seemed to be working on building her foundation and creating an overall strong base in order to bind more powerful abilities in the future.

    It could also be said that she wanted to bind supporting abilities, which allowed her Innate ability to shine more brightly.

    There were many ways in which Be could develop, and Miranda was quite interested in teaching the young woman.

    On the other hand, Nial had given up on his eyesight in the entirety.

    Even if he was blind, there might have been ways to tend to his condition. However, with the Curse he bound to himself, this possibility was taken away from him.

    But that didn''t seem to bother Nial much because he reced his eyesight with the radar-like Innate ability which was a multi-purpose, highly functional ability.

    All of his senses were manifold stronger than the norm, while his Mana sense allowed him to perceive every single trace of mana in arge radius.

    ording to his own words, and thements of Be and Mathias, hisbat prowess was far higher than his Origin rank.

    He had merely undergone two ergings, and it would take him some time before he would reach the 4th Origin rank.

    Miranda knew that Nial''s dark energy was extremely strong, but even his physique exceeded the norms.

    This was great, which was why she came up with a great n to determine the intellect and strength of her three new disciples in a rather simple manner.

    "I want the three of you to enter the ancient ruins dungeon this evening! The government will open it for everyone while saying that one can either enter directly or improve one''s strength and make preparations!"

    While Nial and the rest would enter the ancient ruins dungeon, Miranda was ready to make some preparations.

    If she was unwilling to teach the three young Originals before, right now, her mind felt much easier at the prospect of the youngsters training under her.

    They wanted to be stronger and fight with all their might. This was everything that mattered in the end, and given the talent they seemed to have, they ought to be a powerful existence.

    But for that, they first had to grow more and ovee all kinds of life-threatening events.

    After all, mankind had birthed numerous prodigies in the past, but sadly a majority of them died before anyone could get to know about their existence.

    And to prevent this, they required a perfect foundation, whether it was knowledge,bat experience, and other teachings, which was everything the Old Medic had to take care of for now.

    Because¡­it looked like she was going to train the next generation of mankind''s heroes¡­or viins?

    **

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 Chapter 145 Calmth

    Just like Miranda said, the government opened the ancient ruins dungeon for everyone.

    The military didn''t provide many pieces of information. Rather, they wanted the participants of the Teradan military camp to figure out everything by themselves.

    This was what the military decided to do because they wanted to know how efficient everyone was in procuring information.

    Other than that, the task the young Originals received was not further difficult.

    In the following three weeks, they were supposed to be stronger, and to spend, at least, 10 hours within the Ancient ruins dungeons.

    Miranda did not specify what exactly they had to do in those 10 hours that they would spend inside the Ancient ruins dungeon, which meant that they could stay in the portal''s proximity just to return 10 hourster.

    Considering that this was enough toplete the second task, they thought that Miranda had given them too simple a task.

    That was what everyone thought during the meeting which was attended by every young Original and the higher authority of the Teradan military camp.

    Nial knew that there would be many prodigious talents in the Teradan military camp. Despite that it was quite hard to believe that there were thousands of prodigious talents.

    In the end, there were only a total of ten military camps, with the Teradan military camp, and the military camp of Liondra being considered the best.

    Thus, Nial knew that the Teradan military would be flooded with the most number of participants. Though, it was still hard to believe that there were so many prodigious that met all requirements to enter the Teradan military camp.

    But that made things more interesting because Nial believed that most young Originals had great ambition.

    Many left straight to the ancient ruins dungeon the moment the meeting came to an end. This made Nial feel that everybody was rushing unnecessarily.

    After all, they had only received tiny pieces of information about the dungeon, even if it had been less than expected.

    "Just what are they trying to achieve?" Nial wondered. He had no idea what the government nned to achieve with the task they handed out.

    It was way too easy, and certainly not something that would require strength, let alone intellect.

    "I don''t think it is the mission they''re bothered about. They want to figure out how every single participant acts in the face of opportunities!

    The Ancient ruins dungeon can be considered a huge opportunity that may even change the fate of some, after all!"

    Be looked at the bigger picture of the given circumstances. Thus, she could quicklye up with the most likely reason for the government to act in specific ways.

    Meanwhile, Mathias just nodded his head. He thought simr to Be as he had heard quite a few information about the price one could get for procuring Lost techniques, technology and specific devices.

    Mankind could develop tremendously as long as they found even one new technology, a Lost technique or some other devices.

    For example, the runic armaments Nial and the others sold could be researched.

    As long as they could be reproduced, possibly even altered to fit specific fighting styles, thebat prowess of mankind could reach an unimaginable degree.

    After all, it was impossible for Originals to wield affinities that they had not bound to their mana core.

    Usually one could only control handful of abilities, and each bound affinity would use up one of these slots.

    Thus, if one used an affinity, an Original would usually only bind one.

    With the control over multiple affinities thanks to the rings Nial wore, he was in control of his dark energy, along with both fire and ice.

    He could only conjure a single fireball and icicle at a time, but once this restriction was tweaked to suit him, the elemental rings would be invaluable.

    And then, there were still other runic armaments that didn''t even need to be altered.

    One would only figure out the prerequisites to mass-produce them after a fair share of trial and error, and even then there was no certainty that their use would exceed the costs to research everything.

    Because there were simply too few runic armaments the government found in various ancient ruins dungeons, the dungeon in the deeper parts of the cave where the camp was based, could be said to hide extremely valuable treasures that were waiting to be imed.

    That was also why the government announced that they would send over several thousand promising Soldiers from the military academies, to clear the ancient ruins dungeon that was heavily restricted.

    "Right, the Soldiers will need only a week or two before theye over as well¡­so I guess everyone will try to enter the Ancient ruins dungeon as early as possible¡­" Nial just mumbled before shrugging his shoulders.

    He was always overthinking situations, which was why he and the others ended up being amongst one of thest few batches of Originals that left the huge meeting hall.

    However, that was not further problematic because Nial didn''t n on barging in the Ancient ruins dungeon right off the bat.

    "Shall we go shopping then?" Be asked with a knowing smile on her face.

    The corners of Mathias'' lips curled up lightly as well. He nodded his head knowing that the other two had the exact same thoughts as him.

    Even Nial grinned before he said,

    "Alright then, let''s splurge some of our merit points!"

    In order to be fully prepared, they wanted to make use of the little information they had received to make certain purchases.

    Wanting to be prepared for every kind of situation, they considered that the Ancient ruins dungeon was full of all kinds of traps and obstaclesid out at every other step.

    This was something perfectly normal for these kinds of dungeons, which was why they had to purchase various items.

    The rest of the day passed quickly as they spent some time looking at the various items they could purchase which resulted in Nial having used up 2572 Merit points.

    He didn''t expect that everything would be so expensive, but that was perfectly fine.<sub> </sub>

    After all, it was near impossible for him to die even if he were to fall into a trap.

    And even after he left the Ancient ruins dungeon, he could still make use of the items he purchased for a long time.

    ''I can sell them again if I don''t use them as well.'' Shrugging his shoulders, Nial tried to reassure himself that he had done the right thing. He had never exactly been stingy with purchasing things they truly needed.

    The only issue he had in the past was that he almost never had the necessary money to purchase even the most basic things they required.

    That was not the case anymore, and splurging his fortune was now possible.

    With that in mind, their group of three had purchased everything they needed.

    "Shall we go to the dungeon, then?" Matthias asked with a faint smile on his lips. Even though he still had his fair share of problems in learning to express himself properly, Mathias revealed his eagerness to enter the ancient ruins dungeon.

    Venturing into unknown ces was something he had wanted to do for quite a while. However, because mankind was no exactly able to hold their grounds on Jundra, this had never been possible.

    And only conquering ordinary dungeons was not exactly helpful either.

    Thus, the nameless ind already seemed quite interesting, followed by the news about the ancient ruins dungeon.

    Mathias'' excitement could be perceived rather easily, but neither Be nor Nial felt the same as they simultaneously shouted out.

    "Of course not!"

    "No way! Entering it now is not right!"

    Both were against entering the dungeon right away.

    It was alreadyte at night, Nial was still feeling extremely exhausted because of his primary Trial of the Gods, and both Be and Mathias were not exactly in their prime state as well.

    "If we enter the dungeon right now, we won''t be able to reveal our highestbat prowess, let alone use our mind to the fullest!"

    Be added a few more reasons, but that was not exactly necessary because a single nce at Nial was already enough to tell that he was facing burnout.

    Mathias knew what Nial had gone through in thest few days. As such, he suddenly felt bad for having proposed to enter the ancient ruins dungeon.

    However, even before he could say anything, Nial grasped his shoulder before he smiled lightly.

    "Let''s go to bed early today. That way, we''ll wake up early enough to explore and have enough fun in the ancient ruins dungeon, alright?"

    Mathias smiled back at Nial before nodding his head, while Be could only shake her head, thinking how she had found these two weirdos to team up with.

    ''They''re really weird. To imagine that Nial inflicted fear in the minds of one of the strongest Originals in our rows, just to ensure Mathias'' safety. Just what happened to you in thest few days?''

    Be was sure that Nial didn''t tell them everything about the Trial he had undergone.

    That was only obvious because she would do exactly the same. In fact, Be was not even sure if she would say anything about the task she had to fulfill if she were to have to pass an Innate ability trial in the future.

    Nial either trusted them enough to think that they wouldn''t expose his secrets, or he was just naive.

    When they were in the Old Medic''s abode, Nial seemed like both someone, who knew what he was doing, and like a naive young Original who was clueless about everything.

    It was hard to describe Nial''s behavior, which was why Be felt as if he was even more mysterious than she initially thought.

    But Be was not the only one who thought like that. In fact, she was one of the many people who had been observing Nial!

    A security camera had recorded their group''s fight against the Lesser Titan youngling at the back entrance of the Teradan military camp.

    As such, many higher authorities saw the recording of his glorious fight.

    If they presumed that it was a lucky coincidence for Nial and the others to kill the Lesser Titan youngling, an existence that had already manifested one Origin ring, the events during the dungeon breakout made them even more curious about him.

    Despite merely being at the 3rd Origin rank he had killed far more than 100 beasts that had a strengthparable to the 7th and 8th Origin rank!

    Nial hadn''t even been injured, and it had looked like he could keep fighting amidst the flood of monsters for several hours.

    But as if that was not enough yet, Nial and his group had attracted even more interest owing to two particr facts.

    First, they were the first Originals to have found and retrieved runic armaments. They had even sold quite a few of them in exchange for tens of thousand merit points.

    However, the most surprising was the fact that Miranda, the Old Witch of the South had chosen to take in a disciple.

    And it was not only one disciple but three at once!!

    But that was not even the most shocking part. Miranda had not only epted three disciples, but they were the same group that had soon turned into the topic of discussion through the camp, namely Nial Orin, Mathias Cartle, and Be Morningstar!

    This was only something the Government got to know the moment Miranda had barged in the meeting room of the military camp''s higher authorities before demanding all information about the three of them.

    She seemed especially intrigued about Nial Orin, who was alreadybeled as the underdog of the Teradan military camp.

    When the Old Witch of the South received everything she wanted, she simply left while trying to maintain a poker face.

    However, everyone could clearly tell that there was some hidden intent behind her asking for three specific students and personally visiting the camp to know more about them.

    "It looks like this year''s camp will be even more interesting than expected. Maybe the games will be more interesting this year?"

 Chapter 146 Doubt

    The dungeon portal to the ancient ruins was much bigger than any portal they had ever seen.

    With a radius of more than 10 meters, it was not only the biggest portal within the cave but also the only dungeon in the deepest parts of the cave.

    It took Nial and the others almost two hours to reach therge cavern hall in which the ancient ruins dungeon was located.

    And just by looking around, one could quickly tell that there were more than a dozen smaller andrger tunnels that led upward to different cavern halls.

    Some of them connected to the surface after going through several cavern halls and tunnels, allowing beasts from the surface to find a way down into the deeper parts of the cave towards the ancient ruins dungeon.

    That was also the essential factor that led to more than a hundred Elite Soldiers being employed as protectors of the ancient ruins dungeon.

    However, Nial was not actually that interested in the Soldiers, the tunnels that lead to the surface, let alone the beasts that may attempt to enter the ancient ruins dungeon.

    His entire focus was on the dungeon portal, which he approached with confident steps.

    Especially because he was so focused, Nial didn''t even realize that there were more than a hundred dead-tired, and injured young Originals lying on the ground around the portal.

    After Nial, Be, and Mathias had slept for a few hours, they were full of vigor and ready to enter the dungeon.

    By picking up the necessary intel one could procure from the other Originals that had entered the dungeon, Be could tell that the dangers in the ancient ruins were higher than expected.

    ''Did they probably try to enter the inner sanctum directly?'' She wondered, only to notice that her steps had slowed down.

    When she regained her senses, Be noticed that the others were already further ahead.

    With fast strides Be caught up to them just to step through the dungeon portal with her head turned backward.

    ''Something is weird¡­''

    But even if Be believed that something was odd, she was not able to make up her mind because Mathias was too excited, while Nial seemed to be absent-minded.

    However, Nial was actually fully aware of what was going on in his surroundings.

    It was just not necessary for him to react in terms of turning his head in any direction to actually ''see'' something.

    His Mana sense perceived everything he needed to know.

    Thus, it was not even required for him to slow down his steps as he had processed everything moments after he perceived it.

    Content with his analysis, he emerged on the other side of the dungeon portal mere secondster.

    Using some mana to erge the range of his perception, Nial sensed everything in his surrounding area in an instant.

    He absorbed the information his Mana sense and other highly enhanced senses perceived.

    This took a few more seconds because there were too many new noises in the surroundings, smells in the air, and vibrations all around him.

    It took him a moment to adapt to the influx of information but once Nial was done adjusting himself, he smiled faintly. Several hundred tired or injured Originals were in his immediate surroundings, resting or tending to their injuries.

    They made use of the military camp mission''s ''loophole'' as the passing condition was to stay in the ancient ruins dungeon for 10 hours, not to procure anything, or to do something else!

    Due to the non-existent additional requirements, many young Originals chose to focus on simply passing the mission by sitting idle rather than doing anything special.

    However, that was only something they would pay attention to for a short period.

    "Aren''t they a little bit too weak? How can they look exhausted already?" Mathias asked innocently, not hiding his confusion about the seemingly ''weak'' constitution of the Originals who were all resting in the surroundings.

    Nial just smiled at this, while Be merely shrugged her shoulders, not really feeling like answering the question.

    "If you haven''t noticed it yet, the temperature in the dungeon is more than 30 degrees Celsius, and it''s extremely humid.

    Now imagine running around the ancient ruins for hours, fighting against dungeon beasts, or trying to survive ruins'' traps!"

    A a voice answered from behind them, making them turn around, just to note that Yves was standing there. The young Original looked perfectly fine as if he had entered the dungeon just now as well.

    His gaze lingered on their small group of three, and Mathias suddenly recalled who the young Original was.

    "Ahh, I remember¡­the Originals with the nt controlling ability¡­my earth wall was reinforced a lot through the vines and roots he controlled!"

    Even though Mathias didn''t speak in a loud voice, Yves had heard him. He frowned deeply, as he had hoped for a better reaction.

    Unfortunately, none of the three young Originals were overly joyous, let alone excited to see him.

    There was simply no reason for Nial and the others to feel like this.

    Because Yves had not expected such a lukewarm response upon his arrival, he frowned at first, just to take a few deep breaths.

    "How about we team up to explore the ancient ruins? I saw that you guys just emerged from the portal, so I could provide more information about the ruins we explored for thest few hours, and you guys could help us out!"

    Mathias didn''t have anything against Yves. As such, he was willing to team up with the young man, whose abilities were quitepatible with theirs.

    They could be a terrifying force if they joined hands Since Mathias'' social interactions were limited to Be and Nial, he wanted to figure out if his social anxiety had lessened after he gotfortable with his two friends.

    Thus, he was just about to nod his head and agree, when Be suddenly interrupted.

    "How many people are in your team? And why are you asking us for your support? Your face is oddly familiar to me, so my guess is that you belong to one of the privileged families.<sub> </sub>

    That means you shouldn''t require our help in the first ce. Or you need us because your team is simply ipetent?"

    Be was suspicious about Yves'' sudden approach.

    She had seen him once or twice the week before, with more than 50 Originals gathering around him each time.

    This was more than enough to understand that he was not only someone with important connections that were most likely due to his family''s background but also that he didn''t need the help of three unknown Originals.

    There were more than enough other Originals who would be more than willing to help him out, after all!

    Like Be, Nial felt that Yves'' sudden offer was weird. He believed that there was something wrong with the way he sought their help.

    Not only were his mana fluctuations way too stable for someone, who spend roughly half a day in the ancient ruins, exploring them, but it was almost as if Yves was not even a living being.

    At least that was something one could think while perceiving his unmoving mana fluctuations that didn''t even move while he was speaking, and gesturing with his arms.

    This was quite weird, to put it simply, only for Yves to make things even weirder as he said,

    "We are quite a few people, but everyone is trash, that''s correct! There is nobodyparable to the three of you! Fighting by the side of you all was quite reassuring, so I believe it would be great to explore the ancient ruins together!"

    Yves didn''t even bat his eyelids while calling his team members trash.

    Even if the situation wouldn''t be suspicious, Nial didn''t feel like spending more time with Yves.

    After all, you were supposed to trust your team or venture out alone, otherwise, you might be betrayed by your team, or betray it yourself.

    And in dungeons trust was the only thing that kept a team alive, not insulting or trashing it for whatever reason.

    That was why he wanted to politely reject Yves'' offer, but before he could do so Mathias intervened all of a sudden.

    "I''m sorry Yves, but we want to explore the ancient ruins by ourselves. With too many people that we don''t know, procuring treasures and distributing them will be difficult!"

    Mathias wanted to say a lot more, but he held himself back from saying something stupid.

    This was only normal because Mathias knew that his next words would have been an insult.

    ''Someone who trashes his own team without feeling guilty about it doesn''t have a spine! He is just like the bullies in my past life, and probably relies on his family background to order everyone around!!''

    At first, Mathias was under the assumption that Yves might be a good person, and that he might even help him to figure out the extent of his social anxiety.

    For that, he required other people than those he was alreadyfortable with.

    However, Yves was the kind of person Mathias hated the most. Thus, he said whatever he wanted, just to hold back at the right time.

    But even if he was holding back, both Nial and Be were quite astonished that Mathias dared to clearly state his opinion.

    ''Looks like he is slowlying out of his shell?'' Nial just thought while Be chose to back up Mathias.

    "I''m morefortable in small groups as well. The three of us are a good team, to begin with, and others might disrupt the teamwork we have built with our hard work.

    I hope it is not rude if we reject your invitation, but we would like to explore the ancient ruins dungeon alone!"

    Nial didn''t even have to say anything because both Mathias and Be said everything necessary.

    While Mathias'' rejection sounded rather harsh, Be tried to maintain a certain degree of politeness.

    However, even her rejection made Yves feel as if zing hot needles pierced through his stomach.

    It angered him to have been pushed back like this. They had outright denied him and not even left room for further negotiation.

    To add salt to the injury Nial and the others turned around to wander off toward the ancient ruins.

    They didn''t say anything else but "Good luck" before leaving an angry Yves behind.

    ''Did¡­they just toss me in the bin?!?'' Yves wondered, his eyes turning cold as he understood the meaning behind each of their actions.

    ''They didn''t find out, right?''

    It was impossible for them to have found out what he had nned. However, this was even worse in Yves'' opinion.

    "These fucking bastards¡­" he couldn''t help but mumble when he saw that Nial and his group really left him.

    They didn''t even bother with small talk, andpletely disregarded his authority, and family background.

    However, the moment he finished speaking, Yves felt an ominous feeling sweeping all over him.

    At that instant, Nial turned around as dark energy swept out from his entire body, shrouding him for a second, only for his lifeless eyes to stare straight in the depth of Yves'' soul.

    Yves felt that the darkness Nial radiated would shroud and devour him at any moment.

    His eyes went wide in fear and he instinctively backed off to increase his distance from Nial.

    ''What the hell was that?!?''

 Chapter 147 Plunder

    Nial turned back to his friends when he was done giving Yves a short glimpse of his might.

    Intimidating the young Original was not further difficult, which was why Nial could subdue him easily.

    Afterward, he walked toward the ancient ruins with the others.

    Yves was left behind with a dumbfounded expression but nobody truly cared about this.

    The way he had insulted them after they denied his offer had left a sour taste in their mouth, especially in the case of Nial, which made the usually calm blind youth react.

    There was something he had left out in his offer because it was certain that he didn''t need their help.

    Every participant of the Teradan military camp was strong in their own respective way.

    As such, Yves ought to have more than enough capable Originals by his side.

    He was someone who attracted many people, and his connections were no joke.

    Nial had no idea about Yves'' lineage or family background but it made no difference to him.

    In his opinion, connections were not important enough to make friends with someone, whose ideals and thoughts didn''t match his own.

    There was only a small number of people that Nial didn''t like, and Yves had made to the list due to his behavior in the short talk they had just moments ago.

    Shaking his head, Nial tried to free his mind of the frustration, while both Be and Mathias looked displeased as well.

    Nial clearly sensed their mana fluctuations but instead of feeling even more frustrated than before, he began to smile faintly.

    ''It''s good to see that we''re on the same page in that regard!''

    "Shall we start plundering now?" He thus asked his heart and mind at ease.

    "Yeah, let''s go!" Mathias replied followed by Be who nodded her head.

    She averted her entire focus on the surrounding which was important because they entered the area of the ancient ruins dungeon that was not thoroughly explored.

    Nial was able to perceive everything, including the Originals in his range of perception, the monsters, and every single nt in his surrounding area followed by the rough outlines and structure of huge ruins.

    While the area the dungeon portal was located at was a in, they were now inside a jungle. The ancient ruins were well hidden under the cover of the huge jungle trees that could be perceived everywhere around him.

    It was not difficult to see the dpidated condition of the ancient ruins. Vines had grown inside the now broken walls of the once tall structures that had crumpled partially.

    If one were to keep looking at the ruins, it would be possible to perceive that they were not even that ''old''.

    At the first nce, one might think that they were several centuries old and that nature had slowly overtaken the plot that had once belonged to a thriving society.

    But the more one paid attention to the details, the exact opposite woulde to one''s notice, with the solemon factor being that nature took back what had once belonged to it.

    While Nial tried to perceive everything down to the finest detail, Be and Mathias couldn''t help themselves anymore.

    They were overwhelmed by the ginormous structure of the ancient ruins.

    Not only did it feel like they were about to enter a ginormous pce in the deepest parts of an evenrger jungle, but there were numerous rather small, vi-sized structures that surrounded the pce, forming a loose circle around it.

    "Let''s take a look inside the vi, or whatever this is first!" Be said with a faint glint in her eyes.

    Her interest in the ''small'' structures was quite obvious. This was even more so when they could see that many monsters were crowded around the vi.

    "We can do that. There are Goblins inside, by the way." Nial''s voice was quite calm.

    He could control his excitement quite well for now because he was able to tell that the towers, breadth and length were the same as the size of a vi, and were iparable to the pce in terms of the materials used to construct it.

    The rather big andrge towers were in a far worse condition than the pce itself.

    But even then, the Goblins around the tower interested him. Thus, he quickly circted mana through his body before pushing his feet off the ground.

    With a single stride, Nial was able to cross several meters.

    He then outstretched his hand, and the Viper Spear manifested in it a momentter.

    Afterward, Nial coated the Viper Spear in the dark energy that he manifested in an instant.

    Momentster the dark energy that had enveloped his spear detached itself under Nial''s control.

    Several des of darkness formed around the Viper spear. They revolved around the weapon''s de and could be shot out at an instant.

    However, releasing the darkness de was not what Nial was nning to do.

    sting ahead, he crossed the distance of 500 meters in no time and emerged close to the huge tower.

    Only then was Nial able to sense the number of Goblins that resided outside and inside the tower.

    There were far more Goblins than he had expected, but that did not make him want to back off.

    Rather, most Goblins were only at the 6th Origin rank, and only a handful of those was stronger. There were quite a few Lesser Shaman Goblins as well.<sub> </sub>

    But even that was not something that could make Nial hesitate.

    He was calm andposed as he emerged behind the first Goblin. They barely heard him near them as he had moved with cat-like grace and speed, letting them not even realize that he was slowly advancing towards them.

    A simple and well targeted stab was enough to kill the first Goblin before he continued to advance.

    His movement seemed slow from an outsider''s perspective, but for the one receiving the spear thrust, it was as if a bullet train was shoved right into their face.

    And the worst was that the Goblin couldn''t even deflect the attack properly.

    One of the next Goblins tried to deflect his spear thrust. However, the moment their des collided, the des of darkness pierced out like extending ws.

    The sight of six darkness des piercing the body of theirrade scared most Goblins.

    However, they were incapable of thinking of retreating and leaving their stronghold.

    Instead of backing off, they attempted to push forward, and overwhelm Nial with all their might.

    Yet, the moment N perceived the number of attackers, he changed the form of the Viper spear.

    Not only did he release the ive form of the Viper spear but the darkness des changed as well.

    They erged, making it seem as if the Viper spear wasparable to a cross between a ive and a scythe.

    Some darkness des were curved like a scythe, while others were simply an extended ive de.

    The weapon''s structure looked somewhat crude, but it would do fine for now.

    He brandished the Viper spear through the air. Gusts of wind sshed in everyone''s face, just for Nial''s expression to turn solemn as he brandished the weapon at the dozens of Goblins that had entered the range of the spear.

    Slicing through the hide, blood, bones, and organs of his opponents, the Viper spear never seemed to stop.

    The manifested des that had been made out of dark energy were razor-sharp just as Nial imagined them to be.

    Morphing into his desired shape, the dark energy he controlled was close to perfection.

    But that was only normal. After all, his control over the dark energy had forcefully been enhanced during the Trial of the Gods.

    At the same time, the dark energy had been powerful enough to kill the Lesser Titan youngling and that was even before he gained a better proficiency with the dark energy!

    Thus, the opponents he faced right now were not even close to being strong enough to block his advance.

    Even if they were to be stronger, Nial was not scared to face more powerful opponents.

    Rather, this would turn into a perfect opportunity because he had yet to test out his new strength!!

    While Nial was massacring his way through the rows of Goblins, Be and Mathias stared at him with widened eyes.

    "I could tell that his control over his dark energy had improved, but¡­isn''t that a little bit too much?!" Mathias asked quietly, feeling a little bit conflicted.

    Nial was only at the 3rd Origin rank, but it almost looked like 7th Origin rank monsters were merely ants in the face of his dark energy.

    But even without dark energy, Mathias was pretty sure that Nial''s movements were smoother than ever before.

    There was not the slightest w in his movement that made him wonder if Nial was in a simtion, or if there was some divine intervention.

    After all, Nial moved before his opponent did, reading their bodynguage to tell where they would be turning to next.

    That allowed Nial to be at the correct position at the right timing to brandish his cruel-looking self-made weapon at his opponents.

    "We¡­have to grow stronger¡­much stronger as quickly as possible¡­" Be dered, not expecting any kind of answer from Mathias.

    While Mathias was baffled by Nial''s strength, Be''s heart was beating wildly at the sight of the dark energy.

    Earlier she hadn''t given this feeling much importance, but ever since Nial had returned from his Innate ability''s trial, his dark energy was starting to worry her a little bit.

    Or rather than her being worried in her entirety, it was more than her own Innate trait was telling her that the dark energy was dangerous and that she should retreat, or kill Nial as long as he was still weak!

    Be had never felt like this before, but neither did she want to retreat, nor kill Nial.

    Even if her Innate ability was telling her the truth, Nial was a good person. He was a much better human than she thought about herself.

    As such, Be could not even imagine doing something to Nial, whether it was in the present or the future.

    How could Be know that her path and that of Nial''s were tightly intertwined, that the fine line between being on the same side, and being mortal enemies could be crossed with one mistake¡­or misstep.

    How could she know that their future would be far more devastating than she could ever imagine?

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel, leave your golden tickets and powerstones with me. If you like my writing style, test out my other novels. All of them belong to one big Multiverse. You might find the characters and hints about certain events in other novels :P.

    Link to my Discord is in my profile]

 Chapter 148 Burden

    Manifesting more than a dozen earth spikes around him, Mathias shot them toward the group of Goblins.

    Enhancing them with the ability to spin around themselves at a blinding speed, Nial turned each spike into a sharp de that was powerful enough to pierce through the Goblin''s hide, flesh, and even bones!

    However, Mathias didn''t even notice this as he kept manifesting new batches of rotating earth spikes.

    They required only little mana to be created, and owing to Mathias'' highprehension of the earth affinity, not much mana was utilized in the creation process of the earth spikes.

    This made things much easier when he activated his Innate ability.

    [Elementalprehension] was a great Innate ability that not only passively increased theprehension of elemental affinities, but it could also be actively used!

    When Mathias activated his Innate ability, he was able to use every affinity he owned to a much higher extent, while his mana consumption was nearly halved.

    Through this, Mathias was able to manifest more than 20 earth spikes for half the mana consumption and effort!

    While Mathias was fighting long-distance to keep the high number of Goblins in check and prevent them from crowding around Nial and Be, the other two were fighting with all their might.

    At first nce, it looked like Nial was fighting in a slow and cruel manner.

    However, the moment Be emerged next to him, she couldn''t help but be shocked.

    She almost felt dizzy while trying to keep her gaze trained on Nial''s movements. He was unpredictable and she couldn''t determine what his next move would be.

    From a very young age, Be had learned to read one''s movements.

    But without her entire focus on Nial''s movement, it was impossible for her to determine anything.

    This was beyond her expectations. Yet, even more surprising was what Be could sense in the dark energy from up close.

    Not only was the dark energy that Nial wielded extremely lethal to the living beings around him, but it was almost as if the dark energy had a devouring and decaying trait.

    Nial''s dark energy could weaken other types of energy, and slowly destroy them the longer they were in contact.

    Be was not even sure if her Innate ability [Celestial transformation] was strong enough to allow her to endure the decaying effect of Nial''s dark energy for more than 10 minutes.

    Because she could clearly sense the dangers that radiated from the dark energy, Be chose to be extra careful in the fight.

    She maintained sufficient distance from Nial, freeing him of the worry of identally hurting his friends in the process.

    With a simple movement, Be averted her trajectory, which led her to the outskirts of the tower.

    On the other hand, Nial made a beeline for the tower. He knew that the number of Goblins within the building was several times higher than outside.

    That was to his advantage because he would be able to make use of his form-changing weapon and the surrounding environment efficiently!

    Nial thus entered the tower without any hesitation.

    urately controlling the range of perception, Nial''s Mana Sense could almost perfectly visualize the entire tower.

    His Mana Sense could perceive everything up to several hundred meters ahead, but by restricting it, his mind was able to focus on the little details of his surroundings.

    Through this, Nial was even able to sense whether mana-empowered traps were located within the tower.

    Each floor had its very own system on how to trap and kill intruders. But even then, most Goblins had already activated the said traps, just to die in a painful and cruel manner.

    This was in Nial''s favor as it allowed him to gain even more benefits from the Goblins.

    ''They didn''t get their hands on every treasure!'' Nial suddenly noticed as he sensed quite strong mana fluctuations from the higher floors of the tower.

    Earlier, he had already been quite intrigued about the towers around the ruins of the pce, but that was mostly because each tower seemed to inhabit different types of beasts.

    Even if all beasts were intelligent and sane enough to understand the value of runic armaments, Nial was pretty sure that they were stillcking behind inparison to mankind''s intelligence.

    After all, intelligence was what made the most distinct difference between a ''beast'' and a ''rational being''!

    The further one developed their mana core, the more intelligent one ought to be.

    However, humans and other beings wouldn''t clearly notice this change in their intelligence simply because their intelligence was already advanced, which waspletely different to beasts as they would first gain ''true'' intelligence.

    But until mankind would encounter such beasts quite some time would have to pass.

    After all, there had yet to appear a beast at the Prometheus rank!

    ughtering the Goblins without hesitation, Nial passed through the ground floor of the tower without any dy.

    Only when he reached the second floor did problems start to ur.

    Different types of Goblins had emerged on this floor, such as Goblin Warriors, Goblin Spearman, Lesser Goblin Shamans, and even Hobgoblins.

    If his perception was correct, there were even some Goblins with unique mutations amongst them.

    Some were physically much stronger than they were supposed to be, and a Lesser Goblin Shaman seemed to own a water affinity!

    Because of the water affinity, and the fact that dozens of water jets were shot at him in mere seconds, Nial was under quite some pressure.

    But that was quite advantageous because it allowed him to reveal more of his strength.

    He didn''t have to hold back! Thus, the darkness shrouding the Viper spear slowly detached itself from Nial.

    Every second six five-centimeter-long needles of darkness were shot out at the Goblins.

    Their velocity was terrifically high and so was their pration force as he could clearly perceive how the needles pierced the chests of his opponents.

    Nial didn''t n on ending their life directly.

    Rather, he aimed to use the dark energy of the darkness needles to destroy his opponents from the inside.

    In the first seconds of impact, the initial effects would kick in. Their senses would deteriorate such as their sight would get blurred. Simultaneously, their control over the mana in their body was bound to worsen gradually as well.

    Only after around 10 seconds would the dark energy start wreaking havoc in their bodies.

    But to notice the lethal effects of the dark energy, one had to survive for more than half an hour.

    And that was something Nial didn''t allow as he hacked and shed his way through the horde of beasts in a swift manner.<sub> </sub>

    Every beast he had encountered was already weakened due to his highly lethal dark energy which allowed Nial to end their life in a swift and seemingly simple manner.

    It looked like he was ying around with his opponents.

    At the same time, it was odd as his smooth movements and the cold sweat that trickled down his forehead were a huge contrast to his demeanor.

    Nial''s back was already drenched in sweat as well, just for him to notice one particr thing he hadn''t realized before.

    ''This is far more exhausting than it had been in the darkness domain!!''

    If he could use the dark energy consistently within the darkness domain, utilizing it for 10 minutes straight was already a great achievement.

    But right now, almost 20 minutes had passed since Nial had begun controlling the dark energy and he hadn''t made a mistake or lost control of it.

    And he was even moving with rapid motions, fighting against hundreds of monsters at once.

    Goblins may not be powerful, and their defenses were rather weak, but their numbers were way too high for Nial to defeat in a short period.

    If he were to keep using the dark energy, more than two hours would have to pass before he would have killed every single of his opponent.

    However, that was not feasible with his condition, and his proficiency that seemed to need improvements¡­even now!

    That was also why Nial felt a little bit frustrated, giving him an additional boost in hisbat prowess.

    He was trying to exceed his limits once again. Unfortunately, it required far more for the Odyssey seed to start pulsating after he passed the primary Trial of the Gods.

    Nial was not sure why, but the Odyssey seed seemed to have be more sensible in terms of requirements that were needed for it to pulsate.

    Because that was the case, Nial was forced to stop releasing dark energy.

    Nial had to keep a check on his mana consumption as well, while the same applied to his Stamina which was rapidly being drained.

    Even if the enhancement he received from devouring the heart of the Lesser Titan youngling was great, it didn''t enhance his Stamina as much as his physical strength, or the ergement it had caused to his mana core.

    Because that was the case, Nial began to breathe heavily due to the pressure of the consistently utilized dark energy.

    His control over the dark energy might have increased, but that didn''t mean he was able to adapt to the burden of the dark energy and use it to his heart''s content.

    As such, Nial was standing at the end of the hallway toward the stairs that lead to the third floor, breathing heavily while staring down at the dozens of Goblins that obstructed his path.

    He was tightly clutching the Viper spear and changed hisbat stance in order to prepare himself for the next few exhausting minutes.

    However, just when he saw that the Goblin Warriors and other types of Goblins charged at him, two dozen spinning earth spikes shot past him.

    In the rather narrow hallways, it was impossible to evade all the earth spikes.

    Thus, more than 10 Goblins were punctured by the spikes at once before they were flung backward.

    This provided more than enough time for Nial to take a few more breaths, while Be shot past him.

    She appeared to be confident andposed as if she had no problem maintaining the use of her Innate ability, at all.

    Mathias was exactly the same. Actively using [Elementalprehension] didn''t demand much from his body or mind.

    The only thing he had to take care of was his mana consumption and that was not really difficult for him to do.

    After all, he didn''t overexert his mana under normal circumstances.

    Mathias knew that he was not alone as well, which was why he didn''t go overboard as he left behind some beasts for Be to finish off.

    Nial was someone who fought better alone.

    However, he still had to learn to perfectly control and not be overwhelmed due to his abilities.

    This was quite obvious considering that he looked as if he had been fighting for several hours at once.

    Meanwhile, Be was wielding her two shortswords. She emerged in front of her opponents after activating her Innate ability as holy energy circted through her body, further enhancing her physical strength.

    She moved in a rhythm, making it look as if she was dancing.

    Yet, even before one could do anything, a bloody feast was unleashed all around her.

    Be didn''t hesitate to kill the opponents around her, but that was not something that astonished either Mathias or Nial.

    Instead, Mathias was astonished by how graceful Be looked while killing the beasts around her.

    On the other hand, Nial was more baffled by her terrific control of mana, followed by her mana fluctuations to deal additional damage to the opponents she reached.

    This was quite weird, but it was also something that provided an opportunity on how to handle one''s altered mana, or other energies better.

    "Maybe I should tweak everything a little bit? Instead of going all in, small portions of dark energy might be better!"

    Nial understood that the experience he gained within the darkness domain was not everything and that he had a lot to learn.

    But that was something that allowed him to smile as his understanding deepened once again.

    ''As long as I can still improve, I shall take every possible opportunity!''

    **

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 Chapter 149 Much To Learn

    Their small group reached the third floor of the tower in no time.

    From then on, the number of beasts they encountered decreased drastically, but on the downside, their strength increased manifold.

    Nearly every beast they encountered wasparable to an Original at the 9th or 10th Origin rank.

    Thus, Nial and the others had to work together in order to defeat all of them.

    But that was not a problem as their small team''s teamwork had significantly improved.

    This allowed them to inflict several injuries to their opponents before ending their lives without even getting scratched.

    Several hours had passed since they entered the tower, and it looked like some other groups of Originals had found a tower to loot as well.

    It was not difficult to find their tower, but it was quite annoying that some selfish and cunning Originals were looking forward to reaping the benefits that belonged to Nial, Be and Mathias.

    They had killed all opponents outside and inside the tower and were now returning to the third floor.

    The third floor hadn''t been looted yet. Nial was able to sense quite a few runic armaments, and other objects that were intertwined with mana on it.

    Of course, there were also untouched traps, which was why the Goblins had been unable to get their hands on the treasures.

    Under normal circumstances, the traps would have been rather dangerous, but owing to the condition of the derelict tower, the mana traps had long since deteriorated from their peak condition.

    Following that, Nial and the others were ready to face the dangers of the traps as they reached the door that was the closest to the stairways leading to the second floor.

    Instead of opening the door immediately, Nial waited for a few seconds, while his lifeless eyes stared down the stairways.

    "If you guys don''t want to die, how about you step out? I know that you are inside, a group of five to be exact!"

    Nial had already told Mathias and Be that a team of Originals had entered the tower.

    As such, they knew almost immediately what was going on.

    But when the door stayed firmly shut, Nial just raised his hand before Mathias manifested a huge ball of earth.

    It had a radius of one meter and was big enough to roll down the stairways.

    Without wasting their time any further, Mathias gave the earth ball a light push before it hurtled down the stairs towards the second floor.

    However, the moment it rolled around the corner after hitting the wall in front of it, several voices of exmation could be heard.

    "What the hell!?"

    "Do they want to kill us????"

    "Arghhh!!"

    Only moments after the astonishing exmations stopped abruptly, a frustrating grunt followed.

    "I should really beat up some humans for a change!!"

    When the hoarse voice said this, an ear-piercing noise resounded through the tower.

    The earth ball had been shattered into several thousand pieces that were flung through the surrounding, which allowed Mathias to see the speed at which it bashed on the wall.

    This caused him and Be to lift their right eyebrow in sync before their heads turned towards Nial.

    "He is just an 8th Origin rank with gauntlets, don''t worry."

    Nial was the only one who could use his range of perception to the extent that he was able to figure out even the most hidden information.

    Even if the gauntlets worn by the man with the hoarse voice were not something Nial could perceive directly, the fact that his Mana sense visualized everything made it possible for him to conclude quite a bit from the provided intel!

    That made it possible for Nial to figure out more about his opponents before he could decide ways of tackling them.

    And ording to the mana fluctuations he sensed, Nial could tell that the man with the hoarse voice wanted to shed blood; their blood to be specific.

    Though that didn''t scare him.

    In a matter of a single second, ck miasma radiated from Nial, followed by the dark energy that merged with it.

    Spreading most of his mana at once, he filled the entire stairway that connected the tower''s second and third floor with each other through dark miasma.

    The stairways were tightly sealed within a second, just for Nial to take a step downward.

    "Give me 30 seconds, and I''ll be back!" He shouted before he disappeared in the dark miasma.

    While being enveloped by the cloud of the dark miasma, every living being''s control over mana deteriorated, while their senses were weakened drastically.

    These minor negative effects would worsen over time, only to be apanied by more inconveniences.

    However, that was not something the five Originals would be able to witness as Nial manifested several dozen balls of darkness.

    As he didn''t want to kill the Originals, he had to hold back which was why he conjured only a dozen attacks around the group of Originals before releasing his attacks without hesitation.

    Nial kept walking down the stairs, and when he reached the first opponent in the group, the only thing he encountered was a badly beaten up Original.

    He wasn''t familiar with the five Originals, but that was not necessary to tell him that his strength had increased quite a lot.

    Even if he didn''t fight physically, it was possible for him to defeat opponents much stronger than him through his ability and traits.

    Only the Original at the 8th Origin rank was able to evade most attacks of the darkness balls.

    However, the moment Nial thrust out with the blunt end of the Viper spear, the fight ended faster than expected.

    The blunt end of the Viper spear was coated in his dark energy that entered the man''s body the moment it made contact with his skin.

    This was only possible because the man didn''t protect his body with mana.

    But that was not even possible as his control over mana had been deteriorating from the beginning.

    ''That''s why you should always have a faint membrane of mana around you as a protectiveyer while exploring a dungeon¡­idiots!''<sub> </sub>

    There were certain basics that Originals with a great background should have learned and implemented.

    Considering that the burly man''s gauntlets were mythical weapons, Nial could tell that he had either received the wrong lessons or that he was simply oblivious to the dangers he would encounter in the ancient ruins dungeon.

    Either way, Nial was able to defeat the nuisances, which was everything that mattered.

    He retracted the dark miasma within his body. This allowed Nial to regain some of the mana he had used up.

    The sealed stairways were cleared once again. Nial ensured that the Originals were merely knocked out and that they wouldn''t face any serious issues.

    Afterward, he returned to his friends, who had been waiting for him.

    "Your dark energy is really weird¡­did you just merge it with your ck miasma to ovep their effects?" Mathias was baffled.

    In response to Mathias'' question, Nial just nodded his head, without saying anything further.

    He wanted to take a look at the rooms to see how many treasures they would be able to procure. As such, discussing right now would just waste his time.

    But, on the other hand, Mathias couldn''t help but feel that Nial had advanced a lot more than he had expected in thest few days.

    Nial had not even spent five days in the trials, but there were a lot many changes in his strength and demeanor.

    Of course, this was advantageous in multiple ways.

    However, Mathias felt a little bit burdened as he felt that only he was stagnating.

    This was uneptable!!

    ''I should improve as well¡­Right now, my proficiency with the earth affinity should increase rapidly. But even that wouldn''t allow me to fight on par with Nial¡­not anymore!

    Maybe I should focus on erging my mana core, before creating an Advanced Origin ring¡­I need to find an ability thatplements my Innate ability and the Earth elemental affinity!''

    Mathias was aware that hisbat prowess was very low. He was not good at closebat, and there were only a few ways to use the earth affinity tounch long-range attacks.

    That meant he had to change his fighting style and start closebat as well, or that he had to improve fast enough to bind a second affinity to his mana core.

    The moment he owned two affinities, it should be possible for him to merge both elemental affinities to create a third affinity out of it.

    His father had told him that this should be possible. As such, Mathias would try it out.

    If it was even remotely as powerful as the merged product of Nial''s curse and Innate ability, it would be a great means of attack in the long run.

    With all these thoughts ravaging his mind, Mathias barely noticed that Nial had entered the first room on the third floor.

    He triggered a trap and nearly fell down, just to halt in his tracks early enough.

    "There are some traps I cannot sense¡­weird!"

    Even though Nial was able to sense even the slightest mana fluctuation, the trap he had just triggered was something he couldn''t sense, at all.

    This was quite weird, which was why he kept blocking the door to the first room on the tower''s first floor.

    "Have you never encountered runes or artifacts that can block off or iste mana fluctuations?" Be asked all of a sudden.

    She could clearly see a bunch of runes at the corner of the trap that had been activated.

    It was a rather simple pit into which one was supposed to fall.

    And while looking down the pit, one could see that one would end up in the first room on the second floor.

    But a careful look would make one notice the spiked metal pipes that protruded out of the ground of the second floor.

    They were coated with preserved poison, which was something Be looked at with squinted eyes.

    ''Blocking off or isting mana fluctuations...?''

    Nial only knew that the Originals association in Katu had something simr in order to test one''s potential with more uracy.

    However, its use could only be made in an enclosed space such as a room, and with the use of a huge gate.

    That meant the runes used to achieve an even better effect had to be extremely valuable and rare.

    But that was not something Nial could waste pondering over further right now. He had almost died owing to his reckless behavior.

    There was a reason for him to have bound the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] to his mana core.

    And this reason was certainly not to allow him to control the ck miasma!

    Instead, it was for the enhancement of all of his senses, except the eyesight that was further cursed, if that was even possible, to begin with.

    As long as his focus was on ALL of his senses, and not just on his Innate ability [Mana Sense], it was near impossible for him to die in the face of traps.

    After all, he could clearly hear, smell, and sense every single motion that happened around him.

    It was just that Nial tried to suppress the sensitivity of most of his senses because they burdened him the further he progressed.

    This was truly the only disadvantage of [Hodur''s Heir]! The enhancements of his senses were simply too powerful.

    However, even if that were to be the case, Nial understood that he should be more careful, and learn to cope with the inconvenience.

    He should turn it to his advantage, not restrict it if that meant he could save himself from dangers.

    Nial clearly understood this once again, which led him to sigh deeply.

    ''Looks like I still have a lot to learn!''

    **

    [A/N: If you like the novel support me with your golden tickets and your powerstones. Join my Discord as well. The link is in the description.]

 Chapter 150 Dangerous Knowledge

    When focusing on all of his senses, Nial had it much easier to avoid certain traps.

    With Mathias'' support, it was also possible for him to fill the gaping hole on the floor.

    Their small group entered the room with careful steps. They started searching through the room and soon figured out that there were more old books than runic armaments that were of a higher value.

    "That''s great!" Nial suddenly eximed, making Be and Mathias'' turn around to look at him.

    "What did you find?" Be asked while approaching him.

    A momentter she arrived behind Nial, just to peek at the book he was holding.

    [Runiciy]

    The book''s title was quite weird but Nial was smiling brightly while holding the closed book in his hand.

    His mana fluctuations shrouded the book tightly, which was the reason for his smile to turn radiant.

    "It looks like some books contain theoretical knowledge on how to create runic armaments. The book called Runiciy is mostly about a specific runic constetion with which one can create protective runic armaments with a higher defense!"

    There was a lot more that Nial was able to read in the book, but the vast amount of information he received from the transmitted mana fluctuations was too much for him to handle at once.

    That was also why he spoke about the protective armaments and not about other runic constetions, how some were created, and so on.

    All of this was simply tooplex for Nial to handle! He didn''t have any knowledge about runic constetions and didn''t want to spend too much time learning about runic armaments as well.

    Right now, his purpose of entering the ancient ruins was to refine his strength in various ways, earn a huge fortune, and create a wider range of attacks using various runic armaments.

    Be and Mathias understood this as well, but their opinion was slightly different.

    As long as they could learn how to create runic armaments, it would be possible for them to earn a huge fortune, gain political power, and have numerous connections.

    That was how rare even the weakest runic armaments were.

    However, while they were taking a look at the different books that were covered with thickyers of dust, they could clearly tell one thing. The runic armaments they had obtained from the Goblins didn''t seem to be as valuable as they had initially hoped them to be.

    "Can it be that the runic armaments we got our hands on¡­.are basically trash?"

    Mathias grew baffled the more time he spent in the first room on the third floor.

    He was somewhat hesitant to enter the other rooms because it looked like the knowledge he had amassed during thest 18 years had suddenly been reduced to garbage and could be thrown out of the window.

    After all, everything he had learned so far seemed to lose its value the more Mathias read in the ancient books they found in the first room.

    "Well, if you want to put it simply, our runic armaments cannot even be considered to be graded. They''re ''Tierless'' armaments.

    The Old races seemed to make use of ''Tiers'' to grade their runic armaments. It started from ungraded and included tiers from Tier-0 to up to Tier-6. And if everything that has been written in the book is correct, Tier-6 armaments are called Divine armaments that only Gods can wield!"

    Right now, Nial not only revealed pieces of information that were written in the books he had stored in his storage ring but l was also unveiling some facts about the memories the Odyssey seed had provided to him.

    It took him quite a while to figure out things, but Nial was slowly getting the hang of everything.

    Unfortunately, this didn''t make things easier for him. After all, the things he hadprehended were quite terrifying.

    Nial had believed that their runic armaments were worth quite a bit and had hoped to earn a good fortune through it but that was not the case, at all.

    Maybe their value was high for mankind. However, that was only the case because their knowledge and technology advancement were far below Nial''s expectations.

    "That¡­is that the truth?" Be just mumbled, starting to feel a little bit dizzy the more Nial spoke.

    Her expressions paled a bit, but her hands kept moving, as she stored all the books within the room in her spatial ring.

    "With all the knowledge we procure from all the towers and possibly the pce as well, it should be possible for us and mankind to advance by leaps and bounds.

    If my guess is not wrong, the tierless armaments we own will be deemed worthless once mankind starts nurturing proper Runiciers!

    Ordinary weapons will be scrapped, and even mythical weapons will lose most of their value over time ¡­"

    Mathias was merely stating a few facts for himself to calm down.

    However, his heartbeat quickened the more he understood the immense value of the books he had in his hands held.

    If every single tower and the gigantic ruin of the pce held different but valuable information altogether, mankind could make use of it and advance several hundred, if not thousands of years ahead in terms of understanding and technological advancement.

    This was quite terrifying, even more so considering that they had merely plundered two shelves worth of books so far.

    There were more than ten rooms to clear on the third floor.

    Mathias beamed at the thought of iming more such treasures for themselves. He looked over to Be and Nial to share his excitement with them.

    However, after seeing how shocked, and somewhat scared Be seemed to be, Mathias grew a bit confused.

    Yet, even more confusing was Nial''s expression. Mathias was unable to tell what he was thinking, which was quite unexpected in the given situation.

    ''Isn''t our discovery something to be happy about?'' The more he looked at the others the more confusing everything became for him.<sub> </sub>

    "It is certainly good that the ancient ruins dungeon appeared, and that we can im everything for ourselves, but I don''t really think that everything is¡­all that great¡­"

    Nial had already noticed that something was off, but Be was the one to reveal the same thought he had.

    There was something in particr that made her feel as if it was just too much of a coincidence for the ancient ruins dungeon to manifest in the deepest parts of the cave where the Teradan military base was located.

    And by adding the pieces of information Nial had shared about the origin of dungeons to her assumptions, everything became more than a little bit terrifying.

    "What do you mean by that, Be?" Mathias was utterly dumbfounded. It was quite obvious that their find was terrifying¡­but on the good side.

    The information they had procured so far was so good that it could be considered terrifying.

    "Well, of course, it is not exactly bad, if you solely look at our finds, but there is something that bothers me¡­"

    After saying this, Be halted for a moment, debating if she should reveal her worries or not.

    But before she coulde to a decision, Nial interfered, clearing the suspicion she had.

    "What Be is worried about is quite simple but also unnerving. First of all, the ability to produce runic armaments will help mankind improve itsbat prowess by leaps and bounds.

    That is great, and it allows us to clear more and stronger dungeons. Even the Originals with a low talent will be able to use certain runic armaments, thereby elevating their strength.

    However, as you should have noticed by now, every runic armament radiates a tiny trace of mana.

    With a small number of runic armaments this is not a problem, but the moment we create billions of runic armaments, the amount of mana that radiates from the runic armaments will nourish the surrounding, and strengthen it.

    This will allow the surroundings to create mana on their own, providing enough mana and the opportunity for many humans to awaken their Origin.

    Of course, this is also great, but let''s look at it from the other side.

    Officially, mankind only has a total of nine well-hidden shelters. By creating numerous runic armaments, the surroundings of the shelters will be richer in mana, and more Originals will awaken, which will in turn enrich the surrounding even more.

    We will be able to grow much stronger, but at the same time, far stronger dungeon portals will manifest in our surroundings as the mana-rich surrounding won''t prevent their manifestation anymore.

    Do you believe that it will be possible for the strongest Originals of mankind to face existences that exceed the prowess of the strongest and most terrifying beasts they have encountered until now¡­by manifold?"

    Nial had far more to say, but he chose not to bombard Mathias and Be with a lot of information in one go.

    In fact, he had problems digesting everything as well. Thus, he forced himself to stop talking as it would only increase everyone''s worry.

    "So you mean someone intentionally elerates the speed at which mankind progresses, in order to find out our exact location¡­by scanning the mana density all over Jundra? Isn''t Jundra a bit toorge to achieve this? Based on my knowledge so far, mankind was never able to figure out Jundra''s size as well...

    And¡­" Be wanted to keep saying things, but she felt a bit low after hearing everything Nial had said.

    Thus, she shut her mouth, and soon the three friends felt a sudden gloominess fill the room.

    Nial understood the confusion and nervousness of both his friends. But even then, he felt that it was necessary for him to state one or two points that were quite important to understand.

    "Well, that might be the truth, but I actually believe that most Gods are already aware of our shelter''s location. But that is not the important point right now because the Gods will have other things to take care of than to eradicate a race that won''t even be able to survive being in their presence.

    We are simply too unimportant for them to care about¡­if one looks solely at our strengths and the talent we can exhibit right now.

    However, they can still use us to gain an advantage over other Gods, for example, by conquering morends with stronger beasts.

    They can be summoned through dungeons that will be manifested in the mana-richer areas, which can handle these dungeon portals¡­"

    Thends that mankind inhabits would turn into a huge battlefield, where all kinds of powerful beasts would emerge, and start fighting one another.

    Everything in their surrounding would turn into an area of death and destruction.

    <o>,m And meanwhile, mankind would be devastated simply because they wouldn''t be able to keep the defenses of their shelters intact when powerful monsters would start emerging around them.</o>

    In fact, even if that were to be possible owing to some miracle, the knowledge about the runic armaments Nial and the others procured were solely for ungraded and Tier-0 runic armaments.

    It was entirely useless to create such armaments if they were to face existences that wouldn''t even get scratches from Tier-0 runic armaments¡­

    "That simply means¡­the Gods want to rush us, to make us improve a lot faster¡­so that they can start the War of the Gods on Jundra¡­to determine who will be able to gain supremacy over the and every single existence living on it¡­"

    Mathias missed a few points, but the essence of his words was correct.

    However, Nial felt that his friend missed the most important point.

    ''Why are they in such a rush?''

    **

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 Chapter 151 Exploiting

    Was it really necessary to elerate mankind''s development speed drastically?

    Nial didn''t think so if he were to be honest. Especially, he did not see the point of doing that through means such as an ancient ruins dungeon¡­

    It was quite weird to learn that certain existences were trying to hasten up the mana awakening process of the surroundingnds.

    After all, there were Incarnations and inferior Replicas of Gods amongst mankind.

    They would gain the most if the surrounding mana were to be rich in purity.

    He could gauge and foretell to an extent, the level of threat such existences would pose to humanity, even if he had not encountered either of them yet.

    It had been more than enough for him to see some memories of thete Darkness God.

    Thus, Nial couldn''t help but think that even the 0.01% possibility he had in mind was a bit far-fetched.

    ''If a human-like God found out about our existence, he or she might have chosen to support us¡­''

    Nial was not sure what to think about this theory, but it would certainly be good if it were to be true.

    However, the resultant situation arising from the existence of the ancient ruins dungeon was bound to be even more uncertain if the said theory were to be true.

    After all, everything would be even moreplicated. Terrifying wars might erupt with the human race in the center of the devastation!

    It took everyone a while to understand this, and from the looks of it Mathias was the most horrified about the information Nial revealed.

    Of course, Nial could not be certain if everything was true, or how high the chances were that the ancient ruins had been sent by someone amiable.

    But he knew that the next few years were bound to be even more dangerous than thest few centuries had been for mankind.

    This was only obvious because they wouldn''t be able to hide the information about the runic armaments for long.

    The books he, Be, and Mathias would collect in the tower were only a tiny fraction of the knowledge the others might find out sooner orter.

    With several towers surrounding the pce, and the ruins of the pce being left behind, Nial was pretty sure that it was for the best to ride on the wave of poprity of the runic armaments and to gain a vast fortune first.

    By making use of this fortune, it would be possible to improve their strength as quickly as possible and possibly counter the dangers that were toe forth with the appearance of billions of runic armaments.

    ''Well, it''s not like we stand no chance. As long as we''re able to use the runic armaments properly, we can advance just as fast as the dangers around us rise.''

    The stronger the runic armaments mankind were to be able to create, the higher the prowess of the individuals that would wield the said armaments.

    As long as they could make use of the majority of the runic armaments'' true potential, they would be able to clear more dangerous dungeons.

    In return, this would elerate mankind''s progression in strength as they could absorb Origin crystals with a higher quantity and purity of mana inside them!

    Additionally, there was the factor about higher-ranked dungeons rewarding powerful abilities, and the possibility of procuring better ingredients to create potions, equipment, special devices, and to strengthen the human shelters'' defenses!

    When Nial thought about this, the only issue he could think of was the fact that all of this would result in the surrounding adapting even faster to mana.

    However, it was necessary to keep advancing in order to survive the dangers that emerged due to the existence of the dungeon portals.

    That simply meant mankind had to keep advancing, the faster the better until the day the environment around them was fully enriched by mana.

    Once the surroundingnds reached their limit, both the advancement of mankind and the constant increase in the dungeon portal''s dangers would start stagnating.

    But until that day was reached, a very long period would have to pass.

    ''Why the hell is everything soplicated again?!?''

    Nial cursed in his mind, feeling as if all hell broke loose. His brain was fried, and one could clearly see that he was trying to think of a way to solve the situation ahead.

    But there was nothing he could do as long as only one team was able to leave the ancient ruins with a handful of books from one of the towers.

    That was also why it looked like the development path of mankind had already been sealed.

    ''Ungraded and Tier-0 runic armaments don''t release that much mana. That means it will take months, or even years to create billions of runic armaments, and for them to nourish the surrounding area¡­

    That means we would have years to advance and to exploit the knowledge we have received in order to make use of the Gods'' schemings¡­''

    Nial''s mind was a mess, but he tried to not show it and forced a smile on his face.

    "Nial, how about we try to clear everything we can before exploiting the knowledge we have?" Mathias asked all of a sudden.

    He was still baffled about literally everything he had just gotten to know.

    However, Mathias was even more worried about Nial because his expressions looked bad, to put it nicely.

    It was obvious that Nial was trying to shoulder all the responsibility of mankind by himself.

    But that was something foolish. It was only obvious that a single individual wouldn''t be able to protect everyone, even less for someone at the 3rd Origin rank.

    Nial might be stronger than Mathias and many young Originals, who were deemed as prodigies, but he was still weaker than a lot more Originals than he presumed.<sub> </sub>

    Miranda was a great example if they were to talk about the peak of mankind''s strength.

    She was powerful, knowledgeable, and had a vast range of connections.

    It would take a while for Nial and the others to reach her level. Maybe they would never attain her strength, to begin with.

    Too many prodigies had lost their lives in their pursuit of power and strength, even more so young Originals, who were too arrogant, thinking that they were destined to be the rulers of the world!

    Some sumbed to their fate and met their demise while conquering dungeons, while others were simply killed or crippled owing to unforeseen incidents.

    There were even a handful of Originals that were killed by the government because the said prodigious Originals showed signs of being vile and treacherous.

    But none of that was of Nial''s concern. Despite Mathias'' attempts to give him some reassurance, Nial was still worried.

    That was also why he looked at Be with an unsure expression, not knowing what he should do with Nial.

    Mathias'' eyes were begging for help, ''Don''t stay idle, and help me please!''

    Thus, Be thought of something before saying,

    "You know Nial, Miranda might be considered as the current peak attainable for mankind, but you shouldn''t forget that she already belongs to the older generation.

    I have heard of quite a few rather young prodigies, who are bound to reach higher realms than her! As long as they receive some runic armaments, their progression speed will elerate even further.

    ording to the rumors, some of them have been able to create Superior Origin rings as well. They will soon be stronger than Miranda, that would further strengthen our shelter''s defense, okay?"

    Be tried her utmost to reassure Nial, and it was somewhat helpful.

    However, even then, Nial thought that these beings who created Superior Origin rings might as well be reincarnations or replicas of Gods.

    But as this thought was not helpful, he averted his attention once again.

    "Alright, I understand¡­" Taking a few deep breaths, Nial felt that his tendency to overthink everything was simply too bothersome.

    As such, he forced a smile on his lips before stepping towards the door that led back to the hallway of the tower''s third floor.

    "In that case, shall we plunder the entire tower, and amass a huge fortune?"

    Once Nial had been able to clear his mind, the tension within his body started to disperse.

    This was a great feeling, even more so because it was necessary to be calm and vignt to identify and avoid all the traps around him.

    He couldn''t allow himself to be distracted by something else than the information gathered by all of his senses.

    After all, he would be able to prepare for the activation of specific traits as long as he could feel, hear, smell and sense his surroundings properly.

    By being fully focused, Nial''s earlier worries turned insignificant. He didn''t even give them another second of his time.

    This drastic change in Nial''s stance and demeanor astonished Be and Mathias a little bit but they were rather happy about it than worried.

    They followed Nial while keeping their eyes and ears trained on their surrounding area to perceive everything.

    Using their eyes to see what Nial may be unable to perceive, the two supported Nial.

    That was not necessary but it allowed them to be more efficient in plundering the remaining rooms on the third and fourth floor.

    It took them seven days to achieve this, but that was perfectly fine, and a much shorter duration than they presumed to require.

    What they had found were mostly ungraded runic armaments simr to the ones they already owned.

    In addition to that, they found quite a few blueprints for the creation process of different types of ungraded and Tier-0 runic armaments.

    There were also a handful of blueprints for Tier-1 runic armaments in their possession, followed by several hundred books that provided profound knowledge about Runiciers, the materials they used for runic constetions and so on!

    Nial was slowly gaining interest in runic armaments. Heprehended that he would be able to be, at least, twice as strong as he was right now, just by using a bunch of Tier-0 runic armaments.

    As long as he used them properly, it was not unlikely for him to be able to increase his prowess even further.

    Thus, he was looking forward to creating runic armaments by himself, or together with Be and Mathias.

    ''Creating runic armaments by myself would allow me toprehend more about the armaments I craft, their use, and their limitations!''

    All three of them were quite intrigued about bing Runiciers. However, in order to produce runic armaments, one required more than just a Runicier.

    One had to concoct the correct runic solution to inscribe the runic constetions on the armament that had to be freshly forged and while it was still being tempered!

    That was also why he, Be and Mathias were currently contemting what to do in order to be the most efficient in the creation process of runic armaments.

    They didn''t even realize that they had already reached the fifth floor, and when they looked around, they were stunned to find that the entire floor waspletely different to the third and fourth floor!

    "Just¡­what is this?"

 Chapter 152 Filthy Rich

    What entered Be and Mathias'' sight the moment they entered the fifth floor was a whole floor filled with runic armaments!

    Not only were there numerous weapon stands exhibiting powerful weapons, but even the armors they saw released a terrifying pressure.

    The presence of every single piece of runic armament was clearly perceptible. When Nial sensed this, he couldn''t help but smile oddly.

    It was truly unexpected to encounter so many runic armaments. This was even more so the case because the three could clearly sense that amongst the sea of runic armaments there were a handful of them powerful enough to momentarily suppress their movements.

    Only after several seconds passed was Nial able to move.

    "Why didn''t my Mana sense perceive all of these runic armaments?" Nial was utterly dumbfounded.

    He was pretty sure that his range of perception had reached the tower''s fifth floor and he could also tell that there were some runic armaments in the entire tower.

    However, what he hadn''t been able to perceive were the Tier-1 runic armaments that were collecting dust on the tower''s fifth floor.

    Nial could only smile drily as he used his mana fluctuations to shroud every single piece of equipment.

    There were, at least, 100 Tier-0 runic armaments in the entire room that resembled more of a treasure vault than anything else.

    Tier-0 runic armaments may not beparable to Tier-1 armaments, but each of them was still several times more powerful than the few items Nial and his friends possessed.

    Even the Viper spear was much worse than stronger Tier-0 runic armaments.

    Swallowing nervously, Nial''s eyes shone in delight as his desire to inspect every single piece of runic armament in the room increased manifold.

    Mathias and Be were itching to get their hands on the numerous armaments just like him. That was also why Mathias took his first step ahead, his impatience pushing him forward.

    "Stop!" Be suddenly shouted in an rmed voice, causing Mathias to freeze. This was exactly what she wanted to happen before she calmly added,

    "We don''t know if the runic armaments are connected to traps. I really don''t want to die, so let''s be a little bit more careful and not rush hastily!"

    It was only obvious that none of them was eager to die. After Be''s warning, they decided to move with vignce and focused on their surroundings.

    However, it didn''t take them long to understand that only the first four floors had been filled with lethal traps of all kinds.

    This realization made the three youths swiftly lower their guard. When looking at the runic armaments in the room, none of them was able to calm down their trembling hands and thumping hearts.

    Thus, in a matter of minutes, Nial and the others grabbed a Tier-1 runic armament each and began testing it out.

    "The mana consumption is so low!" Mathias eximed while holding a small wand.

    He thought that it resembled the wands used in various movies he had seen in his past life.

    As such, he was naturally attracted to them, just to realize that his mana consumption while manifesting Earth spears and other elemental attacks were extremely low.

    His control over the earthen projectiles around him had increased as well.

    ''Just by conjuring my Elemental affinity through the wand, my mana consumption decreased by more than 10%! With the increased control, I might even be able to conjure four more earthen projectiles considering my current proficiency of the Earth affinity!''

    It was only obvious for Mathias to be shocked. Despite not appearing to be anything extraordinary at the first nce, the 30 centimeters long ck wand in Mathias'' hand was an extremely powerful runic armament.

    Made from a nk of rare, mana-afine wood, and numerous ck, and untraceable runes inscribed on them, it was able to release effects that increased Mathias'' strength by far more than 30%!

    That was not something any kind of Common weapon made by humans was capable of achieving.

    Even Superior grade weapons used by Originals at the Prym and even Seclon rank were incapable of achieving such a feat.

    ? Maybe mythical Superior grade wands could exhibit a simr or even the same effect, but only a handful of such items had been manufactured until now.

    Furthermore, one required Advanced Origin rings to wield such a Mythical Superior grade wand, which was entirely different from the Tier-1 wand Mathias was able to wield.

    The Seclon rank was what Originals attained while possessing anywhere between four to six Origin rings.

    Thus, for them to be barely able to wield a Mythical Superior grade wand was a big thing. After all, it had the same effect as a Tier-1 wand, which could be used by an Origin rank Original, turning it into a phenomenal achievement.

    But this clearly showed just how terrifying the existence of runic armaments was, and also how weak mankind''s technology development was.

    Nial could only shake his head while smiling bitterly as well.

    His heart had already been prepared to receive a shock because the memories of thete Darkness God had already warned him in advance.

    There were far more shocking things the memories had shown him than the might of Tier-1 runic armaments.

    As such, he believed that it would be no problem for him to stay unbothered when testing out the true strength behind a spear, whose tip was fiery hot.

    The name engraved on the spear was Dragonme, which was quite suitable.<sub> </sub>

    By inserting some mana into the Dragonme spear, it was possible for Nial to choose from a wide variety of options. He could either increase the sharpness, and endurance of the weapon, heat up the de, or manifest a zing me that would envelop the de as well.

    Nial tested out all functions without hesitation. The mana consumption of the rather ordinary functions was not high. However, the effects he could achieve were quite drastic, outssing the runes that had been inscribed in the Viper spear.

    Recalling the high praises the Viper spear had received before, whether it was his own words or the people around him, Nial couldn''t help but smile.

    ''The Dragonme spear is several times sharper than the Viper spear in its unenhanced form¡­If I add the superior runic constetions inscribed on the Dragonme spear to it, the heat its de can create and the mes it releases have an additional destructive factor¡­''

    Nial felt a shudder run down his spine.

    He couldn''t imagine that anyone would leave such valuable pieces of Tier-1 runic armaments behind to bite dust.

    That was simply unimaginable and made one particr question arise in his mind.

    ''Who materialized the Ancient ruins dungeon, and what is the goal behind its creation?''

    Shaking his head, Nial wielded the Dragonme spear around him. It was roughly 2.2 meters long, with a broad 30-centimeter-long de at the tip.

    Nial may not be able to see the colors of the Dragonme spear, but he could clearly visualize the weapon thanks to his range of perception.

    It was possible for him to sense that the staff had two bulgings metal rings that were evenly spaced along the length of the staff.

    Reaching for them, he touched it and immediately sensed that his ability to control the mana inside the Dragonme spear increased quite a bit. In fact, he felt that a faint connection was built between him and the Dragonme spear.

    This made it seem as if the Dragonme spear became an extension of his arms.

    Feeling ted, he continued to wield it for a few minutes. Nial was pretty sure that the Tier-1 runic armament had been crafted by a Master cksmith and Runicier!

    ''Even Intermediate cksmiths and Runiciers are able to create Tier-1 runic armaments¡­so why would these few Tier-1 runic armaments be here?! They''re worth a fortune!''

    Turning his attention over to Be, who had put on a metal chestte, Nial could only shake his head.

    He could clearly sense that Be''s physical strength was enhanced while inserting mana in the ten chestte.

    At the same time, it was not difficult for him to sense thepressedyer of protection that shrouded the chestte.

    The runic armor increased Be''s physical strength and defensive means significantly.

    Her enhancements were not enough topare the runic armor with the Tier-1 weapon Nial and Mathias had picked up.

    However, if one wore an entire armor made out of Tier-1 runic armaments, the drastic enhancement one would receive was best left to the imagination

    Nial could only smile drily as he stored the Dragonme spear away. He tested out several more armaments to his heart''s content before he stored everything inside his spatial ring.

    The more he thought about the given situation, the weirder he felt about it.

    They had only faced some Goblins and a hundred or so traps! Was that was enough for them to be rewarded with a fortune of hundreds of books, and more than 108 Tier-0 and 8 Tier-1 runic armaments??

    The value of the Tier-1 runic armaments was tremendous, to put it simply, while the umted fortune they were bound to receive from the Tier-0 runic armaments ought to be simr.

    Even if they were to sell only a third of their gains from one tower, Nial, Be, and Mathias would be influential, and wealthy to the extent that they might have trouble thinking of ways to use up the fortune in a lifetime!

    This was somewhat scary when one thought about it.

    In a mere week, they became filthy rich, and they would be able to advance mankind''s technological stance to an unprecedented level.

    But at the same time, Nial and the others had to be careful.

    After all, they had not yet left the ancient ruins dungeon¡­and neither were they ready to leave anytime soon.

    There was still a pce they wanted to enter, especially because the loot inside it should exceed everything they got their hands on in the ruins of the tower so far!

    **

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 Chapter 153 Mental Suppression

    "We should leave the dungeon to sell a portion of our loot, right? Otherwise, if the other Originals too show up with their procured goods, the price we can get will only deteriorate!"

    Mathias was slightly worried about the fortune they could procure.

    As such, he wanted to return to the Teradan military camp as quickly as possible.

    Nial was pretty sure that his friend''s worries were for naught and that the runic armaments they procured wouldn''t fetch them a low price.

    However, even a slight decrease in the price of every single runic armament was more than enough to possibly end up with much less than they were predicting right now.

    "Well, even if we want to sell them right now, the ungraded armaments won''t be worth as much as before. On the other hand, the Tier-0 runic armaments might be sold for a slightly higher price than the runic armaments we sold before.

    There should already be a much bigger supply of all types of runic armaments we have. But we can still leave to make a higher profit." Be summed up the situation quite well.

    It was highly likely that some Originals had already sold various Runisciers'' books and runic armaments to the government.

    That being said, the fortune Mathias wanted to obtain ought to be a mere dream.

    He expected too much, which was discernible in his brightly gleaming eyes.

    "Let''s leave then." Nial suggested so as to not further trample on Mathias'' shattered dream.

    Leaving the half-destroyed tower, the group of three returned to the dungeon portal. Their mind was at ease as they walked through the huge jungle.

    They passed by numerous Originals wearing military uniforms. At first, this astonished Mathias a little bit.

    However, after some time had passed, he remembered the report of the military, and that they had announced to send more junior Soldier candidates to the ancient ruins dungeon.

    This was their means to secure the runic armaments, books, and other pieces of information without the need to use massive amounts of military merit points, or millions of dors in exchange.

    But even then, what Nial and the others didn''t expect to encounter was that a small military base had been constructed. It was set up in the open area around the dungeon portal that led them back to the nameless ind.

    Dozens of huge tents that looked just like transportable houses flocked the surrounding area of the dungeon portal.

    And the most interesting in this situation was the fact that a huge fence was constructed around the base.

    There were only four entrances, one for each direction, with more than 10 Soldiers guarding each entrance.

    None of the junior Soldiers exceeded the age of 20 or the 7th Origin rank.

    However, even if their rank was simr to the majority of participants of the Teradan military camp, their presence came off as strong and unyielding.

    From a single look, one could tell that the Soldiers, who guarded the base, had been tempered in the deepest parts of hell.

    At least that was what it looked like. Their facial expressions were ice-cold, and their presence terrified even the most prodigious Originals.

    This was a simple demonstration on how much of a difference actualbat experience waspared to what the prodigious Originals had gathered until now.

    Other than securing the safety of the base in the ancient ruins dungeon, the military wanted to show off their strongest junior Soldier Units.

    Understanding this was not difficult, and rather obvious because the dangers from within the ancient ruins dungeon were minuscule, to put it simply.

    Not a single beast would want to leave the ancient ruins dungeon. At least, Nial didn''t sense a single beast in the proximity of the dungeon portal.

    Rather, it was more likely for them to keep a safe distance from the military base, either because of the dungeon portal or the soldiers.

    The longer Nial observed the junior Soldiers'' mana fluctuations, the deeper his understanding of them got.

    They were iparably stronger than most prodigious Soldiers despite possessing a much lower talent.

    Nial felt that this was the best demonstration of how powerful Originals could be as long as they gave their utmost to be stronger.

    Limits only existed to allow Originals to break them, learn more about their body''s needs, andprehend what it would take to ovee even more terrifying hurdles in the future!

    While most Originals sensed a terrifying pressure radiating from the junior Soldiers, Nial could only smile faintly. These soldiers had been tempered to endure and released something called mental suppression.

    He felt the mental suppression as well, but it didn''t affect him that much. At most, it weakened his senses a little bit, while preventing him from being fully focused on the surroundings.

    This sensation was quite weird, but it interested Nial, which was why he kept approaching the nearest gate.

    The 10 Soldiers were currently whisking a few prodigious Originals. They released their mental suppression straight at the young Originals, who were utterly dumbfounded.

    "10% of all loot procured inside the ancient ruins will be handed over to us as a protection fee!!" The tallest of the ten junior Soldiers suddenly announced, astonishing Nial quite a bit.

    "W..What kind of bullshit are you spouting?" One of the younger Originals, who had been asked to stop at the entry point asked, utterly dumbfounded.

    They only entered the ancient ruins dungeon because they had been ordered to do so.

    They didn''t earn a lot by entering the ancient ruins dungeon. In fact, mostrger groups of Originals had entered the towers, and looted everything they could get their hands on within the first two days before leaving the towers.

    Only small teams were left behind in the ruins of the towers in order to pilfer through the scraps left behind on the fourth and fifth floor.

    Most prodigious Originals understood the value the runic armaments held. They had been taught in business, how to determine whether a certain object was valuable and much more.

    But that was especially where their greed manifested as the said prodigious Originals could tell that their time was better used in entering the pce.<sub> </sub>

    It would have taken them, at least, two weeks to clear the fourth and fifth floor of the towers they had entered.

    That was why they left behind some of their people to clear these two floors while going ahead to the pce.

    Little did they know that the fifth floor of every tower could bepared to barracks or highly valuable storage for all kinds of runic armaments which they had missed out on. After all, the first three floors had only been filled with books or other simr items.

    However, even if they were to know about it, it was quite obvious that they would find even more treasures in the pce.

    But what everyone seemed to forget was the fact that more treasures indicated more dangers, and facing more intelligent beasts such as HobGoblins that resided there!

    This was something Nial had already perceived within his range of perception quite a while ago.

    Though none of this would matter in the situation that unfolded right in front of them.

    The junior Soldiers acted in an overbearing manner while demanding 10% of all gains they procured in the ancient ruins dungeon.

    This was quite weird, considering that there was no need for protection and that they had been told to enter the ancient ruins dungeon by the military itself.

    "If your team doesn''t want to give us what we want, we will take it from you by force! Endure our attacks for one minute without copsing on the ground, and you are free to leave without paying the protection fee."

    The moment Nial heard this, he understood what was going on.

    "So that''s how it is!" He merely mumbled, making Mathias and Be turn to look at him.

    "What do you mean? They''re just too overbearing, yet you''re so calm?! What if they really take 10% of our gains? That will allow them to be wealthy tycoons in a matter of seconds!"

    Nial justughed when he heard Mathias''parison.

    His expression turned serious once he calmed down. The corners of his mouth curled upward as he began to approach the soldiers once again.

    While he approached them, they had already beaten up the first group of prodigious Originals.

    "Spare us, please!! We will give you the protection fee, but stop beating up our people!!" It was the voice of the leader of the small group of five that had been surrounded by the junior Soldiers.

    Be could only knit her brows at this sight. The junior Soldiers did only stop hitting and kicking the Originals once they copsed on the ground.

    This was not only a harrowing sight for everyone, who saw this as a bystander but also humiliating for the young Originals who were subjected to the cruelty.

    They didn''t even have the necessary time to think about initiating a fight. Instead, they had been forced to try enduring attacks that caused their bones to crack as if they were about to break into thousands of tiny pieces.

    While Be was disgusted at this sight, Nial couldn''t help but be a little bit intrigued.

    ''Is that a martial art technique?'' Nial was pretty sure that the thin membrane of mana that shrouded the junior Soldiers'' fists and feet was something special, something that couldn''t be created just by enveloping one''s body with a thinyer of mana.

    Nial could tell that even enveloping his hands with the ck miasma wouldn''t give him the same result.

    After all, the mana released by the junior Soldiers seemed to be directly connected to their fists. His range of perception could clearly detect the things that urred around him.

    Thus, Nial was also able to tell that all junior Soldiers were using the same technique with the sole difference being theirprehension.

    This was quite interesting, which was also why Nial''s hands began to itch.

    He was eager to find out how powerful the junior Soldiers truly were. Nial didn''t even think of paying the protection fee.

    There were multiple reasons for him not to feel like paying the protection fee, with one of them being the simple fact that he was stronger than the junior Soldiers, to begin with!

    None of them needed the junior Soldier''s ''protection''. But that was especially the reason why he was eager to find out what they were doing here in the first ce.

    After all, there was something interesting Nial had sensed when ''looking'' at the way the junior Soldiers used their mental suppression to intimidate the others.

    Some of them seemed reluctant and as if they had acted against their principles.

    That being said, Nial was quite intrigued when the prodigious and beaten-up Originals from before entered the base.

    Their expressions were filled with regret and frustration, but there was nothing they could do against it.

    Meanwhile, the junior Soldiers had already turned to Nial and the others, a devious smile creeping up the lips of the tallest Soldier as he saw the expression on their faces.

    It was obvious that they were reluctant to give up their procured items in exchange of some absurd protection fee.

    But that was exactly what the tallest of the junior Soldiers had hoped for!

    "10% of all loot procured inside the ancient ruins wi¨C.." However, even before the junior Soldier could finish his sentence, Nial''s fist was shrouded in dark energy.

    In an instant, he disappeared from his earlier spot. Nial appeared right in front of the junior Soldier with an expression that terrified everyone who saw him at that moment.

    A momentter his fist sted forward, connecting with the abdomen of the unguarded junior Soldier.

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel, leave your golden tickets and powerstones with me. If you like my writing style, test out my other novels. All of them belong to one big Multiverse. You might find the characters and hints about certain events in other novels :P.

    Link to my Discord is in my profile]

 Chapter 154 Fistfight

    Nial didn''t show any signs of hesitation, let alone mercy as he emerged in front of the tallest soldier.

    The seemingly simple attack he had executed was powerful enough to prate the defense of his opponent, providing Nial the momentum he needed to continue with his onught.

    After the first punch that he shoved hard into the junior Soldier''s abdomen, Nial shortened the gap and inched closer to issue a second attack.

    His other fist fiercely punched out, reaching the junior Soldier''s side in an instant.

    Shrouded in dark energy, Nial''s attack was strong enough to break a rib or two at once.

    And that was exactly what Nial was out for.

    Gritting his teeth, a cold expression appeared on his face as his second attack reached the junior Soldier.

    However, that was not it. Nial was not yet done, which could be seen as hended another three punches within a single second.

    Nial had nned to overwhelm his opponent, and to give him no chance to retaliate in the slightest.

    This was thoroughly achieved as the junior Soldiernded on the ground while groaning in pain.

    While Nial''s attack was fierce owing to his brute force, that was not everything! The remnants of his dark energy had been transferred to the junior Soldier the moment Nial''s fist collided with his body and touched his skin.

    Thus, the aftermath was only slowly unveiled. It would take a minute or two before the expressions of the junior Soldier were bound to turn even worse than the grimace that had already appeared on his face.

    After seeing their leader on the ground, the other junior Soldiers didn''t remain idle either.

    In the first second, they had been too baffled but now that they had regained their senses and their expressions turned serious.

    Based on the power-packed punches, Nial made use of the junior Soldiers and could immediately tell that Nial''s strength was far above the number of ergings his mana core had undergone and even rivaled their ownbat strength.

    While being at the 3rd Origin rank, Nial should never be able to exhibit such powerful punches.

    As such, the others were more careful right now. Some of the junior Soldiers were even ready to unsheath their weapons.

    But that was something they had been forbidden to do by the government. Their task was a different one, and only if their opponent were to point a weapon at them would they be allowed to unsheath their own.

    However, Nial was standing there, his fists inches away from the soldier''s face as if he was ready to continue fighting.

    Saying that Nial was standing doing nothing. After all, there was no necessity for him to do so.

    The only thing he had to ensure was that the other junior Soldiers would not attack him.

    This was something Nial figured out after a mere second as his range of perception detected their battle intent, which was more than enough to tell that they had yet to give up.

    Nial thus inserted mana in the Curse [Hodur''s Heir], releasing ck miasma in an explosive manner.

    He didn''t n to shroud everyone with his ck miasma, but he wished to use it more as a distraction for the junior Soldiers.

    They were truly distracted for a moment but it didn''t affect them much.

    Because they were already fully focused and ready to fight, their mind and body had already entered a battle mode.

    This allowed them to prevent being affected by most distractions. At the same time, the slightest changes in their surrounding area could be detected easily.

    As such, the remaining nine junior Soldiers could clearly detect the sudden earth walls that emerged seemingly out of nowhere.

    Not only Mathias but also Be had been astonished that Nial resorted to such drastic action as to attack one of the junior Soldiers, who had been guarding the dungeon portal and the small base that had been built.

    Even now, they were unsure what exactly Nial''s n was.

    However, as they were a team, they would take the responsibility for his actions together, and based on their experience while interacting with Nial his two friends were also pretty sure that Nial was not someone to act rashly.

    That meant there was something Be and Mathias overlooked, while Nial had been able to detect it.

    Thus, by making use of the ck shroud that hid them from the junior Soldiers, Mathias was able to create several earth walls all around them without the need to fear getting attacked.

    With one earthen wall, Mathias split up the junior Soldiers, only for the remaining walls to block off the Soldiers'' path of retreat.

    On the other hand, Be had activated [Outburst] while releasing mana to shroud her hands and feet in a simr manner as the junior Soldiers were doing.

    Be shot through the ck shroud and focused on attacking the five junior Soldiers. They were closer to her spot, while the remaining four junior Soldiers were on the left side of Nial.

    A faint smile emerged on her face the moment she emerged from the ck shroud and stood facing the junior Soldiers whose expression was extremely bad, to put it simply.

    They hadpletely forgotten about the existence of Nial''s teammates as the blind young man had been the only one to attack them.

    Bell and Mathias had just been looking at the situation in confusion and were dumbfounded before.

    As such, their intervention had been very unlikely.

    But even then, some junior Soldiers had kept an eye on Be and Mathias for some time, only for the ck shroud to forcefully avert their attention to Nial.

    The young Original had emerged from the ck shroud first, catapulting his toned body at the closest junior Soldier.

    This was more than enough distraction for Be to gain a tremendous advantage in the fight against the five junior Soldiers.

    She threw a mere nce to her left to see how Nial was faring before her own fight started.

    However, when she saw that Nial''s entire body radiated tiny traces of dark energy, her heart began to beat frantically while her hair began to gleam in a golden light.

    Even without meaning to, she had activated her Innate ability [Celestial transformation] subconsciously.

    It was only for a short moment but Be noticed once again that her innate ability wanted to tell her something about Nial.

    To her misfortune, this was certainly not good. Be was not sure what exactly was going on but she felt that the moment she was to unveil the truth behind her Innate ability''s weird reaction, things would change¡­drastically.<sub> </sub>

    As such, she was grateful that her Innate ability didn''t reveal anything to her. This was the best that could happen.

    Just at this moment, Be sensed that someone rushed toward her. A fist burst forward, barely reaching her.

    Only due to her instincts and fast reflexes was it possible for Be to lean backward and evade it.

    Simultaneously, as she leaned backward her leg kicked out, hitting the soldier.

    With a loud thump sound, the junior Soldier fell to the side.

    As her Innate ability had been activated for a short moment, thebined force Be''s mana created with the [Outburst] ability fully unleashed was more than enough to fling the Soldier against the earthen wall to their left.

    Moving rapidly, Be made use of her momentum to regain her bnce. Afterward, she pushed ahead, advancing to the other junior Soldiers.

    As both her Innate ability and the [Outburst] ability were activated, her strength was simply unparalleled in the face of the opponents she was fighting with.

    Meanwhile, Nial was also giving his best. The four junior Soldiers he faced were a lot weaker than the tall junior Soldier he had already defeated.

    But that was not important as he was fighting four opponents at the same time right now.

    This made things far more difficult but he loved the challenge. Thus, he quickly circted mana through his body, and his strength increased considerably.

    Simultaneously, the dark energy that shrouded his hands was slowly moving alongside his arms, covering parts of his forearm.

    At the first nce, this didn''t make much of a difference, but that was only the case until Nial blocked the punch of the Soldier, who was the closest to him.

    He lifted his arms to block the attack, and the Soldier''s fist impacted on his forearms.

    At that moment, the junior Soldiers expected Nial to cry out in pain and to hear a cracking noise.

    But in the end, none of that happened.

    Instead, it was the expression of their ownrade that turned sour and was filled with pain.

    ''So fucking hard!''

    Not only was dark energy extremely powerful to enhance attacks, and weaken his opponents severely but its capabilities to defend and to enhance Nial''s defensive traits were quite high as well.

    Dark energy was mostly used for the purpose of attacking and killing as it was the best weapon to make use of in such situations, however, its versatility should never be underestimated.

    Being of less use in specific situations didn''t actually mean that something was weak let alone entirely useless.

    That was something Nial had figured out not too long ago.

    He gained a deeper understanding of the dark energy within the darkness domain.

    While he faced the primary Trials of the Gods, Nial had already gained little understanding of the dark energy.

    There was still a lot to learn, but this was perfectly fine. After all, this only indicated that he was still able to improve a lot.

    He could continue to be stronger as long as heprehended more about his dark energy. This was perfect, and something Nial would love to focus on.

    But his rank at the 3rd Origin rank was simply too low to utilize dark energy or the ck miasma in the ways he wanted to.

    Too little mana resided in his mana core despite it having been erged after absorbing the Lesser Titan youngling''s heart!

    Fortunately, that was of no concern in the current fight as his steel-like forearms were more than enough to block off the attacks that tried to hit him.

    The initial shock of the closest junior Soldier was used to his advantage as Nial initiated a counterattack right off the bat.

    Instead of punching him, Nial''s t hand shot out at a rapid speed, reaching the Soldier''s neck.

    Hitting one of the major arteries at the junior Soldier''s neck, Nial was able to knock out the Soldier at once.

    Nial didn''t even have the time to catch his breath after he knocked out the Soldier as his range of perception sensed the approach of another junior Soldier to his left.

    He ducked, evading the fist that was supposed to knock him out, just to shoot upward a momentter.

    With a clean uppercut, Nial''s next attack knocked out one more opponent.

    Afterward, only two junior Soldiers were left conscious.

    But they were no problem for Nial to tackle because his strength was more than enough to inflict fear in the hearts of the junior Soldiers.

    And the moment one was afraid to face an opponent, losing the battle was only a matter of time.

    This was exactly what happened to the junior Soldiers.

    They might have gained tremendousbat experience and powerfulbat techniques to overwhelm their opponents, but there were still limits to both.

    And despite being able to release and endure mental pressure, Nial''s ice-cold expression and his terrific presence that easily overwhelmed theirrades, who were, in fact, stronger than them, was more than enough to deprive them of their fully focused state and calm demeanor.

    Thus, Nial faced no problems in defeating his opponents. After he finished his fight, Nial used his range of perception to take a look at how Be was faring.

    Everything seemed to be fine and Be defeated the remaining opponents less than a minuteter.

    In the end, a total of ten junior Soldiers had been defeated by a small team of three young Originals, with only two fighting actively while Mathias was their support on stand-by.

    Nial took a few steps backward before a faint smile emerged on his face.

    "I guess I can pass through the entrance without paying anything. Please ask your senior to give me a good score, thanks." Nial said in a rather nonchnt manner while looking at the still groaning tall junior Soldier, whom he had defeated at first.

    "What do you mean by ''score''?"

 Chapter 155 Thorough Pain

    "What do you mean by ''score''?"

    Mathias looked at Nial in confusion. He had yet to understand the reason for the junior Soldiers to have been stationed at the base within the ancient ruins dungeon.

    This told Nial once again that Mathias was rather simple-minded and that his friend was quite naive as well.

    "I think what Nial means is that you can consider the ''protection fee'' and the appearance of the junior Soldiers as a part of the Teradan military camp''s mission."

    Be''s answer was quite simple. In response to her, Mathias nodded his head in a faint notion before he turned his head in Nial''s direction.

    "A hidden test was it? So¡­the team of Originals that was in front of us failed?"

    He wanted to know what was on Nial''s mind, but his friend just shrugged his shoulders.

    "Well, the test was quite obviously not very well hidden, right?" Nial asked him a counter-question before thinking something through.

    "But I don''t actually believe that the military will let the Originals in front of us fail. They might just get a low evaluation score. Of course, I don''t know that for sure."

    In Mathias'' opinion, Nial was way too calm right now. Maybe, it was just his misconception but Mathias believed that his friend might have already gauged that something like this would happen.

    Even if Be could now understand the situation in front of her, this had not been the case at the very beginning.

    Otherwise, she would have initiated the fight against the junior Soldiers even before Nial.

    Mathias could not say that Be was overly ambitious or anything like that, but from what he understood about her, she hated those who abused their power.

    That was also why Mathias had been so astonished that Nial was the first to move instead of Be.

    ''Maybe she was worried about getting us in trouble with her?'' He thought while he kept looking at Nial.

    His friend was extremely calm as the dark energy that had surrounded him was retracted.

    Nial used quite a bit of his mana but he didn''t look exhausted.

    Rather, owing to the high mana density within the ancient ruins dungeon, Nial was able to replenish the used-up mana rather quickly.

    "Shall we leave?" Nial simply asked, unable to act as if he couldn''t sense Mathias'' stare on him.

    "Eh¡­yeah, ok." Mathias replied as his gaze flitted to the unconscious junior Soldiers.

    "...but shouldn''t we do something about them?"

    He was a little bit worried that something bad might happen.

    Even if there were not that many beasts in the surrounding area, there were still a handful.

    They could have heard themotion of their battle, and sensed an opportunity to kill the unconscious junior Soldiers as easy prey if they were to be left behind.

    Nial just smiled dryly, understanding that Mathias was overthinking.

    "What should we do to them? Should we rob them?" Teasing Mathias, Nial''s smile grew wider as he sensed Mathias'' shock.

    Meanwhile, Be just shook her head before intervening in the discussion that was about to turn even more a waste of time than before.

    "The junior Soldiers from within the base should have heard our fight already, so let''s leave. There is literally no reason to pay any more attention to the unconscious junior Soldiers!"

    Be walked around the earthen walls and unconscious junior Soldiers once she finished speaking.

    Nial followed her at once, showing no concern about the possibility of some beasts attacking the base, while Mathias could only sigh deeply.

    ''She is probably right, I''m just overthinking again¡­''

    He quickly rushed after Nial and Be and not even half a minute passed before Mathias saw that other junior Soldiers rushed to the gate they had entered through.

    This calmed Mathias'' mind, and a faint smile emerged on his face as he kept looking at both of his friends.

    ''They''re really weird¡­but in a good way!''

    For a very long time, Mathias had felt lonely and desperate owing to his unique circumstances.

    It was not normal to reincarnate in a world that was somewhat modern but reigned by sword and magic.

    While the technological advancement on Jundra was simr to the ce he hailed from, Mathias could only cower at the mere thought of dungeons, beasts, and the fact that one could wield mana to achieve things that ought to be impossible.

    The dangers of Jundra had been one reason for Mathias to be a petrified soul, even after receiving the opportunity to turn over his life by reincarnating as a little baby.

    But the dangers that swept through Jundra were only one of many reasons for him to be unable to make friends.

    Only when he had been told to enter the Teradan military camp to be stronger did his personality change.

    Maybe Nial and Be didn''t understand how important their influence had been on him, but Mathias knew just how much rxed he was only to feel their presence right next to him.

    And that was something he was thankful for. They didn''t try to act overly friendly with him and let him be his own self.

    If they did not like something, both Nial and Be would tell him that. There was no need to hold back anything from them, even more so because Nial was exposing one secret of his after another.

    This may seem like a foolish tactic for some people, but Mathias liked this way of Nial''s thinking.

    He was rather simple, yet also somewhat mysterious.<sub> </sub>

    The three friends had not spoken about their families, their background, and so on but from the way all of them acted, Nial seemed to belong to a humble background and a doting family.

    On the other hand, Be was more disciplined and strict, which made people presume that her background was quite solid and of a certain standard¡­high standards to be exact.

    As they left the ancient ruins dungeon, Mathias was still deep in thoughts. He kept thanking his friends in his head and questioned himself if it was time for him to expose his most important secret.

    However, after giving it considerable thought, Mathias could only shake his head.

    ''In the future, I will tell them¡­definitely!''

    Mathias was not ready for now, but that was perfectly fine as everyone had their own burden and responsibilities to shoulder.

    Nial had already realized that Mathias was deep in thoughts.

    He may not know what was going on, but his friend''s expressions changed several times in a single minute.

    That was also why he began to think that it might be best to distract his friend.

    There was no need for Mathias to start overthinking anything, not right now, at least.

    "How many runic armaments should we sell? And what are we supposed to do with the books we looted from the Tower?"

    Nial was of the opinion that they should only sell most of the runic armaments. On the other hand, the books they looted were too valuable to give away.

    Rather, he thought that they should study the books before trying to turn the theoretical knowledge they would gain into practical use.

    Earlier Nial had been pretty sure that it was not necessary for them to learn more about runic armaments and Runiciers.

    After all, it was quite obvious that mankind would start focusing on nurturing many Runiciers as the use of runic armaments was unfathomable and irreceable to further mankind''s advancement.

    But even Nial underestimated their use, along with the fact that it was possible for Tier-1 runic armaments to be used by Originals at the Origin rank.

    The importance and true potential of runic armaments was not even something thete Darkness God''s memories had told him about.

    That was also one of the reasons he changed his initial opinion about bing a Runicier.

    While it could have been considered a waste of his precious time beforehand, Nial was not confident that it was best to create his own runic armaments!

    It was obvious that he would take some time to study everything, and that the required practice would shorten the time he could use to improve in other fields but Nial was fine with this!

    "I think we should sell all ungraded runic armaments and the majority of Tier-0 runic armaments. That way we can keep all Tier-1 runic armaments and some of the Tier-0 runic armaments with us.

    As for the books, how about we keep all of them for now? It might hinder mankind''s advance if we act like this, but that shouldn''t be much of an issue because the other Originals are likely to sell everything they looted from the other towers!"

    Mathias was happy to be able to distract his mind from the thought of revealing his deepest secret.

    That was also why he revealed his thoughts about selling the runic armaments and the other loot they procured in one of the towers that surrounded the pce within the ancient ruins dungeon.

    "How about we sell all ungraded runic armaments but only a third Tier-0 runic armaments? After all, we won''t always need the military''s merit points.

    Bartering Tier-0 runic armaments should be quite useful in the future, even selling some of them to merchants outside the Teradan military camp will bring us some money.

    It will take a while before the government can start mass-producing runic armaments, after all! That means the value of runic armaments outside the Teradan military camp will stay high for quite a while!

    We might even be able to use them to gain favors from powerful families."

    Be''s train of thought was already more advanced than it was the case for Nial and Mathias. They were still thinking about using the current situation in order to make the most out of their gains.

    Be was simply thinking about the long-term profits.

    As such, she was already far ahead of her friends'' thoughts, which was clearly visible.

    "But I agree with Mathias. We shouldn''t sell any of the books so that we can stay at an advantage!

    They kept discussing their next course of action for quite a while before stepping through the dungeon portal to return to the nameless ind.

    When they were finally outside the ancient ruins dungeon, Nial and the others immediately understood that the government focused on advancing humanity in the ancient ruins dungeon.

    Several merchants had set up a stall near the ancient ruins dungeon portal, while the Originals association had even constructed a device to test the mana conductivity of runic armaments.

    That was one of the easier ways to figure out the grade of a runic armament.

    It was not perfect, but by scanning the inscribed runic constetions and testing the runic armaments to determine their use and potency made things much easier.

    However, even then, there were still limits to the government''s current methods of assessment.

    After all, runic armaments wereparable to an entire new world to mankind¡­as of now!

    "Soo.. shall we start earning a fortune?"

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel, leave your golden tickets and powerstones with me. If you like my writing style, test out my other novels. All of them belong to one big Multiverse. You might find the characters and hints about certain events in other novels :P.

    Link to my Discord is in my profile]

 Chapter 156 Shocking Wealth

    There was no need to waste time.

    As such, Nial and his friends made their way to the area where all runic armaments and other goods were assessed.

    Because the government chose to focus on providing the best service to all young Originals, who had been inside the ancient ruins dungeon, several servants came looking for them at once.

    The government wanted the Originals to have a firsthand taste of power and what it would look like to have servants around.

    But that was not the only reason for the government to do so. Rather, the most important reason was that the military wanted to test the mental strength of their participants.

    Most servants, who approached Mathias, Nial, and Be were all stunning to look at. Mathias was charmed by their beauty as if he was under a spell.

    On the other hand, Be easily ignored the handsome butlers, while Nial couldn''t care less.

    Even if he was not able to see the beautiful servants, his range of perception could clearly visualize them.

    However, that didn''t make much of a difference to him as his willpower would not be easily swayed like most participants of the Teradan military camp.

    That made it much easier for him to be unfazed and focus on his task. Thus, he appeared in front of the assessment center where he essed his spatial ring.

    A momentter more than a hundred ungraded runic armaments appeared in front of the Appraiser.

    The sight of a hundred ungraded runic armaments was something the appraiser had already seen a handful of times during thest days.

    Earlier, it may not have been possible for him to see a huge pile of a hundred runic armaments at once, but now the novelty had worn off.

    The appraiser''s mind was already prepared to face more shocking situations!

    As such, the only thing that baffled him was that Nial treated the ungraded runic armaments as if they weren''t worth anything.

    After Nial cleared his spatial ring of ungraded runic armaments, Be and Mathias followed suit.

    Both had piles of runic armaments that were roughly simr in size to Nial''s.

    That meant a total of more than 300 ungraded runic armaments appeared in front of the appraiser.

    Even if he had been mentally prepared, his jaw nearly hit the ground when he saw the rather huge pile of runic armaments. So far, he had only seen armaments brought by a group numbering in the hundred.

    p They might be ungraded but their value was still not to be underestimated. Ungraded runic armaments of the highest quality were stillparable to Peak Common graded weapons.</anda>

    Some might even be on par with the lowest quality Myth Common graded equipment!

    "Esteemed customers, are you sure to sell all of these ungraded runic armaments? Each of them should be worth 500 merit points, at the very least¡­"

    When Nial and his friends heard this, they could only smile oddly. Nial suppressed hisughter, while Mathias and Be looked at each other for a moment before they nodded their heads.

    "In that case, we should probably sell a few more runic armaments." Be''s voice was low, but the moment the appraiser heard her, he was even more astonished.

    He broke out in a sweat and looked at the team of three in confusion.

    ''What are they talking about? Do they have more?!''

    The 300 runic armaments were already far more than the appraiser had seen in his entire life.

    As such, he had been certain that this was the entire fortune the team in front of him had procured.

    But that was not even close to reality and the hidden truth, which the appraiser could get a nce of as each of the three friends started to take out one Tier-0 runic armament after another.

    Each Tier-0 runic armament was on par, if not better than Late Myth Common graded equipment.

    Tier-0 runic armaments of the highest quality might even provide better results than Peak Myth Common graded equipment.

    Understanding this was quite difficult for many Originals and especially in the case of prideful cksmiths because every single Myth weapon they had forged so far could be considered the pride of their entire career.

    Of course, there were certain exceptions such as the creation of the Viper spear which cksmith Arnold Birg had not been satisfied with.

    There were additional issues such as the incident with his daughter which made him hate the weapon he had created especially for his blind daughter.

    But that was not concerning for the given situation.

    Tier-0 runic armaments were worth several million dors per equipment, which exceeded the price of ungraded runic armaments manyfold.

    Thus, every single Tier-0 runic armament the three young Originals pulled out of their spatial ring wasparable to a huge stash of money!

    The Appraiser swallowed his saliva at the sight of the runic armaments but that was nothing inparison to the greed-filled stares of the other young Originals, who witnessed everything as well!

    It was a rather big open floor and there was no istion barrier set up at the appraiser''s desk as everything had been constructed in a rather hurried manner.

    There were not even walls around the assessment center, which was why everyone could see the pile of runic armaments after the appraiser''s loud and shocked voice boomed through the surrounding area.

    It attracted the attention of many merchants, soldiers, and young Originals, who were baffled at the sight of so many armaments, just like the appraiser.

    However, even if the young Originals were envious of the treasures Nial and his team looted, attempting to steal their runic armaments in front of the military and the government would be the stupidest thing one could do.

    But even if that was the case, the greedy eyes of the young Originals, who had not only failed to procure more items but had also been beaten up by junior Soldiers grew angrier.

    Their body was still sore from all the beating they had to endure just because they had dared deny paying the protection fee.<sub> </sub>

    Recalling that humiliating scene made them shudder, and the thought of making up for their losses manifested in their mind.

    However, the moment they thought about this, Nial turned his head to them. His lifeless eyes stared straight at them while his lips curled into a smirk.

    Even if the young Originals hadn''t said anything yet, his senses were extremely sharp and had been enhanced manyfold.

    As such, Nial had easily detected that some of the young Originals harbored ill intentions against them.

    But that was not something he feared, which was why he smiled at them as if he wanted to say ''Come at me if you dare to!''

    Nial truly didn''t care if anyone were to attack them. Rather, they should ept the consequences of their actions the moment they dared to do something foolish.

    Turning his attention back to the appraiser, Nial slowed the speed at which he took out Tier-0 runic armaments.

    There were still more than 30 Tier-0 runic armaments in his backpack, but he wanted to save some to trade them with other merchants after leaving the Teradan military camp.

    After all, they wouldn''t stay on the nameless ind forever!

    This was only obvious, which was also why they didn''t need more than 100,000 merit points, which was what they wanted to obtain for everyone in total.

    Nial and the others stopped taking out more runic armaments when the appraiser''s face turned paper white.

    In the beginning, the young man didn''t expect much from the group of three. But to say that they exceeded his expectations would be an underestimation as well.

    When the three friends stopped depositing more runic armaments on his overly filled desk, the appraiser waited for a few minutes, preventing his poor heart from failing before he asked,

    "Esteemed customers, that¡­is everything you want to sell, right?" Somehow, the voice of the appraiser sounded as if he was pleading with them to stop shocking him any further and that the huge pile of runic armaments was everything they wanted to sell.

    Nial nodded his head with a faint smile on his lips. If the appraiser were to know that the three of them had still 100 Tier-0 runic armaments left and that they had a few Tier-1 runic armaments in their possession, he would certainly copse on the ground.

    "I¡­will need some time to appraise all of them. As for the Tier-0 runic armaments, I would like to consult my boss¡­ All in all, it should take at least two hours to finish everything¡­will that be fine?"

    Right now there was no trace of pride in the appraiser''s voice. Rather, his voice was overflowing with respect and uncertainty as he was unsure of what to do next.

    That had never happened in his entire career. His work experience might not be vast, but he had seen a lot in thest few years.

    As such, he had been assigned to be the vice-representative of his uncle''s trading firm in this year''s Teradan military camp.

    He was tasked with the job of building some connections and growing his uncle''s firm, thereby increasing their reputation.

    The runic armaments in front of him would be perfect to achieve this. As long as they sold them to other merchants instead of the government directly, it would be possible to strengthen the rtionship with several big families.

    This included merchant families as well as the grand families that governed the shelters, and protected them!

    But even if that was the case, the appraiser didn''t have the permission to purchase goods over a certain threshold.

    And the price he would have to pay for the pile of runic armaments in front of him ranged in the six digits!

    Because they had expected such an oue, Be was rather calm as she replied,

    "That''s okay, we will excuse ourselves for the time being, and return in two hours."

    On the other hand, Mathias couldn''t help but smile oddly as he looked at the unguarded pile of runic armaments.

    "Don''t lose even a single one of them! We died nearly dozens of times to get our hands on everything!!"

    Afterward, he turned around to follow Nial and Be, who had already left the assessment center that belonged to the Miriad trading firm.

    They had no specific destination in mind and Nial was not able to sense Miranda''s presence around them either.

    As such, they went to a vendor, purchased Origin crystals, and began to absorb them.

    Nial still had more than enough Origin crystals in his spatial ring but he didn''t want to waste his time with low-quality Origin crystals.

    Thus, hey them around himself to absorb all of them at once while doing the same with a few Mid-Common graded Origin crystals.

    Taking a deep breath, Nial felt the familiar sensation of pure mana entering his body.

    He didn''t even have to do something active as his mana veins were greedily reaching out for the mana stored within the Origin crystals.

    ''It has been quite a while since I could absorb some mana¡­.sigh, so much has happened in such a short time.''

    Nial just smiled while recalling all the events that had urred on the nameless ind.

    Not only did he find out more about the Odyssey seed that was, in fact, a fragment of thete Darkness God, but numerous additional events had happened in less than three weeks.

    This was quite astonishing if one thought about it for a little bit longer.

    But Nial knew that it was just the beginning of his journey and far more exciting events awaited him.

    Yet, before his true odyssey could start, Nial first had to find a way to his family.

    He wanted to reunite with them before starting to n for the future.

    Unfortunately, Nial was oblivious to the fact that his Odyssey had long since begun!

 Chapter 157 Runic Armaments Value

    Two hours passed in the blink of an eye. In the meantime, Nial had focused on absorbing and annexing the mana from the origin crystals that had been lying around him.

    Nial''s control over mana was steadily increasing, and it allowed him to absorb more mana than both Be and Mathias.

    In fact, with his superior mana veins that were still growing and improving, Nial could already be considered to have an extremely high innate talent for mana.

    After he absorbed the lesser Titan youngling''s heart his proficiency over mana had increased rapidly, while his innate talent skyrocketed as well.

    The mana from the origin crystals swirled around him, entering his body through the pores on his skin that had opened instinctively.

    With a powerful surge, which pulled the surrounding mana towards him, Nial spent the two hours calmly sitting on the ground.

    ? Numerous origin crystals had been drained of their mana to nourish his mana core.

    However, owing to the fact that his mana core had been erged externally after absorbing the Lesser Titan youngling''s heart, Nial''s progress was rtively slow.

    But even then, he gained lots of attention from the Originals, who were walking past him and his friends.

    While the young participants of the Teradan military camp could only look at him slightly baffled, the camp''s instructors took note of Nial''s high affinity toward mana as well.

    Meanwhile, Nial was oblivious to this and he merely got up from the ground when he sensed that both Be and Mathias finished their short training session.

    The two were patiently waiting for him, and intently staring at him as if they wanted to find out something.

    "Just how much mana does he require to expand his mana core?!" Mathias mumbled, utterly dumbfounded.

    He could clearly sense that Nial absorbed twice the amount of mana he had absorbed in thest two hours.

    ording to him, this automatically meant that Nial could erge his mana core twice as fast.

    But from the looks of it, Nial was still in need of lots of mana before he would be able to erge his mana core once again.

    This was simply too confusing for Mathias, only for Be to clear his doubts.

    "Didn''t you notice it already, Mathias? Nial''s mana core stores more mana than an ordinary 3rd Origin rank should be able to. That means he needs more mana to erge his mana core.

    I guess he could be considered to have reached the 6th Origin rank, solely from the amount of mana he can utilize right now."

    Even if Mathias had already noticed that Nial could use an oddly high amount of mana despite his low rank, he had never expected his friend to quickly bridge the gap between them both and be considered to have reached the same Origin rank as him.

    ''Wait¡­doesn''t that actually mean that he can create Advanced Origin rings the moment he reaches the 7th Origin rank? And¡­if he can be considered to have reached the same rank as I have, I should really start working harder!!''

    Many thoughts shed through Mathias'' mind, but the most important was that he began topare his achievements with Nial''s.

    This was a big mistake as it soured his mood for a moment.

    In the beginning, Mathias had been quite certain that he would receive numerous advantages solely from the fact that he was a reincarnation.

    After all, being a reincarnation had always been considered something miraculous and exceptional as if one had been reincarnated owing to Heaven''s will.

    His reincarnation and the belief that his Innate ability was the most powerful had been one of the few reasons why he had applied to the Teradan military camp, to begin with.

    Yet, the longer he was around both Be and Nial, the less special Mathias felt.

    This was not necessarily bad but it certainly shattered his dreams and dragged him down from the throne he had imagined himself to be sitting on.

    He might have high potential in terms of talent for mana, and his Innate ability was certainly powerful.

    However, there was still a difference between possessing talent and being favored by Heaven!

    Too many prodigious Originals could be seen inside the Teradan military camp but there were only a few that were truly capable of achieving something great.

    Those few Originals were the most hard-working, had encountered numerous dangers, or had faced incidents in the past that they never wanted to witness again.

    There was something that made them strive for more strength to be able to change their own fate and ovee all kinds of obstacles.

    And that was something Mathias could understand the best.

    However, even if he understood it, he took way too long to realize that it was his actions and decisions that would change his future, not some ''Heaven''s will'' or whatever.

    It was his future, so he had to give his all and strive hard to change it as per his liking.

    Mathias'' gaze followed Nial and Be, who had already gotten up from the ground.

    ''They''re also giving their best to rewrite their own future¡­I cannotck behind!''

    That thought reverberated through Mathias'' mind as he followed his two friends to the Miriad trading firm''s assessment center.

    A huge fortune awaited them there, after all!<sub> </sub>

    Nial walked absentmindedly as he made his way to the trading firm. He clenched his fist and was trying to figure out something weird he had noticed while absorbing and annexing the mana from the origin crystals.

    ''Even Mid-Common graded Origin crystals are insufficient for me?''

    Throughout thest two hours, Nial had been forced to use several dozen Mid Common graded Origin crystals to increase the amount of mana within his mana core by a little bit.

    It was not even noteworthy to say that he had spent two whole hours absorbing mana.

    Despite that fact, Nial could clearly tell that the same amount he had absorbed before would have been more than enough to fill more than a quarter of his mana core.

    However, right now, it was far less than a tenth. If he sensed everything properly, his mana core was merely filled by 2% contrary to the quarter the same amount would have filled before.

    ''Do I require more than ten times more mana than before, or is it just the low quality of the origin crystals that deteriorates the progression?''

    Nial was pretty sure that thetter was true.

    As such, he told himself to purchase Peak Common grade Origin crystals next time.

    These origin crystals would allow him to test the limits of his current mana control as well.

    This excited Nial quite a bit, which was also why he didn''t notice that they were already at the Miriad trading firm.

    In fact, Be was already talking to a burly middle-aged man, whose body was wide enough to fit two ordinary humans.

    For a moment, Nial was astonished about facing such a broad man but the moment he heard the man''s calm voice, the tension within his body was released at once.

    "Hello dear customers, after thoroughly examining the runic armaments I have arrived at a price of 271,651 military merit points. Is that price to your satisfaction?"

    Nial could tell that the middle-aged man was slightly nervous. The mana within his body was not stable and owing to Nial''s range of perception he was able to tell that the manager of the Miriad trading firm''s branch was trying his best to not show his nervousness.

    That could have multiple reasons but Nial was pretty sure that it was nothing serious.

    It was simply too difficult to determine a proper price for most runic armaments because mankind had never heard of them before.

    While a few ungraded runic armaments had already been sold to them, the Tier-0 runic armaments were a whole different story.

    Nial and his team were the first ones to sell Tier-0 runic armaments. If sold to the right merchants and families, these runic armaments could fetch them a huge fortune.

    The worth of runic armaments had yet to be finalized. For now, there were not that many runic armaments, which meant that a low supply met a high demand.

    This was to the three friend''s advantage and skyrocketed the price of each runic armament even though their real value might be slightly less.

    However, that was exactly what worried the middle-aged man right now.

    From the information everyone got to know, there were only a dozen or so towers in the ancient ruins.

    It was possible to plunder these towers as long as one killed all beasts around and within the tower. Afterward, one had to spend a few days, or possibly a week or two to avoid being killed by the traps and carefully move around to loot everything.

    This would definitely take some time, which meant that several thousand ungraded runic armaments and hundreds of Tier-0 runic armaments would suddenly appear on the market.

    Such a number was still way too low to meet the demand, but it would still be enough to greatly reduce the fortune merchants could earn, meaning that one had to be careful at what price one purchased these items!

    Thus, the manager of the Teradan military camp''s Miriad trading firm branch chose to pay around 270,000 military merit points as the price, which would hopefully satisfy the three young Originals in front of him.

    ''They won''t choose to go somewhere else with that price, right?'' There were quite a few other trading firms in the Teradan military camp.

    Because there were other choices for Nial and the others, they could pick the best one that suited their interest.

    However, Nial was not really worried about this. By dividing 270,000 military merit points, each of them would have a total of 100,000 military merit points in total.

    This would be the case when they would add their existing military merit points that exceeded the figure of 10,000. Each of their ounts had gained a little over 10,000 points because the government rewarded them rather handsomely for the ungraded runic armaments they had sold to it.

    100,000 military merit points were more than enough for everything they needed. Thus, Nial didn''t want to make things difficult for others, even less because he could clearly tell how worried the middle-aged man was.

    "I''m fine with that price." Nial simply stated his opinion, while Be was still deep in her thoughts.

    She was equally clueless about what figures to expect for selling her share of the runic armaments. That was why she had nned to use the mysteriousness that revolved around the existence of the runic armaments in order to earn a huge fortune.

    But seeing that Nial readily agreed to the price and that he faintly smiled at her, she could only agree as well.

    ''Is he foolish or just too generous?!'' Be could tell that Nial would never be a businessman.

    However, that was not necessary as long as he wouldn''t be extorted. And that was something she doubted would ever happen to him.

    Nial might be a fool or overly kind but at the same time, he was decisive and slightly scary when the need arose.

    That was something Be had already witnessed several times¡­

 Chapter 158 Ancient Ruins Palace

    "We have received more than 100,000 military merit points each, and didn''t even sell a single book we retrieved from the towers, let alone any of the stronger runic armaments¡­that''s crazy!"

    Mathias was exhrated with the number of military merit points they possessed.

    Each merit point was worth far more than 100$. In fact, one couldn''t evenpare military merit points with dors because there were only a limited number of goods that you could purchase using the merit points of the military.

    Even influential families usually faced difficulties while purchasing certain treasures. However, these restrictions were either loosened when purchasing them with merit points or werepletely lifted.

    Thus, even Be was quite satisfied with the high number of military merit points they possessed.

    "Should we focus on increasing ourbat prowess now?" Mathias felt that their wealth was more than enough to focus on erging their mana core, purchase techniques that were difficult to get their hands on under normal circumstances, and further improve their knowledge about Runiciers.

    If they were to start studying earlier, they might even be the first batch of Runiciers. This would make it much easier for them to produce runic armaments and to create a constant supply of goods to earn a fortune.

    But both Be and Nial had a different opinion, which was why they shook their heads the moment Mathias finished asking his question.

    "You saw the pce, right?" Be asked while intently looking at Mathias, who could only return her gaze with a nod.

    "Of course, I saw the pce. It''s not like it''s possible to overlook it. But what about it?"

    Nial could only smile at Mathias'' foolishness. Sometimes he really wondered how Mathias was even able to participate in the Teradan military camp.

    But after giving it some thought Nial could only smile, recalling that he had been able to join the Teradan military camp as well despite being blind.

    Somehow, it was refreshing when Mathias acted like a fool. Nial knew that Mathias was far from being dumb, which made it even more ridiculous in his opinion.

    "Well, the pce should have many Tier-1 runic armaments, numerous books, and it''s not unlikely to find Tier-2 runic armaments hidden in it as well. At least, I''m pretty certain about that!"

    Be was enthusiastic while talking about Tier-2 runic armaments. She had yet to wield a Tier-2 runic armament, but the information she read about such armaments was quite terrifying, to put it in simple terms.

    While Tier-1 runic armaments were already a dozen or so times stronger than Tier-0 runic armaments, roughly the same could be said about the difference between Tier-1 and Tier-2 runic armaments.

    Of course, there were always exceptions but that was not Be''s main focus!

    Nial could only agree to what Be said as he added,

    "If mankind were to be able to produce Tier-2 runic armaments anytime soon, I would propose to focus on strengthening our body and to learn some martial art techniques.

    But until an Original learns how to create Tier-2 runic armaments more than a year might pass. In my opinion, it should take even longer!

    That means we need to get our hands on them to be the most powerful Originals as quickly as possible!

    Tier-2 runic armaments might not be something we can wield properly for now, but the moment we enter the Prym rank, this will change!"

    One might be unable to wield Tier-2 runic armaments with only one Basic or Intermediate Origin ring, but this fact was not something that concerned Nial or his two friends.

    They would create Advanced Origin rings, at the bare minimum, which meant that they would be able to wield Tier-2 runic armaments the moment they advanced in their rank!

    Mathias was able to understand his friends'' reasoning but he was a little bit ufortable about entering the pce.

    Too many Originals had entered the pce, meaning that there would be fiercepetition to im the resources inside. This could lead to even more dangers, even if he didn''t include the threat of the installed traps and the monsters that inhabited the pce!

    Yet, the more Mathias thought about it, the more logical his friends'' reasoning became.

    They required the best equipment to advance as quickly as possible. Waiting for a year or longer before the first Tier-2 runic armament was to be manufactured was simply a waste of time.

    And they wouldn''t even be certain whether these runic armaments would attract some buyers, let alone if they could pay the demanded price!

    Mathias clenched his fist at this thought, nodding his head subconsciously.

    He turned in the direction of the ancient ruins dungeon portal after a few seconds and took a deep breath.

    "Alright, you''re right. We should return to the ancient ruins dungeon and plunder the pce!!"

    That being said, Mathias was the first one to make his way to the dungeon portal.

    Be could only smile faintly seeing this, while Nial quickly followed suit.

    A slow smile crept up his lips and he could barely hide how excited he felt.

    The towers might have provided them with wealth, but it had been quite boring after killing the Goblins and understanding the mechanism behind the installed traps.

    As such, when they entered the ancient ruins dungeon, Nial''s expectations about the ancient ruins'' pce could be said to be quite high.

    Be was not really interested in the pce itself but more about the goods they should be able to procure from within the pce.

    Thus, she wanted to barge inside it from the main entrance without caring about the other Originals, who had already chosen the same path to enter the pce.

    "Let''s enter the pce through a different path!" Nial suddenly shouted while passing by one of the towers that surrounded the pce.

    They were only a few hundred meters away from the huge, seemingly unscathed pce. As such, it was time for them to think about a proper n.

    Be''s idea of barging into the pce was certainly not great. The other Originals must have either activated the traps in certain pathways or already ransacked some halls.

    Thus, it was a waste of time for them to follow in their footsteps.

    With that in mind, Nial shared the n he hade up with.

    "How about we¡­" He spend less than a minute sharing what he was thinking about, only to receive baffled expressions as answers.

    Nial was not able to see them but the eerily unmoving mana fluctuations of his friends were more than enough to tell that Be and Mathias were dumbfounded.

    "Even if that works, you know that we won''t have a single way of escape¡­right?"

    Be had been excited to get her hands on numerous treasures, which would help her be stronger than everyone else at a rapid pace.

    But even then, her mind was sending her ring signals, warning her that Nial''s idea was simply reckless.

    It might be an exceptional n that would reward them with numerous treasures but the dangers were, at the very least, several times higher as it would be the case by entering the pce through the front gate.

    Thus, Be''s excitement died down for a moment, and aplex mixture of emotions swamped her mind.<sub> </sub>

    On the other hand, Mathias could only stare at Nial as if he had gone insane.

    "Do you really think I''m capable enough? I mean, if I were to make a single mistake all of us might die even before we enter the pce!"

    Mathias was worried, and Nial could understand this. But he just smiled before replying,

    "Didn''t you get your hands on the Tier-1 ckwood wand? Use your Innate ability through the ckwood wand, and follow up with your Earth affinity. Afterward, everything should be fine!"

    Every word spoken by Nial was filled with confidence. He trusted Mathias'' capabilities and knew what his friend was capable of.

    As such, there was no need to worry about anything.

    Nial was not even sure why Be and Mathias were suddenly being such scaredy-cats¡­or was it just him being confident; unreasonably confident at that?

    He had no idea but it didn''t really matter. Rather, his lifeless eyes stared in the depth of Mathias'' soul just for the young Original to nod his head faintly.

    "Alright¡­if you believe I can do it, let''s go all in!"

    The moment Mathias said this, Nial extended his hands towards them before pulling both Mathias and Be to the side.

    Rather than showing everyone what they were about to do, Nial pulled everyone to the side of the pce. There was no entrance, only the huge towering walls.

    If he estimated it properly, the towering walls were more than 80 meters in height.

    Of course, this was not something Nial was not able to tell for sure as he could merely visualize everything.

    However, that was more than enough to know that Mathias would be capable of achieving what he had in mind.

    More than half an hour had passed until Nial stopped dragging his friends ahead.

    They finally found a decent location where no jungle tree roots peeked to the surface of the ground. This was pretty important owing to the task Nial had given Mathias.

    Pulling both Mathias and Be toward him, Nial smiled faintly.

    "Mathias, you can start now!"

    Standing right next to the towering wall, Nial stood in between his friends, holding their hands. On the other hand, Mathias had closed his eyes while holding the Tier-1 ckwood wand.

    Large amounts of mana coursed through the ckwood wand as Mathias started with his task.

    At first, nothing happened but after a few seconds, the ground below the three friends began to rumble.

    All of a sudden, the ground below them moved, slowly pushing them upward.

    Mathias was creating an Earthen pir to allow them to cross the towering walls. Nial''s n had been to enter the pce from the rooftop, allowing them to get their hands on more ces that had yet to be reached by the other participants of the Teradan military camp.

    His n wasn''t foolproof as it didn''t provide a way of escape if something were to happen, but the treasures they may obtain were certainly worth the threats they would get exposed to.

    Even Be understood this clearly, which was why her initial excitement returned the moment Mathias'' pir reached a height of more than 35 meters.

    Using the towering wall as a means of support, Mathias pushed the pir against it.

    This prevented the tower from falling, or so Mathias believed. In the end, a pir that was a few meters thick would never be able to reach a height of more than 30 meters if not for Nial''s help.

    The gravitational force was more than enough to break everything apart.

    However, Mathias faced no such struggle right now, otherwise, he would not only be drenched in a cold sweat but also scared witless.

    He had no clue that Nial had used his dark energy from the moment the Earthen pir moved them up the wall.

    Instead of using his dark energy to destroy things and intimidate someone, which was what he could do rather easily, Nial began to use his power calmly, without rushing anything.

    Half an hour passed in the blink of an eye, but they finally reached the top of the castle. Not a single ident happened, and everything went by rather smoothly.

    This was more than enough for Mathias to smile brightly with pride filling his entire being.

    "Finally on top." He could only mumble. His face was pale, while his mana waspletely drained.

    He was totally exhausted but still smiled proudly because everything had worked out even better than he could have hoped for.

    However, the moment he looked up, Mathias was able to see Nial''s paper-white. His friend was swaying a bit as if all the blood had left his body.

    Cold sweat ran down his cheeks, only to see him smiling at Mathias.

    "You did a great job, Mathias!" Nial merely said, without answering the unspoken question in Mathias'' eyes, of why he looked even more miserable than Mathias.

    This washed away some of Mathias'' exhaustion as he released the remaining faint traces of mana that were left in his mana core.

    And it was at this moment that Mathias noticed what his friend had done.

    ''Did he¡­use all his strength and mana to forcefully attach my Earthen tower to the towering wall??''

    Several hundred small dark energy hooks had pierced through the Earthen tower and the towering wall, holding it in ce, while simultaneously allowing Mathias to keep creating the Earthen tower at a greater height.

    ''Just¡­how much mental strength does he have to achieve this?!''

    **

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 Chapter 159 Heated Debate Over A... What?!

    While the manifestation of the earthen tower was rtively simple for Mathias, the same couldn''t be said about what Nial did.

    He could not afford to be distracted and had to keep every single dark energy hook in check. This required lots of focus and mental strength several times higher than Mathias and Be had¡­together!

    Despite not having done any physically intensive work, just now, Nial looked like he was on the brink of copse.

    Only for a short time, he had mentally exerted himself to fortify the wall with the several hundred dark energy hooks, but it had drained him of the slightest bit of mana that resided within his body, while his mind felt mushy.

    It was as if someone had trampled on his brain and that feeling was definitely not something Nial would ever like to experience again.

    p The air was knocked out of his lungs, making him slump to the ground.</anda>

    He only managed to utter a few words while taking deep breaths.

    "How¡­about we take¡­a short¡­break?"

    Be and Mathias could only nod their heads in response.

    Even Mathias was exhausted beyond measure, but only Be was perfectly fine.

    Thus, Mathias went on all fours before lying down on the ground next to Nial as Be chose to guard them while they rested.

    They were on the huge terrace of the gigantic pce.

    The area they were in was a nicely decorated rooftop garden that was adorned with unique flowers and other types of nts.

    Calling it a tastefully decorated terrace hit the mark as everything looked quite beautiful.

    There was also a rather small cone-shaped building with a round table inside visible from the terrace. A circr bench surrounded the table.

    Buildings like the one Be saw in front of her were usually used for tea ceremonies of truly rich humans.

    ''To think that some fallen civilization wasted their resources as some humans are doing right now¡­''

    Usually, it would be best for a pce to have numerous defensive measures.

    However, the rooftop of the ancient ruins'' pce was anything but dangerous. Being surrounded by nts was calming, while the spores of some nts were even capable of increasing the density of the surrounding mana.

    At least that was what it looked like at the first nce.

    Nial could tell that it was not like this. Rather, the spores of a few particr nts increased the mana sensitivity of the human body.

    That was why it felt like the surroundings were richer in mana than on the ground, while it was actually just their mana sensitivity that had increased temporarily.

    Through the temporarily increased mana sensitivity, Mathias and Nial were able to recuperate much faster than first expected.

    Even Nial''s depleted mental strength was quickly revitalized. After merely two hours their small group of three was ready to leave.

    But instead of doing so, Be showed them something she found while both of them had been resting.

    Be gestured at them using her hands to tell them to hurry up after they were fully recuperated.

    They passed by some hedgerows, which had been nted on the terrace, only to find themselves in front of a small garden.

    "Don''t ancient ruins belong to fallen civilizations or abandoned ces? How is it possible for nts like these to survive here?!"

    Mathias'' doubt was reasonable. Looking at the lush green nts nted in the garden that covered a quarter of the terrace even Nial felt a little bit lost.

    ''Nightmarrow sasar flower, Deadly bellflower, Pyromantica jueanr fruit, and even three luminaries fruits¡­''

    There were only a few flowers Nial could recall from the books he had read in thest few weeks.

    Despite not having had much time to study, Nial had been told to imprint a few unique nts in his mind.

    Their mana fluctuations, appearance, and several other traits were unique, which was why it would be easy for him to identify them the moment he perceived any of them.

    That was exactly what had just happened as Nial perceived several familiar nts within the garden.

    As such, he could also tell their special traits and their needs.

    And that was the point where he agreed with Mathias. The flowers he remembered needed special care.

    Not only did they require lots of attention making the gardener always be on his toes but they would die the moment they received too much mana, or some sort of altered mana fluctuations would enter their surroundings.

    The Pyromantica jueanr fruit was known for increasing the surrounding temperature by transmuting neutral mana into fire-attributed mana.

    This would immediately kill many flowers that were right next to it including the Nightmarrow sasar flower, which was known for blossoming in cold and dark areas.

    Even Be had been confused for quite a while when looking at the garden, only to find the reason for all of this at once.

    "I know, I know. Just take a look at the garden. It is not built on the terrace but rather ced on it!"

    Nial had already sensed that something was odd about the garden. Not only were the walls of the garden made of apletely different material but it felt as if it was disjointed.

    As such, when Be said that the garden was ced on the terrace, he expanded his range of perception to thoroughly examine it.<sub> </sub>

    At first, he frowned deeply because what he sensed was confusing but after some time Nial could barely hide his astonishment.

    "A runic armament?!"

    The moment Nial eximed in astonishment, Be''s smile widened. She was ready to add something, only for Mathias to bombard him with questions.

    "What?? That is a runic armament? The entire garden??" Mathias was utterly dumbfounded but he, fortunately, quieted down after a few seconds, giving Be the chance to start speaking,

    "If I''m not wrong, this is a portable and highly preservable Garden, a Tier-2 runic armament!"

    Nial was still baffled about the numerous runic constetions he had just begun to sense. They were numerous and evidently created by a master Runicier.

    Thus, he merely nodded his head when Be spoke, wholeheartedly agreeing with her.

    The garden in front of them was definitely a Tier-2 runic armament and not an ordinary one at that.

    ''A portable garden with integrated istion barriers to allow all kinds of flowers to grow independently if required.''

    The nts didn''t restrict each other despite being ced close to one another.

    Furthermore, the garden allowed the flowers to stay fresh and be preserved over a long period as long as enough mana and other nutrition were present.

    Nial was not sure about the other nutrition and ingredients that were required for the nts to stay alive but the mana in the surrounding area was certainly enough.

    Time passed slowly with Nial focusing on attempting to get to know the garden''s functions.

    There were several unique functions the portable garden had, which included twisting space. A downside of spatial rings was that living beings couldn''t be stored within them.

    Thus, in order to be easily transported from one ce to another, the herbal garden had to be truly portable.

    By shrinking it to the size of a chessboard, it would be much easier to carry it around even if its weight didn''t decrease.

    To the team''s misfortune, it was still not possible for them to carry around the portable garden.

    "If we pluck the flower and fruits, it won''t be easy to rent them even if we seal them," Nial said all of a sudden, thinking of a way to store the portable garden.

    By sealing nts, one could temporarily force them into a death-like state. That way, one could trick the spatial ring.

    Some nts would truly die the moment they were sealed while others could only be sealed for a few hours before they would die as well.

    Thus Nial''s idea was not feasible if they wanted to rent the flowers and fruit nts.

    However, even then Be couldn''t help but nod her head vigorously.

    "That is a great idea! As long as we preserve all these nts, it won''t even matter if the nts die, they won''t rot!

    That way, we can store everything and start researching the portable garden once we''re outside the dungeon portal!"

    Be was exhrated about the fortune in front of her. Her excitement could be sensed by both her friends, which caused Nial to smile wryly.

    But, Mathias couldn''t smile at all. His expression worsened the longer he listened to Be.

    In Mathias'' opinion, the garden was a treasure trove. But it was not the garden itself that made him believe so but rather the living nts!

    After all, some of them were extremely rare and impossible to be obtained by mankind. Only a handful of nts of a simr rarity as the present nts had ever been procured by mankind.

    And each of them held the opportunity to change the fate of an Original!

    "I would rather not kill the nts inside the portable garden¡­they''re far more valuable than anyone can imagine¡­" Mathias suddenly said, his eyes glued to the Pyromantica jueanr fruit.

    "With the Pyromantica jueanr fruit, Originals, who have fire-based abilities or a fire elemental affinity will be able to increase their proficiency and understanding of fire just by being around the fruit¡­

    If they eat a freshly plucked Pyromantica jueanr fruit it is possible for them to enter an enlightened state, and even to upgrade their ability, though the chance is low."

    Several nts in the portable garden were highly valuable such as the Pyromantica jueanr fruit. As such, Mathias didn''t feel like plucking all the flowers.

    "But we can not carry the portable garden. After all, it easily weighs several tons!" Be was astonished about Mathias'' revtion but even then, she felt that they would be losing out on an invaluable treasure if they were to bother about the well-being of some nts.

    In a matter of seconds, both Be and Mathias started a heated discussion about what to do with the portable garden.

    Meanwhile, Nial could only frown deeply before sighing in annoyance.

    ''If that is how we act at the sight of a single Tier-2 runic armament, I wonder how we''re supposed to plunder the pce¡­''

    What Nial didn''t know was that his friends were just getting started and that they would readily get to each other''s throat¡­for a garden, even if it was a portable one!

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel, leave your golden tickets and powerstones with me. If you like my writing style, test out my other novels. All of them belong to one big Multiverse. You might find the characters and hints about certain events in other novels :P.

    Link to my Discord is in my profile]

 Chapter 160 Huge

    Nial was not sure how much time had passed before Be and Mathias finished their heated debate.

    However, once they were done, Be straightened her back while revealing a bright smile and a prideful expression.

    On the other hand, Mathias could only grumble, while sighing deeply.

    Be won the debate, so she sealed the nts away before storing them and the portable garden inside her spatial ring.

    Nial was slightly frustrated because they had wasted so much time on a trivial discussion but he somehow understood both sides of the debate, including their reason to do so.

    Be didn''t really care about the value of the ''living'' nt as she would simply sell them. She was only able to perceive the future value of the portable garden that was no less than a treasure.

    Mathias had thepletely opposite view to that of Be but in the end, he was still too timid to win a heated debate.

    ''I''m such a loser¡­''

    Mathias was frustrated with himself but when Nial pushed a small pouch in his arms, he was able to calm down quickly.

    "What is tha-...WOW!"

    While Mathias and Be had been upied with their debate, Nial hadn''t wasted his time.

    He had used his range of perception in an extremely detailed manner to perceive and inspect the entire terrace.

    This was also the reason why he had been able to locate a small box hidden from in view. He even perceived the two bags filled with seeds stored in it.

    The bag was perfectly sealed off with the seeds so as to not let the outside environment harm them. With the sealing bag it was possible to store the seeds inside the spatial ring and to nt them whenever one wanted.

    It was only obvious for Mathias to be astonished by this and when both Be and Mathias realized that their discussion had been nothing but a waste of their precious time, they felt embarrassed.

    Nial was not really interested in making them feel so. He just hoped that they wouldn''t keep acting like this.

    Only now did he recall that they hadn''t even been friends for an entire month. That was more than enough to make him realize that he had yet to get to know Be and Mathias.

    He didn''t know much about them, after all, and the same could be said about the other two.

    ''I guess, time will slowly unveil our background and past to each other.''

    Nial just shrugged his shoulders as if he was not sure what to think about his own thoughts.

    He simply epted the given situation before stepping out of the terrace and entering the top floor of the pce., and on the same floor as it.

    It was connected to the terrace and the only difference between the terrace and the top floor of the pce was the ceiling above their heads, followed by the walls that restricted their movements.

    "I was not able to sense any mana trap on the highest floor."

    Nial didn''t exclude the possibility of the presence of ordinary traps or hidden mana traps with mana distortion runes inscribed in them.

    That was more than enough for Be and Mathias to be serious the moment they heard Nial''s tone.

    He might have been calm before but it was quite evident to see that he was a little bit frustrated about theirpletely unnecessary debate.

    Both Be and Mathias noticed this, which was even more reason for them to pay attention to their task and not to prevent making any kind of mistake.

    Thus all of them were now fully focused on perceiving their surroundings and searching for clues about traps.The group stayed together while advancing through the highest floor.

    Despite being much smaller than the floors below as the terrace was also on the same floor, the top floor of the pce was extremely huge.

    The hallway was more than seven meters high, spanned more than five hundred meters in length, and was around 25 meters in width.

    Even if they were a group of 10 Originals, it would be possible for them to walk side-by-side without the need to squeeze next to each other.

    At first, everyone was slightly astonished about this because it made the small group question if the pce had belonged to some sort of Giant race.

    "If the pce belonged to Giants or whatever type of huge race, why were the proportions of the tower rather ''normal''? Like¡­the size and shape of everything around perfectly fit to be used by our race, even the runic armaments such as the Tier-1 protection chestte!"

    It was only obvious for Mathias to be confused, and if Nial wouldn''t have gotten imprinted by some of thete Darkness God''s memories quite a while ago, he would have been confused as well.

    But despite his astonishment, Nial answered calmly,

    "Well, that is simply because these ancient ruins belong to a race with simr proportions as that of humans."

    After he said this, Nial took a breath. He was about to exin why the hallway was so huge, but Mathias jumped in once again.

    "That doesn''t exin the reason behind the overproportional size of the hallway and all the rooms¡­"

    All of a sudden, a t handnded on Mathias'' neck, smacking him as the sound of a p resounded in the hallway they were walking through.

    For a moment, Mathias was just shocked. He stopped abruptly and threw his friend a bewildered look.

    "Did¡­you just p me?" Mathias asked, looking fiercely at Be, who could only sigh deeply.<sub> </sub>

    "If you would stop interfering when others are speaking, I wouldn''t have to do that. But do you even realize just how often you interfere in others'' discussions or cut them off when they''re still speaking?

    Even if my p was rude, your behavior is even more miserable, so get your act together!"

    Be had already been annoyed at Mathias'' behavior for quite a while. Maybe it was because he was warming up to them or something else but Mathias had started to speak far more during thest few days than before.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t notice that he was interrupting quite often even if he did not mean to do it or realize it.

    That was only one example of many, and Be had had enough of it. As such, she resorted to a drastic measure to force Mathias to change his behavior and attitude towards others.

    A light p on his neck was more than enough to achieve this and when he heard her exnation for her actions, Mathias could only look at her dumbfounded.

    Hepletely missed her point.

    "Huh? What are you talking about?! Nial was done speaking, right?"

    Mathias momentarily forgot about Be''s p on his neck. He looked over to Nial, just to see him smiling wryly before he shook his head lightly.

    "I was just about to say that the huge hallways and rooms have been built to amodate the allied races of the fallen colonization to which the ancient ruins had belonged.

    The towers, the runic armaments, and the size of the portable garden are a pretty good indicator that the people inhabiting the fallen colonization more or less had our proportions while the size of the entire pce, including everything within, indicates that they were allied withrger races¡­"

    Nial had also noticed that Mathias spoke his mind whenever he wanted.

    However, especially because his friend was not confident and timid, Nial hadn''t said anything yet.

    After leaving the ancient ruins dungeon, Nial had been meaning to have a discussion with Mathias about his behavior and tell him that it mighte off as rude if he were to act like this in front of powerful Originals, influential families, and other highly respected people.

    But from the looks of it, Be had lost her patience.

    Thus, Nial could only keep smiling wryly as he kept walking down the hallways.

    Instead of simply entering one room after another they first wanted to make sure that the hallway was safe and that it could be considered their safety zone.

    It would be great if no trap was located in the hallway on the highest floor. After all, it would be pointless to set up a trap so high if nobody could reach the top floor without passing the lower floors.

    Unfortunately, luck was not on their side, which Nial realized the moment they passed a total of six Knight armors that were tightly holding onto their longsword.

    The longsword pointed to the small stone foundation they stood on, which made the scenario that was bound to unfold in front of them even more impressive.

    But Nial was not happy at all as his range of perception was able to perceive nearly everything about the six Knights, with three of them nking each side of the hallway to guard it.

    "The Knights will be troublesome".

    Nial''s low voice only reached Be as Mathias kept his mouth shut while he was raking his mind to figure out what he had done wrong.

    If it would have been only Be, who said something about him, Mathias would have been fine. He wouldn''t have thought much about it.

    However, when it came to Nial, it was pretty sure that he wouldn''t be lying. That was how highly Mathias thought about Nial and why it hurt him even more than Nial had agreed to Be''s words.

    ''Am I really that rude?'' He had been sulking when he heard a loud creaking sound.

    All of a sudden the surroundings erupted and it was as if an explosion urred all around them, making small andrge stones fly in the air.

    "What the hell!?" He could merely blurt out as a strong wind current brushed past his face.

    A momentter, a huge stream of dark energy had brushed past Nial before the sound of metal shing upon each other could be heard from Mathias'' right side.

    Turning his head to the right side, Nial saw a five-meter-tall Knight armor, which had swung its longsword at him.

    The moving Knight armor had attempted to behead Mathias with a single strike. However, Nial had reacted quickly enough.

    He used his dark energy to twist the Knight''s gauntlets, forcefully changing the de''s trajectory so that it shed with the second Knight armor''s longsword.

    All six Knights had begun to move, wielding their longswords expertly as soon as they detected Nial and the others.

    They burst open the foundation on which they had been standing before brandishing their weapons and shing at the three.

    However, while Be had listened to Nial''s words and themands that had followed suit, she had been able to evade the oing attacks easily.

    Only Mathias had been distracted, thereby requiring Nial''s help to survive the two attacks.

    Seemingly out of nowhere, Nial appeared behind Mathias. He grasped his friend before spreading out his dark energy in an explosive manner in an attempt to prevent the advance of the Knight armors.

    Shooting backward with Mathias in his grasp, Nial arrived right next to Be. She was already in abat stance and ready to fight with all her might.

    "Let me introduce you to something far more dangerous than magic traps¡­" Nial stated, his expression dead serious as he added,

    "Runic armaments, Puppet-type, Guardian Knights!"

 Chapter 161 Guardian Knight

    When Nial reached Be and stood beside her, he let down Mathias before averting his focus back to the direction of the six Guardian Knights.

    He was aware of the Guardian Knight''s existence as he had read something about the different type of existing Runic armaments.

    The Puppet-type was deemed quite rare because they were extremelyplex and cost-intensive to produce.

    That was what he had read in one of the books they had collected.

    There was not much Nial knew about Puppet-type runic armaments, just that they existed.

    ''I should have read more about them, maybe I would have gotten a clue of their weakness¡­''

    While Nial began to curse himself inwardly, Mathias had regained his focus. His heart was beating rapidly owing to the near brush with death.

    Just a mere second of distraction would have cost him his precious life which he had received for the second time. Only due to Nial''s quick reflexes and presence of mind was he still alive.

    With slightly trembling hands, Mathias reached for the Tier-1 ckwood wand before he bit his lower lip, telling himself that he should not be nervous.

    Being calm was the most important right now which was why Mathias took a deep breath while Nial retracted the veil of dark energy once everyone was ready to battle.

    ''I shouldn''t waste a lot of mana for now¡­''

    Nial''s fighting style was mostly focused on using powerful weapons as well as gaining an advantage with his dark energy and ck miasma.

    To be of great use, each move in his fighting style requiredrge amounts of mana.

    That meant his strength would decrease drastically the moment he was drained of mana.

    Even Mathias and Be understood this clearly, which was why it was not surprising for Nial to retract the dark energy, unveiling the six Guardian Knights that had been distracted for a moment.

    While Be had quickly put on the Tier-1 protection chestte that was also able to increase the wielder''s physical strength to a certain degree, the Tier-1 Dragonme spear had already manifested in Nial''s hand.

    By touching the two rings on the spear''s shaft, Nial felt a deep connection to the Dragonme spear. This was a reassuring feeling which made him feel a bit confident. Next, he inserted a trace of mana in it to ignite the tip of the de.

    Changing hisbat stance at once, Nial began to smile as he had sensed something intriguing.

    The Guardian Knights didn''t break through the thinyer of dark energy before. Because they were inanimate existences they didn''t know fear.

    In fact, there was not a trace of sentience within them.

    But there was one thing they seemed to have gotten added in the runic constetions that were responsible for their behavior- a sense of danger!

    Being able to sense danger was quite important. However for mindless existences to receive such a trait was quite intriguing in Nial''s opinion.

    However, it was also risky because one could use it against the Guardian Knights as long as one was able to find out this secret trait!

    sting forward without hesitation, Nial created a batch of six dark energy needles. Each Guardian Knight was targeted with one of them.

    The dark energy needles were extremely fast, crossing a distance of more than five meters in a moment.

    Yet, upon reaching the range of the Guardian Knights, something astonishing happened to the needles.

    While two Guardian Knights easily evaded the dark energy needles, three Guardian knights blocked the attack with their longswords.

    What was even more surprising was that thest Guardian Knight did not block the attack but it cut through the attack using its fast speed to its advantage.

    At this moment, Nial noticed that the Guardian Knights had not been mass-produced products that possessed the exact same runic constetions but they seemed to have acquired a mind of their own.

    ''So they''re not the same?'' He figured, averting his trajectory at once to reach the Guardian Knight on his left.

    Despite requiring slightly longer to react than ordinary beasts, the Guardian Knights'' speed made up for this.

    They were, at least, as fast as agility-focused beasts at the 10th Origin rank. This exceeded Nial''s highest possible speed by quite a bit, preventing him from overwhelming his opponents with a high-velocity surprise attack.

    To Nial, it was not even surprising that some Guardian Knights had been able to deflect his dark energy needles.

    He didn''t use much dark energy to create them and their speed had been half of what they would be able to achieve if used in their peak state.

    Restricting his attacks'' lethality was necessary as he was not sure how strong the Guardian Knights'' defenses were, and neither how advanced theirbat recognition was.

    Puppet-type runic armaments were not only for show. They could also observe and analyze thebat style of their opponents easily.

    Nial did not know this for sure but he had been presuming this because the costs to create a single Puppet-type runic armament were way too high for them to be ythings, or punching bags!

    That was enough reason for him to restrict his strength and mana consumption until he would learn more about his opponents.

    At the same time, he was not alone which was quite helpful as Mathias created severalyers of Earthen walls between Nial and the five other Guardian Knights.

    The Earthen walls wouldn''t hold the Guardian Knights back for a long time but the single second he gained from Mathias'' intervention was more than enough for Nial to reach his designated target.

    Be appeared right next to him, both [Celestial transformation] and [Outburst] activated at once.

    She clearly sensed the dangers radiating from the Guardian Knights and the threat they posed to their lives. Thus, despite knowing that they would be able to gain a huge fortune by keeping the damage on the runic armaments as low as possible before selling them, Be used all her strength at once.

    Even the strengthening runic constetion of the Tier-1 protection chestte was fully unleashed, increasing Be''sbat prowess further.

    Darkish mes shrouded the Dragonme spear as Nial inserted dark energy into the spear instead of mana, creating the mutation of the me that was supposed to ignite around the Dragonme spear.

    Clearly sensing the danger from both sources of mana in front of it, the Guardian Knight retreated as programmed to step back, and joined the other Guardian Knights to fight their opponents together.

    The other Guardian Knights could also clearly sense Nial and Be''s mana fluctuations by using the range of perception that had been inscribed in their circuit of runic constetions.

    That was how they sensed their opponents, to begin with. Existences without a trace of mana wouldn''t be detected that way, but such beings were not able to harm the Guardian Knights so they could be ignored.

    At least that was what one would usually think.

    Nial and the others were all in possession of mana, and it was impossible for them to perfectly conceal their mana either.

    Given that, the three of them were detected by the Guardian Knights, who tried to eradicate the infiltrators.<sub> </sub>

    At that moment the Guardian Knight they had attacked reacted. It swung its longsword at both Nial and Be with a rapid pace.

    Blocking the attack that was even stronger than the Lesser Titan youngling''s punches was close to impossible for Nial.

    That was owed to the fact that he would be sted into Be upon impacting on the longsword.

    Nial could sense that quite directly which was why he wanted to evade the sh.

    Yet, before he could even move, Nial nearly stiffened when he realized that Be was still next to him. She didn''t seem to be inclined to evade the Guardian Knight''s sh.

    If Nial were to evade the attack but Be wouldn''t, she was bound to face the attack all by herself.

    However, that was exactly what Be was nning to do.

    She shot past Nial the moment she sensed what Nial wanted to do.

    ''I will block the attack, and you use the momentum to kill the Guardian Knight!''

    That was what Be wanted from Nial. She knew that the shortswords were not strong enough to pierce through the Guardian Knight''s defense.

    Be was clearly able to sense that as her weapons were simply too weak. She owned Common Myth weapons after all!

    Nial''s Tier-1 Dragonme spear, enhanced by dark energy was simply stronger, which was why she wanted to support Nial with the opportunity he needed.

    The moment she cross-blocked the longsword that impacted on both shortswords, Be groaned instinctively.

    ''So powerful!'' Be could only think, realizing that the Guardian Knights were far stronger than she could have imagined.

    Even ordinary beasts at the Prym rank would not be able to possess the brute force and speed required to initiate an attack as the Guardian Knight in front of them was able to exert.

    And that was only the might of one of the six Guardian Knights!

    Be''s expressions grew worse the moment she realized how dangerous the ancient ruin''s pce was. She had some expectations about this ce''s dangers, but it exceeded her imagination, by a bit.

    However, it was only a momentter that Be''s body was sted backward.

    Her eyes widened, upon hearing the sound of crumbling metal. Her shortswords, the weapons she treasured dearly were breaking apart in only one encounter with the Guardian Knight in front of her!

    Despite being shocked for a moment, a sly smile manifested on her lips.

    "Destroy the runic constetions on their shoulders!" Nial suddenly shouted the moment the Dragonme spear''s de had pierced through the Guardian Knight''s chest.

    Under normal circumstances, Nial would have never attacked the Guardian Knight from the front side. If his senses weren''t betraying him, the Puppet-type runic armament was even stronger than the Lesser Titan youngling.

    However, the dangers he perceived were something he had to ignore because his range of perception was unable to detect anything within the hollow Guardian Knight.

    Several runic constetions prevented other beings from sensing the inner parts of their body, which was why Nial had not been able to sense the mana-supplied runic constetions within the Guardian Knights.

    This was also the reason why he didn''t know where to attack the Guardian Knights to defeat them in an instant

    At least, that had been the case before, until the de of the Dragonme spear pierced through the Guardian Knight.

    For a moment, the istion around the Guardian Knight had crumbled, allowing Nial to sense thousands of rather small runic constetions that had been inscribed within the Puppet.

    The information that flooded his mind was overwhelming but Nial epted every single bit of it. This allowed him to digest the pieces of information rapidly.

    He had even gotten to know where most of the main runic constetions were located. It was the exact same spot he had shouted out a moment ago for his friends to target.

    Nial revealed the most important piece of information to Be and Mathias, who could only nod their heads.

    But even then the tension in their body was still overflowing as the danger of the Guardian Knights was still present.

    However, it was just at this moment that the surrounding temperature increased drastically. The Visor of the Guardian Knight turned ckish as dark mes emerged from it.

    At the first nce, both Be and Mathias thought that this was a reaction of the Guardian Knight, indicating that it was bing stronger, or that its defensive mechanism was activated.

    But that was not the case, at all. Rather, the darkish mes indicated that it was weakened as it were Nial''s mes that burned through the inner parts of the Guardian Knight.

    Using his dark energy inbination with the Dragonme spear''s unique function to ignite mes, Nial chose to burn the Guardian Knight from the inside out.

    Being burned from the inside would usually cause severe damage. Unfortunately, the runic constetions within the Guardian Knight did not get burned.

    They were merely damaged to the extent that the Guardian Knight ran in the wrong direction the moment it sensed the danger it was exposed to.

    Oddly enough, the direction of the Puppet''s choice was straight towards the other Guardian Knights that had made their way through thest Earthen wall Mathias had created between them and his team.

    With the appearance of five more Guardian Knights, the battle became more intense, even more so because Be''s most treasured weapon had been destroyed.

    However, instead of feeling scared or desperate about what to do, Nial could only smile, while a new pair of weapons manifested in Be''s hand.

    They were Tier-0 shortswords, weapons that were far stronger than the Common Myth shortswords she had wielded before.

    "Looks like I cannot continue holding back anymore!"

    **

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 Chapter 162 New Combat Style

    The moment Be said that she couldn''t hold back anymore her entire demeanor changed.

    Before she was already ready to fight, however, right now, she had the presence of a Valkyrie.

    Be''s hair gleamed golden while her eyes released a faint golden glint. This was her Innate ability [Celestial transformation] that had been activated with its highest output.

    However, that was not everything Be had up her sleeves. She used her ability [Outburst] once again, ignoring the usual weakening state that would soon kick in.

    Under normal circumstances, this was dangerous but Be didn''t feel that she was weakened after using both her Innate ability and [Outburst] less than a minute ago.

    This would have astonished her but she didn''t even have time to think about it right now as the five Guardian Knights appeared in front of her.

    She was the closest to them and thus the designated target that had to be eliminated first.

    Retreating a few steps, Be appeared near Nial, who was still standing in the same position as before.

    Her gaze turned to him for a moment before flicking back to the five unscathed Guardian Knights and the one Nial had taken care of to some extent.

    Taking a deep breath, Be pushed her feet off the ground as her body leaned forward.

    She had sensed something approaching them from behind him, which was more than enough reason for her body to bend towards the ground.

    A mere momentter a dozen highlypressed Earthen needles shot past Nial and Be, colliding with the Guardian Knights that were about to attack them.

    The Earthen needles were not powerful enough to pierce through the Guardian Knights'' armor but their impact upon colliding was tremendous.

    Thus, Be was able to make use of the short distraction Mathias had created to emerge in front of the closest Guardian Knight.

    Circting her tremendously enhanced mana into the Tier-0 shortswords Be was tightly grasping, they began to vibrate faintly.

    With enough mana inserted the Tier-0 weapons could release a majority of their functions, including the runic constetions that enhanced the de''s endurance and sharpness.

    The more mana used the stronger the enhancement until the runic constetions limit would be reached.

    However, reaching the limit of a runic constetion''s saturation was not something any of the three present young Originals were capable of.

    But even if that was the case, Be''s current state allowed her to wield the Tier-0 shortsword to an unexpectedly high degree.

    Adding the strengthening of the Tier-1 protection chestte to it, the rapid attacks she issued in a single second had been more than enough to cut through the Guardian Knight''s sword arm.

    At first, Be had nned to kill one of the Guardian Knights by attacking its back. However, Mathias'' attack caused too little distraction for her to attack the back and move away from it unscathed.

    The Guardian Knights were simply too powerful to allow her to roam around unhindered.

    Nial''s situation was simr. His attack power was slightly higher than that of Be''s as he didn''t have a problem with cutting through the powerful defenses of the Guardian Knights.

    His Tier-1 Dragonme spear, its burning hot de, and the dark energy that was under his control were simply too powerful for the Guardian Knight''s defenses.

    Unfortunately, his high attack power didn''t make up for the gap in his slow speed and weaker brute force.

    It was still impossible for him to properly block the Guardian Knights'' attacks because their brute force was too strong. However, avoiding their shes was possible, even if it was difficult.

    It required him to be in a state of full concentration.

    Fortunately his range of perception was the greatest advantage in a fight against multiple opponents.

    While others would focus on their sight to determine which opponent was about to attack first, Nial used not only his range of perception to visualize his opponents in his mind but his other senses were fully unleashed as well!

    [Hodur''s Heir] did not only provide the ck miasma. Rather, this had been a bonus that Nial hadn''t nned on obtaining when binding the Curse to his mana core.

    The true effect of the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] was the tremendous enhancement all his senses except his sight had received.

    Hearing even the slightest movement within the entire hallway, feeling the gusts of wind that were released by his friends and opponents alike while brandishing their weapons, and sensing the vibrations of all existences the moment they touched the ground, Nial received all necessary information he required to do everything he wanted.

    Nial was able to react to the actions in his surroundings before anyone else. This outbnced his slower speed and weaker strength.

    The only issue was that his mind was in severe pain while trying to digest all the provided information at once in order to react in time.

    Taking in the influx of information was not really a problem for Nial. However, digesting them in time was the true issue that Nial was currently struggling with a lot.

    It may look like he was able to evade all the attacks of the Guardian Knights without any problems but Be was clearly able to see the sweat trickling down his temples and the blood running down his nose.

    ''Why is he not backing off?'' Be was confused.

    Nial should have long since retreated in order to catch his breath and attack again. What he was currently doing could be considered stupid, to put it simply.

    He was intentionally draining his precious energy, exhausting his body and mind without actually gaining anything in return.

    It was not possible for Nial to initiate an attack on the Guardian Knight because he was trying his best to prevent them from attacking Be.

    That meant he was facing four Guardian Knights at the same time, preventing them from moving too quickly while evading their attacks.

    His moves were nimble but even more so taxing. Even Mathias in the back was a little bit astonished about Nial''s action.

    Under normal circumstances, he would focus on attacking, or defending before initiating an attack the moment he perceived an opportunity.<sub> </sub>

    But right now, Nial was merely keeping the four Guardian Knights upied with himself and simultaneously preventing them from advancing.

    This was contrary to his usual fighting style, even more so because Nial had retracted the dark energy that had been swirling around the Dragonme spear for quite some time.

    "Mathias¡­are you sleeping back there?"

    Suddenly, Nial''s voice could be heard from the front. Mathias flinched at that moment just to finish the attack he had begun to prepare from the moment he had shot out the Earthen needles.

    Calling it an attack may be an exaggeration. Rather,beling it as an attempt to control the crowd might be better.

    Since he had seen Yves nt-controlling ability and the Original''s high control over the nts in a wide range, Mathias had nned on adjusting his fighting style.

    Thus, his current attack was somethingpletely different than before. It required more than half of his mana despite wielding the ckwood wand, and his Innate ability [Elementalprehension] being fully unleashed.

    Others would be required to use their entire mana at the 9th Origin rank to unleash the same attack Mathias was releasing right now.

    The floor in front of Nial began to shake all of a sudden. He sensed a tremendous amount of mana being used from behind him, affecting the floor around the area on which the Guardian Knights were standing.

    All of a sudden, the earth seemed to protrude out of the stone floor. It manifested seemingly out of nowhere, tightly holding on to the Guardian Knights that were not moving owing to Nial''s actions.

    What neither of his friends had realized yet was that Nial had sensed that Mathias had been trying out something new.

    This was another reason for him to keep moving in a close range to the Guardian Knights to prevent them from moving away.

    He wanted to provide Mathias with the opportunity to test out new things. Simultaneously, Nial knew that he had to learn how to digest numerous pieces of information without feeling as if his mind had been thrown in a pit ofva.

    One way to train his mind was to actively force it to work in extreme situations like he was doing right now. For some, it might seem as if he was doing something stupid, even more so because he was currently fighting existences that could kill him the moment they got hold of him.

    However, that was exactly what forced his mind and body to move despite the pain that was spreading through his brain.

    The fight ahead prevented him from taking rest or slowing down even for a millisecond.

    Being put in a life-and-death situation, Nial''s proficiency in various aspects increased tremendously. At the same time, a simr scenario urred with Mathias because he was intently observing every single thing about the attack he issued.

    Mathias called it ''Living Earth trap'' because the Earth under his control was moving and squirming as if it was alive.

    It shot out of the ground and kept growing, shackling down the Guardian Knights the moment the Earth mped around their legs.

    Being able to control the crowds in specific ways was extremely difficult. However, Mathias'' first attempt had already been a sess.

    This was mostly owed to the fact that the Guardian Knights didn''t move much. Furthermore, they weren''t attempting to break out of their restricted state yet.

    They had yet to notice that their legs were caged in the mps created by Mathias, to begin with.

    Nial noticed that they were unbothered, which was why he began to smile before pushing his body backward.

    He retreated for the first time, just to sense that Be appeared next to him.

    She had just defeated the Guardian Knight, whose sword hand she had cut off before.

    This was only possible owing to the opportunity Mathias had created for her with his Earthen needles, and Nial''s action that had prevented the other four Guardian Knights from reaching her.

    Nheless, she was exhausted right now but the same could be said about Nial and Mathias.

    They had merely defeated two Guardian Knights, with one of them still running around in all directions, just like a small child would aimlessly run around.

    However, there was one big difference from before! The Guardian Knights began to move, only to realize that their legs had been shackled down.

    Using brute force, it was possible for them to destroy the Earthen shackles. However, two of the four Guardian Knights fell to the ground as the shackles had been more strong than expected.

    The remaining Guardian Knights shed at Nial and Be, just to notice that a small pir of Earth pierced out of the ground.

    Only one small pir shot out from their left feet. But this one, seemingly useless pir was more than enough to destroy the bnce of the already unstable walking Guardian Knight.

    Pushed to the ground due to thebined effect of the Living Earth trap and the Earthen pirs, the Guardian Knights'' runic constetion circuit first had to digest what was going on.

    However, once the information was digested, everything was already toote as Nial and Be had appeared in their midst, destroying the Guardian Knights'' main circuit of constetions in a clean swipe.

    "Finally, done!"

    **

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 Chapter 163 Tear It Down!

    Despite being utterly exhausted, the three young Originals stood in front of the six destroyed Puppet-type runic armaments.

    While the main circuits of four had been damaged severely so as to defeat them, the other two Knights looked worse.

    "If we research them well, we should be able to reproduce them, right?"

    Mathias was excited at the thought of controlling Puppet-type runic armaments. He imagined how splendid it would be to control dozens of more Guardian Knights to let them fight in the front while using his Elemental affinity to fight in the back.

    There were lots of things Mathias wanted to test out and that was something one could clearly see in the excitement his expression carried.

    ''Researching the Guardian Knights'' runic constetions? That will probably take years. Let alone the costs, and the required time to reach at any conclusive results is way too long.''

    Nial could only smile wryly. He understood what was on Mathias'' mind but Nial was pretty sure that selling the Puppet-type runic armaments might be their best bet.

    "Maybe repairing them might be easier than trying to reproduce them¡­at least it would be much faster." Be just said, while smiling faintly. Her train of thought was simr to that of Nial''s.

    She could also tell that Nial was of a different opinion than Mathias who frowned slightly while looking at his friends before shrugging his shoulders.

    "Each of us will get two Guardian Knights, right?"

    Both Nial and Be nodded at Mathias'' question before they blurted out at once,

    "If nobody wants the highly damages Guardian Knights, I will take them."

    "I will take the severely destroyed ones."

    While Nial was not really bothered about making a bigger profit by demanding the less damaged Guardian Knights, Be had a different opinion.

    ''I''ve already stored the portable garden, so I should take a step back!

    Be felt as if her greed would overwhelm her the moment she would demand the best treasures every single time the group would make an interesting discovery.

    In the past, she had never been that greedy, but the memories of numerous events, both good and bad, were more than enough to remind her that those with strength, wealth, and connections possessed all the power in humanity''s shelters!

    That was why she had been focusing on procuring more wealth as her strength could be nurtured much faster as long as she had a big enough fortune.

    "You guys can take one severely damaged Guardian Knight each, and I will store the remaining little damaged ones then!"

    Mathias was excited and stored his gains in his spatial ring right away.

    On the other hand, Nial stored the Guardian Knights before grasping the three-meter-long longsword that had belonged to one of the Guardian Knights.

    ''Heavy!''

    Nial didn''t know what the material the Puppet runic armament or the weapon had been made of but it was extremely heavy and possessed a high mana conductivity.

    The high mana conductivity was several times greater than the Tier-1 Dragonme spear''s, which was quite intriguing.

    However, the longsword''s weight and its length made it impractical for Nial to fight.

    ''Maybe, I can hire a cksmith to smelt it for me. If I can use the unknown steel to create runic armaments it would be perfect!''

    Nial hadn''t been bothered about manufacturing runic armaments, but now his interest was fully garnered.

    Not only was it possible to create portable gardens that went against nature''sws by shrinking in size to facilitate transport but the Puppet runic armaments were also extremely interesting.

    Nial knew that their strength had not been at its peak due to the long time they had been collecting dust in the pce.

    If they had been at their peak and under regr maintenance, even the Dragonme spear''s de would have been unable to pierce through Puppet''s armor.

    After all, there were certain runic constetions focused on defense that had not been activated yet.

    After everything had been stored, the group of three didn''t choose to rest.

    They were too excited to stop moving right now, which was why they reached the end of the hallway in no time.

    A wide revolving staircase led them downward but none of the three felt like walking down.

    With excited expressions, they turned back to the hallway that was not deemed as a safe zone before they looked at each other.

    "Let''s split up, loot everything and divide our loots once we''re back in the camp!" Mathias suggested in an even more excited tone than before.

    He had already forgotten that Be had lectured him less than 20 minutes ago, or that Nial had agreed to Be''s lecture.

    Nial noticed this but he simply chose to allow Be to lecture him once again if he were to keep cutting off other people.

    He grinned faintly as Be sighed resignedly before saying,

    "I think we should go together. It''s not like we are running short on time so our safety should be prioritized. There might be quite a few traps in each of the rooms.

    If three Originals pay attention to detecting all the traps, it''s less likely for us to fall in a trap, and die miserably, right?"

    Mathias, who had already begun to move halted in his tracks. He turned back to Be, recalling her earlier lecture which made his bright expressions disappear as air would dete out of a balloon.

    However, Mathias also knew that Be was correct and that he was being too hasty!

    He stepped back and returned to Nial''s side before the three went back and forth between the rooms and the hallway.

    More than ten hours passed until they had finished plundering all rooms, except one.

    There was one room they couldn''t enter because it was locked by some sort of runic armament.

    But that was currently not important because nobody was sure how to think about their gains.

    "We didn''t really get all that much, or am I just too greedy?" Be asked, not sure what it was. She was a little dissatisfied with their gains.<sub> </sub>

    Mathias'' expression was simr and only Nial looked somewhat unbothered.

    "Well, I didn''t expect much from the highest floor. As the two of you should have noticed, almost all floors were guest rooms for their pce''s guests.

    That is also why there weren''t many defensive measures, let alone deadly traps installed."

    Nial''s exnation hit the bullseye. Mathias and Be could only nod their heads faintly as they looked at Nial.

    What they saw when looking at him was that one corner of his mouth curled upward.

    "I didn''t sense many runic armaments in the other rooms but I was, at least, able to sense some mana from within. That is not possible in the locked room. It ispletely isted from the outside world!"

    It was hard not to see Nial''s interest in the locked room. However, the others were not able to understand why exactly Nial was so intrigued in that ce.

    He had not even been truly stunned at the sight of the portable garden, the nts that had been cultivated in the garden, or the Guardian Knights, after all.

    Mathias and Be looked at each other for a moment before smiling weirdly. Nial was truly the most mysterious person ording to both of them.

    But that was not bad because Nial felt like a genuine person to them. He never really lied to them, even if it was quite obvious that he was hiding some things.

    But who wouldn''t hide some things? They were not different in that regard!

    Nial was oblivious to the thoughts of his friends, and he was busy using his range of perception to figure out what to do with the locked door.

    He wanted to enter the room by all means, which astonished him quite a bit as well.

    It was not as if he knew what he would find inside but even then he felt as if it would be quite interesting and helpful in various regards.

    Even his Odyssey seed had vibrated once while the same had urred to his mana core.

    Their reaction was the biggest reason for Nial to consider doing something others might deem as stupid.

    "If you cannot open a door, you can still tear down the wall next to it!" Nial just mumbled while stretching his hand out.

    His t hand touched the wall next to the door. The wall was cold, felt a little bit rough under his sensitive touch, and traces of mana swirled through the stone.

    Nial knit his brows upon sensing this.

    ''This is definitely sturdier than the steel the Guardian Knights are made of¡­''

    Breathing in some fresh air before exhaling, Nial slowly began circting mana through his body.

    His mana core was overflowing with mana, however, even then, the amount of mana within him was not enough to achieve what he wanted to do.

    This was something Nial realized quite early. Yet, even if that were to be the case, he was fine with it.

    An entire minute of utter silence passed. His arm was slowly turning dark as some traces of dark energy were subconsciously released from his left arm.

    The dark energy engulfed his arm and hand and not long after a slight trace of joy appeared in his eyes.

    ''It works even better than expected, not bad!''

    A crackling noise rang through the immediate surroundings all of a sudden.

    Mathias flinched upon hearing this. He began to worry about his friend because the crackling noise originated from Nial''s direction.

    Meanwhile, Be''s eyes widened when she realized what Nial was trying to achieve.

    Nial had converted his entire mana into dark energy beforepressing it within his arm.

    The burden of holding thepressed dark energy created from his entire mana was too much for his hand, which was why it cracked the moment Nial had circted it into his hand.

    But Nial seemed to be excited rather than in pain because the moment his hand cracked he released thepressed dark energy at once.

    Spreading it out from his palm it impacted the stone wall in an instant.

    The entire dark energy spread in his palm, seeping into the portion of the wall his t hand was in touch with.

    At first, nothing serious seemed to be happening. However, it was just a few secondster that his entire hand was engulfed in thepressed dark energy.

    Without a warning, the silent surrounding was overwhelmed by the noise of a cracking wall. However, instead of copsing, the wall was sturdy and didn''t move an inch.

    Only faint cobweb-like patterns could be seen around the hand that touched the wall.

    But that was not everything as Nial''s hand was slowly sinking into the seemingly imprable wall!

    ''It works!!'' Nial nearly shouted out. However, not long after it felt as if his entire energy was drained.

    His legs gave in for a moment and Nial slumped to the ground.

    Despite being astonished about what Nial had been doing, Mathias and Be reacted quickly. They bend down to him to figure out if he was fine, only to see an excited expression on his face.

    Even though the wall was extremely sturdy and nearly unaffected by the course of time, his attack had still been strong enough to leave a dark, nearly an inch thick imprint on the wall.

    That was how powerful his dark energy was! Unfortunately, the downside was that Nial had just used his entire mana to create this small imprint in the wall right next to the door that seemed to be a runic armament itself.

    "Twice¡­I only need to repeat it two more times before the hole is created!"

    **

    [A/N: If you like the Novel, leave your golden tickets and powerstones with me. If you like my writing style, test out my other novels. All of them belong to one big Multiverse. You might find the characters and hints about certain events in other novels :P.

    Link to my Discord is in my profile]

 Chapter 164 Office

    Two hours passed in which Nial replenished his mana to attack the hallway''s wall over and over again.

    It was an arduous task but it helped Nial control his dark energy with much more precision andprehend more unique characteristics of the dark energy that he was unaware of before.

    This prevented Nial''s mood from souring. Instead, his determination increased the stronger hispressed dark energy attacks became.

    Meanwhile, Bell and Mathias attempted to deepen Nial''s hand''s imprint on the wall as well.

    They exerted their utmost efforts to target the strongest possible attacks on a small area of the wall''s surface.

    However, this was much harder than expected, which was why not even Be in her peak form was able to deepen the hand imprint Nial had created.

    "Nial''s dark energy in thepressed form is able to achieve something even I can''t¡­ Just what is this dark energy?"

    To say that Be was astonished about the difference between her strongest form of attack and Nial''s was an understatement.

    She was utterly shocked because the [Outburst] ability increased the mana output of her [Celestia transformation] exponentially.

    p With both the [Outburst] ability and her Innate ability, there shouldn''t be many existences with the same powerful mana as hers.</anda>

    But even then, Nial''s dark energy, which was created from ordinary mana, was capable of exceeding the destructive force of her strongest attack.

    Understanding that Nial''s dark energy was way out of her league, for now, Be was not even surprised when Nial finally broke through the door.

    "Finally¡­"

    Sighing in relief while breathing heavily, Nial''s hand reached towards the doorknob through the hole in the wall before he twisted his hand to open the locked door from the inside.

    A momentter, the door opened with a click, revealing a seemingly ordinary ce to Nial and the others.

    "That¡­was way too easy somehow."

    Mathias''s words caused Be and even Nial to frown deeply.

    ''Easy?!''

    ''How the hell was that easy? Nobody but Nial is capable of breaking through the walls of the ancient ruin''s pce!''

    Even if a Prym rank Original were to try destroying the walls of the ancient ruin''s pce, Be was not sure if he or she would be able to achieve it.

    That was also why her respect for Nial kept increasing as a thought appeared in her mind.

    "By the way, Nial¡­what would you have done if the door was locked from both the inside and outside?"

    Be gazed intently at Nial, who stopped walking into the room the moment he heard her voice.

    "Well¡­.I guess I would have created more holes in the wall until I would be able to squeeze through?"

    Nial hadn''t thought about the possibility Be had just presented.

    Thus, he could only shrug his shoulders and respond with the first solution that urred to him.

    But this answer was exactly what caused Be to feel a little bit conflicted.

    ''You don''t want to waste your time while we''re in the ancient ruin''s pce¡­but you are telling me that you would have spent more than a whole day to break down the wall¡­just to enter this room?''

    Be felt that the room in front of them was not as ordinary as she deemed it. For Nial to be prepared to ''waste'' an entire day to enter the room that was right in front of them, it had to be special.

    After all, they had only less than two weeks left before they would have to return to the Teradan military camp and start their military training.

    Too many incidents had prevented the basic training of the Teradan military camp from starting, including the appearance of the Ancient ruins dungeon portal and the dungeon breaks it had caused.

    That was why the Teradan military camp''s usual schedule had been moved backward quite a bit.

    The second mission of being allowed to do whatever they wanted for three whole weeks was something the military and government had done to send their own people in the ancient ruins while simultaneously trying to figure out what the young and unpolished Originals would do in these three weeks when they were given a free reign.

    Some would waste their time and do nothing important, others would focus on bing stronger, while the most tactful ones would try collecting treasures by plundering the ancient ruins.

    However, the dangers involved were directly proportional to the treasures they would be able to get their hands on. That was also why only the Originals with the highest levels of confidence dared to enter the pce of the ancient ruins dungeon after the first group of reckless Originals died in the traps of the pce!

    In the end, Nial seemed to have a reason to easily suggest spending an entire day simply to enter a specific room.

    But that was also why Be was somewhat disappointed when she saw the contents of the room.

    "Isn''t that just an office?" Her confused voice reached his ears though she had spoken in a low voice.

    However, he could only agree to what she said. Yet, instead of feeling disappointed like Be, Nial smiled faintly.

    "Exactly, it is an office¡­but why the hell is there an office on the pce''s highest floor, where only the gigantic rooms for the fallen civilization''s guests are supposed to be?

    The office might berge but it has the proportions of a human-like race, so it was used by the fallen civilization!"

    Nial''s excitement caused Be to rethink her assessment of the room in front of her.

    She clearly recalled the other rooms and the gigantic furniture that sparsely decorated these rooms.

    The humongous size of the furniture made it clear that the rooms had been used byrger beings. On the other hand, the office was small. It was of the perfect size to be used by humans and simr races of the same size!

    "Why¡­would an office like that be located on the same floor as the guest rooms for foreign races?"

    Be continued to question herself which caused Nial to chuckle just for him to shrug his shoulders. He had no idea either but her doubts made him think.

    The office was quite messy with pieces of paper spread all over the room. There was only one huge desk in the center of the room but it was littered with books, papers, and parchments.

    Using his range of perception, Nial tried to research the papers on the desk.

    However, just when he tried to imprint the words on the papers in his mind, he got a bad headache.

    Groaning in pain, he took a few deep breaths, only to smile oddly as blood trickled down his nose.<sub> </sub>

    "Nial!? What is wrong?" Mathias appeared next to Nial in an instant.

    Yet, the first thing Mathias saw was that Nial began to smile, which was even more frightening than seeing a frown on the face of someone, who was in pain.

    "Nothing is wrong, I''m perfectly fine¡­ Just be careful when reading the papers. They have some sort of magic seal or restriction on them. You need to be fully focused while reading them, otherwise, you will receive a bacsh."

    Nial actually had no idea what exactly were the contents of the paper that gave him a headache but it was certainly not something ordinary.

    Thus, he acted with more vignce when the headache dispersed.

    Be had already begun to read through the papers, while Mathias took a look at one of the books in the shelves behind the desk.

    "Ciran taria? What the hell does that even mean¡­Oh! A technique that increases the mana absorption while using Origin crystals as a medium!"

    Mathias would have never expected that they would find a technique like the one he was holding in a ce such as the office they were currently in.

    As such, he could barely tone down his voice to prevent himself from screaming.

    Nial was also interested in the Ciran taria technique, which was why he averted his gaze from the desk and all the papers that were lying on it.

    However, instead of reaching for the manual, his friend was holding, Nial grasped a different book.

    "Elementus Mylee¡­A martial art technique that focuses on the symbiosis of Elemental affinities¡­"

    Nial couldn''t help but feel quite astonished. He had heard aboutbat techniques that used the Original''s elemental affinity to increase the lethal power and destructive force in a melee.

    However, Elementus Mylee was far moreplex, and was used to describe abat technique that was simr to the Darkness Shadow, which Nial had fought in his primary Trial of the Gods!

    This was quite intriguing as the technique didn''t focus solely on either the use of elemental affinities or closebat.

    Rather, both were used equally and at the same time.

    Nial focused his mana on the book in his hand to read through it with his Mana sense.

    Imprinting the contents of the book in his mind was certainly not easy. The vast amount of information that flooded him caused a severe headache but that was something Nial could ignore as his expressions brightened.

    For now, he decided to store the manual away. When he was done, he noticed that Mathias was staring at him.

    "Calm down, we can both learn the technique. Though, I don''t think that it will be of much use to you because it focuses on fighting in a close range with your opponent."

    Mathias had been staring daggers at Nial when he had stored the manual Elementus Mylee in his storage ring.

    "I don''t like fighting closebat because I''m better at long-range fights but sometimes I won''t be able to avoid closebat¡­"

    His words were correct, which was why Nial nodded his head once again.

    "As I said, you can read it when we leave the ancient ruins dungeon. I am not going to only save it for myself."

    Mathias was way too scared about not being able to gain all the benefits he needed to be stronger. It was weird but somehow also slightly frustrating as it felt like Mathias didn''t trust him.

    However, Nial dispelled this thought after a moment as his eyes flicked to a simple robe that was hanging from a hook on the wall right next to the shelf he was standing beside.

    It didn''t radiate a single trace of mana, almost as if it was made of an ordinary piece of cloth. But that was far from the truth which was why Nial couldn''t help but feel like he won the lottery the moment he touched the robe.

    It began to move on its own, unhinged itself off the hook it had been hanging on, just to levitate in the air.

    This made Nial furrow his eyebrows, and even Mathias'' curiosity was piqued. He hadn''t noticed the robe before but it was certainly beautiful, made of some sort of silver silk that was intertwined with golden and ck strands highlighting its grand appearance.

    The robe swirled around Nial for several seconds before it engulfed himpletely the moment it sensed his mana fluctuations.

    Dark energy was subconsciously released from his body causing the robe to twitch once.

    However, it was just a momentter that the robe tightly shrouded him as if it never wanted to let go of Nial again.

    "What kind of armor¡­or cape, or whatever is that?!" Mathias was baffled, but Nial had no answer to his question.

    At first, he thought that the thing that shrouded him was a robe, however, that was not actually correct.

    The ''robe'' tightly clung to his body and the clothes he was wearing, just for a cape with a hood to flutter in the non-existent wind of the office.

    This astonished both of them, and Nial wanted to take off the runic armament to scan it properly with his Mana sense.

    However, it was almost as if the runic armament did not want to let go of him.

    Yet even before Nial was able to start frowning and use force to take off the piece of clothing, he heard an rmed voice next to him.

    "Guys¡­I think you should take a look at this¡­"

    Be''s voice was low, but the severity in her voice clearly showed that they were not about to hear good news.

    Rather, it was theplete opposite!

    **

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 Chapter 165 Natural Planetary Mana Awakening Thesis

    Mathias and Nial gathered around Be, whose expression was sour.

    Visualizing her expression told Nial that the situation was grave, which was why he released his mana fluctuations toward the parchment Be was holding in her hands.

    His entire focus was on the parchment, which was why he didn''t even notice that the surrounding was so silent that a pin drop would be heard through the entire hallway.

    And at that moment, a gust of air swirled through the room, stirring up the papers on the desk.

    Mathias flinched the moment he heard the rustling of the papers. However, not long after he turned his head to Be as goosebumps appeared on his entire body.

    "Is¡­this thesis reliable?"

    It was obvious that neither Be nor Nial could tell whether the information on the paper was reliable or not.

    However, it was the first time for them to hear something about the origin of mana on news!

    [Naturalary mana awakening thesis]

    While Nial had already told Be and Mathias about the origin of dungeons, or, to be precise, that the majority of dungeons were artificially created to hasten the mana awakening of a, this was not everything.

    For a to awaken mana, numerous conditions had to be met beforehand. Nial had yet to retrieve more memories of thete Darkness God, which was why he felt helpless in the current situation.

    Having no idea whether the information was reliable or not, Nial thought of ways to ensure it.

    Nheless, he could only keep reading the information written in the thesis. Be behaved the same way and was oblivious to Mathias'' question as shepletely focussed on digesting the information she was reading right now.

    <The Origin state of a''s mana awakening is induced by a natural phenomenon called Universe''s sanctification. The sanctification allows the sealedary core to be freed from the shackles that prevented it from evolving¡­>

    <Every has the potential to awaken mana or other types of energy but only a few encounter a natural phenomena that allow the lifeforms and inanimate existences on the said to grow stronger, evolve and be existences, which are supposed to aid the Universe in their fight again¡­.something, or someone¡­>

    Nial lifted his eyebrows when he read thest three words. The person who had written the thesis was spouting nonsense.

    Some things stated in it may be true but to call the paper a thesis was simply going overboard. The information couldn''t even bebeled as facts because there was apleteck of a single piece of evidence. This was ridiculous.

    Nial kept frowning, while Be continued to read the passages out loud that she found the most interesting, or worrisome.

    <In the 1st stage of a''s mana awakening, the existences living on the won''t notice anything. After centuries pass, the lifespan of the living will slowly start to increase due to the influence of theary core''s mana. Once the first mana-awakened existence is created due to the influence of the''s mana, a new era will begin.

    Times will change, and only the existences living on the mana awakened can decide on the future of their¡­or so one might think. However, it is the itself that chooses the path of development of the existence on it!

    After all, the will slowly gain sentience!>

    The thesis sounded more like a fairytale to Nial than a credible piece of information. He could only shake his head before sighing deeply when he noticed that Mathias and Be seemed to believe everything written on the piece of paper without actually being suspicious about it.

    ''Do they believe everything they read? If someone writes that jumping down from a bridge grants you the ability to fly, will you really jump from the bridge? What the hell is wrong with them, right now?''

    His friends were acting weirdly, so Nial felt the need to beat some sense into them.

    "Well, all of this is great but the information doesn''t have much to do with us or Jundra, and that is considering that webel it as proven correct."

    It was quite obvious that Nial felt odd about most of the information written on the thesis. Even Be couldn''t help but think that most of it were nonsense after she was able to sort her thoughts.

    Despite feeling like this, mankind had yet to find out anything rted to the reason why dungeon portals had suddenly begun to emerge on Jundra.

    In fact, mankind didn''t even know when the first dungeon portals had appeared or how Jundra had been before the dungeons appeared.

    This was because it seemed as if mankind''s entire history had just begun with the appearance of the dungeons. Everything rted to the time before had been destroyed, or it couldn''t be found anymore.

    As if that was not weird enough, the memories of the first years of the dungeons'' emergence had been mentioned without much detail.

    There had not even been a proper date written on any kind of parchments to make them guess how old the thesis was.

    Nial had always been confused about why nobody seemed to care about the unknown past.

    Even if mankind knew what happened in the past, it might not actually be helpful. However, it would be reassuring to at least have some basic information about it, just for the sake of it.

    The unknown was the scariest to most people, except when one could already feel that unveiling the hidden would lead to more fear and that was exactly what every single human being was able to sense about the mysterious past.

    They could tell that it would ignite even more fear within them, instead of creating a reassuring feeling.

    "I guess, sharing this thesis with mankind would be better than revealing the truth behind Jundra''s artificially elerated mana awakening¡­" Nial mumbled to himself.

    However, both Be and Mathias could hear him which was why they turned their heads to him in unison.

    Nial noticed the gazes on him so he exined what was on his mind.

    "Let''s say that the thesis is correct about the ''fact'' that alls have the potential to be free of their ''shackles'' to awaken their mana or whatever type of energy.

    In that case, Jundra was one of the saids, only that we didn''t notice anything about that. However, that doesn''t mean others didn''t notice it.<sub> </sub>

    If I''m not wrong, the moment one of the existences that could bebeled as higher life forms found out about Jundra''s mana awakening in the ''Origin stage'', the creation of dungeon portals followed suit without a lot of dy."

    Nial wanted to end it right here but he chose to add another point.

    "If it is true that not manys are capable of awakening their mana, to free themselves of some sort of shackles, then Jundra is definitely a highly sought after¡­after all, the is huge¡­"

    Mankind was currently in possession of merely 9 shelters and a part of a nameless ind. However, that was more than enough to shelter more than a billion humans!

    That was the average number of mankind''s poption. It might fluctuate quite a bit because many humans died and were born on a daily basis but the number certainly crossed one billion.

    Traveling between the shelters was certainly difficult because of the existence of dungeon beasts. But the distance between each subsequent shelter was what made things truly difficult!

    Hundreds, or possibly thousands of cities the size of the biggest shelter would fit in the long distance between two shelters.

    This spoke volumes about Jundra''s size, which was actually quite frightening.

    However, Nial was not worried about Jundra''s size. He didn''t really care about it if he were to be honest.

    He found it more trouble than it was likely for the dungeon portals to have elerated the''s natural mana awakening.

    This would mean that they would reach the second phase of theary mana awakening much sooner than that mentioned in the thesis, whichid in Be''s trembling hands.

    "Let''s say you''re correct with everything you said¡­will the second phase written here truly happen?"

    She asked the question that popped into her head. The facts written about the second mana awakening phase were somewhat troublesome¡­if they were true that is. But Nial was actually not sure if they were true or false because there were some memories of thete Darkness God, which prevented him from answering directly.

    <In the secondary phase of the naturalary mana awakening, the will grow stronger, allowing the lifeforms living on it to reach new heights.

    Mutations will ur, all lifeforms will evolve and new types of existences will appear. Intelligent life will be born if it did not yet exist on the evolving.>

    What Be had read out loud was not that worrisome. In fact, under normal circumstances, it could be considered great.

    However, the moment the grew stronger, the dungeon portals on Jundra would reach new realms, bringing forth more terror on mankind.

    But that was not everything yet. Rather, it was just the beginning of a nightmare as Be read the underlined text that had been written in red.

    [Warning: Natural channels with others, dimensions, and realms may be created in the secondary mana awakening phase of a. Existences emerging from these natural channels may have to be dealt with violence¡­Surviving the wrath of existences that have been blessed with mana longer than a newly awakened¡­good luck with that!]

    The red text of warning sounded more like it was written from personal experience and by a biased person. It was almost as if the author of the thesis was unable to keep up his professionalism.

    However, that was something Nial had felt when reading through the entire thesis. This was another reason for him to feel like he was reading through some bullshit.

    Yet, despite believing that most ''information'' written in the thesis was wrong, the Odyssey seed reacted by pulsating continuously even when they had finished reading through the thesis.

    Nial was dumbfounded by this, and he didn''t even notice that Be clenched her fists, nearly tearing the thesis as she grit her teeth.

    "Doesn''t that text mean that¡­there will be different types of portals that appear out of nowhere, other than dungeons, and that we may have to face even more terrifying existences emerging from these natural channels?!"

    Natural channels might be helpful because amiable existences could emerge from it.

    However, Be didn''t believe that they would be lucky enough for something like this to happen.

    Given mankind''s bad luck, it was more likely for one of such natural channels to appear in the center of their shelters with terrifying demons emerging from it.

    What Be didn''t know was that her worries were both more than justified, and at the same time, just her being nervous¡­

    Mankind''s fortune might have been bad until now but that didn''t mean it would always be like that.

    After all, things were about to change now and in the future.

    The past created the present¡­thus¡­the present would create their future.

    Nothing had yet been decided and as long as they were still alive, it was possible for them to change the human race''s fate!

    **

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 Chapter 166 Different Paths

    With the ''information'' written in the thesis they had just read, things were bound to be more difficult.

    However, that was only the case if it would be a true fact, which was not the case.

    It was only a thesis and not proven facts. That ought to be reassuring but the Odyssey seed''s reaction caused Nial to feel the opposite as he kept frowning.

    ''Well, for now, it doesn''t matter. I should be prepared for the future, though.''

    Nial wanted to distract his mind from the mess a simple piece of paper caused. Thus, Nial used his range of perception to focus on the robe he was wearing.

    It felt both like an armor and a cape and looked much better than somerge robes.

    As such, he was not even bothered that the Tier-2 runic armament enveloped his body tightly.

    ''It''s made out of high-grade materials, with some of them having gained sentience¡­that''s surprising''

    Nial didn''t expect to encounter a sentient runic armament so early on. However, the cape that moved of its own ord as if it was a small child had to be sentient.

    It had sensed Nial''s mana fluctuations before Mathias'' and attached itself to him owing to this simple reason.

    Now that the cape had chosen him, he could call the cape his property. Nial spent some time figuring out what runic armaments had been inscribed in the cape.

    "Temperature regtion, Self-cleaning, passive mana replenishment, magic resistance, and a concealment function!!"

    Nial was quite astonished by the result of his research. The Tier-2 runic armament was certainly better than expected.

    That was also why he didn''t even think of removing the cape from his body. Calling it a cape suited the runic armament better than a robe, which Nial found to be an unsuitable name for such a great runic armament.

    When he averted his attention to the others, he saw that they were still reading through the thesis. It was their third or fourth time reading the same paper over and over again.

    *p*

    "How about we empty the office and leave afterward? We can take a look at everything when we''re outside the dungeon. Miranda might even be able to gain a deeper understanding of the situation!"

    Nial had pped his hands to gain his friends'' attention.

    Afterward, he had already begun to collect all the books from the shelf in front of him while continuing to speak.

    Be and Mathias merely looked at him for a moment. They felt that Nial didn''t take the thesis seriously enough because he looked so rxed.

    His new robe made him look much better but that didn''t change anything about his nonchnt attitude.

    But even if both Be and Mathias felt like saying something to Nial, they couldn''t. Seeing that, at least, one of them acted calm and as if everything was not as bad as they presumed, was oddly reassuring.

    Nial didn''t notice how much of an influence his attitude had on his friends. He would be astonished if he were to know the truth.

    But his attention was elsewhere, which is also the reason for him to focus on clearing the office.

    Not even ten minutes passed before the small team of three left the office. They walked down the hallways before descending the revolving stairways.

    Reaching the next floor, Be and Mathias immediately saw that there was another batch of six Guardian Knights.

    They knew that it was important to defeat and destroy the Guardian Knights as quickly as possible.

    There was no need to y fair, which was why the team of three chose to eliminate the Guardian Knights before they would even be activated.

    This was rather easy to achieve because they had already fought against the identical-looking Guardian Knights before.

    After half an hour of nning, Be turned into the bait, while Nial and his Tier-1 Dragonme spear were tasked with destroying the Guardian Knights by inflicting the least damage.

    On the other hand, Mathias used his Living Earth trap once again, so as to prevent anything worse from happening.

    In a matter of minutes, the Guardian Knights had been destroyed and stored in the storage rings of the three young Originals.

    "If every floor has Guardian Knights, we can make a fortune just by conquering the floors!"

    What Mathias said made sense. The value of each Guardian Knight was enormous whether it was the price of the materials it was made of or the value of the research material it provided owing to the numerous runic constetions inscribed in the hollow space within the Puppet runic armaments.

    But Nial could only smile wryly.

    "I guess that we''ll only have to deal with these Guardian Knights until we leave the guest rooms inside the pce. If there is another floor with Guardian Knights, then that only means that the pce was often used to lodge many guests."<sub> </sub>

    Mathias frowned the moment he heard Nial''s assumptions.

    However, what the young Original seemed to forget was that the highest floor of the ancient ruin''s pce had been divided into the pce''s terrace and the highest floor.

    The second top floor was double the size of the highest floor.

    Thus, there were more than enough things to collect for each of them.

    Be understood this, which was why she lightly touched Mathias'' shoulder before pointing at one particr location in the middle of the hallway.

    "There is an intersection, and after following it you might find more Guardian Knights, another hallways, and of course, more rooms."

    Despite being often annoyed by Mathias'' behavior and his seemingly non-existent social skills, Be couldn''t help but feel like teasing Mathias every now and then.

    However, she also understood that this was not appropriate, whether it was because she knew that he always misunderstood her way of poking at him, or that it was simply because the ancient ruin''s pce was more dangerous than it seemed for now.

    One might not notice it at first nce but the dangers the three young Originals had faced until now were not life-threatening.

    But that was only obvious because their current position needed to be the least protected. Nobody should be able to reach the highest floors without getting through the other floors first.

    Even if that was possible, the highest floors had only little treasures, after all, the treasury was somewhere else¡­ and riddled with countless deadly traps.

    However, all of this was known by Nial. He never nned to reach the treasury, neither did he want to face numerous traps nor was his n to waste his time on the lower floors.

    He wanted to reap most benefits while avoiding as much trouble as possible, which was why they had hatched the n of plundering the ancient ruin''s pce from the top.

    While Be had readily agreed to Nial''s decision to start plundering the pce from the top, she wondered what was on his mind.

    She doubted that he was confident of clearing the entire pce in less than two weeks.

    Unfortunately, before she could ask him what she was curious about Nial chose to follow Mathias, who had rushed to the intersection of the hallways.

    Be could only shake her head at that, sighing deeply before taking a few breaths to calm herself!

    Sometimes, Mathias behaved like a restless bunny, while he was an idiot during other times.

    Meanwhile, while fighting, Mathias was quite serious.

    "As long as he doesn''t get us killed, it should be fine¡­ I guess¡­" Be followed her two teammates, clearly understanding that she wouldn''t have to endure Mathias for much longer anymore.

    Once the Teradan military camp was over, they would go their own separate ways. She already had a path to walk upon. As such, it was not even worth reconsidering if their team of three should stay together.

    It would be a lie if she were to say that her heart and mind didn''t want to stay with the two young men.

    They were quitefortable to be around despite all the frustration she felt. However, Be was also fully aware that her path was a different one than the others.

    And dragging them down her path just for the sake of staying together was certainly not something Be would do.

    After all, she was not even sure if her path would lead to a bright future or a suicidal trip!

    Be felt a little bit conflicted at this thought and seeing Nial''s back, she wondered for a moment if it would be okay to lean against it and rely on him.

    But it was only a momentter that she shook her head. Her Innate ability was once again acting up. The moment she thought about staying by Nial''s side, her [Celestial transformation] began to overflow with disgust and the desire to leave Nial at once.

    It was a weird feeling, and Be could only sigh deeply, only to see that both Mathias and Nial had disappeared in the intersection that led to the other hallway.

    "Wait for me!" Be shouted as a faint smile appeared on her face.

    Even if her Innate ability was clearly telling her to stay away from Nial, Be knew that he was not a danger¡­not yet, at least.

    That was why she felt that it would be a shame to stay away from everyone and everything just because her innate ability told her so.

    She didn''t want to regret her time in the Teradan military camp and Be knew that if she were to follow the wishes of her Innate ability, she would definitely have regrets!

    With brisk steps that felt heavier than ever before, Be followed Nial and Mathias¡­

    Like this, close to two weeks passed and it was soon the day before the Teradan military camp''s true training would officially start.

 Chapter 167 Gathering

    More than a thousand young Originals were gathered in front of arge podium.

    Everyone looked up to the podium, where they could see more than a dozen Instructors followed by a middle-aged man with brown hair, broad shoulders, and a fierce expression, who was standing in front of them.

    Dominance radiated from his bodynguage and eyes, preventing anyone from looking straight into the Commander''s eyes, while his aura was even stronger, and was weighing down on the shoulders of the young Originals.

    The weakest Originals were unable to move, and could barely exert their entire strength and willpower to prevent copsing on the ground.

    Desperation could be seen in their faces but nobody did anything to help them, even if the participants around the affected Originals noticed their struggle.

    Everyone was on their own, and each of them was trying to endure the pressure that weighed on them with all their might and not fail right after stepping in front of the Commander.

    "Is everyone present?"

    One of the Instructors asked his colleagues, feeling that something was amiss.

    There were still ten minutes left before the gathering was supposed to start which was why nobody had said anything until now.

    However, for young Originals to appearter than their superiors was already more than enough for a few Instructors to frown deeply.

    The Instructors were popr and powerful Originals, who had better things to do than to wait for some pseudo-prodigious talents, who believed that the world would bend for them with a snap of their fingers.

    As such, it was only obvious for most instructors to feel frustrated, even more so in light of the recent incidents.

    They were not even able to enter the ancient ruins dungeon portal because their strength was too high.

    This was the biggest problem most instructors had. It was not difficult to determine that the runic armaments were powerful, extremely valuable for mankind, and rather cheap to produce as long as one gained the necessary knowledge.

    From the instructor''s point of view, they could only idle around and wait for the young Originals and the junior Soldiers they had sent out to fulfill a few tasks to purchase the goods they got their hands on within the ancient ruins dungeon.

    Instead of being able to procure the production form of runic armaments, they would have to purchase them for an exorbitant price from their students first and conduct thorough research if they wanted to create runic armaments by themselves.

    Being in possession of a single runic armament form wouldn''t be enough either. It was necessary to know far more than just the production form to create a runic armament because there were way too manyplicated steps one had to pay attention to.

    Even the tiniest mistake would render the runic armament as scrap, meaning that one would have to purchase several manuals detailing the creation process of runic armaments.

    Just thinking about the price they would have to pay before they could start learning about runic armaments caused the stingy hearts of the instructors to bleed profusely.

    Thus, the more time passed the more frustrated many instructors became, which was clearly visible based on their bodynguage.

    "5 minutes¡­there are still a few Originals missing," Kassandra suddenly announced, as a glint of worry shed through her eyes.

    She couldn''t see, let alone sense Be yet. Thus, it was only obvious for Instructor Kassandra to be bothered as her one and only disciple was still not there.

    ''She is definitely not dead¡­so why is she runningte?''

    Instructor Kassandra wondered about Be''s whereabouts while looking at a seemingly ordinary piece of paper before calming down.

    As long as Be Morningstar was not dead, everything would be fine. It would be a little bit annoying if Be were to arrive toote but that was still fine as long as Be would arrive, in the first ce!

    Nervously biting into her lower lip, Kassandra''s gaze swept over the group of young Originals once again.

    Rather than her expectations of finding around one thousand Originals the number of present participants was much closer to 5000. But in Kassandra''s opinion that was neither too high nor too low.

    In fact, it was a low number considering that the Teradan military camp had yet to start. However, an entire month had already passed since the young Originals had entered the nameless ind.

    Many young Originals had been injured severely, which was why they had been sent back to heal and recover from their injuries. Meanwhile, there were also quite a few young Originals, who had sumbed to this year''s dangers.

    While only a handful of Originals died in the first trial of the Teradan military camp, which had been to find the camp, to begin with, far more Originals disappeared or were lost in the ancient ruins dungeon.

    There had been many reports from junior Soldiers and other young Originals speaking about the death of over 2000 young Originals.

    This number was far higher than expected, proving that the dangers of the towers'' and pce''s traps were highly lethal.

    What they found inside the ancient ruin''s dungeon was not only numerous beast tribes but something even worse; a human''s greed.<sub> </sub>

    Even if it was something frowned upon, some Originals had mercilessly killed each other to get their hands on the treasures others had plundered.

    Murder was officially forbidden but as long as one had enough strength or the capabilities to hide their sinful deeds, it was not as if the government could do anything against homicide.

    It was not as if it was the first time that humans had killed one another to procure more treasures.

    Inside dungeons, the difference between staying alive and sumbing to death was dependent on one''s capabilities, nothing else¡­.

    ''We have not had that many deaths for decades¡­.'' The Commander was not also frowning when looking at the rather small number of young Originals.

    Officially the death rate in the Teradan military camp was extremely high, but unofficially, less than 10% of the camp''s participants truly died.

    Rather, it was closer to 5% at most!

    The official death rate was just a means to scare young Originals, and to give them a teaser of what awaited them before the military camp would start; they wanted to test the determination of their participants and their ability to cope with the pressure of death looming over them.

    There were more reasons to announce an exorbitantly high death rate during the few months in which the Teradan military camp was held but that was not important anymore.

    Too many things had happened in thest few weeks and things were bound to get even more bothersome.

    That was what the Commander believed, which was why he could only let out a sigh.

    "Yes! They''reing!"

    The voice of a young man suddenly resounded behind the Commander, who had wanted to start with his short speech. However, upon realizing who the voice belonged to, the Commander of the Teradan military camp felt like throwing a nce to his back.

    As expected, he saw Junades, the youngest Original ever appointed to be an Instructor for any military camp, who had just shouted.

    And as if that was not enough, Junades was appointed to be an Instructor for the most dangerous military camp with a stringent selection criterion- the Teradan military camp!

    Seeing the tension on Junades'' face being slowly washed away, the Commander turned his head to look in the same direction as the youngest Instructor.

    Several Instructors followed suit, including Kassandra, who was also sighing in relief.

    Be finally arrived at the gathering, with Nial and Mathias by her side.

    However, what caused many instructors to frown was that all of them were followed by a few junior Soldiers, carrying an unconscious Original each.

    Meanwhile, Nial and his friends were also carrying one Original each.

    Lying unconscious in Nial''s hand was no other than Yves¡­the young Original, who was able to manipte nts and boost their growth at an otherworldly high speed!

    Yves Ygdra, one of the few promising young Originals, the one, who had been nurtured since the age of three, trained in numerous martial art techniques and techniques that allowed him to absorb mana faster than anyone else, was lying in Nial''s arms, unconscious and full of bruises.

    Meanwhile, Nial was merely smiling as he stopped in thest row of young Originals.

    He ignored all the attention on him and those around him. Rather, Nial looked at the junior Soldiers before he gave out an order,

    "You cany them down! Thanks for helping us to bring them over."

    **

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 Chapter 168 Crushing Some Idiots

    Nial and the others had merely scourged the 8th floor from the top when they had decided to leave the ancient ruin''s pce.

    It had been impossible for them to keep plundering the floors below because the traps had be too dangerous. The small team of three required more than two hours to detect a single trap and deactivate it, which was way too long.

    After all, there were hundreds of traps on the following floor. That was why Nial and the others chose tob through the other floors once again to see if they had missed out on something.

    Their spatial rings were overflowing with all kinds of runic armaments, books, and other valuable objects they had found inside the pce''s higher floors.

    By the time they decided to leave, there had only been a few hours left before the camp''s gathering would start.

    Be and Mathias had been a little bit worried about how to leave because they were stuck on the top floor and had found no easy way to reach the lower floors and leave the pce that way.

    However, Nial had led his team back to the terrace of the highest floor with a faint smile on his lips.

    "Shall we jump?" He asked his two friends upon reaching the terrace.

    "Nial¡­you''re not ill, right? If we jump we''re going to die!" Be suddenly eximed while looking at him in doubt.

    "How about we use my Earth affinity and your dark energy to create solid stairs downward? It might take some time but we will safely reach the ground." Mathias'' idea was quite simple but at the same time dangerous as well.

    The moment they made a single mistake, the entire stairway leading outside the pce''s walls might copse, and all of them might fall from a big height.

    Yet, instead of listening to his friends, Nial just shook his head before smiling slyly.

    "No, we''re going to jump." He repeated while assessing his spatial ring.

    A momentter three backpacks appeared in front of Nial. He threw one toward each Be and Mathias while putting on one himself.

    "Didn''t we purchase a few things when we first entered the ancient ruins? The same goes for the second time. I bought something from the Miriad trading firm, did you guys forget?"

    Nial''s smile only widened because he could sense that neither Be nor Mathias were able to understand what Nial wanted from them.

    "They''re parachutes!" Mathias suddenly eximed, when Nial had already reached the edge of the terrace.

    "Exactly, parachutes," Nialmented before jumping down the huge wall.

    Be and Mathias rushed towards the edge of the terrace, only to see that he had already opened the parachute and that Nial was gliding in the direction of the dungeon portal.

    ''Nial had already nned to leave the pce through the terrace?''

    Looking at each other, both Be and Mathias realized that this had been his escape route all along which was why they felt a little bit baffled.

    But after a moment of astonishment, they were d that Nial had thought about everything.

    Jumping down the terrace, they opened the parachutes a secondter before following behind Nial.

    It took them quite a while to reach the ground, but they had safelynded not far from the dungeon portal.

    They could see that the number of employed junior Soldiers had increased quite a bit as well.

    There were even junior Soldiers who had been walking toward the ancient ruin''s pce to clear it.

    ''So they''re finally grasping their chance to go treasure hunting?''

    Without thepetition against other Originals, the junior Soldiers had more than enough time to deactivate all the traps and loot everything the participants of the military camp had to reluctantly leave behind.

    Everything that the junior Soldiers would gain inside the dungeon would be sold in exchange for military merit points. This was the most important currency for Soldiers as it allowed them to apply for a promotion, to attend certain training sessions that were usually restricted, and so on.

    Thus, the military would not only gain numerous treasures from the ancient ruin''s dungeon but they would be able to justify strengthening the individuals, who had collected the most treasures.

    It was a clear win-win situation, just that the military gained both treasures and more powerful soldiers!

    But that was not something Nial could be bothered about. He would just defeat the junior Soldiers once again to prevent paying a ''protection'' fee if they would be asked to pay it.

    Thankfully, he did not encounter the junior Soldiers when he reached the proximity of the small base within the ancient ruin''s dungeon. Nial could only smile faintly when he sensed the presence of a familiar person.

    "Yves Ygdra, what a pleasure to meet you here. I doubt this is a coincidence."<sub> </sub>

    Yves Ygdra and more than a dozen of his underlings had been waiting for Nial and his group to appear.

    He had been humiliated by this small group earlier and had nned to take away everything from them.

    Yves had even nned to snatch their spatial rings, clothes, and everything else.

    "Everyone who dares to disregard my authority and generosity will have to face my punishment!"

    Nobody would act that brazen during the Teradan military camp''s mission, or at least that was what Nial had presumed.

    What he didn''t know was that more than enough young Originals believed that their family background would allow them to get away with acts of bullying, deceit, and trickery while receiving the royal treatment.

    <o>,m Thus, many had acted brazen and demanded all kinds of things from both the military camp''s staff and the participants as well.</o>

    However, most of them had been beaten to a pulp to make them understand that their background had no value in the military camp.

    Strength was all that mattered!

    The junior Soldiers, who had been observing Yves and his group for quite some time, had thought of intervening and reminding them that the camp''s gathering was about to start.

    However, when they saw Nial''s ice-cold expression and his dominating presence as he stood in front of the heir of the Ygdra family and his underlings, they didn''t dare make a move.

    A tinge of excitement spread through their bodies as one of the junior Soldiers said,

    "He must be the one Mike spoke about¡­the Blind Original!!"

    "Ohh, that''s him? I can tell why Mike was defeated by this young Original. He might be blind and only at the 3rd Origin rank, but I can sense something unfathomable from him.

    I doubt that I would be able to defeat him."

    "..."

    Nial could hear all thements about him, but none of the snide remarks and taunts bothered him right now. Yves had yet to say anything to him yet, but the intention of the young Original and his group of a dozen underlings was quite obvious.

    Perceiving the Originals opposite him with all his senses, Nial could easily determine their battle intent and hostility.

    As such, he turned his head toward the junior Soldiers before he smiled faintly as he released his dark energy and ck miasma into a merged form.

    "Just help us carry them over¡­in a minute or so!"

    The moment Nial finished his words, darkness emerged from the ground that had suddenly turned pitch-ck a moment ago.

    It formed a dense shroud around Yves'' group, the junior Soldiers, and everyone else, so one couldn''t see anything. Even Be''s natural night vision was not very helpful.

    She could barely see anything and chose to rely on her range of perception to support Nial in the fight against Yves and his cronies.

    Oddly enough the battle that ought to be extremely difficult ended within a minute, and none of the members of Yves'' group were able to face Nial head-on.

    Nial''s opponent had been unable to use their mana properly as his dark miasma interfered with their mana senses and the activation of their mana.

    It was only a weak disturbing function that his dark miasma owned. However, to those who had not expected this, it was a severe restriction that hit them off-guard.

    While they were unable to activate their mana and abilities for a few seconds, Nial had already appeared in front of the most dangerous Originals and began knocking them out with ease.

    Meanwhile, Mathias restricted everyone''s movement by using his newest crowd control technique, which he had taught himself.

    Be knocked out those who Mathias had restricted, ending the battle even quicker.

    The moment the dark miasma was retracted by Nial, the junior Soldiers could only see more than a dozen unconscious young Originals lying on the ground, with Nial standing in front of the unconscious Yves Ygdra.

    The corners of Nial''s lip curled upward, turning into a devilish grin as he spoke to Yves, barely loud enough for the junior Soldiers to hear.

    "I might have gone overboard, sorry for crushing you¡­"

 Chapter 169 Recommendations

    While Instructor Junades and Instructor Kassandra were overjoyed to see Nial and Be, the Commander of the military camp couldn''t help but frown at the sorry state of Yves Ygdra and his underlings.

    ''What the hell happened to them? They don''t look severely injured¡­.well, either way.''

    The Commander shrugged his shoulders before turning his head to one of the Instructors, who looked a little bit ufortable at the sight of Yves.

    The Instructor had a rtively close rtionship to the Ygdra family, which was why he was worried and felt odd when looking at the unconscious heir of the Ygdra family.

    "Get them a healer."

    After receiving an order from the Commander, the Instructor sighed in relief before he rushed off.

    Not long after, a team of medics reached Yves and his underlings.

    Meanwhile, Nial and his team had merged into the group of young Originals, who were patiently looking toward the podium in front of them.

    The arrival of Nial''s team and the unconscious Originals caused a smallmotion but it was quickly dissolved, the moment the hoarse voice of someone clearing his throat reverberated through the surrounding area.

    The military camp''s Commander had enhanced his vocal cords and he was ready to speak to the participants of the camp.

    "Hello everyone, as you all must have guessed by now, I''m the Commander of the Teradan military camp, Ullyr Jer!

    I know that thest few weeks have been different than expected but we felt the same. The danger level of dungeons is consistently increasing and mankind will have to face hard times if we don''t improve our strength as well.

    Fortunately, we have found out about the instruction manuals that specify how runic armaments are created, followed by thousands ofpleted runic armaments. This will elevate mankind''s position on the nameless ind and the wilderness on the other fronts as well!

    However, relying only on runic armaments would do us no good simply because the wielder of a weapon determines how much of its potential can be unleashed!

    If a sword''s wielder is not proficient with the said weapon, he or she will never be able to ovee life-threatening situations, where one is forced to ovee their limits.

    That being said, we''vee up with the most efficient n to train all participants of the military camp in weaponry to allow them to gain more proficiency in wielding several weapons!

    <o>,m Some may already be proficient at wielding multiple weapons. For those Originals, we n to provide them opportunities to gain fighting experience, whether this is by sparring, or conquering dungeons all by themselves!"</o>

    After Commander Ullyr spoke about what the participants'' next task was supposed to be, most young Originals were disappointed.

    This was something the Commander and the Instructors had already expected. After all, there were only a handful of Originals, whose weapon proficiency was low.

    At the same time, most had already conquered dungeons at the young age of 10, or less.

    Thus, most young Originals were dissatisfied with the Commander''s words.

    However, Nial felt theplete opposite. He smiled brightly as he heard that they would be professionally taught how to wield certain weapons.

    Nial had never received proper tutge, which meant that the entire strength he had built up by now was the result of his own efforts.

    But this only hinted that Nial could improve and be much stronger as long as he wanted to study fighting properly, which was something he looked forward to.

    With the resources in his possession, it wouldn''t be a problem to hire a professional instructor but there was still a difference between being taught by one of the strongest Originals, or by someone, who made his living by teaching how to wield weapons.

    One was fighting with his life on the line, trusting his life with the weapons he wielded, while the other was safe in the shelter, teaching the basics.

    Nial clearly recalled the short spar he had against Instructor Junades long ago. It caused his smile to widen as he hoped to receive Master Juandes'' tutge.

    Upon hearing the Commander''s decision, several young Originals began expressing their difort.

    "We are thousands of Originals, and we have only slightly more than a dozen or so Instructors¡­how will it even be possible for all of us to receive proper lessons, if that is even necessary, to begin with?!"

    "I don''t care about the benefits the plebeians receive, but Ie from an influential family!! I''ve been taught to wield a sword since the age of 3, and with the use of my Innate ability, I can make even several Dungeon Bosses at the 10th Origin rank sumb to my sword! I don''t need to be taught how to wield a sword properly, let alone gain experience in dungeon conquering¡­"

    There were numerous simrments. Their words were rude and dishonoring, not only to the military camp''s Instructors and the Commander but even more so to the few talents of ordinary households, who had been able to be stronger only because of their merit and hard work.

    For them, every second spent within the Teradan military camp was an honor, especially to be taught by mankind''s idols and heroes.

    Yet, thements of those born with silver spoons, who didn''t think highly about the military camp hurt themoners more than being severely injured by some monsters!

    The Commander was also quite enraged, but he couldn''t help but agree that some of the Originals had more than enough experience.

    "You belong to the Sword Master''s family, right? Jase Irkar, if I''m not wrong?" The calm voice of the Commander reached one of the Original''s ears.

    "That is correct, Commander Jer. I''m Jase Irkar!" The prideful voice of the young but well-built man reached everyone.

    It was as if he wanted to let everyone know of his identity and to show off his might.

    However, the Commander merely nodded his head before sighing deeply as he looked over the batch of arrogant participants.<sub> </sub>

    "Is there anyone from a humble background here, who''s capable of fighting one of these arrogant pricks?" Ullyr Jer asked in a loud voice, feeling the urge to teach the arrogant Originals a lesson.

    He had nothing against influential families, but the way in which most families taught their heirs to treat other households was truly disgusting. They believed themselves to be better than others in every aspect.

    The bad treatment highly influential families gave others was even worse if someone hailed from a ''merely'' ordinary background without wealth, power, or talent.

    Strength decided everything and to most powerful families, ordinary people were not worth their attention, even if they were somewhat talented.

    And this was quite annoying in the Commander''s opinion, after all, he was from an ordinary background as well, and the Teradan military camp was capable of changing the fate of the less fortunate.

    Thus, Jase Ikar''s and the other''sments were inappropriate and highly demeaning, which was why he wanted someone to beat them up. He couldn''t do it himself, after all!

    "How about you allow Olivia Meradnin to fight? She is from a humble background but is extremely powerful. Those who think too highly of their own strength will be defeated by her in seconds!!

    "No, let Be Morningstar fight them. She is my disciple and can beat them into a pulp."

    "Let Jase Irka fight with Nial Orin! He is the best candidate to make everyone realize what reality tastes like!"

    A few instructors rmended the names of several young Originals so that Commander Ullyr Jer would pick them to fight against the arrogant Originals that were from an influential background, and born with great talent, including an Innate ability.

    However, even if the Instructors voiced out a few names, there was only one person, who dared to say that his rmendation was capable of fighting Jase Irka.

    Commander Ullyr turned to Junades, whose eyes were sparkling with excitement while looking at themander.

    "You know that Jase is one of the strongest Originals we epted in this year''s batch, right?"

    The Sword Master was even stronger than the Old Medic, Miranda.

    He might be of a lower rank as he owned one less Advanced Origin ring, but the Sword Master focused on fighting rather than healing, which was why he owned several abilities that were solely focused on improving his strength.

    As long as he unleashed his whole strength, the Sword Master was capable of crushing several Giganodes all by himself.

    Even Miranda had to use her ability so that others would increase her strength with supporting abilities.

    This was not something the Sword Master required. His Art of the Sword was unparalleled, and not a single human was able to defeat him.

    Jase Irka was born and raised in Liondra. He had attended the best schools, had undergone the best training, and awakened an even higher talent than his father.

    His origin might have awoken quitete, but Jase Irka was already at the 8th Origin rank, and not a single word he spoke about his strength had been exaggerated.

    For Jase Irka it was no problem to fight several Dungeon Bosses at the 10th Origin rank as long as he unleashed his Innate ability!

    That was why nobody dared to say that their rmended Originals were able to defeat him in particr¡­except Junades.

    "Of course, I know about Jase, his strength, and his background. And, to be honest, I''m not sure if Nial is strong enough to defeat Jase, but I want to see their spar!"

    It was rare to see Junades that excited. Many Instructors threw him weird gazes, only for Kassandra to frown deeply.

    "You want to send a Blind 3rd Origin rank to spar against Jase Irka, the Sword Master''s son, an Original at the 8th Origin rank with over a decade of training in the Art of the Sword? Either you want these arrogant young Originals to keep boasting about their strength, or you want to kill this Nial Orin!!"

    It was obvious for Kassandra to know who Nial Orin was.

    The moment her disciple, Be chose to team up with Mathias Cartel and Nial Orin, she investigated their background, their strength, and their entire past.

    That was why Kassandra knew everything about Mathias and Nial, with the sole uncertain factor being that Nial''s family had disappeared on a seemingly normal day.

    Nobody could tell her where they were right now, but they weren''t considered dead either, which was weird. The information she tried to figure out about their current location was simply denied to her and she had been told that it was a highly ssified secret.

    This was weird, but it had nothing to do with Nial''s strength, which Kassandra knew quite well.

    Commander Ullyr looked at Junades'' frown the moment Kassandra said something, but he chose not toment on it.

    ''I cannot take the risk. Looks like I will have to spare Jase for the time being and discipline him properly in the training session¡­what a pity.''

    Ullyr Jer had no idea what was on Junades'' mind, but it was impossible for him to take the risk of allowing Nial Orin to fight Jase Irka. On one hand, he didn''t want the military to lose their reputation, but on the other he did not want to allow the arrogant Originals to keep spouting nonsense either.

    With that in mind, themander turned back to the young Originals, who had already begun a heated debate and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

    "Miss Olivia Meradnin, Sir Mirhan Kark, are the two of you willing to have a little spar? I think we have a few Originals here, who have to calm down a little bit!"

    While one of the Instructors smiled brightly, both Kassandra and Junades could only give a disappointed sigh.

    ''You just missed out on an opportunity to teach Jase and the other annoying pricks a lesson¡­it''s not my fault if an untoward incident urs!!''

 Chapter 170 Dark Witch

    The meaning behind Commander Ullyr''s words was quite obvious.

    He paired Olivia Meradnin, someone from a humble background, against Mirhan Kark, whose family background was almost on par with Jase Irka''s, to show that strength was the most important!

    With strength, one would survive fighting against the most ferocious dungeon beasts, one could umte wealth, and build up connections from everywhere.

    Everyone would try to befriend the strong, whether they were from a humble background or a renowned one. One''s background might help them have a certain advantage at the starting line, but without the necessary talent and determination, they would still struggle to reach their goal.

    Thus, after Commander Ullyr had done quick research that took no longer than 5 seconds, he figured that Olivia Meradnin was the perfect opponent for Mirhan Kark.

    Mirhan Kark belonged to the family of Blood Warlocks. His family line was known for descendants born with blood-rted closebat Innate abilities.

    On the other hand, Olivia Meradnin was the first one in her family to awaken an Innate ability with great potential in both her mana veins and mana core!

    She looked frail, had short blond hair, and clear sky blue eyes. However, her weak appearance was just an illusion because her fighting style was anything but weak.

    In fact, ording to the young Original''s ranking in the first two missions, all of the Originals had participated in, Olivia was ranked fifth!

    Thus, themander couldn''t help but be a little bit curious about the little girl. He was so impressed by her that he even forgot to act like a professional for a short time as the camp''s gathering was not yet over.

    Commander Ullyr merely stated that the camp''s participants would have to return to train once again while leaving out the most important fact.

    However, that was not important to the middle-aged man as he looked at Olivia with a glint of interest.

    The young Originals had already backed off so as to create abat ring in the middle of therge za they had gathered in.

    Miran Kark had also stepped forward with a faint smile because he was the one whose name had been announced.

    For a moment, he had been annoyed that the Commander seemed to take him too lightly but that was not something he was worried about anymore.

    After all, this was an opportunity for him to win the spar in an overwhelming manner. And when he would do that, he and his friends'' superiority would be established over all other participants! He would be able to do whatever he wanted and make everyone dance to his tunes.

    Of course, this was just his daydreaming. None of the military''s staff would allow him to act however he pleased.

    Rather, the opportunity to allow him to spar in the middle of the camp''s gathering was the first but alsost chance the Commander gave Mirhan and the other arrogant Originals, who couldn''t even respect the people, who had protected their livelihood for decades!

    Thousands of soldiers had died to protect the nine shelters from being destroyed against lethal attacks. As such, even the most influential families should have taught their descendants to be respectful to the military.

    After all, even the strongest families wouldn''t be capable of protecting a shelter all by themselves!

    Existences such as the Sword Master were obviously aware of this. As such, he had taught Jase Irka to respect everyone.

    Unfortunately, the Sword Master''s reputation, the way everyone had always treated Jase Irka with the highest respect, and the fact that he was also talented, possibly even more talented than his father had tarnished Jase Irka''s innocence.

    And this was what had happened to most Originals from rich families. They had been raised in a good environment, but having everything at their beck and call had made them too arrogant after awakening their origin.

    ''You can do it!'' Commander Ullyr thought while looking at Olivia, and there were several other young Originals who thought the same.

    On the other hand, someone like Nial could only shake his head because he could already tell who was going to win.

    Under normal circumstances, this would not be possible but Nial''s dark energy reacted when he perceived Olivia Meradnin!

    But this was only obvious because Olivia''s nickname was none other than <Dark Witch>.

    Before the suddenly announced spar started, a few minutes psed. However, when the calm-looking Olivia and the hot-tempered, red-haired, and muscle-packed Mirhan stood opposite each other, it took only three seconds for the battle to start.

    Olivia waved and flicked a small, purplish-ck wand in her hand to make a ball of darkness emerge in front of her. She threw it toward Mirhan without hesitation.

    However, Mirhan had already left his previous location. His entire body was covered in a bloody aura as he had activated his Innate ability [Blood Berserker] before he shot straight toward his opponent.

    He wielded a heavy broadsword and was ready to cut Olivia into two pieces.

    ''I''m not someone who holds back. If you guys want her to live, protect her properly!''

    That was what Mirhan had in mind when rushing at Olivia as he pulled back the broadsword over his head to sh at her.

    [Blood Berserker] enhanced his physical strength by 30%, while his mana would receive an enhancement as well.

    But these two effects paled inparison to the Blood aura that the activation of his Innate ability had granted Mirhan.

    The Blood aura wasparable to an aura and a mana distortion device.

    It weakened the power of mana-based attacks. Thus, Mirhan didn''t need to hold back while fighting Olivia, knowing well that she was focused on wielding her darkness magic!

    Yet, when ten balls of darkness emerged around the Dark Witch Olivia, even Mirhan had to be a little bit careful.

    The balls of darkness didn''t seem to be ordinary. He sensed that something was wrong but even before he could make a move, he felt something coil around his legs.

    Darkness had emerged from his own shadow, turning into ropes of darkness that had coiled around Mirhan''s legs.

    They were slightly weakened due to the influence of Mirhan''s Blood aura but that was not enough to destroy the darkness ropespletely.

    Rather, they slowed down Mirhan, as a vine shot out from the ball of darkness.

    ''Who said that my balls of darkness are meant to attack?'' Olivia merely thought with a faint smile on her lips.

    Until now, she had not made use of her Innate ability, at all. This hadn''t been necessary because the [Darkness Vines] ability was more than enough to aplish whatever she wanted to.

    Her first ability was called [Darkness Vines] and Olivia had studied her ability thoroughly which allowed her to control the darkness vines to near perfection.

    Normally it was only possible to shoot the darkness vines out of the ground. However, ever since her proficiency with her ability had increased, Olivia had learned how to turn the Darkness Vines intopressed masses which she could throw through the air.

    It consumed quite a bit of her mana to make the Balls of darkness hover in the air, and throw them, especially because the balls didn''t have any attack power.

    But this was not a problem anymore because the Tier-1 runic armament she procured within the ancient ruin''s pce had been a staff customized for darkness magic!

    The runic armament reduced her mana consumption drastically, thereby allowing her to y around with the [Darkness Vines]. It tied up Mirhan in ce the moment all 11 balls of darkness released the vines within them.

    Not even half a minute had passed before Mirhan Kark was utterly restricted by more than 20 darkness vines, which prevented him from moving in any way.<sub> </sub>

    In fact, Mirhan felt dizzy and he could tell that he would copse in a few minutes if the vines'' thorns would keep digging in his skin.

    Gritting his teeth, Mirhan tried to activate his first ability [Blood Maniption] but he felt incapable of doing so.

    ''My¡­mana is drained?!?''

    Mirhan noticed toote that the Darkness Vines had drained him of his mana, which had not been the case at first.

    Little did Mirhan know that Olivia had activated her Innate ability, which manipted the characteristics of the darkness vines with the use of half of her mana.

    Gritting his teeth in frustration, Mirhan knew that the fight was over. His body was in an extremely weak state and he didn''t even have a trace of mana left in his body.

    "I..I s-surrender¡­"

    It was humiliating but Mirhan knew that copsing on the ground after having been caught in the darkness vines like a rat in a trap would be even more humiliating.

    epting his loss, Mirhan promised himself that he would defeat Olivia the next time.

    He red at her while his blood aura intensified further, only for the young and frail-looking woman to keep smiling.

    "As expected, she is not bad!" Nial just mumbled, attracting Be and Mathias'' attention.

    "Do you know her?" Be asked curiously because she was pretty sure that Nial didn''t know anyone but her, Mathias, and Junades.

    "I''ve never seen her before."

    Nial''s answer made her feel a little bit weird as he smiled faintly but Be just shrugged her shoulders before turning her head back to thebat ring.

    The fight had just ended, Olivia had released Mirhan from the darkness vines'' tight grasp before returning to the crowd of people.

    It was as if she waspletely unbothered by the fact that she had just defeated one of the strongest and most influential heirs of the Blood Warlock family.

    This was actually the case as Olivia had only agreed to fight Mirhan Kark because the arrogance of some youths had annoyed her.

    She was quite satisfied with having been chosen by the Commander. This clearly told Olivia that she had left a good impression on the higher authorities of the Teradan military camp.

    Thus, she had done her best to give everyone a satisfying show.

    Even Junades was quite surprised about Olivia''s high control over her ability. Thus, he momentarily forgot that he had wanted Nial to fight Jase Irka.

    Commander Ullyr could only inwardly exim in joy while he maintained an unruffled expression on the outside.

    He made a mental note to reward Olivia Meradnin for her great achievement before he averted his attention back to everyone else.

    It was quiet and nobody spoke, which was everything the Commander had wanted to see from the beginning.

    "As everyone has probably seen, physical strength is not everything. Without much difficulty, Olivia Miradnin was able to control her ability with precision which allowed her to defeat Mirhan Kark!

    Being able to control your abilities with high precision is one goal of the Teradan military camp! We want to create the strongest Warriors to fight against the evil dungeon beasts, who will try to destroy our shelters and the entire human race.

    We have to work together against them and be the strongest. Nobody is perfect and I believe that this spar clearly demonstrated this!"

    After that, the Commander stopped speaking for a moment as he looked over the groups of the most annoying young Originals.

    Even Jase Irka had quieted down. He might be gnashing his teeth in anger but even the young and hot-tempered son of the Sword Master was able to perceive that he would have had difficulties fighting against Olivia Miradnan.

    Seeing everyone''s bbergasted expression, the Commander had difficulties keeping a straight face. Olivia''s control over her ability had far exceeded his imagination.

    Fortunately, he had more than enough experience with prodigies to keep his calm as he continued to speak.

    "That is why we will focus on the improvement of your ability''s control, yourbat experience, improving the knowledge of beasts, dungeons, and much more in the following three months!

    I recall that someone hadined about theck of Instructors.

    While it is true that we don''t have that many Instructors, there was a reason for us to have given out two missions before we proceeded with the lessons.

    The appearance of the ancient ruin''s dungeon might have postponed our ns a little bit but the results of the first and second mission were thoroughly scrutinized and scored.

    The 10 Originals with the highest score will receive direct tutge from our Instructors, while the others will have to work hard, and fight for their seats and lessons!"

    A moment after Commander Ullyr finished the first part of his speech, a huge hologram appeared in front of him. Everyone was able to see the hologram with a total of 10 names written on it.

    Only Nial was unable to see it, but his range of perception could clearly visualize the names written on the holographic screen.

    The Commander''s exnation felt a little bit iplete to him because there were still numerous questions Nial had in his mind but he could tell that being in the top 10 woulde with great perks.

    "As expected, we''re in the ranking," Nial said, sounding unsurprised.

    His words were enough for many to make them stare at the blind young Original with squinted eyes.

    They couldn''t believe that a blind Original made it into the top 10, while they didn''t!

    Something had to be wrong!!

    **

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 Chapter 171 Military Games?

    Most Originals were still confused about the ranking but that was only obvious because there were still some pieces of information that they were missing out on!

    It got even more confusing when one particr name appeared in the ranking.

    "Nial Orin? How did he make it in the ranking..?"

    That was the question only those who knew nothing about Nial could ask. Be and Mathias thought that it was only logical for him to grab a ce in the top 10 ranking, simply because they had made it into the list as well.

    Their achievements during thest few weeks had been extraordinary, so it was only obvious for their ranking to be that high!

    "Didn''t you say 3rd Origin rank and blind?" Commander asked quietly before turning in the direction of the only blind youth in the group of thousands of Originals.

    ''I don''t feel anything special about him¡­''

    Commander Ullyr knew that there was no mistake in the names announced in the ranking. That simply meant Nial Orin had done more than enough to be worthy of his ranking.

    But considering that he didn''t feel anything special about Nial Orin, he felt a little bit weird.

    For a short moment, themander looked at Junades, who was smiling craftily while looking at the ranking.

    ''He really did it!''

    Junades had only fought against Nial once. However, that had been more than enough for him to sense the potential that was hidden somewhere deep in the young blind youth.

    He had never cared about Nial''s blindness. Even if it restricted the young Original as long as one worked hard enough it was possible to turn a disadvantage into an advantage.

    Of course, this was not possible in every situation but from the looks of it, Nial had made it happen!

    Only after several seconds passed did Junades notice the gaze of several Instructors on him.

    They had heard him saying that Nial should fight Jase Irka, which was why they concluded that Junades knew Nial Orin.

    "His position in the top 10 is well deserved. Nial and his team were the ones who had saved the young Originals in the exit of the military camp by defeating the Little Giant. Furthermore, they were also the only team to have brought the beast controlling ne ungraded runic armament back with them.

    During therge-scale dungeon breakout, Nial was also the Original with the highest kill count, if we exclude our Soldiers at the Prym rank. If you guys don''t believe me, take a look at the information yourself.

    Last but not least, his team brought back lots of runic armaments from within the ancient ruins dungeon and he single-handedly defeated one of our junior Soldier group, who had been told to collect the ''protection fee'' to test the young Original''s behavior under unique circumstances."

    Junades intentionally left out the incident with Yves Ygdra because he was not sure what had actually happened and he didn''t intend to further humiliate the Ygdra family''s heir either.

    The Instructors nodded their heads while being slightly astonished when they heard Junades.

    Even the Commander was slightly astonished but he didn''t think much about Nial.

    ''Maybe it was his team that did everything, and he just reaps benefits from riding their coattail?''

    In the end, it didn''t really matter. The data was correct and Nial''s strength would determine whether he would be staying in the top 10 ranking or if he would be reced by someone else.

    "As already announced the personal lessons imparted by our Instructors are given to the top 10 originals who scored high in the 1st and 2nd test! We have cross-verified everything so the data is correct!"

    Speaking out loudly, the Commander once again reassured the participants that the data was correct. Afterward, he continued speaking once everyone had calmed down.

    "For the next 3 months, everyone with enough military merit points can request personal teaching, or challenge a student from a higher Unit to rece them upon winning the fight against them."

    What Commander Ullyr had just said was the most important for the next three months.

    "So if we challenge one of the top 10 and defeat them, we can get direct lessons from the instructors even without actively paying merit points? That is if we win against them, of course!" One of the young Originals asked when the Commander was taking a breather before continuing to speak.

    "Yes, that is how it is. But in order to be fair and impartial, we will provide the top 10 a 2 week grace period to strengthen themselves properly. That should be more than enough time for a few Originals to grind enough merit points as well, right?"

    The Commander was not bothered about the sudden interruption of the young Original. Rather, it made things easier to exin.

    As long as they had enough merit points one could challenge the top 10, and if they won, they would have earned their seat in the ss.

    Fighting against powerful Originals will allow all participants to be stronger, and by using military merit points as a payment method, the young Originals have to work hard to earn enough.

    Thus, they had to do misceneous tasks, conquer dungeons and sell the loot from within, start forging or do something else.

    Whether it was collecting merit points or receiving the tutge of the military camp''s Instructors, everything would help the young Originals to be stronger and more proficient in wielding mana, in bing more proficient in dungeon conquering, martial arts, and much more.

    The only dilemma in front of the Originals below the Top 10 in the rankings was the question of how they would receive enough attention from the remaining Instructors.

    This was quite simple as arge group of 200 Originals were thrown into one Unit based on their rankings before they would receive lessons ording to their ranking.

    The lowest-ranked Originals would receive the worst training, but even that was much better than any training ordinary Soldiers would receive in a military academy, while the highest-ranked Original would receive great tutge from the strongest Originals of the human race!

    "3 months are quite long¡­that''s more than enough!" Nial thought with a faint smile on his lips. He was not worried about being challenged by other Originals after two weeks because that was bound to happen.

    Rather, he wanted to focus on erging his mana core, followed by learning the various techniques they had looted in the ancient ruin''s dungeon.

    Nial was also curious about runic armaments, which was why his mind went astray.

    ''If we receive personal lessons from the Instructors, what are we going to do with Miranda?''

    Nial hadpletely forgotten about her, and the mission she had given the three of them.

    As such, he couldn''t even smile right now. He sighed deeply and was about to speak to his friends, just for the Commander to speak again,

    "After 3 months pass, the Military Games will begin. That''s it for today''s camp gathering. If someone has any questions, the Instructors behind me will dly answer them."

    Saying so, the Commander left the podium, leaving behind thousands of baffled Originals.

    ''He is leaving, just like that?''<sub> </sub>

    ''How the hell was it possible for someone like him to be Commander of the Teradan military camp?!?''

    Even the Instructors couldn''t truly believe that Commander Ullyr left the camp''s gathering abruptly.

    To be precise, he ended his speech and left afterward.

    However, only the Instructors knew that Commander Ullyr didn''t share details of intel that was important for the young Originals to know.

    ''Half of them don''t even know what the Military Games are¡­how are they supposed to be motivated enough to work their ass off if they don''t even know how big of an opportunity the Military Games provide them with?!?!''

    Most Instructors cursed inwardly but none of them dared to step forward to exin what the Military Games were.

    This could be said to be another mission for the military camp''s participants.

    As long as they dared to ask questions that might seem stupid at the first nce, the Instructors would answer them.

    But from the looks of it, nobody dared to ask what the Military Games were. Most Originals were busy staring at the podium with a baffled expression, while only a few were astonished about the announcement of the Military Games.

    "They want to start the Military Games in 3 months? Usually, that would be thest event of the military camp. Does that mean it ends after the Military Games end in slightly more than 3 months? Isn''t that too fast?"

    Be was confused and various questions kept popping into her head. Her words made the Ascenders around her stare at her, including Nial and Mathias.

    "Can you exin what the Military Games are?" One of the few Originals, who were standing only a few meters away from him, asked.

    Be lifted her head when she noticed that someone had asked her a question.

    Only then did she realize that more than a dozen pairs of eyes were staring at her in interest. Even Nial and Mathias were amongst them, which was why Be could only sigh before she began to speak.

    "Well, to put it simply, the Military Games can be seen as a great opportunity for Originals to be scouted by mankind''s strongest Organizations and Guilds.

    The games consist of fighting, all auxiliary upations demonstrating their might, group fighting, a race in dungeon conquering, and more.

    If you perform remarkably well in the Military Games, someone might approach you with an offer to join them. That way you may get famous overnight."

    Be shrugged her shoulders afterward, acting as if she was not really bothered about being invited by any Organization.

    However, Mathias and even Nial had a different opinion.

    ''An invitation from an Organization of a Guild? Will I be able to reach Liondra faster with their help?''

    Nial turned to Be and was ready to bombard her with questions, only to notice that other Originals were already doing the same.

    Be squinted her eyes, knit her eyebrows, and stared at Nial and Mathias as if she looked at them for help.

    Upon noticing her frustration, Nial didn''t hesitate to grab hold of her wrist before he pulled Be towards himself.

    Grasping Mathias as well, he dragged them behind him as he walked away. The camp''s gathering was done so there was no need for them to stay behind.

    "Hey, we were not done asking her questions! Who are you to simply drag her away when we are still talking?!?"

    Nial couldn''t care whether the guy, who spoke to him in a loud and arrogant tone was from a prestigious family, or a country bumpkin.

    Be was able to tell him more about the Military Games, and this Military Games event was something that might help him reduce the time to meet up with his family once again.

    As such, Nial''s head flicked backward, and the outlines of his eyes turned pitch-ck in an instant, while dark miasma oozed out of his body, shrouding him tightly.

    "Fuck off, or I kill you!"

    Everyone who wanted to hold him back from reuniting with his family would have to face his wrath.

    Nial had no intentions of killing the young man, but his words and actions were more than enough to prevent the young man from saying another word, let alone to make him move.

    He froze on the spot upon seeing Nial''s fearsome appearance while listening to his words that had been spouted out in the coldest voice he had ever heard.

    Chills ran down the young man''s spine, while the same happened to the other Originals, who had nned on joining the young man so that Be would stay behind. They had yet to find out the most important information from Be.

    However, none of them dared to move as Nial turned his head back before he continued to walk. Meanwhile, Be and Mathias looked at him in confusion.

    While they had seen Nial''s serious expression in the past already when he was fighting, right now, his expression was the most serious, ice-cold, and imprable.

    ''Just happened to him suddenly?'' Both asked themselves, only to hear Nial ask a seemingly ordinary question.

    "If I do well during the Military Games, it will be possible for me to enter Liondra, right?"

    Nial''s voice was low but Be felt that this question was among the most important question she had ever been asked by Nial.

    **

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 Chapter 172 Shocking Master

    "Enter Liondra if you perform well during the Military Games? Of course, that will be possible¡­"

    Be felt that this was only logical because most powerful Organizations and Guilds were located in Liondra.

    Liondra was mankind''s strongest shelter owing to the resourceful dungeons one could find within the shelter and its surroundings.

    Protecting Liondra against powerful monsters was important, so most Originals with exceptional talent and achievements would be brought there to be nurtured.

    Nial smiled after hearing Be''sment. He felt much better knowing that he had found a pretty easy way to enter Liondra.

    The only thing he needed to do was to perform exceptionally well when the Military Games were held, and join some Organization or Guild.

    ''We have to work like there is no tomorrow for the next three months, I guess?''

    When Nial made up his mind he averted his attention to the question of how to reach the highestbat prowess in the shortest amount of time.

    "Alright¡­how about we visit Miranda first?"

    Nial turned serious as he thought of a goal in his mind. The sudden change of his attitude from smiling brightly to being overly serious confused Mathias and Be a little bit but that was not something Nial noticed.

    ''I will meet them again¡­soon!!''

    His friends looked at him, trying to figure out what he wanted to do, just for Nial to say,

    "Miranda should have most of the information about the Military Games, and the detailed information about what we''re going to do for the next three months. Furthermore, she is our Master, or so one could say at least. Let''s take advantage of that!"

    "Ahhh, I knew that I was forgetting something important. Mathias suddenly eximed before his cheeks turned red. He usually didn''t speak aloud, so his astonishment could be easily perceived.

    However, even Be was a little bit baffled because she had forgotten about Miranda as well.

    "Ah¡­yeah, there was something like that."

    Nial felt like saying something as well but he kept quiet. Someone had to act as if he hadn''t forgotten about their master.

    Thus, they made their way toward the Old Medic''s abode, before entering the shop without knocking on the door.

    Nial could sense Miranda''s fluctuations from several hundred meters away and he knew that she had perceived them already as well.

    That was why it was no wonder when they noticed her piercing gaze the moment they entered the abode.

    "I thought you guys forgot about me!! Were the ancient ruins so fruitful and enjoyable that you forgot the poor old me??"

    The old Medic, Miranda, didn''t really sound angered. She merely teased them and did nothing else but smile faintly.

    "Well¡­let''s just say that it was so exciting inside the ancient ruins that we forgot about everything else¡­"

    The ancient ruins had truly been exciting, even more so because the things they had procured within were simply too shocking, exciting, and great, to put it simply.

    "So you got lots of stuff, I see," Miranda merely nodded her head, feeling proud that her students had gotten their hands on many treasures.

    However, their perception of ''treasures'' might be different because she was at a much higher rank than her disciples.

    That was why she felt like taking a look at their stuff.

    "How about you tell me what exactly you found and I take a look at the stuff? Maybe I know more about the value of certain items than you guys."

    Miranda expected them to readily hand over their treasures, but Mathias knitted his brows, while Be instinctively covered her spatial ring with her hand.

    This reaction was truly unexpected, which was why Miranda rolled her eyes.

    ''Do they not trust me at all? I don''t need your stuff!!''

    Miranda didn''t know that Nial and his friends would have been able to procure a lot, even if it was much more than what everyone else plundered from the ancient ruin''s dungeon.

    ? She had already read a few reports about the high lethality all the traps within the ancient ruin''s dungeon had and how long it took to deactivate them.

    But she had no clue that Nial and his team had plundered an entire destroyed tower and several floors of the ancient ruin''s pce!

    That was why Mathias and Be were so vignt and did not trust Miranda¡­their stuff was simply too valuable.

    "Show her the Naturalary Mana awakening thesis. I will exin everything."

    Nial sounded calm as he took out a few runic armaments, a batch of books, portions of the Puppet-type runic armament, and so on.

    Meanwhile, the cape he was wearing fluttered excitedly within the room despite no strong wind currents.

    Seeing the books thatnded on the ground, Miranda couldn''t help but be a little bit intrigued. She picked them up, and looked at their titles one after another before ncing at Nial and his team once again.

    "A technique that elerates the mana absorption speed by more than four times as long as enough Origin crystals are used as a medium¡­A martial art technique that focuses on the symbiosis between the Elemental affinities¡­A Basic Guide for runic armaments¡­.A production manual that holds more than 30 Tierless runic armament blueprints¡­ What the hell?!"

    Miranda looked at the three young Originals, who were not really impressed by the books in front of Miranda.

    Their apparent disinterest was more than enough reason for her to avert her attention to the runic armaments Nial had taken out from his spatial ring.

    While she researched the runic armaments in detail, Nial told her what all things they had done inside the ancient ruin''s dungeon.

    "I knew that you guys have already umted around 100,000 military merit points each, and didn''t expect you to have so much more¡­but why do I feel that this is not everything?"<sub> </sub>

    Miranda had to keep her excitement low. She was extremely interested in runic armaments, which was why she felt like reading the Guide for runic armaments and the production manual right at this instant.

    However the several runic armaments Nial had taken out from his spatial ring were equally interesting¡­and also something Be and Mathias didn''t give much attention to.

    "Here is the Thesis about the Naturalary Mana awakening and a few other papers which we found inside the ancient ruin''s pce."

    Be suddenly said while handing Miranda some papers without answering her question.

    There was no need to brag about how rich they were right now. Their wealth was more than enough to start training seriously and at a rapid pace at that.

    The Ciran taria technique that focuses on the eleration of the mana absorption required lots of Origin crystals, which meant that one had to spend time and lots of money in conquering dungeons.

    And thetter was what the three youths nned on doing!

    "Oh my gaahhdd¡­Where the hell did you guys find this even? If that''s true, mankind might be in more trouble than expected¡­what bullshit¡­"

    Miranda read the thesis Be had handed over in no time. She looked at the three youths once again before sighing deeply.

    "Are you three sure that you didn''t loot the pce''s treasury yet?..."

    The three young Originals smiled oddly at that before both Mathias and Be nced at Nial.

    "Well, we merely looted eight floors starting from the highest floor."

    Miranda had been too busy inspecting their treasures. That was why she missed out on noticing when he said how they had entered the ancient ruin''s pce at first.

    "Ah, if it''s only 8 floors¡­wait?! Eight WHOLE floors?!" Miranda eximed, feeling as if her worldview was crumbling down.

    She clearly knew the dangers of ancient ruins, even more so the ancient ruins that harbored new secrets for mankind to encounter.

    An ancient ruin''s dungeon where one could find thousands of runic armaments was certainly new, and the reports she had read spoke volumes about the dangers within it.

    Miranda took quite a while toe back to her senses. She kept reading intently through all the papers she had received without asking another question.

    But that was not because she was not curious but rather that she wanted to protect herself from feeling as if she was dirt-poor.

    If anyone were to hear Miranda''s reasoning, they would probably copse on the ground, simply because Miranda was already said to be one of the richest people of mankind.

    Of course, this didn''t include all thepanies, merchants, and so on, simply because Miranda''s wealth stemmed from her work in concocting potions, studying, and fighting which was an exceptional feat.

    She had never focused on umting a huge amount of wealth or investing it further such as by creating a merchant firm.

    After some time passed, Miranda returned everything she had been reading, except the thesis about the Naturalary Mana awakening.

    "I don''t think there should be a problem with this but can I show this to the military?"

    The thesis didn''t belong to her. Even if something extremely important was written within those pages, she chose not to act as if she was their master, and to take whatever she needed if necessary.

    What Miranda didn''t know was that she didn''t dare to act as their master simply because she didn''t think that she was worth it.

    Rather than her teaching them, Miranda believed that as long as she was allowed to read the books they collected, their teaching would be mutually beneficial for both sides.

    It was a weird thought because none of the young Originals had reached the 10th Origin rank, and neither had they managed to create a single Advanced Origin ring.

    Yet, Miranda felt that it was wrong to underestimate them.

    Seeing that Nial nodded his head, which was followed by the other two agreeing as well, Miranda smiled faintly before she left the house.

    Miranda had already rushed outside the house, only to hear Mathias'' voice from further away.

    "Her expression was quite funny. I wonder how her expression would have changed if you would have revealed everything else you''ve collected. You showed her only two books about runic armaments, the most basic ones at that."

    Mathias had been amused while saying this, not knowing that Miranda could still hear them.

    "Well, it would be even worse if she were to know that we already split up the runic armaments among us! And it''s not like only Nial stored the manuals inside his spatial ring. We have a nice lot for ourselves as well!" Be said calmly just for Mathias to nod his head.

    "True that!"

    Miranda heard everything, and her mouth twitched the longer she heard them talk as she was still in the young Original''s range.

    ''Teenagers really scare the shit out of me¡­''

    **

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 Chapter 173 Training Period

    With only three months left, and merely two weeks before they could be challenged by other participants of the military camp, there was a lot for them to do.

    Miranda had some time ago but the three friends were not even aware of the same as they were busy taking a look at the Ciran taria manual.

    "It doesn''t look that difficult, but why do I feel that it is even more expensive than I initially thought?"

    Be smiled weirdly while thinking about the huge fortune they would have to pay to absorb enough mana to erge their mana core.

    "But the mana absorption process is four times faster than usual. Of course, some other techniques can achieve the same result, but they''re exceedingly rare and usually difficult to master."

    This time, it was Mathias, who shared his knowledge. He knew quite a bit about certain techniques mankind had found because his father did not only trade in Cursed crystals but other rare treasures as well, including manuals found in ancient ruins!

    "I''ll probably have to focus on the Ciran taria technique because I want to reach the 5th, possibly the 6th Origin rank before the training period of three months is over.

    The only issue is that I already need more mana than an ordinary 7th Origin rank to erge my mana core, so I will have to spend quite some time using that technique¡­"

    Nial was a little bit frustrated about that. He wanted to divide his focus and pay adequate attention to improving his mana control with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, the Ciran taria manual, and the Elementus Mylee technique.

    There were also all the books about runic armaments they had found, which Nial would have loved to read as his interest in runic armaments had increased drastically. This was mostly owed to the time they had spent inside the ancient ruin''s pce, where they had to face all kinds of runic armaments.

    Miranda would help them improve their ability control andbat experience, and there was the private tutge they would receive from the Instructors due to all of them entering the Top 10.

    ''Maybe we shouldn''t have been ranked in the Top 10? Will it make sense if I forfeit to the first challenger so that I have more time to spend with other stuff?''

    Nial was seriously considering ignoring the Teradan military camp''s most important training session, just to focus on other things.

    However, that was only obvious because Be and Mathias had the same idea.

    ''Miranda is one of the strongest Originals¡­so is there truly a need for us to receive private tutge?''

    If Miranda were to hear this, she would merely frown before pping the back of their heads.

    She was not abat-focused Original and her strength originated from the usage of her abilities, not her physical capabilities.

    Miranda could teach them a lot, but she was not adept at closebat which was what all three youths had to learn so as to survive all types of dungeons and face all kinds of dungeon beasts.

    Even Mathias had to be fully prepared for all of this, meaning that he could not only rely on his Innate ability and Earth affinity!

    Learning the Ciran taria technique was not difficult and once the three young Originals had imprinted the technique''s first phase in their mind, they started to practice it.

    Nial''s control over mana was the best among the three which was why he was slightly faster than the other two and shortly began absorbing mana in the described way.

    At first, it felt weird to allow the pure mana that was stored inside the Origin crystal to enter his body in ways they had never seen before.

    Usually, one would circte mana around one''s mana core to annex it faster. That was also why one would usually absorb mana through one''s upper body first while focusing on the chest area.

    However, in the Ciran taria technique, one would absorb mana through the legs first! It would umte in the legs first and would slowly fill in before traveling upwards in the upper body.

    Nial was not sure how this could be faster than the ordinary mana absorption process but he quickly realized that there were certain ways that could be utilized in order to allow one''s lower body to absorb mana at a rapid speed.

    It felt quite weird but only the result mattered, which was why Nial was quite satisfied with himself as he noticed that his mana absorption speed reached twice the usual after practicing the technique for less than an hour.

    ''The technique is truly easy to learn. There are not manyplicated steps.''

    Several hours passed by, in which the young Originals focused on absorbing more mana.

    They continued to do it uninterruptedly but their biggest and only issue was the annexing process of the absorbed mana.

    But it was because of Nial''s precise control of mana that he could annex the mana within his body quite fast as well.

    Thus, his mana core was quickly being filled.

    ''If I focus on practicing Ciran taria for an entire day, I should have stored up enough mana to erge my mana core!''

    Nial smiled when he stopped practicing Ciran taria as he had already used up his entire stockpile of Origin crystals.

    He would purchase a huge batch the following day but now he had to focus on other things.

    Miranda had still not returned, which was why he essed his spatial ring to take a look at its contents.

    "Should we split up the books amongst each other, or shall we hold on for now?" He asked when the others finished absorbing mana from their batch of Origin crystals as well.

    "I don''t mind either way. If we need a book or something else we can simply ask each other. It''s not like we will part ways in the next few days."

    Be shrugged her shoulders, not feeling inclined to make a hassle out of the huge gains they made as a group. She might like money but Be was also aware of the fact that she would have never been able to procure anything from within the ancient ruin''s pce without Mathias or Nial.

    Mathias nodded his head, agreeing to what Be said before he picked up the Elementus Mylee manual.

    "I will have to learn closebat as well, right? I''ve no idea what weapon to choose though¡­"

    As long as no stranger was around Mathias, he could talk freely to Be and Nial. There were still a few things that bothered him but they could be fixedter.

    "I think Miranda or the other Instructors will help you pick your most suitable weapon, but I guess they''ll consider you as a tank. You''re not exactly swift, or an assassin, who''s good at walking around stealthily.

    I guess they''ll tell you to take a longsword, and a shield. Or a maze, a battle-ax or something like that."

    Nial blurted out a few things while approaching Mathias to read the Elementus Mylee manual along with him.

    It was actually not necessary for him to approach Mathias for that because he could focus his range of perception on the manual to read it.<sub> </sub>

    However, the closer he was to the manual, the easier it was for Nial to be truly focused on the content that he tried to process and understand.

    Nial sat down next to Mathias and started to ''read'' the Elementus Mylee manual, while Mathais did the same.

    A book had appeared in Be''s hand as well and she started to read it.

    They didn''t have much time to be stronger because the dungeon''s danger would increase drastically in the following years.

    That was, at least, what they presumed to happen. Thus, the three young Originals had given their best to plunder the ancient ruin''s dungeon. It was also the reason why they were giving 150% now.

    They felt too powerless in the face of the uing dangers.

    This was why they were fully focused on the content of the books they were reading, and the three young Originals didn''t even notice when Miranda returned.

    Her hair was disheveled and she seemed to have aged several years in thest 12 hours.

    Miranda''s expression was far from good but this was only obvious.

    ''Why are they so stubborn?! Is it so hard to believe that mankind''s situation will get even worse?''

    The military didn''t trust the thesis Miranda had shown them. They also didn''t believe that their situation could worsen further or that they had to fortify their defenses.

    Only 9 human shelters were left, and even they were always under the threat of being found by powerful beasts roaming through the wilderness.

    As such, there was no way that things could be more dangerous¡­but that was their naivety.

    However, Miranda was of a different opinion, which was why she spent half a day forcing the military within the Teradan military camp to notch up their training intensity and to ry her information to the government in the other shelters.

    It was a hassle for Commander Ullyr to keep hearing her and only her status as one of the strongest Originals was barely enough to force him to do as she said.

    If Nial and the others would have told Miranda everything they knew, she would have been even more worried.

    After all, there were certain facts Nial had left out while exining the situation to her.

    But what he didn''t leave out was the potential and imminent threat of mass-produced runic armaments, and the nourishment their mana fluctuation provided to the environment.

    Miranda was still aggravated when she left the Commander''s office, but the moment she saw Nial, Be, and Mathias, she calmed down.

    A faint smile appeared on her face and the tension in her body eased up slightly.

    ''At least, they''re giving their best. I should have beaten up Ullyr to make him follow mymands¡­''

    She sighed in frustration before her eyes flitted towards the youths, and stayed on Nial in particr.

    ''He said that mass-produced runic armaments could hasten up the mana awakening process of a. I guess true terror will only descend on Jundra from then onward.

    But in order to mass-produce even Tierless runic armaments, quite some time will have to pass, at least to have enough quantity for everyone to make use of and afford them.

    By then, someone will probably be able to produce Tier-1 runic armaments, I guess it should be possible as long as everyone works hard

    Miranda''s gaze fell on the cape Nial had been wearing ever since he came out of the ancient ruin''s dungeon. He was also wearing an earring she had never seen before.

    Both Be and Mathias were also wearing some essories she had never seen before.

    Releasing her mana fluctuations in a subtle manner, she tried to figure out what kind of runic armaments each of them wore.

    She didn''t believe that any of the three Originals liked wearing luxurious essories.

    However, upon attempting to find out some intel about the runic armaments the young Originals were wearing, Miranda could quickly tell that she was unable to perceive anything properly.

    This was because of the fact that Miranda was a bit distracted by all the thoughts in her head which made her not release her entire mana fluctuations in a focused state. But even then, she couldn''t help but feel a little bit baffled.

    ''I cannot perceive them, at all? Are those Tier-1 runic armaments?''

    Miranda had already seen, touched, perceived, and even dissembled a few Tier-0 in order to research them.

    So far her research had not been fruitful because she hadn''t been able to spend much time experimenting but by now Miranda could easily tell if she saw something powerful, valuable, or extremely terrifying.

    And the runic armaments the three youths were wearing were all three factors together! Yet, she sensed nothing which shocked her.

    ''Was that their reason to enter the pce from the top? To procure Tier-1 runic armaments?''

    However, what Miranda didn''t know was that Nial and his friends were perfectly prepared and ready to be the strongest¡­and that they had not only prepared Tier-1 runic armaments to unleash their entire potential but that they had also a few Tier-2 runic armaments up their sleeves!

    **

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 Chapter 174 Familiar Instructors

    "Miranda¡­ehh, I mean, Old Witch of the South, do you really think it is necessary for us to teach the three disciples of yours? We''ve been told to teach the 10 highest-ranking participants of the military camp¡­so I don''t think we have much time to help you out as well¡­"

    Instructor Junades felt ufortable rejecting Miranda''s request for him to teach her disciples. In fact, he didn''t even know who her disciples were, let alone that she had disciples to begin with.

    However, even if Miranda asked him and Kassandra ke for help, it was not that they could simply ignore their Commander''s order.

    They didn''t want to face issues with the militaryw, after all.

    "That''s no problem, my disciples are in the Top 10. You can teach three for the price of two. I''ll help as well but as you know my expertise in martial arts is not exactly¡­extraordinary, let alone noteworthy."

    Miranda knew that she was not a great martial artist. That was why Junades and Kassandra had been her options to request teaching Nial and the others.

    But the most important was that Junades knew Nial from before, while the same could be said about Kassandra and Be.

    Miranda''sment had intrigued Junades and Kassandra, which was why they visited her abode the day after the camp''s gathering.

    Whom they didn''t expect to meet at her ce were Nial and Be, actively absorbing the mana out of high-quality Common grade Origin crystals.

    They had purchased a big stash of Origin crystals early in the morning before returning their focus to the Ciran taria technique.

    That was also why they didn''t notice the two Instructors'' arrival. Meanwhile, Miranda appeared next to Junades and Kassandra while smiling faintly.

    "I didn''t promise too much, right? I know you two are ''acquainted'' with them, so I wanted the two of you to help them be stronger. Mathias, the Earth element user needs proper tutge as well. He does not have even a single ounce of closebat experience but I want this to change."

    Juandes and Kassandra were still looking at the three young Originals with a slightly baffled expression.

    They could clearly sense that they had absorbed every single trace of mana within a single Origin crystal in between two to eight minutes.

    This was several times faster than one would usually be able to absorb mana, which was why they were so baffled.

    "Even if you''re their teacher for now¡­isn''t it a little bit wasteful to allow them to absorb mana from that many Origin crystals right away? If they absorb mana like this for several hours a day, every single day for the next three months¡­your pocket will bleed until you''re dirt poor¡­"

    ? Kassandra knew how wealthy Miranda was. But even then, she couldn''t believe that the Old Witch would splurge her money like this. She never did something like this, after all.

    "Oh, don''t worry, these three brats are using their own money and military merit points."

    Miranda replied nonchntly, but her words made Kassandra feel even more baffled.

    ''Since when is Be so wealthy? Even with 100,000 military merit points, it won''t be possible to support this kind of expense for three months¡­ why is Miranda so confident in them?''

    Kassandra knew Be the best. There was a time when she had been extremely rich owing to her family''s situation. However, that was not the case anymore. She might have been adopted by an above-average household owing to some connections that had been used in her favor but that should already be everything.

    ''It shouldn''t have been possible for her to bring anything with her from that household¡­so how?''

    While Kassandra was confused, Junades could only smile faintly.

    "You mean they made more than enough gains in the ancient ruin''s dungeon to be able to bear these expenses for more than three months?"

    Junades was a quick thinker and he could easily deduce that Miranda was proud of the kids. He also knew that they had sold quite a few runic armaments to the Miriad trading firm.

    Thus, his deduction was spot on, and the only difference was that he was still underestimating the young Originals.

    "Three months? Well, you can put it like that. Even if I don''t know how wealthy they''re right now but from what they showed me, and what I''ve heard, they should be able to easily continue spending freely for more than a year¡­"

    If Miranda were to say that she presumed Nial and the others were unable to use up their entire wealth even if they were to quadruple their expenses in the year she mentioned, Junades and Kassandra might not be able to teach them today.

    They would be too shocked after all.

    Thus, Miranda refrained from bragging a lot about her disciples.

    Both Instructors were utterly shocked. They kept looking at the three young Originals for quite a while until Nial finished his daily quota of Origin crystals to cultivate with.<sub> </sub>

    He stretched his body after all Origin crystals around him had been wrung dry, just to flinch the moment his range of perception allowed him to visualize Junades and Kassandra.

    Nial got up quickly before approaching the two instructors.

    ''Is his mana control the best?'' Kassandra wondered while looking at the small batch of Origin crystals next to Be that was still filled to the brim. ''Or did he have fewer Origin crystals, or of worse quality?''

    Nial smiled when approaching Junades. He bowed to Master Junades, who smiled proudly at Nial as if he was his real master, and not just Nial''s instructor.

    "Looks like your mana control has improved quite a bit. Was the technique I gave you useful?"

    Junades was referring to the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, which made Nial feel a little bit uneasy.

    He practiced the technique Control of the Ancient Monarch a few times but his expertise in it was far below the threshold he wished to have met by now.

    Nial was a little bit frustrated about that but Junades didn''t seem to notice it. He believed that Nial''s high mana control originated from his daily practice with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    "I''m still trying to improve. The 24 hours of a day are way too few to do everything I wish to aplish¡­"

    Nial smiled wryly after trailing off. Seeing his disappointment, Junades wanted to say something but Miranda intervened.

    "It''s good that the two of you are on good terms, but let me butt in for a moment." She said, making Nial feel a bit curious.

    "Both Instructor Kassandra and Instructor Junades will teach the three of you martial arts. I will focus on teaching you guys abilities because the proper usage of abilities is my expertise. That should be fine, right?"

    Nial just nodded his head before thinking about something.

    "Will we have time for ourselves to study runic armaments as well? You didn''t see all the books we have procured. There should be more than 100, maybe even 200 to read. Actually, I don''t know the real number, but runic armaments are quite intriguing and as long as we can use them properly, our strength will increase manyfold."

    Nial''s words shocked Miranda because it was now that she realized just what a gem she had found as a student.

    ''The two books he showed me were not the best ones they found?''

    However, before Miranda could even say anything, Nial pulled out a book in his hand, which he showed to Instructor Junades.

    "I''m not sure if that request is feasible but Mathias, and I wish to learn this technique. Will that be possible for us to achieve in three months?"

    Junades knew how valuable books about runic armaments were. Thus, he was as astonished as Miranda with the sole difference being that Miranda knew the true value of Nial''s books, which was tens, if not hundreds of times higher than the number Junades imagined.

    But the moment he began to look through the Elementus Mylee manual, which Nial had handed to him, Junades felt more and more shocked.

    "This technique¡­is amazing!" He eximed after having flipped the pages excitedly before reading through it with much slower pace to engrave the words in his mind.

    "It might be a rather low-leveledbat technique in terms of the amount of mana you need to possess to use it, but it can also be used as an Intermediate technique as long as your stored mana reaches a certain threshold. That is truly amazing."

    A technique that was divided into two parts to cater to beginners and experts with two separate versions was truly rare to find. Either a technique had few requirements to be fulfilled which were why its use was limited, or the requirements were sky high and it would take a while to reach them, to begin with.

    Of course, there were unique techniques such as the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, but that was not abat technique!

    "If you and Mathias focus on the first part, you might be able to reach a Basic Mastery in three months? Maybe, if your understanding of the technique is high, you might attain a profound mastery. But for that, we would have to practice this technique several hours a day, which would be quite hard with all the other training you''ll have to face¡­"

    Junades'' mind had already entered the Instructor mode. He had already made up his mind to stay with the three young Originals and to turn their following three months into hellish training.

    Meanwhile, Kassandra was still baffled. Numerous thoughts shed through her mind, and she had no idea what was going on.

    Too much shocking news caused her mind to go nk.

    Only when Miranda tapped on the young woman''s shoulder, did she regain her senses.

    "What about you? Are you ready to teach the strongest new generation mankind has ever seen?"

 Chapter 175 Hells Training Begins

    Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

    Neither Instructor Junades, Instructor Kassandra, Miranda nor her three disciples had been seen more than once in these 14 days.

    It was almost as if they didn''t belong to the Teradan military camp and that they were ghosts, who resurfaced every now and then only to disappear again.

    However, what nobody knew was that all of them were together. The Instructors and Miranda trained Nial and the others with all they had up their sleeves without holding back.

    That was also why one could see three young Originals lying on the ground of the underground arena, panting heavily.

    Yet, even breathing seemed to be a burden as every muscle in their body ached heavily. They felt as if their body was left with no energy to even move a finger.

    But the sight of the three deadly-exhausted youths was not enough to invoke pity in the hearts of Junades and the others.

    They merely looked at them with serious expressions on their faces.

    "I don''t think we''re overdoing it. Do you think we''re being a bit too strict with them on the first day?" Junades asked Miranda with emotionless eyes as if he was discussing what to have for dinner.

    Miranda stared intently at the three youths, all of who had climbed a rank and advanced further. Only two weeks had passed but their mana core had already erged once, and theirbat proficiency had increased drastically.

    Their ability''s usage had improved quite a bit as well.

    However, even Miranda couldn''t help but feel that the three youths improved slower than she wanted to.

    But that had nothing to do with the potential of Nial and the others. Rather, it was because she and the other instructors demanded too much from them.

    If possible, they wanted Be to reach the 10th Origin rank at the end of the three-month training period. Meanwhile, Mathias was supposed to reach the 9th Origin rank. On the other hand, Nial''s situation was a little bit different because his mana core had already reached the size of an 8th Origin rank, despite being in reality at the 4th Origin rank.

    Thus, the 6th Origin rank was more than enough for him to attain at the end of the military camp''s training session.

    At least, that was what all of them believed before getting news that the third shelter had been evacuated because an Abyssal ranked Dungeon had manifested in the shelter''s center!

    Abyssal ranked dungeons harbored beasts with at least 7 Origin rings. Stronger beasts within an Abyssal ranked dungeon is said to have 9 Advanced Origin rings, with the Boss Monster being even stronger.

    Not a single human on the was capable of conquering such a dungeon. It may have been mankind''s bad luck but the 3rd shelter out of the 9 shelters had to be given up due to the emergence of the Abyssal ranked dungeon.

    With only eight shelters left, mankind increased the level of security around them by several times simply because the human race''s poption could barely squeeze everyone in these eight shelters.

    Abandoning another shelter was not an option anymore. Thus, every single Instructor in all the ten military camps was anxious and trained the camp''s participants with all their might.

    Because they expected to witness miracles while training Nial, and his friends, Junades, Kassandra, and Miranda felt that it would be best to train them as if they were inhumanly strong, talented, and motivated.

    They could purchase everything they needed because they had the necessary fortune, which was why the three Originals had gotten their own nutrition capsule.

    As the name suggested, the nutrition capsule looked like a capsule, just that it was a mechanical device, whose front side was made out of ss.

    When one entered it, it was necessary to wear an oxygen mask because the hollow inner room would be filled with warm water that would be infused with a nutrition serum, several rare herbs that improved the body''s recuperation speed and temporarily enhanced the body''s mana eptance.

    It was an extremely expensive device because the corporation that produced them could only make around 100 each year.

    However, despite the exorbitant price, its use was even more terrifying, which made the buyer feel that every single dor he had spent on it was worth it.

    Sleeping inside the nutrition capsule for four hours was more than enough to make someone recuperate fully whether it was one''s mind or body.

    But even if they were able to recuperate and return to their peak state within hours this didn''t mean that they were able to stay conscious after the hellish training they had just undergone.

    Nial, Mathias, and Be didn''t even know how much time had passed. The only thing they could tell was that they were slowly improving and that their training got even more difficult.

    It was impossible for them to adjust to the training sessions and to allow their body to recuperate on their own because their three teachers increased the difficulty of their training upon seeing the slightest bit of improvement in them.

    Even though two weeks had passed, not a single participant of the military camp had challenged them to a fight yet.

    However, this was something Miranda and the others had expected. She knew that the other camp''s participants were also being subjected to hellish training by their Instructors.

    It was far less straining than the training she and the two Instructors gave the three disciples under her but it still prevented them from procuring enough merit points to challenge one of the top-ranked Originals.

    This was great because it provided Miranda and the others with enough time to continue with their rigorous training without anyone meddling in their tight schedule.

    In fact, their schedule was overflowing with things they had wanted to focus on but 24 hours were simply too less to pay attention to.

    Even Miranda had to hold back from studying runic armaments simply because it was more important to drill the basics into the young Originals.

    As long as their foundation was perfect, everything else would be fine.

    That being said, Nial, Be and Mathias didn''t even take a good look at the books they had plundered within the Ancient ruin''s dungeon.<sub> </sub>

    They knew that the books were safely stored in their storage rings and could be read through when they had time, which they doubted they would ever have.

    There was no time for them to rest, let alone to read the books that were filled with exhaustive knowledge about runic armaments.

    The only thing they did with runic armaments was to get to know the few armaments they wore while sparring against Junades and Kassandra.

    Practicing the Elementus Mylee martial art technique required lots of focus. It may seem easy at the first nce, but it was quite difficult to fight using the technique at a high mastery.

    Because Nial had already gotten to know his dark energy quite well thanks to the primary Trail of the Gods, his mastery of the Elementus Mylee technique quickly reached the Basic Mastery.

    But that was already it. Despite his relentless efforts he had not been able to advance further in thest two weeks mostly because he was too upied with getting to know the dark energy on a deeper level.

    Miranda gave him numerous tasks to aplish with the dark energy such as devising unique stances to release the dark energy explosively before shaping it in certain forms in an instant and so on.

    Nial might be one of the fastest learners in the group of three, but theplexity of his dark energy was much higher than the Innate abilities of his friends.

    Roughly, the same could be said about his first ability. Instead of an ability, he had bound the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] to his body. Training his senses with the exception of his eyesight was certainly not easy.

    But adding the ck miasma to the mix made things even more difficult. Nial''s multitasking talent wasgging behind, which was why he was forced to work even harder than the others.

    Be didn''t have much difficultiesbining [Outburst] with [Celestial transformation], and the only thing she had to pay attention to was the weakened state she would enter once [Outburst] were to wear out.

    Her training was mostly focused on enhancing and sharpening her reflexes, flexibility, agility, and herbat technique in its entirety.

    Of course, she was also asked to control her Innate ability [Celestial transformation] with more precision, simply because it was possible to regte the weakened state she would enter when using both her Innate ability and [Outburst] together.

    [Outburst] could also be further regted, which was something Be hadn''t known beforehand. She had learned a lot during thest two weeks as well, but her mind felt mush, which was why she had no idea whether she had improved or not.

    On the other hand, Mathias'' closebat talent was below average. He had never fought in closebat before. This had made things quite difficult, even more so because he was timid and shy in front of the Instructors and Miranda.

    After two weeks, he had grown used to their presence but his proficiency in closebat was still below the expectations of his Instructors.

    His mastery in the Elementus Mylee martial art technique was also not that high simply because his closebat talent was not up to the standard yet.

    Only his Earth elemental affinity was exceptional, but that was obvious and owed to his Innate ability [Elemental Comprehension].

    Miranda felt that Mathias was making good use of his Innate ability quite well already. However, there were still ways for him to improve, which was why Miranda tried to help Mathias in using his Innate ability in a perfect manner.

    The training Miranda forced upon the poor Mathias strained his brain excessively, resulting in him copsing quite a few times to the ground in front of his friends.

    In fact, there had not been a single day in which one of them didn''t copse on the training ground.

    But somehow, the three young Originals were perfectly fine with this. They could clearly tell that they had improved a lot in a matter of just two weeks.

    In the following two and a half months, they were certain of improving themselves drastically, reaching a threshold they would have never ought to reach.

    They nned to overpower everyone in the Military Games, to win against all of them and to keep advancing further.

    Nial nned to join some Guild or Organization, whose headquarters were located in Liondra to find out more about his family while continuing to advance.

    Even if Nial and his friends had yet to hear about the information of the abandoned 3rd Shelter, they knew that their future had dangers faced like never before in store for them to witness.

    If it had already been quite problematic beforehand, one could say that true chaos was about to descend upon the entire human race¡­once again.

    Will Nial and his friends be able to ovee all the struggles, or will they face eternal rest in the eternal chaos?

    Only time could tell¡­.

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

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 Chapter 176 Challenge?

    Another two weeks passed before the first Originals had amassed enough Military merit points to challenge one of the top-ranked Originals to take his ce and receive direct tutge.

    However, nobody could find Nial and the others, forcing them tounch arge-scale manhunt.

    At least, that was how it felt as more than a hundred Originalsbed through the military camp to find Nial and the others.

    It wasn''t that Nial or his friends were hiding. Rather, they were working so hard that they didn''t even notice how much time passed, let alone that their Originals bracelet had beeped, indicating that they had been challenged by someone.

    The Originals bracelets worked within the military camp, which made things much easier.

    But even if Nial''s Originals bracelet was ringing dozens of times after a single day, he didn''t even notice it.

    Nial merely believed that he had been stung by a bee, which was why his wrist was itching.

    Only when Instructor Junades received a notification did he approach Nial with a wry smile. His expression was a little bit odd but Junades kept his act together.

    ''Is it my fault that he challenged Nial?''

    "Nial, you''ve been challenged. Didn''t you receive a notification?" Junades'' voice sounded calm at first but Nial''s extraordinary senses could detect that something was odd.

    "Challenged? Me? Why?" He was confused for a short moment because he had actually forgotten about the training period and that Junades and Kassandra merely taught them because they were in the Top 10 ranks of the military camp''s participants.

    "Ahh¡­by whom was I challenged? And do I have to defeat multiple Originals if I was challenged several times in a single day?"

    Nial was still lying on the ground and trying to catch his breath while speaking to Junades.

    It was obvious for him to be challenged. After all, he was at the lowest rank of all Top 10 ranked Originals, i.e, rank 10 which made him an easy pick.

    He wouldn''t take long to reach the 5th Origin rank but that was not important right now as he was still a few days away from erging his mana core once again.

    Thus, as a 4th Origin rank, he was likely to be considered as an easy target.

    "You can only be challenged thrice a week. Otherwise, someone might start to target only a particr person in the Top 10 ranking, which is actually not what we want."

    Nial nodded his head at Junades'' exnation, only to hear Kassandra''s exmation from behind.

    "Junades?! Are you seeing the same as I do?? Why would the Sword Master''s son challenge Nial?? That makes no sense!"

    Jase Irka was in the Top 10 ranking as well. As such, he wouldn''t gain anything by challenging Nial. Rather, he would bear a loss because it cost quite a few Military Merit points to challenge someone from the top 10.

    Even Kassandra couldn''t understand what was going on at first. However, after giving it some thought she recalled that Junades had told Commander Ullyr to make Nial spar with Jase during the camp''s gathering.

    ''Is it because of that? But only the Instructors should have heard that¡­did someone tell Jase? What a snitch!!''

    It was actually not a problem for Jase if he would defeat Nial. He wouldn''t lose his right to stay in the top 10. However, if Nial were to be heavily injured, it would be quite problematic for him to fight against two more challengers, let alone to continue his training.

    Kassandra was not too fond of Nial because of his dark energy but it was still important for him to be trained.

    She had seen his potential and unbending will to be stronger.

    As such, there was no way that she wouldn''t want to continue teaching him. After all, they needed to mold the participants into brave and powerful Originals, the sooner the better!

    Not even Nial''s blindness prevented him from pursuing his goals, and even if Kassandra didn''t want to ept it, she had to acknowledge that Nial might even be stronger, more decisive, and more ambitious than Be¡­for now at least.

    While Kassandra''s thoughts were running wild, Miranda smiled brightly.

    "That''s perfect!"

    The moment she said this everyone turned to her.

    ''Perfect?! What is perfect with this? Jase is a monster in human skin¡­he is the worst at holding back!!''

    While both Instructors screamed inwardly, they didn''t dare to lecture Miranda openly.

    "What a shame¡­I was not challenged yet. I cannot even test how strong I have be¡­lucky you, Nial!!"

    It was Mathias, who said this whilementing about himself. He had warmed up to Miranda and the two Instructors.

    Thus, he could reveal his inner thoughts in front of them without feeling awkward. Mathias might not be a battle maniac but it would certainly be good to test his current limit while fighting one of the strongest Originals of the new generation.

    Jase Irka was certainly amongst the strongest Originals of the new generations, which was why Mathias looked at his friend with envy.

    "If you love Jase that much, challenge him yourself. Maybe if you defeat him, he would not want to fight me anymore¡­"

    Nial was unaware of the reason why another top 10 ranked Original would challenge him but if he were to forfeit, he would lose the right to remain in the top 10.

    He had to ept Jase''s challenge, which was why he got up from the ground before taking a deep breath.

    "Will I have some time to rest or do I have to fight with him right now?"

    Nial didn''t feel intimidated, let alone nervous to have been challenged by Jase.

    Rather, he felt like it was a waste of his time which was why he felt like beating the crap out of Jase. Unfortunately, his body was utterly exhausted, which made things difficult.

    "You were challenged more than half a day ago by him. If you don''t try to find him now, I guess some Instructors would love to throw you out of the top 10."

    Kassandra answered his question quickly which made him frown.

    His entire body was aching and he felt like resting inside the nutrition capsule for several days.

    Unfortunately, that was not possible now because of a brickhead, which made things even more frustrating.

    "Drink this, and you''ll return to your peak form the moment you arrive in the arena!"<sub> </sub>

    All of a sudden, Miranda pressed some vial in his hand before opening the ss bottle for him.

    She quickly motioned his hand to force Nial to gulp down the bitter-sweet liquid. It was extremely thick, and it took Nial more than half a minute before he downed the small vial.

    However, even after he had emptied the vial, he could still taste it because the thick liquid was only slowly traveling down his throat.

    Nial nearly gagged when swallowing the liquid, and everyone felt pity looking at the situation.

    The Old Medic had forced Nial to gulp down some sort of mysterious potion she had created after various experiments.

    Nobody dared to take the Old Medic''s mythical potions without carefully researching them. Not only was the taste of some potions created by the Witch of the South horrifying, to put it simply, but some even induced ugly side effects.

    Thus even Kassandra and Junades couldn''t help but frown while looking at the situation in front of them.

    Meanwhile, Miranda was in a good mood as she had been waiting for someone powerful to challenge either of her three disciples.

    "We will end today''s training. Let''s watch Nial''s match!"

    Saying so in an excited voice, Miranda walked toward Be and Mathias. She picked them up with a flick of her hand while continuing to smile brightly.

    Nial, on the other hand, was emptying an entire bottle of water in his mouth, trying to flush the bitter-sweet thick liquid down his throat.

    Due to his enhanced senses, his entire mind was flooded with the bitter-sweet taste. Even for lovers of sweet food, the situation Nial faced was horrifying.

    He tried to keep a straight face but failed terribly.

    Several minutes passed and Nial didn''t even realize that they had already gone out of the Old Medic''s abode, and had arrived in front of the arena.

    There weren''t many people inside the arena. In fact, most of them were Instructors, including Commander Ullyr, all of whom had seen Jase Irka challenge Nial Orin.

    They had also recalled Junades'' words during the camp''s gathering about allowing them to spar with each other, which was why they had momentarily stopped their training to watch the fight.

    Yet, what they hadn''t expected was that they would have to wait for several hours until Nial arrived.

    "Isn''t he too arrogant to make us wait? Who does he think he is?"

    "It has already been 16 hours since Jase challenged him. He doesn''t even respect the Sword Master''s son. What a rude brat!"

    "Well, in this blind youth''s defense, I would like to add that he might have been too scared to fight Jase. After all, the Sword Master''s son is not exactly known for holding his strength back!"

    While the Instructors gossiped amongst each other, with most of them thrashing Nial, Commander Ullyr felt a little bit confused upon seeing Miranda, Instructor Junades, and Instructor Kassandra.

    Contrary to his first expression when he had found out about Jase''s challenge, Junades didn''t show any emotions on his face. It was merely his eyes that exposed the excitement he was feeling deep down in his heart.

    At first, Junades had been worried because he knew Jase''s reputation, however, he also recalled that he had wanted Nial to fight Jase from the beginning, to begin with.

    That was why his nervousness was reced by excitement.

    On the other hand, Kassandra didn''t know how to feel. She knew how strong Nial was and that he was the strongest amongst the batch of three disciples. Nial was also the one who confused her the most.

    However, they were talking about him fighting against Jase Irka! Kassandra was unable to not feel worried.

    Last but not least, Miranda''s expression worried Ullyr the most. Usually, the Witch of the South was either extremely serious, somewhat yful, orid back.

    But right now, her bodynguage reflected her excitement!

    When the other Instructor noticed that Miranda was standing next to Nial, they instinctively stopped gossiping. They were confused about how Nial had been able to get close to the Witch of the South but none of them dared to ask.

    The Instructors and everyone else present could only watch Nial step away from his group as he entered the arena with a calm expression.

    His cape fluttered in the wind-still room while faint mana fluctuations were released from his body and the robe.

    However, Nial''s face was devoid of any emotion, and the stability of his mana fluctuations made it clear that he was not nervous at all.

    Nial was eerily calm, but that was more than enough to cause a unique sensation in the entire arena.

    A gloomy sensation filled the room and the atmosphere grew tense the moment Nial stood in his allocated position inside the arena.

    He didn''t do much but his presence grew stronger with time and reached everyone in the arena.

    ''What is this weird feeling?''

    Even Commander Ullyr felt a little bit weird while looking at Nial.

    But what nobody knew was that Nial was not even thinking about his fight with Jase right now. Rather, he was overjoyed about something else.

    ''Finally, I got rid of this fucking taste in my mouth!!''

    **

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 Chapter 177 Battle

    ''Finally, I got rid of this fucking taste in my mouth!!''

    Nial had no idea that Jase had already been informed about his arrival, so he was quite nonchnt. Meanwhile, he had finally gotten rid of the annoying problem that had bothered him the most- the bitter-sweet taste in his mouth.

    However, once that was taken care of, he focused his range of perception on the surroundings, which allowed Nial to visualize everyone in his proximity.

    He perceived Jase, who was slowly entering the arena, as well.

    "Finally, you''re here! Were you too scared toe over?"

    "Stop spouting bullshit and fight me. I don''t have all day, and there are still two more challengers after you, who I''ll have to fight!"

    ''F*ck! You were the one who wasted my time because I had to wait for you for almost 16 hours, you b*tch!!"

    The corners of Jase''s mouth twitched and he grit his teeth while forcing himself to calm down.

    Arge longsword manifested in his hand, followed by a Tier-1 runic armament chestte.

    ''Looks like he was also able to plunder through the ancient ruin''s dungeon as well.'' Nial thought. He was unimpressed by Jase''s tactics as he essed his spatial ring to take out the Dragonme spear.

    Nial noticed something exciting as he slowly changed his stance while wielding the Dragonme spear,.

    ''How do I not feel any soreness? My body is full of energy as well and my mana veins have expanded as well!!''

    Mana circted smoothly through his entire body, at a much faster rate than usual, allowing Nial to experiment quite a bit.

    p Excitement surged within him like an adrenaline rush and he couldn''t help but feel as if Jase''s challenge came at the perfect time.</anda>

    ''I should show everyone how much I have improved in a single month, right?''

    A faint smile emerged on his lips, provoking Jase instantaneously when he saw it.

    His Innate ability [de Intent] leaked from his body, shrouding him and his weapon tightly as his eyes turned ice-cold.

    He became one with his weapon, and his presence changed in an instant, turning deathly dangerous as he stared in the depths of Nial''s milky eyes.

    "I will kill you, you blind f*cker!"

    Nial was seemingly unbothered about anything Jase did in order to provoke him. He was cool-headed, contrary to the hot-tempered Jase, who was provoked by just about every single thing Nial did.

    This was quite intriguing and it confused Nial more than anyone else.

    ''Did I kill his family, or what? Is it really necessary for him to act like this? Isn''t this just a challenge?''

    Smoothly moving the Dragonme spear around his body, Nial looked unaffected by the intimidating presence Jase released.

    This was already quite surprising for many Instructors, who couldn''t help but avert their attention from Jase to Nial for a short moment.

    "Weird¡­truly weird¡­" Ullyr mumbled, only to hear a familiar voice next to him.

    "Nothing is weird about this. Jase''s presence is simply too weak to affect Nial in any way!"

    ''Too weak, are you nuts?'' Commander Ullyr thought agitatedly before he noticed that Miranda, Junades, and the others hade over as well.

    "What do you mean ''weak''? In the batch of new Originals, Jase''s presence is among the strongest. There are only a few Originals, whose presence can be considered intenser than his!"

    Even if Commander Ullyr didn''t adore Jase, he was not able to tantly downgrade the young Original''s capabilities just for the sake of it.

    Jase might be an unlikable character but his power and talent were real, that was for sure!

    "Didn''t you notice Nial''s presence when he entered the arena? He didn''t even release his mana fluctuations with the intention to intimidate someone but he was still able to change the atmosphere in the room.

    And that was without doing anything except show up and walk inside the arena!"

    Miranda was proud of her disciple. She was once again reassured that taking Nial and the others under her wing had been the right choice.

    While training the three young Originals, it might have felt as if their progress was too slow, but that had only been the case because Miranda, Junades, and Kassandra had too high expectations.

    They didn''t treat Nial and his friends as if they were still kids or less than 20 years old. Rather, they looked at the three Originals as if they had to achieve everything they had been asked to.

    This was a lot of pressure for young Originals but they had to be taught early, otherwise, their foundation would crumble the moment they faced the real pressure of the battlefield!

    "But Brother Junades and Sister Kassandra''s presence is more frightening than that ything. He doesn''t radiate the sharpness a weapon to kill should have¡­it''s quite disappointing." Mathias mumbled, feeling somewhat disappointed at Jase''s presence.

    After hearing Mathias'' words, everyone looked at him weirdly.

    ''BROTHER Junades and SISTER Kassandra?! How the hell is this brat treating his direct Instructors?!''

    However, neither Junades nor Kassandra seemed to bother about the way Mathias talked about them. In fact, they merely smiled oddly before Be mumbled,

    "I guess he is not releasing his entire strength at once. His Innate ability is called [Battle Intent] and he is the son of the Sword Master, so he should have more than enough tricks up his sleeve."

    Be''s words were certainly true, however, this didn''t change the fact that Nial was not affected by anything Jase was doing.

    It was as if he didn''t treat Jase as his opponent, at all!

    But that couldn''t be farther from the truth.

    Nial tried to wear his opponent''s defense down by provoking him and forcing Jase to attack him.

    This would make things much easier for him.

    He was waiting for the battle to start because his taunting seemed to have reached its peak already.

    And it was not long after that the countdown initiating the start of the battle had begun.

    [3]<sub> </sub>

    [2]

    [1]

    [Fight!!]

    The moment the battle began, the arena''s floor cracked and Jase catapulted his body forward.

    Debris of rock and mud were shot through the surrounding area, and a whirlwind created by Jase''s sudden movement stirred up the small pebbles on the ground.

    Jase''s speed was extremely high. He shot out faster than one couldsh out with a sword and it looked like his speed kept increasing.

    He was like a razor-sharp weapon that had been unsheathed. His [de Intent] was fully unleashed, and if one looked closely it was even possible to see the faint halo of a huge sword shrouding Jase''s body.

    The sword halo was pointed at Nial whose lifeless eyes were fixated on Jase.

    Yet, instead of feeling frightened by the sudden intensified de Intent, Nial remained calm.

    His expression turned ice-cold when he noticed that Jase was also releasing killing intent.

    It was directed at Nial, which was not something he could ept.

    Everyone with the intention to kill someone was unlikely to be able to control themselves and hold back upon defeating their opponent.

    Whether it would be identally or intentionally was not important anymore by then because they would certainly kill or heavily injure their opponent.

    As he understood this clearly, Nial didn''t even think of holding back anymore.

    Streams of dark energy were released from Nial''s body, shrouding him tightly.

    A momentter, ck miasma created through [Hodur''s Heir] was released explosively.

    However, instead of remaining in the fog-like state, the explosively released ck Miasma was shaped into dozens ofpressed balls.

    They surrounded Nial in a radius of more than ten meters and blocked the advance of his opponent.

    At least, that would be the case if the ck miasma had any attack or defensive power.

    But as Jase couldn''t sense anything, he merely shed at the first ck miasma ball that entered his sight before advancing ahead.

    The ck miasma ball burst open, releasing thepressed miasma inside the ball explosively.

    Jase was shrouded by the ck miasma in an instant, but he was still able to see due to the thinness of the miasma''s shroud.

    Thus, he kept advancing while simultaneously ignoring the effect of the miasma.

    It didn''t affect him in any way as the thickyer of his de Intent protected Jase from being negatively affected by any kind of external factors.

    This was something Jase had worked hard to attain¡­this special effect of the de Intent.

    By clearly showing his opponent that his attack was meaningless, Jase smiled arrogantly as he kept advancing further.

    However, his overconfidence prevented him from perceiving that something was odd when the ck miasma balls were all floating around him in a circle so as to prevent him from advancing ahead.

    A much more intense and dark tone of floating balls had merged with the ck miasma balls.

    But that was simply because they were not balls of ck miasma butpressed darkness balls created by his dark energy.

    Shrouded in the dark energy, Nial released them from his entire body and Jase did not even realize it. Only when darkness currents shot out from the darkness balls did he perceive that something was wrong.

    In an instant, all ck miasma balls exploded, shrouding Nial, Jase and a part of the arena in darkness.

    At the same time, all darkness balls shot out darkness currents, reaching Jase in an instant.

    However, Nial did not make the mistake of colliding with the protectionyer of his [de Intent] and taking it head-on.

    He knew that the weak darkness currents were not powerful enough to achieve this. Thus, he focused on restricting Jase, by using more than 30 balls of darkness, which had shot out darkness ropes to hold the hot-tempered youth in ce.

    Nearly half a minute had passed, and Nial was only slowly retracting the ck miasma to recuperate some of his mana, thereby allowing everyone to see what was going on.

    Around 30 floating balls of darkness surrounded Jase with each of them holding the young Original down with a rope of darkness.

    "Isn''t that¡­the same thing Olivia Meradnin did? Does he have the same ability as her? Are they acquaintances? No, that''s not it¡­Nial''s attack is different, even if both use simr powers¡­.What is that?"

    Commander Ullyr couldn''t help but be dumbfounded. It was impossible for him not to feel weird. He and everyone else present had seen Olivia Meradnin''s fight.

    That was why it was quite easy to tell that Nial used a simr, yet even shrewder tactic to defeat his opponent in the same way.

    "It''s not over yet," Miranda merely stated,pletely ignoring Commander Ullyr''sment.

    She knew that Nial was powerful and that he had many tricks up his sleeve but that didn''t mean Jase was already defeated.

    How could the son of the Sword Master be defeated so easily?

    Revealing his trump card, a bright golden light was released from Jase''s body. It expanded rapidly, weakening the darkness ropes that shackled him.

    Using his brute strength which seemed to have increased drastically, Jase tore the darkness ropes apart without any issues.

    ''A Holy aura?'' Nial wondered, taking a few steps back as he noticed that Jase''s entire presence had changed once again.

    Meanwhile, Jase was licking his dry lips as he took a deep breath.

    "I didn''t expect you to force me to go all out. Congrattions, you receive my respect¡­but now, face the might of a double awakened Original!"

 Chapter 178 Double Awakening

    Double awakening. Originals, who had not only awakened one Innate ability but two.

    If it was already rare for Originals to possess a single Innate ability, then awakening two could be considered no less than a lottery win.

    There were quite a few Originals, who had awoken an Innate ability, even more so in an influential family as their bloodline had many traces of Originals with awakened Innate abilities.

    However, the number of Double awakened Originals was definitely small.

    In most cases, one of the two Innate abilities was far inferior to the other because the human body would not be able to cope with the pressure two Innate abilities created.

    Yet, in Jase''s case, it looked like both [de Intent] and the [Holy Aura] he created were extremely powerful and evenplementary to each other!

    The holiness and purity of the Holy aura,bined with the materialization of the Battle Intent, increased Jase''s defenses, attack power, and the intensity of his presence.

    Due to the Holy aura, even his mana was transmuted, and now held traces of holiness within them.

    To Nial, this was extremely bad. His control over the dark energy and the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] was high, to put it simply.

    But even he faced problems when Jase''s Holy aura reached his dark energy.

    They negated one another which deteriorated their strength.

    Nial''s dark energy''s lethality decreased by nearly a third in an instant, preventing him from fighting like before.

    With a wave of his hand holding the Dragonme Spear, Nial retracted the 30 or so Darkness Balls.

    The dark energy merged with his body and was stored inside the Odyssey seed once again.

    ''Looks like I cannot rely a lot on my dark energy in this fight!''

    In a single motion, Nial changed his stance, while a dark zing me shrouded the tip of the Dragonme Spear.

    Jase was less than 10 meters away from Nial, but he didn''t charge at the young and blind Original.

    Rather, he looked at him in amusement.

    "Are you afraid of me now that I showed you what true strength is?" Jase sneered while shing his longsword at Nial mockingly.

    It might have been a simple sh but with the use of his de Intent, Jase could create long-range attacks, which was exactly what he did.

    A de beam shot out of the longsword Jase had shed at Nial, forcing the blind Original to pierce out at the de beam.

    It was a semi-transparent attack that many Originals might not even be able to see. However, that was no issue for Nial who was already blind.

    At least Nial didn''t expect it to be an issue.

    He relied on his range of perception and other senses to pierce the de beam the moment it reached his range.

    Considering that not a single trace of mana had been used to create the de beam, Nial''s simple spear thrust was phenomenal as his other senses had been more than enough to help him locate the exact position of the de beam.

    ''My Mana Sense cannot detect the de beam? Is it created purely out of his de Intent?''

    Nial felt that he was slowly being pushed into a corner. Not only did the de beam go undetected by his Mana Sense but its strength was also much higher than expected.

    He had no idea how often Jase was able to attack him with the de Intent via long-range. However, what Nial knew for sure was that he wouldn''t allow Jase to gain an advantage.

    That being said, Nial thought of something.

    He released a concentrated dark miasma in an explosive manner.

    It shrouded Nial and a quarter of the small arena in an instant, preventing anyone from seeing Nial. However, one could sense him¡­at the beginning at least.

    Moments after he disappeared inside the dark miasma and not even Nial''s mana fluctuations could be perceived.

    The dark miasma continued to spread out in the meantime.

    Simultaneously, tiny darkness needles were created in the ck miasma and shot at Jase from all directions.

    Dark miasma¡­a product Nial had created by merging his dark energy with the ck miasma from [Hodur''s Heir].

    When it was within Nial''s Mana Sense''s range, the dark miasma could be controlled by Nial at will.

    Thus, creating tiny darkness needles was no problem for him. It could be done easily by converting the dark miasma into tiny needles before shooting them in the desired direction.

    Nial could easily attack Jase from all directions in such a manner.

    Not even half a minute had passed and the arena was engulfed in the dark miasma Nial had released.

    It had cost him lots of mana. However, using mana was not something he was afraid of.

    His heightened senses allowed him to clearly hear Jase''s calm breathing, the sound of darkness needles shing with his longsword''s de, and the subtle noises his tiny steps caused which made Nial smile faintly.

    Bending toward the ground, Nial''s free hand reached it. His t hand touched the ground in a calm manner as he spread out darkness through the ground itself, dyeing it the tone of the darkest ink.

    This used up the vast majority of his remaining mana, leaving behind mere traces.<sub> </sub>

    But that was equally fine because he didn''t need anymore mana to control everything around him. The released dark miasma obeyed the thoughts in his mind and the ink dyeing the ground did exactly the same.

    While Nial finished preparing the next few steps of his n, he noticed that his mana replenished rapidly. It also felt as if his control over mana kept increasing the more he digested the bitter-sweet liquid Miranda had forced down his throat.

    This caused him to smile weirdly, and it made him think as if he was cheating.

    ''Well, whatever. Everything is fair in love and war!''

    Nial shrugged his shoulders after a moment. He kept observing Jase''s efforts to cut through the dark miasma and dispel it.

    His Holy Aura was only effective in a radius of fewer than two meters. This range around Jase was also the only location where not a single trace of dark miasma was located.

    While the arena was engulfed in darkness, the only brightly shining light was Jase''s Holy aura.

    However, even the Holy aura of the Sword Master''s son was not bright enough to reach the spectators.

    They could only see darkness, forcing them to use their mana perception and other senses to continue ''watching'' the fight.

    "Where did Nial disappear? I can only faintly hear him but his steps are echoing through the arena¡­" One of the few young Originals, who were known for being Jase''s cronies, asked in bafflement.

    "You can hear the echo of his steps? I cannot sense or perceive anything¡­" Another of Jase''s sidekicks admitted, feeling embarrassed.

    The others agreed to the second subordinate as well, but they didn''t voice out their ipetency and remained quiet.

    On the other hand, Miranda and Junades had a weird smiles stered on their face as if they knew what was about to happen.

    Commander Ullyr saw this and he felt the need to ask what was going on. After all, it was quite obvious that Nial was overclocking his mana core in order to remain standing on his two feet against Jase''s two Innate abilities!

    ''I had never expected Jase to have two Innate abilities. This old fox concealed his son''s true talent quite well!!... But then again, this blind youth is not bad either. He forced Jase to reveal this Holy aura, or whatever it is.

    Nial Orin didn''t even have to use much mana to achieve this. A little bit of provocation and copying Olivia Miradnin''s technique was more than enough¡­''

    Commander Ullyr began to analyze the first part of the battle in his mind while keeping his senses and mana perception on high alert so as to not miss it if things spiraled out of control.

    "What is this youth doing to the ground?" An Instructor asked in doubt the moment he sensed that something happened to the ground.

    It was a subtle change that could be perceived by the most sensitive Originals that were trained in picking up changes in the surrounding.

    At first, the other Instructor didn''t sense anything but by the time they realized what was going on, the entire arena ground had already been flooded with Nial''s unique energy.

    And it was at this moment when even Kassandra couldn''t hide her smile anymore.

    "Jase waited too long." She mumbled.

    "Yep, it''s over." Miranda agreed matter-of-factly, her eyes shining in excitement as if she was expecting something grand.

    There was no need for her to say anymore because she could tell that Nial had gained a huge advantage against Jase.

    It might look like Nial had used his entire mana in exchange for some ck smoke and to change the ground''s characteristics.

    However, that was not even close to the truth. Nial''s mana core was much bigger than one would assume. Thus, he had more mana than the Instructors believed him to possess.

    Until Nial was to face a state in which he overcharged his mana core quite some time would have to pass.

    Meanwhile, Jase had be way too vignt since the dark miasma had emerged.

    Nial concealed himself with near perfection in the dark miasma. But even then, attacking the ck Miasma with his de beams or by expanding his Holy aura should work perfectly fine.

    ''Under normal circumstances, I would say that Jase will win¡­but why does it feel like the highpatibility between Jase''s two Innate abilities is preventing him from fighting properly? Does it drain too much of his mana to have both abilities activated at the same time?

    Is it taxing for the body to fire more de beams, or can''t he expand his Holy aura?''

    Many had simr thoughts as Miranda. Commander Ullyr was also doubtful about Jase''s action. As he could perceive everything going in the arena down to the finest detail, Ullyr was pretty sure that Jase would win the fight.

    However, from the looks of it, the tables had turned, and Nial''s energy seemed to be overwhelming Jase''s Holy aura!!

    ''Interesting''...

    ''I should shake this idiot''s mind a little bit¡­as an appetizer right?'' Nial thought, smiling faintly as he inserted some of his mana inside the small earring which he had begun to wear after leaving the ancient ruin''s dungeon.

    In an instant, he activated the earring and targeted Jase with the ring''s effect which made a painful scream fill the arena a momentter.

    Jase had not been prepared for an attack on his mind, which had left him defenseless against Nial''s move. His mind was shaken, and he couldn''t think about anything for a moment.

    It was almost as if his entire brain was drained of the thoughts that had shed through it beforehand.

    This state was what allowed Nial to initiate a first surprise attack as darkness spikes shot out of the ink-dyed ground.

    They mercilessly pierced through the thickyer of Jase''s Battle Intent, causing the young Original to issue a muffled groan.

    Meanwhile, Nial merely smiled as he prepared for the grand finale andst leg of his fight.

    ''Was it really necessary for me to be wary of his Holy aura?¡­it''s ridiculously weak¡­''

 Chapter 179 Pseudo-Domain

    Miranda was far from being disappointed at the onset of the event that was initiated by a painful scream that originated from the center of the arena.

    All of a sudden it felt as if the gravitational force had increased drastically within the eerie silence of the arena.

    As a result, the pressure weighing on everyone skyrocketed as well, and even the Instructors'' faces were shrouded in slight astonishment.

    Only Miranda, Junades, and Kassandra were able to continue smiling!

    Without a warning, Nial''s dark miasma was pulled into the ground where it disappeared in an instant, revealing ink-dyed ground, a faintly smiling blind youth, who was casually strolling over the dark ground, and Jase, whose de Intent was riddled with holes.

    Fresh blood trickled down his arms and legs, while an expression of disbelief appeared on Jase''s face.

    ''I am losing? What? No¡­.that cannot be¡­I''ve never lost¡­It''s not over yet¡­I have not lost yet¡­''

    Jase had yet to be inflicted with a serious injury that prevented him from continuing to fight. His de Intent might have been riddled with dark holes but his body was mostly unscathed. This was due to the Tier-1 metal chestte he was wearing.

    It had shielded him from the darkness spikes when his mind had been attacked by Nial''s petty trick.

    ''Yet, it was a petty trick!! I will be prepared next time¡­I will defeat him next time¡­''

    Darkness spread out from the edges of the holes in his de Intent, and not even Jase''s Holy Aura was strong enough to dispel the entire darkness in his de Intent.

    "Well, maybe my dark energy is still more useful than I assumed. I also didn''t expect your Holy Aura to be weak. I expected more from a Double Awakened Original¡­and the Sword Master''s son as well, of course."

    Nial''s voice was barely audible but not a single other sound could be heard in the entire arena.

    As such, even the lowest-ranked Originals were able to hear every single word Nial had said.

    It was a provocativement, at least to Jase who roared out in anger. He felt that the young Original, who was merely at the 4th Origin rank was openly mocking him and had humiliated him in front of everyone.

    This frustration and anger were more than enough for Jase to go all out.

    Jase released his entire mana as he activated both of his Innate abilities [de Intent] and [Holy Aura] in addition to his first bound ability called [Monstrous Strengthening]!

    [Monstrous Strengthening] increased Jase''s physical strength by close to 30%. The ability''spatibility with his other two Innate abilities was quite high, thereby increasing their effectiveness if used inbination as Jase''s mana veins received an amplification from his first ordinary bound ability as well.

    However, Nial could only smile faintly as he saw the way Jase attempted to release his strongest form to stomp on his opponent.

    He could only smile faintly, shaking his head and snap his finger.

    When the unusually loud snap resounded in the arena, the ink-dyed ground rumbled along with the entire room.

    In an instant, hundreds of darkness ropes shot out of the ground.

    An oasis seemed to form below Jase''s feet as his holy aura caused the ink-dyed ground to ripple.

    All of a sudden, numerous pairs of hands emerged out of the rippling ink-dyed ground. They gripped Jase''s legs, and attempted to pull him into the darkness.

    While Jase struggled to free himself of those hands, hundreds of darkness spikes pierced out of the ground at once.

    Moving simultaneously, the darkness spikes nearly pierced into Jase from all directions.

    Even though his attacks were weakened by close to 30%, that was everything the Holy aura could achieve. Thus, once Nial''s darkness spikes pierced through Jase''s Battle Intent, they stopped just a few millimeters away from cutting into his skin.

    ''I might not be able to jump through darkness yet, but that should be enough, I guess?'' Nial smiled before adding the cream of the crop as he activated one of his runic armaments for the second time.

    [Tier-1 Earring of Dizaryx]

    Targeting Jase with the mental attack of the Earring of Dizaryx, Jase roared out once again. The Sword Master''s son''s mind went nk for a moment before he regained his senses.

    Rapidly blinking his eyes, he looked around as he had no idea what was going on, at first. However, when he recalled what had happened, he could only curse himself.

    Jase felt as if he was tongue-tied, and the same could be said about his movements. He waspletely restricted and unable to move even a single inch.

    Hundreds of darkness ropes held him tightly, while darkness spikes pierced his skin faintly.

    ''What the hell just happened?!? Did I really lose against him?¡­not possible¡­that''s not possible¡­''

    Jase was utterly dumbfounded. However, he was not the only one. Rather, there were only a handful of people, who were not astonished or shocked about what they were currently seeing.

    From their point of view, Nial had subdued Jase with ease. The young and blind Original might be breathing heavily and the mana remnants he was left within his mana core were few.

    However, all of this was not important because the arena seemed to have turned into Nial''s territory.<sub> </sub>

    Even without the use of additional mana, he could control the ink-dyed ground, and shoot out darkness ropes and darkness spikes.

    Thus, he could freely control everything which enabled Nial to tie down Jase, preventing him from making a move. Nial had subdued Jase but his actions clearly indicated that he could kill the young Originals if he wanted to.

    The hundreds of darkness spikes that had emerged from the ground were more than enough to demonstrate this in a quite obvious manner.

    "How tyrannical¡­What a fierce youth¡­I like it." Commander Ullyr could not hold himself back from jumping up, and fromughing out loud. He wholeheartedly praised Nial as if the young Original was his own son who had achieved something miraculous and made his father proud.

    He also tried to keep his facial expression in check but that failed miserably as his awestruck eyes were fixated on Nial.

    Nial had already regted his breathing and also retracted the darkness ropes and darkness spikes. Afterward, he terminated his possession over the arena, which was why the dark energy dispersed slowly.

    It would take a few minutes but the ink-dyed ground would revert to its usual color.

    ''15 seconds¡­I went a little bit overboard. Was that because of the potion Miranda gave me?''

    Nial was pretty sure that he knew his current limits best. That was why he knew that it was not possible for him to control the ink-dyed ground for more than 10 seconds.

    Even that was a high gamble simply because his control over dark energy was still not high enough, while the amount of mana he possessed was simply too little.

    Dyeing the ground with his dark energy was not the problem as it didn''t require mana and only needed dark energy. However, to control everything in the range he had subdued with his dark energy was entirely different.

    It couldn''t be done easily and required Nial''s entire focus.

    To the others, it might have looked easy but that was merely the case due to Nial''s acting.

    He wanted to make an example out of Jase and defeat him in an overbearing manner. The reason for this was quite simple. Nial didn''t like the fact that Jase was too arrogant and thought too highly of himself just because he was born with great talent and in an extraordinary household.

    Nial had felt the need to show everyone that someone from ordinary background could defeat powerful Originals with great talent and background as long as they worked their asses off!

    His point had been proven and now only one question was left behind¨C Was Nial''s potential truly worse than Jase''s?

    ording to all information that had been procured, the answer was a simple ''Yes''.

    Jase had two Innate abilities and a powerful ability. On the other hand, there may not be a lot of information about Nial''s Innate ability but his bound ability could create the ck miasma.

    It didn''t have any attack power and it could only weaken others.

    Of course, the officials missed out on a lot of important information, including the fact that Nial''s mana core''s limit was not at the 5th Origin rank anymore, and neither was his first bound ability merely able to create the ck miasma.

    However, it was not as if Nial would waste his time trying to help others figure out more about his secrets.

    They were supposed to work relentlessly if they wanted to get to know him more!

    "Do I have to fight two more challengers right now, or can I rest for some time and finish them off afterward?"

    Nial had turned to the Teradan military camp''s Instructors and the Commander and raised a query. His question sounded sincere but his words were certainly not favorable to the Originals, who had challenged him.

    Some of his challengers were present as well and their faces turned red in anger. However, none of them dared to say anything.

    "Eh¡­little Nial, you can rest a bit and if any challenger still wants to fight you, you''ll have to fight¡­"

    Commander Ullyr felt a little bit weird. He wanted to speak to Nial first but it looked like the youth would rather rest and catch up on his breath.

    Nial didn''t want to be bothered by anyone, and Commander Ullyr understood this quite well.

    ''Even if it looked like Nial overwhelmed Jase, I guess that Jase still has more energy left than Nial¡­Nial went all out and shed with his opponent with all his might, while Jase¡­didn''t even think about taking the fight seriously, at first. Using one''s frustration and anger ought to create mistakes¡­''

    Commander Ullyr was disappointed in Jase. He had found out about his double awakening just today. This should be a great sign for mankind because the Sword Master''s son was bound to be a major pir of strength and support for humanity.

    However, his interest quickly switched to the blind Original, who had given his all to fight his opponent and even used his energy in order to replicate something they had only read about in legends.

    "Didn''t he replicate a Domain by using this dark energy?" One of the more intelligent Instructors asked, clearly baffled by what she had seen. Only after digesting everything that had happened, did she realize what Nial had done.

    "It was not a Domain¡­but I cannot really argue that it was simr to one. Nobody here has ever seen a Domain but all of us should have read about them¡­so¡­is that a Pseudo-Domain? Is it a replica? Or just a special technique used with his unique energy?"

    Commander Ullyr had no idea but he could only shrug his shoulders, feeling a little bit frustrated.

    ''How the hell did Miranda find him¡­why couldn''t I get him in my hands first¡­the military needs people like this little guy¡­

    Who gives a damn about his background or his blindness if he is that powerful?!? Exactly¡­nobody!!''

 Chapter 180 Dryx

    After he defeated Jase, Nial was rarely challenged. The few challenges he had received were from promising young Originals, who had wanted to test Nial''s strength, or ignorant Originals, who hadn''t heard the rumors about Nial.

    In the end, all of them left him alone and decided to not irk him. As such, Nial didn''t really have any problems continuing with his tight-knit schedule thanks to the great performance he delivered during the first time he had been challenged.

    That was why the remaining two months of the hellish training passed without much disturbance.

    However, that was only the case for him. While Be was also not challenged that often after delivering a simrly overwhelming performance the first few times somebody thought of dueling with her, Mathias had struggled a little bit more.

    His fights were not less impressive than Nial or Be''s but the situation was quite different because the young Original, who had challenged him had an Innate ability rted to mana disturbance.

    It prevented Mathias from using his Earth elemental affinity properly, creating many issues in the rather drawn-out fight he fought against his opponent.

    Mathias won after fighting for more than half an hour but the strain he caused to his mana core by forcing himself to keep fighting had been too high.

    He had to rest for several days and he was challenged the moment he got better.

    Fortunately, his experience in terms of meleebat had increased drastically, which was why it had been possible for Mathias to change hisbat style without too much of a difficulty.

    Nheless, Mathias was only able to reach the 8th Origin rank after thest two months of the hellish training had ended owing to the time he required to fight, recuperate after fighting, and prepare for new fights.

    Mathias was the only one running behind the schedule while Nial reached the 6th Origin rank and Be reached the 10th Origin rank.

    Contrary to everyone''s belief, the issue rted to Nial''s mana core ergement that was supposed to hinder him after entering the 5th Origin rank never urred.

    He was said to be only able to erge his mana core four times naturally. Yet, Nial easily entered the 6th Origin rank as if the Originals'' association had made a mistake in their examination.

    This confused Miranda and the others a lot because they hade up with several options to help Nial to stay unscathed when breaking through his mana core''s limit.

    Nial didn''t reveal the truth about his mana core because nobody would believe him either way.

    ''The Titan heart which I absorbed has increased my mana core''s limit drastically, while the Odyssey seed did exactly the same after I sessfullypleted the Primary Trial of the Gods. But its not like anyone would believe me if I were to say that¡­''

    That had been Nial''s assumption when he was asked how it was possible for him to enter the 6th Origin rank so easily.

    Little did they know that Nial was already close to reaching the 7th Origin rank and that the biggest issue was the extremely high amount of mana he required to erge his mana core, followed by the long cooling-off period his mana core needed before it was ready to face another erging process.

    The erging process was taxing to the mana core, which was why it was very dangerous to erge one''s mana core several times in a single month.

    For some Originals, whose mana core was a bit frail, it was even suggested that they shouldn''t erge their mana core more than once every three months.

    But that didn''t apply to Nial because his mana core was powerful and extremelyrge. After merely five ergings, his mana core was already able to hold the same amount of mana as an Original who had undergone nine ergings and entered the 10th Origin rank.

    That was also why Nial could be said to have reached the same Origin rank as Be, which was certainly impressive because Nial had awoken his Origin only seven months ago.

    His progress was rapid and there was no sign that Nial was thinking about slowing down. Rather, he wanted to further improve his progression¡­just a tad bit differently than others might believe.

    ''Once I reunite with my family, I should start an in-depth research about runic armaments. If I produce powerful runic armaments with various effects, it should be possible for me to survive all kinds of dangerous situations inside dungeons, or even in the wilderness of Jundra!''

    However, for his n to seed, Nial had to locate his family first, and this was definitely not easy, even less because many highly influential Organizations and Guilds that came from Liondra to witness the Military Games were facing several issues that cropped up with more emerging dungeons.

    A unique type of dungeon had emerged for the first time when the hellish training of Nial and all the others had begun, and that dungeon type had evenly spread out, reaching the 8 remaining shelters as well.

    Ugly, purplish-leather winged beasts, whose purple skin looked rotten and highly poisonous had emerged from these dungeons, spreading infectious diseases through the wilderness and the surrounding areas.

    It was pretty hard for mankind to prevent the diseases from infiltrating the shelters, let alone preventing it from spreading the moment it reached the inner parts of the shelters.

    Each of the remaining 8 shelters was overcrowded and it was near impossible for all the people to stay inside the house to iste themselves from the others.

    Too many Originals were required to fight every single day to clear the dungeons that emerged inside the shelters.

    If they wouldn''t keep clearing the dungeons, the number of dungeons would steadily increase and the dangers of potential dungeon breaks would reach an rming degree.

    Fighting against the flying beasts that were the breeding ground of infectious pathogens and trying to prevent their disease from spreading made it impossible for many influential Organizations to leave the shelters.

    Even the situation on the nameless ind and in the other nine military camps was turning grave. It was still fine in most ces but there were many urrences that caused many issues.

    The three months of hellish training had not only been hard on the young participants of the 10 military camps.

    Instead, one could say that the majority of human beings had had a hard time during thest three months, and everyone hoped that things would get better.

    But for things to get better, one had to fight with all their might, be strong enough to solve all issues, and use one''s brain to solve certain situations from happening before they could ur, to begin with.

    However, all of this was only partially rted to Nial, and the others. They didn''t even hear about the incidents that were happening around the eight shelters and the ten military camps.

    If anyone would have told them about the incidents and every single detail of what was going on, none of the military camps'' participants would be able to train without being distracted.<sub> </sub>

    They might have injured themselves identally as well, and that was certainly something none of the instructors wanted to happen.

    Thus, only when the training was over did the first information about the incidents reach them.

    For most Originals, the news about the 3rd shelter was the most shocking, even more so for the Originals, who had lived in the said shelter since their birth.

    There were quite a few of such Originals in the Teradan military camp, and all of them wanted to know what had happened to their families.

    This was only normal because it was not every day that mankind was forced to abandon one of their hard-earned and well-preserved shelters.

    Fortunately, everyone was fine, which calmed down the youths, who had spent their entire childhood in the third shelter.

    But Nial had nothing to take away from this. He could tell that his family was still fine, simply because his gut feeling was telling him so.

    Thus, he could safeguard his mind from the corruption others had to face at the thought of their family''s death, or falling ill after contracting the rapidly spreading disease.

    ''I know these monsters¡­I''m pretty sure I know them¡­.I have actually seen them as well¡­''

    When Nial heard the description of the purple flying beasts for the first time, he could clearly recall them.

    They were lower demons used by a particr God in times of war. They were mostly used when trying to weaken their opponent by spreading the highly contagious bacteria.

    The diseases caused by the bacteria did not result in an instant death but over a long period, they would slowly deteriorate the mana absorption and cirction speed of the majority of living beings.

    Only the beasts and races with a strong and refined immune system would be able to counter the effect of the highly contagious bacteria.

    In fact, they would be able to make use of the bacteria in the surrounding environment to increase their mana absorption speed and grow stronger than everyone else in a short period.

    "These monsters are Dryx¡­weak and easy to kill. But their numbers increase as fast as the poption of Goblins if not nipped in the bud¡­"

    Even if Nial didn''t want to expose the memories of thete Darkness God for the sake of his family, he shared a few pieces of information with Miranda.

    "To defeat them, you will have to pierce through their heart and mana core in a timeframe of half a minute, at most, otherwise they''ll start regenerating. Even if they lose their head, it won''t really bother them. After they are killed, it''s necessary to burn their bodies and dispose of their mana core.

    If the Dryx consumes their brethren''s mana core, their own mana increases by leaps and bounds and they might even evolve."

    At first, Miranda simply gaped at Nial but the more he spoke, the weirder she felt.

    "Need to be burned¡­regeneration¡­Ordinary Beasts with a mana core? Devouring their brethren''s mana core strengthens them? Is that why some of them are so powerful¡­"

    Nial heard the words Miranda blurted out but he didn''t dare add anything else. Miranda had a strong urge to ask Nial how he knew about the Dryx, how to defeat them, and what to pay attention to but she forced herself not to ask.

    ''If his Innate ability provided him with memories of the Origin of dungeons, he should have seen a few dungeon beasts as well¡­that''s probably it.''

    Prying into the memories of others was rude and as long as Nial''s advice was correct, she need not waste her time worrying about the rest.

    "Ah¡­by the way, the contagious bacteria spread by the Dryx will die the moment all the Dryx, who live in the surrounding area have been taken care of."

    Nial shouted after Miranda, who had already left for the meeting of the camp''s higher authorities.

    They were currently speaking about what to do with the new threat of danger that radiated from the Dryx, followed by the final preparations to start the Military Games.

    ''Ordinary Beasts? Dryx are definitely not Ordinary Beasts¡­rather, they''re considered the most inferior, yet also extremely dangerous race¡­.

    If not taken care of properly, they will turn into an even bigger menace, even for higher races, let alone the human race¡­''

    Nial sighed deeply when recalling the Dryxs. He clearly remembered the master of the Dryx race, which was why Nial couldn''t help but shake his head in frustration.

    ''I guess it will be impossible to consider him as an ally in this life. This sly bastard, I wonder what kind of crazy n he hase up with this time¡­''

    **

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 Chapter 181 Incident During The Military Games

    "I know that the government and military don''t think highly about formalities right now but isn''t that a little bit too¡­much?"

    Mathias couldn''t help but look at the huge ''coliseum'' that was, in fact, the gathering za in the center of the military camp. The za had been remodeled a little to make it seem like a huge, open arena.

    However, one could easily see that everything was hastily done in the eleventh hour which was why Mathias had felt likeining.

    Even Be was not able to retort to Mathias''int because she agreed with him.

    ''Why is it like this? I heard that the Teradan military camp''s underground coliseum is grand and something one wouldn''t want to miss visiting¡­ Is that it? Not really, right?''

    Be could barely keep a straight face but she didn''t dare to say anything in fear that she would expose her real feelings.

    On the other hand, Nial was actually not bothered about the appearance of the coliseum. Everything was rather shabby but his attention was drawn to something else.

    Thanks to his high range of perception, his Mana Sense, and his high control over mana, which Nial had kept improving through thest three months while using the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, he was able to perceive the slightest inconvenience in his range.

    That was also why he could sense several things that prevented him from joining his friend''s discussion.

    ''Something feels odd¡­''

    The Military Games had yet to start, but the spectator seats were already filled. Everyone including the representatives of more than 36 Organizations and Guilds was in attendance too.

    All of them were powerful, and at least at the same rank as Junades and the other Instructors.

    From the moment they had entered the gathering za, most of them had been focused on observing the young Originals.

    Their movements, behavior, attitude, their rank, how much they had improved in thest three months, notes about the number of challenges they had to face, along with detailed statistics of the number of victories, defeats and detailed information about their most impressive challenges had all been perceived and reported to them.

    The report of the Instructors was also included in the files the 36+ representatives received. However, instead of blindly trusting the information mentioned in the files, the most important takeaway for them was the Originals'' attitude.

    Not even half an hour had passed since they had started to observe the Originals, and there were quite a few young participants of the Military camp, who had attracted the attention of the representatives, whether it was in a positive or negative way.

    ''Does this Original think that the military camp is a social gathering or what?''

    ''He is not on a blind date, searching for his future wife, right?''

    ''What is that Original doing? Isn''t he already going around for half an hour??''

    A few representatives had taken notice of Nial.

    At first, everybody simply ignored him because they quickly concluded that his Origin rank was amongst the lowest of everyone present.

    His presence was also not that impressive, which was why most representatives had averted their attention to other promising Originals.

    However, since they had begun to observe the Originals, Nial had entered their sight every now and then. He was speaking to all the different Originals they had been eyeing, which was why he began to annoy them quite a bit.

    This got only worse when the Originals they had been eying changed their stance the moment Nial left their side.

    ''Does he know, who we are observing, which is why he is trying to help them?'' That was one of the many thoughts shing through the representative''s mind.

    In the end, this was not even close to the truth. In fact, it couldn''t be further away.

    Nial had already forgotten about the Military Games since he had detected that something was off.

    After spending a few minutes trying to decipher what exactly he had perceived, Nial had to give up.

    But that didn''t mean Nial wouldn''t tell others about his bad feeling.

    After all, something was certainly wrong. He could feel it¡­

    His Odyssey seed had perceived something odd as well, which was why it had vibrated violently after Nial gave up on figuring out what was going on.

    However, instead of continuing to research something he was not ought to figure out, Nial began to approach the other Originals before telling them a single sentence.

    -"Be ready to fight, something is odd!"-

    Nial had told Be and Mathias about this first before manifesting his Tier-2 cape''s armor, while wielding the Tier-1 Dragonme spear.

    He was even wearing a few runic armaments he had wanted to hide from others at first.

    Seeing that Nial was all geared up to fight whatever wasing their way, Be and Mathias didn''t even question what their friend had on his mind.

    Following suit, they prepared themselves as well because they knew that Nial was not someone to warn them without reason.

    His senses were much more precise than anyone else''s. Thus, it was only obvious for Be and Mathias to trust their friend.

    They initiated their own preparations and equipped their strongest and most valuable runic armaments while ignoring the gazes of the Originals, who eyed them weirdly.

    Nobody understood what was going on with Nial and his friends, and many Originals believed that Nial was merely trying to prank them when he told them to get ready to fight.

    Nial might have defeated Jase two months earlier but that didn''t mean he was suddenly someone who warranted their devotion. Many Originals didn''t think highly of him and Nial knew that. It was only obvious that someone from an ordinary background would be bullied or mistreated by some stupid high-ss family heirs because they believed to be worth more than others.

    Nheless, Nial warned everyone about his premonition. He didn''t even leave out Yves, and his subordinates.

    They looked at him in vignce but nobody dared question the authenticity of his words. Nial left after he said what was necessary before approaching the other Originals.

    On the other hand, Be and Mathias had been searching for Miranda, Junades, and Kassandra.

    They could only find Junades after a while but that was more than enough.

    "Nial said that something is wrong!! Prepare to fight, brother!" Mathias quickly blurted out, not bothering to lower his volume.

    As if on instinct, Be pped on the back of Mathias'' head the moment he shouted out Nial''s warning.

    "You idiot, use your brain and don''t shout. Do you want worse things to happen?"<sub> </sub>

    Be was extremely nervous. Her Innate ability was also telling her that something was going on.

    Contrary to the usual case, her Innate ability was even urging her to do everything possible to help Nial.

    This was something that had never happened before as her Innate ability had been telling her to keep a big distance from Nial.

    ''If my Innate abilitybeled Nial as dangerous earlier, but now changed its mind, we''re going to face a shit ton of problems!'' She merely thought, while ignoring Mathias'' sulky expression.

    "What should go wrong, kids? The military camp has never been as well protected as today. Even Miranda willingly chose to protect the camp to ensure everyone''s safety. There is no need to worry!"

    Junades thought that all the three students, especially Nial, were overreacting. There was no need to be worried as everyone would be protected.

    Never had anything happened during the Military Games. That was something they had been able to ensure for many years.

    Thus, Junades was still calm and not worried at all.

    However, what he was currently not thinking about was the fact that too many issues and first-time urrences had happened in this year''s Teradan military camp.

    It almost seemed like Junades had also forgotten about the situation outside the nameless ind. This was extremely weird and not in line with Junades'' usual behavior.

    Even Mathias couldn''t help but feel that something was odd with Junades. The youngest Instructor was not someone who would blindly ignore possible dangers.

    Feeling that something was odd, Be led a trace of mana in her earring before she activated the runic armament without hesitation, targeting Junades directly with it.

    [Tier-1 Earring of Dizaryx]

    The three friends were in possession of the same earring, which was why Be could also issue a mental attack using the Earring of Dizaryx.

    Having been attacked mentally, even Junades was not able to stay unfazed.

    He didn''t scream out and merely growled before taking a few breaths.

    "What¡­what is going on? Where am I? What am I doing here? Why are you guys wearing your fullbat equipment?" Junades was not sure how he had ended up in the za, or what they were even doing here, to begin with.

    "You¡­you don''t know? Have you already forgotten what we said just a moment ago? We said that Nial told us that something is wrong. I think we will face some big trouble soon!"

    Be was not sure what happened to Junades, but she could tell that his mind had been cleared up now.

    Her hunch had been correct and something had blurred his senses and thoughts. However, this was certainly not reassuring, not by any means at all.

    "What? Something is wrong?... I cannot remember anything since I joined the meeting with the representatives¡­what is going on?"

    Junades was still confused, but Be cleared all his doubts with a few sentences. But instead of feeling relief, Junades'' face paled before he turned away.

    "You two, repeat whatever you just did to me and do it to the other Instructors, representatives and everyone else! Follow me, fast!!"

    While Junades hurriedly pulled Be and Mathias through the outer area of the huge za, Nial was still upied with warning everyone.

    When he passed by Yves and the others, he immediately went over to Jase. Nial was not bothered about the hostile gazes he received from Jase''s subordinates.

    "What do you want?!" Jase asked in an agitated voice and was ready to fight Nial if necessary.

    Even if he had been humiliated before, Jase could prove his mettle again. He had be much stronger than before just for the sake of defeating Nial. That was why he was prepared to fight him right here and right now.

    "It''s good that you''re ready to fight. Something is odd. Tell your group of hostile donkeys to be prepared to fight as well!"

    After he said this, Nial turned away from Jase, not further bothering about the young Original''s angry gaze.

    "What the hell is wrong with him!?"

    "Who is a hostile donkey, you shithead?"

    "How dare he? Let me fight him¡­to death if necessary!"

    Jase just rolled his eyes at his subordinates''ments.

    ''Something is odd. His expression¡­.''

    Even if he didn''t like Nial, Jase could tell that Nial didn''te to them with ill intentions.

    "Do as he said. Prepare for battle¡­"

    Nial spent a few more minutes running through the arena to warn as many Originals as possible.

    However, when he was done warning the fifth group of Originals after Jase, Nial''s heart and Odyssey seed began to beat wildly.

    At that moment it happened¡­.

    The locations Nial had pinpointed was suspicious. He could sense that the area suctioned the entire mana from the surrounding area towards itself.

    At first, nobody noticed anything. Everything seemed perfectly fine as if the Military Games were about to start at any moment, and as if everything was as it was supposed to be.

    It was that moment when Nial''s fears came true¡­

    Three representatives with 5 Advanced Origin rings exploded without a warning, leaving nothing behind but shreds of skin, a fountain of blood, and¡­a purple crystal¡­

    A total of five purple crystals, one from each exploded representative hovered in the air¡­and it was these crystals that had been the reason for Nial''s premonition.

    The moment they were exposed, Nial could clearly sense what was going on¡­and only one thought shed through his mind.

    ''Fuck¡­''

 Chapter 182 Soul Space Fragments

    After suctioning the mana from the surrounding area, the purple crystals began to shine brightly.

    In the chaos and sudden shock that was created by the sudden explosions of five highly influential and powerful Originals bursting into pieces like a watermelon, nobody was able to pay attention to the five purple crystals that were hovering in the air.

    It was as if they were fixated on a spot in the air and were merely absorbing the surrounding mana.

    At least that was what it first looked like because nothing happened for an entire minute.

    Only after a minute had passed did things start to change as the five purple crystals began to resonate with each other.

    Faint, nearly untraceable beams of purple light connected the purple crystals, creating a pentagram in the area above the za as the hovering purple crystals began to slowly rise high in the air.

    It was at this moment that the first Originals noticed the purple crystals. Something was wrong, horribly wrong¡­that was obvious for everyone.

    Five representatives ofrge and renowned Organizations had exploded without warning, leaving behind the exact same purple crystals.

    They reached a height of more than 10 meters before they finally stopped ascending. The faint purple light that connected the purple crystals began to glow.

    It became brighter by the second, drawing numerous Originals'' attention from the scattered remains of their peers to the situation up in the air.

    It was almost as if a spell had been cast on them, preventing the vast majority of Originals from moving and thinking. Their entire mind was fixated on observing the pentagram that was soon noticed by everyone.

    Only Nial didn''t focus on whatever was going on in the air. He might not be able to see it, to begin with, but his Mana Sense was currently going haywire owing to the powerful fluctuations the purple crystals radiated.

    Due to this, Nial could only try to reach Be, Mathias, and Junades, who were all on the other side of the za.

    ''Fuck¡­how the hell was it even possible for him to nurture Soul Space fragments?!''

    The moment Nial sensed the purple crystals, he knew that the Teradan military camp would be razed to the ground.

    He knew that the memories in his mind were not detailed and that he didn''t know everything about Soul Space fragments, but what he recalled from the memories of thete God of Darkness was more than enough to fear for his life and the life of everyone else around him.

    ''Forget about how¡­why would he waste five Soul Space fragments to destroy the Teradan military camp, to begin with? That makes no sense¡­.''

    However, what made even less sense was something else. Soul Space fragments were nourished by the soul of the host upon which the parasite-like fragment of Space hadtched itself.

    A human''s soul was certainly not enough to nourish a Soul Space fragment and if Nial were to make an assumption, he would have to gauge that it required 10,000 souls to create a single lowest-quality Soul Space fragment.

    The souls had to meet certain criteria to be suitable for the nourishment process of the Soul Space fragment as well.

    That was why it was not easy to create a single Soul Space fragment. Yet, right now, five lowest quality Soul Space fragments had appeared right in front of him.

    Not only that¡­Nial could also tell what kind of pentagram was currently forming in front of them.

    At the first nce, it might look like an ordinary pentagram, but the anchor points that were outlined through the Soul Space fragments told Nial more than enough to make certain predictions.

    ''Large-scale portal¡­''

    It didn''t take much intelligence to understand what was going on as long as one had the slightest bit of knowledge about Soul Space fragments.

    They were considered an intermediate-ranked artificially created source of energy that could only be used for a few particr magic arrays.

    And one of the most well-known arrays was a teleportation array.

    Nial rushed to his friends to force them to leave the military camp, and the nameless ind as quickly as possible.

    If they would wait until the teleportation array was created and stabilized, one of the weakest opponents they were bound to face was definitely the Prometheus-ranked beasts!! Hundreds of thousands of them, at that!!

    Mankind didn''t even have a single human being capable of defeating even a single Prometheus-ranked beast. There was no need to consider surviving an attack of thousands of them, even less if they were amongst the lowest-ranked beasts that would emerge from the teleportation array sooner orter!!

    When Nial had crossed half the distance to reach the others, he perceived that the teleportation array was about to bepleted. The pentagram was already shining brightly and a nearly untraceable swirl was being manifested in the center of it.

    Biting his lower lip, Nial began to circte mana through his entire body, forcefully increasing his speed.

    ''How does it manifest so quickly?! Did they inscribe an eleration runic constetion in the Soul Space fragments???''

    Nial''s face was drained of all color. The things that were happening right now exceeded his knowledge by far, preventing Nial from understanding anything.

    He could only perceive that the swirl in the center of the pentagram was quickly growing. The waves of energy radiating from the Soul Space fragments didn''t seem to decrease as well.

    This meant that the teleportation array was not an ordinaryrge-scale teleportation array but some sort of modified construction.

    But that didn''t help Nial in any way either. He increased his pace and kept running to his friends.

    Meanwhile, everyone else was still drawn to the purple swirl. A faint purple membrane was forming in the midst of the fast expanding swirl, showing the first signs of forming a portal.

    Everything was going smoothly, without a single obstacle cropping up out of nowhere. It was quite frustrating if one were to ask Nial.

    ''Was it really necessary for this to happen, right now? Can''t they be more considerate and wait a few more months, at the very least. How impatient can Gods be?!''

    While cursing inwardly, Nial reached Be and the others.

    They were also distracted owing to the pentagram, forcing Nial to release some of his dark energy before he covered their eyes with it.

    "Stop watching this bullshit. We need to leave the military camp and the nameless ind, right now!"

    Nial''s friends and Junades were surprised by the sudden darkness obstructing their sight. However, when Nial retracted his dark energy, they quickly noticed his worried expression.<sub> </sub>

    They wanted toin to him about the stupid game he loved to y, but Nial''s expression was overflowing with frustration, anger, and fear¡­the fear of death.

    The situation was already out of control. Thus, Nial merely wanted to lessen the damage as much as possible.

    With his current strength, there was no way for him to do anything else. He did not have the same strength as the God of Darkness in his prime, after all!

    "What is happening?! Why is a purple dungeon portal manifesting in the air all of a sudden, and what the hell are those purple crystals or the purple pentagram??" Mathias shouted all of a sudden, realizing that he had been unable to think properly from the moment the purple crystals appeared out of nowhere.

    "We need to leave!"

    Nial didn''t even think about trying to exin the situation. It would take way too long, and if he were to be honest, Nial didn''t even feel that he was much more knowledgeable than the others. He was only trusting the gut feeling that told him to leave the nameless ind.

    The entire situation was a mess, and Nial''s biggest fear was the fact that nobody would be able to stop the stream of beasts the moment Prometheus-ranked beasts would emerge on thends of Jundra!

    "Something is emerging from the mutated dungeon portal!" Be suddenly blurted out, her heart thudding against her ribcage. She was not sure what was going on but even her Innate ability was telling her to leave as quickly as possible.

    Nial''s perception had already perceived the monster that had emerged from the portal. However, it was not something he bothered about because they were small fries that were not worth his attention.

    "Let''s leave before it is toote!" he repeated once again, his hands reaching out for both Be and Mathias.

    Nial knew that he could force them toe with him if necessary. Thus, he nned to save their lives by all means, even if he would have to knock them out.

    But merely a moment before he got hold of his friend''s wrist, Nial''s hand froze in ce.

    He sensed something weird, something warm emerging from the darkness¡­something that calmed him down in an instant.

    It cleared his mind and allowed him to focus his senses on what was going on.

    "What¡­is happening? Did someone intervene? No that cannot be¡­is it the, maybe? I thought that Jundra had yet to awaken itsary mana core¡­did it already gain sentience?"

    Nial had no idea what was going on. He could only perceive that a unique unfamiliar, yet also somewhat familiar energy emerged from the ground below them.

    It shrouded the purple swirl and prevented it from growing as rapidly as before. Meanwhile, the first beasts that emerged from within the swirl were the Dryx, whosebat prowess barely reached that of the Origin rank beasts.

    Even the participants of the military camp were able to fight them.

    Thus, Nial didn''t speak any further. His entire attention was diverted to the swirl and the weird energy that emerged from the ground below them.

    Nial was barely able to perceive it properly but he could tell that it was extremely powerful¡­manyfold stronger than the mana fluctuations of the strongest dungeon portal he had been close to.

    It restricted the proper activation of the teleportation array, and slowly worked its way through the purple swirl. From the looks of it, the mysterious energy was not trying to destroy the teleportation array.

    On the contrary, the mysterious energy merely slowed down the growth of the purple swirl before halting its growth entirely when it reached a certain height. This height was more than enough for everyone to see it, and it was definitely not a pleasant view, despite the magnificent appearance.

    The surplus of energy was devoured by the mysterious energy, cutting off any possible way for the purple swirl to keep growing.

    It was at this moment that Nial understood what was going on.

    "There is no Prometheus-ranked beast?"

    Hundreds of Dryx with a strength ranging from the 1st Origin rank to owning 7 Advanced Origin rings had already passed through the portal.

    However, that was it. There was no sight of a Prometheus-ranked beast or even beasts with 8 or 9 Advanced Origin rings.

    This made one thing quite clear to Nial.

    ''The''s natural protection mechanism prevents therge-scale portal from reaching a threshold at which Prometheus-ranked beasts can pass through it!''

    Jundra had to protect itself, otherwise, if powerful beasts or other existences were to reach it, the entire might get annihted.

    p That was why Jundra was likely to have intervened and reacted in self-defense, giving Nial hope for their survival.</anda>

    There were only two Dryx with 7 Advanced Origin rings. Thus, they had reached the Tritan rank.

    The Tritan rank followed the Seclon rank after one manifested their seventh Origin ring.

    However, that was not actually something Nial could be bothered about right now.

    Instead, his mind was somewhere else, focused on one fact.

    ''We might have a chance to survive!!''

    **

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 Chapter 183 Giving Up? Fuck Off!!

    The mysterious energy disappeared the moment the purple portal had been stabilized in its restricted form. This prevented beasts with abat prowess of eight advanced Origin rings from passing through the portal.

    Though it was still harrowing, it was thousands of times better than the situation they would have to face without the interference of the mysterious energy.

    Nial presumed that this mysterious energy hailed from theary core itself. However, that was merely his assumption and not a proven fact.

    In the end, it didn''t really matter, to begin with, because the only important fact was that the military camp might not be doomed.

    Nial''s range of perception was able to perceive every single ally and enemy within therge za.

    That was why he could deduce that their chances of survival might not be the greatest but also that they might not die as long as they fought desperately.

    "The number of Dryx emerging from the portal is stabilizing at one every second." Junades said, more to himself than the people around him.

    He was currently thinking of what to do and trying to figure out how to handle the current situation while protecting as many young Originals as possible.

    The new generation had to be protected for mankind to live on, otherwise, the entire human race would go extinct in the future.

    ''I hope that we''re the only ones facing problems!'' Junades thought worriedly, hoping that none of the other military camps or the other shelters had to face such a horrifying situation.

    A momentter, a sapphire-colored longsword manifested in Junades'' hand. The moment he touched it, a faintyer of mana shrouded it. The longsword glimmered faintly, which made one believe that it was thirsty for the blood of the opponents it would kill.

    He took a deep breath before looking at Nial and the other two diligent Originals he had been training for thest three months.

    They were bound to be powerful powerhouses in the future as long as they kept striving for more strength.

    Junades couldn''t allow them to die, not right here and right now!

    He activated his ability [Bravery] that strengthened the morale of the people around him. Everyone in the range of his ability received not only a boost in morale but also an amplification in their strength.

    Simultaneously with the activation of his first ability, Junades activated his Innate ability, [Mana touch].

    [Mana touch] shrouded everything Junades touched with a thinyer of mana as long as he wanted to.

    Junades could regte the density of the thin manayer by inserting mana into his Innate ability.

    Strengthening the sapphire-blue longsword with [Mana touch], while taking away the fear of hisrades, Junades roared out before he shot towards the Dryx that were about to reach the first unmoving Originals.

    The young men and women were unable to move, still feeling as if a spell had been cast on them.

    However, the moment Junades reached them, this spell was dispelled in an instant. Junades'' [Bravery] had this effect, providing numerous advantages in terms of fortifying one''s mentality.

    With quick thrusts and shes, Junades killed the Dryx in front of him. They were as weak as described in the reports.

    But Junades could also perceive that their regeneration ability was terrifyingly high, which was why he destroyed both their heart and mana core at the same time.

    It was impossible for him to burn the corpse of the Dryx right at this instant, let alone to find ways of dposing their shattered mana core.

    Too many Dryx had emerged from the portal, and an rmingly high number of them was too powerful. While there had only been Dryx at the Origin rank, in the beginning, this had quickly changed as stronger emerged from the portal.

    "Brothers and Sisters, fight by my side to defeat the infiltrators!!!" Junades amplified his vocal cords with the use of mana. Thus, his voice reached every nook and cranny of the Teradan military camp.

    The Originals with the strongest will had regained their senses by now, and only those with slightly weaker will needed a slight ''push'' that came in the form of Junades'' loud voice.

    Instinctively sensing the dangers ahead of them, all the Instructors and even the remaining 31 representatives of the variousrge Organizations and Guilds unsheathed their weapons.

    On the other hand, Jase, Yves, and the other young Originals, who had been warned by Nial were slowly waking up from their stupor as well after seeing how both weak and powerful beasts had emerged from the portal.

    Swallowing their saliva at the sight of the Dryx that had already created Origin rings, not many dared to move.

    Not even Jase dared to move at first as a Prym ranked Dryx with three Advanced Origin rings revolving around its mana core flew over him, pping its mighty and pathogen-carrying wings.

    Arge number of Originals were frozen in ce. Many didn''t even dare to move until the Dryx reached right in front of them, shing out with their ws that exceeded a length of 30 centimeters.

    Their ws were sharp enough to scrap well-forged shields and even the strongest Common grade armors.

    Thus, at the sight of the Dryx movements, and the barbaric way in which they tore apart the first few unmoving Originals, a distinct fear was instilled within everyone.

    Just at that moment, a 10th Origin rank Dryxnded on the ground right in front of a group of young men and women.

    The moment it crashed onto the ground, a small crater was formed. Its hideous purple face that was covered with numerous bacteria-filled greenish-purple pimples nced over the group of young Originals as its 50-center-meter long tongue licked over a part of its face.

    In a slow-motion that could be perceived by everyone, the Dryx lifted its right w, its long, dirty nails gleaming in the purple light, ready to dig in the flesh of its victims.

    No hesitation could be seen in the beast''s pitch-ck eyes.

    Likewise, there was also no sign that it was in a rush to kill its opponents.

    The Dryx seemed to enjoy seeing its victim''s expressions, to perceive how their expression slowly changed as they realized that they would soon die.

    Dragging out the final sh to kill its victim, the Dryx leeched on the young Originals'' desperation and lowered its rotten w a momentter.

    Its movements were too fast for the eyes of unawakened humans, and the w was about to pierce into the first Original, who had already closed her eyes.

    She was trembling, and dreaded the unbearable pain of being stabbed by the razor-sharp ws of the Dryx¡­st but not least, she was afraid of death, she was not willing to die¡­<sub> </sub>

    Yet, oddly enough, even after ten seconds had passed the young female Original was not able to feel any pain.

    Feeling that something was odd she opened her eyes slowly.

    Her knees were wobbly and her whole body was shaking yet she could not muster the courage to even move a single inch.

    However, upon seeing the corpse of the Dryx, who had just raised its w to attack her a moment before, the young Original stopped trembling for a moment.

    Utter confusion swept through her entire body and she was unable to understand what was going on.

    Blinking her eyes slowly, she took a second to realize that she was still alive and that there were two gaping holes in the Dryx''s chest. Her eyes then fell on the young Original, who was currently fighting with three Dryx simultaneously.

    The young man''s spear was dancing through the air, puncturing the Dryx one after another.

    Dark red, almost ck blood trickled down the wounds of the Dryxs. But instead of slowing down, or acting as if they had been injured, the Dryxs merelyughed.

    Theirughter sounded more like a pig''s grunting that echoed through therge arena due to their high volume.

    It had been a means to intimidate the young man but their trick fell t on the face. Instead of retreating or growing nervous, the young man began to smile upon hearing their rumblingughter, making them stop abruptly.

    They stiffened and looked down at their chest, where they saw that a ck needle had impaled them.

    Their mana core broke in half as Nial had aimed perfectly at it, breaking it apart without any difficulties.

    In a matter of seconds, he had defeated the fourth Dryx as well, ending their lives with ease.

    He released his Mana Sense to keep observing the surrounding area. This allowed him to perceive that Be and Mathias were currently protecting the other young Originals from getting eaten who were petrified as well.

    "If you guys don''t move, they''ll kill you. Junades, the Soldiers, and everyone else will kill the stronger Dryx, so it is your job to kill the weaker ones! They have a high regeneration, and you will have to destroy both their heart and mana core to kill them for good.

    Good luck!"

    That being said, Nial jumped right into the fray of flying beasts. He and his friends focused on rescuing the Originals before leading them to start fighting.

    Before this entire incident had begun, Nial hadn''t been able to warn many Originals. However, it was advantageous that Nial had focused on warning the strongest Originals.

    That was also why Jase, Yves, and the others had finally regained their senses. They had been observing Nial for quite some time, only to understand that the young and blind Original had somehow sensed that something big would happen.

    He had warned them, and the others with good intentions, which was something the two prideful young men from exceptional backgrounds were grateful for.

    There had not been a single reason for Nial to warn them about the dangerous situation that had just urred, especially after the way they had treated him, but Nial had done so nheless.

    Even the narrow-minded Yves, who had been humiliated by Nial when the blind young man had carried him to the camp gathering as he was unconscious and injured, couldn''t help but feel somewhat thankful to Nial.

    Wielding an emerald-colored dagger in each hand, Yves ended the life of a Dryx without hesitation.

    After being humiliated by Nial, he became much stronger to take his revenge on the blind youth, who thought too highly of himself.

    Yves had sworn to himself that he would put Nial Orin back to the ce where he belonged; below him, kneeling and begging for mercy, and apologizing for his mistakes with tears in his lifeless eyes.

    Recalling the humiliation, Yves threw Jumandit rootlings through the surroundings while activating both his Innate ability [Nature''s Wrath] and [nt Growth].

    While he was shing at the Dryx all around him, Yves was simultaneously focusing on restricting the other Dryx so as to help the Originals around him, whether they belonged to his group or not.

    On the other hand, Jase was wreaking havoc in the midst of more than a dozen Dryx. He used his [Holy aura] Innate ability to restrict the Dryx from utilizing their entirebat prowess.

    Simr to the way they stood no chance against Nial''s dark energy, Dryxs were weak against the holiness of Jase''s [Holy aura].

    Jase gained a huge advantage owing to this, which was why it was possible for him to exhibit a much higherbat power than usual.

    He had long since reached the 10th Origin rank and went all out, releasing all of his Innate abilities and his ability simultaneously.

    The Dryx with abat prowess equal to the Origin ranks were cut in half without receiving the opportunity to do anything against Jase''s powerful shes.

    Other than Jase and Yves, many young Originals were slowly regaining their senses. Junades'' [Bravery] ability yed the biggest role in preventing a mass panic from urring.

    The mysterious death of five powerhouses, the emergence of the purple crystals, and the fact that the purple crystals had created the purple portal were more than enough for the young Originals to lose their cool.

    Not even their rich experience gained by conquering dungeons could give them the confidence to ept and face today''s event that was a first in the history of mankind.

    That was why even the veteran Soldiers and some Instructors were not able to keep their calm. They were afraid about what was going to happen, fearing the future events that ought to happen sooner orter.

    It was frightening, that was for sure. However, it was still a fact that one could only keep on living and ovee the most frightening situations as long as one kept working on bing stronger.

    The moment someone thought about giving up, they had already lost half the battle!

    But as of this moment¡­nobody was thinking about giving up. Everyone might be shocked and found the scenario iprehensible¡­but giving up? Fuck of!

    Once even the Originals with the weakest will had finally been able to pull themselves out of the spell that had been cast on them, and their eyes, a burly young Original roared out.

    "We didn''t work our asses off, just to die here! Is this a fucking joke? Come here and let me whip your asses!"

 Chapter 184 Fortified

    After everyone snapped back to reality and finally regained theirposure, the situation on the military camp''s za first turned extremely chaotic.

    The number of Dryx, who emerged from the teleportation circle steadily increased but so did the number of young Originals, who began to participate in the killing spree.

    Being innately on the weaker side, the Dryx were not able to fight against Originals at the same rank as them. That was the case, as long as the Originals knew that they had to pierce both the Dryx''s heart and mana core within a short period to kill the Dryx.

    Unfortunately, not many young Originals knew about this at first, which made things very difficult for the men and women, who were giving their utmost efforts to preserve and kill the Dryx, who had infiltrated the military camp.

    Only after seeing Nial, Be, and Mathias piercing the Dryx''s heart and mana core in short session did the first group of Originals realize where the Dryx''s weakness was.

    The tides of the battle were slowly changing and the Origin ranked Dryx were swiftly taken care of.

    In a matter of half an hour, only 1000 Dryx were approximately left behind and none of them were at the Origin rank.

    <o>,m This was a great aplishment because the za''s area was now fully upied with more than ten thousand Dryx corpses.</o>

    "Start collecting the corpses." Nial suddenly ordered, his voice sweeping through the entire za despite him speaking in a low voice.

    Nobody could understand why Nial gave them such an order, after all, there were still around 1000 Dryx left.

    They were not as powerful as ordinary beasts or as the Originals with the same number of Origin rings.

    That was why Yves, many other young and powerful Originals, along with Jase, wanted to fight against the Prym-ranked Dryx.

    In their opinion, helping the Instructors and the others was the most important, simply because the threat posed by the corpses was not exactly high.

    "Fuck off, Nial! You''re not our boss!" Jase simply shouted, ignoring Nial''s order as he shed his sword at a Low Prym ranked Dryx, who had one Advanced Origin ring.

    Jase''s sh was extremely fast and lethal. It was further elerated by [de Intent], [Holy aura] and [Monstrous Strengthening].

    His strength after using the three abilities was even stronger than an ordinary Low Prym ranked Beast. The strength of his sh was even more terrifying as his de severed through the air.

    But, the de failed to cut through the body of the Low Prym ranked Dryx that merely lifted its arm.

    *Tink*

    Jase''s eyes widened in shock, while everyone else, who already believed to have a good understanding of the Dryx''s weak strength felt simr.

    The powerful attack of the Sword Master''s son had been easily blocked by the Dryx''s arm. Droplets of dark blood trickled down the longsword but that was the only thing his attack achieved.

    ''Only a small scratch?!'' Jase nearly shouted out. He realized that something had gone wrong, and attempted to jump backward.

    However, the moment he tried to move, the Dryx''s other hand pierced out.

    ''So fast!''

    Like a sh, the Dryx''s hand reached for Jase''s heart at a speed that was not even visible to the eyes of numerous young Originals.

    Luckily, Jase could clearly perceive the hand of his opponent and he knew that his life was on the line. His defenses were not strong enough to block the attack and he could already see his life shing past his eyes.

    The fear of death flooded him, making his heart thump erratically. Yet, even if he wanted to do something, it was impossible for Jase to move right now.

    His hands were still tightly wrapped around the longsword and the Dryx''s hand was less than half a meter away from him.

    ''I don''t want to die, you bastard!!'' He screamed in his head while forcefully focusing his [Holy Aura] on the Dryx.

    This slowed it down a little bit, providing a fraction of a second to allow Jase to think of a way to escape death.

    His gaze locked with the Dryx''s pitch-ck eyes, and he could perceive its bloodthirst and the desire to annihte the entire human race gleaming in those eyes.

    His legs felt extremely heavy at that moment and he broke into a sweat.

    Just at this moment, a golden sh shot past him, as two razor-sharp daggers were embedded in the Dryx''s hand that had been pierced into its flesh.

    The attack of the stupefied Dryx had been nullified with brute force and the usage of a unique type of mana.

    Be''s hair fluttered in the wind. Her [Celestial transformation] was unleashed to the highest extent she could endure while [Outburst] was activated as well.

    Her mana was extremely potent as it was transmuted by both her ability and Innate ability. The holy light of the Celestial transformation''s mana waspressed and even stronger than Jase''s [Holy aura] as long as it was used against a single opponent.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, Be''s Tier-1 daggers easily pierced through the Dryx''s arm, forcefully halting its attack.

    Following Be''s intervention, others joined the fray as well.

    The stone foundation below the Dryx''s feet suddenly burst open and earthen hands reached out for the Dryx''s leg before the soil below the beast turned into quicksand.

    In an instant, the Low Prym ranked Dryx''s feet disappeared under the ground, locking it in ce.

    While it struggled to free itself, it missed on noticing that a searing hot ck me engulfing a razor-sharp spear tip had already been pierced through its heart.

    In a smooth motion, Nial''s Dragonme Spear had pierced the Dryx''s heart.

    To ensure that he created enough lethal damage to kill the Dryx, Nial released more mana in order to ignite the dark energy mes which he created with his Tier-1 weapon.

    Without wasting time, which would otherwise allow the Dryx to regenerate from the lethal injury it had sustained, Nial retracted the Dragonme Spear a fraction of a second after he had pierced it before thrusting out once again.

    The trajectory of the second thrust was slightly averted but that was only obvious. After all, Nial''s target was not the Dryx''s pierced heart but the mana core.

    He had located it in an instant and pierced through it the moment he had detected it.

    Warm, dark blood gushed out of the first lethal injury Nial had inflicted when he had already pierced through the mana core, ending the miserable life of the Low Prym-ranked Dryx.

    But even after Nial had killed the Dryx, whose rank was much higher than his own, it was impossible for him to feel satisfied.

    Through all of his senses, Nial could clearly determine that a few dozen Dryx, including the Low Tritan ranked Dryx with seven Advanced Origin rings began devouring their own people or their mana core to be precise!

    "Shit! Why couldn''t you just listen to me?! Prevent them from consuming their brethren''s mana cores!! Their strength increases after they devour them!"

    Nial''s loud voice reached every corner of the za. The Originals who had believed that their job was already done, and now they only had to defeat the Dryx were stupefied.

    The fortified strength of the Low Prym ranked Dryx was more than enough to show that it was not that easy to ovee the dreadful situation.

    Jase had attacked a Dryx, who had eaten the shattered mana cores of three Dryx. This had already been enough for it to defeat Jase easily.

    Only after Nial and his friends worked together was it possible to defeat the Low Prym ranked Dryx in no time.

    Nial had already used his spatial ring to store the Dryx''s corpse to prevent other Dryx''s from devouring its mana core.

    Clearly seeing what Nial, Be, and Mathias had been doing, and sensing the true extent of the strength behind the three young Originals, the other men and women could tell that they stood no chance in the fight against the strengthened version of the Low Prym ranked Dryx.

    With that understanding, the majority of Originals began to run around, and hastily stored the Dryx''s corpses that were scattered all over the za.

    This was not easy owing to the Dryx''s tactic of devouring their brethren''s mana core whenever they felt slightly exhausted.

    That was why many Dryx had already absorbed the mana core of their brethren several times in session, allowing them to reach abat power that was even higher than their rank.

    If it was already considered dangerous for Prym-ranked Dryx to be stronger by consuming the mana cores of their brethren, the enhancement received by the Seclon-ranked Dryx was even more terrifying.

    There were not many Originals present whosebat power exceeded five Advanced Origin rings.

    In the end, this meant that each of the Seclon ranked Dryx was capable of fighting the strongest present Originals as long as they consumed more than a dozen mana cores.

    The only reason for the representatives, the Instructors, and the Soldiers to be able to maintain a calm mind was the fact that the Witch of the South had already appeared.

    Wielding a ck wooden wand with golden engravings covering the majority of the wand, she looked no less than a God of Destruction, who began obliterating the Seclon ranked Dryx the moment they attempted to consume the mana cores.

    She avoided fighting the Low Tritan ranked Dryx by stalling it but that was the max she could do by herself.

    Her abilities were not very effective on the Dryx, who had seven advanced Origin rings. Commander Ullyr was much better in this regard.

    His strength was amplified by more than 30 abilities that had been used on him to increase his strength, perception, mana control, and so on.

    That was why Commander Ullyr was able to control the Low Tritan ranked Dryx. Thebined power of the military was nothing to scoff at, after all!

    ''If anyone thinks that they can annihte the human race that easily, we should show them what we''re capable of when we start working together!!''

 Chapter 185 Abnormal

    While Commander Ullyr was fighting the strongest Dryx, who had emerged from the purple portal, Nial and the others hurried to clear the za of the Dryx''s corpses.

    Despite their frantic attempts to do so, they were still toote to start storing the corpses. At least 300 Dryx had devoured more than 1000 mana cores, thereby increasing their strength drastically.

    The Soldiers, whose talent was not even close to the young participants of the Teradan military camp, couldn''t cope with the sudden increase in pressure they had to face.

    Because of the increased pressure, many Soldiers were losing their upper hand against the Dryx they faced, forcing them to work together as small groups of five while fighting a single Dryx.

    Unfortunately, this was not feasible simply because the strength of the five soldiers was still hard to regain their upper hand.

    Against certain Dryx, even a group of five was not enough to defeat them. They had devoured too many mana cores of their brethren and it didn''t look like they were stopping at all.

    The situation was slowly escting and the advantage the young Originals had hoped to gain for by killing the weakest Dryx was now working against their favor.

    Even Nial felt that the situation was slowly spiraling out of their control. This forced him to avert his attention from collecting corpses to fighting the Low ranked Prym Dryx.

    His mana core''s size might only be on par with a 10th Origin rank but his mana control, control over his abilities and the lethality of his ability exceeded the norms of an ordinary 10th Origin rank by far already.

    The same could be said about Be and Mathias, whose strength had increased drastically throughout thest three months.

    Adding the tremendous value of runic armaments in the fight, the three young Originals gained a huge advantage while fighting against the Dryx, who had already created their first Advanced Origin ring.

    Even those few, who had consumed the mana cores of their brethren were no match to the terrifyingbat prowess Nial and his friends exhibited as a team.

    They worked hard, and focused on restricting their opponents first before killing them as quickly as possible.

    It was certainly not easy to defeat the Dryx but Nial didn''t even think of holding back his strength.

    He used the Tier-1 runic armament Gravity Boots, in order to tweak his weight at any time, whether to increase the power behind his spear thrust and shes or to run through the surrounding without feeling much of a restriction due to the gravitational force.

    Other than the Tier-1 Gravity Boots, Nial also used three bracelets simultaneously in order to increase his mana cirction slightly, increase his perception of the surroundings, and get a better grasp of what to do with the Dragonme spear.

    These three bracelets were also runic armaments but Nial was neither sure what Tier they were, nor he know what their actual use was.

    He simply used them based on the way he felt that they should be utilized.

    That was the only thing he could do, either way...using everything he had up his sleeve to fight against opponents that were stronger than him.

    In fact, fighting the Dryx was far easier than going up against the Lesser Titan youngling. Nial and his friends became much stronger and their equipment had been upgraded a lot.

    However, even then, the biggest problem they had to face was the existence of numerous stronger Dryx flying through the air, picking out opponents to fight.

    Nial and his friends could only tackle a single Dryx at a time. The moment they took on two, three or potentially more opponents, the fight grew prolonged.

    This would prevent them from clearing the battlefield of Low Prym ranked Dryx as quickly as possible.

    Furthermore, fighting more opponents simultaneously would not only prolong the fight but it simultaneously increased the dangers they faced because the small group of three wouldn''t be able to support each other.

    Meanwhile, the chances of more Dryx joining the fight were not low either.

    Continuing to fight with all of these things at the back of their minds, Nial slowly realized that one thing was amiss.

    ''Where is that Peak Seclon ranked Dryx?!''

    The situation had slowly gotten back under the control of the Originals, mostly thanks to Miranda''s powerful attacks.

    It had truly been a good decision to sell her one of the Peak Tier-1 Wands they had found in the pce of the ancient ruins dungeon.

    Not many wands had been created by mankind until now, and their strength was certainly not great.

    That was why powerful wands were either extremely rare, or the wands that werepatible with one''s abilities didn''t exist in the first ce.

    Miranda was someone, one couldbel as a unique Witch. Instead of focusing on Elemental affinities or anything one could learn slowly over time, Miranda''s abilities were extremely difficult to master and their efficiency seemed to be extremely low at the first nce.

    However, that was only what it looked like at the first nce, or from an outsider''s point of view.

    While facing the Witch of the South one would slowly realize that she was an extremely terrifying opponent. Herbat style wasplex and until one could see through her pattern, it was not unlikely that one would have had several near-miss brushes with death.

    After buying the Peak Tier-1 runic armament from Nial and the others, her strength had increased even further. That was also why the Low Tritan ranked Dryx was still under everyone''s control as Miranda could help others while keeping herbat power at a peak.

    The surrounding Dryx were rapidly decreasing in number, and the Soul Space fragments didn''t seem to have much energy left either.

    If stronger monsters had emerged from the portal, the Soul Space fragment would have long since dried out. However, at the same time, the Teradan military camp and everyone within would have ceased to exist as well.

    The number of Dryx had decreased to less than 100, and the small number of Dryx emerging from the purple portal was also under control.

    Attacking the Dryx the moment they emerged might be a cruel tactic but in a life and death battle caring about fighting fairly was in stupid.

    ''Only half an hour and everything should be over¡­but where the hell is this fucking Peak Seclon ranked Dryx?!''<sub> </sub>

    One particr Dryx had garnered Nial''s attention from the moment it had emerged from the purple portal. There was something weird about it, which worried Nial a lot.

    It wasrger than ordinary Dryx, but could dete its body easily. This was what it had done after realizing that its chances of survival were lower than others. Simultaneously, the Dryx had begun to conceal its strength before it started to eat mana cores of the Dryx, who had been killed further away from the main battlefield.

    <o>,m Staying under the radar of the strongest Originals, it never stopped eating mana cores to stealthily strengthen itself. However, instead of attacking Miranda or someone else, the moment it was confident that it had grown stronger than the others, the Dryx had simply disappeared.</o>

    ''I could clearly sense that something was wrong about this Dryx¡­something tells me that I should remember what the things I sensed are, but I cannot get a grasp of it¡­''

    What Nial thought that he should remember were certain memories that he had inherited from thete God of Darkness.

    However, there was nothing he could do about it as he couldn''t get hold of the information he wanted to see and hear once again.

    It was impossible for him to perceive the Peak Seclon ranked Dryx as well, which was more problematic than he expected.

    Nial''s senses were manifold higher than anyone else''s. This did not only include his mana perception that was partially enhanced due to [Hodur''s Heir] and his Innate ability [Mana sense] but also his other senses.

    Yet, none of his drastically amplified senses was able to discern where the Dryx was exactly located. That meant it was neither moving nor releasing a single trace of mana nor was it making a sound.

    At least, that would be the case if the Dryx was still in his range of perception, or in the Teradan military camp, to begin with.

    Somehow, Nial doubted that the said Dryx was still anywhere close to the mountain in which the Teradan military camp was located.

    But that was even more worrisome because it meant that the Peak Seclon ranked Dryx didn''t follow the wild instincts that would force it to fight ''pure'' living beings the moment it sensed them.

    Rather, it looked like it was simply strolling around or had been ordered to do something else. Going up against its wild instincts was not easy for a Dryx as they were considered to be more of a beast than an intelligent race.

    Thus, Nial felt a chill crawling down his spine the moment he realized that the situation had gotten out of hand.

    ''It is carrying something, that I''m sure about¡­.but I don''t remember what it was¡­these fucking memoriese and go whenever they want!!''

    Nial was frustrated, which waspletely contrary to the behavior of everyone else. The number of casualties was extremely little, considering that they had been facing a surprise attack from someone, who could manifest dungeon-like portals.

    The fight was still not over but the number of Dryx decreased rapidly.

    The low Tritan ranked Dryx was still not killed, but it wouldn''t stay alive for long.

    After all, even Nial had had enough of this annoying Dryx, even more so after he felt ufortable with the escape of the abnormal Peak Seclon-ranked Dryx.

    That was why he gave one of the huge Tier-2 longswords that had belonged to the Tier-2 Guardian Knight puppet runic armament to Commander Ullyr.

    It was heavy and not easy to wield for agility-focused Originals. However, that was not an issue for Commander Ullyr because he was well known for being good at using his brute force to fight his way through his opponents.

    That was why he had been easily defeated by the Giganodes, whose hide was tough enough to absorb the impact of brute force, and also why the Commander was capable enough of defeating the Low Tritan ranked Dryx the moment he got his hand on the huge Tier-2 longsword.

    Even if the fight had ended, Nial''s mood was still bad. The purple portal had disappeared and the Soul Space fragments had fallen to the ground looking like ordinary crystals¡­.and the fight had ended.

    Many had died but the death toll was much less than one would assume after looking at the number of corpses that were tightly stacked in the spatial rings of all the Originals.

    All of a sudden, a booming voice echoed through the air in front of Nial, and dust was stirred up. Commander Ullyr had appeared in front of Nial, his eyes gleaming brightly while his body was drenched in dark blood.

    "I want that Sword!" Commander Ullyr said the moment he emerged in front of Nial and his friends.

    It was as if the Commander had turned into a small child because he seemed to have stepped out of his role as amander and simply demand a toy.

    Nial didn''t even say anything but Miranda had already appeared behind the Commander.

    She was extremely exhausted after fighting for several hours, and everyone else felt the same.

    Yet, their Commander was still ying around.

    With a swift movement, Miranda got her hands on the Tier-2 sword before she returned it to Nial.

    Nial stored it away without saying much, just for Miranda to nod her head.

    "Do your job properly. Afterward, you can ask my disciple how much he wants in exchange for the sword!"

    "Eh¡­okay¡­yeah, right¡­I should go. Please take good care of my baby until I return!"

    Commander Ullyr said, feeling slightly dejected.

    Nial merely shook his head, questioning how Commander Ullyr had been able to reach his position if he could be so childish.

    However, he quickly averted his attention to somewhere else.

    ''Why do I feel so odd¡­something isn''t right¡­''

 Chapter 186 Sacred Knights

    While Commander Ullyr, the other Instructors, and the Soldiers were taking away the bodies of their deceasedrades, many workers, who belonged to the military camp, were clearing the rubble in the now destroyed za.

    The military camp''s za waspletely destroyed. Everything had been turned upside down and not a single stone was left in the same position as hours before.

    It was a terrifying sight that grew only worse the moment one saw multiple huge craters, the corpses of more than a thousand Originals, whether they were soldiers, Instructors, or young participants of the military camp.

    Nobody was sure of escaping death, and the bodies of the victims of the surprise attack were scattered all over the ground.

    Nial might not be able to see anything but he could clearly sense the remnants of mana radiating from the human corpses.

    ''What a mess¡­''

    They might have survived the sudden attack but that didn''t mean everything had suddenly gotten better.

    There was not a single person who had recovered from the shock of the unexpected and brutal attack of the Dryx and if one were to be honest, the situation was far from easy to exin.

    ''Why would he send the Dryx to the Teradan military camp? I mean¡­he should have known that the would restrict the strength of beasts, who can emerge from the teleportation array¡­''

    Nial was pretty sure that Gods were knowledgeable enough to understand the crux behind newly awakeneds. To begin with, Jundra had not yet undergone itsary mana awakening because it was still considered to be in the first phase.

    That was why Nial didn''t think that a God would recklessly sacrifice five Soul Space fragments to summon more than 15,000 beasts from his territory.

    There should be something else, something more important than this particr God wanted to achieve.

    However, Nial could only think about the abnormal Peak Seclon ranked Dryx, who had escaped, and a few worse scenarios.

    ''Either his n was for the abnormal Dryx to survive and to pursue a different mission, or destroying the Teradan military camp¡­wait!! How was it even possible for him toplete the nourishment of the Soul Space fragments, inside the representatives of the human Organizations and Guilds?''

    Nial suddenly frowned at that thought. His expression turned ashen and he felt that he had been missing out on the most important information.

    How did the Soul Space fragment end up in the five representatives?

    How did that God know about the fact that the said five representatives would end up in the Teradan military camp?

    Was the Teradan military camp truly his target?

    How much does he know about mankind''s stance against the dungeon portals and dungeon beasts?

    Is he really starting an open attack against mankind by revealing the fact that teleportation arrays can be considered to be simr to dungeon portals, or is there more to all of this?

    Nial had no idea about the truth behind the reasons of the God for suddenly throwing thousands of Dryx at them, just to kill a bit more than a thousand Originals, and for an abnormal Dryx to escape.

    However, it was certain that he hadid aplex trap.

    And merely a few hourster, Nial figured out why he had been so certain that the teleportation array''s appearance was not that easy to exin.

    Nial and the others had already returned to their room to clean themselves up and to rest. The Military Games had been temporarily postponed. They might even be canceled for this year but that was not something anyone would take interest in.

    After all, the news they had heard was far more shocking.

    "What did you just say?! These purple dungeon portals and this weird pentagram emerged in every military camp and the eight shelters? Are you sure about that?!?"

    Mathias'' loud and rmed voice reverberated through their small room. However, Nial and Be could only shake their heads in frustration.

    How were they supposed to know more about the incidents that had happened outside the nameless ind than Mathias?

    Be was visibly shaken when she heard that Katu had also been attacked as arge purple portal had manifested in the city''s center.

    She feared that the only person close to her was no more. Be wouldn''t be able to forgive herself if her adoptive mother had died.

    Fortunately, not many humans had died in any of the eight shelters, which was theplete opposite to what everyone would expect to happen the moment more than 15,000 beings of a vile race were to attack a high-popted shelter from its center.

    However, it was a fact that the 10 military camps had been hit the worst. Only the Teradan military camp was the one to have suffered the least amount of casualties.

    The remaining nine military camps had nearly faced annihtion. They had barely survived thanks to the unique abilities of some of the high-ranked authorities.

    Thousands of Originals, consisting of dozens of representatives, a few Instructors, and numerous Soldiers had lost their lives in each military camp.

    On the other hand, the casualties in the high-popted shelters were even lower than that. A few hundred unawakened citizens and merely close to 1000 high-ranked Soldiers died at the hands of the 15,000 Dryx.

    As for how they were able to defeat the rest, powerful Originals had emerged when the situation in the eight shelters went nearly out of control before they started a massacre amongst the Dryx.

    The tides of the battles all over the shelters changed instantly and the Dryx had turned into pigs in a ughterhouse all of whom had been killed within a single hour.

    This was great as only a few humans died at the hands of the Dryx in the shelters. It didn''t make up for the loss of more than 40,000 Originals, who had been present in the 10 military camps but it clearly showed that it was still possible to protect the shelters even if a weird portal that resembled dungeon portals were to emerge in their city''s center.

    "Sacred Knights¡­" Be mumbled with a grim expression.

    The Sacred Knights was an organization that nobody had known of beforehand.

    They had been rather low-profile and never exposed their strength¡­until now, at least.

    The powerful Originals, who had taken care of the teleportation array, and the Dryx, who had emerged from it, majorly belonged to the Sacred Knights organization!

    If they had been low-profile before, the fact that they saved the nine shelters from possibly facing destruction made it clear that they gave up on staying low-profile in order to rescue everyone.

    Each of their members was praised as a hero.

    ''While facing near-death situations, humans tend to cling to anything and anyone, who might be able to rescue them. While searching for someone to rely on, to trust, and to follow for the sake of safety, the Sacred Knights organization emerged like thest ray of hope, the faint glimmer of light in darkness¡­so that''s what he nned?''

    Nial had been devastated to know that each of the eight shelters had been attacked in the same way as it had happened in the Teradan military camp. His first and worst fear had been the possibility that his family might have died.

    He was working so hard to be stronger just to meet his family once again.

    However, if they were to have died today, Nial wouldn''t have been able to forgive himself.<sub> </sub>

    That was why he felt extremely thankful to the Sacred Knights. After all, they had potentially saved his family.

    Nial was quite certain that Liondra wouldn''t have been destroyed, and neither any of the remaining seven shelters.

    Tens of thousand people would have died at most before the military and everyone else would have taken care of the Dryx.

    Nial had no idea where his parents and sister were but he could feel that they were somewhere safe.

    There was no reason for him to believe this except his gut feeling. He relied on his gut feeling to prevent his mind from getting distracted by the thought that his family was being tortured, mistreated in different ways, or possibly dead by now.

    In the end, Nial was not able to change the situation, either way. That was why he felt a little bit helpless¡­and angry.

    His anger was not only directed toward himself and the Eclipse Assassin members, who had taken away his family but even more so toward the scheming existences, who dared to do however they pleased.

    "This fucking bastard¡­" Nial suddenly mumbled, his voice overflowing with anger, the intent to kill and frustration.

    The pressure around the young blind man increased manifold, attracting Be and Mathias'' attention.

    ''What is wrong with him?''

    ''Bastard? Who?''

    Several questions shed through the mind of Be and Mathias but they didn''t approach Nial to ask anything, not yet.

    Both Be and Mathias were currently trying to get their hands on the military camp''s servicework to contact their family members.

    They wanted to figure out whether their family was safe or if something had happened to them.

    Simultaneously, they were thankful to the Sacred Knights for intervening and saving hundreds of thousand humans in the process.

    The humans the Sacred Knights saved might include their families as well. That was why the two friends didn''t even realize that Nial''s anger was also directed at the Sacred Knights!

    And this was not because they saved the eight shelters from facing a worse incident.

    Rather, it was because Nial clearly perceived the scheming of someone thete Darkness God knew too well!

    ''God of Devils and Saints¡­you piece of shit!!''

    In the rumors that had reached the Teradan military camp, it was made quite clear that each of the Sacred Knights'' members was able to decrease the strength of ''demonic/devilish/tarnished'' existences.

    It was something simr to Jase''s [Holy Aura] innate ability, yet somethingpletely different.

    And that was simply because the Sacred Knights were not ordinary humans but existences that had been blessed by a God!

    After receiving the blessings of a God, a minuscule fraction of the God''s strength would enter the blessed existence''s body.

    Their strength would increase and one of the God''s characteristics would emerge in their body. The said characteristic could be freely chosen by the God, who had blessed his believers.

    His believers were forced to obey the God''s words and orders, otherwise, they would not only be stripped from their blessing but also face his wrath.

    Nial could easily tell that the Sacred Knights had been blessed by a God. It was impossible for runic armaments to recreate the effect he had heard about based on the rumors of the Sacred Knights and neither was it possible for an ability crystal with the same effect to exist.

    Even if it existed, there had been several thousand Sacred Knights with the same ability in the rumours. An abiltiy crystal had to be quitemon for several thousand Sacred Knights'' members to get their hands on it!

    Thus, mankind would have long since found out about it simply because it was impossible to keep such a powerful ability hidden as long as it was not difficult to procure as well.

    If it wouldn''t have been for the Soul Space fragments, the sudden appearance of a teleportation array, and the Dryx, Nial would have never arrived at the conclusion he had in his mind.

    However, the existence of the Dryx, and the fact that the God of Devils and Saints was the only one, who controlled this vile race made the situation quite clear for Nial.

    ''What a sly bastard¡­creating chaos in every single ce which is somewhat safe for humans, just to send his people to save everyone all of a sudden and be heroes. This piece of shit¡­''

    Nial''s thoughts were running wild. Even though he hoped that his conclusion was wrong, he felt that everything was correct as he imagined it to be.

    It was quite intelligent to stir up some trouble before acting like the knight in the shining armor, and saving the damsel in distress to make yourself look good.

    ''Did he incarnate or is he controlling everything from the outside while waiting for the to grow so he can descend?''

    Nial was pretty sure that the God of Devils and Saints was behind the entire mess.

    At the same time, he thought that the God of Devils and Saints was already trying to gain control over mankind.

    Instead of eradicating everyone in a single strike, he was likely to have sent the Sacred Knights after thousands of humans had already died before saving the remaining ones.

    To make it look like the entire human race had been attacked at once, the military camps had been deemed as a necessary sacrifice, just to clearly show that there was no ce where mankind could ensure their safety.

    Thus, they would have to rely on someone strong, and dependable.

    Who would be better in this regard than the Sacred Knights organization? After all, they had saved everyone!!

    <o>,m **</o>

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 Chapter 187 Recordings

    Three days had passed since the Dryx had infiltrated the human shelter and the military camps.

    In these three days, a lot had happened but the most important was the fact that the Sacred Knights had be an honored and trusted organization of the entire human race.

    Each member of the Sacred Knights received special treatment from all the shelters, including discounts in shops, priority in the auction house, and much more.

    Following that the Leader of the Sacred Knights, who had defeated several Low Tritan ranked Dryx all by himself, had been gifted with numerous treasures, the title of [Guardian of Liondra], and several more benefits.

    He was even offered a position in the higher ranks of the government, allowing him to actively participate in the voting to determine mankind''s future path.

    However, rather than feeling honored, the Sacred Knights'' Leader didn''t ept this offer in a manner that was dubbed as ''weird'' by the secretary, who had been present.

    -At first, he looked at the President in disgust as if the offer was more of a punishment than a present, let alone preferential treatment for him. He said that the human Originals are too weak and that it is more important for us to focus on procuring more knowledge.

    Dungeons were a treasure trove in his opinion, and by making use of their existence, mankind should have long since be much stronger than ever before.

    There were a few simrments the secretary shared in an ''anonymous'' post online but none of them was as popr as the first one.

    -I don''t know why I should ept a position where I can cast a vote for the human race''s future when I have yet to see a glimpse of mankind''s desire to survive. To be honest, I''m quite disappointed that it was necessary for the Sacred Knights to be forced to intervene. I always believed that my small organization was too weak, but reality disappoints me!-

    Nial, who had read all thements made by the Leader of the Sacred Knights and shared by the secretary, couldn''t help but feel frustrated while reading everything.

    ''It is really him!!''

    Even if the memories of the Late Darkness God were mostly blurry and the vast majority of the Late Darkness God''s life was unknown to Nial, he clearly recalled certain memories where the Late Darkness God and the God of Devils and Saints had interacted with each other.

    That was also why Nial could tell that the Leader of the Sacred Knights behaved exactly like the God of Devils and Saints.

    It might as well be a coincidence but no ordinary human would behave like the Sacred Knights'' Leader when talking to mankind''s President.

    However, even if Nial was slightly surprised that the possibility of the God of Devils and Saints having incarnated as a human existed, he was more impressed by something else.

    ''Was his attack just a test to determine whether the human race is valuable for his future ns, or is he trying to get his hands on something else?''

    Nial could tell that the God of Devils and Saints was quite interested in dungeons. This was not without reason as well because each dungeon was quite unique, and harbored numerous treasures inside.

    Mankind had noticed this as well, which was also why some scientists and technicians had already attempted to make use of the resources from within dungeons.

    For example, the Originals'' Bracelet required the metal lump of the Machnam beast''s brain in order to function properly.

    To create the Originals'' Bracelet and various other devices that depended on the material imported from numerous dungeons, it was imperative to conduct thorough research.

    This was only obvious, but the Leader of the Sacred Knights organization was still disappointed in mankind''s progress.

    Nial reasoned this with a quite simple thought.

    ''Either he is like me with memories of a God, which is why he knows far more about certain dungeons than anyone of the human race, or he is a God himself and knows the tremendous value of all the resources one can find in dungeons!''

    Of course, there were more possible reasons for the behavior of the Sacred Knights'' leader but Nial was actually not interested in them.

    He only knew that various Gods were trying to annex each other''s power and territory to expand their territory and improve their strength.

    Gods were not invincible either, which one could easily tell by taking thete Darkness God as an example.

    Their power was exceptional, but even they had to work hard to protect their territory from the greedy hands of other Gods.

    Thus, numerous important resources were monopolized and sold for an exorbitant price to other Gods.

    For that simple reason, one could tell that the free resources one could collect within dungeons were a treasure trove.

    Nial also knew this but it was actually not something he could be bothered about until now.

    After all, his strength had been way too low. He was still at the 6th Origin rank, far away from creating his first Origin ring, let alone powerful enough to be considered the strongest human on Jundra!

    ''Looks like everything is bing even moreplicated¡­''

    Nial knew that everything was a mess but he could only shrug his shoulders before continuing to go down his path.

    He would have to change quite a few things in light of the events that had happened around him but the given situation was not too frustrating.

    ''As long as my family is fine, everything is fine!''

    Nial ignored the frustration he felt about the scheming of the God of Devils and Saints and focused on his own progress.

    "What are we going to do now? I doubt the Military Games will continue¡­so how are we going to join Organizations or Guilds?"

    He, Be, and Mathias had returned to the Old Medic''s abode to meet up with Miranda not too long ago. The Witch of the South had lots of things to do but that didn''t hold her back from meeting them.

    Nial knew far more about the Dryx race than anyone else. He even knew the origin of Dungeons.

    If his knowledge were to be revealed to the public, including every little detail at that, no ordinary citizen would be able to contain their fear and desperation anymore.<sub> </sub>

    This was quite obvious as Nial''s information would change the way everyone had learned to look at the world.

    Despite that, Miranda had tried to figure out more about Nial''s knowledge. She hoped to get to know more about the purple portal, the purple pentagram, the Dryx race and so on.

    However, Nial didn''t have much to tell Miranda. He couldn''t be certain about the conclusions he made in his mind and didn''t want to add more confusion that would make mankind have different opinions about the Sacred Knights.

    Even if Nial was sure that the Leader of the Sacred Knights was rted to the God of Devils and Saints, the presence of the Sacred Knights was like a zing torch in darkness.

    They were the trace of hope everyone needed right now after mankind had faced an attack on all fronts!

    It was already shocking enough that some existence had been able to pinpoint and target all of mankind''s ''safe'' locations.

    Thus, relying on someone powerful was the most important right now.

    ''When the time is ripe, I will tell Miranda about it¡­''

    "The Military Games might not continue, but we have lots of recordings of the participants'' fight against the Dryx.

    Usually, the Military Games are recorded, which is why we have installed cameras all around the za. The 10 military camps will send the recordings to all the Organizations and Guilds. In return, they''ll take a look at it, and invite those Originals who they think are suitable for their Organizations and Guilds.

    This will make things easier than continuing with the Military Games despite the incident that happened everywhere¡­ I''m just not sure what we''ll do next year and in the following years¡­will it even be possible to protect the camps outside the shelters?"

    While Miranda didn''t seem to feel like stopping talking, Nial''s mind was rattling.

    ''Fortunately, I didn''t use s lot of my dark energy while fighting. It was a good idea to use the dark energy sparingly to have enough strength left for emergencies.''

    Nial didn''t want everyone to know about his dark energy. He presumed that the Sacred Knights'' leader would be able to figure out about Nial''s dark energy, the moment Nial created the Pseudo Darkness Domain or something simr to that.

    Thus, he was able to keep calm until Miranda finished speaking ten minutester.

    "Oh, that is convenient¡­Wait?! You just said that everything was recorded, right?" Nial suddenly recalled something as his mind was finally freed of his doubtful thoughts.

    The sudden thought that shed in his mind was far more important than the Military games, as well, which was why his attention was immediately drawn toward that fact.

    "Yes, I just said that." Miranda merely repeated while nodding her head.

    "In that case¡­if possible, try to figure out where one of the Peak Seclon ranked Dryx disappeared to. Do you think that is possible? It disappeared from my range of perception all of a sudden and it acted differently than all the other Dryx, so it shouldn''t be difficult to find it on the cameras!"

    The God of Devils and Saints was known for having numerous ns and tricks at his disposal. If one or two ns didn''t work out, the ''failure'' of these ns would just be another step for other ns.

    That was another reason for Nial to feel bothered by the fact that an abnormal Dryx disappeared as if it had never existed in the first ce.

    "That is what you''re interested in?" Mathias suddenly asked, feeling as if he had missed out on something crucial. ''It is just a single monster. What is the problem with it going missing?!''

    "If you ask about the missing Dryx, you might as well ask why every military camp held their Military Games on the za, instead of the underground coliseum where they were always held," Mathias added, not noticing that everyone turned to look at him.

    "That would have been my next question," Nial replied before turning to Miranda.

    "What do you think about whatever Mathias just stated?" He asked, smiling faintly.

    Miranda didn''t say anything at first, but her mana fluctuations clearly told Nial that she was already aware of this weird ''coincidence''.

    Each of the 10 military camps held their Military Games at the za, exactly at the location where the purple portal had manifested. Was that really a coincidence?

    "It''s not a coincidence¡­that is all I know¡­" Miranda could only reply with a shrug, not adding anything else.

    If she were to reveal that it was, in fact, the president, who had ordered to repair of the underground arenas under each military camp, Nial might even start doubting the human race''s president.

    However, if Miranda were to be honest, it was getting increasingly difficult for her to maintain herposure.

    ''Maybe it was really a coincidence. The underground arenas were not in the best condition after all¡­." She first thought, only to quietly add in her mind.

    ''...but what if not?''

    **

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 Chapter 188 Separation

    Because Nial was young and considered weak, he didn''t have enough authority to receive a constant influx of information, he was in the dark about what exactly had happened in the following two weeks that passed in the blink of an eye.

    Not even Miranda, let alone Junades or Kassandra told them much. Nial and the others didn''t even see them often, to begin with.

    That was why they were not able to do much except return to undergo their hellish training once again.

    After facing a near-death experience, they realized that there was no choice but to be stronger to be able to ovee troublesome events such as the incident with the Dryx.

    Nial didn''t want to rely on others to survive such incidents and his friends were of the same opinion.

    Time passed quickly while training, and they only noticed that two weeks had passed when it was announced that the Teradan military camp was now functional after being fixed up, including the short-distance teleportation runic constetion.

    It had been lightly damaged in the course of the Dryx''s incident. Repairing it didn''t take long but to make sure that no mistake would ur upon activating it, everything had been checked over and over again.

    Everyone was allowed to return to their home shelter, or the Organizations and Guilds, who wanted to employ the young Originals, who had disyed a ster performance and helped reduce human casualties during the Dryx''s infiltration.

    Returning to his home shelter was certainly not something Nial nned to do. He wanted to enter Liondra as quickly as possible.

    Wasting his time in Katu was entirely useless, simply because he didn''t have anything to do there.

    Even after entering Liondra, Nial was not sure that he would find his family quickly. While Katu was already arge shelter inhabited by millions of citizens, Liondra was more than ten timesrger.

    The poption of Liondra had long since exceeded 100 million, clearly indicating how big the shelter was.

    "I didn''t get as many invitations as expected¡­and none of the Organizations or Guilds is located in Liondra¡­" Nial realized when he finished looking through the few invitation letters he had received.

    While both Be and Mathias had received more than a dozen invitations, Nial merely received five. He felt that this was quite weird because he was the one to have fought and killed Low Prym ranked Dryx while officially being at the 6th Origin rank.

    That should be impressive enough to make various Organizations fight for him. As long as he was nurtured, Nial was bound to be a powerhouse. At least, that was what he thought about himself, simply because it was logical.

    "Eclipse Assassins¡­in Merc¡­"

    Nial''s dejection was momentarily driven out of his mind when he registered a particr invitation.

    Yet, even before he could ask himself whether he should just join his enemies to find out what exactly had happened to his family, and why they had been brought to Liondra if the Eclipse Assassins hail from Merc, Miranda had already intervened.

    "You don''t need to bother to look at any of these invitations. I already looked at the recordings that were rted to you.

    In all of them, it looked like you were only able to defeat your opponents thanks to Be and Mathias.

    The recordings are certainly not favorable for you, even if a few of your strong characteristics were clearly reflected.

    Apparently, these strong characteristics were good enough for you to receive a few invitations from some Organization''s side branches."

    Nial frowned while listening to Miranda. He felt that they were being biased and that the situation had turned out worse than expected.

    But when he gave it another thought, he realized that he was not exactly sure if it may even be better for him to maintain a low profile.

    If the Sacred Knights leader or some other believers of a hostile God were to take note of him while he was still weak, it might even be more dangerous than going unnoticed.

    "Even if I don''t ept any of the invitations, will it be possible for me to enter Liondra? I mean, I should have left a favorable impression on the military with my strength, so it shouldn''t be impossible for me to get into Liondra even if I don''t belong to any Organization or Guild, right?"

    Entering Liondra was the most important for now. In fact, as long as he spent enough time refining his mana perception, he could run through the entire shelter and pinpoint his family''s location.

    This n would be hisst resort though it would be a futile attempt that would result in him wasting the time he could have used to be stronger.

    However, it was still a possible n, even if it was a bad one.

    "It won''t be a problem for any of you to enter Liondra or any of the other shelters. The three of you are my disciples. This fact has even been added to your Originals ID card''s information. So as long as you choose to go to Liondra, nobody will stop you."

    Miranda didn''t say anything to force Nial to join an Organization. In fact, she was hoping for something else to happen.

    "If you go to Liondra, I want toe along you! I need to be stronger as well, and I believe that this will be the easiest while being by your side!" Mathias suddenly announced.

    He put the invitation letters he had received aside before approaching Nial. He grasped his shoulder and gave him a bright smile.

    There was no sign of his usual timid behavior. He was extremelyfortable around Nial and wanted to stay with him a little longer.

    Mathias knew that it would be the easiest to learn more about runic armaments while being next to Nial. It wouldn''t be necessary for them to split the massive number of important books and manuals amongst themselves as long as they didn''t separate.

    Both Mathias and Nial were eager to learn about runic armaments, to learn the Elementus Mylee technique in depth, and to be stronger while using the Ciran taria technique.

    Nial advanced to the 7th Origin rank the day before. His mana core was alreadyrger than that of an ordinary 10th Origin rank Original.

    But that didn''t mean he had it easier than others. Rather, it would take him much longer to create his first Origin ring, let alone to reach the 10th Origin rank.

    Nial clearly noticed that his expenses had gone through the roof while using Origin crystals to absorb more mana while his progress with the Ciran taria technique felt less owing to the terrifyingly high amount of mana he required to keep advancing.

    Learning how to manufacture runic armaments would thus help in various ways.<sub> </sub>

    "It would be great if we can stay together for some time. Even if our goals might differ, we need strength to achieve everything we want to attain in the future."

    Nial was quite happy that Mathias chose to join him. There had only been short instances in his life, where he had been alone, and these times were certainly not pleasing.

    That was why Nial felt great to hear what Mathias wanted to do.

    "I guess our paths will separate then." Be suddenly said. Everyone, including Miranda, turned to Be, and a slight trace of disappointment shed through Miranda''s eyes.

    ''Sad. I hoped that they could stay together. It would have made things for me easier as well¡­''

    "I want to return to my mom and stay with her for some time. Afterward, I will probably go to Urim to take care of some stuff."

    Be didn''t sound too sad about their separation but Nial could tell that her mana was unstable. She was in turmoil due to her emotions.

    Be wanted to spend some more time with them. However, it was more important for her to return to her mother and solve her problems first and foremost.

    Furthermore, her Innate ability was still hostile toward Nial. There was only one instance where the [Celestial transformation] had wanted Be to follow Nial and to stay by his side for a short period.

    But that period had long since passed, which was why the Innate ability was acting up once again.

    "Even if we separate it''s not like we will never see each other again. The human race''s territory is not exactly big and powerhouses will always strive to have more fruitful encounters and to protect the ces important to them."

    Nial didn''t think that they would be separated forever. They were bound to meet again in the future. That was something he was certain of.

    However, the only thing Nial was unable to tell was whether they would be on the same side or if they would have to face each other.

    He could clearly recall the Late Darkness God''s words, that he should stay away from Be before she would regain some memories from her Innate ability.

    Nial hoped for the best but he was simultaneously expecting the worst. That was the only thing he could do.

    "Nial, Mathias, if the two of you don''t have a ce to stay yet, how about youe to my ce? After the recent incidents in the Teradan military camp, the appearance of ancient ruins harboring runic armaments, and the blueprints on how to create them, followed by the Dryx incident, I have a lot to do in Liondra.

    I believe that my ce is great for the purpose of researching runic armaments. In my library, you can find a lot of information from various ancient ruin dungeons and research made by renowned scientists."

    Miranda''s n had been to keep teaching the three young Originals while joining their research on runic armaments.

    Of course, she was also intrigued by the existence of runic armaments. Her curiosity increased even further when Nial and the others sold her the wand she had wielded during the incident with the Dryx.

    Never in her life had she fought so many powerful opponents without entering Mana Fatigue that would weaken her for weeks.

    Thanks to the wand she had used, her mana consumption had been reduced by 30%, and her spells'' lethality increased drastically. The increase in her attacks'' strength allowed her to use less mana and cast spells that were as powerful as attacks that cost lots of mana if used without the Tier-1 wand.

    As long as it was possible to progress fast in the research of runic armaments, mankind should be able to change the tides of their fate and be better equipped to start fighting against the numerous beasts in the wilderness.

    Of course, Miranda knew about the biggest downside of mass-producing runic armaments- that it would elerate the mana awakening process all over Jundra.

    But as long as mankind could leverage the advantage they had by owning powerful runic armaments, it would be possible to increase their strength exponentially. This in turn would equip mankind to prevent dangerous dungeons and dungeon beasts from destroying human shelters and their entire race.

    That was Miranda''s n. It would have been perfect as long as Be stayed with them. After all, a third of the books rted to runic armaments would stay with Be.

    However, that didn''t seem to bother Nial, or Mathias much.

    They were a little bit sad that Be was going to part ways with them. Mathias was the most affected, which astonished him quite a bit if he were to be honest.

    After quarreling with Be as much as with no one ever before, Mathias had grown used to her and it would be a lie if he were to say that Be was aplete stranger to him.

    He liked herpany and would miss her.

    Thus, he was a little bit sulky when they emptied their spatial rings to take a look at all the gains they made in the ancient ruin''s dungeon.

    They had already been forced to sell quite a few runic armaments in order to purchase more high-quality Origin crystals. Even a huge sum of 100,000 military merit points hadn''t been enough tost them for more than three months.

    But that was only obvious because their expenses had been horrifyingly high. Even some highly influential merchants would only gasp in shock upon finding out how much each of the three young Originals paid for a hellish training thatsted merely 3 months.

    After they were done splitting up their remaining loot, Be packed up her stuff before leaving the house. She felt that it would be the worst if she were to stay near her friends for much longer. Her heart was asking her to spend some more time with them but her mind was telling her to leave¡­and that was what she did.

    "We will meet again." Be just said, bidding them farewell when everything was done. She waved her hands and left to the Mainstreet without another backward nce.

    Thus, nobody could see that a single tear trickled down her cheek as she clenched her fists.

    ''Since when did I be so weak? I''ve not even known them for that long¡­and it''s not like I can ask them to help me¡­it''s way too dangerous¡­''

    "Of course, let''s meet again¡­on the same side!" Nial shouted while Mathias took a while to find his voice.

    "When we meet again, I will be stronger than you¡­so¡­don''t even think about pping me on the back of my head again!!" Mathias could only say before he quietly added,

    "...take care of yourself and don''t get hurt."

 Chapter 189 Liondra

    Mathias fell silent for quite some time after Be left.

    Meanwhile, Nial was faring much better and had his emotions under control.

    He was a bit sad that Be had left them but it was even more important for him to be one step closer to reuniting with his family.

    Until now, he had told no one about what exactly had happened to his family because he felt that it might endanger them but it was not as if Miranda, Mathias, or Be were stupid.

    Though they did not know the details, they clearly understood that something major had happened, leading to the separation of Nial and his family.

    It was only obvious that they were curious about the reason for their separation and why Nial was desperately trying to reunite with his family but it was not their business to interfere in Nial''s personal matters.

    Moving to Liondra was only Nial''s first step and he would slowly gain more intel before doing anything that might endanger his dear family.

    This was the most important for now!

    After Be had left, there was not much left for Mathias and Nial to do.

    Not wasting more time than necessary, they waited only for Miranda to finish everything in the Teradan military camp before leaving with the two young Originals.

    Just like that, the Teradan military camp, which was supposed to be a glorious period in the life of any young Original, had ended without celebration or happiness. What was left was far more trouble awaiting mankind.

    The public opinion of the military camps had hit rock bottom. Not many civilians saw the military camps in a favorable light because the Instructors, Soldiers, and higher-ranked authorities were not even capable enough to protect their youngest generation.

    Each participant of any of the ten military camps had the potential to create Intermediate Origin rings at the bare minimum. Their talent was not to be underestimated and they were important seedlings for mankind''s future growth and safety.

    Yet, at the end of the day, more than 20,000 young Originals, who could have been considered prodigious in some ways, died when the Dryx infiltrated the most crowded areas of the military camps.

    It was truly a mess and the military and government''s good reputation was now in tatters.

    The online forums were filled withints and heated debates, the parents of the young Originals were openly demanding an exnation of the events, and some of the highly influential families were even openly dering that they wanted the military and government to be reformed.

    Losing their precious little child was among the worst things that could happen to a parent. The angry and frustrated reaction of the parents was only feasible in Nial''s opinion.

    Even he felt that the military and government had messed up big time.

    It was already hard enough to create five Soul Space fragments of the lowest quality to create one teleportation array.

    However, there had been a total of 18 teleportation arrays, meaning that 90 Soul Space fragments of the lowest quality had been nourished by someone, and imnted in various high-ranked Originals before they exploded the moment the Soul Space fragments had been activated.

    In Nial''s opinion, it was near-impossible not to notice the existence of 90 Soul Space fragments. In fact, it was not like they didn''t radiate any fluctuations.

    As long as someone paid attention to the Originals, who had been imnted with the Soul Space fragments, it should have been possible to notice them.

    That was, at least, what Nial thought. He couldn''t understand how the military and government messed up so hard.

    ''Well, whatever.''

    Reaching Liondra didn''t take long and their journey was much easier than expected. In the end, Nial, and the others, who wanted to be teleported to Liondra had to make four trips with short-distance teleportation runic constetions.

    After the first teleportation, Nial noticed that they had ended up somewhere underground, where mana waspletely isted from the outside world.

    The small space in the underground didn''t provide them with much room to move but that was not necessary, to begin with.

    Less than a minute after they had been transported to the small underground space, the teleportation runic constetion moved them once again.

    Theynded in a different underground space, which Nial clearly perceived owing to his highly enhanced senses.

    The same process of being teleported underground repeated itself once again before they were finally teleported to the surface.

    Everyone felt a little bit nauseous after going through four teleportations through space in a matter of five minutes.<sub> </sub>

    The majority of Soldiers and young Originals vomited because they couldn''t hold back their breakfast in their stomachs anymore.

    Nial also felt dizzy and miserable because his senses were manifold more sensitive than anyone else. However, he didn''t vomit because his mind was fully focused on the restriction of his senses.

    When they had been underground, Nial had perceived numerous wondrous things but none of them wasparable to being teleported in the middle of a crowded area, where thousands of civilians and Originals were bustling around.

    Nial''s Mana Sense and his other senses perceived everything at once. The only issue was that his brain had to digest everything and sort it properly, causing a severe headache.

    It took him almost an entire minute before he got his act together. However, when he had ovee the dizziness, Nial felt overwhelmed by the number of humans, who were walking through the streets.

    There were thousands of humans, and none of them seemed to be scared of being attacked.

    It was almost as if the existence of dungeons were no problem for Liondra, let alone the fact that more and more dungeons appeared all over the eight shelters and the ten Military camps, whose futures were still unknown.

    Not even the most recent incident with the Dryx''s invasion seemed to bother the humans as their expressions, actions and the Originals'' mana fluctuations clearly showed how carefree everyone was.

    "Are we still on the same?" Nial suddenly mumbled, feeling stupefied by what he perceived.

    Miranda merely smiled before she ignored his question. They were currently still inside a building and had to undergo a few tests before they were free to enter the city.

    This was necessary to prevent unknown viruses, various lethal bacteria, and contagious diseases from entering and spreading through the city.

    Other than that, a few more examinations had been added for everyone, who desired to enter any of the eight shelters in light of the recent Dryx attack.

    Even Miranda was not exempted from following the procedures, which was why she led Nial and the others to the ce of the examination.

    The examinations didn''t take long but Nial clearly noticed that he was stared at by the examiner for a long time after he finished his examination.

    ''If not for my good hearing sense, I would have definitely thought that this girl has ill intentions¡­can''t she just go on and do her job?''

    The girl''s intense stare caused chills to run down his spine but he clearly heard her when she had been mumbling out her disbelief quietly.

    "He is at the 7th Origin rank but his physique and the size of his mana core exceed the threshold of a 10th Origin rank Original already¡­ He doesn''t have any kind of Special trait, let alone an Innate ability either ording to the examination device¡­.so why is his real strength so different to his Origin rank?"

    Because there was nothing wrong with Nial''s examination, and the girl was merely confused about the data the examination device was able to perceive, it was no problem for him to keep going.

    There was no need for him to waste any time in the highly-protected House of Teleportation and Examinations.

    Rather than wasting time, Nial first wanted to sell various runic armaments to make some quick cash. Afterward, he was ready to purchase numerous treasures such as high-quality Superior grade Origin crystals and much more.

    Nial was ready to go all in and to spend his time bing much stronger. It was also very important for him to find out more about Liondra''s Eclipse Assassins to get to know more information about his family.

    But even if he wanted to approach the Eclipse Assassins organization directly, he needed more strength, or he would have to tell Miranda about everything.

    However, both telling Miranda, let alone asking her to help him might be dangerous for his family.

    In the end, only Serl Tyr and Melvin were supposed to know who had taken his family away from him, let alone that they had been brought to Liondra.

    The fact that his family was not in Liondra anymore could not be ruled out either. They might have been shifted to some other ce.

    But Nial didn''t even want to think about something as terrifying as the possibility of his family being somewhere else.

    After all, he had taken his first step toward them. It would be quite frustrating if they were once again dragged further away from him.

    However, it was not as if Nial had any detailed information about his family''s whereabouts. He merely took the first step to get to them and had to get his hands on more information.

    It was time for him to make use of his money, to get stronger, and to get some valuable information without being found out!

    Thus, once Mathias and Miranda were also done with their examination, the first stop they made was at a big shop, where both he and Mathias could finally show off their treasures and wealth.

 Chapter 190 Butler

    Comparing Katu and Liondra was likeparing a smallke to the ocean.

    Liondra was gigantic, which did not only mean the size of the shelter but also the buildings'' sizes, the streets'' width, and everything else.

    Far more Originals stayed in Liondra than in Katu, which was mostly owed to the mana density in Liondra.

    Even if Nial were topare the mana density of the Teradan military camp''s surroundings with Liondra, he would have to acknowledge that Liondra''s mana density was higher.

    But this also meant that there were far more dungeons, whether it was their numbers or the dungeon''s high rank.

    Nial and Mathias made tens of millions of dors in a few hours by selling various Tier-0 runic armaments. The tactic they adopted was to sell their treasures to different merchants to maintain a high sell-out price due to the extremely high rarity of runic armaments.

    Simultaneously, the majority of the money they earned was used up in exchange for high-quality Superior grade Origin crystals.

    The two boys were fortunate that they didn''t have to purchase new equipment because they owned runic armaments that were much stronger than most Myth Common grade weapons and various other pieces of equipment.

    Once theypleted their purchase, it was time to go to Miranda''s home. It was near the central district of Liondra and located in one of the luxurious areas, whererge mansions and prestigious noble schools were located.

    Most high-ranked families and authorities lived in this area, which was why one could see a few magnificent-looking yards that had been modified to train young Originals.

    But that was only the case with most yards. Some were also solely focused on satisfying the eye and appearing grand, which was obviously not something Nial could tell.

    He didn''t bother about others all that much either way. That was also why his interest in the prestigious families living in the surrounding area diminished instantaneously.

    "So, what are you guys nning on doing at first? Conquering dungeons? Advancing your Mana core''s rank? Researching runic armaments? Gathering information?"

    Miranda focused her attention on Nial as she spoke about gathering information. However, Nial didn''t flinch, nor acted as if he wanted to do something suspicious.

    Instead, he began to smile faintly before answering,

    "I will probably start gathering information. If I''m not wrong, Liondra has a ck market. I might as well use some of my runic armaments to exchange them with the information I want to get my hands on."

    If his memories weren''t betraying him, Katu had to have a ck market as well.

    In the end, the government was not supposed to know every single trade that happened between influential families.

    Thus, numerous powerful families had created ck markets in the various shelters to trade with each other, procure rare treasures away from the public eye, gather and distribute information in exchange for money or exquisite items and so on.

    Even if the government or the military wanted to do something against the ck markets to maintain higher control over the shelters and their people, it was not as if they had the capabilities to face the aftermath the moment they destroyed the ck markets.

    The powerful and influential families were the foundation of the shelter''s safety. If a powerful dungeon beast would somehow barge into a shelter, or possibly appear within a shelter, the mighty military might not be enough to fend off the beast and save the citizens.

    After all, the strongest human Original had merely manifested seven or eight Origin rings.

    A single beast at the Peak of the Tritan rank was already enough to kill the strongest existence in mankind''s rows.

    Fortunately, this was only the case in the unlikely scenario that the strongest human in existence would face a Peak Tritan-ranked beast all by himself.

    Under normal circumstances, one fought inrge groups with numerous Originals, who had strengthening, healing, and other supportive abilities.

    Therge groups were supposed to make up for every single w of their strongest fighter and to strengthen him by working as a team.

    Of course, it was possible to conquer high-ranked dungeons and defeat powerful beasts all by oneself but that was only feasible as long as one had the necessary strength.

    And the human race didn''t have the strength needed to fight alone, without anyone''s help!

    "The ck market? Well, it should be fine if you go there. Just wear a mask and use your weird cape-armor armaments concealment function. Even if Liondra is rtively safe, the alleys of the ck market are not under much surveince.

    The shelter''s guards don''t really go there either, so anything might happen if you attract too much attention, or annoy some bigshot."

    Miranda didn''t really seem concerned about Nial. He was free to do whatever he wanted to.

    However, there was still something Miranda wanted from Nial and Mathias, which was why she began to smile subtly before adding,

    "How about the two of you leave your books about runic armaments here? I want to read them. No worries, I won''t steal anything. If you guys want, I can even give you my notester!"

    Even though Miranda could easily take advantage of Nial and Miranda, she didn''t feel the need to do so.

    She was quite open with her desire to start researching runic armaments and Miranda even offered to show her notes to them in exchange.

    This might help them a lot once Mirandaprehended something.

    Thus, Nial didn''t feel that anything could go wrong by leaving a few books behind.

    He was about to reply when all of a sudden, he heard a knock on the office''s door. The door opened a momentter, revealing the tiny frame of a young woman wearing the clothes of a butler.

    "Wee back, Madame. I am terribly sorry for the intrusion but the meeting about the future of the military camp begins soon. The lead secretary of the Irka household informed me not too long ago that it will be held this evening."

    The young woman bowed deeply to Miranda whilepletely ignoring Nial and Mathias'' presence.

    It was almost as if the two young Originals didn''t exist in the young woman''s opinion.

    But that was not really what worried Nial. He couldn''t care less and asked foolishly,

    "By the way, where is this ck market?"

    The butler frowned deeply as she was interrupted from reporting more information to her master. However, after seeing how the corners of Miranda''s lips curled upward, the butler refrained from saying anything.

    ''Just ignore this brat¡­just ignore him!!'' She told herself while trying to regain herposure.

    Unfortunately, the barely traceable mana fluctuations she released betrayed her. Nial could sense them quite easily, which was why he had to try hard to maintain his image of a naive and innocent youth.

    "Gianna, can you lead Nial to the ck market? It will be easier if someone shows him where he has to go." Miranda waved her hand off, trying to send Nial away with a "Shoo."

    However, Gianna was baffled at the sudden order and merely kept staring at her. She had yet to report everything to her master, who was oddly rxed.

    Miranda was oddly rxed right now, despite facing such a terrifying incident which was one of the worst in mankind''s history since dungeons had appeared. She was also behaving differently to her usual behavior, and acting ''normal'' if one would put it like this.<sub> </sub>

    But ''normal'' was not Miranda''s usual behavior, which was why Gianna''s expression changed for a moment.

    "What?" She blurted out without realizing it at first. Only when she realized what she had just done did Gianna''s expressions return to normal once again.

    "Of course, Madame. I will lead this young Sir to the ck market. Should I first remind you of the other appointments for the day¡­or lead him to the ck market?"

    While saying ''him'', Gianna''s eyes stared daggers at Nial. She would have to be blind not to notice that Nial was unable to see.

    His milky white and lifeless eyes were more than enough to indicate that he was blind.

    ''Am I a babysitter now?!'' Gianna grumbled inwardly while looking at Miranda, who waved off her hand once again.

    "Just give me a brief summary right now, and then leave." She answered nonchntly.

    "You want me to say everything¡­in front of them, Madame?" Gianna asked once again, feeling slightly confused.

    ''Who the hell are these youths, to begin with?!''

    "Yes, go on, tell me. I seriously doubt that you can shock them in any way." Miranda replied with a smug smile.

    ''Eh¡­well, okay¡­'' Gianna thought with a shrug before doing as told.

    "Due to the horrifying incident that urred all over the 10 military camps and the eight shelters, the government and military is under extreme pressure. The public wants a detailed exnation of how the military camps were unable to protect their participants.

    Thousands of mankind''s prodigies had died during this event, which is why everyone looked at the military in an unfavorable way for now.

    The gathering I spoke about is being held to determine the camps'' future.

    After the first gathering, the Alliance of the cksmithing street, the Alchemy tower, and the Inscriber pce want to speak about the existence of runic armaments, and if it would be best to demand the young Originals from the Teradan military camp hand over their loot in exchange for certain benefits, and so on.

    The exact details haven''t been forwarded to me, so that''s about it for the Alliance meeting.

    Tomorrow, you have an appointment with the President''s attendants to speak about mass producing Tierless runic armaments so that even low-ranked Originals can conquer Rookie ranked dungeons on their own.

    The number of manifesting dungeon portals had increased by three times during thest three months.

    Most of them are temporary dungeons that have to be cleared only once but there are more permanent dungeons as well.

    If possible, the president wants the BAI(cksmithing, Alchemy, Inscribing) Alliance to create a tool that can distort the mana fluctuations of permanent dungeon portals to either remove thempletely or to move them so that it will be possible to take advantage of them.

    That should be it for today and tomorrow."

    Gianna finished with a sly smile on her face. She wanted to see Nial''s shocked expression.

    However, the moment her gaze flicked over to him, Gianna could only see an unimpressed face. Nial listened to her attentively but the information Gianna had shared was actually not of much value to him.

    He was already aware that more dungeon portals would emerge, even before the Teradan military camp had even begun.

    Only the President''s wish to create a device that could relocate and destroy dungeon portals was quite interesting, even more so because he was pretty sure that such devices existed.

    "I have read about such devices before¡­" Mathias suddenly mumbled next to him. His voice did not reach Gianna, who stood a few meters away.

    "Even if you have read about it earlier, they''re runic armaments above Tier-3 and we only have bookish knowledge about them. We don''t have their blueprint or anything like that."

    Nial smiled faintly. Of course, he had hoped that it would be possible for them to create a Portal Eraser, or Portal Relocation device, but it was not as if they could achieve whatever they wanted to instantly.

    Mathias subconsciously nodded his head, agreeing with Nial before turning to Miranda.

    She had yet to read the books Nial and Mathias had alreadybed through. Thus, upon hearing their words, her eyes widened.

    Miranda returned Mathias'' gaze with her own stare, but she averted her attention shortly after.

    ''There is a device with which you can destroy the permanent status of dungeon portals?! Even if it is a Tier-4 or Tier-5 runic armament, as long as we survive, we might be able to create it in the far future!''

    Miranda could tell that it would take years, possibly decades, if not centuries before they could create a device that could destroy dungeon portals.

    However, that was not a thing to worry about as long as such a device existed, in the first ce.

    Giving her utmost to calm down, Miranda cleared her throat before her attention returned to Gianna.

    "Alright, I got it. Please bring Nial now to the ck market!"

    Gianna was slightly dumbfounded about the nonchnt behavior of both Nial and Mathias. However, she presumed that these two young Originals didn''t realize how terrifying her information had been.

    Thus, she flicked her hair back while motioning Nial to follow her.

    ''I guess, she is a fool.'' Nial merely mumbled, without stating it out loud that he could not see her hand motions or anything like that.

    ''Well¡­I can still visualize her as long as she possesses some mana¡­.Oh wait¡­what the hell is her rank?!''

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

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 Chapter 191 Black Market

    At first, Nial couldn''t be bothered about the female butler. But when he began following her outside, he quickly noticed that her steps were nearly inaudible and that her presence was barely noticed by others.

    Gianna had concealed her mana as well, which made it even difficult for Nial to gauge her rank.

    Only if he were to reveal his Mana sense, and focus on prating her concealment would it be possible for him to find out her rank.

    ''Not bad'' He thought, feeling slightly interested in the butler.

    Nail''s highly enhanced senses could still locate Gianna and follow her but every single motion of hers was several times quieter than that of a normal human, or Original.

    ''Assassin?''

    Quietly following Gianna, who didn''t say a single word, they roamed through the market before buying some masks and a ck robe.

    Nial activated his armor''s concealment function before returning to his train of thoughts.

    His senses were on high alert while observing the surroundings and imprinted the path they walked along.

    Even when he was in a shuttle that drove more than 20 minutes through the shelter, Nial imprinted every single nook and cranny within his range of perception in his mind.

    Everything was digested within seconds before newer information flooded him.

    Contrary to Katu, Liondra had various interesting ces. Perceiving a few of them for a few seconds was already enough to help him have a fair idea of the city.

    "We''re almost there. From here on, you should be careful. If you mess with the wrong person, your throat might as well be slit open before you blink!"

    Gianna''s voice was not loud but she spoke in a serious tone and with experience that made him feel as if she had faced simr situations in the past.

    ''...or she was the one, who slit open those, who offended her.'' Nial thought with a faint smile on his lips.

    His entire face was covered by a mask and so was his entire body shrouded in a cloak.

    Not a single bit of his skin was revealed, which made it easier for him to move unhindered through the alleys of the ck market.

    "Is all of that the ck market¡­really?" Nial suddenly asked, feeling a little bit out of ce.

    Hundreds of well-clothed Originals walked through the open streets, not bothering to hide their appearance.

    It almost looked like they were in a normal shopping street that was bustling because of some special events that were being held.

    Various Originals of all ranks could be seen all around him, yet, there were only a handful of robed and masked Originals.

    Their mana was also concealed but nobody paid any attention to them.

    It was as if it was perfectly normal to walk around either fully dressed up or robed in the ck market without fear of exposing your identity.

    "You said that you wanted to get your hands on some information about certain Organizations, right?" Gianna suddenly asked in ackluster voice, ignoring his earlier question.

    If not for Miranda''s orders to lead Nial to the ck market, she wouldn''t even care to give him a lift to the most bustling area of the ck market.

    Thus, Gianna didn''t feel that it was not necessary to answer Nial''s question to begin with.

    She might not hate Nial to the core but her liking toward him was non-existent.

    There was some sort of disgust and repulsive behavior she sensed while being close to him that spoke volumes about the trouble Nial was able to create.

    After all, every single person she felt repulsed by was either a mass murderer, something worse, or loads of trouble!

    Nial looked way too kind to be some scumbag, let alone a mass murderer. Thus, Gianna presumed that he was a trouble ma.

    ''Did Master really send me with him to y his babysitter? No, right¡­maybe¡­possible? Fuck¡­Master, whyyyy?!''

    Gianna was busy trying to figure out why her master would punish her and for what deed. Thus, she felt worse the longer she stayed by Nial''s side. After all, she presumed to have been awarded the unwanted responsibility of being his babysitter, which definitely didn''t feel nice.

    "I need a lot of information, exactly." Nial merely reaffirmed.

    Gianna sighed softly before leading him to a small building nearby. It was a shop filled with items with a high variety of prices.

    The most expensive items were in the tens of millions, while the cheapest was in the hundreds.

    Ignoring the items, Gianna led Nial straight to a chubby merchant, who was standing at the counter, looking at them with a bright smile.

    "Esteemed Customers, how may I help you? Do you n on purchasing the tear of a Siren, the Heart of a Hellhound or do you n on selling something valuable?"

    Gianna rolled her eyes when hearing the overly exaggeratedments about the tear of a Siren and the Heart of a Hellhound.

    ''Piece of shit, just shut up.'' Gianna grumbled inwardly before lightly pushing Nial ahead.

    Seeing the smaller robed person pushing the taller one ahead, it was clear to the merchant as to who was his customer for the day. Nheless, the chubby merchant maintained his bright smile.

    After all, nearly every single robed person hid because he had to purchase something in secret or sell something without others figuring it out.

    "I want information about the Eclipse Assassins and the Sacred Knights," Nial said in a low tone.

    "What information? Their numbers, their strength, their hidden missions? Be more precise," The chubby merchant replied without a second of hesitation.

    He had more than enough information about nearly all Organizations. Both the Eclipse Assassins and Sacred Knights were mysterious, but that didn''t mean they were perfect at expertly hiding their tracks. Even the finest criminal would leave behind a clue that would pin him to the crime.

    Only the information about the Sacred Knights was scarce because none of their members seemed to reveal anything.

    "I want to know everything about the Sacred Knights, if possible, including information about their Leader.

    However, about the Eclipse Assassins, I just need to know the strength of their strongest members and all the information you have about their kidnappings, whether it involves entire families or single individuals."

    Gianna turned her head toward Nial but didn''t say anything.

    ''Kidnapped?''

    Even the chubby merchant gaped in shock for a moment before he cleared his throat.<sub> </sub>

    "The information about the Sacred Knights is scarce and providing intel about the kidnapped cases of the Eclipse Assassins will be dangerous for me as well¡­" The chubby merchant first said before smiling slyly as he rubbed his hands.

    "...that being said, it will be expensive!"

    Nial had already expected that it would be quite expensive to ask for information about the Sacred Knights and the kidnappings made by the Eclipse Assassins.

    After all, it shouldn''t have been easy to figure out this specific information and so on.

    In order to quiet down the merchant, and prevent him from telling someone else about the information he just demanded to obtain, Nial decided to not be stingy.

    He took out a blueish shining chestte from his spatial ring and showed it to the chubby merchant.

    It was one of the Tier-1 runic armaments they had procured in the ancient ruin''s dungeon. This Tier-1 runic armament was one of a kind and had various unique effects.

    "Is that enough to pay for the information?"

    The moment the chubby merchant saw the blueish chestte that had various engravings on it, his eyes shone in greed indicating that he was intrigued by it.

    "Oh? Give it to me, I will test it out."

    Nial handed it over without hesitation. There was no need for him to be afraid of the merchant acting like a petty thief.

    "Is that one of the runic armaments I heard about? Interesting¡­" the chubby merchant mumbled, while his thoughts were running wild.

    ''It should fetch me a good price if I sell it to the Leaders¡­''

    After testing the chestte''s function for a few minutes, the chubby merchant was more than pleased.

    However, he put up a dissatisfied expression on his face before he turned back to the two robed people.

    "I''m sorry, but I don''t think that''s enough. How about you give me 3¡­no 4 more items of the same quality?"

    His greed to earn more was apparent in his voice and his eyes. It was obvious that he was going over the top.

    Nheless, the chubby merchant believed that the young-sounding man was easy to exploit.

    Unfortunately, he was trying to trick the wrong person!

    Nial''s surroundings suddenly felt ice-cold all of a sudden as his gloomy voice reached out to the chubby merchant.

    "Fuck off. I guess I will trade the information I want with someone else, someone who knows how valuable this runic armament is."

    While speaking, Nial''s left hand had stretched forward. There had been no warning, let alone a sign that Nial nned to attack the chubby merchant.

    Dark energy shrouded his hand, erging it all of a sudden. ws of darkness grew out of his fingers, shocking the chubby merchant, who didn''t expect to be attacked in his shop by a customer.

    He was already at the Low Prym rank and had created a Basic Origin ring. His reaction speed and movements should have been much faster than that of the young robed man''s.

    However, even then, the chubby merchant didn''t notice Nial''s intention to attack him before it had already happened. Even the hidden guards, who had been hired to protect him were not able to react fast enough.

    The sudden attack had been¡­too sudden.

    His hand had turned into ws that reached the size of a cow''s head. They reached out for the chubby merchant''s head, who stared at them in fright, only to change their trajectory as they grasped the Tier-1 chestte tightly instead.

    Retracting his hand, Nial didn''t bother to waste his time with the chubby merchant anymore. He stored the runic armament away and ignored the few hidden guards, who had already begun to act before he left the store.

    "What a waste of time. To think that some merchants are too stupid to understand the value of a Tier-1 runic armament."

    Nial just shook his head and kept ignoring the guards, who had already appeared next to him.

    The guards were baffled that Nial ignored their entire existence. They stopped trying to hold him back as if nothing had happened to their boss.

    Thus, their job to protect the chubby merchant was still fulfilled and they didn''t have to attack the young man, whose arm had returned to look normal.

    ''What the hell was that ck energy?!'' They asked themselves, feeling goosebumps spreading all over their body.

    Even Gianna was slightly astonished. She didn''t think highly of Nial before but she was shocked to see his nice attitude change the instance the chubby merchant tried to con him.

    Information such as the one Nial wanted to purchase was not that expensive. A Tier-1 runic armament was more than enough to pay for everything.

    In fact, a Tier-1 runic armament might even be too valuable to be used in exchange for the information Nial had wanted to procure.

    ''Is he rich?'' Gianna suddenly began to wonder as her attention was involuntarily drawn to the blind 18 years old man.

    ''Who cares about his wealth?!... I didn''t even notice his movements at first. Even I would have been dyed half a second before reacting to his move!''

    "Young man, please wait!! That runic armament is more than enough, I didn''t see it properly before!!"

    Nial heard the chubby merchant''s voice clearly but he didn''t stop.

    "I have special information about the Eclipse Assassins that no one else has!"

    **

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 Chapter 192 Heavens Gates

    Nial smiled behind the mask and slowed down his steps.

    "The Tier-1 chestte in exchange for all the information you have." He said in a cold voice. The merchant could only nod his head hastily in response.

    Nial turned around and walked back towards the counter while essing his spatial ring once again.

    ''The merchants of the ck market are far more civilized than expected. To expect that they wouldn''t attack me to get their hands on my runic armaments¡­weird.''

    The image of ck markets had always been the same for all. In the minds of most, it was a dark alley, a ce where only the uwful carried out their illegal trades and a ce where no naive person could be sure of survival.

    However, it didn''t seem to be that bad.

    He received loads of information from the chubby merchant about other things before he revealed the special information about the Eclipse Assassins, which he hadn''t even written down.

    Whether this was because of his fear of being discovered for sharing this information with him or owed to a different reason was unknown.

    "Sometimes the Eclipse Assassins are ordered to kidnap ''unique'' people and bring them to the Heaven''s Gates.

    You might not know about them but the Heaven''s Gates is also an Organization that had been created more than a century ago. However, despite its rich heritage, it is not well known and nobody has a lot of information about Heaven''s Gates.

    But there is one thing you have to understand; the Members of the Heaven''s Gates are the strongest Originals in existence. Some rumors even say that their members are capable of defeating Peak Tritan ranked Beasts all by themselves.

    However, that is merely a rumor and not something they have been able to prove until now."

    It was actually not that surprising for Nial to hear that some Originals were able to defeat Peak Tritan ranked Beasts.

    The public knowledge was, in most cases, fabricated so that the civilians couldn''t even think of creating a ruckus about things like, ''If we have so strong Originals, why are there still dungeon portals in the shelters? Why is it necessary for us to stay in the shelters if we have powerful Originals, who can create a path for mankind to excel once again?'' and so on.

    There might be other reasons but Nial was pretty sure that the strongest and rather unknown Originals werepleting other tasks in order to help mankind.

    And even if they wouldn''t do anything to help mankind, it was not as if anyone could order them around, to begin with.

    ''It is already weird that eight human shelters were still going strong, with the strongest Original being ''publicly'' announced as having eight Advanced Origin rings. They would have long since been destroyed if someone with eight Advanced Origin rings were to be the strongest¡­''

    Nial''s smile didn''t falter after realizing this. He didn''t bother about the strength of the strongest human Originals right now.

    "What ''unique'' people are kidnapped by the Eclipse Assassins?"

    ? This question was the most important to find answers to for now!

    The chubby merchant looked at the robed Nial for a moment before clearing his throat and answering,

    "Like terminally ill people. Well, don''t think too much about it. Usually, you''ll never hear from them ever again."

    The chubby merchant shrugged his shoulders before he recalled something else.

    "But I also heard that some Originals with great talent, unique traits, and other special characteristics have been kidnapped by the Eclipse Assassins. Though, I cannot tell you what happened to them. That is not something I know about."

    Nial didn''t care about the second part of the chubby merchant''s answer. Only the term ''terminally ill'' was important.

    When the chubby merchant said that they were usually never seen again and that one wouldn''t hear from them again, Nial felt a lump in his throat.

    For a few seconds, he was scared about the possibility of never seeing his family again. However, after he took a few breaths, Nial reassured himself.

    ''Not hearing from someone doesn''t mean that all of them have died. There are more than enough Organizations that demand their members to wear masks and conceal their identity when they''re working on a mission in the name of their Organization.

    The Sacred Knights are a great example of this!''

    Nial nodded his head after he had calmed down before he acted as if he was simply reading through the pieces of paper he had received.

    In the end, he had already used his Mana Sense to imprint the words written in the papers in his mind by visualizing them to read through.

    Afterward, he stored the papers away. He threw the Tier-1 runic armament toward the chubby merchant, turned around, and left without saying another word.

    If he were to enquire further about the Heaven''s Gates now, Nial would have to expose his true intention in its entirety.

    It had already been quite risky to show his interest in the special information about the Eclipse Assassins.

    That was why he left without paying any more attention to the chubby merchant, or the hidden guards around him.

    Gianna followed him quietly without making a sound.

    ''This guy¡­ maybe, just maybe, I might have underestimated him a little bit.''

    "Do you know something about the Heaven''s Gates?" Nial suddenly asked her.

    Gianna was dragged out of her thoughts and she thought for a second before answering,

    "I have only heard rumors about them. They never reveal themselves, and they usually don''t take action, even if a human shelter gets destroyed.

    Even after they had been requested to clear the Abyssal ranked dungeon that had manifested in the center of Juna, the third shelter, the same shelter we had to abandon a few months ago¡­they never reacted.

    Nobody knows their goals¡­maybe not even themselves."<sub> </sub>

    Gianna shrugged her shoulders afterward and Nial merely nodded his head in return.

    The information was interesting but not exactly useful for his purpose.

    ''Looks like my sister was brought to the Heaven''s Gates, isn''t it?''

    It sounded quite logical because his sister had a terminal illness. However, Nial had no idea what exactly they wanted to do with her.

    Considering that he was still certain of her well-being and the fact that his parents were also alive, there was no need for him to be overly worried.

    Unfortunately, this didn''t make things any easier for him. He was still worried about his family and wondered what kind of mess they had been navigating through.

    If it had already been a nuisance to find a way to meet his family before, when he was still under the impression that they were somewhere with the Eclipse Assassins in Liondra, the current situation was even worse.

    ''Looks like a single Superior Origin ring won''t be enough for me to obtain before I can finally see my family once again¡­''

    The Heaven''s Gates Organization was definitely a hard nut to crack, so Nial chose to return to his previous n.

    ''I need to get stronger¡­much stronger!!'' Nial thought while clenching his fist.

    "Let''s go back. Thanks for leading me to the ck market." He said all of a sudden, feeling the need to return quickly.

    The female butler merely nodded her head before she turned to the direction they hade from as she stepped forward to leave.

    Nial followed her without making a sound. Once again, his senses were fully unleashed, clearly perceiving everything in his surroundings.

    There had been something that bothered him before and it looked as if his gut feeling hadn''t betrayed him.

    ''Maybe I didn''t imagine the ck market''s ways wrongly before?''

    Gianna had slowed down her steps. She seemed to have sensed something as well.

    "Apparently, the way in which you treated the runic armaments made it seem as if it was some trash you can pick up from every corner. It looks like some people would like to get their hands on your storage ring to make some quick bucks."

    Oddly enough, Gianna sounded amused as she was saying this, but Nial could only nod his head. He perceived more than eight well-hidden Originals, who were following them.

    "Even I would try to rob my storage ring if it was not mine already," Nial said nonchntly to ease up the tension.

    However, the female butler merely froze in her steps as she heard his teasing and nonchnt voice.

    ''Either he doesn''t understand the situation and is dumb, or he is serious and filthy rich butpletely unbothered about being attacked¡­''

    None of these scenarios were to Gianna''s liking but it was not as if she could do something against it.

    Yet, the moment she sensed that Nial grasped her wrist before leading her into a dark alley, she frowned.

    "You want to face them? All of them are at the Prym rank, you know. I can only take care of the four Originals with two and three Intermediate and Advanced Origin rings, you know?"

    ''You can handle that many? Not bad, it seems as if I didn''t underestimate you!'' Nial thought while continuing to use his mana to create ck miasma and dark energy.

    He fused them inside his body and released them through his feet the moment they entered the dark alley.

    Nial''s dark miasma merged with the darkness before proceeding to expand along the grayish walls that were smeared with dirt, dried pee, and worse.

    "That is exactly how I imagined the ck market to look like, not the cleaned up street, where you cannot even find a speck of dust!" Nial mumbled, slightly excited as he kept using his mana to release more and more dark miasma.

    Gianna rolled her eyes, the naive image of Nial had shattered in an instant.

    However, the moment each of their eight pursuers had entered the dark alley, the pressure around Nial seemed to change drastically.

    A 1.8-meter-long spear had manifested in his hand. The spear''s de was fiery red, and the heat it released shot up the moment Nial used a trace of mana which he inserted in the Dragonme Spear.

    A momentter, apressed dark me manifested around the searing spear de and Nial used one of therge containers near him to push his right foot against it.

    It was sted backward while providing Nial with the necessary momentum to change his trajectory and dash toward his opponent.

    "Don''t hold back," Nial mumbled in a low volume that could only be heard by Gianna.

    She saw his change of trajectory and sensed the sudden, and drastic difference in his presence as well.

    That was why it took her a fraction of a second longer to react.

    Daggers manifested in each of her hands and she activated one of her abilities before disappearing in the darkness of the dark alley.

    Not long after, she catapulted her body in the same direction as Nial before passing him by even before the eight perpetrators and Nial had collided with each other.

    Yet, even before Gianna was able to decimate the number of opponents, the path of the dark alley which they had already run past began to change.

    Suddenly, without warning, the darkness that tightly covered the ground and clung to the walls began to move.

    ''Huh? What is going on?''

 Chapter 193 Dark Alley

    Gianna could clearly see that the darkness around the eight Originals, who pursued them, was moving.

    A momentter, twisted ropes made out of strands of darkness shot out of the walls. Simultaneously, hands manifested out of darkness reached out from the ground, tightly grasping the eight Originals.

    They were covered up by robes, just like Nial and Gianna, providing the hands of darkness a bigger range to grasp them.

    None of the eight Originals had expected a surprise attack like the one they were currently facing.

    The darkness around them was extremely gloomy and nobody could clearly tell what was going on.

    Within moments, the surrounding temperature dropped drastically and the cold darkness ropes and hands of darkness that were reaching out for the Originals caused chills to run down their spines.

    Nial''s Pseudo-Domain worked wonders as the eight robed Originals were tightly restricted by the darkness ropes that held onto the wrists, upper arm, torso, and even their neck as the darkness hands gave them no chance to even move.

    Nial was not able to see anything but he could clearly perceive the fear of the eight Originals as the gloominess infiltrated their bodies.

    No one was able to think clearly. Even the Original with three Advanced Origin rings was affected by the subtle and barely traceable dark miasma that was constantly released by the darkness ropes, the hands of darkness, and the darkness that covered the ground and walls.

    Their mind was influenced and so was their reaction, providing Nial and Gianna with the necessary opportunity to attack the eight robed Originals.

    It wouldn''t be too much to say that Gianna was shocked by the darkness that loomed over the eight Originals.

    However, even if she was bbergasted, this didn''t mean that she was unable to pay attention to what was truly important.

    Shrouding her des in mana, she appeared in front of the closest Original.

    He was not only the strongest, but his speed was the highest.

    His physical strength was the Original''s highest perk. This was also the reason why he could easily free himself from the ropes of darkness the moment he regained his senses.

    Even if his senses were still fogged by the dark miasma that shrouded the entire dark alley by now, hisbat experience and high rank were clearly showcased.

    After letting out a powerful roar, the strongest of the eight pursuers dragged the others out of their fogged state.

    Their mind was still blurred but they were finally able to move.

    At the end of the day, the darkness ropes and hands of darkness had been created out of the little mana Nial possessed.

    He had yet to reach the 10th Origin rank with his erged mana core, let alone create his first Superior Origin ring.

    Thus, the Originals at the Prym rank were able to get hold of themselves the moment they understood that the darkness around them was merely scary and not as terrifying as they had expected.

    For Mid and Late Prym ranked Originals, escaping the grasp of Nial''s Pseudo-Domain was not impossible.

    It was merely a slight nuisance that took them a second or two to ovee properly.

    And these two seconds were more than enough for Gianna to evade the strongest Original, who hade back to his senses.

    Her movements were simr to a snake as she made her way through the darkness ropes and hands of darkness before she found her first target.

    The female butler''s presence was barely traceable but by the time her opponents sensed her, they were already one step closer to death''s doors.

    Without hesitation, Gianna shed out with the daggers in her hand. Her actions were devoid of mercy as the daggers impaled the ck robe of the Original she had attacked.

    The robe got soaked in a bright red color a momentter as she twisted the dagger in the body of her opponent.

    Afterward, she finally retracted her weapon once again.

    However, instead of retreating or moving aside, it seemed as if Gianna had disappeared from her previous location.

    She reappeared next to the strongest Original, whom she had passed by a second before using her second ability.

    [Memory Teleportation]

    This ability was not only powerful but also quite difficult to use perfectly as one could be teleported back to one of the positions the person had been in one to three seconds before. This ability had a range limit as well but only the user truly knew the exact distance [Memory Teleportation] could teleport them to.

    Her daggers were already dyed in the color of the Original''srade, but it was still thirsting for more.

    Thus, Gianna gave her weapon what it wanted- blood! With a decisive strike, her daggers pierced into the strongest Original''s back.

    He reacted with a lightning-fast speed and twisted his body while manifesting a shield in one hand and a longsword in his other.

    Unfortunately, even before he could move around to block the robed Assassin''s attack, darkness shrouded his eyes, while more than ten darkness ropes shot out of the ground once again.

    Each darkness rope was tightly coiled around the shielded arm of the Original, further slowing him down.

    The darkness ropes tore apart into shreds but that was not to Nial''s concern.

    He had already passed by the strongest Original and Gianna, while clearly perceiving that her daggers had already pierced into her opponent.

    ''She doesn''t kill them¡­ I guess I shouldn''t do anything stupid either then.''

    Nial didn''t feel like killing the eight pursuers from the beginning. It was just not necessary because he could tell that they had been ordered to follow them and to rob him of his stuff.

    He also knew that his attitude towards Tier-1 runic armaments had been too nonchnt, which was probably why one could easily assume that he had many runic armaments.

    This was the truth but it was actually not something Nial wanted to share with others. It was only understandable that he wanted to avoid others from attacking him in the future.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, making an example out of the first group of attackers should be the best way ahead.

    ''Well¡­making them fear me to death will have more effect than truly killing them.

    Without hesitation, Nial pulled aside the robe and the mask he had been wearing and revealed what was behind it to everyone else.

    Gianna was astonished to see Nial doing so as she turned her body to see how he was doing.

    However, even if he revealed what was hidden behind his robe, it was not as if he had exposed his identity.

    Darkness shrouded Nial''s body like a skin-tight armor. On top of the skin-tight armor, Nial released his dark energy in a gaseous state, shrouding his lower body with it.

    In less than a second, Nial''s entire appearance had changed and it almost looked like Nial had be one with the darkness that shrouded the part of the dark alley they were in.

    He was barely traceable by normal means, and each of his movements was scarier than the one before.

    Gloominess and the presence of death and destruction seemed to apany him on every single step.

    This inflicted enough fear within the remaining six robed Originals to freeze them in ce.

    Their minds went nk for a few seconds and they were not able to do anything.

    At that moment, Nial''s milky, lifeless eyes that had been shrouded in darkness were revealed to the others.

    However, instead of trying to figure out whether the lifeless eyes belonged to a blind person, or a living person, to begin with, the Originals were deeply struck.

    If their will had been only a little bit weaker, they would have copsed at this moment as numerous thoughts shed through their minds.

    ''That''s the Grim Reaper¡­''

    ''Death¡­we were trying to rob Death itself¡­''

    ''This¡­ is that really a living being?''

    Even if Nial didn''t know anything about the Original''s thoughts, he could clearly sense their fear and the desperation that filled their entire being.

    None of the remaining Originals was able to control their mana anymore. It was impossible for them to activate their abilities, let alone to circte mana through their body, at least not in a proper way.

    They didn''t believe that it was possible for them to feel such a distinct fear, not from an existence that had yet to create its first Origin ring.

    However, their current emotions were not an illusion either. They were real and what they saw was extremely terrifying.

    When Nial stepped toward the remaining six Originals, they tried to retreat. However, it was only at this moment that they noticed how their legs had been shrouded in darkness.

    Numerous hands of darkness were reaching out for the Originals, tightly coiling around to hold them with all their might.

    Nial''s mana was nearly used up and he felt extremely exhausted while trying to hold them back but oddly enough he felt extremely satisfied after sensing the distinct fear of the Originals, who were ought to be stronger than him.

    ''Even if you guys trained your mana core and body, it looks like your mentality and willpower need to undergo some kind of training as well!''

    Satisfied with everything he was currently sensing, whether it was the precise control of his dark miasma, or the fear he could instill in others, Nial took another step forward.

    Simultaneously, he brandished the Dragonme spear to the side, using thest remnants of mana to erupt intorge dark energy mes.

    The dark energy me sshed against the wall where it spread out before dispersing in the dark alley.

    However, that was not something the remaining six ''unscathed'' Originals were able to perceive anymore because they were already running for their life.

    They hadn''t even realized that their lower body was not restricted anymore and that they could move freely.

    The only thing on the six Originals'' minds was to run, to run for their lives, and to never return.

    Some even had tears running down their faces as they begged and prayed to all the Gods they could recall, hoping that this ''thing'' wouldn''t follow them.

    Nial stopped moving when he saw that everyone was running for their life. His brain felt as if it was being hammered upon and his mana had been used uppletely.

    Even retracting the darkness around him was not possible anymore to replenish some of his mana.

    Thus, he could only take out a mana replenishment potion to substitute hisck of mana with the potion.

    "That felt great." Nial could only mumble after he finished the contents of a second bottle.

    He was wearing his robe once again and perceived what exactly Gianna had done to the two other Originals.

    They had been the strongest Originals, and also those with the highest mental strength.

    However, that was of no concern to Gianna and Nial anymore because they had been knocked out quite some time ago.

    Gianna was already being generous by sparing their lives. And upon seeing what Nial had done to his opponents, she truly felt that her actions had been lenient.

    ''Even killing his opponents would have been better than traumatizing them like this¡­'' Gianna merely thought before taking a second nce at Nial.

    He was wearing his mask and robe once again, and the presence he radiated had changed as well.

    ''Just¡­what kind of monster did my Master pick up again??''

 Chapter 194 Origin Ring

    Gianna didn''t say anything on their way back. After they entered the shuttle they had hailed, the two took off their robes and masks before they entered their own train of thoughts.

    Nial was focused on the information he had received and was trying to digest the text that had been written on the paper.

    ''The information about the Sacred Knights and Eclipse Assassins is scarce but there is more than enough to give me a rough understanding of either group. Meanwhile, the Heaven''s Gates are not even publically known¡­isn''t that a little bit weird? Mankind''s strongest Organization is not even known to the general public¡­''

    It would be a lie if he were to say that he understood everything he had gotten to know from the chubby merchant.

    However, Nial did understand some basic things, including the fact that it was not certain whether his family was in danger or not, and what the Heaven''s Gates Organization was doing with her sister.

    In the end, Nial simply concluded that his family had been kidnapped and brought to the Heaven''s Gates Organization because that made the most sense in his opinion.

    ''They should be fine, right?'' He once again wondered but he had no way of finding out the truth for quite some time. It made him feel helpless but it was the bitter truth and what reality looked like.

    While Nial was deep in thoughts, Gianna kept ncing over at the young blind man every now and then.

    She also had lots of thoughts in her mind, with most being rted to Nial.

    ''He doesn''t look any special right now, but before¡­the Pseudo-Domain he manifested was truly powerful¡­ Does he have a Darkness Elemental Affinity? That might not be it¡­his darkness felt weird and it was merged with something else¡­''

    Gianna''s perception was exceptional. This was also why she could tell the difference between ordinary elemental affinities and something that was not even close to being called such.

    Her interest in Nial increased quite a bit but that was only obvious after seeing the young blind man break the will of six Prym-ranked Originals and force them into retreat while he was merely at the 7th Origin rank.

    Even if Nial''s mana core wasrger than the norm, this feat was something not many could achieve.

    ''Maybe he has aplex Innate ability, and his first ability supports his Innate ability?''

    In the end, Gianna also knew that Dn''s senses were exceptional. Not only was his mana control almost so perfect that she wondered if he was already rivaling her in that subject but Gianna had also noticed that Nial had been interested in her silenced movements.

    He still heard her, though she moved with the grace of a soundless lion which one could only notice upon intently observing Nial''s ears.

    ''Master should have picked him up in the Teradan military camp. Will the other one be a monster like Nial then?''

    Mathias was not as powerful as Nial but one could consider him a monster as well. Hisprehension of the Earth affinity had increased by leaps and bounds. It was even possible for him to enter closebat now which would elevate hisbat power drastically!

    When they returned to Miranda''s mansion, Nial immediately went to the room he had been assigned. He needed to sort his thoughts and make up his mind about what steps to take next.

    It was obvious that he had to be stronger but the most important question was <How?>. There were many ways to be stronger and it was only obvious that absorbing Mana from Origin crystals would be best for fast progress.

    This was even more so the case with the Ciran taria technique as it increased his mana absorption while using Origin crystals as a medium.

    However, it was not exactly cost-efficient because Nial, Be, and Mathias ended up paying millions of dors to erge their mana core only once.

    Mathias was not too far from reaching the 10th Origin rank, which meant that he would have to start liquefying his mana before he was going to create his first Origin ring.

    The most efficient way to create the strongest Origin ring without having too many issues was to fill one''s body with mana.

    Once the entire mana core was filled with mana, it would bepressed into a single Mana droplet. Following that, one could start creating the outlines of the first Origin ring before the process would be repeated over and over again.

    Most Originals said that this process was slightly dangerous because one had to be fully focused on both maintaining the outlines of the first Origin ring''s foundation while simultaneously liquefying the subsequent Mana droplets after the Mana core was filled with mana once again.

    It was possible to postpone the creation of more Mana droplets but the foundation of the first Origin ring would be frail if created using this process.

    Thus, it was more likely for mishaps to ur the moment one were to venture into a dungeon, or spar against powerful opponents. However, one would be stronger that way as the frail framework of the Origin ring could already be made use of.

    There was also a different way which was to create several Mana droplets before one would start building the foundation of the first Origin ring.

    This process was the safest but it was also a process that prevented the Origin ring from reaching its full potential.

    After all, the second Mana droplet one created in session to the first Mana droplet would hold less mana if one used the safest tactic!

    The principle behind this was quite simple. When using the entire mana within one''s Mana core to create the first Mana Droplet, the Mana core would be empty after the mana in its gaseous state was used up.

    However, when the same Mana core would be filled once again, it would hold less mana because a Mana Droplet that resided within the mana core would now take some space.

    Thus, instead of creating another Mana droplet with the same amount ofpressed mana inside the Mana core, it could be used to store just a tad bit less mana.

    It might not be traceable at first, but the difference between a perfect Origin ring that had been created with a slightly more risky process and the Origin ring that had been created in the most secure way would be unveiled over time.

    Not many Originals regretted the path they chose to create their first Origin rings.

    Everyone, who was able to tell what the limit of their capabilities was, would choose the process they were the mostpatible with and confident in.

    After all, if an Origin ring were to be destroyed or damaged in the creation process, it would not only be difficult to fix the issues without facing severe repercussions but it was possible that the one''s soul would be damaged the moment their Origin ring broke!

    Given this information, Mathias was inclined on choosing the first and slightly more dangerous process to create his Advanced Origin rings.

    With his Mana core''s limit, it was no problem for him to reach the 10th Origin rank after 9 ergings. That was why he wanted to make use of this potential, and not restrict himself just because he wanted to y safe.<sub> </sub>

    The only issue was that the creation of an Advanced Origin ring required several hundred Mana droplets and to create a single one the mana core had to be filled, meaning that one had to fill one''s mana core to the brim, several hundred times at that.

    Not only would it take time to fill the mana core, liquefy the mana within the core, and keep on building his first Origin ring, but it would be a costly affair if he would solely rely on Origin crystals and stay in the Mansion.

    Furthermore, the creation process of the first Origin ring would take an extremely long amount of time because the entire procedure was entirely new to Mathias and he would be forced to figure out most things by himself.

    Everyone was different, meaning that one''s body might prevent certain tricks and tips from working out.

    Thus, Mathias would have to get to know more about himself, his body, and his constitution along with learning the most-efficient way to liquefy his Mana and create his first Advanced Origin ring.

    The young man in question, Mathias, was currently in the living room, sitting across from Miranda, who was looking at him with a fierce expression.

    It looked like she was about to give the young man a good beating the moment he retaliated against her once again.

    Gianna didn''t go to her room after Nial left. Instead, she had to continue serving her master, which was why she was standing beside Miranda in the living room as well, ready to provide her master with everything she needed.

    "Even if you have enough funds, it will probably take you two or three years before you enter the Low Prym rank!"

    Miranda was just lecturing Mathias because the young man was as impatient as ever.

    He looked at Miranda with slight frustration but the Witch of the South didn''t even think of being lenient with him.

    "Two years are not even long if you consider that it is the first Origin ring you create, an Advanced one at that. Others require five or ten years to create their first one. I know why you''re so impatient but almost everyone needs at least one year.

    In fact, the Originals who require only one year to create their first Origin ring, and Advanced one, are our greatest prodigies!

    I have yet to see more than a handful of prodigies with such terrifying talent though all of them had been trained meticulously since a young age.

    Just calm down and figure out how to umte enough funds so that you won''t have to waste your time conquering dungeons while you advance to the Prym rank!"

    It was a rare sight for Gianna to see her Master shouting, let alone lecturing someone with a fierce tone.

    However, the young female butler was further baffled when she realized that her Master was lecturing the young man for his own sake.

    Her Master wouldn''t gain anything from lecturing Mathias right now. Rather, she could avoid losing her cool by not minding his business and by ignoring himpletely.

    But that was not what Miranda did.

    After she had released her frustration about Mathias'' constantints that it would take way too long to create his first Advanced Origin ring and that they didn''t have that much time to waste, Miranda started to give him some general pointers.

    ''Did she really take those two as her disciples?!? Since when did Master start to ept disciples??''

    Gianna was confused but that was only obvious.

    Being someone''s teacher was tiresome, certainly a big responsibility and it required lots of time, time the Witch of the South never wanted to spend to nurture disciples.

    Miranda had always been focused on her own work, on umting knowledge and getting stronger.

    But from the looks of it she had changed quite a bit in the few months, she had been away from Liondra.

    ''Just what happened?!''

    While Gianna was confused, Mathias had finally quieted down. He listened to the pointers Miranda provided him, while simultaneously trying to imagine everything she stated.

    Receiving general pointers was quite helpful to Mathias as he was visibly frazzled and appeared clueless about what to do next. Despite the minute differences in each human body, the vast majority of functions in the human body and constitution were still the same.

    That was also why Miranda could give him the most basic knowledge about the creation of Origin rings, without going too much into detail about the specific differences every human body had.

    This was something Mathias had to figure out by himself.

    "To create a firm Origin ring, it would be best if you were to continue conquering dungeons. In fact, I rmend you to spend only a few hours a day solely focused on the creation of your Origin ring because yourbat perception will get rusty otherwise.

    Furthermore, there are other benefits you might obtain while conquering dungeons when you''re creating your first Origin ring!"

    **

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 Chapter 195 The Most Impatient

    Miranda revealed a lot of crucial information to Mathias while they were seated on the couch in the living room.

    The information was extremely precious and very detailed, to the extent that even Gianna, who was more knowledgable than any ordinary butler, wasn''t aware of most of it before.

    Mathias asked a few questions about the information he had just obtained and Miranda answered them calmly.

    She had calmed down after seeing that Mathias had epted that it would take quite a while to finish creating his first Advanced Origin ring.

    It was obvious that Mathias didn''t want to rely on the protection of others anymore and that he wanted to be strong enough to protect himself best as quickly as possible.

    Unfortunately, creating several Origin rings was not something one could do that easily, let alone in a short period.

    While the time Mathias needed to create his first Advanced Origin ring was already bothersome to him, he couldn''t even imagine how Nial would react when he would find out about all the intel he had just gotten to know.

    "Nial will probably flip out¡­not that I don''t want to see this, but I think he is even less patient than I am when ites to the topic of getting stronger¡­"

    Mathias didn''t hide his opinion from Miranda. She had be their teacher and the information Miranda had shared with them was not only extremely important and precious but partially also extremely dangerous.

    Trying to advance in a hasty manner would definitely make them brave dangers, and increase the possibility of making mistakes and it was not likely that things would get even worse by potentially being unable to enter a focused state.

    Driven by impatience was certainly not good even if in an odd way, it was extremely helpful if one wanted to get stronger.

    The desire to attain more strength provided enough motivation to work harder, strive for more, and to keep advancing without dy as long as one possessed the necessary means.

    However, this desire could backfire as well, which was why someone like Nial would have to keep himself under control.

    "Why should Nial be even more impatient as you? I know that he wants to be stronger but isn''t it for the same reason as you- to protect yourself from the increasing danger of the dungeons? And, of course, to counter the danger thates along with the mana awakening of theary core.

    I already know that runic armaments will elerate the mana awakening of theary core, so you guys shouldn''t worry too much. Let the elders take care of you for the next few years until you learn to walk on your feet!"

    Miranda didn''t know everything about Nial. In fact, even Mathias was actually not sure what exactly Nial desired.

    He only knew that Nial''s expression was both filled with love and a trace of sadness whenever he talked about his family.

    Thus, he made up a few theories about what had potentially happened.

    But it was not Mathias but Gianna, who exined to Miranda why he was worried about Nial''s impatience.

    "I''m sorry for interfering, Master, but I think I can answer your question."

    Gianna had yet to report what had happened in the ck market, including the incident in the dark alley.

    She hadn''t received a chance to do so yet. That was why she started speaking the moment Miranda motioned her to start speaking instead of wasting time by asking for permission.

    Giannapleted her report of their ck market visit in less than two minutes. Miranda''s expression didn''t change at all while Mathias was slightly baffled.

    ''So Nial defeated several Prym ranked Originals while I was sitting here, listening to Miranda?! Even if they had only created Intermediate Origin rings, isn''t Nial advancing too fast??''

    He clenched his fist as his determination to be stronger than Nial fueled him and he got up from his seat. Miranda looked at him for a moment but she was in deep thoughts and didn''t think that it was necessary to say anything else to Mathias.

    His expression was firm, revealing his determination to be stronger.

    ''As long as he doesn''t rush it, everything will be fine¡­but Mathias doesn''t seem to be the problem here¡­''

    Miranda never expected Nial to be the impatient one out of the small batch of disciples she had epted on a whim.

    Nial always seemed mature, fully focused, and striving to be stronger.

    However, only now did she get a grasp of the situation.

    ''Eclipse Assassins¡­kidnapping of families¡­'' She thought in her mind while trying to recall the information about Nial''s family background.

    ''His parents were both Originals. Their potential is extremely low and there is nothing special about them. Compared to them, Nial is a God-like talent¡­but either way¡­his sister is more important.

    She is two years younger than him and has been announced terminally ill. The doctors the Orin family was able to consult with their non-existent background and wealth were of no help, but that is only obvious¡­

    It looks like there is something unique about his sister, which was why they had been kidnapped by the Eclipse Assassins. They probably brought them to the Heaven''s Gates Organization and Nial wants to find out more information about their whereabouts¡­

    That¡­is troublesome.''

    Miranda didn''t really feel much whilepiling the facts she got to know with the information she already knew.

    After she hade up with a theory of her own that seemed highly usible, it was not further difficult for her to figure out what Nial''s n was and why he was impatient to be stronger.

    His family was the most important to Nial and he wouldn''t be able to forgive himself if something were to happen to them.

    That was why he had to get to know more intel. He hadn''t even been able to hold back for another minute and went straight to the ck market the moment he arrived in Liondra.<sub> </sub>

    ''Now everything makes sense. Even before he had been interested in the Eclipse Assassins. I guess he believed that his family was with them.

    Now that he found out about the existence of the Heaven''s Gates Organization, he will think that his strength has to increase exponentially and that it is necessary for him to save his family before another tragedy like the infiltration of Dryx will befall mankind again.

    Nial has, by far, most information about too many things mankind is oblivious to. It is only obvious that he is worried about the future and the intention of the Heaven''s Gates Organization when his Innate ability shares various memories with him¡­''

    The more she thought about it, the easier it was to determine that Nial was truly the most worrisome of her disciples.

    However, at the same time, time was not working against her, which was why Miranda could keep her calm.

    "I get it now. Fortunately, Nial will need a few months before he will enter the 10th Origin rank. His mana core is alreadyrger than the mana core of an ordinary Original at the 10th Origin rank, and he still needs to undergo three additional ergings.

    Let us not even talk about creating a Superior Origin ring for now as reaching the 10th Origin rank itself will take up lots of his time."

    Even if Gianna didn''t know that Nial''s mana core was a lot bigger than that of others, she had already figured that Nial''s mana core was everything but normal-sized.

    Thus, she was not very surprised about the revtion.

    However, there was one point all of them were slightly bothered about; Nial''s impatience and the fact that he needed to get stronger, which was a fact.

    ''With the amount of mana Nial will possess once he reaches the 10th Origin rank, wouldn''t he need, at least, 5 years to create his first Superior Origin ring?'' Mathias suddenly thought, knowing that the duration was far too long for Nial''s liking.

    A Superior Origin ring might be manifold stronger and more efficient than an Advanced Origin ring, but the time needed to create a single one was simply way too long.

    If things progressed as rapidly for mankind as it was currently the case due to the various incidents that had happened in thest few months, it was unknown what kind of problems mankind would face in five years.

    In the worst case, they might even cease to exist because their strength would not allow them to keep up with the dangers dungeon portals posed.

    While even Gianna began to worry a little bit about Nial''s impatience, simply because it would be a shame for someone with as much potential as the young blind man to ruin his future, the man, who the three were talking about was oblivious to everything.

    Worrying about being impatient was not even thest thing on his mind. He had read more than enough information about Originals, who had failed to advance to the Prym rank because they were too impatient.

    He knew that it was necessary for him to get much stronger, as quickly as possible but nobody said that it was necessary to focus on one''s mana core to get stronger.

    The moment he reached the 10th Origin rank, Nial would be stronger than an Original with one Intermediate Origin ring.

    As long as he used his Curse [Hodur''s Heir], his Innate ability [Mana Sense] and the Odyssey seed properly, it wouldn''t even be problematic to defeat someone with one Advanced Origin ring, let alone two Intermediate Origin rings.

    It might be possible for Prym-ranked Originals to bind a second ability to their mana core, but Nial was already in possession of multiple abilities if one wanted to put it like that.

    That was why it was not really a necessity for him to put unnecessary pressure on himself to advance faster.

    Nheless, Nial had never nned on spending five years to create his first Origin ring in the first ce.

    He had other ns and both the Ciran taria and the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique would help him tremendously to prevent wasting his precious time!

    After all, he found something within the manual of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique; hidden pages that were untraceable by the senses and impossible to perceive under normal circumstances!

    Nial didn''t know when he was able to perceive the seal on thest page of the manual but one day when he was reading through the second stage of the Control of the Ancient Monarch''s manual, his Mana Sense imprinted something weird in his mind.

    It had been a previously nk page that revealed a goldish, almost invisible seal which he could only unseal by reaching a perfect mastery with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    However¡­in order to achieve this, Nial would have to advance to the 10th Origin rank simply because thest stage of the technique required a tremendous amount of mana to be utilized at once.

    Being at the 10th Origin rank was not even enough to practice thest stage of the technique but with some help, it should be possible.

    Nial was certain about that, which was why he was ready to go all-out using the Ciran taria technique!

    But then again¡­Nial couldn''t be sure that his wealth was enough to pay up for the Origin crystals he needed to¡­reach the 10th Origin rank¡­to reach a perfect mastery with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique¡­and to create his first Superior Origin ring!

    ''Looks like I need to start conquering dungeons again¡­and to learn how runic armaments are created!''

    **

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 Chapter 196 Its Been A While!

    Despite not knowing what exactly the content of the secret page within the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual was, Nial could tell that it would help him elerate the creation process of his first Origin ring.

    Even if it wouldn''t be helpful in a direct sense, at the very least his improved control over mana would allow him to absorb, annex, and liquefy mana.

    The creation of the Origin ring would be much easier with a higher proficiency in wielding mana, which was why reaching a perfect mastery over the Control of the Ancient Monarch''s technique was something Nial had to do either way.

    With that in mind, he spent several days practicing the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique. Nial had read through it more than a dozen times and every single word of the entire manual was imprinted in his mind.

    Through his already high mana control and the fact that his Mana veins were still growing while already being Superior in the first ce, Nial progressed quite quickly.

    ''When I reach the 10th Origin rank, I should be able to reach perfect mastery too, right?''

    Nial created a tight schedule to fit in everything he had and wanted to do in 24 hours. That was quite a lot, so his sleeping breaks were rather short.

    The schedule included researching everything about runic armaments to improve his equipment in the long-term and to earn enough funds for his expenses, practicing the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique to increase his control over mana and to improve hisbat prowess with perfect control over mana, practicing the Ciran taria technique to erge his mana core, andst but not least to conquer dungeons.

    To Nial thest point was extremely important because there were several things he had to figure out.

    asionally, memories of thete Darkness God resurfaced in his mind. Until now, the memories had resurfaced every single time when he encountered something thete Darkness God had faced in his life as well.

    This included some beasts, information, andndscapes.

    Other than that, conquering dungeons allowed Nial to increase hisbat experience, improve his mastery of the Elementus Mylee technique, earn a small fortune, and stay abreast with the improvements of his body, and every single change that was about to happen.

    With that in mind, Nial didn''t even feel like wasting his time anymore after he had created his schedule.

    "I''ll enter one of the low Expert dungeons. Do you want to tag along?" Nial asked nonchntly while holding a spoon in his right hand.

    It was already early in the evening and they were having dinner as Nial revealed his intention. Mathias looked at Nial in doubt for a second to ensure that his friend was still sane.

    "Why¡­.would you go in an Expert dungeon¡­I mean¡­I know that you can defeat one or two Low Prym-ranked beasts¡­but there will be hundreds of Low Prym-ranked beasts in a single Expert dungeon¡­It''s not even unlikely to find Mid Prym-ranked beasts with two Origin rings there.

    At least the rare bosses and the final Dungeon Boss will have two Origin rings."

    There was a huge difference in the quality of dungeons after the Rookie grade.

    First of all, as long as one had a powerful ability and enough mana or physical strength the threat of death will be far less in Rookie dungeons. The monsters didn''t have much intelligence and they wouldn''t resort to using sly tactics to frighten their opponents.

    However, if one wanted to survive, let alone conquer an Expert dungeon, one had to be far more careful.

    First of all, Expert dungeons were several timesrger than ordinary Rookie dungeons. They harbored several times more beasts and those beasts would mostly hunt or stay in groups.

    There might be exceptions but nearly every loner beast inside an Expert dungeon was quite powerful as well.

    Low quality Expert dungeons would mostly harbor beasts with Basic Origin rings. They rarely had Rare Bosses or Dungeon Boss with Intermediate Origin rings.

    But that didn''t mean they were weak, at all, simply because the Bosses'' strength rivaled other beasts, who had Intermediate Origin rings.

    There were even rare asions when a Boss had the innate strength rivaling that of a beast with an Advanced Origin ring.

    Everything was possible inside Expert dungeons but Nial seemed to be ready to face such dungeons, even before he reached the 10th Origin rank.

    Thus, Mathias frowned deeply before ncing over to Miranda, who had yet to say something. She merely smiled as if she was looking forward to seeing Mathias'' reply.

    "Alright, I''ll go with you. But it has to be one of the Low Expert dungeons that have already been conquered by others before. I don''t really want to enter an unknown dungeon, where I cannot find any information about it¡­"

    Miranda''s smile turned brighter upon hearing Mathias'' reply.

    ''Good job. You guys have Tier-1 and Tier-2 runic armaments, so what is there to be scared about. If you two cannot even clear a Low quality Expert dungeon, I would die in regret, knowing that I wasted my time with you guys!''

    The existence of runic armaments would soon change mankind''s view of dungeons. It would change everything they had ever known about dungeon conquering and Miranda looked forward to it, if she were to be honest.

    Even if it would take a few years, maybe even longer than a decade before the first powerful Tier-1 runic armaments would be created, for the time being, ungraded and Tier-0 runic armaments were already quite helpful for less talented Originals to conquer various Rookie dungeons!

    The casualties within Rookie dungeons would decrease drastically with an influx of runic armaments in the market.

    Miranda wanted Nial and Mathias to improve as quickly as possible which was why she felt that fighting against stronger beasts, and conquering dungeons above their usual level would pressure them more than enough to force them to improve.

    Furthermore, the fortune one made by conquering an Expert dungeon was hundreds of times higher than the little pocket money one could earn from Rookie dungeons.

    "Let''s look at some nearby Expert dungeons after dinner then." Nial nodded his head in satisfaction before finishing his te.

    Afterward, he didn''t waste any time as he opened the holographic screen of the Originals Bracelet to start his research.

    He shared the information about the dungeons he found appropriate for their first visit to an Expert dungeon with Mathias, ignoring the fact that he was still eating.

    Mathias looked at his soup te and frowned deeply upon seeing that.

    ''I lost my appetite¡­'' Matthias thought in disappointment before he put aside his te as well.

    He began tob through the pieces of information Nial had shared with him afterward before starting to discard the dungeons he didn''t like.

    ''Why do I have such an overly ambitious friend?''<sub> </sub>

    Mathias'' earlier dream of living a peaceful life had long since been scrapped. The incidents that had urred in the short period the Teradan military camp has been held were more than enough for him to feel suffocated.

    That was also why he had agreed to follow Nial to Liondra.

    He had to be stronger, to survive on Jundra, and to start azy and peaceful life¡­if that was still possible to achieve in this era and time¡­

    ''Couldn''t I have been reincarnated somewhere else? It''s not like I have greatbat talent or some other unique talent!!''

    After some time had passed they finalized the dungeon they ''wanted'' to enter.

    Nial prepared everything necessary and set out while dragging Mathias behind him.

    They booked a shuttle, and it took them around 20 minutes before they reached the dungeon portal, whose size was more than five meters in diameter.

    The mana fluctuations the dungeon portal radiated were, at least, ten times stronger than the mana fluctuations of the ancient ruin''s dungeon portal, and this already said a lot about the difference between Rookie and Expert dungeons.

    "Hello Sir, we made an appointment at the Urifaer Silverwood dungeon, under the name Orin for two Originals," Nial said the moment they reached the public dungeon.

    The Guard, who was standing next to the portal with a notebook in his hand, was in charge of making sure that not too many Originals entered the portal at the same time.

    He regted the appointments and he also notified the Originals association about how often the permanent dungeon was fully conquered in a day.

    If the dungeon was not conquered often enough and the daily quota was not met, it would be necessary for the Originals association to send out hunters to clear the dungeon a few times.

    That was important to prevent the permanent dungeon from umting enough energy to cause a dungeon break.

    A dungeon break would be quite dangerous in the middle of the shelter with thergest poption, after all.

    Under normal circumstances, one wouldn''t be too stern when regting the number of Originals, who wanted to enter a dungeon.

    However, it was also important for the Originals association to know how many Originals had entered the dungeon so as tounch rescue operations if something were to happen.

    And to add on, the Urifaer Silverwood dungeon was unique. The more Originals were inside the dungeon at the same time, the stronger the dungeon beasts within.

    The dungeon beasts would receive an overall strength amplification if more than 5 Originals were inside the separate space of the Urifaer Silverwood dungeon!

    Taking a look at the appointment before he averted his gaze to the two young men, who had arrived in front of him, the Guard frowned.

    "You guys are still at the Origin rank. Nobody will save you within the dungeon¡­ the two of you know that, right?"

    Both Nial and Mathias nodded their heads as if it was obvious that further deepened the Guard''s frown.

    "This is an Expert dungeon¡­are you guys sure that you want to enter it? You have only one life, you know¡­treasuring and protecting it is the most important¡­"

    Once again the two young men nodded their heads. Mathias looked a little bit frustrated but that had to do with Nial''s enthusiasm to enter an Expert dungeon less than a week after they had arrived in Liondra.

    It was also the first dungeon they had entered since the Ancient ruin''s dungeon, so it had been quite a while since he had entered a regr dungeon!

    "We know that, please let us go in. We know what we''re doing!" Nial said in an extremely confident voice.

    However, the Guard could only sigh deeply before making space for the two young men.

    From the information mentioned in the appointment, the Guard was able to tell that the two young men were far from normal.

    They didn''t have to undergo the usual screening to receive an appointment for an Expert dungeon. Instead, they could immediately make appointments at any dungeon, ignoring the screening process that was created to make sure that all dungeon venturers were strong enough to conquer the dungeon they wanted to enter.

    But owing to the fact that both Nial and Mathias were Miranda''s disciples, they received special permissions, which was something they had yet to understand.

    "Finally we are back inside a dungeon. It has been a while, hasn''t it?" Nial asked as he emerged on the other side of the dungeon portal he had just stepped through.

    "Yeah¡­it has been a while, I guess¡­" Mathias answered before stiffening as he heard an extremely loud chirping noise that reverberated through the entire forest.

    ''Is it really okay for us to be here?'' He first thought.

    ''Will Nial be my death if I keep following him?!''

    **

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 Chapter 197 Blackbone Bears

    As the dungeon''s name suggested, the Urifaer Silverwood dungeon was in a forest filled with Silverwood trees.

    It was truly a huge ce, where Silverwood trees towered over them crossing the height of more than 100 meters.

    Their leaves were thin and transparent enough to let him see through them. However, the leaves and branches were densely packed, blocking his view of the sky.

    The Silverwood trees grew close to each other like dense shrubs, so one would assume that it would be hard for even the faintest ray of sunlight to pass through the foliage.

    However, contrary to this state of darkness, the entire forest was bathed in bright light. In fact, only the area around the dungeon portal was slightly dimmer than the remaining area.

    That was mostly because the immediate surrounding of the dungeon portal was void of trees, allowing light to shine on the skin of the two young men.

    "The Silverwood trees radiate some sort of light¡­weird," Mathias mumbled before ncing at Nial.

    He often forgot that his friend was blind simply because Nial didn''t behave as if he was restricted in any way, at all.

    But even if he didn''t behave as if he was truly unable to see, Mathias knew that Nial couldn''tplete every single task as others could.

    Being able to see specific things was necessary for an Original as the sight of certain indicators allowed one to assess whether one was in danger or not.

    The bright light of the Silverwood trees, for example, could have been an indicator of danger, even if that was not the case with that sort of tree.

    Inadvertently, Mathias had begun to share some information about things one could only see whenever something happened.

    That was a habit he had developed subconsciously when the Teradan military camp had nearly ended and until now, there were times he actually didn''t realize that he was doing all of this to provide Nial with the information he couldn''t perceive.

    Nial had noticed it a while ago but he didn''t mind it as it was actually helpful, not today, though.

    He used his Mana sense to increase his range of perception using merely a trace of mana. Everything with the slightest bit of mana in a radius of 1000 meters could be sensed by him.

    Meanwhile, everything within a 100 meter radius could be visualized by him. It was not a detailed visualization but more like a rough and drawing consisting of hazy outlines.

    Only when he focused on specific areas and used more mana was it possible for him to clearly visualize something in his close-range down to the finest detail.

    When he sensed a few beasts within a radius of one kilometer, Nial was ready to set off. However, Mathias was still upied with looking at his surroundings with vignt eyes, and ready to fight at any moment.

    ''Mathias still doesn''t realize that it''s not necessary to be overly cautious as long as I''m around, huh?''

    Nial''s range of perception was not the only weapon in his arsenal. Rather it was only a crude indicator of where something harboring mana was lurking.

    But after considering his Mana sense and other extraordinary senses, one could say that it was near-impossible to approach both of them without him noticing.

    Of course, there were certain exceptions but that mostly involved the usage of something like a space-traveling ability or the ability to teleport.

    Even Mathias in his most cautious state wouldn''t be able to immediately react if someone would approach them through teleportation.

    But there was no need to worry about ''what-ifs''. He shook his head and focussed on observing their surroundings, digesting every single piece of information as it mighte in handy.

    While in an unfamiliar area, even the simplest piece of information might be the deciding factor over life and death

    A bulky young man could be seen with a huge axe in his hands, cutting the trees around the dungeon portal.

    He was a lumberjack at the Prym rank, who had been hired by the government to cut the Silverwood trees inside the dungeon.

    Because the Urifaer Silverwood dungeon was a permanent dungeon it would reset upon being cleared once. After a few hours, the entire space would return to the same state it had been before anyone cut trees, or fought the beasts within.

    Thus, the lumberjack would always have some work to do as he cut down the Silverwood trees in the permanent dungeon except for when he would take breaks, absorb mana, or do other things when the dungeon had been cleared.

    Nial didn''t pay much attention to the lumberjack.

    He approached the direction of the first beast group he had detected. There were several lumps of moving mana in his range of perception determining that there were living beings.

    However, what Nial didn''t expect to encounter a minuteter was a group of four ckbone Bears.

    "Looks like we''ll have some fun today," Nial said with a smile before the Dragonme spear manifested in his hand.

    He wielded it around his body to release the tension before dashing ahead. Circting mana through his Mana veins, he spread it through his entire body to elevate his physical strength.

    His speed increased at once. However, that was not something the ckbone Bears were bothered about.

    They roared out at the sight of Nial and charged at him on their four paws. With rapid speed, their superior physical strength was clearly showcased.

    ''Purely physical beasts; ckbone Bears. Let''s see how strong you guys really are!''<sub> </sub>

    Nial presumed them to be faster than him and they truly were. But he was not worried as he kept a calm head and ignited a dark energy me from the tip of the Dragonme spear.

    The surrounding temperature increased by several degrees the moment the me engulfed the spear de.

    Without hesitation, Nial shed at the closest ckbone Bear, the moment the three meter tall beast entered his range.

    Simultaneously, Nial released four balls of darkness without batting an eyelid. They sted forward and shot past the ckbone Bear, who did not mind the darkness balls and simply gave way to let them pass the moment it noted that it wouldn''t be hit.

    Yet, the moment the ckbone Bear lifted its huge paws to sh at Nial and tear him apart, something the beast hadn''t expected happened.

    The four darkness balls had released a darkness rope each. The darkness ropes tightly coiled around the bear''s front paws, preventing it from attacking with its full might.

    However, despite being slowed down, the darkness ropes were not endurable enough to halt the ckbone Bear in its tracks.

    It continued shing at Nial and the bear''s w quickly reached his face.

    But instead of killing Nial with a single strike, the bear suddenly howled out in pain as a fiery red de engulfed with ck mes pierced through the paw it tried to w through him.

    p Nial had pierced out with the Dragonme spear the moment the ckbone Bear had lifted its guard slightly.</anda>

    This was why it had been possible for Nial to attack the beast, to injure it, and initiate a second attack, which was what he was doing right now.

    He retracted the Dragonme spear a moment after he had pierced it out. Issuing a second strike, Nial burst forth with a feint as he released several darkness needles.

    They were sted toward the beast''s eyes, forcing it to close its eyes for a quarter of a second.

    The moment the ckbone Bear opened its eyes Nial had already disappeared from his spot.

    He had advanced closer to the ckbone Bear to end its life with his second strike.

    Manifesting the needles once again, Nial aimed at the Bear''s heart. His attack was precise, fast, and issued with great strength.

    Yet, even that wouldn''t usually be enough for someone with a physical strength below a Prym ranked Original to pierce through the ckbone Bear''s thick hide.

    But Nial had a Tier-1 weapon that had been further enhanced due to the alteration of its special function. His dark energy''s properties enhanced the Dragonme spear''s mes drastically.

    That was why it was no surprise for Nial or Mathias to see the tip of the Dragonme spear piercing through the ckbone Bear''s chest as if he was cutting through butter.

    Prating through the hide, and flesh, the Dragonme spear finally pierced its designated target; the ckbone Bear''s heart!

    Nial moved rapidly and retreated the instant he sensed that he had hit bull''s eye before dashing to the side.

    On the other hand, Mathias had created severalrge spiked Earthen walls which he used to hurt the bears even if it was not actually of much use. After realizing this he switched to trying to enrage them and block their advance so as to give Nial more time to fight.

    Mathias had grown adept at using his Earth affinity which was he could prevent any mishap from urring. Simultaneously, he prepared his heart to join closebat, which he did once he found the perfect opportunity.

    The remaining three ckbone Bears focused on Nial and ignored him mostly.

    However, this was the biggest mistake they could have made. After all, Mathias was not as inefficient in closebat as he had always been.

    He had improved and that was what he wanted to show everyone!

    Mathias dashed forward as a huge battle-axe appeared in his hands.

    Using his Earth affinity, he re-shaped the ground the ckbone Bears were about to step on.

    Large holes of the perfect size to fit and trap their paws inside had appeared out of nowhere. The ckbone Bears rushed in without noticing it, and found themselves stuck which forcefully halted their advance.

    Owing to their heavy weight and the high speed they had been running at, their stuck front limbs broke due to the immense pressure.

    The creation of a simple hole was more than enough to injure a Low Prym ranked beast that was solely focused on its physical capabilities.

    And Mathias had done it all by himself. He had trapped and injured three powerful beasts on his own, allowing Nial and himself to attack them without a lot of worries.

    Nheless, Mathias had coated his entire body in a thickyer of highlypressed Earth, which he was ready to use in ways simr to how Nial used his darkness shroud every now and then.

    Mathias had been under the impression that he had made enough preparations to enter a bloody battle of life and death¡­yet, with the use of his Tier-1 weapon and thebat experience he had garnered by sparring with Nial, Be, his Instructors, and Miranda during the Teradan military camp, all of his preparations were proven futile.

    Luckily, the powerful physically-attributed ckbone Bears had died in front of their eyes just like that.

 Chapter 198 Treant

    "That''s it?" Mathias asked in dumbfounding.

    "Yep, that''s it."

    Nial merely smiled as he stored the corpses of the ckbone Bears in his spatial ring.

    One of the four ckbone Bears had turned into an Origin crystal.

    It was asrge as the fist of an infant and radiated a whitish-blue light.

    "Lowest quality Superior grade, not bad."

    The Lowest quality Superior grade Origin crystals were perfectly suited for both Mathias and Nial. Using Origin crystals of higher quality wouldn''t increase their efficiency while Common graded Origin crystals didn''t hold enough pure mana.

    ''Looks like Low Expert Dungeons are perfect for us, right now.'' Nial thought with a smile.

    The ckbone Bear corpses were quite useful for them. Not only were their bones used to create weapons, potions and specific inscription solutions but some abilities required making use of the bear''s ck bones as well.

    That''s why they would fetch a good price.

    Their ws, hide and even intestines were quite useful for various things. Thus, Nial didn''t think twice and quickly stored their corpses.

    "Let''s continue. We shouldn''t waste too much time inside the dungeon. There are loads of things we still have to do."

    Nial''s voice pulled Mathias out of his train of thoughts before he nodded his head with much more enthusiasm than before.

    ''Prym ranked Beasts with Basic Origin rings are much weaker than the Dryx we fought. I might even be able to fight some on my own. Let''s gooo!''

    Mathias kept motivating himself as he followed Nial, who had already detected another group of beasts.

    Following that two hours passed and Mathias found himself lying on a patch of blueish-green moss.

    He was breathing heavily and his eyes were drooping but it was his sheer willpower that did not let him fall asleep at once. Mathias was tired after fighting more than 15 groups of beasts in a matter of two hours.

    His mana might not be depleted but his mind was aching and so were his arms.

    "I have never carried therge battle axe for so long¡­I''m dead¡­ Let''s go back, how about that?"

    Mathias might feel overjoyed due to the fact that they had defeated more than 90 dungeon beasts that had at least one Basic Origin ring each.

    For someone at the Origin rank to defeat so many opponents at the Prym rank was an admirable feat.

    Yet, with Nial by his side, Mathias had been able to fight multiple Prym-ranked beasts at the same time.

    Mathias nced at his friend while forcing himself to sit and get up from thefortable and soft moss cushion.

    "It''s not like I don''t agree but how about we finish everything up with one more fight?" Nial asked his friend as his lifeless, milky white eyes stared in the eyes of his friend''s.

    "One more fight. What makes you think this fight is more interesting than the others?" Mathias could clearly see that the corners of Nial''s mouth were curled upward.

    He was nning something, and that worried Mathias more than any of the previous fights.

    "Well, we''re in the range of a loner beast, so I believe it will be more interesting!" Nial merely replied before turning away once again.

    ''Loner beast? A Rare Boss, or the Dungeon Boss?''

    Mathias acted quite naive and stupid most of the time. But nobody had dropped him on his head when he was born.

    Thus, he could connect the dots, and determine that Nial wanted to fight the beast he was talking about.

    ''If the thought of fighting that beast excites him, that can only mean Nial can tell that it''s a powerful beast¡­''

    Despite understanding the situation and the fact that the next fight would be far more dangerous than their previous fights, Mathias couldn''t help but start smiling as well.

    He felt that he hadn''t been able to go all out until now.

    Thus, after he gulped down an energy replenishment potion to dispel his exhaustion, Mathias was ready to fight once again.

    "Let''s beat that Boss then!"

    Nial''s slight grin turned into a broad smile the moment he heard Mathias'' words.

    ''Sometimes, I really wonder if he has a dual personality.'' Nial thought for a moment but this thought didn''t linger in his mind for long.

    He approached the direction his mana perception sensed the strong mana fluctuations emerging from with calm steps.

    Mathias followed him quietly while holding the Tier-1 ckwood wand in his hand.

    They devised some sort of n in the short time they needed to pass through the forest.

    However, this n seemed to have lost all its value the moment the two young Originals were able to see or visualize the beast they had been approaching.

    "Is that a¡­Treant? That huge thing is our opponent?" Mathias asked, feeling slightly dumbfounded as he looked up.

    A jumbled mess of tangled-up vines, roots, leaves, branches, and a tree trunk had entered their view. This chaotic-looking mess was moving, had two huge pir-like legs and monstrouslyrge arms hanging down its shoulders.

    The beast they had just approached was far from being a normal Treant. It looked human-like and had balls of pitch-ck roots recing its eyes.

    Distinct features contributed to the formation of its grotesque face. It looked slightly weird but it was still a face, that was out of the question.

    "Yeah, that''s our opponent. But it''s weird. I didn''t read anything about a Treant in the information provided about Rare Bosses, let alone a variant Dungeon Boss¡­"

    Both Nial and Mathias had read through all the provided pieces of information about the Urifaer Silverwood dungeon.

    That was mostly due to the fear Mathias had felt in the beginning. As such, they knew quite a bit about the dungeon they had entered.

    But even then, there had been no mention of a Treant.

    "Maybe it''s simply a Silverwood tree that gained sentience? I mean, it''s not impossible for nts to gain sentience.

    You know, there are also the Deadwill flower, the Miarit tree, and so on, who have been reported to have gained sentience once or twice¡­"

    Nial tried to think of a logical solution to what they saw but Mathias merely shook his head.

    "Can''t you see that its tree trunk is brown and that the Treant has green and blue leaves? There is no such Silverwood tree in this dungeon!" Mathias started to lecture, not noticing that Nial clenched his fist at that.<sub> </sub>

    He felt like punching Mathias right here and right now, even at the expense of divulging their existence to the Treant.

    ''It is great that you feel like lecturing me, but I cannot see the color of the Treant''s trunk, let alone the blue leaves, idiot¡­''

    Taking a deep breath, Nial forced himself to calm down.

    "Either way, let''s just defeat it. We should be at an advantage against the Treant. Its movements are slow and I have the perfect weapon to defeat and cut through all kinds of nts!"

    Wielding the Dragonme spear in his hand, Nial used his mana to heat up the de and to shroud it in a zing red me.

    This time Nial didn''t think that it was necessary to use his dark energy to alter the Dragonme spear''s me.

    Searing heat and a zing me was everything he required.

    Dashing ahead without waiting for Mathias'' reply, Nial crossed ten meters in an instant.

    ''He is always doing whatever he wants. Couldn''t he just wait for me to say something as well!?''

    Mathias felt like punching Nial as well. However, instead of saying anything out loud, the young man circted mana in the Tier-1 ckwood wand while activating both his Innate ability [Elementalprehension] and his ability [Earth affinity].

    More than a dozen Earthen spears manifested around Mathias as he conjured them with ease.

    He sted them toward the head of the Treant before changing his tactic instantaneously.

    Turning his head to the ground around the Treant, he controlled the soil and reduced it into fine particles that formed a fineyer of mud before pirs of Earth shot out of the soil all around.

    sting toward the Treant''s lower body with a shocking speed and might, Mathias'' Earthen pirs were powerful enough to bring the Treant down.

    They impacted on the back of the Treant''s legs, and the Earthen pirs caused the beast''s body to shake twice.

    It slithered over the mud and nearly fell to the ground.

    However, owing to the beast''s heavy weight which exceeded ten tons easily, the Treant sank deep into the mud instead.

    This had not been Mathias'' n but he changed his tactic once again, turning the mud back to solid soil. He used his Earth affinity to add a fewyers of soil to prevent the Treant from escaping his grasp.

    Unfortunately, that was only partially possible as roots pierced out of its legs, and destroyed the soil around it.

    Within seconds, it was freed and could move once again.

    But these seconds had been more than enough for Nial to emerge behind the treant.

    The zing mes that engulfed the Dragonme spear erupted once again as Dn made his first sh.

    Loud sizzling noises reached Nial''s ear as he kept shing through the roots, vines and everything else the Treant''s leg was made of.

    The searing hot de cut through the Treant as if it was not a powerful, sentient monster but an ordinary tree without a single trace of mana.

    Burning through everything, Nial''s spear turned into a weapon of death and the incarnation of hellfire that burned through all the nts.

    The Treant was no exception, which was clear the moment the Dragonme Spear cut through the leg of the seven-meter-tall Treant.

    Without facing a single issue, Nial had cut off one of the Treant''s legs.

    It fell to the ground after losing bnce but it did little to deter the mighty beast.

    Releasing hundreds of roots, vines, and branches from its body, they shot through the air and into the ground targeting only one being; Nial.

    The Treant could regrow its leg but once it lost its life, everything it had attained until now would reduce to ashes.

    That was why it couldn''t lose, not now!

    However, what the Treant was not able to change¡­was its fate.

    Just when its hundreds of attacks were about to reach Nial, darkness shrouded him.

    His body released a ck miasma explosively, weakening and damaging every living existence it shrouded.

    Following that, numerous tiny ck ropes were shot out of Nial, forcefully halting the advance of the Treant''s attacks.

    At the same time, Mathias continued to support Nial while simultaneously fortifying the ground between the Treant and Nial, preventing the attacks from the ground to advance as well.

    *Crack*

    This gave Nial the necessary momentum to st toward the Treant, to push his feet from the ground, leap in the air, and pierce into the chest of the Treant, who was still lying on the ground.

    The moment Nial pierced the Treant''srge, greenish mana core, its entire body stopped moving at once.

    Its leaves wilted at a rapid pace that was clearly visible to Mathias'' eyes. Its roots were sprawled all over the ground, unmoving, and its vines began to wilt as well.

    ''Why am I sad all of a sudden?'' Mathias wondered as he kept looking at the Treant, whose life they had just taken.

    However, just a momentter the roots, vines, branches, and the Mana core of the Treant dispersed into countless greenish particles.

    They were pulled right in front of Nial, where a swirl of green particles formed.

    "What the hell?!" Mathias blurted out, frowning deeply as he tried to understand what was going on."

    **

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 Chapter 199 Divinity Fragment

    The green particles continued to swirl for several minutes.

    In these five minutes, Mathias didn''t notice anything from his surroundings, while Nial''s senses were drastically restricted.

    He was right in front of the small whirlpool of particles and couldn''t even move properly as he could not pick up anything distinct about his surroundings.

    Even when he had not yet awoken his Origin that had never happened before.

    He had always been able to use his senses to figure out where he was or if there was something in his way.

    There shouldn''t be a single instance where he was unable to sense anything, yet, his restricted senses were a clear sign that this was just happening.

    ''I was already confused why it was so easy to defeat the Treant. Is that some sort of curse, or what?''

    Nial knew that he was not cursed right now. In fact, nothing was happening to him, to begin with.

    He was merely unlucky to have been standing right in front of the Mana core that was slowly disintegrating into countless particles.

    These particles were usually nothing special. They always appeared when a defeated beast turned into an Origin crystal or in an ability crystal.

    What Nial didn''t know was that the particles were usually white and not green like those in front of him.

    He couldn''t see it, after all, so he was not worried.

    On the other hand, Mathias was baffled because he had no idea what was going on.

    His eyes widened as he looked at the swirl of green particles that dispersed slowly.

    The amount of particles decreased slowly while something was going on in the center of the swirl.

    Something was created in the swirl, something that required all the energy the Treant had umted in its life.

    Yet, what neither Mathias nor Nial noticed was that they misunderstood the situation.

    Nothing new was being created. Instead, something was invigorated and empowered by the life force and energy of the Treant.

    Every single green particle represented a portion of the Treant''s former life, what it had gone through and how much power it had umted so far.

    It might have died without giving them a tough time but that didn''t mean it had been weak in any way.

    Nial, Mathias, their weapons and abilities had just been too powerful for the Treant.

    While their whole attention was on the swirl of particles, the two friends didn''t even realize that their misconception prevented them from realizing that a bright emerald, semi-translucent emblem emerged from the swirl of particles.

    Nial was not able to sense anything, to begin with, but even Mathias was not able to see the emblem representing the Ankh, also known as the Key of Life or the Symbol of Life.

    The Symbol of Life hovered in the air, and slowly approached Nial before entering his body through his chest the moment a resonance was created between both Nial''s body and the Symbol of Life.

    However, even when the Ankh entered Nial''s body, he didn''t sense anything. He was unable to perceive the slightest bit about the things that were happening around and within him.

    Oblivious to everything that urred around him, Nial couldn''t even perceive that the swirl of particles disappeared the moment the Symbol of Life had appeared.

    On the other hand, Mathias was baffled.

    ''There is¡­nothing? What is going on?!'' It was only obvious for Mathias to be confused.

    After all, he couldn''t know that the Symbol of Life was the reason for the Treant to have gained sentience, that the Treant''s death had freed the Symbol of Life, and that the Treant''s body merely returned the energy the Symbol of Life had used up to awaken the Treant''s sentience.

    It was also impossible for Mathias to understand that the Symbol of Life had already entered Nial''s body and that it was aiming for Nial''s mana core!

    The symbol of Life wanted to engrave itself onto Nial''s mana core. It showed the desire to alter the mana core, strengthen itself, and bring itself to life¡­true life!

    Nial felt a little bit weird but he didn''t sense anything special because his senses were only slowly recuperating and returning to their peak.

    If he would have known what was going on, he might have epted everything willingly but it was for his best that the young and blind man was oblivious.

    His obliviousness allowed the Odyssey seed to react ordingly. Vibrating wildly, the Odyssey seed forced the Symbol of Life to follow its orders.

    The Symbol of Life was slowly pulled away from the Mana core, which it had been approaching diligently, with the desire to create new Life.

    Yet, instead of being engraved in the Mana core, the Symbol of Life found itself in front of something mythical. It was a ping pong ball-sized grain. It was pitch-ck in color and had hieroglyphs embedded on its surface that were crimson in color.

    But that was not everything as a white color mixed with the divinity of a Goddess decorated the outlines of therge grain.<sub> </sub>

    Unparalleled might was sealed in the seed that was waiting to be unleashed the moment the vessel was ready to release everything at once.

    That was why the Symbol of Life decided to ept binding itself to this unparalleled power.

    The Symbol of Life was engraved on the Odyssey seed, where it slowly merged with it and the energies that belonged to the Odyssey seed.

    Once the merging process waspleted, the Ankh could be seen both inside and outside the Odyssey seed¡­only its colors had changed. The loop was emerald in color with holy white shining edges that gleamed brightly.

    On the other hand the remaining part of the Ankh, the ''cross'' was pitch-ck and crimson in color in stark contrast to the holy and green colors that were full of life.

    At that moment, something changed about the Odyssey seed as something different appeared inside it.

    [Huh¡­where the hell is this? That is not the mana core from one of these lesser life forms¡­]

    The voice of a young woman resounded in the darkness of the Odyssey seed. Her voice was pleasant to the ear, yet also seducing at the same time.

    Everyone, who would hear the young woman''s voice would instantly be smitten by her as she seemed to be overflowing with vigor, enthusiasm, and life itself.

    However, for someone to be smitten by her, someone would have to hear her¡­

    But nothing existed in the space she had just entered. It was as if there was only darkness.

    ''Where the hell am I? Did my n fail? I''m sure that I sensed a suitable vessel¡­ Was it possible for him to reject it? No that cannot be. A fragment of my Divinity was bound to him, I''m sure about that! So the only question remaining is¡­where am I?''

    [Oh? One of the new Divine beings came to pay me a visit. That is unexpected.]

    A hoarse voice reached the young woman''s ear. She was astonished by it. The voice waspletely unaffected by her voice''s bewitching effect.

    In fact, the voice didn''t sound pleasantly surprised as well. On the contrary, it was almost as if that voice was angered about the sudden appearance of the young woman''s imprint.

    If Nial were to hear this voice, he would immediately know who the person talking to him was.

    He was very familiar with this voice and had some idea of this person''s past as well.

    It was thete Darkness God, who spoke in the eternal darkness of the Odyssey seed''s interior.

    [How dare a tiny and insignificant Divine being such as you dare to reach for what belongs to me!?!]

    The Symbol of Life began shaking in terror the moment unbearable pressure filled the interior of the Odyssey seed.

    It was overflowing within the eternal darkness of the Odyssey seed. At least that was what it felt like in the beginning.

    However, the young woman, and the divine being, quickly noticed that the unbearable and overflowing pressure was not within the eternal darkness but that it belonged to the eternal darkness.

    The eternal darkness in the Odyssey seed had been speaking to the young divine being, instilling terror in its heart when it realized that it had been yed with.

    [You¡­who¡­who are you?]

    It was a big loss for the young divine being if it were to lose a fraction of its Divinity. However, she was not sure if that loss was worth it for as long as she could escape the terrifying existence she seemed to have enraged.

    [I..I''m sorry for trying to take what is yours. If¡­if you allow me to leave, I will never bother your vessel ever again¡­]

    The young divine female being seemed to have misunderstood something. However, it was not the Late Darkness God''s mission to waste his time talking to her.

    [Leave.] He merely said in a final tone after retracting his unparalleled might, allowing the sentience of the Divine female being to leave.

    She followed the Late Darkness God''s order without hesitation, d to have walked away with her life and soul intact.

    If her soul would have been damaged, she might have lost her divinity and everything she had been working for thousands of years.

    Thus, even if she lost a fragment of her divinity, it could have been much worse¡­

    ''How can I be so unlucky?!?'' She stillined, wondering how much of a coincidence it must have been to encounter someone, who had already been picked as a vessel for someone else''s mission to expand their territory.

    Little did she know that in reality, everything was different than the divine being presumed and that things were about to change all over¡­once again!

    [Kiddo¡­looks like yourpatibility with divinities is quite high. No wonder that my fragment found you¡­

    You''re quite lucky, to think that you received a fully empowered fragment of a Divinity and even the Symbol of Life on top of that¡­ Is it just a coincidence, your fortune, or¡­your destiny?]

 Chapter 200 Worried Friend

    Nial''s senses took quite a while until they returned to their peak state.

    He had a weird numbing sensation whenever something around him moved and his Mana sense seemed to be distorted as well.

    It had never been like this before.

    They had merely defeated some Treant with the use of their powerful runic armaments, yet doing so took a toll on Nial''s body and senses.

    Only Mathias was unaffected after they had killed the Treant, which was why it had been possible for him to see everything that had happened.

    But even if everything was visible to his eyes, it didn''t mean that he understood the things that he had seen.

    There had been a lot that he was not able to perceive, including the Symbol of Life that had been detached from the Treant''s mana core the moment Nial had pierced through it.

    However, that was not important because even if he would have seen it, Mathias wouldn''t have been able to understand what the Symbol of Life was, where it came from, why it chose to enter Nial''s body, and almost everything else pertaining to the Symbol of Life, either way.

    How could anyone understand that the Symbol of Life was the creation of a Divine existence''s Divinity, formed from a minuscule fragment of the Divinity, to be precise?

    It held the Divine energy of the Divinity and harbored the unique powers of the Divine existence.

    Was it possible for something so precious to appear in one of the most ordinary Expert dungeons, just like that? Definitely not under normal circumstances.

    Despite that, the Treant, who had gained sentience due to the power of the Symbol of Life that had been engraved on its mana core, had appeared in the Urifaer Silverwood dungeon.

    The Treant would have been killed by some Originals sooner orter, either way. But the fact that Nial and Mathias encountered it, could either be described as a miraculous coincidence or a fateful encounter.

    For Mathias, meeting the Treant was not exactly something noteworthy because nothing had changed for him.

    However, things were a bit different for Nial.

    Not only did his encounter with the Treant lead to a meeting between a Divine being and the remnants of the Late Darkness God''s sentience that was tightly secured within the Odyssey seed, but Nial had got his hands on the Symbol of Life, for no extra efforts!

    Usually, the Symbol of Life was created for a special asion and reason.

    One of the reasons to create a Symbol of Life was to turn someone into a devout follower, who would be unable to reject the offers of their master. Simultaneously, they would receive a drastic increase in strength, a portion of the Divine power and the devout follower''s entire body would metamorph.

    Following that, their talent would be elevated, turning the devout followers into prodigious powerhouses.

    Another reason to create a Symbol of Life was to use the same benefits, only for the Divine being''s sentience and a tiny fragment of its soul to be imprinted into the Symbol of Life. As long as the Divine being wanted to, it would be possible for the being to gain control over the body it had infiltrated.

    Slowly but steadily the soul of the being that had been infiltrated would be devoured, and reced by the Divine being that would then be able to use the said body freely, whether it was for the purpose of reincarnating after the death of its Celestial body, incarnating within the other being, or to do something else.

    That being said, even if a Divine being were to die, it didn''t mean that it would be incapable of returning. One of the best examples was the existence of the Fragments of the Darkness God.

    The Odyssey seed was one of these Fragments and if the deceased Darkness God truly wanted to be reincarnated, it wouldn''t be difficult for it to do so.

    After all, mortal beings were no match for the Gods, even if it were only their remnants or an insignificantly small portion of their soul was detached to take over a mortal''s body.

    But Nial was oblivious to all of this, with the sole exception of the facts revolving around the Odyssey seed. He could only feel baffled about the fact that the Odyssey seed had changed, that the symbol of an Ankh had appeared on the seed''s outer surface.

    Nothing else had changed ording to what he perceived, which was certainly weird because he could swear that the Odyssey seed should have undergone some changes.

    ''I cannot sense anything amiss, so it should be fine, I guess?'' Nial thought, slightly befuddled.

    It was only obvious for Nial to be confused.

    He would have never expected the fight with a Treant to end like this.

    However, because nothing felt wrong to him, he didn''t actually mind the change in his Odyssey seed.

    After manifesting dark energy, Nial made sure that he was not misinterpreting the information his body provided him.

    ''Yep, everything is the same, weird.''

    Turning to Mathias, Nial smiled oddly before he asked,

    "Should we go back?"

    Mathias felt that Nial was being too callous, but there was actually not much he could say to his friend.

    "We¡­can go back, yeah. But what happened?" Mathias asked, despite his belief that Nial should be as clueless as he was.

    "If I only knew¡­It would make things much easier if I knew what actually happened but all of my senses were restricted from the moment I pierced my spear through the Treant''s mana core."

    Feeling disappointed, Nial shrugged his shoulders before he set off to the dungeon portal to leave the Expert dungeon.

    Mathias followed suit before he began to tell Nial every single detail about what he had been able to see, right from the moment the Treant was defeated up to now.<sub> </sub>

    This took him quite a while and though they had already reached the portal Mathias was still talking.

    They stepped through the portal and walked past the Guard, who took note of them leaving while Nial and Mathias continued to be in a discussion.

    ''They''re still alive after spending so many hours in the Expert dungeon¡­Are these two really strong enough to fight Prym ranked beasts? That would be amazing!''

    The guard couldn''t hide his expression at all. He kept observing the young Originals, who had yet to reach the Prym rank until they disappeared from his sight.

    Meanwhile, Mathias was oblivious to the Guard''s stare and finished his detailed ''report'' while Nial waved off his hand when he enquired if something about him had changed or if everything was the same as before.

    "Well, something changed, yet at the same time, nothing changed. I don''t feel a difference but I also know that something has been engraved on my mana core."

    Nial never spoke about the Odyssey seed to anyone. But, there was no need to hide it from Mathias and the other people he trusted.

    It was simply too dangerous to share some information with others, which included the existence of the Odyssey seed. It was a Fragment of a God, after all, and if someone were to find out about it, chaos might erupt.

    This would even more so happen if another Divine existence, God, or Devil that had descended on Mrn and, were to get to know this information!

    By being secretive, the important people in his life he cared about would face fewer issues. That was, at least, what Nial told himself over and over again whenever he felt like divulging the secret of his Odyssey seed to someone.

    "Something has been engraved on your Mana core? Is it an ability¡­no that shouldn''t be it¡­what is it?"

    It was only obvious for Mathias to be interested to know more about the change that had happened to Nial''s mana core.

    Until now, he had never heard about something engraving itself on the mana core, even less than the loot of a killed monster caused something like this.

    His interest was apparent which made Nial smile in return.

    "An Ankh. An Ankh was engraved on my mana core."

    Mathias was not sure what this meant but he hurriedly pushed Nial in their shuttle that arrived not long after before they drove back to Miranda''s mansion.

    When they arrived, Mathias felt that it was most important to share the events of the day with Miranda while they were fresh in his memory.

    Unfortunately, their master was not there.

    Thus, Mathias dragged Nial to the library and decided to research the Ankh, and cases where some symbol had been engraved on a mana core without prior permission.

    "There should be a few precedents to you. You shouldn''t be the first one to have received an engraving of some weird hieroglyph on your mana core. We can never be sure if it might be dangerous!"

    His heart felt warm because he could tell that Mathias was worried about him.

    His friend truly cared about Nial, which was why the young blind man decided to do as Mathias suggested.

    ''I cannot sense it now, but the Ankh should be something very beneficial. It feels odd but I guess I will soon find out what it can do for me.''

    Nial was sure that the future would tell him more about the Ankh. Being too worried about something that had already happened was not helpful.

    That was why Nial didn''t want to bother about researching the information that might be false, fabricated or simply nonexistent as not many would share their good fortune with others if the benefits of an engraved Ankh or other symbol brought forth dangers.

    Nheless, Nial continued with his research along with Mathias by staying in the library for a few hours.

    But as Nial had expected, the final result was not actually useful because there was not much to read to begin with.

    Combing through the inte was not helpful either, which was why Mathias was dissatisfied and even more worried than before while Nial was quite calm.

    ''I didn''t expect much, but there was truly too little information. Not a single serious report was written about it. Looks like the Ankh is more important but possibly also dangerous than expected.

    While the two sat dejected, Miranda had finally returned. She found the two young men in the library, only to notice that something about Nial had changed.

    "Nial, when did you start taking care of your skin so much?"

    **

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 Chapter 201 First Step

    "The Symbol of an Ankh engraved on your Mana core?"

    Miranda had noticed that Nial''s skin had a distinct glow. That was an indicator telling her that something about him had changed.

    But she didn''t pay it much attention until Mathias had blurted out what had happened.

    He told Miranda about their hunting trip, in addition to what Nial had shared with him.

    ''If you let him, Mathias can talk a lot¡­about unnecessary things even more so¡­'' Nial shook his head while thinking about his friend''s habit of bbering but he knew that his friend was entric at times but had no bad intentions.

    That was also why a little smile appeared on his lips.

    On the other hand, Mathias noticed only now that Nial''s skin looked much smoother than before. There was also the distinct glow on his face that Miranda had seen at first nce.

    However, that was not something Mathias paid much attention to. Instead, his focus stayed on the same thing as he asked Miranda,

    "Do you know something about Symbols being engraved on one''s Mana core after defeating variant Boss Beasts?"

    To Mathias'' disappointment, Miranda shook her head at first, only to recall something that might be rted to Mathias'' question.

    "I''m not sure if that''s rted. But I know that there are a few powerful Originals, who brag about their mana core. They don''t actually reveal what is so special about their mana core but they keep boasting about how they are better and unique than others because of their mana core."

    Nial''s ears twitched the moment he heard this. He may not know what the Symbol of Life was or how important it was but Nial had had his fair share of experiences with Gods and Divine beings thanks to the Late Darkness God''s memories.

    Every now and then blurred memories of the Darkness God''s past became clearer in his mind. This allowed Nial to witness numerous things and to get a better understanding of how the Universe worked.

    Of course, this didn''t mean that he actually understood everything. Most memories were simply too confusing if one did not have a basic foundation of knowledge.

    "Well, whatever. It doesn''t matter what the meaning behind the Ankh is. Right now, I don''t sense a difference from before and it''s not hindering me in any way. We have wasted more than enough time already.

    I''ll go to sleep, see you two tomorrow!"

    Saying so, Nial really left the library without another word.

    He took a quick shower, went to bed, and slept a few hours.

    The next day Nial had many things to do. This included starting to read all the books revolving around runic armaments.

    With that in mind, Nial spent the entire week reading books, on increasing his proficiency with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique and using some of his remaining time practicing the Ciran taria technique.

    His control over mana became much more efficient after a single week of being fully focused on the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    It was due to his increased control that his expenses increased as he continued to practice the Ciran taria technique.

    But this also meant that his mana core was filled much faster which was what Nial was working for.

    Nial wanted to share the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique with Mathias because his friend was jealous of his fast improvements in his control of mana.

    Unfortunately, the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique was not something Mathias could use just because he wanted to.

    The technique demanded the user to have neutral mana that has never been altered or mana in its untarnished form!

    Because Mathias possessed the Earth elemental affinity, his mana was naturally altered toward the Earth element.

    On the other hand, one might think that the same was the case with Nial''s mana due to the fact that he could wield darkness in its purest form.

    However, Nial''s dark energy was created from inserting mana in the Odyssey seed, and not within his mana core.

    His mana core had never been altered by an element, which was why Nial could easily practice the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    Miranda had taken note of this, which was why she had used her connections to procure a special technique for Mathias.

    It was notparable to the technique Nial was using but it allowed Mathias to improve his control over mana, to enhance hisbat power by being able to wield mana much easier and faster, and his absorption and annexation of mana elerated as well!

    After creating a wall, Mathias was much happier about the progress he made but was disrupted by Nial once again.

    "What do you mean, you don''t need to learn cksmithing? I thought we had already talked about this??" Mathias was dumbfounded to hear his friend.

    Their goal was merely to earn a huge fortune by creating and selling runic armaments, not to be Divine cksmiths, Alchemists, Inscribers, let alone Divine Runiciers. Wasting their precious time on something else would only hinder them from achieving their desired goal in the shortest time!

    I said, "Let''s focus on bing Runiciers first instead of anything else, not that we don''t need to learn cksmithing at all¡­" Nial replied with a sigh, feeling that the discussion would be burdensome.

    "But¡­" Mathias started, only for Miranda to intervene as well.

    "If you guys think you can be perfect cksmiths, Alchemists, and Inscribers just because you want to create ungraded or Tier-0 runic armaments for the time being, you will waste lots of precious time.

    Nial is correct, it is actually not necessary to learn much about cksmithing to create some basic, yet useful runic armaments. As long as you''re able to cast weapons and armors, it will be fine.

    As for the knowledge you need about alchemy, you might as well hire someone to create a customized concoction for you.<sub> </sub>

    We can hire one alchemist, make him sign a non-disclosure agreement, and provide him with the recipes of the solutions. He or she can give you the solutions required to start inscribing the runic constetions necessary for the runic armaments to bepleted. "

    Nial nodded his head at everything Miranda said.

    It might be better to learn cksmithing and alchemy if they wanted to create high Tiered runic armaments. But even then, it would only make things easier. It was not actually mandatory.

    That was why Nial had changed his initial n from bing proficient in the three most basic auxiliary upations known by mankind, to focusing on bing a Runicier.

    Bing a proper Runicier would be hard enough as it is.

    "Well¡­okay then. So when will we start to practice inscribing runic constetions then?" Mathias was still not fully convinced but he just agreed to what the others said.

    It was not as if he could do much against Miranda and Nial''s suggestions, either.

    Their goal was to earn money to increase their strength faster, not to have less time to spend on absorbing and annexing mana.

    "I found the best runic solution to practice inscribing runic constetions. The ingredients required are extremely cheap and it won''t be difficult for us to see, or sense, when we make a mistake, or if everything worked out properly!"

    Miranda would join them in the training to inscribe runic constetions.

    She was even more curious about runic constetions and runic armaments than the two young men. Her goal was to study every single book that Nial and Mathias had brought back from the ancient ruin''s dungeon, not to earn huge amounts of wealth.

    That was why she had already prepared everything, except finding a suitable alchemist, who would concoct their runic solutions in the future.

    But hiring an alchemist was not necessary for the time being, to begin with. Miranda was an alchemist and it was no problem for her to mass-produce low-quality runic solutions.

    It was no problem for her to concoct their runic solutions for the time being, however, she didn''t have much time to spare in concocting some solutions.

    That was why she merely created one big batch of a runic solution as her curiosity about runic armaments and runic constetions forced her to do so.

    "Immediately, if you want, we can start immediately!" Miranda said, smiling confidently at Mathias.

    Mathias'' disappointment about Nial''s earlierment had been washed away. He jumped up from the ground after storing the emptied Origin crystals before waiting for Miranda to bring them to the ce they would start practicing inscribing runic constetions.

    ''So fast? She is really not someone who wastes her precious time. Miranda is really peculiar.''

    Nial had also gotten up from the ground, and the corner of his lips had curled upward as he followed Miranda, who had already turned around.

    Both Mathias and Miranda seemed excited about what they were going to do. On the other hand, Nial was more calm andposed, knowing that it wouldn''t be easy to learn to inscribe runic constetions.

    ''If our precision is good, we might be able to start manufacturing ungraded runic armaments in a month¡­but that will need lots of practice. Will we be able to start with the manufacturing process so early?''

    The slightest mistake in the inscription process of runic constetions would decrease the constetion''s potency drastically if one was lucky, that is!

    Everything in a runic constetion was inter-connected, which meant that a single wrongly drawn line would usually lead to the destruction of the runic constetion.

    The three of them knew that but Mathias and Miranda behaved as if they didn''t think that it would be difficult to master inscribing runic constetions.

    However, even the worst runic constetion was far moreplex than most ordinary runes, simply because they were several timesrger, with far moreplex signs, and some areas were ovepping with one another.

    Other than that, precisely controlling the runic solution in the inscription process was also important.

    This sounded weird when hearing it for the first time, but it was necessary to create awork of mana veins while inscribing a runic constetion.

    The firmer the mana vein in the runic constetion, the smoother and more urately mana could flow through it.

    Thus, the higher one''s mastery and control the better the finished product, but this was only logical.

    But even if Nial knew all of this, even he couldn''t believe how difficult it was to inscribe runic constetions when he and the others finally began with their first practice session.

    ''Will one month really be enough?''

    **

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 Chapter 202 Runic Constellation!

    After looking at the piece of paper in front of them, Miranda and Mathias were frustrated.

    "Why is it not working? I''m pretty sure that the Basic [Endurance] runic constetion we inscribed is correct¡­"

    Several days had passed since the three had begun to inscribe runic constetions on an ordinary piece of paper.

    The runic constetions wouldn''t have any effect when drawn on these papers but one should still be able to sense the runic constetions as long as they were inscribed properly.

    Both Miranda and Mathias had been staring at their papers for a while and had grown certain that they had made no mistake.

    However, after averting their gaze at Nial, they could clearly tell that their inscription was incorrect.

    ''Is it the connection between the lines? Were we too slow in the inscription process? Or what exactly is it?''

    Miranda had some experience inscribing ordinary runes on tools. That was why she had been confident when she started inscribing her first few runic constetions.

    Unfortunately, her experience as an Inscriber made things more difficult due to the huge gap between ordinary runes and runic constetions.

    She was forced to forget everything she had known about inscribing runes so as to not make any ws while inscribing runic constetions.

    This was a huge hurdle, which Miranda had struggled with for a few days. But even then, it was not as if she could inscribe a proper runic constetion right off the bat.

    "Master, your connections were fine, there is just a small w in the core area of the constetion that you need to correct. It is half an inch above the middle part in the central area." Nial suddenly said as his Mana sense focused on Miranda''s runic constetion for a few seconds.

    Afterward, he focused on Mathias'' runic constetion before he smiled lightly.

    "The counterpart of the constetion which you drew is not urate, Mathias. It''s not a big deal but as you can tell there is barely any mana in your runic constetion."

    As long as he could sense some mana within the attempted runic constetions, Nial was able to pick up everyone''s mistakes.

    The same was the case with his own attempts. It made things much easier for everyone because they could fix their mistakes over time.

    Usually, Miranda would use her own mana perception to find out and rectify her mistakes. Her pride prevented her from asking others for help, even less from her own disciples.

    But that was not something she was bothered about anymore after several days had passed.

    Nial''s [Mana Sense] was simply too different from an ordinary mana perception. One was not even able to sense when Nial released his Mana sense to perceive anything.

    Only when he circted mana through his body, or released mana to do something else would one perceive his mana fluctuations.

    This was something entirely new for Miranda. However, this was not her reason for putting her pride aside.

    Rather, it was the fact that Nial''s Mana sense could depict what even the most extraordinary perception failed to perceive!

    To Miranda, it looked as if Nial was still trying to figure out what his Mana sense could do. ording to his words, the [Mana Sense] was his Innate ability, but this made things only more confusing.

    After all, the dark energy was also something that belonged to his Innate ability. At least that was what everyone believed because if not for that fact nothing else made sense to them otherwise!

    In the end, the only thing that mattered right now was that Nial''s [Mana Sense] allowed them to improve much faster.

    Instead of being oblivious to their mistakes and spending hours trying to figure out where they did a mistake Miranda and Mathias could find out what was wrong in seconds.

    They only had to wait for Nial to finish his own attempt before he pointed out their mistakes.

    Thus, they spent several hours a day perfecting their attempts every single day while inscribing runic constetions, the three got better with each day passing.

    And finally, after the third week was almost over, Nialpleted his first properly working runic constetion.

    Mana circted freely through the runic constetion that glowed faintly signifying the constetion''s effect.

    It was merely a [Endurance] runic constetion and it was impossible for the three Originals to figure out how high the constetion''s potency was.

    But that was not important because the runic constetion in front of them was the first properly working one!

    "It took much longer than expected but it''s satisfying to finally seed!" Nial stated in a relieved tone while using his Mana sense to perceive every little bit about the piece of paper he was holding.

    In the end, the connections of the runic constetion were far from perfect and the mana veins were not thick, let alone firm. However, all of this was not as important as the fact that they had finally gotten their hands on a properly working runic constetion- one they made all by themselves!

    Miranda and Mathias observed the runic constetion with their full attention. They tried to research it, to figure out every single clue of how it was created and what they had to improve when inscribing their own runic constetion.

    This took quite a while and after it was done Nial chose to inscribe another [Endurance] runic constetion.

    He wanted to make use of his first attempt at sess and the remaining memories of how he had created it to repeat the process over and over again.

    Thus he focussed on it and after toiling for several hours Nial created a few more [Endurance] runic constetions.

    Their quality was still as bad as during the first one but that was not important right now. It was more important that Nial seemed to have gained a much better understanding of the inscribing process of runic constetions after his first sess.

    ''Now, I only need to improve their quality and learn a few more runic constetions. By then, I can finally start manufacturing runic constetions!''

    Nial was somewhat excited. Even if it took him several times longer to learn to inscribe his first proper runic constetion, the fact that he finally seeded was simply too great.<sub> </sub>

    Initially, he wanted to start the manufacturing process of his first runic armament after three weeks had passed. But the easiest runic constetion to study and research had been [Endurance].

    Inscribing the [Endurance] runic constetion on a casted weapon or armor wouldn''t increase its value manifold. That was why Nial had to learn, at least, one more runic constetion, and if he could, two instead of one.

    Another week passed, and both Miranda and Mathias had created their first runic constetions. Meanwhile, Nial had improved his proficiency in the [Endurance] runic constetion. He could inscribe it without any issues and its quality had also improved.

    On the other hand, he had learned two more runic constetions, called [Sharpness] and [Mana Membrane].

    While the [Sharpness] runic constetion was self-exnatory, [Mana Membrane] had a simr use to [Endurance].

    As long as mana was inserted in the [Mana Membrane] runic constetion, a thinyer of mana would shroud the runic armament that had been inscribed with the said constetion.

    When drawn Around weapons, it would increase both the sturdiness and sharpness of the weapon. Meanwhile, around garments, or shields would increase the defensive capabilities drastically.

    Combined with [Endurance], [Mana Membrane] was extremely powerful.

    Even the most ordinary armor would provide the same protection as the Lowest quality Myth Common armor.

    However, the price of creating the ungraded runic armament was significantly lower than that for a Lowest Myth Common armor!

    With that in mind, Nial averted his focus from inscribing runic constetions on ordinary pieces of paper to start casting the most ordinary weapons and metal armors.

    "It was a really good idea to build a small warehouse in the backyard of your mansion, Master. If we want to, we can simply stay here, cast everything we want, and improve our inscribing skills without the need to run around like headless chickens!" Nial said, smiling faintly.

    Calling the house in the backyard a warehouse was probably a little bit harsh. However, Nial couldn''t actually think of a better word for the building the three of them resided in right now.

    If he were tobel it as a factory, that would be wrong as well.

    In the building, one could findrge storage with all kinds of ingredients required to create runic armaments, two forges, every possible casting frame, numerous utensils, a ce to sleep, a ce to concoct potions, sound-isted ces where one could focus on inscribing runic constetions in peace and silence and even a kitchen.

    There was everything he would require which made him happy. Feeling content, Nial finally went over to the forge to create the most ordinary weapons and armors using ck Iron.

    ck Iron was amon ore that was mostly used to create utensils for unawakened Originals.

    However, now it would be used to manufacture ungraded runic armaments that could also be supplied with the mana of Origin crystals.

    That way, even unawakened humans would be able to use weapons and other armaments they had created. It wouldn''t be impossible for ordinary humans to fight weak beasts, and possibly conquer dungeons as long as they got their hands on the runic armaments Nial was about to create.

    But it would still be extremely dangerous and most humans wouldn''t dare to enter dungeons just because they could possibly conquer one with ungraded runic armaments.

    "...Even after investing so much to create a good working environment, I still feel like I''m doing everything wrong. It doesn''t feel smooth, or correct what I''m doing."

    Miranda was currently just bbering incoherently. Miranda knew that she wasn''t doing anything wrong in the inscription process of the runic constetion, otherwise, she would fail more often.

    p The only thing that irked her was the fact that Nial''s progress was much faster than hers. Even Mathias seemed to have gotten the gist of what he was supposed to do while inscribing runic constetions.</anda>

    Yet, Miranda''s old habits were still hindering her from doing certain things. It made her progress much slower, even if she was still learning a lot.

    To see her disciples improve faster and learn everything at a much higher pace was bothersome.

    However, oddly enough it allowed her to regain herposure and improve much faster the moment she calmed down. Thus, her annoyance had slowly turned into eptance, even if she was still not ready to show that.

    "Either way, just start practicing to manufacture your first runic armaments. It took us way too long to understand the creation process of runic constetions. If we need another month before the first runic armament has been created, we might need half a year or longer before we can mass-produce even the lowest quality of ungraded runic armaments¡­"

    Their purpose of creating runic armaments was to earn a lot of money and to be stronger at a much faster pace. However, from the looks of it, a considerable chunk of time had been wasted on them to reach their current proficiency.

    Everyone understood this, which was why Miranda wanted to pressure Nial a little bit.

    She wanted him to be under some pressure to be able to create something great in the process.

    Her expectations of Nial were already high, from the beginning.

    Thus, it was fine to pressure him a little bit and to force Nial to exceed his limits.

    ''I want to see your first runic armament. Show me how great mankind''s first self-made runic armament can be!!''

    **

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 Chapter 203 The First Of Many!

    In the end, the ''greatness'' of an ungraded runic armament was tightly restricted.

    As they were made out of ordinary materials, the runic armaments Nial created could never exceed a certain threshold.

    There were limitations but with the use of runic constetions, it was possible to create a condition where one could nearly reach the material''s limitations.

    This was what Nial was trying to do by casting a weapon made out of ck iron before engraving the runic constetions he had learned on the warm de.

    It was obvious that the engraving process on shaped hot iron was far more difficult than a piece of paper, however, Nial solved this rather easily.

    The first weapon he cast was a broadsword. It had a wide de which left enough space for Nial to inscribe the runic constetions he had recently learned.

    He didn''t crave to do anythingplicated such as engraving the runic constetion around the edge, altering its size or shape.

    His efforts bore fruit after the grueling task of creating a near-perfect runic constetion. Nial failed more than 9 times and worked for three days without a break, before finally seeding on the 10th attempt.

    As he wielded the broadswords, its double-edged de looked eerily sharp and Nial swung the 1.2 meters long and 10kg heavy de around with ease.

    "[Endurance] and [Sharpness] to keep the mana consumption to the bare minimum." Mathias just mumbled as he took over the ck broadsword. He looked at the blueish runic constetion that had been engraved on each side of the 8-centimeter width, which the de had at its base.

    "With [Mana Membrane] in addition to both runes, you would have reached a better result, though. The mana consumption would have increased by a few times but in the end, it would still be considered rtively cheap to use the weapon, even if the Original is only at the 1st or 2nd Origin rank."

    Miranda was impressed at the potency Nial could release from the runic constetions he had engraved.

    Their quality was quite high, much higher than anything both herself and Mathias had been able to achieve until now.

    However, she still thought that Nial was wasting the weapon''s potential by restricting himself, but Nial on the other hand could only shake his head.

    "The casted ck Iron broadsword won''t be able to handle the pressure if three basic runic constetions are activated.

    In fact, even two are already too much. It is only because the [Endurace] runic constetion increases the weapon''s endurability, while the [Sharpness] runic constetion solely puts pressure on the edges to enhance its sharpness that everything works out and the effects are bnced.

    ck Iron ore is inexpensive but that is also why its quality is not that great."

    In the beginning, Nial wanted to create ungraded runic armaments solely with the [Sharpness] runic constetion.

    But after the 5th attempt of creating his first runic armament, he noticed that something was wrong.

    The ck Iron had been unable to endure the pressure the activated [Sharpness] runic constetion caused.

    After swinging it at a wooden test puppet a few times, the broadsword showed signs of breaking.

    Cobweb-like cracks had formed around the edges of the broadsword where it had hit the puppet.

    This was quite annoying because it was certain that the weapon would be considered a failure if it broke after fighting against a handful of low-mid Origin ranked monsters.

    That was also why Nial had been forced to engrave the [Endurance] runic constetion as well.

    With both runic constetions used at the same time, the broadsword''s low endurance was no problem anymore and Nial could think about doubling his efforts and speeding up the creation process of the runic armament.

    After he got the hang of it, the most important after quality would be quantity.

    Having enhanced the ck Iron ore to reach its peak quality, Nial now had to use his time in the most efficient way.

    "That makes sense. How about you keep inscribing runic constetions on casted weapons, and armors, so that you test out every single cast at first? That way you will not only be able to figure out which casts are the most suitable for you to use for mass production but it will also help you to increase your proficiency." Miranda said with a faint smile on her face.

    The only issue in mass-producing runic armaments was the fact that no technology was capable of inscribing runic constetions.

    Even in the future, this shouldn''t be possible because one had to create the runic constetion''s mana veins, connect them properly and focus on certain otherplex matters that required human intervention.

    That meant runic constetions would always remain a rarity, with the sole exception of casted weapons.

    However, casting weapons in bulk also had its downside, which was their quality. Casted weapons would have a tightly restricted limit, simply because higher graded ores possessed well-functioning mana veins that would be damaged in the usual casting process.

    Only by carefully forging the ore would it be possible to expel the impurities within these ores and prevent their mana veins from bursting, or getting damaged.

    In fact, the greater the number of impurities removed from the ores the higher the potential of the ore and the better one could control the mana veins within the ore. This would allow many great things to happen, including the creation of powerful Myth weapons and armors with wondrous effects released from the natural traits of the purified ores!<sub> </sub>

    The more time Nial spent inscribing runic constetions on Casted ck Iron weapons, the greater his interest in other materials and runic constetions became.

    His biggest priority was to be more proficient in inscribing runic constetions so that he could earn a huge fortune as quickly as possible. Simultaneously, it would be best to keep the costs as low as possible.

    This was possible with the ck Iron ore and the most basic runic solution Miranda could create in a high quantity at a dirt-cheap price.

    But even then, Nial felt that he had underestimated his desire to get to know more about Runiciers, to create runic armaments at a higher Tier, to create the perfect weapon.

    ''Will I have to learn cksmithing if this keeps getting more interesting? Well¡­and alchemy as well¡­'' Nial thought with a faint smile on his lips.

    Three more days had passed in which he created 20 new weapons. After the first sessful attempt, Nial didn''t need to waste his time thinking about where he should engrave the two runic constetions or how to fix his previous mistakes.

    He simply spent the next few hours testing out engraving runic constetions on every single weapon forged in the casts Miranda had purchased for them.

    "Saber, Broadsword, Longsword, Axe, and maybe the Halbert. Those are the easiest casts to engrave the [Sharpness] and [Endurance] runic constetions on."

    It took him the shortest time to engrave the runic constetions on those casted weapons, which was why Nial was pretty sure that he could mass-produce weapons soon.

    As long as he worked efficiently with enough casts and had enough molten ck Iron to forge weapons, creating 10 ungraded runic weapons an hour should be feasible for the time being.

    With time and higher proficiency, he was confident of increasing the number of runic armaments he could create in an hour, but 10 was already a pretty decent number.

    This was even more so because their production cost was extremely low while the price at which he would be able to sell the ungraded runic armaments should only be slightly lower than Lowest Myth Common weapons.

    To call this pretty decent was an understatement and Nial knew that he would be able to earn more than enough to cover his daily expenditures until he reached the 10th Origin rank. This would be the case as long as he would create 20 runic armaments in a week.

    However, for now, he put selling his goods on hold.

    But even with such a low weekly quota to meet his requirements, Nial never spend less than 3 hours a day researching runic constetions, to re-read the books about runic armaments and Runiciers, and creating more runic armaments.

    As for the rest of the day, Nial spent between four to six hours a day entering Low Expert dungeons, and the remaining time was used to increase his proficiency with the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual, the Ciran taria technique and the Elementus Mylee technique.

    The Elementus Mylee technique was what Nial practiced the least as he used thisbat technique inside the Low Expert dungeons he entered.

    At Miranda''s mansion, the only thing he was doing with the Elementus Mylee technique was to fix his ws and to deepen his understanding of the technique by using the experience he had gained in the dungeons.

    Time passed slowly and while most citizens had nearly forgotten about the incident with the Dryx, Nial forgot about the existence of the Symbol of Life, the Ankh, that had been engraved on his Odyssey seed.

    He had reached the 8th Origin rank without any major roadblocks and was making his way toward the peak of the Origin rank.

    It wouldn''t take long until he would reach the Prym rank, and keep advancing.

    Nial''s proficiency of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique was increasing at a rapid pace. Even Miranda couldn''t help but feel that Nial''s control over mana had scaled the heights she would never have even dreamt of at her age.

    Despite Nial being ate-bloomer, his current strength was not something many at his age could reach.

    Maybe Jase would reach the same strength when he would be a few months short of turning 19 but that was not something Nial could be bothered about.

    His daily schedule was jam-packed yet Nial never stopped researching about the Eclypse Assassins, their connection to the Heaven''s Gates, and information about the Heaven''s Gates itself.

    The Sacred Knights Organization couldn''t be ignored either. They seemed to have retreated once again but Nial had heard more than enough rumors about them to know that it was only their public appearances that had decreased all of a sudden, not their schemings carried out from the shadows.

    Nial was still not certain about anything rted to the Sacred Knights, or the possibility of their Leader being an Incarnated God, but he could tell that the Sacred Knights were not something he should take lightly at any time!

    With the information he had gathered, Nial could deduce that the Heaven''s Gates Organization had its headquarters somewhere in Liondra.

    He had yet to find his parents but, he was confident he of finding them sooner orter.

    And to locate them easily, Nial was currently preparing himself to get his hands on some social contacts and, even more so, lots of money.

    The annually held auction of the Gier family was going to be conducted in the next few days, and Nial had toiled relentlessly and prepared more than enough to gain a huge fortune.

    After all, he was about to sell the ungraded runic weapons he manufactured, more than 15 Tier-1 runic armaments and three nearly unscathed Guardian Knights puppet-type Tier-2 runic armaments, including their swords!

 Chapter 204 Auction

    Even if it would seem like Nial''s main objective was to earn a fortune at the annual Gier auction, this was actually not the case.

    Nial was mostly focused on meeting the heads of the big families that were in control of Liondra, to meet the leader of the organizations and guilds in Liondra, the military''s higher authorities, and the people working in the government.

    There were many people to meet and even if it was not Nial''s n to get overly friendly with any of them, it was certainly important to know all of them.

    While there was a chance that he mighte across some arrogant humans, Nial was certain that he would encounter at least one incarnation of a God.

    He didn''t hope that to be the case because he was merely trying to get his hands on more information about the Heaven''s Gates organization but Nial was quite sure about some inevitable encounters he was fated to have by attending the auction.

    "And is it really fine if I join you? Not that my attendance at the Gier auction will create many problems for you." Nial once again asked Miranda, whom he had asked to sell his goods at the Gier auction.

    She had told him to join her at the auction, which was why Nial thought about meeting all the powerhouses to get his hands on more intel about the Heaven''s Gates.

    Because he could get his hands on a lot of other information as well, he readily agreed. However, he was still slightly worried considering the possibility of a God''s Incarnation being present on that day was high.

    He feared identally exposing the Darkness God''s power within him and dragging Miranda into unnecessary trouble, which was not what he wanted to happen.

    "Of course it''s fine. In fact, I want both of you to join so you can get to know how strong the most powerful Originals are and to get to know the value of higher Tiered runic armaments!

    I believe you guys just sold your ungraded and Tier-0 runic armaments to make some quick cash before. The two of you, probably, didn''t even try to barter a lot with the merchants. Just watch the auction and you guys will learn a lot."

    Miranda was not worried at all, and she seemed a little bit excited as well. Thus, Nial didn''t say anything.

    ''I just won''t use any dark energy for the next three days. By then, there shouldn''t be any dark energy remnants left around me¡­''

    Nial hoped that everything would be fine as long as he didn''t release any dark energy. As such, the following three days were dedicated to the creation of runic armaments, research, and reaching the perfect mastery with the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    It wouldn''t be long before he would achieve said tasks and at most, two more months would be required in his opinion.

    By then, he should have reached the 10th Origin rank as well, which was why he was ready to go all in.

    The moment he reached the 10th Origin rank, the real struggle would begin.

    But he would worry about itter. Right now, the Gier Auction was far more important.

    After wearing a customized tailored tuxedo Miranda had ordered to be made for him and Mathias, they left the mansion on the day of the auction.

    The shuttle brought them to a huge building near the center of the city, which they entered once they got out of the shuttle.

    A bunch of Guards was stationed around the building''s entrance. They took note of their Originals IDs, wrote something on a holographic screen, and let them in afterward.

    "Is it really necessary for Guards to be here? They shouldn''t have more than two or three Origin rings either way. I mean that is strong and all, but aren''t there only powerhouses at the Gier auction?

    Well, excluding us and possibly a few other disciples of the other powerhouses that is..."

    Mathias was a little bit confused.

    In his opinion, it was quite wasteful to hire Guards to protect anyone or anything during the Gier auction.

    If a participant wanted to stir trouble, they would do it even if the Guards were to jump in with their life on the line.

    In the end, they would just die before the troublemaker would have to be stopped by the other powerhouses.

    It was simply illogical for someone weaker to protect a bunch of people, who were far stronger than them!

    However, Miranda merely smiled, while Nial shared his opinion about this arrangement.

    "Isn''t it just for show? First of all, lower-ranked Originals won''t be able to enter the auction house without the necessary permission, and second¡­ The fact that they can hire dozens of high-ranked Guards and equip them with strong armors and weapons is just a means to show off their wealth and the power they hold.

    I guess so, at least."

    Miranda remained silent even after hearing what Nial had said but her smile had widened a little bit. There was no need for her to say anything because it was true that no one, except the disciples of the powerhouses, needed protection.

    And they had the strongest bodyguards, either way; their Masters.

    Nial''s theory was notpletely right, but he was actually not far from the truth either. There were a few reasons to hire high-ranked Guards but it was mostly for the sake of convenience and to show off their resources and power.

    Miranda didn''t care about any of that because she usually didn''t like to show off. But for a change, the Witch of the South was ready to give her all to show off what she and her disciples had aplished during thest two months.

    ''No one else was reported to have created their first runic armament, yet, a few powerhouses got their hands on books from within the ancient ruin''s dungeon.

    However, without someone like Nial, or extremely detailed books about the creative process of runic armaments, they might not have created their first runic armaments until now!

    Meanwhile, we have sessfully forged more than 500 ungraded runic armaments so far!''

    Their achievements were more than enough for Miranda to be proud and to feel like showing off for the first time in an eternity.

    Entering the auction hall that was constructed simr to a huge lecture hall one could find in any university, Miranda approached the front rows without hesitation.<sub> </sub>

    Every powerhouse was given a special seating area that could amodate more than 9 people at a time. Miranda''s ce was in the middle part and quite close to the front.

    She was right next to the areas of the military and government authorities.

    The big families always threw them together in one bunch even if both the government and military worked independently, yet, together.

    Miranda didn''t actually belong to the military or the government. She helped out both sides whenever she could as long as they didn''t obstruct her from tinkering in her mansion.

    But because she didn''t actually belong anywhere, Miranda was, in most cases, considered an outsider. It was not as if no one wanted to speak with her but her attitude and behavior were different than that of most other people.

    For most families, it was already weird to see that Miranda chose to attend an event that was mostly used for the purpose of interacting with other families and powerhouses.

    Of course, the Gier auction always had numerous treasures to sell as well but the most important part about the Gier auction was still to strengthen their connections with influential folks.

    That was what all of them knew, yet Miranda had never bothered about this as she felt that it was not necessary to do so.

    Even now, she went straight to her ce without greeting anyone.

    However, there was still something that bothered a few powerhouses as their attention had been on Miranda for quite a while.

    "Since when did the Witch of the South start to take in disciples? Two at that¡­"

    "Forget about the disciples, why the hell would she attend the Gier auction? She never bothered about that before."

    "She is smiling as if she has nned something huge¡­ I suddenly don''t feel so good anymore¡­"

    Many powerhouses knew that Miranda was not abat-oriented Original. If that were to be the case, she would be amongst the strongest powerhouses present as she would have focused on increasing the number of Origin rings around her mana core, instead of her knowledge.

    Furthermore, the abilities she chose mighte in handy inbat if used properly but they could also be used for other means, such as saving lives or investigation and mind control.

    Thus, despite being stronger in various ways, most powerhouses didn''t even think of doing anything stupid to irk Miranda, even if she were to act up all of a sudden.

    Many would haveints against it but it was not as if they could do much against Miranda, simply because they didn''t have many talented Alchemists, let alone someone like Miranda herself, whose alchemy knowledge and overallmon knowledge exceeded that of most.

    However, there were still a few powerhouses, who dared to approach her, including the highest authorities of the government, the military General, and so on.

    "Hello Miranda, how are you doing? I heard you were present in the Teradan military camp when the incident with the Dryx urred. The information you provided about them was very helpful. Without your intel, the entire situation would have ended even more disastrous."

    A young-looking man in his early 30s spoke to Miranda in a friendly tone as he tried to engage her in a conversation.

    He smiled kindly and seemed to have a rather informal personality. Mathias tensed up the moment he heard the man but he calmed down a momentter.

    ''I am not timid anymore. I should calm down and act properly!''

    Nial bowed his head to the man without saying anything while Miranda replied with a smile.

    "No problem, it''s good that the information was helpful. I''m doing perfectly fine, though, my schedule is probably busier than ever before."

    Miranda looked at Nial for a moment, knowing that the information about the Dryx, which she had forwarded to the others, hade from him.

    However, that was not something she would mention right now, simply because it would attract too much attention on Nial, and the question about where he got to know the said information from.

    Nial wanted to maintain a rather low profile and avoid trouble if possible.

    Thus, she didn''t even think of telling the truth for the time being. A momentter, a middle-aged woman, who was followed by a veiled woman approached them as well.

    "Kirlia? You''re here as well?" Miranda suddenly asked before her gaze involuntarily flicked toward Nial once again.

    For a quarter of a second, Miranda seemed to be unable to control her emotions because there was something she hadpletely forgotten to tell Nial.

    And this something had to do with the woman in front of her. Kirlia Maverick was a good childhood friend of Miranda and the only person she knew, who belonged to a particr organization, Nial was very interested in.

    Kirlia Maverick¡­was a member of the Heaven''s Gates!

    **

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    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

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 Chapter 205 Veiled Woman

    There were multiple reasons why Miranda hadn''t told Nial that she knew someone who belonged to the Heaven''s Gates Organization.

    However, the crucial fact was that she had simply forgotten about Kirlia Maverick.

    They hadn''t met for more than a decade and Miranda had been fully focused on her research of runic armaments and training Nial and Mathias.

    That was why she had not thought of mentioning Kirlia Maverick even after Nial had spoken about the Heaven''s Gates Organization.

    But even if she would have recalled them, Miranda wouldn''t have shared this information with them, knowing that Nial would be impatient again.

    Miranda didn''t want that to happen.

    She wanted him to grow stronger before anything else!

    However, Miranda doubted that Nial would be unable to pick up any information from today''s Gier auction.

    He would manage to get hold of some information that would help him in finding out more about the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    This was something Miranda knew but she couldn''t change it, even if it might be better for him.

    Smiling faintly at Kirlia Maverick, the middle-aged-looking woman, who had exceeded the age of 40 long ago, Miranda stretched out her hand to greet her old childhood friend.

    "Long time no see."

    Kirlia''s short blonde hair was tied together at the back of her head and her sky blue eyes seemed to take a peek in the depth of her old friend''s eyes for several seconds before she returned her smile.

    "Long time no see."

    Kirlia shook Miranda''s hand happily. Meanwhile, Nial tried to perceive everything around them with his mana Sense as Mathias looked intently at Kirlia and the veiled woman behind her.

    While Kirlia''s appearance was that of a disciplined, yet also fierce woman, who had earned her respect on the battlefield, the veiled woman behind her looked as if she was a frail flower.

    At first nce, Mathias felt his breath hitch just by looking at the veiled woman.

    There was something weird about her that he could not quite put his finger on.

    But even before he was able to deduce anything, he sensed that Nial who was next to him flinched.

    Droplets of sweat trickled down Nial''s temples and his expression had stiffened as his milky white and lifeless eyes stared in the direction of the veiled woman.

    Mathias moved instinctively closer to Nial, his eyes filled with worry.

    At that moment, Kirlia noticed that both Nial and Mathias'' attention was on her disciple, which caused her to frown deeply.

    "Miranda, we are friends, but I still don''t like the way your disciples are gawking at mine. There is a reason for her to wear a veil. She feels ufortable with too much attention and doesn''t like it if someone looks at her. So tell your disciples to behave!"

    Kirlia started out in a calm tone but her voice grew stern by the time she reached thest line, making it seem like it was an order rather than a request.

    Miranda realized this but she ignored it and turned her attention to her disciples.

    While Mathias had long since turned his head to Nial because he was worried about his friend, Nial''s lifeless eyes were still on the veiled woman.

    He was sweating profusely and his entire bodynguage expressed his confusion and doubt.

    "How¡­" Nial mumbled nkly before he was dragged back to reality as Mathias shook him.

    Shaking his head, Nial cleared his throat.

    "What is going on?" He asked in confusion as he spread his Mana sense out evenly once again.

    "I wanted to ask you that. What is going on with you?" Mathias blurted out while trying to keep his volume down.

    By now, more than 10 powerhouses and a total of seven disciples had gathered near them.

    All of them were interested in Kirlia, simply because she seemed to be the most important and prominent personality in the auction hall.

    Nial''s behavior came across as rude even if he was not able to see anything, to begin with.

    However, Nial paid no heed to what others thought of him.

    His Mana Sense returned to the veiled woman, whom he felt extremely weird about.

    It was not his Odyssey seed telling him that something was weird about the woman behind Kirlia.

    Rather, it was his own conclusion that made him feel as if he was missing out on something important.

    "What is her hair and skin color?" Nial just asked in the most silent voice he could use.

    He was aware that the powerhouses would still hear him if they wanted to but that was also not something Nial was worried about right now.

    After all, his visualization of the veiled woman in front of him confused him extremely.

    It was impossible for him to perceive everything behind the veil clearly. But what Nial could visualize perfectly was the body frame of the young woman.

    She was younger than him, had a rather frail body if one were solely focused on her appearance and she felt extremely familiar to Nial.

    "Her hair and skin color? What the hell¡­" Mathias mumbled, wanting to lecture Nial about being lewd at such an important event.

    "Just answer me!" Nial growled silently while noticing that Miranda and a few others had turned their attention to him.

    ''What the hell is wrong with you, Nial??''

    Nial was acting weirdly. That was umon, to put it simply. Thus, Miranda couldn''t help but ignore everything else for a moment as she focused on listening to the whispered conversation between her disciples.

    "Brownish-dark hair and extremely fair skin. Though, I cannot detect much because only her hands are visible."

    Mathias was still confused, but Nial bit his lower lip in doubt while sensing the extremely strong mana fluctuations that came from the veiled woman.<sub> </sub>

    "I''m really sorry if I interrupted anything, and I apologize for being rude, but¡­have you been to Katu in the past?"

    Nial''s sudden question was louder than expected. It was targeted at the veiled woman, who had yet to make a single sound. Until now, she had been quietly standing behind Kirlia Maverick, her master.

    That was why the veiled woman didn''t attract too much attention from the other powerhouses that had begun to surround Kirlia, Miranda, and so on.

    However, Nial''s sudden question did not only disrupt the flow of the parties in conversation but it also attracted lots of attention, to both Nial and the veiled woman.

    But Nial couldn''t help himself because his heart was beating wildly.

    ''Can it be her? I know exactly how all of them look when visualized¡­so she either looks extremely simr¡­or it''s her¡­But then again¡­why would you ignore me right now, if you can see me?

    Sabrina¡­is that you, or am I mistaking something?''

    Nial was extremely nervous, feeling that he was jumping to conclusions hastily and that it was unlikely for his sister to stand in front of him all of a sudden.

    After all, she was supposed to be ill, and not able to stand on her feet, breathe without an oxygen mask, let alone have awakened her origin. His thoughts made no sense, at all!

    He had never sensed her mana fluctuations either, so he couldn''t know if it was her for sure, either way. The woman''s face was also covered by the veil. The veil even prevented him from using his Mana sense to visualize her face.

    But then again, Nial knew what his sister had looked like. The visualization of his family was imprinted in his head, even more so about his sister, simply because she had not been an Original thest time he saw her.

    Thus, the only way for him to know if the woman in front of him was his sister was to tell by her appearance, which was something he couldn''t see, obviously.

    She was terminally ill, unable to speak, move or do something Nial could use as an indicator to determine that he found his sister. This forced him to use his instincts and visualization as help.

    While Nial was worried and anxious about the possibility of having found his younger sister, Kirlia Maverick frowned deeply.

    Nial was a nobody to her but the question he asked made her interest perk up. Nheless, she felt angrier than amused about Nial''s sudden intervention, which she clearly showed by releasing more of the power she had suppressed.

    The pressure she released was terrifying for most Originals, including those with more than four Advanced Origin rings.

    However, it was even worse if focused on a single individual, particrly someone who was at the Origin rank at that.

    All of her pressure was directed at Nial who felt suffocated under it and slumped to the ground.

    It pressed him tightly to the ground as if invisible ropes held him down and prevented him from breathing.

    He couldn''t move a single inch even if he wanted to. It was impossible for him to even say something as his face was shoved into the hard floor by the pressure that seemed to increase with time.

    Only after moments that felt like eons had passed did the pressure decrease as Miranda stepped in front of him, blocking the majority of the pressure by taking it on by herself.

    "I wish to apologize for my disciple''s behavior. He is still young and I had yet to find time to teach him the proper etiquette while being around the higher families.

    Please pardon him!"

    Miranda was not sure why Kirlia was so aggravated by Nial''s question, let alone why Nial had asked it in the first ce.

    However, she knew that she had to intervene, otherwise, things would get worse.

    Nial might have made a mistake by asking a question, but for Kirlia to release the pressure of her entire strength on a young man, who had yet to reach the Prym rank was definitely too much.

    If Nial''s physique or mana core weren''t stronger, Kirlia''s pressure could have killed him!

    "Miss Maverick, this boy is still green behind the ears. I believe he just wanted to break the ice with your beloved disciple because you are friends with his master. He looked so anxious. I don''t believe he had bad intentions."

    It was Hans, one of the youngest but also most promising powerhouses of mankind whomented. His long golden hair fluttered in the air as he approached their group.

    He had witnessed what had happened and chose to intervene the moment he felt that the situation would escte.

    Even he was not sure why Kirlia had acted over the top but everyone was in a bad mood every now and then.

    Thus, Hans had chosen to dirty his hands and help out the young brat. Otherwise, the Gier auction might end with the death of the young blind man and friends turning into enemies.

    "Tch"

    After hearing Hans, Kirlia retracted her strength, and the pressure that weighed on Nial disappeared. Kirlia was still angry but she knew that she had just overreacted.

    This was a mistake from her side and she knew that it might attract suspicion about Nial''s question.

    ''What a piece of work.'' Kirlia thought while ring at Nial, who was slowly getting up from the ground.

    He was breathing heavily and giving his best to stayposed, which was quite difficult.

    "It looks like I overdid it a little bit. I''ve been a little tense over thest few days. But it looks like your body is quite strong, so you''ll be fine." Kirlia said without showing any emotions. Her words might sound like an apology to some if one twisted a few words and exchanged them with gentler words.

    However, the emotions in her voice were non-existent, turning the ''genuine'' apology into a joke.

    "Nevertheless, my disciple has never been to Katu, so don''t bother her anymore!"

    **

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 Chapter 206 Gier

    ''She was not an Awakened¡­so even if she would have awoken by now, her rank would be lower than mine¡­ so what am I thinking? If the woman behind the veil would have been my sister, she would have long since spoken to me.''

    Even though Nial had faced an extremely weird situation just now and had been needlessly hopeful, he was not angry. On the contrary, he was confused about Kirlia Maverick''s behavior, the fact that she tried to silence him in a not-so-harmless way just because he was being a little bit nosy.

    He wasn''t one to be nosy or rude under normal circumstances but Miranda was his master, and Kirlia was a childhood friend of his Master.

    Usually, even if one was arrogant or known for acting violently, it should take a second or two for someone to decide that it was fine to nearly kill a childhood friend''s disciple.

    But Kirlia didn''t hesitate even for a single moment. She released her strength in an instant and prevented him from asking any further questions. Her actions could be deemed as being overprotective of her disciple simply because the veiled woman was asked a question or one could take Kirlia''s action as a sign of fear.

    If it was the former, it was fine but even the protective instincts of a master wouldn''t be able to act instinctively.

    That was what Nial thought, which was also why he believed that somehow his question made Kirlia anxious about something.

    Unfortunately, there was no time for him to ponder it further.

    The female attendant for the Gier auction had just arrived and she was about to introduce herself and the first items that were sold at the auction.

    That was why everyone returned to their designated seating areas.

    Without further dy, the auction was started and the female attendant introduced herself. She was young and beautiful thus she attracted a lot of attention.

    However, the young veiled woman couldn''t help but turn her head to Nial, whose cheeks were red, clearly showing the beautiful imprint of the ground on his face.

    ''Why did my heart ache when I saw Master punishing him?''

    The young woman was confused. She didn''t know the young, blind man, but the question he asked before had confused her.

    Even now, she had no idea why someone would ask her if she had been to Katu before.

    She had always been in Liondra, as long as she could remember, at least.

    ''Have I been to Katu before?''

    That question gave her a headache, but she was far more intrigued by the fact that something about the blind man seemed extremely familiar and as if she could trust him with her life.

    It was a weird feeling, and something she had never felt before, at least not since she could remember¡­

    "Focus on the auction! I''ve heard that the Gier auction this year is different than it has been during thest few years!"

    Kirlia''s voice reached her all of a sudden. She nearly flinched, exposing that she hadn''t been paying attention to the announcement.

    Her gaze turned toward the young and beautiful attendant once again.

    "Is it because of the ancient ruin''s dungeon that has been found in the Teradan military camp? I heard that the dungeon has finally been lootedpletely. They found many runic armaments and even more books about the creation of runic armaments.

    But there were only a handful of books with some blueprints about either runic armaments, runic constetions, or the different runic solutions that can be used to achieve a higher potency with the runic constetions that get engraved.

    Does someone intend to sell such manuals at the Gier auction?" Kirlia asked, her interest increasing.

    While Kirlia spoke a lot, the veiled woman was silent. She merely eyed the people around her behind the veil.

    Her master was strict and disciplined her harshly.

    However, her teachings were exceptional and she learned a lot from them. That was why she always epted her Master''s orders, and tasks, without asking any unnecessary questions.

    "Exactly three manuals will be sold¡­one for runic armament blueprints, one for runic constetions, and one for basic runic solutions, and our Organization intends to bid for all of them. We need them to advance even stronger. Our n has to seed!"

    Kirlia''s eyes gleamed whenever she spoke about their big n. She never revealed the details but the veiled woman could tell that it was something important.

    The veiled woman had never seen anyone else but her Master from the organization she belonged to. There were too many weird things revolving around the woman who called herself Kirlia Maverick.

    Yet, until now, the veiled woman had never really cared about her intentions.

    Only when she got a light headache upon seeing Nial did doubts bloom in the deepest parts of her consciousness; doubt about herself, and about her master.

    Despite her doubts, the veiled woman remained quiet as she focused on the auction in front of her.

    "Hello everyone, as I''ve already introduced myself, I, Vivienne Kurt, will now present the first object of this year''s Gier auction!

    The first object is far from simple. In fact, we have an extraordinary item to sell, an ancient manual that has been found in the ancient ruin''s dungeon of the Teradan military camp.<sub> </sub>

    Many brave men and women died procuring the first ancient manual that is about to be auctioned off.

    Let me introduce you again to the ancient manual [Runiciers Path]!"

    While many powerhouses started to gossip among each other and felt excited about the ancient manual that had appeared in front of them, Miranda, Nial, and Mathias could only smile wryly.

    "Are you feeling fine, Nial?" Miranda asked out of nowhere. She hadn''t asked before because he had looked fine to her.

    But after taking a second nce at Nial, Miranda could tell that something was bothering him.

    ''Maybe I should figure out why he asked Kirlia''s disciple that question?''

    Yet, even before she could, Nial answered both the question she had asked and the one in her mind.

    "Yeah, I''m fine. I am probably just a little bit confused because I mistook the veiled woman for someone I know from Katu¡­

    Don''t mind it, I''ll be fine in no time." Nial referred to his well-being when he said that, not his confusion.

    The veiled woman was still someone he was intrigued about and he had to get to know whether his inkling had been correct or not.

    But that could wait for some time because the Gier auction was more important for them.

    "This ''ancient'' manual is already priced at 100,000,000$. I guess it will reach a few billion before these powerhouses stop increasing their bids, right?" He suddenly asked when hearing how high the bids had gone.

    Miranda just nodded her head with a faint smile while Mathias couldn''t help but shake his head before he got an idea.

    In an instant, he became excited, feeling as if he had received both a birthday and a Christmas present at once.

    "Don''t we have the same one? We should start making copies and sell them too. That way we will be able to earn even more than by creating runic armaments!"

    Mathias'' voice was loud enough to be heard everywhere, under normal circumstances. Fortunately, Miranda had set up a small voice-istion device because she knew that one of her two disciples would mess up a little bit.

    She had already heard about the ''secret'' intel that some ancient manuals from the ancient ruin''s dungeon would be auctioned today.

    Thus, she had made some preparations to be ready for every possible scenario they might face.

    Thanks to that Mathias'' outburst hadn''t been heard and Nial was able to exin to his friend why it was not feasible for them to recreate any of the manuals that were sold at the Gier auction.

    "If it were only about information, we could recreate them such as ordinary diaries or books that deliver information about simple procedures.

    That would be possible to recreate. However, if we''re talking about the blueprints and teaching materials for runic constetions, let alone runic armaments, we would be required to have a perfect understanding of each runic armament and constetion before we could copy them properly.

    Even then it wouldn''t be considered easy because there would still beplications if we interpret certain information differently. But then again, there are many ways leading to the correct answer, so different interpretations may as well lead to the same, correct result.

    And for now, even I have only the most basic understanding of the runic constetions that I''ve engraved on the casted ck Iron weapons."

    Mathias merely nodded his head at Nial''s exnation. He didn''t understand everything but he could tell that it would be quite difficult to copy the manuals for now.

    It would also limit the fortune they would make in the long-term because the number of created runic armaments would increase manifold the more books avable on learning how to create runic armaments would be out there.

    Thus, Mathias quieted down and epted Nial''s reasoning before his attention returned back to the Gier auction.

    It was quite boring because most items sold were not exactly helpful for them. Even if they found something even marginally useful, they couldn''t afford them.

    Their money was already spent before they sold the runic armaments, meaning that they had different ns with the money they would soon get their hands on.

    However, this turned out to be quite problematic because the second half of the auction had far more treasures in store for them than they expected there to be.

    "There is even Abyssal Steel, and an Earth Essence core¡­. Fuck it¡­"

    From being overly bored, Mathias nearly jumped up from his chair at the sight of the two materials that had been unveiled in front of them. They were of exceptional use for both him and Nial.

    But both friends could control themselves, knowing that the bidding price for them would be way too high for them to handle.

    Yet, even after they worked hard to suppress their desire to purchase the goods, Mathias'' entire confidence to ignore his temptation was shattered at the sight of the next item.

    "I need that¡­"

 Chapter 207 Elemental Affinity

    "And an elemental affinity with [Comprehension]... I need that¡­"

    When Mathias realized that there was an Elemental affinity crystal that was being auctioned, there was no way for him to calm down.

    This was even more apparent when he realized that it was an [Comprehension] Elemental affinity. They were extremely rare and thus very expensive.

    Many Originals would pay a lot for an [Comprehension] Elemental affinity because the affinity''s strength would always be strong as long as one had a high enough understanding of the ability.

    For Mathias, whose Innate ability was [Elemental Comprehension], Elemental affinities with the [Comprehension] tag were the most important. His strength would elevate manifold the moment he bound a new affinity to his mana core and he would continuously be stronger the more affinities he got his hands on.

    ''If I can bind a new Elemental affinity to my mana core the moment I reach the Prym rank, I''ll definitely be stronger than Nial!''

    Excitement coursed through Mathias'' body at the thought of bing stronger than Nial. Simultaneously, he knew that finding another Elemental affinity with the [Comprehension] tag might be quite difficult. It could take years to find another one if he was unlucky.

    That was why all three of them understood how important it was for Mathias to purchase the [Water affinity(Comprehension)] crystal.

    Earth and Water were quitepatible with each other and Mathias were already able to visualize numerous possible ways to attack and defend against opponents by using a mixture of both Elements.

    "I will support you with my funds to purchase the affinity crystal. Just pay me backter. But I''m not sure if there is someone else who is as eager to get their hands on the [Water affinity(Comprehension)] crystal as you.

    I might be amongst the richest Originals if we only consider wealthy individuals but the government, the military and many powerhouses present have their own ways to make great fortunes¡­so don''t be too hopeful!"

    Miranda wanted to support Mathias because she could tell that the affinity crystal was perfect for him. It would make things a lot easier, and if her wealth was able to help her disciple, she would readily support him.

    But even then, she wouldn''t go into bankruptcy for her disciple''s sake. They were still in need of money to purchase all kinds of goods, materials, and other things to create runic armaments and so on.

    "Thank you¡­" Mathias mumbled quietly before raising his hand the moment he heard that the bidding had started.

    "100,000,000$!" He shouted, his excitement overwhelming his usual timidness.

    The young female attendant looked at Mathias for a moment before her head flicked to the Witch of the South, who nodded her head faintly.

    "100,000,000$ from the Witch of the South." She said out loud while looking through the rows of powerhouses.

    Until now, Miranda hadn''t bothered bidding for a single item. Yet, the affinity crystal seemed to have gained her interest.

    Nheless, she had increased the initial price of 10 million dors to 100 million in an instant.

    Was she insane?

    "150,000,000$!"

    While everyone was still wondering why Miranda would quote such a high bid that was 10 times the starting price, another baffling bid came from the left side of the auction hall.

    It was Kirlia Maverick, who bid 150,000,000$ without blinking her eyes.

    She was agitated because it hadn''t been possible for her to purchase the ancient manual called [Basic Runic Armaments].

    As such, she wanted to get her hands on everything else that had even the slightest use for her, her disciple and the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    150 Million dors might exceed the value of the [Water affinity(Comprehension)] crystal even under normal circumstances, but Kirlia didn''t think highly of money.

    It could be earned easily and had no value for her and her organization. Most of them would have to spend hundreds of thousand dors in a day as long as they were to absorb and annex mana from high-ranked Origin crystal for just a few hours.

    "160,000,000$!" Mathias shouted all of a sudden, not allowing the young attendant to announce the price Kirlia had mentioned.

    "170,000,000$!" Kirlia tried to one-up him without hesitation.

    At that moment, Mathias wanted to shout again but Nial pulled his friend back to the chair he had just jumped off.

    "Calm down. They have more money than we have. Don''t act recklessly or you will turn into a poor beggar even if you get your hands on the water affinity crystal. Let me handle it!"

    Nial sounded confident about being able to handle the situation. This attracted Miranda''s interest. She didn''t n on intervening in Mathias'' bidding before, even after seeing how recklessly impatient he was being.

    Miranda had nned to teach Mathias a lesson, and force him to be indebted to her for decades if he kept acting in the same manner.

    Simultaneously, she also knew that Mathias was unlikely to get his hand on the Water affinity crystal as long as Kirlia was willing to sacrifice some of her own assets.

    But even then, Miranda didn''t expect Nial to have figured that Kirlia was richer than her. Was it so obvious? Actually not, so how did he arrive at this conclusion?

    "Why should they have more money than we have? Don''t you know that we have Tier-2 runic armaments, numerous other things to sell and that we''re rich?" Mathias looked at him, slightly angry that Nial wanted to intervene in his betting.

    He wanted to get his hands on the affinity crystal and he wouldn''t hold back from emptying his pockets to get what he wanted.

    However, Nial averted his attention to Miranda before he asked a doubt,

    "Isn''t Kirlia from the Heaven''s Gates organization? If that''s not the case we might have more money, but if it''s true, she should have more."

    Nial sounded quite calm but his heart was beating fast. He was guessing that Kirlia belonged to the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    His conclusion was partially derived on the basis of the fact that Kirlia''s strength was higher than everyone else present.<sub> </sub>

    Nial was not even able to fathom it since she had decided to conceal her strength for the majority of the time.

    Fortunately, he had noticed her hidden strength the moment she had released her entire power to suppress him and teach him a lesson.

    But this was not the only reason why he had guessed that Kirlia was a member of the Heaven''s Gates. Nial almost desperately hoped that Kirlia belonged to the Heaven''s Gates because he had yet to give up that the veiled woman was someone he knew¡­very well at that.

    "How do you know?" Miranda merely asked, slightly baffled. She didn''t expect Nial to connect the dots and conclude that Kirlia was from the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    Miranda wanted to tell Nial about it once they returned to her mansion from the Gier auction to prevent her disciple from doing something reckless.

    However, it seemed as if Nial had already gotten his hands on more information than she had expected.

    "I just guessed," Nial shrugged his shoulder before lifting his hand, not bothering about revealing more of his conclusion to Miranda.

    "190,000,000$"

    After he increased the price to 190 Million dors, Nial excused himself for a moment and essed his spatial ring.

    A book appeared in his hand as he stood up from his chair.

    He tried to crouch behind the chairs and hide before moving through the rows of the auction house, and approaching a specific direction.

    "What is he doing?" Mathias suddenly mumbled in confusion.

    He was not the only one confused but many others as well, including a handful of powerhouses, who asked themselves the same question as Mathias.

    Their curiosity about Nial''s sudden actions increased even further when Nial ended up in therge seating area that belonged to the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    ? ''Does he n to get attacked once again? Is he suicidal??'' A few powerhouses wondered while watching his actions in interest.

    They were quite interested in the young man''s n. However, when nothing happened to Nial, they were quite disappointed.

    He didn''t even stay in the Heaven''s Gates area for an entire minute. Yet, astonishingly enough, there was no further bidding for the [Water affinity (Comprehension)] crystal.

    Kirlia retreated from her bid and the auction hammer hit the wooden block,pleting the bidding for the [Water affinity (Comprehension)] crystal!

    "Congrattions to the Witch of the South for winning the bid for the Water affinity crystal. The final bid was at which the object was sold is 190,000,000$!"

    No one understood what was going on, not even Miranda.

    She hadn''t seen the manual Nial had been holding and was slightly worried that her disciple would do something stupid.

    However, the moment she saw Kirlia''s radiant expression, Miranda''s worries disappeared in the blink of an eye.

    "Just what did he do?!" Miranda mumbled, while her gaze followed Nial who returned unscathed from their seating area. He smiled slyly at his friend.

    "It''s nice to make a deal where you don''t lose anything. Mathias, how about you thank my genius intelligence for helping you save a few hundred million dors?"

    Nial knew that the price for the Water affinity crystal would have increased to several hundred million dors if Kirlia Maverick wouldn''t have backed off.

    Mathias would have simply kept on bidding without thinking rationally, at all.

    That was why Nial had made a small sacrifice and had approached the powerhouses seated in the area designated for Heaven''s Gate organization.

    "What did you do?" Miranda asked, her voice full of curiosity. She looked at Nial with gleaming eyes and expected an immediate answer.

    But Nial merely smiled and dramatically waited for a few seconds before he unveiled the truth.

    "Well, I gave her one of the few ''Originals'' we have of the [Basic Runic Armaments] manual. Fortunately, I didn''t auction them off now, otherwise, Miss Maverick would have continued bidding." Nial could only call them Originals because they weren''t able to copy them.

    Thus each of them could be considered an Original, even if that soundedpletely illogical.

    To Nial and Mathias, the [Basic Runic Armaments] manual was not actually worth a lot. They had a total of five ''Originals'' of this manual in their hands.

    However, they didn''t actually n on selling them yet because they had nned to show everyone how terrific even ungraded runic armaments were before selling the duplicates from some of the manuals they had.

    Simultaneously, they wanted runic armaments to remain scarce, which was another reason for them to be still considering what exactly they wanted to do with the various books both Nial and Mathias had in their possession.

    "You''re a genius, Nial! I would have never thought about buying off our onlypetitor!" Mathiasughed loudly.

    Nobody from outside their space could hear them but everyone could clearly see Mathias'' heartyughter. He was still standing and visibly happy, which caused some powerhouses to frown deeply.

    ''What happened there?'' A few men and women asked themselves after seeing Mathias'' appearance.

    But their dumbfoundedness only increased the moment their head flicked toward Kirlia Maverick as they were trying to get to know more information.

    What they didn''t expect to see was a radiant smile on the woman''s face. This was extremely weird and not natural because Kirlia Maverick never smiled¡­never!

 Chapter 208 Selfmade

    Kirlia Maverick was extremely happy and unable to keep a straight face, at all.

    The young veiled woman looked at her master without saying anything. No words were necessary and the veiled woman''s thoughts were not aligned with that of her master, either way.

    ''Who is that young man?'' She wondered, feeling the need to have a conversation with him increase.

    However, the veiled woman knew that it wouldn''t be possible for her to have a conversation with him, even if her master was currently happy about the young man''s action and seemed to have forgiven him for his earlier mistake.

    "He should have been one of the participants of the Teradan military camp. Did he obtain the [Basic Runic Armaments] manual from there? But why did he give it up so easily? He knew that it was auctioned off for 2.3 billion dors not too long ago. Is he stupid?"

    Even if she was happy, Kirlia couldn''t believe that someone was willing to exchange such an expensive manual for a crystal.

    ''Does he want to buy my favor by handing me the [Basic Runic Armaments]?'' Kirlia suddenly wondered as her head turned to Nial once again.

    She saw that Miranda and her two disciples were happily interacting with each other, seemingly unbothered about the loss of one of the [Basic Runic Armaments].

    This confused Kirlia even more because she knew that Miranda was the greediest human in existence whenever it came to procuring more knowledge.

    "Well, I will forgive your rudeness, kiddo. But don''t think that you''ve gained my favor!"

    Before he could reply, the young female attendant revealed two gigantic metal armors, each of them holding a three-meter-long longsword, making him turn at her.

    The metal armors looked majestic but one could see two tiny holes in both metal armors'' chest tes, indicating that they were damaged.

    Under normal circumstances, damaged or used goods wouldn''t be sold at an auction, let alone the prestigious Gier auction.

    However, the metal armor sets were way too big for humans to wear, to begin with.

    Thus, everyone''s interest was piqued the moment the young female attendant, Vivienne Kurt, revealed the truth behind the armor sets.

    "These two sets of armors are called Guardian Knights, Tier-2 runic armaments of the Puppet-type!

    They''ve been found on the higher floors of the ancient ruin''s dungeon located near the Teradan military camp.

    Even if they''re not in perfect condition, only one runic constetion in the hollow armor has been damaged!

    Each part of the armor will be auctioned separately, including the Tier-2 longswords.

    The starting bid for the helmet of the first Guardian Knight is 10,000,000$! Each subsequent bid cannot be lower than 100,000$"

    At the sight of the Guardian Knights, the government and the military froze and their faces paled.

    Of course, they knew about the existence of the Guardian Knights.

    However, they hadn''t shared any information about the puppet-type Tier-2 runic armaments with anyone else because they wanted to research the Tier-2 runic armaments before others.

    Their n was to recreate the Guardian Knight puppets that had been extremely troublesome for the military to handle.

    Numerous well-trained soldiers had died at the hands of the Guardian Knights inside the ancient ruin''s pce, resulting in a heavy loss for the military. On the other hand, not a single Guardian Knight was injured, or at the most had been barely scratched just like the two that were just being auctioned off.

    That made researching them extremely difficult as most Guardian Knight puppets were merely scrap, and not a single runic constetion was left fully intact!

    "We''ve received reports that the ancient ruin''s pce has been plundered by other Originals from the 17th to the highest floor. These Guardian Knight puppets belong to these kids, right? Who is selling them?" One of the Generals asked, his eyes searching through the auction house.

    However, it was only at this moment that the General realized that he was subjected to angry res of more than a dozen powerhouses.

    The powerhouses didn''t need much time to understand that the military and government had been secretive about the existence of something as unique as a puppet-type Tier-2 runic armament.

    Even the Tier-2 runic weapons were considered a ssified secret, which was why many powerhouses felt that they weren''t being taken seriously and respected by the government and the military.

    But it was the exact opposite that was the case.

    The government and military were afraid of being overthrown by the powerhouses if their own strength were to stagnate while that of the powerful families would keep increasing.

    In thest few years, this had been an apparent problem, which the government and military had nned to tackle by being the first to mass-produce runic armaments, make a fortune, and increase their soldiers'' strength!

    With the help of runic armaments, it wouldn''t be impossible to conquer various dungeons with fewer and less powerful Originals!

    Thus, researching and getting their hands on any kind of Tier-2 armament was of utmost importance.

    "We need to get each part of the Guardian Knight. The others shouldn''t even get their hands on the Tier-2 runic weapon!" A higher authority of the government suddenly announced while biting his lower lip.

    Even if many had feared the possibility of the Guardian Knights being sold sooner orter, they had hoped that it wouldn''t be at the Gier auction, where many influential families would get to know about the Guardian Knights'' existence.

    It would be troublesome to give out a satisfying exnation without the need to bend their knee and to apologize.

    But that was not the biggest problem here. The government and military had to get their hands on all pieces of the Tier-2 runic puppet, otherwise, the other families would be able to start their own research of Tier-2 runic constetions!

    And there were numerous different Tier-2 runic constetions engraved in each of the Guardian Knight''s armor pieces.

    "Tier-2 runic armaments? Were manuals about Tier-2 runic constetions found in the ancient ruin''s dungeon? If not then researching these Tier-2 runic armaments would be the only way to produce Tier-2 runic armaments on our own¡­I need at least one piece of this puppet''s armor!!"

    "A Tier-2 runic weapon? I''m a physical-type Original¡­if I can tell my researchers to research the Tier-2 runic weapon, they''ll be able to reproduce it in a few years, and I will be able to wield the Tier-2 longsword until then¡­ That''s perfect, I want it!"

    "I want the helmet, I bid 11,000,000$!!"

    "That helmet is mine, 15,000,000$!"

    "You guys are such fools! The helmet alone is already a treasure as long as a handful of Tier-2 runic constetions have been engraved on it, 50,000,000!!"<sub> </sub>

    Nial, Miranda, and Mathias looked at the unfolding scenario with bright smiles.

    They tried to hide their joy but that was hardly possible.

    "I knew that Tier-2 runic armaments are stronger than most Champion grade weapons, but to think that the powerhouses would jump at each other''s throats for a single piece of the Guardian Knight''s armor¡­not bad.

    The idea to show it as a single piece first before selling the Guardian Knights'' armor separated in pieces was definitely worth it."

    Miranda wouldn''t earn a single dor from the sold Guardian Knights'' armor but she was happy nheless.

    Her disciples were bound to earn a huge fortune, far more than they had estimated of earning, and that too just by selling a single Tier-2 Guardian Knight.

    Nial and Mathias had multiple Guardian Knights waiting to be taken out of their storage rings.

    ? However, selling everything at once would decrease their value tremendously. Miranda would take her time and pick the most influential auctions held all over the eight shelters throughout the year so that her disciples would gain the most from them.

    "Champion grade weapons? What''s that?" Mathias asked when he had calmed down a little bit.

    "The Champion grade is above the Superior grade. While Myth Superior grade weapons and equipment can be used by Originals with up to six Origin rings, weapons above the Superior grade can be made use of by Originals with more than six Origin rings.

    If you ever conquer an Abyss ranked dungeon, you will get your hands on Champion graded Origin crystals and materials. They''re required to create Champion graded weapons and other equipment.

    Each Champion graded weapon is rare and of exceptional value. Yet, Tier-2 runic weapons are on par with such weapons, at the very least."

    Miranda smiled as she cleared Mathias'' doubts. Only after Miranda finished her exnation, did both Nial and Mathiasprehend how terrifying Tier-2 runic armaments were, and that they were powerful enough for the 0.0001% of mankind''s strongest Originals to be used.

    Their value was manifold higher than expected and that was to their advantage. This realization made everyone smile brightly as they realized that they earned a huge fortune.

    "And I thought that I would be in a huge debt for purchasing the [Water affinity (Comprehension)] crystal. Looks like it will be a walk in the park to pay for everything."

    Even Miranda was slightly astonished about the fortune they had made with each piece of the Tier-2 puppet runic armament.

    It exceeded her expectations and allowed her to be happy as well. There was no need to be stingy anymore so she let her disciples splurge their money if they wanted to.

    In the end, the bidding fight for all pieces of the Guardian Knight''s armor went on for more than an hour.

    In that hour, Nial and Mathias made more than two billion dors each. This was great and solved all of their mary problems.

    "We should have purchased the Abyssal Steel, and an Earth Essence core, what a shame¡­" Mathias sighed deeply, feeling regretful.

    Nial was also a little bit sad about losing the two items but it was a thing of the past and the past could not be changed.

    There was no need to cry over spilled milk, even less because they couldn''t have known that they would earn such a huge fortune by selling a single Guardian Knight puppet armament each.

    Rather than being regretful of the past, Nial was excited about the future. This was even more important right now because the sets of casted ck Iron weapons were unveiled to the public.

    They were merely ungraded runic armaments and not of immense value for most powerhouses, however, there was a reason for them to be auctioned off at the Gier auction.

    "For the next item, or item sets to be precise, we have a total of 500 ungraded runic weapons. They were made out of ck Iron ore and engraved with the [Endurance] and [Sharpness] rune. They require a minimal amount of mana to be used.

    Even the Lowest quality Common grade Origin crystal harbors enough mana to activate these ungraded runic weapons for 10 hours!

    For our esteemed customer''s information, these runic armaments are as powerful as Lowest quality Common Myth weapons."

    After Vivianna said this, she waited for a reaction from the powerhouses. However, she didn''t receive any exciting apuse but could merely sense that everyone stared daggers at her.

    She flinched once and decided to continue speaking, instead of letting the dramatic silence drag on for long.

    "The ck yers, which is what we call them, will be sold in sets consisting of 25 pieces. The starting price for each set will be 250,000$ and each subsequent bid cannot be lower than 5,000$!"

    After the young female attendant opened the bidding, she had expected many powerhouses to start shouting their bids. Thus, she was fully focused to listen to every bid.

    However, instead of hearing numerous shouts reverberating through therge auction house, an eerie silence filled the room.

    For an entire minute, nobody said anything, and even the young attendant didn''t dare to say anything in the fear that she might do something wrong.

    ''Why is nobody saying anything?'' She just wondered, not realizing the meaning behind everyone''s silence.

    "Were¡­these runic armaments made by someone else¡­are they made by human hands¡­?" One of the powerhouses suddenly blurted out with doubtful eyes.

    ''How is that possible?''

    **

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 Chapter 209 What Is That....Low Profile?

    Because the 500 runic armaments were made out of ck Iron ore, and engraved with [Endurance] and [Sharpness], two of the easiest runic constetions to inscribe, there was almost no powerhouse who believed that the runic armaments had been found in the ancient ruin''s dungeon.

    Instead, all of them were pretty sure that the runic armaments had been manufactured by someone.

    All of the ungraded runic armaments they had seen so far were created out of unknown metals.

    There was not one exception, which was why it could be said to be ''weird'' and ''unrealistic'' to find 500 ungraded runic armaments made out of ck Iron ore all of a sudden.

    The ungraded runic armaments that had been found were not made of an extraordinary material or anything like that but nobody knew of them.

    Thus, it did not take them long to figure out that one of their own and a fellow human had created the sets of ck Iron Weapons.

    There was no other logical exnation of how all of them had exactly the same two runic constetions engraved upon them.

    "Hasn''t it only been slightly more than two months since the military camps ended? How did someone get their hands on all the necessary knowledge, manuals, and practice to start engraving runic armaments in such a short time?

    There are 500 ungraded runic armaments at that¡­ In only two months¡­ that is crazy¡­" One of the rather old powerhousesmented, clearly showing his astonishment.

    He felt no need to hide how astonished he was at the sight of whaty in front of him. He had read some information about runic armaments before. Thus, the old man could clearly tell that it was not easy to start inscribing runic constetions.

    It would require lots of practice, quite a bit of money, and a good understanding of runic constetions and runic armaments.

    ? "If we consider the time the Ancient ruin''s dungeon has been discovered as a starting point, you did not have only two months to do everything you''ve just said, but almost six months!" Kirlia suddenly eximed as she tilted her head to look at Miranda.

    Miranda, her childhood friend was currently seated in front of her with a calm expression on her face. Her blind disciple was simrlyposed and did not show any signs of being shocked, proud, or anything along those lines. His face was carefully neutral just like his master''s.

    However, Miranda''s other disciple was not that good at hiding his emotions and facial expressions. Mathias was smiling pridefully, which was how Kirlia knew that her guess was spot-on.

    ''So these kids got their hands on the necessary books and manuals and studied runic armaments along with Miranda when the participants were still in their training period.

    Are the books and manuals these kiddos procured the reason for Miranda to take in new disciples? No¡­ without talent she wouldn''t have even bothered about their existence, to begin with. I guess they attracted her attention on multiple asions, including the gains they made from the ancient ruin''s dungeon.''

    Kirlia was quickly connecting the dots and realized that her friend had indeed hit a jackpot.

    Even well-known Rune Inscribers were likely to require two or three months before they would be able to engrave their first runic constetion. This didn''t even include the time they needed to research runic armaments and other things, let alone the fact that it would also take time to learn how to properly engrave runic constetions on armaments.

    ''She and her disciples are several months ahead of everyone¡­well almost everyone, I guess. Not bad, not bad at all!'' Kirlia smiled while her mind kept rattling.

    On the other hand, many powerhouses were still trying to figure out how it was possible for someone to learn about runic armaments and to create a total of 500 exemrs in such a short time.

    Nheless, there were some quick-witted powerhouses, and all of them knew of three powerhouses, who had been present at the Teradan military camp and also had lots of time and funds at their disposal to research runic armaments.

    Two of these powerhouses were organizations, to be precise, the government and the military¡­and the third powerhouse was Miranda!

    After giving it considerable thought, everyone could tell that the 500 ungraded runic armaments belonged to Miranda as the higher authorities of the military and the government were eying the 500 runic armaments as if they were some treasures.

    "Only 250,000$ for a total of 25 ungraded runic weapons? 10,000$ for one weapon that is on par with the Lowest quality Common Myth weapon¡­We have to get all of them¡­"

    Even 50,000$ wouldn''t be expensive for one of such weapons. It would still be considered rather cheap.

    Thus, the military and government officials merely looked at each other with a faint smile before one of them began the bidding, representing the entire military.

    ''As long as our Soldiers can be equipped with ungraded runic weapons, we''ll be able to clear dungeons much more easily!''

    "500,000$!"

    The first bid shocked many. The starting bid had been doubled without hesitation. However, that was not something the military General could be bothered about.

    He wanted to scare away everyone else. Unfortunately, that didn''t seem to work pretty well as many powerhouses, who had private armies, joined the bid not long after.

    "505,000$"

    "525,000$"

    "600,000$"

    "700,000$!!"

    "1,000,000$!"

    While the bids kept rising, Nial, Miranda, and Mathias were happy to see their hard work was appreciated.

    Right now ungraded runic armaments were still scarce and the demand for each of them was extremely high. Thus, their price was manyfold their true market value.

    That was, at least, what Nial believed because the price to create a single ungraded casted ck Iron weapon didn''t even reach 100$.

    On average, they needed 10 kilograms of ck Iron ore to cast one weapon. ck Iron ore was not rare because there were three permanent Lowest Rookie dungeons where the government and two big miningpanies farmed tons of ck Iron ore from it, every single day.

    As for the mass-produced runic solution, the cost of producing one was even lower than that of the ck Iron ore.

    In the end, the price Miranda had to pay for the materials was probably only slightly above 50$ for each weapon simply because she bought ck Iron ore in huge masses, awarding her a big discount.<sub> </sub>

    Everyone in their small group was beyond happy about how much they were earning from ordinary ungraded runic weapons.

    It was exceptional and something they had to keep practicing in order to continue earning more.

    "So we can not only create our own equipment in the future as long as we be Runiciers but the fortune we''ll make today will definitely be enough to fund everything we want to do," Mathias mumbled his eyes on the young female attendant, who was doing her utmost to raise the price for each auctioned item.

    ''She is doing a great job. Please continue to get us more profit!!''

    Mathias was feeling giddy with all the money that was soon going to be his but he was trying to keep his emotions and expressions in check. Unfortunately, this was hardly possible and he knew that he had messed up with keeping a low profile.

    He had already noticed that the attention of some powerhouses had moved toward him, his friend, and his master.

    However, it was not as if he could change anything.

    Smiling apologetically, Mathias turned his head to the others. But what he saw next made him forget about saying sorry for the trouble he pulled the others into.

    "You guys are also unable to hide your expressions!"

    Miranda ignored Mathias''ment and kept smiling. She was more than satisfied with the happenings of the day.

    The more of their items were taken out for bidding, the richer her disciples became. It would help them a lot in getting closer to their goals, which was why Miranda was happy.

    However, what exhrated her was the fact that the auction would help her as well, simply because the military, government, and various powerhouses had already messaged her about potential deals.

    In exchange for ungraded runic armaments, they were willing to provide lots of money, materials and other items.

    This was great and it allowed Miranda to feel as if she had gained the upper hand once again.

    ''Now that they need me, they are begging me for their help¡­ well that''s how rats behave, but I didn''t expect them to be any better either way!''

    Miranda didn''t hide her smile anymore. However, instead of saying anything she simply waited for the Gier auction to end, which took quite a while because Nial and Mathias had auctioned off quite a few runic armaments.

    The items they auctioned were sought after more than any of the other items, resulting in an even bigger profit for the two young men.

    However, after some time had passed, they stopped adding the figures in their heads as the exact bnce of their bank ount was not important anymore.

    Rather, it was the fact that they had enough money for everything they nned to do.

    After the Gier auction ended, many powerhouses wanted to approach Miranda and even her disciples in the hope to get on their good books.

    But Miranda maneuvered them easily out of the auction hall before all three of them disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving behind many stupefied powerhouses.

    "This bitch. Now that she has something everyone wants, she acts like she is better than everyone else!"

    "She is so lucky to have found these disciples. Without them, she would have never been able to start producing runic armaments. So annoying¡­"

    "The entirest hour of the Gier auction was just an exploit. All of these runic armaments were sold over the market price¡­and why? Because all of us want to research runic armaments to recreate them¡­ fuck it¡­ please don''t tell me that all of the runic armaments sold in the Gier auction belonged to her¡­"

    Thest powerhouse, who spoke, sounded the most frustrated.

    It was only fortunate that he didn''t know that every single runic armament including the Tier-2 Guardian Knight puppets had belonged to Nial and Mathias aka Miranda''s disciples, or that they had many more runic valuable armaments that had yet to be revealed to the public eye!

    While many powerhouses were frustrated, even more of them were secretly messaging Miranda. All of them werepeting to win her favor and trying to get their hands on runic armaments and the manuals that were needed to create runic armaments.

    However, Miranda ignored all of them for now. They had just returned to her mansion and were beaming. Meanwhile, Mathias slumped on the couch in the living room, feeling a bit exhausted.

    "I guess that was it about maintaining a low profile¡­" He simply said while wiping the sweat off his forehead.

    "Who cares? We have more than enough funds now. There is no need for us to hold back in purchasing everything we need!" Nial stated while stifling a yawn as well.

    He was still feeling the after-effects of Kirlia''s pressure that had weighed him down.

    However, even more, important was Kirlia Maverick''s identity as a member of the Heaven''s Gates organization and her disciple, the veiled woman.

    Nial was still not sure what to think about the veiled women.

    At first, he believed that she might have been his sister. But there were way too many facts speaking against it, so he could only give up on that thought for the time being.

    "There is no need for us to maintain a low profile. Let''s continue to create runic armaments and study more runic constetions and runic armaments for a few hours every day.

    But that shouldn''t be the focus for you two. I want you guys to work hard in the following months. Dangerous times await us and the new generation will be capable of changing mankind''s fate!"

    Miranda was just saying encouraging words to Nial and Mathias so that they wouldn''t get arrogant about the huge fortune they had earned in a single day.

    However, she also knew that each of her words was nothing but the truth. Mankind''s fatey in the hands of the current new generation of Originals, and both Nial and Mathias would be two pirs of mankind''s future.

    That was something Miranda was certain about!!

 Chapter 210 10th Origin Rank

    More than two months passed in the blink of an eye.

    365 days had psed since Nial awoke his origin.

    It was just a day like every other. The shopping alleys were overflowing with customers, and window shoppers while Originals were conquering the dungeons inside the shelters, and trying to make a fortune with the loot they would amass that would be dropped by the dungeon monsters.

    Many were trying to be stronger, gain the respect of the powerful, and protect their loved ones.

    At this seemingly ordinary day, Nial had finally umted enough mana to initiate his final mana core erging.

    With an unbending will and the relentless pursuit of his goal which he achieved by working hard every single day, without taking even the slightest break, Nial was slowly yet steadily breaking down the wall that obstructed him from reaching the 10th Origin rank.

    Slowly and without any pressure on his mind, Nial finally broke down his mana core''s walls before erging his mana core.

    It had already beenrge, to begin with, and exceeded the normal limits a mana core ought to have. However, that didn''t obstruct Nial in any possible way.

    Instead, it allowed him to have far more mana than anyone else and to achieve things others could only dream of while being at the 10th Origin rank.

    When he had erged his mana core for thest time, Nial was satisfied with the result. He didn''t run into any roadblocks while erging and the empty core was slowly being filled with mana.

    It waspletely dried up and Nial continued to actively support the filling process of his mana core.

    However, owing to its huge size, absorbing and annexing enough mana to fill his mana core would take quite a while.

    But it was not as long as others would require because he had numerous high-quality Origin crystals, the Ciran taria technique, and a perfect mastery of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique at his disposal.

    Nial took the longest to attain a perfect mastery of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, however, it was definitely worth the efforts he had put in.

    Thanks to it, Nial''s control over mana was even better than most Seclon ranked Originals. Even Miranda would often doubt if Nial''s mana control had surpassed hers or not.

    Of course, this was merely a doubt she asionally had when she saw Nial''s terrifying talent.

    Others might envy Nial for his talent but not Miranda. She was quite happy that Nial had this terrifying talent and the potential to be one of the strongest Originals in the future.

    He had a good personality as well which made him a perfect candidate which others would look up to in the future.

    There was no reason for someone like her, who had long since passed the age where one''s growth was the fastest, and where one could still improve rapidly to envy him.

    It was not impossible for Miranda to be stronger but she would need far more time and potentially more money to keep advancing than someone around Nial''s age.

    Nial was a good boy and supporting him whenever it was possible was certainly something Miranda would never regret doing.

    Meanwhile, Mathias''prehension talent might not be as frightening as Nial''s, but it was also on par with theprehension of prodigies his age.

    If one were to add his potential, his Innate ability, and the fact that he was bound to be an exceptional individual in mankind''s rows as long as he was nurtured properly, he was no less important to Miranda than Nial.

    Mathias had reached a major profound mastery of the mana cirction technique he had been learning. This and the massive amounts of funds he had were what had allowed Mathias to finish the first step of creating his first Advanced Origin ring.

    As long as he kept striving, it wouldn''t even require him another six months to finish the creation of his first Advanced Origin ring.

    By then, he wouldn''t even be 19 years old.

    Mathias had awoken his Origin five months earlier than Nial. However, at the same time, Mathias was an entire year younger than Nial as well.

    Nial was unlikely to reach the Prym rank before the age of 20, but Mathias would! This was something the young man was extremely proud of as he looked up to Nial.

    Nial was more talented than he was, and his strength was also much higher. Nial''s understanding of most incidents that had happened was much deeper than anyone else''s, and he was able to escape tricky situations by thinking rationally and not letting emotions affect him.

    Furthermore, his personality was good and he had an unbending will.

    How could Mathias not feel like idolizing Nial?

    Thus, upon having surpassed his idol in something, it was only obvious for Mathias to be ted!

    Nial didn''t even feel thepetitiveness of his friend.

    He was focused on somethingpletely different almost all the time.

    When he reached the 10th Origin rank, there were quite a few things Nial wanted to do.

    However, the first one was to break the seal of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique''s hidden page.

    This required lots of mana, and his mana control was extremely urate. He needed to have a perfect mastery of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    Now that he had achieved this, Nial tried to break the seal that was extremelyplex.

    "Wait¡­is that also a runic constetion? So is that a seal and a runic constetion that is hidden from the eyes of those who don''t meet the requirements?"

    Nial''s knowledge about runic constetions had improved during thest two months. He was much more proficient with engraving runic constetions, learned a few more runic constetions to engrave and the knowledge of all the books he and Mathias still possessed which they had collected from the ancient ruin''s dungeon was slowly imprinted in his mind.

    That was why he couldn''t help but feel excited upon perceiving the doubleyered runic constetion. It was connected perfectly and performed two tasks at the same time; to hide and seal the hidden page.

    As he was interested in the runic constetions, Nial imprinted them in his mind, spending nearly an entire day, so as to not miss even the slightest detail.

    Afterward, he was ready to break the seal, only to be interfered with by Mathias, who rushed into his room without even thinking about knocking.

    "Nial, you have toe down! Miranda has just returned from a general meeting of the eight shelters, and¡­eh¡­something is weird¡­"

    Nial frowned upon hearing Mathias, but he got up from the ground nheless. Mathias sounded worried and considering that Nial had sensed Miranda''s presence, the general meeting of the eight shelters seemed to have some troublesome news for them.

    ''Living a peaceful life for a few months is the most I can get, is that it?''<sub> </sub>

    Thest few months had passed without trouble. The Dryx had been defeated, even those that were camping near the shelters in the wilderness.

    None of them was said to have survived and there hadn''t been a new Abyssal ranked dungeon''s sudden appearance near their shelters as well.

    Other than that, the Sacred Knights organization had beenying low for thest few months and nothing serious seemed to have happened.

    Nial knew that the peaceful time wouldn''tst forever. However, he had hoped that they would have a bit more time to be stronger.

    At least he hoped this to be the case until he would unseal the hidden page of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique and create his first Superior Origin ring.

    By then, he wouldn''t fear conquering any Expert dungeon, fighting Peak Prym ranked Originals and beasts, and so on.

    Unfortunately, he was not given the time, which Nial clearly realized when both he and Mathias arrived in front of Miranda.

    "It looks like the eight shelters, the military, and several organizations are ready to reim the third shelter, Juna."

    Miranda sighed after speaking before looking at Mathias and Nial, her frustration clearly visible on her face.

    ''Well, it''s great if they want to reim the shelter. I guess, they should do that if their confidence is high enough.'' Nial thought.

    However, he didn''t state his doubts out loud because he felt that there was more behind Miranda''s frustration than both he and Mathias could tell.

    "The Heaven''s Gates Organization said that they will take care of the Abyssal dungeon, and the Peak Hell dungeons in Juna.

    As for the rest, they''ve to be taken care of by the government, the other organizations and the military.

    Unfortunately, due to the incident that happened in the 10th Military camps, there seems to be ack of disciplined Prym ranked soldiers.

    I actually don''t believe that this is true, but let''s forget about that for a moment.

    Exining everything will probably take too long, so I should summarize the most important point of the virtual meeting with the other shelters¡­

    There are some Rookie ranked dungeons that can only be entered by Originals at the Origin rank¡­so you guys and many other Originals have been drafted by the military¡­what a joke¡­"

    Miranda seemed visibly agitated, and Nial could clearly understand her.

    ''Drafted? That is really a big joke. Why bother spouting nonsense about voluntarily joining the military, gaining huge benefits during thest 19 years, just to draft people out of nowhere.''

    Miranda was also right that the military wasn''tcking Prym ranked Elite Soldiers.

    They weren''t even short of prodigious Junior Soldiers at the Origin rank. There shouldn''t be the need for Mathias and Nial, two disciples of a powerhouse, to step in, let alone to be drafted into the military.

    If they would have been asked by the military in a formal way to join, it would be polite and ording to themon rules set up by mankind''s shelters.

    However, by drafting them all of a sudden and without even giving them a prior intimation, it was almost as if the military was openly trying to humiliate Miranda.

    During thest few decades, there had never been anyone who had been drafted. The military had too many applicants, ranging from ordinary citizens to young Originals, who had the talent but werecking the necessary background to grow strong.

    That was why it was even weirder for them to get drafted.

    "Did someone else belonging to an influential background get drafted? I guess some heirs of influential families have been asked to join the conquest of reiming Juna, but I doubt that they''ve been drafted"

    Nial sensed that something was off, and Miranda could only nod her head.

    "I have yet to investigate the situation but you and Mathias have been mentioned explicitly when they spoke about drafting people to join the conquest.

    Some of the Generals I''ve known for quite some time looked at me apologetically when the two of you were mentioned.

    It was almost as if they didn''t actually want to force you two but that they had to ensure that you two joined the conquest."

    Miranda was deep in thoughts, and speaking out loudly, aware that Nial and Mathias stood in front of her.

    "That simply means they need us. They need to make sure we are there because someone probably demanded us to be there. And they have enough power tomand the military."

    Nial didn''t know that they were important enough to be drafted. It wouldn''t be necessary for them to be there, in his opinion.

    At least, he couldn''t imagine that to be the case.

    However, there was one point he was confused about.

    ''Who would want them to be there? For what reason?''

    "Influential enough tomand the government or military¡­ The Heaven''s Gates organization?" Nial guessed.

    ''Is that it? But why?'' Miranda thought, not sure if that was the correct answer.

    **

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 Chapter 211 Ancient Origin Rings

    In the end, there hadn''t been a lot of detailed information for Miranda to share with Nial and Mathias.

    They had been drafted to join the reiming conquest of mankind''s third shelter, Juna. It would start in three months and the duration they were drafted for would end with thepletion of the conquest.

    Miranda had no idea why it was necessary to wait for three months before they would reim Juna because she didn''t think that such a long preparation period was necessary.

    She also didn''t know for sure why Nial and Mathias had been enlisted in the military. It was weird and to her, it felt like someone simply wanted to ensure that these two Originals would be a part of the conquest by hook or crook.

    The military had ignored the fact that they were the disciples of the Witch of the South, which was a direct offense against her because disciples of powerhouses were unofficially not allowed to be drafted without their master''s prior permission. After all, there were usually more than enough soldiers for the military to get enlisted.

    Furthermore, powerhouses such as the Witch of the South had done more than enough for mankind to receive certain benefits, including trying to ensure that their disciples didn''t have to encounter any difort, anywhere.

    But that was ignored, and she was not even allowed to join the conquest due to various reasons, which made her even more aggressive.

    This was also why Miranda could only calm down when she received a notification on her Originals bracelet.

    "Kirlia just messaged me¡­she will join the conquest of Juna as well. She also asked me if I knew why you two were drafted." Miranda read in confusion.

    Nial''s ears perked up upon hearing this.

    "So Kirlia is not the one, who wanted us to join the conquest?"

    At first, he was pretty sure that it had been Kirlia, who had asked the military to get them enlisted.

    Nial presumed that he had messed up on hiding his dark energy perfectly in front of her, but that didn''t seem to have been the case.

    ''Is it not the Heaven''s Gates organization, who wants us to join the conquest? Who else would have the necessary power to force the military to do what they want?''

    In the end, Nial could only shrug his shoulders, and ept that the situation was quite confusing.

    "Will only Kirlia join the conquest or her disciple as well?"

    Nial didn''t intend to hide his interest in Kirlia''s disciple. He wanted to find out her true identity. At best, he could use his Mana Sense on her while she was not wearing the veil.

    This would help him to determine whether the veiled woman was potentially his sister, or if his hopes were for naught.

    The majority of clues spoke again about the fact that she was his sister, but hope was the only thing Nial had, so he made use of that.

    "I guess so. I doubt that she would leave her disciple alone in the Heaven''s Gates Organization. I heard that they''re quitepetitive which is caused by the Disciple ranking board they have." Miranda added without hiding anything. And, it was her words that dragged him out of his rumination.

    ''Disciple ranking board. What is that?'' Both Nial and Mathias wondered, which Miranda could also see based on the expressions of her disciples.

    "The Disciple ranking board in the Heaven''s Gates Organization is quite simple. The disciples fight against each other every now and then, and the better the ranking the more resources the Organization will give you."

    The two disciples nodded their heads, and Nial averted his attention to Mathias afterward.

    "We have three months. How about you finish creating your Advanced Origin ring by then?"

    There might be multiple dungeons that restricted Prym ranked Originals from entering them but nobody told them that they were not allowed to keep advancing.

    As long as Mathias entered the Prym rank, he wouldn''t have many issues in conquering Expert dungeon, let alone unrestricted Rookie dungeons.

    Nial wanted his friend to reach the highest possiblebat power before they departed to Juna. That was even more important because the situation was simply too odd.

    There were multiple reasons for Nial to believe that either someone was scheming against them or that he had identally pulled Mathias in a mess he, or rather his dark energy had created.

    "I need, at least, four months to advance, potentially even longer." Mathias said while shaking his head.

    However, Nial retorted to his friend with a faint forced smile on his lips, "If we minimize the times we enter dungeons, and the time we spent trying toprehend the Elementus Mylee technique it should be possible for you to pull together more than enough time to create your first Advanced Origin ring.

    If that is still not enough you can also decrease the time you spent researching and creating runic armaments."

    Mathias seemed to have been convinced after hearing Nial.

    He nodded his head even if he was not fully convinced about the necessity to enter the Prym rank before the start of the conquest.

    ''It should be important to be at the strongest when entering the wilderness, let alone an abandoned shelter¡­but there will be more than a dozen powerhouses and hundreds, up to more than a thousand Seclon ranked Originals.

    Is it really necessary for me to rush advancing to the Prym rank?''

    Mathias looked at his friend for a few seconds but he couldn''t detect that anything was wrong. Nial wouldn''t force him to do something he didn''t want to and his suggestion was only for Mathias'' good.

    That was something Mathias understood because he knew his friend well.

    However, that was also why Mathias chose to ept Nial''s suggestion, especially because he knew his friend, and that he didn''t give any unreasonable suggestions.

    ''Something is odd about this conquest, and Nial believes I have to be stronger¡­''

    With that understanding, Mathias excused himself. He didn''t want to waste more time and went for a huge shopping spree to get his hands on more than ten thousand high-quality Superior graded Origin crystals.

    On the other hand, Miranda and Nial were left in the room, while Gianna stood in front of the living room, waiting to receive an order from her master.

    "I don''t feel good about this conquest. Usually, the Heaven''s Gates Organization doesn''t meddle in our affairs. They didn''t care about the destruction of shelters in the past so it shouldn''t matter to them if one or five shelters would get abandoned.<sub> </sub>

    Something doesn''t fit¡­" Miranda was not actually speaking to Nial. She was mumbling to herself and trying to figure out what was going on by going over all the facts in her head yet again.

    But after she figured that this was not helpful, her head turned to Nial.

    "It would be best if you start with the foundation of your Superior Origin ring as well. As long as you can create a rough foundation before the conquest begins, your strength will increase by quite a bit. It should help you to conquer all kinds of unique Rookie dungeons that Prym ranked Originals are not able to enter."

    Miranda was sure that Nial would never have problems with Rookie dungeons but she still wanted Nial to be at his strongest when the conquest starts. Thus, she wanted to give him a few more tips about Superior Origin rings.

    She had conducted thorough research on them, especially for Nial.

    "I won''t create a Superior Origin ring," Nial replied with a mysterious smile covering his lips before he turned away and left the room.

    "What do you mean? Don''t tell me you will waste your talent and everything you worked for by creating an Advanced Origin ring before the conquest begins. Don''t you dare do that, it will cripple your future!

    There haven''t been many Originals capable of creating Superior Origin rings but all of them can vouch for how terrific they are inparison to Advanced Origin rings!!"

    Miranda was concerned that Nial would make a big mistake. However, the young man didn''t even turn around as he reassured his master.

    "Don''t worry, I won''t settle for anything worse than a Superior Origin ring. Just trust me."

    After he said this, Nial left the living room. He didn''t return to his room but went outside, and sat down in the backyard, where he took the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual out of his storage ring.

    "I didn''t unseal much of it yet because I wasted too much time imprinting the seal in my mind but I''m kind of intrigued now," Nial mumbled to himself while smiling as three words written in golden appeared in his mind.

    [Ancient Origin rings]

    The hidden page was something that had grabbed Nial''s interest a while ago and he had been wanting to unseal it for quite some time already.

    Before he was already sure that it would help him a lot in the near future, which was why he wanted to unseal it right off the bat.

    ''If I was already able to perceive slight distorted information through the seal before, after unsealing it, It should definitely gain a better understanding of it!''

    Nial essed his storage ring, and a momentter more than hundreds of Low quality Superior Origin crystals appeared around him.

    He used the mana within them to insert it into the seal before he started to control everything neatly. It was quite difficult to undo the seal but Nial had long since reached a perfect mastery of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    Thus, he met the requirement to undo the seal, even if it would take quite some time.

    Nial was not sure how much time had actually passed but when the seal was undone, he sighed in relief.

    For a few seconds, he took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves, and wiped off the sweat that trickled down his temples. By now, Nial''s mana veins felt oddly sore.

    However, he was satisfied with the result, which was why he sported a bright smile on his face.

    ''So the seal is still there but I can see the contents of the hidden page in my mind? That prevents me from sharing the knowledge mentioned about the hidden content with everyone in a direct way, not bad.''

    He lost track of time as he immersed himself in reading through the information that had appeared in his mind.

    It was extremely detailed and spoke about every important, seemingly less important, and insignificant point one had to pay attention to while creating a special type of Origin ring.

    This special type of Origin ring was called an Ancient Origin ring and it required several times the mana an ordinary Superior Origin ring required to be created.

    ''Therger my Mana core, the higher the potential of the Ancient Origin ring. It can even be created while being an ordinary 10th Origin rank Original¡­interesting.''

    It was even possible to create an Ancient Origin ring after other types of Origin rings had been created beforehand.

    However, its use would diminish greatly if the primary Origin ring was not altered in the way of the Ancient.

    Nial was still not sure what the ''way of the Ancient'' truly meant but he understood that Ancient Origin rings were much stronger and more powerful than ordinary Origin rings.

    Their effect would elevate the more Ancient Origin rings he would create, and once he finished creating nine Ancient Origin rings, it would be possible for him to fuse them.

    This astonished Nial greatly because each Ancient Origin ring was different, and each of them required to be set up in the correct way for it to function.

    In the end, the Ancient Origin ring had engravings on it; extremelyplex engravings. While the engravings mentioned in the section that belonged to the first Ancient Origin ring were already considered hard to engrave, the difficulty andplexity kept increasing.

    Nial sorted all the information he had read and processed it after which he understood that creating the secondary Ancient Origin ring would be, at least, twice as difficult as the creation of the first Ancient Origin ring.

    ''Even if it''s not for money or to create runic armaments for myself and the people around me, it looks like I need to spend lots of time bing a great Runicier¡­''

    For now, Nial was not confident in creating the primary, let alone secondary Ancient Origin ring.

    However, the ovepping and amplifying effect they would create the moment more than one Ancient Origin ring were to revolve around his mana core was definitely worth it.

    ''If I were to create a Superior Origin ring as my primary Origin ring, it would probably take nine months, even with my perfect mastery of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    Will it take two years to create an Ancient Origin ring with the size my mana core has?''

    Nial knew that everything should be fine as long as his talent and determination to be a Runicier were strong enough. The biggest problem in the creation of the Ancient Origin ring was the engravings after all!

    ''It will be fine, there is no need to be worried about time. I''ll have more than enough of it once I return from the conquest.'' He reassured himself.

 Chapter 212 For Fame Or The Future

    Three months had passed in the blink of an eye in which everyone was busy bing stronger as quickly as possible.

    However, that was easier said than done. Spending 20 hours a day on training on average left both Mathias and Nial extremely exhausted.

    Even with the nourishment and energy mana provided, it was clear that they were overworked.

    Every single day, the two had to use the nutrition capsules to make full use of the four hours of the break they received in which they slept soundly.

    While Mathias spent around 14 hours a day practicing the Ciran taria technique to create his first Advanced Origin ring, he was also focused on increasing his control and uracy of Mana.

    Through the mana control training and the technique he executed to improve his mana control, he progressed slowly.

    Every few minutes, Mathias could perceive that he was able to absorb more mana in 14 hours than it had been the case beforehand.

    This was motivating enough to prevent him from going insane with all the boredom he was feeling.

    It was certainly not interesting to spend all day sitting in Miranda''s mansion and focusing on absorbing Mana, annexing the mana that was absorbed into his body, or improving his mana control.

    To add some variety to their schedule, he and Nial went out hunting three times in a week, so that they wouldn''t get rusty inbat, and potentially increase theirbat awareness as well.

    They improved slowly but steadily and grew better in fighting with every week that passed.

    The moment Mathias finished creating his primary Advanced Origin ring, his strength was elevated by several times.

    His physique was enhanced while the impurities within his body, especially those in his mana veins were expelled and his control over mana increased manyfold nearly instantly.

    Even his mana became stronger while circting through the Advanced Origin ring, clearly showing how terrifying and important Origin rings were.

    Mathias'' mana got, at least, 50% stronger thanks to his primary Advanced Origin ring. This was great, but even more so was the fact that he could finally engrave another ability to his mana core.

    Without any hesitation, Mathias had chosen his second ability. Unsurprisingly, it was the [Water affinity (Comprehension)], which he bound to his mana core.

    He now owned two Elemental affinities with the [Comprehension] tag in addition to his Innate ability [Elemental Comprehension]. As long as Mathias worked hard and found a way to use all of it together, there wouldn''t be even the slightest problem in conquering Low Expert dungeons all by himself.

    Meanwhile, Nial was obviously far from creating his first Ancient Origin ring. Quite some time would have to pass before he would reach the Prym rank.

    But that was not something he was actually bothered about. His control over mana kept increasing as he continued to practice the training methods he had read about in the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual.

    His talent as a Runicier was questionable but oddly enough his Innate ability [Mana Sense] was quite helpful to detect the ws of engraved runic constetions rtively easily.

    With [Mana Sense] it was even possible to determine which the runic solution was not suitable for the engraved runic constetion.

    If the wrong runic solution was used, the full potential of the runic constetion couldn''t be released, even if the runic constetion had been engraved perfectly.

    Nial had noticed many interesting things about Runiciers in the past few months.

    In the beginning, it had been a little bit boring to repeatedly practice engraving the most basic runic constetion on a piece of paper.

    However, the more time passed and the better Nial got at engraving runic constetions, the more intriguing he found it to be.

    He learned a lot about multiyered runic constetions, theplexity and obstacles one tackled while engraving them single-handedly and much more.

    Everything revolving around Runiciers became much more interesting. But this was also owed to the fact that the hidden content written in the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual seemed to have opened an entirely new world to Nial.

    Attempting to carve engravings on an Origin ring was simply insane, and he would have found it absurd had anyone asked him to do this a few months ago.

    But right now? Nial was highly inclined to do so. And all of this was due to the content written in the hidden content he had procured.

    Nial had also told Miranda about achieving a perfect mastery on the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique because she should be able to get her hands on the same knowledge he had procured.

    At first, Nial had simply nned on sharing information about the Ancient Origin rings with her and Mathias. However, this was somehow not possible because his mind blocked off the hidden content whenever he thought about revealing the information he had gotten his hands on.

    This was weird but simrly interesting if one were to ask him.

    "Just where did Junades get this book from? Was it from another Ancient ruin, potentially a higher ranked one? It could have been a different type of unique dungeon as well¡­"

    Nial had no idea how Junades had gotten his hands on this technique or why he had never practiced it to the perfect mastery.

    However, Nial was happy to have been rewarded with that manual when he ''won'' the bet against Junades in the spar long ago.

    When it was necessary, he would research more about the manual''s origin but that could wait for the time being. After all, there were many other things he had to research, and he had yet to find even a spare minute to do stuff out of his tight schedule.

    ''It might not bother me right now, but this Ankh is truly¡­.weird. Just what is it even doing? I cannot sense the slightest inconvenience or change¡­other than the fact that my skin seems to have be better than before.

    I might feel healthier than before as well but that doesn''t necessarily have to do with the Ankh.''

    Nial was always frowning at the thought of the Ankh, the Symbol of Life, that was engraved on his Odyssey seed.

    It bothered him but there was actually nothing he could do about it. Thus, he reminded himself to not waste his precious time thinking about it. Not until he would have the possibility to find out more about it.

    There was only one more day left before they would depart to the third shelter to finally reim it.

    The conquest was the most anticipated event the civilians awaited because never before in history had mankind dared to reim a lost shelter.

    This was also because the Heaven''s Gates Organization had distanced itself from the general popce as well as the government. And without their help, the government never had the necessary strength to reim a shelter.

    This had changed now as the Heavens Gates chose to help out.

    Using thest day to finish their preparations, the two young men simply slept for 24 hours.<sub> </sub>

    Even after sleeping for an entire day, they were still tired but that was fine.

    As they left Miranda''s mansion, she wished them good luck while simultaneously threatening to haunt and kill them if something were to happen to them and bid them farewell afterward.

    "I hope they''ll be fine. I mean nothing should happen as long as the Heaven''s Gates'' members don''t mess up the missionpletely.

    Kirlia won''t mess up¡­I know that¡­"

    Miranda tried to reassure herself that everything would be fine. However, she didn''t sound convinced, at all.

    ''Just why do I have so many tasks now? They''re deliberately trying to hold me back from following them¡­''

    Her gaze was trained on the broad backs of her two disciples as they vanished into the shuttle, driving off toward their first conquest.

    Meanwhile, as Miranda voiced out her worry openly, Gianna, the young female butler, could only smile confidently.

    "They''ll be fine. Nial is there. He is powerful, and far stronger than I wish to acknowledge¡­"

    It was rare for Gianna to praise anyone. In fact, she would never praise a man, neither secretly nor in front of anyone else.

    That was also why Miranda looked at her butler with slight astonishment in her eyes.

    ''Since when does she like Nial? Didn''t she hate him? Or does she just acknowledge his strength? I wonder where that confidencees from¡­''

    Miranda didn''t ask Gianna what she meant but she smiled faintly upon seeing that her butler seemed to have a change of heart.

    However, despite her butler''s confidence, Miranda couldn''t help but feel a bit uneasy.

    ''Just don''t die, kiddos!''

    Meanwhile, Nial and Mathias didn''t have to drive long before they reached their destination.

    They met at the city center''s za, exactly where the Dryx''s invasion had urred.

    However, instead of an invasion of vicious and dangerous beings like in hisst experience, Nial was able to sense a huge crowd of people surrounding the za.

    There were probably tens of thousand civilians looking at the center of the za, where close to 5,000 Originals were standing.

    Many of them were extremely powerful and at a high rank, while others were quite popr heirs, well-known Soldiers, and many other Originals that were more or less known by the public.

    "Why are there so many Originals? Isn''t this a joint mission with the other seven shelters? Is it really necessary to send out so many people?" Mathias was baffled. He was familiar with many of the present Originals as well.

    This astonished him even more as he could see more than two dozen Originals of his age, all of whom were at the Prym rank. They came from influential families and were known for their terrifyingly high talent.

    On the other hand, there were also many promising Originals at the Origin rank, participating in the conquest.

    "Well, the jury is still out on how many dungeons have manifested in Juna, how many dungeon beasts roam through Juna and the surrounding area and how often we''ll have to conquer the permanent dungeons to release their overflowing energy so that they won''t keep releasing more and more beasts.

    That''s also why there are so many Originals. At least, that''s one of their reasons to participate in the conquest.

    Another is that they''ll gain lots of fame by participating in the first reiming mission of a shelter. This has never happened before and their names will be written in golden ink in the pages of the history of mankind." Nial said lightly without giving it much thought.

    Both Nial and Mathias had been forced toe here, so there was nothing they could do. They had to survive- that was their mission. Everything else was at a much lower priority.

    "By the way, we don''t have much information about the third shelter''s current state, which is why we''ll have to use different teleportation circles than usual.

    We won''t be able to get teleported close to the shelter but we''ll have to find our way through the wilderness."

    Nial''s casualment attracted Mathias'' attention.

    He was aware of it but hearing it once again didn''t make him feel any better.

    Only Nial''s demeanor that was at ease, allowed Mathias to be as calm as his friend.

    ''I have be stronger than Nial, so I should be as calm as he is!''

    Clenching his fists, Mathias felt the determination within him rising. He gave him a confident smile and looked ahead.

    However, his friend''s lifeless eyes looked at an empty space while his Mana sense was spread all over the za, using up a tiny bit of his mana.

    ''Ah, I forgot, he cannot see¡­how dumb of me..'' Mathias thought in embarrassment, happy that he didn''t say anything stupid out loud.''

    **

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 Chapter 213 Into The Wilderness

    Their arrival was not awaited so nobody spoke to them. To most Originals, both Nial and Mathias were insignificant.

    They were not well known and most didn''t know that they were Miranda''s disciples either.

    She didn''t hide it but it was not as if Miranda openly told everyone that she took in new disciples either.

    However, that was to Nial and Mathias'' liking as they had some time for themselves.

    It allowed them to spend more time getting to know the strength of the other Originals, to see who they might know and a few other pieces of information, which they could hear just by listening to the gossip all around them.

    The attention all Originals received from the civilians was ignored by Nial, while Mathias went stiff as a board, giving his best not to do something stupid.

    "There are a few members of the Sacred Knights. I can even see their leader amongst them." Mathias suddenly mumbled while pointing at a specific direction.

    Nial had already perceived quite a few powerful individuals all around the za, but the direction Mathias pointed at was the most intriguing.

    After Nial visualized everything around him, he could make out the rough appearance of the Sacred Knights, including the leader.

    He wore rather ordinary armor that clung tightly to his broad shoulders. One could easily see the muscles that rippled beneath his armor, showing that he knew how to take care of his body very well.

    ''His strength is definitely on par with Kirlia''s. Is he already at the Prometheus rank?'' Nial frowned, not knowing whether both Kirlia and the leader of the Sacred Knights were at the Prometheus rank or if they were in possession of 9 Advanced Origin rings.

    It was possible for the Sacred Knights leader to possess multiple Superior Origin rings as well.

    The truth about their actual strength was not exactly important for Nial right now, simply because he was weaker than all of them, either way.

    That was why he averted his attention to the neers, who made him feel far more interested than the potential incarnation of the God of Devils and Saints.

    ''Kirlia and the veiled woman are here!''

    Even if Nial didn''t want to irk Kirlia or her student in any way and face her wrath, he simultaneously hoped that it would be possible for him to figure out more about the veiled woman.

    The only thing he wanted was to be able to visualize her face, just for one second. If his assumption was wrong and he was misunderstanding the woman for his sister, he would never bother about them again.

    However, if he were to be right, Nial would have finally taken a big step toward reuniting with his family.

    But even if he wanted to see the face hiding behind the veil, it was not as if he could approach her and simply tear apart her veil right here and right now.

    That was why Nial decided to spread out his mana once again.

    All of a sudden, he heard a few startled gasps in the most crowded area of the za.

    The other Originals all around began to move as well, striding to the area where everyone had gathered before.

    While the Originals from the outer areas of the za slowly made their way to the center, the crowded area of the za was slowly thinning despite the influx of people.

    More and more Originals disappeared, only for others to rece them. However, they disappeared as well a few secondster.

    Nial perceived a teleportation array below the za''s center. He grasped Mathias and moved toward the teleportation array.

    "I guess the conquest is starting in a rather informal and unceremonial way," Nial remarked though he did not mind it.

    Mathias nodded his head feeling unbothered that there was no ceremony before the conquest began.

    "I wonder where we''ll end up." Mathias said feeling a bit excited as well as curious about their destination.

    However, what he didn''t actually expect to find out was that they would be using additional teleportation arrays after they had been teleported away from the za''s center.

    They had ended up in a huge underground hall and some Soldiers had led them to one of the more than 20 teleportation arrays Nial could perceive in the huge hall.

    ''Did they teleport us to an intersection that leads to the different shelters? If so, does that mean each of the teleportation array represents a shelter?''

    If that was true, the huge underground hall must be quite old by now. It must have been build when mankind had still more than 20 shelters, after all.

    Nial was quite impressed that the huge underground hall had not yet been reduced to ruins if his prediction was truly correct.

    But there was no time for him to research more about the underground hall, such as the reason for it to stay rtively unscathed for such a long time.

    He and Mathias arrived in front of an inconspicuous teleportation array that brought them to apletely different ce.

    When the second teleportation waspleted, a fresh gust of wind sshed on Nial''s face. He took in a deep breath of air and smiled faintly before he expanded his range of perception using some traces of mana.

    His Mana Sense was fully unleashed and he tried to perceive everything around him.

    The ground below them felt a little bit soft and by perceiving his surroundings, Nial quickly noticed that they had ended up in a region that was sandwiched between a swamp and ins.

    It was the second time for him to leave the shelters and enter the wilderness if one could count the nameless ind as wilderness.

    That was also why Nial was quite intrigued about the surrounding area, and the differences in the environment.

    However, he quickly realized that everyone was tense. Not a single Original dared to ck off. They immediately formed groups and were ready to fight right at this instant if need be.

    But that was not necessary because no dungeon beast was in their immediate surroundings. At least, Nial was not able to perceive any hostile moving lumps of mana.

    "There are more than 5 dungeons in our vicinity." Nial suddenly said when he noticed the five dungeon portals which he could perceive.

    Mathias was even more nervous than the others. He felt that he had to be strong and reminded himself that he had to give his all to outshine the others.<sub> </sub>

    This was merely an urge he felt, and Mathias was not actuallypelled to do it; outshine others. Surviving in the conquest today was more than enough.

    "It looks so beautiful¡­the scenery is full of life¡­" He suddenly said, not even listening to Nial''sment.

    When looking through his surroundings, Mathias couldn''t help but exin.

    He was stiff and ufortable with so many powerful Originals around him but the more time passed the easier it was for him to focus on the scenery around them.

    Mathias was impressed by the things he perceived, and his body''s tension eased a bit.

    Nial didn''t say anything about the beautiful scenery but that was only obvious. His visualized perception did not allow him to find many differences between the interior of dungeons and the wilderness. More or less, everything looked the same to him.

    But there were probably some differences, which one would have to see to realize them, otherwise, Mathias wouldn''t be so baffled by what he saw all around him.

    All of a sudden, while many other Originals appeared behind them one after another, a huge group of more than a thousand beasts charged toward them.

    Nial had quickly noticed them but the stronger Originals had already taken note of them beforehand.

    Most of the beasts charging at them were at the Prym rank. They were not too strong but their numbers were higher than the Originals, who had already arrived in the wilderness.

    Thus, three stronger Originals stepped forward, with two of them unsheathing their weapons.

    Meanwhile, the third Original conjured more than a hundred crescent-shaped wind des with a simple flick of his wrist.

    Without waiting for the others to do something, the third Originals continued to move his hand to which the crescent wind des reacted ordingly.

    They sted forward and shot at the charging hordes of the Bulls.

    The moment the crescent wind des encountered the Bulls, shrieks and howls reverberated through the ins, blood spurted like gushing fountains, and body parts were flung through the surrounding.

    However, the Originals controlling the wind des wasn''t done yet even after more than a hundred Prym ranked bulls had died at his hand.

    He continued to control the crescent wind des, forcefully averted their trajectory to pierce through the hide and flesh of the bulls, and continued with his ughter-feast.

    The other two Originals looked at the third one with a deep frown, feeling that they had just been overpowered without receiving a chance to do anything.

    But they kept mum and stepped back to avoid getting embarrassed any further.

    In less than a minute, the Original had killed the entire horde of Prym-ranked bulls. More than 100 Origin crystals had dropped but the young man, who was wearing a robe that fluttered in the gust of wind that continued to whoosh around him at all times, didn''t make a move to collect the monster corpses, let alone the Origin crystals.

    While the Original had been fighting, Nial and Mathias had been pushed forward. The Originals behind them, who had just been teleported, pushed each other around because the area was too crowded.

    Thus, without even wanting to, the two Originals had ended up closer to the third Original.

    "It''s such a waste to leave the corpses behind¡­ The tendons of Prym-ranked bulls are great to create Tier-0 runic bows. Maybe if tempered properly, they would be endurable enough to create Tier-1 runic bows with. As for their horns, they look quite sharp and sturdy as well. They would make good arrowheads, daggers, and so on.

    And these bulls were even physically attributed, so their body parts have been tempered with neutral mana."

    Nial might not be able to create Tier-1 runic armament or even Tier-0 runic armaments for now but he was still a little bit sad that such precious corpses were simply littered on the ground.

    To observe the fight just like the others could, Nial was forced to expand his range of perception and to focus all his senses in the direction of the battlefield.

    The fight had been around one or two kilometers away from them, meaning that it shouldn''t be that much of a hassle to collect the corpses.

    Many Originals looked at him with slight interest when Nial began to speak about runic armaments and how useful the bull corpses were.

    However, when they saw that Nial was blind, had not even reached the Prym rank, and was less than 20 years old, most of them snorted before they turned their heads away.

    Nial was not fazed by their behavior, at all. He had long since epted that others would have a prejudice against him wherever he would go.

    But there were still a few Originals, who kept looking at him. They had noticed Nial''s excitement while he was speaking about runic armaments, so they didn''t think that he was lying.

    They knew that being blind doesn''t mean that one was not able to perceive anything about their surroundings.

    In fact, most disabled Originals had their own unique way to counterbnce their disadvantages. They had a harder path to walk on than others, which was why many of them were stronger than the average Original.

    But that was, of course, not something narrow-minded and arrogant Originals would ever ept.

    Thus, most had prejudices against people like Nial.

    "Collect the corpses then, if you want to."

    **

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 Chapter 214 Debate With A Powerhouse!

    "Collect the corpses then, if you want to."

    A sudden voice echoed out in front of him. It was the Original, who could control the wind, the man, who had killed the physically-attributed bulls with ease.

    Now that he could visualize him better as he was closer, Nial could perceive his chiseled face, his muscle-packed body below therge robe he was wearing, and the powerful aura the man suppressed with ease.

    ''Is he also as strong as Kirlia?'' Nial wondered for a moment, feeling a bit dumbfounded that there were so many stronger Originals than he believed mankind would have.

    ''Why is the public knowledge and reality so different? I think the officials announced that the highest rank an Original attained until now was the Low Tritan rank with seven Advanced Origin rings.

    However, Kirlia, the Leader of the Sacred Knights, and this man are definitely not just at the Low Tritan rank!''

    Nial only noticed that the young man was still looking at him when Mathias tugged at his shirt.

    "Nial! You should answer him. Don''t just stare at him with a nk expression."

    Mathias understood that Nial couldn''t do anything about his eyes but his expression was as nk as his lifeless eyes. And this was more than just a little bit weird.

    Shaking his head, Nial''s expression turned apologetic before he replied,

    "I''m sorry for my rude behavior. I didn''t want to ignore you. I was just amazed by the way you controlled the wind des without wasting your mana unnecessarily.

    It was impressive."

    He didn''t intend to tter the man in front of him. Nial was truly impressed by the way the man had controlled his wind affinity.

    Mathias was gobsmacked but that stemmed from the fact that he knew how difficult it was to do what the Original in front of them had done.

    His eyes were glued to the young man, and one could easily perceive how much Mathias admired the young man.

    "Oh, that? That was nothing, just a bit of a show-off. So what about the corpses now.? If you don''t want to take them, I''ll tell others to collect them. Their blood attracts other beasts, so the corpses will have to be stored. I don''t really care if you do it or others."

    The nonchnt way in which the young man spoke showed Nial that he was truly not interested in the corpses.

    There was no need for him to waste his time with the Prym-ranked corpses. They were of no value to him and would just eat up the space in his spatial ring needlessly.

    And it was not as if they would only fight a single group of monsters on their trip toward Juna, let alone inside Juna.

    Their trip to the third shelter would take up more than a week, and they would probably have to spend more than 10 days in travel.

    Afterward, they would stay within the shelter to build a small base before they would start clearing the shelter and its surrounding.

    Once that was done, they could either stay, or fix the teleportation array, if necessary, and leave to be teleported back to the huge underground hall.

    From the huge underground hall, they would be able to teleport to any area close to the eight other shelters. However, they would still end up in the wilderness, and it would take them a several-day trip to reach the protection of the shelter.

    Thus, a thousand Prym-ranked beast corpses were merely a drop in the ocean to most high-ranked Originals. Their spatial rings were bound to be overflowing with the corpses of stronger beasts once the conquest was over, either way.

    However, Nial didn''t care about any of that. He knew that they would spend quite some time in the wilderness and that they were bound to fight tens, if not hundreds or thousands of beasts in the following weeks.

    But that was something he felt quite good about. It would be possible for him to collect numerous raw materials for runic armaments from all the beasts if the other Originals were just like the man in front of them.

    "That''s great. Thank you very much, Sir¡­I''m sorry, I don''t know your name Sir¡­will you be kind enough to tell me?"

    Nial didn''t know much about popr Originals, so he had no idea who the handsome man in front of him was.

    The young man began tough in response, feeling that Nial was quite interesting to talk to.

    Many Originals had listened to the discussion the young man had with Nial. They frowned when they heard that Nial had not even an inkling of who the young man was.

    However, hearing the young manugh was even weirder to them. It didn''t feel right, but nobody dared to say anything.

    "Some call me Windbreaker, but my actual name is Sam Anderson. Call me whatever you want." Sam Anderson didn''t seem angry about being asked to introduce himself.

    In fact, it was something that didn''t happen often. Most people would fangirl over him, which was quite stupid in his opinion.

    He was not bothered about the fact that he was called one of the most popr Originals in the entire Stinon alliance that included the eight remaining shelters.

    But it was quite interesting to see that there were still people who didn''t know him.

    The young blind man was polite and it didn''t look like he was lying about not knowing him. This was even more so when Sam Anderson heard Nial''s quiet voice that was directed toward his friend.

    "So it''s Sam Anderson, Windbreaker¡­Is he popr?"

    Nial was mostly focused on his own business, so he actually didn''t know more than a handful of popr Originals.

    However, Mathias was quite different because he had studied a lot about Originals on online tforms and streaming tforms so that he could improve his strength faster.

    He was learning a lot through videos and trying to understand their fighting styles which had helped him a lot in the past as well.

    Thus, Mathias was well aware of the poprity of many Originals.

    "Y-Yes, he is popr, now let''s leave, or you''ll embarrass us even more." Mathias quickly mumbled. He bowed toward Sam Anderson before pulling Nial along with him and was trying to escape the stares that fell on him and Nial.

    "Why would I embarrass us? Is it weird to ask someone else for his name? It''s not¡­right?" Nial was evidently confused but Mathias didn''t say anything.

    He kept dragging Nial behind him so that they could reach the ughtered bulls as quickly as possible.

    Afterward, he ignored Nial''s questions and changed the topic as quickly as possible.

    "We should store their corpses for now, right? Do you want to dissect them when we''re having breakster this night, or should we squeeze all corpses in the new spatial rings we bought?"

    Mathias'' question was quite weird but Nial just smiled faintly. He could tell that his friend was actually embarrassed, which was quite interesting.

    Even if Mathias'' timidness seemed to disappear when fighting, or when he was talking to people he wasfortable with, Nial felt like his friend''s shyness and timid behavior hadn''t changed at all when it came to strangers.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, Nial chose to answer Mathias'' question, even if the answer was logical.

    "We can store the corpses for now, and once they''re filled to the brim, or we have enough time to get our hands on the beasts'' most valuable parts, we can dissect them."

    Without wasting too much time, Nial released his mana through his [Mana Sense], spreading his mana fluctuations through the surrounding using his range of perception.

    His control of mana was precise and as long as he had enough mana and focus, it was possible for his mana to reach every nook and cranny in his range of perception.

    By now, his range of perception had reached 1500 meters even if he was not using much mana.

    However, by using [Mana Sense] actively with the support of some mana, Nial could further expand his range of perception.

    Thus when he released his mana through his [Mana Sense] Nial was able to shroud the majority of bull corpses with his mana fluctuations.

    A momentter he lifted his right hand, where a new, silver-colored spatial ring could be found. It was of a much bigger size than the spatial ring he had received from cksmith Arnold and could store all the bull corpses easily.

    In a matter of seconds, the bloody battlefield had been cleared. Not a single corpse, Origin crystal, or ability crystal was left behind.

    The Originals, who had seen what Nial had done couldn''t help but be astonished.

    Everyone could spread out their mana, and sense their surroundings just by making use of mana.

    However, this range of perception for ordinary Prym ranked Originals with three Origin rings was not even close to 100 meters.

    They were also able to store the corpses in their surroundings just like Nial had done a few seconds ago.

    But even then, their range of perception was a joke inparison to Nial''s.

    The narrow-minded Originals, who hadughed at Nial in their mind, didn''t even dare to consider Nial as a pushover anymore.

    For a 10th Origin rank Original to have a range of perception exceeding 1500 meters, and to have enough mana to spread it evenly through such a huge range of perception was certainly not normal.

    Nial''s control over mana had to be exceptional, to put it simply, and it was impossible for his mana core to have the same size as that of an ordinary Original at the 10th Origin rank.

    Most Originals had understood by now that the young blind man was extraordinary.

    Nial didn''t notice that his action had attracted the others'' attention. His initial n had been to prevent wasting too much time outside the protection of the stronger Originals.

    That was why he had stored everything valuable as quickly as possible before rushing back.

    Yet, instead of avoiding Sam Anderson, who had also noticed what Nial had done, Nial approached the young man once again.

    He was holding two crystals, which he held with his hands outstretched in front of Sam Anderson, the moment he reached him.

    "The bulls dropped two ability crystals. Quite lucky, isn''t it? They''re yours, Sir!"

    Nial smiled brightly while holding out the two Superior ranked ability crystals. He didn''t intend to steal something as valuable as ability crystals from someone else.

    That was not who Nial was, so he didn''t avoid Sam Anderson and went straight towards him.

    "You don''t want to keep them for yourself? They could fetch you quite some money if they''re not of use to you and your friend."

    Sam Anderson had grown fond of the young man in front of him. He was actually a much better person than one would expect most talented Originals to be.

    And Nial''s talent was certainly noteworthy. That was something Sam Anderson noticed the moment he perceived Nial''s mana.

    ''With his control over mana and so much mana stored in the mana core of a 10th Origin rank, this boy will create his first Superior Origin ring in a year at most. In a decade he will be one of the strongest, not bad.''

    "Oh, don''t worry about that Sir. I don''t need these ability crystals and my friend will be an Elementalist, he has no reason to bind the Blood strengthening ability to himself. Furthermore, he already has his second ability.

    As for me, I''m not interested in that ability either." Nial politely declined Sam Anderson''s proposal, waving off his hand as if the Superior grade ability crystal was of no use to him.

    However, Sam Anderson couldn''t help but be slightly intrigued about that kind of behavior. He ignored Nial''s reply and simply observed his behavior when he changed his approach.

    "Blood strengthening ability crystals? They''re quite rare. Just sell them then. You will need lots of money to advance to the Prym rank if you create a Superior Origin ring."

    Sam Anderson felt the need to repeat himself yet again. He was astonished to see that Nial was still unperturbed despite hearing that he could earn lots of money from the ability crystals.

    ''Was he not after the money when he wanted to collect the corpses? Did I misunderstand something?''

    "But we''re not running short of money¡­." Nial felt helpless. He didn''t want to keep denying Sam Anderson''s offer, but he felt bad about taking something as valuable as the Superior grade Blood strengthening ability crystal that he had not rightfully earned.

    One of them was easily worth more than 10 million dors, but it was not as if Nial was the rightful owner.

    Thus, he could only act stubbornly in front of one of the true powerhouses of mankind.

    ''What a little rascal!''

    **

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 Chapter 215 Shameless Nial

    Mathias couldn''t believe what was happening right now. Nial was still holding out the two ability crystals, in front of Sam Anderson and insisting that he couldn''t ept them and that they were not short of money.

    He did not budge and neither did Windbreaker, Sam Anderson showed signs of backing off.

    "Are they actually debating about who should get the ability crystals?!" A young Original who was standing next to Mathias asked, feeling slightly dumbfounded.

    However, Mathias could only shake his head and took another step away from Nial. He didn''t join him in talking with Sam Anderson after they came back from collecting the beast corpses because he had sensed that Nial would do something that would attract a lot of attention.

    ''Why is he always so righteous? Can''t he just read the room, be thankful and repay the favor he received, if that makes him feel better?'' Mathias felt a little bit burdened by the thought of him rushing to the powerhouses every single time he found an ability crystal that had been dropped by the beasts they killed.

    They were bound to collect numerous beast corpses on their way to the third shelter because it looked like many powerhouses were more focused on other things than giving the Prym-ranked corpses any attention.

    Thus, Mathias felt like dragging Nial away from Sam Anderson and apologizing to the Windbreaker for wasting his precious time.

    But as he observed their interaction, it seemed that Windbreaker Sam Anderson seemed to enjoy their conversation, while looking at Nial.

    "So your friend will be an Elementalist, you don''t need the ability crystal either and you guys have enough money? If you''re feeling bad about epting the ability crystals, I can take them, but tell me why exactly you need the bull corpses. Is it not for money?"

    It made no sense for Nial to ept the corpses and Origin crystals but not the ability crystals ording to Sam. That was why he questioned whether Nial had a proper reason for his behavior or if he was a little hypocrite.

    "I just need the bull''s horns, hide and tendons. There are not many physically-attributed Prym-ranked beast materials to purchase in the eight shelters.

    So I wanted to stockpile on ingredients to create runic armaments with in the future. It doesn''t matter that practicing creating runic armaments is expensive but if I cannot get my hands on the ingredients even with money, what use does money have?" Nial didn''t hide his intentions at all.

    He readily shared what he wanted to do with the beast corpses and why it was so important to him. Sam Anderson just nodded his head after hearing him and held out his hand in front of Nial, who gave him the two ability crystals Nial had been holding for quite some time already.

    ''So the entire conquest will be more like a trip to collect more ingredients for him?'' Sam wondered, smiling faintly.

    He shook his head and gave a fleeting nce to Mathias, the so-called ''future Elementalist''.

    Afterward, he returned to his small group, without saying anything else to either Nial or Mathias.

    Nial too returned to his friend before he took a look at the loot he had procured.

    "If it was already that hard to give him the ability crystals he deserves, it will probably not be possible to return his Origin crystals, right?" Nial mumbled, feeling slightly frustrated.

    A frown appeared on Mathias'' face. He shook his head, not understanding how Nial could be bothered about something like that.

    "Superior Origin crystals are entirely useless for him. They''re more like a snack to a powerhouse like Sam Anderson. You would actually insult him if you were to throw more than a hundred Origin crystals at him while acting as if he needs them more than you do.

    I know that you don''t like taking stuff from others if they could need it, but you already got your hands on the bull corpses, so you gain from the work of others, either way." Mathias tried to reassure his friend before he sighed lightly.

    Nial felt that Mathias spoke like a wise person and a schr at that moment, which literally made no sense. However, he couldn''t help but smile and shrug his shoulders at the words of his friend.

    "In that case, I should just shamelessly take everything they don''t want, I guess?" He asked in a sarcastic tone.

    Mathias nodded his head before he looked at Nial once again. "Exactly."

    Nial was not able to understand what was on Mathias'' mind. But his words were not wrong. If the others didn''t want something, and he was willing to clean up behind them, he might as well act shameless and take the leftovers.

    If they wanted something from the corpses, they would just get it.

    With that in mind, quite some time passed. Until everyone from Liondra had been teleported to the region in-between the swamp and the ins, another horde of beasts had attacked them.

    A few other Originals finished them off, but they were equally unbothered about getting their hand on the beast corpses.

    The horde of beasts was only at the peak of the Origin rank, and thus even less valuable to them than the Prym-ranked bulls would be.

    However, that was not something Nial could be bothered about. The monster horde they had killed consisted of zing Berserk Sheep, a very ferocious and bloodthirsty kind of beast.

    Their wool was red in color, it could create sparks, the wool was extremely hot and had fire-resistant properties.

    This fire resistance woulde in handy when they would enter some Expert dungeons if only the zing Berserk Sheep''s wool would have some defensive properties or use against the fire of Prym-ranked beasts.

    Nial still wanted to get his hands on the zing Berserk Sheep corpses. They were of exceptional use for him, even more so because it would be a wee challenge to engrave runic constetions on wool and threads made out of wool before they would actually be turned into clothes.

    p "It is really great that we purchased new spatial rings, otherwise, we would never be able to store all these corpses," Nial mumbled when he finished storing the corpses.</anda>

    Mathias was also excited about finding new items to practice engraving runic constetions on.<sub> </sub>

    However, he didn''t like the way others looked at them. Not many believed that they were not after the money they would be able to earn from selling the corpses.

    Quite a few Originals looked at them as if they were hyenas, or vultures, who were after everything others left behind.

    But while Mathias was bothered by the gazes that lingered on them, and the gossip that revolved around them, Nial couldn''t care less.

    He felt he was on cloud 9 because they had already gotten their hands on many ingredients that were hard toe by.

    "The wilderness is full of treasures, as expected." He mused as he perceived the beasts around their group.

    There were quite a few smaller andrge beast groups around the group of several thousands of Original, who came from Liondra.

    However, none of them dared to attack them because they could clearly sense that they would be annihted the moment they showed hostility toward the Originals.

    When thest Originals had arrived, their huge group started their journey towards the third shelter.

    A specific defensive formation was created to prevent the weak Origin ranked Originals from getting killed if their group were to face a sudden and unexpected attack.

    The strongest Originals were strategically ced on the outside of the group and kept enough distance from each other so that they could protect everyone and at the same time allow others to move freely without disrupting one another.

    Being in a group of around 5000 Originals was not something one could easily handle, and they didn''t have a single leader either.

    This didn''t make things easier, at all.

    That was also why it was quite advantageous that all true powerhouses were rather friendly with each other and worked together instead of against one another.

    After forming a group of severalyers, most Origin ranked Originals were ced in the center of the group, where they were the best protected.

    Only Nial, Mathias, and a few others were roaming around the outeryers of the group, spending their time scanning through their surroundings.

    There were numerous beasts in their surroundings, and in the next few hours, their group of Originals was attacked more than a dozen times.

    Contrary to before, there were also Seclon-ranked beast groups amongst the attackers. Their corpses were worth manyfold the price of Prym-ranked beasts. Thus, even the true powerhouses, who had killed the beasts rather easily stored the corpses in their own storage devices.

    Nial was not bothered by this, even though some Originals intentionally voiced out their pity for him when others ''took away'' his opportunity to earn more.

    In most cases, they were just talking gibberish and Nial could ignore it without feeling anything about it.

    He had collected more than 6000 corpses by the end of the day, and he was happy about every single corpse he got his hands on.

    His spatial ring was still not filled but Nial knew that he had to dissect the corpses and only take the things he actually needed.

    Thus, the moment the batch of powerhouses leading them stopped to set up their tent for the night, everyone followed suit while Nial began with his work.

    But just as he took the first zing Berserk Sheep corpse out of his spatial ring, he heard a few voices from his right.

    "It''s not like anyone is tired. Why are we stopping already?"

    "Wouldn''t it be better if we continue to walk through the night? That way we would arrive in Juna after five days, at most. We might even be able to avoid getting attacked by more beast groups!"

    "Are you guys stupid? The wilderness is the most dangerous during the night. Once it is dark the stronger beasts awaken and we might even witness the true powerhouses fighting with their life on the line to defeat the beasts, who''re after our lives!"

    It wasmon knowledge that the wilderness was more dangerous when it got dark. Many predators woke upte at night, and they would start hunting by then.

    There were also many beasts with abilities that were quite useful and lethal during night, while they were rendered entirely useless as long as the faintest ray of sunlight was still out.

    Nial had read quite a bit about such beasts, and from the memories of thete Darkness God, he also knew that the Giganodes, for example, was also a beast of the night.

    It was stronger in dark areas when it was shrouded by darkness than it was when facing sunlight or light-attributed attacks.

    ''Well, it''s not like that concerns me at all. I''m also stronger when it''s dark. After all, my dark energy cannot be perceived properly at night.''

    Nial''s dark energy was weird, to put it simply, but it was certainly stronger when shrouded in darkness.

    That was also why he had started to train the Pseudo-Darkness Domain as it allowed him to shroud the space around him in darkness and artificially create a dark ce even if it was daytime!

    ''Either way, I should start working now. I don''t have all day!''

 Chapter 216 Buying Off The Military

    Shearing the zing Berserk Sheep and removing its red wool was not difficult. Each corpse took him a minute or two before he stored both in his spatial ring once again.

    However, even this duration seemed too long to Nial because there were so many corpses in his spatial ring that had to be dissected.

    Mathias was helping him but it was not as if his friend was proficient at dissecting corpses.

    That was also why Mathias began to shear the Sheeps, while Nial removed the horns of all monsters first.

    On the other hand, he didn''t properly dissect the bulls or the other monsters, whose bones, tendons or ws he wanted.

    He cut them in parts in a rather crude manner, saving the most important parts while the remaining body wouldter be thrown away.

    It was not as if Nial was an experienced butcher, and even if he were to be one, Nial didn''t have the necessary time to butcher each corpse efficiently.

    Spending half a minute with each corpse was already more than he could afford to waste on the corpses.

    This time was also more than enough for Nial''s Dragonme Spear to cut off the beast''s horns, to cut their body apart, and store everything in his storage, in an organized manner, at that.

    Nial and Mathias were up and nearly worked for the entire night. Their movements were rough at first, clearly showing that they had no experience in what they were doing.

    However, with time, their efficiency increased and it looked almost as if they had never done anything else than shearing sheep and dissecting corpses.

    There had been a few attacks on their group, but the powerhouses didn''t face a problem protecting everyone.

    Nial didn''t expect anything less from the true powerhouses. After all, he had yet to see a single Prometheus ranked beasts roaming through Jundra.

    If something were to happen to their group despite such an existence''s interference, they might as well give up reiming Juna right now.

    Before it was time for their departure, Nial approached one of the dungeon portals that was situated close to their camp.

    It was merely a Rookie dungeon and not something that would usually hold Nial''s interest.

    However, it was an ideal spot to dispose of the garbage, which was exactly what he did.

    After he essed his spatial ring, Nial threw out everything he didn''t need anymore. The huge corpses, which he had already dissected, and the sheared sheep were thrown through the dungeon portal, never to be seen again.

    His action attracted lots of attention, and while quite a few younger Originals were confused about what Nial was doing, the older and experienced veterans nodded their heads.

    "He doesn''t want to attractrge hordes of beasts by leaving behind all the corpses which he painstakingly dissected during the entire night.

    But, to be honest, I would have never been able to think about using a dungeon as a recement for a garbage bin, that was a smart choice." One of the veteran Originals thought, smiling faintly before shaking his head.

    The others nodded their heads too. They still believed that Nial was wasting his time by collecting all the beast corpses. Furthermore, it wouldn''t be helpful for him and his friend to spend every single night of their trip dissecting corpses.

    In the end, if they were to grow too tired, they would only put others in a problem because they wouldn''t be able to fight, let alone think properly.

    This was a big no, and it was also something Nial understood clearly.

    Mathias was already tired after just one sleepless night. Thus, Nial chose to change the way he approached the situation.

    "We have quite a few Elite Junior Soldiers at the Origin rank in the group as well, right?" He suddenly asked Mathias with a radiant smile.

    However, Mathias didn''t like this smile. It was uncanny and definitely not something he wanted to see on Nial''s face.

    After all, it meant that trouble might await them.

    "Yeah¡­the military sent more than 200 Elite Junior Soldiers to join the conquest. I don''t think any of them is at the Prym rank yet, otherwise, they would have long since be Elite Soldiers." Mathias answered while throwing a wary look at Nial again.

    "Good, very good!" Hemented and released his range of perception as theirrge group continued their trip with the start of a new day.

    Exactly like it had been the day before, Nial didn''t hold back when it came to collecting beast corpses.

    The amount of money Nial would earn just by collecting the beast corpses must have long since exceeded a hundred million dors.

    But even then, Nial was still not done. He continued to store every single beast corpse he could get his hands on, filling his spatial ring to the brim, if that were to be necessary.

    However, other than collecting corpses, Nial had also begun to approach other Originals at the Origin rank.

    <o>,m He focused on striking a conversation with the Elite Junior Soldiers and seemed to be discussing a few things with them.</o>

    This was different than things had been the day before because Nial hadn''t bothered about anyone but his friend until now.

    The sudden change in his behavior was noticeable and attracted quite a bit of attention from the people around him.

    There was nothing more interesting than Nial and his weird actions for most Originals to pay attention to, either way.<sub> </sub>

    In the end, one of the higher-ranked authorities of the military couldn''t help but curiously ask his subordinates about what they were speaking with Nial.

    "What exactly does that blind Original want from you guys? And why are you guys looking so happy, as if you''ve just received a raise in your sry?" The man asking this was not a General, and only a few ranks higher than the Elite Junior Soldiers.

    Their talent was higher than his own, but that didn''t matter right now. The middle-aged man was just trying to find a cure to his boredom, which was why he had asked his subordinate about what was going on.

    "Hello, Sir. It''s nothing special. Nial, that''s the blind Original''s name, just wanted us to help him with something. We will just help him dissect the beast corpses he has collected until now." One of the youngest Elite Junior Soldiers answered politely, acting as if they weren''t doing anything special.

    "Why would you guys want to help him? That doesn''t exin your joy either¡­" The middle-aged man sensed that something was off, and he realized what it was once the young Elite Junior Soldier revealed the truth.

    "Of course, we''re happy because we''ll be paid with ungraded runic weapons! Sir, do you remember the news about the ungraded runic ck Iron weapons the Special units have been rewarded with not too long ago?

    We''ll get the same runic weapons from Nial! And in exchange, we merely have to help him dissect a few corpses, a few hours every night!" The young Elite Junior Soldier sounded overjoyed.

    However, that was only obvious. The runic ck Iron weapons he mentioned were the ones Nial, Miranda and Mathias had sold at the Gier auction.

    In the end, the military hadn''t been able to sessfully bid for more than three sets of 25 runic ck iron weapons.

    That was also why only the most talented and strongest Elite Junior Soldiers had received the opportunity to get their hands on an ungraded runic armament.

    It was a great honor to receive one of the few rare runic armaments. That was also why it was a huge surprise for many of the young Elite Junior Soldiers when they understood that Nial was willing to give each of them one runic armament in exchange for their help.

    As long as they worked for two hours every night, each of the 200 Elite Junior Soldiers participating in the conquest would receive their own ungraded runic armament.

    For everyone else except the Elite Junior Soldiers, this price might be too low because most Originals participating in the conquest were either from a big background, wielded powerful high-quality Myth weapons, or they were strong enough to purchase their own, better weapons.

    However, for the Elite Junior Soldiers, something like the ungraded runic ck Iron weapons were true treasures.

    Each of the ck iron runic weapons had cost the military around 100,000$, meaning that the Elite Junior Soldiers would make tremendous profits in exchange for having to work only two hours a day until the conquest was over.

    Inparison, their monthly sry was merely 5,000$ apart from which they received a basic amount of resources ording to their ranking on the military scoreboard.

    Nial was an oddball in their opinion, but as long as he paid well, the Elite Junior Soldiers couldn''t care less whether Nial was a weirdo or just different.

    "He''ll give each of you an ungraded runic armament. The ck Iron runic weapons at that? I thought only Miranda could create them¡­Wait a goddamn minute?!"

    The middle-aged man''s gaze flicked toward Nial and Mathias, who were once again outside their temporary base, collecting hundreds of beast corpses.

    By now, everyone knew that Nial would rush outside the base to collect the corpses of the beasts that attacked them.

    Nobody was even thinking of taking away his goods. It was not worth the effort in their opinion, even more so because nobody except the true powerhouses needed as little time to collect hundreds of corpses spread over a range of a kilometer as Nial required.

    ''Are those two brats Miranda''s disciples?? They''re actually collecting the beast corpses to practice manufacturing runic armaments? Did Miranda tell them to use this opportunity and to shamelessly collect all beast corpses so that they would have enough raw materials? This stingy bitch! She even endangered her disciples for the sake of some easy money!!''

    Every single time, Nial and Mathais left their group, they were aware that they might be attacked by some other beasts.

    The powerhouses had given them both a few warnings already, saying that they wouldn''t rush to their aid the moment they would get attacked.

    This was the risk Nial and Mathias had to take whenever they left therge group to collect the beast corpses.

    In the beginning, Mathias had been able to hold Nial back from straying too far from the base. However, there were quite a few situations when the powerful Originals defeated beast groups more than a kilometer away from their group.

    And in those situations, Nial still ventured out, ignoring the warnings of his friends and the well-meant advice of the other Originals.

    Until now, nothing serious had happened. Nial had always been able to perceive everything in his surroundings. He could tell whether something harboring mana was alive or dead. Which emboldened him to venture out with his friend.

    This made things extremely easy for him.

    However, it was only obvious that his lucky streak wouldn''tst forever. Time and again, it had been proved that in most cases it was humans who went against their own kind, driven by envy that corrupted their minds after someone rose quickly and gained strength.

    Even true powerhouses could be envious of all the gains Nial made in merely two days. Thus, it was not even a surprise, when Nial and Mathias found themselves surrounded by a total of 12 Prym-ranked beasts that had escaped with light injuries at the hands of one of the powerhouses, who had eliminated the remaining group of 350 beasts!

    ''It is not like I didn''t seek permission to collect the corpses of the beasts they killed. Why are they now intentionally leaving out a few monsters alive?'' Nial wondered.

    If someone had something against his shameless behavior, they could just collect the beast corpses on their own. There was no need for them to y with him and Mathias like this.

    But what Nial didn''t expect was that the human race''s greed and jealousy were not the only reason for him to be currently facing a total of 12 Prym ranked beasts.

    Rather, it was also the curiosity of a particr man, who was smiling brightly while observing the unfolding situation in front of him.

    ''Show your true self to me! I want to see you again, my old friend!!''

 Chapter 217 Intentionally Entering A Trap!

    Surrounded by a dozen Low Prym-ranked beasts, both Nial and Mathias were at a huge disadvantage.

    The beasts, that surrounded them were three meters tall each, and they looked like scaled bison with long necks.

    Their appearance was quite fearsome, they were only slightly injured and had been faking their death until just a moment ago before attacking Nial and Mathias.

    Mathias reacted instinctively and conjured several Earthen walls. A momentter, he turned the soil around the hooves of more than six long neck, scaled bisons swampy.

    Due to the beasts'' heavy weight, their hooves sank into the ground as Mathias had even moved aside some of the mud below the beasts.

    The restriction created by Mathias'' quick thinking was more than enough to allow him to get his hands on the Tier-1 ckwood wand.

    Simultaneously, Nial had long since manifested the Dragonme spear. He inserted mana into it, igniting a me that engulfed the searing hot spear''s de, while ck miasma oozed out of his palms, shrouding the spear as well.

    Nial had activated the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] to create the ck miasma to shroud the Dragonme spear with it.

    He smiled lightly instead of taking the situation seriously as he was able to see that the corners of Mathias'' mouth had curled upward.

    ''You did a good job in acting, Mathias.'' Nial thought while trying to hide his smile.

    From the moment they had separated from their group to get hold of the beast corpses, Nial knew that a total of 12 beasts hadn''t been killed and were still roaming around.

    His Mana Sense could clearly detect that their mana was still full of vigor. He had told Mathias about it and that they would have to fight the beasts without his dark energy.

    Mathias was not able to understand his reasoning but that was not important. For him, there was no problem fighting a few Low Prym-ranked beasts.

    He was ready to give his all and defeat his opponents.

    It was only fortunate that Mathias was very interested in finding out the reason why a dozen beasts hadn''t been killed by the powerhouses.

    Two powerhouses had been fighting against therge group of Prym-ranked beasts, and Nial could only think of one or two reasons for each of the powerhouses to intentionally leave behind a few beasts with minor injuries.

    ''The leader of the Sacred Knights is probably testing me out. He wants to see my dark energy and figure out if he was correct with what he saw on the records made during the Teradan military camp''s military games.

    Meanwhile, the other powerhouse is probably just annoyed at us for taking all the beast corpses without hesitation. Maybe he is just annoyed, maybe he is envious, or maybe he simply doesn''t like us for acting as if we were the ones to kill the beast groups.''

    In the end, the truth was not important in the given situation.

    Both Nial and Mathias had to fight a dozen beasts, and they had to act as if they didn''t know about it beforehand. It should look real, after all.

    This would make things a lot easier in the future. Thus, Nial made use of the ck miasma instead of his dark energy, but his Dragonme Spear didn''t lose out much in terms of lethality.

    The searing hot mes and the Spear''s usual sharpness were already more than enough to face the beasts ahead.

    But with the ck miasma shrouding it, Nial didn''t have to fear anything as he released the miasma whenever heshed out.

    His spear prated through the already existing cuts and wounds all over the bodies of the dozen long-neck scaled bison.

    While Mathias restricted the beasts'' movements with perfect timing, Nial focused on attacking the monsters.

    He was only at the 10th Origin rank, but he held enough mana to rival a Low Prym-ranked Original.

    His physical strength was also on par with a higher ranked Original. Furthermore, Nial had already begun to create the foundation of his primary Origin ring, thereby increasing his strength even more.

    That was why Nial could easily st over the ground, and emerge in front of the closest opponent before he thrust his weapon into one of the scaled bisons'' chest.

    The tip of the de destroyed the protective scales at once before prating deep into their flesh.

    Twisting the de within the beast, while zing up the me that engulfed the weapon, Nial could kill the beast in an instant.

    A momentter, he was holding the spear in one hand, tearing it out with all his might, while a different beast was already on its way toward him.

    It looked at him with a ferocious and bloodthirsty gaze and was ready to tear him apart the moment it reached Nial.

    Mathias was fully upied with fighting and distracting a total of 10 beasts to prevent them from attacking either him or Nial all of a sudden.

    Thus, he could barely create a thin Earthen wall.

    However, the long-neck scaled bisons burst through the Earthen wall without hesitation. It was unstoppable and snarling ferociously, ready to trample over everyone, who dared to obstruct its path.

    But the moment it burst through the Earthen wall, coldness and darkness shrouded the beast.

    Nial had released ck miasma explosively from the palm of his right hand, shooting the gaseous miasma toward the beast.

    It didn''t kill the beast nor had a corrosive effect.<sub> </sub>

    Instead, it marred the beast''s senses, restricted its wild instincts, and led to a severe mental breakdown, including inducing extreme fear.

    The beast, who had been overly confident to kill everyone around it, was now acting like a small, terrified puppy. It had slowed down, bleated out in fright and it was about to slump to the ground, hoping to be rescued by its mother.

    Unfortunately, it was Nial, who found it first and pierced the Dragonme spear that lit up the dark and cold surroundings into its head.

    He pushed the weapon further and it pierced through the beast''s skull without any resistance, killing it at once.

    While killing the beast he was already retracting the ck miasma he had released in order to save on wasting his precious mana.

    Pushing forward, he moved rapidly and killed another five long neck, scaled bison in the following ten seconds.

    A single attack was enough for Nial to kill the beasts that were caught in Mathias'' traps, and more of them that continued to appear over and over again.

    The soil in a radius of 100 meters around Mathias was fully under his control. He could use it as a means of attack and kill the long-neck scaled bison if he used his ability in the right way.

    But that was not what Mathias wanted.

    He was currently experimenting a little bit, attempting to use his surroundings as a means to potentially eliminate stronger opponents with an environmental advantage.

    At the same time, it was important for Mathias to gain better control over the Water elemental affinity.

    It hadn''t been long since he bound it to his mana core. That was also why his proficiency with the water affinity was bad, in his opinion.

    However, to others, his actions were quite surprising because one could clearly tell that Mathias used both the Earth and Water affinity simultaneously.

    "His control is precise, and he seems to have gained a great understanding of both affinities. If he wanted to, this young man could probably kill the dozen Miaran scale bison all by himself." One of the few Originals, wielding an elemental affinity with a [Comprehension] tag remarked.

    He was surprised about the fact that someone around the age of 18 was already able to control two elemental affinities to such an extent.

    "It is possible for him to defeat the dozen Prym-ranked beast all by himself, but he is still wasting too much time and focus on each trap he creates. His mana consumption is also quite high, even though it is already reduced by the runic wand he uses.

    I guess his entire mana would be drained before thest Miaran scale bison would be killed." Another Original stated his opinion while ncing over at the others to see whether they would agree with his statement or not.

    But Windbreaker Sam Anderson merely looked at Mathias without a change in his expression.

    ''So that is the future Elementalist, the young man spoke about? Earth and Water are quite umon affinities for someone to learn but his control is truly not that bad. As long as he keeps practicing, he should be a powerhouse in the future.''

    Mathias might be interesting to observe because his talent was visible. One could see that he would make a great Elementalist one day. That was out of the question.

    However, Nial''s case was a little bit different. At first, Sam misunderstood the ck miasma for some sort of darkness-attributed fog without any actual use.

    It didn''t consume much mana to be created, no mana was required to sustain it, and merely controlling it drained a little bit of Nial''s mana.

    That was something Sam clearly perceived. However, when the Miaran scale bison''s behavior changed the instant it entered Nial''s fog, Sam Anderson knew that he had undermined Nial and that it was not some ordinary fog.

    Potentially, the fog was some sort of product derived from several negative effects beingpressed together.

    But then again, Sam had never heard of such an ability nor had he witnessed it before, which was why he predicted that it was Nial''s Innate ability.

    Little did he know that the fog was actually the ck miasma Nial released with the help of the Curse he had bound to his mana core quite a while ago.

    While many Originals observed the battle of the two young men, the Sacred Knight''s leader frowned deeply.

    "That is not his energy¡­ I shouldn''t have mistaken the ck miasma of this youth with the dark energy of him, right?"

    On the other hand, the other powerhouse, who had left the 12 Miaran scale bison alive, frowned deeply as well.

    He ground his teeth and was visibly frustrated about the fact that Nial and Mathias werepletely unscathed while facing the dozen Low Prym-ranked beasts.

    It didn''t even look as if it was difficult for them to face so many beasts at the same time as if they had done it a lot of times already.

    And this was exactly what was the case. Nial and Mathias had entered a lot of Expert dungeons together. Most of the time, they faced many beasts at the same time.

    Thus, the current fight was quite unproblematic for them, even if Nial was not using the Elementus Mylee technique to fight with his dark energy.

    Mathias noticed this but he didn''t think much about it. After all, his friend had already told him that he didn''t want to be dependent on his dark energy, which was the reason Nial gave for not using it during the conquest until it was really necessary.

    Nial felt a little bit bad for not telling the whole truth.

    However, sometimes ignorance is bliss, and one should enjoy it as long as possible.

 Chapter 218 Mankinds Opportunity

    After the Miaran scale bison had been defeated, Nial took a deep breath before storing the corpses in hisrge spatial ring.

    This took him only a few seconds before which he and Mathias returned to the group. They were subjected to weird gazes for a few seconds but nobody spoke to them.

    Usually, beasts were either as strong as an Original at the same rank or stronger. However, Mathias was able to face a dozen beasts at the same rank as him all by himself, and Nial could fight them despite being at a lower rank.

    This was definitely not something one could do easily. Thus, some lower-ranked Originals looked at them in shock, while the stronger powerhouses had gained slight interest in them.

    Of course, there were also more than enough envious people, who were sad to see the two young men win the fight against the dozen Prym-ranked beasts.

    However, Nial and Mathias couldn''t care less about these Originals because there would always be people who would like and dislike them.

    Being hated for whatever reason was not something one could avoid if one stayed loyal to their beliefs without backing off just because someone else said that something was wrong.

    Mathias noticed that Sam Anderson was also looking at them. But instead of doing anything, Windbreaker Sam Anderson averted his gaze after a short while.

    "Is the Sacred Knights'' Leader looking at us?" Nial suddenly asked, while his expression turned serious.

    Earlier, Nial had been quite nonchnt. However, this had quickly changed, so Mathias was a little bit baffled for a moment.

    Turning his head in all directions, Mathias was trying to find the Sacred Knights'' Leader, but he couldn''t find him.

    Yet, instead of the Sacred Knights'' Leader, Mathias noticed that a few other powerhouses were looking at them with interest.

    He tried to ignore the attention they had gained all of a sudden, but that was harder than Mathias could have hoped for.

    ''Man, Nial¡­.why do we always have to be the main focus everywhere we go?! Can''t we just keep a low profile and be stronger that way¡­?''

    Mathias knew that Nial was not attracting attention intentionally. He just wanted to get his hands on all kinds of ingredients to manufacture various runic armaments.

    Nial''s intention was good, but the final result was that he attracted lots of attention as he had annoyed quite a few people. Meanwhile, others were now more interested in theirbat prowess.

    After all, their strength seemed to be higher than the average prodigious Original at their rank.

    "The woman from the Heaven''s Gates organization is looking at us, though her expression is not that good. As for her disciple, the veiled woman is probably looking at us as well. I cannot tell that for sure.

    A few other powerhouses look at us as well, including three other members, belonging to the Heaven''s Gates organization."

    Mathias told everything he could depict from around him. The day before and today, they had gotten to know a lot of information, including the fact that there were a total of 10 members of the Heaven''s Gates organization, who had joined the conquest to reim Juna.

    This was the highest number of Heaven''s Gates members, that had ever been spotted together. For most organizations, the government and the military, this was quite interesting and it attracted their attention.

    It was not normal for the Heaven''s Gates organization to meddle with the affairs of the general popce and to reveal themselves to the public.

    Thus, far more Originals had joined the conquest than it would usually be the case.

    Everyone wanted to join the fray when the Heaven''s Gates was doing something big. In most cases, their public appearance indicated a great opportunity for others to improve their social standing, and a way to possibly change their fate!

    This was not something Nial or Mathias were bothered about. Their fate was already weird enough as it was. They were forced to join the conquest, which was certainly not something they had nned to do.

    However, now that they were already in the wilderness, there was no going back anymore.

    "Wait¡­quite a few of the other Sacred Knights members are looking at us as well!" Mathias suddenly eximed, exaggerating quite a bit.

    Nial listened carefully to Mathias'' words and nodded his head afterward.

    "Alright, I got it. Please don''t hesitate to tell me when others look at us weirdly. It might be interesting, or it might not be, but I would like to know."

    In most situations, it wouldn''t mean much if they received weird gazes. Nheless, Nial wanted to be prepared for everything.

    In that way, the second day of their journey passed. In the evening, the Elite Junior Soldiers helped Nial and Mathias to dissect the bodies of the beasts.

    They worked hard and were overflowing with motivation because N had given them their pay, the ck Iron runic weapons, in advance.

    The following day, Nial and Mathias were subjected to even weirder stares. Everyone had heard that they had hired the Elite Junior Soldiers to help dissect the beasts they had collected.

    It saved them lots of trouble and was a good n, considering that Elite Junior Soldiers didn''t earn a huge base sry.

    Many powerhouses felt as if the two young Originals were trying to buy off the military and create a huge trading firm by exploiting the military and the conquest that had been forced upon them.

    Some Originals had already heard that Nial and Mathias were Miranda''s disciples. It wouldn''t take long for everyone to know about this.

    However, at the same time, everyone would get to know that Nial and Mathias had been drafted to join the conquest.

    Like this, two more days passed without a major incident urring.

    The biggest problem their group faced had been the existence of a Tritan-ranked beast group.

    With only a few dozen beasts in the group, they had attacked more than 5000 Originals.

    Under normal circumstances, this would have been more than enough beasts because they possessed, at least, seven Origin rings.

    Unfortunately, there were more than 20 true powerhouses in the group of 5000 Originals. They didn''t dare to hold back and used their fully empowered abilities.

    This particr fight had been different from any of the fights beforehand. The powerhouses couldn''t simply flick their finger, kill the hundreds of beasts at once and keep going.

    This was not possible as they were forced to fight with all their might. But this was something they liked because it allowed them to feel a little bit of excitement.<sub> </sub>

    The days before had been quite boring, and the only impressive thing had been a young blind boy, who collected all the bodies of the beasts they had killed before buying off the military''s Elite Junior Soldiers so that they would work for him.

    It was an interesting sight but actually not something that allowed the powerhouses to be entertained for several hours.

    That was also why more powerhouses didn''t hesitate to leave their allocated position when the few dozen Tritan-ranked beasts had attacked.

    Everyone wanted to face opponents on their own, and have some fun, even if it was only for a few minutes.

    Unfortunately, there was no fun, not for longer than 10 minutes, because the Originals quickly noticed that the Tritan-ranked beasts had only Basic and Intermediate Origin rings.

    There had only been one Tritan-ranked beast with Advanced Origin rings. And, it didn''t have one or two but eight Advanced Origin rings.

    However, the Sacred Knights'' Leader, Kirlia, and Sam Anderson bombarded that beast with all their might.

    They obliterated it much faster than the others killed their prey.

    In the end, the fight was over quite easily, and everyone returned back to their designated position.

    But contrary to before, everyone''s mood dipped further, simply because they had tasted the excitement of being able to go all out for a short period of time, only to be faced with reality.

    They couldn''t let themselves lose and wander through the wilderness to search for stronger opponents. Instead, they had to protect the other Originals and make sure that they arrived in Juna without any issues.

    Only then would the lower ranked Originals be able to show why they were even allowed to join the conquest; to enter the dungeons that the true powerhouses were denied entry.

    Most true powerhouses weren''t restricted in doing whatever they wanted to. They could do whatever they wanted to, as long as they didn''t endanger the shelters.

    Thus, many were searching for ways to be stronger, which was why they entered the wilderness and were on their way to find new and stronger dungeons.

    To the true powerhouses who were extremely scarce in number, Abyssal dungeons were not impossible to clear. That was also why they could journey through the wilderness.

    It might still be dangerous for them, but the number of dangers was tightly restricted. There were only a few beasts that were truly dangerous.

    They had to be avoided but that was all.

    This was something Nial understood as well, the longer they remained in the wilderness.

    ''It is kind of obvious why ordinary humans are not allowed to leave the shelter, and the same goes for Origin rank Originals, Originals with weak talent, or anyone below the Tritan rank to be precise.

    However, the moment you create your seventh or eighth Advanced Origin ring, surviving in the wilderness shouldn''t be considered a problem. Interesting.''

    Nial''s spatial ring was filled with all kinds of precious beast ingredients, and he was quite satisfied with everything that had happened during thest few days.

    This didn''t mean that he was happy about the situation that awaited him or the things that were about to unfold themselves in front of him in the near future but got a good grasp of mankind''s true stance against dungeons.

    ''We are not even doing that bad¡­for now.''

    It might look bad because mankind was always losing some of its territories.

    They had yet to gain the strength to build new shelters, protect them, and keep expanding.

    In fact, one could clearly perceive that mankind had problems protecting a total of 9 shelters with their current strength, or that was what it looked like.

    There may not be many true powerhouses but there were enough to protect many human shelters if a few true powerhouses would decide to stay at each shelter with the desire to protect it.

    But that was not something they wanted to do which was owed to the fact that not every shelter was the same.

    It was simply not worth it for true powerhouses to stay in shelters such as Katu, Juna, and so on. Their progress would stagnate and others would be able to keep growing the moment they would decide to stay in these weaker shelters.

    Protecting the shelters would be different in the future, soon enough, at that.

    The moment enough runic armaments would appear in various shelters, more Originals would be stronger, many humans would awaken their Origin because of the surplus of mana created through the existence of the runic armaments, and stronger dungeons would appear everywhere.

    All shelters would face the appearance of numerous dangerous dungeons, but that would also mean that the true powerhouses would split up to get their hands on their very own dangerous dungeon to conquer.

    Mankind''s situation was bound to change, and the reiming procedure of Juna was just the beginning of humanity''s rise to power.

    Nial was quite excited about the future and his initial opinion about the dangers revolving around the runic armaments was slowly changing.

    ''Maybe it''s an opportunity for us to stay alive and to grow, rather than a trip to hell?''

    **

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 Chapter 219 Proemetheus

    It was about time that they reached Juna after a few more days had passed.

    The situation in the wilderness had been oddly calm during the 10 days they walked through it, and only a few Originals had died.

    While the number of beast groups they had faced was extremely high, the true powerhouses had been able to take care of everything neatly.

    There weren''t even Prometheus ranked opponents for them to fight, which made things much easier for all of them. Thus, they reached the proximity of the abandoned third shelter without encountering too many difficulties.

    "I had never expected it to be that easy to travel through the wilderness with such a big group and not face an attack." Mathias acknowledged, and Nial could only nod his head at that.

    "Yeah, I expected it to be bloodier as well. But it''s certainly good and nothing we should beining about."

    In the end, there hadn''t been a single group of Dryx, who had attacked them.

    Considering that the Dryx had been bothersome for quite a while, some Originals were quite confused that they hadn''t seen a single one of them!

    ''It really is weird, but whatever.'' Nial could only think, for now, understanding that it was not possible for him to find out the truth either way.

    At least, for now, he wouldn''t get his hands on the truth, even if he wanted to.

    On the 10th day, since they had been teleported, theirrge group finally reached the ''abandoned'' shelter.

    The number of beasts around the shelter was much higher than anywhere else, and so was the number of dungeon portals.

    If there had only been a few dozen dungeon portals emerging near their group on average every day, the shelter and its immediate surrounding could be said to be overflowing with dungeons.

    The true powerhouses had detected close to 500 dungeon portals in the shelter and its surrounding area.

    Many of them would have to be cleared only once to make them disappear, while others would have to be conquered several times for their breakout state to wear off.

    "So it''s true that humans attract dungeons?" Mathias wondered in confusion.

    In the past, there had been news and spections that the wilderness might be extremely dangerous because nobody took care of it.

    Beasts were allowed to roam wherever they wanted, to repopte, and to grow stronger in the wilderness. Nothing was regted and the dungeon portals out there would never stop allowing more beasts from emerging in the wilderness.

    But rather than the wilderness being extremely dangerous, the threats around the human shelters were much bigger risks.

    While all the different beasts in the wilderness killed each other in order to survive, to be stronger and to build their own little space, the Originals of the human shelters had to do that all by themselves.

    Adding the fact that there were far more dungeons all around shelters than anywhere else, the rumors revolving around the dangers of the wilderness had been kept elevated.

    ''It totally makes sense now.'' Nial thought when he understood that it might not have been that problematic to travel in between the shelters as he had presumed during thest few days.

    As long as one was careful, there shouldn''t be much of an issue surviving.

    The situation of the shelters was what caused the exaggerated fear of the unknown wilderness, and things were reasoned by one particr fact.

    The more Originals live in shelters, the higher the mana density around the shelters. Through this special condition, more dungeon portals are created, which in turn further increase the mana density in that area.

    Finally, therge amount of mana increases the number of Originals because more awaken their origin, creating an endless cycle.

    This ''simple'' fact was also why Nial had been so worried about the appearance of runic armaments. The naturally released mana of runic armaments would elerate the endless circle, increase the number of dungeon portals, the number of Originals, and the speed at which Jundra would develop.

    "I wonder if it would have been better if mankind were to live in numerous tiny cities." Nial blurted out while releasing his Mana Sense to the highest extent.

    The others had seen the walls of the abandoned third shelter for quite a while as they had been approaching Juna.

    And by now, even Nial could perceive the closest wall of the shelter they would enter soon.

    "Tiny cities? We wouldn''t be able to protect them, the moment one powerful beast was to attack such a city. There are not enough true powerhouses in our rows, and only a few would be willing to stay behind to protect the city, to begin with.

    Every true powerhouse wants to be stronger, and that''s much harder than you might think." Sam Anderson had appeared near them all of a sudden, baffling Mathias for a few seconds.

    He looked at Windbreaker Sam Anderson for several seconds with his mouth half-open, while Nial could only sigh deeply.

    "The number of dungeons would be less but it would be much harder to protect a city under the attack of a Prometheus beast. Yeah, I get that. It was just a stupid thought, either way." Nial just shrugged his shoulders while continuing to advance ahead.

    ''Prometheus? Is that what he calls the rank that one would attain after finishing creating the 9th Origin ring?'' Sam Anderson wondered while looking at the young blind man for quite a while.<sub> </sub>

    However, before he could ask anything, a thunderous roar reverberated through the surroundings.

    It originated from the intact walls of the abandoned shelter, reached everyone''s ears, and forced everyone to halt in their steps.

    Some weaker Originals copsed on the ground as they heard the terrifying roar, while the legs of others gave in.

    Even Nial and Mathias were unable to remain standing on the ground. Their entire body felt heavy all of a sudden, Mathias'' sight blurred and Nial''s mana sense turned into a mass of chaos.

    They fell to the ground just a momentter. Sam Anderson was the only one who could still stand on his feet, but even he felt as if his body had been paralyzed for a moment.

    With widened eyes, he looked over to the area the roar had originated from, just to see a ck-skinned and red-eyed Minotaur, wielding a huge broadsword.

    It had arge red horn protruding out of the side of its head and swung its humongous sword on the ground.

    That simple move was enough to cut through the several-meter-thick shelter wall, nearly breaking it apart at once.

    The Minotaur was four meters tall and was fuming in rage while looking at therge crowd of Originals.

    To the beast, the Originals were invaders who had trespassed its territory, the pce it had chosen to be its habitat and new home!

    Feeling the rage surging up from the depths of its body once again, the mighty aura of the Minotaur was unleashed before a second roar followed suit.

    However, this time, even the true powerhouses felt a heavy weight pressing on them. It was as if the gravitational force around them had increased by a few times.

    Sam Anderson''s feet were pushed into the dry ground as he felt the unbending power of the beast in front of them.

    ''Is that one of them? One of the ''Prometheus''?'' He wondered as his heart continued to beat wildly.

    There hadn''t been any news about the existence of a beast exceeding the strength of a Peak Tritan-ranked beast for the past few years.

    And whenever there had been news, a shelter was either destroyed, or a handful of true powerhouses had been killed.

    In the end, there might be a few Originals sessfully creating 9 Advanced Origin rings, but Sam Anderson was pretty sure that there had yet to be someone, who was genuinely able to break through the threshold to reach the next rank.

    Even after umting more knowledge for several decades, most Originals still did not know how to properly advance to the next rank.

    At least, that was what Sam Anderson knew. He was pretty sure to be considered one of the most knowledgeable Originals.

    However, even then, there were things he didn''t know about, including the fact that some Originals had already learned about ways to advance to the Prometheus-rank, by epting the memories some Innate abilities shared with their hosts.

    Thus, while Sam Anderson was frozen in ce due to the terrifying aura the Minotaur released with ease, he could only realize in shock that the six Originals seemed to bepletely unaffected by the Minotaur''s aura. Releasing their suppressed power, the Sacred Knights'' leader, two of his subordinates, and three members of the Heaven''s Gates sted forward.

    It was as if they had been waiting for this moment as they released their terrifying aura. After they activated one of their abilities each, their strength, and speed reached a new threshold.

    ''So fucking fast¡­'' Sam Anderson could only think in wonder. His heart was palpitating wildly because he understood that the speed of the six Originals in front of him was even faster than the highest speed he could reach.

    And Sam Anderson was someone who focused on Agility, on being the fastest¡­

    Thus, after seeing that the six Originals were even faster than the highest speed he could reach, his world began to crumble.

    ''They achieved it¡­they really advanced to the next rank!!''

    Sam Anderson understood what he saw in front of him clearly, and he could also clearly understand that the fight that was about to unfold itself in front of them would be devastating.

    His legs were weak and his mind was befuddled because of the Minotaur''s bloodthirsty aura, but Sam forced himself to remain standing.

    Activating his wind affinity, he created strong gusts of wind to shroud the copsed Originals with it.

    He lifted them from the ground and moved them further away from the shelter and into a safe ce.

    A huge battlefield was about to be created, and Sam could clearly perceive that it would be devastating and that the surrounding would be destroyed.

    But what Sam still had not expected to see was how the Minotaur jumped down the wall, hisnding creating a crater with a radius of five meters before the beast dashed forward, crossing a distance of 100 meters in an instant.

    The Minotaur was already fast but so were the six Originals as they emerged around the Minotaur, crossing more than a kilometer in seconds.

    When the seven Prometheus-ranked existences circled the Minotaur, many things happened at once. They formed a loose circle and were in a radius of less than 50 meters around each other when the surrounding mana got distorted, the area around them broke apart, and the pressure around them was high enough to cripple them severely the moment they would lower their guard!

 Chapter 220 Minotaurs Might

    When the six Originals shed with the Minotaur, the released energies swept through the surrounding area.

    They sted into the few other Originals that were able to endure the pressure weighing them down.

    ''I knew that we might have to face such a Cmity-ss monster, but I never expected them to be that powerful¡­'' Sam Anderson thought while staring at the Minotaur in shock.

    It shed its huge broadsword at the opponent in front of it, using only one arm. When the huge and heavy broadsword collided with the weapons of the three members belonging to the Heaven''s Gates, its speed was forcefully slowed down.

    The three Originals of the Heaven''s Gates organization were pushed back, and their eyes widened in an almost inconspicuous manner.

    ''So powerful!'' They could only think before the Minotaur roared out once again, disying its might and providing it with the necessary strength it needed toplete its attack in a smooth manner.

    The heavy broadsword hit the three Originals that were sted several meters back and the Minotaur was ready to pursue them to eradicate its opponents in an instant.

    It was still at an advantage right now and received the opportunity to kill the only beings that could be considered a threat.

    However, just as it dashed forward, and caused the surrounding ground to burst open as three holy white auras surrounded it.

    The Leader of the Sacred Knights and two of his members had circled around the Minotaur to attack it the moment the beast would make just one wrong move.

    Releasing their holy, pure aura, they shackled down the Minotaur and prevented it from paying attention to the three Originals, who the beast had just overwhelmed with its great physical strength.

    The Sacred Knights'' Leader waspletely unbothered by that. His blue eyes stared coldly at the beast in front of it, and heshed out with the longsword in his hand.

    Shrouded by the holy aura, it glowed in bright light as it prated the Minotaur''s thick ck skin.

    Blood spurted through the surrounding area when he retracted his weapon. However, the moment he retracted the longsword, the Minotaur had already punched out with its empty hand.

    The high velocity of the punch was more than enough to overwhelm every kind of mortal being.

    But instead of panicking, the Sacred Knights'' Leader twisted his body and released one of his abilities called [Holy Guard]. He then lifted his longsword and kept twisting his body until an ufortable sensation coursed through his body.

    A white shining veil manifested in front of the Sacred Knights Leader''s longsword, just before the Minotaur''srge fist impacted the weapon''s t side.

    Reducing the attack''s impact, the Holy Guard grew powerful enough to allow the Sacred Knights Leader to initiate a counterattack.

    A white glint emerged in his eyes and his holy aura began to change all of a sudden as his strength was elevated.

    The change in his holy aura suggested that the Leader of the Sacred Knights had been holding back. He had wanted to make it look like the holy aura every member of the Sacred Knights had was exactly the same.

    However, after piercing in the Minotaur''s hide the first time, and oveing the simple, yet destructive high-velocity punch it had issued nonchntly, the Sacred Knights leader knew that he would die if he did not try to deflect the attack.

    ''It''s not like anyone will understand what my aura truly signifies, either way.''

    The Secret Knights leader''s thoughts were quite simple. He could tell that the Heaven''s Gates organization was favored by some Divine existence, otherwise, they wouldn''t be in possession of the weak aura that the Secret Knights had been studying for a long time.

    However, their aura waspletely different to the Holy aura of his people, let alone his own.

    His aura was the most unique, and it was actually not something one would be able to create at the Prometheus rank. The aura''s special characteristics were too difficult to manifest at such a low rank.

    But this was not something anyone present could do now. After all, the boy he had hoped to prove a worthy ally was entirely useless.

    While releasing the intense aura that overwhelmed his subordinates'' aura and the bloodthirsty and heavy aura of the Minotaur, the leader of the Sacred Knights looked over at Sam Anderson and the people around him.

    His gaze lingered on the ground next to Sam Anderson for a moment before his head turned back to the battlefield.

    ''I was already excited that it might be him. It has been so long since we found a new toy. Well, whatever.'' The Sacred Knight leader thought and shrugged his shoulders.

    For a moment he thought about the past, but instead of letting his mind linger on the reminiscence of old glorious deeds, his body leaned forward and he dashed ahead.

    His entire body was shrouded in holy light and almost untraceable lines of a devilish sensation. The devilish sensation intertwined with the holiness of the Sacred Knights leader''s aura.

    Nobody was supposed to notice it and the Sacred Knights leader shed out with his longsword while facing the Minotaur head-on without showing a trace of hesitation.

    Both had shed out, using their whole strength. They ignored the three Originals from the Heaven''s Gates, who had already gotten up from the ground, and were ready to join the fight once again.

    Even the two members of the Sacred Knights werepletely ignored by both their leader and the Minotaur as they shed with each other.

    However, instead ofpleting his attack, the Sacred Knights leader changed his way of attack at thest second.

    Several duplications of his longsword made of pure white light enveloped his longsword all of a sudden.

    They sted toward the Minotaur in an attempt to injure it severely, while the Sacred Knights leader''s sh changed its trajectory.<sub> </sub>

    He intended to close the distance and to increase the pressure on the Minotaur.

    But, to his misfortune, the Minotaur''s wild instincts and exceptionalbat awareness kicked in.

    The beast released hot steam from its entire body, thereby increasing the temperature in the surrounding area by several degrees.

    Simultaneously, its speed seemed to increase, which was how the Minotaur could change the trajectory of his heavy broadsword as well.

    But that was not all! Other than changing his attack''s trajectory, the Minotaur shot toward his left side, his hand reached out and he grasped one of the Sacred Knights members.

    The Sacred Knights members hadn''t held back on attacking the Minotaur either. It might look like their leader had everything under control but they couldn''t just sit back and let their leader do everything for them.

    Their own reputation and that of their entire organization were on the line!

    Yet, even then, they didn''t expect to be used as a living shield by the Minotaur, who had grasped one of them in an instant.

    The unfortunate Sacred Knights member was hurled through the air by the Minotaur, whose eyes were gleaming like red rubies before it was thrown back to the other Sacred Knights member a secondter.

    However, the moment he was flung over to the fellow member of the Sacred Knights, the unfortunate young man''s eyes had already turned lifeless.

    The flying holy des had pierced through the Original''s back and cleanly pierced through it. The tip of the holy des had even emerged on the other side before they disappeared after being dispelled into thin air.

    ''How useless!'' This was the only thing on the Sacred Knights leader''s mind as he saw that one of the few Prometheus-ranked Originals of his group died.

    ''They''re more of a burden than help right now¡­. Why did I even try to nurture them?! Howe all humans are so useless?''

    The Sacred Knights Leader frowned but he used the momentum to his advantage as he leaned his body even closer to the ground.

    His aura was released in an explosive manner and was shining brightly enough to dazzle the Minotaur. A momentter, the Sacred Knight Leader disappeared from his earlier spot.

    He re-emerged several meters ahead and pierced his weapon into the Minotaur''s waist.

    Simultaneously, the members of the Heaven''s Gates organization had appeared as well.

    Their weak, bluish aura surrounded them tightly. Through the influence of the weak aura that they had studied, the members of the Heaven''s Gates organization moved smoothly, almost as if they had rehearsed it to perfection.

    And that was exactly what they were doing.

    Taking advantage of the battlefield''s flow, the three Originals emerged around the Sacred Knights leader.

    Each of them made use of several abilities to increase their strength momentarily before they started their barrage of attacks to eliminate the ck-skinned and red-eyed Minotaur.

    Each of the Originals was considered to be amongst the top of mankind''s ranking. They had attained a new rank, a rank that was still unknown to the public.

    Their strength was iparable to the others. Even other Originals, who called themselves true powerhouses because they exceeded the publicly known strongest Original''s strength, were merely rookies in their view.

    Advancing to the Prometheus rank was an honor, and something only a few Originals were actually capable of.

    Thus, they were very prideful. However, even then, their pride was nothing inparison to the shock caused by the Minotaur''s actions.

    It had used a fellow Prometheus-ranked existence as a meat shield before throwing the Original''s dead body away.

    The Originals hadn''t even been able to do anything against the Minotaur''s actions.

    They had been way too fast and it had been a totally unexpected turn of events.

    But even if it had been unexpected, the Original should have been able to take a step back instinctively the moment the Minotaur revealed its intentions to move toward him.

    However, that had been impossible, clearly indicating that the Original''s reflexes were either bad or that the Minotaur was much faster and stronger than the Prometheus-ranked Original, whose body was currently lying on the ground, dyeing the ground bright red.

    ''Is it a Mutant? Was it especially sent by one of the Divines to conquer somends?'' The Sacred Knight Leader asked himself, his frown deepening as he saw how fast the Minotaur began to move as the three Heaven''s Gates members joined his fight.

    The other Sacred Knights member had also joined the fray after his mind was cleared of the shock of his friend''s sudden death.

    With five Prometheus-ranked Originals fighting the Minotaur, sending out one wave of attacks after another, the beast should have been forced to sumb to its inevitable fate.

    However, not only were the injuries it sustained minor, but it was easily able to regenerate. The Minotaur had a shockingly high regeneration ability that allowed it to fight even after sustaining several deep gashes at various vital points.

    Everyone was frustrated about this, especially the Sacred Knights leader because he could clearly tell that one of the Divines had used their special authority to create and transport the Minotaur to Jundra.

    ''Who is this nut head, who thought of sending a Mutant Beast to our new ygrounds?!''

 Chapter 221 Mutant

    Too many Divine existences, Gods, and Fiends, as well ass that were not reigned by a single existence were deemed ouwed.

    Everyone could im the for themselves, as long as they had the capabilities of doing so. Thus, some called suchs ''yground''.

    Nobody followed any set of rules when conquering a new. However, there were certain things or unwritten rules everybody adhered to.

    First of all, everyone was supposed to ensure that they provided the with adequate and bnced nourishment so as to prevent it from reaching a state of chaos caused by the creation of Hyper mana-dense areas.

    There were several other things one had to pay attention to when joining the conquest of a battle, but fairness had never been included.

    Everyone could do whatever they wanted to, even if that meant the destruction of the entire or the extinction of life on the.

    But, of course, that was not what the Divines wanted to achieve by attempting to be the overlords of the ouwed¡­.at least not usually. What would be the use of bing the King when you had no subjects to rule, or a ce to mark as your territory?

    However, the existence of the Mutant Minotaur was something simr to attempting to eradicate everyone. That could be easily gauged based on the way the Minotaur fought.

    Not only did it destabilize the ecosystem of every region the Minotaur would pass by, simply because the beast was way too violent and powerful for anyone to handle, but it might even annihte everyst human the moment it would find the remaining shelters.

    Ordinary Mutants might not be able to achieve this, and they might not even attempt to eradicate the human race, but the ck-skinned red-eyed Minotaur in front of them was certainly anything but ordinary!

    ''The moment the members of the Heaven''s Gates and my subordinate joined the battle, the Minotaur''s strength was elevated.'' The Sacred Knight Leader recalled, clearly understanding that this beast had been created especially to fight againstrge numbers of opponents.

    As long as nobody was able to kill the Minotaur in a single attack, it would survive, heal and keep fighting.

    This was something everyone couldprehend the moment all of its minor injuries disappeared from its skin. Almost more than two hundred minor cuts spread all over the Minotaur''s body healed in a matter of seconds.

    ''What the hell?! That Minotaur is way too strong¡­even one of the Prometheus ranks died at its hands¡­'' Sam Anderson could only think.

    He had been using his wind affinity to move the unconscious Originals through the air. Sam saved their lives without actually focusing on his wind affinity.

    After two decades of training, he didn''t have any problems using his wind affinity while focusing on something else.

    That was why he observed the battle of the six Originals against the Minotaur. However, it was far more frightening than initially thought.

    ''Will we survive?'' He could only ask himself quietly, feeling overwhelmed because of the Sacred Knights leader''s aura that suppressed the Minotaur''s bloodthirsty and heavy aura.

    If not for the Sacred Knights Leader''s aura, more Originals would have copsed on the ground, and even the true powerhouses would have a hard time standing on their feet.

    After all, the Minotaur''s aura and presence became stronger the longer they fought¡­or so it looked like to Sam.

    "That monster¡­is weird." A sudden voice echoed from behind Sam Anderson. He turned around, searching for the origin of the voice, just to see someone he didn''t expect to be getting up from the ground already.

    "You¡­you''re fine?" He asked in confusion while looking at Nial. His movements were a little bit sluggish, but he could move and get up from the ground.

    "Well, yes? I''m perfectly fine. I was just taken aback and lost my bnce when the Minotaur suddenly released an aura."

    Nial had already seen and witnessed the strength of auras from the Late Darkness God''s memories.

    However, he had no idea what auras actually were, how they were created, and what use they had. He only knew that Prometheus ranked existences shouldn''t have their own aura yet.

    At least, they were not supposed to have genuine auras at that rank.

    Despite that, the Originals and the Minotaur, who were fighting each other a bit further away from Nial, clearly had auras, each of them at that.

    While the bluish auras of the Heaven''s Gates members were rather weak and had little to no effect on the outside world, the holy aura of the Sacred Knights was slightly different.

    They purified the surroundings and dispelled impurities from the air.

    That was also why the mana in that area felt much fresher and full of vigor.

    Nial could clearly sense the mana around the battlefield.

    But only the mana was the thing he could sense easily. The rest of it was a big chaotic mess, and extremely hard for Nial to decipher anything. However, even if it was chaotic, the mana on the battlefield was slightly stronger than everywhere else.

    ''The Sacred Knights Leader''s aura is different from his subordinates'' aura as well. Oh, wait!'' The moment Nial perceived that the Sacred Knights Leader''s aura was different from his underlings, he could tell that something was odd, and very familiar to him.

    There were not many memories about other Divine beings in the memories the Late Darkness God had already shared with him.

    However, amongst the few specific memories, there was one about a particr aura that he could clearly remember.

    The aura of the God of Saints and Devils¡­A holy aura that was tarnished by vileness.<sub> </sub>

    ''So did he really incarnate?'' Nial thought, not without feeling astonished.

    "I guess he was either bored to death, the situation at the Summit changed drastically, or he lost his sanity," Nial mumbled, not realizing what he was saying out loud.

    Sam Anderson was still ncing at Nial. Based on his observations, he could tell that Nial''s restricted movements became smoother the more time passed.

    ''How is he adjusting so fast? Even his friend at the Prym-rank cannot handle the pressure well¡­'' He thought while throwing a nce toward Mathias, who was about to get back to his senses.

    Mathias'' body twitched a few times and he was finding it hard to get up from the ground. And that disappointed him as he saw Nial who was already standing and observing the fight ahead.

    "What do you think, will we survive?" Sam Anderson suddenly asked Nial. He was not sure why he would ask Nial that question.

    How could someone like Nial answer his question? Despite feeling stupid for what he had just asked someone at the Origin rank, Sam Anderson kept his attention on Nial.

    The young and blind Original seemed to be deep in thoughts as his lifeless milky white eyes were staring at the fight ahead.

    "If the Minotaur''s regeneration would truly be as powerful as it looks like, we would be dead by now. However, it doesn''t fight recklessly, and now it has switched to trying to avoid sustaining major injuries. This means that its healing is not some sort of superior ability that can be used indefinitely.

    Furthermore, it used the body of the Prometheus-ranked Original to block the Sacred Knights leader''s holy des, revealing that it was scared to face them directly.

    The mana around it is chaotic but it is also pulled to the Minotaur. I guess it requires lots of mana to keep regenerating its body.

    So, as long as they can inflict a single major injury, we will win. And as far as I''m familiar with the real persona behind the Sacred Knights leader, he is merely researching the Minotaur.

    He is not actually afraid of it, but is probably just annoyed and possibly a little bit confused."

    Nial was also quite confused when he finished speaking. He was not even sure what he had been saying at the end but somehow it made sense deep within his conscience.

    Shrugging his shoulders, Nial didn''t think about revealing more information he had learned through his [Mana Sense], including the fact that the mana-dense surrounding allowed the Minotaur to use its weird special constitution to absorb massive amounts of mana, which it could probably use to be stronger as long as it was not fighting.

    Simultaneously, Nial didn''t tell Sam Anderson that the Minotaur''s mana kept getting stronger the more pressure it felt and the more powerful opponents the beast fought.

    In the end, it was possible to infer this information just by looking at the fight and by intently observing the Minotaur''s behavior, and fighting style.

    The Minotaur got faster the longer the fightsted, showing that it required a short adjustment period to cope with the amplification of its strength and the pressure of fighting five powerful Originals.

    The five Originals were fully focused on their fight, and they didn''t allow themselves to make even a single mistake.

    After all, they knew that they would end up just like the dead member of the Sacred Knights, the moment they would reveal their weakness.

    While the Minotaur required humongous amounts of mana to keep regenerating after being injured, its special condition and the mana-dense environment made everything possible for the Minotaur.

    It was clearly at an advantage and knew about it.

    Using its terrifying physical strength, the Minotaur forced its attackers to back off.

    Even the Sacred Knights Leader was pushed back.

    He was already releasing his real aura, and his Innate ability [Saintly Devil]. Contrary to others, who had yet to learn about their Innate ability, the Sacred Knights Leader knew his Innate ability better than anyone else.

    After all, it was his own power that had been sealed in this body. His power was restricted because the weak human body couldn''t handle the full potential of his power at the Prometheus rank.

    But even then, the current strength that coursed through his body was more than enough to defeat a Prometheus ranked beast¡­or it should be, at the very least.

    ''That beast is definitely in the World destruction- ss. But it shouldn''t have been born and transported to Jundra a long time ago, otherwise, even this body of mine would have perished sooner.''

    Grinding his teeth, the Sacred Knights leader made a promise to himself to not die at the hands of the creation of another Divine being. He had various goals in mind and needed to be the overlord of Jundra for this.

    After all, Jundra was not only an extremelyrge that had yet to be fully explored by any kind of existence, but its position in the Universe was simply too great.

    Almost all Divine existences had awaited the awakening of Jundra''sary core for eons, but it had never happened. The reason for this was theary core''s seal that required numerous times more energy to break than any other.

    However, this was a good sign, showing that the was anything but ordinary.

    Even if the humans living on Jundra were oblivious to the truth behind the emergence of dungeon portals, and the question of why their home had been chosen to be infiltrated by numerous monsters, the Divine beings'' interest in Jundra was only obvious.

    Jundra was everything but a normal, after all!

 Chapter 222 Tarnished Holy Spear

    ''Do I really have to use this?'' The Sacred Knights Leader asked himself.

    The moment he made use of his secret trump, he would expose that he was not a normal Original.

    Even other humans, who hadn''t managed to attract the interest of a Divine being, or had past memories of their Innate ability wouldn''t find it difficult to find out that he was unique and different from the others.

    ''Not yet. It is not time for that yet.'' He added inwardly while gritting his teeth. ''I can just take a different route!''

    shing the longsword at the Mutant Minotaur, the Sacred Knights Leader''s aura tightly engulfed his weapon.

    The aura had beenpressed in an instant to increase the weapon''s lethality.

    At the same time, the Sacred Knights leader used his remaining three abilities tounch a fierce and lethal attack.

    A huge holy spear manifested roughly a meter behind the Sacred Knights leader in the air. This Spear had been created out of his second ability [Holy Spear], which had been augmented by the Sacred Knights Leader''s third ability [Holy Blessing].

    The name [Holy Blessing] might sound as if the Sacred Knights leader was blessed but this was not the case. He could merely bless his attack, light and holy attacks to be precise, further increasing their purity, and holiness.

    The holier an ability was in its essence, the stronger the augmenting effect ought to be.

    However, that was not where the Sacred Knights leader stopped. He activated his fourth ability [Tarnished Saint].

    By advancing to the Prometheus rank, the average human was able to bind their fourth ability to their mana core.

    [Tarnished Saint] turned every blessed attack into the vilest possible attacks. The purer and stronger an ability, or an attack, the viler the resulting attack.

    Initially, the Sacred Knights leader didn''t intend to use this attack because his white shining Holy Spear turned into a ck, somewhat greenish bubbling mass.

    Its presence was terrifying and everyone around the Tarnished Holy Spear could tell that approaching the spear wasparable to throwing away their precious lives.

    It was only obvious that nobody was looking forward to embracing death. That was why the remaining four Originals instinctively pushed backward.

    Their bodies moved back from the Minotaur, who had yet to finish the strike it had initiated against the Sacred Knights leader.

    However, the Sacred Knight Leader''s sword strike hadn''t been something the Minotaur could face that easily.

    Engulfed with hispressed holy aura, the Sacred Knights leader''s longsword was not something one could face lightly.

    The Minotaur''s huge broadsword was already showing signs of cracking. They were minor but contrary to the Mutant Minotaur, the weapon couldn''t get repaired while fighting.

    This made things much more difficult for the Minotaur, especially because the beast knew that it couldn''t face the Sacred Knights leader''s longsword head-on.

    But the Tarnished Holy Spear was even more dangerous. Thus, the Mutant Minotaur didn''t hesitate to retreat a bit as well.

    It moved rapidly while trying to keep blocking the longsword''s razor-sharp de.

    Yet, even if the Minotaur wanted to block the attack, it cut through his abdomen the moment the Minotaur moved back.

    Simultaneously, while the Minotaur tried to keep pushing backward, and increase the distance to the Tarnished Holy Spear, the Sacred Knights Leader fired the Tarnished Holy Spear.

    It whizzed through the air, sted forward, and reached its designated target not even a full secondter.

    For most Originals, it felt like a ck sh had cut through the air, but it had actually been the Tarnished Holy Spear.

    It had cut through the skin, flesh, and bones of the Mutant Minotaur, hitting its target, exactly as nned by the Sacred Knights Leader.

    However, the Sacred Knights leader was far from happy. A deep frown appeared on his face and he began to curse inwardly.

    ''Even that was not enough? Its reflexes are lightning-fast¡­''

    His attack might have hit the Mutant Minotaur, but the beast had twisted its body at thest moment to evade the biggest damage.

    The Tarnished Holy Spear pierced into its shoulder, prating it easily while cutting off a part of the Minotaur''s left shoulder and his entire left arm!

    When the others saw this, they regained their confidence and advanced once again.

    Using various abilities at once, the remaining four Originals at the Prometheus rank went all-in. They used all of their amplifications and executed their strongest attack with it, so as to inflict lethal damage and make use of the crippled state of the Mutant Minotaur to their advantage.

    While the four Prometheus Originals were now focused on pressuring the Mutant Minotaur, who looked almost as if it was bleeding to death, the Sacred Knights leader had retreated a few steps.

    His weapon showed signs of breaking and he had used the vast majority of his mana in thest attack.

    ''That''s the most I can do¡­for now, at least.'' He could only think.

    The Sacred Knights leader was not fully satisfied with his attack but the fact that he hit and pierced the Mutant Minotaur was already more than enough to kill it.

    Even if it had high regeneration capabilities, the Tarnished Holy Spear would infiltrate his opponent''s blood system and kill him slowly as long as the target was hit.<sub> </sub>

    Without an [Immunity] ability to gain immunity against poison, curses, or some sort of instant disinfection that would work against flesh-eating bacteria or lethal viruses, one was bound to die in the attack of his Tarnished Holy Spear.

    Thus, the Sacred Knights leader could step back and enjoy the show until the very end.

    The three members of the Heaven''s Gates had finally found back to their game and were fighting will all their might.

    However, the Sacred Knights leader felt that they were a little bitughable.

    ''To think that this is the strongest organization of mankind. It didn''t even take me 30 years to pass them¡­well, it is not like we had the same start either way. Our goal is different as well.''

    In the end, he could only shrug his shoulder and forget the Heaven''s Gates members in front of him.

    They were insignificant and not even worth being added to the calction of variables.

    However, there was someone else who might be worthy of being added to his ns as some sort of variable.

    ''The blind boy is already standing on his feet and observing the fight. He is definitely different from the others. I shouldn''t disregard him, not yet. Maybe my first impression of him was correct, and the second one blurred my senses.''

    The Sacred Knights leader had wanted to see Nial again since the moment he had witnessed how the blind youth fought the Dryx back at the Teradan military camp.

    That was also why he had forced the government and the military to draft Nial, and also Mathias, to join the conquest of Juna.

    Mathias was just dragged along to avoid attracting too much suspicion but he was certainly not important to the Sacred Knights leader.

    He turned his head to the back and looked into the lifeless eyes of the young Original he was most interested in.

    There were quite a few young Originals, the Sacred Knights leader was curious about simply because they had unique Innate abilities that made him recall a few Divine existences he knew of, but Nial was definitely one of the weirdest.

    He even perceived the gaze of the Sacred Knights leader, despite him flicking his head back to the fight just a momentter.

    ''Did he try to see my reaction after he used this weird holy spear attack that turned extremely vile all of a sudden? Had he nned this all along?'' Nial could only ask himself.

    At first, he thought that the Heaven''s Gates organization were not only the strongest but also that they had forced him to join the conquest.

    The Heaven''s Gates might still be the strongest organization because their leader might as well be stronger than the Sacred Knights leader.

    However, that was currently not of importance to Nial because he understood that it had been the Sacred Knights leader, who had been responsible for him and Mathias being drafted into the military.

    ''So he guessed who I am, and he is now trying to figure out if I am actually him.'' Nial concluded, smiling faintly because he could say for sure that he was not the person the Sacred Knights leader was looking for in him.

    This reassured Nial that he would not face a problem in this conquest as long as he didn''t reveal the dark energy to him.

    The others were fine seeing and perceiving his energy, but the Sacred Knights leader would make a wrong presumption the moment he was to sense the dark energy Nial could create with the help of the Odyssey seed.

    Nial was perfectly fine with keeping it a secret, and he averted his focus to the fight once again.

    After the Mutant Minotaur had been severely injured, there was no way for it to escape from the battlefield alive.

    It was impossible for the beast to survive the battle. However, that was something the beast had figured as well.

    Thus, it became determined to use all its might to drag others to doom as well.

    Hence, it released its entire mana at once as a result of which, the huge broadsword was shrouded in a bright red light. It began to crack and would break soon enough.

    But that was of no concern to the Mutant Minotaur, whose muscles bulged. They were clearly visible through its thick hide.

    Wrath overflowed within the beast, its eyes were entirely bloodshot and the bloodthirsty and heavy aura it released increased the pressure on the others all of a sudden.

    The Mutant Minotaur had pushed past its limits and prepared to ept the inevitable death.

    There was no reason for it to hold back anymore, which was exactly what it did, and a momentter, executed onest but terrifying attack.

    A blood-redyer shrouded the already glowing broadsword. One could hear the sound of metal breaking apart, and it was quite obvious what was going on.

    The huge broadsword was not able to handle the highly potent energy that had circted through it.

    However, even if numerous cracks had appeared on the sword, the blood-redyer still outlined the weapon.

    The Mutant Minotaur felt a sudden sting in its abdomen and found three deep gashes on its body the moment it looked down.

    But that did little to distract it.

    Instead, every ounce of strength was used in thest attack as the blood-red de intent was released at once. It crackled through the air, inflicting terror and death.

 Chapter 223 Dont Bother Me

    "Get the f*ck down!!"

    The moment the blood-red de intent had been created by the Minotaur''s life force, Nial knew that something bad was going to happen.

    The back of the Prometheus Originals was turned towards Nial, Sam Anderson, and each of the other Originals.

    Many had regained their consciousness, and even more were attempting to get up from the ground.

    Nobody wanted to get killed while lying on the ground. The Originals didn''t want to die yet, certainly not in a way that involved getting stomped under the feet of the Minotaur and its pressure.

    They wanted to decide on their future, and how their life was to progress.

    However, just when some of them had gotten up from the ground, Nial''s warning echoed through the surrounding area and reached everyone.

    Everyone heard him, but only some followed his order immediately.

    Nial had spoken with an authority known to be made use of by the highest authorities of the military and the powerful leaders of the various organizations who participated in the conquest of Juna.

    That was why some Originals acted on Nial''s order without another thought.

    Meanwhile, others looked around first, just to see that the Mutant Minotaur was about to execute an attack in the direction of the five Prometheus Originals¡­in their direction!

    Thus, most of the other Originals immediately jumped to the ground. They didn''t even think of blocking the attack that was bound to reach them because everyone was able to perceive that the blood-red de intent was not something they could survive.

    Even the Prometheus Originals'' presence seemed insignificant in the face of the blood-red de intent.

    And the moment the Mutant Minotaur executed its final blow, their fear turned into reality.

    The three Heaven''s Gates members, who had been the closest to the Mutant Minotaur, were the first ones to be killed.

    Their body was cut apart the moment the Mutant Minotaur released the de intent in a horizontal blow.

    In an instant, the three-meter-long de intent had erged. It turned into a lethal attack that was not only ridiculously fast and passed through the surrounding area in an instant but it also killed everyone, who had ignored Nial''s warning.

    And the worst was the fact that the horizontal de beam was more than twenty meters in width!

    More than three hundred Originals were killed in an instant, while more than two thousand Originals, who had been cowering on the ground, lost their consciousness once again.

    They copsed the moment the pressure of the blood-red de beam brushed past them. It knocked them out, and many were even injured by the pressure that had weighed on them but they survived.

    Surviving was the most important, and the three Prometheus Originals of the Heaven''s Gates hadn''t been capable of achieving this!

    Their bodies were nearly cut, their guts spilled out of their abdomen, blood dyed the ground red, and their eyes turned lifeless. Regret could clearly be seen in their facial expressions as their bodies involuntarily stiffened.

    Despite being considered the strongest existences mankind had, the three Prometheus Originals had died, just like that.

    From a total of six Prometheus Originals, their current number was reduced to two as four had died while facing the Mutant Minotaur.

    This was devastating for mankind''s growth, but there was still hope. After all, only four Prometheus Originals had died, not all of them.

    Even the Mutant Minotaur had sumbed to its inevitable fate.

    Meanwhile, there was no sight of the Sacred Knights leader and his subordinate.

    Nial was one of the first, who was able to get up from the ground.

    Everyone was cowering on the ground, their hands covering their heads, thinking that there might be another attack. However, Nial could clearly sense that all the threats had been eliminated.

    In a surrounding radius of more than 1.5 kilometers, there was not a single beast that could threaten them.

    ''Looks like even he was afraid to die. He released the limiter on his strength for a moment, and transported himself and his subordinate away.'' Nial thought after clearly understanding what his [Mana Sense] had perceived the moment the blood-red de intent had been released by the Mutant Minotaur.

    The Sacred Knights leader knew that he would have died while facing the attack head-on. He didn''t have much mana left, which was why he could only survive by removing his limiter temporarily.

    However, even if it was not a problem to save himself in this way, it was still surprising that the Sacred Knights leader had rescued his subordinate as well.

    He was bound to be questioned why he didn''t rescue the Heaven''s Gates members if he could grasp his own subordinate.

    The Sacred Knights leader was likely to be asked about how he survived, and why he didn''t destroy the de beam instead of fleeing with his subordinate.

    At least that was what Nial presumed the others would ask the Sacred Knights leader.

    ''Well, it is not like he cannot exin that easily. Running away is much easier than facing such a bloody attack head-on. Nobody will expect him to have the power to block the attack, after witnessing the entire fight.''

    After giving it some thought, Nial changed his point of view about the situation.

    His entire body ached heavily because of the pressure of the blood-red de beam. It had been a powerful attack that had been even stronger than the Sacred Knights leader''s Tarnished Holy Spear.

    And that is when Nial realized that he had to get up from the ground.

    It was pointless to keep cowering on the ground and to expect another of these terrifying attacks to reach them.

    ''Even if we don''t have six Prometheus Originals left anymore, it should still be feasible to kill Prometheus beasts if we were to encounter another one.

    The Minotaur was far stronger than any of the Prometheus beasts I''ve seen in the Darkness God''s memories.''

    Nial might not have seen many memories of Prometheus ranked beasts, but there had been one or two that he remembered.

    That was why he knew that there wouldn''t be a problem for the Sacred Knights leader and his subordinate to kill an ordinary Prometheus ranked beast.

    ''Well, it is not like we should face more of them for now. The Minotaur should have had its territory in and around Juna, so we''ll be fine.''

    Nial''s heart began to race when he recalled the terrifying strength of the Minotaur. However, they had survived so he had to calm down.<sub> </sub>

    The Sacred Knights Leader had returned out of nowhere once again. Many Originals looked at him in confusion, wondering where he had disappeared to.

    However, only he and his subordinate knew the truth.

    Even Nial could only recall that a portal had opened in front of the Sacred Knights leader and that it had disappeared a quarter of a secondter.

    It had been a fraction of a second before the blood-red de beam had cut through the three members of the Heaven''s Gates organization, and the portal had transported the Sacred Knights leader somewhere else.

    He had shortly returned, which was a good sign for the other Originals. They felt reassured that, at least, two powerful Originals were still willing to fight.

    It was even better than the Sacred Knights leader, the strongest of the six Prometheus Originals, had survived.

    His face was pale and it looked almost as if he would copse at any moment but he was still alive.

    However, his exhaustion was not enough to break his will and force his body to shut down.

    The Sacred Knights leader walked over to the body of the Mutant Minotaur. His eyes were ice-cold as he looked at the monster, whose corpsey on the ground just like any dead body would.

    "Well, then let''s see, who the hell created an anomaly like you." He merely mumbled beforeshing out with his longsword.

    The longsword prated the Minotaur''s chest and the Sacred Knights leader worked for several minutes on the beast''s chest, cutting through its hide and flesh.

    But once he was done, he was holding the beast''s mana core, where he could take a good look at the engravings on the Mana core.

    ''Huh?''

    Instead of having multiple abilities, there was only a single engraving on the beast''s mana core. This was quite confusing, even more so considering that the engraved symbol was something the Sacred Knights leader had never seen before.

    ''Why is the Mutant Minotaur''s head engraved on the mana core?''

    While the Sacred Knights leader was confused, Nial was also able to perceive the engraving on the mana core.

    He was not bothered about the missing abilities that were supposed to be engraved on the mana core.

    Rather, his attention was on the Minotaur head symbol, causing an expression of interest to appear on his face.

    ''It is entirely different to the Ankh, but oddly enough I can perceive quite a few points in which they resemble each other.''

    Nial was interested in the Minotaur''s mana core, and he would love to inspect it up close. Unfortunately, the Sacred Knights leader stored the mana core in his spatial ring before Nial could do anything.

    This was truly sad, and quite a disadvantage for Nial.

    However, there was nothing he could do about it.

    ''Either way, I now know that I''m not the only one with symbols engraved on my mana core, or the Odyssey seed, to be precise.'' He could only think while trying to appease himself.

    While Nial was trying to ease his mind, the Sacred Knights leader had turned in Kirlia''s direction.

    Her eyes were fully focused on the corpses of her organization''s Elite of the Elite.

    Never would she have imagined that they could die, neither in the future nor today.

    In her eyes, they had always been the strongest existences all over Jundra. With their help, several transportation circles and isted buildings had been constructed in the wilderness.

    It had allowed them to make traveling through the wilderness easier.

    To Kirlia, the three Prometheus Originals that had joined the conquest of Juna were her idols.

    Yet, those idols were now dead, and only two out of six of the strongest Originals had survived.

    The result of the first fight to reim Juna had been terrifying, and Kirlia felt as if even more trouble awaited them.

    However, when the Leader of the Sacred Knights spoke to her, she snapped out of her daze as her head turned to the young-looking man.

    "You belong to their organization, don''t you?" He first asked, pointing at the three corpses before he continued to speak.

    "Take their corpses and spatial rings. Do whatever you want with them. If your superiors have questions don''t even think abouting to me.

    You saw the fight as well. Answer their questions once we return from the conquest, and don''t dare to bother me!" His eyes were ice-cold and the Sacred Knights leader''s exhaustion was wiped away for the few seconds in which he stared at Kirlia.

    He made it clear that he didn''t want to be bothered by anyone, and that he wouldn''t answer any questions. Everyone who was conscious had witnessed the fight, so they might as well answer possible questions.

    "Now, I need some rest. You guys can clear Juna or do whatever you want. There is no more Prometheus beast to harass you, let alone something like that fucking Minotaur." He stated before bending down to pick up the Minotaur''s body, which he stored in his spatial ring, not minding the others.

    Just when the Sacred Knights leader finished speaking, Sam Anderson''s head subconsciously turned toward Nial.

    ''He also said the word ''Prometheus'' before¡­Does he really know more about the next rank? Should I¡­? No, or maybe?''

    **

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 Chapter 224 Teacher Nial

    "Do you think we''ll be fine with only the Sacred Knights leader and his subordinate left to defend us?" A young Original at the Origin rank asked, visibly afraid.

    "What else are we supposed to do? Trust the other ''true'' powerhouses? Don''t fool yourself. They''re only able to defeat beasts at the Tritan rank. Beasts such as a Minotaur are on apletely different level.

    You cannotpare them. If another one appears, we will definitely die, but it''s not like we can run away either.

    How do you n to return to Liondra? Without the use of Juna''s teleportation circle and all that?" Another Original asked in a disappointed tone while lifting his head.

    He didn''t look as afraid as the young Original to his right. However, even he had no idea of how they would survive if another beast as strong as the Minotaur were to appear.

    "Powerful beasts have their own territory in most cases. So¡­we should be fine, right?" A young woman suddenly added in hesitation. Chills ran down her spine whenever she thought about the Minotaur, how it had killed the three members of the Heaven''s Gates in ast, desperate attack.

    Thest attack had killed more than 300 Originals, and it had only been thanks to the early warning that so ''less'' Originals had died.

    That was why many were thankful to Nial, even if they had been envious of him before.

    He had made huge gains from all the corpses he had collected, and many would love to get their hands on his spatial ring. But now that he saved their life indirectly, most were fine with Nial getting all the gains.

    It was not as if they couldn''t have collected the corpses of the beasts that had been killed by others. But for that to happen, they would have to separate from their group for a moment, leave the group''s safety and enter the ''true wilderness'' to collect the corpses. If they did so, they would have made huge gains as well.

    However, they didn''t do so. Even the ''true'' powerhouses didn''t collect the beast corpses, which was mostly due to the fact that they didn''t want to fill their spatial rings with low-value corpses.

    And when they saw Nial hire the Elite Junior Soldiers of the military to dissect the corpses of the beasts he collected, the same true powerhouses reconsidered collecting the corpses and hiring the Elite Junior Soldiers as well.

    But if they would do all of this suddenly, the true powerhouses would have to have to acknowledge that they had been unable to think of the same idea a 19-year-old Origin rank Original hade up with.

    To them, their image was worth far more than some gains. That was why they didn''t even think of following suit and copying his actions.

    "Even if only the Sacred Knights leader and one of his powerful subordinates are left alive, it''s not like we can change anything either way.

    Maybe the seven groups, who belong to the seven shelters, will have simrly strong Originals."

    "Who knows if the others have even a single Original at the Prometheus rank, let alone if their strength can rival that of the Sacred Knights leader."

    "If we manage to find the other groups, I will definitely feel better. I wonder if they''ve already arrived.

    Oh, and by the way, what is this Prometheus rank? I have never heard of it before."

    "Oh, that? I heard it from Mike before. And he heard that name from Sam Anderson, the Windbreaker. As for him, I don''t know where he got it."

    While the discussions of many Originals became intense, Nial and Mathias had long since made up their mind about what they should doter.

    "We''ll only clear the dungeons we are confident of clearing on our own. There is no need to actively approach dangerous dungeons. Let the others handle them." Mathias repeated their n for the tenth time.

    They had more than enough body parts and other stuff stored in their spatial rings to do whatever they wanted to. The only thing they might require to create runic armaments would be the ingredients for the runic solutions and possibly all the utensils to manufacture them.

    But it was not as if they had nned on manufacturing runic armaments in the wilderness, to begin with.

    Many true powerhouses were ashamed of the fact that they had been rendered useless in the face of the Minotaur''s threat. That was why they went on a killing spree.

    They were clearing the outer areas of the third shelter, which was definitely necessary because the beasts that had been imprisoned within Juna had finally mustered enough courage to dare to venture outside.

    The Minotaur had been in control of every move of the beasts inside the shelter when it was still alive. It had killed numerous beasts but it had also ordered them around.

    Now that it was dead, the dungeon beasts were finally free, but to their misfortune, they were annihted by a few angered and frustrated humans.

    "Let the others do some work now. It''s not like we''re actually needed here, and we haven''t volunteered to be here, as well." Nial suddenly told Mathias, who had far more issues epting the fact that they were not on a vacation, nor had they voluntarily joined in the conquest to reim Juna.

    He was ready to conquer numerous dungeons in the following days, while Nial just wanted to take it easy, right now.

    "Well, yeah, but no¡­." Mathias mumbled, not willing to ept Nial''s reasoning.

    At that moment, a sudden barrage of noises attracted their attention.<sub> </sub>

    The two Originals turned their heads just like everyone else as they looked at the shelter''s gates.

    Some of the true powerhouses had already returned from killing all the freed beasts in the surrounding area. Afterward, they entered the shelter feeling fully motivated before pulling down the gates.

    ? Through this, all the Originals could enter the shelter, but at the same time, the remaining beasts were able to move out as well.

    It was the only proper entrance that had been opened, which many heavy beasts were willing to use to rush outside the gate.

    "These bastards. Are they nning to release the beasts from within the shelter to force everyone to fight them?" An Original asked in a stunned voice. He was visibly angered when he saw how numerous beasts were trying to force their way to get through the gate.

    They were squeezing through it, trampling on top of each other and using all their strength just to leave the shelter.

    ''Their mana fluctuations are overflowing with excitement and the thirst of blood. Just what did the Minotaur do to them that all of them are dying to leave the shelter? Their thirst for blood is not exactly normal either¡­''

    Nial would be lying if he were to say that he was not slightly bothered about the beasts within the shelter.

    However, he didn''t move even after perceiving the first few beasts, who had sessfully squeezed through the gate.

    Others were already on the move and were ready to fight.

    Nial kept observing everything, while Mathias left his side to join the forces of the fighting Originals.

    There was no need for Nial to hold his friend back, but Mathias'' help would do little to bring the situation under control.

    "It looks like the other shelters'' groups have not yet arrived. The others seem to be adamant about reiming Juna before they arrive. Do you think they are doing that only to gain fame, and so that they can proudly say that they reimed Juna all by themselves, without the help of any other group of Originals?" A familiar and calm voice reached Nial.

    Sam Anderson appeared next to him all of a sudden. He took the initiative to speak to Nial, which was not the first instance.

    It was unusual for Sam Anderson to speak to others first because he was said to be a prideful man, who was hard to approach.

    But that didn''t seem to be true whenever he spoke to Nial. It was not as if the young blind man was different than many people Sam Anderson knew, but he was certainly more likable than some bootlickers he wished to get rid of.

    ''Well whether I like Nial or not doesn''t matter.'' He thought as he pulled Nial in a conversation.

    ''I need to figure out more about the Prometheus rank and how to advance to it!''

    "Their ego was hurt when the Minotaur''s aura forced them to ept reality, the reality that their strength wasughable in the face of true power, and that they have a long way to go until they canbel themselves as truly mighty Originals." Nial just answered, not acting as if he was surprised that Sam Anderson had appeared next to him and that he was suddenly speaking to him.

    He had already expected this. After all, he could tell that Sam was highly interested in the Prometheus rank. This interest was even more apparent because he had been at the peak of the Tritan stage for quite a while. Sam Anderson was merely searching for thest piece in the big puzzle to understand how to advance to the Prometheus rank.

    "Is advancing to the Prometheus rank not enough to be considered truly powerful?" Sam Anderson asked. He had nned to beat around the bush and slowly approach topics revolving around the Prometheus rank.

    However, Nial''sment confused him quite a bit. Sam found Nial''s words oddly interesting.

    They worried him at the same time because it seemed as if Nial knew far more than he was letting on.

    "Is the Prometheus rank truly powerful? Well maybe for now that''s true but that won''t always be the case. Once Jundra awakens its mana core, the strength of the dungeons will increase drastically. By then, we will see true power, I guess."

    Jundra had yet to awaken its mana core. It would still take a while before that was to happen but it would happen, that was certain.

    Sam Anderson had read the thesis about theary mana awakening. So he knew where Nial wasing from. But even then, he felt a little bit bothered by Nial''s words.

    ''Looks like, I need to speak to him a little bit longer than expected¡­ I never believed that I would return to the times where I would question someone else just like I used to with my teacher¡­''

    The only difference from before was¡­that this time he was speaking to a 19-years-old Origin rank Original about topics he was curious about. He was asking that youngling questions even the old ones were unable to answer.

    And the weirdest was that slowly but steadily, Sam Anderson began to think that it was normal to ask Nial these questions.

    After all, he seemed to be extremely knowledgeable; far more than anyone else.

    This was weird¡­or was it not?

 Chapter 225 Entering The Abandoned Shelter

    The number of beasts emerging from the shelter was much higher than they first thought.

    However, the Originals could defeat them rather easily by using the surroundings to their advantage.

    The beasts had to squeeze through the shelter''s gate. Because of this, only a few beasts emerged outside the shelter at once.

    Observing their attempts to escape was not actually necessary and Nial was rather bored.

    This boredom lessened only a bit when answering Sam Anderson''s questions. The Tritan-ranked Original was bombarding him with loads of questions and hoped to receive proper and detailed answers from Nial for each.

    At the same time, Sam Anderson had a hard time epting that Nial knew a lot more than he was supposed to.

    Only when Nial chose to leave Sam Anderson''s side, did the Windbreaker slowlyprehend that Nial''s detailed answers were something not many should be able to know.

    "Is he really Miranda''s disciple? But even if it is true, has Miranda be that knowledgeable?'' Sam Anderson wondered as he was not sure how Miranda had found such a hidden gem.

    However, he also knew that procuring knowledge about how to advance to the next rank was not her goal.

    ''That''s weird¡­''

    While Sam Anderson felt a lot more knowledgeable now that he spent some time asking Nial quite a few questions, his only issue was to find a way to actually advance to the Prometheus rank.

    Unfortunately, Nial had already left his side to talk to his friend instead. Without hesitation, Nial had left behind Sam Anderson, the Original who most of the others would sacrifice a limb to just be able to talk to.

    The number of beasts emerging from the shelter''s gate had dwindled quickly.

    There were still numerous beasts inside the shelter, but not many dared to venture outside after the first few Tritan-ranked Originals revealed their strength.

    "Are you done here?" Nial asked Mathias when he reached his friend.

    "Yeah, well. Actually, I''ve no idea. The beasts here are a little bit weird." Mathias replied, shrugging his shoulders in confusion before he turned his head to Nial.

    "By the way, what did Windbreaker Sam Anderson want from you?"

    Mathias was evidently curious about Sam Anderson''s approach. But Nial merely waved his hand off.

    "He asked a few questions and gave me his contact details afterward. I guess he is searching for a way to advance to the Prometheus rank."

    ''He gave you his contact details?!'' Mathias nearly screamed out, baffled by how his friend had easily be friends with Sam Anderson.

    For years, Mathias had been one of the Windbreaker''s fans. He was most interested in Sam Anderson''s approach when heprehended his Wind affinity.

    After all, his control was superior to anyone''s elemental control Mathias had seen so far.

    Yet, his idol had casuallye up to Nial to ask a few questions, just to end up exchanging his contact details with him.

    That was ridiculous and totally unfair in Mathias'' opinion.

    But Nial was not affected by this in the slightest. His milky white and lifeless eyes stared at the shelter, while his Mana Sense was fully unleashed.

    Thousands of beasts were in his range of perception, cowering in fear upon sensing the strength of the Tritan-ranked Originals.

    The high-ranked Originals were starting their onught. They began to infiltrate the shelter and start with the reiming process.

    Annihting all the beasts within the shelter was not even considered a big issue. Rather, the big issue would be to stop more beasts from emerging, to clear all dungeons that were breaking out, and to conquer the dungeons to destroy them or to stop them from respawning beasts.

    "The others are really not there yet. They''re quite slow, aren''t they?" Nial suddenly asked.

    "What others?... Ah, you mean the groups of Originals who''reing from the seven other shelters. Well, they might not have that many powerful Originals by their side.

    Or they encountered a strong beast that slowed them down. The environment could have been against them as well." Mathias didn''t think much about Nial''s question.

    He was more focused on using both his Earth and Water ability to create muddy stairways along the shelter walls.

    With the correct use of both of his elemental affinities, he could create mud, which he could actually dry by controlling the water content within the mud.

    Like this, he experimented a little bit before a highly durable flight of stairs made of soil had been created.

    He and Nial went up the walls, while many other Originals chose to follow them.

    Their group had close to 1000 Archers. With the advantage of being in a higher position, they could hunt any type of beast inside the shelter.

    This made things even easier than they were before.

    The True powerhouses killed the strongest beasts in the surrounding area, while the others followed their example.

    In the following hours, the third shelter, Juna, turned into a bloody battlefield. Blood, dead bodies, intestines, and body parts covered the ground.

    Not many had the time to store the bodies of the beasts they had killed. Everyone merely focused on collecting the Origin crystals and ability crystals that dropped before they continued with the killing spree.

    Nial used this to his advantage. He stored the abandoned bodies, without caring about the disgusted gazes he received.

    ''Their jealousy is already at a dangerous level.'' Nial merely thought, even though he knew that the Originals merely looked at him for ''stealing'' the bodies that were littered on the grounds.

    However, Nial didn''t really care about those people. He cleaned after everyone to allow them to fight properly because more and more beasts continued to emerge from the dungeon portals within Juna.

    Outside a simr situation urred, with each dungeon portal being in its breakout state.

    More beasts emerged at any moment than the Originals could kill.

    If not for Nial''s hardbor of collecting all the corpses, even trying to move a few meters in the abandoned shelter would be quite difficult.<sub> </sub>

    Other low-ranked Originals had also begun to collect corpses. They had been told to clear the battlefield of the corpses so that everyone else could fight properly. Being restricted in a fight while having a numerical disadvantage was not exactly funny, after all.

    Time slowly passed, and it was alreadyte in the evening when the number of beasts emerging from the dungeon portals slowed down.

    The Originals from Liondra had built a small base to stay, and only a few true powerhouses were required to protect the base.

    With a beast repellent used, not many beasts would dare to attack them.

    Beast repellents were expensive items that weren''t actually useful if you only wanted to repel a few, small beast groups.

    Only when used in ces like the abandoned shelter would they reveal their true value.

    Thanks to the beast repellent and the true powerhouses'' help, it was possible for everyone else to sleep soundly while ignoring the sound of dying beasts echoed in their ears.

    Nial had chosen to rest early as well. He wanted to approach Kirlia and her disciples because there hadn''t been a good time for him to approach them in thest few days.

    However, it was not as if Kirlia was in favor of his entire existence.

    ''I should try to find a way how to approach Kirlia while being considered considerate.'' He only thought before falling asleep in the small tent they had set up.

    Several hours passed and Nial woke up, feeling fully energized. He stretched his body and released his Mana Sense afterward.

    ''Their motivation is truly admirable. Some have already left to conquer the dungeons.'' He could only think, just to include Mathias into that calction.

    Mathias was not in the tent, and it looked like he was just leaving for an Expert dungeon with some other Originals.

    "Well, whatever. If he is so eager, I should support him." He mumbled before leaving the tent to shower.

    On his way out, he encountered quite a few Originals. Nial greeted them as usual, but the tension in the base seemed to be quite high because he rarely got an answer.

    But with time, Nial quickly noticed that it was not the tension in the base that prevented the others from greeting him.

    Rather, it was just the fact that they didn''t want to greet Nial, in the first ce.

    Most Originals avoided him, and Nial quickly figured out why that was the case as he forced one of the Elite Junior Soldiers he had encountered to answer him.

    "Wait. So you mean everyone believes that I''m greedy and disrespectful to the True powerhouses?" Nial summarized what the young female in front of him said.

    ''Well, it is not like I respect them a lot. And I can be considered greedy for taking all the beast corpses. But it''s not like I actually stole the beast corpses.

    Others were also told to collect them, I was just quicker, and was proactively searching for them.''

    Nial was a little bit confused but it was not actually as if the situation mattered a lot to him. He didn''t need to be treated well by anyone.

    In his opinion, there were only a few people he cared about. Their opinion was important to Nial, not those of weaklings, or pseudo-powerhouses.

    That was also why he could ignore their gazes as he began to study the wooden board that had been created by their group not too long ago.

    On the wooden board, one could see a detailed and clear map of Juna in arge size. Through that, every single dungeon portal could be marked in a specific color, or with a specific sign.

    Permanent dungeons received a special sign, and the same went for dungeons with specific restrictions.

    "Rookie dungeons with the restriction being at the Origin rank," Nial mumbled while searching for those exact configurations.

    Even if he was not eager to enter the dungeon portals for the sake of others, it was not as if he could avoid entering thempletely.

    He might have been drafted because some people were interested in him, but Nial also knew that he should fight a little bit in order to make it look as if he was actually in the conquest team to reim Juna.

    It was not necessary to gain the others'' loyalty, but Nial could tell that he should try to prevent anyone from actually hating him, especially if he were to face the wrath of a true powerhouse at his current stage!

    "Are you searching for a dungeon to conquer, Nial Orin?" A sudden voice reached him.

    Nial flinched upon hearing the voice, but he didn''t even turn around. There was no one behind him either way.

    His ears perked up upon realizing that someone from further away was speaking to him while whispering.

    Chills ran down his spine, only for him to hear faintughter from behind him.

    ''I got you!'' Nial thought after having pinpointed the direction of theughing man.

    However, upon realizing who exactly was speaking to him andughing at him, Nial''s expression turned grim.

    ''What the hell does the Sacred Knights leader want from me?''

    "How about we have a nice chat, Nial Orin¡­or should I call you Damian, the Ruler of Darkness?"

    **

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 Chapter 226 Damian, The Ruler Of Darkness

    Nial had to try hard to control his facial expressions.

    Damian was actually the name of the Late Darkness God, and Ruler of Darkness was one of the many nicknames thete Darkness God had had in his long and glorious life.

    Of course, Nial knew about this. However, by acknowledging that he knew that much about thete Darkness God, Nial would reveal that his rtionship with Damian was¡­special.

    For a nobody, and a mere human from Jundra, it was impossible to know who the Ruler of Darkness was, let alone that it was possible for Gods to incarnate on Jundra.

    ''Looks like he doesn''t intend to hide it anymore?'' Nial concluded, understanding that the Sacred Knights leader was tired of beating around the bush.

    Instead of fooling around, the Sacred Knights leader had approached him, while indirectly sharing that he knew more than an ordinary human should know.

    In fact, only a few Gods knew about thete Darkness God''s actual name, which included the God of Saints and Devils, Silvian.

    ''So he really is his incarnation, and he thinks I''m Damian''s reincarnation? Or does he not even know that Damian died, and he is under the impression that I''m his incarnation as well?''

    Many questions flooded Nial''s mind, but he knew that he had to keep a calm head.

    He turned in the direction of the Sacred Knights leader and cleared his throat upon reaching him.

    "I think I have to apologize, Sir. I do not know who this Damian is. But how does Sir know that my name is Nial Orin? Are you interested in my talent, Sir?"

    Nial chose to take a different approach to solve the situation. At first, he needed to figure out whether the Sacred Knights leader, Silvian, wanted to take his life if he were to reveal that he actually had the Fragment of thete Darkness God within him, or if the God of Saints and Devils had a different n.

    ''Sir? Did Damian just call me Sir? No, he would never do that. Did I mistake Nial Orin for the wrong person? But that can''t be¡­ Their personality is almost exactly the same, and I can clearly tell that he is hesitant to use the dark energy in his possession in front of me.

    Is he not trying to hide his dark energy from me? Maybe that''s why he calls me Sir, to irritate me?''

    Silvian was pretty sure that Nial was the Darkness God, his old friend, Damian. The ck miasma he had released while fighting the Prym-ranked beasts was something Nial used instead of his dark energy to make others believe that he was not the Darkness God.

    That was what Silvian believed.

    He could instinctively tell that the dark energy in the recorded videos he had seen over ten times by now, and the ck miasma were different.

    The ck miasma was also something Nial had used in the recorded videos. If one focused enough on Nial, and saw his clip in slow-motion, over and over again, it was easy to tell that both the dark energy which he could control freely and the ck miasma were different things.

    Thepatibility of the ck miasma and dark energy might have been exceptional but they were still two different things.

    ''Are you just hiding from me, Damian, or did you find incarnations of other Divine existences as well?'' Silvian wondered, his eyes staring in the depths of the blind boy''s lifeless eyes.

    ''To think that you would incarnate as a blind boy. Nobody, not even I, would think that it is actually you. It''s just that your dark energy is too unique!'' He thought before clearing his throat to join Nial in his ''farce''.

    "As the leader of the Sacred Knights, I, of course, know who you are. After all, you''ve made quite a big name in the Teradan military camp. I was very impressed with everything I read.

    Despite your low rank, the amount of mana your mana core can hold is extremely high. Furthermore, your abilities are strong, and your blindness is not actually a restriction for you.

    Instead of being depressed or thinking that being blind is a disadvantage, I believe that it makes you stronger.

    I also saw your fight against the Dryx. It was also reported that it was you, who gave the crucial piece of information on how to kill Dryx and help win the battle. Good Job.

    As for the name ''Damian''. I must have mistaken you for someone else, or maybe not, who knows.

    But do tell me, why are you hiding your real strength from everyone else? Your dark energy. Why are you hiding it?"

    At first, Nial was at ease, thinking that he had not made any big mistakes.

    However, when the Sacred Knights leader pointed out his dark energy, Nial knew that he had messed up.

    ''How did he find it out?'' Was Nial''s first thought before realization struck him.

    ''Well, of course¡­the ck miasma and the dark energy are not exactly the same. I don''t even know what they look like, so one might suspect that I am hiding my dark energy because I merely used my ck miasma to fight the Prym-ranked beasts.

    He got me¡­''

    Nial bit his lower lip, not exactly sure what he should do.

    He could reveal that he was merely the host of the Darkness God''s fragment and that he was not Damian.

    Thete Darkness God didn''t want to reincarnate. This was something Nial could clearly tell. As such, it wouldn''t be considered a problem even if he were to say that he was Damian, which was the second option Nial had.<sub> </sub>

    ''But what is the correct way? Either, I''m the host of Damian''s Godly Fragment, I fake being Damian, or I continue to act oblivious¡­''

    The information of the God of Saints and Devils flooded his mind all of a sudden. A numbing headache spread through his entire head. For several seconds, Nial felt as if his head was cracked open, sealed up, and once again cracked open that continued on a loop.

    This sensation was far from great for Nial, who was holding his head while groaning in pain.

    ''What''s with him?'' Silvian frowned while looking at his old friend. "Wait¡­did he possibly not incarnate with his memories intact? Thest time I heard about Damian, he had been facing some issues with the Alliance from Heaven''s Pce. Is that it? Are his memories just not fully intact?''

    While Silvian tried to figure out what was going on with Nial, the young blind man was fighting with his life.

    Memories he had never seen before entered his mind. He fought numerous battles and killed millions of living beings.

    He could even see the memory ofs being destroyed just by a single snap of his fingers. His territory was ginormous, and the people under him were loyal and terrified of his wrath.

    Nobody dared to go up against him, not even other Gods. They were careful whenever they encountered him and avoided Damian at all costs.

    Nial faced the onught of all the memories that flooded his mind, head-on. He knew that the Odyssey seed revealed all the memories and the information it had held within, for his sake.

    For a moment, he might feel like dying because every single memory that entered his mind was like a hammer strike on his head.

    It didn''t feel great, but Nial endured everything. His legs gave in and he slumped to the ground.

    Many Originals saw this, and they believed that Nial was kneeling down in front of the Sacred Knights leader to beg for forgiveness.

    No one could tell why Nial was asking for forgiveness but the sight that unfolded in front of them was something many Originals liked.

    "Finally, you got what you deserved. You shouldn''t act arrogantly in front of everyone! The Sacred Knights leader is not someone you should take lightly! What an idiot!" One of the younger Originalsmented.

    He was already at the Prym rank with one Advanced Origin ring, while being under 25 years. His talent was great but his background was not that influential.

    Thus, he had been struggling with the disadvantage of not having the funds to create his primary Advanced Origin ring at a younger age, which was why he felt offended whenever he saw Nial.

    When he saw him collecting all the corpses, and gaining a huge fortune without actually doing much, he was already angered.

    However, upon finding out that Nial had been taken in as a disciple by Miranda, the Witch of the South, and the first Runicier of mankind, the young man was truly infuriated.

    But what the young man didn''t know was that Nial had more than enough funds for himself, that Nial was mankind''s first Runicier, and that Miranda only became a Runicier thanks to his help and the books he and Mathias brought her!

    "Well, whatever. Just be satisfied at the sight of him kneeling." Another Original, a young woman suggested.

    Yet, the moment she finished speaking, an ear-piercing scream filled the entire base. It was Nial who was screaming out in endless pain. Blood trickled down his nose, his ears, and even his lifeless eyes.

    All of a sudden, Nial''s appearance turned extremely gloomy, and a shudder swept through everyone, who was looking at the young boy.

    "Isn''t¡­that a little bit too much?" The same woman suddenly asked, her earlier smug expression of seeing him kneel turning into pity because she believed that the Sacred Knights leader was teaching him a lesson.

    The punishment Nial seemed to have received was a mental attack, and it definitely didn''t look like something anyone would ever want to face.

    ''How cruel.'' Many Originals, who had seen everything that happened until now, though. Their opinion had changed in the blink of an eye, and their satisfaction had disappeared into thin air.

    They looked at the Sacred Knights leader as if they were pleading him to stop with whatever he was doing.

    The sight of Nial''s current state was already more than enough to feel hurt by themselves. They didn''t even want to imagine what was currently going on with Nial to make him let out a blood-curdling scream.

    However, even the Sacred Knights leader was baffled at the sight of Nial.

    ''Did I force him to awaken his memories of the past by telling him his old name?'' Silvian suddenly asked himself, while keeping his attention on the situation in front of him.

    He didn''t know that this was not the case. Rather than the name ''Damian'', or ''Ruler of Darkness'' awakening any kinds of memories, two different things were happening at the same time.

    First, Nial received numerous memories from the Odyssey seed. Nearly all of them were rted to different Divine Existences, including Silvian.

    However, the awakening of his memories had initiated something else about his Origin seed.

    ''The Ankh is awakening!!''

 Chapter 227 Life

    The Ankh, the Symbol of Life, was engraved on Nial''s Odyssey seed.

    It hadn''t changed anything about the Odyssey seed, and it looked like it didn''t have any special effect, almost as if it was just some decoration.

    Yet, with numerous memories flooding Nial''s mind, the Ankh began to glow as well.

    The memories the Odyssey seed transferred to him activated the Ankh. It began to glow brightly all of a sudden, and it released a terrifying amount of vigor.

    Nial could only feel the endless pain because of the memories that pierced into his mind without permission. At first, he didn''t even realize that something about the Ankh was changing, let alone that it released vigor.

    This vigor was absorbed by the Odyssey seed, which began to pulsate all of a sudden.

    The Ankh is the Essence of Life, and it began to affect the Odyssey seed in weird ways. Due to this, Nial''s perception of living existences around him skyrocketed.

    The anatomy of every single Original in his surroundings was clear to his [Mana Sense], and nothing could escape his ''sight''.

    But even if he was able to perceive everything in his surroundings at this moment, it was impossible for Nial to digest all the information he received.

    His mind was already overflowing with the memories of thete Darkness God, who had been quiet since the day Nial had left the Darkness Domain, where his Primary Trial of the Gods had been held.

    ''Did Silvian''s appearance indirectly trigger the transfer of thete Darkness God''s memories?'' Nial could only think before a new wave of memories flooded him.

    Through all these memories, Nial gained lots of knowledge. However, this knowledge was mostly based on what he saw during world-destroying wars andrge-scale battles where millions of beasts and members of races were ughtered mercilessly.

    Death was what the God of Darkness had been the most familiar with. To him, Life was never something that apanied him. While he stayed alive, the people around him died.

    Not even one of them had died because of old age. Everyone had been assassinated by his enemies, or captured, tortured and finally presented to the God of Darkness.

    Numerous terrifying memories of the God of Darkness'' loved ones losing their lives in the most harrowing ways had entered Nial''s mind.

    He felt pity for thete God of Darkness because he could tell that there was not a single time in Damian''s life, where he had been truly happy and had enjoyed his life with his loved ones.

    All of them had died a painful death; killed at the hands of those who hated the God of Darkness for his power, his goals, and for his desire to change the way everyone lived.

    His desires and ns had been of noble nature, in the beginning. However, Nial could clearly tell that the God of Darkness had been led to the path of Darkness by the things that had happened to him.

    ''If my family were to face a fate like that of yours, I would end up, just like you.'' Nial thought even though he knew that he wouldn''t be able to act like the God of Darkness.

    The memories of Damian''s life clearly showed that he had been able to cope with the death of all his loved ones with only one aim in mind. He was consumed with the thought of revenge, and snatching everything that belonged to his enemies, which was enough to dispel his grief.

    However, that wouldn''t be the case for Nial.

    The moment something was to happen to his family, Nial would never be able to forgive himself for not being able to protect them, let alone the perpetrators for what they had done.

    ''Allowing them to die would be way too nice¡­ They might wish to die, after what I would do to them, but their life would continue¡­just a bit different than what they could hope for.''

    Nial''s thoughts turned darker the more memories the Odyssey seed shared with him.

    The memories made Nial ufortable because he felt as if he was prying into the past life of someone else, watching the most personal memories of another being. However, they were also a clear sign that he had to be stronger to protect his family, and that he had to find and pay more attention to himself.

    He was not supposed to repeat the mistakes made by the God of Darkness.

    These thoughts drove Nial forward and cemented his decision to be stronger and to find and protect his family better. They allowed him to not get affected by the emotions associated with the memories that continued to flood him.

    Nial digested all the memories. He embraced them tightly and tried not to forget the smallest detail in order to learn from the mistakes the God of Darkness made, followed by the knowledge Damian had amassed during the eons he had been alive.

    At the same time, the engraving of the Ankh continued to shine brightly. Unbeknownst to Nial, it released enormous amounts of vigor.

    The vigor nourished the Odyssey seed that kept pulsating. Small, and extremely tiny changes were urring to the Odyssey seed.

    The Fragment of the Darkness God was slowly transforming. It showed signs of gaining life and bing something it was never supposed to be.

    Earlier, the Ankh had been nothing more but an essory, but the vigor that spread through Nial''s entire body right now indicated that things were changing.

    ? While the flood of memories slowly died down, the Ankh didn''t show signs of dimming down.

    On the contrary, when Nial was able to sense the Ankh, he could sense that Life itself had begun to flood his body.

    Every single cell in his body was invigorated which meant that Nial''s mind was freed of its exhaustion, and his Mana core could absorb and annex far more mana than usual.

    His Mana veins which were still not fully matured underwent tiny changes with the overflowing vigor that spread through his body.

    The blood that had trickled down his nose, eyes, and ears had died down. While he had looked weak just a few moments before, his current presence had changedpletely.

    A fresh wave of energy flooded Nial, but at the same time, the dark energy of his Odyssey was subconsciously released.

    The Ankh had forced his Odyssey seed to pulsate, absorb the surrounding mana, and create dark energy.<sub> </sub>

    Excessive dark energy was released from the Odyssey seed. It spread through his body and merged with the seemingly endless vigor the Ankh radiated as well.

    When his entire body was filled with mixed dark energy and vigor, traces of the same merged energy were released from his body.

    "What is going on with him? Why is he releasing this eerie, and gloomy darkness¡­wait¡­.why does this darkness feel so warm?" Silvian mumbled in confusion.

    He was still right in front of Nial, and he had noticed that something was going on with the blind man. However, he actually had no idea what exactly was going on.

    ''Are his memories not resurfacing? If not, what exactly is going on?'' Silvian was still sure that the incarnation of Damian was right in front of him.

    The warm darkness he released felt just like dark energy. The only difference one could perceive was the fact that the dark energy was warm and overflowing with vigor.

    Something like that shouldn''t be the case, which was why Silvian stayed by Nial''s side and waited for his old friend to get back to his senses.

    After the pain of digesting all the memories he had received subsided, Nial felt much better. It didn''t take him long to get back up from the ground and take a few deep breaths.

    The Ankh was still activated and was influencing his Odyssey seed. However, that was not something Nial could change, not right now, at least.

    He had to ept it for the time being, which was how Nial could focus on organizing his thoughts, his memories, and everything he had just gotten to know.

    With his feet firmly nted on the ground, the huge contrast in his vigorous and somewhat gloomy presence attracted the attention of quite a few people.

    Many looked over, just to see that Nial had stopped bleeding from his nose, ears, and eyes. Contrary to before, he looked much more energetic now as if he could lift a shuttle all by himself.

    "Silvian, you old bastard. What the hell are you nning to achieve by incarnating?" Nial asked the moment he got back to his senses.

    His own memories and the memories of thete Darkness God were still tangled and he was having a hard time separating them.

    Thus, Nial didn''t even realize that he was speaking to Silvian as if he was Damian who was speaking to his old friend, the God of Satins and Devils.

    "Damian?! Is that really you? Are you for real?" Silvian asked, his eyes widening in astonishment and joy.

    He smiled brightly, and grasped Nial''s shoulder tightly, ignoring the gazes they received from the others.

    "I''m not Damian." Nial merely answered, his expression souring when he felt how strong the Sacred Knights leader''s grasp was. "Now let me go."

    Silvian acted instinctively when he heard Nial''smand. It was exactly the same way in which Damian would speak, and act. Coldly, yet still somewhat nicely.

    Damian, the Ruler of Darkness was an odd fellow. However, he was loyal to his friends, and would never abandon them.

    That was also why Silvian couldn''t help but be overjoyed to see that his old friend had returned.

    From the memories Nial had just received, he knew that Silvian was one of Damian''s few friends.

    And for Damian to consider Silvian a friend was definitely not a simple task.

    Nial might not know how they have be friends or why exactly thete Darkness God liked him, but from the memories he had received, Nial could tell that Damian genuinely thought of Silvian as a friend.

    ''I will decide on my own, whether he is trustworthy or not.'' Nial thought before thinking that it might be fair to give Silvian a little bit of trust, for Damian''s sake.

    "What do you mean, you''re not Damian? Don''t make jokes right now. I can clearly tell that your dark energy is Damian''s, and you know my name as well.

    Not a single human has ever called me by my true name!" Silvian looked at Nial in suspicion.

    He believed that Nial, or to be precise, Damian, was fooling around with him.

    "I won''t exin it to you. Just know that I go by the name Nial Orin and that I know quite a lot about you The God of Darkness died a long time ago, and I won''t go by the name Damian." Nial replied in a calm and convincing tone.

    He knew that he was ying around with his words just now which could be easily misunderstood.

    However, that was exactly what Nial wanted to achieve just now.

    By revealing a part of the truth while sending out confusing messages, Silvian would still believe that he was Damian, just a different one.

    ''So he means that his memories are not fully awakened and that his life on Mundra before he awoke his memories are affecting him enough to change his identity?

    Is he abandoning the legacy he created as the Ruler of Darkness?'' Silvian couldn''t understand Damian''s reason behind whatever he was doing.

    However, it was not as if he had the right to say that his friend''s decision was wrong, or ridiculous. After all, he had chosen to incarnate as a human being as well.

    Nheless, Silvian still had many doubts when looking at his old friend. Just one look at the expression on Nial''s face prevented him from saying anything.

    ''Just like Damian¡­'' He could only think before he heard what Nial had to say,

    "Won''t you start exining your reasons for incarnating on Jundra? Don''t even think of lying!"

 Chapter 228 Ordering A God Around

    Nial knew that it would be impossible for him to trick Silvian forever.

    Simultaneously, he could tell that it was useless to force himself to separate his own memories from Damian''s.

    It was possible to do so, but Nial could tell that he could learn a lot from epting Damian''s memories as his own. Not only would it allow him to imprint everything important deeply into his mind, but the mistakes Damian made in his life would always remind him of what he should never do wrong!

    ''Now I get what the God of Darkness meant when he spoke about the Odyssey seed taking over my mind, and that my willpower would be a deciding factor in knowing whether Damian will reincarnate, or if he will find his eternal peace.'' Nial thought, understanding that the memories he had just seen were bound to change his behavior.

    Even if he knew that it was not his life, the memories of the God of Darkness felt like Nial had lived through them all.

    It was a weird feeling but it was something worth experiencing. After all, he had learned a lot, whether it was knowledge about Gods, beasts, dungeons, runic armaments, veils, other dimensional rifts, or the vast universe.

    Nial was still far from satisfied with the knowledge he had gained, but he could also tell that he had to learn a few things by himself. At the same time, it was only a matter of time before the Odyssey seed would share more experiences and memories with him.

    But there was one thing that bothered him extremely; the Ankh!

    ''So this thing is the ''blessing'' or whatever from a Divine Existence. These Symbols are supposed to be empowered with the Divine power of the Divine existence they originate from¡­ Considering that it is the Symbol of Life, my mana core should have gained life as well.''

    Nial had gained some understanding of how Divine existences shared their divine power with their subordinates. A tiny fragment of their Divinity would be separated from their body and imnted in the host of their choice.

    After understanding this, Nial got to know that the Mutant Minotaur was one of such existences. The Minotaur had been strengthened several times, and it had gained powers that were unattainable for beasts at the Lowest grade of the Prometheus rank.

    On the other hand, the Ankh was something Nial had yet to gain a better understanding of. Earlier it hadn''t done anything as it had been engraved on the Odyssey seed. However, now that it influenced the Odyssey seed, and was trying to change it so as to gain life, everything was changing.

    The vigor of the Ankh was quite useful for various reasons, including the fact that it increased his body''s eptance of mana.

    For now, Nial couldn''t name a single disadvantage of the Ankh. That was why he averted his attention once again.

    He looked back to Silvian, who was still pondering about how to properly answer Nial''s question about what he wanted to achieve by incarnating on Jundra.

    ''Damian has yet to regain all of his memories. So I guess he doesn''t know much about Jundra''s value? Should I tell him everything, or will his life as a human on Jundra affect his rational decisions?'' Silvian could tell that Nial was a lot like the Damian he knew.

    However, it was also quite obvious that Nial was a bit different from the Damina he knew as well. There were quite a few differences in Nial''s behavior, his abilities, and more.

    "Should I ask you a third time, or will you answer me now?" Nial asked, his lifeless eyes staring in an unfocused way at Silvian.

    ''Maybe he didn''t change as much as I thought. He is still rude and impatient.'' Silvian thought, pursing his lips in enjoyment.

    "You still know how to annoy me¡­" Silvian just mumbled before he began to smirk as he got an idea. "But pay attention to how you behave here, I''m finally stronger than you, you little Jerk!"

    After Silvian said this, he ruffled Nial''s hair until it waspletely disheveled. In the past, Silvian would have never dared to do that. He knew that he would be beaten to a pulp if he would even reach for his friend''s head.

    However, now that he was stronger than his old friend, it was finally time to repay the favor.

    ''Muhaha, It looks like I have to thank all these old bastards for forcing me to incarnate. Looks like it will be much funnier than expected!''

    Nial''s mixture of dark energy and vigor reached out for Silvian''s arm the moment he touched it.

    It tried to affect the Sacred Knights leader but it was entirely useless. Silvian released his holy aura for a fraction of a second, dispelling Nial''s dark energy before he moved his hand back.

    "I guess that was enough fun for now. The puny humans are already looking at me weirdly. For now, I should maintain the image of being one of the strongest humans in the Stinon alliance."

    While Silvian spoke, Nial got to know quite a few new pieces of information as well. His words ''One of the strongest'' instead of ''the strongest'' were quite interesting to know, and ''in the Stinon alliance'' instead of ''on Jundra'' also made him feel curious.

    Silvian was known for being arrogant and self-confident, so he wouldn''t speak mindlessly.

    However, Nial didn''t ask the Sacred Knights leader to exin his choice of words. He felt as if he was demanding too much from Silvian by ordering him around, to begin with.

    ''I shouldn''t overdo it. I am not Damian, and neither am I stronger than Silvian as the God of Darkness had been before.'' Nial told himself over and over again.

    But despite that, Damian''s memories continued to influence him. They affected him in a way that Nial became more arrogant and self-conscious about the power he was bound to hold over mankind.

    He could be said to have been chosen as the Legacy Holder of the God of Darkness'' legacy. Nial was bound to be stronger than anyone which was why he had the right to be arrogant!

    That was, at least, the thought that the memories of thete God of Darkness tried to imnt in his mind.

    "Either way, let''s go to my tent. I don''t mind speaking here, but I don''t want others to continue eavesdropping." Silvian suddenly remarked before waving his hand in a manner that indicated to Nial to follow Silvian.

    The Sacred Knights leader momentarily forgot about Nial''s blindness as he acted as usual, and used his hands to motion to others what to do.

    But it was not necessary for anyone to be considerate toward him, either way. He could easily perceive what others wanted from him by visualizing them and their actions.

    Thus, he followed Silvian without another word.

    Mathias was still outside, and it was not as if Nial had something to do right now, either way.<sub> </sub>

    However, just when he followed Silvian to hisrge tent which wasrger than some ts in Liondra, Nial perceived both Kirlia and the veiled woman''s presence.

    Nial wanted to change his path instinctively. He wanted to approach the veiled woman and ask her if he could ''see'' her face.

    He desperately needed to know whether the veiled woman was his sister or not, otherwise, he would never be able to calm down.

    But even if the veiled woman was actually his sister and his gut feeling had been correct, there was still one big problem.

    ''If she is really Sabrina, how the hell is she not able to remember me? It makes no sense.''

    The fact that the veiled woman didn''t know him was the biggest reason for Nial to believe that she might not actually be his sister but that her body frame was just simr to hers.

    Comparing the body of two women felt weird to Nial but it was actually the only way for him to find his sister. After all, she had no mana fluctuations when they had separated. She had not awakened her Origin at that time.

    Shaking his head, Nial turned his focus back to Silvian, who had already entered his tent.

    ''A short nce at her would be enough to calm my mind, and I would be able to change my approach on how to find my sister and parents¡­ So annoying.''

    It was currently more important to figure out what Silvian was doing on Jundra, whether he was nning to initiate another attack using the Dryx, and if there were other Incarnations of Gods roaming through the rows of the human race.

    However, personally, it was certainly the most important for Nial to reunite with his family. Even the influence of the God of Darkness'' memories were not strong enough for him to lose interest in the only goal he had in mind- to find his family.

    ''I should have a picture of my family somewhere. Even if the veiled woman is not my sister, I can still ask her if she knows someone who looks like Sabrina!'' The sudden idea that shed into his mind allowed Nial to feel much calmer.

    He took a few deep breaths, entered Silvian''s tent, and sat down on the couch the moment he found it.

    Nial''s mood had considerably improved the moment he figured that the veiled woman was useful to him, one way or another.

    ''I will find my family soon!!''

    Silvian sat down on the couch as well. He looked quite rxed and at ease as he took something to drink out of his spatial ring.

    It was a nutrient-rich solution that was overflowing withpressed mana. Nial instinctively turned his head when he smelled and perceived the solution in Silvian''s hand.

    "Do you want some? I concocted it. After consuming this solution, your mana will replenish instantaneously, and your mana veins will get stimted.

    Training your mana core will be much easier, let alone annexing mana." Silvian said while handing over another vial which he took out from his spatial ring.

    Nial epted it and was about to drink it before Silvian added, smiling schemingly,

    "Though I must tell you that you need to be a good drinker. If you are not good with alcohol, you might get tipsy¡­quite a bit at that."

    The moment Silvian finished his words, Nial halted in his tracks, and the vial disappeared in his spatial ring before he cleared his throat.

    "I guess, I will drink itter then. I shouldn''t get tipsy now." Nial merely said, before noticing that Silvian was smiling.

    ''Just like Damian.''

    "Do whatever you want with the potion, I don''t really care. But let''s speak a little bit about a more serious topic.

    Outside the tent, I couldn''t actually say whatever I wanted to because others were listening. The sound-istion runes on my clothes are not perfect so the other ''true powerhouses'' should have heard a little bit of what we were talking about.

    But it''s not like they will think that we were sober when they eavesdropped on us. Either way, you''re interested in why I came to Jundra, and chose this to incarnate, right?" Silvian asked while taking a sip from the solution.

    Nial just nodded his head, not saying anything in particr. He just wanted to hear what Silvian had to say.

    "Do you still remember the Heaven''s Pce Alliance and the Garden of the Five Elements?"

    **

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 Chapter 229 Friend Or Plaything?

    "Do you still remember the Heaven''s Pce Alliance and the Garden of the Five Elements?"

    Silvian''s question confused Nial for a few seconds. He could faintly recall a few memories about the two names of the two Alliances of Gods.

    The Heaven''s Pce and the Garden of the Five Elements were powerful alliances and they had been enemies for eons.

    In no way would they ever work together. That was why Nial''s interest was piqued as he asked,

    "I do recall some information about them, but how are they connected to your incarnation on Jundra?"

    Nial could tell that there was more behind Silvian''s reasoning to incarnate on Jundra, so he waited patiently.

    "If I were to put it simply, I might have offended too many Gods simultaneously when I started conducting experiments on Yer. As you may recall, Yer wasn''t imed by any of the Gods before. However, that changed when I did my experiments on it.

    Well, to summarize what happened, Yer is now the battlefield of the Heaven''s Pce and the Garden of the Five Elements, and I might have offended both alliances.

    Now I need morends, people, and a ce to expand my power once again, cause¡­most of my territory has been destroyed by the two bastard alliances¡­"

    Silvian wouldn''t make such a big mistake as missing out on sharing the fact that a had suddenly be the battlefield of tworge God Alliances.

    But even though Nial felt that Silvian was hiding something, he didn''t say anything.

    "As for my reasons to choose Jundra as the to im somends, to find more people, and to expand my power, there are too many to tell them to you. However, some of my reasoning should be the same as yours. Jundra is not a normal, and all of us have been eagerly waiting for its awakening.

    Now that Jundra''sary mana core has shown signs of awakening, many Gods have begun to influence the development of the world by manifesting dungeons.

    I''m not sure if your memories told you about Jundra''s importance in the universe, but I believe that you will find out soon enough why thisrge and beautiful is so important."

    It looked like Silvian didn''t want to reveal his reasons to have chosen Jundra as his of incarnation.

    However, Nial didn''t intend to drill holes in Silvian by asking numerous questions.

    He might be interested in Silvian''s reasoning but he was pretty sure that he couldn''t trust the God of Saints and Devils.

    ''As long as your friends have the same goals as you, there won''t be any problems. But it looks like our interests sh this time. You want to make the human race yours and to use them as your Soldiers to fight the Armies of Gods in the future.

    I''m sorry to say this, but I doubt we cannot be on friendly terms for long.'' Nial thought, trying his best not to speak his thoughts out loud.

    It was obvious that he shouldn''t offend the Sacred Knights leader right now. That was why Nial closed his mouth, without asking anything.

    Silvian''s reasons to incarnate in the first ce felt like a lie to him. However, there was definitely a reason for him to have incarnated so early. After all, incarnating on Jundra where the strongest existence was merely allowed to be a Prometheus rank was definitely constraining for any kind of God.

    Most of their powers would naturally be sealed, and their prowess wouldn''t be much higher than those of humans at the Prometheus rank.

    They had only certain advantages over others, including their knowledge, their proficiency over the power they held for thousands of years, and the preparations they had made before incarnating.

    ''Silvian should have much more up his sleeve than the bunch of Soul Space fragments, the Dryx''s infiltration and the creation of the Sacred Knights. He has gained everyone''s trust, and when he reims Juna, he will be even more popr.

    After all, he can brag that he protected the entire group of Originals, who came from Liondra. The Minotaur really yed in his hands.''

    Nial didn''t believe that Silvian was the one to send the Mutant Minotaur. For that, Silvian lost too much. He was even forced to use some of his sealed power to manifest a portal to flee from thest attack.

    Creating a portal that looked just like a dungeon portal would attract a lot of attention, even if it was just manifested for a quarter of a second.

    Silvian had been lucky because only Nial noticed this, but it could have ended differently, and Nial understood this quite well.

    "All of us have waited for its awakening¡­ Now that it is nearing its awakening, everyone is interested in it¡­" Nial mumbled, trying to digest the information Silvian had unintentionally revealed.

    For a few seconds, he was lost in thoughts but before Silvian could notice that something was wrong with Nial, he had already gotten up from the couch.

    "Alright, I will take your leave now. We should chatter. I have to sort the memories I''ve just recalled. Please excuse me." Saying so, Nial got up from his seat before he turned to therge tent''s entrance.

    "Remember all of your memories as quickly as possible. If you take too long, it might already be toote. Your dark energy is not something any other God has, and with your current strength, many Gods will be pleased to squash you like a tiny ant." Silvian merely said before he turned quiet.

    Nial or Damian''s sudden appearance was something Silvian hadn''t included in any of his ns. It made things much easier as long as Damian was on his side.

    ''But it doesn''t look like he has abandoned his human side, yet. He needs to awaken his remaining memories so that his hatred against them will be of use to me! As long as I can make use of that¡­ hehehe.'' Silvian thought as a bright and scheming smile appeared on his face when Nial had left the tent.

    He lifted his hand faintly to grasp the outlines of Nial, who was already further away before he squashed his hand, visualizing Nial to be squashed in his hand like a tiny ant.<sub> </sub>

    ''I won''t be one of your puppets anymore, and never again will I let you use me. You might believe that you think of me as your friend, but the way you treated me as if I was your personal butler disgusted me. Now, you will turn into my ything. Finally, it''s time for me to take everything from you, your soul, your body, your talent, your power, and everyone you love!!''

    Nial was oblivious to the thoughts of the Sacred Knights leader. However, he couldn''t be bothered about them even if he was aware of them because he had never seen Silvian as his friend, to begin with.

    He was not Damian, let alone ready to ept that the God of Saints and Devils treated the human race like his toys.

    Silvian had sacrificed more than a hundred thousand humans, just to gain more poprity during the Dryx''s infiltration.

    Not only was he the one to ''save'' the shelters, but he was also the harbinger of death, who had nned and initiated the infiltration of the Dryx.

    ''I really don''t like him¡­'' This was the final conclusion Nial reached at.

    Silvian was scheming something, hiding the truth, and it was quite obvious what he thought about the human race.

    ''Still, it is great to make use of him to get more information!'' He thought before returning his attention back to the information he had procured by listening intently to whatever Silvian had said.

    ''Everyone was eagerly waiting for Jundra''s awakening. That means Jundra is extremely important, for whatever reason. Until now, there shouldn''t have been many incarnations of Gods, but that is only obvious.

    ording to the memories I''ve just gotten, incarnating requires tremendous amounts of energy, and in the worst case, you might even be forced to sacrifice your Divinity.

    Thus, sending out fragments of their Divinity to Jundra, to act as spearheads is the mostmon way for Gods to enact their supremacy n.

    But then again, there are desperate Gods, who are willing to sacrifice their Divinity, if that is necessary¡­ Silvian for example is one such God.''

    Nial had no idea what kind of problems Silvian was facing, but he was definitely prepared to conquer the human race from within their rows.

    He was also desperate because he had incarnated just with that goal, and had prepared numerous ns to make his dream a reality.

    Creating a few underlings using the fragments of their Divinity would usually be enough to scout and im somends for the Gods to expand their range.

    It was not easy to im a new, and it should take them quite some nning especially for Jundra. After all, that was special, even if Nial had yet to figure out how exactly.

    While Nial walked over the temporary base consisting of close to a thousand tents, his mind was in a disarray.

    It was quite annoying that everyone had been waiting for Jundra''sary awakening because it made things more difficult.

    However, Nial considered it to be quite advantageous that he finally found out about it.

    Now that he was aware of it, he could start his own preparations and roughly gauge when chaos was about to descend onto Jundra.

    ''The moment the awakens its mana, we will have to adjust to the changes as quickly as possible. If Jundra is really as unique as Silvian says, I doubt that the mana it releases will be little.

    If mankind can improve as soon as theary mana core awakens and achieve a great amount of strength until it reaches its final form, the Gods will have a hard time subduing the human race!''

    Nial''s head began to ache because of all the frustrating things that were urring at once. He had just wanted to reunite with his family, and have some peace.

    Was that really too much to ask for? Nial didn''t believe so.

    Unfortunately, fate was definitely not on his side, but when had that ever been the case, to begin with?

    ''Whatever, I''ll just use the high mana density in the surroundings to continue with the creation of the primary Ancient Origin ring¡­''

    Nial could hardly hide that he was pissed off. The Ankh was still glowing brightly, forcing his Odyssey seed to beat.

    Even if he didn''t want to, Nial couldn''t stop the Odyssey seed from beating, which was why a high amount of mana was being absorbed in his body every second.

    The surrounding mana was manyfold higher than anywhere he had even been before. However, this was only obvious because there were several hundred dungeon portals all around and within the abandoned shelter, releasing mana at any time.

    There was even an Abyssal Dungeon that was releasing tremendous amounts of pure mana.

    Nial was not interested in conquering any dungeon. He might have nned to conquer some Rookie dungeons, where only Origin ranked Originals could enter.

    But his mood had changed after talking to Silvian. The short chat with Silvian had frustrated him, and it clearly showed him that the Sacred Knights leader might think of him as a ''friend'' but that he didn''t think highly of the human race.

    They were just a tool for him, and Nial could only hope that the next incarnation of a God would show morepassion toward the human race.

    ''I''m even fine if a friendly race were toe over. I doubt that we won''t ept living next to some friendly races as long as we can survive.'' Nial only thought gloomily. He sighed deeply before he sat down on the ground, cross-legged, and continued to create his primary Ancient Origin ring.

 Chapter 230 Liar

    Nial was not sure how long he executed the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual''s secret technique to create his primary Ancient Origin ring.

    However, he was certainly satisfied with the amount of mana in the surroundings.

    "I don''t even need to waste my time trying to control the Origin crystals to release their mana because I don''t need to use Origin crystals, to begin with," Nial mumbled in satisfaction.

    The surrounding mana was more than dense and pure.

    After a while, Mathias returned to the tent and found out that Nial was absorbing and annexing mana.

    But there was also something else Mathias realized the moment he saw his friend.

    ''He seems much more vigorous than usual. And why is he constantly releasing some of his dark energy? That''s weird¡­''

    Mathias didn''t understand what was going on, but he couldn''t just ask Nial, right now. Nial was fully focused on continuing to create his Ancient Origin ring.

    Distracting Nial could lead to severe damage to the construct of his origin ring, or potentially injure Nial''s mana core and mana veins.

    Hence Mathias left to get a quick shower and change his clothes. When he returned, he saw that Nial had already gotten up from the ground.

    "Oh, you''re already back?" Nial asked after noticing Mathias. Nial''s expression was not very good, but that was only obvious. After all, his mind was currently upied with various doubts, questions and things he didn''t understand, at all.

    "It''s alreadyte afternoon," Mathiasmented, before taking a second nce at Nial, which led him to continue speaking,

    <o>,m "Are you not feeling well? You look like you are more energetic than usual but your expression seems like you are dead-tired, almost as if your head will explode. It''s weird, I cannot exin it properly."</o>

    "Oh, that? The Ankh symbol started to glow, and I have no idea how to make it stop. It invigorates my body so that could be why you sense my vigor." Nial answered, not really paying much attention to Mathias.

    He had other problems to take care of than the Ankh, right now. It was a big mess and Nial didn''t like it at all.

    "How was your dungeon conquest? Did it go as nned?" Nial asked, wanting to distract himself.

    He was sure that the topic was a good way to be distracted as Mathias would excitedly share his experience.

    "It was great. I conquered three Lowest Expert dungeons with the Originals I got to know today. I think I got more confident thanks to you and Be. I might have taken my time to get a little bitfortable with the situation but after I showed my high proficiency in the Water and Earth affinity, everyone was overly nice to me.

    We quickly becamefortable with each other and were even able to work quite well as a team." Mathias answered in one go. He was sounding pleased about his achievements and excited to continue conquering dungeons in the following days. But then he noticed something, which was why he hastily added,

    "Of course, our teamwork was nothing like it would have been with you by my side!"

    Nial just smiled at that.

    ''Maybe, it would be a good distraction to wreak havoc in the Rookie dungeons? The other Origin ranked Originals shouldn''t have problems clearing them, but letting off some steam wouldn''t be a bad idea either.''

    Nial felt that he was aplete mess. He was feeling indecisive and kept weighing his options which were owed to the fact that he had literally no idea what would be best for him right now.

    He could focus on the Ancient Origin ring, study runic armaments while trying to figure out what to do against Silvian and the other Gods, who were bound to descend on Jundra, conquer dungeons to let off some steam, or he could approach the veiled woman to find out, who she really was.

    However, none of those things seemed to be to Nial''s liking right now.

    "By the way, what did you do with the Sacred Knights leader today? I heard some of the rumors but they seemed a little bit too odd." Mathias suddenly asked.

    His question made Nial sigh deeply because thest thing he wanted to talk about was Silvian, the Sacred Knights leader, and the incarnation of the God of Saints and Devils.

    "Well, how should I put it without sounding crazy." Nial started, feeling conflicted.

    He could hardly say, ''Oh, did you know that I have the Fragment of a God in my body and that the Sacred Knights leader is a God, who wants to subdue the entire human race, to train them, and to let mankind fight Armies of other Gods? Ah, and by the way, the Sacred Knights leader has the Dryx under his control as well.

    He purposely created the Dryx''s infiltration to gain mankind''s trust and loyalty.''

    No way would Mathias believe him if he were to say this, thus he tweaked the truth a little bit for the time being, at least.

    "At first, I was pretty sure that the Heaven''s Gates organization had told the military to draft us for the conquest of Juna. You remember that, right? ?" Nial asked a rhetorical question to which Mathias nodded his head.

    "Well, now I know that it was the Sacred Knights leader, who got us drafted."

    "Huh?" Mathias asked in confusion.<sub> </sub>

    He couldn''t understand why the Sacred Knights leader would be bothered about their existence, at all. The Sacred Knights leader was one of the most important individuals in the human race, right now.

    In contrast, they were mere rookies who were trying at the first step toward bing strong and had a long and arduous path in front of them.

    "I figured it out not too long ago and had a short chat with him. Apparently, he was, or he still is, very interested in my dark energy because he knows someone, who had the same type of energy.

    He wondered if I was his¡­son."

    Nial felt bad for lying to his friend, but the truth was much weirder, that was for sure!

    ''Sorry, Mathias. I will tell you the truth when I think it''s time¡­''

    Lying forever was not actually helpful, and Nial knew that. In the future, everyone, and not just Mathias would need to know the truth.

    Others might not need to know about the truth rted to him, and the God of Darkness'' Fragment, but everything else would be revealed to the others sooner orter.

    As for telling Mathias the truth about himself, or rather that his Innate ability was the Fragment of a God, and that he could see the memories of the deceased God of Darkness, that was not actually intelligent. Mathias might not even believe him and the knowledge would endanger his friend.

    There were also a few other things about him that he would reveal to Mathias in the future, but not now.

    "So he was the one to get us drafted, because of your dark energy at that? Weird, I wonder what interested him that much. Your dark energy is great and all that but I don''t think it''s worth the hassle of getting us drafted." Mathias replied, feeling doubtful.

    ''I''m sorry, Mathias¡­'' Nial could just think helplessly as his expression worsened.

    "Well¡­maybe his holy aura, and so on felt threatened by your dark energy because the elements are the exact opposite of each other. They might cause the Sacred Knights leader to feel repulsed and disgusted about your energy, just like it had been with Be asionally." Mathias continued to speak.

    Upon hearing Be''s name, Nial also recalled that she hadined about his dark energy a few times.

    Be had said that her Innate ability [Celestial transformation] reacted repulsively toward his dark energy. That was also why their teamwork had been quite problematic once or twice. Be had received a sudden influx of a repulsive feelings toward Nial and his dark energy when they had been fighting next to each other.

    "That might be it." Nial just agreed before clearing his throat.

    "I will start conquering dungeons from tomorrow on as well. I might get rusty if I don''t start to fight soon."

    Nial wanted to lift the mood a little bit, but he could only sigh deeply when thinking about all the trouble.

    Mathias nodded his head, happy that Nial had decided to help reim Juna as well before he went to bed.

    He was exhausted and needed lots of energy for the following days.

    Nial went to bed as well but he kept tossing and turning around for a long time. His mind was a mess, and Nial was pissed off about this.

    ''I should really start beating the shit out of people, who think that it would be a good idea to bombard me with worrisome information¡­''

    It took him a long time to fall asleep but when he did, Nial didn''t wake up for several hours. His body and mind were fully refreshed after a good amount of sleep, and Nial noticed that the Ankh had finally stopped shining.

    ''Was about time that it stopped, but I feel like something has changed.''

    The Odyssey seed was not pulsating anymore, and the situation within his body seemed to have been solved if there had even been a problem, to begin with.

    With the Symbol of Life engraved on his Odyssey seed, Nial was not actually worried. It hadn''t affected him negatively when it was activated, which was why he was quite satisfied.

    The only thing that made him wonder was the fact that he had received the Ankh, which had been made out of a fraction of a Divine being''s Divinity, without it affecting him at all.

    ''Did the Odyssey seed absorb the Divinity''s energy? Sigh, I wish it wouldn''t have done so. A remodeling of my body and an overall enhancement would have been great.'' He thought before dispelling the idea.

    The Odyssey seed was bound to be even stronger with the Ankh''s support. He had gotten a glimpse of the Ankh''s efficiency the day before, and Nial was pretty sure that he would be extremely powerful as long as he could activate the Ankh at his will, permanently, or that he could initiate its hidden effect.

    Each Fragment of a Divinity had a special use. It was well hidden and the effect could vary a lot. However, they were always useful, even if the effect of the Fragment of a Cursed Divinity would be unveiled.

    That was something Nial could tell for sure, and it was also one of the reasons for him to feel quite lucky that he had been able to obtain a Divinity fragment so easily.

    After all, he had been fortunate enough to encounter the divinity in a random lowest Expert dungeon.

    He was just too lucky for that, even more so because it was him, who had encountered the treant rather than someone else. It made him feel that it was too good to be a coincidence.

 Chapter 231 Conqueror Of Rookies

    On the next day, Nial finally found time to enter a dungeon.

    While it was not his main motive to enter dungeons within the abandoned shelter, it was certainly helpful to get his mind off the confusing things and to let off some steam.

    And that was exactly what Nial focused on. He chose the Rookie dungeons that were restricted to Origin ranked Originals and entered the one that wasbeled as the most dangerous.

    A few Elite Junior Soldiers had died trying to conquer the said Rookie dungeon earlier, clearly showing that the dungeon was far from easy to be conquered.

    However, what Nial didn''t expect was that the boss of the Rookie dungeon was simr to him. The Four-armed metal ape he encountered as thest beast in the Rookie dungeon was at the 10th Origin rank, and it had a further erged mana core.

    That was why its physical strength was much higher than any kind of Origin ranked Boss. Its strength rivaled that of Originals with one Intermediate Origin ring!

    For others, this was a bit problematic to handle, but Nial didn''t face even the slightest issue.

    He didn''t even need to use the Dragonme spear to defeat the Four-armed metal ape. Instead, Nial focused on using the dark energy to create several darkness spears that were hovering around him.

    With precise control, he shot the darkness spears that pierced straight through the ape''s head. Its skull burst open and brain mass sttered through the surroundings.

    The ape was not even able to retaliate to the darkness spears before it had already sumbed to its inevitable fate.

    "Yay¡­an Origin crystal¡­" Nial mumbled, faking excitement at the sight of the Origin crystal that dropped after the four-armed metal ape had reduced into countless particles.

    However, for Nial the beast''s corpses were far more important and valuable than some Common grade Origin crystals.

    After he had conquered the dungeon that was deemed ''impossible'' to be cleared by Origin ranked Originals, Nial left the dungeon. His clothes were not even crumpled and appeared spotlessly clean as he emerged from the dungeon portal.

    Some Originals saw him, and they looked at him with contempt. It was obvious that their opinion of him was not high.

    ''How dare he make it look like he was the one to conquer the dungeon?! He obviously just went inside, waited some time, and is now leaving¡­?

    The three Origin ranked Originals hade up with a detailed n on how their teamwork could lead to a victory against the four-armed metal ape. They had fought against the Boss beast before already.

    Thus, they knew that it was, at least, as powerful as one, or two Elite Soldiers with one Origin ring.

    "Do you guys have a problem with me?" Nial merely asked upon noticing the hostile gazes on him.

    "Don''t even speak to us, you''re just fak¨C...." One of the easily provoked Originals was about to curse at Nial, and teach him a lesson when he fell silent all of a sudden.

    The dungeon portal behind Nial became unstable and the mana that had been held together began to dissipate in the surrounding area.

    It nourished the earth and the air all around them. The wave of mana fluttered through Nial''s silver hair and his cape, causing the other Originals to gulp nervously.

    ''Is he really human?'' One of them wondered, feeling as if Nial''s appearance was otherworldly as his milky white, lifeless eyes stared in their direction.

    Being in Nial''s ''sight'' was scary, and the three Originals scampered away quickly, feeling that their life was on the line.

    They didn''t even give Nial the chance to retort anything to the youngest Original''sment.

    "Well, whatever. There are always some weirdos everywhere." Nial shrugged his shoulders, not feeling really bothered about what had just happened.

    He returned to the base, and scanned the ckboard with his mana before visualizing the area where the other Rookie dungeons that were deemed impossible, or extremely hard to clear, were located.

    ''There are quite a few restricted Rookie dungeons¡­are there always that many?'' Nial wondered when he finished imprinting all the locations in his mind.

    However, instead of wasting his time thinking about something that was entirely useless to know, he went on toplete his task.

    He didn''t rush anything or tried to look cool while conquering the dungeons. On the contrary, Nial was experimenting quite a bit while conquering the ''impossible'' Rookie dungeons.

    To Nial, conquering them was not a problem. He had the Dragonme spear, numerous other runic armaments with special uses, his standard strength that exceeded the norms, and numerous abilities that were quite useful against powerful opponents.

    Hours passed, and Nial had learned quite a lot in the meantime. He used his Curse''s ck miasma and dark energy in various ways, in an effort to try out new things to elevate hisbat prowess even further.

    This was far more difficult than he expected, but it was also quite interesting.

    ''If I create a hollow ball of darkness with an extremely thin membrane, filling it withpressed ck miasma will be quite interesting.

    The moment they touch something, the ball of darkness will explode, and explosively release thepressed ck miasma.''

    Nial wanted to find ways to find a way around his blindness. While others would have problems not seeing anything the moment his dark energy or the ck miasma was to fill a huge room, his [Mana Sense] would be perfect to perceive everything.

    Right now, he could release his ck miasma explosively from within his body. However, the speed and the range at which the ck miasma turned everything dark in arge room were still too high.

    Thus, the hollow ball of darkness filled withpressed ck miasma was one way to solve the issue as he could throw the balls anywhere, flooding small spaces with thepressed miasma.

    However, this was just one of the many ideas Nial had experimented with. His control with the dark energy was already quite high, but it was not even close to the miraculous things he had seen in the memories of thete God of Darkness.

    ''Damian is just on apletely different level. I need to practice hard to be better at controlling the dark energy, as well.''

    The God of Darkness'' signature power was dark energy. That was why Nial diligently practiced it every single day and tried to improve his control with it. The power became stronger over time the more the God of Darkness improved with it.

    However, for Nial, the dark energy was initially not supposed to be his signature power. He had also the Curse [Hodur''s Heir], his [Mana Sense] and Nial was pretty sure that he would learn many new abilities the further he walked on the path of advancing as a human being.

    ''Apparently, there are not many people who can bind as many abilities as humans. In fact, if I''m not wrong, the God of Darkness'' race was not able to bind any other ability than the one they were born with.

    This is something quitemon apparently, and the human race on Jundra is a unique case in this aspect.''

    The memories he received from the Odyssey seed were quite impressive as well. He could conclude many things from them, including that it might be Jundra''s influence that made the human race extraordinary, thereby giving them the chance to bind more ability crystals to themselves.

    Simultaneously, it was also possible that the human race was simply special or lucky to receive lots of attention from Divine beings, and numerous races.<sub> </sub>

    "Well whatever, I should conquer a few more dungeons, and once I''m done, I can rest for a few days. I already did more work than a team of 10 Origin ranked Originals can achieve in a day, either way." Nial mumbled, stretching his body before he went to work once again.

    It waste at night, but Nial was still busy conquering a few more dungeons. He didn''t know how many beasts he had ughtered but there had definitely been quite a few.

    However, their corpses were mostly useless, and only Rare Bosses and the Dungeon Bosses were somewhat valuable.

    Unfortunately, most of them dropped a bunch of Origin crystals, and once in a while, he received an ability crystal because he was the first one to clear most of the ''Impossible'' Rookie dungeons.

    Nial returned once he was done, before he slept for a bunch of hours, only to be woken up by a hugemotion.

    "I am not even allowed to rest properly¡­" He grumbled in frustration as he turned to Mathias, who had also been woken up. "What is going on?"

    Nial''s range of perception could detect quite a few things and he was able to hear the voices of many Originals outside the tent, but Mathias seemed to be better connected to the happenings of their conquest group.

    "I guess, the other groups have arrived." Mathias could only say, his attention moving to the g that was now hoisted in the middle of their small base of tents.

    It revealed their location to others, and also disyed the symbol of the Liondra shelter''s governor family.

    Mathias shared all of this with Nial, who furrowed his eyebrows before he recalled something.

    "Ah, right. I forgot that each shelter is governed by some family. The Stinon alliance is really weird." Nial could only say while shrugging his shoulders when he visualized that Mathias was looking at him weirdly.

    The Stinon alliance''s structure was somewhat simple, yet alsoplex for those, who didn''t actually care about it.

    While each shelter was governed by a family, they were not allowed free reign.

    They may have enough rights to govern the shelter, but the President of the Stinon alliance was said to reserve most rights for himself.

    Furthermore, the governors are not actually the strongest families within the shelters they manage. Rather, the strongest families were not willing to govern the shelters for the government because the perks weren''t lucrative enoughpared to the duties.

    To Nial that was never important because he couldn''t be bothered less about the governors. He only knew the daughters of Katu''s shelter, and that was already enough for him to know about Katu''s governor.

    Nial had never heard the voice of the President and neither had he ever heard someone talking about him more than a single sentence.

    If the Heaven''s Gates Organization and various other organizations could be said to have some sort of mysterious vibe around them, the President of the Stinon alliance was one big mystery for many people, whether Originals or citizens.

    ''Well, it''s not like I can be bothered about the President, as long as he doesn''t interfere in my business.'' He thought before expanding his range of perception with the use of some mana.

    When his range of perception reached its current limit, Nial could already faintly perceive a few hoisted gs, along with Originals that were approaching their camp.

    There were a total of four gs, which Nial detected at once, but he predicted that there were more following up soon.

    ''So we were the first to arrive, and the other shelters came together, in a bulk. So they gathered up somewhere before?'' Nial realized while shaking his head.

    ''What greatmunication skills! Liondra wanted to make us enter the abandoned shelter before anyone else, while the other seven groups are going to enter the abandoned shelter together.''

    The arrival of the seven groups created a bigmotion.

    Many Originals were d that reinforcement had arrived. However, at the same time, there were more than enough Originals, who couldn''t help butin.

    "I don''t want to share the mana density around Juna with the others. It''s the first time I''ve sensed so much mana in my surroundings!"

    "Why did they have toe now? I just found a great permanent dungeon to earn huge profits for every time I conquer it."

    "Now that this weird Minotaur has been killed, and the most dangerous beasts within and around Juna have been taken care of, they want to take everything away from us?! How shameless can they be????"

    "They should just leave and let us earn all the honor. We did the most work, and we were the ones to suffer the most as well. Can''t they just return?"

    While many Originals were quite frustrated, Nial felt that he was at an advantage. He waspletely at ease, and could finally take a deep breath.

    ''Please, just leave me alone, everyone. No more trouble for me please.'' He could only think with a wry smile on his face.

    He wouldn''t have to waste his time conquering dungeons as long as the Originals from the other shelters were strong enough to handle them.

    There should be a few powerful Originals amongst their groups, which was why Nial averted his attention to them the moment he got to know that the other groups had arrived.

    ''Finally, more time for myself.'' He just thought before he decided to focus on absorbing and annexing mana while exerting the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique.

    But what Nial didn''t expect to happen just a few dayster was that Silvian would be standing right in front of his tent, impatiently waiting for Nial to stop creating his primary Origin ring.

    ''Oh please¡­no more trouble. I swear, I will just leave mankind and live on a small ind with my family when I will reunite with them!!''

    **

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 Chapter 232 Descending Plateau

    "What does the Sacred Knights leader want from you? He has already been waiting for half an hour, and he has yet to speak a single word¡­." Mathias told Nial in a quiet voice the moment his friend finished absorbing mana.

    ''/if Silvian is waiting for me, something is definitely wrong¡­''

    Nial didn''t like this conclusion, and he could only frown deeply.

    During thest few days, the groups of the other shelters had gotten to work as well. Despiteing in toote, they worked hard, and didn''tin when the Originals of the Liondra group took it easy.

    All of them worked hard, and soon most dungeons had been cleared. The mana they released had dispersed in the wind, the ground and to the other dungeon portals.

    Currently, less than 70 permanent dungeons were left, including one semi-permanent dungeon.

    The Abyssal ranked dungeon had been cleared more than 10 times, the breakout state had been solved, and it would soon disappearpletely.

    Semi-permanent dungeons existed as long as they were not conquered a specific amount of times. From the looks of it, the Abyssal ranked dungeon required only 10 more clears before it would disappear.

    Many things had changed during thest few days, and the teleportation circle had also been repaired. It was already possible for them to return to therge hall where all the teleportation circles had been located.

    With their use, it would only require a few more days to travel through the wilderness before they would be back at their shelter of choice.

    It wouldn''t be long before Nial and Mathias were to be allowed to return because they had been enlisted in the military for the sole purpose of reiming Juna.

    And this state would be attained the moment all dungeons, and beasts had been taken care of.

    ''Please, don''t bring any bad news¡­'' Nial was just praying as he emerged from their small tent, and found Silvian right in front of him.

    "Greetings, respected Sacred Knights leader, how may I help you?" Nial asked in an exaggeratingly polite way.

    Many Originals had gotten wind of the fact that Silvian had been waiting in front of Nial and Mathias'' tent for half an hour.

    A small crowd had formed around them because everyone wanted to know what was going on, and why the Sacred Knights leader was so interested in Nial.

    The rumors about Nial and the Sacred Knights leader having spoken at length earlier had reached everyone''s ears as well, and there was not a single Original, who didn''t know about it.

    Even the Originals of the other groups had learned about it.

    That was also why Nial acted overly polite in front of the Sacred Knights leader, who looked at him with squinted eyes.

    ''He really acts like a lowly human, sucking up to his superior¡­ that''s disgusting.'' Silvian just thought, his expression souring before he nonchntly ordered,

    "Come with me."

    Nial did as told and followed Silvian back to his tent. However, what he didn''t expect to happen was his Mana sense to detect Kirlia, the veiled woman, Silvian''s subordinate at the Prometheus rank, and a few other powerhouses within Silvian''s tent.

    ''Is there really some trouble? What the hell?!'' Nial felt like beating someone up. He wanted to have a few days of peace.

    However, peace was notpatible with the life of the God of Darkness, and neither with Nial''s fate.

    That was something he should have long since realized, but Nial stubbornly disregarded everything he had encountered until now, believing that it was just a mere coincidence.

    But it was not as if it was easy to ept that one''s fate was bound to be filled with trouble, with chaos and death coldly breathing down your neck at every step?

    "Why is this youngling here? I doubt that he is your disciple, and neither does he hail from big families¡­" A hoarse voice reverberated through the tent.

    The voice belonged to a bulky man, whose height easily exceeded 2.3 meters. He looked down on Nial''s tiny, yet, well-trained body.

    "He needs to be here, period," Silvian replied in a clipped tone before sitting down on the closest chair. There were more than 10 people in the room that were seated around a round table, and only two seats were vacant.

    "Well, whatever. Can we continue? You just left to take a look at the location I mentioned before and came with this¡­youngling."

    ''What location?'' Nial immediately thought upon hearing the words of the tall and bulky man. Nial had a premonition and he simply sat down on the empty chair, Silvian had pulled back.

    There was no need for the Sacred Knights leader to say anything. The tension in the room was more than enough to show that something big was about to happen.

    But Nial didn''t expect things to be THAT serious. When the situation was exined in a rough manner, Nial felt as if his head had been dumped in a bucket full of poison.

    His brain felt like it had been mashed just now, and he didn''t want to believe what he had just heard.

    "Wait, are you for real?!" Nial asked, jumping up from his chair, and toppling it over. With a loud thump, the chairnded on the ground, and everyone looked at Nial, most of them with contempt.

    ''Can''t this nobody keep his mouth shut? It''s already weird for him to attend such an important meeting, to begin with. Pay attention to the hierarchy, weakling!!'' One of the powerhouses from Titure, the 5th shelter, thought in displeasure.

    He felt like beating the crap out of Nial but held back because it looked like the Sacred Knights leader thought highly of the blind Original.

    Contrary to everyone else, who merely looked at Nial with various emotions, Silvian nodded his head and sighed deeply.

    "Yes, we are for real. I have already taken a look at the area where the changes have begun. Apparently, the region near Juna is decaying. However, that is not all because the decayed location is reced with a different environment.

    For now, only four square meters around Juna have decayed, and merely one square meter is reced with apletely different environment. A bush has manifested out of nowhere when I took a look. The mana density of that one square meter is also several times higher than everywhere around or within Juna." Silvian said, his eyes flicking to Nial.

    He revealed new information to everyone, but his attention was only on Nial. It was almost as if he wanted to catch even the slightest reaction in Nial''s facial expression after he was bombarded with the new piece of news.<sub> </sub>

    "So you mean this ''decay'' destroys the surrounding area, only for it to bepletely reced by flourishing nature? And the mana density is even higher than in Juna? Isn''t that great?" This time, it was Kirlia, who spoke.

    She had remained silent for the whole time because everyone else was considered a higher authority than her.

    In the end, the Prometheus Originals of the Heaven''s Gates organization had died. Thus, Kirlia was the next highest authority to represent her organization.

    But even if she represented her organization, there were still many things she didn''t know simply because her authority hadn''t been high enough in the Heaven''s Gates.

    That was also why she felt that the current happenings might be quite advantageous for them.

    However, only Kirlia thought like this, and many Prometheus Originals could only roll their eyes.

    ''How foolish can someone be?!''

    While many felt that Kirlia was definitely the wrong person to be here right now, Nial''s mind was in a total mess.

    ''Wait, Wait, wait a fucking damn moment?!'' He nearly shouted out.

    Right now, Nial wanted nothing more than to speak with Silvian alone, and not have the other powerhouses around them.

    The God of Saints and Devils felt the same because only he and Nial knew what was going on.

    In the end, it was not necessary to speak with each other to clear their facts because it was quite obvious what was going on.

    However, both felt a little bit bothered and they hoped that the other party would reassure them that nothing wrong would happen.

    For Silvian, the current situation was troublesome because he could tell that all his meticulously worked out ns were about to crumble. This frustrated him and it was the reason for him to have pulled Nial to the meeting of the biggest organizations and highest authorities present.

    ''The teau of a race was about to descend on Jundra, recing the third shelter and its surroundingpletely.''

    That was what Nial concluded. He had seen this a few times in Damian''s memories, wherein he had done the same on others.

    At first, a part of thend that possessed enough mana would be disintegrated, and turned in the purest form of mana before a separated dimension that was created especially for the purpose of descending somewhere specific would be transported to the saidndmark.

    And that was currently happening.

    ''But how?!'' Nial wondered.

    He knew that it required tremendous amounts of mana for an Isted teau to descend somewhere.

    "Jundra shouldn''t possess enough mana for that to happen¡­." Nial identally mumbled aloud without realizing it.

    His voice hadn''t been loud but because everyone had gone silent, even his low voice could be heard from everywhere.

    "What do you mean?" All of a sudden, the sonorous voice of the veiled woman reached him, even before Nial realized that he had spoken out loud.

    ''Huh?'' Nial was confused. He didn''t know that he had spoken out loud. Fortunately, Silvian was also there to answer the veiled woman''s question.

    "What he means is that the mana density of Juna shouldn''t allow the destruction of the area, only for it to be reced by something that harbors three to four times more mana than the surrounding area of Juna with the richest mana reserve," Silvian exined, knowing that it might be a little bit confusing for others to understand.

    But he didn''t intend to start exining everything in detail as it would take too long.

    "So you mean the dungeon portals could have nourished the surrounding area upon being cleared, which results in excessive mana that was utilized by someone to cause the current happenings?" The bulky man asked, looking deep into Silvian''s eyes.

    From a few reliable sources, they had already gotten to know that other existences had created the dungeon portals. Until now, there hadn''t been detailed information because their informants had been powerhouses, whose Innate ability had shared some memories with them.

    This was also the reason why it had only been a theory that others created the dungeon portals, possibly to conquer Jundra, and eradicate the human race, or for other reasons.

    But now the theory seemed to turn into reality because Silvian was not able to answer without revealing more information.

    "If someone else is causing this descending of some sort of teau, did this someone also control the powerful Minotaur?"

    It was the subordinate of the Sacred Knights leader, who asked this question. He looked at his boss expectantly, his eyes filled with sincerity and confusion.

    ''Could both the Mutant Minotaur and the descending teau be the doings of the same person? If so, this God, or whoever did everything, must have used a big majority of his umted Divinity to create and control everything precisely.'' Nial thought.

    If the bulky man''s words were really correct, it was necessary for all the dungeons to have been cleared in a matter of days. This meant that it was not possible for enough mana to be generated if too many humans were in the vicinity and that the dungeons were cleared in a bigger timespan!

    "Well, if the Minotaur was also a part of this someone''s n, he or she must have created the Abyssal ranked dungeon as well.

    Otherwise, the shelter wouldn''t have been abandoned. Consequently, it would have never been possible for more than a thousand dungeon portals to be located at and near the shelter for such a long time, let alone cleared them in a period of five days." Silvian said, his expression souring visibly.

    ''So everything I did here was just to help someone else?! This fucking bullshit!!'' Silvian was enraged. He could hardly control himself.

    Meanwhile, Nial was not sure what to think about the given situation.

    ''Looks like we won''t get Juna back now that a teau is descending¡­but more importantly, we need to know whether the descending teau inhabits hostile or friendly beings¡­ a little bit of luck would be great, you know¡­''

 Chapter 233 Do You Know Her?

    The realization that some other unknown existence caused the descending of a teau, the incident with the Mutant Minotaur, and the appearance of the Abyssal ranked dungeon to force the citizens to leave Juna were quite shocking.

    But for that to happen, the perpetrator had to be someone who was well aware of certain things. Not only would the culprit have to know that there was no true powerhouse, let alone a Prometheus Original in Juna, but he or she would have to have everything nned out meticulously.

    A single mistake and the entire n, and the energy spent on every single step would be for naught.

    This was extremely risky and usually not worth it because ns easily went a different path than one might expect.

    The Sacred Knights leader had realized this already. In fact, the current situation annoyed him the most because he had actively helped another Divine existence to aplish their ns without meaning to.

    ''I hope there won''t be an existence above the Prometheus rank on the descending teau. Jundra will still prohibit them from entering, even if tremendous amounts of energy and a Divinity is used up. There will probably only be a permanent portal for the descending race.''

    Silvian quickly concluded what was going on. In the beginning, he didn''t want to ept it because reiming Juna was part of his n on gaining more and more poprity.

    Having defeated the Mutant Minotaur would increase his poprity, however, that was only natural.

    Yet, with the appearance of the descending teau, his image might be adversely affected.

    After all, the entire teau was likely to destroy the entire shelter, and the remaining dungeons within and outside Juna before recing everything with the ecosystem existing on the teau.

    The news about the descending teau was certainly going to be more interesting than the Sacred Knights leader defeating a monster that killed four of the strongest Originals mankind had.

    ''I cannot change it anymore, either way. The mana density on the descending teau will permanently change the situation here and in the surrounding area. If I make use of this, I might be able to advance faster. The Prometheus rank shouldn''t keep me busy for too long with so much mana around¡­''

    They were still in the meeting, but Silvian had be quieter. He didn''t want to waste his time having to think about what exactly he could reveal without being considered suspicious.

    As the Sacred Knights leader, he had to prevent acting too suspiciously. It was fine if he had the answer to some questions because he could reason that it was his Innate ability that had revealed certain memories to him.

    However, that was already it. Yet, while Silvian was quite careful, Nial found it much harder not to reveal the entire truth about what he knew.

    His knowledge was, by far, lower than Silvian''s. But even if that was the case, the memories he received from the Odyssey seed were extremely helpful.

    "In the end, we will have to wait and see what is going to happen. We cannot change it anyway. Let''s just warn everyone and tell them that they might have to be prepared to leave Juna at any moment.

    After all, it looks like the decayednd is growing in the shelter''s direction. I guess we will have to abandon the shelter once again, and see what will happen." The old man, next to Kirlia suggested.

    He didn''t seem to be too agitated about the given situation, and one could almost say that he was way too calm given that more than a thousand powerful and potential powerhouses died in the reiming process of the Juna, just to be forced to abandon it once again.

    ''He should belong to one of the oldest generations like Miranda. I guess he has seen more than enough to tell that there is nothing we can do about the descending teau.'' Nial thought, using his Mana Sense to visualize the old man.

    He didn''t look anything special, had long and thin hair, and his skin was covered in wrinkles. At the first nce, it almost seemed as if he would copse on the ground at any moment. Yet, despite his old and frail appearance, the old man was definitely at the Prometheus rank, and even more advanced than the Sacred Knights leader at that!

    ''Impressive.'' Nial thought in admiration.

    "Let''s take the teleportation circle with us. Everyone who wants to can leave already, while those who want to stay should remain here." The bulky, 2.3-meter tall Original said.

    p Nial found out that his name was Tyson. He was a Prometheus Original as well and had a special constitution that increased his physical strength to an extreme state.</anda>

    Not a single Original was as powerful as Tyson at the same rank if they were to solely consider their physical strength!

    However, despite being physically strong and looking like a muscle-head, he could keep his calm, and use his mind to think before speaking instead of letting his muscles and raw strength do the talking.

    "I doubt that many would stay here if we cancel the conquest to reim Juna. It won''t bring them anything after all. In fact, this ''descending teau'' or whatever it is called should be quite dangerous. Only the Tritan Originals and the Prometheus Originals should stay behind, in my opinion." Kirlia stated her opinion.

    She looked at her disciple with a trace of worry gleaming in her eyes. Kirlia Maverick didn''t want anything to happen to her disciple, which was why she wanted to force the little troublemaker to leave, even if she didn''t want to.

    However, instead of agreeing to her proposal, the old man tantly rejected her idea.

    "Nobody here is a kid anymore. Everyone knows how dangerous the wilderness is, and that there is no perfectly safe ce for anyone in the wilderness. Just let them decide on their own, whether they want to stay or not.

    If they want to seek an opportunity on the descending teau and test their fate, they might as well be willing to face the dangers. Don''t take away their freedom of choice, just because you are worried about your disciple''s well-being."

    The entire meeting continued in a simr way with people stating their opinions. However, Nial slowly lost interest in it.

    Some of the truly powerful Originals were quite annoying, but most of them were somewhat fine.

    Thus, instead of sitting idle, Nial created a profile for everyone to make mental notes about their strength, their behavior, their ticks if they revealed any, and so on.

    But he was still happy when the meeting was done.

    ''Finally over.'' Nial thought in relief when the meeting finished after several hours. Only the first hour or so had been interesting for Nial.

    But this first hour was the only part of the meeting that seemed important enough for him to absorb every single detail, bothering him.<sub> </sub>

    ''The descending teau is either something extremely bad, worse than the Dryx''s infiltration, or it can be an opportunity for mankind. Just the chances for it to be thetter¡­.are low¡­''

    Nial could easily recall many races that belonged to Divine existences. There were also some that were on their own, rejecting to be supported by any Divine existence. However, there weren''t actually many who liked the human race.

    There were quite a few races that were just like humans, whether it was behavior or appearance-wise. Those would probably have some amity with the humans from Jundra.

    However, such races were the minority amongst minorities. The chances that mankind would have some luck after so many unlucky encounters were little. It may not be nil, but Nial didn''t have much hope if he were to be honest.

    ''But why do I still want to stay?'' He wondered, feeling as if he had to stay in Juna and witness the arrival of the first members belonging to the descending teau''s race.

    Nial left the huge tent alone. He was about to return to his tent, only to hear a sonorous voice from behind.

    "Wait for a moment, please."

    Nial turned around upon realizing who it was. It was the veiled woman, which astonished him a bit. However, he could control his facial features. Through this, he could make it seem as if he was not actually confused about why she would call out for him.

    "Your name is Nial, right?" She asked while approaching him.

    "My name is Nial Orin, yes." Nial was visibly confused. He had never expected that the veiled woman would approach him after ignoring his previous attempts tomunicate earlier.

    One of his ns had been to talk to her as long as she was still in Juna because he was not sure how long it would take for them to meet each other once again if Kirlia left Juna with her.

    However, he had yet to find the perfect timing, when her Master Kirlia was not around.

    "Alright, so Nial it is. I''m sorry to ask you this, and I hope you won''t take it the wrong way, but I just have to ask this!" The veiled woman seemed somewhat excited.

    She spoke a lot morepared to before, so Nial was baffled for a second and simply nodded his head. Seeing this, the veiled woman continued to speak,

    "Just how did you know about the descending teau? The Sacred Knights leader seemed to know that you would know about this as well! Did you read about it in a book from some sort of dungeon, or did your Innate ability tell you about it?"

    By now, many people knew that Innate abilities could share memories with their host. That was also why the veiled woman asked him straightforwardly.

    Mankind had yet to find out the truth behind the reason of their Innate abilities sharing intel with their host.

    However, that was not important right now.

    ''I actually don''t even need to lie.'' Nial thought before speaking,

    "You could say that my Innate ability shared some memories revolving around descending teaus with me." He answered honestly.

    The veiled woman seemed somewhat disappointed as she issued a lifeless sigh, "Ah¡­okay," before turning around to leave.

    Apparently, she had hoped that Nial had something more interesting to share with her. That was also why she had been so excited.

    "Wait a moment, please." Nial suddenly said, feeling bothered that the veiled woman wanted to leave immediately.

    She halted in her tracks and looked back, only to see a holographic picture right in front of her.

    Nial didn''t want to waste the veiled woman''s time too much, or even worse, let Kirlia see him with her.

    Kirlia Maverick was too dangerous and protective of her disciple, topics including her, and she was too much of a confusing person, in the first ce.

    Thus, Nial had moved fast, and quickly essed the gallery on the Originals bracelet to manifest the only picture he had of his family.

    He ignored anything else and pointed at his sister.

    "By any chance, do you know her?"

    **

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 Chapter 234 Hana

    Upon seeing the picture that obviously had Nial''s family made the veiled woman feel confused. She looked at Nial for a few seconds before her head turned to the younger self of Nial in the picture.

    ''He lost his smile.'' She immediately realized. However, not long after, the veiled woman looked at the picture of the young woman he was pointing at.

    There weren''t many simrities between Nial and the woman, but one could tell that they were siblings.

    "Do you know her?" Nial repeated, noticing that the veiled woman didn''t say a thing yet.

    His heart was beating wildly, and he knew that it was highly risky to show a picture of him and his family to aplete stranger.

    After all, his family had been kidnapped, and if the Heaven''s Gates organization were to find out that he was searching for them, they might do something to him.

    Nial couldn''t be sure about that, but it was definitely better if he were to act carefully.

    However, right now, it was not possible to act too carefully. He had to know whether the veiled woman was his sister, or not.

    Even if she wasn''t, the veiled woman might know his sister!

    A light headache overcame the veiled woman, and she didn''t move even a tiny bit while staring at the picture.

    "Doesn''t she look like¡­?" She mumbled quietly before she shook her head, continuing the unfinished thought in her mind.

    ''No that cannot be. Master''s sister said that she was raised in Liondra. Niales from Katu ording to the intel Kirlia collected¡­''

    The veiled woman was feeling conflicted. The identity of the disciple of her Master''s sister was even more important to remain a secret than her own identity.

    Kristine, her master''s sister, was adamant about the fact that nobody found it out.

    "Look like who?" Nial asked, taking another step toward the veiled woman. Now, he was standing right in front of her.

    The flowery scent of her hair sshed on his face, and her breathing became louder. The veiled woman had never been that close to someone of the opposite gender.

    Her mind was in a mess because she could clearly see the veins at Nial''s neck, and the rippled muscles below the tight clothes he was wearing.

    At the same time, the fact that she was not allowed to reveal the identity of Kristine''s disciple made things even more difficult.

    ''I don''t even know if they look the same. I never saw her entire face¡­'' She could only think, frowning deeply.

    ''And it''s actually not possible for them to be siblings. One of them never left Katu before participating in the Teradan military camp, and the other one never left Liondra since she was born in it¡­''

    "I may know someone¡­who looks simr to her. I guess the girl in your picture is your sister. If that''s so, the person I know cannot be the same person beside you in that picture."

    The veiled woman had to try hard not to act weird, even if her heart was beating wildly as Nial''s wless face was not even a meter away from him.

    She could clearly see his chiseled facial features, his milky white and lifeless eyes that were partially covered by his silver hair cascading down his head.

    He was definitely handsome, but Nial didn''t know that. Nial never cared about appearance, simply because it was not something he could see either way.

    "Not the same?" He mumbled,pletely disregarding the short distance between him and the veiled woman.

    It didn''t really matter to him, and thest thing he could think about was being considerate, or rational.

    ''Didn''t she just say that Sabrina looks like someone? Or did she mistake her?!?''

    Even if the veiled woman was not his sister, she should know his sister.

    The Heaven''s Gates organization was the only clue he had about the whereabouts of his family. The veiled woman''s answer troubled him a lot and his expression turned worse with every passing moment.

    ''What happened to his sister that made him act like that?'' The veiled woman thought, her mind slowly calming down after she took a step away from Nial.

    "Wait¡­if you''re wearing a veil all the time, is it possible that others from your organization also follow the same dress code? Are all disciples required to wear a veil?" Nial''s hopes were already crumbling and the thought of everyone wearing a veil had shed through his mind as some sort ofst lifeline.

    He hoped for the best but expected the worst. His heart was beating wildly and he could barely hear anything from around him.

    Nial''s senses were going haywire, which made it difficult for him to even breathe without feeling odd as the cold air he inhaled irritated his senses a lot.

    "Not everyone needs to wear a veil, just the most important disciples, I guess."

    That was the final answer of the veiled woman. Nial''s expression eased up, and he took a few steps back before taking a few deep breaths.

    He felt like hugging the veiled woman because he was so happy, but Nial knew that Kirlia would actually kill him the moment he would dare touch her.

    Thus, he could only smile vibrantly at her.

    "Thank you very much for your information. I will definitely repay the favor and help you when you''re in trouble. If you have any questions you can alsoe to me, I will answer them as well as I can!"

    Saying so, Nial turned around. He was about to rush back to his and Mathias'' tent, only to halt in his tracks as he turned his head onest time.

    "By the way, what should I call you?"

    Nial knew that she wouldn''t tell him her real name. That was why he didn''t even try to ask her for it.

    ''Just what is wrong with him? Did I really help him in any way? My information should have beenpletely useless for him¡­ it should have demotivated him, not made him overly happy¡­weird¡­''

    She was not able toprehend why Nial was happy about the information she provided him. However, it was not as if she disliked the idea of Nial owing her a favor.<sub> </sub>

    The only thing was that she didn''t actually think he had any reason to believe that he owed her something.

    But the veiled woman didn''t say anything, she could sense that her master was already waiting for her. Thus, she turned around, which made her ignore Nial''s question at first.

    However, she didn''t want to leave him just like that. It was odd for her to act like that in front of someone of the other gender. Normally, she would feel like beating them into a pulp the moment their eyes fell on her.

    The same was not the case with Nial, mostly because he couldn''t look at her in an inappropriate manner.

    There may be other reasons the veiled woman wouldn''t acknowledge, even if they were to be true, either way.

    Nheless, she halted in her tracks and muttered a single word before she returned to her master once again.

    "Hana"

    After hearing the veiled woman''s name, Nial also went back to his tent. There, he encountered Mathias, who was already waiting for him.

    His friend wanted to hear every single detail of what had happened.

    However, Nial''s mind was somewherepletely different.

    ''Hana¡­I get that it''s not her name, but why do I feel like I have heard this name already. No, it was not a name but something else. Didn''t it mean something in a differentnguage, one of the oldnguages that have been in use before the dungeons appeared?

    Well, maybe I''m wrong.''

    Nial felt that the name ''Hana'' was not as simple as he first thought. But without the necessary time to research it, Nial could only ept everything that had just happened.

    ''I had already guessed that my sister is someone important because nobody would kidnap her otherwise, but it seems like I have to hope that the person Hana spoke about is Sabrina.

    Even if Hana says that it is not possible for her to be Sabrina, you never know¡­''

    Nial found Hana to be a good person, and though their first few encounters might have been a little bit weird, he could tell that she was not a bad person.

    That was more than enough to feel reassured to know, at least, one good person from the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    This calmed him a lot and it allowed Nial to avert his attention to an issue that was of much more important than he wanted to acknowledge.

    "Niall, heyy, Niall!!! Won''t you tell me what happened? I heard there was a meeting with all the important higher authorities. Did the Sacred Knights leader bring you to the meeting as well??" Mathias asked.

    He was excited and could hardly hide it. Every single time Nial was included somewhere, things would get interesting.

    Mathias might not have liked trouble all that much in the past. However, right now, he could hardly contain himself. If Prometheus Originals epted Nial and considered him important enough to be included in their meeting, things would certainly get interesting.

    After all, he had mostly been disregarded in the Teradan military camp, only to emerge as the best or, at least, one of the best participants.

    He had made the most gains while being one of the Originals, who were the most recent to awaken their origin when the Teradan military camp had started.

    "Okay, calm down. I will tell you everything. The Prometheus Originals will make an announcementter, either way. But let me tell you about it in detail¡­."

    Saying so, Nial exined what happened in thest few hours. He left nothing while providing his friend with the details about the descending teau, how it was created, and so on.

    He even told Mathias that it was likely for one or multiple existences to have coborated to allow the teau to descend.

    Of course, this was just a theory of Nial and not something he had shared with the others. Everyone believed that it was just one existence, who had caused all the ruckus, everyone excluding Nial.

    His thoughts were different from the others, and he didn''t share everything that was on his mind with the others as well.

    ''One created the Abyssal dungeon that had harbored aerial beasts, the one used his divinity to create the physically-attributed Mutant Minotaur, and thest one exploits everyone to make his teau descend, which seems to be focused on generating lots of mana, and a vigorous nature full of life.''

    That was Nial''s final conclusion, and it was also the only reason for him to have a little hope about the descending teau.

    If the race descending with the teau was in favor of life itself and helped it grow, they might not be hostile to the human race.

    This was also the reason why he wanted to stay in Juna, even if others would be inclined to leave.

    "I want to stay as well! Facing a foreign race has always been my wish. Maybe there will be Faes, Mermaids, Dragonewts, Dwarves, or some other races!!!" He eximed, feeling exhrated. He couldn''t stop thinking about the only things of his past life that had brought him a bit of joy; the stories of foreign races, fairy tales rted to other races, and much more.

    Nial noticed his friend''s reaction but he didn''t say anything. He merely smiled before nodding his head.

    "Let''s stay here and see what awaits us!"

    **

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 Chapter 235 Emerging

    Out of the many powerful Originals, who had initiallye to reim Juna, many left the moment they heard the news that Juna couldn''t be reimed.

    The Prometheus Originals exined the situation about the descending teau as well as possible, but many were confused as to how it was possible for the outside area of Juna to be destroyed, and be reced by a different in.

    Due to their confusion, they were not sure whether it was safe to stay near Juna, or if they should pack their bags and leave as well.

    Even the Prometheus Originals couldn''t tell that for sure.

    Thus, many followed their gut feeling. Most of the younger Originals left, thinking that the dangers were way too high for them to tackle.

    It was not unlikely for a few Prometheus beasts to emerge from the descending teau or from dungeon portals that were bound to appear around the mana-dense surrounding which the descending teau created.

    In the end, more than half of the Originals left because they didn''t have anything to do. They had nned to improve their image, gain some respect and increase their chances of attracting the attention of some organizations that might get interested in scouting them after ying a big role in reiming Juna.

    However, that was not possible anymore because Juna was beyond saving as it disappeared into thin air.

    It decayed, turned into nothingness, and waster reced by a flourishing tropical forest. The tropical forest was filled with numerous huge and small trees. Some had lush green leaves, others had bluish leaves, and some were even red in color.

    The contrast of colors attracted lots of attention, but not because it looked ugly, or odd. Rather, it was because the colorful blend turned the tropical forest into an even more picturesquendscape.

    But that was not everything. The most important was the fact that numerous wooden huts could be seen hanging from the trees.

    At first, it looked weird because the wooden huts had appeared out of nowhere, but the more the descending teau appeared, the more interesting everything became.

    "It is aplex of numerous tree houses, made out of the trees of the descending teau. Not a single tree exceeds a certain size as well." Nial mumbled when he realized a pattern.

    ''The existence, who had created the descending teau clearly knew the current limitations of Jundra. There is not a single empty location that hinted at the''s rejection of certain trees, bushes or other nts, whose ''rank'' is too high.''

    The tropical forest was rich in mana owing to all the nts and trees that could be found within it. All of them released mana with a process simr to photosynthesis.

    "So the descending race is one that lives in the tree houses? Interesting! But that also means they won''t be dwarves, and instead, it will be a race that loves nature¡­boring¡­" Mathias said with visible disappointment.

    Nial was not sure what Mathias was exactly looking for but he spoke about various races, and how much he would love to encounter them, from the moment Nial revealed that there should be a foreign race on the descending teau.

    There was no trace of the timid young man from before, and only an excited small child was what Nial could sense in him.

    But it was not as if Nial disliked this behavior of his friend. It was quite calming to see Mathias so rxed, and it allowed Nial to think about many things.

    On the other hand, the Sacred Knights leader, Silvian, was everything but rxed.

    For him, it was a bad sign that the descending race was inclined to find living beings likable.

    Silvian wasn''t familiar with all the existing races, but most races, who liked life itself, didn''t actually favor the God of Saints and Devils.

    It turned things into a big mess because Silvian had hoped to exploit the dense and rich mana of the descending teau for his own selfish use.

    Days passed, and the walls of Juna had long since disappeared, and every single dungeon portal had turned into countless particles including the permanent dungeons.

    Everything that had once existed within and around Juna was reced by a beautifulndscape enriched with greenery, wooden tree houses, and numerous other things that would attract one''s interest.

    However, nobody dared to approach the descending teau in fear of making a mistake and being turned into countless particles as well.

    Some foolish Originals had ignored the warnings many had voiced out. They had stayed behind in Juna while it had been destroyed and reced by the descending teau.

    In the process of destruction, the Originals had survived which was why they had been confident to survive again. Sadly, the moment the descending teau reced the destroyed surroundings, the same Originals, who had survived before, died in various ways, and not a single one was painless!

    Some were bulldozed and sliced apart by trees that had appeared out of nowhere while others were pierced by countless twigs from bushes that had appeared within them.

    It was everything but nice to look at the dying Originals. However, nobody thought of rushing to their aid. All of them had chosen their fate, knowing that it might not be the smartest move to stay in a destroyed location that was about to be reced by differentnd.

    Their stupidity had been the reason for their demise, and nobody wanted to follow these idiots to death.

    But what everyone did was to move their tents further away from Juna, or what was left of it.

    The pace at which Juna was destroyed increased over time and it was a matter of days before the descending teau would finally settle over the destroyed part of the shelter.

    Everyone was interested in what would happen after the process was to bepleted. Thus, time passed extremely slowly in which nothing but the descending teau was on everyone''s mind.

    Even the other beasts, who had been attracted by the mana-richness of the already descended parts of the teau were ignored by the Originals.

    Surprisingly, the beasts ignored the Originals as well, which was the exact opposite of what they would usually do upon following their wild instincts.

    Time passed extremely slowly, and Nial started to feel anxious. The descending teau was not humongous. It barely covered the entire shelter and a small area around it.

    For the others, this might be considered a lot, but Nial and Silvian knew that it was merely the smallest size of a descending teau.

    Gods, and those with the memory of a God could tell that the creator of the descending teau were focused on minimizing his or her expenses. This fact provided more than enough information to Nial and Silvian, whose minds had been rattling for days, until a greenish portal began to manifest above the descending teau.<sub> </sub>

    "Oh my god, is there a dungeon portal that can release so much mana?!" A rather young Original asked. Chills ran down his spine the moment he sensed the terrifyinglyrge amount of mana that radiated from the levitating dungeon portal.

    "This cannot be an Abyssal dungeon portal! It has to be a rank above it. Does that mean existences at the Prometheus rank will emerge from that portal?!" Another young Original asked in surprise. Fear could be seen in her eyes.

    However, that was not all.

    Oddly enough one could also tell that she was excited. The corner of her lips was curled upward, and the fear in her eyes was reced by excitement, while her heart began to beat wildly.

    She was not the only one to feel like this. Many female Originals were suddenly in a trance-like state. Their hearts began to beat wildly, and the fear they had felt earlier had now turned into excitement and expectations.

    Nial noticed the change in their mana fluctuations quickly. That was why he visualized the women as well, before averting his attention after he realized what was going on.

    ''The aroma emerging from the portal is amplified with the rich mana of the descending teau, thereby amplifying it. Men are not affected by this aroma, but the hormones of women are affected.''

    After understanding this, Nial was not sure what to feel.

    In most of the scenarios which he imagined, the aroma was a bad sign, but it could also be the natural scent of the descending race or the environment behind the levitating portal.

    Thus, Nial couldn''t reach a definite conclusion about what to think of the descending race.

    ''Please let us be fortunate, just for once¡­'' Nial thought, hoping the best for the human race.

    It was of utmost importance that the descending race would not be hostile to the human race. As long as that was the case, mankind would be able to advance rapidly and at a much faster rate than they could in the centuries before.

    However, the very race Nial would have never thought to descend on Jundra began to emerge out of the green levitating portal.

    A naked foot was the first that poked out of the portal for everyone to see. Nobody dared make a sound and everyone watched with bated breaths as the rest of the body was revealed. Some even stopped breathing altogether. Their eyes widened the moment the first being emerged from the portal.

    After pale naked feet emerged out of the portal, a human-like body followed suit, wearing severalyers of ck and green robes.

    A dignified existence emerged from the portal. The being was gliding through the air, while taking a look around.

    The being saw the humans in an instance, but it gave no particr reaction. The foreign being acted as if it was perfectly normal for humans to look at it with a shocked expression.

    Not a single change could be perceived on the beautiful and wless face of the foreign being, whose face was just like a human''s.

    The face of the being was small, and it was otherworldly beautiful and wless. Long and silky silver hair cascaded down his back and curled in the faint draft of wind that surrounded the extremely young-looking being as it turned its head away from the starstruck humans.

    It lowered itself to the ground level, and the trees and leaves quickly made it impossible for the Originals to see the being.

    However, everyone could clearly feel the power pulsating through the being. It didn''t hide the strength within its body at all, and that was not even necessary, to begin with.

    "Prometheus rank¡­" Someone just mumbled, only to flinch, thinking about the possibility that there would only be Prometheus ranked Elves emerging from the portal.

    Yes¡­Elves¡­that was correct.

    An Elf had emerged from the green, levitating portal!

    Nial didn''t realize that it was an Elf at first. He couldn''t see it, and neither was it possible for him to visualize the being that had emerged from the portal because they were too far away.

    The only thing Nial was able to perceive was its strength and the fact that mana seemed to be naturally drawn to the existence that had emerged from the portal.

    This clearly showed that the being had not only a liking for life itself, but also for mana.

    "What emerged from the portal?" Nial asked while inwardly adding, ''please don''t be one of these snobby races, or any of those selfish assholes. Let mankind be lucky, just once!!''

    "It''s an Elf!! Can you believe it, it''s an actual Elf?!?!?!" Mathias eximed, his expression full of excitement.

    "Huh, an Elf? Are you for real?!?" Nial asked, totally dumbfounded. He asked in a shocked tone, only for Mathias to excitedly continue to speak,

    "More areing!!!"

    **

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 Chapter 236 Elves

    "Fuck, Elves are the worst that could have happened!!" A mumbling voice reached Nial''s ears.

    He had issues controlling his facial expression because he was overjoyed. Yet, the Sacred Knights leader, who was standing not too far from Nial thought the exact opposite.

    Silvian looked at the first Elf, and then at those, who followed him with a deep frown. He could tell that the situation was going out of hand, even more with the appearance of the Elves.

    They were literally the worst race he could have met.

    ''Why did I have to be this unlucky? As if a race in favor of Life itself was not bad enough, it had to be elves, right?!''

    The reason for Silvian to think like this was pretty simple. He didn''t see eye to eye with the Elves and had a bad past with quite some difficulties.

    They could be considered arch-enemies, mostly due to the fact that the Dryx race was loathed by the Elves.

    The Dryx race was known for destroying their surroundings with the dangerous fumes their body released, the numerous bacteria their body harbored, and for mindless killers, who liked obliterating lives, just for the sake of it.

    As they had been opponents for eons, Silvian could only frown, while looking at the human-loving race, the Elves.

    ''Finally, we are lucky! It was about time for mankind to draw a lucky card!!'' Nial thought in excitement while perceiving the strong masses of mana that belonged to the Elves, who kept emerging from the green levitating portal.

    Elves were known for adoring life, especially those races that looked simr to them. They loved everything beautiful and hated hideous existences.

    That was why the human race was quite fortunate. There might be more than enough ugly examples, but the Elves would simply talk to those, who were beautiful, and ignore the hideous and ugly ones.

    Even if it was nothing to be proud of, the arrogant Elves would never care about the opinions others had about them.

    It was simply not something they were concerned about.

    ''Who the hell cares, whether they''re arrogant or not?! This is simply too good!'' Nial continued to think, while the smile he wanted to suppress began to surface.

    There was still the possibility that the Elves, who had stepped on Juna along with the teau, had a mission that yed against the hope Nial felt, however, the chances were extremely low.

    After all, each of the descended Elves had seen therge group of Originals, who were resting in their temporary base consisting of numerous tents.

    Nial''s hands trembled slightly when he perceived that more than 10 Prometheus Elves had already emerged from the green portal.

    ''The first one, who emerged from the portal, is still the strongest. It should be their leader, right?'' He thought, licking his lower lip without realizing it.

    Taking a few deep breaths, Nial clenched his trembling hand into a fist.

    "Hey, Nial! What do you think about the Elves? Elves shouldn''t be hostile towards humans, right?" Mathias asked, remembering all the stories he had heard about Elves in his past life.

    He was more than just a little bit excited. His heart was beating wildly, and Mathias was restlessly shifting his weight from one leg to the other, wanting to approach the Elves right here and right now.

    Mathias didn''t want to waste more time speaking, but he also knew that he had to control himself. After all, it was important to determine whether the Elves were a threat to them or not before rushing toward them.

    However, just when Mathias turned in Nial''s direction, he realized that his friend was missing.

    "Nial?! Where the hell did you go?? Nial!!!" Mathias panicked for a moment. So far, his friend had never run away from him.

    Nial would usually say a few words and inform them if he were to go somewhere. Thus, Mathias looked around frantically before he found his friend.

    "Why is that young Original approaching the tropical forest? Is he insane?!"

    "Does he want to get himself killed? We know nothing about this race, yet, he dares to approach them? What if he makes a mistake the moment he barges into their territory?"

    "He will definitely be a headache for us if he makes a mistake. What the hell is he even thinking?!"

    "This idiot. He almost reached the tropical forest..."

    Everyone felt like beating Nial into a pulp, but nobody dared to approach him. After all, to catch up to him right now, they would have to run towards him rapidly, without holding their strength back.

    And doing something like this would rm the few Prometheus Elves, who had already emerged from the green levitating portal. They would take it as mankind''s hostility and adverse reaction to their arrival. Hence, they stayed back.

    p Meanwhile, the Elves saw that Nial was approaching them. They didn''t act against him, which could be considered an advantage.</anda>

    ''So I''m beautiful enough in their eyes to make them pay attention to me, that''s great!'' Nial could only think as the corners of his lip curled upward in a smirk.

    He had never really cared about his appearance. After all, he couldn''t see himself, to begin with.

    That was why he was quite d that the Elves believed he was beautiful enough to meet their standards. If he were to ugly, they would have given him a beating before throwing him back to the base of tents and forgetting his existence.

    And that was the best possible scenario!<sub> </sub>

    But now that Nial knew that he met the Elves'' minimum criteria, he calmed down at once.

    ''I shouldn''t do a mistake right now, otherwise, I will definitely be fucked up! God of Darkness, if your memories are faulty, I swear, I will beat you up whenever I can...!''

    Trying to calm himself, Nial tried to curse at the God of Darkness. However, it was not as if the deceased God was, in any way, responsible for the current situation. Thus, Nial quieted his raging mind.

    When he reached the border between the ins and the tropical forest, Nial halted in his tracks.

    Using the memories of the deceased God of Darkness, Nial waited more than ten seconds without moving a muscle.

    He stood in front of the tropical forest and allowed the tropical forest to perceive him.

    Only after ten seconds had passed did Nial start moving his hand.

    He made several signs with his hand, and circted mana through his hands before releasing it in a special manner.

    Not even a minute passed after which he stopped moving his hand. After that, Nial again stopped moving and remained standing in front of the tropical forest. He didn''t enter it immediately, and it almost looked like he was waiting for something.

    Meanwhile, as Nial was waiting, many Originals looked at him dumbfounded.

    "What the hell is he doing? ying Ninja or what?!"

    "He really believes that he is the protagonist and that his childish and weird moves will be enough for him to be weed in the forest? I bet he will be killed at any moment!"

    "What a weird guy. Does he even know what he is doing, or where he is at? He should use his mana sense to perceive his surroundings if he is already blind, instead of possibly dragging us with him to doom!!"

    However, while many Originals were displeased with Nial''s action, Silvian looked at him with widened eyes.

    ''Why would he try to approach them?! He literally hates each of the existing Elven races!!!'' He thought in shock. Silvian gritted his teeth, while his gaze remained on Nial, whom he still presumed to be the same Damian from eons ago.

    ''Even if he is following the traditions of the Elves, does he really want to approach the Elves?! Damian...what the hell are you doing? You and the Elves are theplete opposite! They favor life and the human race, whereas you destroy life, you bring darkness, and you hate humans to the core!!!''

    It was already weird enough for the God of Darkness to have incarnated as a human right now. However, Silvian believed that this had some sort of special reason I was not aware of.

    He was also pretty sure that he had intentionally made himself blind so that he wouldn''t have to see the humans around him.

    Of course, in the end, Silvian''s train of thought was utter nonsense.

    So far, nothing he had thought about Nial was correct because he was not the reincarnation of the God of Darkness, or something simr.

    Instead, he was Nial Orin, the host of one Fragment of Darkness with some memories and powers of the former God of Darkness. That was it.

    Having calmed down inparison to everyone else, Nial was still patiently waiting.

    He knew that he was the main topic of gossip right now, but that was not something he could be bothered about right now.

    ''I hope it will be enough if we can converse using a few hand signs and gestures. I am not proficient in using their signnguage perfectly...''

    Nial waspletely unbothered about the fact that thete God of Darkness didn''t favor Elves. He couldn''t care less about this.

    The God of Darkness, was by no means stupid, or selfish. Rather, his life had been a little bit messy.

    Calling itplete chaos was probably the better term. Nheless, despite all the shit he had gone through, the God of Darkness had always tried to make life more worthwhile for himself.

    However, in this attempt, there were often times when he messed up big time.

    His power was just generally considered dangerous, and many feared him, especially for this power. After all, the dark energy was not something that could be used to heal someone or to do something that was considered ''good''.

    On the contrary, dark energy was one of the most destructive powers if it was used properly. With it, one could fight against almost every type of energy, even the holiest energy as long as one knew what to do.

    Nial chose to refrain from using dark energy until the Elves would trust him enough. Possibly, he would have to hide it from them forever.

    However, that was more than fine for Nial because the most important for now was to get acquainted with the Elves.

    At that moment, Nial had already been waiting for a few minutes. But only now did he perceive the first changes in the tropical forest.

    A gust of wind sshed on his face, and it was just a secondter that the tall silver-haired Elf appeared right at the border between the tropical forest and the ins, right in front of him.

    "Kirasdtha Nihasn Miasdh" He muttered, moving his fingers in the air.

    ''Wee to the Forest of Life, Miasna''

 Chapter 237 Forest Of Life

    ''I can actually understand them!'' Nial nearly blurted out.

    He couldn''t understand thenguage the Elf spoke, but he could decipher the meaning behind his hand signs.

    This was quite exciting, even more so because Nial knew that he didn''t know most of the hand signs the Elf had made.

    ''How am I able to understand him, though?'' Nial could clearly perceive the slightest trace of mana that circted through the Elf''s hands.

    This made it easier for Nial to visualize his hand and every single detail about it.

    However, what Nial had yet to understand was that the hand motions and the signs the Elf made were not the only means ofmunication.

    The Elf used both his hand motions and his mana in a precise manner to convey his message to Nial.

    Mana had its ownnguage, and only those loved by mana could understand it.

    Thus, upon seeing Nial''s astonished expression, the Elf smiled faintly.

    ''This brave fighter might have the scent of a destroyer, but mana still seems to love him. Interesting.''

    It didn''t take the Elf a second to investigate Nial.

    The oldest remnants of mana couldn''t be perceived by ordinary existences. However, the Elf did so quite easily.

    With that kind of special trait, he immediately knew that Nial held two destructive powers that were both rted to darkness.

    Mana was not biased, in any way, but there was still a clear difference if mana adored, or loved someone!

    In the end, mana would never reject any kind of living being. However, it wouldn''t usually adore someone, who might use mana to cause destruction.

    That was also why the Elves had changed their way of living; to be loved by the neutral mana. Being loved by mana made living easier, it allowed one to advance in the rankings much faster than anyone else, and one gained various benefits.

    After thinking about what to do for a few seconds, Nial tried to motion his mana and hands once again.

    Even if Nial had yet to realize that manamunicated with the Elves, he only knew that thebination of mana and one''s hand signs were another means for the Elves to converse on special days, such as the Day of Silence, for example.

    -"Hello Sir Midnight Elf, I''m sorry for the intrusion, but I hope your journey within the descending teau and the arrival were not too tiring."- Nial wanted to say.

    His hand signs were not perfect, but he also chose to speak in the humannguage. This didn''t necessarily help the Elf to understand himpletely in the first attempt, but it was certainly helpful for the Elf to learn to understand him much faster.

    From what he understood, Elves were experts at ancientnguages, which was also why they were known as very good Runiciers, and Alchemists.

    They had deciphered the knowledge of numerous races after learning theirnguage which allowed them to progress much faster than many other races.

    That was why Nial was trying to make them learn the humannguage. After all, that would be the lowest requirement to start discussing literally anything, whether it were business negotiations, private chats, or an exchange of knowledge.

    However, that was not everything Nial was currently trying to do. He revealed two particr pieces of information to the Midnight Elf standing right in front of him.

    First, he referred to the Elf, as ''Midnight Elf'', clearly indicating that Nial knew what a Midnight Elf was and that the Elf in front of him was one.

    Second, he had also spoken about the descending teau, while simultaneously hinting about the difficulties the Elves might have faced to arrive on Jundra.

    Only someone, who had been in a descending teau should know how dangerous and difficult it was to actually survive and emerge out of the teau''s portal unscathed.

    As for the number of beings who knew what exactly a Midnight Elf is, there weren''t many.

    ''An Intelligent Destroyer, who is adored by mana! I can neither sense the Fragment of a Divinity, nor the presence of a God hiding within him. Who are you?'' The Midnight Elf wondered, his eyes narrowing as he kept observing the young man.

    As for the reason why nobody could sense Nial''s Odyssey seed, it was pretty simple. The Odyssey seed was the remnant of the Late God of Darkness'' Divinity.

    However, as a deceased existence, the God of Darkness'' Divinity had lost its true power. The sentience within the Odyssey seed was a part of thest remnants belonging to the Divinity''s true power.

    It could be used to help the Soul of the God of Darkness reincarnate as long as a perfect vessel was found, and enough energy was procured by the said vessel.

    But at the same time, the remnants of the Divinity fragment''s true power could also be used to transfer the Divinity''s power to a new existence.

    As long as the requirements were met and enough energy umted, the Trials of the God could be awakened with the use of the Divinity fragment of the respective God.

    Within the Trials of the God, thest remnant of the sentience and soul of the deceased God would be awakened as well.

    This would be the only time when the actual God of Darkness could be considered ''alive''. And that was also only under the condition that ''alive'' meant that thest fractions of his soul were forcefully awakened to allow Nial to progress in the Trials of the God.

    As for the Symbol of Life which was the creation of a minuscule part of a Divinity belonging to a Divine existence closely rted to the essence of Life, it was the reason for Nial to be adored by mana and life itself.

    However, the Midnight Elf was not able to sense it because the Divine existence''s sentience within the Ankh had been destroyed by the Odyssey seed.

    The Ankh''s power was tightly sealed within the Odyssey seed, merged with Nial''s dark energy, and umted to be of use for the future.

    It was impossible for the Midnight Elf to sense anything. But that was exactly what confused him so much.

    After all, Nial shouldn''t know the names ''descending teau'', and ''Midnight Elf''.

    Even the memories of the Late God of Darkness were directly tranted into the humannguage. This was one of the few reasons why Nial had difficulties learning thenguages that were used the most in the universe when trying to converse with others.<sub> </sub>

    However, that was perfectly fine with Nial because he could tell that time would solve all of his problems.

    Fortunately, one of Nial''s small tricks applied to the given situation, simply because he was not ought to know a few specific words.

    ''Do I really want to implicate him in this mess? Or should I just take a different path, and keep him out of it?'' Nial started to wonder while trying to avoid smiling.

    The Midnight Elf was still looking at him intently, and Nial chose to make use of the non-violent path after he ''heard'' what he had to say.

    -"Hello Native Humans of Jundra. We did not face any troubles in our journey. Thanks for your concern. My name is Valvian Hy?ert, and I am the Midnight Elf of this descending teau, the Forest of Life, that is correct.

    How do you know about the term Midnight Elf?"- Valvian Hy?ert, the silver-haired Midnight Elf of the Forest of Life, introduced himself and asked.

    He used various signs and the mana he rapidly and urately released.

    Nial was very interested in both the hand signs and the mana. This was mostly the case due to the fact that he could understand everything the Midnight Elf said.

    He was truly shocked about this, and could hardly contain himself because it looked like thenguage barrier didn''t exist between him and Valvian Hy?ert.

    ''As long as thenguage barrier won''t be a problem between me and any of the Elves, this would be amazing!''

    Nial had numerous reasons to approach the Elves in such a straightforward manner, especially because they were great Runiciers, and Alchemists, their control over mana was exceptional, and theirbat prowess often exceeded their rank.

    In simple terms, Elves were a race that could be considered innately very talented, and each of them was exceptional.

    And now that he knew that they found humans likable just like elephants found humans cute, of course, Nial would try to approach them!

    Nial couldn''t care less about that. He had already perceived that Damian was not exactly in a favorable position when it came to the human and elven race. However, Nial was a human, and the God of Darkness had chosen him as his inheritor, vessel, or whatever.

    In that case, Damian''s opinion and bad memories about both the human and elven races were epted, but not actually digested and reflected in Nial''s opinion.

    He was his own person, and even if the Odyssey seed had changed his behavior, and the memories of the deceased God of Darkness had a big influence on the changes in his character, Nial was still¡­Nial!

    -"I had read about the title ''Midnight Elf'' in a book that I found in one of the many dungeons I conquered. There wasn''t much information about Elves, and I only came across the term ''Midnight Elf'' described in that book. However, I know that the Head Elf of a group that ventures to news to explore them."-

    Nial could have just said that he had heard it from Silvian, indirectly exposing him as the incarnation of a God, but the God of Saints and Devils had not done anything bad to him yet.

    Thus, Nial decided to have some mercy on the poor incarnation of the once powerful God.

    ''I really wonder what happened to Silvian. Well, for Damian''s sake, I should give him a chance, I guess.''

    If Silvian were to know that Nial had almost pushed him into the pits of hell, the God of Saints and Devil wouldn''t hesitate to drag Nial with him.

    This was one of the few reasons why Nial didn''t say anything to the Midnight Elf.

    He smiled faintly at the Elf and didn''t show any hesitation or fear in front of the Prometheus Elf. He was much stronger than Nial, and so was every other Elf, who had emerged from the green, levitating portal.

    Despite the stronger existences around him, Nial could still smile and move around nonchntly and his bodynguage revealed that he was at ease.

    For Valvian, this made the human in front of him even more unique.

    He clearly knew that he and the Elves around him were the strongest existences on Jundra for the time being.

    It had taken their Empress not less than two centuries to create the descending ne so that it would help her enact her n perfectly.

    However, something had gone wrong, forcing the Empress to initiate the descent of the teau several decades earlier than expected.

    Thus, instead of merely draining her Divinity, the Empress'' Divinity was nearly shattered, and she was forced into a state of weakness.

    Under normal circumstances, no God would nearly sacrifice their Divinity just to allow the descent of a teau harboring close to 1000 Elves.

    It would make no sense, not on a where the strongest beings are at the Prometheus rank.

    That was, if Jundra was just that¡­a normal and if there wouldn''t have been a prophecy¡­

    **

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 Chapter 238 Descent Completed

    It was crucial that Nial was able to converse with Valvian, and possibly with the other elves as well. He was extremely happy about this, simply because it was a great advantage.

    But others looked at him with a deep frown and suspicion.

    ''How the hell does he know how to converse with them??'' Most of them wondered.

    At first, they were enraged about Nial''s sudden strides toward the tropical forest. However, the Originals quickly noticed that Nial ended up in front of the Elf, who was the first being to emerge from the green, levitating portal.

    Instead of fighting, they seemed to be showing each other some signs, which was the biggest reason for many Originals to grow suspicious about Nial.

    ''It should be impossible for him to know how to converse with a foreign race. He didn''t already have a connection to them before, right?''

    ''His Innate ability could have provided him with memories, which are coincidentally about signnguage¡­but how high are the chances that this is really possible?''

    ''Maybe¡­he is one of¡­.no that cannot be¡­''

    While most Originals were confused and unable to tell how Nial was able to easily converse with the silver-haired Elf, Silvian''s eyes were bloodshot.

    ''This bastard really wants to get to know them?! Isn''t he betraying his entire existence as the God of Darkness through this??'' Silvian was not even able to find the proper words right now. He was simply too angry.

    To the God of Saints and Devil, it was obvious that the elven races were bad news. That was not only the case for himself but actually also for the God of Darkness.

    After all, both he and Damian had faced so many issues due to the Elven and human races that they shouldn''t even care about them anymore.

    Silvian didn''t care about the human race, and the only thing he would regret whenever one of his underlings died was the fact that the resources used to nurture them had been wasted.

    While he was enraged at first, Silvian quickly realized something he had missed out on noticing earlier.

    ''Wait¡­as long as Damian can suppress his hatred against them¡­it should be fine for him, I guess¡­Elves adore humans due to their simrities to themselves and the slight differences that allow Elves to be superior.

    Humans are cute from the point of view of Elves, so¡­maybe even I can make use of that? I never released the ''Devil'' side of my power since I incarnated on Jundra. Maybe¡­just maybe, I should make use of it as well?''

    Even if he had been angered at first, Silvian could tell that it might be advantageous to make use of the given situation.

    The mana density in the tropical forest was extremely high inparison to everywhere else. Staying there would make it much easier to advance in the ranks, and be strong enough to achieve all the ns he had already set up in his mind.

    ''It shouldn''t be that dangerous either. Nial has no problems speaking with the Elves as well, and he has only destructive abilities! His mana should show old remnants of the destruction which he caused with the use of mana!!''

    The more Silvian thought about it, the more he felt relieved. If Nial was able to converse with the elves, it shouldn''t be a problem for him to do so as well.

    Silvian knew the tradition and hand signs of the elves as well. He hated them to the core for a very long time. Thus, it was only obvious that he knew their secretnguage, and knew what they had signaled to each other when they had been fighting on the battlefield.

    With that in mind, he steeled his heart and made his way toward the tropical forest.

    But even before Silvian reached the tropical forest, he saw the silver-haired Elf looking over to him. His gentle and warm eyes turned ice-cold all of a sudden.

    ''What?!''

    Because of this unexpected change, Silvian halted in his tracks. However, even before he knew what was going on, he heard many noises from behind him.

    Turning his head, Silvian''s eyes narrowed.

    ''These shitheads. Do all of them want to get a piece of the cake?!'' He cursed in his mind while seeing that several dozen Originals had begun to move the moment Silvian took the first step.

    They had just been waiting for someone else to take the first step because they didn''t dare to do so despite seeing that Nial was already in a conversation with the silver-haired Elf.

    However, Valvian didn''t like the fact that so many human Originals dared to approach them so nonchntly.

    Many of them were neither good-looking nor favored by mana. In fact, most of them had destructive abilities that were used to shed blood and kill.

    It angered Valvian that so many humans dared to approach the Forest of Life so easily.

    But even then, he wouldn''t actually do anything against the Originals, who dared to approach them. Only after he could clearly perceive their intention were they allowed to do something against the ''bad'' Originals.

    ''The mission might be harder to fulfill than I expected. These humans are different¡­different than the other human races we have encountered so far¡­'' Valvian was not sure how to exin it because he was not able to understand it as well.

    Yet, what he could tell was that most of the humans in his sight were far away from being considered cute.

    There was even a certain sense of danger he perceived from a total of three humans, and only one of the three humans was actually a Prometheus Original!

    -"Do you wish to enter the Forest of Life?"- Valvian suddenly asked Nial, who had not expected to receive an invitation.

    However, Nial had sensed that many other Originals had suddenly begun to move.

    ''Does he want to continue speaking with me, while avoiding the others?'' He wondered, not sure if his thought made sense.<sub> </sub>

    Despite that, Nial just nodded his head before he answered,

    -"It would be an honor for me!"-

    Once he said this, Valvian turned back to the Forest of Life before he made his way toward it. With every step he took, the greenery around him parted aside, creating space for him to walk.

    This baffled Nial for a moment but he hurried after Valvian Hy?ert to enter the Forest of Life.

    When Nial passed by the first barrier of the flourishing nature, the bushes, roots, and other nts began to move once again, recreating the barrier that prevents unwanted guests from entering it.

    Of course, one could resort to violence to enter the forest, but every single Elf would attack the being who dared trespass the Forest of Life, their home, without the slightest hesitance.

    ''Is my Mana Sense overwhelmed?'' Nial realized the moment he stepped inside the Forest of Life. He had already noticed that the mana density and its purity were much higher than anywhere else on Jundra.

    But what Nial could perceive inside the Forest of Life was that his entire body felt invigorated. It was as if the Ankh was glowing brightly, releasing the invigorating sensation, and that the mana naturally moved toward him.

    Jundra had yet to awaken itsary core, and the only mana humans had sensed yet, was released by the dungeon portals, and the dungeons.

    There had yet to be a ce where one could sense the naturally generated mana from the soil, the trees, and nts.

    Nial had memories of the sensation of natural mana. However, these memories belonged to the deceased God of Darkness, and not to him.

    Thus, Nial''s expression lit up the moment he sensed natural mana for the first time in his life.

    "That''s amazing¡­" He could only mumble, not believing that the sensation was so exhrating.

    ''And Jundra will be like this once itsary mana core awakens? That would be great!''

    Once again, Nial understood why the memories of the God of Darkness said that the Prometheus rank was nothing special.

    If everyone grew up with such a high mana density, not only was it likely for the majority of humans to awaken their origin, but it would also beughable if they wouldn''t be able to create a few Origin rings, at the bare minimum.

    Even with low talent, they would be able to erge their mana core a few times. Even forcing their way through the erging process would be much easier as long as they had an overwhelming amount of mana around them, in addition to a few other preparations.

    At the thought of Jundra''sary mana awakening, Nial felt goosebumps erupt all over his body. He got excited because it was obvious that his strength would increase by leaps and bounds with the awakening of the''s mana.

    For a moment, Nial forgot about the potential dangers theary mana awakening would bring along. He merely thought about the good things that awaited him.

    Thinking positively without a single negative thought in his mind was something Nial had never been capable of. However, right now, he was feeling amazing.

    His mind and heart were at ease while he followed Valvian, and the Midnight Elf could clearly feel this.

    ''Even if he is a Destroyer, Life seems to be close to him as well¡­Could he have received the Blessing of Life? No¡­I would have sensed that¡­'' Valvian thought, and his interest in Nial increased the more he got to know the young blind man.

    His mission was not to please the human Originals around him. It was only obvious but it would be advantageous for them to build a connection with some natives to get to know the rough situation of Jundra.

    However, it was actually not something mandatory. After all, they knew that the only allowed Prometheus existence to emerge on the. And even for those existences, it was difficult to emerge on Jundra without the help of a God''s Divinity.

    At that moment, Valvian sensed that thest Elves had emerged from the green, levitating portal.

    It glowed brightly onest time before dimming down.

    The green color of the portal continued to slowly fade before it turned into a grayish mass. The levitating portal descended to the ground, disappearing into the thicket of trees, bushes, and other nts.

    Nobody was able to see the portal anymore, but both Nial and Silvian had sensed something in particr.

    ''The teau has now trulypleted its descent!''

    With that realization, both noticed something else.

    ''The portal didn''t disappear, it merely lost its energy!''

    What this meant was quite easy to exin. The portal that had allowed close to 1000 Elves to teleport from their home to Jundra didn''t disappear. Instead, it merely lost the necessary energy to teleport something or someone through it.

    However, if one used enough energy to supply the portal with it, one could teleport back to the Elven, or more Elves coulde to Jundra.

    This was quite interesting, especially because something like that should not be easy to achieve, not on a that had yet to awaken its mana!

    Yet, instead of feeling suspicious about the situation, Silvian''s eyes gleamed brightly. After all, he had just seen the most important treasure of the entire Forest of Life!

    ''So is that how we''re going to y? Well, I''m in!''

 Chapter 239 The Elven Teacher

    ''The creation of a permanent portal...how the hell did the ruler of the Elves generate enough energy to let it slip through by Jundra''s naturalary security?!?'' Nial wondered in shock.

    The God of Darkness had not shared the memories with Nial in their entirety. That was why Nial had no idea what the hell was going on.

    ''I thought the portal would just disappear, and that the Elves would have to recreate it after they collect all the necessary resources...''

    However, while Nial had no idea what was going on, Silvian was exhrated. He had only seen the unempowered portal for a quarter of a second.

    But this quarter of a second was already more than enough for him to understand what exactly he had just seen.

    "The Manifested fragment of the Empress'' Divinity!" He blurted out at the sight of the portal but immediately bit his tongue.

    Luckily, no one was around, and not a single soul had heard what he had blurted out. Even if someone did, nobody would understand what he meant, let alone the importance of the manifested Fragment of a Divinity!

    ''Did she really manifest her divinity just to be able to send over more Elves and resources as long as the portal receives enough energy? The Empress went all out, didn''t she?'' Silvian asked himself rhetorically.

    He could clearly perceive that the Empress was leaving no stone unturned.

    Under normal circumstances, it was not necessary to manifest the Fragment of a Divinity to manifest a portal to others.

    The use of specific runic constetions and the supply of the''s mana were more than enough to do so.

    Permanent portals were a slightly different matter, but even they usually didn''t require a manifested Fragment of a Divinity to work.

    But what about a that had yet to awaken its mana? It definitely needed to be stabilized, and the mana of the descending teau was far from enough to stabilize the permanent portal.

    ''So Jundra is of high importance even to the Empress of the Elves? She is actually willing to gamble her own life and that of her race on it...'' Silvian thought in shock.

    Even to him, it would be insane to gamble the existence of their entire race just to gain a chance of being a few steps ahead of everyone else in the race of iming Jundra.

    The was definitely important, but was it really worth the gamble the Empress took? Her race was flourishing and growing. They had more than enoughs to live for eons, even more so because their poption didn''t increase that rapidly.

    Thus, Silvian had only one particr question in his mind.

    ''What exactly are you looking for on Jundra?!''

    As Silvian asked himself this question in an attempt to figure out the most likely answer, the Forest of Life began to rustle.

    Suddenly, without any prior intimation, close to 1000 Elves shot out of the forest. They were flying in all directions, propelled by strong wind currents that were holding them in the air.

    Even the weaker Elves seemed to fly through the air without any issues. It was as if they were born as an aerial race, instead of a terrestrial race living with nature on the ground.

    -The wind and nature are the friends we''re born with.- Valvian signed to Nial when he saw him flinch upon sensing the wind affinity and seemingly endless power of the close to 1000 Elves, all of whom had moved at once.

    They had merely waited for thest one to arrive on Jundra before starting to scout the area.

    While the weaker Elves scouted the nearby area, the stronger and faster Elves researched the surrounding area in a bigger radius.

    ''Their innate affinities are the wind and nature, I see.'' Nial thought, nodding his head.

    He was not actually interested in their innate traits of affinities. Rather, his interesty in the question of what exactly the Elves nned to do on Jundra, what was their stance with respect to the human race, and if it was possible to create an alliance in which both sides would benefit.

    Alliance might be too big of a word, but Nial hoped to be able to make a business deal with the Elves. At least, that was the n he hade up with as he recalled that Elves were great Runiciers and Alchemists.

    Time slowly passed and his discussion with Valvian became more deeper and interesting. The topics slowly changed, and they became more serious.

    Nial was not someone who knew everything about the human race. However, from the experiences he gained in thest year, it was possible for him to precisely gauge mankind''s stance against the hordes of dungeon beasts, and the threat of dungeon portals.

    Nheless, it was not as if he would reveal everything to the Midnight Elf. After all, he had yet to figure out their n!

    -Can you teach yournguage to one of our Elves?- Out of nowhere, Valvian dropped the bomb.

    A gasp of relief escaped Nial''s lips but he quickly put on a neutral expression so as to hide his smile.

    ''So they don''t n on eradicating us...that''s great.''

    There was no need for the Elves to learn the humannguage on Jundra if they were going to kill all of them, either way.

    That reassured Nial quite a bit and he didn''t think twice before nodding his head.

    -"Of course, I can teach the humannguage. Well, I can, at least, teach our spokennguage. As for the writtennguage, I might not be the best teacher because of my condition."-

    Valvian had long since noticed that Nial was blind. However, he never perceived that Nial was hampered by his condition in any way.

    But it was not as if that mattered a lot to the Midnight Elf.

    -It would be best if we can learn both the written and spokennguage as quickly as possible. It would make conversing with your brethren much easier.- Valvian revealed before asking,

    -Is there someone in your group, who you trust?-

    Nial couldn''t help but feel a little bit astonished. ''What exactly are they nning? And why is it important whether I trust someone or not? Valvian shouldn''t trust me enough to trust the person I trust...weird.''<sub> </sub>

    Even if the turn of events were a bit weird, Nial nodded his head.

    -"A friend of mine joined me to reim the shelter we had to abandon due to specific circumstances. Well, reiming Juna is not possible anymore, but either way."- Nial didn''t even think of ming the Elves for destroying Juna.

    It didn''t matter the slightest bit to him. The descending teau and the appearance of the Elves was a much bigger opportunity than a reimed shelter.

    -Then bring him over. But let me warn you. If someone unworthy enters the Forest of Life, the forest won''t sit still. The Forest of Life is more dangerous than most Elves are!- Valvian cautioned before he waved his hand.

    Behind Nial, a small path opened up, leading the way out.

    ''Mathias, use this opportunity well!! Suck up to them if necessary...'' Nial joked inwardly, trying to hide how nervous he was about bringing Mathias to the Forest of Life.

    He knew that Mathias was very excited about the Elves'' arrival on Jundra. It was especially because of this excitement that Nial was worried. Mathias had to keep his calm and not behave like a 12-year-old, overly excited kid when speaking to the Elves.

    Turning around, Nial began walking on the path Valvian had opened for him. The Forest of Life felt a lot different than before to him.

    Right now, Nial was not forced to use his entire focus on trying tomunicate with Valvian in signnguage and making no mistake in understanding or replying to him.

    As he could focus on the Forest of Life better, it allowed him to perceive much more than before.

    However, even before he could perceive everything he wished to, Nial had already emerged outside the Forest of Life.

    Many Originals turned in his direction the moment they heard the faintest rustle. Upon seeing Nial, many wanted to approach him.

    But Nial was already on his way to Mathias.

    "Mathias,e here. We need to go back inside." Nial said out loud, ignoring everyone else as he began to smile craftily.

    He knew that many eyes were trained on him, but it was not as if he cared about the others, to begin with.

    "Wait, why is he allowed to go with you? Wouldn''t it be better to have someone who can represent mankind instead?" All of a sudden, one of the Prometheus Originals appeared next to Nial.

    He grasped his shoulder and prevented Nial from moving.

    "Well, you can try to enter the Forest of Life with me, but I was told to bring someone I trust with me. I don''t know you, and I don''t trust you. The Forest of Life might kill you because you were not invited."

    Nial didn''t think that it was necessary to hide anything. Thus, he was straightforward and blunt.

    The Prometheus Original looked at Nial with squinted eyes. He was already enraged that this blind young man had gained the favor of the Elves, even before they had the chance to speak a single word with them.

    However, even if the Prometheus Original hoped that Nial was lying to him, he could tell that this was not the case and that it was truly dangerous to enter a ce filled with several dozen Prometheus ranked Elves.

    Each Prometheus Elf appeared to be stronger than an ordinary Prometheus Original. Thus, the middle-aged man didn''t want to take the risk.

    ''What is Damian''s n?!'' Silvian wondered while intently looking at Nial, who was dragging the dumbfounded Mathias behind him.

    "Ah, by the way, the Elves want to learn ournguage. So, I believe that their n is tomunicate with us and potentially befriend us. If possible, I guess it might even be possible to make business deals with them in the future!" Nial announced, using mana to enhance his vocal cords, to let everyone hear him.

    Not waiting to see the reaction of the astonished humans, he and Mathias swiftly appeared in front of the Forest of Life. It opened right in front of them, and Nial led his friend through the mana-rich forest.

    "Woah, is that forest really alive?" Mathias mumbled in a shaky voice.

    Nial just smiled and instead of answering his question, he told Mathias what his mission was.

    "Mathias, you have to stay calm. I will be speaking to the Midnight Elf using their traditional signnguage. They won''t understand you, after all. But be careful to not offend them in any way.

    There are a few things you have to pay attention to. However, the most important thing will be that you don''t act too excited. Even if Elves can be considered rather calm and patient, they don''t exactly like overly excited beings.

    As for the rest, just listen to me..." Nial gave him a few pointers before revealing everything Mathias had to know.

    Mathias was not sure how Nial had be so knowledgeable about Elves, but he didn''t question it either. He merely listened to his friend with gleaming eyes before he eximed in a low voice.

    "So...we will be their teachers?! That''s insane!"

    **

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 Chapter 240 First Step Into Chaos

    "How the hell are we supposed to be their teachers?! They literally understand nothing without your signs¡­" Mathias grumbled as his voice cracked a bit.

    He had been overjoyed at the prospect of teaching the Elves at first. However, teaching them was certainly more difficult than he could have ever expected.

    Mathias was not a good teacher, and thenguage barrier between Mathias and the Elves didn''t make things easier.

    At first, he had been motivated and excited to teach one of the races he had only heard numerous stories about in his past life.

    However, Mathias'' excitement quickly evaporated when he realized that the Elves were more arrogant than he could have hoped for.

    It looked like they weren''t even trying to learn what he was trying to teach them.

    p He hade up with an idea wherein he would speak to them in the humannguage from Jundra while Nial would simultaneously show them the hand signs that tranted his spoken words.</anda>

    But the result after a few hours was not exactly promising.

    "I don''t know how much you thought they would improve in a bunch of hours because I''m quite satisfied with how much they progressed." Nial tried to reassure his flustered friend.

    It would be weird for someone to be able to learn an entirely newnguage in a matter of hours or even minutes.

    The Elves, including the Midnight Elf, Valvian Hy?ert, were also the youngest Elves to have ever been born on thes that were ruled by the Elf Empress.

    They might look as if they were already adults, but most of them were even younger than Mathias. And those who were older had been forced to restrict their strength, and to prevent their rank from reaching a threshold Jundra would reject.

    In the end, the most important mission of the Elves from the descended teau forced quite a few of them to stop absorbing mana. They had to be at or below the Prometheus rank to be able to pass through the rift of the green teleportation portal.

    Thus, many Elves were frustrated because the prime time to advance in the rankings was when one was fairly young.

    While the prime age to advance and to keep improving had a rather wide duration for Elves due to their naturally long lifespan, the prime age for humans to advance was considered much shorter, and around the age of 18.

    The higher one''s rank the longer the prime age to keep advancing. This was basic knowledge for everyone, and it was also the reason why some of the older Elves would rather advance in the ranks instead of learning the humannguage.

    Preserving their potential and improving was most important to them, right now!

    Nial understood this, which was why he was quite satisfied with the result they achieved after a few hours.

    "Well, you''re not wrong. It looks like they have many other things to do as well. They just reached Jundra, after all¡­" Mathias agreed reluctantly before changing the topic as a trace of interest appeared on his face.

    "By the way, do you know what exactly they''re doing right now? I saw arge number of Elves flying in all directions to scout the surrounding area earlier, but only a few have returned since then.

    We are merely teaching the youngest and weakest Elves, not the ones with a higher ranking¡­well, and the Midnight Elf, or whatever you call him, as well."

    In response, Nial merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

    ''The youngest Elves were rather displeased about what they saw outside the Forest of Life. That is actually not something one can hold against them. The wilderness looks like a big mess, and the mana richness is utter garbage if onepares it with the Forest of Life''s mana density.'' He thought while adding inwardly,

    ''Though¡­I wonder what the other Elves are doing. They haven''t returned yet, and a few hours have already passed. Are they scouting such a huge radius?''

    Nial didn''t know the answer, but he told himself that it was not that important to know.

    In his opinion, creating a strong bond with a few Elves would be the most important so that they might be allowed to stay in the Forest of Life for the time being.

    A few months would be enough for Nial to create his primary Ancient Origin ring. This would elevate his strength by leaps and bounds!

    Mathias was also more than just a little bit fine with the amount and quality of mana inside the Forest of Life. He loved it here, and if it was not for teaching the young Elves the humannguage, he would have been content with sitting on the ground, absorbing every single bit of mana.

    Meanwhile, the Originals outside the Forest of Life didn''t stay idle. There was no way for them to report the current situation to the other shelters.

    After all, the entire abandoned shelter had been destroyed, and thework system device that connected the Originals Bracelets to thework of the Originals association of all shelters had been destroyed by the descending teau as well.

    "Hand over the teleportation stones. They have been fixed, right? Give me the remaining inscription solution, a Champion ranked Inscription pen, and Champion ranked Origin crystals, and I will improve the teleportation circles!" Silvian demanded while speaking to the other Prometheus Originals.

    He was in an extremely bad mood right now. Initially, he had high hopes of being able to enter the Forest of Life. However, from the moment Nial had disappeared inside the Forest of Life with his friend, Mathias, there hadn''t been a single sign of the two young Originals.

    But that was not even everything. There might not have been any signs of the two young Originals for thest few hours, but others had hoped to be able to enter the Forest of Life as easily as both of them.

    Everyone had heard of Nial''s warning, but some had believed that it was just a prank. That was why there had been a few Originals, who attempted to enter the Forest of Life.

    To their misfortune, the thicket didn''t split up for them, and even after trying to squeeze their body through the thicket, the nts, and the big trees, it was impossible for them to keep advancing.

    At one point, they were stuck because the Forest of Life acted instantaneously against intruders, pinning the few Originals without ill intentions against a few trees for several hours.

    As for those with ill intentions, they were injured and thrown out of the forest immediately.

    On the other hand, Silvian didn''t even try to enter the forest. He merely stood in front of it for quite a while and observed the scene as an involuntary shiver ran down his spine.

    ''Damian, you piece of shit!! Why didn''t you take me with you as well?!? Did you realize that I am not on your side anymore?? I just want the Empress'' manifested Divinity fragment¡­nothing else.'' He cursed inwardly while the others handed him everything he had just asked for.

    "And you are sure that you can improve the teleportation circle''s range of teleportation instead of identally breaking it? I don''t want to be lost here¡­" Tyson, the tall and bulky Prometheus Original suddenly remarked before adding,

    "Furthermore, it''s not necessary to increase the teleportation circle''s range of teleportation. After all, we will have to make a stop at the Hall of Teleportations. Only when we reach the Hall of Teleportation can we teleport to the closest area to the shelter to report everything!"

    Tyson, and many others were not sure what exactly the Sacred Knights leader was doing. However, it looked like Silvian wouldn''t ept it if anyone were to disturb him right now.<sub> </sub>

    His presence was frightening, which was also the reason for everyone to meekly hand over whatever he wanted.

    "This is not a permanent configuration. You guys can use the teleportation circle to teleport to the Hall of Teleportations after I use it."

    There was no further exnation provided by Silvian who simply returned his focus to mending the teleportation circle once again.

    He was not inscribing runic constetions on the teleportation circle. That wouldn''t turn the creation made out of numerous runes into a teleportation runic constetion, after all.

    Instead, Silvian used his Innate ability, and mana, followed by the mana stored within Champion graded Origin crystals to temporarily change the configurations of the teleportation circle.

    He changed the coordinates and various other configurations, including the range of teleportation.

    While the range of teleportation was increased to the maximum limit, only one individual was able to use it instead of 100.

    Once Silvian was done, he didn''t waste any time. He nced back to the Forest of Life, precisely in the direction of the manifested Divinity fragment before turning back once again.

    ''Elves¡­I wonder how much nourishment they would bring to it! And the Divinity Fragment¡­you will be mine, sooner orter!!''

    With that thought, Silvian activated the teleportation circle. It began to glow in a holy white light and a somewhat vile dark type of energy.

    After it glowed up, Silvian, who had been standing in the teleportation circle, disappeared, leaving behind the teleportation circle in its original state.

    "He didn''t lie about it changing back to its old state¡­but where the hell did he have to go in such a hurry?" Tyson asked out loud, feeling doubts arise from the deepest parts of his conscience.

    He had yet to realize what was going on, but his conscience began to doubt the Sacred Knights leader''s motives.

    And that was not without reason!

    "Probably to the closest shelter to report the current state." One of the other Prometheus Originals answered in a casual voice, not feeling interested in the actions of the Sacred Knights leaders.

    However, Kirlia, who had noticed Silvian''s abrupt departure, felt a little bit weird as well.

    ''Wouldn''t he just use the teleportation circle back to the Hall of Teleportations before altering the configuration of the teleportation circle there? I doubt that it was possible for him to teleport straight to any of the eight shelters¡­''

    But even before Kirlia could continue with this train of thoughts, she was distracted by the remaining Prometheus Originals.

    "We should go back as well. The fastest Prometheus Originals should just dash through the wilderness. That way, they would only require a day to cross the distance we took 10 days for as a huge group!" The Original from Titur suggested.

    Tyson and the others could only nod their heads.

    "I think five Originals should go. If something happens to one or two, the rest will still be able to report everything that happened since the teau descended¡­ The Sacred Knights leader might already be in the headquarters of the government reporting everything but we can never know¡­ maybe something bad can still happen." Tyson said, feeling a little bit creeped out.

    Something was bothering him, but he had no idea what it actually was. There was an ominous feeling that spread through his entire body, and this feeling meant bad news most of the time.

    Thus, he felt that it was even more important for everything that had happened in thest days to be reported in detail to the headquarters.

    The fastest Originals, including Windbreaker Sam Anderson volunteered to do as proposed by Tyson. Without wasting their time making too many preparations, they left the others using the teleportation circle.

    After this, two days passed in the blink of an eye. The five Originals, who had been sent out to report everything, had long since reached the shelter they had chosen as their destination.

    All five of them reported everything about the descending teau, the Elves, and the fact that two Originals had been allowed to enter the ce that was called ''Forest of Life''. Following that, the news quickly spread through the shelters like wildfire.

    There hadn''t been any news about the Sacred Knights leader but that was not something anyone could be concerned about at the time.

    The news that the Elven race had appeared on Jundra, all of a sudden, and that they wanted to learn the humannguage was far more important.

    It attracted everyone''s attention, and excitement along with a trace of hope filled everyone, who hoped that strong and healthy rtions with the Elven, who werebeled as extremely powerful, could change mankind''s fate.

    However, while everyone was excited and brimming with hope, there was one person, who could only frown upon hearing the news about the Elven race for the first time.

    "You¡­want to tell me that Nial and Mathias are within the Forest of Life¡­that these two rascals are the ones, who entered the Forest of Life without knowing theirnguage at all?! Are they just in stupid, or simply love getting their butts whopped by me whenever they can?!?"

    In anger, she got up from the chair she had been sitting on, and walked outside her office, leaving Gianna alone.

    "Master, where are you going?" Gianna could only ask in confusion.

    "To the Forest of Life, where else?!"

    **

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 Chapter 241 You Havent Forgotten About Her?

    Almost an entire week had already passed since the Forest of Life had emerged on Jundra.

    Nobody was speaking about the possibility of reiming Juna, but that didn''t bother anyone.

    Instead, the government and military were trying their best to find ways to converse with the Elves.

    After receiving the report that the Elves could fly through the air irrespective of the fact whether they were merely at the Prym rank or at the Origin rank, it was clear that they were far more advanced than the human race.

    Not even the Prometheus Originals with wind affinities could fly. There were many stronger Elves than powerful human Originals as well.

    Thus, it was for the best if mankind could forge friendly ties with the human race.

    Based on the little knowledge humans had about Elves from various fairy tales and other stories, they knew that Elves were exceptional at using mana, were talented in the ways of alchemy, and their strong connection to nature allowed them to do miraculous things.

    However, there was a big difference in knowing something and seeing it for real.

    While the Forest of Life had looked weird and as if it had been thrown on devastatednds that were hard to nourish, the environment around the Forest of Life began to flourish.

    The Forest of Life was expanding by spreading out its nourishment, and mana density. The spores and seedlings of the Forest of Life were getting scattered all around under the influence of the wind that rustled through the forest.

    In the end, the spores and seedlings settled down around the Forest of Life, where they would grow and blossom once the time was ripe.

    Everything the Originals witnessed in the past several days seemed miraculous. Most of the Elves had finally returned from their scouting mission, and the Originals, who were sleeping outside the Forest of Life, could only cast envious gazes at the Elves that were flying through the air.

    Their speed was rapid, and every single motion was full of elegance. Observing the Elves was something one could do for hours. It was simply too bewitching to see one of the most beautiful races moving around.

    However, there were a few people, who were entirely unbothered by the Elves'' beauty.

    They cared more about other things, such as the potential dangers the Elves might harbor, the fact that there was a manifested Divinity Fragment, or that two young Originals were the only humans who had received the forest''s permission to enter it.

    Even after almost an entire week had passed, Nial and Mathias were the only Originals inside the forest.

    But even their life hadn''t been as easy as the other jealous Originals imagined. For four days, they had been teaching the humannguage to the Elves. They were quick learners, which was why they had made considerable progress in such a short time, learning most of thenguage.

    Now, it was only important for them to practice speaking in the humannguage for a longer duration, and be fluent in it so that one might not even notice that they had just learned thenguage.

    While Mathias had been slightly frustrated at the Elves for being so slow at learning, his earlier opinion had changedpletely.

    Right now, he was not even sure whether he should admire the Elves for how smart they were, or because of their beauty, elegance and strength.

    After almost an entire week had passed, it was obvious that Nial and Mathias had not just stopped at teaching the Elves theirnguage.

    Valvian didn''t explicitly demand it from them, but he asked Nial and Mathias if they were willing to spar with the Elves at the Origin and Prym rank after they had learned the humannguage in a near-perfect manner.

    "We should fight you guys? But..why?" Mathias asked, not sure if it was really necessary to spar with the Elves.

    From the beginning, Mathias could tell that even the weakest Elf''s mana control was way better than his own.

    It was not even an exaggeration for him to say that their control over mana was manyfold higher than that of humans.

    Only Nial''s mana control could somewhat rival the weakest Elf''s mana control.

    And this was also only the case since they had entered the Forest of Life. Somehow, the extremely high vigor of the Forest of Life allowed Nial to absorb mana and annex it passively.

    He didn''t need to focus on it and his body absorbed everything around him instinctively.

    Mathias was oblivious to the fact that the Ankh on Nial''s Odyssey seed was being nourished by the vibrant life that surrounded Nial''s entire existence for thest few days.

    Even Nial took quite a while to notice what was going on.

    ''Since the day the Ankh had activated itself once, everything feels a little bit weird.'' That was everything Nial could conclude.

    There was nothing else for him to say. His mana veins were still growing and his control over mana had already been high from the get-go.

    Adding the improvements he made with the intense practice of the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, Nial could be considered to have worked his ass off, just to reach the same threshold as the weakest Elf possessed innately.

    This was somewhat disappointing but also a means to motivate Nial to work even harder.

    After all, he once again realized that he was far from being strong enough to protect his family.

    ''Even if I were to find my family now, I wouldn''t be able to protect them¡­I wonder if Sabrina is really the person Hana spoke about. If that''s the case, Sabrina''s terminal illness should have been cured. That would be great.''

    Before, Nial hadn''t been able to think much about Sabrina''s illness, but over the course of time, he had naturally begun to believe that the Heaven''s Gates organization had somehow cured her.

    He was not even sure why or when he had begun to believe this, it just happened naturally.

    Whenever he thought about his family, Nial''s mood plummeted. It had been so long since hest saw them, and he missed them dearly.

    Thus, when the question about a spar appeared, Nial was thest one to deny orin.

    "But where should we spar? My fighting style is a little bit¡­destructive, and I don''t believe that it will be helpful for the young Elves if I were to hold back. It won''t help them figure out how strong mankind''sbat prowess is." Nial stated, indirectly revealing what the Midnight Elf had nned to achieve when he had asked Nial and Mathias to spar with the Elves under him.

    Valvian just smiled faintly before he pointed in the direction outside the Forest of Life.

    "If you really want to go all out, you should leave the Forest of Life, and fight outside. In our first meeting itself, I noticed that your energy is very destructive. I want to show the kids the dangers of fighting a Destroyer, instead of their own brethren." The Midnight Elf shared his honest opinion.

    It was simply not necessary to lie to Nial. However, he could see that Nial frowned the moment he heard that Valvian knew about his destructive force.<sub> </sub>

    ''I mean I somehow expected this as the worst-case scenario, but to think that he had epted me in the Forest of Life while telling me that I''m a Destroyer¡­weird.'' Nial thought before he turned to the direction Valvian had pointed for them to spar.

    He had not expected the Midnight Elf to have such great perception that he was able to sense the remnants of his dark energy from days before.

    Thisplicated things further and would put him in an awkward situation if he were to meet one of the Elves'' higher-ups, their older generation, or even the Empress.

    However, his chances to meet any of them were close to nil, which was quite reassuring because no one else would be familiar with his dark energy. At least, nobody of the Elven race.

    ''I shouldn''t be too worried, otherwise, my worry will eat me alive in the future.''

    With that in mind, Nial left the Forest of Life for the first time in several days. Mathias was close on his heels, while two young Elves had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

    They walked behind Mathias and Nial as well, but instead of saying anything, they just nodded their heads.

    Nial and Mathias were familiar with the two Elves. They had learned the humannguage and could understand them almost perfectly.

    Among all the younger Elves, they understood the humannguage best.

    After manifesting the Dragonme spear in his hand, Nial could hardly contain his excitement anymore. He was happy to be able to fight once again.

    ''It has been quite a while since I used the Dragonme spear. Let''s see if I have gone rusty, or if I became stronger!!'' Nial thought while wielding the spear around his body.

    Mana circted through his body and he injected it into the Dragonme spear to manifest a thin me after he emerged outside the Forest of Life.

    Fire was considered the most threatening element to the life of a forest. The moment a wildfire would start, an entire forest was bound to burn to death, or a part of it, at the very least.

    Nial was eyed weirdly by the Originals outside the Forest of Life, and the two Elves looked at him with narrowed eyes as well.

    "He doesn''t even hesitate to summon his destructive forces¡­ Valvian is right, we have to be careful while facing a Destroyer¡­ he said that many are like Nial that focus on destruction rather than the preservation of life¡­" The female Elf spoke to her partner in the Elvennguage.

    She didn''t want Nial to hear what she was speaking about. However, this was mostly for her own sake and not to hide something from the Original.

    "But he is loved by nature, even if he is a destroyer. Life and Death are two sides of a coin, and you know that. With the death and destruction he brings, Nial also brings life and fortune. At least, that is the case if he isn''t misjudged by the mana." The male Elf replied, not thinking too much about the given situation.

    Mana misjudging the character and existence of someone? That had never happened, and Nial wouldn''t be the first existence, who had been misjudged by mana, either!

    As such, the young male Elf was rather calm when he essed his spatial ring to manifest a verdant green Tier-1 runic spear in his hand.

    The female Elf followed his action and manifested a simr spear in her hands.

    "Great runic armaments," Nial muttered the moment he perceived how special the two runic spears of the Elves were. Even if he had already learned quite a bit about runic armaments, the runic spears in the hands of the Elves were still special.

    "Miranda would love to see these spears." He continued, thinking about Miranda for the first time in a long time.

    Even if he didn''t want to acknowledge it, Nial missed his master a tiny bit. Miranda was a great person after all.

    "Hoho, so you still remember your master? You haven''t forgotten about her?" The angered voice of a woman, whom both Nial and Mathias were overly familiar with, reached them.

    And it was just a momentter that Nial cursed himself.

    ''How the hell did I miss sensing her?!''

    Nial had been too excited to perceive everything in his surroundings perfectly which was why he had not scanned his surroundings properly. As a result, he missed on sensing Miranda''s mana fluctuations, just because he had been too excited to fight the Elves.

    Now that Miranda had appeared behind Mathias and himself, she ced her hands on Nial''s right shoulder and Mathias'' left shoulder which made both her disciples gulp nervously.

    "Hello¡­master¡­" Mathias could barely say while turning around with a forced smile on his lips.

    Meanwhile, Nial was not even sure what to say, which was why he merely bbered anything that came to his mind.

    "Master, you''re finally here¡­we made friends with some Elves. Look at their Tier-1 runic spear! Elves are great Runiciers and Alchemists, isn''t that great?"

    Nial wanted to avoid his master''s wrath, but he could clearly tell that this was hardly possible, thus he couldn''t help but quietly add in a defeated tone.

    "I won''t escape your anger today, right?"

    In return, Miranda just nodded her head before she whispered into her disciples'' ears.

    "Nope, but if you want to calm me down, beat up those Elves. They forbade me from entering this forest without permission of their ''Midnight Elf'' or the human race''s ''diplomats'', whoever these diplomats are.."

    **

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 Chapter 242 Against Elven Prodigies

    "Human race''s diplomats? Never saw or heard about them," Nial mumbled in confusion. He was trying to change the topic, but he could feel Miranda''s gaze on him.

    His master was visibly enraged because of what he had been doing, and Nial could somewhat understand her.

    ''Well, I shouldn''t have rushed to the Forest of Life the moment the teau finished descending¡­ Miranda wanted us to be careful and to avoid trouble, not to actively jump into trouble.'' He could only think.

    Nial tried to hide a smile because he knew that it would anger Miranda even more than she was already feeling.

    ''We were not really lowkey.'' Mathias merely thought before shrugging his shoulders.

    He didn''t think that it was that much of a problem for Nial and him to have entered the territory of the Elven.

    Rather, it was the best they could have done because the surrounding mana invigorated their body, and the mana density allowed them to advance rapidly.

    Even the framework of Nial''s Origin ring had progressed quite a bit!

    As long as they were to be able to focus on advancing their mana core, and the creation of more Origin rings, the Forest of Life would be considered a heavenly treasure on Jundra!

    "You sure?" Miranda asked in a stern voice while looking at Nial with squinted eyes. She couldn''t believe that Nial didn''t know anything about the human race''s diplomats.

    However, there was also a bad feeling sitting deep within her guts. But that was not something Miranda would share right now.

    "Either way, just give your best to fight the two Elven. The Head of the Elves might test you two, if you''re even worthy enough to stay inside the Forest of Life!" Miranda lectured her disciples to make sure that they would take the fight seriously.

    Nial and Mathias meekly nodded their heads instead of replying. She might be right, or wrong. In the end, it didn''t matter, either way. Nial and Mathias were more than ready to fight with all their might.

    They wouldn''t take this fight lightly even if someone asked them to do so!

    "Are the three of you done talking? We would like to finish this spar and return to the Forest of Life to keep training¡­" The female Elf said impatiently.

    She was about to create her primary Origin ring, which was long overdue. Unfortunately, the descending teau and a few other factors had prevented her from advancing as fast as she wanted to, and to the extent, her talent would allow under normal circumstances.

    The other Elf was in a simr state, but he remained quiet and looked at Nial and Mathias as if he wanted to tear them apart right in that instance!

    ''Tessa is too impatient. She''ll definitely not fight hesitantly against the Destroyer and his friend. This little idiot haspletely forgotten why we were ordered to spar with them, hasn''t she?'' Brn, the young male Elf, shook his head before he followed Tessa, who had already walked to the other end of their makeshift arena to start the spar the moment the two humans were ready.

    Miranda left Nial and Mathias'' side as well, keeping her distance from the surrounding area that had been turned into the sparring grounds of the two humans and two Elves.

    "I am surprised that you really took in a batch of disciples. That is so unlike you, Miranda." An old voice resounded from behind her.

    Miranda was just watching her disciples and the Elves, who were about to start their spar as she heard the voice.

    Turning her head, she immediately saw the old man, who had spoken to her.

    "Oh?? I didn''t know that you were still alive, Alfred. Did you juste here or were you involved in the reiming of Juna?" Miranda asked, not trying to hide her astonishment to see Old man Alfred next to her.

    Alfred was one of the oldest living Originals of the entire human race. He was several hundred years old, which was only possible due to his breakthrough to the Prometheus rank. He had achieved this feat by pushing himself with sheer willpower when he had been on his deathbed because of old age.

    It had been a miracle that he advanced to the Prometheus rank, and not many had heard about it. That was why Miranda was astonished to see the old man alive, and looking younger and more vigorous than she had ever seen him.

    "Little Girl, don''t think that you can outlive me. I won''t die that easily." Alfred said, looking at Miranda for a moment before his head turned to her two young disciples.

    "Your disciples are really interesting. The blind one is called Nial if I''ve heard correctly. He is really a sly little kid. Without batting an eyelid he got everything he wanted while we were traveling to Juna to reim it.

    And all of that just to get his hands on the body parts of beasts to turn them into runic armaments. To top it all, now he has a bond with the Elven race¡­he is truly a mysterious youth you took in as your disciple! The other one is not half bad either. He is a little bit timid but his strength is definitely admirable!"

    It was rare to hear praises from Old man Alfred''s mouth. He had been alive for so long that he had seen more prodigies dying right in front of him than others might see in their entire life, when they''re in their prime and full of arrogance.

    Hearing what else Nial had done other than the reckless actions she had heard earlier, Miranda''s ears perked up.

    "Tell me more about it." She replied in interest, momentarily forgetting about her disciple''s spar for a short moment.

    Meanwhile, the other Originals, whether they stayed behind when everyone left to escape the descending teau or the neers, all of them were intently observing the two Elves, who wielded their emerald spears in an elegant manner just before their spar against Nial and Mathias began.

    The moment they started, the Elves turned serious, their spears turned from elegant props to amplify the magnificence of a beautiful dancer, to lethal weapons that were ready to pierce through the flesh of their opponents at any moment.

    Nial could only smile brightly when he perceived the change in the Elven''s presence. His expression lit up, and he sted his body forward.

    Mana circted through his entire body, amplifying his strength tremendously. Simultaneously, the framework of the Ancient Origin ring was already doing its work.

    Nial circted mana through it as well to use everything he had to increase his strength. In an instant, his physical strength increased by more than 20%, his mana cirction speed elerated, and his mana was slightly altered and strengthened owing to the effect the framework of the Ancient Origin ring had.

    A bright burning dark me emerged from the searing hot de of the Dragonme spear. Nial didn''t hesitate to use his dark energy anymore.

    He moved it through the framework of the Ancient Origin ring as well, further increasing its lethality to increase hisbat prowess.<sub> </sub>

    ''Valvian has alreadybeled me a Destroyer, and nobody present should know that the dark energy is limited to Damian, thete God of Darkness!!'' Nial told himself as darkness oozed out of his body.

    However, instead of attacking straightforwardly using the dark energy, Nial turned it into tiny ping-pong balls, which were hollow on the inside.

    ck miasma was filled into the balls before Nial let them revolve around his body.

    The destructive power that radiated from the balls was not something humans would be able to sense easily. However, to the Elven race, even the slightest trace of his dark energy, and apparently even the ck miasma was something frightening.

    And that was exactly why Nial had manifested more than 30 small balls of darkness that were revolving around him.

    But Nial was not the only one who was fighting. Mathias was by his side, who activated his Innate ability [Elemental Comprehension] immediately.

    Even if he was a little bit uncertain about the true extent of the Elves''bat prowess, he knew that they were extremely powerful. Thus, no mistake was allowed.

    This was also the reason why Mathias created small holes on the ground around the feet of the two Elves. The Elves'' feet sunk into these tiny holes, just for mud to cover everything.

    All of a sudden, one could even see Earthen hands piercing out of the ground, trying to shackle down the Elves.

    ''What the hell?!'' Brn thought in frustration as his eyes narrowed slightly.

    ''They have an Elementalist with them?!'' Tessa immediately concluded as her head flicked to Mathias, who was wielding the Tier-1 ckwood wand in his hand.

    Her eyes narrowed before they began to gleam faintly.

    ''Looks like it won''t be as boring as expected.'' She thought, releasing her powerful umted mana. Powerful wind currents manifested around her, and with a single thought, shepressed more than four nearly untraceable wind des out of the surrounding winds.

    Nial could clearly perceive the mana using his range of perception. The slightest sound, smell, vibration, and trace of mana could be detected by him. Thus, he could easily perceive the four wind des that Tessa sted in the ground, freeing her feet.

    Mathias'' imprisonment of the Elves'' feet would have been enough to hold down physically-attributed Prym-ranked beasts for several seconds.

    But for the Elves, it was easy to escape his earthen shackles. The moment they had freed themselves easily, their body leaned forward, powerful wind currents engulfed them, and they were sted forward.

    It was as if the surrounding winds were pushing them ahead, and their terrifying speed suggested the same. Nial could clearly sense the wind that sshed on his face over and over again.

    It nearly took away his breath. However, instead of panicking, Nial''s focus heightened.

    He was less than ten meters away from the two Elves, whose speed was roughly the same.

    They were next to each other while dashing at him. Their spears began to gleam brightly as mana circted through each of them.

    Several of the engraved runic constetions were activated, including the [Armor Piercing] runic constetion and the [Wind Dash] runic constetion.

    With those two runic constetions, the Elves wouldn''t require much strength to pierce through Nial''s Tier-1 runic cape, the clothes underneath, and his flesh.

    He would be killed in no time, and Nial realized this instantly.

    Nheless, the smile on his face didn''t falter. Instead, it widened as he allowed every single small ball of darkness around him to explode.

    The ck miasma within was released explosively, shrouding Nial instantaneously. The Elves couldn''t see him anymore. However, what they could do was sense him.

    They clearly perceived that he changed his trajectory and that he moved to the right.

    Instinctively, the Elves moved toward the left to block off Nial and face him head-on.

    "We got you!!" Tessa blurted out in a low voice.

    Yet, even before Tessa and Brn were able to close their distance to Nial, a new batch of ck miasma was released directly by the young blind man.

    Simultaneously, darkness needles shot out of the ck miasma.

    However, that was not all. While Tessa and Brn blocked the darkness needles quickly, it was impossible for them to react fast enough as several Earthen walls emerged out of nowhere.

    They shot out of the ground within a moment, and blocked the Elves'' advance, preventing them from striking Nial together and defeating him at once.

    Yet, even worse was that Tessa and Brn realized something else way toote.

    While many Earthen walls had manifested in front of them, a huge wall had also been erected between them.

    And as if that was not enough, Nial had changed his trajectory once again, his body passing right through one of the Earthen walls, allowing him to face one of the Elves at once!

    "You mean, I got you." Nial corrected her as he emerged right in front of Tessa, his lifeless eyes staring right through her soul.

    ''Fuck!''

 Chapter 243 Overwhelming Power!

    Nial and Mathias had fought together very often. Their teamwork might not be perfect, but it was very good.

    Mathias knew that Nial wanted to take one opponent at a time which was why he created a gap within one of the frontal Earthen walls.

    Through this, Nial appeared in front of Tessa, who had been forced to stop so that she wouldn''t run straight into the thick Earthen wall.

    While facing Tessa, Nial merged his dark energy with the ck miasma before he continued to release it.

    Simultaneously, he released the merged dark miasma into the ground, dying it pitch-ck.

    Nial released his pseudo-domain slowly and steadily. As the surrounding was shrouded in darkness, it was impossible for anyone to notice that the ground was dyed in pitch-ck ink.

    Even the Earthen walls created by Mathias were slowly taking on a dark ck color. However, it possessed far less mana than the dark miasma Nial released.

    Thus, not even the Elves were able to detect that anything was off with the ground they stepped on and the walls around them.

    Only after Nial activated the pseudo-domain would the mana sealed within it be released to the outside. Until then, it was nearly untraceable as long as something else covered the areas of the pseudo domain.

    ''Now, let me feel how powerful Elves truly are!!'' Nial nearly shouted out loud as heshed out with the Dragonme Spear.

    Tessa had lost her momentum when she was forced to slow down. Both the Elves had been smacked with the Earthen walls that had hit them hard, taking them by surprise.

    However, despite having lost her momentum, Tessa didn''t need much time to regain it, either. She quickly manifested wind out of mana, and it swirled around her.

    The dark miasma slowly deteriorated the strength of her wind and mana but the effect was not strong enough to prevent her spear from elerating at a terrifying speed.

    In an instant, Tessa''s spear lunged forward and collided with the tip of the Dragonme Spear.

    The dark mes on the Dragonme spear sizzled loudly and the sound of metal colliding could be heard in the surroundings as well.

    But even if the sounds were clear to discern, nobody was able to see anything.

    Nial''s dark miasma blocked everyone''s vision, which forced the Originals to use their range of mana perception to perceive what was going on.

    However, even then, only the strongest were able to pass through Nial''s dark energy, and sense something.

    As for the others, they could only grumble and wait until the dark miasma would disappear.

    "Nial, you''re on your own, the other one ising for me!" Mathias suddenly shouted out.

    He didn''t want to distract his friend but Mathias could tell that Brn was not in a good mood. He used his wind affinity precisely to avoid the earth spike that pierced out of the ground, the holes in the ground, and the water jets that sted forward.

    Brn even evaded the Earthen and Water walls, which Mathias had manifested to prevent the young Elf from reaching him.

    Clearly understanding that it was impossible for him to focus on the control of the people around him and to act defensively, Mathias stored the Tier-1 ckwood wand in his spatial ring.

    He reced the wand with a huge battle-axe, which he swung at his opponent while activating his water affinity the moment Bn appeared right in front of him.

    ''You might be faster than me and better in terms ofbat techniques, but I can still narrow your paths of retreat!!'' Nial thought while gritting his teeth. He then created a huge flood of water behind Brn, followed by two walls of water, one on each side.

    There was no way for Brn to retreat, which was how Mathias was confident that he could defeat his opponent as he cleaved at the young Elf, using the huge battle-axe he was wielding.

    ''Your only retreat is tounch aheade and try me!!'' Mathias thought, his brown eyes turning fierce.

    From the moment the spar started, Mathias had forgotten everything around him. His timid behavior disappeared into thin air, and a confident and battle-loving personality reced it.

    This had happened often enough for Nial to know that he didn''t have to worry about his friend.

    However, at the same time, Nial could clearly tell that Mathias had no idea how to fight an Elf.

    It was only obvious, but it was the first time Mathias fought an Elf. Nial couldn''t have given him a warning because the memories of the Late God of Darkness were a little bit wishy-washy.

    Sometimes, it was impossible for Nial to remember anything, and on other asions, he remembered everything the Odyssey seed had already transferred in his mind with exceptional rity.

    He was extremely annoyed at this, but it was not as if he could change anything.

    "Above you!!! Retreat!!" Nial could barely shout when he perceived what was going on at Mathias'' ce when an emerald razor-sharp de brushed past his face.

    His cheek was faintly scratched and if it wouldn''t have been for Nial''s subtle motion, his entire cheek would have been cut open.

    ''They really don''t hold back.'' Nial thought in wonder, and his expression changed when he noticed what was going on in Mathias'' direction.

    Brn had used quite a bit of mana to turn the ground below him into a springboard. He had catapulted himself in the air, narrowly evading the battle-axes cleave.

    Mathias'' battle-axe cut in the ground due to its heavy weight and the strength Mathias had used to initiate the attack.

    However, instead of letting go of the battle-axe, Mathias'' first reaction was to attempt to pull it out of the ground. He even used his earth affinity to retrieve his weapon.

    His affinity made things much easier, but the time he had required to retrieve his weapon had been too high nheless.

    Brn had created a tform ofpressed air to change his trajectory instantly. He hadnded on the ground behind Mathias, and the tip of the emerald spear cut into Nial''s neck.

    A few droplets of blood trickled to the ground, but that was already everything.

    "Game over, you''re dead," Brn stated before he removed the emerald spear. Mathias'' legs gave in a momentter, while Brn dashed towards Tessa in an attempt to support her.<sub> </sub>

    However, just when he left Mathias'' side, he heard the young man saying something.

    "You shouldn''t have wasted that much time defeating me. You allowed your teammate to ''die'' as well."

    Mathias smiled faintly. He knew that he still needed to improve a lot in closebat. Hisbat awareness was not perfect yet, and there was too much for him to learn.

    However, what Mathias was very good at was stalling time.

    And that was exactly what he had done for Nial.

    Suddenly as if Nial acted on Mathias''mand, the entire ck miasma disappeared. It was pulled to the ground, which made it seem as if a tremendous gravitational force acting in arge radius around the battlefield of Nial and Tessa.

    Both the Elf and Nial were moving rapidly, piercing and shing out with their weapons.

    While their des collided with each other, Tessa''s higher speed and her higherbat experience were quickly discerned.

    Nial might have learned to move rapidly, but he had not learned abat technique with the focus on spear-wielding. He might have learned how to wield a spear, and the Elementus Mylee technique was exceptional to allow the wielder to fight with both melee weapons and their affinity, however, that was something Elves learned from their early days.

    For them, using their affinity in battle was something perfectly natural, just like breathing. It was almost impossible for them to consider something a fight without the wind around them. Some Elves were so close to the wind affinity that the surrounding winds would pull toward them the moment they emerged in its surrounding!

    If possible, they would even use the nature all around them to their benefit.

    However, in this fight, Tessa and Brn could only make use of the wind affinity because the flourishing nature around them was not enough to make proper use of it.

    But that was already more than enough to overpower Nial simply because Tessa was more proficient in fighting with her affinity, and because she had learned a spear-wielding technique for more than 20 years.

    It was only obvious for her to be stronger than Nial, and the same was even more so the case for Brn. He was at a higher rank than both Tessa and Nial, and his experience was even firmer than the two.

    Yet, the moment Brn entered the battlefield where Tessa seemed to be at an advantage, he noticed that something was odd.

    ''Why do I feel so sluggish all of a sudden?!'' Brn asked himself while narrowing his eyes before looking at the ground.

    Right at this instance, a bright expression appeared on Nial''s face.

    "Finally, you''re here." He said in an exhrated tone, unleashing the pseudo-domain he hadid out to catch and defeat both Elves at the same time.

    All of a sudden, the pitch-ck ground began to bubble. The entire battlefield looked like a ck ocean all of a sudden; an ocean where huge waves broke out, creating a big stir.

    Without a sign of warning, hundreds of darkness ropes shot out of the ground and the Earthen walls. They caught both Elves unguarded.

    In a matter of seconds, both Tessa and Brn''s legs and arms werepletely restricted. Even their necks and heads were tightly bound in the darkness ropes.

    Hands of darkness crawled out of the darkness on the ground, trying to pull the two Elves into it.

    The battlefield turned into an eerie territory that was filled with nothing but gloominess, fear, and the feeling that death was waiting for them.

    "Argghh!!!" Tessa screamed out just before his mouth was covered by more and more darkness ropes.

    At this moment, many Originals were subconsciously retreating. Even the Prometheus Originals swallowed their saliva, while their gazes flicked to Nial, who was breathing heavily.

    It was obvious that he had just used hisst ounce of Mana. However, he was more than satisfied with the result.

    ''They''re still not defeated?!'' Nial suddenly noticed that Brn was still moving, and circting mana through his body

    Crescent wind des that were barely traceable to normal Originals could be clearly perceived by Nial.

    They shot straight at him, forcing Nial to lift the Dragonme spear and sh them against the wind des, using the dark me at the spear''s tip to obliterate the attackpletely.

    Brn didn''t seem to be done yet. Thus, Nial didn''t hesitate to dash forward andsh out at the restricted Elf before dering him dead and emerging in front of Tessa.

    "You''re also dead," Nial merely stated, gently piercing the spear in her abdomen, not hurting her at all.

    After he announced both his opponents ''dead'', the pseudo darkness domain he had manifested disappeared in an instant.

    The darkness he had used dispersed into thin air. It had been used uppletely, and a deep sigh escaped Nial.

    He had just won the spar, but Nial didn''t feel as if he had won anything. Rather, he was utterly dumbfounded because he could clearly tell that there was still a little bit of mana left in his body. And this was not something that was supposed to be the case after what he had just delivered¡­

    ''Did I improve so much that I could restrict two Elves with such terrifyingbat prowess?!''

    **

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 Chapter 244 Destroyer

    ''The pseudo darkness domain is much stronger than before, but that doesn''t make sense.'' Nial thought in visible confusion.

    He had yet to create his primary Ancient Origin ring and advance to the Prym rank. Thus, there was not supposed to be a big change in hisbat prowess.

    The Ancient Origin ring might already have a minuscule effect while it was still a framework, but it was not even a tenth of thepleted version.

    This was the reason for his confusion, while both Tessa and Brn got up from the ground.

    Their expressions were difficult to read, but one could tell that their opinion of Nial had changed quite a bit.

    ''Even if we have grown a little bit rusty from not fighting for quite a while, he shouldn''t have been able to defeat us¡­'' Brn didn''t want to ept this loss. It was quite frustrating that they had lost against someone of a race that was closer to extinction than the Elves had ever been.

    One could also say that the human race on Jundra had awoken not too long ago. Humans were only a few centuries old and were around since the first dungeon portal appeared, and they had been forced to focus on fighting desperately against the beasts from dungeons in order to survive.

    That was what Nial had told them, but Brn began to doubt the blind Original''s words.

    ''Is the human race really in a problematic state? It shouldn''t be if there are more Originals such as Nial¡­''

    While Brn felt humiliated that Nial defeated him, Tessa''s expression changedpletely.

    She looked at Nial with far more interest than before. However, this was obvious as she had beenbeled as a prodigy because of her control of mana.

    Yet, she couldn''t sense the pseudo domain at all. At first, this was only obvious because the dark miasma fogged her senses, including her sight and mana perception.

    The dark miasma was made out of mana, and thus possessed mana as well. Meanwhile, its influence was not to be taken lightly either.

    If one was toote in closing their pores and sensory organs, the dark miasma would easily infiltrate their body.

    That was what had happened to Tessa, which was why she didn''t realize the danger of the situation she had been in.

    Meanwhile, Brn''s focus had been to support Tessa, which was why he had sted in their direction. Only after he dashed towards her did he realize that something was odd.

    However, from that point onward, the battle had already concluded as Nial had unleashed the pseudo darkness domain.

    Both Elves should have easily sensed Nial''s dark energy, especially the pseudo darkness domain. After all, Elves were quite sensitive to destructive energies.

    Yet, considering that they hadn''t perceived it until it was toote, both Elves were a little bit confused and intrigued. Brn was also a little bit angry at himself for not nning his attacks well and embarrassing himself by getting defeated.

    "Are they embarrassed that we defeated them?" Mathias suddenly asked, while keeping his eyes on the two Elves.

    His entire mana had been drained by stalling Brn but it was definitely worth it.

    In every single story, Mathias had heard about Elves in his past life, they had never been weak.

    That was one of the many reasons why Mathias was proud of what he and Nial had achieved right now.

    And it was even better to see that the Elves were heartbroken. At least, Mathias thought that they looked devastated, only for Nial to break it for him.

    "Brn might be a bit embarrassed, but Tessa doesn''t really look devastated. They didn''t hold back while fighting but they have lots of mana left in their mana cores.

    Meanwhile, the two of us can hardly continue to fight. Their only mistake was not to notice the ck ground and walls. Though that was mostly because of your efforts.

    Didn''t you intentionally create nearly ck Earthen walls?" Nial smiled at his friend as he asked his question.

    Visualizing him, Nial could tell that Mathias was smiling craftily.

    "Me? Nooooo, I''m not that smart. How could you believe that I was that smart and genius-like to think about such a Godly trick?" Mathias suddenly said, his expression changing from tion to arrogance.

    ''What is with him? Does he need a beating or so?'' Nial immediately thought upon hearing Mathias'' weird answer.

    "Save your hypocrisy forter, kiddo."

    Their master''s voice rang out from behind and upon turning around, Mathias'' expressions turned grim.

    After all, Miranda had emerged behind them, looking at him with an expression that induced terror in the heart of her poor little disciple.

    Nial just smiled before he heard Brn''s voice from in front of him.

    "I hope this question is not too rude or prying into your privacy, but how can you be loved by nature and mana if you are clearly a Destroyer??"<sub> </sub>

    Upon hearing this question, Tessa jumped up from the ground and nodded her head in interest.

    "I want to know that as well! Valvian said that you are a unique case, but he didn''t exin more about it. Can you please tell us?" She asked, looking like a little puppy asking for treats.

    Mathias was stupefied at the happenings in front of them. Brn''s question didn''t matter, but the way Tessa reacted couldn''t be further away from the elegance and aloof behavior Elves were supposed to have.

    ''She is not being aloof or elegant right now¡­just¡­cute?'' Mathias wondered, not sure what to think about it.

    However, it was definitely something he didn''t like. The cute expression on her face made it look like Tessa was even more beautiful than she already was, after all!

    Miranda looked at the Elves in interest. She knew that they weren''t able to speak the human tongue before. But that was something Nial and Mathias seemed to have taken care of.

    They seemed to be treating her disciples well, but despite that, Miranda was more than a little bit suspicious about the Elven race.

    ''What are they nning? I don''t know what was going on with Nial''s darkness domain but it was stronger than what Gianna reported to me. That means he improved quite a lot, which in turn also means that the Elves are extremely powerful to be able to ovee the mental burden Nial''s attack caused.

    Their strength in terms of inbornbat talent and the number of powerful awakened beings is much higher than the wholebat power mankind can generate, and this Forest of Life allows the Elves to keep improving rapidly.

    Soo¡­.why would they want to befriend us? For Information¡­or is it something moreplex?''

    Miranda maintained a neutral expression while wild thoughts shed through her mind. She kept looking at her disciples and the two Elves, who seemed to be quite nice.

    However, the first impression might have been a farce.

    ''I should observe them a little bit longer. It''s impossible for them to hide their true face forever¡­that is if they are hiding something.''

    "What exactly is the Destroyer you speak about? I already heard this term a few times inside the Forest of Life, but I never had the opportunity to ask." Nial could gauge what the name meant because it was self-exnatory, but he wanted to know what it signified to the Elves.

    Tessa looked at Brn when Nial asked them the question, and he just nodded his head without thinking much about it. However, he didn''t want to speak anymore with Nial right now. After all, he was still irked to have been defeated by Nial.

    "Well, to put it simply ''Destroyer'' is a title we give to existences, whose powers are solely for the sake of destruction. For example, your friend and master are not Destroyers, their powers'' sole use is not destruction. However, this dark power of yours and the miasma have no other purpose than hurting and negatively affecting others." Tessa exined in a calm manner.

    However, her eyes were burning as if she wanted to teach Nial a lesson for having only powers that were rted to death and destruction.

    Nial couldn''t see this, but Mathias swallowed his saliva nervously. ''How fierce¡­'' He just thought, failing to hide that he was a bit intimidated.

    "So most human Originals will bebeled as Destroyers by you?" Nial asked, with a few additional questions in his mind. He was quite interested in the new information he was getting to know.

    However, this time it was Brn, who answered Nial''s question. He didn''t want to but it would make things much easier if he were to exin it instead of Tessa.

    "Well, some might still bebeled a Destroyer, if we were to stretch the description of the title a little bit. However, a real Destroyer can only bebeled one if his presence also exudes destruction. Your presence is not that powerful yet, but Valvian has already perceived that you have the powers of true destruction.

    We might alreadybel you a Destroyer, but only when your powers attain the threshold where you can destroy entirendscapes will you be actuallybeled a Destroyer. As for the other Originals with destructive powers, theirs are only powerful due to the time they practiced it and the rank they attained.

    Meanwhile, your power is already powerful enough to defeat Tessa and me, despite your rank is lower than mine¡­"

    Thest sentence Brn said hurt his pride, but he had to acknowledge it. Nial''s power was simply too powerful. It restricted his movements almostpletely, and it would have taken a few more seconds before he would have been able to free himself.

    That was a fact, and not something Brn could change¡­unfortunately.

    Nial nodded his head, slowly understanding the meaning behind the term ''Destroyer''.

    ''I don''t believe that Damian was merely called a Destroyer, but it''s good to know that they can sense something like that already. But does that even make sense? Wouldn''t they kill me if they were to know that I''m a ''future'' Destroyer?'' Nial had his doubts, and they were not without reason.

    Thus, he fell deep in thoughts for a short time before he asked a batch of questions.

    "In that case, am I not dangerous for the Elven race? Shouldn''t you try to kill me instead of epting me in the Forest of Life, where I could destroy everything? And what is this about nature and mana loving me? I guess that is rted to your behavior toward me. I don''t actually know what this means¡­.

    Just how is that rted to me, a Destroyer, or the fact that it''s weird for me to be a Destroyer, yet ''loved'' by nature and mana?!?"

    Nial didn''t intend to raise his voice, but he was so confused about the given situation, that he subconsciously spoke loud enough for some high-ranked Originals from further away to hear a few of his words.

    Both Tessa and Brn looked at each other for a moment and could notice his bewilderment. However, it was not as if they could exin what he wanted to know.

    After all, they had no idea why nature and mana would love existence with the future potential to be a true Destroyer!

    "How about you let me exin?"

 Chapter 245 Unable To Escape

    "How about you let me exin?"

    An Old Elf that neither Nial nor Mathias had seen before emerged from the Forest of Life.

    His movements were slow, and he was limping while moving around with a cane.

    The eyes of the old Elf were covered with a bandage, but one could clearly see huge w marks on his head, arm, and leg.

    He was clearly a retired Warrior or someone, who had survived a lethal predatory attack.

    Nial''s visualization with the use of his Innate ability [Mana Sense] did not allow him to perceive the scars on the old Elf''s body.

    However, what Nial was able to perceive was the fact that the old Elf''s mana veins were severed.

    Not only was the old Elf not able to advance his mana core anymore but it looked like his mana core itself had been injured as well.

    ''His rank deteriorated...'' Nial deduced within seconds.

    "Master Crevian, why are you out here? The mana outside is too impure for you, Master Crevian, please don''t overwork your body! You know your condition better than anyone else..." Tessa eximed in the elvennguage, rushing to Master Crevian, who kept moving toward Nial.

    Hepletely ignored Tessa''s pleas, and only stopped, when he heard Nial mumbling,

    "Master Crevian?"

    Even Tessa halted for a moment while Brn looked at Nial with doubt.

    ''Did he learn the elven tongue?'' An identical expression of doubt appeared on their faces as the question shed through Tessa and Brn''s minds at that moment.

    Even Nial was not sure why he understood these two words, and nothing else.

    It confused him a bit as well, but Nial didn''t think much about it.

    "Your name is Nial, right?" Master Crevian spoke, using the humannguage. Nial nodded in return, before making the specific hand signs for a formal greeting in the Elvennguage.

    "You really are a polite young man, just like Valvian said. I can see why he is trying to find out more about you, the rtionship between your powers, and why the nature of the Forest of Life, and its mana adore you.

    I wonder how you learned about the Elven''s hand signs to the extent that it was possible for you to converse properly." Master Crevian continued, however upon perceiving how troubled Nial felt at the thought of revealing his secrets, the Old Elf merely smiled.

    "But I won''t ask you anything about it. I don''t want to pry into your secrets if you do not feelfortable."

    Nial nearly sighed in relief when he heard what Master Crevian said. Fortunately, he had his emotions under control and could prevent that.

    Thus, he could listen to the exnation of Master Crevian, the Old Elf, who received the deepest respect from both Tessa and Brn as they distanced themselves from him before changing to a stance that could be considered the Elven race''s equivalent of a military salute.

    "Now to you, little fe. I should answer your questions, right?" The Old Elf asked with a broad smile. Nial nodded once again, which Master Crevian took as a sign to start speaking once again.

    "First of all, the reason why we have not killed you, or why we don''t even consider you as an enemy is the fact that the Forest of Life allowed you to enter it.

    Nature and Mana love you, which is even less reason for us to hate, or fear you to the extent that we would kill a small child. In the future, you might change, and turn into a Destroyer, but that doesn''t mean you will actually destroy entirendscapes just because you can.

    If you do that, nature will start to loathe you and mana won''t swirl toward you on its own.

    As for why you are loved by nature and mana despite the powers you possess, even I am clueless. I watched your spar, and I can definitely say that your power is still in its early stages, and a bit weak inparison to what it can be in the future.

    However, it is definitely destructive, and worse than some fully grown destructive powers I''ve seen in my life....and let me tell you that I have lived a long life that was filled with numerous battles. The destruction someone at the Prometheus rank can cause is insignificant inparison to what I saw in my lifetime."

    For a short time, Nial was worried that the Old Elf belonged to the higher authorities, who had seen Damian''s powers. Master Crevian''s existence was an unknown variable, Nial hadn''t expected toe across.

    Fortunately, the situation wasn''t serious, and Nial learned quite a bit.

    Nobody seemed to know why Nial was loved by nature or mana, but that was not something he gave much thought to either.

    It was advantageous, and if Nial were to look at the situation with a simple mind, he could only think that it had to do with the Ankh.

    ''But it cannot be the Ankh, or can it?'' Nial started to wonder. If the Old Elf Crevian was not even sure why exactly nature and mana loved him, it could be rted to the Ankh.

    After all, it had invigorated him, and it caused subtle changes to the Odyssey seed, forcing it to beat. But on the other hand, there was no other change Nial noticed. The Ankh hadn''t done anything special since then, and Nial had nearly forgotten about it.

    ''Still, it''s the only thing that could be the cause of everything...was I lucky?'' Unsure of the correct answer, Nial turned his focus away from his train of thoughts after hearing several people from further behind approaching them.

    It was Tyson, a few other Prometheus Originals, and some other Originals, who had gotten impatient. It was a small group, with most of the people belonging to big trading firms,rge and influential families, and many higher authorities of the government and the military.

    ''Their patience is over, huh?'' Nial could only think, just to realize that he hadn''t seen Silvian for quite some time.

    Expanding his range of perception, Nial searched for him and a deep frown appeared on his face.

    "He is not here?" Nial blurted out in confusion, making quite a few people turn towards him, including the Old Elf Crevian.

    "Who is not here?" Mathias asked, understanding that Nial''s expression and words meant that something was off.

    <o>,m "Silvi...I mean the Sacred Knights leader. I cannot sense him anymore." Nial answered.</o>

    It was weird for Silvian to leave just like that, which was why Nial was certain that he was still somewhere near the Forest of Life.

    ''He wouldn''t give up an opportunity to be stronger just because he doesn''t like the Elves...I don''t believe that.'' He thought, just to get proven wrong as Tyson appeared next to him.

    "The Sacred Knights leader left not too long after you entered the Forest of Life. I think it was after thest Elf emerged from the green portal. It was probably shortly after the portal descended into the forest. He altered the teleportation circle temporarily and went somewhere, but nobody knows where exactly." Tyson answered Nial''s questions and shrugged his shoulders as if it was nothing important.

    Even if he didn''t adore or hated Nial, he would have to speak to him. This was something Tyson and many other Originals had realized. Nial seemed to have a special bond with the Elves, and from the beginning, he was the one who had approached them and establishedmunication using weird hand signs.<sub> </sub>

    It was obvious that he knew more about Elves than others and that this knowledge helped him a lot.

    That was one of the many reasons the Originals wanted to approach Nial and get on friendly terms with him.

    As long as they had a bond with him, they might gain something out of it. This was what many Originals had in their mind.

    However, all of a sudden, the atmosphere in the area around Nial, his friend, master, and the surrounding changed drastically. The gravitational force seemed to increase too.

    "Young man, are you sure about what you just said?" Master Crevian suddenly asked in a pointed voice. His expression had turned serious, and his eyes were ice-cold. The presence he released all of a sudden was terrifying, and everyone, including Tessa and Brn, flinched instinctively.

    ''So terrifying.'' Mathias could only think as he felt as if the entire blood from his body had been drained. He had gone rigid like a frozen statue, feeling that a single move would break his entire body.

    However, his gaze was fixated on the Old Elf, who retracted his overbearing presence and reverted it to the original. He began to cough up blood, and the little mana in his body got unstable.

    Nial instinctively stepped forward, preventing the Old Man from falling over. Tessa and Brn had moved simultaneously, but Nial was faster.

    ''So cold...'' That was the first thought in his mind when the Old Man''s arm came in contact with him.

    But it was merely a momentter that Nial felt something else. The Ankh within him began to glow. Nial''s body was invigorated, and the sensation overflowed within his body.

    Several seconds passed before the vigor within his body began to overflow, sweeping over to the Old Elf Crevian.

    No human noticed what was happening, but the pale Old Elf Crevian gained more strength through absorbing the vitality. He was able to stand on his own two legs without the support of his cane though his hands were trembling.

    Meanwhile, Tessa and Brn looked at Nial with shocked expressions, not daring to speak a single word, let alone touch either Nial or Master Crevian.

    They didn''t want to interfere in anything, however, their eyes and mana perception were fully focused on what was happening.

    "Did he just transfer some of his life force to Master Crevian?" Tessa mumbled in the elven tongue. However, Brn just shook his head, not sure how to exin what exactly he had perceived.

    "Life force is not that powerful...but it cannot be the Essence of Life either... I have no idea what is going on." Brn was annoyed that he could not solve the mystery.

    Nial had definitely invigorated Master Crevian because he was able to stand on his own feet after releasing the presence of his old self when he was still unscathed.

    It was not as powerful as it had been in the past, but Master Crevian''s presence was still terrifying. And it was definitely not something his body could endure anymore!

    Thus, the current situation was a wonder because Master Crevian was still able to stand, almost as if nothing had happened.

    Nial was also not sure why the Ankh had suddenly reacted or how he had transferred the overflowing vigor to the Old Elf. He had simply done it, which bothered Nial a little bit.

    ''I''m d that I could help him, but if the situation gets even moreplicated than it already is, I might lose my sanity.'' He thought, trying to calm himself down.

    However, Nial was already bothered that Silvian had disappeared somewhere without letting anyone know where it was.

    He had a premonition about the scheming of the God of Saints and Devils. Silvian was definitely not up to something good.

    Nial couldn''t afford to get pulled into anotherplicated situation. That was also why he was happy when the Ankh was deactivated a momentter.

    The Old Elf held onto Nial for a moment without realizing it before letting him go.

    ''Is that why nature and mana love him, is that a special trait...or something else?'' Crevian was not sure about it, but he could tell that the invigoration his body received from Nial was not something normal.

    But it was also clear that Nial didn''t want anyone to know about it because he let go of Crevian the moment it was possible.

    ''Well, let''s think about thatter...I think I have more troublesome things to figure out...'' Crevian just thought, averting his focus back to Tyson once again.

    "Please tell me more about this ''Sacred Knights leader''. Does anyone know more about him? Why did he leave all of a sudden when he saw the portal descending in the Forest of Life, for example? Who knows him best here?"

    Crevian had many questions, and he wanted an answer for all of them. However, what the old Elf didn''t expect was that everyone''s gaze turned to a specific person after hearing hisst question all of a sudden.

    Crevian and the other two Elves could clearly tell that everyone thought of just one person when the question "who knows him best?" came up.

    Yet, Crevian didn''t expect this person to be the same human who had just helped him.

    Everyone''s gaze was on Nial, who sighed deeply before mumbling,

    "I guess, one could say that I know him a little bit..."

    ''I really cannot escape trouble...'' He thought before adding inwardly.

    ''But for real...why did Silvian leave after seeing the descending portal??''

    **

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 Chapter 246 Different Treatment

    The Old Elf Crevian felt that the situation was a little bit odd.

    Nial was the first one to approach the Elves, he was well aware of their hand signs, and he was loved by nature and mana.

    However, simultaneously, he was a Destroyer and the person, who was the most familiar with someone, who acted suspiciously upon seeing the green portal descending within the Forest of Life.

    That means the Sacred Knights leader was likely to know something about the green portal, and possibly what it actually was; a manifested Fragment of a Divinity!

    ''If he knows about the portal''s true identity he can only be closely connected to a Divine existence, or be one himself!'' Crevian assumed when he thought about the identity of the Sacred Knights leader.

    It was truly weird that he had run away somewhere. Yet, at the same time, the young man in front of him was even odder.

    Nial was definitely not an ordinary person, but that was obvious from the moment Valvian determined that he was loved by nature and mana while being a future Destroyer.

    Simultaneously, the special condition with which Nial transferred some vigor to Crevian was something that didn''t make any sense either.

    ''If not for Valvian having investigated whether Nial is an incarnation of a God, a Divine existence himself, or in possession of a Divinity Fragment of a God, I would have sworn that he has a connection to a God¡­but maybe he was just lucky with the memories which he unlocked through his Inborn ability¡­''

    Crevian and Nial had gone a little further away to speak with each other. Nial was actually not worried that something bad might happen. He could merely say that the Sacred Knights leader had been interested in the memories he had gained from his Innate ability and the fact that his Innate ability was powerful.

    "Can you tell me more about the Sacred Knights leader? Just now, I heard that he has a subordinate, but that subordinate seems to know nothing about the whereabouts of the leader of his organization. Isn''t that weird?"

    Even the Prometheus Original, who was also a member of the Sacred Knights didn''t know much about their leader. After the Sacred Knights leader picked him up to nourish him and to give him powers he never had before, he left them to allow everyone to train properly.

    Afterward, the Sacred Knights leader returned to check their progress, to give them more resources, and to give themmands.

    Only when the Dryx incident happened was everyone finally allowed to reveal themselves, and to fight by their leader''s side.

    However, even then, it was not as if they got to know their leader any better than before.

    Thus, even the Prometheus Original, who belonged to the Sacred Knights, was pretty sure that Nial knew him best.

    "To be fair, I don''t know that much about the Sacred Knights leader either. I know that his name is Silvian, that he prioritizes his own progress over the life of others, and that he has knowledge that exceeds everyone else. Before the incident with the Dryx, I, and probably everyone else, didn''t really pay much attention to him.

    He was under everyone''s radar and gained mankind''s interest and gratitude when he and his organization showed up as our saviors. They worked hard to protect our shelters from being destroyed by the purple portals that were created in the center of our shelters and camps, by some weird fragments, or crystals."

    Nial revealed certain information in the hope that Crevian could connect the dots. Silvian was actually not amon name, but the Elves should know, and possibly fear that name, even more so in connection to the Dryx.

    ''Perfect.'' Nial thought the moment he noticed that Crevian flinched. It should have been quite a while since the Dryx and Elves fought an all-out war, but Crevian still knew about it. The meaning of this was pretty simple; Crevian was even older than Nial had assumed in the beginning.

    "You said¡­Silvian¡­are you sure? And you are sure that the existences you fought against were Dryx? Not that you call them like that, and they''re actually apletely different kind of beast you''ve mistaken for Dryx¡­?" Crevian asked, his voice getting weaker with every spoken word.

    It looked like his body got jolted by a sudden sense of weakness the moment he was flooded with the information Nial had provided.

    This was certainly not great for Crevian because his entire body turned cold for a few moments, but it was not as if Nial could do anything against it.

    ''I had to share the information. Silvian is not up to something good, and the green portal seems to be even more special than I initially thought¡­''

    While Nial had shared devastating pieces of information with Crevian, Tessa and Brn nned on re-entering the Forest of Life.

    However, before they could do so, Tyson and a few other human Originals approached the young Elves.

    "I sincerely apologize for the way some of our fellow brethren acted in thest few days. Everyone is anxious to meet with Elves, which is why they approached the Forest of Life without permission. They even tried to trespass your territory, which was uncalled for. I want to apologize for their rude behavior." Tyson immediately said with his head bent a little low while trying to strike a conversation with the Elves.

    Unfortunately, their eyes were distant and cold as if they wanted to have nothing to do with Tyson and the human Originals.

    ''How can their gaze be so different when looking at Nial, or even Mathias?! Just what did they do to gain their favor??'' Tyson felt unfairly treated. However, it was not as if he could do something against the treatment he and many others received from the Elves.

    It was already advantageous that some humans were epted by the Elves, and that they had been willing to learn theirnguage. This created many opportunities for the entire human race, which was something everyone was fully aware of.

    "No problem. This isn''t the first time. It is already a wonder that nobody tried to use force to enter the Forest of Life." Brn said, all of a sudden, while his distant eyes scanned through the group of Originals, who hade forward to speak with him, and Tessa.

    ''Don''t they have anything better to do?'' He wondered, only for his head to flick back to a particr young Original, the moment he sensed something about her.<sub> </sub>

    ''Another one loved by mana?'' Brn realized in an instant before looking over to Tessa, just to notice that she had realized the same.

    However, instead of saying something, both stayed quiet. They chose to report what they found to Valvian and let him decide what to do with the woman, whose face they were not even able to see.

    "When will we be able to meet the head of your group? We would like to speak with him to get to know the Elven race and to create a bond of friendship. Would that be possible, soon?" It was another Prometheus Original, who enquired in a carefully guarded voice.

    At first, he wanted to ask this question with an arrogant and aloof expression, showing that he was powerful and that even Elves had to bow to him.

    However, the thought of acting in such a childish and dumb way disappeared the moment he perceived the presence of the Old Elf.

    Thus, his question ended up being asked in a hesitant manner, his voice filled with politeness.

    The Prometheus Original expected a nice answer, nheless. But it was his mistake to be too optimistic because the male elf''s eyes turned even colder than they were before as he looked straight in his eyes.

    "Only the human race''s diplomats and their master are allowed to enter. Nobody else is allowed to enter the Forest of Life until the Midnight Elf decides what will happen." Brn did not reciprocate the politeness and spoke in a rather blunt and emotionless tone. He was not here to please the human Original after all.

    Mere momentster Brn turned away, and both he and Tessa walked toward Master Crevian.

    However, just when everyone thought that the Elves would leave for good, ignoring everyone else, Tessa slowed down.

    She turned her head, and looked straight at Mathias before waving her head. "Are you noting? You can take your master with you. The Forest of Life told us that she can enter."

    Mathias and Miranda looked at each other in confusion for a few seconds before they began to smile dryly.

    Their eyes nced over to the other Originals, only to turn back to Tessa.

    "I''m on my way, wait for us please!" Mathias shouted while inwardly sighing in relief. ''They didn''t throw us away!!''

    Without showing a sign of hesitation, Mathias rushed to Tessa and Brn''s side. Miranda followed them quickly as well, not wanting them to have a change of opinion and exclude her at thest moment.

    ''Well, maybe my disciples did a much better job than I could''ve expected. It might have been reckless and dangerous to approach them without knowing anything about them, but both Nial and Mathias made it work.

    Great opportunities hold great dangers¡­but the rewards are heavenly upon seeding!'' Mirandaughed in her mind, her earlier anger about Nial''s actions and the fact that he pulled Mathias in the mess nowpletely dissolved.

    She was even happier to be their master than ever before, which was quite difficult. After all, her disciples had opened the gates of runic armaments to her, allowing her to be a Runicier!

    ''I should really start thinking of ways to repay them¡­I guess?'' Miranda thought the moment she passed by Nial and Crevian to enter the Forest of Life.

    The purity and density of mana that flooded her intensified and it was as if her old bones received the blessing of rejuvenation and vigor was seeping into her.

    ''Oh my¡­that is amazing¡­and so beautiful.'' Miranda was not even able to speak. It was as if her breath had been taken away the moment the Forest of Life opened a small path for the Elves and their guests

    The scenery that unfolded in front of her was breathtakingly beautiful and for the first time in a very long period, Miranda was d to be born in this era, the era where mankind was supposed to cease to exist or rise from its ashes like a reborn phoenix.

    Smiling brightly, Miranda took a few deep breaths of fresh air, while her hand reached out for the nts in her surroundings. The tips of her finger lightly caressed the leaves and flowers around her as she followed the Elves.

    Meanwhile, Mathias was not focused on the flowers as their novelty had worn off in his eyes. Rather, he was trying his best to replenish his used up mana as quickly as possible.

    Nial and Crevian didn''t speak much anymore, and when they saw that the others returned to the Forest of Life, they followed the two as well.

    ''Valvian needs to know everything the young man said¡­we might have to face a crisis even before we can properly settle in Jundra¡­''

    However, while the three Elves and three humans entered the Forest of Life, everyone else was left behind, their faces showing various expressions.

    "Are¡­they fucking serious?!?" One of them asked in shock and was trying to calm down by breathing in and out.

    "Who the hell are even our diplomats?!? It''s not like anyone is allowed to enter the Forest of Life, even if we were to try sending in some of our politicians¡­" Another oneined, only for realization to strike some of them.

    "Didn''t he say that only our diplomats are allowed to enter the Forest of Life?... What if they already chose their diplomats?"

    "...You mean Nial and Mathias? That can''t be¡­?!"

 Chapter 247 Diplomat

    Nobody could understand how the situation could escte that quickly.

    It looked like Nial, and Mathias had be the human race''s diplomats without even meaning to, after all.

    "Wait, what?!" Nial asked, feeling dumbfounded when he got to know about this piece of information.

    His amplified senses had allowed him to listen to the discussion of the human Originals when he and Crevian had entered the Forest of Life.

    Nial was able to connect the dots as well, which was why he had asked Crevian about it to confirm the truth.

    However, the Old Elf''s answer had been a simple shrug. Thus, Nial had followed Crevian to Valvian''s home to ask him if it was true that they were considered the human race''s diplomats.

    But what he didn''t expect was Valvian''s eerily calm answer in response to his question.

    "Isn''t that obvious? You guys are the human diplomats, and we won''t ept anyone else!"

    This logic was beyond Nial''sprehension, but he tried to calm his mind, and figure out how the hell this was ''obvious''.

    However, it was only when Valvian continued to speak that Nial finallyprehended why they would consider two youths human diplomats.

    "Well, you are loved by mana and nature. We got to know you first, and you didn''t discriminate against us when we came here. In fact, you openly approached us. That''s why you are the best candidate to be the person to talk to us. I believe that you won''t try to swindle us either." Valvian merely stated before his gaze flicked to Mathias, who he was able to see further away, talking with Tessa and Brn.

    Miranda was also by their side, but she remained silent so as to prevent doing anything that could offend the elves.

    "We got to know your friend through you. He may not be loved by mana but he is still liked to some extent. He is not a destroyer either. And as you can see, your master is also allowed to be here, so I don''t see a problem."

    It was almost as if Valvian didn''t care about his opinion even in the slightest. It was a little bit frustrating, but Nial took a deep breath to calm down. It worked perfectly fine, which was why Nial didn''t flip out.

    ''And I''m curious about your darkness imbued energy and the ck miasma. The pseudo domain you created was everything but a simple creation!!'' Valvian added inwardly.

    He didn''t hide the fact that he wanted to get to know Nial better, which was even more important when Crevian reported the intel about the Sacred Knights leader, that his name was Silvian, and that the Dryx had attacked the human race''s shelters already!

    "Looks like we will never be able to live in peace with him." Valvian said in a defeated tone when Crevian had exined to him everything about the connection of the name ''Silvian'' and the Dryx race.

    Valvian was much younger than Crevian. Thus, he didn''t know much about the Dryx race and the individual Silvian anymore. They hadn''t fought or met for thousands of years, after all.

    However, his return made it clear that the past would repeat itself, and that their fight was bound to be continued, just in a different ce.

    ''Well, even if we cannot avoid it, we can be stronger than him and defeat him and his race. On Jundra, that won''t be a problem!!'' Valvian was confident in his strength and the prowess of his people.

    That was why he was much less worried than Crevian, whose old memories about the God of Saints and Devils were anything but good.

    "It will be enough as long as we make adequate preparations against a possible attack by a tide of Dryx, right?" Valvian asked in the elvennguage while averting his head to Nial.

    Crevian had already told him that Nial had learned a bit of the elvennguage while teaching them the human tongue.

    ''His entire existence is unique.'' Valvian concluded while telling himself that Nial''s energy was something even the Empress might be interested in.

    Other Elven races would be interested in Nial as well, especially Dark Elves.

    ''He was quite fortunate to encounter us, otherwise, he might have been taken away from the human race, and potentially even turned into a half-elf, married off, and ordered to start copting¡­well, maybe he wouldn''t dislike that.''

    Valvian''s tactic was quite simple. He used the information he had about other human races to deduce how the humans on Jundra would react.

    They might not be exactly the same, but their selfishness, their greed, and many other emotions weremon between the races.

    However, Valvian also thought that Nial was a bit different from ordinary humans, so he shrugged his shoulders and continued to speak with Crevian.

    Not long after, Mathias, Miranda, and both Tessa and Brn entered Valvian''s hut as well.

    Nial joined his master and friend, while the two young Elves reported their fight against Nial and Mathias to Valvian.

    They didn''t know that Valvian had observed everything and that he knew every single thing that had happened, by now.

    "Mathias, what do you think about the Elves¡­wanna give it a try?" Nial suddenly asked in a low voice.

    "Give what a try?" Mathias asked in return, unsure what his friend was talking about.-

    "ying diplomats, of course," Nial said as if it was the most natural thing to do.

    "Huh?!" A loud noise, overflowing with confusion and shock reached everyone''s ears all of a sudden.

    When the Elves turned their head to Mathias, who had eximed loudly, everyone could see how baffled the young man was.

    Nial merely smiled, while Miranda tried to control her expressions. Her facade was crumbling and the corner of her lips began to twitch.<sub> </sub>

    ''Just¡­what the hell. Either I''m too old for all this, or Nial is an Ace at shocking people¡­'' Miranda thought, while seeing that Valvian had approached them.

    "What do you think, will you be the diplomat and represent your race in front of the Elves? If it''s not you, we won''t ept anyone else, for now, at least. You know, it might not look like this, but we don''t trust anyone!" Valvian didn''t think that it was necessary to lie.

    Only those loved by nature and mana received some trust from the Elves. As for everyone else, they had to work extremely hard to gain even the slightest bit of trust of the Elves, or they had to be connected to those loved by nature and mana.

    This was the case for Miranda, who was fortunate enough to have Nial as her disciple.

    As for Mathias, he was liked by mana, even if it was not in an overly obsessive manner as it seemed to be the case with Nial.

    "Well, It would be great to stay in the Forest of Life, but I cannot be the main responsible diplomat to represent humanity.

    I have other things to take care of¡­" Nial said, his voice cracking towards the end of the sentence at the thought of his family.

    He couldn''t simply abandon them, even if the opportunity was great. When he talked to Mathias a moment earlier, he had nned on bing the connection between the human and elven race for just the required time which would be enough to create his Ancient Origin ring before leaving.

    The Forest of Life was more than enough to allow him to drastically shorten the time he would need to create his primary Ancient Origin ring, after all.

    With the strength he gained from his primary Ancient Origin ring, it shouldn''t be problematic for him to find his family.

    At least, that was what Nial told himself.

    ''To be honest, that was to be expected. Jundra is vast, and an opportunity for every race that appears only once in a lifetime ording to the prophecy of the Empress. Holding him back would be helpful, neither for Nial nor for our rtionship with him.

    If everything Master Crevian reported is true, Nial is not only a Destroyer but also a Healer, a preserver of Life¡­ I don''t know how that is possible, but it has to be the truth if Master Crevian says so.'' Valvian told himself, feeling a light headache oveing him.

    The potential trouble with a God merely a week after the Forest of Life descended was already bothersome, but the entire existence of Nial was just tooplicated toprehend.

    "So troublesome¡­" Valvian said in the elven tongue, which caused the three other elves to turn to him. They smiled at him pitifully because they could feel the responsibility and burden ced upon Valvian. He was the Midnight Elf of Jundra''s Forest of Life who belonged to the first batch of Elves to arrive on Jundra so as to solidify their im.

    "How about we stay here for three months, and create a working rtionship between Elves and humans? There will definitely be another human, who is loved by mana that you will find sooner orter. As long as you can trust him or her, this human can be our sessor."

    Nial just wanted to create his Ancient Origin ring in the next few months, while conquering the dungeons that were bound to appear around the Forest of Life.

    With the high mana density and great quality around and within the Forest of Life, numerous dungeon portals were bound to appear, and they would be of better quality than the ones they had encountered until now.

    p If possible, learning the runic constetions that were known only by Elves would be interesting as well. However, the priority to learn runic constetions was much lower than everything else.</anda>

    His family was the most important to him, and if the Forest of Life could provide him the push he needed to get closer to his goal of reuniting with them, everything would be fine.

    The Elves had their own ns, but the same could be said about Nial and everyone else. Thus, Valvian could only nod his head.

    "3 months? That will be more than enough. You will be a friend of the Elven even afterward!" He eximed in joy while smiling faintly. His eyes were overflowing with kindness. However, that irked not only Nial but both Miranda and Mathias felt a little bit odd as well.

    ''Why is he being so overly friendly!?'' Miranda wondered, not understanding why the strongest of the Elves, who had descended on their, would be so friendly to Nial. It was nice, but Valvian was being way too friendly!

    ''Damian would love to tear apart everyst descendant of the Elves apart but they act just overly friendly¡­'' Nial could only think, clearly feeling Damian''s anger boiling in the depths of his conscience.

    ''There should be a reason for his anger¡­''

    For now, Damian''s emotions were not important. However, Nial made a mental note about it, and he would definitely remember it for the future.''

    ''They have a n in mind, that is for sure!''

    It was only obvious, but Nial smiled on the outside, his hand reaching out to shake it with Valvian''s.

    "I''m happy to be of your service. Let''s create a firm bond between our races!"

    **

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 Chapter 248 Ancient Origin Ring

    *Bang*

    A thunderous sound reverberated through the entire building as a fist smashed through a desk standing in a seemingly ordinary office.

    "How is it possible that we are still not able to talk to them?? WHY are these Elves epting some rookies, young Originals, who have no political power, but not our men?" The hoarse voice of a man in his 50s echoed through the small office. His face bore thin lines of fury while his tightly clenched hand was hovering above the once intact wooden desk that had been turned into scrap by him moments ago.

    His light green eyes were usually bright but he looked livid right now as if he was ready to reduce the entire building to ruins.

    "S-Sir...we have received reports that the Originals they''ve epted started to converse with both sides. That should be a step closer to our goal, or not?" The female secretary, who was standing in the door frame of the office asked in a shaky voice while she trembled in fear.

    "You think that is good? The Elves are arrogant and aloof. They might have learned ournguage, but this was more to mock us in our ownnguage. If they won''t even speak to us, what use does learning ournguage have??

    These Originals...the report states that they''re Miranda''s disciples, is that correct? Tell me more about them!!" After taking a few breaths, the man in his 50s had calmed down a bit. However, his eyes were still fueled with anger.

    The secretary had no idea why the President was so enraged, after all, the situation could be summarized as quite advantageous.

    In her opinion, everything should be fine as long as the Elves were not hostile to mankind. Surviving was the most important, and the Elves may even be able to help them to do far more than to merely survive!

    "Miranda and her disciples have received permission to enter the forest, which everyonebels as the ''Forest of Life''. But the blind Original, Nial Orin, was the first one to approach the Elves, almost immediately after the Forest of Life was fully manifested.

    <o>,m He is 19 years old and still at the Origin rank. And given the fact that his Origin awoke only a year and almost 4 months ago, his achievements are quite remarkable.</o>

    Mathias Cartel is 18 years old. He advanced to the Prym rank with an Advanced Origin ring, is in possession of two elemental affinities, highly likely to be with the [Comprehension] tag, and the reports say that it is almost certain that he possesses an Innate ability that is focused on his affinities.

    Miranda and her disciples got to know each other during the Teradan military camp!

    There is also a girl, who is presumed to have been epted as a disciple by Miranda, but she left the others after the Teradan military camp ended." The secretary read a little information from a file that had been projected on a holographic screen right in front of her.

    There were many detailed pieces of information, but she only read aloud the most important because the president''s mood was far from great today.

    "Alright, thanks. You can leave now..." The President of the Stinon alliance dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

    His hands were itching and he told himself to never forget the name of the two young Originals, who made things far more difficult for him than anyone else had ever achieved. If current circumstances would have allowed it, he would have immediately traveled over to the ce that had once been known as mankind''s third shelter.

    Unfortunately, this was impossible. He was required elsewhere and had too many tasks to take care of, to begin with, as well.

    ''Just where the hell did you go, Silvian? Did you abandon everything we nned just because a small obstacle appeared in your path?!'' He wondered, his head flicking over to the wall to his right.

    A huge and extremely old map of Jundra hung on the wall that was marked red at several spots. Red circles were drawn around the current location of mankind''s shelters, and red crosses marked the area where shelters had once been located.

    The map was huge, yet, there were many spots that had never been explored and it merely covered a single continent.

    That was everything mankind has ever been able to explore before, let alone after the dungeon beast wreaked havoc in the peaceful life of mankind.

    While the President of the Stinon alliance looked at the map of Jundra, or a portion of it, there were many other higher authorities in the other shelters who were also fuming in rage.

    Numerous tables, desks, and many other pieces of furniture had been destroyed, and all of this was just because none of their subordinates had been able to converse with the Elves.

    Not a single person in the government or the military had been able to walk up to the Elves, and extend a hand of friendship before they would go over to talk about business.

    It was simply impossible, which was something everyone had realized by now.

    Nial and Mathias'' attempts to y middlemen between both sides were barely helpful, and it was far more difficult than they expected.

    After all, none of the human Originals had any experience talking to a different race. They didn''t know the Elves'' traditions, what they were good at, and how to initiate a conversation.

    Meanwhile, it looked like the Elves wanted to talk with other humans, but at the same time, this was not the case.

    Only a handful of humans entered the Elves'' view, and the majority of them were not epted by the Forest of Life due to the fact that their abilities were of destructive nature.

    Because the Forest of Life didn''t ept them, the Elves didn''t either. This was the case owing to the Forest of Life''s special characteristic as judge of a character. At least, that was how the Elvesbeled it and wholeheartedly agreed to its decision.

    Nial pitied himself a bit for the difficulties the Forest of Life provided them. It made things far more difficult than it had to be.<sub> </sub>

    ''Can''t they just ept some more humans in the Forest of Life, or to talk to, at the very least?!'' He often asked himself.

    But the Elves were stubborn. Their ideals were more important, meaning that only beautiful existences, loved by nature and mana were epted.

    Mathias and Miranda were already at the borderline of eptance for the Elves, and it was only because of the Forest of Life''s decision that they had been epted.

    The three, including Miranda, were trying very hard to create a firm bond between humans and elves. However, this was far more difficult than any of them expected at first.

    Both sides had their own traditions, mindset, and ideals. Because of this, the three had to be very careful when initiating a conversation. One wrong word or just one step out of the line could lead to an argument. In such cases, it would be even more difficult to prevent anyone from jumping at each other''s neck for having apletely different view about certain topics than the other side.

    However, over time, Nial, Mathias, and Miranda slowly but surely learned more about the Elven race. They were getting to know their traditions, their usual behavior, and much more.

    Without a second of hesitation, the three had joined Old Elf Crevian''s open sses about Runiciers and Alchemists. These open sses were more for the youngest Elves, who had descended on Jundra with everyone else.

    Because their departure from their home had been so sudden, Old Elf Crevian had joined the first batch of Elves to descend on Jundra.

    He chose to teach the youngest Elves, which was why everyone was eager to learn. Nial and the others hadn''t known about this but Old Elf Crevian was a remarkable person of the Elven race.

    If he had been known as the Dragon yer before because his strength had allowed him to ughter a Blue Dragon, the poprity he gained from attaining a terrifyingly high amount of knowledge was simply astounding.

    Everyone wanted to be taught by Crevian, but he never epted a disciple. This was also the reason why the Old Elf''s sses were always overcrowded as even older Elves rushed to grab a seat and learn a lot from him.

    "I cannot fathom how Elves are able to reach the Prym rank with Advanced Origin rings at the age of 10. That is crazy." Mathias mumbled quietly so that his voice only reached Miranda and Nial.

    However, what Mathias didn''t realize was that there were also a few Elves, who had created a Superior Origin ring at the age of 10. There weren''t many Elves with such talent, but the first batch of Elves who came to Jundra was a special case as they were stronger than many of their peers.

    "That is nothing. I would love to understand what Master Crevian is saying. The ways in which he inscribes runic constetions are nothing like I''ve ever seen before and his concoction techniques are numerous times more advanced than everything we''ve encountered until now!!

    I wish I could understand the elven tongue. That would make things so much easier." Miranda said, ignoring Mathias''sment, and the fact that she called someone else Master despite her old age.

    She was smiling brightly and was trying to understand what was going on based on every action the Old Elf did.

    Yet, Nial just smiled and used his mana perception to imprint every single action of Crevian in his mind while patiently listening to everything he said.

    ''I can understand him well!!'' Nial realized, excitement filling him.

    He was not sure why that was the case but it was a fact that he could understand the elvennguage fairly well by now.

    It hadn''t been that long since they had decided to stay in the Forest of Life for three months, but Nial had already improved a lot.

    And he nned to learn much more. His gains from the Forest of Life were exceptional.

    Not only was the Ankh on his Odyssey seed invigorated by the Forest of Life''s unique trait, but the Ankh was also changing his Odyssey seed and vice versa.

    The Forest of Life allowed Miranda to look younger as well. It was a weird forest, but Nial could tell that they had gained a lot from that ce.

    Because the Ankh was being invigorated, it was activated every now and then, providing Nial with even more vigor.

    Instead of digesting the vigor, he used it to progress the speed at which his mana veins were growing. The speed at which he progressed was rapid, and if anyone else but the Elves, his master, and Mathias were to know about it, they would be shocked.

    But even his master and friend were taken aback when they sensed the terrifying mana currents that flooded Nial merely two and a half months after Nial and Mathias had be diplomats.

    After spending two and a half months with them, the Elves were much more familiar andfortable with Nial and the other two humans. They had epted them in their group to a certain extent, and they knew how talented each of them was.

    However, what nobody had expected was to see Nial create his primary Origin ring in a matter of two and a half months.

    Crevian''s teachings about runic constetions, the Forest of Life''s mana density, the invigorating mana, the Ankh''s influence, and Nial''s natural talent allowed him to create his primary Origin ring in an extremely short time.

    But what the Elves didn''t know yet, was the fact that Nial didn''t create an ordinary Advanced Origin ring or a ''weak'' Superior Origin ring.

    Instead, he had created a special type of Origin ring; an Ancient Origin ring!

 Chapter 249 Phenomenon

    By learning more about runic armaments, runic constetions, and tips about how to make even the most difficult andplex connections between runic constetions much easier to learn and to recreate, Nial faced no difficulty in engraving all the runic constetions on his primary Ancient Origin ring.

    It was the first of many Ancient Origin rings he would create, but it was also the easiest one.

    However, even the easiest one required numerous runic constetions to be engraved with each of them being as difficult to engrave as a Tier-0 runic constetion.

    But this was not the issue. Rather, it was the fact that all the runic constetions were tightly connected, and were influencing one another, creating a web of runic constetions that turned into one single giant runic constetion.

    And this constetion was even more difficult to engrave than a Tier-1 runic constetion! After all, abinedwork of several hundred runic constetions was not easy to create, not if you were not allowed to make the slightest mistake!

    In thest few months, mana had never been Nial''s issue. He had absorbed more than enough mana to create the rough frame of his Ancient Origin ring.

    But so far, Nial had never mustered the courage to engrave the runic constetions on the Ancient Origin ring''s frame. Fortunately, this was no problem and Nial had focused on the creation of the entire Ancient Origin ring, with the sole exception of engraving runic constetions on it.

    Only after learning from Crevian''s vast knowledge for more than two months did Nial finally dare to engrave the first runic constetion.

    Everything he had learned from the Old Elf was imprinted in his mind, and no hesitation could be seen when Nial engraved the runic constetions on the Ancient Origin ring, which he had manifested outside his body.

    Manifesting Origin rings was not supposed to be possible under normal circumstances, and it was impossible to achieve it if one was an ''ordinary'' existence.

    Fortunately, Nial an extraordinary existence who found himself in the most peculiar circumstances more often than he cared to admit.

    He had to manifest the Ancient Origin ring in front of him to engrave something on it. Thus, he manifested it when he went to an isted ce where he stayed on his own for nearly three weeks.

    During these three weeks, Nial didn''t remember to have slept, at all. But that was of no concern to Nial right now.

    His entire mind was focused on the final step to creating his primary Ancient Origin ring.

    It was merely the first step toward true strength but it was an important one.

    Not many existences were able to create unique Origin rings, simply because their strength and true potential were not yet unleashed while being at such a low rank.

    While the human race had created three different ranks, namely the Prym, Seclon and Tritan rank based on the difficulty of creating another Origin ring after the third and sixth Origin ring would increase drastically, it was merely one rank for Elves and other races to cross.

    This was something Nial had always presumed to be the case because the nine Ancient Origin rings he could create were oneplexpound that would ovep with one another, amplifying their strength further.

    At the same time, each rank usually determined a change in the way one improved their strength by advancing their mana core.

    The Origin rank ended when the first Origin ring was created and the Prometheus rank began once the Origin rings were connected to the mana core and merged with it.

    However, all of this was not something Nial could focus on when he made the final stroke on the Ancient Origin ring that was finallypleted.

    It began to glow brightly upon beingpleted, and the temperature shot up by a lot, filling the isted space he was in with a searing heat.

    Without Nial''s influence, the Ancient Origin ring began to rotate. At first, Nial was worried about this. He felt that something had gone wrong, and he was about to panic when his Mana Sense detected something.

    "You need mana? Thene to me, I''ll give you more mana than you could wish for."

    From a sudden state of panic, Nial calmed down in an instant. His mind was cleared and a bright smile appeared on his face as he held out his hand.

    And as if on cue, the Ancient Origin ring stopped rotating. It moved on its own making him doubt if the Ancient Origin ring had suddenly attained sentience.

    However, that was not the case. Every action of the Ancient Origin ring was programmed, and the step it was currently working on was to create a connection with Nial, the being, who had created it, and being, who promised to provide more mana than it could wish for.

    The edge of the Ancient Origin ring touched Nial''s fingertip, and it felt as if his entire being was shaken as the Ancient Origin ring disappeared.

    It was still glowing, demanding an endless amount of mana. Nial''s mana core was drained in an instant but the Ancient Origin ring didn''t show any signs of being filled up.

    At this moment, Nial had already appeared at the door of the Isted room. He took a step outside and returned to the Forest of Life, where his body was instantaneously flooded with streams of mana currents.

    "Were you waiting for me to return? In that case, all of you cane to me. I will ept every little trace of all of you!"

    Nial''s voice was not loud. However, it was as if his words reached every nook and cranny of the Forest of Life.

    Everyone''s head turned in his direction, while the mana from all over the Forest of Life streamed toward its center, exactly where Nial was located.

    *Bum*

    *Bum Bum*

    *Bum Bum*

    *Bum Bum* *Bum Bum*

    Nial''s heart started to beat rapidly the moment he sensed the humongous amount of mana that flowed in his direction.

    However, there was not only one heartbeat. The Odyssey seed was beating in tandem with the rhythm of his heart. Encouraged to beat through the Ankh that was glowing brightly while shrouding itself in vigor, the Odyssey seed began to thump.

    At the beginning, it had been inconspicuous, and impossible to notice for Nial. However, the moment he had stepped outside the isted room, the inconspicuous heartbeat shook his entire being.

    He stopped dead in his tracks while trying to process what was going on.

    ''I knew that something would happen after I created my primary Origin ring. But this is different from the experiences shared by Mathias, Miranda, and everything written in the reports online...'' Nial could barely think before his entire body was struck by the sudden influx of mana.<sub> </sub>

    A huge dome of mana had formed around Nial because of the humongous amount of mana that wanted to enter his body.

    Nial was ready to ept everything but the moment the first traces of mana entered the Ancient Origin ring, he realized that he might have been too ambitious.

    ''My body is burning!!'' He wanted to scream but not a single noise escaped his mouth.

    Nial''s leg wanted to give in, but thepressed mana all around him prevented him from moving.

    Slowly, dark energy was released from his body, generated by the mana the Odyssey seed forcefully abducted from the Ancient Origin ring.

    Beating wildly, the Odyssey seed seemed just like a second heart. However, instead of pumping blood through his veins, the Odyssey seed''s purpose was to circte mana through his body, to absorb and annex the mana that entered his body willingly, and to guide it to the location it ought to be.

    Nial''s mind nked out, and every single cell in his body felt like it was melting in the searing hot mana that ravaged his body.

    The dark energy released by the Odyssey seed prevented his body from copsing due to the overload of mana that wanted to infiltrate him. It created a firmyer of darkness around him, protected him, and guided even the faintest trace of mana through his body.

    At this moment, Nial didn''t even notice that his clothes had long since been torn and reduced to shreds by the mana around him, that the blueish dome of mana that had shrouded him had been engulfed by dark energy, let alone that a crowd of Elves had appeared in the center of the Forest of Life.

    It was impossible for the Elves of the Forest of Life to use the mana around them that was supposed to love them. It was supposed to be under their control, and obey theirmands.

    However, right now, a measly human, someone, who was likely to be a True Destroyer had stolen the privilege the Elves were the proudest of; the love they received from mana!

    Under normal circumstances, various emotions such as anger, envy, and even hatred would fill the Elves upon noticing a stranger snatching their privilege from them.

    But that was not the case right now, at all. Everyone stared at the unfolding phenomenon with shock, confusion and a trace of excitement.

    There was no mana in the surrounding area anymore, everything had gathered around Nial to protect him, to allow him to advance without hindrance and to be much stronger than anyone else.

    Everyone could tell that Nial was advancing to the Mirae rank, the rank that followed the Origin rank. Nial had created his primary Origin ring.

    Yet, even if he created his first Origin ring, the current phenomena were far beyond everyone''s expectations.

    Even Crevian, who had witnessed many things in his long life that was filled with miracles and unique adventures, couldn''t help but feel that Nial''s advancement was out of the ordinary.

    The vigor released by the young man was overwhelming, even for existences at the Prometheus rank. They had never seen so much vigor within an existence at or below the Prometheus rank.

    However, right now, an existence, who was just advancing to the Mirae rank harbored enough vigor and was the object of obsession of the surrounding mana to prevent anyone from continuing with the tasks they had been doing.

    Even the human Originals outside the Forest of Life began to notice that something was happening inside the Forest of Life.

    It was not easy for them to perceive anything because of the Forest''s size. However, theck of mana was something every Original could instinctively feel.

    "What is going on there?" Tyson asked, his hair standing up on end. His eyes were filled with doubts as he stared over to the center of the Forest of Life.

    Eeriness overcame him for the first time in his life. Tyson had no idea what was happening, but his instincts had never betrayed him so far. He could tell that something big was just happening, and it irked him that he had no idea what was going on.

    Many human Originals were as confused as him. Nobody outside the Forest of Life knew what was going on but all of them felt a sense of danger from the Forest of Life at this very moment.

    If Silvian were to be present, even he wouldn''t know any better.

    After all, the current phenomenon was not something that was supposed to happen upon advancing to the Mirae rank!

    While everyone''s attention was on the Forest of Life''s center, Nial waspletely oblivious to everything that happened around him.

    His entire body felt like it was melting. He was not even sure if he was still alive. Everything was painful, but at the same time, it was as if a soothing sensation swept through him.

    Nial had never imagined that the aftermath of creating his primary Origin ring would be so devastating. Not even in the memories of the God of Darkness had advancing in the ranks been that painful, or unique...not even when he reached the higher ranks.

    However, Nial knew that it was not a bad sign either. His breakthrough was unique, his Ancient Origin ring was exceptional, and he could tell that various changes were happening to his entire existence, including his Odyssey seed, and the Ankh!

    Time passed without giving Nial the opportunity to think, and just when he thought that everything would be over, the voice of the deceased God of Darkness echoed in his empty mind.

    [Don''t let my memories use you. Learn from my mistakes, prevent them from being repeated, and be better than I was, be stronger, be more ruthless.]

    [Don''t reveal any weaknesses to your enemies, or your friends. Ovee the hindrances the others willy in your path, and protect the people you hold dear.]

    [Don''t be like me. Live your own life, walk on your own path, and be better than I could have ever been!!]

    **

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 Chapter 250 Who Are You?

    When Nial finally regained his senses, and the ability to move his body, he felt refreshed.

    A ck reeking mass trickled down from his body. It were the impurities expelled by his body, that allowed him to reach a higher potential.

    However, Nial was not even able to smell the reeking impurities that covered the ground all around him. His focus was on scanning the changes urring within his body.

    ''It''s tightly revolving around the Mana core, great! Nothing went wrong!'' Nial thought as he perceived the primary Ancient Origin ring, which had calmed down after absorbing enough mana.

    He finally reached the Low Prym rank, which was alsobeled as the 1st Mirae rank by many other races.

    Adding the fact that his primary Origin ring was an Ancient Origin ring, while the following would be the same, the name of Nial''s true rank would be 1st Ancient Mirae rank!

    The quality of the primary Origin ring would be the deciding factor inbeling someone to be at the ''Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, or Superior'' Mirae rank!

    This was extremely important to consider. After all, the quality of one''s Origin ring determined how strong one was, and how much one improved upon creating a new Origin ring.

    In Nial''s case, everything about him had advanced drastically. His senses were much sharper now, and he could tell that his senses had improved by several times. This included his control over mana as well.

    Nial could tell that even his mana veins had grown stronger, which was great. Nheless, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

    His abilities became much stronger, and his physical strength improved as well. Even his Heart seemed stronger and his mana core had erged a bit. And this was not even supposed to happen under normal circumstances.

    After the Origin rank, his mana core shouldn''t erge anymore. Yet, by advancing through the creation of an Ancient Origin ring, Nial''s mana core seemed to have grown.

    Even if it was not the Ancient Origin ring''s direct influence, all the changes in his body were more or less caused after the Ancient Origin ring''s creation!

    After all, it looked like the Ankh had regained some of its power, which seemed to have strengthened the Odyssey seed a lot!

    In fact, the Odyssey seed had grown quite a bit. This was something Nial had expected to happen, but he was astonished, nheless.

    There was a difference between predicting something and it actually happening, after all.

    "Everything is growing/improving/advancing in proportion to my growth..." Nial quickly understood upon using the ck miasma of his Curse [Hodur''s Heir] and the dark energy of his Odyssey seed.

    Meanwhile, his [Mana Sense] had improved drastically as well. Everything around him became much clearer. Pure mana filled the air of the Forest of Life once again, and Nial felt that he was able to visualize everything he wanted to as long as he used a bit of his Mana to support his Innate ability [Mana Sense]!

    "I need another ability that can connect to the Odyssey seed...or maybe even the Ankh. That way, they''ll keep growing stronger with me. Or I can choose an ability like [Outburst] of Be...this is a hard choice to make..."

    Nial was feeling flustered due to the situation he was in.

    While he tried to figure out all the changes in his body, and how much every single trait of his body had improved, everyone stared in Nial''s direction.

    He was still standing in the exact same position as before. However, right now, he was standing naked as his clothes were now reduced to threads and the Elves were staring at him in fascination.

    "Looks like humans have one thing about their body that is better than ours..." One stupid Elf said without realizing that he had voiced out many female Elves'' thoughts.

    He received numerous side nces that were filled with anger, and the desire to beat up the stupid Elf. However, nobody dared to say anything to him in response.

    After all, Nial''s little monster was certainly superior to that of most elves.

    ''He is just a special human. Not all of them are like this...I think...and hope...please don''t let all of them be like this.'' That was the thought of a few Elves, who didn''t want the few female Elves to go on a journey through the human shelters to have some fun, for once in a lifetime.

    "Ya, you idiot! Do you think this is an exhibition where you show off your body?! Put on some clothes!" Miranda''s voice boomed through the entire center of the Forest of Life.

    However, just when she wanted to throw a cloak at Nial, another one could be seen flying down from above Nial.

    It was the Tier-2 mantle, Nial had gotten his hands on within the Ancient ruin''s pce.

    The mantle quickly moved to its rightful ce, and draped itself over him, covering the majority of Nial''s body. However, his little monster could still be seen every now and then.

    ''Is he an idiot?'' Miranda wondered for the first time when looking at Nial. But upon looking straight at his face, she realized that her disciple had not yet fully regained his senses.

    Nial''s gaze had turned to the green portal that was deactivated and had turned extremely dim. The portal that was supposed to be a mass of energy, and manifested runes turned out to be nothing but a metal ring just now.

    However, this metal ring was the manifested Divinity fragment of the Empress, which Nial seemed to realize at this moment.

    He didn''t even notice that Miranda had thrown a pant at him and that he had subconsciously put them on. His eyes were fixated on the portal as fragments of memories flooded his mind.

    Nial was already familiar with Damian''s memories, but this time it was a little bit weird. He furrowed his brows upon receiving the fragments of memories.

    Nial digested them in an instant but something was wrong.

    ''They don''t belong to Damian!'' He thought, feeling positive about his assumption.

    This was weird because nobody else ought to be able to transfer their memories to him. At least, not without him realizing it.

    Nheless, Nial could only avert his focus for the time being as he thrust his feet into the ground to catapult himself toward the portal.

    With two leaps he appeared in front of the portal that was more than 100 meters away from him before Nial squatted down to touch the metal portion of the portal.<sub> </sub>

    A green spark appeared the moment the tip of Nial''s fingers neared it and was about to touch the portal.

    "Is that really...?" Nial mumbled before he noticed a few faint gusts of wind appearing next to him.

    Prometheus Elves had emerged around him, but Nial did not pay any attention to them.

    ''Did he just disappear in front of my eyes?!'' Mathias stared in shock.

    He might not have focused on his friend and his movements because he was trying to hide his surprise about the fact that Nial''s little monster was a lot bigger than the average of what humans usually had.

    In Mathias'' opinion hiding the truth was of utmost importance.

    After all, mankind''s pride was on the line, though he wanted to feel better about an advantage humans had over Elves, even if it might not be the entire truth!

    Nevertheless, for Mathias to be unable to trace Nial''s movements, one could easily tell that he had be much stronger than before.

    If he was already as strong as a 1st Intermediate Mirage rank before, his current strength might even be higher than a 2nd Superior Mirae rank!

    And Originals with Superior Origin rings were usually stronger than other Originals by a grade or two!

    To everyone present, it was obvious that Nial''s strength was extremely high.

    However, the reason for the Elves to move next to Nial the instant he emerged in front of the green portal was Nial''s rather odd behavior.

    Even the Elves, who had learned about bodynguage and various other means to determine the next actions of their opponents, weren''t able to tell what Nial was about to do next.

    His motives were unpredictable, even more so after he advanced to the Mirae rank!

    "Why did someone create a portal with a fragment of their Divinity? The creator of this portal will never be able to revert the manifested Divinity fragment to what it had been originally..." Nial asked out loud all of a sudden, not intending to lower his volume.

    While most of the younger Elves were confused and unsure about what Nial was speaking, many of the older Elves flinched the moment they heard him starting to speak about the real identity of the portal.

    However, even before they could say anything, Nial shook his head.

    "Well, whatever, I am not here to judge what others do with their Divinity. But...Silvian will definitely try to get his hands on this. Now it makes much more sense for him to have left all of a sudden!" He added without averting his attention from the portal.

    The fragments of the memories that shed through his head without warning hinted to Nial that the portal was a manifested Divinity fragment.

    The memories of the unknown existence revealed to him that there were numerous types of Divinities that could take various forms. They could be corporeal, parts of bodies, of elemental nature, alive, undead, and much more.

    This was already interesting, but even more important was the fact that the stranger''s memories were helpful to identify the manifested Divinity fragment in front of him.

    ''Silvian definitely wants this!'' Nial thought, certain that he was true.

    "You know who Silvian truly is?" The voice of the Old Elf Crevian appeared next to him. He began to doubt Nial''s identity once again.

    Meanwhile, Valvian had approached Nial as well. He noticed that something about the young Original had changed. The words he said were also quite rming, and whether it was a coincidence or not, Nial''s conclusion about Silvian''s action was the same as Master Crevian had already predicted.

    But even then, Valvian couldn''t help but ask, "Are you sure that he will attack us?"

    "Let''s just say that I know Silvian and the Dryx worked together. I felt that something was foul when the Sacred Knights appeared all of a sudden. They seemed to have nned their entry and waited for the moment mankind faced extinction due to the sudden appearance of portals where thousands of Dryx emerged.

    I don''t know if you''ve already heard about that incident but the portals were created from purple crystals that were nurtured out of the soul of their host. They had emerged in the middle of our shelters, and the training camps of our young trainees. Utter chaos and destruction followedter, just for Silvian and his people to rescue us.

    That was his debut, the first time he appeared in front of mankind, making a spectacr entry by creating a big show." Nial revealed a few pieces of information as he answered Crevian''s question to a certain extent.

    Meanwhile, Valvian''s question could be answered quite simply,

    "There shouldn''t be many Dryx at the Prometheus rank, but if Silvian is greedy enough he will make them eat each other to create a powerful force. So...yes, I think he will attack. The Divinity fragment is way too valuable to be ignored by anyone who knows about its importance."

    Valvian squinted his eyes at Nial''sstment and he felt like asking something he had been increasingly curious about for a short while.

    "Just who are you?!"

    **

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 Chapter 251 Enough Is Enough!

    "You ask me that?" Nial asked, his voice adapting a tone of mockery without even meaning to.

    Valvian merely nodded his head in response, ignoring Nial''s tonepletely.

    "I''m just one of the puny humans your race believes to be able to treat like their toys," Nial answered without trying to hide his disgust.

    In thest three months, Nial had gotten a fair idea of the Elves'' behavior, their talent, and their intentions.

    However, only now did he actually dare to say something. The Ankh within his body was glowing faintly, and the Odyssey seed umted enough dark energy from the surrounding mana, which it absorbed.

    Nial was oblivious to this, but he could clearly tell that he was feeling more courageous than usual. Offending the race he wanted to learn a lot from was definitely not something he should do.

    But Nial couldn''t care less right now.

    "Treat humans like they''re our toys?" Old Elf Crevian repeated his words without showing any emotions. His expression had stiffened when he noticed Nial''s disgust.

    It was as if Nial knew far more than he wanted to reveal. ''It''s almost as if he knows about our past...'' Old Elf Crevian thought despite knowing that this shouldn''t be the case.

    While Crevian had be much more careful, Valvian was livid after hearing Nial''s usation.

    "What are you even saying, Nial? Can''t you tell that we''re trying to befriend you and your race, not to exploit your race, or to y with them?"

    At this moment, Valvian felt as if his earlier perception of Nial was crumbling to pieces. It was almost like Nial was not the same person as he had been before.

    ''Did he change all of a sudden, or is that how he usually is? Did his mask crumble when he advanced?''

    Valvian was confused but Nial could only sneer at the Midnight Elf''sment as Damian''s memories resurfaced in Nial''s mind. He had long since digested and epted the memories which the Odyssey seed had shared with him.

    Thus, he knew everything the Elves had done to the various human races, drugging them to turn them into addicted and obedient Warriors, who obeyed their ''masters'' as long as they received a steady supply of the drugs that worked like steroids in a world full of magic and mana.

    This was just one example, but Nial clearly remembered that humans and elves had attacked one of the many kingdoms he had ruled a long time ago. The God of Darkness hadn''t even been at war with any human or elven race at that time, and it was merely because his race was deemed ''demonic'', ''evil'', and ''vile'' that they had attacked them.

    Everyone, whether they were weak, crippled, ill, young, elderly, pregnant, or ordinary citizens, who did not even have the capability to be stronger with the use of mana, had been killed, and mercilessly ughtered.

    Damian hadn''t been present at that time. However, when he heard about the incident, he returned to a kingdom that had ceased to exist overnight.

    He had been furious and took out his anger on the perpetrators, ughtering them mercilessly.

    Yet, funnily enough, the Elves had thrown their ves, the humans at Damian, as if they were goods that could be disposed of. Without caring about their lives, the Elvesmanded the humans to sacrifice themselves, just so that it would buy them some time to run away.

    Nial desperately wished to forget about this and various other incidents because he was not the God of Darkness, and these incidents had happened eons ago. He was not even sure how long ago the God of Darkness had died.

    However, even if it hadn''t been that long, it was a fact that the memories of Damian had been quite old.

    "He knows about our past before the Empress ascended the throne," Crevian said in the elven tongue. However, Crevian used a trick to ensure that Nial would not understand him.

    He had noticed that Nial was able to understand the elven tongue nearly perfectly, after all. Thus, he used the old elvennguage. Sadly, his trick fell t on its face.

    "Don''t think that I cannot understand you, just because you switched the usual words with others and changed thenguage you use a tiny bit." There were many simr consonants and words in the old elvennguage and the one that wasmonly used by all the elven races tomunicate.

    Nheless, it astonished even Nial that he could understand Crevian perfectly, which was why he switched to the humannguage a momentter.

    "Either way, it doesn''t matter. Just know that I know about your past, that I know how you treated humans and other races. I hope that history won''t repeat itself.

    Silvian will definitely attack, and considering that he had already close to three months to prepare an attack, it won''t take long before he will initiate his attack.

    Will you ask us, humans, for help? We have destructive powers, which are much better against Dryx than your wind affinity, let alone nature''s power. Nature will only wither and perish uponing in contact with the Dryx''s corrosive attacks, and their highly contagious and lethal disease."

    Elves were far stronger than Dryx, but it was a matter of fact that a single Dryx was more than enough to destroy the Forest of Life. In an unforeseen event that a rather new and exotic disease would encroach upon the nts of the Forest of Life, everything might be destroyed, deprived of their life, and will.

    Valvian and Master Crevian were astonished that Nial was able to switch topics so quickly because they had been talking about something important.

    Nial''s attitude toward the Elves was questionable right now, but his anger had calmed and it looked like he didn''t want to lose their favorpletely.

    "I apologize for my sudden outburst and hostility." Nial suddenly mumbled. His words didn''t seem 100% genuine but Valvian and Crevian didn''t say anything about it as Nial continued,

    "The memories I received from my Innate ability blurred my senses for a while. My breakthrough was a little bit too intense and my mind required a few seconds to understand that those weren''t my memories." The Elves knew that Innate abilities existed. They also knew that certain types of Elves were able to store their memories in Innate abilities.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, Nial''s exnation was reasonable. They could understand him because they knew that often one was in a perilous condition both mentally and physically while breaking through.

    "Alright, let''s forget about that then. I guess you know that the portal is the manifested fragment of our Empresses'' Divinity because of the same memories.

    Then, what about Silvian? Is he the one I think he is?" Master Crevian asked while controlling his anger. however, his hands tightly clenched giving it away. Crackling noises could be heard from his hands, which caused some Prometheus Elves to swallow nervously.

    He couldn''t be sure that Nial knew who he was talking about but when Crevian perceived that the young man merely nodded his head, the old Elf could only sigh deeply.

    His worry increased even further the moment he heard what Nial had to say.

    "If you ask me whether or not he is the God of the same name, then yes, I''m pretty sure that is Silvian. Otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to control the Dryx, or am I wrong?" He asked provokingly.

    Even if Nial wanted to suppress Damian''s hidden emotions that had resurfaced when hepleted his advance to the next rank, it was quite difficult to do so.

    Only the Ankh''s influence allowed him to keep his calm because it seemed to prevent the Odyssey seed from releasing it''s dark energy, which would only intensify the God of Darkness'' emotions.

    Nial didn''t reveal everything he knew. Silvian was not after his life, but that of the Elves.

    He wanted to get his hands on the manifested Divinity Fragment and potentially also the Forest of Life.

    Though, Nial was pretty sure that the Forest of Life would cease to exist if Silvian would attack them in full force.

    "Shit." A single word escaped Master Crevian''s mouth.

    However, this seemingly simple, yet obscene word in the mouth of the man everyone respected was more than enough to cause every single Elves'' ears to perk up.

    Master Crevian never cursed, and he was known for being able to keep his calm in every situation.

    He was considered the perfect Warrior.

    Yet, this perfect Warrior began to curse. The meaning behind this was clear.

    ''We are fucked, aren''t we?''

    Quite a few Elves thought like that. Others may say that they exaggerated Crevian''s one-word curse.

    However, to the Elves, who knew Crevian since they were newborns, seeing him lose his temper was shocking enough.

    "As I said, start business and trading activities with us humans, and everything will be fine. Well, I wouldn''t promise anything, but I doubt that you guys can sacrifice the Forest of Life, and the Empresses'' Divinity fragment just for the sake of your pride.

    It should have taken the entire Elven race an enormous effort to be one of the first, if not the first race to descend on Jundra. Wasting that effort will weaken the Elven race, and the other races will be able to destroy your ''stronghold'' on Jundra even before you guys can blink twice.

    Let me be honest with you guys, I have no idea what makes Jundra so important, but what I can tell is that numerous Gods and Divine existences are willing to sacrifice a lot to incarnate here, to allow their dungeons to be created everywhere on this, and much more.

    Even if the Elven race might not be in favor of an alliance of equal parties, we''ve survived on Jundra for several centuries, we are bing stronger by the day, and we can adjust to the madness of the world, even if the Kern Abyss would open right in front of us!" Nial took a pause to catch his breath while his lifeless eyes were fixated on the Old Elf Crevian, whose eyes were bandaged.

    He was not able to control his lifeless white and milky eyes, but they looked extremely eerie right now as Nial continued to speak once again.

    "This decision is for you to make. ept humans as an existence on equal footing with you, or we can just stop with all this unnecessary bullshit. I mean, I stayed in the Forest of Life for nearly three months but how far have wee with our ''gatherings''? They were all useless and the moment I leave, the situation will either get worse, or there won''t be anyone who wants to talk to you.

    Humans are greedy, and they want to get their hands on everything. They only fear the strong, which is why they don''t dare to do anything to you.

    But what would the human Originals think if the Dryx came and attacked the Forest of Life? Would they help you after basically getting ignored for three whole months? I doubt it. They would be overjoyed, and kill off everyone, who survives the battle between Sivlian''s forces and the Elves." Nial''s voice grew colder the more he spoke.

    He had been nice enough in thest few weeks. Nial had even swallowed his pride to allow the Elves to talk down to them and mock humans at every possible chance. Only a few Originals had been somewhat epted, including Nial himself, and Mathias, to a certain extent.

    The way they treated Miranda was also fine, but she was also forced to clench her teeth in some situations because they were simply inconsiderate.

    Now that Nial''s mind was also influenced by Damian''s intense memories and the knowledge about Silvian''s potential attack, there was no reason for him to force himself to please the Elves.

    They had to make their decision, and humans would either look at the Elves fighting for their life against the Dryx in the near future, or they would support them and fight by their side!

    "It''s on you guys, decide!"

 Chapter 252 Ultimatum

    ''Is it really that difficult of a decision to make?'' Nial wondered as he perceived the unstable mana fluctuations from Valvian and Crevian.

    To create an Alliance with the human race, the Elves would have to ept the fact that there were ugly humans, humans with destructive powers, and all kinds of ''bad'' humans. However, it was not as if the entire Elven race was filled with nice and good-looking beings. Bad eggs could be found everywhere.

    But that was not the issue at hand. After all, the Elves would have to acknowledge that the human race on Jundra was on equal standing, that they were not below them, to be treated as cattle, or even garbage that could be disposed of wherever it was ''needed''.

    While Nial understood the problems which the Elves were having with Nial''s proposal due to Damian''s memories, he found it ridiculous how narrow-minded Elves truly were.

    ''If not for Damian''s memories, I wouldn''t have noticed that Elves are narrow-minded too, and not just prideful existences....''

    Damian''s memories were of great use, and Nial knew that he should make use of them more often. However, he still feared the memories'' influence, which was why he had been hesitant to ept the memories of the God of Darknesspletely.

    ''Make a decision, fools.'' He thought, before giving them space to think about what to do next.

    "I wonder when the other Gods and Divine existences are able to descend their own ne, or portal as well. Who knows, maybe there are already a few races who''ve descended on Jundra?" Nial mumbled in a low voice when he passed by Valvian.

    He approached Mathias and Miranda while looking at them confidently. Right now, they were at an advantage. Silvian had made this possible, even though he didn''t n this.

    Nial''s opinion about Silvian was quite simple. ''You don''t bother me, and I won''t care about you, at all!''

    The God of Saints and Devils was quite a confusing existence but if one were to try to figure out who he was, it was probably best tobel him a ''selfish bastard''.

    He would sacrifice everything as long as he could attain the goals he had set in his mind.

    The death of Dryx didn''t matter to him at all. His human subordinates? Silvian couldn''t care less about them. As for maintaining a good rtionship with ''Damian''...If the rtionship was of no use, he would throw his good ''friend'' in the pits of hell without a second thought if he would gain something from it.

    Nial had been too weak to do something against Silvian, and that was still the case. But despite that, it looked like Nial was finally able to make sense of Silvian''s actions.

    ''Thanks, for your stupid reckless actions, you clown.'' Nial just thought, his smile growing wide as he reunited with Mathias and Miranda.

    "Nial?! How the hell did you grow so much stronger? You created your first Origin ring so much faster than expected...so I thought you lowered your standards...I actually thought you created an Advanced Origin ring...but what the hell was that?" Mathias eximed with suspicion in his eyes.

    He felt as if Nial had betrayed him. This was utter nonsense, and Mathias should have known that Nial would never throw away an opportunity to be stronger if it willingly knocked on his door.

    But this made the situation even more confusing for Mathias. He was not stupid, but it was not as if he was a great tactician. If possible, he would just fight when it was necessary, have a great rtionship with the Elven race and allow everyone to benefit.

    Mathias was a simple person at his core. Sometimes, he might seem like a difficult or confusing person but that was due to the secrets he tried to hide from everyone and his unique personality.

    However, not only Mathias was confused at Nial''s increase in strength.

    "I''ve never read a report, where someone''s strength increased as much as it was the case with you, not after the creation of their primary Origin ring, at least..." Mirandamented with a faraway look in her eyes as if she was trying hard to recall experiencing such a peculiar instance.

    She had been able to follow Nial''s movements when he approached the inactive portal but this didn''t mean that she was confident to do the same when she had been at the same rank as Nial.

    ''Maybe, when I had two Advanced Origin rings?'' She thought before correcting herself within her mind, ''Or was it three?''

    Nial''s increase in strength was definitely not simple. However, that was not everything that had changed. It looked like Nial''s behavior and even the way he walked had changed a bit.

    Furthermore, vigor and dark energy oozed out of his body at any time without a warning now.

    ''He has difficulties controlling his enhanced powers...The Symbol of Life should be activated as well, right now.'' Miranda thought as she squinted her eyes while keeping her focus on Nial.

    She was trying to find out more about her disciple''s changes but that was more difficult than she had expected.

    "By the way, what did you say to the Elves?" Miranda asked, trying to change the topic. Her head flicked to Valvian and the Old Elf Crevian, who was nkly staring at the empty spot Nial had been standing on a few seconds before.

    "Nothing much, I merely gave them a tiny Ultimatum," Nial revealed in a nonchnt manner.

    "You did what?!" Miranda screamed out, attracting the attention of many Elves, who looked over for a moment before their focus returned to their Midnight Elf and Master Crevian.

    "Good job, with the Ultimatum, they should finally make a decision." Mathias apuded, feeling proud of his friend''s intelligence.<sub> </sub>

    However, Miranda''s opinion was entirely different, and upon hearing Mathias, she felt like locking up both of her disciples before giving them some lectures aboutmon sense, logic, and what one shouldn''t do..

    "So, without speaking to the government, the military, or...me, you directly gave the Elves an Ultimatum...great...that''s just great..." Miranda raised her hands in exasperation before they limply fell to her sides. She seemed to be on the brink of losing her sanity, and Nial was just about to say something when Miranda lifted her hand that indicated ''shut the hell up, or I will whoop your ass as long as I am still able to!''.

    "Before you say anything stupid, just tell me what the Ultimatum is..." Miranda said, before taking a deep breath, and trying to calm down.

    ''It''s not like we were able to achieve a lot in thest few months, so an Ultimatum might not be that bad...'' Miranda thought, only to shake her head once again. An Ultimatum might be great in specific situations, but if it ended up in the wrong way, all of their efforts would go to waste.

    It was not even unlikely for the Elves to attack them and eradicate the entire human race. That was if Nial''s Ultimatum was proposed with the wrong stakes, emotions, or words.

    ''Please, just let it not be that bad... and why...just WHY didn''t he speak to me beforehand... At least, I could have helped him...this idiot of a disciple...'' Once again, Miranda was fuming in anger.

    Even slowly breathing in and out did little to calm her, and her eyes turned fiery as she looked at Nial while waiting for his answer. Somehow, she wanted to whoop Nial''s ass, just to make him understand that he shouldn''t always act without consulting anyone, not if his actions could lead to severe repercussions that could change mankind''s future.

    Nial could not shake off the responsibility for his actions, not with such high risk, and stakes at hand.

    After all, a single mistake could lead to the human race''s extinction.

    "Don''t overreact like this, Master, you will fall ill." Nial first said so as to appease his master. But Nial''s words had the exact opposite effect and she felt as if her heart had been pierced.

    ''This bastard...'' She wanted to curse at him, and it was only because Nial continued to speak that Miranda held back...for the time being, at least.

    p "I merely told them that they should make a decision to ept that humans are on an equal standing to Elves. They act aloof, narrow-minded, and as if everything belongs to them which is wrong. Well, that is not the important point.</anda>

    The Ultimatum I gave them was that they should ept humans, and if possible create an Alliance with them. In return, we will help them against the Dryx.

    As for what happens if they don''t ept us, I said that we will just look at the Forest of Life being destroyed by the Dryx, and kill whatever is left of either side once they went into an all-out battle. It''s not that troublesome, to be honest." Nial just waved his hand, acting as if the situation was actually quite simple.

    However, Miranda''s eyes grew wide as saucers and she felt the onset of a big headache when listening to Nial''s words.

    ''Why are the Dryx suddenly so important? There is not a single clue about them habituating nearby...so why would the Elves be bothered about the Dryx? And even more importantly, why would Nial know something about the Dryx?'' Miranda was confused, her mind felt as if it had been mashed, but there was nothing to help her recuperate from the shocking blows being rained upon her one after the other.

    She stared at Nial in confusion, her head turned to Valvian and the Old Elf Crevian once again, just to see that they had begun to move toward Nial.

    Miranda tensed up noticing this, but she quickly forced herself to rx to make it seem as if everything was perfectly fine.

    "We thought about what you said, Nial." Valvian started to speak. He seemed a little bit ufortable with what he had to say. However, Master Crevian was not as reluctant to speak as it was the case for the Midnight Elf, as he gave Nial a straightforward answer.

    "We cannot make any promises. That is our answer." He simply stated in a straightforward manner.

    Nial nodded his head. He understood what they meant.

    "So you guys will try, but you cannot promise that all Elves will ept humans on equal standing? That is eptable. The government just wants to do business with you. If you only ept speaking to humans, who look beautiful in the Elves'' standards, that is perfectly fine.

    As long as both sides benefit from our rtionship, everyone should be happy. It should even be possible to fight against other hostile races, not just the Dryx." Nial said, not hiding the true intention of the Ultimatum he had put forth.

    Mankind was far from strong. However, with the benefits they would gain from the Elves, it would be possible to be much stronger in a short period. Simultaneously, by helping each other, humans would not need to actually fear new races.

    It was just important that humans would be able to adapt to Jundra''s changes fast enough.

    And with the help of the Elven races, this wouldn''t be as difficult as trying to survive on their own!

    Nial held out his hand, shing everyone a bright smile as he said,

    "I''m happy to wee the Elven race on Jundra. We wish for sessful cooperation."

    "To a sessful cooperation..."

 Chapter 253 Trading

    Nial didn''t care much about politics and he would rather fight someone than to give them an Ultimatum, or to manipte them into doing something.

    Scheming was never his forte, and it was good that way. ''Well, I would probably confuse myself if I were to have as many ns as Silvian created before incarnating.'' Nial chuckled as he thought about Silvian.

    A few days had passed since he advanced to the 1st Ancient Mirae rank, and a lot had changed since then.

    More human Originals had been epted in the Forest of Life, and a small ''base'' had been created outside the Forest, where some Elves began to negotiate with merchants, who hade forth to strike the iron while it was still hot.

    The merchants were allowed to purchase various runic armaments, special nts, potions, and various other things.

    However, there were also restrictions on how many runic armaments the Elves could sell. After all, they weren''t able to bring too much from their home to Jundra.

    In fact, it was not possible for them to bring more than a handful of Tier-2 runic armaments to Jundra, and not a single material they brought exceeded the Champion grade either.

    Jundra''s subconscious protection and filter system to weed out threats were quite terrifying, and it was even harsher when it came to the infiltration of existences that were not supposed to reach the yet.

    Dungeon portals were epted by Jundra up to a certain level because they were helpful for the awakening of the''sary mana core. However, the infiltration of a specific race was actually more burdensome to the than helpful.

    Jundra merely epted the Forest of Life due to the benefits thends around it could gain.

    The excessive mana the Forest of Life radiated nourished the surrounding area, it allowed more dungeons to create their anchors and manifest near it, and it was even possible for it to nourish the itself.

    If it wouldn''t have been for the Forest of Life, maybe the Elves wouldn''t have been able to emerge on Jundra, let alone with as many resources as they brought with them.

    Since cooperation between the elves and humans had been initiated, things got much easier. Valvian and Master Crevian ordered their subordinates to treat humans better and to strike friendly conversations with them. This would be the start of their rtionship, even if it was obvious that some setbacks would happen from time to time.

    However, that was perfectly fine because time would only strengthen their rtionship.

    Everything was a little bit awkward and confusing in the first few days, but with the appearance of some humans, who were either liked by nature or mana or even loved by it, things got much easier for the Elves as well.

    They realized that there were more humans, loved by mana than just Nial and the veiled woman which meant that their initial assumption had been an unfair prejudice against all humans in general.

    Nial was also loved by nature, which was not the case for the veiled woman.

    But that was not something Hana, the veiled woman, could be bothered about. She was busy acting as her master''s temporary trantor, assistant, and even merchant.

    The Elves were much nicer to her than to Kirlia, which was why Kirlia Maverick used Hana''s ''condition'' to her advantage.

    Of course, this was for the sake of the Heaven''s Gate organization, to allow them to make up for the losses of their Prometheus Originals.

    Time passed in the blink of an eye for the humans in and around the Forest of Life. If they had been frustrated about the Elves'' earlier behavior, they were overjoyed to be epted by them now.

    Only Miranda was still a little bit frustrated and even annoyed at that.

    "I don''t think it is correct not to say anything about the Dryx... Didn''t you say that they would attack soon?" She could only ask with a deep sigh.

    However, Nial just shrugged his shoulders.

    "It''s not like I wanted to make it a secret. The president and his counselor decided that it would be best to keep it a secret for the time being. Though, I understand how the president tries to manipte everyone''s mind." Nial didn''t know much about the president, let alone the counselor, and he actually didn''t care about it.

    But even if he didn''t care much about them, he had to acknowledge that the way they wanted to manipte their own people was quite interesting.

    "You mean the fact that all the merchants and powerful Organizations will willingly rush to their help the moment they hear that the Dryx will attack the Forest of Life, in hopes of gaining the Elves'' favor?

    So that they will be able to get their hands on more knowledge, resources, and much more?" Mathias suddenly intervened. Even if Mathias was a simple person, he was able to deduce certain schemes when he saw them.

    And it was quite obvious that the merchants and every single powerful Organization, big family, even the military and government wanted to get as many resources from the Elves, whether it was knowledge,bat techniques, teachings, or goods such as runic weapons!

    They would not only offer their help readily but they would be fully armed in front of the Forest of Life, the moment they would hear about the threat stemming from the Dryx.

    After all, it was obvious how dangerous the Dryx''s entire existence was to the Forest of Life!

    "There are more, small reasons for them to act like this, but you mentioned the most important one." Miranda agreed, nodding her head before sighing once again.

    ''Did we really do everything correctly?'' She wondered, her face showing her disappointment a bit.

    Nial noticed that Miranda was not happy, but there was not much he could do for her.

    "Don''t worry about it. Making mistakes is nothing we should be afraid of. If we fear taking action, it is more likely for us to make irreversible mistakes than by doing something that ''might'' actually be a mistake.

    As long as we try our best we are allowed to make mistakes, and we can fix them as well!" Nial remarked, letting out his inner philosopher.

    Miranda rolled her eyes at Nial''sment but she couldn''t help but feel a bit astonished.

    ''How did he know that I was thinking specifically about this? And why does he act like an old wise man? He is still 19!''<sub> </sub>

    Miranda felt like beating Nial into a pulp. This was not the first time in thest week that she thought he deserved a good beating. Somehow, he had begun to irk her more since he created his first Origin ring.

    Nial had changed a bit, and these changes were exactly what bothered Miranda. ''Bothering'' might be too strong of a word, but it was definitely unusual for Miranda to see Nial like this.

    But even then, there was nothing wrong with Nial. He was still the same person as before, even if something seemed to influence his mind a little.

    "How about we focus on learning more about runic armaments for the time being? At least, until the Dryx attack. Afterward, we can go back." Nial suddenly suggested.

    During thest few days, they had decided that they would leave after Silvian attacked the Forest of Life. A small-scale war might not be something one should look forward to, but that was exactly what Nial did.

    He wanted to test his power, see how long he could fight, and figure out where his limitsy.

    Dryx were cunning beings, who could breed rapidly. Their individual strength may not be overwhelming but their numbers were what made them special, and the disease they transmitted to others made them deadly.

    There were many interesting things about the Dryx, but Nial was most interested in their mana core and fighting them with his life on the line, at best.

    Thest few months had been extremely boring for him, and it was time to fight and let lose a little bit.

    And that was exactly what he wanted to do while making some profit with the Dryx''s mana core that could be concocted into highly potent runic solutions!

    "Alright, let''s join Crevian''s lectures.'' Miranda announced, and her worry about the Dryx disappearing for the time being. Her worry was reced by excitement when she thought about the vast knowledge she had acquired from Master Crevian''s open lessons despite not being able to understand the elven tonguepletely.

    Mathias was also excited, but he was still thinking about the trouble that awaited them in the future.

    ''I wonder if the fight against the Dryx will be just like it had been in the Teradan military camp...probably not, it will be far more devastating...''

    Mathias'' worry was not unfounded. Nial and Miranda''s reactions were way too weird, and it looked like Nial didn''t take the situation seriously. At least, that was how it looked at the first nce.

    Only Mathias knew that his friend would be the first one to fight with his life on the line if things escted.

    In fact, Nial would fight with all his might as long as it meant that he would be stronger, gain more benefits and get closer to his goal; to find and reunite with his family.

    By fighting against the Dryx, and by familiarizing himself with all the big families, including everyone in the military and the government, and the secret organizations, Nial wanted to get information about his family.

    It was about time that he got actual evidence that they were still alive.

    His gut feeling might be quite helpful to lessen his worry, but Nial was not able to be certain and at ease that his family was alive, just because his gut told him so.

    That was why it was extremely important for Nial to get on the good side of a few influential humans.

    His connections were basically non-existent after all.

    ''Even if I cannot establish contact with many people while fighting the Dryx, as long as I can get their mana cores, it will be possible to create runic solutions. Like that, I can create stronger runic armaments, and create some connections with powerful and influential people by selling these armaments.''

    Nial had several ns up his sleeve. However, he also knew that most ns were bound to fail if one were to focus too much on them. That was why he chose to maintain his calm, to continue attending Master Crevian''s open lessons about runic armaments, and to learn as much as possible.

    Learning was the only thing Nial could do right now. Elves didn''t like fighting against each other seriously. Thus, it was quite difficult to find someone, who wanted to spar with him, using their entire power.

    ''Sigh, why can''t Jase, or Yves be here? They would probably love to fight me with all their might... Oh, well, they would probably be too weak to face me right now...I forgot about that...'' Nial sighed deeply when he entered the big tree house where the open ss would be held.

    However, when he saw that Hana was present as well, his interest was piqued. So far, she had never joined the open sses, and it was near-impossible to see her without Kirlia.

    Yet, right now, Hana was alone and surrounded by a few male Elves, who bombarded her with questions.

    When Nial perceived this, he nearlyughed out loud. It was weird for Elves to react like this, even more so because they had no idea whether Hana was beautiful or not.

    Yet, what Nial didn''t expect to happen was that Hana rushed out of the crowd of male Elves, straight toward him.

    "C-Can I join you guys?"

    **

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 Chapter 254 Special Trait

    "C-Can I join you guys?" Hana halted in her tracks right in front of Nial, and next to the others.

    She nced back, and felt ufortable with the gazes on her as goosebumps sprang up on her entire body.

    ''Why are they acting so weird, all of a sudden? Can''t they ignore me, just like they did before...?'' Hana thought, taking another step closer to Nial the moment she noticed that the Elves wanted to approach her once again.

    However, before she could do so, she felt a light grasp around her left arm before she was gently pulled toward Nial''s left side.

    "Of course, you can join us." Nial said in a weing voice, ignoring the gazes that turned to him. Hana was also a bit confused because she did not notice him flinch while touching her.

    ''Is he immune? That shouldn''t be. Weird...'' Hana felt a bit odd, but she didn''t dislike that. It was just a bit confusing.

    While Hana looked at Nial from behind her veil, the young blind Original''s head had turned to the Elves. They were amongst the younger batch of Elves, who belonged to the Forest of Life. Thus, they had yet to learn many things, including not to bother a woman if she was obviously ufortable.

    "Don''t they have any manners?" Miranda suddenly asked, sneering as she looked at the situation in front of them.

    Miranda knew that the veiled woman was Kirlia''s disciple so it was no problem for them to take her in their group for the time being. However, Miranda''s attention quickly turned to Nial, who had let go of the veiled woman''s arm.

    ''Do they know each other? They seemfortable around each other which means they talked when Kirlia didn''t notice it. Well, I didn''t notice it either.'' Miranda thought, keeping her attention on the two.

    However, before she could ask something to quench her thirst for answers, Miranda was distracted by the start of Master Crevian''s lesson.

    Because she was not able to understand the elven tonguepletely yet, it was of utmost importance to observe every single action of Master Crevian, what he showcased, and the designs he drew on the ckboard with eerie precision and no hesitation.

    Time passed slowly, and the open ss went on for over three hours. While Mathias, Miranda, and Nial were fully focused on the ss, Hana was trying to make herselffortable while being seated between Miranda and Nial.

    The distance she kept to them was less than 30 centimeters, and she subconsciously moved closer to Nial, thinking that it wouldn''t be as bad if she were toe in contact with Nial by ident as with Miranda.

    ''How long has it been since I was surrounded, or in such a crowded ce? Even with Kirlia, we don''t dare to enter such crowded ces because Master fears that something may happen to me.'' Hana recalled as her gaze kept flitting to Nial. Her condition was not something one could take lightly.

    That was why it was odd for Nial to be perfectly fine after he had touched her, even if it was merely through her clothes.

    Her clothes and her veil were created using special material, to prevent her unique condition from influencing the people in her surrounding.

    If not for her clothes, it would be impossible for Hana to walk around like she was doing right now.

    But despite being very careful, she seemed to have lightly brushed past some male Elves before, when she had entered the wooden hut to join the open ss.

    This was why she had ended up being surrounded by the Elves, whose eyes had glowed weirdly.

    Hana remembered too many incidents where her condition had messed up everything. There were not many people, who were less affected by it, let alone anyone, who was immune.

    That was also why she didn''t have any friends, or why she was always by her master''s side. Kirlia Maverick was one of the few, who were less affected by her condition.

    ''Well, even then, the moment I touch Master with my bare hand, she cannot escape the effects of my condition.'' Hana thought, a deep frown of disappointment appearing on her face.

    Her attention stayed on Nial, who noticed that he was being looked at. However, this was something that had to do with the fact that he had touched her. Nial was aware of this.

    After he advanced to the 1st Ancient Mirae rank, Nial''s [Mana Sense] was much more precise. He might not have felt something when he lightly touched Hana''s arm, but his [Mana Sense] had perceived something interesting.

    ''Her body has two special traits. One is directly rted to Mana, and another one is...no idea what it does.'' Nial thought as his interest in Hana''s special traits increased.

    Thus, he couldn''t help but get excited as he got a pretty neat idea.

    "You have multiple Superior Origin rings, right?" Nial suddenly asked in a barely audible whisper aimed at Hana''s ear.

    Her first reaction was to flinch on impulse when she heard his voice, but she slowly turned her head toward him.

    ''How does he know? The istion runes on my clothes...are they not working anymore?'' Hana thought in shock, fearing that all the runes that had been engraved on her clothes had somehow lost their effect.

    However, when she checked them, everything seemed to be fine. ''I almost got a heart attack...'' Hana nearly blurted out loud, just for a sigh of relief to rece her words. She then found her voice and answered,

    "Yes, I have 3 Superior Origin rings. Why are you asking, and how do you know that, to begin with?" She tried to speak in a low voice as well. But both Miranda and Mathias turned their heads in the direction of Hana and Nial the moment they heard her speaking.

    ''3 Superior Origin rings?! Doesn''t she sound like she is around our age? Just...how talented is she?!'' Mathias nearly eximed, feeling suffocated to be surrounded by so many talented people.

    Not just him but even Miranda was a little astonished.

    ''How did Nial notice that she has several Superior Origin rings? Even I cannot perceive anything through her clothes...not even a trace of mana... and where did Kirlia find such a monstrous talent, either way?'' She wondered as her eyes darted from Nial and Hana. But, a momentter a proud smile appeared on Miranda''s face.

    ''Well, my monster is still superior to yours, Kirlia!''

    "I have pretty good senses. When I pulled you towards us earlier, I could sense whaty behind your facade." Nial answered nonchntly. Miranda''s eyebrow rose upon hearing what he said to the veiled woman but he ignored his master and continued to speak.

    "Either way, that''s not important. How about it? Do you want to spar with me?"

    How could Nial not want to spar with Hana? She had three Superior Origin rings, which was basically the perfect amount Nial''s training partner needed to have.

    He had once tried to spar with Mathias, but both Nial and Mathias quickly realized to their dismay that the gap between their strength was simply too high.

    The moment Nial used his dark energy, Mathias was bound to lose against him. This was a bit annoying, which was another reason for the two to not spar with each other again.<sub> </sub>

    They knew each other''s tactics and holding back was not something Nial or Mathias were good at, either.

    "You...want to fight me? Is that really necessary?" Hana asked hesitantly, the eyes behind the veil trembling slightly.

    ''If something goes wrong, Nial''s mind might get harmed...'' She thought while nibbling her lower lip nervously. She could not fathom why Nial was so excited to fight her to begin with. And, then his expression changed drastically upon hearing what Hana said, confusing her further.

    "Necessary...I guess it is not." He first said in a bit disappointed tone, before he added with a little bit more enthusiasm,

    "But it would help both of us to be stronger, I believe... Don''t you want to be stronger? Jundra is changing every day, and who knows how long it will take before a hostile race descends in the same way the Elves descended in the Forest of Life?" Nial said whatever came to his mind. He was not great at convincing people to make them listen to him.

    At least, that was what he thought about his own conversation skills. In his opinion, he was not the best at socializing, let alone talking someone into doing something they don''t want to.

    He didn''t want to force anyone to do something if they hated the thought of it. Thus, he felt a bit disappointed at Hana''s first reaction.

    "I-I don''t have anything against a spar, but it would be best if we don''t use our abilities, at all.

    We need to prevent anything bad from happening. That should be fine, right?" Hana asked, still hesitating.

    Nial was not actually sure what Hana meant with ''prevent anything bad from happening'', but when he recalled seeing the Elves earlier, he could tell that they had been influenced by something or someone.

    "The Elves had been affected by your special trait, hadn''t they?" Nial suddenly asked, realizing something.

    Hana flinched upon hearing him find out the truth so easily, but she nodded her head a momentter. "Y-Yeah..."

    "In that case, it''s fine. Let''s spar once the open ss is over, without using our abilities!" Nial said, his mood lit up once again.

    ''I will never understand him. Wasn''t he fully focused on learning about runic armaments before? Now he wants to be stronger again, or what is his n now?'' Mathias wondered, looking at the veiled woman and Nial.

    His friend was a little bit weird and would always surprise him with his somewhat spontaneous decisions. However, Mathias felt that it would never get boring with Nial, his weird, and only friend.

    ''Well, there is also Be. I wonder how she is doing. It is a little bit weird that she didn''t join to see the Elves. She might be busy with something else. As long as she is fine, it will be okay!'' Mathias sighed thinking about his other friend, but there was nothing he could do against it.

    Be was independent and she was probably doing something important, somewhere she wanted to be.

    With the improved teleportation circles that have been engraved in the shelters, it was much easier to travel around as well.

    Thus, the economic situation of the entire human race had improved quite a lot.

    And all of that just because the Elves improved their teleportation circle a tiny bit, boosting the teleportation range by 200%!

    The government had traded information with the adjustment of the teleportation circle''s ''ws''. This was the real reason for the Elves'' support.

    However, nobody really cared about this because it made things so much easier and convenient. Traveling between the shelters was now possible because every single teleportation circle in the hall of teleportation teleported them straight to the shelters now, instead of the wilderness.

    There was no need to be afraid of traveling and getting lost anymore, and the only burdensome factor was the increase in the demand of mana one teleportation required.

    But that was actually no problem for most Originals because they were rich enough to pay for the teleportation fee that had been set up to allow everyone to use the teleportation circle as long as they wanted to.

    This service was new, and extremely helpful, even more so, considering that the Forest of Life was also one of the destinations one could teleport to.

    More and more people reached the area in front of the Forest of Life. There were many tourists, who merely wanted to see what Elves looked like. They were of a different race, so it was only obvious for them to be interested in their appearance.

    Leaving the walls of the shelters was something most civilians never dared to do. Even amongst the Originals, who had awoken their Origin, there were only a few, who dared to leave their shelter and enter the wilderness.

    But now, this had changed, to a certain extent. Some civilians were slowly finding the courage to leave their shelter, to look at the situation around them, and see how vast the world truly was.

    Seeing the vast world without the obstruction of the shelter walls made everyone''s heart itch for adventures.

    Whether they wanted to or not, humans began to see hope again, the hope that everything would be fine, that they would be able to retaliate against the forces that had restricted them in the past, and that it would be possible to reim thend that had been taken from them.

    It was almost as if a new Era was about to start.

    But would this Era be one of hope and growth, or bring forth pain and destruction?

    **

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 Chapter 255 Amplified Mana

    Nial was still interested in figuring out what exactly Hana''s special traits were.

    However, it was even more important to him that he was finally able to let loose. He was not allowed to go all-in, but that was more than fine with Nial.

    There was a small training ground for the Elves in the Forest of Life. Nial and Mathias weren''t allowed to use it in the spar against Tessa and Brn but that was something they could understand.

    After all, they had been told to go all-in and to use their abilities. Nial''s abilities were destructive and the Elves didn''t want to see their beloved Forest of Life getting harmed or destroyed.

    Thus, they had to spar outside the forest, where everyone had seen what he had done using his dark energy.

    It didn''t really matter to Nial, but upon giving it some thought he realized that many powerhouses treated him differently from before. This was even more true now after he advanced to the Mirae rank.

    Nial didn''t really understand the reason for a change in their behavior but they were far more polite than before, which was weird, considering that some of the powerhouses were higher-ups of the military, the government, and even some Prometheus Originals.

    "They treat you like this because of your rtionship with the Elves, and the phenomena you caused when you finished the creation of your Origin ring. By the way, you still haven''t told me what this Origin ring exactly is. You merely said that it had something to do with that manual¡­what was the technique called again? Control, something," Miranda tried to answer his unspoken question. She was pointing her fingers at him when she walked next to Nial and the others to the training grounds in the Forest of Life.

    Hana was quiet, but her ears were pricked in interest. She was also interested in hearing what Miranda said. After all, it was not normal that Nial had caused such a weird phenomenon whilepleting his primary Origin ring.

    There had to be something more, some reason why he became the overlord of all mana in the surrounding when he finished advancing to the Ancient Mirae rank!

    "Control of the Ancient Monarch. That''s the name of the technique, and you know that I cannot share details about the hidden page in that manual. If you want to learn everything about it, practice the technique to the perfect mastery, and you will understand everything on your own." Nial answered his master while shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

    He wanted to share the information about the Control of the Ancient Monarch manual with the others, however, sharing the details of the hidden page was tricky.

    It was a little bitplex because there were a few restrictions about the said knowledge. Nial would forget everything about the Ancient Origin rings and the other hidden content of the Control of the Ancient Monarch''s secret page the moment he tried to reveal those specific details.

    "I can only say that I created my Origin ring based on the knowledge of the hidden content I read in that manual."

    With this, Nial revealed everything he was allowed to say. Something in his mind told him that his revtion was on the borderline of what was allowed and what wasn''t.

    Thus, he decided to shut up for now. Miranda nodded her head though she was not satisfied with Nial''s answer. She knew that she had to figure it out by herself if she wanted to know more about it.

    ''It cannot be bad for me to try improving my mana control. When I have some more time, I should take a look at this manual.'' She decided though she also was well aware of the fact that she would probably never take a look at Nial''s manual.

    Her time was limited as a day had only 24 hours, and there was so much for her to do.

    When they finally arrived on the training grounds, Nial didn''t think much. The Dragonme spear manifested in his hand, and Nial began to spin it around himself.

    His motions were void of wasted moves, and he became faster, the more he focused on the movements of his fingers.

    ''My dexterity and instincts have improved as well. That''s great." Nial thought the moment he twisted his body as Hana lunged out at him all of a sudden.

    "Maybe you''re not as innocent as I thought." Nial calmly stated, when he felt warm blood trickling down his cheek.

    It had been cut by the rapier Hana had pierced with.

    "Didn''t you want to start fighting immediately?" Hana asked in confusion and retracted her hand instinctively.

    "Hahaha" Nial began tough. Only now did he understand that Hana was someone who was a bit dense and took everything at face value.

    However, that was quite interesting, which was why Nial changed his posture in a moment.

    "Forget what I said, let''s fight." He announced as he entered the battle stance. His expression turned serious as he began to move toward Hana.

    Mathias and Miranda took a few steps back to avoid being pulled into the messy fight that had started right in front of them.

    "A rapier? Weird choice of weapon to fight against monsters¡­" Mathias thought with a raised eyebrow while seeing the weapon Hana was holding. It was a silver rapier that had engravings in a bloody red color, and in a bluish-red mixture. The center of the bluish-red mixture was purple and was glowing faintly as Hana maintained a constant supply of mana.

    "I guess this is her weapon to fight against humans and beasts with weak defenses, but I cannot say that for sure. Kirlia''s teachings were always weird, and I guess that this girl has some ways to fight against beasts with powerful defenses, where her rapier is useless." Miranda stated in response to Mathias'' exmation, sharing her observations with him.

    She was actually a bit interested in Hana''s fighting style. Her movements were smooth, and she fought both aggressively and defensively. It was difficult to defend with a rapier, but Hana made it possible.

    Her movements prevented Nial from targeting her vital spots, and with the use of the rapier, and actions that could be barely perceived by most people in the surroundings, she was able to make it seem as if Nial''s attacks were not even close to hitting her.

    Nial, on the other hand, perceived everything clearly. He could sense that Hana was faster than him and more agile.

    However, this was not only because of the fact that she had three Superior Origin rings. Rather, the mana that circted through her body was stronger than ordinary mana.

    It was amplified and much stronger than it was supposed to be.

    ''She is not using an ability, so how is her mana stronger than mine? Is it one of her special traits? What exactly are her special traits even?'' Nial''s mind was working hard while thinking of a solution to the given situation.

    After a few thrusts of the Dragonme spear, Nial could already tell that it would be close to impossible for him to hit her.

    Nial was not much slower than Hana, but he could also tell that the difference between them was much higher than he had expected.

    ''She is fighting extremely calmly without feeling the need to go all-in. Her mana amplifies her physical strength and she is already stronger than usual due to her higher rank.'' Nial quickly concluded.

    It also looked like Hana was very proficient at fighting with the rapier. She was mostly defending but the moment she saw a tiny opening, a terrifying attack would strike Nial.<sub> </sub>

    Using his enhanced [Mana Sense] and his other senses to his advantage, Nial could evade Hana''s attacks.

    There were tiny motions done by her that revealed it to him that she was about to attack. This was extremely useful for Nial because it prevented him from losing a fight against someone, whose physical strength was much higher.

    Hana was physically stronger, she had far more mana in her mana core, and her mana was not normal either!

    More than half an hour had passed, and they were still sparring. Nial''s body was riddled with shallow cuts that had long since stopped bleeding.

    The Symbol of Life released enough vigor in Nial''s body to elerate his healing capabilities. Even his Stamina didn''t decrease as fast as it should.

    Thus, Nial could continue to fight even longer! He was far from being tired, which was something Nial wanted to make use of.

    ''She is constantly using her mana to strengthen her body and her rapier''s runes are also activated most of the time. Shouldn''t her mana reserves have decreased drastically by now?!'' Nial started to get confused.

    Because of the clothes Hana wore, it was already quite difficult to perceive anything about the mana she released. However, what was even worse for Nial was being incapable of perceiving how much mana his opponent was left with during a fight.

    Nial liked to use this knowledge to his advantage so that he could figure out whether it would be better to fight aggressively and quickly conclude it or to drag the fight on and tire his opponent in order to win.

    Against Hana, this was impossible, and even if it was logical to say that she should have used up more mana than Nial had, something told him that this logic didn''t apply to her.

    Something was weird, and Nial was ready to find it out.

    ''Fighting without a little risk will end up in a boring fight of attrition!'' Nial thought in his mind. With enough determination, Nial circted mana through his entire body, enhancing his strength a tiny bit.

    Simultaneously, he changed his grip around the Dragonme spear before he thrust it out while stepping forward.

    While Nial had focused on fighting with two hands and holding the Dragonme spear before him, this time his attack was issued using only one hand.

    He twisted his body, erged his range of attack, and aimed straight for Hana''s chest.

    Nial knew that she would try to evade it and that she would use her rapier to further change the trajectory of his attack.

    However, especially because Nial knew that this would happen, he ignited the Dragonme spear''s mes for the first time in the fight.

    ''Hana used her rapier''s runes in the entire fight, so she won''tin, right?'' Nial thought with an amused smile, not really taking his own thoughts seriously as he dashed forward, and elerated his attack further.

    Nial''s sudden change in his fighting style astonished Hana. She was just about to twist her body to evade the attack when Nial shot forward.

    ''I cannot evade it.'' Hana realized, and with this realization, her eyes turned serious. She inserted an enormous amount of mana in her rapier and activated the [Hardening] rune to harden the rapier so that she could block and change the trajectory of Nial''s attack.

    This worked like a charm with the sole exception that the attack''s impact caused her to lose bnce. She looked away just for a second and saw that the mes of the Dragonme spear began to burn her veil the moment the blocked de of the spear passed by her head.

    ''Fuck!!'' Hana''s mind nked out at the thought of her veil catching fire. Her eyes scanned through the surrounding the moment the veil was zing brightly.

    Meanwhile, the moment Hana''s veil began to burn, the runes on it were deactivated, allowing him to visualize her instantaneously.

    She was merely a meter away from him, which was why now he could perceive everything about her down to the finest detail.

    ''Yeah, she is definitely not my sister¡­why did I even think that before?'' Nial was confused about his own stupidity. Obviously, Hana was not his sister, but until now, a small part of him had been hoping that it might have been Sabrina, that his sister had recuperated from her illness and that she had merely lost her memories or something like that.

    However, that was just some wishful thinking, which was far from reality.

    Nheless, Nial couldn''t help but halt in his tracks the moment he visualized Hana''s face.

    ''She looks gorgeous¡­and like an otherworldly beauty, is that why she is hiding her face? Her face is as beautiful as the Divine Goddess¡­'' Nial thought, halting in his tracks.

    The fight had halted all of a sudden, and Nial quickly noticed that something around them was weird. Many Elves were staring at Hana, including Mathias and Miranda, who were fully focused on her.

    This was weird, and only when Nial changed his focus from her face to her mana did he understand what both of her special traits were.

    "Fuck it,"

    **

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 Chapter 256 Mana Heart

    When Nial visualized Hana''s face, he was shocked. She was extremely beautiful. Her face was wless, highlighted by her big eyes, and long eyshes and her skin looked soft and supple like that of a newborn baby.

    Hana''s head was small, and long silky hair fluttered over her face, partially covering her eyes. Yet, the moment Nial visualized her eyes, his heart began to beat wildly.

    ''I feel like she is pulling me in with her spell...'' Nial thought for a moment, just for this feeling to disappear in an instant.

    It was as if this bewitching sensation had never existed. However, Nial knew that this was not true. After all, everyone''s attention was directed to Hana, the moment her veil caught fire.

    The runes on the veil had been deactivated due to the veil''s natural defensive mechanism, and everything Hana wanted to hide was about to be exposed.

    That was what it looked like, at least. Hana panicked for a moment and attempted to hide her face, but her powerful mana currents and everything she had been painstakingly hiding from others were already released by her identally.

    At this moment, Nial stored the Dragonme spear in his spatial ring before he held both of his hands out.

    "If you have another veil, put it on," Nial suggested calmly, while dark energy shot out of his arms and hands, engulfing Hana tightly.

    She flinched when she sensed the cold energy shrouding her, but even before Nial continued to speak, Hana understood that her mana currents were incapable of squeezing through the dense dark energy.

    "Don''t fight it, just change your veil," Nial repeated himself again in the same calm tone. This reassured Hana that everything would be fine.

    ''As long as I don''t try to fight against this dark energy, my mana cannot pierce through it...calm down Hana, nothing happened. Nial is there to help you, Hana. Just calm down!!'' She nearly screamed at herself in her thoughts, but it was extremely helpful and allowed her to return to her calm andposed self.

    Despite being cold, dark, and somewhat eerie, the energy that shrouded her gave Hana the warmth she needed. Her hands moved quickly, and a spare veil appeared in her hand which she reced with the veil that had begun to burn.

    Nial''s dark energy had easily extinguished the mes, and Hana could change the veil without a problem. In less than half a minute, the spare veil covered her face, and all the necessary runes were activated.

    The moment Nial noticed that he was not able to sense her mana fluctuations properly anymore, he retracted his dark energy. Unable to visualize her and to perceive a lot from her, Nial knew that the spare veil was now in ce.

    "Will you be fine?" Nial asked in genuine concern.

    ''I figured out what her special traits are. Wasn''t that supposed to be her secret? Why do I feel so bad all of a sudden...?'' He wondered.

    It may have been his fault for asking her to spar with him but it was not as if Hana couldn''t reject his challenge. Thus, Nial scrapped his earlier thought, telling himself that it was an ident.

    "I guess?" Hana could only reply, feeling hesitant as she took a look around. She was still eyed by many, but most powerful Originals were more confused than bewitched by her.

    "Yeah, I will be fine." She said with more confidence after seeing that nobody had been affected by her weird condition a lot. Her mana fluctuations had only been released for a moment because Nial had acted quickly enough.

    Furthermore, she didn''te in touch with anyone, which made things much easier than it had been with the few Elves from before.

    But even if Hana believed that she would be fine, her eyes involuntarily turned to Nial.

    "Why were you not affected?" Curiosity got the better of her and she blurted out the question that had been on her mind for a while. Under normal circumstances, she was supposed to hide her special trait, even if someone were to find it out about the bewitching mana fluctuations.

    As long as they didn''t know what exactly it was, nobody could find a way to counter it properly, after all.

    "Was I supposed to be affected?" Nial countered in return. He smiled yfully before the right corner of his mouth curled upward.

    With a single step, he advanced toward Hana and ended up only centimeters away from her.

    "Two hearts, one allowing you to stay alive, and the other one giving your mana life," Nial whispered in a low voice so that only Hana would hear and understand him.

    She flinched and was about to take a step back.

    However, she nearly stumbled and fell because her entire attention had been on Nial''s face and the words he had spoken.

    At that moment, Nial''s hand reached out to her. He held her arm, pulled her closer, and prevented Hana from falling to the ground.

    "You never created a mana core, did you?" Nial asked his voice low but overflowing with excitement. He didn''t know when it was but he started to smile brightly.

    Hana flinched and she wanted to squirm out of his grasp to escape him. But that seemed impossible. Nial wasn''t even holding her tightly, yet, Hana was incapable of escaping his grasp as the eyes behind her veil stared deep into his milky, lifeless eyes.

    "N-No..., I awoke my Origin like this..." Hana answered with a stutter.

    She was not sure why, but it was impossible for her to escape Nial. Her physical strength was higher, and he didn''t even try to hold her in ce. Despite that, Hana felt as if she was the one, who had been bewitched at this moment.

    However, that was impossible.

    "I wish I could ask you more about your Mana heart, but it looks like your master ising, and she is furious." Nial''s smile turned even broader when he said this.

    Hana began to blush involuntarily, but she didn''t move away from Nial. Instead, she felt that it was necessary for her to find out why Nial was immune to her second special trait!

    It was a fact that she had never awoken a mana core but a Mana heart. Her Mana heart worked just like a normal human heart, with the sole difference that mana was circted through her mana veins instead of human blood circted through ordinary veins.

    The Mana Heart strengthened her mana, refined and purified it. Even if Hana didn''t own an Innate ability, her Mana heart was much stronger than most Innate abilities.

    It was possible for her to passively absorb mana, to annex it in an instant, and her Mana heart was able to store more mana than ordinary Mana cores!

    And as if that was not enough, her Mana Heart''s effects continued to grow. There was a limitation to the Mana heart''s growth but it would take a long time until it would have reached maturity.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, as long as she worked hard, her rank would increase rapidly!

    However, despite owning such a powerful special trait, Hana never revealed herself to anyone. Her real identity was unknown to the public.

    Nobody knew her in person and the most others knew was that she was Kirlia''s disciple, but that was only obvious.

    After all, she had been terminally ill until a bit less than two years ago. After she awoke her Origin, it took her several months to recuperate from her terminal illness, and only afterward was it possible for her to start advancing in the path of a genuine Original!

    Unfortunately, there had been a fewplications, and not only a Mana heart was awoken when Hana awakened her origin.

    There was something else, something that changed her entire life once again. If she had wished to make friends and to have fun with them, this dream was shattered into countless pieces the moment her second special trait manifested.

    Nial had sensed it from all the people in the surrounding area. There was not a single individual, who waspletely immune to the faint, altered mana fluctuations Hana had identally released upon panicking when her veil had caught fire.

    ''A Mana Heart, and some sort of ''Charming'' trait.'' Nial concluded. Her Charm was released naturally through her mana was strengthened and in turn amplified her Charm.

    Thus, if she was not able to conceal her mana under all circumstances, it would be impossible for her to live in any kind of society. After all, Nial could tell how potent her Charm was.

    ''But why am I not affected then? Is it the Odyssey''s seed natural protection? It could also have to do with the Ankh...'' He thought, without being able to tell the truth.

    Nial wanted to find out more, but even before he could say anything else, he was forced to let go of Hana.

    Darkness shrouded his feet and reinforced them as he used arge amount of mana to jump backward.

    The ground below him cracked but that was nothing inparison to the huge greatsword that cleaved down at the position Nial had been standing a fraction of a second earlier.

    The crimson-colored greatsword cut deeply into the ground before a cobweb-like pattern spread out on the surface as the crimson greatsword''s [Second Impact] rune was activated.

    "Did you n on killing me?! Are you insane, woman?" Nial blurted out the moment hended on the ground.

    He could clearly feel Kirlia Maverick''s killing intent. However, there was something that confused Nial.

    ''The killing intent might also be directed at me but that''s not all. Her killing intent is aimed at everyone!''

    "Shut up, goner." Kirlia hissed in rage, her head flicking to him.

    If Nial were to bother to visualize her, he would understand that her eyes were not only filled with anger, and killing intent but also traces of fear and worry.

    She worried that something happened to Hana because her mana fluctuations had been released for a moment.

    When her veil had deactivated itself, Kirlia got a notification and she rushed over as quickly as possible. Fortunately, it seemed as if it was a false rm, but the fact that Nial had been holding her disciple had worried her a lot.

    She feared that something might happen to Hana the moment her secrets would get exposed. ''Even the Elves should be interested in something with as much talent as she has. I guess...'' Kirlia merely thought.

    "Let''s go back, Master... I don''t want to attract too much attention..." Hana said all of a sudden. She knew that her master wanted the best for her. However, Kirlia''s current behavior would unnecessarily attract suspicion.

    ''Master, you''re going overboard. If you continue like this, everyone will start to get suspicious!'' Hana wanted to scream out.

    However, she didn''t say anything else and allowed her master to calm down for a moment.

    The killing intent around Kirlia was retracted, her expression changed, and she turned back to her disciple.

    "Let''s go back then." Kirlia''s reply was quiet, it almost looked like she had calmed down.

    But everyone could tell that deep down, Kirlia was just forcing herself to stay calm so that her disciple wouldn''t be disappointed in her.

    They left the small training grounds without saying another word. Nial could only smile weirdly at this. Meanwhile, Mathias and Miranda approached him. Both felt like asking some questions but they could see the weird expression on Nial''s face.

    Thus, they didn''t bother him for the time being.

    Many Originals and Elves in the surroundings were also confused. In thest few seconds, they had regained their senses. However, they were actually not sure what happened in the time before, between the time the veiled woman''s veil caught fire and when her face was covered with a new veil.

    Everything in-between that period was a little hazy, and only those with stronger willpower were able to recall what happened.

    While a smallmotion was caused by this rather trivial incident, Hana was deep in thoughts, confused by who Nial was to be immune to her Charm.

    This was a good sign, but the unknown was also a little bit frightening.

    "Wait?!" Kirlia suddenly eximed. Her eyes widened in shock as she turned to Hana.

    "Am I stupid, or was it possible for Nial, this little jerk, to keep his calm even after he touched you??"

    Only now did she recall with a ring rity to have seen Nial holding Hana''s arm. She didn''t care why he was holding her, but it enraged her nheless.

    ''This little bastard, I have to cut his arm off....''

 Chapter 257 History Will Repeats Itself

    ''Truly interesting.'' Nial thought as his curiosity about Hana kept increasing.

    "Miranda, didn''t the information I received earlier say that terminally ill civilians were kidnapped by the Eclipse Assassins?" He asked all of a sudden and turned to his master.

    "Yeah, the Eclipse Assassins kidnap terminally ill civilians for the Heaven''s Gates organization. You know that. Why are you asking?" Miranda answered in an irritated voice due to his sudden interruption. She then made a few more inquiries about the Heaven''s Gates organization when Nial and Mathias were busy with their conquest.

    She had already received a bit more information and was waiting to hear a lot more when the news about the descending teau, the Forest of Life, reached her.

    Miranda gave Nial all the files she had, which was everything she could have done to help her disciple at that time.

    However, now that there was a connection to the Originals association''swork, even in the small base near the Forest of Life, things had be much easier, and Miranda had received even more files filled with information.

    "The files you read through a few days ago came from a spy within the Eclipse Assassins. He or she is at a higher position and only after I paid several tens of millions of dors, did the anonymous provider share the files with me.

    Everything should be written there." Miranda was not sure what exactly Nial wanted to say, but she felt that it was not something she was looking forward to.

    "I know that this is everything you have, but I noticed something odd when I fought with Hana," Nial remarked, without revealing anything about her special traits, not yet, at least.

    Not many terminally ill civilians had been kidnapped in thest few years, and even fewer were ever seen again. Nial presumed that they had, most likely, died.

    The lives of others didn''t really matter to him but considering that the chances of staying alive in the Heaven''s Gates organization as terminally ill patients were low, Nial had been a bit worried.

    This was another reason for him wanting to fight Hana. Even if he couldn''t tell for sure, Nial was pretty sure that Hana had been terminally ill just like Sabrina!

    And when Nial shrouded Hana with his dark energy to prevent any of her mana fluctuations to influence the people in the surrounding area, Nial simultaneously visualized her entire body from inside-out to ''see'' whether there were signs of a terminal illness or not, if he could detect something odd about her.

    In the end, Nial didn''t find much, but the little traces he found were more than enough for him to conclude that Hana was one of the few civilians, who had been kidnapped by the Eclipse Assassins and brought to the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    "What did you find out?" Now, even Mathias was interested, and Nial could only smile faintly.

    "She was terminally ill, simr to my sister, Sabrina, and to make things even more interesting, Hana is terrifyingly talented.

    Somehow, the Heaven''s Gates organization turned Hana''s terminal illness into something advantageous." Nial was still not sure what exactly they had done to Hana, but she didn''t seem to resent the Heaven''s Gates organization as much as he did for taking his sister away from him.

    ''Maybe her memories were sealed, or she lost parts of her memory? But, who am I to determine that? I have no idea about who Hana even is.'' The more he thought about the Heaven''s Gates organization, the more frustrating it was.

    However, on the other hand, Nial had to acknowledge the bitter truth that his sister might have already died by now. He didn''t want to ept reality but even if nobody had kidnapped Sabrina, or done anything stupid, he could not ignore the possibility that she might have died by now.

    Her terminal illness was at an advanced stage and it had progressed rapidly. Nial knew that which was also why the Heaven''s Gates organization could be considered thest ray of hope for his ailing sister.

    ''Do I hate them for taking away my family, or am I supposed to be thankful for whatever they did? Well...if my sister is alive and healed, I would probably be thankful, I guess?'' Nial was confused, which only increased when he visualized that Miranda''s expression had worsened.

    "What is wrong?" Nial asked, worried that Miranda might have something bad to say about his idea. ''Is something wrong with my family?''

    Right now, Nial was not able to think reasonably anymore. Everything was way too confusing, after all.

    ''Is it like that?'' Miranda wondered as a deep frown appeared on her face.

    Miranda thought about it for quite a while. There was no reason for the Eclipse Assassins to kidnap someone, who was bound to die.

    There was also the possibility that the Heaven''s Gates organization used the terminally ill patients asb rats to conduct experiments. However, terminally ill people were weak and there had to be a reason to experiment on someone, especially terminally ill civilians.

    Miranda had discarded this possibility quickly when she realized that there was something else, something that sounded far more logical. ''All kidnapped patients had terminal illnesses that were unknown to the doctors, and they could only find a bit of respite and be somewhat tended to with the use of mana-based medicine...''

    "What if Hana, and maybe even your sister, were never terminally ill, but that they were in possession of some sort of special constitution or trait that their body couldn''t handle?" She asked all of a sudden, her eyes gleaming brightly as she looked straight at Nial.

    "That...." Nial started to speak but he quieted down in an instant.

    ''Is that possible? It should...''

    "So...the Heaven''s Gates organization is searching for terminally ill people like my sister, and they try to awaken their special traits before nourishing them?" Nial thought that it made sense.

    Hana was bound to reach the Prometheus rank at an extremely low age. If not for the Forest of Life and the Elves'' appearance, she would have already been on the way to bing the strongest Original in a matter of years.

    Now things would change a bit but Hana was destined to be powerful nheless.

    "So your sister is definitely alive, maybe even healed? That is amazing!!!" Mathias was exhrated. He rushed to his friend and hugged him.

    Mathias didn''t care about the gazes his loud voice of action attracted. Right now, he was just happy for his good friend, d that Nial''s hard work was paying off and that he received good news.

    There was still hope for his sister and Nial himself and that was worth a hug!

    Nial couldn''t hide his smile anymore. They didn''t know anything for sure but the chances seemed good. Hana had ovee her terminal illness as well, so his sister might actually be alive!

    ''Hana also said that Sabrina could be the other veiled woman.'' Nial recalled. Earlier, he couldn''t take this information for granted, let alone hope that it had to be Sabrina.

    However, now the chances were rising, and Nial''s heart was beating wildly.<sub> </sub>

    The Ankh was glowing brightly as well. It caused the Odyssey seed to thump as well.

    Excitement streamed through Nial. ''Today is a great day!'' He thought with a bright smile.

    Yet, just when he thought that things couldn''t get any better, Nial''s hair stood up on its ends.

    With a light push, he moved Mathias away from him.

    A momentter, Nial''s range of perception was instantaneously expanded to its limit and he used arge amount of mana to supply it to his [Mana Sense], further expanding his range of perception.

    His range of perception is now spread in a radius spanning more than 10 kilometers in that state. But even then, there was nothing odd that he could sense.

    "Weird, I could swear..." He muttered in confusion before his face drained of all its color. He paled in an instant as blood trickled out of his nose.

    "Nial!! What is going on?!" Mathias immediately screamed out, shocked by the dark-red blood that sttered on the ground.

    "Nial?!" Miranda was also rmed at the sudden change in her disciple''s behavior and his well-being.

    Nial looked up as blood continued to trickle out of his nose, while his face turned even paler if that was even possible.

    All of a sudden, something about his milky and lifeless eyes changed. Darkness crawled out from the corner of his eyes. It devoured not only the white of his eye but the pair of lifeless eyes in its entirety that had been staring at the sky in a particr direction.

    Darkness oozed out of Nial''s eyes, and an eerie gloominess shrouded his entire existence as he opened his mouth slowly.

    "Makilu Historia, Sanik Oliav," A hoarse and dark voice that didn''t belong to Nial escaped his lips. Thenguage he spoke was not something anyone could understand.

    Even the Elves that were present were incapable of understanding what Nial was saying.

    Raging winds emerged around him, and darkness oozed out of his pores creating a cloud of darkness. Nial was its center and the darkness that swirled around him expanded rapidly.

    The darkness wanted to devour everything in Nial''s range of perception, take over all life, and turn the puny existences around it into its mindless ves.

    In seconds, the training ground was engulfed in darkness before it began to encroach on the surrounding nature that was slowly being destroyed.

    The Elves looked at him in terror. They were frozen in ce and couldn''t move in the fear of being destroyed as well. Nial''s darkness destroyed everything, and only the Prometheus Elves were able to do something.

    Seconds after the training grounds were engulfed in Nial''s darkness, they appeared in the trees. Valvian was also amongst them, and he could only stare at Nial''s face in terror, just like everyone else.

    Whatever was going on was getting out of hand and Valvian didn''t like that at all!

    ''Just what is going on?!'' He thought in confusion. His gaze was fixated on Nial, who was now also bleeding out of his eyes. It was almost as if he was consumed by the darkness he ought to have under his control.

    But what was the trigger for this sudden change?! Maybe not even Nial knew...

    "We have to stop him, now! Otherwise, it will be toote to save the Forest of Life!!" One of the Prometheus Elves eximed in a shaky voice.

    Yet, before anyone could act to prevent Nial from destroying everything, a faint trace of white could be seen in his pitch-ck eyes. Just a momentter, Nial bit on his lip so hard that it started to bleed.

    His fingernails dug in his palm and the Ankh began to shine even brighter, filling Nial with the essence of life.

    "This fucking bullshit. I cannot even be happy for a short moment. These annoying memories, go fuck yourself!" Nial cursed out, without holding back.

    He had been deprived of his short moment of happiness, and that was certainly not something that made him happy.

    His head was aching painfully. It was almost as if someone had stabbed his brain with thousands of zing hot needles.

    However, Nial knew that there was no time for him to think about what just happened, and why it happened, let alone to rest for some time.

    With weak movements, his hands lifted to the sky in the north,

    "War will emerge, chaos will descend, and history will repeat itself. They''reing, hundreds of thousands of them..."

    **

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 Chapter 258 Black Cloud

    Far in the north, ck clouds shrouded the beautiful, clear sky. It looked like a thunderstorm was approaching them rapidly, bringing forth chaos and destruction.

    However, upon hearing what Nial said, everyone around him was able to tell what was going on.

    "Hundreds of thousands¡­.that won''t be easy¡­" Valvian mumbled, jumping down from the tree branch he had been standing on.

    He approached Nial to see if he was fine as something about the young Original had been weird.

    Yet, when he approached Nial, Valvian noticed that the young man was recuperating at a terrifyingly fast pace.

    The vigor in his body was overflowing, expelling his exhaustion and healing him quickly.

    "Sorry for what just happened, I don''t know what caused this¡­" Nial said weakly as he turned his head to Valvian with an apologetic expression.

    He had already retracted the darkness around him, but parts of the training ground''s greenery had wilted.

    Elves loved nature, and everyone who destroyed nature intentionally would automatically be enemies of the Elves. That was why Nial was honest with himself and Valvian and tried to cate them.

    He had no fucking idea what had happened just now.

    ''Memories flooded me, but it didn''t feel like they came from the Odyssey seed. It felt as if I was watching a war from the eyes of millions of existences, all of whom were under my control¡­'' Nial thought, the confusion in his mind overwhelming him.

    The memories were pretty weird, and Nial was just happy that his brain had be stronger while his mental strength had also increased considerably after the primary Ancient Origin ring had been created. Without this enhancement, Nial wouldn''t have been able to ovee the predicament he had been in.

    At least, he was pretty sure that it would have been close to impossible for him to ovee it. Only the Ankh would have been able to help him then.

    ''Was this what the God of Darkness told me? That I need to be strong enough to prevent the Odyssey seed from taking me over, otherwise, he would reincarnate? So was this some sort of a bacsh or was it initiated by something¡­or someone?'' Nial had many questions but not a single answer.

    But he didn''t have the time to be bothered about them either way. Hundreds of thousands of Dryx were on their way to the Forest of Life.

    "Why did nobody notice that they have alreadye so close? What are these fucking scouts doing?" Nial suddenly heard someone cursing in the elven tongue.

    It was Master Crevian who had cursed out. He was holding a unique wand in his hand which he angrily smashed on the ground and waited for something to happen.

    Tremendous amounts of mana had been stored in therge wooden wand, whose tip had a cavity and small tiny twig-like branches were tightly holding onto a green orb. Numerous runes were engraved along the wand''s long shaft, and all of them were glowing.

    When the man was released out of the wooden wand, the entire Forest of Life seemed to move. The bushes were rustling, and the branches were moving.

    Dozens of paths toward the north were opened including the ways toward the infirmary, the barracks and more necessary facilities were unveiled as well. A momentter, Master Crevian''s voice thundered through the entire Forest of Life and the surrounding area.

    "The Dryx areing. They passed by the human and elven scouts. We have less than 5 minutes before they''ll reach the Forest of Life¡­.prepare for war!"

    Valvian had already put on greenish leather armor, and a thin longsword had manifested in his hand. He was ready to fight and was also the first one to walk down the paths that led him to the north.

    "These vile and disgusting existences are not allowed to touch even a single nt of the Forest of Life! Fight with everything you have, and we wille out victorious. Look death in the eye, and ovee it. We will survive and be heroes!" Valvian''s voice boomed through the open area, overflowing with determination and confidence.

    At this moment, it looked like his body had erged several times, and that he would be everyone''s shield so as to protect them from the dangers that originated from the Dryx attack.

    However, deep down everyone knew that Valvian couldn''t protect them. They had to protect themselves, otherwise, they would die.

    Despite this obvious fact, the Elves didn''t hesitate as they rushed to the barracks to get their hands on a new set of armor and weapons before they dashed after Valvian to sh with their opponents.

    It was the first time for many Originals to see all Elves gathered at one point, and the pressure they released was certainly not a joke.

    However, nobody was able to feel reassured by the strength of the Elves that were close to 1000 in number. After all, their enemies had a numerical advantage of 1 to 100.

    This was the best possible ratio considering that there were far more than a mere 100,000 Dryx, but nobody wanted to know the urate data about their opponent''s numerical advantage if they were, to be honest.

    After all, they didn''t want to lose their will to fight even before they had swung their des.

    Many human Originals were also preparing for battle. After tasting the importance of having Elves as trading partners, it would be a shame for them to disappear from Jundra. The Forest of Life was also quite important because one could absorb and annex mana much faster, just by being closer.

    Furthermore, the dungeons from all around the Forest of Life were also of much more value than ordinary dungeons!

    Thus, several thousand human Originals were preparing for battle including a handful of Prometheus Originals.

    They didn''t know that Silvian, a ''fellow'' human was the cause for everything. However, even if they were to know, it wouldn''t change much to them.

    The Dryx endangered the Elven territory by openly dering war, and humans didn''t want the Elven race to disappear, for their own sake, of course.

    "We should also go." Nial suddenly suggested as he got up from the ground he had fallen onto. Miranda and Mathias had appeared next to him, and they wanted to hold him back.<sub> </sub>

    Yet, when they noticed that he was not only unscathed but also that he seemed to have be more confident and stronger after the small incident, they were confused.

    ''Did he devour the surrounding life force and mana or what?'' Mathias thought, feeling appalled. His eyes widened all of a sudden as he thought about this weird and impossible idea his mind hade up with.

    "Naahhh, that can''t be." He discarded the idea a momentter after he looked at Nial for a few seconds.

    ''It must be the Ankh that allowed him to regain his vigor, and to be stronger.'' Mathias could only conclude, ignoring his jealousy for a short moment.

    Meanwhile, Miranda looked weirdly at both Nial and Mathias. She squinted her eyes, and stared at them, feeling pretty sure that both her disciples were rather naive.

    "Are you two not afraid?" Miranda asked straightforwardly. Fighting against the Dryx in the Teradan military camp was entirely different from the chaos that was about to descend. There was a big difference between a small-scale battlefield and a grand battle.

    Astray attacks could kill you at any moment, and you may end up fighting more and stronger opponents from the beginning to the end and drain yourself of your energy sooner.

    That was not all, but the number of dangers was numerous, and the chances of survival were unknown.

    "Afraid? I didn''t have time to think about that yet. I was more curious to know how the hell it''s even possible for so many Dryx to appear and gather all of a sudden." Nial answered while being honest to himself.

    He had no idea what made Silvian bring so many Dryx to Jundra, let alone how he had gathered all of them under him in merely three months.

    The answer to this may not be important to others, but Nial knew that knowing it could give him many clues.

    ''If there is a Dryx Queen somewhere, Silvian can create such waves of attacks every six months or so. That is if he has enough resources to nourish the newborn Dryx¡­''

    Nial doubted that a Dryx Queen would be the answer. Bringing one of the Dryx'' higher life forms to Jundra, an unawakened, shouldn''t be easier than what the Elven Empress did with the Forest of Life.

    In fact, it should be a lot more difficult. That was why Nial could keep his calm, for now.

    "Weird question, but I guess that you might be right to bring it up. I don''t even know if so many Dryx attacked the shelters and the military camps altogether. And now such a terrifyingly high number of vile existences are attacking the Forest of Life, at once." Mathias felt goosebumps spreading all over his body as he was voicing out his concerns.

    However, even if he were to be shocked to the bones and overly afraid, it wouldn''t help him survive. In fact, he was more likely to die of fear, and shock than an attack.

    ''They have matured a lot¡­did I miss something?'' Miranda was astonished by the mindset of her disciples. It was definitely a wee change from their earlier behavior, and she could tell that they had grown up.

    But their maturity had been forced upon them. Too many incidents had happened in thest few months, and both Mathias and Nial had been pulled into trouble.

    If they did not go and seek trouble, more often than not trouble woulde searching for them. They were always at the hot spot of trouble, without having done anything that could cause all these incidents. Both of them were trouble mas ording to Miranda.

    Nial and Mathias seemed to have noticed this, which was why their mindset had slowly adjusted to the constant dangers.

    Wielding the Dragonme spear once again, Nial took a deep breath.

    "I''m ready." He announced before turning in the direction that would lead them straight to the battlefield.

    "Me too," Mathias appeared next to his friend, wielding the Tier-1 ckwood wand.

    He was ready to fight using his affinities, instead of struggling to destroy the Dryx''s heart and mana core simultaneously.

    This struggle was something the others could take care of. He would just restrict their opponents'' movements and provide opportunities for others to make the kill.

    "These restless bunnies¡­" Miranda sighed seeing how far they had already gone, and arge staff appeared in her hands before she followed suit as well.

    When they emerged out of the Forest of Life, the cloud of darkness had alreadye much closer. The Dryx were flying, and many human Originals were wondering how they should protect the Forest of Life and fight from the ground if it was impossible for them to fly as well.

    After all, the Dryx could just fly above them beforending in the center of the Forest of Life.

    However, just when everyone had emerged from the Forest of Life, the mana of the Forest of Life seemed to change. It was pulled somewhere, and in a matter of seconds, a semi-translucent azure dome was constructed around the Forest of Life.

    "Well that problem is solved, but now the question is whether we can pull them down to prevent them from destroying the dome from all directions." Miranda wondered, feeling that this wouldn''t be an easy task to pull off.

    ''Oh? I can still walk through the dome?'' She realized with interest as her hand reached through the dome.

    But Nial merely smiled as he pointed in the direction where approximately 36 Prometheus Elves had created four groups with 9 Elves each.

    They formed a nonagon, and released their mana onto the ground, where an emerald nine-pointed star was engraved all of a sudden.

    "That''s how they will solve it!"

 Chapter 259 Tornadoes Of Ariela

    "That''s how they will solve it!" Nial screamed while trying to keep his calm.

    However, it was obvious that he was excited. His entire expression screamed excitement, which was something Mathias and their master frowned at.

    ''Is it really the perfect time to be excited, right now?'' They wondered.

    But instead of saying anything, they turned their attention to the four nine-pointed stars. They had appeared on the edges of the nonagon of the four groups with nine Prometheus Elves each.

    The nonagon was more than 50-meters wide, and the 36 Prometheus Elves were in front of everyone else. Nobody dared to step in front of them.

    This had a good reason. Everyone''s instincts told them that something grand was about to happen and that standing in front of the Elves would inevitably lead to their death.

    Nobody dared to move as swirls ofpressed mana were pulled toward the four nine-pointed stars. Cold wind was conjured out of nowhere, dashing through the rows of thousands of Originals, who were staring at the 36 Prometheus Elves with wide eyes.

    Slowly, small whirlpools were created in the center of the nine-pointed stars. They became visible to everyone''s eyes and reached a height crossing several meters within seconds.

    The small growing whirlpools transformed into huge tornadoes in less than 20 seconds. However, instead of slowing down in growth, they erged, became bigger, and more destructive. The nine-pointed-stars on the ground began to crack and the Prometheus Elves looked at each other with a deep frown.

    Sweat trickled down their temples as it became more difficult for them to control the tornadoes properly.

    But instead of letting them loose, the Prometheus Elves used more and more mana to infuse them with a high influx of winds that werepressed in the tornadoes.

    They were restricted and not allowed to unleash themselves and wreak the havoc they wanted to on their opponents.

    "Oh? So everyone is nourishing these tornadoes?" Nial suddenly mumbled, when he perceived that all the Elves conjured winds in the surrounding area.

    These winds were controlled and used by the Prometheus Elves, who were trying to precisely control the tornadoes.

    The tornadoes kept growing until they reached a ferocity that would tear the Elves'' clothes apart. That was how big the tornado had grown, where even its thinnest part was nearly 50 meters in radius.

    It was a terrifying sight for everyone, and only due to the control of the Prometheus Elves was nobody sucked into the tornado yet.

    A strong suction force pulled everyone and everything closer to the tornadoes but not a single living being was directly pulled inside.

    "Drag these bitches down!" A sudden voice resounded in the surrounding area. The ck cloud, which was in reality the mass of Dryx, was already upon them.

    There was not much time to waste, and it was one of the younger human Originals at the 3rd Intermediate Mirae rank, who had been unable to control his racing heart and temperament as he screamed out his excitement.

    Valvian stared daggers at the said human Original, who flinched before he was dragged away by one of the older human Originals and given a nice lecture.

    "Looks like a few humans are suicidal." Master Crevian mumbled in the elven tongue before he smiled lightly.

    "...though, I also want all of these vile existences to be dragged down." He added, his attention turning to Nial all of a sudden.

    ''Should we¡­no that would be too dangerous. Let''s not start experimenting all of a sudden.'' Master Crevian shook his head and averted his attention before he smashed the bottom end of his wand into the ground once again.

    "Throw the Tornadoes of Ari at will!" Crevian shouted, the wand amplifying his voice.

    Simultaneously, the remaining energy within the wand enhanced the prowess of the nine-pointed stars.

    "He activated the nine-pointed-stars, only now?" Nial mumbled in an inaudible voice, feeling surprised by this move. His [Mana Sense] perceived everything in a perfectly detailed manner.

    The wand was definitely not a Tier-1 runic armament, let alone an ordinary Tier-2 runic armament.

    Valvian might be the Midnight Elf because he was the strongest Elf present but it looked like Master Crevian was the person in charge.

    Nial had noticed this a while ago already but it had never been of any importance. Even now, Nial didn''t really care about that. His interest was mostly in the tornadoes, the nine-pointed-stars, and the weird runic wand.

    However, Nial focused on the tornadoes for the time being. Using all the winds in the surrounding and their remaining mana, the 36 Prometheus Elves shrouded the lower part of the tornadoes with mana before they threw it toward the masses of Dryx.

    "They really threw it!" Mathias eximed, not quite believing his eyes.

    The Tornadoes of Ari were several hundred metersrge and they were thrown several kilometers in the north with the speed of a missile.

    If they had beenpressed before, the Tornadoes were now expanding rapidly. They were let loose and nobody controlled them anymore.

    Their existence would wane the moment the mana through which the tornadoes had been created would be used up. However, until then, they would wreak havoc and cause destruction, exactly what Elves usually avoided.

    However, as it had always been the case; in times of war, death and destruction were unavoidable!

    This applied even to races such as Elves, who were the most dangerous when they were forced to do things they hated the most.

    Killing vile existences was something they would usually love to do. But being forced to protect their new homnd by causing destruction to the nature they love dearly was definitely not something they looked forward to.

    That was why the Elves'' mood was bad, to put it simply.

    Yet, at the sight of thousands of Dryx that were sucked in the Tornadoes of Ari, whose height had long since crossed a thousand meters, the Elves began to smile.<sub> </sub>

    Their smile was eerie, and even Nial felt chills when he visualized a few Elves.

    Slowly as two minutes passed, the sky turned into the most dangerous territory as the Tornadoes of Ari expanded, reaching a higher altitude with every passing second.

    Thus, the Dryx were forced to the ground without realizing it, at first.

    Only when they faced the thousands of Originals and Elves, who were ready to defend the Forest of Life with their life, did these vile beasts with low intelligence start toprehend that everything had been a big n and a trap.

    ''Silvian should have known that this would happen. This is an ordinary, yet magnificent-looking tactic to face aerial beasts while being meleebatants¡­. So¡­God of Saints and Devils¡­what is your big n!!''

    Nial thought in excitement.

    Silvian was likely to have some grand n, or maybe the hundreds of thousands of Dryx were already everything he could have afforded to do in thest few months, but all of this didn''t matter.

    He could perceive the strength of most opponents by using his range of perception and his [Mana Sense]. Many Dryx were at the Origin rank, but the vast majority of opponents were between the 1st Intermediate Mirae rank and the 4th Advanced Mirea rank.

    There were a handful of Prometheus Dryx but Nial ignored their existence.

    His heart was beating wildly, and the Odyssey seed was forced to beat as well. The Ankh was shining brightly in response to Nial''s excitement and was providing him with every bit of energy he would need.

    ''Wait?! Do the Elves and all human Originals even know how to kill the Dryx, and that it is necessary to collect their bodies?'' Nial suddenly thought. His expression changed to that of frustration, and he dashed forward, disappearing into the crowds of people.

    "Nial? Nial?! Where the hell are you going???" Mathias yelled, his eyes widening when he lost his friend in the dense crowd of humans and Elves.

    ''Fuck it.'' He just thought before squeezing his body through the rows and running after him as well.

    Miranda was left behind, blinking her eyes several times as her eyes tried to keep up with Mathias. A heavy sigh escaped her lips.

    "It''s hard to raise a disciplined disciple, right?" Someone to Miranda''s left began to mock. It was a mere momentter that Kirlia Maverick appeared next to Miranda, her tiny chest pushed out as she looked at her arrogantly.

    "My disciple is not only a true genius but also obedient. She listens to everything I say, and is always where I am! Hana is the best disciple you could wish for. But that is, obviously, something you will never find out, old woman!" Kirlia continued to poke at Miranda, and she even began tough.

    Some Originals and Elves looked at her with a frown, wondering how someone could act like this if they were about to face arge-scale battle at any moment.

    However, they quickly averted their attention back to the horde of Dryx that was flying over the ground, approaching them rapidly.

    "Your disciple is so obedient, and always by your side, that I couldn''t even see you earlier when Hana was sparring with Nial, or when she was with us at the open ss." Miranda retorted with a smirk in response to Kirlia''s provocations.

    She smiled at her childhood friend, whose smile was wiped away in an instant, before continuing to speak.

    "You are a few months older than I, so who is the ''old woman'' here? And if your disciple is so great, where is she right now?" Miranda''s smile turned wider the more she spoke.

    "ARgh.. you little bit¡­.well whatever, my disciple is obviously next to me¨C.....huh?! Where the hell is she? HANAAA!!" Kirlia took the bait quite easily and Miranda''sment about her disciple confused her.

    Thus while speaking to Miranda in an irritated tone she looked to her side, only to notice that Hana had disappeared.

    ''What is going on, where is my beautiful, disciplined and obedient girl????''

    What Kirlia didn''t know was that her wonderful disciple followed Nial and Mathias the moment she saw that they separated from their master.

    ''I will find out why you''re not affected by my Charm, even if that means, I have to leave behind my master!! If Nial has something that blocks my Charm, maybe others can get that as well¡­.'' Hana''s hopes were not that high, and she knew that she was merely holding onto a tiny ray of hope; a feeble de of grass.

    However, as long as there was hope for her to not end up alone in the future, Hana wanted to give her all to find out a way to get help.

    Following Nial with the use of her precise mana perception, she easily navigated through the crowd of numerous humans and Elves, just to end up right behind Nial, and Mathias.

    "Crevian, you need to tell everyone that they need to destroy both the mana core and the heart of the Dryx. Their regeneration will heal their mana core if their heart is not destroyed, and their mana core heals their heart if its not destroyed almost instantly." Nial cried out a warning, his voice clearly indicating that he was telling the truth.

    "Dryx be stronger after eating the mana core of theirrades. So all the corpses created by the Tornadoes of Ari will be used as nourishment for the Dryx to be even stronger!"

    Nial was sure that the Old Elf Crevian was old enough to know about the history of the Elven races'' wars. However, he wanted to make sure that they knew of this fact and avoided creating more trouble for themselves.

    "Calm down, little one. It''s surprising that you know about all of this. It looks like your memories were refreshed by the small incident earlier, or am I wrong?" Master Crevian asked gently, a faint smile ying on his lips.

    "There is no need for you to worry too much, you are still young. Let us old ones worry about everything, while you just need to observe and fight."

    When Crevian finished these words, he ruffled Nial''s silky silver hair.

    This felt a little bit weird to him but it was definitely not something Nial disliked. It made him feel a little bit younger, and as if it was not necessary for him to shoulder all the responsibilities by himself.

    Crevian turned serious a momentter, preparing his speech before announcing the start of the war. Smashing the bottom end of his staff on the ground once again, he amplified his voice and began,

    "Everyone pay attention¡­"

 Chapter 260 War

    While the Old Elf Crevian began to speak with his enhanced voice, Nial''s mind became fuzzy. He had to shroud his ears in mana because they started to ache heavily.

    Even the vibrations of the enhanced voice impacted hard on him, or his heart, to be precise.

    Crevian''s voice was loud, and Nial''s sensitive ears would burst apart if he continued to listen to the speech for several seconds.

    Controlling his heightened senses didn''t seem to work properly right now, and Nial''s expression was distorted due to the pain he was feeling.

    ''I forgot to keep my enhanced senses to the bare minimum after I advanced to the Mirae rank.'' Nial grumbled inwardly, cursing himself for forgetting that his senses had been enhanced drastically as well.

    The curse [Hodur''s Heir] had been enhanced when Nial finished the creation of the primary Ancient Origin ring, and his physical traits, including his hearing, had been strengthened as well.

    Thus, his hearing and the other senses were still sensitive, which Mathias and Hana could easily gauge.

    "Poor Nial." Mathias felt sorry for his friend and lightly pped Nial''s back.

    "His senses are quite sensitive, aren''t they?" Hana asked quietly, but nobody answered her.

    ''Had he been able to evade my attacks earlier because of his senses?'' She wondered as she recalled her spar with Nial.

    But before she was able to focus on Nial, Crevian''s speech was over, and Nial straightened his back. The mana around his ears was retracted, and his focus returned to the Dryx.

    Rows of thousands of Dryx shot in their direction, bringing lethal bacteria and contagious diseases with them.

    Behind the Dryx, a dark-greenish cloud of bacteria and viruses was created. Many Originals paled at the sight of the huge clouds that could bring death and disease.

    However, without showing hesitation, the Elves dashed forward the moment Old Elf Crevian finished his speech.

    ''They seem more motivated than before.'' Nial concluded in seconds as he perceived the mana that circted through their body and the wind that shrouded them, elerating the Elves'' speed even further.

    As they continued to expertly spin the spears around their body, the Elves looked like they had everything in their control. They didn''t show even the slightest bit of hesitation when they emerged in front of the disgusting-looking Dryx, all of whom shed out with their long ws.

    A single thrust with their spear was enough to pierce arge hole into the Dryx''s body, destroying both their heart and their mana core simultaneously.

    When Nial perceived this, his expression changed.

    "Did they just release a burst ofpressed wind currents the moment the spear''s tip pierced through the Dryx''s chest?" Nial was shocked. He knew that Elves could be dangerous and far from docile, however, the precision with which the Prometheus Elves attacked their opponents was on an entirely different level.

    ''The memories belonging to the God of Darkness made me believe that Elves had faced problems killing Dryx in the past. Why does it seem like this isn''t the case anymore, at all?'' He was confused.

    However, his confusion was perfectly normal. Damian''s memories showed him times when more than a dozen Elves had lost in a fight against a Dryx, who was at a lower rank than the others. While each of the Elf had been at a higher rank than the Dryx, it survived each attack and tore the Elves apart at the end of the day.

    Yet, at this moment, close to 40 Elves were fighting at the front, and they had already eliminated more than 200 Dryx!

    This was great, and it calmed Nial down, which was how he could focus on his own fight.

    The Elves and human Originals around him had already left. They appeared on the cruel and merciless battlefield and started to ughter the Dryx around them.

    ''Chaotic mana, everyone releases their abilities, and altered mana.'' Nial''s mind picked up several things, while his [Mana Sense] was facing difficulties in working properly.

    But Nial quickly adjusted himself to the unexpected situation. He forcefully suppressed his senses to work on 100%, so that he would be able to fight without his ears starting to bleed from the loud noises all around him.

    While wielding the Dragonme spear, he realized that it was time for him to leave, and join the battle as well. Mathias was by his side, and so was Hana, who had joined their group without bothering about asking anything further.

    Neither Nial nor Mathias minded this much attention. In their opinion, it was best to have more people in a group because they may even be able to defeat beings that were of a much higher rank than them.

    As Nial dashed forward, Mathias followed suit while tightly gripping the Tier-1 ckwood wand. Meanwhile, Hana disappeared from her spot and reappeared next to Nial a momentter.

    "What is your n?" Hana asked, her whole attention on both the thousands of beasts ahead of them and Nial.

    "n... Not to die, I guess?" He answered hesitantly before elerating his speed further. With a smooth motion, Nial manifested more than a dozen darkness needles which she shot out in the row right in front of them.

    There were human Originals, but they didn''t even think of listening to what Crevian had said about the best way to defeat the Dryx.

    It also looked like these Originals had never fought or even heard something about the Dryx, and that was weird, considering that all shelters and military camps had faced their infiltration.

    Nial pierced the mana cores of the Dryx, whose hearts had been destroyed by the human Originals. Some fellow humans were lightly grazed by Nial''s attack, but that was not something he cared about.

    While Nial saved the human Originals from facing trouble in defeating their first Dryx, Mathias was far less considerate. He moved the soil on the ground to forcibly drag the two Originals apart from each other.<sub> </sub>

    Nial and the others shot through the opening that emerged thanks to Mathias'' precise control over his earth affinity.

    "What the hell?" One of the young Originals at the 3rd Advanced Mirae rank eximed in frustration when he saw how the Dryx in front of him slumped to the ground after a needle manifested out of pure darkness struck it in its chest.

    A momentter, three Originals had already pushed past him and his colleagues. Drops of blood trickled to the ground as some Originals touched their cheeks, realizing btedly that they were bleeding.

    They had been cut, without even realizing it. Their eyes widened involuntarily as their heads turned in the direction of the three Originals, who were using brute force to pave their way through the rows of Dryx.

    "Collect their bodies, you idiot!" A thunderous voice echoed throughout the battlefield all of a sudden.

    Nobody knew who said this, but everyone''s gut twisted in knots the moment they heard the instructions.

    On the other hand, Mathias and Hana were just looking at Nial with a weird expression.

    ''Miranda would definitely p the back of his head if she were to know that Nial just shouted this....'' Mathias thought, smirking brightly.

    He controlled the surrounding area, erected several pirs of the earth, and manifested walls of mud through which the Dryx tried to fly.

    However, before they could emerge on the other end of the wall by flying through the mud it turned solid, imprisoning the Dryx. A momentterpressed jets of water pierced through their heart and mana core, killing them.

    ''If my master were to know that Nial called her an idiot, she would probably set his butt on fire.'' Hana thought, before visualizing the exact scenario in her head.

    The corners of her lips curled upward at this thought. Hanashed out with her rapier, piercing the beast''s heart without an issue. Yet, even before she could move, the Dryx roared out loudly, its one-meter-long tongue swirling around as high-pitchedughter came out of the beast''s mouth.

    It believed that it could kill Hana because she wouldn''t be able to retract her weapon and pierce out again in an instant. Hana would have to change her movements twice, rapidly at that, retracting and thrusting out again.

    Thus, when the Dryx shed out, it was confident of being able to kill the veiled woman. It expected her warm blood to stter through the surrounding, and for its ws to dig into her body.

    However, the moment the Dryx''s long ws were about to cut through Hana, her body turned into a blur.

    Her image dissolved into countless particles, the white fog was released and the Dryx ended up cutting through nothing but the white fog and empty air that shrouded the Dryx in its entirety.

    The surrounding two meters were shrouded in the fog, preventing anyone from seeing anything.

    ''Oh? She disappeared...no, she is still there.'' Nial quickly concluded as he pierced out with the Dragonme spear. It was not enhanced in any way, but that was not necessary to begin with. After piercing out once, Nial shot out a tiny darkness needle and finished off the Dryx by destroying its mana core.

    Afterward, his empty hand pierced out, grasping the Dryx''s body before disappearing into his spatial ring.

    ''Your mana cores are mine!'' He nearly shouted out, iming possession of the Dryx mana cores. It did not matter in the slightest whether they were only pierced lightly orpletely destroyed, they were his.

    Their use and value was of utmost importance in any form!

    But rather than focusing solely on the Dryx, Nial''s interest in Hana increased as well. Her second ability was quite interesting.

    She could release fog, disappear into it, and re-appear wherever the fog was located. This was quite useful because it allowed her to evade attacks that were supposed to be impossible to be evaded under normal circumstances. Furthermore, it gave her an opportunity to attack at an angle that the opponent would never expect.

    Hana had disappeared right in front of the Dryx, who had attacked her, before appearing behind it mid-air. She pierced out with the rapier before prating its hide and flesh, thereby destroying the mana core it had aimed at.

    Her attack was precise and there was no wasted movement in her action.

    However, just as she was about tond on the ground another Dryx attacked her. Hana was just about to flinch when she disappeared in the fog again.

    At the same time, a jet of water burst the Dryx''s head open. Meanwhile, Nial emerged within Hana''s fog, and he thrust the Dragonme spear forward.

    With his might, he destroyed the Dryx''s heart, and it was almost as if their team of three had been working together for eons that the two finished off the Dryx. Hana appeared by Nial''s side and pierced out with her rapier. The rapier grazed Nial''s arm, and its sharp pointed tip cut open the cloth of his sleeves, before prating the Dryx''s mana core.

    It died, which was why Nial stored its corpse in a smooth motion. A momentter the other Dryx body was also stored in his spatial ring.

    He temporarily ignored that it was Hana''s spoil of war. This was not important right now, because every corpse they missed out on collecting provided an opportunity for the Dryx to be stronger.

    Upon releasing his [Mana Sense] as far as possible, Nial sensed that the Elves and human Originals were able to fight the Dryx without too many issues. They ran into some obstacles, but the situation was much better than expected.

    "Oh shit!!!" Nial eximed, his entire body stiffening as his head turned in the direction of the Tornadoes of Ari.

    "What?!" Mathias eximed in response. He looked around wildly and immediately knew that something was off, which made him feel restless. The moment Nial said that something was ''shit'', or when his body stiffened, Mathias could tell that true shit was going to happen!

    "The Dryx which the Tornadoes of Ari killed...are getting devoured..."

 Chapter 261 Hormones

    The Tornadoes of Ari had been a necessity for the Elves and human Originals to fight the Dryx, to begin with.

    They had killed thousands of Dryx, none of them had been able to escape their wrath irrespective of the fact whether they were at the Origin, Mirae, or Prometheus rank.

    However, that was where the problemid! All these corpses were scattered all over the battlefield.

    No matter how fast the corpses were being collected, their numbers were too many to save from the clutches of the Dryx. Thus, thousands of Dryx were nourishing their body by consuming their brethren''s body and mana core!

    Their strength would elevate which would turn the fight against the Dryx even more difficult.

    "Let''s kill as many as possible before the real troublesome opponents appear." Nial suddenly remarked and dashed forward.

    They were already near the front of the battlefield. Nial and the others'' mission was to prevent the Mirae ranked Dryx from finding a way through the rows of Elves and human Originals.

    While the frontline consisted of the Prometheus Elves and Originals, the second, third, and fourth rows had the most powerful Originals.

    Their aim was to kill the strongest Dryx in their surroundings and to prevent too many Dryx from reaching the younger Originals, who were only at the 1st to 5th Mirae rank.

    But that was easier said than done. The numerical advantage of the Dryx, the special traits they owned, and the fact that one had to store their corpses away to prevent their brethren from receiving an enhancement in strength made it difficult to focus on their mission.

    The battle had started not too long ago, and less than 30 minutes had passed, but many Originals had already killed dozens of Dryx. However, in return, the mana in their core had decreased rapidly.

    It was only a matter of time before their mana would be exhausted and their mana cores would dry up. From that moment onward, it would gradually be more difficult to kill Dryx. This was bound to be even more difficult, considering that it was impossible to stop fighting in the middle of the battle just to store the corpse of every Dryx away.

    Simultaneously, another headache had cropped up- a batch of strengthened Dryx, who had consumed their brethren''s mana core, entered the battle.

    Their initial strength had increased by 30% at the bare minimum, and their greed for more strength had awoken. Instead of focusing on killing more humans, and Elves, they focused on collecting the corpses of their brethren.

    Small piles of the corpses had been formed, and dozens of Dryx gobbled down their mana cores and the remaining parts of their body as if they were feasting heartily on the same beings they had been fighting side by side a minute ago.

    Nial noticed this, and his frown turned even deeper than before.

    ''They won''t evolve, right?'' He nibbled at his lower lip in contempt, trying not to think about the worst possible scenario.

    However, this was not easy because the memories he received the moment his [Mana Sense] and his range of perception had perceived the ck cloud of Dryx told him that something was off.

    Nial hadn''t perceived Silvian''s arrival yet either. This was unexpected, and definitely far from normal.

    ''Maybe he is back at one of our shelters, and is trying to upgrade his scheming by a notch?'' Nial wondered while thinking about the fact that nobody except Crevian and himself knew about the fact that Silvian was actually the God of Saints and Devils.

    He controlled the Dryx, but that was not something any human would believe if Nial were to tell the government that their savior was a con artist, a trickster, and the incarnation of a God.

    It was difficult to expose Silvian, and Nial didn''t actually think that his ''friend'' would reveal himself in today''s battle.

    ''But his n shouldn''t just be fighting and winning this battle either, right? Am I overestimating his capabilities, or am I missing something?'' Nial wondered, not for the first time.

    He clearly knew that it was impossible for Dryx to gain something by simply ravishing the corpses, just like that. They would gain something, but the true gains from feasting on the corpses would only be unleashed the moment unstable and chaotic mana was involved as well.

    The sensation of blood, death and unstable and chaotic mana was like catalysts for the Dryx''s growth, allowing this weird type of disgusting existence to gain the most in a battle.

    Dryx were not powerful in their innate state but their overall capabilities were focused on death, destruction, and war!

    ''What is his goal, to begin with? Is it just the manifested Divinity Fragment? If so, he could just get it by sneaking inside the Forest of Life before the dome of war has been erected to protect the forest...''

    Nial was confused, his range of perception was unleashed to its maximum, and it was as if he was trying to perceive something around him that would provide an answer to every doubt in Nial''s mind.

    He shed out with his spear and manifested numerous darkness needles to severely injure the Dryx around him. Nial moved rapidly, seemingly without wasting any of his movements.

    The Elementus Mylee martial art technique was fully utilized, and the Dryx around him were copsing on the ground one after the other, never to get up again.

    While being focused on utilizing hisbat prowess in the best way possible, it was impossible for Nial to store the beasts'' corpses away. Nial noticed that the ground behind him was littered with corpses because neither Hana nor Mathias could avert their focus on collecting the corpses as well.

    It would bring them out of the rhythm of the fight, which they had just entered.<sub> </sub>

    ''Even though everyone knows that it''s important to collect their bodies, nobody wants to sacrifice the momentum they''ve built up. That''s bad...'' Nial thought in disappointment tho his actions were simr to them. Despite knowing the dangers of leaving the corpses behind more than anyone else, it was extremely difficult for him to abandon the momentum he had built up as well.

    This was nothing out of the ordinary, but Nial felt weird nheless. His heart was beating wildly, as he received a major adrenaline rush. He felt as if he was high and almost as if his entire mind was being told to continue fighting, and not to mind anything in the surroundings.

    ''Something is wrong!!'' He could clearly tell this. His body didn''t want to listen to him, it didn''t want to stop feeling the sensation of adrenaline coursing through his veins, the sensation of killing the disgusting Dryx; the existence that enraged Nial''s entire being.

    "Their Mana!" Hana suddenly eximed. At the beginning of therge skirmish, she didn''t feel that anything was off.

    Everything seemed perfectly fine when the battle started, and it was only slowly over time that she noticed how difficult it was for her to halt in her tracks in order to observe her surroundings, store the corpses away and move ahead before repeating the process.

    She activated [Fog Walk], her second ability, the moment three Dryx were about to tear her apart. The fog was released explosively, shrouding the three Dryx easily. It was not a problem for her to emerge everywhere within the fog and eliminate the beasts.

    Thus, in a seemingly effortless manner, she emerged behind the three Dryx, one after another before she moved rapidly.

    In seconds, Hana moved within the fog more than six times, attacking the three Dryx a total of two times each. This was more than enough to destroy their heart and mana core before reappearing near Nial, where she continued to speak.

    "Their mana has hormones in them!!" Hana screamed a warning while breathing heavily. She was exhausted from using her ability so often in rapid session. It was tiresome and the biggest problem was that her body and mind didn''t want to stop fighting.

    They were begging her to stop, to take some rest and neither of them wanted her to regain some of her stamina!

    "I figured that when you said mana. I didn''t sense it before but their mana has some hormones inside that force you to keep fighting. Eventually, you''ll forget that you''re tired, let alone that it''s of utmost importance to store the Dryx''s corpses away." Nial replied hastily while simultaneously shrouding his entire body in dark energy all of a sudden.

    ck miasma was released from his body in an explosive manner that spread quickly and shrouded everyone. Nial took a deep breath afterward as he felt that this dark energy and the ck miasma dispelled this hormone and did not let it affect him.

    The Ankh in his body was shining brightly, and it seemed as if the vigor within his body expelled the hormones that were not supposed to be there.

    This was very helpful because it allowed Nial to expand his range of perception once again. At this moment, Nial realized just how many Dryx corpses were now littered on the ground of the battlefield. The mountain of corpses on the Dryx''s side had reached a considerable height as well, and more than a hundred were gobbling down their own brethren.

    ''They''ll definitely evolve if that continues. Maybe, even a Queen might emerge if it continues like this.'' Nial merely chuckled at his joke at first, but when he thought about a Dryx Queen being created on Jundra, instead of emerging from a portal, his expression twisted once again.

    Without thinking about it further, Nial stored the Dragonme spear in his spatial ring. In his hand, the same Tier-1 ckwood wand Mathias owed appeared.

    Waving it in a simple manner, Nial created close to a hundred hollow balls of darkness. He filled them with ck miasma and threw them all over the battlefield.

    Not hesitating anymore, he rushed along the rows of fighting Originals, where he released some of the balls of darkness.

    The moment they burst open, the ck miasma covered everything in a radius of a dozen meters. Under normal circumstances, Nial''s ck miasma was dangerous, however, he managed to reduce its effect drastically.

    Instead of weakening everyone who breathed in or sensed his ck miasma, only the hormones released by the Dryx were destroyed. This didn''t require much mana to be used on Nial''s part.

    However, the use was drastic as everyone regained their senses, and the ability to control their body and mind the way they wanted.

    Taking a deep breath, the Elves and human Originals moved their body rapidly, killing several Dryx at once before they retreated.

    In everyones'' hands several potions appeared. They replenished their energy as they were nourishment potions that replenished the used up mana to a certain extent.

    It was quite advantageous, and after taking a minute of rest, thebatants would be able to fight once again.

    Unfortunately, a minute was long, and the number of corpses they had to pick up was tremendous.

    At this moment, they sensed that Nial''s ck miasma changed a bit, it fused with the dark energy he released, and covered the ground in a radius of five meters around Nial.

    Wherever the darkness passed by, the corpses covering the ground disappeared. Nial didn''t even differentiate between the corpses of the Dryx, Elves, and humans. It was of utmost importance to make the corpses disappear.

    All of themnded in Nial''s spatial ring without fail after they disappeared in the darkness he had manifested.

    However, even after they disappeared, Nial didn''t feel his mission was aplished. The threat was not over, there were still numerous Dryx to fight and take down. The majority of humans and Elves were a bit tired out, and it looked like hundreds of Dryx were feasting on their brethrens'' bodies and mana core. It was a matter of time before they would soon evolve too.

    If that was already everything, the situation would be bad. But, to their misery, Nial sensed something that made him turn in the direction of the Forest of Life.

    "This bastard...is he really just trying to do that?!"

 Chapter 262 Devour?

    After Nial had gotten back to his senses, his range of perception had stabilized once again.

    The altered and chaotic mana in the surroundings restricted Nial severely but that was only in the direction of the battlefield.

    The mana in the direction of the Forest of Life was thin, but not restricted in any way.

    Thus, Nial had sensed something that made him turn in the direction of the Forest of Life, his expression souring visibly.

    "This bastard...is he really just trying to do that?!" Nial cursed out loudly, attracting the attention of the people around him.

    Nial''s body was still shrouded in darkness and while being surrounded by the thinned-out ck miasma, it was nearly impossible to perceive anything for others, let alone Nial.

    Nheless, some Elves and human Originals had figured that if Nial cursed out, something bad had happened.

    ''Silvian really went all in, but why?! Has he no patience, or did he use up the vast majority of his Divinity to summon the mutated Dryx?'' Nial was confused, but even if he were to know the answers to his question, it wouldn''t change much.

    Silvian had appeared on the opposite side of the Forest of Life, and he had just taken his first step through the Dome of War!

    The Dome of War was a well-known dome used mostly as a defensive tactic during war. It was powerful and was capable of blocking off all kinds of attacks as long as it was supplied with enough mana.

    "The Dome of War is configured to allow Elves...and humans through..." Nial mumbled in frustration, recalling that Miranda''s hand was able to reach through the dome.

    Right now, Silvian''s mana seemed unstable, and it was as if he had just fought a devastating fight, or something simr to that. Despite his condition, he didn''t seem to feel like stopping. Nothing could hold him back and the natural defenses of the Forest of Life were destroyed one after another.

    The bushes, tree branches, roots, and various other nts were destroyed the moment they came in the way Silvian took to approach the center of the Elves'' territory.

    Biting his lip until it almost bled, Nial forced his mind to calm down before he turned in the direction of the battlefield in an instant.

    Right now, the battlefield''s advantage was on the Elven''s side. The human Originals had also found a good rhythm to fight and collect the corpses of the Dryx they had killed.

    This was great! If they could continue fighting like this, the battle would end in a few hours! However, the situation was bound to change, even if it was just a little bit.

    The greedy Dryx, who had already begun to transform, numbered in the hundreds. Nial was not able to tell much just by looking in the direction of the chaotic battlefield, but the number of corpses piling up on a small mountain kept steadily increasing.

    ''There is already a Leader? Fuck.... He is already dividing the resources...'' Nial realized, understanding that there was one or more Dryx, who was inmand.

    They clearly divided the Dryx into those, who had the potential to evolve into something great, and those, who were pawns that were sacrificed in the battle to be the resources for those with the potential to grow.

    It might have looked weird at first, but the situation was much worse than Nial expected. After all, nobody would expect the Dryx to act ''smart'' all of a sudden. Not only were they deemed as existences with little intelligence, but their fighting style was crude as well.

    It was hard to imagine that they had any tangible ns to turn the tides of the battle.

    Nial grit his teeth. He dashed out in the direction of the battlefield, on his way toward Valvian. The Midnight Elf may be required at the battlefield, but Silvian''s doings in the Forest of Life were of even more importance.

    The moment he was to get his hand on the manifested Divinity Fragment, Silvian would devour it, make it his own and destroy it to reassemble his own Divinity, in the world that could not even generate a trace of mana by itself yet!

    This would destroy the bnce on Jundra, and allow Silvian to be the strongest. Nial didn''t even want to imagine what Silvian would do once he would regain more of his power, but it was certainly not something he looked forward to.

    ''Even the Elves'' portal is already against the rules, it breaks the bnce, but not to the extent Silvian would do. The Empress was careful with every step she took.'' Nial was aware of this, and he also knew that it would be nearly impossible for many existences other than Silvian to devour, destroy and reassemble the Divinity of other existences.

    But something was confusing, and Nial noticed that several memories in his mind told him different things. However, when he recalled something, Nial felt extremely stupid and confused.

    ''Not even incarnations of Gods should be capable of doing something with the manifested Divinity Fragment.'' Nial realized with a start. If it was a permanent portal, maybe even Silvian could not do much.

    Nial''s expression changed once again. He had forgotten that Silvian was merely a human at the Prometheus rank. It was not as if he had the exact same powers as in the past when he had been a full-fledged God.

    The situation was spiraling out of control, and Nial didn''t like it. Something was definitely wrong with this entire situation and Damian''s memories seemed to becking in the information he needed right at this instance.

    "Valvian!!" Nial suddenly shouted, trying to empty his mind, and calm down.

    He appeared near the Midnight Elf, who was currently fighting a Prometheus Dryx. Another Prometheus Elf was fighting next to him.

    He supported the Midnight Elf in an attempt to kill the Dryx, who had already eaten several of its kind.

    Valvian didn''t hear Nial, because he was fully focused on the fight in front of him.

    Several crescent-shaped wind des had manifested around the spear he was holding. They sted out at once, while the spear shot forward with an even higher eleration.

    Valvian had created a short st of wind to push the spear forward at an even higher speed.

    Thus, the moment he impacted on the Dryx, the beast was forced to halt in its tracks, while the de of the spear dug deeper into its body.<sub> </sub>

    The Dryx reacted by releasing foul steam and by shing at Valvian using its 50-centimeter-long ws.

    However, even before the ws coulde close to Valvian, his crescent-shaped wind des hit both arms of the Dryx hard. The w attack was momentarily halted which provided the other Prometheus Elf the opportunity to attack as well.

    He had already been prepared for the opportunity the Midnight Elf would sooner orter provide. His attack was already initiated the moment Valvian''s spear had been thrust out.

    The Prometheus Elf smiled as his entire body was shrouded in an armor of wind. It elerated his speed, and it also added a powerful thrust behind every attack he initiated.

    ''I will end you!'' the Prometheus Elf arrogantly shouted in his mind as he pierced out the emerald-glowing spear.

    A bright smile covered his entire face, and he was ready to see the Prometheus Dryx'' disgusting blood spurting through the surrounding area. However, what nobody had expected was that the Dryx would twist its body until the sound of cracking bones could be heard.

    The Prometheus Dryx ignored the pain that originated from several bones breaking as he epted the Prometheus Elf''s attack readily.

    It pierced through the Dryx chest, clearly missing the mana core the Elf had wanted to destroy, before digging deeper into the flesh of the Dryx.

    The entire spare de had disappeared in the chest of the Dryx, but the beast began to smile in a ridiculing manner as its pitch-ck eyes stared deeply at the Prometheus Elf.

    Its one-meter-long tongue pierced out, tightly grasping the spear, along with the hands holding the spear. Barely a momentter, the mighty wings of the Prometheus Dryx pped several times before it pushed its feet from the ground, returning into the sky.

    The beast dragged the Prometheus Elf, who had been next to Valvian, with it, not bothering about anything else but killing the powerful Elf, who had been arrogant enough to believe that he could kill it.

    Valvian''s eyes widened upon seeing his partner getting pulled into the air. His spear was resting calmly in his hands, and the heart he had pierced through was impaled on the spear''s tip.

    When the Dryx had pushed its body into the air, Valvian didn''t let go of his weapon. Instead, he had sted several waves ofpressed wind inside his weapon in hopes of destroying the Dryx from its inside.

    Unfortunately, that didn''t seem to have worked out as only its heart had been thoroughly destroyed.

    But this was exactly what caused the Prometheus Dryx to be in a severely weakened state for several seconds.

    Its strength was much lower than before, its condition was extremely bad, and it was in a desperate state.

    "st me in the air." A ck shadow was hurled past Valvian, who was just about to move when he heard an oddly familiar voice.

    A spear manifested in the hands of the shadow, and a searing hot red me manifested around the spear''s tip.

    Instantaneously, the mes expanded, and slowly turned dark as they kept erging.

    Nial had shot into the air, expecting Valvian to use his wind affinity to push him further ahead. The Midnight Elf didn''t disappoint him in the slightest.

    The zing mes around the Dragonme spear''s tip werepressed in an instant, increasing his weapon''s lethality even further.

    ''Should I cut its tongue, or pierce through the mana core?'' Nial asked himself, trying to get to an answer as powerful winds enveloped his dark energy.

    He was pushed ahead and reached a range of 20 meters away from the Dryx, and the Prometheus Elf it was holding onto.

    "Elf, are you giving up already?" Nial shouted out in anger upon seeing the way the Prometheus Elf reacted.

    The Elf was partially paralyzed as the Dryx had shed at it several times. The Dryx had gained the ability to coat its ws and other body parts in a lethal poison when it advanced to the Prometheus rank.

    Deep gashes spread all over the Elf''s body, while the Dryx saliva only made things worse for the Elf, who was barely able to stay conscious.

    Dark robes shot out of Nial''s body all of a sudden, just when the several injured Elf roared out. He unleashed every ounce of mana left within his body and created terrifying winds that enveloped everyone.

    All of a sudden, Nial''s expression brightened up as he sensed how the Elf''s winds were wholly used to push him ahead.

    ''Good choice, going for the kill, it is then!'' Nial screamed out in his mind as he pulled himself closer to the Dryx, using the darkness ropes that were holding onto the Dryx.

    Using the terrifying winds behind him, and the darkness ropes to use the highest possible eleration he could reach, Nial emerged right in front of the Dryx a quarter of a secondter.

    His spear was thrust out, digging straight through the huge hole in the Dryx''s body where its heart was supposed to be.

    "Die, you motherfucker!" Nial screamed out, as a big chunk of his spear disappeared into the body of the Dryx. A momentter, darkness oozed out of Nial''s hand.

    The darkness rapidly covered the entire Dragonme spear, and as if onmand, the Dryx''s chest inted. Hot steam gushed out of the Dryx, but Nial was not yet done.

    A bright smile emerged on his face as his voice turned eerily cold.

    "I said that you should die!"

 Chapter 263 Illogical

    An ear-deafening explosion reverberated through the entire battlefield.

    The severely weakened Prometheus Dryx exploded, and both the half-dead Prometheus Elf and Nial were sted to the ground with a terrifying speed that was not visible to the eye of ordinary existences.

    Their impact on the ground would kill both of them as the Elf was already on the brink of death. Meanwhile, Nial''s body might be strong, but it was still impossible for him to survive crashing on the ground at a speed that would easily cross 400 kilometers per hour.

    It was impossible for him to react in time as well, even if the dark energy he wanted to use to protect himself from falling to death had already shrouded his body.

    All of a sudden, both falling bodies slowed down. Numerous gusts of winds slowed their falling speed. The winds were spread out like wings but that was more than enough.

    Nial and the Prometheus Elfnded on the ground without problem.

    ''Urgh, that was a weird ride.'' Nial could only think before he got up from the ground and dusted himself. His legs were shaking but he regained control over his body quite quickly by circting mana through it.

    Valvian had appeared next to the Prometheus Elf, forcing him to swallow the content of more than six potions. Soon enough, the potions began to show their effects before it was clear that the severely injured Elf would survive.

    Only then did he turn his head in Nial''s direction. The dark energy that had shrouded Nial''s body had been retracted, and streams of the surrounding mana shrouded him in exchange.

    ''It really works.'' Nial could only think, smiling faintly as he noticed that it had been possible for him to activate the Ankh to attract the surrounding mana. Absorbing and annexing it was quite easy, which was how he replenished his mana rapidly.

    "Are you stupid?" A somewhat familiar voice reached Nial but he couldn''t focus on it.

    Nial was just stretching his body because he felt a bit odd after having circted so much dark energy through his body to force the Prometheus Dryx'' body to implode.

    In the end, it only worked out because the dark mes ignited numerous dangerous substances within the Dryx'' body. The Dryx was also severely injured, and it was naturally using its entire energy to create a brand new heart and to fill the gap left by the injury.

    Even if he didn''t want to acknowledge it openly, Nial was extremely proud of what he had just done.

    "Nial! I asked if you are stupid?" Valvian approached him while supporting the Prometheus Elf.

    ''Ey...who are you calling stupid?!'' Nial was just about to scream out, but Valvian''s expression didn''t allow any room for retaliation.

    "I don''t think so?" He countered, hesitating a bit because he could tell that Valvian wanted to tear him apart just now.

    Valvian sighed at Nial''s reaction.

    "You do know that you just killed a Prometheus Dryx while being at the 1st Mirae rank, right?" He asked in a slow manner so as to make sure that Nial understood him.

    However, Nial just nodded his head before he waved off his hand.

    "The Dryx was already severely injured because of your fight with it. This annoying beast didn''t even have enough mana left to properly recreate its hard. Because of that, it was weakened, and I could pierce through the thinyer of flesh to pierce its mana core.

    The explosion was not nned but it is better to make sure that your opponent is dead than to y around, right?" Nial smiled while asking the question.

    He knew that it had been dangerous to intervene in the fight against the Prometheus Dryx, but he wouldn''t have acted if he was not certain to emerge victorious.

    The Dryx''s strength had only reduced to a beast at the 3rd Advanced Mirae rank after it had been weakened due to the loss of its heart and exhaustion.

    "How did you believe that....well, just forget about it. Don''t repeat that ever again, okay? I don''t want to listen to Master Crevian''sints when he finds out that I allowed you to act so recklessly!" Valvian sounded visibly agitated but Nial was confused.

    ''What is it to you or Crevian, whether I act like a fool, let myself be killed in a fight, or end up killing all opponents? That shouldn''t matter to you two!!'' Nial thought while a deep frown appeared on his face. Valvian acted like he was a genius of the Elven race, who was the only one who could restore their race''s former glory or something like that.

    This was weird, but Nial didn''t have the time to waste talking about entirely useless topics. There was something far more important going on.

    "What am I not supposed to find out?" Master Crevian appeared all of a sudden. His entire demeanor screamed danger, even if it was obvious that he couldn''t fight anymore.

    ''Does he want to lecture me as well? Please don''t act like an illogical person, just like your Midnight Elf friend there.'' Nial could only think, hoping for the best.

    In the end, Master Crevian perceived what Nial had done against the badly injured Prometheus Dryx and that he had saved one of his people.

    "Good job, Nial. You saved one of our people. Thank y-..." Master Crevian wanted to bow to Nial to thank him properly. His demeanor hadn''t actually changed and it was just his voice that sounded calm.<sub> </sub>

    There was something Master Crevian hadn''t told Valvian about Nial. In fact, Nial probably didn''t know about it either. However, it was one of Master Crevian''s reasons to treat Nial with respect, and it did not matter whether he was a prodigious Elf or a human.

    But even if he treated Nial with respect, Crevian''s expression changed a bit when Nial interrupted the formal demonstration of his gratitude.

    "We don''t have time for this mess. Silvian entered the Forest of Life, and I was just about to ask Valvian to stop him when I saw that they were fighting the Prometheus Dryx!!"

    Master Crevian wanted to say something to Nial, and lecture him, saying that he should respect age, and stuff rted to formalities, however, he had missed out on something important.

    They were still fighting a war, the battlefield was covered in corpses, and it looked like there was something even worse going on in the Forest of Life.

    When he inserted a trace of mana in the Will of the Wand he was tightly holding, Crevian''s expression changedpletely. From the anger he felt toward Nial''s reckless action, which he had witnessed, and the fact that Nial was entirely unbothered by what he did, and how dangerous it was, Master Crevian''s expression turned to that of utter shock.

    "He...he is almost at the Empress'' portal!" Master Crevian mumbled, his voice bing weaker with every word that he spoke.

    Using more mana, he inserted it inside the wand, and the bandage that covered Crevian''s eyes was soon soaked red. Blood trickled out of his nose and the Old Elf''s condition seemed to worsen gradually.

    He had just used his entire remaining mana to insert it inside the wand and had activated one of the well-hidden runic constetions on it.

    "I activated the Miniature Dome of Defense around the center of the Forest of Life. It will take a while before he can break through it." Master Crevian''s voice was weak, and Valvian was just about to approach his old master when Master Crevian lifted his hand abruptly.

    "Valvian, give me Junal, and kill Silvian!" Despite his voice being weak, Crevian''s order was full of determination. He didn''t allow Valvian to reject his offer.

    The Midnight Elf nodded his head before carefully handing Junal to Crevian. They had to support each other to prevent copsing on the ground. It was hard to keep their bnce but somehow it seemed to work out.

    "If Silvian dies, the Dryx leader will lose part of their control over the rest. They only act obediently because of Silvian''s presence." Nial suddenly said, his head aching heavily. He was not even sure what he was saying but Crevian nodded his head as if he was agreeing with Nial''sment.

    However, Valvian had a different problem.

    "But if I fight Silvian with all I have, the entire forest will get destroyed in the process, even if I were to win." Valvian was the most bothered about the destruction of the Forest of Life. He knew how important it was for the Elven race, and to expand their territory.

    Without the Forest of Life, it would be near-impossible for the Elven to achieve everything they had been ordered to attain. Even their survival in today''s battle would hold much less significance if they lost the Forest of Life and managed to win.

    Crevian just smiled before he took an amulet out of his storage ring.

    "Use this." He merely said, while sighing inwardly. ''I never thought that we would have to use this so early...You have one shot to do it right, Valvian, that''s it!''

    "...Isn''t that...Are you sure master??" Valvian''s eyes widened and he swallowed nervously after clearly understanding what kind of amulet he was holding.

    "<Dimension rift: Battle mode>...Is that some sort of runic armament?" Nial suddenly asked, reading what was written on the amulet when his [Mana Sense] visualized it.

    ''He can even read the ancient elvennguage? Just what else are you hiding? Was she correct with her prophecy? But it cannot be him...he is not...'' Crevian was dumbfounded but he didn''t have the time or the energy to react. ''Well, whatever.''

    "Go, go and kill this Incarnation of a stupid God!" Master Crevian screamed out loud before Valvian nodded his head and shot forward.

    Valvian felt pressured from the responsibility he had just been given. However, from the moment he had been promoted to be the Midnight Elf of the Forest of Life, he knew that his lifey in the hands of the Forest of Life''s survival.

    From the beginning, Valvian knew that he would have to fight against the Incarnations of Gods. But even if he had known about it, Valvian would have never expected it to be so early.

    They were merely at the Prometheus rank, and Jundra had yet to awaken, as well! The entire situation was a mess, but the condition might as well be in his favor.

    ''If the Forest of Life''s condition and feelings are correct, Silvian''s strength is currently not on par with a Prometheus God. He may have 9 Superior Origin rings, but I am stronger. I can defeat him... I WILL defeat him!!!''

    A moment after Valvian had disappeared, Master Crevian wanted to speak to Nial. He turned in the direction where Nial had been standing before, only to realize that the young blind Original had already disappeared.

    "What?!... Where is he??" He blurted out, only for Juna, the severely injured Elf to smile weirdly as he whispered as loudly as he could.

    "He rushed in the direction of the Forest of Life a few seconds before Valvian to have a head start."

    "This idiot!!..."

 Chapter 264 Dimension Rift: Battle Mode

    The Dimension rift amulet in the Battle mode was something extraordinary.

    It was extremely difficult to produce it, and the resources and knowledge required were vast.

    For such a runic armament to have been brought to Jundra, it had to be one of the Elves'' few trumps.

    By activating it, two individuals, the user, and the designated target would be teleported to an isted space that existed within the amulet.

    Afterward, both would fight a life and death battle until the end. Only when a single individual was left behind would the Dimension rift: Battle mode amulet release the survivors, and the corpse of the defeated being outside its isted space.

    Nial was oblivious to the amulet''s functions but he was smart enough to understand that the amulet was important and that Valvian''s reaction to it was more than enough to give him a bit of reassurance.

    ''Valvian will definitely be fine with this amulet!'' He thought while trying to imprint the runic constetions on it in his mind. Nial wanted topare them to the runic constetion he had learned.

    With fast steps, Nial had rushed in the direction of the Forest of Life the moment Crevian and Valvian had been upied.

    Even if Nial knew that he was not very helpful against a Prometheus Original, at least not with his current strength, he knew that even the slightest help would be hugely appreciated by Valvian.

    His heart was beating wildly and the Odyssey seed reacted to the brightly glowing Ankh. The Odyssey seed was beating as well, converting Nial''s mana into dark energy, while simultaneously pulling more mana inside his body.

    Nial had just ended the life of a severely weakened Prometheus Dryx, but the entire mana he had used up was replenished the moment he stepped through the Dome of War and entered the Forest of Life.

    Loud sounds of explosions could be heard when he was inside the Forest of Life, but even before Nial could close the distance to the forest''s center, a strong gust of wind brushed past him.

    A green sh had surpassed him, fueled by anger and seemingly unlimited power.

    "He can do it." Nial mumbled in confidence. Silvian''s mana didn''t seem stable and it was as if he was facing a weird condition right now. Something had happened to the Incarnation of the God of Saints and Devils, and Nial had no idea what it was.

    He could only tell that hisbat prowess was hugely restricted because the chaotic mana in Silvian''s body prevented him from using it the way he wanted to.

    ''Oh!!''

    The moment Nial''s [Mana Sense] detected that both Valvian and Silvian were not far from each other anymore, Nial eximed in his mind.

    Dozens of wind des had been created by Valvian. He shot them out while making use of his movement technique to the limits to appear right in front of Silvian a momentter.

    Valvian leaned forward by evading the Holy Spear Silvian had created and sted toward him.

    Several trees behind Valvian were pierced and destroyed in the process. They fell over, while the remaining life force oozed out of them.

    "You!!!" Valvian screamed out in anger, knowing very well that Silvian was trying to provoke him. He seemed to take the bait, very well at that. Valvian had witnessed the death of dozens of Elves since the battle against the Dryx had begun.

    The poption of Elves may not be small but that was solely due to the fact that they had always been careful to nurture all lives. Elves lived a long life, even if they wouldn''t increase their rank. Due to their long lifespan and their strong lifeforce, their fertility rate was much lower than that of humans.

    Thus, every single life that had been lost in the fight against the Dryx was a terrifying loss to their race.

    Valvian''s mana seemed to change, it became more powerful and the wind des that had been sted in the forest shot toward Silvian from different directions.

    "It won''t be that easy for you to survive, little one. You''re underestimating the strength of a God." Silvian''s voice was eerily calm as he looked at the wind des around him. Valvian had also approached him with a rapid speed, and both the wind des and Valvian''s spear were advancing towards Silvian and would pierce through his body a momentter.

    However, just when Silvian was supposed to start bleeding like a pig, he began to smile brightly. The atmosphere in the surrounding changed instantly. Silvian''s body was shrouded in a holy light as a white glowing mantle manifested around his body.

    It was a runic armament, one that enhanced the holy aura Silvian unleashed to the fullest at this moment.

    A momentter [Holy Guard] was activated. Silvian''s entire body was engulfed in the Holy Guard, protecting him from the wind des.

    Meanwhile, Valvian''s spear thrust impacted on the [Holy Guard]. It was stuck!

    Valvian''s eyes widened at this moment but instead of panicking, he send a st of wind through the wind spear, creating a second impact on the Holy Guard.

    ''I can get through it!'' He screamed internally when he felt that the Holy Guard wavered. And it was merely a momentter that the Holy Guard stopped resisting. It began to flutter and allowed Valvian to keep advancing and to attack Silvian.

    However, the moment the Holy Guard was pierced through by Valvian, the Midnight Elf realized that Silvian had already disappeared from his earlier location.<sub> </sub>

    Silvian actively used [Saintly Devil], his Innate ability, and [Holy Blessing] his third ability while activating his movement technique [The Devil''s Saintly steps].

    He disappeared from Valvian''s eyes and emerged behind him. Yet, even before Valvian could react, he saw something behind the [Holy Guard] that seemed to disappear.

    Silvian had activated his Second ability [Holy Spear]bined with his fourth ability [Tarnished Saint]. The holy attack that was supposed to purify the evil turned into something vile. It became an attack that would devour and destroy everything in its path.

    Everything and everyone, who would touch it would be decayed....all life would cease to exist in the face of the Tarnished Saint''s Holy Spear!

    Valvian sensed that something was wrong with the Holy Spear that had turned into a greenish dark attack. It was vile, and something far more evil than Nial''s dark energy.

    ''What the hell?!'' Valvian felt like screaming out. However, there was no time for him to take a breath and release his frustration.

    In front of him was an attack he had to deflect and destroy because then it would destroy the Forest of Life otherwise. But Silvian was behind him, piercing out with the longsword he wielded.

    He had created another Holy spear, right above his body, and it was only a matter of the perfect timing before Silvian would use the third attack to further worsen the situation Valvian faced.

    A bright smile emerged on the exhausted face of Silvian. He knew that after he defeated the Midnight Elf everything would be over.

    A Midnight Elf was not just the leader of the Elves in an exploration team. It was much more than that. Some said that it would be considered the heart of the group, and the only existence who could control the territory of the Elves in new and unexplorednds. While others believed that the Empress blessed Midnight Elves and allowed them to be stronger than the others.

    All of this was correct, yet also not, and Valvian was about to show Silvian everything he had up his sleeves.

    ''I cannot hold back anymore. Even if it will dy our n, and even if I die...the Forest and the other Elves will survive. Silvian is not allowed to leave the Forest of Life, not alive!'' Valvian''s thoughts were a mess but he could tell that Silvian was the pest he had to eradicate at any cost.

    Earlier, he had been oblivious to the fact that Silvian was the God of Saints and Devils. Master Crevian didn''t tell him about it because he knew that Valvian would feel burdened by the thought of being forced to fight a God''s Incarnation so soon after they recently descended on Jundra.

    However, Nial''s revtion had exined everything. Silvian controlled the Dryx, and he had both holy and evil abilities.

    The existence of Silvian''s powers clubbed in one was a miracle. Holy energies and the energies used by Devils were not supposed to exist in one body, let alone thrive and fuse.

    But Silvian was a being who was able to do it. He was powerful, scheming, and knew how to utilize ns well.

    His only issue was the variables that were unpredictable and out of his control. Several times before, his ns had been shattered because of unpredictable variables at the hands of existences, who did whatever they wanted without a n.

    They advanced without fear, without a thought of hesitation, and they overcame all struggles by crushing their opposite forces with all their might.

    And exactly such an unpredictable variable had appeared in front of him just now.

    The veins all over Valvian''s body were brimming with life force. Every cell in his body was vitalized and endless streams of power seemed to increase Valvian''s strength gradually.

    His nature ability was fully unleashed, and the Forest of Life supported Valvian with every bit of power it could relinquish. Valvian''s power was without a limit, and his eyes began to turn whitish-blue as the Midnight Elf''s special trait was activated.

    The excessive vigor in Valvian''s power was turned into mana, which Valvian could make use of immediately.

    Mana created from the life force of the body and the surrounding nature was far more powerful than ordinary Mana. This elevated Valvian''s strength even further, allowing him to use the advanced stage of the movement technique which he usually used.

    His body turned into a gust of wind, and powerful winds manifested around the Tarnished Saint''s Holy Spear, forcing its trajectory to change the moment it was fired at Valvian.

    It flew straight through the air without piercing through a single leaf. Simultaneously after the seemingly simple deflection of Silvian''s terrifying attack, Valvian appeared right behind Silvian.

    Silvian had attacked Valvian, but his current speed barely met the standards of a Prometheus Original, even after he had utilized his movement technique.

    After Valvian used his own movement technique, it was near-impossible for Silvian to face the Midnight Elf.

    However, Silvian had predicted the encounter with unpredictable variables this time.

    After all, he had seen the least predictable variable of his life already which were; Damian, the Ruler of Darkness, and the man who brings chaos; the God of Darkness!

    But what Silvian didn''t expect was that the unpredictable variable was someone who he had presumed to know everything about.

    ''To think that I''ll have to use this on the Midnight Elf...what a shame...''

 Chapter 265 Cursed God Transformation

    "Die!!" Valvian could already visualize the tip of his spear piercing through Silvian. Not even higher-ranked Prometheus Elves would be able to face him right now.

    As a Midnight Elf, he was currently in a state, where the surrounding nature gave him all the power he needed to defeat every opponent around him.

    Having activated this ability would force both Valvian and the Forest of Life to enter a weakened state for a short period but that was something mandatory to defeat Silvian.

    ''We can do it! I can do it!!!'' Valvian''s mind was fueled by anger. He could clearly perceive that more Elves were dying outside on the battlefield. They were fighting with their life on the line, but the powers of the Dryx were simply too strong.

    They might be unevolved andmon Dryx at the beginning, but given their ridiculously high numbers, it had only been a matter of time before they evolved and grew stronger.

    If it was possible to fight several Dryx at once after the battle against them had begun, even facing two evolved Dryx simultaneously was quite difficult.

    Hundreds of Dryx had evolved, and more were bound to follow suit. Their numbers were constantly decreasing but this only provided an opportunity for the Dryx that were alive to be stronger. The pressure on the human Originals and the Elves increased with every passing minute.

    Silvian had to die, otherwise, the Dryx would continue to be stronger. Without themands of their God and leader that had been burned into their minds to guide them, the Dryx would enter a state of utter confusion for several moments.

    Even if there were to be some Dryx leaders, it would take a while before they would regain control over the seemingly brainless Dryx!

    ''I have to do it!!'' Valvian screamed out as an enormous amount of mana circted through his body, further elerating his movement speed. His speed had already gone past what his body was supposed to endure.

    Valvian''s wless skin had already burst open, and blood was oozing out of the wounds his rapid actions had created.

    However, Valvian was incapable of thinking about his body''s well-being right now. His entire mind was focused on the spear thrust he had issued while going beyond his limits.

    The emerald spear pierced out with a rapid speed that was invisible to the eyes of most existences. Strong wind currents shrouded the spear. They elerated the spear''s speed, and its power before further pushing the weapon''s strength beyond its limit.

    Valvian''s eyes were serious and killing intent continued to leak from him. He was ready to take on Silvian.

    Yet, just when he thought that he got Silvian and that he could kill him effortlessly, the Sacred Knights leader turned around.

    One of his eyes gleamed in a holy white light. It waspletely shrouded in the white light and one couldn''t see past it but that was not necessary to gauge Silvian''s might.

    While one of his eyes was shrouded in white holy light, his other eye was shrouded in something that was crimson in color. Valvian had no idea what it was, and he didn''t allow his mind to be influenced either.

    Without hesitation, he charged forward andunched his attack before he pierced through the white glowing mantle.

    The mantle was dyed crimson, making the corners of Valvian''s mouth curl upward. It almost looked like everything was going ording to Valvian''s n.

    However, just when Valvian thought this, he could see the smile on Silvian''s face. He looked at Valvian in a ridiculing manner before opening his mouth slightly.

    "I told you... you should never underestimate a God!"

    Silvian''s voice was eerily cold, and Valvian felt shivers running down his spine. He wanted to turn his head away from Silvian''s glowing eyes, retreat, and think of a new n to attack. All Valvian wanted to do was to run, run for his life!

    Many emotions shed through his mind, but not a single one consisted of the thought of continuing to fight Silvian and attempting to kill him.

    Such thoughts were just ridiculous and not something Valvian dared to think anymore.

    Nheless, his body reacted differently. His subconscious knew what was on the line. Thus, he dug the spear deeper inside Silvian without realizing it.

    But instead of showing signs of pain, Silvian simply smiled.

    "You are much stronger than I expected. It was a good idea to lose thest bits of my Chaotic Divine energy for you. Be grateful that I used this energy to fight you, not many can say that they fought against me like this...and even less can im to have survived.

    Will you be one of them? Probably not. After all, you''ve already lost your weapon and you''re missing your arm." A devilish smile appeared on Silvian''s face, and as if he had been ordered to do so, Valvian looked at his arm that had been holding the emerald spear.

    At least, his arm and the emerald spear were supposed to be there. However, the only thing he saw was a fountain of blood that was spurting on the ground.

    ''My arm...has been cut off?'' It took Valvian a few moments to realize what had happened.

    However, upon understanding that his arm had been cut off and that both his cut-off arm and his weapon had been flung through the Forest of Life, his eyes widened in terror.

    Valvian hadn''t even sensed anything and he had no idea when Silvian had attacked him.

    "ARGGHHH!!!" Unbearable pain spread through Valvian''s body all of a sudden. His protruding veins looked a little ckish all of a sudden, and his eyes turned foggy for several seconds.

    It was as if he had been caught somewhere and despite feeling unbearable pain, Valvian had quieted down.

    His expression was rigid and his body froze in ce. Even the bleeding stump that had now reced his once well-functioning arm had stopped.

    However, this was due to the Midnight Elf''s rapid healing and the fact that the Forest of Life provided him with enough vigor to let him regenerate quickly.

    The Forest of Life demanded Valvian to continue to fight, to give his all, and to never sumb to the forces of Silvian.

    It was obvious that Valvian was on the losing side. He had been caught red-handed. Silvian had deviously tricked the Midnight Elf before he could even do something to retaliate.

    "This was fun, but it''s over now," Silvian concluded before his eyes widened the moment the white and crimson glowing eyes had reverted to their original appearance.

    His body felt as if it had been paralyzed. Blood trickled out of his nose, his mouth, and his eyes.<sub> </sub>

    Silvian could only see that everything was a bit blurry, that everything turned red because of all the blood that filled his eyes, while his body began to crack all of a sudden.

    ''My Mana core?!'' Silvian was shocked when he noticed that his mana core showed signs of cracking.

    He knew that it was dangerous to use the partially Cursed God transformation as it used up thest remnants of Chaos Divine energy.

    Everything had been made use of and directed into his counterattack to prevent Valvian from killing him.

    However, the sudden improvement in strength and the fact that he used a power his body was not able to handle were clearly visible in ordance with his body''s condition.

    ''I shouldn''t have used this power...I already used powers this body cannot handle when I created this annoying Dryx leader. The 400,000 Dryx were also a hassle to bring over... I need the Empress'' manifested divinity fragment!!'' Silvian forced his head to turn in the direction of the divinity fragment.

    It was only a few hundred meters away from him, and once he got his hands on it, Silvian would tweak its parameters to suit him. He couldn''t devour it, let alone create his own Divinity out of the divinity fragment of someone else.

    This was impossible at his body''s rank.

    But what he could do was to change the location of the teleportation of the manifested portal back to his homece. Once he had umted enough energy, more Dryx coulde over. It would even be possible to bring over various resources, and goods that he needed to regain his strength.

    Silvian knew that he needed more trump cards in the fight over Jundra''s supremacy. It wouldn''t be easy as everything had just started but he had to try.

    However, Silvian wanted a head-start, which was why he needed the Empress'' manifested divinity fragment by all means!

    ''Just a few moments, I need just a few moments before I can move again, I will kill this Midnight Elf, take the portal and leave. My little babies should be evolving by now. Everything is going ording to my n, well most of it!'' Silvian felt like he had won already.

    Except for the fight against Valvian, the entire situation was going ording to his n. Everything was perfect which was why a satisfied smile emerged on his face.

    ''I just need to leave without encountering anyone and heal for a few months, or a year, at most!''

    But what Silvian hadn''t expected was that the nightmare of his dream would resurface.

    Damian, the Ruler of Darkness, the only unpredictable variable, whom he had encountered thousands of times, in ces the God of Darkness was never supposed to be, appeared right in front of him, once again.

    He was in the body of a young blind man called Nial and didn''t go by the name Damian, or Ruler of Darkness.

    Nheless, Silvian was sure that Nial Orin, the young Original, who had barely advanced to the 1st Mirae rank was Damian, the same person, who had caused so much pain and struggle to Silvian.

    Silvian may call him a friend if one were to ask him about his rtionship with the God of Darkness, but he never felt like that.

    Damian had been a nuisance and the worst enemy he had ever faced. And even now, with both of them residing in a body that couldn''t be further away from attaining Godhood than ever before, Nial Orin, or Damian the Ruler of Darkness, appeared right in front of him.

    "Surprise!" Nial eximed and his expression turned icy as he growled out, "...you piece of shit."

    Right from the moment Nial had perceived Silvian''s partial Cursed God transformation, he knew that Valvian would likely die.

    It was odd that Nial used his Cursed Divine energy to cut through Valvian''s arm using his finger. After all, Silvian could have cut through Valvian''s entire body easily.

    But when Nial realized that Silvian hadn''t been able to bend his body, let alone do more than just a simple vertical motion with his hand, it was clear that Silvian could not do more than he already did.

    His partial Cursed God transformation was something that went against thews of Jundra. Despite that, Silvian had been able to do it, only to face the punishment a momentter.

    While Valvian was in a state of oblivion and was tangled in the Chaos Divine energy, whose fragments had entered his body when his arm had been cut off, Silvian''s current strength was barely at the 3rd Advanced Mirae rank.

    Even that was already a generous guess, considering that Silvian was not able to move and that his body was on the verge of breaking apart.

    This was why Nial had prepared an attack with the use of some of the umted dark energy he had amassed. The Forest of Life reacted to his Ankh. It provided him with vigor, and the necessary energy to rescue Valvian, the Midnight Elf, who was responsible for the Forest of Life.

    Nial was the only one who could rescue Valvian because everybody else was already fighting for their life outside the Forest of Life. Everyone trusted that Valvian would defeat Silvian, who had already been injured before he arrived in the Forest of Life.

    However, nobody could have expected Silvian to be able to use the partial Cursed God transformation. Most didn''t even know what that was, to begin with.

    But to everyone''s fortune, Nial was present to handle the situation. He sted toward Silvian, the only one, who cursed Nial''s entire existence as more than a dozen darkness spears manifested around the Dragonme spear.

    "Die for me, bitch!!"

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 Chapter 266 Swear In The Name Of...

    Others might believe that Nial was insane for attacking someone an entire rank above his strength. Under normal circumstances, Silvian would be several times stronger than Nial, and there was no way for him to defeat him.

    Even the Prometheus Dryx should have been much easier to defeat because it had already been on the verge of death.

    However, attacking Silvian, while his mana was unstable and his entire body was on the verge of copsing was the most logical thing he could do.

    Valvian was caught in some sort of spell, and he felt as if it was impossible for him to do anything.

    That was why Nial knew that he had to intervene in the fight. He might be much weaker under normal circumstances but the situation they were in right now was far from ordinary.

    The darkness spears Nial had created shot out at Silvian with a rapid speed. Simultaneously, Nial''s Dragonme spear pierced out as well.

    The de of his spear was engulfed in searing hot dark mes that were lethal enough to pierce through the body of existences at the Mirae rank easily.

    Just when the darkness spears and the Dragonme spear were about to pierce Silvian''s body, the Sacred Knights leader activated [Holy Guard] using hisst remnants of mana.

    ''This bastard....why did he appear here all of a sudden?! It makes no sense for him to attack me, he is so weak!!'' Silvian thought in annoyance. He felt as if the entire world was copsing above his head. The entire situation made no sense to him.

    Nial was extremely weak, yet, even after using his highly potent mana to activate the [Holy Guard], it looked like his ability''s strength was progressively getting weaker.

    While the dozen darkness spears pierced inside the Holy Guard, the Dragonme spear cut through it without hesitation.

    Silvian was not hit by the attack because it was not possible for Nial to destroy the Holy Guardpletely. Nheless, Silvian could tell that his mana was not enough to face another attack of such high strength.

    ''Why? Why?! Just Why?!?'' Silvian groaned in frustration and felt as if his entire world was being turned upside down. He was so close to his goal, yet, everything seemed to crumble right in front of him.

    Silvian didn''t want to ept this. Never in his life had it been so important for a n he created to seed. It didn''t matter what sacrifices he had to make, as long as his n seeded, everything would be fine!

    Endless hatred ignited from the depths of his heart, a hatred that he had been seething in for eons. Right now, Silvian didn''t even hide his wrath and hatred toward Damian anymore.

    It didn''t matter whether Nial and Damian were the same or not. Silvian hated both and because they were so simr, it was not even necessary for him to differentiate them from each other. His mind nked out as Nial retracted the Dragonme spear.

    The young Original was ready to pierce out his razor-sharp weapon once again. Nial was going for the kill, clearly understanding that Silvian was too dangerous to be left alive.

    Pushing his feet off the wet ground of the Forest of Life''s open center, he sted forward. Using his weight as a leverage to further increase the strength of his attack, Nial was certain that the Holy Guard would break.

    ''You don''t have much mana left anymore, am I right?'' Nial asked in his mind as a confident smile appeared on his face. He knew that Silvian had pushed his limits way too much.

    Whether he was at the Prometheus rank or at a much higher rank, once he would have used up his entire mana, the condition of his body would worsen! If he was already in a bad condition, Silvian would be in a near-death state the moment he would start using hisst mana reserve to create a second Holy Guard.

    Nial knew that he was at an advantage and he intended to make use of it. The dark me around the Dragonme spear red up the moment the tip collided with the weakened Holy Guard.

    Nial''s dark energy slowly wore off the holy energy within the Holy Guard. After the first attack, the holy energy within the Holy Guard had already grown much weaker.

    Thus, when the second attack followed, the de pierced much deeper into the Holy Guard. Dark energy was released at a rapid pace and Nial roared out as he erged the dark me further.

    The dark mes engulfed every nook and cranny within the Holy Guard''s range of protection. Silvian''s scream could be heard from inside, which was enough reason for Nial''s smile to broaden.

    ''His body won''t be able to handle it!'' Nial was certain that Silvian had grown even weaker. The God of Saints and Devil''s incarnation had to be killed, and today was the first time the opportunity had unveiled itself.

    Wanting to make use of the opportunity, Nial retracted the Dragonme spear for the second time. He intended to pierce out again, destroy the Holy Guard and prate Silvian''s heart, thereby ending his miserable life.

    However, just when he intended to pierce out for the third time in thest few seconds, two things happened simultaneously.

    Valvian regained his senses. The minuscule remnants of the Chaos Divine energy had been expelled from his body, allowing the Midnight Elf to return to the ce he belonged to.

    He was still standing in the middle of the Forest of Life, his arm and weapon were missing, but not much time seemed to have passed since the Chaos Divine energy had entered his body.

    Valvian was still alive, after all! But what he saw only a few meters in front of him caused the Midnight Elf to be shocked to the core.<sub> </sub>

    "Nial?!" He muttered in utter dumbfounding, wondering if he was seeing things correctly. Yet, even after he rubbed his eyes in confusion, the fact remained that Nial was still fighting Silvian.

    ''Impossible...he is not only fighting Silvian, but Nial is the one attacking actively... Silvian is defending!'' Valvian was shocked to see the tremendous dark energy Nial''s entire body released. If he were to target the Forest of Life with the dark energy, it would be destroyed.

    The dark energy felt much more deadly than ever before but when Valvian understood why this was the case, he felt like copsing on the ground.

    ''The Forest of Life is helping him???'' The excessive energy of the Forest of Life was directly transferred to Nial, instead of the Midnight Elf, who actually had the necessary special trait to use the Forest of Life''s energy and vigor.

    It was said to be impossible for other Elves, let alone other existences, to use the Elven powers of nature. Yet, not only was Nial using the Forest of Life''s energy but he instinctively turned the highly potent mana into the dark energy released by his body.

    Every single bit of dark energy targeted Silvian. The Sacred Knights leader was still shrouded in the Holy Guard that burned brightly. His screams had disappeared, and Valvian could only see how Nial pierced out for the third time.

    Killing intent merged with his dark energy that stiffened for a moment. It was a mere secondter that the entire dark energy changed its form, sting straight into the Holy Guard that broke under the tremendous force.

    ''Can he actually do it??'' Valvian thought in shock, not believing what he was seeing.

    However, just when Valvian was about to feel happy, he could see that Nial stiffened visibly.

    ''Why? What is going on?''

    At first, he was confused but after a moment passed, Valvian understood what was going on.

    Silvian''s mana and his entire existence seemed to have disappeared from within the Holy Guard. It was as if the Sacred Knights leader had never entered the Forest of Life, to begin with.

    This was not something that was supposed to be possible. Despite that, it had just happened in front of Nial and Valvian. Silvian had disappeared into thin air!

    Upon seeing this, Valvian''s entire body turned cold. All of a sudden, his entire existence was shrouded in something that prevented him from moving and thinking.

    He felt as if he had been turned into a statue, and only when he felt something eerily cold touching his hand did he feel that someone had appeared by his side.

    "May you and your race cease to exist...in the future when I return to take what belongs to me." A weak and pained voice resounded in Valvian''s ear. His body intended to flinch but Valvian was still not able to move.

    Only his eyes darted to the side when the being next to him moving. What he saw was a burned face that revealed his cheekbone.

    ''Silvian!!'' Valvian screamed out internally. Silvian had appeared behind Valvian without letting anyone notice, just to disappear once again.

    His condition was worse than ever before, and Silvian was the person who knew the best about this. He had underestimated the power of Valvian from the moment they had begun to fight.

    Because he had already been in a weakened state, it had been a necessity for Silvian to go all in. But to think that this was the biggest mistake he could have made...

    If the Midnight Elf''s power was a variable he had miscalcted, then Nial''s sudden interference was an unpredictable variable; the worst thing that could have happened!

    He was angered and fueled with hatred toward the existence that was wielding the grotesque and disgustingly powerful dark energy. Silvian had already forgotten about the manifested Divinity fragment. His entire mind was solely directed at one task; one thing he had to solve by all means.

    ''I want him dead. Damian has to die, for good!!'' Silvian appeared next to Nial without anyone realizing it. He didn''t use even a tiny bit of mana to achieve this feat, just the special trait he had received as a God.

    Nial merely noticed Silvian when he appeared next to his body, and the moment he visualized the Incarnation of the God of Saints and Devils, Nial was not sure whether a living person had appeared next to him, or a badly tortured dead being.

    "Even if I have to die, I will return!! Meanwhile, your soul will cease to exist...that I swear in the name I was given by the Origin itself!" Silvian screamed out and blood spilled out of his mouth as his decaying hand reached out for Nial''s neck.

    "But first of all, we will have some fun!"

    Silvian''s voice echoed through the Forest of Life, and a creepy smile formed on his burned face as he lifted his other hand that was tightly grasping an amulet.

    The amulet began to glow, shrouding both Nial and Silvian.

    "Let''s fight for life and death, once and for all... my friend, it is time for our paths to separate!"

 Chapter 267 Kill Or Getting Killed

    "Why does he have the Dimension rift amulet?!" Valvian asked in shock. He was trying to move, help Nial and kill Silvian for good.

    However, it was impossible for him to move. Valvian could only helplessly witness how Nial and Silvian disappeared, while the Dimension rift Battle mode amulet fell to the ground with a thud.

    The Forest of Life calmed down all of a sudden. Nial''s dark energy had been pulled inside the Dimension rift, just like the slightest trace of mana he had been circting through his body.

    "Fuck it¡­" Valvian cursed the moment he was able to move again. His legs gave in, and he could barely prevent himself from copsing to the ground as he used his left arm to support his entire body.

    He pressed his hand against the wet soil, where he was actually able to see that the Dimension rift Battle mode amulet Master Crevian had given to him disappeared.

    ''Silvian knew that I had the Dimension rift amulet¡­Did he n all of this??'' Valvian''s eyes widened in shock. Regret and guilt could be seen within them. He had been ordered to kill Silvian. It had been his mission, and Valvian knew that he could have done it if it hadn''t been for the powerful transformation Silvian had undergone for a moment.

    The transformation nearly killed Silvian when he returned to his original appearance. He was much weaker than before but it was still questionable whether Nial was able to defeat Silvian or not.

    After all, he wouldn''t have entered the Dimension rift Battle mode without a n, or would Silvian actually be capable of doing this?

    Valvian had no idea. He could only force himself to get up from the ground, take the Dimension rift amulet with him, and end his mission if Nial were to die facing Silvian.

    Gritting his teeth, Valvian moved his weakened body. The Forest of Life had begun to invigorate him once again. He felt extremely good because of the vast life force entering his body. However, something felt odd.

    Valvian couldn''t exin it well, but something about the Forest of Life felt different from before. It was almost as if he was not the sole administrator of the Forest of Life anymore, as if he was forced to share the Forest of Life''s benefits with someone else.

    ''Nial did that, didn''t he?'' Valvian was bothered about this but he didn''t dare to think bad about Nial. He could tell that the young Original had interfered in the battle in order to save his life.

    Nial did everything he could to protect Valvian, the Forest of Life and the future of the Elven race by preventing Silvian from getting his hands on the Empresses'' manifested Divinity fragment.

    However, now he had to face Silvian all by himself inside the Dimension rift, and Nial''s chances to win would decrease rapidly.

    ''Without the Forest of Life''s support, he will die the moment Silvian has enough time to recuperate¡­''

    It was unsure how severe Silvian''s condition was. He appeared more like a dead person than alive to Valvian, but someone''s appearance could always be mistaken. It was more important how damaged Silvian''s mana veins were, the condition of his mana heart, his physical strength, and so on.

    Valvian knew nothing about Silvian''s current condition but it was obvious that he didn''t like the fact that Nial was fighting Silvian in his stead.

    ''This was never his fight¡­yet, without hesitation he saved me. Is that naivety, or bravery?'' Valvian grit his teeth. He made his way towards the outside of the Forest of Life.

    The content of numerous potions had entered his body, healing him slowly. The Forest of Life''s vigor and excessive mana further elerated his healing.

    But even with all potions, the Elven had brought over, it was impossible for Valvian to continue fighting.

    It would take him several days before his condition would improve just a tiny bit.

    ''I need to find someone¡­someone, who is capable of killing Silvian the moment the Dimension rift amulet breaks,'' Valvian didn''t want to acknowledge it but his subconscious had already epted that Nial was probably dead.

    It was not as if Nial was too weak, that hisbat techniques were shallow, or that he didn''t have the necessary talent. He just didn''t have the necessary time to grow. His time had yet toe.

    Unfortunately, it was unlikely for him to survive long enough to blossom and be a powerhouse that could rival the prodigies of the Elven race.

    ''I was too weak¡­and now one of mankind''s future pirs will die¡­what a shitty world we''re living in.'' While gritting his teeth, Valvian stepped outside the Forest of Life.

    He looked at the battlefield in front of him. Not even 10 minutes had passed since he and Nial had entered the Forest of Life to kill Silvian, however, everything had changed.

    Valvian lost his arm, Nial was likely to die while facing a crazed Incarnation of a God, and the tables seemed to have turned as well.

    More than a hundred corpses of Elven entered Valvian''s view, followed by several hundred human corpses. They were buried below the corpses of tens of thousands of Dryx.

    Only Valvian''s precise senses allowed him to differentiate between the corpses of Dryx, humans, and elves.<sub> </sub>

    However, it was not as if that helped him in any way. Valvian was restricted to skirting the boundaries of the Forest of Life, where nothing supported his body with mana and vigor.

    p But he knew that he had to move. Thus, by essing his spatial ring, he spread out the little mana he had to start collecting all the corpses around him.</anda>

    Even if he was not able to join the fight anymore, the bare minimum he could do was to support the others from the sidelines.

    The fewer corpses the Dryx could get their hands on, the less trouble the others would have to face.

    Some Elves and human Originals saw Valvian when he was moving through the back rows of the battlefield. His movements were slow, and many were unsure whether the Midnight Elf was actually still alive, or if his brain had stopped working.

    Of course, he was still alive, but it looked like something within him was broken. One of his arms was missing but the bleeding had already stopped. Despite that, the Elves were shocked to see the condition of their strongest fighter.

    They didn''t know what had happened to him in thest 10 minutes, but considering that it looked like he was closer to death than life, the Elves were worried that something bad had happened.

    "Don''t stop fighting! We have gained an advantage, let''s kill these bastards! They cannot be allowed to evolve, otherwise, all of us will die!" Master Crevian''s voice resounded throughout the entire battlefield.

    He used the bits of mana he could use at once to enhance his voice, only for his head to turn in Valvian''s direction,

    ''What in the Empresses'' name happened to Valvian?! And where the hell is Nial???'' Master Crevian could clearly perceive that Valvian''s entire mana was used up, that his body had been ravaged by some sort of weird but powerful, and highly destructive energy, and it was obvious that he was severely injured. His arm was missing, after all!

    Crevian didn''t think that the fight against Silvian would end that quickly, or it would be that terrifying. However, the most confusing fact was that he was not able to perceive Nial, at all.

    Even after he focused his range of perception on the Forest of Life, Crevian was not able to sense Nial.

    In fact, the mana fluctuations of both Nial and Silvian had disappeared. The only remnants of Silvian''s energy indicating that he had ever been in the Forest of Life were wherever he had destroyed parts of the forest.

    Other than that, there was nothing.

    Time passed slowly and one could clearly tell that Master Crevian was now out of his mind. From the moment he understood that Nial was not in the Forest of Life and neither in the surrounding area, it became increasingly hard for him to keep his entire focus on the battlefield.

    Until now, he had given everything precisemands on what they should do. Because of hismands, it was possible for the vast majority of them to survive, and kill numerous Dryx. Out of the several hundred thousand Dryx, who had attacked them, less than 50,000 were left alive.

    All of them had eaten a few of theirrades, and more than a thousand had shown signs of mutating or evolving. This was bad, but it was not something impossible for them to handle.

    The Tornadoes of Ari had already stopped raging, but newrge-scale attacks had emerged. Every single time when the Dryx collected arge number of their brethren''s bodies, the Prometheus Elves created tornadoes which they hurled in the direction of the mountain of corpses.

    This was a means to prevent them from feeding on their brethren and to be stronger as quickly as possible. It was far from a perfect n that had been executed professionally but it gave the humans and Elves the advantage they needed to fight the Dryx.

    Their strength increased the more time passed as more and more power from the corpses they had consumed began to flow in their veins. Thus, the Elves and human Originals forced their bodies to move even if they were exhausted.

    Some Originals had already copsed on the ground due to exhaustion, just for their hands to keep gripping their weapons tightly. The fight against the Dryx was terrifying but it clearly showed the humans what would await them in the future.

    It may not be something many awaited, but it was a fact that Jundra would be more and more dangerous. There would be a steady increase in danger. This was how it was supposed to be. It was only a matter of time, time the human Originals had to exploit to their best capabilities in order to ovee all obstacles and to survive!

    Thus, even if it may not be only their fight, the human Originals were the most desperate to annihte the Dryx. Having faced them once before, they knew how devastating their contagious disease could be. Allowing them to fester on theirnds was not eptable. In the worst-case scenario, it might even lead to the extinction of the human race the moment they would face an army of evolved and mutated Dryx!

    Having one trouble less would open numerous doors for the human race, and that was what they were working for.

    It may not look like the battle against the Dryx was their fight, but every human Original on the battlefield knew the stakes. It was either kill or get killed!

    However, while everyone on the battlefield was fighting for their lives, the situation inside the Dimension rift amulet waspletely different.

    The burning sun shone brightly on Nial''s neck as he took a deep breath while releasing his [Mana Sense]

    "So here we are¡­in the Dimension rift, which is a¡­forest?"

 Chapter 268 Only One Can Live

    "Your soul will cease to exist¡­that I swear on the name I was given by the Origin itself!" Silvian screamed out, blood spilling out of his mouth as his decaying hand reached out for Nial''s neck.

    "But first of all, we will have some fun!"

    Silvian''s voice echoed through the Forest of Life, and a creepy smile formed on his burned face as he lifted his other hand that was tightly grasping an amulet.

    The amulet began to glow, shrouding both Nial and Silvian.

    "Let''s fight for life and death, once and for all¡­ My friend, it is time for our paths to separate!" He said coldly before his body started to get sucked inside the amulet.

    Nial just listened to Silvian. The God of Saints and Devils seemed to have gone crazy, and Nial enjoyed this thoroughly. This was, at least, as crazy as the behavior Silvian showcased!

    It may have been impossible to notice Silvian''s teleportation behind him, and it was not possible for Nial to prevent being dragged inside the Dimension rift, but that was not something he cared about.

    Nial could only smile as dark energy began oozing out of his body,

    "Dude, I think you forgot who the hell you''re facing," He gritted his teeth, while his eyes turned pitch ck.

    Nial''s hand reached out for Silvian''s neck, ignoring the bruise on his own neck.

    Darkness shrouded his hand tightly. It erged, and his hand transformed into razor-sharp ws that were ready to tear the neck of the half-dead Silvian apart.

    However, before Nial''s w of darkness touched Silvian, both had been dragged inside the Dimension rift Battle mode amulet. They were separated and thrown out in a ce neither of them had ever been.

    "Tch! I almost had him," Nial said with a frown on his face.

    He was currently lying on his back, sunlight was shining on his face, and a cool wind curled his clothes up.

    The sound of rustling bushes and the chirping of birds rang in his ears, waking him from his stupor.

    ''There is an entire ecosystem within the amulet?'' Nial thought in astonishment while simultaneously releasing his Mana sense.

    Within seconds, he could tell that Silvian was not in his range of perception. But other than Silvian, there were other beasts, trees, bushes, and all kinds of nts, and there was even a smallke nearby.

    The sunlight that shone on his face felt just like normal sunlight.

    Nial was surprised. He got up from the ground and walked through the surroundings, his expression changing every now and then.

    "To think that there is a working ecosystem within a small amulet''s Dimension rift¡­ I thought we would be teleported into some sort of Arena. That is bullshit," Nial grumbled in dissatisfaction.

    Silvian was close to death, and he didn''t have any mana left, while Nial was overflowing with power.

    Even if Silvian ought to have an upper hand as he was at the Prometheus rank and Nial was supposed to be much weaker, the tides turned.

    Nial was at an advantage right now, but the situation had changed once again.

    ''Just how big is that dimension?'' Nial wondered while expecting the worst.

    One could leave the dimension rift alive, so it was either do or die. Nial understood his situation very well. Giving Silvian weeks to recuperate would mean his inevitable death. Even a few days were already enough for Silvian to recuperate a bit.

    Every second was important, and Silvian knew this just as well as Nial. Thus, even if he was a prideful man, Silvian would hide for a few days, biding his time and improvising to make sure that he could obliterate Nial, and escape the Elves'' grasp the moment he was to leave the Dimension rift amulet.

    Nial didn''t want to give Silvian the chance to recuperate, so he stored the Dragonme spear in his spatial ring before he began his search.

    Mana circted through his body when he began to dash through the small in that bordered on a forest with huge trees.

    ''Right now, he shouldn''t be able to control his mana fluctuations. He won''t be able to heal properly if he concealed his power,'' Nial concluded with a serious expression.

    Without a second thought, he ran in the same direction and in a straight line for three hours, while keeping the same pace. Only then did he encounter a dome wall that blocked off any further advances. Nial was not able to sense anything behind the wall.

    "200 kilometers¡­" He concluded while feeling a suffocated sensation passing through his entire body.

    A radius of 200 kilometers was definitely not something he could take lightly. If he focused on his range of perception and his Innate ability [Mana Sense], the surrounding 10 kilometers could be easily perceived by him.

    However, it was a problem that his perception beyond the range of 10 kilometers was rather weak. Nial would barely be able to differentiate a tree from a walking beast at that distance. Differentiating a beast from Silvian was somethingpletely different.

    "At least, I can sense unstable mana from injured existences. That will make it easier," Nial reassured himself while touching the dome''s wall.

    Nial was confident to find Silvian in the next few hours. But after the hours turned into days, his confidence crumbled.

    Worry filled him because there hadn''t been a single clue about Silvian''s whereabouts.

    "Where the hell is he? I''ve searched through the entire Dimension rift. He is nowhere to be found!!" Nial muttered in anger. Darkness energy oozed out of him, the ground below him cracked and the air around him turned eerily cold.

    Without knowing Silvian''s whereabouts it would be a cumbersome task to leave the Dimension rift''s dimension alive and search for him.

    In fact, Nial was pretty sure that Silvian had already recuperated a bit. By now, the Sacred Knights leader was definitely strong enough to face him head-on, once again.<sub> </sub>

    After a week passed, Nial felt as if something within him had shattered. He couldn''t understand the world anymore, and his thoughts were a jumbled mess.

    ''He cannot disappear from the Dimension rift as long as I''m alive¡­ does that mean he is running away from me, or that he is hiding somewhere in istion and away from my range of perception? He cannot engrave runic constetions here though.''

    The Dimension rift weakened the runic constetions on runic armaments, and new runic constetions couldn''t be engraved anywhere either. There were numerous other restrictions one had to face inside the Dimension rift.

    Nial wasn''t aware of all the restrictions, but he had figured some of them out.

    Unfortunately, that didn''t make things easier for him. Nial could only tell that Silvian couldn''t use some sort ofrge-scale radar to find and avoid him. But it was not as if this fact changed anything about the situation.

    ''Wait¡­isn''t something wrong with this beast? Haven''t I perceived the exact beast more than a dozen times in thest three days?'' Nial thought in confusion.

    He was pretty sure that he could recall the beast because its mana was a little bit odd. However, after encountering it a few times, he predicted that there were entire packs of such beasts with these weird mana fluctuations.

    ''It is definitely the same as before!'' Nial thought, growing certain that he was correct.

    He may not be able to see, but his memory was quite good. In order to know who he was talking to, and who was approaching him from further away, Nial had to imprint everybody''s individual mana fluctuations in his mind. This was his way of identifying the people around him, even if they were not close enough for his Mana Sense to visualize them!

    Something was definitely odd about the beast that was only two kilometers away from him.

    But instead of charging at it to startle the beast, he slowly made his way toward it.

    At first, the beast didn''t move but once Nial was less than a kilometer away from it, the beast began to move backward slowly.

    The beast''s pace was exactly the same as Nial''s. When he slowed down, the beast, that was a wolf, slowed down as well.

    The same happened when Nial''s speed increased. The wolf elerated its speed as well, just to keep a distance of exactly one kilometer from Nial.

    ''I got you, Silvian!'' Nial thought as a bright smile emerged on his face. He knew that the wolf was not Silvian but that didn''t matter.

    He knew what was going on, and everything made sense now.

    "You little bastard, to think that you would have gotten even slyer than before!" Nial cursed and clenched his fist. The ground below him burst open. Dirt and rubble were flung through the surroundings causing a smallmotion.

    Silvian had forcefully subdued the wolf to make him obey his orders. The wolf that was just a kilometer away from Nial was probably not the only beast that had been subdued by Silvian.

    With his strength, this shouldn''t have been easy. Silvian had been in a weakened state, and using his mana, or physical strength to subdue the beast would prevent him from healing.

    ''Considering that the wolf seems to have been fully subdued and that the beast is obediently following the orders he has been given, Silvian''s condition must have worsened.'' Nial concluded, and a faint smile emerged on his face.

    Compared to just a few minutes ago when his hope had been shattered, Nial was feeling much better now.

    An idea popped up in his mind, and without a second thought, he released his dark energy in various spots all over the ground.

    Every now and then, Nial released dark energy on the ground, creating small dark spots that were hidden within bushes, next to nts, or in the shadows of therge trees.

    Being inside the forest was definitely helpful. Nial kept working without taking a break. The ground was covered with dark dots that could be found everywhere as long as one knew where they were.

    Nial had to use quite a bit of his umted dark energy, but he was perfectly fine with that. As long as it would help him to figure out Silvian''s position, everything was fine!

    After he finishedying out the dark energy, Nial distanced himself once again. He moved one kilometer away, leading the wolf straight into the area where all the dark energy was located.

    It didn''t need many brains for Nial to achieve this because the wolf''s order seemed to have been quite simple.

    ''As long as you''re on patrol, keep a distance of, at least, one kilometer.''

    Earlier, the beast was two kilometers away from Nial but it was not able to sense him anymore when Nial restricted the use of his mana. Thus, the wolf had been forced to close the gap and inch nearer to Nial.

    It was only a matter of time before one of the wolf''s paws would get in touch with the spots of dark energy Nial had created. It stuck to the beast and marked it.

    "Finally, I got you!" Nial mumbled, clenching his hand, "Now, return to your master, my little pawn!"

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

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 Chapter 269 Found You!

    The moment the wolf was marked by his dark energy, Nial felt much better. He focused on replenishing the dark energy he had used up to mark the surrounding area.

    This took him quite a while but it was not as if he was in a hurry.

    The wolf left him every few hours, probably to report to Silvian. It indicated that Silvian was not able to see through the eyes of the wolf and that they couldn''tmunicate with each other over long distances.

    ''Well, it''s not like I care about how Silvian receives his report, whether it is by reading the wolf''s memories, or in another way.'' Nial just thought. He felt much lighter than before. His entire body was fully invigorated.

    The Symbol of Life hadn''t stopped glowing for quite some time. Nial was actually not sure why that was the case but it elerated the production of his dark energy.

    He could store more dark energy inside the Odyssey seed as well. There was no disadvantage, either. Thus, Nial epted the Ankh without thinking too much about possible problems the Symbol of Life might cause in the future.

    After a few hours, the wolf had disappeared, and Nial chose to follow the trails left behind by the dark energy mark on the wolf.

    Nial appeared in front of a small cave less than 90 minutester. An expression of curiosity appeared on his face when he perceived quite a few interesting things.

    The cave restricted mana fluctuations partially. Some sort of purplish-blue crystal absorbed the mana out of the surrounding area. Nial could still sense his dark energy but even that was absorbed.

    By standing close to the cavern entrance, Nial was already forced to control his mana and dark energy to prevent any of it from being suctioned out of his body.

    It felt a bit weird but that was not Nial''s focus.

    ''I found you, you bastard!'' He thought as his expression twisted into an ugly smile.

    Silvian''s mana fluctuations were stronger than that of the wolf''s. They were stable, and Nial couldn''t find a single clue that hinted at an injury of Silvian''s mana veins or his mana core.

    ''Did he already heal his mana core and mana veins? So fast?!'' Nial thought in shock. Even if one was perfectly healthy and had a great natural healing ability, healing a cracked mana core, and half-destroyed mana veins within seven days were impossible.

    Everything Nial sensed about Silvian was quite weird. His mana seemed to have changed quite a bit. It was altered in a way that was theplete opposite of the holiness the Sacred Knights leader was supposed to have.

    ''Did he summon¡­no, that is impossible here. Silvian shouldn''t have any Chaos Divine energy left either. His entire power should have been drained. He should hardly be able to move his body. Even if a week is a long time, being able to heal his mana core and mana veins is not possible!'' Nial thought, his expression turning moreplex, the more time passed.

    The situation seemed odd. Thus, he did something extremely stupid.

    Nial thought about something before he made a decision, ''Even if he catches me now, he won''t kill me immediately, otherwise, he will be thrown out of the Dimension rift before he regains his peak condition!''

    With that in mind, he released his dark energy and merged it with his ck miasma to shroud his entire body with it as he took a first step inside the cavern entrance.

    Dark miasma was released from his entire body but Nial focused most on the dark miasma around his feet. The energy he released streamed inside the ground, leaving behind a trail of darkness.

    With every step he took the crystals within the cave tried to greedily take away his energy. The suction force increased in intensity over time.

    With every second passing, Nial felt that his body was being deprived of power. The Symbol of Life was glowing brightly, replenishing the deprived power instantaneously, but Nial began to understand the situation much better.

    ''The living cannot survive long in this ce, not if they want to retain their energy.'' Nial realized when his body started to tremble.

    The shroud of dark energy prevented most of his vigor to be taken from him, while the Symbol of Life quickly refilled what was taken nheless.

    That was how he could easily survive in the cave with the energy devouring crystals.

    His umted dark energy was quickly drained but Nial merely smiled. The entire part of the cave he had passed by was covered in Nial''s darkness.

    This included the energy devouring crystals. The crystals near the entrance of the cave were already overflowing with the mana they had absorbed from outside.

    Understanding this may seem insignificant at first, but Nial had alreadye up with a n.

    ''I can control my dark energy everywhere within my range of perception¡­as long as I have enough mana. Then, how about I reverse the effect of the energy devouring crystals?'' He thought, smiling brightly.

    If anyone were to see Nial''s expression right now, they would never believe that he was smiling. His entire body was tightly shrouded in darkness. It looked like an existence had crawled out of the abyss, and was smiling horrifyingly.

    Nial didn''t even notice the changes urring in his body. He had simply shrouded his body in dark energy to block off the power of the energy devouring crystals.

    His focus was on making use of the energy devouring crystal''s energy, and not on his appearance either.

    Right now, even the fact that Silvian took note of him was uncertain. Tremendous amounts of mana were being devoured by the dark energy that trailed behind him.

    By using his dark energy to crush the crystals one after another, the mana inside them was released.

    Nial''s dark energy and the dark miasma devoured everything ording to Nial''s orders. The dark energy expanded rapidly along the walls, the ceiling, and the ground of the cave while the dark miasma filled the hollow rooms entirely.

    Everything was slowly turning into Nial''s domain and wherever he stepped, darkness followed behind.

    The moment his dark energy was drained, an energy devouring crystal was crushed.<sub> </sub>

    When his dark miasma stopped growing, another energy devouring crystal was crushed and the energy within it was devoured.

    Inside the cave, Silvian seemed to have regained his power, Nial was slowly gaining more and more strength. The excessive energy entered Nial''s body, while the shroud of darkness around him became tighter. It infiltrated his body and became one with him.

    A tight armor protected him. However, that was not everything. The darkness seemed to merge with his skin. It circted through his veins, invigorating him.

    Nial''s body cooled off. All the negative emotions that he had felt against Silvian seemed to disappear, and Nial''s expression calmed down.

    There was no feeling of satisfaction, hope, or any desire inside him anymore. The only thought he had was to keep expanding his darkness domain, strengthen his physique as much as possible, and ept the darkness around him.

    From the deepest parts of the Odyssey seed, the most potent dark energy was released. When Nial felt this power, his entire body shook.

    ''Wow¡­'' He could only think while feeling that his entire body was being enhanced.

    The Ancient Origin ring within his body was rotating rapidly and absorbing the dark energy around him before expelling it once again.

    Nial repeated this process over and over again without knowing why he was even doing this. Only after several minutes that felt like an eternity had passed was Nial finally able to grasp the situation.

    ''The Ancient Origin ring is slowly transmuting dark energy. It is enhancing the dark energy, and allows it to grow stronger as long as enough mana is utilized.''

    The entire cave behind Nial was covered in pitch-ck darkness. Not a single speck of light could be seen. Even the faintly glowing energy devouring crystals that had yet to be crushed were not visible.

    Nial would crush them when he required more energy. However, his body could hardly contain the energy he had already absorbed, and the cavern tunnel was already trembling. It couldn''t stand the overflowing dark energy and the dark miasma.

    All of a sudden, the Symbol of Life began to glow much brighter. Before, it desired to absorb mana to fill Nial with more and more vigor. But something seemed to have changed when the Odyssey seed had released the dark energy with the highest potency from the deepest parts of it.

    Dark energy streamed inside the Symbol of Life. It was nourished and empowered.

    Something was happening to the Symbol of Life, it changed. However, Nial was not able to focus on the Ankh because he entered therge cavern hall, where Silvian was located. The cavern hall was also a dead end.

    Without a warning, the wolf, who had been watching Nial for the past few days, appeared in front of Nial.

    The beast''s hair stood up on its end, and it was visibly scared. But it was unable to disobey Silvian''s orders, so the wolf attacked Nial, the existence, who brought forth darkness.

    If Silvian had already looked like a monster right now, Nial''s appearance caused true horror to every existence in his sight.

    With a swipe of his hand, a ginormous w made of darkness emerged out of the ground. It shot upward, reached the wolf''s abdomen before it knew, and sted up the next instant.

    The Wolf was not even able to react as its body was bashed into the ceiling where it was crushed in an instant.

    Blood trickled down the w, while all the bones in the wolf''s body were crushed. The wolf that had been alive just a moment ago had been mashed and killed without a second of hesitation.

    "That trick is old, Silvian. How about you try something new?" Nial asked rhetorically while keeping his volume low.

    If he had been ready to go all-in before entering the cave and face Silvian''s torture to procure more information, Nial''s current behavior and demeanor werepletely different. His entire existence was overflowing with power. There was no trace of fear within him anymore either.

    Everything had changed due to the power that flooded his body.

    Lifting his hands, he allowed the darkness behind him to fill the entire cavern hall. Only the space between Nial and Silvian was spared from the overflowing darkness that covered everything.

    Nial wanted Silvian to see him.

    He visualized the Incarnation of the God of Saints and Devils, but what Nial saw was more than just a little bit disappointing.

    "What did you do to your body?" Nial asked when he noticed that Silvian''s body had rotten away. Silvian was still alive, to some extent. That was, at least, what his mana said.

    Silvian was osciting between life and death but he was not injured anymore. His mana veins and mana core had healed, but that was something Nial already knew.

    However, Silvian''s body was missing parts of his flesh, and the holiness his body had naturally executed before had turned dark. He had changed.

    ''He is not undead¡­but extremely close to being considered undead. Demonification? Probably not.'' Nial tilted his head, and thought about an answer while his eerily pitch-ck eyes darted at Silvian.

    It was impossible for Silvian to stop trembling at the sight of Nial. He clearly recalled the terrifying power of the Ruler of Darkness.

    ''Kaeldur?? How can he summon this? This is not the power of a 1st Mirae ranked Original!! H-H-He cannot have improved so fast, that is impossible! IMPOSSIBLE!!'' Silvian screamed at the top of his lungs, but not a single word escaped his mouth. He had screamed out in his mind, without realizing it.

    It took him a while to realize that he was not yet dead. The God of Darkness hadn''t killed him the moment he screamed out.

    His body didn''t listen to him but Silvian forced himself to calm down and ask, "How? How did you¨C"

    "Answer my question!" Nial interrupted, not allowing Silvian to finish first.

 Chapter 270 Suicide Bomber

    Nial''s entire behavior seemed to have changed. It was as if his personality had changed for the worse.

    However, he was not able to tell what was going on either. Nial felt that something was changing when he set foot in the cave with the energy devouring crystals.

    ''Finally, I can let loose,'' Nial thought at that moment as his worries slowly vanished into thin air.

    The more dark energy he controlled and the intenser both the ck miasma and dark energy became, the more control Nial had over everything around him.

    His emotions were drastically restricted due to the dark energy''s unique properties. He was not able to feel any mercy toward his opponents, and he couldn''t emphasize with them.

    They were his enemies and their death was inevitable. What would be the use of having empathy for the dead in front of him?

    The dark energy influenced his mind the more Nial released it. When the entire cave was overflowing with the highly potent dark energy that covered the walls, the ground, and the ceiling, Nial was not even able to perceive the influence of the energy anymore.

    It was just doing whatever it wanted, bringing forth the transformation Nial currently faced. Instead of feeling odd, or as if something was wrong, Nial''s entire body was overflowing with power.

    Since thepressed darkness had engulfed him and merged with his body, Nial felt much better than before. It was as if the restrictions on his mortal body were slowly being released. This feeling was addictive and Nial wanted to embrace it with all his might.

    "I don''t like to repeat myself. What did you do to your body? Answer me!" Nial''s voice resounded within the dark miasma that filled the interior of the entire cave, with the sole exception of a small patch between Nial and Silvian.

    Silvian was supposed to see him. He ought to realize that hisst day had finally arrived and that he would have to die.

    "Y-You...how did you summon Kaeldur?!?" Silvian could only scream in shock, not answering Nial''s question in the slightest.

    ''Kaeldur? Is that what this is called? It sounds somewhat familiar...'' Nial wondered for a moment, clearly understanding that something had changed with the darkness around him when the Odyssey seed had released the essence of his dark energy.

    Tremendous amounts of mana were required, along with horrifyingly urate control over mana and his dark energy, and he had to be mentally prepared for the influence of the dark energy he would temporarily fuse with.

    Nial had understood this by now, but he had also noted that Silvian didn''t answer his question. This angered him. The darkness that had fused with Nial erged, and a grimace formed on Nial''s face as arms of darkness protruded out of the ground.

    They grasped Silvian''s leg and held him tightly, preventing him from moving.

    "W-what are you doing?!" Silvian screamed out in return, using his [Holy Spear] ability in connection to his [Holy Blessing]. However, instead of summoning a holy white spear, it was greenish-dark and overflowing with energy that was dead.

    Silvian''s mana had properties of the death element. Nheless, he was still alive.

    "You really are incorrigible... How long has it been since someone whooped your ass for how stupid you are?" Nial asked in an amused voice and continued, "...The Ruler of Darkness was probably thest one. What a coincidence..."

    The dark miasma slowly crawled upon Silvian. It weakened his senses and his control over mana. Despite that, Silvian was still able to throw the Death-attributed Holy spear toward Nial.

    Kaeldur, the darkness that had fused with him, seemed to enjoy the sight of the Death Holy spear in front of him.

    Instead of creating huge walls of dark energy that would have shot out of the ceiling and the ground by now, Nial''s mind was eerily calm.

    He manifested a huge fist with the Darkness Essence and used Kaeldur to punch out.

    [Kaeldur is not just any darkness, not powerful armor, and neither an ordinary weapon to use. Kaeldur is made out of the Essence of Darkness, your most loyal--]

    The moment Nial punched out, the voice of the God of Darkness resounded in his mind. Nial had no idea why this suddenly happened, but he knew that the Ankh continued to glow brighter the more time passed. He knew that things were changing within him and that everything happened because of a reason.

    Thus, he embraced the knowledge the God of Darkness wanted to share with him, even if he received it in parts.

    ''Most loyal...subordinate? Well, whatever,'' Nial didn''t have the time to give it much thought. Nial had merged with the thing he presumed to be Kaeldur. He could control itpletely, and he had punched out with the energy he provided it to grow.

    Kaeldur didn''t seem sentient to Nial, but he couldn''t be certain that it didn''t have any sentience. Something was weird but he couldn''t put his finger on it.

    At that moment, the Death Holy Spear collided with Kaeldur''s humongous fist. A shockwave of energies was created upon impact.

    If not for the dark energy, Nial would have been pushed back a step but luckily, it kept his feet firmly nted on the ground. Silvian was also unmoving but this was due to the fact that he was tightly secured in Nial''s dark energy and his dark miasma.

    It slowly weakened Silvian to the point where he was not even able to move anymore.

    "I-I will answer your question, calm down, Damian!!!" Silvian screamed the moment he saw that the Death Holy Spear cracked. It disintegrated into countless pieces before the remnants of energy shot through the cavern hall.

    However, even before the remnants of death-attributed mana could hit anyone, the dark miasma had devoured everything.

    "Speak," Nial ordered the moment Kaeldur''s huge fist dispersed. The darkness belonging to Kaeldur returned to Nial''s right hand.<sub> </sub>

    While Nial''s entire personality seemed to have changed since he entered the cave, the exact same could be said about Silvian. He didn''t expect Nial to find him that fast, let alone be able to summon Kaeldur so quickly.

    This should only be possible after advancing past the Prometheus rank. Terrifying memories of the past haunted Silvian, and in his weakened state he was not confident about facing Kaeldur, let alone all the dark energy Nial seemed to umte at a terrifying speed.

    For a short time, Silvian had forgotten who he was facing, and this was the biggest mistake he could have made when he chose to hide from Nial. For that, he picked no other ce than the cave that held numerous energy-devouring crystals, at that.

    It was one of the biggest mistakes he made, caused by his greed to recuperate faster, to revive thest trace of Cursed Divine energy he found in the deepest parts of his soul.

    "Y-You asked what happened to my body, right?" Silvian asked, trembling in fear. Nial nodded his head at that. He was sure that Silvian was not that afraid of him.

    In fact, if he were to be afraid of him, Silvian would have never attempted to bring him inside the Dimension rift.

    ''He fears the dark energy and Kaeldur because he knows that he cannot fight it.'' Nial concluded, understanding the situation clearly.

    However, the dark energy and Kaeldur were now part of him and not Damian. Parts of him might be influenced by Damian''s life and past memories, but Nial Orin was not the Ruler of Darkness, it was Damian!

    "I...sacrificed parts of my mortal body to repair my mana core and mana veins," Silvian suddenly blurted for the sake of saving himself, revealing what he ought to hide as he continued,

    "With this sacrifice, my mortal shell was nearly destroyed, and I''m closer to death than life. You should have noticed that."

    Silvian sounded extremely calm but a devilish smile appeared on his face at this moment. He was doing something, and Nial had no idea what it was.

    Nial could barely sense that something tiny within Silvian''s body had been released, something with tremendous energy.

    "In return for sacrificing my mortal shell, I was also able to regain something other than my mana core and mana vein, something that will allow me to take you with me!!" Silvian seemed to have gone insane. His entire body was writhing in pain as he allowed the tiny thing within himself to circte through his body.

    It reached Silvian''s mana core before it entered a ce that was invisible to the naked eye.

    "The Soul is the Anchor of Life, while the body is the vessel of the Soul that secures it from harm. In that case, how about I drag your entire existence down with my body??" Silvian began tough maniacally when he finished speaking.

    Meanwhile, Nial was still standing further away from Silvian. His expression was sour because he thought that Silvian''s sanity had been drastically damaged when he sacrificed his mortal shell.

    This was the only thing that made sense for Nial as he kept using his [Mana Sense] to keep watch on the tiny thing with unimaginable power within Silvian''s body.

    ''That''s not a divinity, so it''s thest remnants of his Cursed Divine power in the body of the Sacred Knights leader?'' Nial deduced with a faint smile on his lips.

    As a reaction to Nial''s deduction, Kaeldur reacted instinctively, piercing out with his t hand. Razor-sharp ws grew out of Nial''s hand, while his entire arm erged.

    The moment Silvian felt that his body was pierced by Nial, he noticed that something was off. He coughed up blood but that was not something he noticed.

    "W-what did you do?!?!" Silvian''s self-destruction and the Soul transfer he had initiated with the Cursed Divine energy he had just replenished were stopped the moment Kaeldur''s ws pierced his body.

    This frightened Silvian because he could tell that something was entirely different to how it had always been in the past.

    "You...are not Damian, are you?" Silvian asked in a shaky voice.

    "You fucking piece of shit, listen when others speak!! I told you that a few times by now," Nial growled in a deep voice before he disappeared from his former position.

    He reappeared right in front of Silvian''s face, shocking him. Kaeldur''s horrifying grimace stared down at Silvian as he continued,

    "My name is Nial Orin, you bitch!"

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

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 Chapter 271 Kaeldur

    "My name is Nial Orin, you bitch!"

    Nial was not sure why Silvian realized only now that he was not the God of Darkness he knew from the past. In his opinion, he waspletely different, after all.

    However, what Nial didn''t realize was one particr fact; the influence of the dark energy he controlled waspletely different from how Damian would usually be influenced by it!

    Nial was still able to think rationally. He could think and act without an issue, controlling Kaeldur however he wanted to.

    As for the way Damian was influenced whenever he controlled more dark energy than he could handle¡­he would go berserk.

    His mind would nk out and he could no longer think rationally, he would turn into a mindless beast. Damian''s wild instincts would allow him to exhibit far more power than one could fathom.

    The destruction he would cause whenever he controlled more dark energy than he could handle was devastating. Entires ruled by powerful races were reduced to ruins the moment Damian unleashed the beast that was sealed within his memories.

    However, all of this was Damian''s racial trait to a certain extent. He had never been a human, to begin with. In fact, one could say that he was more of a beast than anything else.

    But that was also what allowed him to survive and ovee everything that had happened to him.

    Nial was a special case, and his reaction to the highly influential and dangerous dark energy was different¡­it was unique.

    The dark energy didn''t control him. He didn''t lose his reasoning and could still react to the events that urred around him.

    And that was still the case after Nial summoned Kaeldur, thereby releasing the Darkness Essence within his body.

    Damian would have never been able to survive the after-effects of summoning Kaeldur at the 1st Mirae rank. Even with all the knowledge of Kaeldur''s power, and while being at the Prometheus rank, it would have been suicidal for Damian to summon Kaeldur. He would have lost his reasoning and been consumed with the mad desire to destroy everything.

    "Should I just kill you, or do you want me to crush your soul as well? I wonder how your Cursed Godly body would react if a big part of your soul were to be destroyed," Nial''s voice wasced with anger that bounced off the entire cavern all of a sudden.

    He spoke quietly, but every single word reached Silvian''s ears. Involuntarily, his body began to tremble as he looked ahead at Kaeldur''s grimace that was less than 20 centimeters ahead of him.

    "I wonder if you will be a cripple," Nial mumbled when he thought of something.

    "Would you even remember something that happened on Jundra? Imagine you don''t remember anything and your main body returned with another Incarnation. Wouldn''t that be funny?" Nial spoke in a manner that didn''t allow anyone tough. His voice was eerily cold and void of any emotions.

    He lifted his free hand and lightly caressed Silvian''s wrinkled face.

    "Isn''t it funny? You used this ce to resurrect your powers, to regain your strength, to fight and kill me. However, the tides have turned, and your actions even allowed me to regain some of this old geezer''s powers.

    You will be killed by a blind youth, who is barely 19 years old. My origin awoke not too long ago, and I''m barely at the 1st Mirae rank," Nial began to smile craftily which was replicated on Kaeldur''s face.

    The ws that had pierced into Silvian''s chest began to tremble, and it looked like tiny tidal waves of darkness flooded in Silvian''s direction.

    Nial filled Silvian''s body with his dark energy, slowly killing him from the inside. Kaeldur''s ws had a unique effect, and Nial was just experimenting with them.

    "I wonder if I can devour your Cursed Divine energy," Nial spoke in a light voice when he pierced Kaeldur''s ws deeper into Silvian''s chest.

    It was possible for him to absorb the mana of the beings he pierced with Kaeldur. However, Nial didn''t do so with Silvian''s death attributed mana. It would only harm Nial''s body if he did so.

    But the Cursed Divine energy that had forcefully been put to a halt was a different matter altogether.

    "You¡­monster!!" Silvian screamed at the top of his lungs, only to feel as if his lips had been sealed the moment Kaeldur moved his tiny ws.

    "Shhh," Nial quietly said with a devilish smile as he lifted his index finger in front of his mouth.

    "I have no idea what exactly you nned with the Empresses'' manifested Divinity fragment, or the Dryx you summoned. I don''t care about that actually either.

    With my current power, I could take everything I need, but it looks like I won''t be able to control it for long anymore. My body is still too weak," Nial shared with an air of indifference, ignoring the confused and horrified expression on Silvian''s face.

    ''Why the hell is he telling me that now?! Are you trying to make me suffer longer???'' Silvian thought, trying to scream at Nial. However, that was impossible because he couldn''t speak anymore. His mouth was covered with dark energy, just like the rest of his body.

    Only Silvian''s eye had yet to be devoured by his dark energy.

    "You might wonder, why am I telling you this, right? To be honest, there is no special reason. Talking with you about the past is not really helpful either because I don''t remember every single thing about Damian''s life. It was a mess but that is something you know best, don''t you?" Nial kept smiling while speaking.

    He walked through the dark miasma that filled the entire cave by now. Not a tiny speck of light could be perceived.

    There was only darkness. However, Nial felt great. Having unparalleled powers was oddly addictive and Nial would love to retain the power.

    Unfortunately, the power he felt, including Kaeldur''s might and the dark energy around him would kill him if he were to use them repetitively with the strength he currently had.

    Nial was not even able to summon them again the moment he would release them. It was too straining and the energy required was not something even Prometheus Originals could possess.

    "You schemed too much, and that''s why you die," Nial said, ending the ''conversation'' with Silvian.

    Dark energy began to cover Silvian''s entire body just a momentter. At the same time, a flood of dark energy entered Silvian''s body. It engulfed the tiny trace of Cursed Divine energy that began to tremble violently when Nial''s dark energy touched it.

    His dark energy swept through every nook and cranny of Silvian''s body, preventing anything from moving the slightest bit.

    Silvian''s body grew weaker and weaker. He couldn''t breathe, it was impossible to circte mana through his body to keep him alive. Even the blood in his veins couldn''t move the slightest bit anymore.<sub> </sub>

    Silvian was at Nial''s mercy, and he knew that he would die the moment Nial made his killing move.

    ''Is that really how I die?'' He wondered. Silvian didn''t ept, but even while trying to use the trace of Cursed Divine energy within his body, the only thing he achieved was to destroy some of Nial''s dark energy.

    However, for every bit of dark energy Nial destroyed, thrice the amount of dark energy flooded Silvian''s body.

    The entire cave was filled with Nial''s dark energy, his dark miasma, and the energy devouring crystals.

    ''Is it unwilling to be subdued to me?'' Nial thought with a smile on his face. His dark energy was obliterated the moment it came close to the Cursed Divine energy.

    This reaction caused Nial''s smile to widen the less willing the Cursed Divine energy was. The Odyssey seed was trembling in anticipation.

    The thought of gaining a trace of Cursed Divine energy while being at the 1st Mirae rank was something that should have never been possible. However, now the opportunity had unveiled itself in front of the Odyssey seed and it had to get it by all means even if all the dark energy in Nial''s possession were to be destroyed.

    Precisely controlling the dark energy, he destroyed the energy devouring crystals one after another. The mana that was released nourished his dark energy. It flooded straight to him and was destroyed in an attempt to tame the Cursed Divine energy that wreaked havoc.

    Silvian lost control over the Cursed Divine energy while his mind and body began to feel heavier. He was almost unable to perceive anything. But one thing he could tell for sure; he was actually dying, and the trace Cursed Divine energy that ought to be his soul''s savior had abandoned him.

    It destroyed his body from the inside more than Nial''s dark energy could.

    "Let''s finish this for good," Nial suddenly said, destroying every single energy devouring crystal inside the cave.

    The entire cave began to tremble. It began to copse, and only thest dark energy seemed to prevent the cave from falling on Nial, burying him underground.

    However, it was also the dark energy that began to expand rapidly, putting enormous pressure on the cavern walls, the ceiling, and the ground below.

    It looked like the entire cave was growing in size as a shocking amount of mana was released at once. It was devoured by the dark energy which used the mana to produce more and more dark energy.

    Nial used this dark energy to flood Silvian''s body with it. He targeted the Cursed Divine energy with it, which destroyed Nial''s dark energy.

    At first, it looked like Nial''s actions were wasted. But the more time passed, the weaker the resistance of the trace of Cursed Divine energy became. Within an hour, Nial''s dark energy engulfed the trace of Cursed Divine energy.

    Merely three hourster, Nial gained a bit of control over the Cursed Divine energy. It seemed to have sentience and abandoned Silvian, whose body was nothing more than a shell.

    There was not the slightest trace of life left behind within Silvian and he slumped to the ground.

    Nheless, Nial hadn''t been expelled from the Dimension rift amulet, and the reason for this was quite simple.

    Silvian was dead, but his soul had yet to be freed from his body.

    Kaeldur was tightly holding onto Silvian''s soul, preventing him from returning to the main body. The God of Saints and Devils had used a big portion of his soul to incarnate on Jundra. He had even been forced to use his Divinity to incarnate on the that had yet to awaken its mana.

    Thus, he had numerous safety measurements that were supposed to protect his soul from being injured. Yet, all of these safety measures had been destroyed, and the part of the Soul belonging to the God of Saints and Devils in Nial''s hand was already showing signs of cracking.

    Silvian''s future was in Nial''s hand and he could destroy it whenever he wanted to.

    This was another function of Kaeldur, one that required a tremendous amount of dark energy to be initiated and maintained.

    Kaeldur was able to grasp the anchor of life of all kinds of living beings as long as the conditions were met!

    Nial had a faint smile on his lips as he controlled the Cursed Divinity energy within the remains of Silvian''s body. He didn''t care about the God of Saints and Devils anymore.

    Silvian received what he deserved. Everything he did in the past hade back to him, just like a boomerang. Life was unpredictable, but there were certain events one could predict beforehand to an extent.

    The God of Saints and Devils wanted too much. He desired everything, and acted rashly, without showing any mercy.

    Silvian was narrow-minded and incorrigible. His life was bound to end in a gruesome manner, whether it was today or far ahead in the future.

    Nial may only have a part of Silvian''s main soul, but that did not matter. The insignificance of Nial''s next action mattered most.

    Today''s event was more than enough to show that insatiable greed would only backfire. Today was the day when the first God of Jundra was defeated.

    However, whether he would return or not was something only the future could tell.

    **

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 Chapter 272 Shattered Soul

    With Silvian''s soul in his hand, Nial could do whatever he wanted. He was not nice enough to give Silvian the hope of escaping unscathed.

    Nial''s following actions were the exact opposite of that because he was ready to destroy the entire soul inside the Sacred Knights leader.

    But before Nial was able to do anything, his entire body began to crackle, his skin burst open and the dark energy around him began to grow unstable.

    By using the entire mana that was released by destroying the energy devouring crystals, Nial''s entire being was overflowing with an unimaginably high density of dark energy.

    Every single bit of mana had been devoured by his dark energy before entering the darkness domain Nial had manifested far longer than he was supposed to be able to handle.

    ? His entire being ached heavily now that all the dark energy didn''t have an outlet to be released in the outside world anymore.

    While the Cursed Divine energy was still rampaging through Silvian''s body, Nial would have still sacrificed his dark energy to calm the Cursed Divine energy. However, now his only way of destroying dark energy had disappeared as well.

    The trace of Cursed Divine energy entered his body through Kaeldur''s w. It moved slowly, and the destruction it caused despite its calm state was already more than enough to affect Nial severely.

    It was sucked inside the Odyssey seed and destroyed Nial''s body on its way there severely. Fortunately, Nial was in possession of the Symbol of Life. It allowed Nial to regenerate quickly, and to face less severe injuries, right from the beginning.

    However, even when the Cursed Divine energy had been absorbed by the Odyssey seed that tightly sealed it away, Nial was far from safe at the moment.

    The entire cave was still overflowing with dark energy. The dark miasma might not be a problem because it dispersed the moment Nial stopped controlling it, but the same couldn''t be said about the dark energy.

    If Nial were to stop controlling every bit of dark energy within his range of perception, it would wreak havoc until the energy that empowered it would get exhausted.

    Nial couldn''t allow this as long as he was in the deeper parts of the cave. He would die the moment he would cut off his control of the dark energy.

    "Good luck, trying to tend to your broken soul, son of a bitch!" Nial growled all of a sudden as his entire being released an intense tension.

    The cave began to violently tremble as a reaction, and Kaeldur clenched his ws, crushing the soul he had been holding tightly.

    It sounded like arge orb made out of ss shattered on the ground when the soul broke. Silvian''s lifeless body slumped to the ground when Nial released it. Following that, Kaeldur was released as well.

    Nial couldn''t control Kaeldur anymore. His mission was fulfilled, and Nial didn''t have a reason to force Kaeldur to stay behind in the world of the manifested, and the living.

    The Odyssey seed began to pulsate when the darkness that had fused with Nial began to dissolve. The Essence of Darkness was sucked back inside the Odyssey seed, while the remaining energy turned to dark energy that merged with the domain of darkness.

    ''That''s so fucking painful,'' Nial nearly cursed out when he sensed a heavy weight pressing on him all of a sudden.

    The pressure generated by the dark energy was far too intense, even for Nial, who was less affected by the dark energy than other beings.

    He controlled the dark energy. Thus, he was hardly affected by it, if one excluded its mental influence.

    However, right now, the pressure the dark energy executed exceeded everything Nial had ever sensed.

    Even the memories of the God of Darkness didn''t show that Damian''s body was ever affected by the dark energy in this kind of way.

    ''Calm down and control it. Retract it in the Odyssey seed and store it tightly!'' Nial tried to calm down and avoid most of the trouble, hoping that he would soon emerge from the Dimension rift amulet without all that dark energy. Otherwise, the situation might be a little more chaotic than he could have hoped for.

    Nial could sense that his surroundings were slowly changing, but that was only obvious. Silvian was killed, and he was allowed to emerge from the Dimension rift amulet.

    "Wait, what the hell!?" Nial swore under his breath the moment he perceived that every single bit of the dark energy emerged with him from the Dimension rift amulet.

    It shrouded him like a huge, highlypressed sphere of dark energy, preventing Nial from grasping where he was.

    His senses were restricted all of a sudden, and the only thing in his world was the dark energy. This was unexpected, but Nial didn''t allow this to influence him.

    He tried to absorb the dark energy sphere inside the Odyssey seed to prevent anything bad from happening.

    However, just when he thought about it, thest remnants of dark energy emerged from the Dimension rift amulet. They were naturally pulled toward the dark energy sphere.

    It was as if thesest remnants of dark energy were a spark. The moment they touched the dark energy sphere which had reached a stable state, it exploded, releasing all the dark energy that was stored within.

    In a radius of two kilometers, the day turned into darkness. It was almost as if the abyss had emerged in the middle of the battlefield, where thest thousands of Dryx were fighting against the Elves and human Originals, who had survived until now.

    Everyone was exhausted including the Dryx, whose strength and stamina had increased drastically with respect to every single corpse they had eaten.

    The tides on the battlefield had switched multiple times. At one point the Elves and human Originals had gained an upper hand. They had nearly killed all the ordinary Dryx, thereby ending the battle before anything worse could happen.

    Unfortunately, a few Dryx hadpleted their mutation, and even their evolution after ending the battle seemed to have been decided. The tides changed once again, and the Elven side was pushed back.

    In the following hours, the battles were more drawn out, and only by giving their utmost was it possible for the Elven and human Originals to survive.

    It looked like the Dryx were about to win because more and more ordinary Dryx were done with their first mutation.

    As a result, they became overwhelmingly strong and the difficulty to kill even one of them increased by leaps and bounds.

    Because of the increased difficulty to survive, it was already a wonder that the Forest of Life was still unscathed after almost eight hours had passed.<sub> </sub>

    But even if that were to be the case, it didn''t make any sense that the Dryx were still fighting against the human Originals and the Elves. An entire week had already passed within the Dimension rift amulet after all!

    However, what nobody knew was that time ran differently within the Dimension rift than everywhere else in the universe.

    All of a sudden, an ear-splitting scream filled with unbearable pain and helplessness tore through the air that smelled heavily of blood and death.

    Nial, who had been able to control the sphere of dark energy felt immense pain the moment the sphere exploded.

    His entire mind felt like it had been torn into pieces within the explosion. This was a terrifying sensation, and he could hardly regain his senses as he continued to scream out in pain.

    Everyone''s attention was drawn over to the origin of the scream, only for a flood of darkness to swamp everyone, whether human, Elf, or Dryx.

    The beings that were swamped by the darkness lost their ability to move and to make use of their mana.

    All of their senses were sealed at once, forcing them to end up in utter darkness. Their situation was like that of chickens in a coop unable to figure out what was going on.

    Many human Originals were scared witless. They imagined that they had just died and that the afterlife was something as terrifying as the sensation they were currently feeling.

    Even some Elves couldn''t help but get scared. It was impossible to stay unfazed after suddenly being rendered incapable of moving, seeing, hearing, smelling, and touching anything.

    The humans, Elves, and even the Dryx within the flood of darkness were afraid of what was going to happen. They were not sure what had actually happened, to begin with, and the fear within them was thest sign that they were still alive.

    At least they hoped that feeling fear meant that they were still breathing.

    Meanwhile, Nial was trying to control the flood of darkness that originated from him, or the sphere of darkness, to be precise.

    Upon essing his Origin seed that kept pulsating, Nial noticed something.

    ''The Ankh is glowing brightly, and is still absorbing dark energy...''

    The Odyssey seed could absorb some dark energy but because it had absorbed the Essence of Darkness and the Cursed Divine energy, the Odyssey seed had more than enough to take care of.

    After Nial forced it to absorb some dark energy until it was filled to the brim, the flood of darkness had lost some of its intensity.

    However, it had yet to disappear. That was why he ignored everything else as he focused on the Ankh.

    ''If you want to absorb my dark energy, I will be thest one toin!'' Nial could only think while trying his best to ignore the pain in his mind. His entire body was bleeding and he could tell that some of his bones were broken as well.

    He was not sure how severe his condition was but Nial clearly felt that it was far from good.

    Nheless, Nial knew that he had to take care of the flood of darkness first, otherwise, he might identally kill others.

    Thus, by actively allowing the Ankh to absorb his dark energy, Nial created a strong suction force. The Symbol of light began to glow brighter and brighter, and the Odyssey seed pulsated as a reaction.

    The changes Kaeldur had caused within Nial were dismissed and it returned to its original state, his eyes turned to the same lifeless milky white eyes they had always been and tremendously intense currents of dark energy swirled around him.

    Slowly, the humans, Elves, and Dryx were released from the cover of darkness. They breathed a sigh of relief, only to realize that the flood of darkness had emerged from Nial, a young Original at the 1st Mirae rank.

    The power that surrounded him was far more terrifying than his rank suggested, but it was a matter of fact that he was merely at the 1st Mirae rank. This was hard to believe, but none of the Dryx dared to remain still.

    After Silvian''s life on Jundra had ended, themands given by the God of Saints and Devils lost their priority. Simultaneously, the Dryx'' wild instincts were telling them to keep as much distance from Nial as possible.

    If they wanted to stay alive, they should flee...as long as it was still possible.

    On the other hand, the human Originals and Elves looked at Nial with widened eyes. By now, everyone had heard of Nial. In fact, if one didn''t know about Nial, one couldbel oneself an influential person.

    He was the human ambassador who was responsible for maintaining a harmonious rtionship with the Elves, meaning that one shouldn''t get in his bad books if they wanted to stay on the favorable side of the Elves.

    But considering that everyone knew about Nial''s identity by now, it was even more shocking to see him at the moment.

    "Is that really Nial...?"

    **

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 Chapter 273 The Symbol Of Life Changes!

    "Is that really Nial...?" Mathias was bbergasted.

    He was breathing heavily, bleeding out of several wounds, and his sight was blurry. Nheless, Mathias could clearly recall how his friend''s mana felt.

    It was obvious that the flood of darkness belonged to Nial, and that everything he saw in front of him had been caused by Nial.

    The surroundingnd had already been turned into ruins because of the long battle against the Dryx. They had been on the losing side, and it was only a matter of time before they would have truly lost.

    It had been inevitable because the Dryx could easily replenish their Stamina, while the same was not the case for the Elves and the human Originals.

    Everyone had desperately fought, giving their utmost to survive as long as possible. It was terrifying and the situation was far from enjoyable. There was not a single being who hadn''t been afraid to die.

    Many had met their deaths irrespective of whether they had been at the Prometheus rank, the Mirae rank, or the Origin rank.

    The number of Elves had dwindled rapidly, and there were only less than 300 of them who were now left behind from their initial count of thousands of them.

    To the Elves, this realization was the most horrifying, especially because not many Elves were born every year. The number of elves might be high but their fertility rate was low.

    In the end, the Elves, who had survived everything, fought the hardest. They were forced beyond their limits, which allowed them to keep getting stronger. It was as if they were unstoppable.

    But the reality was different. They were not unstoppable and it needed only a handful of evolved Dryx to force them back into a defensive stance, where the Elves could only hope for a miracle to survive.

    In the rows of the human Originals, the situation didn''t look better. All of them were desperate, their mana had been used uppletely, and they were beyond exhausted. Dungeon raiding improved their stamina a lot. After all, it could take hours to conquer a single dungeon.

    But even while conquering dungeons, one could take a short break every now and then. It was not necessary to keep fighting for several hours while facing beasts that were at the same rank as oneself.

    Everyone was utterly exhausted, and the sudden emergence of the flood of darkness seemed like a sign of the Gods, telling them that it was fine to ept eternal rest.

    Yet, what nobody expected was that this flood of darkness was on the side of the human Originals and the Elves. Not a single Dryx dared to stay behind the moment they perceived the high potency of the dark energy.

    Desperation and fear filled the Dryx, which only increased when they perceived that the Incarnation of their master was no more.

    The connection to their lord and savior had been severed momentarily, preventing the Dryx from following the orders they had been given. The Dryx'' entire confidence crumbled and they fled, following their bestial instincts to save their lives.

    "That is Nial...but I cannot believe it either..." Hana said with shaky legs. Her entire body felt like jelly, and she could hardly stand on her two feet. While Mathias fought from a long-range most of the time, Hana had been forced to enter closebat all the time.

    Her clothes were torn apart in various areas, and it was a wonder that the runes on her veil and her robe were still working while obstructing her Charm from being released.

    "Well, he looks the same, at least," Mathias mumbled when his blurred sight had cleared up a bit.

    However, even if they knew that it was Nial, who had suddenly emerged out of nowhere, the entire situation felt weird.

    He had manifested an extremely terrifying flood of darkness, which swallowed everyone in its wake. But right now, he was trying hard to retract it.

    Everyone could tell that Nial was in extreme pain. His entire body was smeared in blood, and his shoulders were weirdly twisted.

    It was obvious that Nial never fled from the battlefield but that he had done something else, something that caused him to end up like this.

    But what nobody knew was that the overflowing dark energy, the summoning of Kaeldur, and various other factors were at fault for Nial''s current situation.

    Killing Silvian was a walk in the park after Nial had been able to make use of the energy devouring crystals.

    However, even if it was a walk in the park after all the advantages Nial gained, the after-effects of his actions were severe.

    The Symbol of Life was absorbing the excessive dark energy, but that was the only good thing about it. His body was on the verge of breaking down, and Nial could barely focus on staying conscious for a bit longer. Every second counted.

    ''Just a bit more...just one more second....or two seconds, until everything is absorbed!'' Nial screamed inside his mind, forcing himself to stay awake.

    His mind was already befuddled, his legs had given in as well, and he was kneeling on the ground, looking as if he was about to die at any moment.

    Dark energy swirled around him, preventing anyone from approaching him to help him. The darkness all around was rapidly being sucked inside Nial, where it was devoured by the Ankh.

    The Symbol of Life allowed Nial to return to his original state, to what he had been before he entered the Dimension rift.

    The influence of the dark energy was dispelled, giving Nial the peace he required to calm down. When the dark energy was pulled inside his body, Nial sighed in relief.

    And as if on cue, Nial''s mind shut down, and his body copsed on the ground.

    It almost looked like he became one of the many corpses that littered the ground.

    Only the faint remnants of mana within his mana core were a sign that he was still alive. Other than that, he looked worse than most corpses all over the battlefield.<sub> </sub>

    The Ankh was still glowing brightly within Nial''s body. It provided him with the necessary vigor to keep him alive. However, at the same time, the Ankh, the Symbol of Life, was changing.

    It kept expelling vigor, but something seemed different. The vibrant vigorous Symbol of Life, that was originally in a bright green color, mixed with faint tones of a holy white, a dangerous ck, and a blood red color had changed.

    The entire Ankh was dark green in color after the changes had finished, all the holy white light had ceased to exist and the Symbol of Life''s outlines were bloody red.

    It radiated danger but also hope, almost as if hope and darkness were intertwined...as if everyone''s hope relied on the darkness that devoured everything and everyone it touched.

    After Nial copsed on the ground, silence filled the entire battlefield. The fight had ended, and the miracle the Elves had hoped for had finally urred. They were still alive, and they had won, even if the price they had to pay in return was quite high.

    "What the hell happened?" A young Elf finally asked after several minutes of silence had passed.

    Several medics had rushed to Nial the moment they finished tending to their former patient. Their expressions looked extremely bad, and they looked at each other with terror-filled eyes.

    None of the medics was sure how Nial was still alive.

    "How is his condition?" Valvian''s voice resounded behind the medics, who turned to their Midnight Elf with an uncertain expression.

    His severed arm that was now reduced to a stump restricted him from doing the tasks of a Midnight Elf with ease but that was not the current problem.

    Valvian had received several highly potent potions followed by the effect of a particr flower that grew in the Forest of Life, so he would be fine.

    The arm that had been cut off would regenerate and with enough practice, Valvian wouldn''t even notice that he had lost his arm.

    "Answer me!" Valvian demanded in a harsh voice and he looked at the Elven medics with a fierce expression when they didn''t answer him.

    "Calm down Valvian. I told you before, that you are not at fault for anything that happened!" Master Crevian appeared next to Valvian.

    He released his mana to investigate Nial''s condition and his expression worsened over seconds.

    ''I expected Silvian to emerge from the Dimension rift amulet when it broke, but Nial defeated him...somehow...'' Crevian thought. The Old Elf knew that Nial''s achievement was far from easy.

    Even after Valvian told him about Silvian''s condition, and that the incarnation of the God of Saints and Devils'' mana core was partially broken, Crevian knew that it wouldn''t be easy for Nial to survive fighting against him.

    Silvian had been the incarnation of a God, and they were not easy to kill, whether they were at the Prometheus rank, in a near-death state, or in their prime state!

    "I don''t know how you did it kiddo, but you saved us...all of us! You did a very good job..." The Old Elf Crevian sounded very emotional and grateful when he spoke, but everybody else chose to notment on it.

    In fact, everyone could understand how the Old Elf felt. They had been on the verge of getting defeated.

    All of their efforts to defend the Forest of Life, and the manifested Divinity fragment of the Empress would have been for naught.

    The Empress gave her best to provide the Elves with the life they deserved to live. She had fought for eons to give them everything they wanted.

    Infiltrating Jundra was the first time for the Empress to set her responsibilities and duties aside for the time being and do whatever she wanted to do.

    She followed the prophecy her race received, and chose to gamble on it. Under normal circumstances, the Empress would never do something that could endanger her race, but the prophecy was too important to ignore.

    Everyone who had heard about it knew this, and it was the right choice of the Empress not to ignore it.

    "The Darkness really came," Crevian mumbled, while his heart was thudding wildly against his rib cage.

    He clearly recalled the prophecy the Empress herself had revealed to him just before she ordered him to apany Valvian and the other elves to thends mentioned in the prophecy; thends that were about to awaken after hibernating for millions of years.

    -When life and death embrace each other, darkness will emerge.

    Eternal darkness will rule thends of the Prymals where life will bloom.

    p When the lightes, life will cease to exist, wherever the darkness doesn''t exist.</anda>

    Trust your heart and you will live, believe your mind and you will die.

    A storm is brewing, and chaos overflows.

    When the Ounders break free, their path will lead them through the Veil.

    The Fate of the Universe is predetermined, death is inevitable.

    Only the Undying and the Darkness will be left alive, oveing fatea€¡°

 Chapter 274 Believe It Or Not

    "Argh¡­my head¡­" A weak and pained voice echoed through a small wooden hut that was ced high up on a tree.

    The voice reached the ears of all the Elves and the human Originals nearby. Their ears perked up at the sound of Nial''s voice.

    A bunch of Elves, who released an intense pressure that suppressed everyone around them, jumped up from the ground and entered the wooden hut in an instant.

    They released uniquely transmuted mana and filled the entire hut with it instantaneously.

    Followed by the Elves, a few humans rushed up the wooden stairs before halting in front of the wooden hut.

    "You are not allowed to enter the hut. Your mana will only disrupt the healing process," One of the Elves warned, lifting his t hand to indicate that they shouldn''t even think of stepping into the hut.

    Miranda frowned deeply when she saw this, but she could only nod her head. It was not as if the Elves were trying to kill Nial. They wanted to help and avoid the possibility of him receiving permanent damages in his fight against Silvian.

    ''If I ever meet Silvian again, I will tear his head off!!'' Miranda could only think while sighing deeply. She stepped back and went to the side of the wooden hut to sit down on the bench.

    The bench was located right below the window near Nial''s bed. That was where Miranda, Mathias, Hana, and a few others had asionally sat when they had been worried about Nial''s well-being.

    Right now, Miranda and Mathias were sitting on the bench with gloomy expressions.

    "I still cannot understand what happenedst month¡­" Mathias said, revealing his honest thoughts. The battle against the Dryx was already insane enough. Nial''s sudden emergence out of nowhere was even weirder, including the fact that he ended the battle by scaring away the Dryx.

    All of this was already beyond Mathias'' wildest imaginations. However, when he got to know that Silvian, the Sacred Knights leader, had been the Incarnation of a God, an ''evil'' God at that, he felt like his head was bursting apart.

    It made no sense, even less when Mathias got to know that Silvian had been in control of the Dryx.

    "Nial knew everything, didn''t he? Why didn''t he tell us?" Mathias continued to ramble, asking questions that were self-exnatory.

    Who would believe Nial if he were to say something as nonsensical as, "The Sacred Knights leader is an Incarnated God, he controlled the Dryx to gain everyone''s trust, and he attacked the Elves to strengthen the Dryx¡­Ah and by the way, he wanted to get his hands on the Elven Empresses'' manifested Divinity fragment as well?"

    Nobody would believe it.

    Even Mathias had a hard time believing it, when Master Crevian revealed the truth to Miranda and Mathias.

    And that was also only the case because both Miranda and Mathias were adamant in finding out what had happened to Nial. They even threatened the Elves to attack them.

    The threat was downright hrious because it was obvious that neither Mathias nor Miranda were strong enough to fight even one Prometheus Elf.

    Nheless, they made their stance clear, showing that Nial was very important to them. In fact, even Hana wanted to know what was going on. She might not have known Nial for long but Hana could tell that something big had happened.

    Nial was different than anyone else, and Hana doubted that ordinary existences could force Nial to nearly sacrifice his life to fight someone.

    When the Old Elf Crevian sensed the genuine concern and their sincerity, he told Mathias, Hana, and Miranda about the truth.

    At first, they didn''t believe it, but both Miranda and Mathias were left with no other choice but to believe it, once they connected the dots.

    Nial talked often enough about the Sacred Knights leader, the Dryx, and various other things that were simply too weird.

    Everything made much more sense when they connected the dots, but at that time another question shed through their mind.

    "So¡­is Nial also an incarnated God?" Mathias had asked at that time. Crevian shook his head in response to the question.

    "I have no idea what Nial is. I can only tell you guys that he is likely to have received many memories from his Innate ability. Other than that, I am even more confused about his existence than anyone else.

    After all, all Elves should hate him for the simple fact that he is in possession of this weird highly destructive dark energy. But we don''t."

    Master Crevian''s answer had been weird, but nobody asked about it in-depth. As long as Nial was not some psychopathic incarnated God, who wanted to create his own territory by sacrificing the human race, they were fine with everything.

    Miranda sighed as her head turned to Mathias.

    "Incarnated Gods¡­other races¡­.dungeons created by Divine Existences and Gods, Divinity Fragments¡­are we even able to face all of that with our strength?" She asked, not sure about a positive answer.

    It was great that they could create runic armaments by now, and that the Elves seemed to be on their side, but Miranda felt like death followed the human race like a shadow, wherever they went.

    Everything they got to know during thest few months seemed to make things worse for mankind than it improved. It was certainly advantageous news but the incarnation of Gods in the human body turned things upside down.

    Now, it was even difficult to trust their own kind. Miranda questioned the real identity of various powerful humans when she found out about the incarnation of Gods. She could tell that everything would question one another if the truth were to be revealed to the public.<sub> </sub>

    For now, only Miranda, Mathias, and Hana were let in on the truth. As the only beings, who had been truly epted by the Forest of Life, they were trustworthy.

    Nobody knew the requirements to be epted by the Forest of Life, but all of them believed that it was rted to the fact that Nial was connected to all of them.

    "We will survive¡­" Mathias just mumbled, clenching his fist tightly as he added, "I am sure of that¡­"

    Mathias sounded determined, but he also knew that it was not only his battle to fight. For their entire race to survive, they had to grow stronger, altogether.

    It was useless if only a bunch of Originals would be strong enough to face their future opponents. The entire human race had to grow, and get to know about the truth, including the facts which the government hid from public view to prevent mass panic.

    "Theary mana awakening theory should be disclosed to the public¡­" Mathias mumbled while supporting his arms by pressing them against his thighs.

    He wanted to say more, reveal his honest opinion about everything, but he remained silent as he heard that someone was approaching them.

    "This will cause a mass panic, you know that, right?" Kirlia Maverick asked as she walked up the stairs to the wooden hut. Hana was right next to them, bowing lightly to show her respect to both Mathias and Miranda.

    She was not sure why exactly she was doing so, but it felt correct. Everyone, who fought relentlessly for several hours against the disgusting and dreadful Dryx deserved her respect.

    Mathias smiled faintly at Hana before he averted his focus to Kirlia, whom he frowned at.

    "I guess Hana told you about everything, or am I wrong?" He asked without a trace of respect in his voice.

    "You little pi¨C" Kirlia growled, but before she could finish her words, Miranda lifted her hand.

    "Don''t fight," Miranda stopped both of them from getting at each other''s neck.

    "Kirlia, I think you know everything by now. Whether you believe it or not doesn''t matter. You can tell that everything over thest few months is a little bit odd. If you cannot see it, you are definitely blind," Miranda replied in a calm voice.

    Kirlia wanted to say something. She had already opened her mouth, only for Miranda to re at her childhood friend, quieting down Kirlia at once.

    "Please don''t be so narrow-minded, sweetheart. Think about everything Hana told you, how suddenly Silvian grew influential, why he became so influential to begin with, and how it was possible for someone so strong to appear out of nowhere.

    "Then tell me how to force the entire human race to desperately fight to grow stronger," Miranda had to prevent frowning at Kirlia, and to keep her voice down while stating what she wanted her to do.

    Kirlia Maverick might be her childhood friend, but she was definitely not the brightest one in certain scenarios. She was just too narrow-minded and stubbornly held on to her beliefs.

    Nheless, she could think for herself and make her own decisions. It was just the fact that it would take a little longer for her toprehend everything if she had to get out of herfort zone.

    "Well, shit¡­" Kirlia muttered and clenched her fist. She took a few deep breaths and frowned at Mathias for a moment before her expression softened.

    It was not as if Mathias was at fault for feeling tense. She was not faring well either. Her entire being screamed that the future would be dangerous and that it would be best for them to leave as quickly as possible.

    However, there was no ce to leave, and running away would do little good.

    "The President won''t allow us to do anything that may cause mass panic within the shelters," Kirlia revealed all of a sudden. Even if she didn''t want to ept it, the situation was certainly not great.

    She had read through theary mana awakening theory, connected the dots rted to Silvian, epted that he may be some sort of Incarnated God and that he wanted to get his hands on something inside the Forest of Life.

    The Forest of Life was a clear sign that other Gods or Divine existences were capable of transporting their own race and their ''territory'' to Jundra even before the awakening.

    It might be difficult but it was possible.

    "Shit will get real the moment Jundra awakens itsary mana core¡­" She suddenly blurted out and ran her hand through her hair. It was disheveled but her appearance was thest thing Kirlia could be bothered about right now.

    "And that''s what we have to be prepared for¡­with the Elven race''s help," A new voice joined their discussion. It resounded from within the wooden hut, and it was a mere momentter that a familiar young man took a peek out of the window.

    Nial''s voice came out like a croak and his expression was riddled with pain, which Nial ignoredpletely.

    Simultaneously, he also ignored the fact that the newly arrived Elves with healing abilities had told him not to move for the next two weeks.

    "We can use the ck market to reveal the hidden information to all the different influential families. Wouldn''t they be interested in all the detailed information about theary mana awakening, the truth behind the creators of the dungeons, and potential ''rumors'' about the incarnations of Gods in the midst of our race?" Nial asked in a weak voice before he smiled faintly.

    "They would be interested if they were to hear some insane rumors, wouldn''t they? Gods descending on Jundra¡­that would be motivating enough to desperately be stronger."

 Chapter 275 New Elves

    When Nial woke up, his entire body felt like it was tearing apart. He didn''t dare to move, even when a bunch of Elves had entered the wooden hut he had been sleeping in.

    ''Their mana is weird, it soothes my pain and allows my cells to heal much faster,'' Nial realized the moment the soothing mana shrouded his body. Four or five Elves focused on soothing his pain to release his tension, while the rest were focused on tending to Nial''s internal injuries.

    His mana core and his mana veins had received severe damage due to the fusion he underwent with Kaeldur. At the same time, he had controlled way too much dark energy that was putting a huge strain on his brain even after the battle was over.

    By absorbing all the excessive dark energy, which the Symbol of Life had greedily sucked in at the end of the day, Nial''s mana veins had been put under lots of pressure.

    However, that was not all. He did not have the energy to even move after he had pushed himself past his limits to defeat Silvian.

    It was already a wonder that he had survived fusing with Kaeldur. Nial should be happy about it but he was somewhat disappointed.

    p ''Why is my body so weak? I should be able to do much more¡­'' Nial frowned deeply, thinking that he was capable of doing much more than killing a miserable half-dead incarnation of a God.</anda>

    This thought was ridiculous but it kept bugging him, adding more to his restlessness. He tried to divert his mind and his ears twitched. At least he could hear his master and friend talking to each other. An entire month had passed since the battle against the Dryx had concluded, but that was not something Nial knew about.

    He had been in aa, after all.

    "Nial knew everything, didn''t he? Why didn''t he tell us?" Mathias'' worried voice was the first thing that Nial heard. He felt a sting in his heart hearing how to hurt his friend sounded but it was not as if Nial could jump up and defend his actions.

    Nheless, Nial wanted to say something, he wanted to exin everything that had been on his mind to his friend. However, in the end, he could only stay in his bed like a statue that was unable to move a single inch.

    ''I cannot even move, my body is really way too weak¡­'' Nial cursed his own body inwardly while frowning deeply. He circted mana through his body before inserting it into the Odyssey seed.

    Nial wanted to ess his Odyssey seed to figure out whether he could still control the Essence of Darkness, or if the trace of the Cursed Divine energy was still tightly sealed within him.

    Everything was still located where it was supposed to be. However, Nial quickly noticed that something about the Odyssey seed had changed.

    ''Is the Symbol of Life more essible now? Well, that''s great then.'' Nial thought while using the mana within his body to actively use the invigorating function of the Ankh.

    It invigorated his body faster, but Nial was still not able to move his entire body. All the influx of energy merely allowed him to move his pinky finger but that was already more than he could hope for.

    "Incarnated Gods¡­other races¡­.dungeons created by Divine Existences and Gods, Divinity Fragments¡­can we even face all of that with our strength?" Miranda''s voice could be heard. She sounded frustrated and as if she was not able to answer this question. Her earlier motivation to lead mankind to a new era; an era where they were finally able to live freely seemed to have disappeared.

    "We will survive¡­" Mathias mumbled. His hopeful voice reached Nial''s ears, causing a faint smile to appear on his face.

    ''Yes we will survive!'' Nial thought with determination, while Mathias kept speaking,

    "I am sure of that¡­"

    Nial''s determination and confidence to survive all the hurdles that would appear in their path began to influence the Odyssey seed that began to create and release dark energy.

    ''Oh fuck, no. Not right now, you naughty¡­'' Nial cursed inwardly, feeling that the dark energy inside his body was currently doing more harm than good.

    It prevented his body from healing properly which was why Nial suppressed his Odyssey seed.

    ''I should really be careful when I try to control so much dark energy at once, ever again¡­I was not prepared for it¡­ Ending up in a state after fighting Silvian should be the first but also thest time it happened,'' Nial thought, feeling slightly frustrated.

    Based on the conversation between Miranda and Mathias, he could tell that quite some time had passed since the battle against the Dryx. When Hana and Kirlia Maverick joined them, Nial got to know more and more information, which caused him to frown.

    ''If even this weird woman is ignoring Mathias'' antics, and epting what Miranda says without retorting in a rude way or byunching into a tirade, the situation has to be quite drastic,'' Nial realized.

    He could tell that everyone had gotten to know about Silvian''s real identity and that they believed it to be the truth as well. This was much more than Nial could have hoped for because it would make things much easier in the future.

    "Shit will get real the moment Jundra awakens itsary mana core¡­" Kirlia suddenly said in a warning tone, and Nial visualized that she was running her hands through her hair until it waspletely disheveled. It seemed like she was having a breakdown.

    ''I have rested long enough. It is about time that I move out of this shitty bed,'' Nial thought, forcing his body to get up from the bed.

    The Elves looked at Nial in shock when he began to move, and one of them was about to hold onto Nial, fearing that he would copse.<sub> </sub>

    "You need to rest. Your body needs one or two more weeks before it can carry your weight!" The Elf, who suggested him, seemed to be confident in his diagnosis, but Nial merely smiled as he ignored him.

    ''Sorry, but I have better things to do than to waste my time in bed!'' He thought apologetically, as he leaned out of the window with a pained expression.

    "And that''s what we have to be prepared for¡­with the Elven race''s help," The Elf continued, his expression clearly showing the pain he felt.

    However, that was something Nial ignored as he trusted the soothing sensation of the Elven mana and the Ankh''s invigorating sensation as he spoke,

    "We can use the ck market to reveal¡­" He started but his voice came out as a whisper. He took a deep breath and spoke slowly.

    Every word uttered made him wince in pain but he somehow managed to reveal his n. As he neared the end, a faint smile appeared on his face that was supposed to hide the weakness of his voice, "¡­potential ''rumors'' about the incarnations of Gods in the midst of our race?"

    "They would be interested if they were to hear some insane rumors, wouldn''t they? Gods descending on Jundra¡­that would be motivating enough to desperately be stronger," Nial added, visualizing the facial expression of the people around him.

    Everyone was d to see Nial regain his consciousness, including Kirlia. She wouldn''t acknowledge it openly, but it was a fact that Nial scared off the Dryx when they had nearly overwhelmed the Elven and human Originals.

    It might sound ridiculous to everyone who was not present, but Kirlia and many others had witnessed everything. They knew the truth.

    "Gods descending on Jundra¡­sounds pretty solid to me," Mathias remarked, smiling brightly at Nial.

    He was happy to see his friend out ofa, which was why he simply agreed to whatever Nial said, without thinking about it. Nial''s face looked roughed up and it was almost as if his entire face was void of any blood. That was how pale he looked.

    "A rumor about Gods descending on Jundra¡­yeah, great. How about we great a few religions right off the bat so that we can pray to whatever God." Kirlia frowned deeply when she spoke.

    Gods were usually something most humans connected to something good, a heavenly being they could rely on, an existence that would help them escape reality. Many humans would probably start praying in the hope that someone else would solve their problems.

    However, that was not what would happen. The Gods Nial spoke about were different. They had their own races, their own goals, and many of them wouldn''t show any mercy to humans, who foolishly prayed to them without knowing anything about them.

    "It would be quite a hassle to exin it to everyone that we don''t mean Saintly figures, who will help all of their believers. The Gods I refer to are not some religious figures but mighty and powerful existences that rule their own race. For example, the Elven Empress is a God because she meets all the requirements.

    She has a Divinity created out of her Immortal foundation, the power she umted, and some more things I didn''t understand quite well when Master Crevian exined them," Miranda said while counting it on her fingers. Herst sentence indicated that Crevian told them more information about the universe than it previously seemed.

    Even Nial didn''t know how a Divinity was created, or what the actual use of a Divinity was. He merely knew that a Divinity was one of the trademarks a God possessed.

    "Should we just say that Immortals will descend? Or maybe Devils, or something like that. If we want to be neutral, we can say that more races that could be terrifying, hostile, or possibly friendly will descend on Jundra when its mana awakens," Hana offered as she lightly touched her chin while she was thinking about a solution on how to create a perfect rumor to motivate humans to work hard with the Elves to be much stronger.

    Everyone seemed to trust the Elves now, and only Nial seemed to be questioning the Empresses'' actions.

    By now, Nial knew every single Elf, who had lived in the Forest of Life before the Dryx attack. That was why he also knew that the nine Elves, who were with him in the hut, hadn''t lived in the Forest of Life before.

    ''Crevian or Valvian activated the Empresses'' divinity fragment to allow more Elves to emerge on Jundra. This should have consumed quite a lot of energy. The healing ability of these nine Elves is powerful as well. To bring a single one to Jundra¡­quite an effort they have put into this¡­''

    Nial was not sure how they activated the permanent portal to the Elves'' origin. However, what Nial could tell was that they were a lot friendlier than before.

    ording to Damian''s memories, Elves would only act overly friendly to other races if one of three scenarios urred.

    First, the entire race was as beautiful and talented as the Elven race. This was definitely not the case with the human race.

    Second, the Elven race owed the other race their life and future. Nial didn''t exclude this, per se, but the third reason sounded as logical as the second one.

    Third, the Elves were scheming something that other races couldn''t fathom.

    Nial wanted to exclude the third but something held him back. He presumed it to be Damian''s memories that influenced him but that was not something Nial could tell for sure.

    "Let''s go with thest one. We will spread rumors that Jundra''s mana will awaken and that more races wille. Let''s also share the fact that Dryx is also a race, and not just some type of beast," Nial said, taking a deep breath to calm down his mind.

    ''The future will tell me what the Empress ns. Right now, my focus needs to be somewhere else!''

 Chapter 276 Mysterious Little Bastard

    Spreading rumors that could be believed easily without creating a mass panic was much harder than they could have expected.

    That was also why they said that they would hold some meetings to make sure what they would reveal the rumors including the details of what would be too scary for the public.

    In the end, Nial had to leave the others before his body warned him that he was not yet ready to move around freely. Blood trickled out of his nose, attracting everyone''s attention.

    "We will talkter, you should rest first!" Miranda suggested, and everyone else agreed. Just a momentter, Nial was pulled back by one of the Elves, who were still inside the wooden hut, trying to tend to Nial''s injuries.

    "Okayyy¡­just do whatever you guys want. I will be back in no time," Nial''s voice came out as a croak while he was taken away and forced to rest by being put to bed again.

    "Please stay in bed for the next two weeks. Your body seems to heal much faster than we expected but your condition is unique. If you don''t heal properly, you might suffer from permanent damages." The Elf, who spoke to him was serious and he was in no mood for listening to his grumbling.

    Nial just nodded his head upon seeing his reaction and smiled faintly. He could tell that the Elf meant it well, and Nial felt that his body truly needed a break.

    In thest few weeks, and even months, Nial had never really taken a break, so it was fine if he were to rest now that it was really necessary.

    He closed his eyes and fell asleep in seconds. Meanwhile, the others left the wooden hut. They met up somewhere else to have their first meeting.

    "First, we have to figure out who we can trust. If we reveal some rumors to an Incarnation of a God the situation might escte and it could be very dangerous very quickly," Miranda suggested, her fingers nervously tapping on therge wooden table in front of her.

    "So we need to figure out who we can trust, what information we should reveal when we should reveal them, and how we can twist the truth to reveal everything necessary so as to motivate the people to work hard instead of falling into a state of mass panic¡­great, if it''s only that¡­" Kirlia spoke sarcastically and gave a mirthless chuckle.

    Right now, trusting any Prometheus Original felt like a mistake to her.

    Each of them could be an Incarnated God, who was scheming and trying to reach an advantageous state, where they could continue to grow and allow their race to teleport to Jundra.

    Incarnated Gods could also be at a lower rank than the Prometheus rank. However, it was more likely that Incarnated Gods were the strongest because their knowledge and experiences would allow them to advance much faster.

    The body they incarnated in would have tremendous potential as well. This would make it much easier to advance in the ranks.

    Thus, all Prometheus Originals were excluded from the list of trusted aids, for the time being.

    Time passed quickly, and the first meeting ended, without any fruitful result.

    But none of them was disappointed. They talked a lot and based on the information at their hands, they made a list of possible rumors they could spread.

    In the following days, they held a meeting every single day. They slowly progressed but it would take a while until they would reach a final result.

    Nial slept a lot, and he gotpletely bored of resting and recuperating from his injuries for an entire week.

    The Ankh was still healing him. Nial supplied it with a bit of his mana every now and then.

    However, after an entire week had passed he began to absorb the surrounding mana. Nial was too bored and irritated to sit idle and do nothing.

    He created mana droplets and used them to create the outlines of the second Ancient Origin ring. The second Ancient Origin ring was much harder to create than the first one, even though the framework was almost the exact same. It took only 30% more mana drops to be created.

    But Nial wouldn''t even notice the increase of 30% because his affinity to mana had increased by much more than 30% after he advanced to the 1st Ancient Mirae rank.

    For Nial, it wouldn''t be a problem to finish the framework of the second Ancient Origin ring. As for the runic constetions, he would have to inscribe, they were apletely different matter altogether.

    Nial was sure that he was capable of inscribing the correct runic constetions in a perfect manner. The only downside was that it would require lots of time, and even more practice on armaments or papers to make sure that everything would be fine.

    The creation of the primary Ancient Origin ring was already quite difficult. Combining all the runic constetions to form a giant one was not easy and sometimes Nial himself wondered how he had done it.

    His memories were fuzzy whenever he tried to remember thest few minutes before he finished creating the primary Ancient Origin ring.

    ording to the information stated in the Control of the Ancient Monarch technique, this was quite normal. Apparently, the creator''s memories would be blurred to prevent the technique''s hidden pages from being revealed to the public.

    To prevent the knowledge of the technique from spreading, blurring one''s memories was a necessary evil. However, Nial didn''t like it because it made things more difficult for him.

    If he couldn''t remember what exactly he did to give the finishing touches to the primary Ancient Origin ring, it was not possible for him to know whether he repeated the correct process when he would work on the second Ancient Origin ring.

    ''With enough practice, I will be fine,'' Nial ended up telling himself before he returned his focus to staying inside the bed and absorbing mana from his surroundings.

    He was still not sure who the new Elves were, but there were roughly 30 Elves, who hade as reinforcement for the 300 Elves, who had survived the attack of the Dryx.<sub> </sub>

    The entire fight against the Dryx was a disaster, but if one had to find one positive point, it was probably the bond between the human and Elven race that had been created.

    The Elves were still a bit judgemental, and it was obvious that the human Originals wanted to gain benefits in exchange for the help they''d provided, but one could tell that the rtionship between the two races was slowly but steadily improving.

    Nial talked a bit to the Elvingar Elves, which was what they called themselves, but they were rather difficult to approach.

    Their entire bodynguage told Nial that they were difficult to get close to. However, that was fine with him. Nial didn''t want to be their best friend either.

    He just wanted to figure out what the meaning of the prefix "Elvingar" in their name meant.

    But even that was not something they told him.

    ''Mysterious little bastards,'' Nial could only think, smiling faintly. He didn''t mean to insult them seriously. Yet, sometimes, he wished to tell them off for acting shrewd.

    All the Elves were way too tense, acting as if the entire world might break apart at any moment.

    After a total of three weeks passed, Nial''s body was fully recuperated, and a small portion of the secondary Ancient Origin ring''s framework had been created as well.

    Nial felt perfectly fine with circting mana through his body. He released some dark energy as well to make sure that it wouldn''t damage his body.

    "After summoning Kaeldur, I can even sense the Essence of Darkness within the Odyssey seed. So all the pain I went through provided more advantages than Silvian''s death and taking away the trace of Cursed Divine energy," Nial spoke lightly to himself while testing out a few things.

    He couldn''t control the Essence of Darkness, let alone the Cursed Divine energy. Both were energies that exceeded his capabilities by far. The fight against Silvian revealed the Essence of Darkness to Nial. It was the first and also thest time the Odyssey seed would let loose the Essence of Darkness before Nial was ready for it.

    If not for his unbending willpower and the fact that he was a lot stronger mentally than physically, Nial would have gone insane with the amount of dark energy he had controlled.

    The Essence of Darkness, and even more so Kaeldur, amplified the influence of dark energy.

    It was a wonder that Nial didn''t show any signs of after-effects from the dark energy''s influence.

    One could truly say that it was a miracle, or one could simply acknowledge the fact that the Symbol of Life was far more powerful than anyone expected.

    It worked in the shadows without gaining much acknowledgment. However, the Ankh''s use was tremendous, and Nial was fond of its exceptional use. He was only alive thanks to the Symbol of Life, after all!

    ''How about I take a look to see how Mathias and the others are doing?'' Nial thought, jumping down the wooden hut when he washed up and changed into a new set of clothes.

    Nialnded softly on the ground and stretched his body, that felt extremely rusty because of not moving much for three entire weeks.

    He smiled lightly before picking up a bit of pace and changing to a slow jog. There was no need to dash through the Forest of Life as his life was not endangered.

    At a slow pace, he left the Forest of Life and approached the small ce that had been constructed near it. Humans and Elves could be perceived everywhere. Some of them looked at him with interest but Nial simply ignored them.

    He wanted to find his friends and their master. This was his mission. However, it didn''t look like he would receive what he wanted because he couldn''t sense their mana fluctuations.

    ''Weird, where are they?'' Nial wondered, feeling slightly confused. It was just a momentter when Nial''s ears perked up as he heard something from his right side.

    "Did you hear about the rumors? Do you believe them?" Someone asked, only for a man to answer extremely seriously.

    "You mean that Jundra will awaken its mana sooner orter and that more races will infiltrate Jundra? Yes, I believe them. In fact, if the Elves could already enter Jundra, why shouldn''t others be unable to do the same?"

    **

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 Chapter 277 Alone

    "Did they already start revealing some rumors?" Nial mumbled, not sure if he remembered hisst conversation with the others correctly.

    Just a few days ago, Mathias had visited him and informed him about their ns and that it would take a few more weeks to prepare everything.

    Miranda was very careful and meticulous while revealing certain rumors.

    It could be dangerous and they didn''t even ask the government or the military for permission to tell the public about everything.

    Whether they wouldbel it as rumors or the truth didn''t matter in this case.

    She wanted everything to be nned beforehand to prevent any mishaps from urring.

    That was why it should have taken a few more weeks before the rumors would spread through all shelters, in every nook and cranny for everyone to hear!

    ''Where the hell are they then? They shouldn''t have teleported to the other shelters to start spreading the rumors yet, right?'' Nial was confused, and that was something everyone, who looked at him, could tell.

    Tyson, the huge 2.3 meters tall Prometheus Original was also present. He had noticed Nial right from the moment he left the Forest of Life.

    ''Looks like his mana is still unstable. Well, it is already a wonder that he is still alive,'' Tyson thought. He immediately concluded that Nial was tougher than his appearance suggested.

    Even after almost two months passed Nial looked like he had just ovee a battle that decided over life and death.

    His mana was the most distinct because it was unstable and almost appeared as if it was about to burst out of Nial to wreak havoc.

    "Hey Nial, are you looking for someone?" Tyson thus asked, approaching Nial.

    However when Nial turned around, his expression turned the atmosphere awkward.

    Nial''s expression seemed to scream ''''Who are you?'', dumbfounding Tyson a bit.

    ''Am I a nobody to be forgotten that quickly?'' He wondered, feeling slightly depressed before he noticed that Nial''s expression had changed once again

    "I''m searching for the Witch of the South, Miranda, or Kirlia Maverick, member of the Heaven''s Gates organization," Nial answered calmly, no sign of his earlier confusing expression left on his face.

    p He could roughly remember who Tyson was. In fact, even if Nial didn''t remember, it wouldn''t matter because it was more important to figure out where everyone was.</anda>

    "Miranda and Kirlia? If I remember correctly, Kirlia was ordered to return to the Heaven''s Gates headquarters. Her disciple went with her.

    As for Miranda, she is either still somewhere around the Forest of Life, or she left as well," Tyson answered, smiling faintly.

    He could tell that his answer was not helpful, but he shared everything he knew.

    "Thank you¡­" Nial said half-heartedly before expanding his range of perception once again.

    Miranda and Mathias wouldn''t leave without leaving him a note or something simr to notify him of their whereabouts.

    That means they were probably still somewhere close, or they wouldn''t be away for long.

    After realizing this, Nial calmed down within seconds. There was no way that something could have happened to Miranda and Mathias.

    It was simply impossible that one catastrophic incident after another would unfold around Nial and the people close to him.

    If that were to be the case, it wouldn''t just be a coincidence or mere bad luck anymore.

    Their entire fate would be riddled with curses and misfortune.

    Nial didn''t believe that this was the case, so he entered a calm state in no time before he left the small base that had been constructed by humans.

    ''Maybe I should test out my current strength?'' Nial thought, wondering if he was still as strong as he had been before the incident with Silvian''s attack and therge-scale battle against the Dryx.

    He was in aatose state for an entire month and had rested for three weeks after that. His body was full of vigor right now, but Nial couldn''t say for sure that his movements were still as agile as before.

    "It''s time to find out then!" Nial eximed quietly, clenching his hands before he made his way toward the ckboard where all Dungeons around the Forest of Life were located.

    ''I wonder how big the difference between normal dungeons and the dungeon portals around the Forest of Life is¡­''

    The dungeons around the Forest of Life were deemed different from the dungeons anywhere else. The mana-dense Forest of Life changed many things, including the number of higher-ranked dungeons that could manifest in closer proximity.<sub> </sub>

    The high mana density in the surrounding area was a determining factor in the dungeons'' size, the number of monsters that could live within the dungeon, what drops one could receive, how many rare bosses could be summoned, and much more.

    As long as one didn''t overestimate their capabilities, the region around the Forest of Life was literally a treasure trove for everyone, who dared to face dangers head-on!

    Many human Originals and Elves had already ventured into the several dungeon portals that had manifested around the Forest of Life. All of their data was recorded and projected on the ckboard.

    A huge map could be seen on the ckboard with various different markers indicating various things. Some dungeons were extremely dangerous and were meant only for the truly powerful to be used, while other dungeons were very good to farm Origin crystals.

    There were evenrge-scale Goblins, Slimes, and Kobold dungeons at the Rookie rank. A bunch of Originals at the Origin rank could always be found inside the dungeon.

    "Why are there so many humans?" Nial wondered. The more time he spent near the ckboard, the more suspicious Nial got about the situation.

    "It looks like you haven''t been here for long, brat. Should I answer your question?" A young man around Nial''s age appeared next to him. He flicked back his long golden hair and looked at Nial with an aloof expression, almost as if he was talking to someone of much lower status than his own.

    Nial didn''t care about the odd behavior the young man showcased. He seemed strong and was also at the Mirae rank. His information could be useful as well.

    "It would be very nice of you, if you could answer my question, thank you," Nial replied a bit too sweet as he turned in the young man''s direction.

    Nial''s lifeless eyes looked straight into the brownish, multicolored eyes of the young man.

    "Oh? Y-you are blind?" The young man was stupefied for a second. He took a moment to regain his senses and realize that his question was both stupid and rude.

    The young man cleared his throat trying to hide his embarrassment before he answered Nial,

    "Apparently, the Elves are more open to trades with humans from all shelters after the battle against the Dryx. They want to work together against our opponents. That was why we entered an Alliance with them. A new shelter will soon be built dozens of kilometers away from the Forest of Life.

    A safe path between the Forest of Life and the new 3rd shelter will be created as well.

    Right now, tens of thousands of Originals are trying to make the most use of the dungeon portals all around the Forest of Life. Most permanent dungeons will be upied by organizations, the government, the military, or influential families the moment they branch out to the 3rd shelter.

    By then, it will be quite difficult to reap benefits from the Forest of Life without paying any fees to all these higher authorities.

    The existence of Prometheus-ranked Originals and Elves is enough for everyone to believe that the surrounding area is safe enough, so even Origin-ranked Originals will choose to teleport to the Forest of Life.

    It may be expensive but it is definitely worth the effort!" The young man seemed to have a lot more to say, but he quieted down after stating the important facts.

    Nial had expected to receive a short answer such as ''The surrounding area is deemed safe, and most Originals want to reap most benefits as long as it is still possible'', but the young man''s answer was also good.

    "So there is already an Alliance?" Nial asked in a more rhetorical way than intended to the young man. However, the golden-haired young man didn''t seem to feel like stopping bbering as he took Nial''s question seriously.

    "Roughly a month ago the Elven and human Alliance was created. The alliance demands from both sides to support each other in the fight against all threats that could endanger their existence, but also to trade fairly, whether it is about goods, knowledge, or shared experiences.

    At the first nce, it might look fair, but I think we are gaining most of it. After all, the biggest gain is already clearly visible. We can get our hands on runic armaments, and the teleportation circles within the hall of teleportation are efficient enough to teleport us straight inside the shelter we want to enter!" The young man said while Nial could only sigh inwardly.

    ''The Elves still gain more as long as the Forest of Life and the manifested Divinity Fragment are safe, but whatever¡­wasn''t this dude arrogant and aloof before, why is he so overly courteous right now?!'' Nial didn''t understand this young man, but he couldn''t be rude to him.

    He answered Nial''s question in an overly descriptive manner.

    So the least Nial could do was to say, "thanks for answering my question," before he turned his focus back to the map of the Forest of Life and the surrounding.

    ''Alliance¡­well that happened faster than expected but it''s not actually unexpected. We can be considered the Elves savior, and both gain something from the alliance,'' Nial thought while continuing to use his [Mana Sense] to visualize the map that was projected on the ckboard.

    "I can tell that you are also at the Prym rank. You seem to be around my age as well, so you''ve got to be talented. Do you want to team up with my group? We want to enter one of the fewrge-scale Low Expert dungeons," suddenly the young man spoke to Nial once again.

    He was actually not sure what he was doing right now, or why he would continue to bother Nial. However, there was something that bothered him. Too many Elves and humans looked at Nial with interest and respect. The young man had never seen him so he wanted to find out what was going on.

    "It''s not called Prym rank. It''s the Mirae rank," Nial suddenly muttered, smiling faintly before he ignored the geeky answer he had given to the young man.

    "It would be nice to join your group for a dungeon conquest. Nice to meet you, my name is Nial," Nial answered with a faint smile on his face.

    "My name is Timoth¨¦e, but most people call me Timmy. Nice to meet you as well," Timoth¨¦e replied while shaking Nial''s hand.

    "Let''s go, we have a hunt in front of us!

 Chapter 278 So You Are...

    Nial had no idea where the others were but they should be fine.

    They were strong and independent. Thus, Nial followed Timoth¨¨e to meet up with his group. Timoth¨¦e''s first impression had changed quite a bit. If he had seemed aloof and arrogant before, he was much easier to approach now.

    Nial was not sure why his behavior had changed so drastically, but he presumed that Timoth¨¦e was concerned about the gazes of the people around them. Many Elves and rather powerful Originals were looking at him and Nial. This was rare for Timoth¨¦e even though he was fairly talented.

    To gain the Elves'' interest or the interest of one of the strongest human Originals, one had to be more than a bit talented.

    That was also why he nced to his side to look at Nial every now and then.

    ''So you are the one, who is attracting everyone''s attention? In that case, it is about time for me to find out why!'' Timoth¨¦e smiled faintly at this thought. They met up with his remaining team and introduced each other in a simple manner.

    "Now that everyone is here, I want to introduce you to a new member of our team. His name is Nial, and he will temporarily join us for the conquest of therge-scale Expert dungeon. If the group dynamics are excellent and everybody gets along with each other very well, we can be a permanent team, but that is something we can discuss after the conquest," Timoth¨¦e''s introduction was quite simple.

    There was no need to say a lot because one could figure out the most important information during the conquest.

    "The tiny woman with fierce temper is called Cecile, the tall and shy woman is called Kelia, and this wonderful fat pig is called Leo," Tiimoth¨¦e introduced calmly, pointing to every single person in their group when he ''introduced'' them.

    "You piece of shit! Who is tiny?!" The shortest member of their group roared out as her red and curly hair was wobbling around.

    She was obviously the tiny Cecile with a fierce temper. Cecile nced at Nial for a moment after she calmed down before bowing to him.

    "Don''t hold us back, and we''re fine!" She muttered while still trying to contain her fierceness. Meanwhile, Kelia blushed a bit as she noticed that Nial had turned in her direction.

    But upon seeing his milky and lifeless eyes her heart skipped a beat. Her embarrassment vanished into thin air, and she immediately gotfortable.

    Someone, who was not able to see, couldn''t tease her for being tall and timid. That was a great sign, and she liked it.

    ''Wait, what am I even thinking? Am I just happy that someone is disabled? I''m such a despicable woman¡­'' She mentally chided herself for what she had just thought.

    "So you''re this Nial, I''ve heard a lot about you!" The chubby man called Leo eximed with a bright smile and reached his hand out to wee Nial with a traditional handshake.

    Nial''s hand reached out as well, and he shook Leo''s without hesitation.

    ''Is that a contest of strength?'' Nial suddenly wondered when Leo began to squeeze his hand. His body was wobbling under the force he was using to shake Nial''s hand.

    Everyone could tell what Leo was doing. Kelia was worried that her friend would break their new team member''s hand.

    However, upon looking in Timoth¨¦e''s direction, she could tell that their leader probably wanted this situation to happen.

    ''Why is his expression so bad?'' Kelia suddenly wondered as she looked at Timoth¨¦e.

    At first, Nial epted whatever Leo was doing, but the young man had overestimated his physical strength while underestimating Nial''s brute force.

    ''As an Original at the 2nd Advanced Mirae rank you want to y around like this? Well let''s do that then,'' Nial thought as a small devilish smile appeared on his face.

    All of a sudden, he squeezed Leo''s hand hard, thereby easily overpowering Leo, whose hand had begun to cramp. His hand opened instinctively, only for Nial to let go of it as well.

    "Nice to meet you," Nial greeted calmly while smiling straight at Leo''s red and exhausted face. He turned around a momentter to face Timoth¨¦e with the exact same smile on his face.

    "Which dungeon will we enter?" He asked,pletely ignoring the awkward atmosphere.

    ''Leo spoke about Nial as if he was someone popr, is his brute force the reason for this?'' Timoth¨¦e thought for a moment before answering Nial''s question.

    "It''s the Nightfall valley. I''m not sure if you''ve already heard about this dungeon but monsters from the 1st to the 3rd Prym rank live in this dungeon. Their drop rate for ability crystals is quite high."

    Nial nodded his head but he didn''t look very impressed by it. Ability crystals were extremely valuable but Nial was more interested in collecting ingredients that could be used to create runic armaments.

    ''Well, I need to start searching for an ability crystal soon, either way.'' Nial thought half-heartedly.

    Due to the Odyssey seed''s versatile functions, it was not like he needed another ability right now. His mana core may have reached the Mirae rank, which meant that he could bind his second ability to his mana core, but that was already it.

    His dark energy, [Mana Sense], and the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] were already very powerful and there were numerous things he had to learn about his Innate ability, the Odyssey seed, and his Curse.

    And then, there was also the Ankh, which invigorated Nial upon getting activated.

    There were too many things Nial had yet toprehend but time didn''t seem to slow down in the slightest. Thus, he didn''t actually bother to actively research finding a new ability.<sub> </sub>

    It would take quite a while to find a suitable ability that waspatible with his Odyssey seed like [Hodur''s Heir] either way.

    After Timoth¨¦e told them where they would go, the group of five went their separate ways. The fierce tiny Cecile showed interest in Nial''s physical strength. He looked so weak and he was obviously of a lower rank than Leo, yet, his brute force was stronger than that of her friend.

    This was very interesting, and her biggest reason to approach him and bombarding him with questions.

    Meanwhile, Kelia followed the two silently, while ying with her long and wavy brown hair.

    "You used all your strength, didn''t you?" Timoth¨¦e asked Leo when the two walked far ahead of the others so that they couldn''t be heard, or so they thought.

    "I definitely did¡­but it doesn''t look like the same applies to Nial¡­I knew that he was a monster ever since I had heard about him¡­but still¡­" Leo said in a depressed tone. His confidence had been crushed, and Timoth¨¦e saw this clearly.

    He felt a bit bad about it. Without much force, Timoth¨¦e pped Leo on his shoulder.

    "Don''t worry too much. Many Elves and very influential Originals seemed to be interested in him. I had already expected him to be somewhat different," Timoth¨¦e revealed with a deep sigh.

    "Do you have no idea about the rumors pertaining to Nial?" Leo suddenly asked, his expression changing a bit. He wondered if his leader was just ignorant about the events that happened in and around the Forest of Life, or in stupid.

    ''It is not like you met a young blind man around our age, whose first name is Nial. Even his hair is silver as described in the news¡­'' Leo thought with a frown when he noticed the confused expression on Timoth¨¦e''s face.

    "Well, then let me tell you¡­" Leo started with a sigh, the thought about his loss against Nial slowly waning.

    Nial just smiled upon hearing all of this as his highly sensitive hearing sense picked up everything. He didn''t care if someone knew him or not, but Leo made it look like he was some sort of high-ss Celebrity.

    And based on the way Leo exined the incidents about the Forest of Life, Nial clearly understood that someone had exaggerated the story.

    ''Well, I don''t really feel like a superhuman existence, but if someone wants to share such a story with me, why not?'' Nial thought, not really caring about it.

    Finally, after walking for a while, they reached the Nightfall valley dungeon portal. It was much bigger than ordinary dungeon portals, but the mana it released was quite simr to an ordinary Low Expert dungeon.

    There was no need to be worried about anything so Nial wanted to enter the dungeon instantaneously.

    However, a hand reached out to him all of a sudden when he was about to step inside the portal and pulled him back.

    "Don''t. We need to prepare ourselves first. We should also go in with a formation so that we can face the beasts inside the dungeon the moment we enter it," Cecile suddenly warned in a very serious tone.

    Nial didn''t say anything but his expression seemed to speak volumes about what he thought of their behavior.

    ''Is that really necessary?'' was written all over his face. Cecile frowned at his reaction and she wanted to beat him into a pulp.

    However, everyone in their group had to be in their best health, both physically and mentally to prevent any mishaps from urring.

    She let go of Nial and finished her preparations by taking out light metal armor and golden shining gauntlets.

    The others put on their armor, wore their essories, and wielded their weapon of choice as well. They put a few vials inside their belt''s potion pockets before they nodded their heads.

    "I''m ready," Timoth¨¦e dered while wielding a Superior graded longsword. He smiled confidently while looking over his small group with pride.

    Everyone was well geared and was looking at him with battle lust. They wanted to get rich, and the Nightfall valley was one of the best and safest ways to achieve this at their rank!

    "So am I. Let''s go then," Nial''s confident voice suddenly reached them. A cape covered his back partially. Other than that, he had no protective garment on his body.

    ''Is he insane? Does he want to die?'' All of them thought at once at the sight of Nial.

    However, nobody said anything as the Dragonme Spear manifested in his hand all of a sudden. It released strong mana currents on its own. The weapon in Nial''s hand was much better than anything the others owned.

    This was as clear as day.

    Quieting down before they could even say something, everyone sighed inwardly, wondering who exactly Nial truly was.

    They entered the dungeon with the same greed as before.

    Yet, right now, their mind was also on Nial as they began to wonder just how strong their newrade was.

    ''He won''t snatch all of our loot, will he?!''

 Chapter 279 Nightfall Valleys Devastation

    Needles of darkness shot through the Nightfall valley, piercing into the flesh of the beasts that habituated the valley.

    The darkness needles that were invisible to the naked eye were the best tool for an Assassin in the gloomy and darkness-shrouded valley.

    The Nightfall valley was always dark. Right amidst the centery a beautifulke that enhanced the valley''s beauty. Theke was surrounded by a forest of Necran trees. The valley''s borders were the mountain range that surrounded the valley.

    Numerous beasts lived within the mountain range, and it was also the ce with the most value within the Nightfall valley''s dungeon. Deep within the dungeon''s mountains, one could find deposits of various types of rare minerals. This included dark gold, Nin silver, and titanium copper.

    They were extremely rare to find in normal circumstances, which made them even more valuable. Their value was even more important considering that each of the minerals had a high mana conductivity.

    When Nial heard about the minerals even he wanted to get his hands on them.

    Great mana conductivity was essential to create stronger runic armaments. Even Common grade ores could rival the value of Superior grade ores as long as they had a high mana conductivity.

    Since runic armaments had be a highly sought-after piece of equipment, mana conductivity had turned into one of the most important characteristics of ores. There were many other major characteristics one had to pay attention to, but Nial was mostly interested in the first one.

    He easily killed all the beasts in the surrounding area using his darkness needles. Creating darkness needles didn''t require much mana, and their use was exceptional.

    ''To think that my dark energy became stronger after the fight with Silvian,'' Nial thought the moment he released dark energy to attack someone else for the first time after his battle.

    The Essence of Darkness within the Odyssey seed had begun to increase the potency of Nial''s dark energy from the moment it had been released first.

    This increase in potency simultaneously led to an increase in the amount of mana that had to be used to create dark energy, but this exchange was definitely worthwhile.

    Nial liked it a lot, which he showed by disying a bright smile from the moment he realized what was going on.

    "Aren''t we fighting too few beasts? I heard that the poption of beasts is really high within the entire Nightfall valley," Cecile sounded displeased as she stated what was on her mind. Simultaneously, her fist that was protected by the golden gauntlet bashed into the skull of a Nightmare wolf.

    The Nightmare wolf''s skull cracked, and Cecile''s entire fist began to dig deeper into the wolf''s head. Kelia shuddered at this sight but she kept using the supportive abilities she owned to amplify Cecile''s strength.

    Meanwhile, Leo swung the maze in front of his body with his powerful brute force. He forced three Nightmare wolves back, while simultaneously providing Timoth¨¦e with the opportunity he needed to appear behind the three Nightmare wolves.

    He was a Swordsman and an extremely fast one at that. By utilizing a technique called [Thousand Aerial steps], his speed elerated by more than 30%. The wind pressure sshed into his face, and his golden hair fluttered in the wind as he shed out with rapid movements.

    In the following two seconds, another six shes followed suit before Timoth¨¦e slowed down.

    "I don''t know what''s going on either. I expected to fight groups of 20 or 30 beasts," Timoth¨¨e suddenly answered, feeling as confused as Cecile.

    However, he didn''t actually mind it. They advanced through the Nightfall valley''s forest much faster than he had anticipated. It made things much easier for them.

    Timoth¨¦e felt like they finally had a lucky day.

    ''It''s only a matter of time before we be filthy rich. After that, we can buy whatever we want, whether it''s to splurge our money on luxurious goods or to keep working on bing even stronger!!'' Timoeth¨¨e clenched his fist, and a smile filled with greed appeared on his face.

    Leo just frowned upon seeing their leader''s reaction and expression before he looked over to Nial with concern filled in his eyes.

    Nial was just ying around with the Dragonme spear, and the others may not have noticed it by now. However, it was Nial, who killed all the beasts around them, and merely left a few behind so that nobody would notice it.

    "If you guys want to fight more beasts, I can join the melee fights. But then more beasts wille after hearing themotion," Nial said, indicating that he would stop using his dark energy to fight closebat. This was actually what he had nned from the beginning.

    Unfortunately, the news about the dark gold, the Nin silver, and the titanium copper fogged his mind for quite a while.

    "You want to stop doing what? You haven''t done anything yet!" Cecileined as her voice reverberated through the forest.

    Nial just smiled in return, not feeling bothered by herment,

    "Am I really not doing anything? Let me show you how your fights will unfold if I don''t do anything," Nial wanted to provoke Cecile a bit.

    She was fun to tease. With that in mind, he stopped attacking the beasts that were lurking in the darkness.

    They took a while to realize what was happening. However, upon sensing that the invisible attacks lurking in the darkness didn''t kill them anymore, the beasts began their counterattack.

    Several groups consisting of more than 50 beasts each attacked Timoth¨¨e''s group all of a sudden.

    There were a total of close to 300 beasts that emerged out of nowhere that entered their range of view. The darkness that shrouded the Nightfall valley was countered by Light spheres.

    They were maintained by the use of mana, or by inserting Origin crystals inside them, and one could control them freely. Their bright light lit up a radius of 50 meters.<sub> </sub>

    It was bright in the surrounding of the group, yet, the moment 300 pairs of eyes stared through the darkness, everyone in Timoth¨¨e''s group felt goosebumps erupt all over their body.

    "Fuck, Cecile, why did you have to say that Nial is doing nothing!" Leo suddenly groaned, feeling like cursing the fierce and tiny woman.

    He faced nearly 10 beasts at once all of a sudden, and the moment Timoth¨¦e reacted by killing one of them, two beasts emerged to rece the dead one.

    Timoth¨¨e frowned deeply when he realized that it had not been their luck that allowed them to advance so fast through the forest. Rather, it was Nial''s doing.

    He had no idea what Nial had done but something prevented the beasts from attacking them inrge numbers¡­at least until now.

    It was frustrating and he felt like lecturing Cecile for provoking Nial. However, just when she looked over to Cecile, Timoth¨¦e saw that the number of beasts on her side was ridiculously low.

    Darkness needles shot out of the darkness that surrounded their group. With each darkness needle that shot out of the darkness, one beast died moments before Cecile was able to do something.

    Her head turned as red as her hair when she realized what was going on. Every single beast that attacked her and the beasts she wanted to attack were killed even before they shed.

    Nial killed them with ease, using his dark energy, not leaving a single prey for her.

    "NIALLL!!" She roared out in rage. Her body was surrounded by a red hue and Cecile''s hair seemed to have turned crimson.

    Cecile was ready to throw a fit, and she turned in Nial''s directions, expecting him to use the dark needles to kill the beasts around him as well.

    However, what she saw prevented her from doing anything as her mouth opened widely.

    ''How the hell is he doing that?!'' Cecile asked dumbfounded. Nial fought more than ten monsters simultaneously, killing one with every thrust. The tip of the Dragonme spear was searing hot, burning, and cutting through his opponents, eliminating them instantaneously.

    He moved with a grace that would rival a gazelle, just a deadly one. However, what astonished Cecile so much was the smoothness with which Nial fought. It looked like he was fully focused on his fight, and that his entire world revolved around the group of beasts in front of him.

    Not a trace of mana seemed to leave his body. But that was impossible.

    ''Is he not the one who creates the darkness needles?'' Cecile suddenly wondered, feelingplicated emotions surging through her.

    Just at this moment, a bunch of beasts was ignored by Nial, who had summoned the darkness needles right in front of him the moment Cecile began to doubt her entire life.

    The darkness needles were clearly visible to everyone because they were a huge contrast to the bright shining light which the Light Spheres released.

    Nial shot the darkness needles in Cecile''s direction. She froze in ce, the moment the needles brushed past her with a terrifying velocity.

    She feared losing her life for provoking Nial and was cowering in fear. Just a whileter, she heard a few muffled sounds as several beasts behind her died at the hands of Nial. They fell to the ground and died in an instant as blood sttered on her face when she turned around.

    "You can fight on your own again," Nial suggested while continuing to fight the beasts around him.

    Nheless, his focus was still on the entire battlefield. He could create darkness needles everywhere in the detailed range of his range of perception. This was exactly what he had been doing since earlier.

    All of a sudden, Nial noticed that his speed and strength had increased. His gaze flicked in Kelia''s direction as he realized the reason for the boost. With a nod, he thanked her for helping him with the use of her abilities.

    She didn''t need much mana to provide small boosts to others. However, the higher the boost was supposed to be the more mana she would have to consume.

    Some abilities even required her to use her stamina. It tired her out, but that was the least important right now.

    Three hundred beasts attacked them, and Nial was clearly the strongest in their group.

    He could fight using both the weird dark-attributed power and his spear. Fighting while using long- and short-range attacks simultaneously was difficult.

    However, Nial acted as if it was one of the easiest things one could do. He was even smiling, which made it seem as if he was enjoying the current situation.

    While the others were under tremendous pressure to face dozens of monsters simultaneously, Nial felt great. He could go all-in without the need to hold back.

    The reason for him to enter a dungeon in the first ce was to figure out how much his strength had changed, whether he became rusty or if his muscle memory was still as great as before.

    In the end, one could pretty much conclude that Nial''s strength had not suffered a lot of decreases. In fact, the opposite was true and his strength increased by a lot.

    Nial was happy about this, which was reflected in hisbat style. The longer the fight started the more aggressively he fought. He wanted to be even stronger, he wanted to move even faster, and his attacks should be even fiercer!

    ''I rested long enough, it''s about time to go all in!''

 Chapter 280 Jackpot

    Nial proceeded slowly through the Nightfall valley''s forest. By using his dark energy and the Dragonme spear simultaneously it was not difficult to kill the weakest beasts instantaneously.

    He proceeded to eliminate the other beasts, which attacked him and the others without a care for their lives.

    "Just how strong are you?!" Kelia mumbled in astonishment as she observed his fight with her mouth hanging open. Nobody had heard her because she was speaking quietly enough to talk to herself only.

    However, it was just a momentter that Nial began to smile. He shrugged his shoulders as he answered honestly,

    "I don''t know for sure, but this is nothing."

    His answer further befuddled everyone. They were not sure if Nial wanted to show off that he had no problems fighting against 3rd Intermediate Mirae ranked beasts, or if he was just being honest.

    Nheless, the others were bothered because Nial had killed the majority of beasts around them.

    "If he continues like that, we can hardly follow our system of loot distribution," Timoth¨¦e grumbled as he saw how Nial killed another batch of Nightmare wolves without breaking a sweat.

    "You wanted to give everyone a fair share? Well, you can forget about that now. Nial might have killed more beasts than the four of us did together!" Cecile gritted her teeth as she spoke.

    It was not that she liked Nial in any way. However, one had to acknowledge if someone was stronger than them. If one wouldn''t be able to ept something so simple, life could turn miserable.

    "I think we should just distribute everything amongst ourselves in the old-fashioned way. Everyone gets what they killed, and what they pick up. We might not get much from the beasts all around the Nightfall valley, but that is not our goal, to begin with, right?" Leo joined the conversation all of a sudden. His entire demeanor resembled that of a sly fox, a chubby one though.

    "The mines¡­if we find a hidden mineral cave, it should be possible for us to gain a huge fortune. The only issue is that it has already been a day since the Nightfall valley''s dungeon resetted. All caves might already be upied by others," Timoth¨¦e growled when he shed out at a beast, ending it in a single motion.

    Everyone gained more motivation to fight because they were jealous of Nial as he made them feel weak and miserable. It was definitely not something they looked forward to but Nial''s highbat prowess indirectly forced everyone to give their all and not to fall behind a lot.

    Timoth¨¦e was the most affected by Nial''s terrifying strength. However, after Leo told him about Nial''s identity and what he did before and during the fight against the Dryx, Timoth¨¦e understood that there was a big gap between the two of them.

    This was frustrating but it was not as if it was actually Nial''s fault. He was just stronger than them, and he was definitely not showing off or trying to make them feel low purposefully.

    If he wanted to show off, his fighting style would bepletely different, focused on elegance and magnificent movements, not to eradicate the opponents around him as quickly as possible.

    "I can sense some of the ores you guys mentioned earlier. There should be a cave nearby," Nial suddenly recalled after he had heard everything the others had spoken about.

    He didn''t mind their behavior, and it didn''t actually matter how they would share the loot. Nial wanted to test his strength and collect a few ingredients to create more runic armaments, that was it.

    His [Mana Sense] clearly perceived different mana fluctuations in the direction he pointed at. The group walked in that particr direction without another word about the distribution of loot.

    It might be important to decide that before anyone would dare to demand more than they actually deserved, but Nial didn''t actually seem like a bad guy. Timoth¨¦e was certain that Nial would be nice and fair and that there was no reason to worry about anything that had yet to happen.

    Nial''s range of perception could perceive everything in a range of 500 meters with exceptional rity. Only within 100 meters, everything could be visualized perfectly, but the range of 500 meters was still more than enough for him to perceive the outlines of everything and everybody, if only slightly blurry.

    "The cave should be here," Nial said with a small smile.

    "But we''re standing right in front of¡­nothing?" Cecile asked, looking around wildly. She then furrowed her brows and looked at him in suspicion.

    Leo and the others looked around but they couldn''t see anything either.

    "I mean, the cave should be below us, roughly 10 meters below us is the entrance," Nial was still smiling, ignoring Cecile''s doubtpletely.

    "Below us¡­so there shouldn''t have been anyone else yet¡­that''s amazing!" Timoth¨¦e eximed as he readied himself to start digging. However, Leo and Kelia could only look at Nial in shock.

    "You can sense what lies 10 meters below the surface?" Leo asked, his voice cracking at the end.

    "Oh, that is nothing," Nial waved his hand off as he continued to speak, "As long as the dirt, rocks, and other materials below the surface are not dense in mana, I can probably sense things thaty 50 meters below the surface. If I use one of my abilities, it''s even more than that."

    Nial spoke calmly but the content of his information shocked Kelia and Leo extremely.

    "You can use your perception to ''see'' what lies past the several-meter-thickyers of earth, and rocks?? Everything inside the dungeons holds mana¡­so you can see what lies past theseyers of mana¡­." Kelia mumbled in shock. She was holding her head in pain, while her expression turnedplex all of a sudden.

    Leo felt just like Kelia, but he was able to hold himself together much better than hisrade.

    Meanwhile, Cecile and Timoth¨¦e were not really good with theoretical stuff. They could only tell that their range of perception below the surface was around a meter or two but that was already it.

    But it was no surprise to them that Nial''s range of perception was better. After all, his mana control was much better than theirs and he was blind which was why he relied on his range of perception much more than others.

    They didn''t train their range of perception, which resulted in them only being able to perceive things one or two meters below them.

    To them, the range of perception was simply not worth being trained in. They could see very well, and their other senses were also quite helpful.

    "How about we start then?" Nial asked, and summoned several shovels made of darkness. Using mana he controlled the shovels precisely to start digging around.

    Simultaneously, he also controlled the surrounding mana to replenish the mana he was using up. Nial didn''t mind what the others were doing. He was just focused on getting his hand on the ores in the hopes of creating high mana conductive runic armaments with them anytime soon.

    Timoth¨¨e and the others soon joined to dig deeper into the ground. Their current location was quite isted from anywhere around, and it would be quite difficult for them to be found. As long as nobody caused a ruckus everything would be fine.

    "I know that it ismon for everyone to im ownership of the materials they mine, but can we adjust this rule a bit?" Nial suddenly asked as he was focusing on digging deeper into the ground.

    Only a few minutes had passed since they started but with everyone''s hard work and effort they had already reached the stoneyer.<sub> </sub>

    Cecile and Timoth¨¦e flinched upon hearing Nial''s question and they looked at him doubtfully.

    "H-how exactly do you want to adjust the dungeon ''rules''?" Timoth¨¦e asked, feeling unsure of why he felt intimidated right now.

    Nial took it easy when he waved off his hand to calm the others.

    "Take it easy. I just want to buy the Dark Gold, the Nin Silver, and the Titanium Copper which you guys will farm. I can buy it at the market price as well," He offered a deal in a calm voice that reached everybody but instead of feeling overjoyed, they frowned deeply.

    It was almost as if they were trying to ask what he was scheming. However, Nial could only continue to smile. He felt that the current situation was ridiculous.

    Who would have thought that they get so lucky? With luck on their side and Nial''s precise and powerful range of perception, everything had been possible. It was amazing!

    "I''m rich," He added as an afterthought as if it was the most ordinary thing one would say at this moment.

    "O¡­okay¡­." Timoth¨¦e answered. He was blinking his eyes and staring at him in shock, waiting for Nial to say that he was joking. But when he didn''t, Timothee realized that Nial was serious.

    "You really want to buy everything we will farm¡­at the market price??" He asked with a disbelieving look, but Nial merely nodded his head.

    "Exactly," he supplied.

    Timoth¨¦e and the others looked at each other for several seconds. They had conflicted expressions on their faces. To them, Nial had done nearly everything since they had entered the Nightfall valley dungeon.

    He had killed more than half of all the beasts they encountered in the dungeon and he had found the cavern entrance as well. Without him, they would have been injured and forced to return to the Forest of Life.

    The group of four gathered and spoke to each other for a moment. Nial tried not to hear them but his hearing sense was simply too developed for him to ignore their words.

    ''They''re really nice,'' He thought when they finished discussing what they wanted to do.

    "We will sell you all the ores and other things you want. However, the price will be 30% below the market price. We would feel guilty by exploiting you after everything you did for us¡­" Timoth¨¦e said, not showing a trace of the arrogant and aloof behavior he had demonstrated in their first meeting.

    "That''s very nice of all of you. Thank you," Nial genuinely thanked them before he continued to find his way through theyer of stones.

    The darkness shovels had turned into mining pickaxes that smashed on the stone, bursting it open easily.

    It didn''t take long before the hole they had dug was ten meters deep.

    "Nial are you sure that there is something, I cann¡ª" Cecile was just about to finish her question when Nial''s smile turned brighter. He sensed that all five of his darkness mining pickaxes had hit at a spot that was nearby.

    "Attention please, we will fall now, fasten your seat belts," heughed before the ground below them crumbled, revealing utter darkness as a ten-meter-deep hole appeared below their feet.

    Their feet didn''t hit solid ground, so everyone just copsed with the mud and rocks. Kelia screamed at the top of her lungs, while the others closed their mouths instinctively.

    None of them could prevent their hearts from beating rapidly as they were devoured by the darkness. When they fell on the ground, everyone was panting. Only Nial was quite calm as hended as if he had just done a somersault.

    "There are three tunnels we can go in. I''m not sure how you guys want to proceed, but I think it would be best to split up. I cannot perceive a single monster in the surrounding area. Though, I cannot perceive everything in the underground," Nial said as he ignored the terrified faces of the other youthspletely.

    He could only smile a bit before he shrugged his shoulders as he expanded his range of perception with the use of his [Mana Sense].

    "We''ve hit the jackpot!" Nial eximed in joy.

    This was more than enough to force everyone to shut their mouths and turn their attention to Nial, who immediately noticed what was going on.

    "If I''m not wrong, there is not only Dark Gold, Nin Silver, and Titanium Copper, but also a type of crystal that can be used for the creation of runic solutions," Nial recalled while frowning.

    "But why are you frowning then?" Cecile asked, her voice overflowing with joy.

    "Well, I cannot sense a single beast underground, which is weird, and I am actually not sure how to price these crystals. Crevian told us about the maite crystals in a lesson about runic armaments. They''re not necessarily rare, but mankind has yet to get their hands on a single source of them¡­" Nial was honest with his team.

    There was no need to lie, after all.

    When the others heard what Nail said, they immediately knew why Nial had been so astonished before.

    "We have really hit the jackpot!!"

    **

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 Chapter 281 Hoodlums

    Even if Magnatit crystals were not considered rare, for humans they were. Even the Elves were in dire need of more Magnatit crystals.

    Their need for more Magnatit crystals was high enough to enter all kinds of dungeons to search for Magnatit crystal veins as well.

    This was why Nial and the others were so fortunate. They could get their hands on a fortune by just selling the Magnatit crystals thaty around in the dungeon in abundance.

    The cave was huge, and just after an hour of mining in the first hall they entered, Timoth¨¦e and the others felt like their spatial rings would burst when they were done mining and collecting everything.

    "I would buy the Magnatit crystals as well. For each crystal, I can give you guys 50$. That should be fair, considering that there are probably tens of thousands, if not more than a hundred thousand Magnatit crystals around us," Nial offered, attracting everyone''s attention.

    They had no idea about the Magnatit crystal''s value, so they couldn''t tell whether Nial was lying to them or not.

    However, even if he was lying, it didn''t matter to them. If Nial wanted to, he could have entered the Nightfall valley and searched for underground caves all by himself. That way, he would have gotten everything for himself.

    But now that he wasn''t secretive about the underground cave, or nning to leave with the others before he would returnter to greedily take everything, Timoth¨¦e, Cecile and the others agreed to his proposal without thinking too much about it.

    "Somehow, I feel bad. He will have to pay millions of dors just to get the ores and Magnatit crystals¡­" Kelia said all of a sudden. Her voice was low but the others around her had clearly heard her.

    "Well, if you don''t want to exploit him, tell him that he doesn''t need to pay you so much. But keep in mind that we need to be stronger as well. The biggest organizations haven''t noticed us yet or don''t regard us highly. We need to get stronger to attract their attention.

    That requires money, while Nial doesn''t need it. He is rich. Those were his words!" Leo stated while wanting to clear up Kelia''s mind.

    He could understand her but that didn''t mean he would bother about being fair. Nial hade up with the deal on his own ord, so he had a n through which he could either be stronger or earn more profit.

    "You''re right¡­" Kelia could only agree before she returned to working hard and mining the crystals.

    Nial heard their conversation and he couldn''t agree more. He had enough money to pay them, and it was not as if he would incur a loss either.

    By increasing his proficiency with runic constetions, it would be much easier for him to create the second Ancient Origin ring, and the following seven as well. The Magnatit crystals weren''t worth 50$ under normal circumstances, not if they were of such low quality as the ones in front of him.

    However, their demand was extremely high right now because they had found the first magnatit crystal vein. This meant that they would be the first ones to create highly concentrated runic solutions.

    With them and the ores found in the Nightfall valley, it wouldn''t be a problem to create powerful Tier-0 runic armaments. Nial was pretty sure that it was only a matter of time before his cksmithing skill would be on par with his current theoretical knowledge.

    He had learned a lot, and wanted to apply everything to practical use as soon as possible!

    Two days had passed in the blink of an eye but Nial was still in the underground cave with Timoth¨¦e''s group. One time, Nial went out of the Nightfall valley''s dungeon to purchase anotherrge-scale spatial ring, but other than that, they worked tirelessly inside the underground cave.

    The final result shocked everyone, including Nial. He knew that he had lots of money. However, at the sight of the contents of all the Spatial rings that the others handed him, Nial could only swallow.

    "If you cannot buy everything, we can sell some of the ores to a merchant as well," Timoth¨¦e said the moment he noticed Nial''s worried expression.

    "No that''s not it, I have enough money. I was just wondering how to store everything. I cannot just take your Spatial rings, after all¡­" Nial could only take a look inside their spatial ring as he received the wearer''s permission.

    However, taking away someone''s spatial ring felt a little bit odd to him. This was even more so the case because Nial had perceived that there were more than just a few personal belongings inside. Even their clothes, including underwear, were stored inside the spatial rings.

    Timoth¨¦e nodded his head in understanding. He didn''t even question Nial''s wealth anymore as he replied,

    "Then how about you purchase anotherrge-scale spatial ring, or preferably a storage box? It''s bigger in size, even if carrying it around is annoying. But I doubt you want to carry all the ores and Magnatit crystals with you everywhere, to begin with," Leo suddenly came up with a suggestion.

    Nial nodded his head before he shrugged his shoulders lightly.

    "I will find a solution to that. Let''s leave the dungeon so I can pay you guys," He answered calmly and revealed a faint smile.

    They were so deep in the cave that it took more than two hours before they reached the hole they had dug to enter the underground cave.

    Unfortunately, some sort of unforeseen incident urred¡­a group of human Originals was waiting for them on the surface. They looked straight at Nial before removing the coats they had been wearing.

    "4th Intermediate Mirae rank, all of them¡­" Nial mumbled the moment he visualized them and their prowess.

    Timoth¨¨e frowned deeply the moment he saw the group of human Originals. He was familiar with them. They were not good people and liked to beat up those who were weaker than them.

    Of course, they only acted when nobody else was nearby, which was the case in most dungeons. Because of this, it was quite easy for them to stir trouble without ever getting caught. After all, there had never been enough evidence to evict them.

    It was merely their statement against those that had been troubled by them and in most cases, they would escape getting punished.

    Therge maze appeared in Leo''s hands. He was ready to go all-in as long as they would be able to ovee this situation, somehow.

    "Is that some of these old and boring clich¨¨es? I guess you guys want to take what belongs to me, right?" Nial was a bit annoyed. The human Originals from above had hostile intentions against him.

    They had been wearing mana-concealing runic armaments as well.<sub> </sub>

    And it was not even as if these runic armaments weremonly found.

    ''Someone must have ordered them to find me and beat me up¡­but who could that be?'' Nial thought, feeling slightly confused. He was pretty sure that the human Originals above the surface wanted to see him half-dead or dead. Their efforts allowed them to find him as well.

    "We just wanted to beat you up for acting cocky, but if you speak about us stealing your stuff, we can actually do that. Thanks for this great proposal, it never crossed my mind," The Original, who stood in front of everyone else, sneered.

    His eyes were gleaming in greed as he said, "Come on, hand over everything that belongs to you! NOW, or you will die!"

    Nial''s expressions changed a bit as he realized that he had walked straight into the Original''s trap.

    It was extremely frustration, even more so because the Original precisely nned to provoke Nial, which had worked out.

    The Odyssey seed began to pulsate and the Ankh shone brightly in a darkish-green color, releasing its vigor.

    Nial could tell that the vigor felt a bit different than before him Since the end of the battle when the overflowing dark energy had been absorbed by the Ankh, it had changed. The invigorating sensation was still present, but the dark energy had transmuted the Ankh''s vigor.

    It was stronger now, and it provided him with a distinct boost in his control of mana and dark energy.

    That was everything Nial could tell about the changes of the Ankh because he didn''t understand what else could have changed.

    When he released dark energy from his entire body, it looked like he was shrouded in darkness. Timoth¨¨e and the others realized something as well. Thus, they turned off the Light spheres in response, allowing Nial to merge with the darkness of the underground hall.

    "We can join in this fight as well. Our rank might be weaker but it should be possible for us to fight one of them head-on. That will lift a huge burden off your chest!" Cecile assured him in a barely audible whisper.

    Only Nial had been able to hear her, which was something she was fairly certain about. After all, everyone in the group had noticed that Nial''s senses were extremely strong and very sensitive.

    "Juste to the surface and take a look," Nial said before a gust of wind sshed in everyone''s face when the ground below their feet cracked.

    He sted upward in a straight line usingpressed dark energy to give him a boost the moment he jumped. The distance of 20 meters to the surface was covered in a single jump. Nialnded right in front of the arrogant human Original, who could only look at him in astonishment.

    He swallowed his saliva before he took a few steps backward without realizing anything. Nial''s entire body was shrouded in tightlypressed dark energy.

    Without wasting a moment Nial released several balls of dark energy that were filled with ck miasma. He threw them out to fill the surrounding 100 meters with them. They were spread out evenly at a distance of 10 meters from each other and were hovering in the air.

    They didn''t do anything special, but seeing such a huge quantity of balls in the air was already enough for the human Originals to look at Nial in fright.

    "Y-you can control all of them at once?!" The arrogant Original asked while trying to suppress the emotions of fear and worry that surged up within him.

    Nial ignored the arrogant Original as he scanned through the group that consisted of 10 Originals at the 4th Intermediate Mirae rank.

    "That''s not really impressive. I wonder who hired you guys to attack me. That someone must not know a lot about me," Nial could only say, smiling lightly.

    Through the dark energy armor that shrouded him tightly, his smile looked devilish, preventing the human Originals from moving.

    Nial humiliated them, but it was not as if they could do anything right now. His dark energy was already more than enough to suppress them, after all.

    "I''m a little bit bored. How about you guys fight against me? Considering that you guys wanted to take away my things, how about I beat you up a little bit until you guys told me who sent you?" Nial asked, his devilish smile widening even further.

    "Tell¡­me¡­WHO sent you?!" Nial growled, his voice echoing in the minds of the young Originals, only for them to realize that the balls of darkness exploded, and shrouded everything in ck miasma.

    Only Nial''s devilish face shrouded in darkness was engraved on their minds as his eerie voice reached their ears,

    "May I be your worst Nightmare?"

    **

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 Chapter 282 Not The Real Deal

    Nial was just a little bit frustrated at the arrival of the human Originals. He wasn''t too bothered about having new sparring partners.

    It was just that their intentions were annoying, and that they thought too highly of themselves.

    Nial was literally about to pay Timoth??e and the others using the vast majority of the money he had saved up, meaning that he was poor in terms of managing his finances.

    However, that didn''t bother him the slightest. It was just that his happy mood had been ruined by the arrival of some Pseudo Hoodlums. They believed that they were strong enough to y around with the weak and that they could do whatever they wanted just because nobody saw them.

    Unfortunately, they had epted the wrong mission and had to face Nial now.

    Merging inside the ck miasma, Nial moved rapidly through the surrounding area. He disappeared from his earlier location and released some dark energy inside the ground to prepare a trap before he readied himself tounch an attack.

    The Dragonscale spear amplified with his dark energy would tear the Hoodlums apart. Thus, Nial chose to teach them a painful lesson. His methods were brutal but using his fists engulfed in dark energy was probably the best way to beat some sense into their heads.

    Nial smiled faintly as heunched his first punch straight in the abdomen of the slowest opponent. All of them were trying to move outside the ck miasma that covered a range of 100 square meters. It was not much and everyone could escape it with one powerful move.

    But for the young man which Nial had attacked, all hope was lost. And he was not the only one. Nial''s dark energy traps on the ground were activated the moment the other Originals at the 4th Intermediate Mirae rank passed by.

    Vines made out of pure dark energy pierced out of the ground. They coiled around the Originals'' legs and forced them to lose bnce if they didn''t have enough strength to tear the dark vines apart.

    Most of them fell to the ground, and it took them a second before they regained their senses. Their entire body, including their senses, were weakened because of the ck miasma''s potent effect.

    They tried to escape the ck miasma as quickly as possible but for those who lost their bnce, it was difficult to get up. The dark vines prevented them from moving properly, and it took a few seconds for them to leave the ck miasma.

    However, once they emerged out of the miasma, the hoodlums noticed that they were only six people. Four of them were still inside the ck miasma, and their painful screams shook the Nightfall valley''s forest.

    "Noooo, d-don''t, S-stopppp!!! PLEASEEE!!" One of them begged before he turned silent all of a sudden.

    Another one was desperately trying to escape the ck miasma. His hand emerged from the miasma, and the six, who got outside moved instinctively. They tried in vain to help their friend.

    But before they could even reach their friend''s hand, it was pulled back into the miasma.

    "NOOOOOOOO--" The man screamed out, just for a muffled sound to echo through the surroundings before he turned silent as well.

    Numerous thump sounds could be heard within the ck miasma, indicating that his opponents were copsing on the ground one after another. Following that, several screams rocked the cave as their echoes bounced off the walls. However, all screams quieted down after a while.

    "A-aa€¡°aare they....d-dead?!" One of them asked, unable to control his quivering voice.

    "I...don''t think so..." The arrogant Original stammered in fear. He wanted to add something but before he could move, the ck miasma burst open.

    Nial emerged from the ck miasma. Several balls ofpressed dark energy sted forward, while Nial followed rapidly.

    The six Originals at the 4th Mirae rank swallowed their saliva before activating their ability.

    One of them split into two, while the mana of another one became much stronger all of a sudden. Currents of electricity emerged from both of their bodies a momentter.

    Their speed increased drastically, which allowed them to evade the balls of darkness easily.

    But just when they brushed past the balls of darkness, all of the balls exploded, blocking the sight of the four remaining Originals, who had activated their abilities as well.

    For a moment, they hesitated, unsure of what to do next. Only after they realized that their teammates might die due to their hesitation were the remaining four Originals able to move through the thinyer of dark energy.

    It influenced them a tiny bit and intensified their fear but that was not something they noticed in that instance.

    Blueish mes shrouded the de of one man, another one shrouded his body in water, while the remaining two seemed to have activated abilities that changed their bodies.

    One of the man''s arms erged when he activated [Herculean Strength] while another one used an ability called [Spiritual sight]. His eyes were glowing, and he could see the movements of his opponents a millisecond before they actually happened.

    [Spiritual Sight] was actually an ability thatbined all the information received from the opponent''s bodynguage and his or her mana cirction. Through this, he was able to perceive what was going to happen a millisecond before it would actually ur.

    Unfortunately, this ability waspletely useless. With the right talent, training, and knowledge, one could achieve something like the [Spiritual Sight] even without the ability.

    Nial was, in fact, someone who didn''t even need to see his opponents do something like that. He could use his senses, which included his mana sense, to perceive everything his opponents did.

    Right from the vibrations of their movements, and the sound of their breathing, up to the mana cirction in their body, he could sense everything. This also included where and when mana was released and how much mana and strength they released at any moment.

    Through this, even the high speed of the two human Originals, who reached him first was not something that influenced him a lot.

    He could tell that they wanted to sh at him with the thin longswords they wielded.

    ''What''s the use of high speed if you cannot even control it?'' Nial asked himself, upon noticing that the human Originals were fast but unable to change their trajectory flexibly. They inly rushed forward.

    Thus the moment they shed at him, Nial released some ck miasma from his body. It spread out explosively and shrouded Nial''s entire body.

    Through this, it was possible for him to duck down and catapult his body forward.<sub> </sub>

    While the others couldn''t see anything, Nial was blind as a bat. However, he could visualize everything, which was a relief and his golden ticket.

    Everyone else relied on their sight way too much, but not Nial. He punched one of the human Originals in his stomach, while the other one was tripped by Nial.

    The leg he stretched out was a bit burned but Nial could ignore that as the burning didn''t affect him much.

    With a quick move, he outwitted his opponents and rendered them unable to fight for a few seconds. This was long enough for Nial to take care of the other opponents.

    ''One with an enhanced sight, one with a water affinity, one with a strength amplified arm, and one with an ability that amplified the strength of his weapon with fire.'' Nial concluded the moment he perceived the others and counted his opponents on his fingers.

    At the 4th Mirae rank, one could have 3 abilities. There was also the chance that an Original possessed a special trait or an Innate ability.

    However, most Originals with an Innate ability had the potential to create Advanced Origin rings. That was why Nial concluded that all of them were in possession of three abilities.

    "Is that all you guys got? No wonder you need to fight the Originals, who are weaker than you. This is a bit embarrassing, don''t you think?" Nial was annoyed at the Originals he was fighting.

    He had hoped that they would be a bit fun to fight, but it was utterly frustrating. Not even fighting against the Nightmare wolves and the other beasts inside the Nightfall valley had been as boring to fight as the 10 human Originals.

    Nial used a bit more force to fight the human Originals, and his dark energy was utilized more but that was the bare minimum he could do to have some fun against humans who had three more Origin rings than him.

    When he appeared in front of the original with the [Spiritual Sight] Nial covered his opponent''s eyes with dark energy. This was already enough to render the ability useless.

    The young man activated another ability called [Rock Shield]. A shield made out of firm rocks appeared in front of him, blocking Nial''s punch.

    "Argh," Nial growled out as the spikes on the rock shield pierced his hand. However, he tried to ignore this as well as the Rock shield that burst open the moment he released the dark energy inside the small cracks created by his punch.

    With a follow-up punch, he knocked the Original backward. Nial sensed that several attacks were about tond on him, so he moved swiftly.

    He twisted his body, and expanded his dark energy from his body to block the attack of the Original controlling the water affinity. His attacks were much weaker than Mathias, whom he had fought very often.

    Mathias'' was just the best when it came to the control of affinities so Nial had enough experience against Earth and Water benders.

    While blocking the attack of the water bender, Nial threw himself t on the ground to evade the punch of the man, whose arm had [Herculean Strength].

    His punch collided with the fire-shrouded de of hisrade, which forced both to lessen the might behind their attacks. They frowned deeply, only to realize that Nial had nned everything.

    With the use of some of his dark energy, dozens of dark vines shot out of Nial, pulling the leg of his opponents.

    Their focus had heavily been on attacking, so their defense was not so strong. Thus, the moment Nial pulled their leg, they lost bnce. They ended up struggling while Nial appeared above them.

    In a moment, he punched everyone in the stomach just to release the dark energy, thereby creating a second impact.

    He moved smoothly and ''ended'' them by knocking them unconscious, or by releasing razor-sharp knives manifested out of dark energy. They were held against their neck by the des, and Nial was ready to kill them the moment they did something stupid.

    Only the two with their eleration ability that used lightning had been able to escape his dark energy des.

    However, that was not something Nial was concerned about.

    "Surrender, or I will kill your friends," Nial smiled innocently as he threatened them.

    "You wouldn''t dare to do that!" One of the two hissed, but the only answer he received was a mocking smile on Nial''s face.

    "Do you really think anyone would dare to sue me for murder or evict me, even if I were to kill all of you? Dream on, kid," Nial chuckled, knowing that he was at an advantage.

    Timoth??e and his group wouldn''t betray him as long as they wanted their money. Even if they were to betray him, their statements would speak in favor of Nial.

    But even if that wouldn''t be the case, Nial was currently in the sovereign territory of the Elven race. The Forest of Life and everything around was governed by them, meaning that Nial as their closest aid would be saved, no matter what he did.

    "Think about it. Answer me who sent you, or keep quiet and witness how your friends'' heads roll over the ground!"

    **

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 Chapter 283 From Riches To Rags

    The two human Originals looked around with a frown on their faces. Three of their colleagues were unconscious while the remaining five looked no better.

    A knife manifested out of darkness was held against each of their throats.

    The situation didn''t look good but that was quite obvious.

    "H-How are you so strong? Weren''t you in aa before, and recuperating? You created your first Origin ring not too long before as well¡­how does that add up?" There was no trace of arrogance in the Original''s voice.

    He looked defeated right now but that was not something Nial was bothered about even though he visualized everyone around him.

    Timoth¨¦e and the others hade out of the underground cave not too long ago as well. They witnessed only a part of the fight but it was enough for them to feel a bit stupefied as well.

    "Don''t all of them possess 4 Origin rings? Even if they''re only Intermediate Origin rings, isn''t Nial too strong?" Timoth¨¨e asked while shaking his head. He was not even shocked anymore and it was only his brain that had to ept what kind of monster he had befriended.

    "Well we already expected him to have a Superior Origin ring, didn''t we?" Cecile asked rhetorically while shrugging her shoulders. At first, she wanted to fight against Nial to figure out how strong he actually was. Cecile had nned to force Nial to give his all.

    However, she quickly realized that Nial was not only mysterious but also like a bottomless pit with an unknown amount of power.

    It was already quite frightening to fight by his side. Cecile didn''t want to imagine how it would be to fight against him.

    "I definitely made the right choice by not challenging him¡­" Cecile mumbled quickly, only for Leo to nod his head.

    "That''s for sure. You did great," He said, while hisrge handnded on her head and ruffled her hair.

    "You piece of fat shit. Let go of me!" Cecile grumbled almost immediately and was ready to throw her fist at him. Leo just smiled before he let go of her.

    "Are you guys not gonna answer? How about I behead one of yourrades for every minute you guys are stalling?" Nial asked coldly, ignoring all the friendly banter around him.

    He was already annoyed that he couldn''t start creating his first runic armaments. There was so much nning he had to do because Miranda and Mathias were not there, so his schedule was already crammed full.

    "Wait¡­wait a moment!!" The young man next to the Original, who had been arrogant before, immediately turned soft. He lifted his hands as a sign that he had given up.

    "I will speak!" He said, clearing his throat to prepare to reveal everything. However, the other Original didn''t feel that this was a good choice.

    Nial was only one person, but if they betrayed their clients, a bunch of problematic kiddos might turn their life into hell.

    "Fuck you, I will speak. These fucking heirs are nothing but pieces of shit. I don''t want that my friends to die just because you wanted to ept this stupid job! You got too greedy, you jackass!" The young man shouted out in rage. The ''jackass'' looked at his friend in dumbfounding before he quieted down.

    He acknowledged that he had made a mistake, and could only grit his teeth¡­

    "So, let''s go back to the topic, please," Nial took control of the conversation by releasing his dark energy in a threatening manner as the knives manifested out of darkness moved.

    "Yoo, calm down! I already told you that I will speak!" The young man shrieked while moving his hands in a calming manner before he cleared his throat.

    "We were hired by a bunch of young Originals. All of them are heirs of influential families and they wanted to teach you a lesson. But because they didn''t want to dare to offend you by themselves as it would malign their families'' image, their honor, and all that shit, they hired us to do the dirty work.

    Our leader was a bit dazzled by the fortune we would have earned to beat you up a little bit, so¡­please forgive us¡­" The young man sounded enraged about what his leader had done, and the fact that some heirs had ordered them around like paid ruffians.

    Despite the young man''s weird behavior and the fact that he seemed truly enraged, Nial didn''t show any emotions. He merely nodded his head before he sighed deeply.

    "Tell me the names of the heirs and you guys can leave. Just tell these bastards that you were defeated by me. They will probably think of a way to ''teach me a lesson'' in a different way, but who cares," Nial rubbed his hands as he answered and a devilish smile appeared on his face.

    It looked like he had alreadye up with a n on what to do with the young heirs of the influential families.

    The young man had long since surrendered so he nodded his head, while their leader could only sigh deeply. Nial released the knives manifested out of darkness once he received the names of all heirs before he waved his hand.

    "Now fuck off before I change my mind," Nial said coldly before he ignored the entire existence of the 10 hoodlums.

    He turned back to the others and his smile didn''t falter.

    "Either you are a very good actor, or you have crazy mood swings," Cecile suddenly remarked while chuckling lightly. Nial''s lips twitched but he kept up with his act.

    Nial kept up his smile as he spoke in a slow and calm voice,

    "If you want to be beaten up like them, just tell me¡­"<sub> </sub>

    "That''s not necessary, my dear friend!" Cecile eximed in shock and quickly hid behind Leo''s huge body, shaking her body vigorously.

    "Let''s go, you guys are about to get rich¡­and I am about to turn dirt poor," Nialughed at Cecile''s reaction before he left the Nightfall valley dungeon with the others.

    Once they were outside, Nial essed the Originals'' bracelet before he transferred his money over to them.

    [240,000,000$ have been transferred!]

    When Nial received this notification he could only sigh deeply. For a moment he felt like crying but he forced himself to stay strong.

    For Prometheus Originals, a quarter of a million dors was not exactly much. They could procure it by selling a single ability crystal.

    However, their needs to advance were extremely high as well. It required hundreds of thousands of dors to buy resources for themselves to advance just a tiny bit. And that would just be the price of a single Origin crystal, which would be used up in minutes.

    Most Originals wouldn''t sell their Origin crystals if they were at a higher rank. After all, one could advance much faster as long as one used the pure mana from Origin crystals.

    The Forest of Life might be a great and extremely cheap recement but it was still not as pure as the mana within Origin crystals.

    Everyone could tell this but to save money advancing a bit slower was still fine.

    After all, there were more than enough other expenses one had to take care of.

    In Nial''s case, all the ores and the magnatit crystals cost him almost his entire fortune. He barely had enough money left to buy a small storage box in which everything he owned would fit.

    The box was the size of his upper arm, and it couldn''t be stored inside the spatial ring. Thus, when Nial separated from the others, he was forced to carry the storage box around as he returned to the Forest of Life, and the hut he had been assigned for a temporary stay, to be precise.

    The Elves greeted him formally, which was odd for many new Originals, who had never seen Nial. However, most of the Originals, who had been longer in the Forest of Life knew what Nial had done to receive the respect of the Elves.

    They would probably do everything they could in order to help Nial the moment he was to get into trouble.

    It was almost as if they were overprotective parents, who wanted to spoil their children. Yet, their child didn''t want to be spoiled and worked hard on his own.

    "Nial!! Finally, you are back!" A familiar voice echoed through his small wooden hut. Mathias stood in the middle of the hut, weing his friend with a hug.

    "Huh? Mathias, what are you doing here? I searched for you guys but nobody knew where you and Miranda were. I merely figured out where Kii and Hana went¡­" Nial said, confused about Mathias'' sudden appearance. He didn''t expect his friend to be here after asking for him all around the Forest.

    Mathias moved away from Nial, who was visibly ufortable with the hug before he smiled slyly.

    "Well Kirlia and Hana are a different topic but Miranda and I left the Forest of Life to figure out who spread the rumors about the possibility of other races descending, and the truth about Jundra''s mana awakening!" Mathias said with an air of mystery.

    However, Nial just lifted his eyebrows at this as he waited for his friend to continue.

    "Well, in the end, we have no idea who it was. Kirlia and Hana didn''t want to leak the information yet because of Miranda''s warning to be meticulously prepared for everything!" Mathias added after he took a deep breath.

    Nial had already expected such an oue but he didn''t know who could have had the same thought as their small group of five.

    "So it was not you guys who shared the rumors but someone else?" Nial asked to make sure that he had understood everything correctly. Mathias just nodded his head as someone else appeared in the wooden hut.

    "Hey Miranda, do you have an idea, who else could have the necessary information and guts to share the same, or at least simr rumors as we wanted to spread in the public?" Nial asked in a low voice but Miranda could hear him.

    He didn''t have to turn around to know that it was her. Nial had already perceived her from the moment he noticed that Mathias was in his hut.

    "Nice to see you again as well¡­" Miranda greeted her disciple at first before she went over to answer Nial''s question, "I don''t know any names but I guess other Incarnations of Gods could release this news.

    But it could also be some higher-ups, who have memories from their Innate ability just like you, or even someone ordinary, who is good at connecting the dots after understanding what happened with the Dryx, the Elves, and how Jundra''s mana awakening will make everything¡­intenser and more dangerous."

    In the end, Miranda had no proper answer, and it actually didn''t matter. They wanted to share simr rumors, either way. And now the rumors spread through the shelters and nobody could connect them to their small group.

    It was basically perfect.

    "We should be happy, nheless¡­" Nial said before he changed the topic as he revealed the storage box to his friend and master.

    "How about we have some fun with runic armaments?"

 Chapter 284 Madness Of Runic Armaments

    "What?! You want us to pay for the ores?!" Mathias asked, while his expression changed drastically, "...and here I thought we were friends¡­"

    Mathias started to sulk, but Nial''s expression was unreadable. Meanwhile, Miranda looked at the situation with a faint smile.

    "Does that mean I should also demand you two to pay for my weapon and armor casts, and the smithy I brought with me from Liondra?" She asked,ughing lightly.

    However, what she didn''t expect was that Nial smiled faintly before he showed a cute expression, "I don''t have any money left."

    A momentter, Nial burst intoughter. He couldn''t hold back anymore and it took him a few minutes to calm down.

    "I was just joking about being paid," Nial quickly added, wiping the tears of joy out of his eyes'' corner just to sigh deeply as he revealed, "But I really don''t have any money anymore¡­"

    Nial smiled lightly while enduring the stupefied gazes that lingered on him.

    "How¡­?! You have even more money than I have?!?" Mathias shouted in confusion, while Miranda''s hand lunged out. She grasped the storage box and inserted her mana inside it to take a look at the contents within.

    "Oh¡­shit¡­" Miranda gasped as her eyes widened in shock.

    She looked at the goods stored inside the storage box before her head flicked to Nial. Afterward, her head moved back and forth several times.

    "Where the hell did you find all of this?! This is worth a fortune¡­" Miranda asked, her voice cracking.

    "What is inside¡­?" Mathias'' interest was piqued, so he quickly moved closer to Miranda, who pulled out four different types of minerals.

    "There are tens of thousand beast parts that can be used to create various types of ungraded and Tier-0 runic armaments inside¡­these three ores on masse, and hundreds of thousands of magnatit crystals¡­" Miranda''s voice started to tremble. There were tons of ores inside but the magnatit crystals delivered the final blow.

    "Dark gold¡­a very tough material to forge but it has very good endurance and sharpness upon being crafted in a sword. High mana conductivity¡­very rare.

    Nin silver is a very flexible material that can be used to forge all kinds offortable metal armors. Highly endurable as long as the mana inserted in the armor is used for the purpose of protection. It is said to feel the intention of its wearer, a sign of sentience, but that hasn''t been proven¡­very high mana conductivity¡­which is exceptionally rare.

    Titanium Copper is the best ore for the creation of the sharpest weapon. Good endurance but low flexibility¡­high mana conductivity¡­rare," Mathias recited what he had learned about all these ores. As a Runicier it was important to know what kinds of ores were best to create runic armaments.

    The best were obviously ores with high mana conductivity and various other special traits which would have a high impact on the final result of specific runic armaments.

    Even if the inscribed runic constetions would be inscribed with 100% perfection if the wrong material was used, the final result would be disappointing.

    Thus, Mathias was just as shocked as Miranda when he saw the three ores. He looked at Nial in doubt and was starting to wonder what must have happened in the few days he and Miranda left the Forest of Life.

    "But¡­what is this crystal? You seem very interested in it, master¡­" Mathias noticed that Miranda didn''t even pay attention to the three special and extremely valuable ores. She looked at the magnatit crystal with a bright smile and gleaming eyes.

    "This crystal¡­is just the only ingredient nobody could find in any of Jundra''s numerous dungeons¡­it was thest ingredient that was missing to create mana-dense runic solutions!" Miranda was excited, which was clearly visible.

    She caressed the magnatit crystals for close to a minute until she realized something that turned her serious all of a sudden.

    "Wait¡­if you found the magnatit crystals won''t others be able to get their hands on some as well?? We need to hurry up and start concocting and creating Tier-0 runic armaments with it. Now is our time to get rich!!" Miranda eximed, raising the magnatit crystal in the air as if it was the most precious good that had ever existed.

    However, Mathias could only frown.

    "Will we really be able to create Tier-0 runic armaments with mana-dense runic solutions? If not, we might waste lots of money on the resources we have spent on creating the mana dense runic solutions¡­" Mathias asked skeptically.

    He looked at the magnatit crystal with a frown, only for Nial to interfere.

    "Did you reach a mastery of 80% in the inscription process of the [Sharpness] and [Endurance] runic constetions?" Nial suddenly asked.

    Mathias tried to avoid Nial the moment he heard the question only to sigh deeply before he shook his head.

    "I''m still at around 75%. But I wanted to ask you about a few clues to know what I can improve because I am pretty sure that I''m close to making a breakthrough!" Mathias tried to defend himself against Nial''s attack but it was useless.

    Runic constetions worked as long as their ''perfection'' was above 70%. Their effect would be lousy at a perfection of 70% but the runic constetion would somehow work. The higher the perfection grade was the higher the potency of the inscribed runic constetion.

    "As you know,mon runic constetions such as the most ordinary [Sharpness] and [Endurance] runic constetions are usually used for ungraded weapons, right?" Nial asked, to which Mathias nodded his head.

    "By now, you should also know that thesemon runic constetions can create a Tier-0 runic weapon as long as the right ores were used to inscribe on the runic constetion.

    As long as you have a perfection of 95% your [Sharpness] and [Endurance] runic constetions will create Tier-0 runic armaments¡­on each of the materials I brought, whether it is the dark gold, Nin silver or the titanium copper!" Nial spoke calmly while acting like a teacher, who was trying to tell his student something he should already know by now.<sub> </sub>

    Mathias didn''t mind Nial''s attitude as he nodded his head vigorously.

    "But what would you think if I were to tell you that you need only a perfection of 90% to create a Tier-0 runic armament with the exact same runic constetions which we have practiced? The only thing we need is the mana-dense runic solution, which Miranda can concoct on arge scale now that we have the Magnatit crystals!

    And nobody except us will be able to create the mana-dense runic solution for the time being because I took everything!" Nialughed out loud, letting his emotions loose for once. He might have paid a huge fortune but he could tell that he would earn back his expenses several times over.

    "So you are saying that nobody can get their hands on more Magnatit crystals for the time being?" Miranda asked to make sure. She looked at Nial as if he was a treasure. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of being able to create Tier-0 runic armaments.

    "Exactly. I found the Magnatit crystals inside an underground cave within the Nightfall valley dungeon. There were a few others with me so we emptied the entire cave. As long as the others don''t reveal the Magnatit crystals'' existence, or others won''t find another cave with a vein of magnatit crystals we will be fine," Nial said calmly before he added,

    "At least we can do that until the next reset of the Nightfall valley''s dungeon. But that should take a while considering that it had just been reseted a day ago. Everyone should be mining more dark gold, Nin silver, and titanium copper!"

    Nial was happy but that was only obvious. As long as they had the mana-dense runic solution, their runic armaments would increase in value. Nial had a perfection grade close to 90%, meaning that he should be able to create Tier-0 runic armaments the moment Miranda finished concocting the runic solution!

    Who wouldn''t be happy to be able to use them?

    The mana-dense runic solution created out of magnatit crystals from an expert dungeon may not be the best but it was more than enough for their current need. After all, they weren''t trying to create Tier-1, let alone Tier-2 runic armaments right now!

    "So, I shouldn''t use this runic solution as long as it has no value for me, right? It would be best for me to keep using the ck Iron to improve my perfection of the [Sharpness] and [Endurance] runic constetion¡­" Mathias asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

    He could tell that the mana-dense runic solution was much better than he first thought. He would have loved to create Tier-0 runic armaments. Even Originals at the Mirae rank would love to use them. Their worth was exceptional, after all.

    However, instead of feeling too disappointed, Mathias quickly got a hang of his emotions. He clenched his fist and looked up with determination.

    "I will catch up with both of you in no time, and I will be an even better Runicier than the Elves!!" He swore out loud. Nial smiled in return, but Miranda could only shatter Mathias'' moment as she made a revtion.

    "Sorry, Mathias¡­but I will also keep using the weapon cast with ck Iron. My perfection grade is barely at 80%. I would be wasting the precious mana dense runic solution if I were to use it with my perfection grade," Miranda smiled lightly while speaking before he patted his back to console him.

    "Let''s catch up with Nial, otherwise, he will take everything for himself¡­though all of this stuff belongs to Nial, either way," Miranda chuckled lightly as she looked at Nial.

    Her disciple''s expression was solemn but she could tell that he was a bit confused about what was going on.

    "Can''t we just start creating runic armaments? We have enough resources to create hundreds of thousands of Tier-0 runic armaments. Shouldn''t we make use of that as quickly as possible? It''s time for you guys to speed up a bit!" Nial tried to provoke his master and his friend a bit.

    This worked out perfectly fine as Miranda pointed at him, her finger moving around as if she was angered.

    "You!! To think that my disciple will mock me at my age. You really want to challenge me?!" She shouted out, acting as if she was truly angered.

    Mathias joined the fray, feeling that he was quite lucky to have found a great master and an even better friend. He acted as if he was angry and yed around inside the wooden hut.

    After a few minutes passed, they calmed down and got back to work.

    "I will im a small piece ofnd near the Forest of Life. The Elves shouldn''t have problems with handing it over if I say that it is for you, Nial and that we want to create arge-scale ''factory'' to create runic armaments. Your loyal Elves will probably take all necessary precautions to protect the Forest from the smithy''s fire. Maybe Crevian will evene over to take a look.

    He would be shocked to see the mana-dense runic solution..hehe," Miranda sounded extremely childish right now. Nial could only smile weirdly at this but it was not as if he disliked their calmness.

    Somehow, it felt like their life had returned to normal and that the trouble with the Dryx was just a bad dream.

    Unfortunately, it was not just a dream and it was obvious that more trouble awaited them.

    But even if that was the case, enjoying life from time to time was important as well.

    Nial worked hard to get their hands on everything necessary to create ungraded and Tier-1 runic armaments. They would not only manufacture ordinary weapons, armors, and essories out of the ores Nial mined but it was also important to make use of the body parts Nial had collected.

    They could learn a lot by acquiring a wide range of experiences with different types of runic armaments and runic constetions.

    Nial may have the most experience with runic constetions, even more so since his Ancient Origin ring had been his best product for now. It was the best Nial had created with his talent but it was also only the first of nine Origin rings.

    And Nial wanted the secondary Ancient Origin ring to be even better than the first one!

    To achieve this, he would need time and practice, both of which he had¡­for now.

 Chapter 285 Nials Improvement

    The news about the appearance of Magnatit Crystals didn''t leak outside. Timoth¨¦e and his group were quiet, and Nial was focused on the creation process of runic armaments.

    To create ungraded or Tier-0 runic armaments, one could use weapon and armor casts before inscribing them. The purity of ores used in this process was low in most cases because the ore was merely reduced with the use of coal to receive the metal.

    The pre-forged metal would be heated to a near-molten state and then poured inside the weapon cast.

    This was pretty easy and it allowed the Runicier to have close to no knowledge about actual forging, which saved him or her a lot of time.

    It was only important to know how to initiate the reduction process, the heating process, to know how to inscribe the runic constetions and how to properly sharpen the casted weapons.

    Nial and the others knew that it wouldn''t be that ''easy'' anymore once they would start creating Tier-1 runic armaments but that was something for the future. After all, they were still quite far away from feeling the necessity to be cksmiths so that they could purify the ores before they would be shaped into the runic armament of their choice.

    "No, something doesn''t seem correct, right here¡­no two millimeters higher. The stroke is too thick, which means that too much mana will circte through it. Your strokes should have the same thickness otherwise your thicker lines are like a highway with four to fivenes, while your ordinary lines are like a highway with one, or at most twones," Nial said calmly as he perceived what Mathias was doing.

    Miranda had returned after purchasing the necessary ingredients to concoct the mana-dense runic solution not too long ago. She started concocting right away, and would only stop after her ingredients would be used up.

    This would take some time, which was why Nial started to point out what mistakes Mathias did in the engraving process of the [Sharpness] runic constetion that was inscribed on the ck Iron Sword.

    There weren''t any major ws, which would damage the runic constetion but the minor mistakes were much more than Nial would have ever expected.

    ''Once he learns to be a bit more thorough, his perfection grade will be much better than Miranda''s. She will definitely dislike that,'' Nial thought with a faint smile on his face.

    "I know but I have no idea how to fix it. I mean I can tell that there is a minor difference but when I try to finish the circle in one stroke, I never seem to be able to create one with uniform thickness¡­" Mathias grumbled, sighing deeply. He looked at Nial in the hopes of getting some help.

    However, his friend seemed to be trying to figure out where his problem was. Nial got his hand on a piece of paper before a refible pencil that had a sharp metal tip appeared in his hand.

    "Maybe showing you is better than telling you what mistakes you are making," Nial mumbled as he got his hand on the cheap mass-produced runic solution Mathias was using for practice.

    To create the [Sharpness] rune, one had to engrave a oneyered runic constetion. This was much simpler than everything Nial had done to sessfullyplete his primary Ancient Origin ring.

    He didn''t have many problems showing Mathias how to inscribe the [Sharpness] rune in an extremely slow manner while pinpointing every single mistake Mathias usually did. Nial didn''t start the engraving process with the creation of the core point of the [Sharpness] runic constetion; the perfect circle.

    Instead, Nial focused on engraving the runic constetion from the inside out. The inner parts were intertwined in a ratherplex manner. However, Nial engraved even the mostplex part of the runic constetion seemingly without any issue, and Mathias'' right eye began to twitch.

    ''He is not just trying to show off, right?'' Mathias began to wonder the longer he watched Nial. He knew that Nial was not doing it on purpose which was why Mathias'' focus on Nial''s movement intensified whenever his friend reached the area of the runic constetion where Mathias made mistakes.

    In a matter of five minutes, Nial finished the [Sharpness] runic constetion. He sweated a bit because the level of concentration required to engrave a runic constetion with the speed of a snail while copying it was much higher than by instinctively engraving a runic constetion.

    "You¡­are a crazy old bastard¡­" Mathias blurted out as he looked at his friend in a stupor.

    "Mathias¡­you do realize that you are not much younger than me, right?" Nial deadpanned before he visualized the runic constetion he had just inscribed.

    "94% perfection. That is pretty good. Looks like I should be able to create Tier-0 runic armaments soon, even without the mana-dense runic solution," He mumbled without being too prideful of his work.

    He knew that the [Sharpness] runic constetion was nothing inparison to the final result he had created with his primary Ancient Origin ring. In order to be truly proud of himself, he would have to create truly perfect Basic runic constetions.

    "How did you improve so much¡­and so fast?" Mathias felt that the world was unfair as he stared at the runic constetion Nial had engraved. Nial knew that he hadprehended something from observing him but Mathias was still in dire need of a final spark to reach the state of enlightenment.

    "If your other runic constetions are of a simr quality as that of [Sharpness], how about you engrave them for me as well? That would be very helpful¡­I think," Mathias asked while his eyes gleamed brightly. He might be a bit jealous of his friend but it was not as if Nial didn''t deserve to be better at engraving runic constetions.

    Such thoughts would harm their great friendship and Mathias didn''t want that to happen. That was why he would rather ask for help to improve as well rather than hide in a corner and sulk.<sub> </sub>

    "I don''t know if my perfection grade is on par with the [Endurance] and [Mana Membrane] runic constetions but I can give it a try¡­" Nial said calmly before he reached out for two new pieces of paper.

    He started engraving the runic constetions and in a matter of 20 minutes, he finished the process. Nial had worked meticulously and handled the process as if he was carving a delicate piece of china but the results were obvious. By being more focused the quality of each stroke exceeded the norms, which was reflected in the final product.

    "96% Perfection for the [Endurance] runic constetion, and a 93% Perfection for the [Mana Membrane] runic constetion¡­you are nuts¡­" Mathias could hardly believe what was going on.

    As long as Nial used the mana-dense runic solution, each of his engraved runic constetions allowed him to create a near-perfect Tier-0 weapon.

    Nial merely smiled in response. He was a bit baffled as well but it was definitely a happy asion.

    They were currently in therge movable custom-made ''factory'' that Miranda had bought to mass-produce runic armaments wherever they were. It was a ce near the Forest of Life, which was how they had absorbed and annexed lots of mana passively when working on the runic armaments.

    Nial had yet to get to know everything about the factory that looked just like a huge two-story tall family house from the outside but he began to get to know everything to start the mass-production of Tier-0 runic armaments as soon as possible.

    After three more hours of meticulous preparations and some teaching, Nial was a bit tired of doing nothing. He started the reduction process of the Dark Gold, which was the ore he wanted to use first to create runic weapons.

    It was the most bnced out of the three ores Nial brought back from the Nightfall valley, which was also why it could be used very well to experiment a bit.

    Nial wasn''t aware of many Basic runic constetions, and it was not as if he could engrave the runic constetions which he had learned for the Ancient Origin ring into other runic armaments. These runic constetions were something that could only be engraved on something that was both made of mana and considered to be alive.

    The Ancient Origin rings were considered both which was why the runic constetions worked on it.

    "I need to learn more runic constetions. With these three, I won''t be able to get far¡­.my perfection grade is already very high with them¡­" Nial mumbled as he transformed more and more Dark Gold ore into metal.

    The carbon dioxide was released through the chimney, filling the sky. Yet, before it could harm the environment in its surrounding, the smoke was pulled toward a tree that was nted there for that specific reason.

    When Valvian heard that Nial wanted to start creating runic constetions, he immediately prepared a plot and nted a Smugi levandra muhil tree. The name of the tree was a bit odd but its use was quite simple.

    It could turn carbon dioxide into oxygen much faster than any other tree. The other harmful substances in the smoke released through the chimney were absorbed by the Smugi levandra muhil tree and used as a means of nourishment.

    Upon seeing the smoke outside the two-story family house, a bunch of Elves, who were standing near the outskirts of the Forest of Life, began to look at each other.

    "Master, are you sure that this young man is worth being observed? I mean, there is no apparent reason for you to show interest in his talent as a Runicier. He might be powerful but that doesn''t mean that he is a good Runicier¡­" A young Elf spoke, feeling clearly displeased.

    Her emerald eyes glowed golden for a moment when her emotions surfaced only to quiet down the moment she regained control over her emotions once again.

    "Meryl, dear disciple, don''t underestimate humans too much. I know that our history with them clearly showed that we are superior in terms of our innate talent, knowledge, and survivability but I believe that it will be different this time. You will understand what I mean when you get to know him¡­" Master Crevian was standing next to the young Elf, and was lightly caressing her hair.

    It looked like a doting father was lecturing his spoiled child. The only difference was just that the father had long since surpassed the age of 1000 years, and that the spoiled child was considered to be one of the youngest Elven at the age of 21.

    Meryl was the youngest disciple of Master Crevian, and she was also one of the Elves, who came with the second batch of Elves that arrived in Jundra.

    Her interest in the human race was not very high and her understanding of the great things the human Originals did for the Elven race was also beyond herprehension.

    In her opinion, the human Originals had only helped the Elves against the Dryx in order to survive on their own. They needed the knowledge, and strength of the Elves in order to be prepared for the future that awaited them.

    Thus, it was only obvious that the humans had helped the Elves. It was not as if they would help anyone just for the sake of helping out. In the mind of a human, someone''s values and the benefits of certain actions were always apparent.

 Chapter 286 Youngest Tier-1 Runicier

    Master Crevian knew that his disciple didn''t like humans very much. She had not heard many good stories about them because the majority of tales were focused on the heroic acts of the Elves in which they defeated humans.

    Master Crevian was aware that most tales were exaggerated, or created by the mastermind of Elves, who loved to try out their wildest imaginations to words and describe themselves in the most morous way possible.

    He had lived through many wars and knew that the Elven race had not always been great. They had lived through many dark times, lost many lives and in the end, some even left their own race¡­

    Different Elven sub-races were born and war against their own brethren was waged. Master Crevian''s heart ached even now whenever he thought about all the wars and the death their enmity had caused.

    Being considered a race that was loved by mana and nature would usually create the misconception that the Elves wouldn''t dare to kill. What most didn''t know was that some Elves were considered Grim reapers and there was a strong reason for it.

    "Let''s go and take a look. Maybe he hasn''t started yet," He said after shaking his head. Meryl was still pretty sure that it was a waste of time to take a look at the so-called Savior''s talent. She could already tell that he wouldn''t be able to be a great Runicier even though she had never seen him before.

    "Maybe you are right, master¡­" Meryl said, epting her Master''s orders without trying to keepining.

    They stepped inside the two-story family house and were greeted with a searing hot heatwave that sshed into their face the moment they opened the doors.

    "Hello¡­I''m sorry for intruding but is Nial here?" Master Crevian asked as he carefully entered the house. He didn''t want to interrupt anyone in the engraving process of runic constetions, which was why he remained quiet.

    Nobody approached them even after they had entered the house, whether it was to wee them or to throw them out.

    Meryl looked at the other Elves with a conflicted expression that was impossible toprehend. The other Elves were not even sure why they had to follow Master Crevian and his dear disciple. They may be considered one of the best rookie Runiciers but they had started to learn about runic constetions not too long ago.

    It was their fortune to encounter Master Crevian''s Runicier sses in the Forest of Life and gain the opportunity to build some contact with him due to their thirst for knowledge.

    If being a Runicier was considered a rarity amongst humans, it was a renowned and one of the most respected lifestyle upations Elves could learn.

    The Elves around Meryl might have matured by now, and their ability to learn quickly had deteriorated a bit but Elves lived a long life. As long as they had a master to teach them, it was only a matter of time and practice before they would be high-ranked Runiciers.

    But it was not as if a human could teach them anything, they didn''t believe that! This was near-impossible because humans had found out about the existence of Runiciers less than a year ago!

    It would already be a wonder if they taught themselves how to create proper ungraded runic armaments with the help of a few books and runic armaments which they had found in some low-ranked dungeon.

    "Are you sure that we are correct here?" Meryl suddenly asked, tugging at her master''s robe. She could only see a single human leaning over a weapon cast. The weapon didn''t feel or look anything special to him. The mana veins inside the metal that was used to create the weapon were barely alive and there were only traces of mana left inside the weapon.

    Meryl felt disgusted at the sight of such a crude weapon but it was even worse when she understood that this weapon was turned into an ungraded runic weapon.

    "He is really using such trashy materials to create runic weapons? Master¡­you cannot be serious by telling us that we can learn something here, right?" Meryl was the only one, who dared to give a voice to everyone''s doubts.

    The other Elves wouldn''t dare to mess with Master Crevian, not after they received the opportunity to be Runiciers themselves. Despite staying silent, their opinion was the same as Meryl''s.

    Master Crevian ignored theirints as he approached Mathias quietly. He could tell that Mathias was practicing how to engrave the Basic runic constetion [Sharpness] and [Endurance] on the longsword thaty in front of him.

    The material Mathias used to create the ungraded runic weapon might be bad but that was not really something he was concerned about.

    "For a race without many resources, it is very useful to create the strongest possible weapons made out of the cheapest materials. You guys may not know about this because the written history of the Elven race before Ygdras awoke itsary core is not widely known but I was able to read some of it," Master Crevian spoke quietly so as to not disturb Mathias from his fully-focused state.

    He turned to Meryl and the other Elves revealing a faint smile as he continued to speak,

    "Before Ygdras awoke, we had faced the infiltration of a few Gods as well. They had manifested dungeons just like the ones on Jundra. The scale at which they did this was much less than that on Jundra but the situation can bepared¡­ Either way, what I wanted to exin is that we, Elves, had to fight desperately in order to be stronger, advance and gain the necessary knowledge and power to hold our fort.

    The first runic armaments which we created were made of stones and woods which we found inside the dungeons. Inparison to the runic weapon Mathias can create, our first runic armaments were a joke. So don''t underestimate them¡­" Master Crevian knew that it was hard for the young Elves to understand this but they had to realize that the starting point for Elves had been no different than what the humans on Jundra were currently facing.

    Master Crevian was confident that the humans had it even worse because too many races, Divine existences, and all kinds of other beings were interested in Jundra.

    Once Jundra awoke trouble would be unleashed upon the human race and the Elves, who were supposed to prepare themselves for the worse. The sudden attack of the Dryx destroyed all preparations and it made things hundreds of times more difficult.

    Master Crevian knew that this increased difficulty to face future events was one of the reasons why they chose to enter an Alliance with the human race.

    Another one was the fact that Nial was far too interesting and dangerous to be let loose. The Elves could tell that Nial would either be their friend and one of the strongest allies to fight by their side in a battle against the other races, or he would be their most formidable enemy.

    The former was much better than thetter, which was also a reason for him to investigate Nial''s talent as a Runicier.

    "This is interesting¡­" Meryl muttered. She might be stubborn and sometimes a bit dense but she was pretty intelligent and understood what her master had exined.<sub> </sub>

    That was also why her interest in the runic weapon she had found grotesque had increased.

    "I wonder how much he practices to reach a perfection grade of 77% for the Basic [Sharpness] runic constetion.." She mumbled, clearly understanding that there was a big difference between being self-taught and receiving proper tutge.

    When she was young she had tried to learn more about Runiciers all by herself. In the end, it didn''t work out as she had failed miserably.

    It was only when she received the first lesson about Runiciers that her talent had begun to bloom. Her arrogant expression had disappeared as she looked at the slow and deliberate movements Mathias did to engrave the [Endurance] runic constetion.

    "You should maintain the same thickness when you engrave the circle¡­.The circle is supposed to create a perfect bnce in the runic constetion. Your perfection grade decreased by more than 5% because you made a mistake with the thickness of your circle at the end!" Meryl examined and pointed at the area of the circle that was too thick.

    "Thanks, Nial¡­" Mathias acknowledged before he noticed that something was off.

    ''Since when does Nial sound like a woman?'' He wondered before he stopped in his tracks.

    "Oi, oi, oi!! Why are you stopping the engraving process? You''re wasting your entire runic weapon!!" Meryl suddenly shouted in frustration but Mathias couldn''t care about that.

    His head turned slowly in Meryl''s direction and his eyes widened in horror.

    Six Elves were standing behind him all of a sudden and he hadn''t noticed anything, at all.

    "Arggh!!" A scream of shock escaped Mathias'' mouth before he jumped up from the wooden chair he had been seated on for hours. His legs gave in due to the shock and hended on the ground.

    Mathias'' eyes were still fixated on the Elves, while Meryl could only look at the failed product of the runic weapon with a deep sigh.

    "You damaged the entire weapon¡­what a waste," Shemented while feeling a bit guilty. Meryl''s entire opinion of Mathias and the runic weapon on which he had engraved the runic constetions had changed.

    It was a remarkable task to teach oneself how to create runic armaments, even more so if one didn''t have much knowledge, or experience, let alone the right resources to do so.

    Meryl hadn''t been inside the Forest of Life for a long time but the scarcity of resources was already bothering her. She came to Jundra because her Master had left her behind to fulfill the mission he had been given by the Empress. Never in her wildest imaginations would she have expected to find out that the Elves'' situation on Jundra was that bothersome.

    It took her a while to ept everything, including the fact that her lessons would go on for much longer without the necessary resources.

    But all of this was only something sheprehended at the sight of the two-story family house, the runic weapon in front of Mathias, and the young man himself.

    She looked all over the runic weapon once again, only to notice something that attracted her interest.

    Master Crevian looked at three pieces of paper that were lying right next to the runic weapon Mathias had been working on before he got interrupted.

    "Did you engrave them, Mathias?" Master Crevian asked sharply while his gaze never left the pieces of paper.

    "I didn''t engrave them¡­but why are you here Crev¡ª...I mean Master Crevian?" Mathias noticed the hostile gazes of the four older Elves when he had a slip of tongue and missed addressing the older Elf properly. That was why he was forced to change his way of speaking before anything worse could happen.

    "But¡­who are you?" Mathias knew who Master Crevian was, but he had never seen the young Elf who was standing next to Master Crevian.

    <o>,m "Ah¡­you mean me?" Meryl asked incredulously, acting as if she was surprised that someone had noticed her beauty. She looked at Mathias for a moment with a prideful expression on her face before she revealed her identity,</o>

    "I''m Meryl Chiran, Master Crevian''s newest and best disciple and I''m the youngest Tier-1 Runicier of the entire Elven race!"

    Meryl flicked her hair with pride which made Mathias feel like vomiting.

    ''If I thought that Nial was already a show off¡­what the hell is this woman then?!'' He thought while shaking his head just for Master Crevian to jump into their conversation once again.

    "If you didn''t engrave these runic constetions, who was it then? They weren''t engraved long ago!" Master Crevian sounded excited as he perceived the finest details about the three runic constetions.

    There were only minor ws in them, and they weren''t actually difficult to fix if one had received some basic tutge. Master Crevian was sure that the Runicier of the three runic constetions didn''t have a rich experience with engraving runes. But what he could tell was that the runic constetions had been engraved with eerie precision and near-perfection despite being carved by a fairly inexperienced hand.

    "I engraved these runic constetions. Is there a problem with them, Master Crevian?"

    A voice from further away reached them. Nial appeared seemingly out of nowhere, his face smudged with soot and dirt because of all the smoke released in the reduction process.

 Chapter 287 Idiot

    Nial''s appearance was far from good as he approached Master Crevian and the five other Elves. The four older Elves took a step back to give Nial enough space to help Mathias.

    "Why are you so dumbfounded? Were you that focused on engraving runic constetions?" Nial asked his friend with a faint smile on his lips when he turned back to Master Crevian. Mathias didn''t say anything in return. He was just holding his chest and trying to prevent his heart from bursting into pieces.

    The sudden appearance of Master Crevian and his followers had been too shocking for him.

    "Master Crevian, I hope there is no problem with my runic constetions¡­" Nial replied and returned his focus to the more important fact.

    The Old Elf seemed to be bothered about something, or so it seemed to Nial, at the very least.

    However, Crevian shook his hand quickly as he rified the misunderstanding,

    "Problem? Definitely not¡­but you really engraved them, right?...that would be amazing¡­"

    Master Crevian''s voice was filled with interest and a bit of excitement. This astonished Nial a bit but he couldn''t get himself to ask what exactly was so amazing about this feat.

    ''Even though I gained the experience of engraving my first Ancient Origin ring in a near-perfect manner, I didn''t reach a perfection grade of 95% with all of my Basic runic constetions¡­that is nothing worth being amazed about,'' Nial told himself inwardly.

    A year had already passed since they had found out about Runiciers and even if there had been times when Nial didn''t have time to focus on learning more about runic constetions, he should have made considerable progress in this duration.

    Nial was greedy to improve. This greed was good and helpful as long as it was not obsessive but one could clearly tell that Nial''s greed made him feel bad about being worse than he thought he should be.

    "To think that you managed to achieve a 95% perfection grade without receiving a personal tutge¡­" Meryl suddenly mumbled, looking at Nial with an awestruck face.

    For a moment she questioned her own talent.

    "You learned how to engrave these runic constetions just from some books and runic armaments, didn''t you?" She asked while ring at him as if he was her mortal enemy.

    Nial was confused at her reaction but he remained honest, which was why he nodded his head and replied,

    "I also attended the open-sses Crevian holds about Runiciers."

    "That doesn''t make me feel any better¡­" Meryl grumbled quietly, which Nial heard.

    He smiled faintly at her reaction. Without even realizing it, his bad feeling about his slow progress dispersed. Nial heard that Meryl had introduced herself as the youngest Tier-1 Runicier of the Elven race. Thus, her frustration was something that made him feel much better.

    Master Crevian noticed the reaction of the two youngsters and began to grin in response.

    "How about I show what a truly perfect Basic [Sharpness] runic constetion looks like? I barged into your house without an appointment. The least I can do to apologize is to give you guys a helping hand," Master Crevian proposed lightly as if it was nothing special.

    Without waiting for an answer, he took a piece of paper from the table and picked up Mathias'' inscription tool. Master Crevian wanted to start his demonstration when Nial''s voice suddenly reached him.

    "Can we wait until Miranda returns from concocting potions? She is also learning how to engrave runic constetions and her interest in Runiciers is just as high as ours."

    Nial didn''t want Miranda to miss this opportunity. She was their master and if Nial were to be honest with himself, Miranda was the most interested in the upation of a Runicier.

    Miranda was not too keen on conquering dungeons or fighting with her life on the line every single day. She would rather help other Originals from the sidelines. Mathias and Nial, however, were the exact opposite.

    The only factor that differentiated them from others was that they wanted to fight with the armaments they had created.

    Master Crevian nodded his head in response. But instead of doing nothing, he chose to walk through the two-story floor to take a look at the equipment in the ''factory''.

    "Dark Gold, that''s not a bad choice to create Tier-0 runic armaments. I think there are two permanent dungeons around the Forest of Life harboring Dark Gold ore veins," Master Crevian answered lightly while adding in a schrly tone, "...as long as you improve just a tiny bit, every casted weapon of yours will be a Tier-0 runic weapon. How long does it take for you to engrave one runic armament in a fully focused state?"

    Nial felt as if they were in a ss. It caused him to smile faintly because he felt rxed and as if they were actually doing practical work in one of Master Crevian''s open sses.

    Oddly enough, he was quite happy and everyone could see this as his face began to glow.

    "If I engrave the runic constetions in a fully focused manner and slowly, it should take half an hour to create one runic weapon," Nial stated out loud as he added, "But if I were to focus on generating more value in a shorter amount of time, I can engrave the runic constetions much faster by sacrificing a bit of the constetion''s perfection grade."

    Nial sounded quite nonchnt when he spoke which had offended Meryl somehow.<sub> </sub>

    "If you start engraving runic constetions without any focus, you will never be able to create a Tier-0 runic armament! Just keep creating ungraded weapons with that attitude. You will turn potentially powerful weapons into trash by wasting precious materials¡­good job!" Meryl replied rhetorically and was about to curse at him when Master Crevian lifted his hand so as to prevent his disciple from further acting up.

    He was just about to say something when Miranda''s voice reached them from the second floor,

    "Little Elven girl, there is no need for you to worry. Nial won''t waste any materials even if he engraves the runic constetions quickly. After all, we have this runic solution!" When she said that, a vial appeared in Miranda''s hand. She approached them by walking down the stairs with a faint glint in her eyes.

    Her excitement and the pride in her voice were clearly noticeable. However, there was someone in the group of the Elves, who couldn''t keep quiet.

    "No potion can save this idiot when he starts engraving runic constetions quickly!" Meryl shouted out but even before she could continue with her rampage, Master Crevian rushed forward.

    His hands reached out and he inspected the vial in Miranda''s hand by using his range of perception in a precise and detailed manner.

    "A low-ranked Mana dense runic solution¡­.how did you concoct this potion?!" Master Crevian asked while holding Miranda''s hand that held the runic solution.

    "Did you find Magnatit crystals? Where? When? How?" Crevian''s voice reached an octave with every spoken word and he sounded as if his brain was about to face a meltdown but Miranda just smiled faintly when she pointed at Nial.

    "You will have to ask Nial about that. I received the Magnatit crystals from him," She shrugged off his doubts. In response to her words, everyone turned their attention to Nial, even Meryl, whose expressions changed drastically.

    It looked like she had realized something and her cheeks turned red in response.

    The young Elven girl knew that she had messed up before by calling Nial an Idiot. Now, she knew that he had a n and that he wouldn''t unreasonably increase the speed with which he had engraved runic constetions. He had a reason, a very good one at that.

    "As long as you use the mana dense runic solution¡­you should be able to reach a 100% perfection grade while engraving runes slowly and a perfection grade of 95% while engraving runic constetions quickly¡­" Meryl mumbled after finally understanding what Nial was nning.

    "You want to engrave runic constetions quickly not only to be faster but also to force your mind and hands to work with more precision. Basically, you want your muscle memories to do everything at a much faster rate," Meryl was impressed when she figured out what Nial wanted to do.

    ''That was my n?'' He wondered when he heard what Meryl thought about his non-existent master n but he didn''t say anything.

    Rather, Nial just pressed his lips together in a thin line while trying to figure out what kind of problem the Elven girl had. She tried to headbutt him whenever there was an opportunity. This was frustrating and definitely not something he looked forward to.

    "Nial? Where did you get the Magnatit crystals from? No permanent dungeon has a Magnatit crystal vein. There are various ores that are perfectly suitable to create runic armaments with but that''s already it," Master Crevian was genuinely interested in finding out more about the Magnatit crystals procured by Nial.

    Meryl had already revealed why mana-dense runic solutions were so valuable but it was likely that Nial didn''t understand what exactly she meant.

    It was not as if one could easilyprehend that mana-dense runic solutions could be used like guides to reach a higher perfect grade while engraving runic constetions!

    While engraving a runic constetion with mana-dense runic solutions, one could faintly grasp whether the process was correct or not. A faint, nearly untraceable repulsive feeling would press on the inscription tools the moment one was about to make a mistake in the process of engraving.

    "If you want to know more about the Magnatit crystals, how about I sell you some information about it?" Nial asked suddenly.

    "I can also sell a few thousand Magnatit Crystals," He added with a smug look as if it was nothing special.

    The moment Nial said all of this, Meryl''s eyes turned red. She thought that Nial was setting up her master and within the following seconds, her desire to beat him to a pulp increased exponentially.

    "You thief! We can find the Magnatit crystals without you!" Meryl shouted and was ready to fight Nial.

    However, Nial merely smiled at Meryl as he mumbled quietly, "Whatever you say, brat."

    ''BRAT?!'' She nearly shouted out but before Meryl could think about actually jumping at Nial to fight him, Master Crevian had already appeared by her side. He held his hand over her mouth to get the chance to speak to Nial.

    "I will buy both the information about where and how you procured the Magnatit crystals, and as many Magnatit crystals as you can sell!" Master Crevian informed his decision out loud, while simultaneously trying to control the reckless roon, whose mouth he was trying to shut tightly.

    His disciple was uncontroble and that was something one could clearly see right now.

    But Crevian enjoyed this a bit as well because it calmed his old heart, especially after it seemed like Miranda and Nial had set him up.

    "Let''s make a deal and then you can show us what a true perfect [Sharpness] runic constetion looks like!" Nial eximed while sping his hands with a satisfied expression on his face.

 Chapter 288 Grinding

    "Nial is a fox, isn''t he?" Miranda mumbled as she leaned against the edge of the table. Mathias was standing next to her but he could only roll his eyes.

    "You knew that he would be like this from the moment he showed us the tens of thousand Magnatit crystals, didn''t you?" Mathias retorted, rifying that it was not just Nial who acted like a sly fox.

    "Isn''t that obvious? I will never be able to use all the Magnatit crystals before the others find more sources. By that time the Magnatit crystals we hold would lose some of their value. Selling them now is for the best and Master Crevian needs them," Miranda replied, ignoring Mathias'' jibe.

    Her disciple was not really happy about the way they exploited the Elves, but neither Nial nor Miranda could be bothered about Mathias'' saintly attitude.

    "You want me to engrave truly perfect Basic runic constetions in exchange for the information of the Magnatit crystals? That''s fine with me," Crevian remarked, not thinking that it would be much of a hassle to engrave a few runic constetions on a piece of paper.

    He wanted to teach Nial a bit more in-depth about Runiciers, either way. There was something Crevian was currently unsure about and Nial''s talent in the field of engraving runic constetions would be a deciding factor in his decision.

    Thus, Crevian was quite satisfied with Nial''s first condition. It was not really hard to make this possible.

    "Exactly, and if you want the Magnatit crystals, I want you to teach the three of us about Runiciers and everything you have to know to be a master Runicier. Your open sses only helped us understand the basics. They definitely helped us improve our knowledge but that is not enough anymore," Nial stated in his honest opinion.

    He may not be greedy for money but his thirst to be stronger and a better Runicier was crystal clear. It was a necessity for him to improve as a Runicier to prevent facing problems when creating the next few Ancient Origin rings!

    Strength was everything he needed to find his family and to protect them afterward, and if the price to be stronger was a few thousand Magnatit crystals, Nial was more than willing to hand them over.

    "So basically, you just want to receive private tutge from me?" Master Crevian asked while trying to hide his smile.

    He expected it to be much more difficult to convince Nial secretly that it was necessary for him to receive tutge from someone, who knew what he was doing.

    But Nial understood this quite clearly after all the open sses he had visited.

    "You could put it like that," Nial nodded his head. All of a sudden, Meryl went still and stopped struggling in Crevian''s arms. She had been wrestling to get out of his hold only to give up all of a sudden.

    Master Crevian thought that she was finally done acting like a child, yet, when he let her go, she jumped straight at Nial.

    The stone floor below her feet cracked open and her attack caused Nial to fall over to the ground. She held Nial''s cor tightly andnded on the ground right on top of him.

    "Who the hell are you to take away my master?! He is mine!!!" She screamed out.

    Everyone in the room was astonished by Meryl''s sudden outburst including the four adult Elves and Master Crevian.

    Mathias was just about to act and help Nial by using his elemental affinities when Nial''s hand reached out toward the young female Elf.

    "Aren''t you a little bit obsessive, little one?" He asked calmly as he gently patted her head. Meryl''s golden hair that reached her waist fell on his chest. She looked at him dumbfoundedly, not expecting Nial to remain calm. However, this was exactly what calmed her as well.

    "I won''t take anyone away. I just need some of his teachings and mentorship for a short period. You can join our lessons as well, I don''t really care." Nial''s voice sounded extremely calm and gentle. Everyone''s tension was released instantaneously, including Crevian''s.

    This was odd and it caused shudders to run down Master Crevian''s spine. His range of perception told him that Nial''s mana fluctuations were spread through the entire room and that an invigorating sensation swept through it, rxing everyone in the room.

    "Short period? How short???" Meryl seemed to have calmed down when she heard that she could join the lessons and that he would only upy her teacher for a short period. It lifted her mood instantly and she wanted to get up from the ground.

    However just as she was getting up, her body froze as Master Crevian mumbled quietly.

    "Short period...hopefully it''s not too short."

    Crevian was looking forward to teaching Nial. This was not because he was looking to pass on his legacy to another heir to teach his special engraving techniques for a different reason.

    However, that was not something Meryl could know about. Her legs gave in and she slumped down and fell on Nial, who was also trying to get up.

    Her eyes were teary as she looked at her master. "Master...do you want to rece me...?"

    She was on the verge of crying but that was not something Nial could care about right now. Meryl was trying to get up while sulking but her legs didn''t want to obey her words. Thus, she ended up squishing her butt all over his lower body identally.

    To call this inappropriate in the given situation was an understatement. Mathias looked at Nial with wide eyes, his cheeks had grown beet-red while Miranda cleared her throat in embarrassment.

    "Kids nowadays are really scary...to think that elves are so naughty..." Miranda mumbled without filtering her words. Master Crevian flinched when he heard her words.

    However, instead of saying anything in return, he could only agree that Meryl was truly acting weird.

    Nial finally gained freedom after he pushed Meryl away from him. He was blushing as well and he could only swallow his saliva while trying to forget what the hell had just happened.

    ''Is that some sort of new torture method?! To openly embarrass someone...?'' Nial thought when goosebumps sprang up on his entire body as he visualized Meryl. She looked confused and it was obvious that she was trying to figure out why Nial had pushed her away.

    It was not as if she had done something bad...except jumping at him with the intention to beat him into a pulp, of course.

    "I only need lessons for a month or so. I want to search for my family afterward..." Nial suddenly said, answering Meryl''s earlier question. He ignored the incident that had just happened and the fact that Master Crevian seemed to be disappointed that he could only teach Nial for a short period.<sub> </sub>

    All of that didn''t matter to Nial because it was time for him to find his family. They had been separated for what seemed like an eternity and Nial had been forced to postpone searching for them way too often as well.

    He wanted to learn enough from Master Crevian to engrave the runic constetions on the second Ancient Origin ring, and possibly learn a bit to engrave the runic constetions for the third Ancient Origin ring as well. However, that was already it.

    It was always possible to return to study under the Old Elf at ater point, but he missed his parents and his little sister way too much.

    Master Crevian noticed that Nial was determined to find his family. He would be thest one to obstruct someone to reunite with their loved ones.

    He epted this determination and chose to support it. His own n required him to have lots of determination and ambition as well, after all.

    ''If I can only teach you for a month, I might as well give my best to make you beg to return to me after you found your family!'' He thought with a small smile on his face when he sped his hand.

    "In that case, how about we use this cozy ce to teach you guys?" Master Crevian asked Nial and the others, including Meryl.

    The four adult Elves were quiet but they hoped that they were included in the sses. However, just when a ray of hope emerged in the depths of their hearts, Crevian turned to them and waved his hand.

    "And you guys can go back to Yvan, Mika, Oria, and Jurt. They will teach you some stuff and you can learn by watching them engrave runic weapons...bye!" Master Crevian said, sounding quite nonchnt.

    He was not really considerate of their feelings but that was something Crevian couldn''t care less about. In the beginning, his n had been quite simple.

    He wanted to see Nial''s talent as a Runicier. Nial had attended a few open sses but Master Crevian knew that Nial had always been focused on increasing his strength.

    At the age of 19 , he had created his first Origin ring, and hisbat prowess was devastating. Nial''s speed of advance was a bit slower than most prodigious Elves were able to advance in the rank but hisbat prowess was on par with them, if not stronger.

    And that meant a lot considering that Jundra had yet to awaken its mana. The starting line for both Nial and the Elven prodigies were worlds apart, however, one couldn''t say that he was weaker than them!

    That was why Master Crevian was interested in seeing whether Nial had the talent of a Runicier or not.

    However, what he found exceeded his expectations by far!

    At a fairly young age, Nial had the capabilities to create Tier-0 runic weapons with the knowledge he procured from books, from the engravings on other runic armaments, and a few lectures.

    It was already a wonder that his understanding was so advanced that heprehended how runic constetions were constructed but that was not all.

    Nial was even capable of instinctively making use of the perfect method to use the mana-dense runic solution!

    Master Crevian had prepared himself mentally to get surprised by Nial as he had received quite a few surprises by now. Nial was an anomaly in the eyes of the Old Elf. And that was also the reason why he thought of something that was ridiculous but also extremely intelligent if it were to work out!

    He hade up with a special n for the possibility that Nial was a talented Runicier, for a minuscule chance that he had the necessary talent to achieve what was supposed to be impossible for someoneing from an unawakened.

    However, Nial had turned impossible into possible. In Master Crevian''s eyes, it may be worth initiating the n he had in mind.

    But before he would even think about unveiling it to Nial, it was necessary for the Old Elf to see Nial''s determination, to figure out where he had problems and if he was ambitious enough to be a true Runicier master!

    While the four older Elves left the two-story family house with depressed expressions, Crevian''s expression seemed to turn demonic.

    He smiled devilishly and he sped his hands once again.

    "As we have only one month before Nial will leave...I think it''s time for another session of my light teachings, don''t you think so, Meryl?" Crevian asked, his devilish smile staring at the shivering Meryl, who could only nod her head.

    "Y-Yes...M-m-master, you''re right...." She stammered a bit which attracted everyone''s attention.

    ''Do I want to know what is going on here...?''

    **

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 Chapter 289 Elves Homeland

    Nial''s entire back was drenched in a cold sweat as he focused his perception on the weapon he had painstakingly cast and was lying in front of him.

    Three Basic runic constetions were engraved on the longsword that was made of Dark Gold. It glimmered faintly as traces of mana entered the de.

    The runic constetions began to glow as mana circted through them and a satisfied expression appeared on Nial''s face.

    "You did a very good job right there. The Basic constetions [Sharpness] and [Endurance] were carefully engraved on the intersection of the dark gold''s veins. This will increase the runic constetions'' potency, good job. As for the [Miniature me] runic constetion, you have finally reached a 100% perfection grade! Congrattions!" Master Crevian praised as he appeared next to Nial.

    The Old Elf added a few morements about the weapon''s bnce and that the [Miniature me] would increase the de''s sharpness and lethality manyfold thanks to the unique way Nial had engraved it. However, Nial was not even listening to him anymore.

    His legs gave in and he slumped to the ground as he feltpletely exhausted.

    ''No wonder Meryl was so afraid of Master Crevian when he spoke about this training...'' He thought while trying to find the energy to speak to Master Crevian.

    But Nial was unable to generate the necessary energy to get up, let alone to open his mouth. Thus, he remained on the ground andy down.

    "Your stamina was pretty good but that was the least I expected from you," Master Crevian suddenly remarked.

    Nial knew exactly what the Old Elf meant but he simply ignored him. Thest 30 days had been truly horrifying. They were exceptionally useful in terms of knowledge that he had procured but Nial had never been as mentally exhausted as right now in thest 30 days.

    Every single day his head felt like it would burst into pieces. At first, Nial was sure that he would feel better with time but that was not the case. Things got worse over time and now Nial was not even able to think properly again.

    His mind was a mess but he had engraved runic constetions in the Casted Dark Gold weapon nheless.

    "My Stamina is better than anyone else''s...what is there toin about..." Nial said after he rested while lying on the ground for a few minutes.

    The Symbol of Life soothed the pain in his mind by invigorating him consistently. He was thest one standing in the group of three humans and one Elf, who had been taught for an entire month.

    The others had copsed on the ground a few days ago including Miranda, whose rank was much higher than that of the others.

    Only Nial was able to remain standing until thest day and that was something he could be proud of.

    "I know that but it makes me a bit sad, if I were to be honest with myself," Master Crevian acknowledged while keeping his attention on Nial.

    Initially, Master Crevian didn''t feel that it would be a good idea to reveal his n to Nial so early but he was very impressed by Nial''s determination to be a better Runicier. It was almost as if Nial was ready to give his life for the sake of bing a better Runicier.

    As a teacher and someone who wholeheartedly loved being a Runicier, Master Crevian had never ignored the passion of his students. He wanted to nurture them and bring out their hidden potential.

    But that was the problematic part; Nial wanted to leave to start searching for his family aggressively!

    "Why is that sad? I mean, I will return once I find my family. Even if it may take some time, it''s not like I n to stay away from the Elves or the Forest of Life," Nial was honest with himself.

    Damian''s memories about the Elven race might not be the greatest and they had influenced Nial quite a bit. However, it was a fact that the Elves had helped the Originals to be stronger. The Forest of Life was a great ce to gain strength and umte a huge fortune.

    It would be a big loss for them to turn the Elves into their mortal enemies if they had to fight truly evil races in the future. Nial didn''t want to abandon Master Crevian''s teachings, let alone the Forest of Life''s high mana density. He woulde back sooner orter.

    Thus, it didn''t really make sense for Master Crevian to be sad, especially not if he had Meryl as his crown disciple!

    "Of course it is sad. Even if you might not think like this, you are one of the best students I''ve ever taught. Meryl might have a betterprehension ability than you but your Stamina is much better, you are more determined to study and it feels like your failures drive you to try even harder.

    For someone who is not able to see the world like everyone else, I can tell that your mana perception and sensory abilities are very helpful. You can use your perception to determine the mistakes made in each runic constetion as long as you spend enough time investigating it. That''s not something everyone can do.

    Furthermore, you are trying to be creative in fixing your bad habits, to create the perfect runic constetions without wasting too much time onplicated areas while engraving certain runic constetions.

    I would love to keep teaching you...and the others as well. Their talent may not be high but they''re also determined to be better Runiciers. Their passion burns brighter than that of many talented Runiciers I''ve seen in my long lifetime," Master Crevian spoke sincerely and Nial nearly believed that the Old Elf was sad about not being able to teach Nial until he returned.

    However, Nial could tell that something was off about Master Crevian. Ever since the day he had noticed Nial''s passion to be a Runicier and his talent, the Old Elf had changed a bit. His attitude was notpletely different from before, especially because he already had massive respect for Nial for saving the Forest of Life. But there was still something odd, which was hard for Nial to put into words.

    "How about you tell me what is going on? I will leave soon and if you continue with your bad acting I might think that you have some sort of evil n," Nial didn''t want to beat around the bush, which was exactly why he forced Master Crevian to speak his mind.

    Master Crevian stiffened when he heard Nial''s words and his range of perception instinctively reached out to the young man, who was lying on the ground. He was clearly trying to figure out what Nial''s mana fluctuations indicated about the way the young Original felt.

    "You noticed?" Master Crevian asked when he figured out what was going on. Nial just nodded his head after he lifted his upper body from the ground and said,<sub> </sub>

    "Your behavior was a bit odd over the entirest month."

    Master Crevian didn''t move after he heard this and it took him a while before a deep sigh escaped his mouth.

    "You turn 20 in a bit more than two months, right?" He suddenly recalled while sitting on a nearby chair. Master Crevian was ready to speak facts and Nial forced his body to obey him as he got up from the ground. He sat down on one of the few chairs near Crevian.

    "In two months I will turn 20, yes," Nial quickly answered and Master Crevian responded nearly instantaneously as he mumbled quietly to himself.

    "That fits perfectly....13 months..."

    ''13 months? What will happen then?'' Nial wanted to ask but he held himself because Master Crevian was sorting his thoughts before he would say something else.

    "If you n to continue to learn under me, and you improve fast enough as a Runicier, how about joining a Runicier tournament for young prodigies? It will be held in 13 months..." Master Crevian suddenly proposed.

    He had been deep in thoughts, wondering how to exin the situation to Nial but that failed miserably.

    "Huh? Runicier tournament? On Jundra? No that cannot be... What the hell do you mean?" Nial expected to hear lots of things. He was pretty sure that one of the few scenarios which he had made up in his mind would be correct.

    However, he had never expected to be extended an invitation to join some sort of tournament. He didn''t have the time to y around at some tournament!

    "It looks like I started off wrong...maybe I should put it differently...Do you want to visit our homnd, to be precise thends of one we have settled in along with many other races? You could join the tournament the Golden Armaments Union holds for prodigious Runiciers under the age of 21 that is going to be held in 13 months then..." Master Crevian rified before he focused his perception on Nial to find out what the young Original was thinking.

    Nial''s mana fluctuations were eerily calm but his mind was a big mess.

    "You...want me toe to the Elves'' homnd and join some tournament? Why the hell would you want me to join? Just ask Meryl or so to return through the Empresses'' Divinity Fragment and she can participate wherever you want her to. As long as you ask her, she would definitely join," Nial suggested, not really understanding what the Old Elf wanted.

    It was not as if he was not curious to visit and find out more about the Elves'' homnd, how dense the mana was in their territory, how other races acted, and how advanced they were. Traveling to others would definitely be interesting. But while it was interesting, Nial was pretty sure that there was a big downside to this.

    The Golden Armaments Union was something Nial had never heard about but it was probably some sort of Union of Runiciers with members of various races. This was definitely interesting and Nial''s ears pricked to listen more intently to whatever Master Crevian was about to add.

    "Due to...special circumstances, no Elf is allowed to participate in the U21 Runicier tournament the Golden Armaments Union holds every half a century," Master Crevian acknowledged, smiling wryly.

    He sounded a bit ufortable speaking about that topic but Nial had an inkling of what might have happened.

    "My guess would be that you guys killed some important figure of the Golden Armaments Union, or am I wrong?" Nial asked, feeling likeughing.

    His mind was still a mess due to the strain of thest few weeks but he could read the room. The Old Elf flinched when Nial stated his assumption, which was enough of an answer for the young Original.

    If someone killed an important figure of a tournament''s host, it was obvious that their entire race was not allowed to participate. That was where Nial entered the picture.

    "So you want me to participate in that tournament? If someone finds out that I''m affiliated with Elves it will probably be a bit dangerous, so please forgive my bluntness...but what will I gain by joining the Runicier tournament, what would be by the mission, and what is the reason for you, or all the Elven races to feel the need to join the tournament?" Nial bombarded him with doubts and waited eagerly for the answers.

    The Old Elf wanted something from him but he couldn''t even find the correct words anymore. That was a bit annoying and one could notice this by seeing Nial''s expression.

    "I...We want to get the Tear of the Dryad Queen, the Grand Price!" Master Crevian said after a while, without missing a beat.

    "WHAT?! The grand prize?"

    **

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 Chapter 290 The Elves Favor

    Nial was pretty sure that Master Crevian was not sober. Nothing made sense after he heard that the Elves wanted him to win the Grand Prize of the U21 Runicier tournament.

    "Under normal circumstances, it wouldn''t be necessary for me to plead with you to join the U21 Runicier tournament but I''m pretty sure you have figured that the Forest of Life''s growth rate is slower than it grew before the Dryx attacked.

    Hundreds of brave Elves had died to protect the Forest of Life and it looked like the defense had been sessful. But that is unfortunately not the entire truth¡­" Master Crevian revealed with a heavy heart.

    Nial could tell in which direction the conversation was going but he was still a bit astonished about the Old Elf''s choice of words.

    ''Plead? Are you pleading with me to join the tournament? Was the Forest of Life so endangered?'' Nial wondered as he went deep in thoughts. He was not confident of winning the grand prize of a tournament where some prodigies with exceptional talent had been taught the ways of a Runicier for over a decade. Despite not being confident about winning the grand prize, Nial was still curious about life outside Jundra.

    "The Tear of the Dryad Queen would help you to restore the Forest of Life to its previous glory, I guess?" He asked, interfering with Master Crevian''s exnation. He had been speaking about some details that were of little value to Nial as he couldn''t understand it, either way.

    "Yes, exactly. The Tear of the Dryad Queen would fix the Forest of Life. But that wouldn''t be everything as it would help the Forest of Life to advance and have favorable conditions to allow the birth of a Dryad. This would allow Elves and humans to be much stronger in a short amount of time. Both humans and Elves would benefit a lot from it!" Master Crevian grew more excited with time.

    He could tell that Nial was interested in the Runicier tournament and everything it included. However, there were still a few points Master Crevian had yet to think about.

    "That would be great, of course¡­but how am I supposed to win the grand prize if there are only 13 months left? I won''t postpone searching for my family again even if it takes several months to find them. As for the benefits you just mentioned, they''re awarded both to the human and the elven race, not personally to me alone.

    I am not nice enough to help for the greater good," Nial replied straightforwardly and did not hide his true feelings.

    However, Master Crevian could only smile faintly but that was because he knew that Nial was not true to himself. Even without any obvious gains, he would help the Elves just because he was that type of person¡­a good person!

    Nial would receive the opportunity to procure more knowledge outside of Jundra, he would receive the opportunity to be stronger by exploiting the high mana density and purity of thes whoseary mana core was already awakened, and he could get his hands on resources, equipment and other goods which he would never be able to find on Jundra.

    p All-in-all, leaving Jundra was an opportunity that would allow Nial to be much stronger. By rejecting Master Crevian''s pleas he would only shoot himself in the foot. Nheless, the Old Elf could tell what Nial was trying to do and he felt like supporting it.</anda>

    "I can tell that you know about the gains you''ll receive even if we don''t give you anything. But what would you think if I were to make sure that the entire Elven race owes you a favor? You can demand anything you want with that one favor. It''s the Empresses'' Degree, which means that the favor is also applicable in the Dark Elves, The ciar Elves, the High Elves, and all the other Elves'' juristocracy!" Master Crevian offered with a bright smile on his face.

    He was pretty sure that Nial wouldn''t reject this offer. Even Crevian would ept such a deal, especially knowing that the Empress wouldn''t lightly issue such a degree. She had hardly any control over the other Elven races if one excluded the High Elves.

    "The Empress is really leaving no stone unturned to create her own territory in Jundra¡­" Nial mumbled and Crevian could only agree.

    The Empress was truly giving her all to create a strong fortress on Jundra before anyone else could do that. It was almost as if the survival of her entire race was based on whether they would be able to create a steadfast foundation, and base on Jundra or not.

    Master Crevian knew more about the Empress''s reasoning than most other Elves. Thus, he felt that everything was worth it which was also why he agreed that it was fine for Nial to receive one universal favor from all the Elven races.

    "That''s a lot of pressure. What if I fail to win the Grand Prize? I mean the chances of me winning are slim, to begin with¡­" Nial was still overwhelmed and his brain felt like it was about to evaporate but his heart was eager topete in such a grand tournament.

    Too many thoughts shed through his mind and he could hardly keep up with Master Crevian''s pace.

    "If you don''t ce first, the Elves won''t lose out on much, don''t worry. The Forest of Life''s growth is merely slowed down due to the aftermath of the battle against the Dryx. We didn''t detect any more issues with it.

    In the end, we want to advance through the Forest of Life and you have the necessary potential to win the Grand Prize. If that wouldn''t be the case, I couldn''t care less about inviting you to our homnds and teaching you all the secrets I know about Runiciers.

    We just want to grab the opportunity and give it a try. If you receive the Grand Prize, we will receive the Tear of the Dryad Queen and you''ll receive the Elves'' universal favor. If you cannot win the Grand Prize, we will find a different way to fix the Forest of Life¡­ so what do you say? Do you want to give it a try?" Master Crevian asked yet again, opening his arms wide to emphasize his point.

    Nial, however, didn''t smile even after hearing everything Master Crevian had said. The pressure on him seemed to have decreased a bit but his entire body felt extremely heavy.

    He could tell that the Forest of Life needed the Tear of the Dryad Queen and that it was extremely important for both the Elven races and the humans on Jundra. This responsibility was not something Nial wanted to burden himself with.

    He had more than enough things to worry about with the most important being that his family was hidden somewhere in one of the eight shelters, and was maybe even waiting for him!

    "Do it, Nial!" A familiar voice emerged from behind them. It was Miranda, who had woken up not too long ago. She had noticed that Nial was not sleeping and thought that he was still engraving runic constetions on the casted weapons.

    What Miranda didn''t expect was that she would end up eavesdropping on Nial and Master Crevian and that she would hear about Master Crevian''s request. She was dumbfounded by this but had quickly gotten back to her senses.<sub> </sub>

    "You shouldn''t back off after receiving such an opportunity. Even if you fail, you can always make up for your mistakes. Though, I don''t believe that this will be necessary. You should give your best to help while improving as much as you can," Miranda suggested as Crevian and Nial turned their heads in her direction at the same time.

    They hadn''t noticed her because they had been deep in thoughts which was why they were so surprised right now.

    "In that case¡­I guess I can give it a try. But I will still prioritize my family!" Nial finally agreed after listening to Miranda.

    Master Crevian was happy. He smiled brightly and felt like hugging Nial for giving it a try. It may not be enough if Nial would just give it a try, and he actually had to give his best but that was something they could work onter.

    "In that case, what are you waiting for? Go look for your family!" He eximed in a cheerful voice. Nial frowned a bit when he heard that but he couldn''t agree more. It was time to see his family once again!

    Nial was tired and he could hardly move but rest was a luxury he couldn''t afford. His patience had reached its limit and now it was time to do whatever he wanted to do.

    Leaving the Forest of Life as soon as possible would allow him to think about everything that had happened as well. Nobody would disturb his thoughts, which would make things much easier.

    "Nial, that may not be important for you right now but did you already think about what type of ability you want to bind to your mana core? You have still one open slot left," Miranda suddenly recalled as Nial was just about to pack up his things.

    ''Ability? There was that¡­I forgot,'' He thought with an expression of enlightenment before he shrugged his shoulders.

    "You''re right, it''s not important for now. I have no idea what ability I will bind to my mana core. I will probably follow my instincts when I find the right one," Nial answered in a simple manner.

    However, both Miranda and Master Crevian could hardly keep a straight face.

    ''How can you decide something like this so easily? A new ability will increase your strength manyfold if you choose the correct one!'' They thought, shaking their head as they saw that Nial had already rushed upward to get his hands on some of his belongings.

    When he recalled his family, Nial felt unstoppable. The Symbol of Life inside him began to shine much brighter than usual, invigorating him with a much higher potency.

    "I have no idea how he has so much energy left. Did he even take a break in thest 30 days?" Miranda mumbled all of a sudden and even Master Crevian couldn''t actually answer this. He only knew that he had taken a few breaks on his own because he was not as fit and fine as earlier anymore.

    However, Nial had been engraving runic constetions whenever Master Crevian left to take a break, and he was also engraving runic constetions when Master Crevian returned from his break.

    "I am not sure what this kid eats, but it''s definitely some good stuff," Master Crevian joked. He felt much better since Nial agreed to try the U21 Runic tournament.

    It was probably one of the easiest steps to convince Nial to participate in the tournament instead of actually winning the grand prize but it was at least a step closer to their goal!

    "Sometimes, I wonder if he is really human¡­or if he is just built differently," Miranda suddenly said, and Master Crevian couldn''t agree more.

    "He is definitely special¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 291 Dark Lord

    Nial was still exhausted when he left the Forest of Life but it was not like that was enough to stop him from returning to Liondra.

    He had spent an entire month learning more about Runiciers, what made them special, how to improve the uracy of one''s stroke while engraving runic constetions, and much more.

    Nial got to know several new Basic runic constetions and his perfection grade with all of them had reached an exceptional degree. Most runic constetions Nial knew were now at 100% perfection even without the use of the mana-dense runic solution.

    Using the mana dense runic solution to reach a perfection grade above 100% was possible but it was much harder to cross the threshold of 100%. After all, the Basic runic constetions were already said to have been improved and researched to the limit.

    Nial didn''t have the time to think about altering runic constetions for the sake of an insignificant improvement in their efficiency. It was simply not worth spending all the time doing so. That''s why Nial stopped improving his runic constetions when they reached 100%.

    The only necessity Nial focused on was to elerate his engraving speed to create Tier-0 runic weapons rapidly. This worked out pretty well, which was also why Master Crevian was so interested in Nial.

    The young Original had not realized it yet but his talent, determination, passion, and the uniqueness of his perception were abnormal.

    Miranda and Mathias were quite talented in the ways of the Runiciers as well. However, they had yet to create their first Tier-0 runic weapon.

    A few attempts to create Tier-0 runic weapons nearly seeded but they lost focus at the end when they delivered the finishing strokes of the second runic constetion. They had been too excited about the sess of their first runic constetion with a perfection grade above 95% and thus had grown a bit overconfident that resulted in their failure.

    Meanwhile, Nial''s mind was eerily calm whenever he engraved runic constetions. Even if Jundra were to split apart, Nial wouldn''t notice it!

    "Now that I think about it, I would have never thought that it would be so fun to learn about runic armaments," Nial suddenly mumbled as he finished paying the fee to use the teleportation circle back to the teleportation hall.

    He smiled when all the memories of thest 30 days shed through his mind. Even his memories of Meryl were rather pleasant now that he got to know her better.

    She had been jealous of his talent and the attention Master Crevian had paid to him. That was why she was acting like a spoiled child, rather than a mature woman, let alone an elegant Elf.

    "I thought that Meryl was just imagining things but it looks like she was right when she told me that Master Crevian is paying a lot of attention to me," He kept saying while using the next teleportation circle to transport himself straight back to Liondra.

    Nial was all by himself for the first time in a very long time but all of that didn''t matter. He was not lonely because the thought of reuniting with his family was more than enough for him to strive forward and work even harder.

    A faint smile appeared on his face at the thought of his parents.

    ''We will reunite soon enough, I aming!'' He felt excited as his thoughts drifted apart.

    "If I find my family quickly, I can bring them back to the Forest of Life and continue learning under Master Crevian to participate in the Runicier tournament!" Nial kept mumbling to himself, not minding the people around him.

    As he had returned from the Forest of Life, it was necessary for him to undergo several examinations.

    Everyone was supposed to mind their own business but the people around him were way too interested in him. Their gazes drilled holes in his body, which were all ignored regardless of who was looking at him.

    "The Runicier tournament¡­I will really join it, won''t I?" He thought out loud with a faint smile on his lips.

    Nial was still digesting Master Crevian''s words and the request to join the tournament of some Armament Union. He had yet to receive more information about the Golden Armaments Union, the participating races, the intel about the tournament''s standards, and so on.

    Nheless, he felt excited. Leaving Jundra was already exciting enough but seeing the home of the Elven race for a short period would definitely be worth it. It would be possible for him to advance much faster in the ranks while being in Elven''s territory or the ce the U21 Runicier tournament would be held as well.

    ? As Miranda and Master Crevian had stated several times before, the invitation he had received was a great opportunity. It was something Nial couldn''t ignore if he wanted to be strong enough to protect everyone he holds dear!

    But before that he needed to find his family, otherwise, even being the strongest existence on Jundra wouldn''t be of any help.

    The examinations he needed toplete to enter Liondra without the fear of possibly infecting someone took only an hour. After that, Nial was allowed to leave the building he had been teleported to.

    Just like before, he entered the crowded shelters, which caused a faint smile to emerge on his face. The bustling streets, the high-rising buildings, and the city life were not actually something he was supposed to miss. But after he had lived in the Forest of Life for several months it was quite a refreshing change to listen to the noises of the bustling shelter.

    Nial''s senses were stronger than ever before after he had advanced to the 1st Ancient Mirae rank. He could hear everyone in the alley he had just stepped into, sense their footsteps, feel their mana, and smell everything in the alley, whether it was food, perfume, or their sweat.

    It was a weird feeling but Nial didn''t actually dislike it right now. He was not even bothered enough to restrict his senses with the use of mana. Everything seemed perfectly fine just the way it was and nothing could dampen his spirits.

    He was smiling as he walked through the alley but Nial quickly noticed that something was wrong.

    Everyone made space for him and he was being stared at by many civilians and Originals. It didn''t really make sense and Nial started to feel ufortable.

    All of a sudden, a small child ran towards him. A young mother followed her child trying to get him in her hands. She looked distressed but the child was totally unbothered by that as he ran straight into Nial.

    Nial halted in his tracks, just to hear many people gasp around him in surprise.

    "This child is insane!! What is his mother even doing?" A woman eximed in shock, acting as if the child had justmitted a crime.<sub> </sub>

    "This woman must have sent her child to lure him in!! That''s definitely it! She wanted to create an opportunity to approach the Lord!" Another woman shouted, clearly enraged. She was trying to instigate the crowd to make them make a move against the young mother, who had just appeared in front of her child.

    ''Aren''t these guys a little bit too theatrical? And what is that bullshit about Lord? We are not in medieval times anymore¡­'' Nial asked himself, feeling a bit bothered and confused.

    Only when the young child grasped Nial''s leg tightly so as to prevent his mother from dragging him away from Nial, did he understand that something was wrong.

    "Elven Savior! Heheh¡­You that Dard Loard?" The child asked, squealing in excitement. Nial frowned when he heard the child but he bent down lightly to pat the child''s head gently, nheless.

    "Little Boy, what are you so excited about?" He asked with a gentle smile on his face.

    "Loorrd!!" The child shouted happily as he lifted his right hand to touch Nial''s cheek. His skin was smooth and wless. Thus, the child eximed once again and his eyes widened.

    However, the mother was shocked and so was the crowd that had formed upon hearing themotion the child created.

    "Kilian, stop that!! Where are your manners? Is this how you behave with strangers?¡­." The young mother shouted before grasping her child''s hand. Afterward, she quickly lifted the little boy called Kilian to move him away from Nial.

    Nial perceived that the woman was trembling while moving, which confused him a little bit.

    But things got even worse when he perceived that the woman was deeply bowing down to him, and would dissolve into tears any second.

    "My Lord, I''m so sorry. Please forgive my son. He is only three years old and he always does what he wants¡­ please don''t punish him for touching you, esteemed lord! If you need to punish someone, please punish me for raising my son so poorly!!" The young mother wailed while pleading for mercy.

    To say that he was clueless was an understatement. He was not able to understand what was going on at all. The situation was ufortable and he didn''t like the fact that a crowd had formed around them.

    However, what shocked him the most was the fact that the young mother was genuinely afraid that he would do something to her small child.

    In fact, even the civilians on the ground were staring at him worriedly, waiting for him to dole out a punishment. Nial was taken aback and he needed a few seconds to get back to his senses.

    "Do I look that scary? I didn''t know¡­" Nial mumbled, not knowing what else he should think. He took a step closer to force the young woman to straighten her back.

    "Why would I punish you or your son? He didn''t do anything wrong, or did he?" He asked in a gentle tone. The woman flinched when Nial touched her, dreading a blow.

    However, the only thing she was hit with was the flood of a soothing and invigorating feeling that entered her body when Nial came in touch with her.

    The young mother stopped crying almost instantly while the young boy''s hand reached out to Nial. In response, Nial smiled faintly before his hand reached out as well.

    The boy''s hands tightly grasped Nial''s index finger and did not intend to let go.

    "He is a good boy," Nial remarked, which caused the young mother to flinch again. Her legs gave in and she slumped to the ground.

    Nial reacted instinctively and grasped both the woman and the young boy, preventing them fromnding hard on the concrete.

    He helped them up before deciding to leave. The entire situation was simply too weird and he didn''t like the attention that was drawn onto him.

    Unfortunately, Nial was not able to move because he noticed that several guards were calling for him.

    "Young Lord, please wait! Wait a moment, please!!" The voice of a middle-aged Guard echoed through the entire alley. Nial''s lip twitched when he heard the voice.

    ''What the hell is the problem now?!'' Nial wanted to shout but he controlled himself.

    He felt that his mood was being affected by the things that were just happening but he also knew that he had to keep his calm.

    "Why the hell do you call me young lord?!" Nial asked loudly, clearly showing signs of irritability.

    "Huh? Young Lord, what are you saying¡­you are the young lord because¡­that''s who you are?" The middle-aged man asked in confusion which was clearly visible but Nial had to press his lips together to stop himself from cursing the Guard.

    ''Is he intentionally provoking me or is this idiot just dumb?!'' He asked himself.

    Fortunately, there was no time for him to get angry at the Guards, who were rushing at him because someone appeared by his side.

    "Looks like you caused quite amotion," A familiar voice reached his ears and Nial could only smile wryly.

    "It was about time you came to my rescue!"

 Chapter 292 Spiritual Weapon

    Gianna had appeared next to Nial wearing a robe to cover her appearance. She didn''t want too much attention to fall on her, after all.

    Nial could understand that and he regretted not having worn a proper robe. Only the Tier-2 runic cape covered him a little bit.

    "It was about time you came to my rescue!" Nial said jokingly. Gianna rolled her eyes in return before she grasped his wrist to guide him through the crowd.

    While running, she released her mana to push the crowd aside, while ignoring the grumblingints from behind her.

    The Guards were trying to reach Nial and the unknown robed woman, who had appeared out of nowhere.

    However, before they could even reach them the two had disappeared.

    "What are we going to do now?" One of the Guards asked, panting heavily before he skidded to a halt.

    "No idea. I will just report that we lost the Dark Lord. Our superiors will decide what to do next," the leader of the small unit of Guards said before averting his focus to look at the crowd around them.

    "There is nothing to look at," He spoke while gritting his teeth while his eyes turned into daggers. The Guard Leader seemed to be annoyed about losing Nial and everyone noticed that.

    The crowd dispersed slowly, leaving the young mother and the young boy alone. The young mother was sitting on the ground, not believing what had just happened, while her little kid was running around restlessly.

    He was overjoyed and nothing could hold him down as he issued noises of joy while moving vigorously in the arms of her mother.

    ? When the little boy moved a crystal fell out of his pockets. Kilian, the little boy stoppedughing and he began to struggle as he was trying to get back the crystal that was his prized possession now.

    "Kilian, what do you have there?" The young mother asked almost immediately but the little boy didn''t want to answer. He kept trying to wiggle out of his mother''s arms to get his crystal back.

    Unfortunately, his mother was faster and she picked up the crystal. Her expression changed drastically and she paled in an instant upon noticing it.

    "Superior grade¡­ability crystals¡­" She blurted out and broke down into a hysterical sob. Wiping her cheeks, she looked up high in the sky.

    "Mark¡­you don''t have to worry about me and your little boy anymore¡­you can finally rest," The young mother sniffled while speaking. She continued to cry, and Kilian started patting her mother''s back.

    "Mom¡­don''t cri¡­you can hab the sparky¡­I gib it to you¡­don cri¡­" the little boy said in a weak voice. The poor kid was unable to understand what had just happened and how his entire family''s fate had changed thanks to their encounter with Nial.

    Meanwhile, Nial and Gianna left them behind and it didn''t take them long to reach Miranda''s mansion.

    "Why did you give the little boy a Superior grade ability crystal?" Gianna asked almost immediately. She looked at Nial in doubt while questioning his intentions openly.

    "No reason, I just felt like it," Nial said in all honesty before he smiled proudly and added, "...and it''s not like I''mcking money."

    Gianna rolled her eyes but she didn''t say anything. Miranda had informed her about Nial''s arrival but she had not expected him to cause such amotion.

    Considering that he didn''t know about the news revolving around him, it was not like Nial could understand what was going on.

    He looked at Gianna in confusion but she didn''t even think about letting him in the truth, not yet, at least.

    "So you are rich now and you gained lots of poprity, not bad kiddo!" Gianna teased before she sat down on one of the chairs in the living room.

    "You changed quite a bit after serving in the military," She added with a glint in her eyes. Her motions were different than usual and it almost looked like Gianna didn''t intend to hide her true self.

    "Who are you?" Nial could only ask, feeling weird when he perceived Gianna''s mana. It was almost 100% identical to before and ordinary people wouldn''t even be able to sense that something was off.

    But Nial was not an ordinary person. He was someone, whose mana perception was exceptional. His range of perception was urate and spot-on.

    Gianna flinched when she heard his question. She could immediately tell that Nial had figured out what must have happened. Her lips shaped into a small, yet, seductive smile as her impression of Nial changed.

    "You really changed a lot, otherwise, you wouldn''t be able to sense the change in my mana, that''s impressive!" Gianna sped her hands together, acting as if she was apuding him for discovering her secret.

    Nial ignored this reaction entirely and let out a sigh.

    "Did you receive the recognition of a God?" He asked straightforwardly, only to shake his head when he saw the expression on Gianna''s face.

    "That''s not it. You wouldn''t be that confused if you would have received a message from a God. You are not an incarnation either, and your Innate ability is [Stealth], so I doubt that you awoke your Innate ability''s memories either¡­" Nial mumbled as if he was talking to himself but Gianna could hear everything he said.

    She squinted her eyes after a while before freezing in ce when Nial spoke about awakened memories and her Innate ability [Stealth].

    "How do you know about my Innate ability?! Miranda would have never told you about it. No¡­it cannot be the case, was it really Miranda? Nobody else knows about it¡­" Gianna seemed to panic the more time passed. She stared at Nial in shock only to realize that he was smiling like a true devil.

    "Is your Innate ability really called ''Stealth''? I didn''t know, I just guessed it from what I concluded with the information I had at hand. Miranda never told me anything, don''t worry about that," Nial was quite calm considering that something about Gianna had changed.<sub> </sub>

    Based on her earlier reaction, he could tell that she was mostly the same as before. Her behavior hadn''t changed and from his expertise with Incarnations of Gods and his memories of Divine Existences, there didn''t seem to be anything wrong with her either.

    The only thing that had changed was the potency of her mana, which had increased drastically. Gianna''sbat prowess was likely to have received a massive boost. Nial was pretty sure that he didn''t have a chance against her as long as he didn''t have to go all out.

    He focused his [Mana Sense] on her and used some of his mana to find the reason for the changes in her behavior. The robe she was wearing made it difficult for Nail to detect anything, especially because it was a robe of concealment.

    Nheless, it merely made things more difficult. It didn''t mean that he was not able to detect anything, at all!

    A few seconds of silence passed and Gianna started to feel ufortable. Nial''s lifeless milky white eyes stared at her unfocused.

    "You bound a Spiritual Weapon to your mana core¡­is that it? Did it start talking to you or what?" Nial asked jokingly when he finished investigating the dagger that seemed to have concealed itself to hide from Nial''s range of perception. He perceived a few things but it was definitely not easy.

    But looking at Gianna''s reaction, Nial''s expression froze. He could clearly visualize her in his mind and her expression was nk as if she couldn''t understand how Nial was able to find out everything that was supposed to be her top secret.

    "Wait, are you serious? Is your dagger really a Spiritual Weapon, a weapon with a soul? ¡­That''s¡­amazing!" Nial eximed, totally ignoring the changes in Gianna''s mana. Master Crevian had told him about various types of weapons earlier. ording to him, there were weapons that could be bound to the Soul, weapons that could be bound to one''s Mana Core, sentient weapons, Spiritual weapons, Abyssal weapons, and much more.

    ording to Master Crevian''s teaching, most of these weapons were extremely hard to create and even the Elves didn''t have many master craftsmen, who were able to create such masterpieces. They were extremely rare and Master Crevian didn''t think that it would be necessary to teach Nial about forging them in-depth.

    It was basically impossible to find such weapons on Jundra and Master Crevian was certain that no one participating in the U21 Runicier tournament would be able to create one of the special types of weapons either. After all, most of them wereparable to Tier-2 weapons, at the very least and their most apparent unique feature was their function to grow with their master until the weapon''s material would reach its limit.

    That was also why Nial had joked around as he asked Gianna if she was hiding a spiritual weapon. After all, Spiritual weapons were literally weapons with a soul inside them. The weapon gained sentience and after centuries or even millennia of a condition called ''cultivated mind'' the sentient weapon would create its own soul.

    "Everything makes sense now," Nial nodded his head before he pushed forward. His dark energy shot through the ground and ropes of darkness shot out, tying down Gianna.

    "What?! Why are you doing this to me??" Gianna shrieked, taken aback by the sudden attack from Nial. The young Original was still smiling but he had reached out behind her back as he emerged in front of her.

    Gianna could free herself but it would take a while because Nial kept releasing dark energy to strengthen the ropes of darkness that were wrapped around Gianna''s entire body.

    Grasping the Spiritual weapon aka the dagger Gianna got her hands on not too long ago, Nial felt a repulsive response of the weapon to him almost immediately.

    It was as if two mas of the same pole were forcefully held together. Nial frowned for a moment before a bright smile emerged on his lips.

    "This is really interesting. Your weapon is great. Does it talk to you as well? Did it reveal its past to you?" Nial asked numerous questions as he returned Gianna her weapon. He dissolved the ropes of darkness as well after he was done with the inspection and kept smiling.

    "You really are a weirdo, do you know that?" Gianna asked, feeling like she should punch Nial''s face with all her might.

    She decided against this after seeing that Nial was just making sure that Gianna was not a threat to him and that he was simply too curious about everything revolving around special types of weapons.

    Master Crevian''s passion and his knowledge had changed his opinion of runic armaments once again.

    Bing an ordinary Runicier was something everyone could achieve after investing enough time, work and resources but the same couldn''t be said about true master Runiciers. To be one, passion for the craft and talent were necessary.

    Nial gained the passion for the craft from Master Crevian''s teachings and all the challenges Meryl had thrown at him against his will.

    Now he wanted to know more about runic armaments and all kinds of unique crafts that were rted to runic constetions.

    "Yeah, you are right, it''s speaking to me, and it tells me that you are the most dangerous human it has ever seen!" Gianna suddenly announced, not allowing Nial to take a breath.

    ''Oh? Does it know Damian?'' Nial thought in doubt, questioning the origin of the Spiritual weapon. He then shrugged his shoulders and smiled faintly when he proudly announced,

    "Well I am the most dangerous human, that''s correct."

    **

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 Chapter 293 Help Me

    "Well I am the most dangerous human, that''s correct," Nial announced with a proud smile on his lips.

    Gianna rolled her eyes at this sight and she felt like punching him for attacking her and acting like she was a pushover.

    "Are you really the same Nial I know?" She asked in doubt, staring straight at Nial''s face to see if he would flinch or react weirdly.

    That was something Gianna had learned from her Spiritual Weapon. They conversed through telepathy and it told her that Nial was weird, that his energy was extremely dangerous, and that the young man knew way too much than he should bepared to mankind''s collective knowledge and their advancement of technology.

    "I''m still the same but I have changed, that''s not something I can deny," Nial stated calmly. He didn''t seem to be bothered by this question, especially after he had noticed that his behavior was changing with time passed.

    It was only once that he received memories of the Ankh, but asionally, the Odyssey seed transferred some memories of thete God of Darkness to him.

    Nial epted the memories and he digested them to learn from them. This was everything he wanted to do with them, but it was not as if he could ept and digest them while remaining the same person.

    He started to be more arrogant and his judgmental behavior partially stemmed from Damian''s memories that influenced him subconsciously.

    Nial learned to control how to make use of the God of Darkness'' memories while being the least influenced after some time had passed but that was the most he could do.

    But that was not the only reason to influence a change in his behavior. The memories of someone else were one thing and the things he experienced himself were a different ball game altogether.

    Nial faced unique situations on a daily basis. He fought against powerful Incarnations of Gods, and other races, entered unique dungeons, got to know other races, learned from them, made friends and enemies, and improved his knowledge whenever possible.

    It would be weird if Nial would stay the same after experiencing all of this. Thus, he didn''t see a problem with being honest about the facts he had already epted.

    "But let''s go back to the topic," Nial suddenly said as he pointed at the Spiritual Weapon once again.

    "I guess you got the weapon from a dungeon. Was it a permanent one, or some unique temporary dungeon?" He asked in interest, hoping for it to be a permanent dungeon.

    If it was one, he might be able to get his hands on some precious pieces of information by entering the dungeon.

    "It was a temporary one," Gianna immediately answered. Nial responded to this with a sad expression that disappeared not long after. There was no need to be sulky, after all.

    "Did it tell you information about what will happen on Jundra in the future, itsnd of origin or its previous master?" Nial enquired. He had many questions on his mind but Gianna was not able to tell Nial a lot.

    This was a bit disappointing but Nial had expected that somehow. He shrugged his shoulders after half an hour had passed before he ended the discussion with a decisive sentence,

    "Don''t trust it too much!"

    "O-okay¡­" Gianna answered hesitantly, not sure what Nial wanted from her. It was not like she would throw her Spiritual Weapon aside just because it may or may not be trustworthy in his eyes. However, she did take note of the fact that Nial had matured a bit.

    At first nce, it may look like Nial was a bit childish and nosy, but the more she talked with him the weirder Gianna felt about him.

    "Can you help me?" Nial''s sudden question reached Gianna''s ears, pulling her out of the train of thoughts she had been caught in.

    "Help with what?" Gianna asked without hesitation when she got back to her senses. Miranda had already told her to search for Nial and help him in every possible way. Gianna hadn''t been sure what exactly Nial needed help with but because Miranda had instructed her, there was no way that she would disobey the Old Witch.

    "I just need permission to release my mana through the entire shelter," Nial asked straightforwardly while acting as if his demand was nothing special.

    Gianna blinked several times questioning her entire existence before she took a few deep breaths.

    "Just¡­Just?! You are definitely insane¡­" Gianna eximed, failing to control her emotions. Nial was not sure why she overreacted like that but it looked like he had asked something that was supposedly impossible.

    However, it was not even ten secondster that Gianna sprang up from her chair. She remembered something which changed her mood almost instantly.

    "You won''t be considered a terrorist now that you''ve been promoted to be a nobleman and have that title¡­so it should be fine¡­I guess?" She mumbled before turning her attention back to Nial.

    "For what reason do you need to release your mana through the entire shelter, though?" Gianna was confused. There shouldn''t actually be a reason for Nial to feel the need to release his mana through the entire shelter. In fact, the shelter was way toorge for anyone to achieve this, to begin with.<sub> </sub>

    "I want to search for my family¡­" Nial answered but his mind was upied with something else Gianna said a moment before, "...and what do you mean title and nobility?"

    ''Is that why I received those stares all the time? And why did that little boy call me Dark Lord?'' He thought, recalling the civilians'' gazes of admiration.

    The young mother''s fear also now made sense to him. After all, every Original with a title given by the government was considered to be one of their many pirs, and a person with exceptional talent and power.

    "Right, Miranda told me that you don''t know about it yet," Gianna said as she sped her hands together, smiling faintly. It was always great to deliver good news.

    "After you saved the Elves and human Originals in the battle against the Dryx, the battle that we had almost lost, the President rewarded you with a title and the status of a nobleman. I don''t know why exactly we suddenly added the nobility status after it had been abolished. But that shouldn''t really matter to you," Gianna exined before adding something that attracted Nial''s interest a bit,

    "You were also rewarded with a small piece ofnd within the Forest of Life, and also a piece ofnd in the adjacent shelter that is going to be built. That is amazing isn''t it?"

    Nial was aware of the gift of thend inside the Forest of Life because the Elves had given it to him after the battle against the Dryx. It was the ce where his wooden hut was built upon.

    As for thend in the adjacent shelter, it was great that he had received something like that but it was not as if he would actually need it. Nial had no idea what he could use it for, right now. After all, he would stay in the Forest of Life to receive most gains until he would leave Jundra to participate in the U21 Runicier tournament.

    But that was not something Gianna knew, which was why she was baffled when Nial epted everything without a change in his expressions.

    "That''s good I guess, but whatever¡­I just want my family back," Nialmented upon hearing the good news. Gianna needed to take a few more deep breaths to calm down.

    ''Nial wants to reunite with his family. He doesn''t even realize how impressive the news is. Just bear with it!'' She told herself and slowly nodded her head.

    "Alright, I will formally request permission to release your mana through the entire shelter. If you''re lucky that will only take a few hours," Gianna finally said after she tried to start understanding Nial. This was much harder than expected as Gianna had no parents or other family members. Miranda was the closest to having a family for Gianna.

    "That''s great, thanks. Could you also exchange these few runic armaments with the highest quality Origin crystals you can find?" Nial asked after he felt sudden tiredness overwhelming him. The tension in his body was slowly being released and he knew that he had to rest.

    Usually, he wouldn''t ask Gianna for so many favors but Nial was barely able to keep his eyes open.

    Gianna just nodded her head, expecting to see a bunch of ordinary ungraded runic armaments. She had already gotten her hands on a few ungraded runic weapons because Miranda had told her to keep herself updated on the progress of other human Runiciers.

    However, the human Runiciers, if they could even bebeled as such, were not really great. Most somewhat talented Inscribers converted to be Runiciers and they progressed fast at first. Their progress slowed down after some time until it stagnatedpletely.

    They didn''t know what to focus practicing on, what to learn and which aspects had to be improved the most.

    Without the necessary teachings and knowledge, it was hard to progress. Nial, Mathias, and Miranda had numerous books that reced the need of having teachers for quite a while. Nheless, ever since Master Crevian had decided to teach them things had changed a lot. They improved much faster and that was clearly visible when Gianna ended up with a few of Nial''s Tier-0 runic armaments in her hand.

    "D-did¡­you create them?" Gianna asked in shock and was unable to hide her surprise as she looked at him in a stupor.

    Nial merely nodded his head before he excused himself. He fell asleep on the couch in the living room within seconds, while Gianna still continued to look at him.

    "What a monster¡­" She blurted out while a voice rang in her head out of nowhere,

    [I agree¡­these runic weapons are¡­exceptional¡­are you sure that humans only found out about Runiciers and runic weapons a year ago?]

    Gianna could only nod her head. She was not able to answer properly and felt like her entire body was covered in goosebumps. If she considered Nial as somewhat abnormal before, he was a total monster now.

    "He is not only powerful enough to change the tides on a battlefield where Prometheus ranked Elves and Originals are fighting but he even has the necessary dexterity to create Tier-0 runic weapons¡­just who is he?!" Gianna was lost but she turned around to fulfill Nial''s requests nheless.

    He needed her help and she would help him regardless of who he was. It didn''t really matter to Gianna because Miranda was the one, who had asked her to support Nial with everything he needed.

    However, the Spiritual Weapon was not as unbothered as Gianna as its voice resounded in her head once again,

    [Is he really not an Incarnation of a God¡­am I missing something?]

 Chapter 294 No Escape!

    "I received the permission already?" Nial asked, stretching his tired body. The couch in the living room was very cozy but Nial couldn''t afford to waste more time resting.

    His body was brimming with energy, his mana waspletely replenished and it was time to reunite with his parents!

    Nial''s head turned over to the small mountain of Origin crystals that he had perceived the moment Gianna released it from her spatial ring. He didn''tment on the huge pile of Origin crystals but he didn''t expect to receive so many in such a short time at that.

    ''She really did a good job at bargaining,'' Nial thought, ignoring the possibility that Nial might be the first human to sell Tier-0 runic armaments in Liondra.

    A few merchants were known for traveling between the Forest of Life and the eight human shelters but the prices of their goods were enormous. They made huge profits despite the exorbitant prices the Elves demanded from the merchants.

    Not being loved or adored by mana meant that the Elves wouldn''t even think about giving the merchant''s a discount. Nial would receive different treatment in this regard but he was not in the need of any Tier-0 runic armaments. He could create them on his own and his cost-performance ratio was much better than the Elves as well.

    Each of his Tier-0 runic weapons cost him less than 500$ in raw materials and roughly an hour to create but it could be sold for hundreds of thousands of dors. All of that was because of the high demand that existed for runic weapons.

    Ordinary weapons and Myth weapons were still regarded highly but the price of runic weapons was lower than Myth weapons despite the high demand, while their efficiency was exceptional and the same as long as the correct runic constetions were engraved with a high perfection grade.

    Nial''s perfection grade was at 100%, which was why he ended up being rich once again.

    "The Governor of the Liondra shelter didn''t even hesitate to give you permission to use your mana inside the shelter. He told me that you should do whatever you want¡­ In my opinion, this is a stupidment, so just do what you need to do to find your family," Gianna said, feeling a bit weird about the attitude of the Liondra shelter''s governor.

    It was not as if Nial''s behavior was less weird. He could just ask the Governor to make an announcement to seek his family or search for them by telling the guards that he was looking for them. However, that was not what Nial did. He was trying to find his family by choosing one of the most difficult ways.

    In her opinion, this was stupid and nonsensical. Gianna knew that Nial was not an idiot, which meant that he had his own reasons for acting the way he did.

    [Maybe, he doesn''t want anyone to know who his family is? But I doubt that because it will be known the moment he shows up with them somewhere¡­] The voice resounded in Gianna''s mind once again.

    ''Maybe¡­he fears that they will be taken somewhere. If I remember correctly his family was kidnapped by the Heaven''s Gates organization¡­'' She answered the voice calmly as she clearly recalled the incident where they had entered the ck market to get their hands on some information about both the Eclipse Assassins and the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    [The Heaven''s Gates again¡­aren''t they a bit too bothersome?] The voice asked in irritation which caused Gianna to smile faintly.

    Nial saw this but he didn''t really understand the meaning behind her smile. He couldn''t hear the voice in Gianna''s head either, which was why he chose to spend the awkward silence between him and Gianna by storing the Odyssey crystals.

    "I will go to the Central tower. If you want, you cane with me. If not, have a nice day," Nial said, trying to break the awkward silence. However, Gianna was not even listening to him. All her attention was on her conversation with the Spiritual Weapon.

    Nial left her, feeling a bit awkward after getting ignored.

    "Looks like she found a talkative Spiritual Weapon," He thought after a while, trying to ignore the gazes on him as well as possible.

    He used the shuttle to be driven to Liondra''s central area where he ended up being one of the most interesting things to look at. Nial felt like he was an attraction in the circus, which was definitely not a good feeling.

    A few minutes passed before Nial reached the shelter''s central tower. It was a huge building with more than 20 wings. Nial clearly perceived it using his range of perception.

    Without wasting any time, Nial entered the building to use the elevator that brought him to the highest floor. He opened the window by tightly grasping the window frame and jumped outside the building.

    Using only his bodily strength to reach the rooftop of the central tower required him to have precise control over himself. It was necessary for him to have enough strength in his arms to push him in the positions he took while his core muscles had to be strong enough to allow his body to end up in a position, where his stretched body was high in the air, legs-first.

    His legs pointed into the air, while his head was around the same height as the window. Using some force in his arms, he propelled himself into the air until he was able to pull his legs closer to his body. The gravitational force pulled him down but that didn''t matter as his legs touched the rooftop he wanted to reach.

    "I really need to work on my calisthenics skills¡­" Nial cursed out at that moment before he released some dark energy through his legs to pin him down to the rooftop.

    He let go of the window''s frame and frowned deeply as he pulled his body backward.

    With the sole use of dark energy, it would have been no problem for him to reach the rooftop. However, even if it was important for Nial to be proficient at controlling his dark energy, he also knew the importance of being able to control his body perfectly.

    He had seen some Elves jump through the Forest of Life in an extremely flexible manner, relying on their physical strength and nothing else. This had impressed Nial which was why he had tried to copy the Elves once or twice. Sadly, the final result was that he smashed into the ground as his reflexes were not as sharp as the Elves.

    Their reflexes had been trained well and they never ignored training their body as well. This may not be necessary because their strength would increase the higher their rank advanced. But by staying fit and focusing on training to control their strength precisely, they were able to use the vast majority of their physical strength urately without losing out on anything.

    Others, who had not trained their body would never know what it felt like to use their entire strength.

    Physical training was important and Nial would focus on it in the near future, but not now.

    He released his Mana a bit to perceive the top of the tower and nodded his head in satisfaction.

    ''Perfect here is enough space toy out the crystals,'' Nial thought as he reached a small t surface.

    With a wave of his arms, all the Origin crystals inside his spatial ring emerged in front of Nial.

    They were spread out evenly, leaving a small space in the center for him to sit down.<sub> </sub>

    If the Origin crystals Gianna brought him where a small hill, the entirety of Origin crystals Nial had umted could definitely form a mountain.

    "The more the merrier. With that many Origin crystals, I will have more than enough mana to supply [Mana Sense]!" Nial mumbled before he sat down in the center with folded legs.

    He was a bit nervous, not because he was unsure of whether his n would work or not but due to the small chance that his family was not in Liondra anymore.

    ''Even if they''re not in Liondra, I can still search through the other shelters. Calm down, you idiot!'' Nial knew that he could not risk losing his cool.

    He had to remain calm and focused, otherwise, he wouldn''t be able to find his family even if they were in Liondra.

    ''As long as I can find them without attracting too much attention, everything will be fine¡­as long as the Heaven''s Gates organization doesn''t find out what I''m doing¡­'' Nial thought without actually worrying too much about the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    After they lost some of their Prometheus Originals in the fight against the Mutant Minotaur, the Heaven''s Gates organization used plenty of its resources to make up for the loss.

    They had invested most of their human resources in the Forest of Life when the battle against the Dryx urred. The Heaven''s Gates organization was of the opinion that they would earn a huge profit by supporting the Elves with all their might.

    While this was true, the organization didn''t expect the number of casualties on their side to be even worse than the losses they had incurred when fighting the Mutant Minotaur.

    Nial doubted that anyone would be able to focus on finding his family, especially his parents, who were not exactly very powerful and naturalbatants. They were ordinary citizens and could quickly get lost in the crowd.

    Their mana core''s potential was not very high either, which was another reason for Nial to doubt that anyone would bother taking time to look for his family too much.

    That would even be the case if the woman Hana was speaking about was his sister, which was something that Nial presumed to be the case.

    ''Sis, please be fine and healthy when Ie to get you, mom, and dad!'' That was Nial''sst thought before he closed his eyes.

    Upon activating his Innate ability [Mana Sense], Nial essed all the Origin crystals around him.

    There were more than a thousand Superior grade Origin crystals and Nial unleashed the pure and high-quality mana within all of them!

    The t surface Nial was seated on began to crackle and the roof, followed by the highest floor of the central tower began to tremble as well.

    The tremor passed through the floors as long as the mana within the Origin crystals was unleashed. The mana flowed through the building freely and uncontrolled which was why the surrounding area entered a state of hypertension.

    It was frightening for everyone who noticed that something was off. However, even before anyone could react the tremor had finally stopped. Nial absorbed all the mana in his surroundings. He devoured it easily as it was naturally drawn to him and immediately used the absorbed mana to increase his range of perception.

    His natural range of perception expanded quickly, while [Mana Sense] increased the range even further.

    [Mana Sense] allowed him to perceive everything around him with more precision. It amplified even the smallest strands of mana, which made it possible for him to make out details that were much farther away than his ordinary range of perception could detect.

    Instead of the crudest facts, Nial was able to make out much more about his surroundings than ever before.

    This was an exceptional feeling but Nial quickly realized that his mana was being quickly drained. The strongest form of his [Mana Sense] allowed him to visualize everything in his surrounding area like a 3D map.

    However, the amount of mana it absorbed was far higher than anything Nial would have expected.

    "A bit more, just a little bit!!" Nial screamed at the top of his lungs, activating the Symbol of Life as well.

    Streams of mana from all around Liondra were suddenly pulled toward Nial, providing him with additional mana. This didn''t solve Nial''s problem but it gave him more time to further expand his range of perception.

    With a second scream, he forced his range of perception to reach a range of more than 20 kilometers.

    The vast majority of his mana was used up and Nial became desperate because he didn''t get to see a glimpse of his parent''s familiar mana fluctuations.

    At that moment two overly peculiar mana fluctuations emerged right in the middle of his range of perception.

    They appeared out of nowhere and it was just a momentter that they seemed to have disappeared. However, Nial had already locked their mana fluctuations in his range of perception before he gave them their share of attention.

    All his mana was directed and used on continuing to perceive the two particr mana fluctuations.

    "Mum, Dad¡­don''t run away from me. I found you!!" Nial eximed with a childish smile on his face as he began to visualize the bodies that harbored the overly familiar mana fluctuations which he focused on.

    His expression was that of utter joy, a type of joy he hadn''t felt for a very long time.

    "Finally! Now, you cannot escape from me anymore, never again!!"

 Chapter 295 Tears Of Joy!

    The Origin crystals around Nial were used up entirely and his [Mana Sense] was barely sustained with the mana which the Symbol of Life pulled toward him.

    Nial was having a hard time keeping his parents'' mana fluctuations locked and it seemed to work decently.

    He released his dark energy and jumped from the shelter''s central tower without hesitating for a second.

    From the moment he had detected his parents, Nial''s patience had disappeared into thin air. He didn''t even want to waste his time riding the elevator which was why he resorted to jumping down from the more than 100 meters tall tower. Nial had attracted lots of attention due to this crazy act.

    Many women screamed out in terror, while men looked at the suicidal jumper in shock. It had never urred to them that someone would ever jump to death from the shelter''s central tower.

    Many civilians had instinctively closed their eyes in terror when Nial was about to smash into the ground. Everyone expected to hear a thumping sound but nothing like that happened. Rather, voices of shock and astonishment echoed through the za as Nialnded on the ground without breaking anything, whether it was the ground below him or his bones.

    ''My Dark energy control is really not that bad,'' Nial thought with a faint smile on his lips.

    He had released his dark energy through his legs and shot it to the ground where it was anchored. Afterward, the dark energy pushed against Nial''s feet to resist gravity, thereby slowing down his falling speed until hended safely.

    The way he used the Dark energy was quite interesting and it was done purely on instinct. Nial used his whole strength to push his speed to the limit. He dashed through the central district, and jumped over the streets and buildings just to shorten the time he needed to reach his parents.

    His actions attracted lots of attention, something which he had initially wanted to avoid. However, Nial was not able to think about running over with a low profile. The faster he reunited with his family the better.

    Now that he thought about it, it had taken him way too long to meet his family again. It was frustrating and he felt guilty because he had not actively searched for them earlier. All these days, he had spent wondering what exactly must have happened to them, how they were doing, and what they had been doing the entire time they had been separated.

    There were only a few months left before the two-year mark of their separation and Nial got emotional. Acting mature was not something he was very good at and he was getting way too anxious to see them again.

    Tears trickled down the corner of his eyes the moment he arrived in the same alley as his parents were. He visualized them and Nial could immediately tell that they had aged a lot.

    His mother especially had aged a lot. She looked very young before and barely had any wrinkles, which had now changed. Meanwhile, his father seemed to have had problems taking care of his beard. It had grown a lot and his eyes seemed as lifeless as Nial''s.

    This worried him a lot, which was why he took a step forward while trying to wipe off the tears streaming down his face. Nial didn''t want his parents to see him crying like a small child, who had been abandoned.

    All of a sudden, when Nial was about to take the second step toward his parents, his mother froze in ce. She looked straight at Nial and as if the dam was finally broken, a flood of tears rolled down her cheeks.

    "Maline¡­honey, what''s wrong?" Miles asked the moment he saw that his wife broke down into tears. His eyes were filled with worry and he held her to prevent Maline from falling to the ground.

    "N-Nial??" She asked quietly and sobbed miserably while stretching her hand out to reach for Nial. However, Miles'' expression turned sad when their son was mentioned and he pulled his wife into his embrace to calm her.

    "Honey, Nial is not here¡­." He said calmly without noticing that his voice was cut off and weak. There hadn''t been a single day when they didn''t think about their son. They hoped that he was fine without them and that he didn''t need them to survive.

    However, Nial had a disability, which made things difficult even if he had awoken his origin. Guilt and regret filled the hearts of Miles and Maline every single day but it was not like they could choose between Sabrina and Nial. They had been forced to leave, or to die¡­and they chose to live and to hope¡­

    "Mom¡­" A miserable cry reverberated through the alley. Nial''s weak voice that got drowned in his sobbing reached his parents. Miles turned around in shock only to see that¡­Nial was standing right in front of them.

    He was crying while revealing the most beautiful smile Miles and Maline had ever seen.

    Miles'' sight blurred as his eyes turned moist as well. Maline shot toward Nial and fell on him with her entire weight. Nial could have remained standing on his feet with the use of some force but he didn''t bother as he fell hard to the ground. He was still smiling while tears streamed down his cheeks.

    His mother hugged him tightly, almost strangling him in her embrace. She was still not able to believe that Nial had appeared out of nowhere but she knew that she would never let him go again.

    "I''m sorry¡­I''m so sorry¡­my little baby¡­my boy¡­" Maline cried out while pulling him closer to her. Even if the world would break apart nothing could separate them anymore.

    Nial''s heart was beating frantically and he felt as if it would explode in happiness. He hugged his mother back and continued to cry his heart out. Miles appeared next to them and simply joined the hug as the three of them dissolved into tears.

    They hugged each other tightly for several minutes without caring about the civilians, who were looking at the three crying Originals with confused expressions. One could clearly tell that they were a family and that they loved each other.

    Nheless, it was weird because nobody was able to tell the reason for their miserable cries.

    Many wanted to find out what was going on but they didn''t stop crying and hugging each other even after ten minutes had passed.

    Nial had no idea how much time passed before his tears finally ceased. He was happy and couldn''t care less about the people in his surrounding. Only his parents were important to him and he finally got up from the ground when Miles pulled his mother away from him to give his son some space to move and breathe.

    "Nial¡­is that really you?" Miles asked in a choked voice as he looked at his son. Nial''s demeanor had changedpletely, his physique had improved a lot and he had also gained some muscles. Miles was not even able to gauge how strong Nial had be.

    "You are asking that now, after hugging me for 10 minutes? Dad, are you serious?" Nial asked jokingly. Maline began to giggle in response, while Miles pressed his lips together in a thin line while staring daggers at his son.<sub> </sub>

    "Yeah, I guess it''s you!" He mumbled while making sure that he kept his eyes on Nial.

    ''Just what did you encounter to change so much¡­were you ok after we were separated?'' Miles wondered as he looked sadly at his son. He felt like a useless parent, who could only look at the exceptional growth of his wonderful son.

    Miles bit his lips in frustration, while Maline kept caressing Nial''s cheeks. She ran his hands through his entire body to make sure that he was unscathed and that his wless skin was not hiding any scars.

    Only when she didn''t find anything worrisome did Maline calm down. Her heart was beating wildly and she couldn''t believe her luck to be able to hold Nial''s hand tightly after what felt like an eternity.

    "What happened to you and dad after you were brought to the Heaven''s Gates? How have you two been?" Nial suddenly asked with the same bright smile on his lips as before. He didn''t really care about the Heaven''s Gates organization right now.

    The only thing of utmost importance, right at this moment, was his parents and their well-being!

    "How do you know that?" Miles suddenly asked, his eyes widened in shock. He could tell that Nial had be much stronger than before but he would have never expected Nial to have gained some connections to find out about the Eclipse Assassins.

    Maline noticed that Nial was aware of the Heaven''s Gate organization as well but she couldn''t care less about that.

    "How did you find us? How have you been? Do you hate us?" She asked, holding Nial''s hands tightly. She didn''t want to let go of him anymore and tried her best to hide her intentions somehow.

    However, this failed miserably because Nial noticed what she was doing. He was happy about it though.

    "Maybe this is the wrong ce to speak about thest two years? How about we eat something? You two look a bit haggard!" Nial said, sounding a bit concerned. He had visualized his parents in detail and except the non-existential growth of their mana core''s rank, they looked as if they weren''t eating a lot.

    Nial wanted to ask about his sister as well but he chose to be a bit more patient and to wait until they would reach a quieter and less crowded ce to discuss things.

    "I would love to!" Maline eximed in joy, grabbing Nial''s hand as if she was ready to go. Nial, however, did nto budge when he sensed something about Miles'' mana fluctuations that worried him.

    "Why are you so nervous all of a sudden, dad?" Nial asked, moments after he detected that something was wrong.

    He spread out his range of perception in a swift motion and detected that something was off.

    "N-nothing¡­I think¡­" Miles answered subconsciously while looking around him.

    Miles was worried that something would happen and that someone would drag them away from Nial once again.

    And as if they acted on cue, a total of six ck-clothed men and women wearing masks appeared out of nowhere.

    "Mr. and Mrs. Orin, you have toe with us," One of the women said in an emotionless voice.

    "Noo!! We don''t want to go back!" Maline screamed out while hugging Nial tightly. However, the masked woman didn''t seem to allow any rebuttals as several icicles manifested around her.

    "Either youe with us willingly, or we will use force," She warned coldly as her sky blue eyes stared in the depths of Maline''s petrified eyes.

    Maline began to shiver and she forced herself to let go of Nial, for his sake.

    "W-we wille with you¡­just d-don''t hurt him, okay?...Please¡­" Maline seemed truly scared of the woman in front of them. Nial was irked by this and he grasped his mother''s hand to prevent her from moving away from him.

    His touch calmed Maline as the Ankh''s invigorating sensation spread over to her. Nheless, Maline''s eyes grew wide in fear when she realized that Nial didn''t want to let go of her anymore.

    Maline teared up again and Miles clenched his fists and grit his teeth in frustration about his helplessness when he saw what happened.

    "If he doesn''t let go of you, I will consider him a threat, and I...Will...Kill¡­ Him!" The masked woman enunciated thest four words clearly, leaving no room for doubt. Miranda began to shake her arm while trying to wiggle out of Nial''s grasp but that seemed impossible.

    "Aren''t you guys from the Heaven''s Gates organization?" Nial suddenly asked, his voice void of any respect. He sounded disgusted when he mentioned the organization''s name.

    "Pay attention to how you speak, brat! You should know when to give up. This is yourst chance. Let go, or die!" The masked woman took a step forward and the five other masked men and women followed suit and simultaneously unsheathed their weapons.

    "It looks like you guys don''t care about fighting in the open. That''s funny¡­but you should also know when it''s time to retreat," Nial retorted with a sneer as he let go of his mother''s arm before stretching his body a bit.

    "You cane and try to kill me, bitch!" Heughed as a provoking smile appeared on his face.

    "You''re so dead!"

 Chapter 296 A Fathers Smile

    "You''re so dead!" The masked woman screamed after releasing the icicles she had manifested just a moment earlier.

    They sted in Nial''s direction, while the other five masked men and women dashed out as well. However, even before the icicles could reach Nial, they shattered into thousands of tiny shards.

    A momentter, Nial had also disappeared from his earlier location. The ground below him burst open and both Miles and Maline could only feel a strong gust of wind sshing on their face as Nial disappeared from their sight.

    Nial appeared in front of the arrogant masked woman in an instant. His eyes turned pitch-ck as Nial''s subconscious unleashed the Essence of Darkness that was umted inside the Odyssey seed.

    Kaeldur''s head was partially manifested as if it had merged with Nial. Nial''s face could still be seen but his entire existence seemed to have changed in an instant. It looked like Nial was ready to kill as he lunged out with his hand that was shrouded in Kaeldur''s w.

    He didn''t hesitate the slightest as he grasped the masked woman''s head before smashing it into the ground with all his might.

    The ground burst open from the impact and blood oozed out of Kaeldur''s w as he loosened his grip.

    "I feel pretty alive for being dead. You should pay more attention to your own health. Looks like you were almost killed...by someone, who is dead," Nial took a jibe at her before he ignored the entire existence of the woman he had just knocked out.

    At least, he thought that she was knocked out until he sensed some mana fluctuations from behind him. He visualized her and could clearly perceive how her disfigured face reverted to her original appearance. She was unscathed and the only thing that changed was the strength of her mana fluctuations.

    "That''s an interesting ability, to heal yourself immediately in exchange for some mana, amazing," Nial spoke in a praising tone before he dashed out again. He didn''t intend to show mercy to anyone, who made his parents feel fear, and he would never allow anyone to separate them ever again.

    That was a lesson the Heaven''s Gates organization had to learn, whether it was in a peaceful way or with the use of brute force.

    Just when Nial was about to reach the arrogant masked woman who was trying to get up from the ground, he perceived that the five other Originals had reached his parents. The five Originals wanted to take his parents back to the base of the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    That was also the ce his parents had appeared when he perceived them. He couldn''t care less about the Heaven''s Gazes organization but the attitude of the ''Guards'' or whatever they were, was definitely something Nial disliked.

    He had had enough of people, who believed that they could do whatever they wanted just because they were stronger than others. Now that he was strong and that he had finally reunited with his parents, there was no way that he would allow anyone to act up against him, let alone his beloved family.

    Nial twisted his body and he used his dark energy to forcefully change his trajectory. His ankles hurt a lot but Nial ignored this entirely as he catapulted himself back to his parents. Simultaneously, he covered the ground with his dark energy to prevent the arrogant masked woman from interfering in their fight once again.

    He would eliminate her the moment she stepped on his dark energy.

    With a single action, Nial created a dozen dark energy balls that were filled withpressed dark energy. He didn''t have much energy left after this because he was still exhausted from using [Mana Sense] in an excessive manner. Nial tried to ignore his exhaustion and theck of mana but it was hardly possible.

    Thus Kaeldur was slowly turning transparent and was retreating back inside the Odyssey seed. Nial epted this without further dy, which changed his eye color to its usual milky white color.

    The balls of darkness burst open moments after Nial threw them out. Vines manifested out of dark energy shot out of the balls of darkness. They shot in the direction of the five Originals and coiled around their legs, arms and abdomen.

    The Vines of Darkness restricted the five Originals, who were all between the 3rd and 5th Intermediate Mirae rank. It would take them only a second or two to escape the darkness but that was more than enough time for Nial to act.

    He reached the closest masked Original and without hesitation, Nial shrouded his fist in dark energy as he delivered a powerful blow to the chin. The sound of his jaw bones cracking echoed through the surrounding area but Nial was not yet done.

    He grabbed the masked Original, who was about to lose consciousness before he hurled him straight at the Original, who was the furthest away from his current position. The Original Nial attacked at first lost consciousness the moment he smashed into his female colleague, throwing her over like a bowling pin.

    However, even after that, Nial didn''t seem to stop yet. There were still three more masked Originals to take care of, after all!

    ''If not for my parents being here, I would have killed you guys... so be happy,'' Nial was seething in cold fury, and his expression changed. He was in a bad mood and that was clearly perceptible, especially when he released his killing intent.

    Miles and Maline began to shiver the moment they sensed the intense killing intent, while their expressions were filled with shock and disbelief.

    "Just what did you have to go through...my little boy..." Maline mumbled in shock as she witnessed how Nial disappeared in front of her eyes once again.

    He dealt out several punches, knocking down two more Originals. Meanwhile, thest Original was surrounded by more than a hundred darkness needles that would pierce into the masked Original the moment he showed any hostility to Nial or his parents.

    "It''s already over? You guys are really not that strong," Nial remarked when he finished cleaning up the trash. He retracted the excessive energy back inside his body while using his dark energy to create a few knives with his dark energy. They hovered in the air and were pressed tightly against the six Originals'' neck.

    The arrogant masked woman had gotten up from the ground and she had wanted to join the battle once again. However, the moment she stepped into the darkness that had covered the ground, her entire body was tightly bound and tied to the ground.

    She was forced to watch the entire battle unfolding itself in front of her while shey helplessly on the ground. After struggling for a while, the arrogant Original ended up freed from her restrictions, only for a knife to press against her throat.

    "W-who are you?" Her weak and restricted voice reached Nial''s ear, which caused him to smile arrogantly.

    "Do you even know, who you''re offending?!" She began to scream and the knife dug deeper into her throat, cutting her skin. Just a tiny bit more and the arrogant masked woman would have killed herself in an attempt to scare Nial.<sub> </sub>

    However, Nial could only smile at her reaction. He found the arrogant woman ridiculous.

    "I don''t care who I offended, and I''m pretty sure that I know enough about the Heaven''s Gates organization to fight, and even kill you if I wanted to," He answered lightly, shrugging his shoulders as his white milky white eyes stared straight in her direction.

    Not an ounce of fear could be seen in his expression and he was still smiling, acting as if the entire situation was just a game.

    <o>,m "I don''t care who ordered you to bring my parents back to the Heaven''s Gates, to guard my parents, or to do whatever you''ve been ordered to do...just tell them that the Dark Lord will return to question their motives!</o>

    They shouldn''t believe that they can escape my grasp without retribution...not after everything they did!" Nial dered before retracting the dark energy knives and his killing intent.

    After beating up a few members of the Heaven''s Gates organization, Nial felt much better. He breathed out in relief and began to smile once again when he turned back to his parents.

    Maline and Miles, however, looked at him in utter shock. They couldn''t believe their eyes and Maline had begun to cry once again.

    "Oh, my little baby...just what did you have to go through to be so strong...??" She asked rushing back to Nial to hug him tightly, allowing Nial to have someone to empty all of his emotions. Maline couldn''t even estimate how much pain and hardship he had to go through in order to be as powerful as he was right now.

    Not even two years had passed since they were separated and Nial was able to be strong enough to fight against the Guards that had been sent to supervise every single of their actions, movements, and thoughts.

    And that too all by himself, without a pir to rely on...without any kind of emotional support.

    "Son...you are truly amazing!" Miles acknowledged with a nod. Miles was beaming like a proud father whose son had just achieved something phenomenal and in truth, he definitely had surpassed his expectations. He didn''t care how Nial had be so powerful, especially because Nial''s mana core was supposed to restrict his growth.

    Nial didn''t have great potential. He wasn''t supposed to be powerful ording to his talent. But Nial had broken all the stereotypes and achieved something even prodigious,pletely unscathed Originals had a tough time doing.

    His son was extremely powerful and it was obvious that Nial had worked hard to achieve everything on his own. How could a father not be proud of this achievement?

    Nheless, Miles felt a bit weird now that Nial was also stronger than him but he was already familiar with that sensation, so everything was fine.

    "Should we leave?" Nial asked after a moment. He had cried enough before and he was way more interested in getting to know his family''s story.

    "Yes, yes...let''s talk! I want to know what happened to you, and who you met during thest two years! Do you have a girlfriend??" Maline sped her hands excitedly and was acting like a little child. She seemed to have aged backward, which made Miles give a radiant smile. After all, he was the one who had seen how much his wife had suffered after they were forced to separate from Nial.

    Miles was also devastated but Maline was several times worse. She was depressed for several months and it was only the hope that Nial was alive and that Sabrina might be able to get cured that allowed her to fight against the thought of taking her own life.

    "I don''t have a girlfriend, mom...but I made lots of friends...I think," Nial revealed, feeling a bit embarrassed. He smiled nheless as he turned to his father, who felt a bit confused about the entire situation.

    "Don''t be too hard on yourself. It''s not like anyone can go back and change the situation that urred two years ago. Let''s be happy to have found each other, okay?" He said in a calming tone while smiling at his father, who returned his son''s smile subconsciously.

    ''He has matured a lot...hasn''t he?'' Miles thought while shaking his head, feeling that he had a lot to learn from his own son.

    "By the way...where is Sabrina?" Nial asked finally the most important question. He wanted to know how his sister was doing and hoped for the best.

    "Well....that...is a bitplicated?" Maline suddenly said as her expression turned sour and full of anger.

    "This brat!!"

    **

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 Chapter 297 Guest

    "So she is cured? That''s amazing!!" Nial eximed in joy. He jumped up from the chair he was sitting on, and was radiating a beaming smile. He stood in the middle of the huge living room inside Miranda''s mansion.

    <o>,m Gianna was standing near the family of three and was ready to serve them the moment they needed something. The corners of her lips were curled upward as she personally witnessed the childish version of Nial for the first time. It was cute in a way she had never expected to think of Nial. After all, the young man was always dead-serious and fully focused on working hard to improve his strength.</o>

    Miles and Maline looked at their son with a simrly bright expression before Maline sighed deeply at the thought of her stubborn daughter.

    "Yeah, Sabrina is cured but she is different from before," She said with a sad expression before she shook her head as she added, "...I mean that is normal. Sabrina is cured and perfectly healthy for the first time in her life. It is only obvious that she wants to do things she had never been capable of. However, I still think that she is being too reckless¡­"

    Maline sighed at the thought of her daughter. Sabrina was cured not too long ago, yet, she acted like a reckless bunny and jumped into all kinds of danger to be stronger.

    "Reckless¡­Sabrina? That is really weird, but I can understand her somehow. When I awoke my Origin, I also felt like I would be able to do everything I wanted to. In some way that is the case, if I were, to be honest with myself. There are not many things I cannot do and I guess Sabrina will feel the same. But where is she?" Nial asked curiously. He wanted to meet his sister as well.

    His prediction was that the woman Hana had mentioned earlier was none other than his sister. However, that was something he wanted to confirm first. And to do that, he would have to find the woman, whom Hana had spoken about, or he would have to ask someone, who knew about her.

    Either way, Nial was not far from getting to know what happened to his sister. Her disease had been extremely dangerous and curing it was certainly not easy.

    "And the Guards, who protected you, prevented you also from reaching out to me, right? Looks like the Heaven''s Gates organization didn''t want anyone to find out about Sabrina¡­" Nial was exhrated that his sister was fine and that he had finally reunited with his parents. Nheless, he wanted to find out more about the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    He couldn''t really understand why there was a need to hide everything. The organization could have formerly invited Sabrina to cure her instead of abducting her. No sane parent would reject such an invitation. But the Heaven''s Gates didn''t think of acting in an official way to help Sabrina but they had forcibly kidnapped her and her parents.

    Something had to be wrong about the way they cured Sabrina''s disease, and Nial wanted to find out more about it.

    Maline wanted to make sure to inform Nial that the guards prevented them from searching for him but before she could speak Nial''s head flicked in Gianna''s direction.

    The young butler noticed something as well but Nial had already lifted his hand to signal everyone to stop talking.

    "Gianna, look after my parents for a moment, please," Nial spoke calmly as the Dragonme Spear manifested in his hand. More than a dozenpressed balls of darkness emerged around him as he approached the entrance of Miranda''s mansion.

    "N-Nial?! What is wrong?" Maline asked in fright, but Nial could only lift his hand as he quietly answered,

    "Either nothing or lots of trouble¡­"

    When Nial finished speaking, Miles dragged Maline further back. Gianna emerged in front of Nial''s parents, wielding an elegant, paper-thin ded dagger in her hand. Just by looking at it from far away one could tell that the dagger was anything but ordinary.

    Nial was able to visualize the dagger for the first time since he found out that it was actually a Spiritual Weapon but he didn''t pay much attention to it as he had to prepare himself for the worst-case scenario.

    "Nial, you fucking idiot,e out here!!" the enraged voice of a woman reached Nial''s ears. This caused him to smile oddly because he knew who talked to him like that. After remaining calm for a few seconds, Nial cleared his throat.

    "Kirlia, how have you been? Is Hana fine as well?" He asked in a low voice while trying to keep his calm as he continued to speak, "How about youe inside and tell me if Sabrina is your sister''s disciple!"

    If Kirlia was sent to drag his parents back to the Heaven''s Gates organization, he would fight her with all his might. Nial didn''t have anything against Kirlia, and she shouldn''t hate him anymore either. At least, Nial hoped that her opinion of him should have changed.

    Kirlia Maverick knew about his situation as well because Hana had told her about it one day. Hana trusted her master, which was why she shared her worries with Kirlia, despite knowing that she had broken Nial''s trust.

    However, Nial was fine with Hana''s actions. She meant it well and it was not as if it made a huge difference to Nial that Hana had told her master about his situation. Hana had been in a simr situation as Sabrina, after all.

    She had a terminal disease and was brought to the Heaven''s Gates organization that had cured her. Kirlia was well aware of theplications of the cure.

    "She is really your sister¡­well damn¡­" Kirlia blurted out in surprise before she opened the door of Miranda''s mansion. Her eyes immediately fell on the balls of darkness and the Dragonme Spear in Nial''s hand.

    Kirlia lifted her eyebrows before she turned serious.

    "You were ready to fight me to protect your parents?... That''s admirable," Kirlia stated, not hiding that she was impressed. Nial knew that he was weaker than Kirlia but he would still fight her if it was necessary to protect the people he loved. Not many would do that.

    "It''s not necessary anymore, I guess?" Nial asked all of a sudden as he retracted the balls of darkness. He stored the Dragonme spear away before he turned back to his parents to sit back down.

    "Just treat this ce like your home," He said calmly after he made sure that Kirlia would not pose a threat to them.

    Kirlia smiled wryly at hisment and stepped forward. Nial''s parents looked at her warily. They knew Kirlia Maverick, had seen her a few times with Sabrina''s mentor and another young veiled woman, and they knew her temperament.

    Upon seeing her smile faintly, Maline and Miles flinched. They were sure that Kirlia was nning to take them back to the Heaven''s Gates organization, and that she wanted to separate them from Nial once again.<sub> </sub>

    However, Kirlia merely sat down on the couch in the living room, while Nial made himselffortable in the chair next to the couch.

    "Why didn''t you bring Hana as well?" Nial asked with a faint smile on his face. His [Mana Sense] didn''t detect any ill-intentions from Kirlia, which was why Nial could remain so calm.

    ''I really didn''t want to fight her. Lucky me, I guess¡­'' He thought while cold sweat trickled down his back.

    "Hana is with my sister, Kristine, right now. Hana and Kristine''s disciples are currently receiving some preparatory lessons about their next mission," Kirlia said without the intention to hide anything. Somehow, Kirlia had grown oddly calm after stepping inside Miranda''s mansion. This surprised Nial a bit but it was definitely not like he disliked it!

    "Is my sister Kristine''s disciple or not? Wait¡­do you even know that because Hana said that Kristine''s disciple covers herself up in veils and cloaks even more than her?" Nial asked while squinting his eyes.

    Kirlia smiled in return before she shrugged her shoulders.

    "Well, I guess. Your parents and Kristine''s disciple were brought to the Heaven''s Gates headquarters nearly at the same time, so I think my sister''s disciple could very well be your sister. But as you already told me, it''s not like I can tell you for sure because Kristine is extremely careful and meticulous about not exposing her disciple''s identity," Kirlia bit her lower lip nervously but her words made it quite obvious that her sister was Sabrina''s master!

    At that moment, Maline and Miles approached the coach.

    "Sabrina told us a bit about her mentor¡­I even saw her picture, and Kirlia looks quite simr to Sabrina''s mentor¡­." Maline suddenly recalled and provided thest missing piece toplete the puzzle.

    ''At least I can be certain where Sabrina is¡­'' Nial thought as he shrugged.

    It had been a bit confusing but now it would be much easier to find his sister.

    "I guess it''s good that Kristine thinks highly of keeping Sabrina''s identity a secret from the outside world. Nobody will bother her more than necessary then," Nial mumbled thinking that it would be a mess if he were to be connected to Sabrina.

    In the future, this would happen but if it was possible to postpone something troublesome this would be for their best.

    "As long as she is healthy, everything is fine!" He sighed loudly, which made everyone give him a warm smile.

    ''He really loves his family¡­''

    "If you''re not here to take my parents back, why did youe?" Nial blurted as he turned back to Kirlia. She wouldn''te to him for no reason.

    "If someone beats up members of the Heaven''s Gates Guards while threatening the entire organization by saying that he woulde over to ''question'' it, we cannot stand idle.

    I was told to beat the Dark Lord into a pulp and to humiliate you publicly, but that is actually a bit childish. It''s embarrassing to do, and entirely useless in my opinion," Kirlia said honestly, feeling like her organization had turned into a ce filled with dumb monkeys.

    "I can understand their intentions. Their reputation is at stake because of all the losses they incurred in thest few months.

    First the Mutant Minotaur, then the attack of the Dryx, and now I openly humiliated them by beating up a bunch of arrogant idiots," Nial nearlyughed when he recalled how easily he had beaten up his parents'' ''Guards''.

    In fact, most ordinary people were not really a challenge to him.

    That was mostly because of his dark energy. His Dark energy was much stronger than most energies and abilities could be at his rank.

    Through the highly destructive power that could be used in numerous ways, it was possible for him to transcend ranks.

    But that was not everything because his physical strength was much higher than that of ordinary Originals.

    He possessed more Mana than ordinary Originals as well, which made things even easier for Nial.

    After all, he was in possession of an Ancient Origin ring instead of any of the four ''normal'' Origin rings others created.

    However, Nial also thought that it was time for him to find stronger opponents.

    Defeating stronger opponents meant that he would gain more benefits.

    ''Looks like the U21 Runicier tournament is even more important for my future growth than I would have expected¡­''

 Chapter 298 Nial, The Fox

    "Is Sabrina and Hana''s mission rted to the released rumors about the arrival of other races or Jundra''s mana awakening?" Nial asked after he chatted a bit with Kirlia.

    His parents had warmed up to Kirlia after some time. They realized that Kirlia was nice to Nial and that she treated him with respect. This astonished them a bit but it made them happy nheless.

    "Our son is amazing..." Miles whispered to his wife after hearing about all the things Nial seemed to have done in the time they had been separated.

    Nial smiled when he heard his father''s whisper but he remained focused on Kirlia, who smiled wryly.

    "You don''t need to be suspicious about me. I didn''t reveal the rumors we wanted to share. Someone else did, and I have no idea who that someone might be," She cleared their doubts but Nial could only frown.

    "You are avoiding my question, aren''t you?" Nail said pointedly but Kirlia didn''t seem to be on the same wavelength as Nial in that regard.

    "Even if I want to tell you, their mission is top secret. Only my sister knows about the details of their mission, and Hana won''t tell me anything either," Kirlia shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing special, but her mana was unstable when she revealed that Hana didn''t tell her about the content of the mission.

    It irked Kirlia, and Nial sensed that.

    ''Looks like there is something even Hana hides from her master...weird,'' Nial thought before he returned his focus on the most important factors.

    "Is Kristine a Prometheus Original?" He asked bluntly, ignoring Kirlia''s surly mood entirely.

    "Eh? Yes she is, why?" Kirlia frowned as she looked at Nial but he only shook his head.

    "No particr reason. Is the Heaven''s Gates organization still in need of runic armaments? Tier-0 runic armaments in particr," Nial ignored her question and continued to bombard her with his own doubts.

    Kirlia''s frown deepened when he didn''t answer her but it didn''t surprise her as she had gotten to know about Nial''s personality by now. Taking a deep breath to calm her mind, Kirlia recalled that Nial, Miranda, and Mathias had sold ungraded runic armaments during the Gier auction.

    "First of all, don''t even think about attacking the Heaven''s Gates organization just to see your sister. Even if you have received a title and the favor of the Elven race, I doubt that you will be able to see your sister before they kill you.

    Second, we need runic armaments, as many as possible. The merchants sell them at an exorbitant price and the Elves don''t sell many Tier-0 runic weapons. The price of their runic armaments is not much cheaper either.

    If you have some ungraded runic armaments to sell, the organization will buy them at a good price. We are also willing to buy more of the runic armaments you and Mathias procured in the Rookie dungeon of the ancient ruins!" Kirlia was more of a businesswoman than abatant. She was proficient and talented in the ways of fighting but she liked managing finances much more than shing with opponents on the battlefield.

    Nial smiled at Kirlia''s response. He knew from Miranda and his own deductions that Kirlia was very interested in runic armaments and the Heaven''s Gates organization was struggling to find and nourish Runiciers, which they needed almost desperately.

    The organization was in need of all kinds of items that would elerate the speed with which they conquered dungeons and Nial wanted to make use of this.

    "Then how about you invite me inside the Heaven''s Gates headquarters?" Nial asked while looking extremely confident. Kirlia could only look at him as if he was an idiot and she could hardly hold back from cursing at him.

    "Why would I do that? Considering that you have an extremely precise range of perception, you are bound to find out some of our well-kept secrets the moment you enter our headquarters!" Kirlia felt like twisting Nial''s neck because he was talking as if it was as easy as strolling through a park.

    It was almost as if he didn''t take the entire Heaven''s Gates organization seriously. Maline and Miles looked at their son in doubt as well. They knew that the Heaven''s Gates organization was one of the strongest organizations of mankind.

    Offending them was definitely not something Nial was supposed to do. Defeating the Guards was already enough for the Heaven''s Gates to feel offended but it looked like Nial was not yet done because he wanted more.

    "I have many Tier-1 runic armaments, a few heavy Tier-2 runic longswords, three more Tier-2 Guardian Knights, full armors, and I can create Mid ranked Tier-0 runic armaments as well..." Nial said calmly, ignoring his parents'' gaze and Kirlia''s anger as he added, "...ah, and I have around 100 books about Runiciers, runic armaments, runic constetions and so on.

    If the Heaven''s Gates organization wants to restore their former glory and get back to the top from the slump they fell into, they should allow me to see my sister, and they should allow my parents to go wherever they want, whether that is to stay with Sabrina, or to follow me to the Forest of Life once I''m done here."

    Nial didn''t think that his requirements were much. Seeing his sister once and allowing his parents to do whatever they wanted to do was actually something quite simple.

    Kirlia''s expression changed drastically when she heard what Nial said.

    "Wait...you were the one who sold the Tier-2 runic puppets, the Guardian Knight, at the Gier auction? And you have more of them?... and you are willing to sell more books to the organization?" Kirlia asked to which Nial only nodded his head.

    "Mathias and I sold the Guardian Knights. In fact, most runic armaments at the Gier auction were sold by us. We needed some money," he revealed nonchntly.

    "And...you can create Tier-0 runic armaments...all by yourself?" Kirlia felt dizzy because of the facts Nial unveiled to her. Should she really believe that Nial was not only a monster in terms ofbat talent but that he was also monstrously talented in the ways of a Runicier?

    "Exactly. Does that mean I can get an invitation to the headquarters, preferably before Hana and Sabrina''s mysterious mission begins?" Nial asked, still smiling as he got a great idea.

    "If I cannot meet my sister, the deal is off," He uttered before he snapped his fingers.

    A longsword with three runic constetions engraved on it emerged in Nial''s hand. He inserted mana inside all runic constetions which activated them at once.

    The longsword''s de was shrouded in a membrane of mana that caught fire all of a sudden and the sword''s edge gleamed brightly as if it was sharpened.

    "Take a look at this and show it to your superior if it''s necessary for inspection. I made it," Nial said when he threw the longsword in Kirlia''s direction.<sub> </sub>

    She caught it smoothly and immediately felt how exceptional the weapon was.

    "This is a casted weapon, isn''t it? Dark Gold...three runic constetions...[Sharpness] and...I don''t know about the others..." Kirlia mumbled as she quickly investigated the weapon. Her gaze kept flicking from the weapon to Nial.

    "You...how does it require so little mana to be sustained? I could sustain the runic constetions for several hours if I wanted to..." She asked dumbfoundedly, not realizing that everything she did was exactly what Nial wanted from her.

    "My perception grade is 100% with these Basic runic constetions which means that they require less mana to be activated. You can also insert more mana to increase the [Sharpness], thicken the [Mana Membrane], or re up the [Miniature me]," Nial exined calmly before he opened the holographic screen of the Originals bracelet to check the time.

    "It''s already sote...I wonder if I can still meet my sister, or if she already left for her mysterious mission..." Nial''s acting was extremely bad and he hoped that he sounded stressed out. He was eerily calm and intentionally forced Kirlia to take a look at the clock. It was not thatte but her eyes involuntarily nced over to the Tier-0 runic longsword she was holding in her hand.

    ''If he can create a few dozen or maybe even more than a hundred of them we would be able to get a lot more resources back in return for the time we saved in conquering our dungeons...these weapons are literally treasures...'' Kirlia ground her teeth in annoyance.

    Her eyes stared at Nial with a trace of anger and hate, and she couldn''t help herself but curse at him.

    "You are a little shia€¡°-....fox...you...argh!!"

    Kirlia was overwhelmed by all the things that were happening but she jumped up from the couch nheless.

    "I will take my leave. Here are my contacts...message me so I can call youter..." Kirlia transferred the contacts to Nial''s Originals bracelet and he epted her before sending her a small message with aughing emote next to it.

    [Hurry up!] That was what Nail wrote her and when Kirlia saw this, she reconsidered punching Nial once or twice.

    ''For the sake of the organization, I will hold myself back...this time!'' She thought inwardly, repeating the same phrase over and over again like a mantra.

    Kirlia rushed outside Miranda''s mansion as fast as she could while holding tightly onto the Tier-0 runic longsword. Nial perceived that she turned into a sh and disappeared as her speed elerated drastically.

    "Are the weapons you created that impressive?" Maline suddenly asked, her gaze following Kirlia for the entire time she was present. As a mother, she couldn''t help but feel vignt about Kirlia''s behavior. Nial had gotten to know too many suspicious women and that worried her a bit.

    "I guess so," Nial replied while trying to make it seem as if he was not doing anything special. He didn''t want to show off in front of his parents. It was embarrassing and he had better things to do than to brag about his talent.

    "Nial is the first human to create a Tier-0 runic armament! He is amazing, and he has gained the favor of the entire Elven race as well! His Runicier teacher is an Elf as well!" Gianna suddenly decided to jump in and revealed a few more pieces of information about Nial. Nial didn''t like this but Gianna couldn''t care less because it looked like Miles and Maline were truly impressed.

    "Woah...Nial, are you a prodigy?!" Miles asked his son in shock, which made Nial''s lips twitch.

    "Is that so oundish?" Nial asked in return, turning his head back to his father, who could only stare into Nial''s lifeless milky white eyes.

    "Oho, are you starting to be prideful?" Maline asked while giggling as she held her hands in front of her mouth.

    She turned in Gianna''s direction before lightly patting on the seat next to her, inviting her to sit beside herself.

    "Can you tell me more about Nial? I bet he won''t tell me everything even if I were to ask him..." Maline asked with brightly gleaming eyes.

    Gianna smiled in return and sat down next to Maline. Nial waspletely ignored, and both he and Miles were forced to listen to Gianna''s retelling of Nial''s adventurers.

    "Why can''t I narrate them...I mean I was the one doing it...?" Nial asked with a frown but his mother cut him off the moment he wanted to interfere.

    "You are not allowed to speak because you will leave out the dangerous situations!" Maline dered, and both Miles and Gianna nodded their heads at that.

    "...okay..." Nial gave up with a defeated sigh and listened to Gianna''s story-telling while a bright smile stered on his face.

    ''It''s really nice to have them back...''

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 Chapter 299 Heavens Gates Headquarters

    ''Why does she know so much?'' Nial was a bit shocked. He didn''t have much to add to Gianna''s storytelling, which made him feel as if she had been present at almost every event involving him.

    "So you joined one of the deadliest military camps after we separated, you broke your arm, you were injured numerous times, the Witch of the South epted you as her disciple, you started to learn about runic weapons, the Dryx attacked the military camp, and you came to Liondra afterward¡­. are you insane? Why would you join the deadliest military camp, to begin with?!

    And then you were drafted to join the remation of the third shelter¡­where the Elves appeared all of a sudden. You approached them as if you were going to meet an old colleague, you befriended them and then you nearly died to save the Elves and the Forest of Life¡­like seriously¡­are you insane?" Maline screamed out loudly and was ready to beat some sense into her son. Nial had been in aa for an entire month and had been rendered incapable of moving for a few additional weeks.

    How could he endanger his life so often¡­didn''t he think about his parents'' mental well-being at all?

    Maline was fuming in anger, but in the end, she also understood that Nial had done everything to be stronger and be capable enough to find them as quickly as possible. Thus, guilt and regret filled her. She had forced her son to endure so much pain and to work tirelessly while it had been impossible for her and Miles to find the slightest clue about Nial''s whereabouts.

    Nial felt that his mother''s mana fluctuations were in a mess right now. Her visualized expression was also distorted, which was why he tried to avert his focus somewhere else. His attention was on Gianna as goosebumps sprang up all over his body.

    "How the hell do you know all of that? You are not stalking me, right?!" Nial blurted out, quickly covering his body with his hands. Gianna''s lips twitched when she saw what Nial did,

    "Don''t be ridiculous, honey. Gianna is a good girl!" Maline suddenly remarked and lectured her son.

    Nial just nodded his head before he felt Maline''s fingers tightly grasping his earlobe.

    "...and don''t even think that you can escape my questions just because you feel ufortable answering them! Why did you do so many dangerous things?!" Maline was fully aware that her grilling session was useless. She knew the answer but couldn''t ept it in the slightest.

    Nial could tell that answering her question would make her mother even sadder. Thus, he remained silent for a few seconds before he recalled something else.

    "Okay, Gianna is a good girl, just don''t me me for being suspicious," Nialughed lightly before he turned more serious as a few seconds passed.

    "By the way, mom, dad, do you want toe to the Forest of Life? Sabrina cane with us as well. That is if she wants to¡­but she might feelfortable in the Heaven''s Gates. That is if they treat her well. She may like her mentor or so¡­" He asked while his eyes were trained on his parents.

    Nial was pretty sure that the Heaven''s Gates organization would ''exchange'' his parents with Tier-0 runic armaments in the blink of an eye. Maline and Miles were not actually of any value to the Heaven''s Gates organization and they were only ''protected'' and restricted because Kristine wanted to make sure that Sabrina''s identity would remain a secret.

    This had been a big downside for Nial because it had been impossible for him to contact his family but it was not as if he felt only hate toward the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    Even now, he was not sure how Sabrina''s terminal illness had been cured. He was thankful to the Heaven''s Gates organization for curing her, even though he hated the fact that they had kidnapped her and his family.

    His life hadn''t been easy but his family was more important to him than the inconvenience he had faced. As long as his parents and his sister were fine, Nial could even face genuine Gods!

    "If it won''t burden you, or be an inconvenience to you or Sabrina, we would love to follow you to the Forest of Life. We''ve heard a bit about the Elves inside the Forest of Life and thought that it would be quite rxing to live there¡­but I don''t know what Sabrina will think about this¡­" Miles revealed his honest thoughts and Maline nodded her head. Maline remained silent but it was obvious that she worried a lot about her beloved daughter.

    Sabrina might have been cured but life would never be easy, even less if all the rumors that spread through the shelters were to be believed.

    "That''s another reason why I want to see her. I will invite her to the Forest of Life as well, and she cane there whenever she doesn''t have some important missions to participate in. The Forest of Life is the best ce to absorb mana and conquer resourceful dungeons. I genuinely doubt that the Heaven''s Gates organization doesn''t n to expand to the nearby shelter that is going to be built," Nial exined before he continued to speak with a smirk,

    "I was rewarded somend in the new shelters which means that Sabrina, and both of you, mom and dad, can build your ownfortable ce to live there as well. I can provide the funds for that as well."

    Nial was quite nonchnt about money, especially since he could earn more than enough in an extremely short period. Creating Tier-0 runic armaments was not exactly difficult for him anymore and Nial''s only issue was theck of runic constetions.

    Master Crevian demanded from Nial to be perfect with every new runic constetion he learned, and put a condition that he wouldn''t be taught a new one unless he perfected the previous one. This was quite strict in his opinion but also somewhat understandable because Nial''s foundation would be perfect as long as every runic constetion he learned was at a perfect grade, literally!

    "So¡­we will be able to stay with both of you?" Maline asked with teary eyes. Her voice was shaking and Nial felt that he had said something wrong even though he knew he hadn''t.

    The entire situation was a bit weird but Nial could only nod his head.

    "As long as neither Sabrina nor I have something to take care of, we will be with you¡­and dad, of course," Nial answered with a faint smile.<sub> </sub>

    ''I cannot really tell them that I need to focus on bing a full-fledged Runicier in the next 13 months and that I will leave Jundra for an unknown amount of time afterward, can I?'' He thought while feeling a bit conflicted.

    Nial had just reunited with his family and considering his mother''s mental state, it was definitely not the best move to tell her that he would leave soon, or that he didn''t have much time to spend with them.

    In the end, It was all for their good but that was not something Nial would tell them, not now.

    He chose to work hard and be strong enough to allow the entire human race to grow and survive. With their survival, it was more likely for his family to be able to survive as well.

    However, advancing mankind''s overall strength was not enough for him because Nial needed to be powerful as an individual to protect his family from every cmity that would unleash itself on the the moment Jundra''sary mana core would awaken!

    They kept talking non-stop and it was not long before Nail began to rx. Since he had been separated from his family, life had been extremely hard for him. However, now that he had reunited with his parents, everything seemed to have be much easier.

    The tension in his entire body was released and he was finally able to breathe in relief. There was no need for him to pressure himself anymore because he could tell that his family was doing fine. They were healthy and Nial didn''t think that it would be a problem for them to move to the Forest of Life.

    When Kirlia sent him a message, Nial tensed up for a second before he calmed down moments after he visualized the message in his mind.

    [Your sister is still in the headquarters. Come over, if you want to see her. You can bring your parents as well. They can do whatever they want ording to my superior. If you want to, you can bring them to the Forest of Life. The Heaven''s Gates organization has nothing against this.]

    Nial smiled when he read the message and he got up from thefortable chair.

    "Kirlia messaged me. We can go over to see Sabrina," He said calmly and Maline jumped up from the chair at once.

    "Finally, I can see my baby girl again!" Maline clenched her fist with a bright smile on her face. Miles smiled as well when he got up from the chair.

    ''Looks like they weren''t able to see Sabrina often'' Nial thought, not trying to hide that he was a bit sad about that. If the Heaven''s Gates kidnapped his entire family, they should have the decency to let them stay together, at the very least.

    But it was not as if Nial knew how his family had been treated by the Heaven''s Gates organization. He was just biased against them, which was why his mind was running wild whenever he picked up something new.

    Leaving Gianna behind, they left Miranda''s mansion and got into a shuttle that brought them in front of the Heaven''s Gates headquarters.

    The entire building was isted with the use of various unique istion arrays. They were quite powerful but none of them was perfect. Their potency was much lower than the most ordinary runic constetions as well. However, this was advantageous for Nial because it allowed him to perceive everything nheless.

    As long as he used bits of mana to activate and sustain his innate ability [Mana Sense], Nial was able to perceive and visualize everything in his surroundings.

    The Heaven''s Gates organization was a huge skyscraper whose outer walls were made of darkened ss. The darkened ss had a very high mana conductivity which was how the entire headquarter was able to block off most surveince abilities that were used by nosy Originals or spies.

    "Nial, you''re finally here!" Kirlia said impatiently as she stepped out of the building. She rushed over to him and wanted to pull him inside but Nial just stepped aside when she reached for him.

    His entire focus was directed at the entrance of the Heaven''s Gates organization, where two veiled women were standing.

    One was Hana, whom Nial recognized immediately and the other one caused Nial to smile brightly.

    When the second veiled woman saw Nial''s smile she froze for a second before she turned into a sh.

    The veiled woman smashed straight into Nial, nearly knocking him over as her terrifyingly high physical strength impacted on him like a cannonball.

    "Looks like you became a tad stronger, sis,"

 Chapter 300 Weird Mentor

    "Niall!!" Sabrina cried out as she hugged her brother tightly in front of the Heaven''s Gates headquarters.

    Nial''s breath was nearly taken away as she tightly wrapped her hands around him and for a second he struggled to stay conscious.

    ''What the hell is that strength?!'' He wondered while he continued to endure his sister''s hug. She was still covered in a concealment robe and a veil covered the lower half of her head but that didn''t matter. Nial was still able to tell that she was his sister.

    He was relieved to have found her and smiled brightly despite the bone-crushing strength Sabrina used to hug him. The pain was something he would happily endure.

    "How have you been, little monster?" Nial asked in a gentle tone as he patted Sabrina''s back lightly.

    Sabrina flinched for a moment as if it had been a long time since she had been called a little monster by her older brother. She didn''t dislike it and simply hugged him even tighter.

    "I''m still alive, cured, and much stronger than ever since I awoke my Origin...My mentor is the coolest and she teaches me a lot!" Sabrina answered in-between her sobs. His sister sounded genuinely happy, and Nial didn''t think that she would be lying to him.

    He visualized the woman behind Hana as well and quickly concluded that it was Kristine, Sabrina''s mentor. She was simply staring at the siblings'' emotional reunion and letting them have their moment.

    This was somewhat unexpected in Nial''s opinion because Sabrina''s identity might get exposed as they were hugging each other right in front of the Heaven''s Gates Headquarters but Nial didn''t give that much importance.

    After a few minutes passed, Sabrina was finally able to let go of Nial. She smiled teary-eyed at Nial as Hana and Kristine stepped forward.

    "Looks like you''re doing fine as well, Hana," Nial said lightly, showing her a faint smile before he turned toward Kristine, the Prometheus Original, who had caused all the trouble.

    She had short blonde hair, which was the only distinct difference between her and Kirlia. Other than that, the appearance of both sisters was quite fierce and fear-indulging for most men.

    Nial was unfazed even after he visualized Kristine''s face.

    "Greetings to my sister''s Master. My name is Nial Orin, nice meeting you!" Nial introduced himself calmly before he extended his hand to greet Kristine.

    Sabrina''s mentor sized up Nial three times before she squinted her eyes before extending her hand to shake Nial''s hand as well.

    "Kristine Maverick, I am your Sister''s mentor as you may have figured out by now," She introduced herself before pulling him a bit closer the moment she grasped his hand.

    "I''m curious about you, little boy. You are not normal. Tell me, how did you defeat your parents'' Guards?" Kristine asked without a trace of hesitation.

    Her almost ck eyes turned purplish and a trace of craziness seemed to appear on her face. Sabrina frowned and was about to intervene to prevent any untoward incident from urring. However, the moment Sabrina saw her brother sh a bright smile at Kristine, she stopped.

    "These Guards are like some dogs, they make lots of sounds and bark like there is no tomorrow, but they don''t bite. It''s just that your Guards shit their pants the moment I simply roughed them up a bit," Nial shrugged his shoulders after he wiggled his hand out of Kristine''s tight grasp.

    He continued to smile as he replied, "Many people are curious about me, and I know that I''m not normal...but what is normal, either way? Isn''t that just boring?"

    Being normal was not in the trend anymore. The stronger you were the fewer people would call you normal. In that regard, Nial was willing to be the least normal human and the strongest of them all.

    "The Guards weren''t really strong. Let''s be honest, they''re more talk less action. Why do you even ept Originals with Intermediate Origin rings in your organization? And even if you ept such Originals, train them properly, please. I was bored to death..." Nial kept hurling insults straight at Kristine''s face but she didn''t seem fazed by this, at all.

    Rather, her smile widened, which made everyone around them ufortable. Only Nial and Kristine seemed to be somewhatfortable about the direction in which their discussion was heading.

    "I know that they''re trash. But it should still be enough to defeat someone with one Superior Origin ring!" She answered nonchntly, epting the fact that the Guards were not exactly powerful.

    "Masterrr!!!" Sabrina suddenly shouted out after she stepped between Nial and Kristine, grasping her master tightly.

    "Let''s go inside. You didn''t want to attract too much attention, did you forget that already?" She asked while pulling her master back inside the building.

    Nial smiled when he saw this and he realized quite a few things.

    "Looks like there was no reason for me to be overly worried about Sabrina. Her mentor seems to be a decent human being," He mumbled before he stepped inside the Heaven''s Gates headquarters as well.

    Meanwhile, Maline and Miles looked at each other in dumbfounding.

    "Our kids are not normal..." Miles mumbled and Maline could only nod her head.

    "At least they still love each other. Their bond is still strong... It''s just Sabrina''s mentor, who is...confusing?" Maline said skeptically while trying hard to find the correct words.<sub> </sub>

    She didn''t think that it would be so easy to meet up with her lovely daughter, even less because Nial was not actually permitted to enter the headquarters, let alone to see Sabrina.

    Ever since Sabrina had woken up her Origin, everyone treated her with the utmost respect, and only her mentor, Kristine Maverick, had been allowed to stay by her side all day. Even Maline and Miles were not allowed to meet Sabrina often because she received lessons all day around.

    It was almost as if the entire Heaven''s Gates organization was focused on nourishing her. Miles and Maline didn''t understand why Sabrina received so much nourishment and attention but they couldn''t reallyin if their daughter was considered a bit special.

    However, Kristine''s sudden interest in Nial confused them once again.

    "Nial should have told you about the things he has gone through by now, or not? Maybe you cannot understand how important Nial is to the entire human race because you are his parents and think of him as someone irreceable in your life since he was born but he is far more important than you seem to understand," Hana exined as she turned her focus back to Nial, Sabrina, and Kristine.

    Her eyes looked a bit lonely and she seemed to be jealous that Sabrina was loved dearly by her parents and her brother. Hana knew that Nial had given his utmost efforts to be stronger to reunite with his family.

    His strength was the result of his rather drastic choices, such as binding a curse to his mana core, his relentless efforts to be stronger, and making use of the opportunities that appeared in front of him.

    "How nice it must be to have a family..." Hana sighed out loud, only to realize a bitte of what she had just muttered. Nial''s parents looked over to Hana with a confused expression. First, they looked at their son as if he was the same feeble and weak young man he had been two years ago.

    He was their little baby and that would never change. Hana''sment on Nial''s importance was something they understood, especially after everything Gianna had told them but it was not as if they could fully ept what was going on. It was simply too confusing to imagine their little one suddenly bing one of the most important humans on the.

    He was a Runicier, the first one human to create Tier-0 runic armaments and there were numerous other factors that showed just how important and talented he was but all of that didn''t matter to Miles and Maline. All they wanted for their son was to be healthy and that life would return to the same way it had been before they had been separated from him.

    Only Sabrina''s terminal illness was supposed to bepletely cured and gone. Unfortunately, their dream was not something that could possiblye true. Both Sabrina and Nial had tasted how life was when they were ill and at their lowest. They never wanted to return to their old, weak selves and both desired to protect their family.

    Strength was everything they needed for this, and if that meant that they couldn''t always be together with their family, it had to be like this!

    Meanwhile, as Maline and Miles were dreaming about the impossible future, Kirlia looked at her disciple with a sad expression.

    "You can build your own family in the future..." Kirlia said to her disciple, who could only sigh deeply when she heard this.

    "Is that so...even with my condition? Will I really be loved or will their mind be influenced by my Charm...?" Hana answered in a nearly inaudible whisper.

    Nial turned around and he could hear everything around him clearly which made him smile sadly. It was impossible for him to imagine how she must be feeling but he sympathized with her. After all, he could tell how others had reacted when Hana''s veil had been damaged in the slightest.

    ''I wonder if a concealment ability would help her...or a runic armament that conceals someone''s natural charming presence, or their aura, or something like that...'' He wondered while telling himself to look out for something like this when he was with Master Crevian, or when he would participate in the U21 Runicier tournament.

    He turned back to Kristine, who was eyeing him intently. Nial didn''t need to move his head to perceive and visualize everything around him with his range of perception and [Mana Sense], but others felt better when it looked like his entire focus was on them.

    "Ms. Maverick, I want to thank you for curing Sabrina''s terminal illness," Nial expressed his gratitude to Kristine all of a sudden, which caused her to look at him in astonishment.

    She had expected him to hate her. After all, if Nial hadn''t been powerful and with the capabilities to fight for his right to see his family again, he would have never met them again. In her opinion, Nial should be well aware of this too but it didn''t look like that mattered to him at all.

    His expression showed his genuine gratefulness and love for his sister. Kristine was baffled about that but she quickly regained herposure as she cleared her throat.

    "No problem... don''t call me Ms. Maverick, but Kristine," She corrected him before she thought of something.

    "If I''m not wrong you said that you''ll bring your parents to the Forest of Life and that you want Sabrina toe along as well," Kristine recalled that her sister had told her something like that. Nial nodded his head before he corrected Kristine,

    "As long as my parents and Sabrina are willing toe, I would bring them to the Forest of Life, or to thend I was given in the new shelter that will be built near the Forest of Life. Sabrina''s growth and progress wouldn''t be hampered in any way in or near the Forest of Life. In fact, I''m pretty sure that she can grow faster.

    Furthermore, the Heaven''s Gates organization will probably branch out to the new shelter, or won''t they?" Nial asked with a knowing smile on his face.

    "That''s correct, the Heaven''s Gates wants to focus on the Forest of Life, especially since the dungeons around them have far more resources than the dungeons anywhere else. Hana, for example, is liked by the Elves because mana adores her. Sabrina will probably face the same situation because her affinity with mana is exceptional.

    That means we might be able to start trading with the Elves, which would allow the organization to slowly restore its former glory...I hope," Kristine nodded her head. She didn''t intend to hide anything, which made things much easier for Nial.

    "In that casea€¡°..." Nial was just about to propose something when he noticed that Kristine''s demeanor changed and he quieted down.

    "Don''t even think about it! Hana and Sabrina have toplete their mission. This is of utmost importance!" Kristine dered with a serious expression and as if she didn''t ept anyone to refute her.

    "What the hell is that mission, to begin with?!"

 Chapter 301 Legacy

    "Isn''t it obvious that I am not going to tell you what kind of mission Hana and Sabrina will have toplete?" Kristine asked, smiling weirdly at Nial. She felt like Nial was asking for trouble but the innocent look on his face made it hard for her to actually believe that.

    Nial seemed like a big headache, especially because he did whatever he wanted. There was nothing he wouldn''t do as long as he desired it enough. This was quite troublesome and Nial didn''t see that anything was wrong with this.

    "If you don''t want to tell me about it, that''s fine," Nial nodded his head epting Kristine''s answer quite easily. He was seated in a big office, where everyone was currently seated as well. Maline and Miles were talking to Sabrina, who had finally taken off her veil.

    It was the first time for Hana to see Sabrina without her veil and her first impression was that her friend looked like a beauty.

    Nial paid no attention to her appearance. She had long brown hair, wless skin just like him and her facial features were beautiful without a doubt but that was just something Nial visualized to figure out that she was unscathed and that there was no scar on her body.

    Sabrina''s body and the highly-potent mana it executed subconsciously were quite interesting but Nial didn''t pay too much attention to it.

    His parents had already told him that Sabrina had awoken some sort of special constitution when she awoke her Origin.

    "But if something were to go wrong, message me immediately¡­ I wille over to bring them back from wherever you send them ¡­." Nial said in a serious tone. He knew that Kristine didn''t really take him seriously but that was not something he could be concerned about. If push came to shove, she would definitely ask him for help¡­though, Nial hoped that this time would nevere.

    "Yeah, you won''t be able to go there buddy," Kristineughed lightly, not taking Nial seriously just as he had expected.

    "Oh, believe me, I can and I will, even if I have to break into the dimensions where Trials of the Gods are held," Nial said with determination that attracted some attention from all the people around him when he spoke about some ''Trials of the Gods''.

    None of them knew what the Trials of the Gods, which Nial was talking about, were. This was also why Kristine could only smile lightly as she gave him a final answer after she looked at the time.

    "That''s weird but whatever. Just use the next half an hour to speak with your sister. I don''t really care what kind of n you and your family are hatching but keep in mind that I want Sabrina''s identity to remain a secret. If you cannot give me that reassurance, I will take her away again!"

    Nial felt that Kristine was the weird one and not him but it was not as if he could just beat her up and flee with Sabrina and his parents. There was no need to do that, to begin with, and it would only cause more harm than good.

    Because of that, he got up and went over to his family, where he began to spend the next half an hour by lightly sharing what he had gone through. He asked Sabrina, how she had been and what exactly her special constitution was.

    With these light questions, Nial was able to get small details out of Sabrina, which made things much easier for him to understand. Damian''s memories were apparent in his mind and Nial went through them to figure out if her constitution was something the Late God of Darkness had known about, if it was something dangerous Nial had to pay attention to, or if the constitution was actually somethingpletely different.

    In most cases, humanspared special constitutions to Innate abilities because both would awaken with the Origin, however, in reality, it was not the same.

    Constitutions were more like Special traits the body possessed such as superhuman strength, or an extraordinary Stamina regeneration. As for Innate abilities, they were special powers that could be passive but also actively used.

    Both Special traits and Innate abilities would be stronger as long as the wielder advanced in the ranks but Special traits would never hold memories. On the other hand, Innate abilities were something mysterious and had the possibility to store the memories of their previous wielders!

    The more time passed, the easier it was for Nial to find out what was going on. Damian''s memories were of exceptional use, and they calmed Nial quite a bit.

    When half an hour had psed, a golden portal manifested in front of Sabrina. It appeared out of nowhere and didn''t require the slightest bit of mana to be sustained. Miles and Maline jumped up the moment the portal appeared in front of them.

    They were frightened and thought that a dungeon portal was forming right in front of them. However, after seeing that Nial and the others were extremely calm, they were stupefied.

    "What is going on here?!" Miles asked when he returned to his senses. He could clearly tell that a golden portal had manifested in front of his dear daughter, while a dark-purplish portal had manifested in front of Hana.

    "That''s interesting¡­these portals don''t belong to some Innate ability''s traits¡­fascinating¡­" Nial mumbled as he reached through the golden light of the golden portal. With his precise range of perception and his [Mana Sense] fully focused on the golden and the purple portal, Nial attempted to get his hands on a few pieces of information.

    It was not easy but thanks to Damian''s memories, he was capable of forming a few theories in his mind.

    "Yuu won''t be able to figure out what exactly these portals are, so don''t even try, Nial," Kristine advised him in a mocking tone while a prideful expression formed on her face. However, her expression froze when she noticed that Nial didn''t really seem impressed by her words.

    "Is that so? Okay then," He merely said, wiping away the triumphant smile from Kristine''s face.

    ''I wonder how they were able to activate their Legacy¡­'' Nial wondered when he found out what exactly Hana and Sabrina were doing.

    ''This is definitely the Legacy portal created by a special existence that can only be entered by those with the same special condition¡­.Thanks for showing that to me directly, smartass,'' He shook his head, thinking that Kristine was a bit too arrogant but he didn''t say his thoughts out loud.<sub> </sub>

    After all, he was not suicidal enough to insult a Prometheus Original, not directly at least, and it was not necessary for him to reveal that he actually knew where Sabrina was going and what she was going to do.

    "She will be a lot stronger when she returns¡­ that is more than enough for me to know!" Nial replied before he turned his attention back to his sister, whom he hugged tightly.

    He looked at Hana and instead of leaving her hanging, Nial went over to her to give her a hug as well. Since he heard her sad remark when she spoke about how nice it must be to have a family, Nial felt a bit sorry for her. After all, it felt almost as if they were showing off their family bond.

    That was one of the reasons why he went over to hug Hana. Another one was the simple fact that he was the only one, who could hug her without worries.

    "Get your Charm under control, otherwise, you will be stuck with me¡­haha," Nial said jokingly before he turned serious and added,

    "But seriously, don''t die and take care of yourself if you don''t want your friends and your master to get sad!"

    Everyone looked weirdly at Nial when he hugged Hana. Miles looked at his son pridefully while Maline could only remember that nobody dared to touch Hana without hesitation and after taking a lot of precautions.

    Hana was the only one who was still fully covered by her veil and the mana istion robe, but even that was usually not enough for others to be able to hug her.

    Kirlia knew this very well, which was also the reason why her eyes widened when she realized that Nial was totally unaffected by Hana''s Charm.

    Hana stiffened for a moment because she thought that her condition would be activated and that Nial would be affected by it but when she recalled that Nial didn''t face any issues with her condition, she lightly hugged him back.

    "Okay¡­I will take care of myself¡­" She reassured Nial before letting go of him. Hana was embarrassed when she saw the cheeky smile on Sabrina''s face, which was why she forgot to wave to everyone and quickly rushed inside the purple portal.

    "I didn''t even know that you became a gigolo, Nial," Sabrina teased crudely before she giggled lightly when she saw the confused expression on her brother''s face.

    "Whatever, just pay attention to yourself as well. If you get injured, mom and dad will be sad¡­and I will lecture you enough so that you will never dare to do something foolish again!" Nial warned her and gave her a small smile.

    "Let''s have a spar when you''re back. I want to show you how impressive your big brother is!" He dered before he jokingly flexed his biceps.

    Sabrina giggled again, while everyone else could only frown lightly. Nial was very childish when he was around his sister but that was exactly what created the firm bond between the brother-sister duo.

    "I will go now, see ya!" She said while trying hard not to giggle before she disappeared into the golden portal that vanished not long after she entered it.

    Both the golden and the purple portal disappeared, and Maline began to sob quietly because her daughter had been taken from her once again.

    ''Mom, you will have to get ustomed to that. We are adults now and we want to be stronger,'' Nial thought weakly, wondering how his mother would react when he would leave in 13 months.

    He didn''t even know how long he would be away from Jundra. But the same applied to Sabrina''s Legacy. Nial did not have the slightest clue of how long Sabrina would take before she returned and the same applied to Hana.

    "How about we go back to business now that we have time?" Kristine suddenly asked, pulling Nial out of his train of thoughts. He turned back to the table where Kristine was seated.

    She looked quite calm and was not actually bothered, let alone worried that something bad may happen to Sabrina. Legacies were definitely not something one could take lightly and Nial was pretty sure that Kristine knew about that.

    ''Does the Heaven''s Gates organization have connections to some Gods? Were they able to activate Sabrina and Hana''s Legacies because of that¡­or were they just lucky and found some special items or books with the knowledge about how Legacies are activated?''

    Nial was a bit bothered because he didn''t know from where the Heaven''s Gates got to know about Legacies but he chose not to mind it for the time being.

    Sabrina was not there anymore and Nial was pretty sure that there wouldn''t be a problem for him to reunite with her again.

    That was why he could easily remain calm as he nodded his head.

    "Alright, let''s get back to our business then!"

 Chapter 302 Business

    Nial was pretty sure that Kristine thought too highly of herself and too lowly of him. This was a bit annoying but Nial didn''t actually mind it after he was able to make use of Kristine''s prejudice to collect more information about his sister and what exactly the portal she had entered was.

    He sat down on the simple chair in front of the white wooden table and smiled lightly.

    "I should be thankful for the Heaven''s Gates'' co-operation with my earlier conditions. I''m d that I was able to see my sister, even if it was just for a short time," Nial drummed his fingers lightly on the table as he continued,

    "But that was merely the basic requirement for you to be able to strike a deal with me. I won''t make it too hard for the Heaven''s Gates organization but don''t expect any freebies."

    Nial''s voice sounded calm at first but there was an underlying fierceness in his voice that caused Kristine to look at him with a faint smile once again.

    "I didn''t expect you to be sly¡­but that is fine with me. Kirlia will be responsible for all the business between you and the Heaven''s Gates organization, not me," Kristine said lightly as she pointed to her sister.

    Kirlia frowned a bit but she had already expected that her sister would just shrug off the responsibility and delegate it to her.

    "That''s okay with me. I don''t mind with whom I''m trading as long as I get money and resources," Nial intentionally stressed the words ''money'' and ''resources'' to make it seem as if both were of exceptional importance to him.

    In the end, he was not extremely greedy for money or anything like that. He just wanted to be stronger, now even more than ever before. Nial could tell that his sister was already at the 1st Mirae rank and that she would be a lot stronger afterpleting the first stage to get her Legacy.

    Sabrina may even be strong enough to protect herself from physical harm but neither was she able to safeguard her mind nor was it possible for her to protect her parents all the time.

    It was always better to have more guardians around her and Nial even though it may be for the best to hire truly powerful Guards for 24/7 security.

    For now, this may not be necessary because there were not many people who would dare to harm their parents but Nial believed that it was a great idea to hire guards for them in the future.

    That would require a tremendous amount of resources and money, which was why Nial could prepare himself mentally by stockpiling money that he didn''t need.

    The Tier-0 runic longsword Nial gave Kirlia earlier appeared in Kristine''s hand as sheid it down on the table.

    "Can you create 1000 Tier-0 weapons with the same or simr runic constetions if we give you a month?" Kirlia asked all of a sudden, ignoring her sister, who had already opened her mouth to ask a simr question.

    "1000 Tier-0 runic weapons with three runic constetions that have a perfection grade of 100%...in a month?" Nial repeated in shock. He was a bit baffled about their requirement.

    The Heaven''s Gates organization knew very well how difficult it was for their Runiciers to create just a single ungraded runic weapon with three runic constetions. Their perfection grade was not even close to 100%, yet, the Heaven''s Gates wanted 1000 of them in a single month.

    "That will sh a bit with my schedule, and put a lot of pressure on my capabilities. I wanted to return to the Forest of Life as quickly as possible¡­" Nial revealed his opinion before he proposed, "¡­how about 238 Tier-0 runic weapons in a month?"

    Kristine looked at him with squinted eyes when Nial asked for such a specific number. She felt that something was off but she didn''t ask anything because it was her sister''s forte to strike great business deals.

    "Why exactly 238 Tier-0 runic weapons?" Kirlia asked bluntly to which Nial answered almost instantaneously as if he had already thought of an answer beforehand.

    "I have that many Tier-0 runic weapons currently stored in my spatial ring¡­but unfortunately, they''re not all of the exact same quality. Some have different runic constetions engraved on them as well.

    However, that is only obvious because not every type of weapon is exactly the same, wouldn''t you agree to that?" Nial countered as he asked both Kristine and Kirlia at the same time.

    A huge battle-axe appeared in his right hand and when he inserted a trace of mana inside the runic weapon it began to vibrate. A glint spread all over the de and the edges of the de were sharpened visibly.

    Nial''s expression turned sly when he handed the runic Battle-axe to Kristine, who swung it around as if it was an ordinary stick.

    "Isn''t that Titanium copper?" Kristine asked in interest when she looked at the Battle-axe, whose double-edged des were of a bright bronze color while the handle was of a darker tone.

    Titanium copper was an exceptional material that could be used to create the sharpest weapons. It had good endurance as well, and one could say that its low flexibility was the only issue.

    Even without runic constetions, the Battle-axe was powerful enough to cut through certain Mirae ranked beasts. But considering that the [Endurance], [Sharpness], and Basic runic constetion [Rumbling] had been engraved on the Runic Battle-axe, the lethality of the weapon increased by leaps and bounds.

    "This¡­is a masterpiece¡­" Kristine acknowledged with furrowed brows and stared at Nial in confusion.

    She had been curious about Nial because he was deemed extremely powerful. The guards had also reported that they had no chance in a fight against Nial, which had been depressive. Kristine knew the guards she had hired quite well. They were not really powerful but more than strong to fend off all the nuisance around Maline and Miles.

    At least until Nial had appeared, they had proven to be quite useful, cheap, and efficient.

    However, other than Nial''sbat prowess, Kristine didn''t really think highly of Nial. He was rather despicable and forced them toply with his demands, which frustrated Kristine the most. She hated it if others ordered her around, especially those, who were weaker than her.

    Unfortunately, this didn''t make things better as she realized that Nial was also very knowledgeable in various ways, that he was resistant to Hana''s charm, and that he was talented in the ways of the Runiciers.

    "You have¡­237 more Tier-0 runic weapons lying in your spatial rings¡­and they''re of simr quality?" Kirlia repeated just to ensure that she understood him correctly. Kristine''s remark about the Battle-axe had been enough for Kirlia to understand that nearly 240 Tier-0 runic weapons of perfect quality were more than enough to equip the vast majority of their younger Originals.

    All Origin ranked Originals, and those with one to three Origin rings were able to wield the Tier-0 runic weapons for a long period. As long as they could maintain a constant influx of mana in the Runic weapon, it would be possible for the Originals to increase theirbat prowess by roughly 30%, even if they didn''t make use of an ability!

    That was exceptional and it would create an exponential growth in the speed the Originals could conquer dungeons with.

    "Exactly. All of them are of simr quality. You can check themter for yourself¡­if you''re willing to buy or trade them for resources," Nial nodded his head without quoting a price for the Tier-0 runic armaments.

    He knew that others would soon follow suit to create their first Tier-0 runic armaments. By then, the demand for Tier-0 runic armaments would slowly be fulfilled. Nial knew that and he didn''t intend topete with them, simply because he didn''t have the necessary time and his goals were quite different from the beginning.<sub> </sub>

    He just wanted to make as much profit with this trade and change his focus to something elseter.

    "That''s great¡­you also said that you have some Tier-2 heavy longswords from the Tier-2 Guardian Knight puppets as well¡­and books about Runiciers. Would you be willing to show me everything you have?" Kirlia was being extremely careful right now. She knew that Nial was not a bad person but from what she knew about the young Original, he could be a sly fox every now and then.

    It was certainly best to be careful around Nial, especially when it came to business. Kirlia didn''t want to suffer any losses, even if she didn''t think that this was possible in any way.

    "You want me to reveal everything I''ve got up my sleeve? Don''t you think that is a foolish question? I mean why would I agree to that?" Nial retorted with a bombardment of several questions and Kirlia frowned in response.

    She sighed deeply and quickly came up with something to pacify him.

    "Then how about showing me all the things you are actually willing to sell¡­or barter?" Kirlia asked, trying to make sure that Nial was not displeased. He just nodded his head in response before he essed his spatial ring.

    An entire four-meter-tall Guardian Knight puppet, holding the Tier-2 heavy longsword manifested out of nowhere, along with a total of 150 books.

    ''The books will lose the majority of their value the moment someone with 100% perfection grade for Basic runic constetion can copy and paste them, either way,'' Nial thought as he perceived the sisters'' shock at the sight of therge pile of books.

    Kristine stared at Nial as if she was doubting his identity while Kirlia cursed out loudly,

    "You tricked me during the Gier auction, didn''t you?!"

    Nial merely shrugged his shoulders in response.

    "Is that really important now?" He asked quietly before he visualized that Kirlia quietly shook her head.

    After Kirlia''s short outburst, Kyle continued to release a few runic armaments from his spatial rings that were entirely useless to him. It was more than enough if he was in possession of only one four-meter-tall Guardian Knight. But he wanted to have the option of selling the remaining ones to other organizations at a higher price.

    Miranda had found quite a few interested organizations already but she figured that it was possible for her to increase the price if another organization were to suddenly spring up like a mushroom overnight with self-made Tier-0 runic weapons and other high-tiered equipment.

    That was another reason for Nial to even consider doing business with Heaven''s Gates. After all, they were just a stepping stone!

    "No¡­it''s not really important. But what do you want in exchange for all of this? We don''t have enough liquid money, and I doubt you want to have tens of billions of dors, am I right?" Kirlia asked with a faint smile on her face. She seemed to have figured out what Nial was trying to do and she had no chance to work out something against it.

    After all, if the Heaven''s Gates didn''t want to trade with Nial, he would just go somewhere else. Too many organizations were trying their utmost to get their hands on a single book about Runiciers, and runic constetions, let alone actual Runiciers, who were already able to create ungraded runic armaments.

    "I mostly need ingredients such as ores, mana-infused sand, all types of nts, certain types of tree trunks, the body parts of some beasts, Origin crystals, and most importantly the log that has all information about all the ability crystals the Heaven''s Gates has found, bound or collected.

    In the end, I don''t have any specific requests for materials right now.

    That means we would write a debt note that you owe me X$ for all the goods I sold to you today, and the money you owe me would decrease every single time I purchase something. I would just inform you something like <I need a ton of Dark Gold ore> and you would be like <That costs 5,000,000$>. Both I and the organization would profit and be happy that way, right?" Nial suggested an example to exin clearly. He spoke slowly but the smile on his face disgusted Kristine all of a sudden.

    Even Maline and Miles looked at each other in confusion.

    "Since when has our kid be so¡­scheming? Did you teach him that?" Maline asked, frowning at her husband, who could only shake his head in response.

    "I would never do something like that¡­." He whispered before he flinched the moment he heard the wooden table crash down.

    The table was broken through the impact of her fist, and Kristine jumped up from the chair with a red face.

    "You''re insane! Why would we give you our most secret information?? The log of all reported ability crystals is our most treasured information!!" Kristine eximed, acting as if Nial was asking for the impossible.

    "Then forget it, I will look for another organization¡­" Nial dismissed her as his milky and lifeless eyes looked aimlessly at the Prometheus Original

    "You are really asking for a beating!!" Kristine growled as she took a step closer to him, and was ready to beat some sense into him. Even if he was her disciple''s brother, Nial seemed to be oblivious to the reality and Kristine was more than willing to reveal it to him!

    However, just when she took a step closer to Nial, his eyes turned pitch-ck and the outlines of something extremely terrifying formed around his face. The temperature in the room dropped drastically and darkness spread out from his feet.

    "Come and try me then¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 303 Final Deal

    The atmosphere in the room had changedpletely. Nial''s eyes were pitch-ck, and Kristine felt as if she was sucked pulled inside a ck hole the longer she looked into the infinite darkness.

    Goosebumps sprang up on her entire body and it was the first time in her life that she hesitated in front of someone with a lower rank than herself.

    Kristine stepped back and began to cough delicately to hide the fact that she was unable to control her body anymore.

    "How about we continue with the negotiations?" Kristine meekly asked as she sat down.

    She could tell that Nial was not as powerful as her but that didn''t matter at all. Kristine felt ufortable about Nial''s sudden change in demeanor and appearance, which were both things that were supposed to happen so quickly.

    ''Looks like I shouldn''t overdo it if I want him to continue trading with us¡­'' Kristine could only ept when the room temperature began to increase once again.

    Nial retracted the dark energy he had released through his feet as well as the Essence of Darkness he had released at once.

    ''This is enough to inflict fear within others, but it''s great that Kristine didn''t ignore it¡­'' Nial thought, clearly aware of the fact that he was not stronger than Kristine.

    The Darkness Essence he had umted was far less than what he had possessed during the fight against Silvian. It was pretty difficult for Nial to replenish the Darkness Essence, let alone umte more of it.

    He attempted to use the sealed Cursed Divine energy to increase his Darkness Essence, especially because it had be much easier for Nial to use the Darkness Essence after the first time where he had used it subconsciously.

    Now that he could use it, Nial wanted to learn more about Kaeldur and the Darkness Essence. He guessed that it would be pretty interesting and that it would increase his strength by leaps and bounds whenever he would find out more about the Darkness Essence.

    Unfortunately, the memories of the Late Darkness God were still not very detailed about that topic and Nial was already happy that the Darkness Essence had slowly replenished with the use of his dark energy.

    "One more of your outbursts and I''ll just go," Nial said coldly while staring in Kristine''s direction before he turned his head to Kirlia.

    "You know the value of everything I revealed. Tell your smartass sister whether you think that sharing some information about ability crystals is more valuable than all the books, and the runic armaments I revealed," Nial stated, demanding Kirlia to clear up Kristine''s misconception.

    This demand put Kirlia in a tricky position, which was why she could only clear her throat and try her best.

    "Sis¡­it''s not like he will share the information with everyone. At most, he will use it for himself or the people close to him¡­and it''s not like the Log of Ability crystals has every single existing ability crystal¡­what Nial said is correct. Sharing the Log of Ability crystals with him won''t really put us at a disadvantage, especially because Nial can just demand the same from others as well.

    You are just being a bit paranoid about revealing our organization''s secrets¡­" Kirlia tried to pacify her sister, while Nial could only smile weirdly.

    ''She chose violence, didn''t she?'' He shook his head in disappointment, thinking that Kirlia could have simply said the first few sentences. He nearlyughed when he noticed that Kristine''s mana turned unstable after hearing Kirlia but he didn''t say anything to her.

    "If you have the necessary authority to give me the Log of Ability crystals, we can seal the deal," Nial spoke in a tone of finality to Kirlia, who felt a bit weird right now.

    She tried to ignore her sister but Kristine''s expression was almost unreadable, not giving away her internal conflict.

    "Okay¡­then let''s start pricing all the items so that we cane up with a debt note¡­" Kirlia said resignedly before she and Nial put their heads together toe up with a price both parties were satisfied with.

    Roughly an hour flew by before they came up with the final pricing.

    "...." Kristine and Nial''s parents looked at the debt note in front of them before they gulped nervously.

    "Damn¡­" Miles was the first one to say something. He had never seen so many zeroes written on a check. He knew that Nial had sold their house along with the permanent slime dungeon for a million dors. Miles had been a bit sad about this when he heard about it but he could tell that they wouldn''t have a problem buying a new house¡­or building an entire shelter on their own if necessary.

    "Nial¡­you''re rich¡­" To say that Maline was astounded was an understatement. She gulped once again as her voice cracked. Nial merely smiled before he nodded his head at the number Kirlia had written down.

    "5 Billion is more than enough for me. But are you sure that your leader will ept such a high debt note?" He asked, not hiding his curiosity.

    He was pretty sure that Kirlia knew how the Runicier books could be copied, and that there were other ways to teach Runiciers than to buy all the high-tiered runic armaments from him.

    However, Kirlia didn''t even hesitate as she nodded her head.

    "You must be joking, right? The Tier-2 longswords are no less than a national treasure for our boss. I think she would pay even more for everything," Kirliaughed lightly when she noticed that Nial was a bit ufortable with the high price he was offered.

    It was obvious that Nial was not born to be a businessman. He may be a bit sly and could use psychology to force others to obey his demands but business and finances were definitely not Nial''s forte.

    "Well, whatever. I don''t need these things, either way. Resources worth five billion dors is more than enough for me," Nial shrugged his shoulders while everyone else looked at him with weird expressions.

    "Of course, that is enough. If you are not able to be a Prometheus Original with five billion dors, I wille and find you!!" Kristine suddenly burst out. She had been silent for the entire time her sister and Nial had begun to negotiate the price for all the goods Nial sold.

    Nial lifted his eyebrow when he heard this. Kristine never knew when to shut her mouth. Usually, this would be annoying but knowing that Kristine was the one to have said this, Nial could only smile wryly.

    "Yes yes, whatevere over whenever you want," Nial dismissed her yful threat before turning to his parents.<sub> </sub>

    "Do you need anything? Just tell me, I can give you everything you want. Maybe I can even help you advance your mana core''s quality. The Heaven''s Gates organization should have a few means to improve your mana core''s rank," Nial asked his parents, who were baffled by his offer.

    "N-nonono, we don''t need anything. Potential increasing treasures are way too valuable. Don''t waste the money you need to improve your rank. As a Runicier your expenses must be ridiculously high. Just try to be a better Runicier and we will be happy," Maline politely declined her son before a flood of words escaped her mouth.

    Even if she was fairly new to the concept of Runiciers, at the very least, she was able to gauge how promising this upation was after everything she had witnessed today.

    "Expensive? Not really. Even if I had no money at all, my teachers would probably sponsor me. Old Elf Crevian needs me to be my absolute best as a Runicier. There is nothing to be worried about," Nial was quite nonchnt as he tried to reassure his worried mother.

    He didn''t actually need much money, right now, and it was more of a future investment to deal with the Heaven''s Gates. The five billion dors that the Heaven''s Gates owed him were something he may or may not require in the future.

    It would be helpful to have more money either way, even if Nial was more interested in the Log of Ability crystals.

    "What does he needs you for?" Miles suddenly asked when he sensed something. Nial''s lips twitched as he noticed that he had made a big mistake.

    "It''s nothing serious¡­I will exin thatter when we will leave for the Forest of Life," Nial quickly tried to draw their attention to something else before he spoke to Kirlia, "....the Heaven''s Gates has a few treasures to increase their potential, right? I want some of them! Thanks¡­"

    Nial tried to change the topic as quickly as possible but his reaction had been weird. His parents looked at him weirdly and Nial gave his best to avoid even looking at them. This was hardly possible, which was why he understood clearly that he had messed up.

    ''Well, I would have to tell them about the Runicier tournament sooner orter, either way,'' Nial epted reality, and sincerely hoped that his mother would not dissolve into tears again.

    "I can bring them to you, but first, I should let our leader sign the debt note¡­" Kirlia responded while looking at Nial with a bit of hesitation.

    Kirlia knew that she hadn''t treated Nial well when they had first encountered each other. She had been too arrogant and Nial had suffered a bit because of her. This was something she felt apologetic for, especially now that she knew the reason for Nial''s behavior at the Gier auction.

    ''What a mess,'' Kirlia could only think before she rushed off to finish the paperwork.

    Kristine was left alone with Nial and his parents but she didn''t say anything. She was biting her lower lip nervously and trying to figure out how she could have misjudged Nial so much. Her gut feeling had clearly told her that Nial was not someone she had to be careful of.

    However, every single of Nial''s actions today was more than enough to indicate that her gut feeling was wrong and useless.

    "Kristine, can you bring me the Log of Ability crystals? Or share the link to it?" Nial asked in a carefully neutral voice, but Kristine, who had been deep in thoughts, flinched.

    "Y-yes¡­I give it to you immediately¡­" She responded quickly without issuing a single curse. Nial and his parents were confused.

    "Her personality is¡­weird¡­" Maline mumbled quietly, while both men, Nial and Miles, nodded in agreement.

    "Definitely¡­" Miles nodded her head while Maline could only sigh deeply as she turned to Nial to give him very important advice.

    "Don''t even think about getting a girlfriend like her¡­"

    The moment Maline said this, Kristine just reached the doorframe. She was on her way to the Librarian, who had also the authority over all the Logs that could be sent over to everyone with the necessary permission.

    Her ears twitched when she heard what Maline said but she didn''t stop in her tracks.

    "Calm down¡­you cannot kill someone weaker than you just for saying something like that¡­. don''t throw a tantrum¡­" Kristine spoke like she was reciting a mantra, and Nial, who heard everything, could only smile weirdly as he perceived that Kristine had left the office.

    "Mom, don''t worry. I will take care of my love life. You can just live in peace, and let me do everything," He said with a faint smile on his face.

    It wouldn''t be long before they would return to the Forest of Life, and Nial was excited.

    **

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 Chapter 304 Suicidale Idea

    "That is amazing!" Nial mumbled when he visualized the list of all the reported ability crystals in his mind. The Log of Ability crystals was much longer than he expected and the use of many abilities was clearly described.

    There were many abilities, whose name and the monster that dropped the ability crystals were the only things mentioned but that was also very interesting in Nial''s opinion.

    He was hoping that his Odyssey seed would react when he looked through the information of the Log of abilities but that didn''t happen.

    Nial was a bit disappointed about that but it was not as if he expected a lot.

    ''I will have to touch the real deal to see whether or not the Odyssey seed will react to it. Though, I doubt that I will have an easy time finding the correct ability crystals,'' Nial thought as he stretched his body.

    He was currently on his way to the teleportation circle that would bring them to the Hall of teleportation. His parents had packed their stuff within minutes and left with him without another thought.

    Kristine told them that Sabrina would probably join the Heaven''s Gates branch in the new shelter after she returned. This was not for her family''s sake but precisely because Sabrina was one of the most talented members of the Heaven''s Gates.

    She had to be nourished in the best possible way, and the easiest way to do so was precisely by staying near, or inside the Forest of Life.

    "Well...it is amazing but are you sure that it''s fine for you to share this with us?" Maline asked worriedly, thinking that Nial would get into trouble for copying and sharing the file about the Log of all ability crystals.

    "Don''t worry so much, mom," Nial tried to reassure her before reminding her about the treasures she had received, "You and dad have to use the potential increasing treasures once we return to our wooden hut, okay?"

    Both Miles and Maline could only nod their heads in response. They were still overwhelmed with everything that had happened in thest 24 hours. Not only had they reunited with Nial after what felt like an eternity but they would also move to the ce that was ruled by Elves.

    Maline was overjoyed but her nature as someone, who was easily worried, overwhelmed her quickly. She thought about all kinds of possible things that could happen to them inside the Foret of Life while forgetting about the fact that she and Miles hadn''t even been allowed to leave the Heaven''s Gates organization on their own.

    After a while, they reached the building where they could teleport to the Hall of teleportations. Nial paid the fee for the three of them and it was their turn a whileter.

    They appeared in the underground hall not long after. Both Miles and Maline were nauseous but they didn''t puke yet. Only when the second teleportation waspleted did they start puking.

    It was impossible for the two adults to take a look around and to see the magnificent sight around them as they kept throwing up.

    The mana-dense surrounding overwhelmed them as they had never felt pure mana in such high quantities. Several minutes passed before Maline regained control over her body. Miles felt just as miserable as his wife but he had stopped retching a minute before her.

    Yet, just when he took in a deep breath of fresh air, he went down on all fours for another round.

    "I think your stomachs are now empty...." Nial gave them a weak smile while both his ears and nose were covered in mana. Being able to hear and smell much more than anyone else was certainly not to his advantage right now, and the only advantage he had was that he didn''t actually see what his parents had released.

    Nial shuddered but he tended to his parents nheless. They threw the buckets with their vomit inside their spatial ring once they were certain that it was over before Nial was finally able to lead them to the Forest of Life.

    Nial supported his parents a little bit because they were still overwhelmed and he quickly noticed that people were still looking at him. Both humans and elves were staring at him and his parents in interest while trying to figure out what was going on.

    Everyone was curious but Nial didn''t pay them any heed. He went straight to his wooden hut inside the Forest of Life.

    "I''m missing a double bed for the two of you to sleep on but I can buy one real quick. If you need anything just tell me," Nial said when he realized that there was only his small bed in the wooden hut. There was not much furniture either and his wardrobe was more decoration than anything else.

    His wardrobe was empty and so was everything else in the room. After all, Nial had everything he needed inside his spatial ring.

    Maline took a look at the entire hut before she looked at Nial in suspicion. Not a single word escaped her mouth but Nial felt that she threw him a scrutinizing look.

    He felt uneasy under her intense stare but it was not as if he could do anything against it.

    A few minutes passed in which Miles and Maline got morefortable with the surroundings as a bunch of people charged up the stairway to reach his wooden hut that was located high up one of the biggest trees.

    "Nial!!! You''re already back...help meeee!!" Mathias appeared in the doorframe, followed by Meryl, whose expression was bad.

    Miranda rushed after Meryl while trying to calm the young Elf, but that was hardly possible.

    "Mathias, you dumb piece of bread!! How can you still repeat the same mistake over and over again?! After an entire month, you''re still making the same fucking mistake!! Don''t you want to improve??!" Meryl screamed at the top of her lungs as she barged inside the wooden hut.

    The sudden arrival of his friends and Miranda didn''t surprise Nial at all. He had perceived them thanks to his range of perception already and knew that Mathias had sensed him as well.

    All three of them seemed quite energetic, considering that it hadn''t even been 48 hours since he had left the Forest of Life.

    He returned much faster than he would have expected and that was mostly because of the fact that he had been a bit overbearing.

    Now that he thought about it, Nial felt that it might not have been the best idea to confront the Heaven''s Gates organization. However, he was also fully aware that he couldn''t have waited even a minute longer to reunite with his parents and his sister.

    The changes in his sister were still a bit weird and Nial knew that he had to pay it more attention but other than that, Nial was happy.<sub> </sub>

    Even Meryl''s shouting was something that caused Nial to smile.

    "Niall....helpp..." Mathias let out a shriek when he appeared behind his best friend to seek asylum. Nial''s parents smiled as they looked at the situation in front of them.

    They understood that Nial hadn''t been alone in the two years they had been away from him. Their little boy had grown up and he was not as antisocial as he had been when they were forcefully separated.

    When Miranda saw Nial''s parents, her eyes gleamed lightly. She took a closer look at the wooden hut but didn''t see Nial''s sister. This wiped away Miranda''s smile because she had expected the worst.

    However, Nial was smiling, which meant that everything had to be fine. Miranda approached Nial''s parents, allowing the youngsters to y around a bit.

    "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Orin, my name is Miranda, the Witch of the South. I''m d to finally be able to meet you two. Nial has told me a lot about you," Miranda smiled gently at Maline and Miles, who were stupefied that Nial''s master took note of their existence. They smiled in return and introduced themselves.

    In the following minutes, the three adults began to chat with each other. Their discussion was mostly about Nial and his parents asking Miranda about their son and how he would usually behave with others around him.

    Maline and Miles had seen various sides of Nial''s personality since they had reunited with him and they wanted to know what he was usually like.

    Meanwhile, Nial was trying his best to protect Mathias from Meryl. The young Elf was oddly enraged that Mathias was still not able to engrave a 100% perfection grade [Sharpness] runic constetion.

    Because her talent was high, she never really ran into a lot of issues with fixing her bad habits, not when it came to Basic runic constetions, at least.

    Not everyone was as talented as she was and Mathias had just begun to properly learn under a real teacher. Nial could understand where Mathias wasing from and was just as frustrated as Meryl about his bad habit.

    Several minutes passed before Meryl had calmed a bit. With Nial in front of Mathias, it was near-impossible for her to get him in her grasp. The timing was simply not good.

    "You''re lucky. If not for Nial, I would use my fists to punch some sense into you!" She screamed out, while Nial lifted his eyebrow in return.

    ''What a vicious woman...'' He thought when everything seemed to be over.

    Mathias breathed in relief after he realized that Meryl stepped back and for the first time, he noticed Nial''s parents were standing next to Miranda.

    "Wait, you actually brought your parents over? Maybe I should force my father to close down his shop in Katu, and to open one near the Forest of Life!?" Mathias eximed all of a sudden as he realized that he had not even messaged his father during thest few months.

    "You want him to open a shop that sells Cursed Crystals near the Forest of Life...near the Elves? If you don''t hate your father, don''t tell him to open such a shop here..." Nial was appalled but he tried his best not to me Mathias for nearly proposing his father do something that would certainly kill him.

    "Your father has such a vile shop?! No wonder I have a hard time taking a liking to you! Everyone who has business with Cursed Crystals is evil!" Meryl suddenly shouted, baffling everyone in the room.

    "You...don''t have to cause him so much emotional damage, Meryl..." Nial said in a lecturing tone as he sensed Mathias clench his fists. He could already imagine that his friend would start crying soon.

    "Furthermore, what you''re talking about is nonsense. I don''t see the connection between his father''s business to how much you like Mathias. I literally bound a Curse to my mana core, and Elves still like me...I guess!" Nial dered, only to realize that he made another big mistake.

    ''Fuck, I forgot that they''re still here...'' He could only grumble as he forced a smile on his face when his head turned in the direction of his parents.

    "You...did what?" Maline asked in an eerily silent voice.

    ''How the hell can I be so dumb? I made two big mistakes in such a short time...well, maybe they''ll forget asking why Crevian needs me...'' Nial could only hope for the best as he cleared his throat.

    "Mom...dad...let me exin!...I...well....it''s just a curse that enhances my senses in exchange for taking my blindness...this is nothing serious...after all I am blind either way, right?" Nial tried to find excuses to justify his actions but both Maline and Miles stared down at Nial as if they were ready to whoop his ass.

    Meryl turned quiet all of a sudden. She had just realized that Nial had guests and looked at them in confusion.

    "Are you sure that they''re your parents? Your hair is so different and your talent is so much higher than theirs...this is weird..." Meryl could only ask as she stared at Nial''s parents, who looked so different to Nial.

    They flinched upon hearing Meryl''s question and looked at each other ufortably.

    "Eh..." Nial struggled to find the right words before he added, "...my sis looks more like my parents, she inherited their best genes in terms of looks, while I only got their personality!"

    Yet, when both Maline and Miles heard this, they simultaneously eximed.

    "None of us is as reckless as you''re!!"

    "Son, your personality is nothing like mine!"

    "..."

 Chapter 305 Mathias, The Ignorant

    The mood and general atmosphere in Nial''s wooden hut was great. Everyone wasughing at Nial''s stupefied expression and there didn''t seem to be any tension in the room.

    Meryl seemed to have grown ustomed to being around humans, especially around Miranda, Nial, and Mathias. She had revealed her true personality to them, which shattered the image Mathias, and Nial''s parents had had of the Elves.

    They were supposed to be elegant, powerful, knowledgeable, and aloof in their opinion but Meryl''s behavior was more simr to a young, somewhat childish, and spoiled woman.

    "It seems that my worry for Mathias'' well-being was unfounded," A familiar noise reached the people inside the wooden hut as the Midnight Elf Valvian, and the Old Elf Crevian appeared in the doorframe.

    Master Crevian walked around with a wooden crane and a set of formal clothes. Even the bandages around his eyes looked more like decoration. They were white in color and had a golden tree symbol embedded in them. The golden tree symbol was right above the nose bridge for everyone to clearly see.

    Nial perceived it as well and he was a bit stupefied by this.

    ''All of his clothes release a sensation as if they''re alive¡­'' He nearly blurted out.

    He was not sure what Master Crevian was nning to do but it seemed to be something important.

    "And it looks like I miscalcted the time of your return, Nial. I''m d that you''re already back," Master Crevian spoke calmly and he turned in the direction of Nial''s parents, who flinched the moment Master Crevian started to pay attention to them.

    Master Crevian may not be powerful anymore but his presence was still imposing, whether he was old and weak, or back in his prime.

    "You raised a good boy. He is very talented," Master Crevian remarked while looking at his parents before he turned around to leave.

    The sudden appearance of the Old Elf was a bit weird and exactly the same could be said about the fact that he wanted to leave after speaking three sentences.

    It actually looked like he only wanted to make sure that Mathias was alive before he left.

    Maline and Miles put a forced smile on their lips before they thanked Master Crevian, who had already turned around.

    <o>,m "Why is Master Crevian so tense? Did something happen when I was not here?" Nial asked suddenly, attracting Meryl''s attention.</o>

    "What do you mean? He is not tense¡­or is he? Nothing happened¡­at least, I didn''t hear anything¡­" Meryl doubted Nial''s words at first but she began to get suspicious a momentter. She felt flustered, and Meryl was not sure what might have happened.

    "He is just nervous because he will activate the Portal to go back to Yggdrasil for a few days. He has to prepare some lessons in advance to teach Nial properly for the next 13 months. The U21 Runicier tournament is very important for us and he doesn''t want to make a single mistake," Valvian exined without going further into details. There were some things he didn''t tell but that was for everyone''s best.

    Not everything had to be shared, and some things were never supposed to be known by other races.

    "Yggdrasil¡­as in THE world tree of Norse mythology?" Mathias suddenly eximed. His voice cracked at the end and his eyes gleamed brightly as he stared intently at the Midnight Elf, who could hardly smile when he saw Mathias'' expression. It was creepy.

    "I don''t know what the Norse mythology is or what it actually says but Yggdrasil is the most important ce for us Elves. That is everything I have to say about it," Valvian merely answered before he prepared to leave as well.

    He halted in his tracks for a moment and looked at Nial as if he wanted to say something. However, in the end, he only opened his mouth and closed it before he walked off as well.

    "Weird¡­" Meryl mumbled at the behavior of both Valvian and her master. She quickly got back to her senses and began to act as if she was not actually bothered by what had just happened but one could clearly sense that something was odd and bothered her.

    "Tell me about Yggdrasil! Please!!" Mathias emerged next to Meryl all of a sudden. He grasped her hands tightly and looked at her with puppy eyes.

    Nial, his master and his parents looked at this with a mixture of confusion and pity. They were pretty sure that Mathias knew how Meryl would respond to his pitiful attempt of getting to know more information but Mathias did so nheless.

    It was as if he actually liked getting beaten up by women, and it was only his pained expression, which made everyone believe that Mathias was not a masochist.

    "You don''t need to know anything about Yggdrasil!" Meryl tried to put some sense into him as it looked like Mathias would get away without sustaining any injuries, or so everyone thought at first. All of a sudden, she pulled her hands out of Mathias'' grasp and kicked out with all her might.

    "Ooof" Miles flinched the moment Meryl''s kicknded right between Mathias'' legs. He instinctively covered the area of his crotch, while Mathias slumped to the ground with tears in the eyes.

    "Don''t touch me, bastard!" She snarled and pointed her fingers threateningly at him.

    Nial swallowed his saliva as he pitied Mathias in his mind.

    "Well it''s not like he could have expected something like this to happen¡­" Miranda said though she clearly meant the opposite. She shook her head, not sure whether to praise Mathias for his stupidity or to punch some sense into him herself.

    Meryl took a few deep breaths and walked towards Nial when she was done.

    "You need to improve as well. The U21 Runicier tournament will be hard for you to win. I may be talented but there are even better Runiciers who would be participating in the tournament than I am. You have to win!!" Meryl said, with fiery eyes. She was clearly jealous of Nial but she still wanted him to win.

    His victory was important and Nial slowly started to believe that Master Crevian''s firstment about everything being ''fine'' even if he wouldn''t win the grand prize was a tant lie.

    "Great¡­no pressure at all¡­" Nial mumbled and he shook his head.<sub> </sub>

    ''I wonder how much I can improve in 13 months¡­''

    "Nial, I think you have something you need to tell us¡­or am I wrong?" Maline''s voice reached Nial in an instant and his lips twitched in response.

    "Yeahh..I guess," Nial mumbled resignedly as he began to tell his parents about the U21 Runicier tournament, that he would leave Jundra in around 13 months and that he was not actually sure when he would return.

    He expected his mother to throw a fit and start crying because she didn''t want him to leave so soon.

    However, contrary to his beliefs, she was quite calm, nodded her head, and gave him a thumbs up.

    "You''re getting more popr by the day, I like it. Bring us some souvenirs from the others then!" She said shing a faint smile, which caused Nial to stare at her with a wide open mouth.

    Even Miles was a bit dumbfounded at his wife''s response and when she noticed that her son and husband were confused, she just forced herself tough.

    "I am already happy that we reunited. I never expected him to stay with me forever. 13 months is a long time and we will be able to do lots of things! In my life; I never wanted to hold back my kids and rather than guilt-tripping them in any way, I should support them!" Maline said, clenching her fists tightly.

    It was obvious that she didn''t want to separate from Nial once again but it was not as if she would stop her son from advancing further and stagnating his progress.

    He wanted to be stronger, learn more and be a better human and for that if it was necessary for him to leave Jundra for an unknown amount of time, she was ok with it.

    As long as he was alive and unscathed, everything would be fine!

    Maline''s reaction was unexpected but Nial was happy that it worked out like this. He felt much better after telling the truth as well.

    He talked a bit with his parents, and revealed a few more pieces of information he had held back, while Meryl looked down at Mathias, who was still lying on the ground.

    When Nial noticed this, he felt a bit bad for Mathias. His friend was just very lost and overly excited about all kinds of things. He had heard a few things about Yggdrasil but he had never thought that it was real. Nial would be lying if he were to say that he was not interested in getting to know about Yggdrasil as well.

    He didn''t know much about Norse mythology but it was a necessity for him to know some facts about it. After all, his Curse [Hodur''s Heir] was also something rted to Norse mythology. It wouldn''t hurt to get to know more pieces of information about Norse mythology, the connections between the Yggdrasil in Norse mythology and the Yggdrasil Valvian had mentioned.

    However, Nial was more patient than Mathias and he could read the room much better. He helped his poor and oblivious friend get up from the ground. Mathias was still holding his hurting crotch but crying and ying pitiful didn''t help either.

    "You really need to fix your bad habits¡­" Nial could only say as he added, "...and I''m not only talking about your runic constetions¡­"

    Mathias frowned because he thought that Nial was making fun of him but he shut his mouth when he realized that Nial''s expression was serious.

    He wanted to force himself to smile but Mathias could only sigh before he nodded his head.

    "I will try to fix my bad habits then¡­but the ones rted to my runic constetion engravings¡­" He trailed off without saying anything else.

    Meryl looked at Mathias'' retreating figure and she started to feel guilty.

    "Argh¡­just what is wrong with him? I cannot leave him like that¡­." Meryl grumbled before she ran after Mathias.

    Basically, Meryl''s behavior was like that of an older sister''s right now. She may be a bit brutal but other than that, she was trying hard to force Mathias'' talent as Runicier to awaken. Mathias was not a bad Runicier but his bad habits were holding him back.

    This was something Meryl wanted to fix because she could tell that Mathias had a bright future. If she were to hate or actually dislike him, Meryl would never try so hard to help Mathias.

    That was something everyone in the wooden hut could understand. Miranda smiled at her oblivious disciple before she followed him.

    "I need to keep practicing as well, otherwise, this foolish disciple of mine will improve faster than I do and leave me behind. I cannot allow both of my disciples to be better Runiciers than I am!" She dered, leaving Nial and his parents alone in the wooden hut.

    Miranda was actually not worried that Mathias would be a better Runicier than her. She knew that this would happen, especially with the preferential treatment he received from Meryl. There were other things she was more concerned about than her pride, for example, their safety.

    Miranda knew that her potential had already been used up and that it was only a matter of time before she wouldn''t be of any use to Mathias and Nial anymore. However, she wanted to give her utmost to support them until that day woulde.

    This was her responsibility.

    "Your friends are great. They''re fun." Maline said with a gentle smile when she saw that Miranda had left the wooden hut.

    "Fun? Really¡­ you think so?" Nial asked while shing the same gentle smile as his mother.

    "They''re nuts, but they really care about each other. That''s all that matters," Miles replied while ruffling his son''s silky silver hair.

    "Yeah¡­we care about each other¡­"

 Chapter 306 Full-Fledged Runicier

    Surrounded by darkness, a young man disappeared in the shadows of a huge tree when a huge Sabertooth tiger appeared at the exact location the young man had disappeared from.

    In a single sh, the sabertooth tiger''s ws cut through the huge tree that fell over momentster.

    "So that''s the strength of a monster with four Superior Origin rings¡­that''s definitely frightening!" Nial spoke out loud as he appeared above the sabertooth tiger''s head. Darkness engulfed Nial tightly as he thrust the pitch-ck de deep into the sabertooth tiger''s skull.

    The pitch-ck de was paper-thin and it broke into pieces upon colliding with the sabertooth tiger''s thick skull. However, instead of feeling a deep sensation of fright surfacing in Nial''s mind, he began to smile.

    All the runic constetions that had been engraved on the de had been activated upon colliding with the hard surface of the sabertooth tiger''s skull. The energy stored inside the de was released at once, causing it to shatter.

    "This is even better than I expected," Nial mumbled when he disappeared inside the darkness once again.

    The entire ce around him was enveloped in his dark miasma. He had learned how to jump through the darkness using some of the Darkness Essence. Without the Darkness Essence, it was still not feasible for him to jump through the darkness but that was fine.

    For now, he didn''t need to be able to wield his dark energy perfectly. Nial did not fight the 4th Superior Mirae ranked sabertooth tiger for the sake of improving his control over his dark energy, either way.

    The Skullbreaker de that had just shattered was nned to be a consumable item from the beginning, and testing it out had been Nial''s mission.

    "The [Pration] runic constetion worked pretty well when used inbination with the [Tiny Mana Storage] runic constetion. Overdrafting the [Pration] runic constetion with a surplus of mana, followed by the usage of [Shatter] and [Vibration] is definitely the best way to use a cheaply produced Tier-1 runic armament," Old Elf Crevian suddenly added when Nial had appeared next to him.

    They were currently located in a rather permanent Dungeon that had emerged not too long ago. Valvian and several high-ranked Elves guarded Crevian, who were eager to see Nial''s progress firsthand.

    He didn''t know when Nial had learned to jump through darkness and space without leaving behind any of his traces but it was certainly something that would help Nial in the future.

    However, the most important factor was still the consumable weapon Nial had just shattered. The sabertooth tiger was still alive but it was severely injured because its skull had burst open. It wouldn''t be difficult for anyone to kill the beast in its current state.

    But Nial was not out for the sabertooth tiger''s life, not right now. He was more interested in staying by Crevian''s side and listening intently to his evaluation.

    "This is already a Tier-1 runic armament? But it only has two Intermediate runic constetions engraved on it?" Nial was a bit confused, which was why he didn''t realize that everyone else threw him disappointed looks.

    "Nial, I think you forgot that a single Intermediate runic constetion is already enough to create a Tier-1 runic armament¡­I mean even aplexbination of several perfect Basic runic constetions creates a Tier-1 runic armament. But all of that is something you should know by now¡­" Master Crevian was not sure how Nial was doing it, but he had surprised him way too often in thest few months.

    This was not only because he studied harder and longer than anyone else but also because he had absorbed knowledge like a sponge, soaking in every piece of information he couldy his hands on. Unfortunately, Nialcked themon sense of an ordinary Runicier, especially because he was such an anomaly.

    "Is that so¡­?" Nial could only mumble quietly, feeling a bit disappointed. He had expected it to be a lot more difficult to be a full-fledged Runicier, especially since Meryl was always showing off that she was officially a Runicier and could engrave Tier-1 runic armaments easily.

    His talent in the ways of bing a Runicier had been fully unleashed throughout thest 13 months and hismon sense was starting tog behind.

    Nial never stopped conquering dungeons, training hisbat techniques, and both collecting and annexing mana. He advanced in the ranks, which resulted in his talent as a Runicier growing beyond the expected levels of someone of his age.

    Every single day, it seemed like Nial was improving and had be a different person. His control of mana had increased drastically and ever since he had created the secondary Ancient Origin ring, his Innate ability [Mana Sense] and his natural perception had advanced by leaps and bounds.

    Nial was not surprised by this but everyone else was shocked that Nial could detect the tiniest mistakes in his own runic constetions. There were even certain ws Nial was able to point out that not even Veteran Runiciers such as Meryl and other Elves'' trained eye missed on finding.

    Master Crevian never pointed out certain mistakes because one would have to perceive them in order to know what could be improved. Others were not able to do that because their experience was too shallow but Master Crevian could tell that Nial''s ''sight'' was a cut above the rest.

    Not being able to see was basically the biggest advantage Nial gained as it allowed him to perceive what others couldn''t because they solely relied on their eyes to detect something that couldn''t be seen!<sub> </sub>

    Others were not of that opinion but Nial actually agreed with Master Crevian''s point of view. Not being able to see had opened several doors for him that would have otherwise stayed hidden if he were to be distracted by the ability to see. This didn''t mean that Nial wouldn''t love to be able to see but the reality was different.

    He would never be able to see and making use of the abilities and capabilities of his body to ovee that disability was something he had to do.

    Nial knew that his [Mana Sense] would keep growing as long as his mana core''s rank would increase. His range of perception would be more detail-oriented and enhanced as well, which in turn would provide Nial with the necessary means to find the ws in runic constetions. As long as he managed to imprint a perfect runic constetion in his mind, it was only a matter of time before he would reproduce it.

    Nial had the necessary understanding of runic constetions and he kept improving his knowledge to make sure that he wouldn''t make any stupid mistakes.

    "You''ve long since be a full-fledged Runicier," Master Crevian said while trying to hide his proud smile. Nial may not be the youngest Tier-1 Runicier but he was certainly the first Runicier, who was able to engrave Tier-1 runic armaments after being self-taught for half a year before receiving proper tutge for only 14 months.

    The time Nial had required to improve was ridiculously short and everyone around Nial was fully aware of this. Only Nial was oblivious to the truth because his hands were already reaching for the stars.

    He was greedy to improve and be stronger. The secondary Ancient Origin ring had been created by Nial with ease and Nial knew that it wouldn''t be a problem for him to create the following Ancient Origin rings either as long as he kept improving his proficiency as a Runicier.

    There were many things he had to learn and Nial felt that he still had to learn and do a lot, even after all the books he read through. Unfortunately, it was a curse that the more knowledge one procured, the more questions would form in the mind of those, who were greedy for more.

    Nial was one of them, especially since he had started to attempt to create his own weapons. He was not a good cksmith himself which was why he asked for the help of proper cksmiths to forge the weapons and devices he wanted but that was no problem since he only needed to engrave the runic constetions on the freshly forged weapons and other goods.

    "Do you want to test the other runic armaments you''ve experimented with?" Master Crevian suddenly asked, dragging Nial out of his deep thoughts.

    He had been thinking about various new things he would love to test out. Master Crevian''s question reminded Nial that there were still a bunch of runic weapons he had yet to test.

    "That should be the best. I will go hunt a bit then!" Nial nodded his head and the corners of his lips curled upward as he dashed off.

    He merged with the darkness of the night as darkness engulfed his entire body.

    Master Crevian was left behind with the bodyguards around him.

    "Do you really think that it''s fine for him to fight 4th Superior Mirae ranked beasts on his own? A single mistake and he''ll die¡­he is only at the 2nd Superior Mirae rank, after all¡­" The Midnight Elf Valvian suddenly said in a worried tone.

    He looked at the Old Elf, who had a mysterious expression on his face.

    "By now you should have realized that Nial''s dark energy is not ordinary. He doesn''t possess ordinary Superior Origin rings either¡­even if he were to do a mistake, he won''t die¡­not against beasts at the Mirae rank¡­" Master Crevian stated with a lot of conviction.

    He turned his head to one of his guards, and pointed at the shattered ck de before motioning him to pick up the shards.

    "You mean he was able to create a unique type of Origin ring? But¡­that would require enormous amounts of mana, far more than someone can collect in 10 months. Even if we''re in the Forest of Life, the mana here is ridiculously low whenpared to Yggdrasil''s mana density¡­ If Nial really owes a unique Origin ring, he would require much longer to create his Origin rings than anyone else!" Valvian was not stupid. He knew enough to tell that Master Crevian''s words didn''t make any sense right now.

    However, Master Crevian was not known for making jokes about something as serious as one''s mana core''s rank which made the Old Elf feel confused.

    "His aptitude toward mana is exceptional, and it keeps increasing. If Nial wanted to, he could expand his range of perception and absorb the entire mana which the Forest of Life releases. The amount of mana that the Forest of Life can release has decreased dramatically since the Dryx''s attack but you can still tell that not many individuals would be capable of absorbing all the mana of the Forest of Life.

    ? Nial is one of these gifted individuals and I still feel that this is not enough. You may have not noticed this but the amount of Origin crystals Nial uses every single day is enough to supply someone at his rank with mana for more than a month," Master Crevian didn''t have to go into details but he felt that it would help Valvian to ept reality.

    "Nial has definitely created a unique Origin ring and he is not the slightest bit slower than others. In fact, he can improve much faster if he had only more time to spare absorbing mana!"

 Chapter 307 Broken Runic Constellation

    Nail dashed through the huge forest with his senses fully unleashed. He was hyper-aware of everything that went around him. All kinds of smells entered his nostrils, and he could feel all the vibrations of thousands of insects that were crawling over the ground, through tiny tunnels underground, and on the trees around him.

    His mind was bombarded with a plethora of sensations that were a lot to process at a time for any ordinary human.

    Luckily, Nial was anything but ordinary and the sheer amount of information that flooded his head was processed rapidly. All unnecessary pieces of information were discarded at once and only the useful intel was further organized and connected to the surrounding area, which he had visualized in his mind.

    Nial was perfectly prepared to counter all kinds of surprise attacks. The only possibility for an opponent to attack Nial without letting him realize it would be by using spatial attributed abilities like Gianna''s short-distance teleportation.

    That was also why it was no problem for Nial to detect the injured sabertooth tiger that was waiting for him.

    The beast''s skull had been broken but apart from that the rest of its body hadn''t been further injured. It may not be considered difficult to kill it in its current state but Nial knew that it would be foolish to underestimate an angry and injured beast.

    They could be far more difficult to kill than unscathed beasts at the same rank.

    ''To think that I would start hunting Superior Mirae beasts while I have two fewer Origin rings than them.'' Nial thought with a faint smile on his lips.

    He suddenly pushed to the right side while throwing out one of the small tennis ball-sized metal balls that were attached to his belt.

    A huge zing me engulfed the me all of a sudden as several meticulously engraved runic constetions started to glow, brightening the surroundings. They had been activated and created a huge wall of fire.

    Merely a moment after the wall of fire manifested, the sabertooth tiger had pounced out of the bush it had been hiding, preparing for the perfect timing to attack Nial. Its attack had been easily predictable for Nial, who was inplete control of everything that happened around him.

    The wall of fire didn''t injure the sabertooth tiger a lot. It caused light burns but they didn''t restrict the sabertooth tiger, whichnded exactly on the spot Nial had been just a moment earlier.

    A second ck metal ball appeared in front of the sabertooth tiger. Numerous white shining runic constetions were activated at once as the metal ballnded right in front of the beast.

    The ball bounced from the ground and ended up reaching the same height as the sabertooth tiger''s head as a bright dazzling light emerged from within the ball.

    The beast roared out in anger as the dazzling light almost blinded the sabertooth tiger. It wanted to retreat but quickly noticed that the wall of fire behind it had yet to disappear. Simultaneously, its legs were restricted by something that had emerged out of the ground.

    And as if that was not enough, it could faintly hear that someone had appeared next to its head. The sabertooth tiger shed in the direction where it presumed Nial to have appeared.

    Yet, instead of feeling the sensation of cutting through the warm living body of its prey, the sabertooth tiger cut through nothing but darkness.

    Nial had now appeared on the other side of the sabertooth tiger, wielding a two-meter long and extremely heavy-looking mace in his hand.

    He raised it high above his head with one hand and brought the mace down on the head of the sabertooth tiger that desperately tried to flee its impending doom. Despite all its efforts, the sabertooth tiger was not able to flee.

    Its'' movements were restricted, and it had lost its fighting rhythm after attacking the exact opposite side of Nial and it was blinded.

    Nial''s arm that was swinging the mace suddenly got a cramp as he activated the runic constetions he had engraved on the mace. The mace''s weight increased several-fold just before it smashed on the cracked open skull of the helpless sabertooth tiger.

    A thunderous sound echoed through the surrounding when the sabertooth tiger was smashed into the ground. The beast''s brain was mashed to a pulp in an instant and it died at the same moment. However, Nial''s attack was not yet over.

    The other runic constetions that had been engraved on the mace had been activated and their effect was released as well.

    After the first impact caused by Nial''s attack, all the mana that was stored inside the mace was released as a second thunderous sound originated from a second impact thatnded on the sabertooth tiger''s head. Loud cracking sounds could be heard as the already broken skull burst open a second time, destroying itpletely.

    Nial was breathing heavily and his arm that was holding the mace ached heavily as he was forced to let go of the weapon. Itnded on the ground with a sickening thud, leaving behind marks on the wet ground.

    "That''s so amazing!" Nial shed a smile when he calmed down a bit. The runic constetions on the mace had dimmed down, and Nial was able to pick it up once again.

    He picked up both metal balls that looked just like normal ck metal balls. They didn''t look special in any way but Nial knew that they were exceptional. He had created them, after all!

    "The Firewall Ball is much better than expected. Looks like Crevian did the right thing by telling me how to configure the [Istion Wall] runic constetions. After it wasbined with [Incineration] the wall of mana turned into a zing fire. The only downside was that it required too much mana to be activated, and it was impossible to engrave a [Tiny Mana storage] runic constetion on the tennis ball-sized metal ball¡­

    I''m too inexperienced to start engraving miniature runic constetions either¡­what a shame," Nial tried to evaluate his own creation but that was certainly not easy.

    First of all, his naming sense was one of the worst in existence but that was not really important for the evaluation of his creation''s efficiency.<sub> </sub>

    "Mirae ranked individuals won''t be injured, and you need lots of mana to activate it. Supplying it with external mana is not possible either. That means the Firewall Ball can be considered useless¡­yay¡­

    As for the four overclocked and connected [Lightbulb] runic constetions of the Dazzle ball, they require less mana and their effect is amazing¡­I guess," Nial mumbled while trying to figure out just how great or bad the Dazzle ball had been.

    He was not able to see, so he couldn''t determine how strong the effects of the dazzling light had been. However, considering that the saber tooth tiger had roared out in pain and anger in response to the Dazzle ball, Nial was pretty sure that it was quite effective.

    After the Dazzle ball had been activated, Nial used his dark energy to create dark vines, thereby restricting the sabertooth tiger in order to deal the final blow by using the Mountain-shattering mace.

    Three runic constetions had been engraved on the Mountain-shattering mace. First was a ''broken'' version of the [Gravitation] runic constetion. By activating the ''broken'' version of [Gravitation], it was possible to increase or decrease the gravitational force exerted on the object that had been engraved with the runic constetion.

    Master Crevian hadbeled it as ''broken'' because most individuals wouldbel it as a failure of a runic constetion. [Gravitation] was supposed to control the gravitational force in a small radius around the object it had been engraved on. That was what it was supposed to be able to do.

    Yet, in the end, the broken [Gravitation] ought to control the surroundings'' gravitational force, but the broken runic constetion does that only to a single object, the object it had been engraved on.

    Nial made use of this to ''failure'' to create a mace with the [Gravitation] rune, the [Second-Impact] runic constetion, and the [Tiny Mana storage] runic constetion.

    The [Tiny Mana storage] runic constetion was, by far, the biggest and mostplex runic constetion Nial had engraved on a weapon. The engravings on the Ancient Origin rings were a different matter altogether but even they were of a simr level ofplexity and difficulty.

    "I wonder when I will be able to engrave a 100% perfection grade [Tiny Mana storage]...." Nial suddenly grumbled when he was done storing the mountain-shattering mace and the corpse of the sabertooth tiger.

    He smiled faintly, knowing that Meryl, Master Crevian, and every single other Runicier would feel like twisting his neck if they were to hear his thoughts.

    Right now, the [Tiny Mana storage] runic constetion was the best Intermediate runic constetion Nial was able to engrave.

    It had reached a perfection grade of 83%, which was already quite impressive. Every single percent above 75% was hard to achieve because the slightest w would decrease the perfection value drastically.

    Nial required close to two hours to engrave the [Tiny Mana Storage] runic constetion and that was already quite fast in Master Crevian''s opinion. Only someone with several years of experience with Intermediate runic constetion and the mandatory talent would be able to achieve the same feat.

    Meryl was one of such talented prodigies, and she was even better because her talent was a cut above the rest.

    She could engrave Intermediate runic constetions in around half an hour. However, if she were to engrave runic constetions hastily, her perfection score would suffer a lot.

    Meryl was not in a hurry to be able to engrave quickly, which was the exact opposite of Nial, who wanted to improve quickly by learning how to engrave all types of runic constetions rapidly. As long as he was able to do that, engraving them in a slow and fully focused state would allow him to scale new heights. At least, that was what Nial told himself while trying to justify the bitter reality¡­that he was just impatient and greedy to be better than anyone else.

    In thest 13 months, Nial had spent a lot of his little freetime with his parents. They often visited Master Crevian''s teaching grounds to watch how hardworking their son was. It was a nice feeling to see Nial and to know that he was happy.

    Maline was often worried about her dear daughter but she also knew that Sabrina was still busy with the Legacy portal. No news was good news when it came to Legacies, especially if a Legacy portal were to open without anyone emerging from it.

    That was why Maline didn''t panic. She was only worried about her daughter like any mother would be if her daughter were to be in an unknown isted dimension, possibly fighting extremely powerful beasts and unique existences.

    However, what worried Maline even more than Sabrina was the fact that Nial grew way too pressured and ufortable whenever a topic revolved around the U21 Runicier tournament discussed.

    He would be alone on an unknown the moment he would separate from Crevian. The Elves were not allowed to participate or even witness the U21 Runicier tournament and Nial would be all by himself with numerous powerful existences around him.

    If that was not worrisome enough, there was a high risk of him getting attacked if he was lucky enough to win the grand prize. After all, the Dryad Queen''s tear was a highly sought item.

    The more Maline heard about Nial''s mission, the more she grew worried about him and the less inclined she was to make him leave.

    Unfortunately, Maline couldn''t order Nial to stay behind, especially since he seemed to be excited and ready to work hard to achieve everything he had in mind.

    His goal was to win the grand prize, to create new connections that might help the human race to be even stronger, and to use the opportunity to increase his strength by leaps and bounds.

    Jundra would soon awaken itsary mana core. The number of dungeon portals increased by the day and it was only a matter of time and a final spark to activate theary core for good!

    From then onward, things would be more chaotic and troublesome for both the human race and the Elven!

    It was necessary to be stronger¡­as strong as possible, otherwise, only death would wee them with open arms and embrace them tightly to put them to eternal sleep.

 Chapter 308 Departure

    "Is there something else I should be careful of?" Nial asked as he began tough lightly.

    His mother had purchased various things to prepare Nial for all kinds of situations that could ur when he was alone in the Elven territory with Master Crevian, or when he would be all by himself in the Golden City, where the U21 Runicier tournament would happen.

    p The Golden City was the only neutral ce on the Ximatra. Ximatra was arge governed by more than 10 races officially with separate territories for each of the ten races but more races lived there unofficially with no im to the''snd or resources.</anda>

    The High Elves had a small territory on Ximatra, which was where Nial would end up when it was time for him to find his way to the Golden City.

    Nial''s hands trembled but that was not only due to his nervosity but mostly because he was excited. The corner of his lips curled upward and if the Maline and Miles hadn''t been sure that their dear son was sane, they would be certain that Nial had gone crazy.

    "Haha, funny¡­not¡­ now you areughing but when you need everything I''ve purchased, you will be thankful!" Maline scoffed before she turned her head away.

    "Mom, don''t be like that. I''m always thankful for what you do!" Nial excused himself, shing a bright smile to his mother.

    Maline melted a bit when she heard his response and despite having told herself that she shouldn''t act like this, a tear trickled down her cheeks.

    "You are¡­such a hassle¡­" Maline blurted out which caused Nial and Miles tough at the same time.

    "I know, Mom, I know," Nial uttered before he sighed deeply as he quietly added, "I think it''s time for me to go¡­"

    As Nial said this, he approached his parents and hugged them tightly. He had already noticed that Master Crevian and Meryl were patiently waiting for him as he said his goodbyes.

    It was time for them to leave and they couldn''t waste anymore time. They were already a bit behind the schedule because Nial required a few more days to test a few things which he had wanted toplete before leaving.

    He handed his parents a spatial ring when they separated without saying anything else. Miles, who epted the spatial ring, looked at Nial in confusion.

    "When I return, I hope you will have reached the 10th Origin rank and created your 1st Advanced Origin ring. The stronger your foundation, the higher your life force¡­ I want you to live as long as possible, mom, dad!" Nial said wistfully without thinking about exining what was inside the spatial rings.

    He turned around and left his wooden hut to not give himself enough time to feel sad, let alone to start crying.

    ''I will return and everything will be fine. Don''t worry so much!'' Nial told himself over and over again as he joined Master Crevian and Meryl. He took a deep breath while walking down the small flight of stairs to reach the ground. They reached the center of the Forest of Life within the next few minutes without speaking a word to the others.

    Nial was trying hard to control his emotions, which was more difficult than he would have expected. Since his memories were spiked with that of Damian, things had gotten more difficult. Sometimes, it was hard for Nial to distinguish the memories and asionally, he felt pity for other races, while he hated the human races he had seen in his memories.

    Nial was not even sure why there were so many different human and human-like races in the universe but it was a fact that they existed.

    Under normal circumstances, Nial would have hoped for humans and himself to get an opportunity to befriend them and feel a connection as fellow humans. Belonging to the same race would allow many humans to feel that they were more trustworthy.

    However, Nial didn''t feel like this at all. His emotions and memories were fueled by Damian''s hatred and it was already a wonder that all the memories in his mind didn''t turn him against the humans and Elves on Jundra. Sometimes Nial really wondered if he was slowly turning into Damian, or if he would be able to ept his memories just to prevent repeating the same mistakes as him.

    The God of Darkness was not a good person, but Nial didn''t think that he had been a bad person either. He was just broken and forced to do things others found controversial. But he had done those things to survive and to protect his own race; the same race that abandoned him when he became too powerful.

    He wasbeled a monster, sometimes a devil, sometimes the tumor of the Universe, and even worse things. However, he just wanted to live in peace and be left alone.

    Nial hadn''t seen many memories of the God of Darkness'' private life or the people he had been close to, but he knew more than enough not to hate Damian, even if his memories would influence him slightly.

    "So¡­I just need to step through the portal and then I will arrive in your Hall of the Summon in Yggdrasil?" Nial asked when he appeared in front of the green portal.

    The portal ring created out of the Divinity Fragment of the Empress shone in a bright green color, while the liquid mass inside was emerald-colored with flecks of a faint golden color.

    Nial was not able to see this but he could perceive the various altered energies that were merged in order to activate and sustain the portal.

    Every minute the portal was activated, lots of energy was used up and it was a waste of time for them to stay idle.<sub> </sub>

    However, Nial didn''t hurry to jump inside because one Elf after another emerged from the portal, holding various goods.

    Today, the green portal would be activated for the whole day, allowing close to a thousand Elves toe to Jundra. They couldn''t bring much equipment and resources with them but what they were able to bring inrge quantities were books and their own knowledge.

    This was more than enough, especially since the foundation to umte resources was already present; knowledge and more manpower!

    "You will be teleported to a different hall than us because you''ll enter it for the first time. The portal was configured in a way so as to bring all neers to a more secure ce that was safe for both the Elves and the neers. That means, we will be separated for a moment until Meryl or I catch up to you," Master Crevian exined the process to Nial once again.

    Nial nodded his head in understanding, not hiding that he had forgotten everything Master Crevian had told him about the portal before. He was simply too excited, which was clearly visible.

    "Well, I guess there is no need to be worried about anything. Your arrival has already been announced and someone else might even catch up to you to bring you to your temporary stay," Meryl said, trying to reassure Nial that everything would be fine and that he would not get lost.

    However, Nial was not worried in the slightest. He wanted to emerge on Yggdrasil and the only worrisome part was the Golden City, and the U21 Runicier tournament.

    "Waiittt, Nial!" A weirdly high-pitched voice reached them just when Nial was about to step forward to enter the portal. He didn''t like wasting more of his precious time, especially now that his heart was racing rapidly.

    It was Mathias who rushed up to Nial, which caused Meryl to frown deeply,

    "Did you just scream like a little desperate girl, Mathias?" She asked in a puzzled tone, ignoring Mathias'' embarrassed expression as she shook her head.

    "Take this! It is my first sessful [Sharpness] runic constetion with a 100% perfection grade. I used it as a good luck charm during thest few months and I think it works pretty well! Use it ande back victorious!" Mathias said with a prideful expression on his face.

    In thest few months, Mathias had improved a lot as a Runicier. It was actually remarkable to know how much Mathias had improved and Nial knew that it meant a lot for his friend to hand over his first sessful drawing of a perfect runic constetion.

    "Thanks a lot¡­you can take this in return then," Nial said, picking out another spatial ring, which he had prepared for his friend. Miranda was not around because she had something else to do, so Nial removed a second spatial ring from his fingers and handed it to Mathias as well.

    "One is for you, the other one is for our master. You will know which one is for whom. Use it wisely and don''t fall too much behind me, otherwise, you will only be able to bite the dust when I charge forward!" Nial teased his friend in an effort to hide that he was actually serious.

    Mathias had to improve much faster, otherwise, he would be left behind on the battlefield.

    That was the bitter reality and a fact Mathias knew very well. He may have created his 2nd Advanced Origin ring and he would soon create his 3rd Advanced Origin ring but that didn''t change the fact that it was not only humans who had gotten stronger.

    The beasts on Jundra were constantly increasing in strength and they didn''t give the human race much time to feel rxed!

    Mathias nodded his head in response to Nial''s light ''teasing''. He could tell that Nial was worried about him and that he had to be stronger. All of this was something he already knew about and Mathias would give his utmost not to disappoint Nial and those important to him.

    He clenched his fists, bid Nial farewell, and returned to work, determined to be stronger than Nial.

    Meanwhile, Nial could only smile as he averted his attention away from Mathias. He approached the green portal and stepped through it without hesitation.

    It was time for him to give his all and to strive toward bing the strongest human on Jundra. When he would achieve that, nobody would be able to force him to obey them or act as if they could control everyone as their puppets.

    It was time to change something and to allow mankind to make use of the vast opportunities they had by living on Jundra and Nial wanted to make this possible.

    This was not for the sake of the human race, or for himself but to protect his family. That was the most important for him and everything he had worked for; to ensure the safety of his family, and to make sure that his sister wouldn''t have to face too many dangerous situations.

    Even if she was bound to be powerful, Nial was still not ready to expose her to danger!

    "Yggdrasil, I''ming for you!"

 Chapter 309 Horror-Trip

    When he stepped through the green portal everything around him changed.

    A throbbing pain appeared in his mind. It felt as if someone or something was tightly holding his brain just to shake it thoroughly.

    His overly sensitive senses were being bombarded with a lot of information. His brain was flooded with the information he couldn''t digest at once. Even if he tried to process the information that had entered his mind, the steady influx of more and more of information was simply overwhelming.

    Everything around him turned blurry, he was not able to breathe and the sensation that overcame him made Nial believe that he would die in numerous ways at once.

    Traveling through space by using the green portal was in apletely different league than feeling a bit nauseated due to the short-distance teleportations they did on Jundra.

    One was child''s y, while the other one was something supernatural that only Gods or simr existences could make possible.

    Nial felt like he was being thrown around the space he was traveling through. His entire existence felt weird and he had no idea how the Elves looked perfectly fine when they emerged from the green portal.

    ''Are they some superhuman-like existences?! Their constitution is just a bit stronger than humans¡­ so how the fuck can they bepletely unbothered even after traveling through space?'' Nial puked when he tried to find an answer to this question.

    He had no idea where his vomitnded and he couldn''t care less about that right now. His entire body was turned inside out and Nial was pretty sure that he would die.

    The entire excitement he had been feeling was now transformed into the fear of the unknown. Nial might not be someone, who was instantly scared of everything but he could tell that something was either going wrong, or both Master Crevian and Meryl had intentionally left out how troublesome space traveling was so as to not scare him.

    What Nial missed out on was the fact that neither Master Crevian nor Meryl knew exactly how sensitive all of Nial''s senses were. He could hear more than 30 times better than any other human and his other senses were also more than 30 times enhanced than the ordinary Original with two Superior Origin rings.

    This was not something one could take lightly, especially when one''s range of perception and mana was also more sensitive. Nial''s innate ability was [Mana Sense], which made things even more difficult because his mana was constantly being released and sensed through his surroundings.

    It was impossible for him to control his mana in the given situation and his naturally wide range of perception didn''t really make things easier either.

    Nial had suffered a lot and he didn''t even know how much time passed before his mind was able to catch up to what was going on.

    He had no idea how often he had vomited or lost his consciousness but Nial was sure that both numbers were in the double digits.

    Never would he have imagined that traveling through space would take that long but when he realized that he had still not arrived after his mind caught up to the situation, Nial felt an overwhelming frustration sweeping through his entire body but it was not as if he could do anything against the situation.

    He couldn''t just snap his fingers and magically emerge on Yggdrasil. That wouldn''t happen and Nial was fully aware of this. Which was why he slowly tried to retract his senses, seal the released mana within his body and restrict his natural range of perception.

    This was possible only after his mind had gotten ustomed to the given situation. Nial''s range of perception was only a few meters after everything was restricted as much as possible and he was finally able to perceive what was actually going on in his surroundings.

    He felt the energies around him without feeling the need to puke and he could clearly tell that he was on some sort of path. Nial was being pushed through a path that had been created with the usage of unique runic constetions and enormous amounts of mana.

    ''No wonder that the ride is so ''smooth''... Jundra seems to be trying to destroy the connection between Yggdrasil and the Forest of Life¡­'' Nial concluded when he perceived that a somewhat familiar, yet, unfamiliar force pressed on the path that brought him to Yggdrasil.

    The force was not something he had perceived ever since he had awoken his origin but Nial was pretty sure that he was familiar with that energy. It was not something the memories of the God of Darkness showed him and it was not simr to the Cursed Divine energy, or the Darkness Essence he possessed either.

    The force was the purest energy he had ever perceived and it didn''t possess any special traits that would connect it to something ''holy'' or something ''evil'' or tarnished. This was truly confusing which was why Nial felt that the throbbing headache had returned.

    While the path was something created by enormous amounts of energy and the runic constetions engraved on the Empresses'' Divinity Fragment that had been used to create the green portal, the force was trying to destroy everything without impacting negatively on Jundra.

    Nial was not even sure why he had arrived at a conclusion that it was Jundra''s sentience that actively fought against the Empresses'' attempt to get an early start. It didn''t make any sense to think that Jundra was sentient, let alone that it possessed the necessary power to release the pure force that impacted hard on him.

    However, Nial was certain that this force belonged to Jundra and nothing in the wide Universe could be otherwise.

    The headache he was having was different from before. Instead of feeling the same throbbing pain over and over again, it was like something sealed deep within his subconscious was trying to unveil itself, like a worm deep in his brain had hatched and that was trying to squirm out of his brain.

    It was apanied by an unbearable itch and Nial had to use all his focus not to identally kill himself by sticking a dagger through his ear, just to stop the itching.

    Thankfully, the itching stopped after some time when he discarded the thoughts of where he had first learned of the pure force. Nial found it weird but he told himself that it was not something he had to find out right now.

    ''The future is long enough to tell me the answer¡­just let me rest for a bit¡­'' Nial thought exhausted and tried to fall asleep just a momentter.

    Unfortunately, just when he thought that he could finally fall in slumber, his entire body began to shake. Instinctively, his range of perception burst out and all restrictions he hadid upon himself were released.

    Nial''s instincts told him that he had to be prepared for a fight. Yet, in reality, he was just about to emerge on the other side of the green portal.

    When his range of perception and all of the senses had been released, Nial could clearly perceive his surroundings, which meant that he could tell that he was approaching a ginormous tree that enveloped the entire sky he was sting toward.

    He was currently high in the air and seemed to have dropped directly from space. This felt weird but it was a bit odd because Nial could also feel a sense of freedom.<sub> </sub>

    Instinctively, he spread his arms wide open as a wave of lifeforce sshed in his face. A bright smile emerged on his face and he momentarily forgot about all the suffering he had felt in the time in which he had traveled through space.

    The life force of the tree engulfed Nial and it nourished him. Nial''s exhaustion dispersed slowly and it was reced by tremendous vigor that flushed his entire body. He felt exceptional and his Odyssey seed began to pulsate in response.

    The Symbol of Life was glowing brightly, causing his Odyssey seed''s reaction. Nial was not rmed by his pounding Odyssey seed anymore. Rather than being worried about the pounding Odyssey seed, Nial epted and exploited it.

    While the ginormous tree that covered the entire sky was brimming with vigor, it was also overflowing with mana. Nial could clearly perceive it, especially since his [Mana Sense] allowed his range of perception to increase the more mana he perceived in his natural range.

    His range of perception was passively empowered and erged by the mana in the surrounding area. This made it much easier for Nial to sense and visualize everything around him.

    Usually, it was extremely difficult for him to maintain a range of perception of around 10 kilometers. Even in the Forest of Life, where mana was the purest and densest on Jundra, it was difficult to achieve this. However, right now, Nial was clearly able to perceive everything within a 50-kilometer radius around him. And that was without him actively supplying mana to his Innate ability [Mana Sense] which turned it into a remarkable feat.

    Mana and life force flooded his body, flushing the exhaustion and his doubts away. He didn''t even fear smashing into the ginormous tree below him as the path below him was still present. The path made it clear that he was still in the space tunnel within the green portal.

    He passed through the tree top of the ginormous tree and its wide trunk before everything went dark. His perception was momentarily lost as his body was thrown out of the green portal.

    Nialnded on the ground and was gasping for air when his kneecaps touched the ground. He had been too distracted to realize that he had emerged out of the portal. Nial slumped to the ground entirely before hey down to take a few deep breaths.

    He had no idea that this might be inappropriate or that he shouldn''t do it. Nial was just happy to be alive and that he had finallynded on Yggdrasil.

    If he was true to himself, Nial didn''t feel like returning to Jundra even if that meant that he would have to go through the same torture once again.

    "Well, it''s not like I cannot prepare myself properly this time. A few runic armaments with [Voice canceling], [Mana Istion], [Smell disperser], and various other runic constetions engraved upon them should be more than enough," Nial mumbled to himself as he kept breathing the fresh and invigorating air of the hall he had emerged in.

    Not a single Guard or Elf was in the vicinity. This was a bit weird but Nial couldn''t really be bothered about this, right now. He just knew that a portal was behind him and that the entire huge hall looked so morous that some might mistake it for the entrance hall of the royalty or someone of equal repute.

    ''Did I emerge in the wrong portal?'' Nial suddenly wondered when he realized that the hall was way toovishly decorated for someone, who had arrived on, or precisely, in Yggdrasil.

    If that was not the problem, not having any Guards around when someone new emerged on Yggdrasil was certainly something one could consider problematic.

    Nial didn''t have any ill intentions but if someone wanted to stir trouble, emerging in the hall Nial had appeared in was definitely the best possible chance to do so.

    He tried to release his range of perception but quickly noticed that it was impossible for him to perceive anything outside the hall.

    Only when he focused his perception on the huge open gate to his right was he able to perceive the hallway outside the hall.

    ''I cannot perceive anything through the walls¡­or the wood, I guess¡­'' Nial thought with a wry smile. He quickly figured that he was inside the ginormous tree and that he couldn''t perceive anything outside it.

    This was interesting, especially since the interior of the tree was overflowing with mana. The mana density and purity were high enough to affect his senses negatively. Something like that had never happened before but Nial was able to cope with it pretty quickly.

    His body was invigorated and he restricted his senses from adapting to the given situation. He allowed the pure mana to enter his body slowly and held back the rest to gauge how much mana he could absorb at once without wreaking havoc within his body.

    He was strong and had powerful mana veins that were still growing, despite all the time that had already passed since he had awoken his origin but the purity of the mana inside the ginormous tree was high enough to turn into a threat!

    Nial didn''t want to risk dying moments after he arrived and even if he was confused about his whereabouts, he was able to keep calm.

    It was nice to have some time for himself to get used to the entire surroundings around him. Not being able to sense what was going on around him was somewhat disrupting but also a pleasant experience. His range of perception and his senses were finally forced to calm down after experiencing the roller coaster in the form of the horrifying trip through the space tunnel, or path.

    Nial liked to call it a ''path'' because he felt like his body had been pushed through the path the portals hadid out for him but it was actually not important what he called it.

    In the end, the only important fact was that it had been a horror trip and that he would have to return with the necessary preparations when it was time.

    But time was not ripe because he had just arrived. His task was something else, which was why he got up from the ground when he stopped feeling dizzy.

    However, what he didn''t expect to happen was that a group of Elves he had never seen before emerged from the portal he had stepped out of as well. Their strength was tightly concealed and impossible for Nial to determine, yet, his danger senses clearly told him that it was best to run for his life.

    "Oh? Hello my¨C.." Before Nial could introduce himself, the weakest of the Elves in the group shouted at him in the elvennguage the moment he noticed Nial,

    "What is a human bastard doing in our Holy Hall!? Let me teach him a lesson¡­ I''ll beat him into a pulp!"

    "I guess you don''t like small talk, huh?" Nial responded with a faint smile on his lips. He was not actually itching for a fight but as long as he was going to sh against the weakest of the Elves in the group, he would be fine¡­He thought.

 Chapter 310 Brat

    Nial smiled as he visualized the Elves in front of him. They were different from all the Elves he had met until now.

    They had pointy ears and striking features that were superior to ordinary Elves'' handsome features. When Nial visualized them, they were basically screaming ''I''m loved by mana and nature''. This was not something ordinary Elves could say about themselves even if it was obvious that nature and mana adored them a lot as well.

    However, their presence was much stronger and the mana swirling around them was extremely dense and powerful. Nial was not able to sense their actualbat prowess, let alone what their mana core''s rank might be.

    This bothered him a bit, especially since the weakest of them seemed to be impatient enough tounch an attack on him right away.

    Nial pushed backward. He wanted to release the Dragonme spear from his spatial ring but quickly noticed that something was restricting his ess to his spatial ring.

    His head flicked to one of the Elves behind the youngest one, who attacked him. The Elf noticed Nial''s unfocused gaze as he looked straight at his lifeless milky white eyes with a smirk.

    ''This bastard,'' Nial could only think as he twisted his body. He leaned back to the extent that his bones nearly cracked as a bunch of wind des shot toward him.

    They grazed his skin lightly and cut through his clothes but that was the most damage they could inflict on him. Nial had moved quickly enough to evade the attacks, which was why they ended up dispersing the moment they smashed into the Holy Hall''s walls.

    "Js, if youunch wind des at Yggdrasil one more time, I will drag you to the Sacred Court," A cold voice spoke out in the elvennguage. Nial had visualized everyone in the room, which was why he knew that the same Elf, who had restricted his ess to his spatial ring had just warned the young Elf, who had attacked him.

    The young Elf was called Js and he emerged in front of Nial a quarter of a second after the older Elf''s voice resounded in Nial''s ear.

    Gusts of winds shrouded Js'' entire arm as he pushed out while aiming at his abdomen. Nial frowned deeply because he could tell that the attack would injure him severely.

    He released some of his ck Miasma in an explosive manner in an instance while shooting a vine manifested out of dark energy from his back.

    It coiled around one of the small pirs that were located not too far from him. He pulled at the darkness vine and saved his life, just to realize that the ck miasma had dispersed, revealing Nial once again.

    "Y-You are a Destroyer!!" Js gasped as he eximed in shock. Even the Elves behind Js were stupefied when they realized what kind of existence Nial was.

    They didn''t kill Nial immediately because they had yet to figure out how he had ended up in the Holy Hall, and who he was. He was loved by mana and Yggdrasil didn''t raise an rm to even a single Elf about the infiltration of someone with ill intentions. In fact, Yggdrasil seemed to have a favorable opinion of the blind human in front of them.

    However, that human was a Destroyer! That didn''t make any sense!

    "And you are a pain in the ass!" Nial responded in anger as he activated the power within both of his Ancient Origin rings. They began to rotate around his Mana core, enhancing their potency drastically.

    Darkness spread out from every pore on Nial''s body as he released balls of darkness that were overflowing with ck miasma. He spread them around himself and released them in Js'' direction before he let them explode in an instant.

    Nial merged with the ck miasma that was released. He covered the ground with dark energy while pulling more and more mana out of the surroundings and towards him. The Ankh shone brightly, which resulted in the Odyssey seed''s pulsation.

    The Odyssey seed began to pulsate and generate more and more dark energy. It released every bit of dark energy for Nial to make use of, while the Ankh pulled more mana inside the Odyssey seed to convert it quickly.

    Nial had yet to get fully used to the highly potent mana of Yggdrasil but he didn''t really have much of a chance if he didn''t want to sustain any injuries. He took a deep breath and disappeared in the dark energy that covered the ground before he appeared behind Js, who was controlling the winds around him precisely.

    The ck miasma was sted in all directions, revealing everything it had covered.

    However, Nial had already disappeared and only the dark energy that covered the ground could be seen from which he released the darkness vines.

    Dozens of darkness vines shot in Js'' direction. They aimed at restricting Js'' movements and holding him back from doing anything for a few seconds. Nial needed enough time tounch a powerful attack to show Js that he couldn''t just throw a fist at anyone just because he thought that he could get away with it.

    Darkness arms pierced out of the dark energy right below Js. Within a single second, the darkness arms coiled around Js'' feet and legs. They restricted him from moving, or so it seemed.

    Unfortunately, just when Nial wanted to ram his fist straight into Js'' face, he noticed that something was wrong.

    Nial used all his power in his lower body to push himself backward and prevented himself from getting pierced by a hundred tiny porcupine-like wind needles in the nick of time.

    Js''s back was suddenly punctured by long needles manifested out of his wind affinity. They were just like porcupine needles and they gave off an odd feeling as some of them were released straight in Nial''s direction.

    ''Are they real? Probably not, right?'' Nial was confused. His [Mana Sense] allowed him to clearly perceive and visualize the porcupine wind needles. They weren''t real and were manifested out ofpressed winds that Js could control. However, when they were shot out, Nial clearly felt that they were not normal wind-based attacks...they were much stronger and more urate.

    Windbreaker, Sam Anderson, was the only human Original, who had a wind affinity. At least, he was the only one Nial knew about, and his wind-based attacks werepletely different from Js'' porcupine wind needles.

    Even the other Elves he had fought against before had never used their wind affinity like this. In fact, the Elves he had fought had never dared to use their wind affinity as a means to create long-range attacks or something like that.

    This was something Nial had felt weird about but it was never something he was intrigued enough to ask about. Yet, the moment one of the porcupine wind needles pierced through his shoulder, Nial could tell that the wind needle felt just like a physical attack made using brute force and not something that had been manifested.

    Warm blood oozed out of the wound on his shoulder, where the porcupine wind needles were still stuck. Nial groaned in pain as he kept pushing backward while his left hand reached out for the wind needle that didn''t disperse into nothingness.<sub> </sub>

    He was just about to pull the wind needle out of his shoulder when he sensed that the end of the wind needle turned into gusts of wind that further pushed the wind needle deeper into his shoulder, digging into his flesh.

    "Argh!!" Nial groaned out in pain as the wind needle turned into a near identical replica of a rocket. The only thing that was missing was the explosion of the wind needle.

    ''You fucking bastard! Why did you even attack me?!'' Nial began to curse in his mind as his hand pierced out at the wind needle. He grasped it tightly, engulfed it with dark energy, and finally pulled it out of his shoulder. While being pulled out, the wind needle turned into particles as the dark energy destroyed the manifested wind needle slowly.

    The darkness released by Nial''s body subconsciously intensified. It shrouded Nial''s entire body like a protectiveyer. All of a sudden, a deep groan emerged from the depths of Nial''s body. He was enraged and this fiery rage was something Kaeldur fed on like a hungry scavenger.

    Even without the need to release his Darkness Essence, Kaeldur''s w engulfed Nial''s arm all of a sudden. Nial''s eyes turned pitch-ck while an eerie feeling swept through the entire Holy Hall.

    The older Elves looked at each other with a trace of worry. However, the Elf, who had restricted Nial''s ess to his spatial ring lifted his hand to make everyone stop.

    "Don''t do anything. Yggdrasil is still not being hostile to him. Something is going on, and I don''t want to identally enrage Yggdrasil, or the Empress," He warned while his eyes began to shine brightly.

    The situation was quite interesting, especially since it was easy to tell that Nial was only at the 2nd Mirae rank, but was clearly a True Destroyer. His abilities were a crystal clear indicator of this, yet, Yggdrasil seemed to favor him!

    The others looked at the leader of their group with uncertain expressions but they nodded their heads at the end, epting his decision. Their leader would have to take responsibility for his orders, thus they obeyed him without thinking too much about the aftermath.

    Nial''s demeanor changed drastically when his rage fed Kaeldur. Kaeldur''s ws engulfed Nial''s arm and he dashed forward, turning into a ck sh that disappeared in the ck miasma, which was suddenly released.

    It shrouded the area around Nial and Js. Cyclones manifested in Js'' hand but even before he could release them, needles of darkness pierced into Js'' hands from all directions.

    "Ahh!" Js squealed out in surprise. He was not severely injured because his body was tough but the cyclones in his hand had been put out.

    Grinding his teeth, Js summoned winds around him to disperse the ck miasma once again. He had expected Nial to appear behind him just like before. However, instead of repeating the same attack, Nial emerged right in front of the young Elf.

    Nial''s upper body was leaning forward and he charged at Js, reaching his range just a momentter. Js was about to respond to the frontal attack by moving the remaining porcupine wind needles to the front of his body in a defensive tactic. He wanted to end Nial by releasing all of them at once.

    But Nial was faster. His upper body perked upward and he shed Kaeldur''s w upward without hesitation. Nial had had enough of the young brat, who was clearly trying to kill him.

    The young Elf was clearly a teenager, who had yet to enter puberty and he was several years younger than Meryl but he was already acting like an entitled brat who felt as if the entire world belonged to him.

    ''Even Meryl is not as annoying as this little fucker!'' Nial cursed himself as Kaeldur''s w shes through the young Elf''s body.

    Nial didn''t smile or anything like that. He merely wanted to inflict a small injury on his opponent to make it clear that he was not a pushover. Nial knew that the other Elves would react the moment Nial would reveal his intention to kill the Elf. Thus, he didn''t do anything that could be considered ''too'' stupid or reckless.

    But never would Nial have expected that his attack would be entirely useless. He may have held back a bit but not even Silvian had been able to staypletely unscathed against Nial''s attacks involving Kaeldur''s ws.

    Silvian may have been injured when they fought and the enmity between the Incarnation of the God of Saints and Devils had been a bit weird but that didn''t change the fact that Kaeldur''s ws were extremely powerful, especially with the tremendous amount of mana and dark energy Nial had inserted in them!

    "What the hell is wrong with your body?" Nial blurted out in astonishment. He cut through the Elf''s silk shirt but his wless skin was almost unscathed. A tiny scratch that barely bled was visualized in Nial''s mind but that was not even worth mentioning.

    "Wait...are you already at the Prometheus rank? Even brats can be talented, huh?" He concluded, feeling like he was suffocating. The young Elf in front of him was probably not even 15 years old, yet, his mana core was already at the Prometheus rank.

    The young Elf''s smile froze when he saw that his shirt was now tattered and that he was bleeding due to Nial''s attack.

    "You piece of shit! You fucking peasant! You rotten piece of human trash! Die!!!"

    **

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 Chapter 311 Spatial Distorting Discs

    "You piece of shit! you fucking peasant! You rotten piece of human trash! Die!!!" Js shouted out in wrath as he saw that his wlessly fair and perfect body had been touched by an impure and rotten being such as the human being in front of him.

    Even the silk shirt he had been rewarded with by the Royal Princess was now tainted.

    Js was fuming as a golden light emerged inside his iris. Nial was not able to see but he could clearly perceive that something bad was going to happen.

    All of his senses told him that something was wrong the moment the Elf''s hair flitted through the swirls of air Js''s body released.

    Nial tried to retreat, and figure out what was happening but he noticed that he couldn''t move.

    ''What?!'' Nial was stupefied as he realized that vines shot out of the ground. They coiled around his legs and tightened their hold upon him just momentster.

    Pain spread through his skin, flesh, and bones as he noticed that thorns began to dig into his body as the grip of the vines tightened even further.

    Nial paled and his expression grew even worse because he realized that he couldn''t even feel his feet anymore.

    ''Poison?!'' He concluded almost instantaneously. The entire situation was slowly spiraling out of hand, and all of that was just because the young Elf had attacked him without a reason.

    He had not even received the chance to introduce himself, let alone clear the misunderstanding that he had probably been teleported somewhere he was never supposed tond?!

    It was frustrating and it would certainly be easier to ept defeat, at least before he enraged the young Elf. Now he would be beaten to a pulp or even killed the moment he epted defeat.

    The young Elf wouldn''t calm down that easily!

    Nial was not someone who allowed others to look down on him, not anymore. He may not be able to move because the vines around his legs were strong enough to stop even the Mutant Prometheus Minotaur and lock him in ce, but who said that he needed his legs?

    Nial unleashed his dark energy and the Darkness Essence from within the Odyssey seed.

    His Ancient Origin rings rotated rapidly as his Mana circted through them. Nial moved his mana through his entire body while focusing on the fortification of his upper body.

    Kaeldur was released, tightly enveloping Nial''s body. His grimace spread over Nial''s face and his second w engulfed the remaining arm.

    Gloomy and dark energy oozed out of Nial which was far intenser than the dark energy he had unleashed until now.

    Nial''s senses were overwhelmed with the desire to defeat the young Elf and emerge victorious. He was ready to give his all, and Nial was subconsciously even ready to ept the young Elf''s death at his hands.

    There was no need for him to hold back because he was much weaker than his opponent, to begin with. This was why he took the young Elf seriously, irrespective of whether he was just a youngling or a fully matured Elf as it didn''t matter anymore.

    Nial wanted to win and he knew that it was necessary to take the fight seriously if he didn''t want to lose miserably!

    His body began to writhe in pain because the potency of the energy that swirled through his body and invigorated his senses was not something he could handle, not yet.

    The highly potent Mana strengthened his Darkness Essence in an unrestrained manner, reinforcing the power Nial was able to unleash with Kaeldur.

    However, Nial epted all the pain, and he embraced it tightly. From the deepest parts of his entire being, a monstrous roar emerged that shook the huge hall.

    Nial''s roar was apanied by a shockwave of dark energy. Js was the closest to the shockwave which was why he faced the brunt of the attack. He was pushed back several steps before he skidded to a halt.

    His eyes widened in shock, and dark red blood began to trickle down the right corner of his lip when he realized what had just happened.

    Js'' head flicked to the spot Nial had been standing but the blind human had disappeared, while the highly endurable and poisonous Viran vines had wilted.

    "What?!" Js uttered in shock, just to sense something above him as a devilish smiling grimace covered in darkness appeared above him.

    "Never lose your cool during a fight, kiddo!" Nial advised in an eerily cold voice that didn''t sound like him, at all.

    His left wshed out at the petrified elf and gripped the struggling Js by, holding tightly onto his neck. Js made a choking sound as he tried to wriggle out of Nial''s grasp. His right wunched a high-velocity punch at the young Elf''s face, almost breaking his nose.

    ''Who cares how old you are?! Don''t fuck with me, bitch!'' Nial thought in anger, led by the emotions of Kaeldur, the first being that had sworn allegiance to the one and only Lord of Darkness!

    Kaeldur roared out in anger because its master had been attacked and humiliated. This was not something Kaeldur could ept by any means and Nial''s body responded ordingly, channeling the anger of the being he was supposed to control.

    However, just when Nial''s punch was inches away from Js'' face, the young Elf''s Body turned blurry. Tremendous energy currents were released from him as the young Elf disappeared from within his grasp.

    Js appeared several meters away, his expressions were filled with rage and his voice was furious as he touched his neck lightly.

    "YOUUU!!!!" He screamed out in hatred as his silver hair turned golden. His iris was dyed in golden color as well as he unleashed everything he had been holding back at once.

    Js had never wanted to use all of his strength at once but the blind human was too annoying. He had to be taken out, and his existence obliterated at once, and forever!

    A golden disc manifested in Js'' hand in a matter of seconds, followed by a second and third not long after.<sub> </sub>

    When the Elves around the leading Elf saw this, their eyes widened and their expressions began to change.

    "Shouldn''t we intervene now¡­or do you want the human to die?" One of the Elves asked, looking at their leader with an uncertain expression.

    Their leader hadn''t wanted them to intervene before because he didn''t want to enrage Yggdrasil or the Empress, but it was not like the death of the blind human would make things better. In fact, it might even be worse, especially since everyone realized that Yggdrasil didn''t act against Nial despite him being a Destroyer!

    "Not yet," their leader answered in a clipped tone before he ignored them again. He was more focused on the fight and the final oue than bothering about intervening.

    They had yet to reach the climax of the fight and he wanted to witness it, for the sake of his disciple and his own curiosity!

    "Not yet?... If we don''t act right now, the Spatial distorting discs will kill this human¡­" A different Elf cried in an rmed tone. She had observed the fight with great interest but she was certain that the blind human had lost the battle when the golden discs manifested in Js'' hands.

    The blind human fought valiantly and it was already astonishing enough that he had forced Js to release the golden discs. It was one of his strongest attacks created out of his spatial and wind affinity using a special ability, however, it was over now.

    ''Spatial affinity'' Nial realized the moment the young Elf disappeared from within his grasp. He also understood that the golden discs were not something he could block, evade or survive.

    The moment they locked onto him, Nial was almost certain of his death.

    He didn''t want to ept this, which left him with only one choice; to make use of his surroundings!

    If he couldn''t survive or block the attack, something or someone else would have to do that.

    Nial didn''t feel his feet anymore but he forced them to move ording to his will using mana and his dark energy.

    <o>,m Within a second, Dn had moved back dozens of meters while his dark energy covered a part of the ground inside the Holy Hall.</o>

    His ck miasma was dispersed in all directions from using it over and over right from the beginning of the battle.

    Dispersed didn''t mean that the ck miasma had been destroyed. As a steady andrge amount of ck miasma was continually being released, the entire Holy Hall was about to be shrouded in it. Due to this simple means, everyone''s focus was slowly averted from the ground. There was nothing special to stare at the floor, after all!

    Nial smiled when he visualized that not even the other Elves seemed to pay much heed to the thin line of dark energy that was slowly spreading over the ground in their direction.

    "You are not only dead meat but also a coward. Fight me head-on if you dare to!" Js screamed out in the direction of the ck miasma that was everywhere.

    Js was not very good at multitasking and his anger was driving him insane. Adding the fact that he had to concentrate on controlling the three golden discs, it was impossible for him to perceive Nial in the ck miasma. He had to speak so that Js'' could know the direction in which he could attack him! Or else the fight would get boring.

    "Fighting someone like you, head on? No thanks! Search for some buddies your age, maybe you will find some peers in the kindergarten?" Nial''s voice reverberated through the Holy Hall, which caused Js'' to smile brightly.

    "Fool!" heughed out like a maniac as he took the bait. His face was red with fury and he was ready to kill Nial, even if it might result in severe consequences.

    "We''ll see who''s the fool," Nial replied with a sneer, chuckling as he realized that Js'' had already fired the golden discs, directly at his position!

    ''Too bad that your brethren are right in front of me, idiot,'' Nial just thought as he visualized the Elves'' sorry fate.

    He had used the dark energy and his Darkness Essence to appear behind the Elves using the thin line of dark energy that covered the ground. It drained every single bit of Nial''s dark energy and the remaining Darkness Essence but Nial was pretty sure that it was worth it.

    The Elves had been too focused on the golden discs because they were something a young Elf was usually not able to manifest, let alone control properly. Because of that distraction and their blocked sight, Nial''s appearance behind them was something they realized only now when it was already toote.

    The golden discs were already flying in their direction and evading them would hardly be possible because they were standing only a few meters in front of the portal they had emerged a few minutes earlier from.

    "We have to block it¡­otherwise, all of us will be in trouble¡­the portal cannot be touched by the golden discs, not if we don''t want the Empress to behead us," the female Elf uttered, feeling a bit distressed about the sudden change in the situation before she turned her head in Nial''s direction.

    She wore a faint smile and it looked like she was not the slightest bit distressed. Her words and her actions were theplete opposite, which confused Nial a bit. However, he had better things to do than wondering what the female Elf wanted from him.

    It looked like she wanted to say something only to decide against it at thest minute.

    ''He is a sly one, I see,'' She thought, assuming that Nial knew about the trouble they would face if the golden discs were to collide with the portal behind them.

    Little did she know that Nial had no idea that the golden discs could destroy the portal, or at least damage it. Nial only knew that he wanted to use the Elves to destroy the golden discs so that he might be able tounch a counterattack.

    He could easily tell that the Elves would evade the golden discs with simple yet highly effective movements because the discs were not exactly fast but Nial had hoped for the best.

    Nial sighed in relief when the situation ended up much better than he had expected. A loud explosion resounded through the Holy Hall when the golden discs imploded within the wind spheres the Elves had manifested around them, minimizing the damage to the surrounding area.

    However, what nobody, not even the stronger Elves would have expected to happen when the ck miasma dispersed and revealed the Holy Hall and the hall''s entrance, was to see the most beautiful Elf standing right in the center of it. She was seething in anger and if stares could kill, everyone in the room would be dead by now.

    "Royal Princess?!?"

 Chapter 312 Royal Princess

    "Royal Princess?!?" Several Elves eximed in unison, unable to hide their astonishment.

    They hadn''t expected the Royal Princess to appear in the doorframe of the Holy Hall, let alone that she seemed to have run over.

    She was breathing heavily and her face was flushed red in anger. To say that she was pissed off would be an understatement. Nial instinctively took a step back when he perceived the unstable mana of the Royal Princess.

    He could visualize her clearly and he had to agree that she was beautiful. Her long hair cascaded down her back, reaching her waist, while her long eyshes highlighted her big eyes. Her appearance was gorgeous even amongst the other Elves Nial had met until now.

    ''Who cares if she is beautiful¡­This little brat also looks otherworldly handsome but he wanted to kill me¡­'' Nial reminded himself to clear up his mind. He didn''t want to provoke them and get attacked because that one time was already more than enough for him.

    Nial could barrel feel his lower body right now as the vines'' poison had spread through his body. Without any mana left in his body, let alone dark energy or Darkness Essence, it was basically impossible for Nial to stop the poison from spreading through his veins.

    A wry smile appeared on his face as he began to think about a few ways to escape the annoying situation.

    He didn''t feel like he had done anything wrong but Nial was pretty sure that being reasonable with Elves was pretty hard, especially the ones he faced the moment he emerged on Yggdrasil.

    "What the hell happened here?!" The Royal Princess''s golden eyes stared at the Elves in fury. Everyone around her trembled as she stepped forward, including the oldest Elves, who were clearly stronger than her.

    However, while their mana core''s rank might be higher, they didn''t have the same authority as the Royal Princess, who was adept at making sure that everyone knew who would rule the Elves in the future.

    The Royal Princess'' Charisma was not something one could obtain by simply bing stronger. She was born with talent, power, and the responsibility to lead all the Elven races when her mother would relinquish the throne. Thus, it was only obvious that she would have a more imposing aura than everyone else.

    Everyone began to kneel down on one leg as a sign of respect and to show that they were loyal to the royalty. Nial looked at this in confusion but he didn''t follow suit, feeling like it would be stupid for him to do the same.

    ''I am not loyal to her, and neither will I ever submit to the Elves¡­ I guess it would be rude if I were to do something I don''t even mean,'' Nial thought, ignoring the fact that it may also be considered rude that he was still standing in front of the Royal Princess with a straight back and looking at her, which would mean that he thought of himself as a being of equal repute or authority as that of the Royal Princess.

    It was only at this moment when the Royal Princess noticed Nial. She could clearly perceive the destructive energies in the Holy Hall but because nothing had been damaged by it, the Royal Princess didn''t give it much thought.

    However, upon seeing the blind human, she was a bit stupefied.

    ''Is that him? But wasn''t he supposed to emerge in the Hall of the Neers?'' She thought in confusion while keeping her eyes on Nial.

    Nial felt a bit weird but before he could say something, the young Elf, Js, began to speak in an excited voice.

    "Princess Evalyne, we''re back from our mission! Finally, I can see you again, Princess!"

    Js looked at the Royal Princess in excitement and gave her a bright smile. However, Princess Evalyne scoffed at his attempt to suck up to her with an expression that spoke volumes about her opinion of him.

    Js seemed oblivious to her contempt and his smile widened when he realized that the Royal Princess had looked at him for a second. He seemed no less than a dog wagging its tail at the sight of a bone.

    ''She looked at me, She looked at me!!'' He shouted in his mind, feeling exhrated, ignorant to the reality that was staring him in the eye.

    "Js, shut it! You may be noble, but watch how you behave in front of the Royal Princess!" A stern voice that only someone with extraordinary hearing could hear swept through the Holy Hall. The words were apanied by the wind element, sealing them only for Js to hear them¡­and Nial.

    ''So this idiot is a noble¡­well he is powerful, I guess¡­'' Nial shook his head lightly before his attention returned to the Royal Princess. Unfortunately, just at this moment, his legs gave in as the poison within his system had advanced even further.

    Nialnded on the ground with a groan that caused a few Elves to recall that a human was amidst them.

    "Princess, please allow me to execute this disgusting peasant! We found this trash of a human being in the Holy Hall when we returned from our glorious mission!" Js'' loud voice echoed through the entire Holy Hall. He was eager to extinguish Nial''s entire existence and get in the Princess'' good books.

    This was frowned upon by many of the other Elves, who started cursing Js in their mind. The Royal Princess would have taken care of Nial by herself if he wouldn''t have been invited to Yggdrasil. Something was obviously wrong but this idiot of a young brat didn''t seem to realize this!

    Princess Evalyne looked through the entire Holy Hall with her golden eyes that had begun to glow. Her silver hair fluttered in the faint drafts she had summoned to clear the hall of the bits of ck miasma that were left behind.<sub> </sub>

    "Ina, heal him," She ordered as she motioned for the female Elf to treat Nial. Ina, the Elf, who had looked at Nial with interest before jumped up from the ground. With brisk steps, Ina emerged in front of Nial and a white light began to shroud him.

    ''This feels a lot like the healing provided by the Elvingar Elves¡­just that it is several times stronger¡­'' Nial realized pretty quickly when a soothing and invigorating sensation spread through his entire body. The white light was focused on his legs and feet.

    "How did you end up here?" Princess Evalyne asked Nial calmly, ignoring Js'' existence in its entirety. She took a step closer to him to have a better view of Nial and she was definitely not dissatisfied.

    ''The dark energy they spoke about is pretty strong. No wonder he could push back the Dryx. Still, to think that he could fight against the Incarnation of a God¡­even if the Incarnation was injured, it was still the Incarnation of a True God; an Incarnation, who was of a much higher rank¡­'' The Royal Princess was now pretty sure that the blind human in front of her was Nial Orin, the young human, whose arrival had been announced to happen today.

    Thus, her expression waspletely different when she looked at Nial from what it had been when she spoke to the others.

    "That is a good question. I wonder about that myself. Meryl and Master Crevian had told me that I would be separated from them but I had never expected¡­this¡­to happen, your majesty?" Nial was not sure what to call the Royal Princess. It was a relief that he could understand the Elvennguage after he listened to Master Crevian and Meryl for so long, but that didn''t mean he knew how to act ordingly.

    There were limits to the use of the God of Darkness'' memories. Nial felt a bit weird about her sudden appearance, especially after he had just fought a brat so as to stay alive, but it was a great sign that Princess Evalyne spoke nicely to him. Her reaction was theplete opposite to that of Js who wanted to skin him alive.

    "You are here to help the Elves, there is no need to bother about formalities, just call me Evalyne. I apologize for the rude behavior of Js. I will ensure that you get justice and punish everyone who mistreated you after I find out what actually happened!

    Just tell me every little detail of what happened after you emerged from the portal, and I willpare it to the reports the others will have to give, either way," the Princess spoke in a reassuring tone to Nial and her eyes turned cold when she looked in the direction of the other Elves as she added,

    "After all, they have to exin why you''re injured and why the Holy Hall was damaged!"

    The Elves closed their eyes in fear and grit their teeth when they heard the Royal Princess. They knew that it was a big mistake to have allowed Js to destroy the Holy Hall''s ground but it was not as if they expected the young brat to do something so stupid!

    "W-we can exin. Please let us exin right now¡­" One of the younger Elves suddenly mumbled in fear as he was unable to hold himself back anymore. However, the Royal Princess couldn''t care less about the young Elf as he stared at the oldest of the Elves with a fiery expression.

    "We will speak about the punishment for abusing Yggdrasil and destroying the Holy Hallter. If you want the best for your disciple, teach him some manners and start acting properly yourself. I know that you could tell that he was epted by Yggdrasil so there was no need for this ruckus!" She said with an air of finality, leaving no room for rebuttal.

    Even Nial felt the chills running down his spine and he could only smile faintly at that. He was quite satisfied that the Elves would get punished but it wouldn''t make things easier for him.

    ''Js will definitely hate me to the core. He will be of the belief that everything was my fault and that I have to be eradicated¡­great¡­yay,'' Nial''s lips twitched at the thought of Js attacking him when he was asleep. He shuddered for a moment just to realize that he was finally able to feel his legs and feet again.

    "Thanks," Nial said to Ina, who only nodded her head before she retracted the white light.

    Nial got up from the ground and swung his arms and legs to test if there were any side effects of having been poisoned or not. Fortunately, everything seemed to be perfectly fine, which was why Nial let out a sigh of relief.

    "You can tell me everything that happened, if you want to," Princess Evalyne repeated, her entire attention on Nial.

    "Okay¡­" Nial could only answer while feeling a bit pressured by the Princess'' impatience.

    "To put it simply, I emerged in the Holy Hall, recuperated from traveling through space for the first time in my life, and was about to search for Master Crevian, or just any Elf to figure out where exactly I ended up. Everyone present around us appeared from the portal and I was about to introduce myself when Js attacked me out of nowhere.

    He didn''t really feel like talking, so we fought¡­I didn''t want to lose, but I still tried not to destroy anything, somehow. The ck miasma and dark energy I released shouldn''t have destroyed anything but if it did, I hope you can forgive me," Nial summarized everything neatly, just to look at her when he spoke thest few words.

    He didn''t need the forgiveness of the Royal Princess if he destroyed something but Yggdrasil''s as everything else didn''t really matter.

    The Royal Princess smiled when she saw what Nial did, but her eyes turned even colder than before as she stared at Js.

    And this time, even the oblivious Js noticed that something was wrong and that he had fucked up.

    "Shit.."

 Chapter 313 Nonchalant

    "This may be a dumb question, but is everyone here a High Elf, or some sort of Sacred Elf?" Nial asked quietly, feeling extremely stupid. He tried to hide his embarrassment with a faint smile but that didn''t work well.

    They were still in the Holy Hall but Js and the others had left. They were sent to the Sacred Court, where they would be punished for their crimes.

    Js hadmitted a serious crime by abusing Yggdrasil and by destroying the Holy Hall. This was already enough for him to receive a harsh punishment, and the way he treated Nial only made matters worse for him. He had attacked someone much weaker than himself without any actual reason, at that.

    Insulting an honorable guest of the Royal family was also not something one should do just for the sake of it. Nial was exactly that; an honorable guest of the Royal family. Master Crevian was just the messenger who had been sent by the royal family to invite Nial over on their behalf.

    Master Crevian had received permission to invite Nial to Yggdrasil and to request him to join the U21 Runicier tournament. Treating him properly was only natural, and Js'' behavior had maligned the Royal family''s image and name drastically.

    It would be a wonder if Nial were to see Js until he would leave Yggdrasil for Ximatra, or the Golden City, to be precise.

    Nial was not that worried about Js anymore but he started to feel a bit bad for the youngster.

    ''His teachers messed up real bad, didn''t they?'' Nial thought, feeling that the biggest responsibility for the mess had been the other Elves. They could have done so much and prevented him from throwing a fit, only to end up watching everything Js had done.

    "You know about the difference between High Elves and Sacred Elves? That is remarkable," Princess Evalyne remarked, not noticing that Nial''s lip twitched at the thought of it.

    ''I didn''t even know that Sacred Elves really exist¡­let alone what the difference between them is¡­'' Nial thought inwardly with a weird smile on his face as he kept listening to Princess Evalyne.

    "The Holy Hall can only be essed by the Elven nobility or royalty. This includes all sub-races or the higher elves that have evolved from the first Elves. Even if not everyone in Yggdrasil is a High Elf, the few Elves you met before were all High Elves, including Js," Princess Evalyne exined before she quietly added,

    "That''s why it is a great achievement that you survived so long against him¡­lucky for us."

    Princessy Evalyne was ufortable about the way Nial ended up arriving. Sheined inwardly to Yggdrasil for changing his final destination without informing them beforehand but it was not as if the World Tree would bother about herints.

    At the end of the day, she was just happy that Nial didn''t die. His death would have been the worst possible oue of his battle against Js, and it would leave longsting effects.

    They needed the Tear of the Dryad Queen by all means but that was not the only reason they allowed a human to enter Yggdrasil. Nial was an anomaly amongst anomalies. This was something Princess Evalyne now understood much clearer than she wanted to acknowledge before.

    Master Crevian was impressed by his talent and ambition as a Runicier and it was quite obvious that he had a great future in front of him. His strength was no less amazing, which Ina and the other High Elves had been quite direct about when they told the Royal Princess what had transpired between Nial and Js.

    They also said that they would have never allowed Nial to die, but theirments were not something Evalyne was satisfied with. In her opinion, theirments were just an excuse, nothing else.

    "Are there also Dark Elves and cier Elves in or near Yggdrasil? I heard Master Crevian speaking about them a bit. He mentioned that they would be quite interested in my dark energy, or the fact that I will be a True Destroyer or something like that. My connection to mana, nature, and destruction would intrigue them," Nial spoke with a trace of excitement as he followed Princess Evalyne outside the Holy Hall.

    After she had inspected the entire Holy Hall, she could roughly gauge Nial''sbat prowess. The glow around her golden eyes dimmed down after she absorbed enough information. Her connection with Yggdrasil told her a lot about the love both nature and mana felt toward Nial, which was why she could only agree that many Elves would be intrigued about him.

    p "Do you have something special in you that is connected to the Essence of Life?" She suddenly asked instead of answering his question. Princess Evalyne didn''t even hear most of his earlier questions because her mind felt like a maze of confusing thoughts.</anda>

    Nial noticed that she was a bit lost in her own world, so he didn''t mind her behavior.

    "Isn''t that quite obvious?" He countered Evalyne''s question, stupefying her a bit.

    "You do know that you are speaking to the future Empress of an entire race? The Elven race at that, right?" She asked, squinting her eyes. Not even her mother treated her as nonchntly as Nial had begun to act around her.

    Earlier, Nial had been trying to be overly polite but he quickly noticed that this was useless and not how he would act under normal circumstances. He chose to take the easy route and not be too bogged down by her social status which was also why the tension in his body had been released.

    ''I know that. But you don''t seem to understand who you are talking to,'' Nial wanted to say but he kept quiet. It would be foolish to reveal too much information that connected him to Damian.

    His dark energy may have been exposed but considering that neither Yggdrasil nor any of the High Elves did something against him, he seemed to be fine.

    Even the Royal Princess didn''t do anything against him after sensing his dark energy.

    ''Thanks, Yggdrasil, you are probably my savior, am I right?'' Nial thought and his smile widened as he thanked the Ankh within him as well.

    The Symbol of Life was literally his life savior, his advantage that allowed him to befriend the Elves, and the reason for him to end up in Yggdrasil as well.

    "I know that, but you should cut me some ck, considering that I was weed in such a fashion, don''t you think?" Nial asked instead of giving her the answer he would have loved to say.<sub> </sub>

    Princess Evalyne thought about it for a moment and sighed deeply.

    "You are just like Crevian told us¡­" She revealed, shaking her head as they entered arge hall. They encountered more than ten Elves near the entrance and all of them kneeled on one knee the moment they saw the Royal Princess.

    Nail followed her quickly while wondering if everyone treated the Elven royalty with so much respect. It felt a bit weird, especially since it waspletely different from everything Nial knew from his life in the human shelters on Jundra.

    ''I shouldn''t have so many problems epting new traditions¡­Maybe I just need some time to warm up?'' He thought before he turned his focus back to the Princess.

    "I hope Master Crevian spoke only good about me," Nial smiled as he said conversationally, and the Royal Princess actually nodded her head.

    "He said that you''re determined, that your ambition knows no bounds, that he cannot tell how high your talent as a Runicier is because you seem to improve much more whenever your mana core progresses. That is normal but your progress is not linear but exponential, which is abnormal.

    Other than that, Crevian thinks that you''re trustworthy even if your behaviores across as a bit standoffish, suggesting that you don''t take others seriously. Well, and then there is the fact that you''re bound to be a True Destroyer, which Crevian seems to ignore entirely. I''m not yet sure where his trustes from but when Crevian says that he trusts someone it means a lot¡­and I mean A LOT!" Princess Evalyne seemed to regard Crevian''s opinion highly.

    Nial could also tell that she was being nice to him because Master Crevian''s opinion of him was so high. This warmed his heart a bit and he felt a bit closer to Crevian than before.

    "That''s great," He could only say before his range of perception picked up something that attracted his attention.

    "How many different types of Elves exist? As I mentioned before, Master Crevian told a bit about Dark Elves and cier Elves, but I don''t know much about them. Will you be the ruler of all of them when your mother steps down from the throne?" Nial was curious about many things and he didn''t think much before asking Princess Evalyne.

    Only if she were to re at him, or do something would he start bothering to think before asking her any questions, but that didn''t seem important for now.

    "Actually, we don''t know how many Elves exist. As a human, you will also find out that there will always be a human-affiliated race you don''t know anything about. Many human races have developed differently and there are various unique abilities they have awoken from birth.

    Humans from Jundra are unique in the sense that they can bind a total of five abilities to their mana core. That''s much more than anyone else can bind to their mana core without having a special trait.

    As for the Dark Elves and cier Elves, you shouldn''t get too close to them. They would probably try to dissect you because many of them lost nature''s favor.

    And for your understanding, I might be the Elven Queen in the future but that doesn''t mean I will lead all of them. Some chose to leave our protection, while others were thrown out after they did unforgivable things. All sub-races have their own royalty and leaders, but the Empress is in charge of all of them simply because she is the strongest!" Princess Evalyne didn''t seem to try holding back any information. She was sharing facts with him without any intention to keep him in the dark or doubt his intentions.

    This was another reason for Nial not to bother about maintaining any formalities. Princess Evalyne was an interesting person and they were simr in a few ways.

    Both could be quite imposing if they wanted to, neither of them really liked formalities, and they only suppressed others if it was truly necessary.

    However, there were also differences between them, quite a few, at that. Nial was not born in the royal family of a huge race. He was not the child of a God, nor did he have vast knowledge, talent, and connections at his disposal from the day he was born.

    Nial had to work for everything on his own, toil relentlessly for the slightest bits of progress he made after a long time, and his was infiltrated and attacked by numerous races, while Princess Evalyne belonged to one of the races, who had infiltrated them. She was privileged and had made use of it to be what she was today.

    Nial had to be stronger as quickly as possible, in whatever way possible, in order to protect those he deemed important, while everyone around Evalyne was already powerful.

    It was not possible for Nial to bother about being overly prideful because that was not something he could afford to have when it came to protecting those he loved.

    This was the biggest difference between them, and also the reason why Nial would make use of every single opportunity to be stronger, whether it was extremely dangerous, or even suicidal.

    He had to strive for the strength others were born with, otherwise, he would have never seen the necessity to join the U21 Runicier tournament and to face numerous races all by himself without anyone protecting him from the sidelines.

    "Strength it is¡­I see. So the moment the Empress would grow weak, she would most probably face the attack of others and get dethroned or even killed. That means the current situation is quite problematic, considering that she must have used quite a lot of resources, and fractions of her Divinity to bring the Elves and the Forest of Life to Jundra. Looks like a big mess¡­" Nial knew that his words could be misunderstood but he still revealed his honest thoughts.

    "That''s correct¡­wait, what the hell are you even thinking about, and how do you know all of that?!" The Princess asked in a stupor. She knew from reports that Nial had some knowledge about the Forest of Life, the Divinity Fragment portal and so on. However, right now, she couldn''t help but feel baffled.

    Evalyne couldn''t even get mad at Nial for creating a theory about her mother getting attacked, which was already absurd and something only heretics would dare to say.

    But Nial just smiled after Princess Evalyne stared at him with her vibrant golden eyes.

    ''Looks like winning the grand prize of the U21 Runicier tournament will be even more important than I expected¡­what a mess¡­no wonder that Master Crevian told me I will be rewarded with a universal favor from the Empress¡­I should help the Empress to retain her throne, or so it looks like to be the case.''

 Chapter 314 Link

    "The Empress told me to bring you to your room. You''ll stay in Yggdrasil for a week to get to know all the information about the Golden Armaments Union, your opponents in the tournament, and so on," The Royal Princess exined while pointing at a simple wooden door.

    They were outside Yggdrasil if one could call their current position as such, and Nial had yet to see Master Crevian or Meryl.

    The air that swirled around him was frigid and Nial began to shiver as he turned his head to look at Princess Evalyne.

    "Are you sure that you don''t want to kill me? I mean, this room is literally thousands of meters above the ground and a single push would be enough to end my life... You''re not nning to end me like this, right?!" Nial''s lip twitched as he asked her bluntly.

    They were still on Yggdrasil but they were not inside the tree anymore. Their current location was on one of Yggdrasil''s thick branches, where numerous wooden huts were located. The wooden hut he was assigned as a temporary stay by the Princess was located on one of the thinnest branches and Nial was not even sure if it could endure his weight.

    It might just break the moment he would step inside the hut.

    "Why would I allow you to see so much of Yggdrasil and to climb so high up, just to kill you? Don''t worry so much. The branch may look thin but it is one of the strongest!" Princess Evalyne started to treat Nial with the same air of casualness as him, giving a wide berth to being formal.

    She had never liked formalities and making people bow to her just because she had been born as the Royal Princess.

    Formalities irked her the most, but she had not received the chance to just be herself and not a princess while interacting with someone. Nial was a rare opportunity for her, which Evalyne had grasped after she had warmed up to Nial and his weird personality.

    "Maybe you have a kink?" Nial responded with a shrug as he stepped inside the wooden hut without hesitation. He smirked and could clearly visualize Princess Evalyne''s reaction, which nearly caused him tough out loud.

    "You...really are tired of living, aren''t you?!" Princess Evalyne shouted as she followed him with quick steps inside the wooden hut.

    She wanted to teach him a lesson but Nial didn''t seem to pay her much attention as he had already picked up a book from the stashes of books that had been prepared for him.

    ''Argh!! Crevian reported that he is good at provoking others but this is... beyond anything I could think off... '' Princess Evalyne thought while ring daggers at Nial.

    ''If that''s how he acts with a Royal Princess, how did he treat Crevian and his disciple? How is Nial even alive?'' She genuinely wondered, clenching her fist to prevent herself from doing anything stupid.

    "Will it be necessary for me to meet the Empress?" Nial asked quietly when he finished visualizing the content of the first book in his mind. His gaze flicked to the Princess, who was certain of knowing the answer to his question.

    "She''s not in Yggdrasil," Evalyne gave him a curt reply, which caused Nial to smile lightly.

    ''That''s good then...'' Nial nearly sighed in relief but he noticed early enough that Evalyne was still looking at him. She squinted when she saw his reaction but didn''t probe him any further.

    Nial could tell that everyone was a bit wary about his dark energy and that it was looked at with suspicion. If not for Js, Nial would have never used it in the presence of the older Elves, let alone the High Elves, who could have known the dark energy from encounters in the past.

    Fortunately, they didn''t know that the dark energy was limited to the God of Darkness, or Damian, to be precise. If they would have known this, even being favored by Yggdrasil wouldn''t have stopped them from killing him.

    As for meeting the Empress, she was bound to know about his dark energy and the fact that only Damian had this type of destructive energy. Nial avoided many problems by not meeting up with the Empress as the dark energy remnants would linger around him for a few days after thest time he used it.

    "Will I be meeting Master Crevian to study, or am I supposed to be imprisoned in the wooden hut, caught in a cage like a bird?" Nial asked with a faint smile on his face.

    "What the hell do you think about our race? We, Elves, are not that bad, you know?!" Princess Evalyne started to get annoyed at all the prejudices Nial seemed to have against the Elves. She was not even sure where the prejudices stemmed from because she doubted that he must have faced many troublesome encounters in the Forest of Life.

    "In that case, I can read all those books in a day or two and join a few other sses about Runiciers, right? Is there anywhere in Yggdrasil where I am not allowed to be?" Nial ignored Evalyne''s frustration as he kept asking her questions.

    Princess Evalyne stomped her feet on the ground and took a few deep breaths before she was able to answer in a somewhat calm voice,

    "Just do whatever you want and go wherever Yggdrasil allows you to go. Crevian will be holding sses in the following week before he brings you to Ximatra. Afterward, you will be on your own! Bye!"

    <o>,m Princess Evalyne disappeared the moment she finished speaking. Nial''s grin widened and he sat down in front of the wooden desk next to him.<sub> </sub></o>

    "Her reactions are really cute," Nial mumbled before his thoughts went astray. He started to visualize the content of all books on the desk one after another before he imprinted the content and knowledge written on the pages in his mind.

    Nial didn''t possess a perfect memory but his [Mana Sense] could imprint everything he had visualized in his mind for a certain period.

    As long as he wanted to visualize it once again, Nial could do so until it would disappear. Nial had to read and learn everything about the books he had just learned but he didn''t need to have the physical copies of the books with him.

    He was done in less than half an hour and went outside the wooden hut. The content of one book was visualized in his mind and Nial read through it while he paved his way over Yggdrasil''s long branch back inside the hut.

    "I can go wherever I want as long as Yggdrasil allows it...I will do that then, I guess," Nial mumbled with a faint smile on his lips.

    He didn''t feel like offending anyone, not anymore but Princess Evalyne told him that he could do whatever he wanted...even if that was just something she said in anger.

    Yggdrasil didn''t really restrict him. The Sentient ginormous tree provided him with tremendous mana and vigor that entered his body whenever his feet touched the ground.

    Nial had long since removed his shoes and socks to let his bare feet touch Yggdrasil directly. A tingling sensation and overflowing vigor entered Nial''s body through his feet, invigorating him.

    ''The Ankh is truly useful,'' Nial thought as the Symbol of Life continued to pull mana and vigor towards it. Nial absorbed and annexed the mana while the vigor that spread through his body was suctioned inside the Symbol of Life.

    It was slowly changing, being nurtured and reinforced. The influence of the Symbol of Life was slowly increasing. While the Odyssey seed''s dark energy, the Darkness Essence, and Damian''s memories were something that influenced Nial, making him more violent and feel less bothered, or even guilty about injuring others, the Ankh was doing the exact opposite.

    The Ankh influenced his mind and his body to stay calmer in all kinds of situations. It invigorated his body and allowed him to stay at his peak form every time. It hadn''t been much longer than an hour since he was poisoned and his mana had been drainedpletely but he was already fully invigorated and his mana core was overflowing with mana.

    Nial was, in fact, already working onpressing his mana to generate another droplet of mana which he would use to advance the progress of his third Ancient Origin ring.

    As he was busy reading the books he had been given to study andpress his mana simultaneously, Nial didn''t even notice where he was heading or that faint golden lines spread through his feet.

    They traveled upward towards his knee and continued to advance until they connected with the Symbol of Life. After the golden lines spread around the Ankh and the Odyssey seed, they moved toward his head and his arms before they returned to the Ankh.

    The golden lines were clearly visible to everyone, but there was nobody around to see Nial as he walked through the paths that no one had ever been inside. Nial was oblivious to where he was going or what was happening with his body.

    He could only feel that multitasking was much easier than expected, that his understanding of all the content in the books was extremely easy for him to understand, and that the surrounding mana was much easier to annex than usual.

    It wouldn''t take him long to absorb enough mana topress another mana droplet once the first one waspressed. This astonished him a bit but he didn''t even think aboutining. He was happy that everything was going much smoother than he could have hoped for and that his mind was free of any doubts.

    The golden lines spread through his entire body by now and they could be clearly seen wherever his veins were visible. A golden glow shrouded the blue veins that were visible to everyone''s eyes.

    Hours passed and Nial had already finished studying the third book. By now, he had created a total of eight mana droplets and it felt like he could go on for hours.

    However, by now, he could tell that something was wrong. His range of perception had erged and he could clearly sense everything and everyone inside Yggdrasil. The entire tree was not just within his range of perception...it was almost as if the tree itself was his range of perception.

    Nial shuddered when he realized this and as he regained his senses, he wondered where he had ended up for the first time since Princess Evalyne had left him.

    "I''m in the deepest parts of Yggdrasil? Why though?" Nial wanted to walk through Yggdrasil to see more Elves and to figure out their strength, how advanced they were, and to experience the feeling of being around sub-races of Elves felt like when he perceived them with his [Mana Sense].

    There were various things Nial was curious about but none of it was rted to the deepest parts of Yggdrasil. The tree had opened various paths to him and he was now as close to its ginormous roots as possible. This confused him, but it was not the only confusing part.

    Nial felt as if his body was connected to Yggdrasil. The Symbol of Life created a link between Yggdrasil but Nial had no idea what he was supposed to do with that link.

    "Just what is going on?!"

 Chapter 315 Yggdrasils Will

    Nial took a deep breath before he activated [Mana Sense] to check for the changes in his own body.

    The golden lines were visualized in his mind. They covered Nial''s ordinary veins and his mana veins were shrouded by the golden lines. He was full of vigor, his mind worked much more efficiently than usual, and mana entered all of his open pores on its own.

    ''The Symbol of Life? How is that rted to Yggdrasil?'' Nial frowned deeply when he noticed that the Ankh was the link between himself and Yggdrasil.

    He knew that the Ankh was closely rted to Life but he would have never expected that it could even influence the ginormous tree to such an extent.

    The tree was sacred to the Elves and only some of them were able to connect to Yggdrasil like Nial did. In the few books he had read since arriving in the Elven Empire, he got to know a few bits of information that were closely rted to Yggdrasil and the Elves.

    The Empress was able to connect to Yggdrasil and to use the umted vigor and energy of the Sacred tree when it was necessary to protect her race and her territory.

    There were a few other emergency situations when the Empress or some of the other blessed Elves would try essing Yggdrasil but the sentience of the tree would block them if it was not a dire emergency such as a matter between the existence and extinction of the Elven race.

    "Why am I connected to you, big boy?" Nial mumbled as he pped lightly against the wall next to him. The cold and rough wood seemed to warm up under his touch but Nial turned his head in oblivion.

    He walked through the small paths that spread through the entire lower area of Yggdrasil and searched for a way upward.

    Something within Nial screamed to him, it pulled Nial in a certain direction but he didn''t feel that it would be a good idea to keep advancing ahead and following this weird feeling.

    His gut, his heart, and his head were each of apletely different opinion of what he was supposed to do. The Odyssey seed didn''t seem to do anything, which was a good sign, but the Symbol of Life was the exact opposite.

    It reacted strongly to Yggdrasil and the direction he was subconsciously being pulled towards.

    Nial used all his willpower to fight against the pulling force and he ended up near the stairways, which led upward. Yet, just when he was about to take them the stairs began to tremble as roots of various sizes grew out of the walls, the ground, and the ceiling.

    The roots blocked the stairs and Nial''s only way was to get up.

    "Are you serious right now, Yggdrasil? If you have something to tell me, fucking speak to me¡­." Nial liked teasing others but it irked him when someone forced him to do something he didn''t want to do and caged him like a canary.

    Usually, he would never do something he didn''t like because it ended up pulling him in more trouble. However, it was quite difficult to get out of this situation without following whatever the Sacred tree wanted him to do.

    Nial tried to pull the roots apart but he understood almost instantaneously that not even a Prometheus Elf would be able to destroy these roots. There was no other way outside Yggdrasil, which was why Nial ended up walking in the direction he was being pulled.

    His range of perception lost stability the closer he came to the area he was pulled in and it was only a matter of time before his range of perception was blurred.

    ''That never happened before¡­'' Nial bit his lip when he sensed that not even activating [Mana Sense] allowed him to perceive his surroundings anymore.

    For almost three years, Nial was able to perceive his surroundings and visualize the things he was not able to see due to his special condition. It didn''t rece his sight urately but it was pretty close to that as he could visualize every single thing in a close range as long as he used enough mana.

    However, for the first time, this had changed!

    Nial tried to use more mana to activate [Mana Sense] but it didn''t work. He could tell that his Innate ability was activated and that it worked perfectly fine because the range in which he could feel that mana existed around him erged the more mana he used. But it was impossible for him to connect the mana that belonged to the same objects, masses, and beings as before!

    Something blocked his mana sensory ability, crippling Nial and he was forced to rely on his other senses.

    Nial had never really relied solely on his ordinary senses since he awoke his Origin because his range of perception was always present, supporting his senses, or the other way around.

    Now that his range of perception and [Mana Sense] didn''t seem to work, his heart seemed to constrict. He nibbled on his lower lip and stretched out both of his arms in an attempt to touch Yggdrasil''s walls simultaneously.

    A sigh of relief escaped Nial as his right hand felt the cold and rough wood which he approached like a good old friend.

    Nial loosened the restrictions which he always put on his senses that were more than 30 times more sensitive than an ordinary Original at the 2nd Superior Mirae rank.

    He released the restrictions slowly over time and the first thing Nial noticed was the fragrant woody scent that swirled around his nostrils. Nial took a deep breath of the warm, and earthy scent, and his stiff body responded by loosening up a bit.

    His fingers came in touch with the thick resin, and the rough bark of the Sacred tree. Yggdrasil was covered with bark not just on the outside but also the inside. Nial was not sure why this was the case but some might even say that Yggdrasil was a tree in a tree.

    Somehow he got that feeling as well, especially since he was connected to Yggdrasil directly. The cold and mushy moss wet his fingers, it washed off the resin that was sticking to them and it left behind some residue and faint imprints.

    Nial was not able to see or to perceive anything but if he could do one or another, he would be able to tell that the fingers of his right hand had begun to glow.

    The golden lines that covered the veins on the back of his fingers glowed brighter the longer Nial touched the walls of Yggdrasil. Intricate designs that morphed into blueish glowing runic constetions emerged wherever Nial''s hand touched.<sub> </sub>

    The runic constetions spread out and covered the entire small path he had entered not too long ago.

    As he was unable to perceive anything with his Mana sense, Nial''s focus was on the things he touched, the vibrations he felt, the noises around him, and the smell aka his ordinary senses. It allowed him to perceive so much more than before, whether it was the vibrations and sounds that the tiny insects all around him created, the faintest details he could feel about the walls he touched gently, or the change in the fragrance around him.

    A stale and sulfuric smell entered his nose while the humidity increased drastically. Nial''s hair stood up on its end and he began to shudder.

    "What the hell am I smelling?" He quietly mumbled, tilting his head as he kept walking. Despite the sudden feeling that the Grim Reaper held its razor-sharp scythe against his neck, Nial continued to walk.

    He felt a piercing gaze digging into the back of his skull but he was not able to hear anything except the insects around him. Their vibrations were also the only other thing he perceived, which indicated that there was nothing to be worried about.

    However, it didn''t take long before he sensed something weird. The narrow path ended up in arge hall, where Nial had no wall to lean against if necessary.

    He knew that he would get lost in an unknown room where he was not able to use his range of perception.

    Thus, he stretched out his left hand, where the Dragonme spear manifested. He put the spear aside, and essed his spatial ring a few more times before he found what he had been searching for; an enclosedmp and a candle in his hand.

    He put it down at the entrance he came from, summoned a small me using the Dragonme spear, and ignited the candle that released a strong fragrance.

    After he put it inside themp, Nial ced themp in the center of the entrance he came from while taking a sniff.

    "Better than nothing," Nial concluded when the strong fragrance swirled around him. Themp was closed and there were only small slits to let some airflow in and out of it but that was more than enough for Nial to smell it.

    *Ssh*

    When Nial''s senses were overwhelmed by something new his head immediately flicked in the direction of the noise. Nial sniffed once while using his other senses to provide enough evidence for his next conclusion.

    "An underwaterke inside Yggdrasil?" Nial grew certain that he was correct because he heard several more sshes the more time passed. The vibrations he felt came from astray droplets of water that hit the ground while the rest belonged to waves that swept through the center of the hall he had entered.

    By focusing on the vibrations, Nial could conclude that the hall was extremely huge. This didn''t worry him because there were other things to pay attention to.

    "Hello there, my name is Nial Orin and I''m very sorry for entering your¡­abode, I am not sure how I reached here but I somehow ended up here," Nial tried to convey that he meant no harm and after he thought about something for a moment, he chose to add a few more bits of information, "I''m blind so I sense everything with my mana, so please don''t worry that I''m prying on you¡­"

    Nial felt weird talking like this because he was basically revealing that he was currently unguarded. He would never reveal this information if it was not for him still being in Yggdrasil, where he knew that it was safe.

    ''Please don''t be a dumb brick head like Js¡­'' Nial prayed, knowing that there was someone or something in the hall. As long as it was not Js or someone like that High Elf youngling, there was still some hope for him!

    "How did you end up here, human?" A cold voice reached Nial all of a sudden. He flinched and involuntarily stepped back as the cold voice swirled around him. The voice seemed toe from all directions and Nial had to give up finding the actual direction where the voice came from.

    His heart leaped up when he realized that there was truly someone in the huge hall, and Nial quickly exined the situation.

    He didn''t want to offend someone, whose strength and personality were unknown to him.

    Nial summarized everything quickly, without leaving out any important information. The voice turned quiet and it didn''t make another sound for several minutes.

    "Your name was Nial Orin?" The voice asked in a different tone than before. It sounded like apletely different speaking to him but Nial could sense that it was the same being that slightly altered its voice.

    "Exactly¡­Sir¡­Madame¡­?" Nial was not sure how to address the stranger. He identally said ''Sir'' but that felt wrong, which was why he felt forced to add Madame as well.

    Right now he looked like aplete fool and Nial was fully aware of this. It was frustrating.

    "It doesn''t matter whether you call me Sir or Madame. Both are correct, but also faulty¡­" the voice said calmly and the sound of something emerging from theke reverberated through Nial''s ear only a momentter.

    Water dripped to the ground as the being the voice belonged to stepped out of theke.

    "It has been a while since someone entered my abode. Yggdrasil must feel something within you," the owner of the voice appeared behind him all of a sudden.

    Nial wanted to turn his head but before he could do so, something corporeal touched his head, forcing him to go stiff as a statue.

    "Let me take a look at it, little human," the voice said as a painful throbbing spread through Nial''s head, along his neck, and down his body.

    "If you don''t fight against it, it won''t hurt¡­that much¡­hehehe."

 Chapter 316 Fairies Blessing

    Unbearable pain spread through Nial''s entire body. His highly enhanced senses made everything he felt worse than it actually was even if he epted his body being scanned through thoroughly.

    He screamed out in pain and blood trickled down the corners of his mouth momentster. It looked like he had sustained internal injuries, which caused the owner of the voice to look at him in confusion.

    "Your senses are higher than others, aren''t they?" The voice asked skeptically and the pain disappeared before it returned as the voice continued to infiltrate his body.

    Nial began to scream again and droplets of blood began to ooze out of his nose, eyes and ears as well. All of his senses were focused on the things the voice was doing to him and Nial was incapable of perceiving anything else.

    His body seemed like it was turned inside out and he could hardly control himself as his legs gave in. The mysterious being never let go of his head and the pain only got worse the more time passed.

    The Odyssey seed tried to thwart the being''s infiltration, which was why the situation got even worse.

    While the Ankh epted the weird energy that swept through his body to assess every single aspect of his entire being, the Odyssey seed was doing the exact opposite.

    The two powers of the Odyssey seed and the Ankh were shing against each other within his body. This caused tremendous damage to the oblivious Nial, who felt unbearable pain without knowing why.

    Time passed slowly and Nial started to question whether or not he could escape this mess alive. Ever since he had arrived in the Elves'' territory, he was attacked twice and Nial felt that they were doing this intentionally.

    He started to feel anger toward the Elven race but quickly realized that it was not actually their fault. He was the one to have traveled down to Yggdrasil''s roots and it was both Yggdrasil and the Symbol of Life that was ying him.

    As for the Elven youngling, who had attacked him, Nial couldn''t care less about Js anymore. In the future, Nial would beat him up if Js were to try taking revenge because of the punishment he deserved, but other than that, Nial didn''t think about going out of his way to seek the youngling.

    "Why¡­.are you¡­doing this to me?" Nial asked with gritted teeth. He was barely able to speak because his brain felt like mush. His body was beyond exhausted and he was lying on the ground, bleeding from his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.

    "I''m just trying to understand why Yggdrasil would be so interested in you. You''re not dead so don''t be such a pussy¡­" the voice admonished him before it finally let go of his head.

    His head smashed into the ground, which caused Nial to groan deeply.

    "Why couldn''t you just¡­ask?" Nial asked weakly, while holding his head in his hands. He was trying to sound more energetic than he actually was.

    "Why should I? I wouldn''t believe your words had I not seen your little defective Lesser Divinity Fragment of Life myself," The voice spoke lightly and Nial felt like it was making fun of him.

    "Lesser Divinity Fragment of Life? You mean the Symbol of Life, don''t you?" Nial slowly regained strength in his body. He pushed his upper body off the ground and got back on his feet. His legs felt like jelly but Nial still managed to not slump again.

    Nial tried to sense his surroundings but that was still not possible. The Dragonme spear was lying around him, but Nial had no idea where it was right now.

    Energy spread through his body and Yggdrasil''s vigor swamped him. Nial noticed that the mana around him was being pulled closer to him at a rapid pace and it was only at this moment that he realized something.

    "Did you¡­change something about my Mana core and mana veins?!" He asked in shock, nearly forgetting what the voice said before.

    Too many things had happened in a short time and his mind was riddled with pain and information. He was still weak but Yggdrasil supported him directly.

    Nial was grateful for that but it was also the least Yggdrasil could do after forcing him to go somewhere Nial never wanted to be.

    "The Symbol of Life you''re speaking about belongs to the Divinity Fragment of an existence who attained Godhood. I have no idea who he or she is but it''s definitely a Lesser Godly existence rted to Life itself. The Divinity Fragment is also defective because it is connected to something tiny within your body that even I cannot fully grasp.

    I guess, you know what it is but I won''t pry any further. After all, I figured out what I wanted to know." The voice exined the intent of its examination calmly just like before.

    Nial''s ordinary senses were still fully unleashed and he could sense that the being had appeared in front of him. Several weird voices reached his ear and he was flooded by the giggling of numerous childish voices.

    Nial didn''t expect this, which was why his head turned around in all directions as if he was trying to smell, hear, or feel the vibrations of other existences around him.

    "Looks like you can hear them now. I wonder if that''s what Yggdrasil wanted¡­" The voice sounded mncholic and Nial''s anger about being injured subsided almost instantly.

    It was weird and he couldn''t tell why but he felt sad for the voice.<sub> </sub>

    ''What the hell is going on with my mind?!'' Nial wondered but something else was of much more importance!

    ''My mana core changed¡­and my mana veins were erged as well¡­the mana stored in my mana core has a higher potency and I can absorb mana much faster¡­'' He quickly concluded but that was not everything.

    The vigor of the nature around him was not only useful as the Symbol of Life but also for Nial''s body. He noticed that the more invigorated his body was the faster his mana absorption and annexing became.

    There didn''t seem to be a limit to how much mana he could absorb at once as long as he could control it, hold it inside his body and make use of it.

    "What did you do to me?" Nial asked once again as goosebumps sprang up on his entire body.

    "As per Yggdrasil''s wish, everyone who enters this ce will receive the Fairies'' Blessing as long as they''re worthy," the voice answered him calmly while moving backward. Nial could hear every move she made but his mind was upied with something else.

    "Fairies'' Blessing? So you are a Fairie, just like all the voices I can hear right now?" Nial asked to make sure that he understood correctly. His mind was a mess but he was slowly getting to a solution.

    "I am Aine, and a Fairie, yes," the voice, Aine, acknowledged as she started to p her wings as if she wanted to give him a piece of evidence. A gust of wind whirled around Nial''s head all of a sudden before water sshed in his face.

    Nial instinctively retreated but he couldn''t avoid the water balls that were thrown at him every now and then. The annoying giggling sounds resounded from all around him and only when Aine lifted her hand did everything around her turn quiet again.

    "I apologize for the behavior of my children. They rarely see someone new, let alone a human being. You should be the first human they have seen since they were born, so please forgive their childish behavior," Aine apologized meekly.

    Her behavior seemed to have changed a bit after Nial received the Fairies'' Blessing from her. It was a bit unexpected, including the sudden attack of small Fairies, who had begun to y around with his shoulder-long silver hair.

    Nial''s body was overflowing with tension because Aine had caused him unimaginable pain but the shower with cold water, the gust of winds, and the tiny Fairies ying around with his hair calmed him a bit though the giggling irritated him a bit.

    His tension was slowly released and his expression changed for the better.

    "The Fairies'' Blessing is located on your mana core and you are lucky because it will be far more effective than ordinary Fairies'' Blessings because you possess an interesting Symbol of Life. It is transmuted and allows you to be loved by both nature and mana despite your existence as a Destroyer¡­" Aine informed him.

    She didn''t prevent the smaller fairies from having the time of their life while ying around with Nial and Nial didn''t do anything against them either. They calmed him, which was exactly what he needed right now.

    Nial hadn''t been inclined to be here from the beginning but now that Yggdrasil had forced him to be with the fairies, it was not that bad. He would have loved to avoid feeling unbearable pain but the Fairies'' Blessing seemed to be worth the effort.

    "What exactly is the Fairies'' Blessing¡­like what does it do and will it bring me any disadvantages?" Nial asked in a concerned voice. He could tell that one ''advantage'' of the blessing was that he could hear the Fairies. He would probably be able to perceive them as well using his mana but that seemed pretty difficult around theke.

    The mana density around theke was extremely high and lots of mana was pulled in his direction, which was great because his mana core was always filled, while his mana veins were overflowing with mana as well.

    Unfortunately, Nial was not able to use mana in any way right now, which was why he could onlypress the mana in his mana core to create droplets, making space for more mana.

    "Disadvantage?... Maybe all Fairies will know that you can hear them? But other than that, your mana core and mana veins have been strengthened. But that is something you should have already noticed," Aine said before she calmly added the most important point.

    "The more invigorated your surroundings or the higher the amiability of mana and the nature is around you, the faster you''ll be able to absorb mana. Your mind should be much clearer than before as well. The nature around you will help you toprehend things at a much faster rate!"

    Nial listened intently and he nodded his head excitedly.

    He had already gauged most effects of the Fairies'' Blessing but it was certainly better than expected.

    His mind was clear and when he visualized the text and content of the books he had imprinted in his mind, Nial quickly understood that he was able to read much faster. He didn''t need to spend much time trying toprehend the various words and rtions of certainponents to each other.

    Runiciers needed highprehension ability, especially when they created new runic constetions and when they made new links between runic constetions, whose ovepping effect hadn''t been studied properly.

    The ability toprehend something quickly was one of the biggest reasons why some Runiciers would never be considered master Runiciers, let alone talented!

    "Amazing!"

 Chapter 317 Flaw

    Nial was not sure how much time had passed but everything felt like a dream, a weird dream.

    He had no idea how much time passed but after talking to Aine, Nial was thrown out of the Fairies'' Lake.

    Aine told him that he could return whenever he wanted, using the Fairies'' Blessing, but also that he had to leave now.

    Nial could sense his surroundings by using his range of perception once again but he didn''t do so. He basically restricted his own Mana perception in ce as he tried to find his way through Yggdrasil.

    ''I rely too much on my range of perception and [Mana Sense]. I looked like an idiot when both were restricted¡­'' Nial understood his biggest shoring quickly and it was quite obvious.

    It had been nearly three years since he had awakened his Origin and in all these years, his range of perception had always been his most important means of support. With his Innate ability added to the mix, his range of perception was even better than the eyesight of some Originals.

    However, now Nial had finally realized the biggest problem; the fact that his perception could easily be restricted due to unfavorable environmental conditions!

    Before that had never been a problem but it was his fortune that he finally realized that he was being naive.

    With his restricted range of perception, Nial tried to find his way through Yggdrasil. His veins were still glowing golden and the immense amount of mana that was being suctioned towards him distracted him a bit but it was also quite helpful.

    Multitasking was something that had always been of extreme importance for Nial. He had to sense his surroundings and fight simultaneously. While every single Original had to do the same, it was just a bit more intense for Nial as all of his senses were released when he fought.

    He digested various pieces of information, and sorted them out until only the important intel was left behind. This intel was utilized to continue fighting. It sounded quite difficult but Nial''s entire being was already ustomed to this, which was also why he could do it.

    Bypressing the mana that entered his body, Nial created mana droplets that were necessary to form the outer frame of the 3rd Ancient Origin ring. This happened pretty easily, especially after the Fairies'' Blessing did wonders to enhance his overall being.

    Nial could clearly feel the synergy between the Symbol of Life and the Fairies'' Blessing. Hisprehension ability was elevated as well and his mana core''s rank was bound to increase rapidly as long as he received immense mana and vigor from Yggdrasil.

    The following seven days were bound to be a tremendous opportunity for Nial and he wanted to make use of every single second he was there.

    Reading through the huge pile of books he was given wouldn''t be a problem thanks to his enhancedprehension, which caused him to smile brightly.

    Nial felt quite good after he left the undergroundke; the Fairies'' hideout. He had many questions but he knew that an answer to them would only confuse him more.

    This was especially the case when it came to the Symbol of life, the ''defective Lesser Divinity Fragment of Life''. Nial''s gut feeling had told him that it was something special the moment he killed the Variant Treant but it was still weird.

    He didn''t believe that he could have obtained it by coincidence and guessed that the Odyssey seed had something to do with it. However, there was no concrete evidence he had to back up his assumption.

    "Whatever, just let me improve the control over my other senses¡­" Nial mumbled to himself as he continued to walk through Yggdrasil. There were often times he walked into a wall, or when he got lost because he was multitasking and doing various things he had in mind.

    However, he slowly got the hang of everything, which was why he began to smile brightly when he started to increase the pace with which he walked through Yggdrasil.

    The most important for Nial was to make use of the vibrations his steps caused. They felt and sounded different when an obstacle appeared in his way. Nial evaded them easily after some time, which was how he could change his focus to his other senses as well.

    His smelling sense was quite unique as well. The smell of Yggdrasil''s bark, wood, resin and so on felt different to him the further he was located from something. When he turned his head in a particr direction, he could clearly perceive how far he was from the closest wall ording to the intensity of all the fragrances that swirled around him.

    Nial felt great pacing through Yggdrasil. He had basically no idea where he was currently but it didn''t matter because Nial felt free of worries.

    "I should really do this more often, maybe even while conquering some dungeons¡­.that would be quite helpful I guess¡­" Nial mumbled, just to realize something he had not even thought of before.

    "Are there even dungeons around Yggdrasil? I haven''t perceived any since I came here¡­" Nial spoke out loud. He had not stepped out of Yggdrasil ever since he was transported away from Jundra, not really, so he couldn''t know whether there were dungeon portals around here or not.

    However, he felt that dungeons were something that belonged only to Jundra, especially since Gods had built them to bring their own armies to Jundra. It was also a means to elerate the awakening of Jundra''sary mana core, which was not something they needed in the Elven territory.

    The entire had been conquered by the Elven and the Fairies living in the deeper parts of Yggdrasil were probably the only other race that inhabited the.

    Maybe there were also some other races rted to nature, but Nial was pretty sure that there would only be a handful of them.

    For dungeons of other Gods to have been created around Yggdrasil, lots of resources would have been wasted. Thus, Nial didn''t think that it made much sense.

    "There are dungeon portals on Elvian, far more than you can imagine," A familiar voice emerged next to him all of a sudden and Nial turned his attention to the right.<sub> </sub>

    He had passed by numerous Elves, High Elves, and other Elves on his tour through Yggdrasil but never had anyone spoken to him.

    Nial was eyed weirdly most of the time and sometimes even frowned at. However, nobody dared to act against him, especially since they were shocked that his veins were golden. Elves could clearly detect when someone had a connection to the nature around them and that was exactly what Nial had; he was directly linked to Yggdrasil.

    This was something no one but the royalty and a few other special Elves could do. Thus, nobody dared to approach Nial even though many were interested in how he, a human, had been capable of getting in Yggdrasil''s favor.

    "Master Crevian! I didn''t expect to find you here!" Nial gave him a heartfelt smile.

    Master Crevian perceived that Nial had restricted his mana perception entirely. The dense and high-quality mana from the surrounding still flooded him but Nial only absorbed it.

    ''He''s not using his range of perception? Is he training his other senses right now?'' Master Crevian wondered as he kept observing Nial.

    He had already perceived a few particr things about Nial and the changes within him but Master Crevian didn''t mention it directly.

    Many things had happened since Nial had emerged in the Holy Hall, and the trouble Yggdrasil had put him in was far more than expected.

    Nobody was able to understand the reasons behind the actions of the Sacred tree but everyone had to ept it to stay in Yggdrasil''s favor.

    It would be foolish to disregard Yggdrasil if they wanted to remain a part of the Elven race.

    "I''ve been searching for you and when I heard about a human strolling through Yggdrasil, it was quite obvious who that was," Master Crevian said in a light tone, trying to ease the situation.

    He could hardly tell Nial that he and many others had been searching for Nial for thest 12 hours.

    "You''ve been searching for me? I didn''t know that. I''ve been studying the books, and I''ve done a few other things as well. Yggdrasil gave me a tour through him if you want to put it like that," Nial''s smile widened when he pped the wall to his left as if the tree was his friend.

    Nial was not sure why but he could tell far more about Yggrasil than before and felt a connection to him. The Fairies'' Blessing was something that Yggrasil believed he would need in the future. The Sacred tree was not speaking to him directly but that was not necessary because Nial could understand its intentions.

    The tree had gained sentience eons ago and it wouldn''t act if it was not necessary. That was something Nial could tell, which was why he was both certain that Yggdrasil knew something about him that he didn''t know himself and that Yggdrasil wanted to make use of him.

    It was not really reassuring to think that a tree was able to control your life as Yggdrasil did but he didn''t feel any ill intentions from the Sacred tree. Right now, everything had already passed, either way and the Fairies'' Blessing had been used on his mana veins and mana core.

    "The created them on its own," Master Crevian suddenly said, pulling Nial out of his deep thoughts. The young Original halted in his tracks and his ears perked up.

    "What did the create on its own? Dungeon Portals?" Nial asked while squinting his eyes.

    Master Crevian smiled in response to Nial''s reaction. Nial was a nosy kid, which was how he could easily wrap him around his little finger.

    "Exactly, the creates its own Dungeon Portals," Master Crevian repeated again, only for him to see that Nial stepped closer.

    "Why?" Nial asked, while his entire body thrummed with uncontainable interest.

    Based on his knowledge, dungeon portals could only be created by Godly existences and beings that were on par with Diviners. Thus, the news thats could create their own dungeon portals baffled him a bit.

    "I wanted to teach you a few things before you leave for Ximatra, either way. There will also be a human race, so you should have some basic information on their level of knowledge, don''t you think so?" Master Crevian smiled and Nial nodded his head vigorously.

    He looked like a small child who was about to get some chocte. Nial was craving for knowledge, especially information that could help him be stronger andprehend more about the situation Jundra was bound to face in the future!

    His entire reasoning for helping the Elves in the U21 Runicier tournament was for his own sake. It wouldn''t matter to him if they were to go extinct, not if they didn''t have any connections to him.

    Unfortunately, he needed their help, which was why he had to give them as much support as possible.

    In return, he would gain even more, whether it was actual strength, more connections to the Elves, and other races, more knowledge in various sections, and the possibility to earn more advantages that may be hidden under the veil of things that were still a mystery to Nial.

    "Master, please tell me everything!"

 Chapter 318 Flood Of Information

    Nial was not sure how or why but he ended up in a ssroom inside Yggdrasil.

    The ss was being held on the top branches of Yggdrasil and more than 30 rather young Elves were seated around him.

    Right now, Nial was not able to restrict his range of perception anymore. He had to listen intently to every single word Master Crevian said while focusing his range of perception on the ckboard ahead of him.

    Numerous runic constetions were still written on the ckboard that had yet to be cleaned from the previous lesson.

    He engraved the runic constetions in his mind just before Master Crevian waved his hand, wiping away everything that had been written on it before.

    <Hows create the perfect bnce between theirary mana core and their Core Essence>

    Nial didn''t try to think of tooplex things when he read the title of today''s lesson. He didn''t want to start making theories but was eager to get to know the truth with pieces of evidence proving everything!

    "Cheryl, what can you tell me about today''s topic?" Master Crevian asked the young Elf, who was seated close to Nial.

    Every Elf tried to sit as close to Nial as possible making them all huddle around him but that was mostly an instinctive decision and something that happened due to the influence Nial had on their subconscious.

    He was currently connected to Yggdrasil and all Elves, especially Sacred and High Elves, all of whom were drawn to Yggdrasil more than any other type of nt, or organism.

    "Fully maturedary mana cores are usually in an unstable state because the Core Essence of the majority ofs can be considered to be extremely sensitive and feeble.ary mana cores release a ginormous amount of mana and as everyone may know, raw mana is destructive and very dangerous.

    To prevent the destruction or damage of the Core Essence, the overflowing mana that cannot be controlled by theary mana core has to be expelled from the core region of the.

    It has to be used up or expelledpletely, which is why mosts create isted dimensions or release their mana outside their core the moment it reaches a certain threshold, which results in the creation of various mythical ces and ''beings''.

    Mana veins are created by the purest and raw mana. It is dangerous to enter a mana vein but being close to one has many benefits. Legend says that mana veins give birth to mythical beings, who control and alter raw mana but that is something we have yet to prove!" Cheryl, the cheerful young High Elf chimed like a parrot, reciting a tale it had learned by heart. She didn''t seem flustered about the question Master Crevian asked.

    Meanwhile, Nial was just confused. He frowned deeply and tried to connect the dots.

    ary mana cores are different from the Core Essence¡­No idea what a Core Essence is but it seems to be essential for the''s survival. The isted dimensions Cheryl mentioned are probably dungeons and maybe some other ces.

    I''ve heard about mana veins but I don''t know how potent they actually are. As for mythical beings¡­are Fairies such beings? Well, whatever¡­this is interesting!!'' Nial''s face lit up the more he thought about it.

    He was getting to know the information he had never expected to find out in his life. This was pretty intriguing.

    "Your answer was good, Cheryl, but what you''ve said does not sum up everything. Can someone continue where Cheryl stopped, or add the points she missed?" Master Crevian praised Cheryl with a gentle smile before he turned his attention to everyone else.

    A young male Elf lifted his hand and Master Crevian motioned to the young man,

    "Haru, please tell us more."

    Harue, the young Elf, got up from his chair, making everyone turn their heads in his direction. He smiled arrogantly for a moment before he started to fix the ''mess'' Cheryl created.

    "To summarize Cheryl''s overly lengthy exnation, theary mana core is in an unstable and wild state when matured, and releases its excessive mana in different ways.

    However, that is not theplete truth. Aary mana core is unstable from the moment it awakens.ary mana cores are mutations within a''s core. These mutations were created over the passage of time. They took millions of years to be manifested and upon awakening, they released raging storms of mana.

    Their awakening unseals the sentience of a, which allows it to work against the raging mana storms that would destroy the''s Core Essence aka its soul, in a short period. Theary mana core is bnced out by creating various mythical environments on the surface, above the surface, or even underground.

    In this process, dungeons are created and, of course, dungeon beasts as well are born.

    Legends say that many races were born from mana because the excessive amount of raw mana began to alter the in its entirety, thereby elerating the progress of evolution.

    The mutation within a ¨C...." Haru would have continued if not for Master Crevian who raised his hand, asking him to turn quiet.

    "As expected from you, Haru. You''ve been taught well," Master Crevian acknowledged with a nod.

    Haru was a bit dissatisfied with the sudden interference but he remained quiet and sat down on the chair. He had been in a flow and had wanted to attract more attention from his brethren, especially Nial, who seemed to be very interested in the basic knowledge, which every Elf had been taught from a young age.

    However, Master Crevian was oblivious to his student''s disappointment and he simply continued,<sub> </sub>

    ary mana cores influence the entire and they allow all lifeforms to evolve and progress. However, aary mana core''s influence doesn''t stop at itself.

    They influence thes in the same ster system as well, which results in the mutation in their core region. Over the course of time, saids awaken their ownary core as well. Through this, a chain reaction is initiated, awakening the mana of countlesss.

    Smallers require only a small push and little influence from outside to awaken their ownary mana core, whilerger, and uniques require far more than a mere little push.

    Many existences want to create this ''push'' or the necessary influence to initiate the awakening of a with the use of special means to move the dungeon portals of theirs to a different ce.

    The further the ce, the more energy is required. But that is not all because it is highly dangerous if a''s original dungeon gets transferred somewhere else."

    Master Crevian seemed to have a lot to say. He was almost unstoppable and it was only at one point that he realized he should stop now.

    He was not ready to scare Nial with the bitter truth yet, the truth that the influence of hundreds ofs would cause Jundra''s mana awakening to be far more devastating than any other''s. The itself wouldn''t sustain any damage but all the beings on Jundra would face years of chaos.

    If Master Crevian were to hint more about the things that were directly rted to Jundra, Nial would definitely turn insane, or desperate, at the very least.

    "Going into detail would require too much time and it would be tooplex for today''s Basic lesson as well. Thus, I want to discuss in-depth the dungeons we spoke about just a moment before.

    How are their abilities created and why does every race have a specific number of abilities they can bind to their mana core?" Master Crevian wanted to provide Nial with lots of knowledge, which was why he asked specific questions that would enlighten him.

    However, while he was ready to ask specific questions, there was certain information he didn''t want Nial to find out yet.

    Many High Elves and Sacred Elves lifted their hand to answer the question that seemed to be very easy to answer for everyone but Nial.

    Master Crevian picked one of the eager students to answer the question, just to see the Elf jump up from his chair the moment he was chosen.

    "Ability crystals are said to be created out of Soul fragments of beasts. When enough Soul fragments of a dungeon beast have been umted, or the Soul of a beast is especially strong, an ability crystal forms," The young Elf first said before looking at Nial, who seemed to be overly interested in this topic.

    Because of that, the Elf thought of something before he continued to speak,

    "As a side note, Origin crystals are created from the purest energy of a dungeon, mixed with the remnants of the beast''s mana. When enough remnants of mana merged with the dungeon''s excessive pure energy were mixed, crystal forms¡­an Origin crystal."

    The Elf cleared his throat, throwing a sideways nce at Nial, who nodded his head in interest, just to turn his head away once again.

    "As for the number of ability crystals that can be bound, it differentiates for every race. A race''s innate traits allow them to receive various benefits, and sometimes disadvantages. For example, High Elves have a much stronger connection to mana, while Sacred Elves are naturally closely connected to nature.

    Because of this, the Sacred Elves'' have a stronger nature affinity, and they''re more likely to awaken affinities, or Innate abilities rted to nature, and healing. On the other hand, High Elves are more likely to awaken more elemental affinities the moment they awaken their Origin.

    However, our race can only bind two abilities to their mana core in total, which is rather low in contrast to the number of ability crystals many other races can bind to their mana core!"

    Every single exnation delivered by one of the young High Elves and Sacred Elves was helpful but Nial quickly noticed that his head began to buzz.

    ''Elves can only bind two abilities to their body? I didn''t know that¡­I thought everyone can be like humans and bind five abilities¡­that changes everything!'' Nial thought while trying to keep a poker face.

    Humans didn''t really have any special racial traits. Their only advantage was that they could awaken all kinds of innate abilities but that was not exactly something one could consider a special trait. But the number of abilities they could bind was something that intrigued him a lot.

    ''That means if humans focus on a special field of expertise, we might be able to gain an unmatched level of expertise in it and surpass the others. I mean if I focus solely onbat or enhancing my dark energy, for example, I should be able to strengthen the dark energy to an extent Damian would have dreamed of, or not?'' Nial''s mind was a mess and he needed time to digest everything he just got to know.

    Unfortunately, nobody would give him the time he needed to calm down. Master Crevian continued to ask questions, while the young Sacred and High Elves continued to answer them, bogging him down with a lot of information.

    Nial tried to keep up with the pace Master Crevian asked questions but most answers simply entered his head from one ear before they were thrown out once again from another. He was trying his best to digest everything and it seemed to work okayish.

    However, Nial quickly realized that the information he had gotten to know was much more deep and more enriching than anything he could have hoped for.

    Through Nial''s highprehension ability which was enhanced by both the Symbol of Life and the Fairies'' Blessing, he could understand much more from the provided information than others could.

    While they thought the information wasn''t anything special, Nial was of apletely different opinion.

    ''Can we use this to an advantage to elevate ourselves and set us apart from other races¡­to even out their advantages or surpass them?''

 Chapter 319 New Species

    Currently, there is a special phenomenon on Elvian, the Elven''s Origin.

    The phenomenon was called ''Harvest of Life'', which sounded rather grotesque and as if billions of lives would have to be sacrificed but the name was cleverly deceptive and was actually something pretty nice.

    Theary mana core had reached a state of oversaturation, which happened every few centuries. In such a case, Elvian would then release all the mana umted within theary mana core to the outside to create various special phenomena.

    One of these phenomena was ''Harvest of Life'', which was basically the eleration of the growth phase of everything living, whether it was nature, beasts, Elves, or any of the other races that felt the Harvest of Life''s influence.

    However, the Empress used the overflowing mana differently. She didn''t allow everyone''s growth to be elerated because that was something that could harm the Elves. Their natural lifespan was already long and it took much longer for them to mature and grow.

    Meryl, for example, may already be older than Nial and Mathias but she was far from being considered an adult, whether it was her childish mind or her small body. At the first nce, it looked like Meryl was already an adult, appearance-wise. But she had matured pretty early, which was why one wouldn''t notice that she was basically a young teenager, at most.

    The Empress prevented her race from receiving the elerated growth by draining the excessive mana to use it for other means such as the activation and maintenance of the portal that led to Jundra!

    She exploited the Harvest of Life phenomena to make sure that enough Elves could go back and forth from Jundra.

    Through the Harvest of Life phenomenon, it was even possible to activate the portal on Jundra, even if they could only provide energy from one side. The oversaturation of theary core made this possible, which was amazing.

    However, this was not something permanent, which Nial had figured not too long ago.

    "You''ll have to go back to Jundra in about five months. The Harvest of Life phenomenon will end by then, otherwise, we will have to empower the portal on Jundra''s side as well¡­and that is quite difficult to do until Jundra has not awoken! It''s not impossible but extremely difficult, even more so with the damaged Forest of Life," Master Crevian told him when the ss was over.

    The sssted only three hours but Nial''s head felt like it was imploding. Though hisprehension was already enhanced, it was impossible for him to digest everything at once. The massive influx of information and knowledge he had been bombarded with in the past few hours was too much, even for his enhanced mind and senses.

    "I get it¡­" Nial weakly said while he held his head in his hands in a feeble attempt to control the throbbing pain.

    "Was the ss useful? If you finish studying the books that were delivered to your hut, we can hold a few more such sses. That is if you want to!" Master Crevian said in an excited tone. Somehow, the Old Elf seemed more excited about teaching Nial than the young human himself.

    Nial was still not satisfied with the amount of information he received but that didn''t mean his brain could process so much at once.

    He would require a few more hours to digest everything before he could ask more questions.

    "How about we repeat these sses on a daily basis? I mean, only if that''s possible. If not, I would just search the library after I finish studying all the books in my wooden hut¡­" Nial asked carefully and Master Crevian nodded his head.

    "I think we should hold one more theory ss about all kinds of topics and then switch our focus on providing you with more knowledge about Runiciers. If yourprehension is high enough, I may even be able to teach you a few tricks that I couldn''t show you in the Forest of Life. Wecked too many resources at that time, so I didn''t bother teaching you some things." Master Crevian was the most excited when it came to teaching about runic constetions and runic armaments.

    In the past, he would never bat an eyelid at the sight of runic armaments but ever since he got injured, he began to fall in love with runic armaments and the ways of a Runicier. His knowledge surpassed other Elves'' by a lot and only some Old High Elves or Sacred Elves were as knowledgeable or even wiser than Crevian.

    That was why he was highly respected by everyone, despite ''only'' being an ordinary Elf.

    "That sounds nice¡­" Nial said and they talked for a few more minutes before they excused themselves. Nial returned back to his wooden hut after walking over the long branch.

    Cold wind sshed on his face but Nial ignored everything else around him as he was fully focused on the information that boggled his mind.

    ''The next few days will be even worse. I should try toprehend everything I got to know today so that I won''t have any trouble tomorrow!'' Nial concluded before he sat down on the ground with folded legs. He got in a meditative position and tried to enter a fully focused state that was supposed to help him increase hisprehension even further.

    In the end, it didn''t seem to help. Instead, he felt that hisprehension had decreased.

    "When I was inside Yggdrasil, I understood everything much better¡­" Nial mumbled before he got up from the ground. He went back inside Yggdrasil and searched for the location where his mind felt the clearest and the least troubled.

    Nial had no idea where he ended up but once he sat down on the ground in the same meditative position as before, it felt like he had unlocked a secret door to an entirely new world.

    ''That''s it!'' He shed a bright smile as everything around him turned blurry. His mind entered a fully focused state and everything around him turned insignificant.

    Nial entered the Zone, a state, where not even an earthquake would wake him. Even if Yggdrasil would burn down, or the entire Sacred tree would be swallowed whole by the ground, Nial wouldn''t notice anything.

    Time passed rapidly, and several hours psed in the blink of an eye. The next day started and it was early in the morning when Nial regained his senses.

    He noticed that many Elves were staring at him in confusion, and it was only at this moment that he realized that flowers and vines had grown around him.<sub> </sub>

    An envelope of flowers and vines surrounded him, preventing anyone from approaching him.

    ''Is Dark energy transfused in the flowers?'' Nial thought in shock when he felt that something was weird about the flowers. He could only visualize them, which was why he was merely able to gauge their rough outlines and perceive that they grew due to the link the Symbol of Life created between Nial and Yggdrasil.

    However, what Yggdrasil didn''t sense was that the Symbol of Life was fused with the Odyssey seed and that by creating a flower out of their fused energy, an entirely new nt came into existence.

    Nial could tell that the flower was not something that caused any damage to Yggdrasil. Rather, it caused a mixed reaction among the Elves, who were baffled, and confused and some werepletely ignorant of what happened.

    ''A flower created out of invigorated dark energy. That is definitely not something that should exist within Yggdrasil. It''s a controversy that would shake the beliefs of all Elves¡­haha.'' Nial had to give his best not tough out loud. He was in a good mood because now he had digested all the pieces of information he received the day before.

    In fact, he studied most books he had been given. They were not exactly filled with a lot ofplex stuff and basically consisted of a bunch of information that was nice to know. It was not necessary for him to use his brain toprehend much about the content of the books he had been given.

    Thus, it was quite easy for the current Nial to study them and it was also the reason why he returned to his meditation to finish studying the remaining books.

    He entered the Zone state once again, where he didn''t realize anything of what was going on around him.

    Unbeknownst to Nial, his body executed tremendous vigor as his veins were not only shrouded in a vibrant golden color but also in darkness.

    One couldn''t see the blue of Nial''s veins anymore because the darkness that shrouded them covered everything. Meanwhile, the golden color was still apparent and clearly visible to everyone.

    Nial''s body released the vigor that had been provided by Yggdrasil, with the sole difference that it had been a bit altered.

    The highly destructive dark energy had altered his vigor a bit, and it nourished the surrounding area around him.

    It changed Nial''s direct surroundings, and it allowed the almost ckish, dark-green vines to keep growing. More and more ck flowers sprouted out of Yggdrasil''s trunk, and branches which made the Elves, who witnessed this, step back in fright.

    Their eyes grew wide and goosebumps sprang up on their bodies. They knew that they weren''t allowed to do something against Nial, not if they didn''t want to enrage Yggdrasil. The Sacred tree didn''t act against Nial, which meant that it epted everything Nial had done until now.

    This was iprehensible for the Elves, whose entire outlook of the world seemed to shatter and crumble to pieces whenever Nial did anything.

    Ever since Nial had arrived in their territory, he seemed to break something, or destroy something, whether it was physical or not. His entire existence was something that didn''t seem to possess the slightest bit of logic but they could clearly tell that he existed and was a lot different from any being they had evere across.

    They weren''t dreaming, even if some hoped that this was the case because a nightmare wouldn''t be as bad as facing the bitter reality.

    A human¡­with a stronger connection to Yggdrasil than the vast majority of Elves. Only the Queen and possibly the Royal Princess were on par with Nial when it came to their connection to the Sacred tree.

    A long time passed and Nial cleanly finished studying thest book. His head was sorted and his understanding was crystal clear which made it seem as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep.

    His whole body was oversaturated with vigor, and his body released faint dark energy currents. They nourished the surroundings and the nts that came into existence absorbed the mana from the surrounding. The nts helped Nial to nourish his mana core, and he quickly noticed that it would be possible to make use of the nts.

    However, Nial didn''t pay much attention to the nts around him as he turned in a specific direction when he left the Zone.

    "Princess, it has been a while since we parted ways. I hope you didn''t miss me too much," Nial joked lightly as he chuckled after sensing the Royal Princess who had appeared not too long ago.

    She had essed a connection with Yggdrasil to figure out what type of nts Nial had created and how had he done that but there was no decisive answer.

    Yggdrasil just did whatever he wanted to do and the only thing Nial did was to release the overflowing vigor of his body.

    It was altered but that was not something Nial did actively. His body altered the overflowing vigor subconsciously before it was released.

    "It has only been a day, and that is certainly not enough for me to rx enough to get to know more shocking news from you¡­" Princess Evalyne grumbled but Nial tilted his head and knit his brows.

    ? "What do you mean ''shocking news''?" Nial asked in oblivion.

    "Just look around you fool!" Princess Evalyne shouted out, just to realize what she had just said. She blinked rapidly and added in a low voice,

    "... Oh wait¡­you can''t¡­."

 Chapter 320 Ximatra

    "How are Divinities created?" Nial asked in the ssroom he had just entered. His expression was overflowing with curiosity and he shed a bright smile to everyone.

    Nial was subjected to confusing gazes since he joined the ss way toote, just to start asking a question that was the most fundamental piece of knowledge Elves were taught at an early age.

    Of course, Nial had no idea how Divinities were created because he was just a normal human from Jundra. Their knowledge was scarce and they had little to no knowledge about the vast universe.

    Jundra was already problematic enough for the human race to survive and thrive, so why should they make their life even more difficult by adding more trouble to it?

    Master Crevian looked at the Royal Princess, who had followed Nial to the ss but she could only smile wryly.

    Not a single word escaped Princess Evalyne''s mouth as she sat down next to Nial. The Royal Princess received special lessons and was usually taught separately from everyone else because her schedule was filled to the brim with other things. However, there were times when she had joined the ordinary Elves when the teacher''s schedule ovepped with ordinary sses and the private lessons of the Royal Princess.

    Evalyne was rather flexible and did not fuss about being made to sit amongmoners. If anything, she liked being amongst others. Thus, with a pretty good excuse that allowed her to join the ordinary sses every now and then.

    The others wanted to approach Nial and Evalyne but they didn''t dare to. The atmosphere around them was rather intense. Both were connected to Yggdrasil, which was easily noticeable due to the golden light that shrouded their veins but there was something else that attracted everyone''s attention.

    "Why are Nial''s veins ck?" One of the High Elves asked with furrowed eyebrows. He had once seen someone with ck veins simr to those of Nial but unfortunately, she had died just minutester. Nial, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. He was healthy and in fact brimming with vigor.

    "No idea¡­but let''s not discuss that¡­" Another High Elf said, eying Nial carefully.

    She didn''t have anything against Nial, especially since he had received the approval of Yggdrasil and Mana, but he was human nheless. Being careful around an unpredictable race was always best.

    Master Crevian cleared his throat to quiet everyone. The Elves and Nial turned their attention to the Old Elf, who created a faint gust of wind to change the ckboard''s title.

    "I guess talking about Divinities is a great way to connect to the topic we talked about earlier such as the Mana core''s rank, how the Mana core changes while advancing, and much more. Divinities weren''t in the schedule for today but I guess that this is also a very important topic," Master Crevian tried to connect the former topic with the current one without making it seem as if he was doing it only because Nial had asked about Divinities but he was not very good at hiding the obvious attempt.

    Nial needed as much knowledge as possible if he wanted to survive in Ximatra without being deemed as a weirdo. His situation was different from anyone else and the Elves needed his help. This was something all of them understood clearly.

    Thus, nobodyined even if they wanted to continue with their lesson.

    "What exactly are Divinities? How many different Divinities exist? Can everyone create their own Divinity or are the wielders of Divinities pre-determined?...." Master Creavian spoke in a mysterious tone and he kept asking questions.

    Nial couldn''t answer any of them but most Elves around him seemed pretty eager to answer. He never really understood why they were so eager to answer Master Crevian''s questions but it was quite helpful that he was gaining knowledge. Thus, Nial was quite grateful, even if they didn''t answer the questions for his sake.

    "Please write down what you think about Divinities, and the questions I just asked. I will collect the papers andbine the answers until wee to the best conclusion.

    In the end, even the Empress cannot answer all the questions I asked just now because all the beings in the Universe keep evolving with the passage of time. That being said, don''t hesitate and simply write what you believe to be the truth. You may not be entirely right but that doesn''t mean you will be wrong either!" Master Crevian encouraged everyone to share their honest thoughts. With this, he wanted to make use of this opportunity to get a rough understanding of everyone''s knowledge about Divinities.

    Divinities were aplex topic and even the most knowledgeable Elves didn''t know the entire truth.

    Thus, he might even be able to improve his knowledge using theprehension of everyone around him.

    Nial didn''t even think of answering the questions because his knowledge of Divinities was basically non-existent. He used his range of perception and [Mana Sense] to his advantage and peeked at the answers the others were scribbling hastily. This made things a lot easier for him.

    Nial tried to club all the information he could take a peek at but it only added to his confusion instead of clearing it. Master Crevian collected all papers in the end before he delivered his own answer.

    However, even that didn''t really help Nial because he was baffled. He raised his hand when Crevian was done exining what he hadprehended and began to speak momentster,

    "So¡­basically when you want to attain Godhood, you have to create your own Divinity. A part of your soul will be fused with the Divinity you created either on your own or the Divinity of a deceased God that you''ve picked up¡­

    Everything about your entire existence will be linked to the Divinity¡­and you will have some¡­problems if your Divinity gets destroyed or severely damaged¡­but dividing it on your own is possible and you can change its shape if that''s one of the Divinity''s functions¡­

    But doesn''t that mean Divinites are evolved versions of runic armaments that were created with a tight of numerous runic constetions?"

    Nial tried to connect the dots and the most logical exnation he coulde up with was that Divinities were Unique runic armaments.

    They were given life when the soul that was approaching Godhood entered the Divinity''s body. By advancing to Godhood, these unique runic armaments would evolve and be Divinities.

    In Nial''s opinion, this made sense, but it was also somewhat crazy because the Divinity would also turn into someone''s means to advance further after attaining Godhood.

    Without divinity, one would never be able to advance in the ranks that followed after one attained Godhood, which basically meant that it was as essential as the mana core; the energy vessel every being possessed.<sub> </sub>

    "Runic armaments being Divinities? Nial¡­I think you were connected with Yggdrasil for a far longer time and your mind is getting fuzzy¡­" Princess Evalyne blurted out, shaking her head as she stared daggers at Nial.

    Nial didn''t care about her outburst, let alone the fact that everyone looked at him weirdly. He had read through the answers everyone had provided and reached that conclusion.

    Maybe he was not right but if a Divinity was basically an evolved and sentient runic armament, it would exin why so many different types of Divinities existed. Dead Divinities had basically lost their wielder, which meant that their soul died with the God that left them behind.

    Awakening them was only possible if someone close to ascending to Godhood waspatible with the Dead Divinity, which would mean that the Soul wasn''t unfavorable or hostile to the Divinity.

    The more Nial thought about it, the clearer everything became but a sudden doubt caused his eyes to widen in shock.

    "Wait¡­so you mean someone else''s mana core is in m-...." Nial was just about to reveal to everyone that he had a Lesser Divinity Fragment inside him when he suddenly bit his tongue in time to hold himself back. His mind raced and he hastily thought of something midway and changed the end of his sentence, "...is in the portal that is located in the Forest of Life?"

    It was obvious that Nial meant the Empress, with ''someone else'', and he was frowned at because of the way he phrased the question but that was not something Nial could care about right now.

    He had just escaped creating a huge mess by exposing one of his secrets, which was of much more important than others'' opinion of him!

    ''The Lesser Divinity Fragment of Life was dead when it entered my body, right? Or do I have a fraction of someone else''s soul inside me? Is the Symbol of Life just a runic armament? If so, it''s not a solid one but one of the Unique types of runic armaments¡­and what about the Odyssey seed?!'' Nial''s mind was running wild with all the possibilities, each weirder than the other.

    He could tell that his ownprehension confused him even more. If the Symbol of Life was still alive, then the fragment of a Lesser God was still inside him.

    As for the Odyssey seed, Nial knew that it was a Fragment of the Darkness God. What exactly this meant was still not something he could say for sure but Nial began to believe that it was simr to a Divinity Fragment and that his soul had been bound to it when he was three.

    ''Will I even be able to create my own Divinity if I was already given the Fragment of the Darkness God, or will I have to search for all the other fragments? No, I want to be different than Damian¡­I don''t want to live the same poor life as he did and suffered¡­'' Nial nibbled on his lower lip as he was thinking hard.

    The others were looking at him but they quickly figured out that Nial wouldn''t answer them even if they were to ask him some questions.

    Master Crevian was interested to know why Nial would think that Divinities were evolved runic armaments because he felt that Nial''s conclusion may not be entirely wrong.

    There had been a few theories about Divinities, and somements stated in Ancient Books made it seem like Divinities were somewhatparable to runic armaments.

    However, at the same time, this was not everything.

    "Nial might have a point but it is definitely not the entire truth. It is possible topare Divinities with evolved runic armaments but they shouldn''t be the same. At least genuine Divinities cannot bepared with any runic armament that has ever been created by Elves.

    If someone can create such terrific runic armaments, it would destroy the bnce of the races all over the Universe!" Master Crevian simply exined and everyone nodded their heads in understanding.

    Their gaze was drawn away from Nial, who was still deep in thoughts and they epted his weird theory.

    Master Crevian said that it was not weird for Nial to think that Divinities were evolved runic armaments because they were simr in various ways. In a way, it made sense which was why the Elves averted their focus once again.

    The ss ended not long after, and Nial returned to the wooden hut. In the following days, he visited the library in Yggdrasil, finished the frame of the third Ancient Origin ring, and learned a lot more about runic armaments from Master Crevian.

    The week he was supposed to stay in Yggdrasil passed in a blur, and Nial ended up in front of the portal in the Holy Hall once again.

    It was time for him to leave and disconnect his link with Yggdrasil.

    "Thanks for helping me out so much. I hope we''ll see each other again!" Nial spoke to Yggdrasil and everyone else, who bid him farewell.

    The Royal Princess would follow him to Ximatra to check the situation of their territory on the huge and to make sure that he would directly go to the Golden City without identally taking a detour.

    "May you return healthy and fine!" Master Crevian said with a bright smile on his face.

    To him, it was more important that Nial woulde back healthy and with all limbs attached rather than focusing on the Grand Prize of the U21 Runicier tournament.

    "I will give my best," Nial reassured him before he activated a bunch of Runic armaments to be fully prepared to jump through the portal.

    ''To Ximatra!''

 Chapter 321 The Golden City

    ? This time, Nial didn''t face a lot of issues when traveling through space. His range of perception was restricted to three meters, his [Mana Sense] was deactivated, and he had used several runic armaments to block his senses altogether.

    He couldn''t smell, taste, or hear anything. Only the vibrations around him were barely perceptible. Nial had to know when he arrived on Ximatra, after all.

    There was a week left before the U21 Runicier tournament would start and he could register until three days before the tournament would officially begin.

    Many talented Runicier may appear all of a sudden, three days before the tournament''s start, like an unexpected entry. These ck sheeps may turn the progress and rankings of the entire tournament upside down, but that was not something Master Crevian expected to happen.

    He was pretty sure that he had obtained the information of all promising Runiciers below the age of 21. Nial trusted Master Crevian in this regard and he learned everything he was given to study.

    The information about all the highly likely participants of the U21 Runicier tournament was quite impressive, and it allowed him to understand more about his future opponents.

    There was not much time left before the U21 Runicier tournament would start but Nial had a great n to increase his chances of victory as much as possible.

    He would finish creating the third Ancient Origin ring, which would, in turn, increase his mana sensory ability, his [Mana Sense] Innate ability, and much more. This would make things much easier for him.

    Nial was not sure how long it took them until they arrived on Ximatra because he had been deep in thought but he felt pretty great when he removed the effect of the runic armaments. His senses were fully unleashed, which made it easier for him to perceive more about his surroundings.

    Everything was pretty simple inparison to the ginormous Sacred tree. Thus, Nial was not very impressed when he was surrounded by manyrge trees that were hundreds of meters tall. Nial sensed everything around him clearly, whether it was powerful Elves, or animals roaming around freely through the surroundings.

    It was nice to perceive other living forms than insects and Elves around him. The beasts around him were pretty interesting as well. Their connection to nature was strong, which was something Nial was able to perceive quite easily.

    After he had been connected with Yggdrasil for an entire week, Nial had changed a lot. He could quickly decipher the rtion of other beings with certain things, whether it was their rtion to the elements, mana, or nature.

    This was quite interesting and directly rted to the influence the Symbol of Life had on Nial. His behavior had been influenced by the Symbol of Life. He didn''t really feel like conquering dungeons anymore if it was not necessary. This felt a bit weird but it had also been weird to enter dungeons, for the sake of conducting his test, as well.

    Nial had thought about lots of things during the week he had been in Yggdrasil and his mind had been cleared entirely. Thebined effect of the Symbol of Life, the Fairies'' Blessing, and Yggdrasil''s tremendous vigor had allowed Nial to do many things he would have never been capable of even attempting to do on his own.

    Right now, the surrounding nature provided him with lots of vigor and mana as well, much more than he could handle. However, it was not possible for any of that topare to the environment in Yggdrasil, whether Nial could handle it or not.

    The Elven territory was usually quite simple. It had an abundance of all kinds of nts, huge trees, and tree houses. Nature all around was flourishing and growing without anyone restricting it.

    In exchange, the Elves were able to make use of nature to have natural protection and special means to be stronger by using the natural resources around them efficiently.

    Nial understood this clearly and he had spent an insane amount of time with nature.

    During thest months, he had always been in the Forest of Life, or somewhere close to nature.

    The only exception was the time he had been in Liondra, or another shelter when he had been searching for his family.

    Nature was great but it was also something Nial didn''t need to have around him in overflowing masses, or for a prolonged duration.

    That was also why he was d when Princess Evalyne led him to the teleportation circle that would bring him straight to the Golden City.

    "I really don''t understand you. Yggdrasil won''t tell me why he wanted to stay connected to you for the entire week, and I heard that the Queen of Fairies gave you her blessing as well. No human was able to receive her grace¡­except you. Yggdrasil and Aine hatched this idea and brought it to life, and I have no idea why," Princess Evalyne chose to state the facts quite unabashedly.

    In her opinion, none of that made sense. It was obvious that Nial''s connection with nature and mana was strong but it was not as if humans like him had never existed before. Even if something about Nial''s body might have attracted Yggdrasil''s interest, the Queen of all Fairies should have never actually given him the Fairies'' Blessing.

    It took Evalyne a long time, numerous prayers, and certain promises before she received the Fairies'' Blessing, while Nial had simply shown up and received it just like that. Something was definitely wrong but she had no idea what magic spell Nial had cast or how he had gotten in Aine''s good books so easily.

    Nial was not an unlikeable person but his progress still irked her.

    "Would you believe me if I were to say that I don''t understand it either?" Nial countered before he continued to walk. He knew that the Symbol of Life was the biggest reason for nature and mana to be closer to him, but Yggdrasil was a sentient Sacred tree. It was on apletely different scale than a mere Lesser Divinity Fragment. Nial was pretty sure that Yggdrasil''s existence alone was alreadyparable to a True God. Thus, nothing really made sense.

    But Nial never really questioned the deeper meaning behind it because he knew that he wouldn''t receive an answer to his doubts, either way.

    Princess Evalyne looked at him for a few seconds before she averted her gaze from Nial. She epted his answer, whether or not she believed it, and fell in steps beside him.

    They reached therge-scale teleportation circle that had been created by Master Runiciers, and Princess Evalyne wished him good luck.

    "You can always use the Golden City''s main teleportation route to teleport back here. It shouldn''t be a problem¡­and even if there is, you have the messenger crystal that connects to the stationed Commander, me, Crevian''s, and so on. That should be more than enough.<sub> </sub>

    Don''t create any trouble and don''t waste all the Origin crystals we gave you! They''re worth a fortune!" Princess Evalyne sounded like a mother, who was sending her son off on his first solo trip in the wild.

    Nial smiled weirdly but he didn''t say anything. He waved his hand, stepped in the center of the teleportation circle, and inserted his mana into it, initiating the teleportation.

    He began to smile when he was teleported far away. Nial had no idea how far the Golden City was from the Elven''s territory but it didn''t really seem to matter because it felt like only ten seconds passed before he emerged at his designated location.

    Upon reaching, Nial heard numerous voices from around him. Some were hoarse and barely understandable, while others resembled soft, rxing music. The jumble of noises and voices around him flooded Nial for a moment but he had already expected this.

    Because his mind had already been prepared, the voices, the smells, and the vibrations all around him were epted without dy and digested. Nial visualized his surroundings without an issue by using some mana to activate [Mana Sense].

    This allowed him to understand that he had been teleported straight to the center of the Golden City. He was currently inside arge cathedral made out of some sort of stone. The area he appeared in was basically an elevated tform, and by walking downstairs, he immediately encountered a Guard, who wanted to see his papers.

    "Identification pledge and certification of health please!" The Guard demanded in a dry tone. He spoke in a foreignnguage while staring down at Nial.

    The Guard was of a race Nial had never perceived with his range of perception before. All he could gauge was that he was a man who was 2.5 meters tall with scales covering his entire body and the fact that he had a lizard tail. However, other than that, he looked human, which was quite interesting.

    "I don''t have an Identification pledge yet. I wasn''t born on Ximatra. I am here for the U21 Runicier tournament," Nial answered in the samenguage as the Guard of the Stk race.

    ''Good that I learned some of thenguages they speak here to be barely able tomunicate¡­Master Crevian was right in teaching me theirnguage before I left Jundra¡­I nearly forgot that they don''t speak the samenguage as we do on Jundra or Elvish¡­'' He recalled while wiping off his sweat as the Guard observed him with a scrutinizing look.

    "What about Certification of Health?" The Guard asked in his hoarse voice but Nial just shook his head.

    "I would like to undergo a health examination in the Golden City," He offered, and the Guard nodded his head as if it was nothing special.

    His two-meter-long tail pointed in a specific direction, where someone else was seated behind a counter. The woman behind the counter was attending to other customers right now.

    ''Someone from a winged race¡­that''s so amazing¡­'' He could only think as he listened to the next words the Guard told him.

    "Felicia, the woman at the corner will provide you with a temporary Identification pledge. If you want a permanent one, you will have to undergo multiple tests, but if you''re only here for the U21 Runicier tournament that won''t be necessary. As for the Health certification, Felicia will help you with this as well!"

    The Guard seemed to have decided that Nial wasn''t a gatecrasher and was now helping him. This was why Nial shed a smile at him before he followed the instructions.

    He waited in the line in front of the counter until it was his turn before he paid a few Origin crystals as a processing fee to receive his temporary Identification pledge. All his information, his DNA, and his mana fluctuations were noted in the identification pledge and if something would happen, or he would do something, it would allow the authorities to identify him.

    This required many questions to be answered, such as where he came from, what his name was, his special abilities, the abilities he bound, his Mana core''s rank, and so on.

    Nial lied in response to a few questions because he couldn''t say that he came from Jundra. It would attract suspicion, which was thest thing Nial needed right now.

    As for the secrets of his body, he revealed everything that would be unveiled with the Health examination he was about to undergo either way, while everything else remained his secret.

    For the Health examination, Nial was brought to a small room inside the cathedral. He underwent all kinds of tests that were administered for the safety of the city so as to ensure that he wouldn''t bring any highly contagious infections into the city.

    Nothing was wrong with his body. On the contrary, he passed each test with flying colors, which attracted the interest of the woman, who was running the tests and observed everything with bright purple eyes.

    "You seem to be full of vigor, young man. This is rare for someone at your rank~"

    **

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 Chapter 322 Palace

    The woman who was administering the tests had purple eyes that looked at him lustfully. She was wearing in clothes that covered her entire body but that didn''t mean one couldn''t tell that she was beautiful.

    ck leather wings sprouted out of her back, a small ck tail had grown out of her tailbone and horns grew out of her forehead.

    ''Calling her a Demoness would be a little bit harsh but I am not sure which race she belongs to. Her appearance doesn''t fit any of the 10 main races living on Ximatra,'' Nial thought, while he ignored her earlierment. She was trying to speak in a seductive voice and her natural charm was on par with Hana''s. It was strong and would influence most people quite quickly.

    In fact, because the Demoness, Subi, or whatever she was, acted in that specific way, she seemed to be trying to make Nial jump on her, and ravage her then and there.

    However, Nial didn''t have that intention, at all. He cleared his throat to draw her attention to him, which was not necessary to begin with.

    "Can I receive the Health certificate now? I would like to leave," Nial stated calmly without a trace of shyness in his voice. This astonished the woman a bit but she was too baffled to react to see that he waspletely unaffected. She subconsciously handed him the Health Certificate that had been printed just now.

    "How are you¡­" The woman tried to make small talk but Nial had already turned around.

    "I don''t know if releasing your Charm on me was also a test, but it would be for everyone''s good if you don''t treat it lightly. If someone stronger than you appears, you might end up in a tricky situation. That wouldn''t be nice, would it?" Nial scolded her lightly, without intending to make her feel embarrassed.

    He meant it well and left the examination room momentster. Nial arrived in front of Felicia, the attendant at the counter near the entrance of the cathedral a momentter before he handed her the Health Certificate.

    Nial had no idea what the paper stated on it because he couldn''t read the writtennguage of Ximatra but he knew that his data must be impressive.

    Nial just smiled lightly when Felicia eyed him weirdly after looking at the paper.

    "Are you sure that you''re only at the 2nd Superior Mirae rank?" She couldn''t help but ask in surprise.

    "My third Origin ring will be constructed soon," Nial shared and added, "It should only take a few more days."

    Felicia nodded her head but her head flicked back to the examination room before her gaze returned to Nial.

    "But how were you able to leave Gigi''s room with so much vigor? Didn''t she¡­" Felicia asked before she realized that her questions sounded rather inappropriate. Some things that happened inside the walls of the cathedral were not supposed to leave it.

    "There was no problem. I just left the examination room when I received the Health Certification;" Nial exined, clearly understanding what Felicia had meant with her unspoken words.

    "Okay¡­forget it then¡­" She mumbled while ncing back every now and then. There was not a single sounding from the examination room, which was quite unusual but Felicia was still able to sense Gigi. She was fine, physically, at least.

    "Miss, do you know a ce where I can lodge both a small apartment and a room for Runiciers? If possible a ce with a high-quality smithy and enough space to inscribe various runic armament," Nial asked before he quickly added,

    "I would be grateful if you could also tell me where the best shops for ingredients are located. This is my first visit to the Golden City, and I don''t want to waste too much time trying to find my next destination!"

    Nial was pretty sure that he wouldn''t need much time to find the Golden Armaments Union to register for the U21 Runicier tournament, so he didn''t bother asking where the Golden Armaments Union''s headquarters was located.

    "You can take a look at the Golden City''s map outside the cathedral. We''re quite technologically advanced, so you can simply search for everything you just mentioned. As for a suitable ce to lodge, you might want to enter the Artisan District to find what you''re looking for," Felicia sounded a bit concerned as she kept shooting furtive nces at the examination room every now and then.

    Despite her worries, Felicia maintained her professionalism. She answered all of his questions in detail before Nial went his way after he thanked her sincerely.

    Felicia rushed to the examination room the moment Nial left. She barged through the door and nearly pulled it out of its frame, just to see that Gigi was seated on a chair. Gigi was in a fetal position with her arms swung around her legs.

    "What is wrong, my little girl?" Felicia asked in shock. She had never seen Gigi like that, yet, the answer she heard was definitely not something she would have expected to hear.

    "He¡­resisted my Charm and lectured me afterward that I should be careful¡­" Gigi sulked while looking teary-eyed at her sister.

    They were not rted by blood but they had been raised together. Thus, Felicia''s overly protective behavior caused her to act like a tantrum-throwing little girl.

    "This bad human! We should teach him a le¨C....wait...what did you say?!" Felicia exploded in anger before she realized what was going on.

    "You said¡­he just left after lecturing you? That''s¡­.new¡­" She said, looking at her sister in doubt. The corners of her lips curled upward and she thanked Nial before she apologized to him in her head.<sub> </sub>

    ''Sorry for thinking bad of you, little boy. You did a great job¡­someone had to lecture her if she wouldn''t listen to me!'' Felicia thought, and she had to turn around to hide her smile from Gigi.

    Meanwhile, Nial was oblivious that Felicia had thought badly of him, to begin with. He was busy spending quite some time in front of the highly advanced touchscreen ckboard that showed the map of the Golden City.

    Probably half an hour had passed before Nial found everything he wanted to, which was why he made his way to the Artisan District right off the bat. He entered a Monster shuttle, which was basically a tamed monster that would take him around the Golden City before he finally boarded off after reaching the Artisan District.

    Contrary to most ces, where the Artisan District was either small or rather insignificant and located on the outskirts of a city, the exact opposite was the case in the Golden City.

    The Artisan District was ginormous and it actually surrounded the core area of the Golden City. The infrastructure of the Golden City was quite interesting and Nial spend some time imprinting everything that could be of use in his mind.

    Nial was pretty sure that he would spend some time in the Golden City, which would be much easier if he knew the location and route to every ce he wished to go.

    Registering for the U21 Runicier tournament was not difficult either. His Health certification showed the age of his bones, and his soul, which was quite interesting but also a bit scary. Before today, he had never known that there were machines that could determine the age of one''s soul.

    Nial''s soul was actually 21 years old, while his body was only 20 years old, 10 months, and 23 days. Both of these facts were weird, especially since it looked like his soul was 21 years old because it was born the moment his mother got pregnant. Meanwhile, his body''s age was his actual day of birth.

    This was quite confusing because his body''s age should be greater than 21 years if we were talking about the day his bones were created. Nial came up with a few theories, but in the end, he simply disposed of them. Master Crevian said that there wouldn''t be a problem with him participating even if one or two of his reports showed that he was above 21 years old.

    9 months would be deducted from his Soul''s age because he was a human and the pregnancy of humanssted 9 months under normal circumstances.

    Some races had a longer or shorter pregnancy which is why they would have different data for every single race.

    In the end, everyone who was born less than 21 years ago was eligible to join the U21 Runicier tournament, which was exactly what Master Crevian reassured him.

    Thus, Nial was not really worried about the few pieces of information he could read from the Health Certification as he reached the ginormous pce-like building, which was the Golden Armaments Union''s headquarters.

    The entire Golden City had been built with the funds of the Union, but Nial hadn''t expected to visualize such a huge pce in the middle of the city.

    Nial was not able to gauge its exact size because his [Mana Sense] was a bit restricted near the pce but if he had to make an estimate, it was longer, wider, and taller than a kilometer!

    Nial shuddered when he felt the high mana density that covered every single inch of the building. It was constructed out of a material that seemed to be nearly indestructible. This shocked Nial a lot but it was not as if anything he had witnessed in thest week had been less shocking.

    In fact, from having been confined to living in thest nine shelters humanity had left, Nial had ventured out of it and begun to live in the Forest of Life, where he could roam around freely, just to leave Jundra altogether.

    He had lived in a ginormous Sacred tree that had linked its consciousness to him. That was pretty insane, and now Nial was shocked about a man-made building!?! This made him feel a bit embarrassed but he still couldn''t hide his shock.

    "Everything here is on a different scale than at home¡­I don''t even want to imagine what will happen if beings like the ones, who could build such a terrific building were to invade Jundra¡­" Nial mumbled before actually doing that; imagining the very thing he had feared a moment ago.

    Death and destruction were bound to follow if they were hostile to the human race. Nial didn''t like this but it was not as if he had the necessary strength to prevent anyone from invading their home.

    He sighed deeply and entered the Union''s building to approach one of the 10 or more counters, where receptionists were patiently serving their customers.

    "Did you hear about this month''s Golden Challenge? Everyone is crazy about it!!" A young Stk standing near Nial said to his friend, while his lizard tail swished around in excitement.

    "Yeah, I''ve heard about it. I had never expected the Union to provide the participants with such a grand opportunity. Imagine, what would happen if someone can pass the Golden Challenge. With the reward, their chances to win the grand prize will increase drastically!" Another Stk answered in a simrly excited voice.

    "I think it''s a bit unfair and it doesn''t really make sense. The Golden Challenge may be near-impossible to bepleted but if someone can do it, the entire meta of the tournament will change!" An old Man suddenly remarked. He was a human, with a long grayish beard, which he caressed thoughtfully. The man looked schrly but the two Stk merely sneered before they turned quiet.

    Nial was interested in their discussion but it seemed to be abruptly over, the moment the human joined the Stks'' chat. He turned his attention back to the attendant.

    "How may I help you, Sir?" The attendant asked and Nial answered without hesitation as he pped the Health Certification on the counter.

    "I would like to register for the U21 Runicier tournament."

 Chapter 323 Old Troublemaker

    There was not much for Nial to do to finish the registration. He paid the participation fee and handed over his temporary Identification pledge and Health certification while the attendant did the rest.

    It was quite easy and there were no problems, which rxed Nial a lot.

    "Is there something else I can help you with, Sir?" The attendant asked when hepleted the registration, which led Nial to his next topic.

    "I''ve heard something about a ''Golden Challenge''. What exactly is this challenge?" Nial asked the attendant, and the Stk in the queue next to him turned their heads to him.

    They realized that Nial had heard their conversation but they could only smile weirdly because the young Original didn''t seem to know about the most basic things about the Golden City.

    "The Golden Challenge is a special event held in the Artisan Arena. Every month a new Golden Challenge will be issued and if someone can solve it, they will be rewarded. Even if a challenger manages toplete half the task required toplete in the Golden Challenge, or reaches a certain threshold, he or she will be rewarded ordingly.

    This month''s Golden Challenge seems quite simple at the first nce because you have to decipher all the runic constetions engraved on a weapon. However, don''t be fooled! Some challengers, who were able to decipher more than 300 runic constetions that had been engraved on the weapon, were barely able to receive a constion prize! Only the most knowledgeable Runiciers may be able to name all the runic constetions!

    But the rewards are not something that should be of interest to these Runiciers¡­" The attendant noticed that he was bbering unnecessarily, so he decided to cut it short.

    Nial seemed to be contemting something before he discarded his thoughts a momentter.

    "Artisan Arena? What is that? And what is the first prize for deciphering all runic constetions?" Nial asked in curiosity.

    He knew that his knowledge wouldn''t help him in fulfilling the Golden Challenge. He knew a few runic constetions but they were all Basic or Intermediate ones. The number of runic constetions he knew was also fewer than 300, which meant that it was not necessary for him to give the Golden Challenge a try.

    Nheless, what he heard was quite interesting.

    "You don''t know the Artisan Arena?...Hmm¡­to put it simply it''s like a normal arena where people fight, just that you are fighting as Artisans. That means you and your opponent have a certain amount of time to create a specifically requested runic armament. The winning side with the better runic armament will receive money, knowledge, and prestige," The attendant exined in easy words before he threw a nce behind Nial to see how long the queue had gotten.

    "As for the task to secure the first ce in the Golden Challenge, it''s a Spiritual Tool, an Engravic Knife for runic constetions," He hastily added, secretly hoping that Nial wouldn''t ask anymore questions. The queue behind Nial was increasing, which was a bit bothersome.

    Nial noticed this as well but he didn''t move hastily. He sorted his thoughts and nodded his head.

    "So it''s like that? Thank you very much, have a nice day," Nial said once he was ready to leave. The attendant ced his right hand on his heart before he bowed lightly. This seemed to be the traditional way of thanking someone and wishing them a nice day.

    Nial merely smiled before he left the Golden Armaments Union''s headquarters. His task had beenpleted and he had also gotten to know quite a few pieces of important information.

    The old human with a long beard kept looking at the retreating figure of Nial, who easily evaded the fast Originals of various races, who strode past him.

    The Originals didn''t even see Nial as they rushed through the ginormous hall. Nial paved his way through the crowd as briskly as possible without looking up as it wouldn''t help, either way.

    "Great reflexes¡­or did he perceive where they would go before they actually moved?" The old man mumbled. He was lost in thoughts while he caressed his beard. Half of his mind was inclined to abandon his position in the queue to follow the young man, but before he could act on it, he heard the attendant''s voice from next to him.

    "Hello Sir, how may I help you?...Oh¡­?Siegfried¡­is that you?" The old man turned to the attendant with a frown, but the young man seemed oblivious to what he was doing.

    "Why would you be here? Just go to the VVIP counter, or call your manager if you need something¡­" the attendant seemed to be lecturing Siegfried, which caused the old man to re at him.

    The young man turned quiet in an instant and he bowed deeply to apologize. Siegfried frowned and he shook his head when he understood that his cover and act had been blown up.

    "Just call your President, and tell him that he shouldn''t exhibit my weapons for entertainment. I am fully aware of what he is trying to achieve with the Golden Challenge this month!" Siegfried''s voice was low but his eyes pierced straight through the young attendant''s soul.

    The young man flinched and he began to tremble as his hand moved slowly to the messenger crystal that looked just like one of the old office phones with a cord.

    Siegfried was not to be taken lightly and all the Artisans and Originals, who were beginning to realize that the old man was anything but amoner, looked at him once again.

    "Is he really Siegfried?" A few Originals wondered as they couldn''t sense anything special about the old man.

    However, others trembled as they shook their heads.

    "Don''t underestimate him. He is the one, who created the runic armament that is used for the Golden Challenge¡­" One of the more knowledgable Runicier said, his voice shaking in excitement.

    "Does that mean he is here to stir trouble? I wouldn''t feel great if someone were to use my masterpiece to test the talent of challengers participating in the Runicier tournament. I would be fuming in anger¡­" A Stk spoke in an enraged tone as if he was in ce of Siegfried, who was being ''exploited.''

    "You think they''re testing the Runiciers with the Golden Challenge?" The oblivious voice of a few low-ranked Runiciers and Originals resounded through the big hall, causing amotion.

    The voices within the hall started to get restless and it was quite obvious that this was exactly what Siegfried had intended to achieve. A faint smile appeared on his face as he smiled at the pale attendant in front of him.

    The young man was sweating buckets as he saw the old man''s eyes twinkle in excitement.<sub> </sub>

    "So that''s why the Golden Armaments Union was willing to hand over a Spiritual Engravic Knife to the Runicier, who was able to decipher every single runic constetion on the weapon!" Not even a moment psed before the voice of a young woman echoed through the surroundings, making Siegfried chuckle.

    "How long do I have to wait? Does he want everyone to know that the Golden Armaments Union is trying to steal the Runicier prodigies from all the races who participate? This would be funny, wouldn''t it? Bing themon enemy of all 10 races¡­sounds fun doesn''t it?" Siegfried asked, donning a stoic expression.

    "H-h-he will be here soon¡­t-the President I mean¡­p-p-please stop this now¡­" the young attendant was cowering in fear and sounded genuinely concerned about what was going to happen. Siegfried didn''t feel like pulling someone innocent in his scheming after looking at the youth''s pitiful face. Thus he lifted his hand and released a trace of mana.

    Momentster, everyone quieted down and a bunch of Originals left the Union''s headquarters without saying another word. They were the Originals, who were instigating the crowd, and manipting everyone in the hall.

    The young attendant noticed this but he didn''t say anything. A mere nce toward Siegfried was more than enough to tell that the old man was showing mercy.

    "Just consider yourself lucky," Siegfried said in a warning tone before he turned his head in the direction of the headquarters'' entrance.

    ''A blind Runicier¡­how long has it been since I met one like them?'' Siegfried wondered with a faint smile on his face.

    "We will see how much potential you have, little human¡­at least it should be better than your innate talent with Mythic energies¡­." He mumbled quietly, further confusing the young attendant.

    Meanwhile, Nial had no idea what had happened in the Union headquarters ot that he could have met the creator of a high-ranked runic armament.

    "To think that it''s possible to create a runic armament with hundreds of runic constetions. If the Golden Challenge is to decipher the runic constetions, all of them have to be connected and ovepping as well, otherwise, the challenge wouldn''t be difficult. So interesting!" Nial was quite excited and he looked forward to the U21 Runicier tournament.

    It may not be packed with action like conquering dungeons but it was certainly interesting.

    Nial had heard a few rumors about the U21 Runicier tournament and that it would have some rounds that were quite action-packed but he couldn''t really imagine it to be overly interesting to forge a weapon and engrave runic constetions on it. It was a different type of action, at the very least.

    "Maybe we will have to fight each other with the runic armaments we created? No..that cannot be¡­ Something like that would mean that one''s mana core rank would determine the winner¡­or it would be a major advantage for them, at least," Nial shook his head when he finished mumbling to himself.

    It was quite obvious that there were a few things that worried him a bit. The fact that his mana core rank was so low was one of the most apparent and frustrating things. He would have advanced to the 3rd Ancient Mirae rank when the U21 Runicier tournament started.

    Others would have advanced to the Prometheus rank by then, or they would be at the peak of the Mirae rank at the very least.

    Nial was pretty sure that he would be disqualified if such a round were to be held during the U21 Runicier tournament and he knew that it would be impossible for him to do anything against it.

    That was why his mind was rather calm despite his helplessness.

    Fate was against him if he would lose in the Runicier tournament just because of an unfair round. There was no need to think too much about it, and searching for a good ce for a temporary stay was much more important.

    Nial quickly found a unique hotel where one could rent an apartmentplex that was connected with a smithy and a rather wide area where one could engrave runic constetions or concoct potions.

    There was no need for him to concoct any potions because he had more than enough stockpiled but Nial concocted potions nheless.

    This was necessary for him to get more ustomed to the concoction process of various runic solutions. They were not hard to create but it was still better to get ustomed to the process. The exact same could be said about forging.

    Nial was not very proficient in it and he couldn''t refine metals well, meaning that he was not adept at decreasing the impurities within metals but that was also something he was fine with.

    He couldn''t be perfect, especially since practice led to improvement, not perfection.

    And the time he had to study concocting potions and forging of weapons hadn''t been long, 13 months that were mostly upied with engraving runic constetions, to be precise!

    **

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 Chapter 324 10,000

    The following days passed quickly.

    Nial didn''t get any sleep except on thest day, where he felt the need to sleep to wash away his tiredness.

    He finished the engravings on the third Ancient Origin ring within days, which was much faster than one would usually require to engrave all the necessary runic constetions.

    Nial''s forte was runic constetions, which was why their engraving process wouldn''t drag on his advancement in any way.

    Now, the only thing he had to do to keep advancing was to absorb more mana,press it and turn it into the fourth Origin ring''s frame. The fourth Ancient Origin ring would be slightly more problematic than the third because there would be many Intermediate runic constetions he would have to engrave.

    The higher their perfection grade the higher the efficiency of the Ancient Origin ring. This was something quite obvious but Nial only realized how true the perfection grade of runic constetions was when he finished the third Ancient Origin ring.

    Contrary to the first two Origin rings that hadn''t been perfect, the third Ancient Origin ring was perfect, in every sense. The potency of every function it provided was more than 30% higher than it was usually the case.

    Nial''s affinity toward mana increased drastically, which reinforced his range of perception, the functions of his Innate ability [Mana sense], and all of his senses.

    "Given my current prowess, Intermediate runic constetions are not a problem anymore. It''s just a bit sad that Master Crevian didn''t teach me any Advanced runic constetions, otherwise, I would have tried to show off during the tournament," Nial mumbled to himself as he passed through the crowded streets.

    Everyone was trying to find their way to the huge colosseum that was designated to be used for Artisan tournaments, including the U21 Runicier tournament.

    This year, the prizes for the U21 Runicier tournament had increased, which was also why the number of participants skyrocketed. Usually, only close to 1000 Runiciers would dare to participate in the tournament, and even that number was quite high.

    The participation fee was quite high and interestingly, the number of somewhat talented Runiciers below the age of 21 was low. It was not unlikely that the young and arrogant ''talented'' Runiciers would tarnish the bits of reputation they had built at their young age.

    If they started their career with a bad reputation, they may as well give up bing renowned Runiciers in the future.

    The majority of the participants considered themselves prodigious but in the end, they were not all that talented. In the face of true talent, they were merely rookies.

    Unfortunately, in most cases, reality would always catch up to them toote and they would disgrace themselves and their masters for daring to attempt facing truly prodigious Runiciers.

    Nial had no idea how talented he was inparison to others but he would give his best to win the grand prize and to learn a lot.

    Demanding more from him would be quite ridiculous because giving his best was usually equal to 120% of what he was truly capable of.

    As all these thoughts were churning through his mind, he kept passing through the crowd of spectators, all of whom frowned at him. Some spectators even tried to grasp Nial''s cor to lecture him and push him back in the queue, however, he quickly evaded them.

    After some time, the spectators became too annoying for Nial, which was why he created a small copper sphere around his body with the use of a runic constetion.

    Everyone kept a distance from this dome because that copper sphere indicated that Nial was a participant in the U21 Runicier tournament. Manhandling him could be considered a severe crime because one might think that other participants hired the perpetrator to increase their chances of victory.

    Simr incidents happened often enough, which was why the device that created the copper spheres had been created in the first ce.

    ''What was the number of participants this year? 10,000 or something around that number?'' Nial tried to recall the number he had heardst time. He was pretty sure that the number of the participants had swelled to ten times that of thest time the U21 Runicier tournament had been held.

    This was actually quite interesting because it clearly showed that the Dryad Queen''s Tear was far more valuable than one might imagine.

    However, it wasn''t only the Dryad Queen''s Tear that attracted everyone''s attention. There were several other grand prizes that could be chosen instead of the Dryad Queen''s Tear, such as a ze Dragon''s Heart, or a Silvergaerd Unicorn''s Horn.

    But that was not everything because many renowned and legendary Runiciers from various ns, sects, and other organizations chose to visit the Golden City and spectate the U21 Runicier tournament.

    Even independent Runiciers chose to join the tournament, ignoring their principles of working alone for the small possibility that their talent was enough to attract these legendary Runiciers.

    Bing their disciple was the dream of the vast majority of Runiciers. Nial didn''t belong to this majority, which was why he couldn''t care less about the legendary Runiciers.

    He passed through the crowd and walked toward the counter, where the participants of the tournament would receive their numbers before they would be screened and inspected. Only after his identity was proven and once he was thoroughly checked was he allowed to enter the Colosseum.

    His number was [8931] and he had to go to the 9th levitating tform that was located high in the air above the Colosseum.

    The colosseum was huge and a thousand small ordinary smithies, ordinary tables, and tools for both concocting and engraving were ced neatly next to each on the first floor.

    tforms that were levitating 20 meters above each other were stacked above the Colosseum which was more than 200 meters in height. Nial was pretty interested in the tforms because they were hovering in the air through the use of special runic armaments. They attracted his curiosity more than the thousands of participants he passed by.

    After perceiving 10 flying tforms above the first floor, Nial knew that the number of participants was just a bit above 10,000.

    Without hesitation, Nial jumped high in the air. He reached the first tform without much difficulty and continued his ascend. As an Original at the 3rd Ancient Mirae rank, his physical strength alone wouldn''t be enough to allow him to jump 20 meters in the air over and over again.<sub> </sub>

    However, the gravitational force on Ximatra was even lower than was the case on Yggdrasil. At first, Nial hadn''t noticed anything but after a week in Yggdrasil and another week in the Golden City, Nial knew that Jundra''s gravitational force was much higher than that of Elvian and Ximatra.

    His physical strength was higher than that of others, just considering the fact that he was born on Jundra, where the gravitational force strengthened his flesh and bones. Nial was thus able to reach the 9th floor and his small workce without difficulties.

    "Now it makes sense why we were told not to bring anything with us. Looks like everyone will have the exact same condition for the first round," Nial mumbled quietly as he started to assess everything around him.

    He focused his perception and [Mana Sense] on the workce and quicklyprehended everything about it. A few runic constetions had been engraved on the ordinary smithy to light it up and release some of the coal that was stored in the storage space within the smithy.

    The tables he was supposed to work at were separated, one was located opposite the smithy and it was the ce where he would engrave all the runic constetions in the medieval-looking smithy. As for the other table, it was ced vertically between the smithy and the other table.

    A corner of the table designated for runic constetions and another corner of the smithy touched the table Nial would have to use for concoction.

    "That is such a stupid setup¡­" Nial mumbled as he erged his range of perception to figure out how much space ought to belong to him as his work area.

    There were neat borders that had been carved on the ground to clearly show how big everyone''s space was.

    ''So the first step will be to relocate the tables and ce them away so to make sure that the smithy''s heat won''t affect the concoction process of the runic solutions!'' Nial concluded, while also understanding that the concoction table and the engraving table shouldn''t be that close to each other.

    During the concoction process of the runic solutions, some liquid could stter through the surrounding. This was nothing umon to happen and if even a drop of the unfinished runic solution would ssh on a finished runic armament, it would be damaged, or possibly even scrapped entirely!

    The tournament would start two hourster but everyone was told to be there as early as possible. In fact, the Golden Armaments Union had even let the information leak that one might be able to gain an advantage by showing up way before the start time.

    Nial didn''t think much about it, which was why he had finished the creation of his third Ancient Origin ring without a hurry before he went over to the Colosseum.

    Now he understood why it was better to be present early. Not only could he have some understanding of the first round but it was also possible for him to find out what materials they could use.

    Both the concoction table and the engraving table had storage space built inside them. Nial could ess them to figure out what kind of ingredients he had received.

    Most ingredients weremon and there weren''t actually many exceptionally rare ingredients in the storage spaces.

    Only a bunch of different ores attracted his interest because he had only heard of them and had never seen them.

    Master Crevian wanted to show him many things but that didn''t mean it was possible to show him everything a Runicier had to know, not in the seven days he had been in Yggdrasil.

    Meanwhile, in the 13 months before he arrived in Yggdrasil, Nial had been taught a lot but he wascking most resources to start creating unique runic solutions, or runic armaments that focused on a specific trait.

    This was one of his many disadvantages and it was also why Nial was rather thankful for the low-ranked and rathermon ingredients he and everyone else received.

    ''I can create the most basic runic solution with it, a few modified runic solutions and it should be possible for runic solutions that are affable to elements to be created as well¡­'' Nial was deep in thought that he didn''t notice how fast time passed.

    The rows inside the Colosseum were quickly filled, while Nial was trying to figure out what the best way would be to create powerful runic armaments with the given ingredients.

    There was a wide variety of alloys he could create, a big range of modified runic solutions and so on but it would require quite a while to create most of them.

    ''I wonder what the first round will actually be!'' Nial got more excited as his mind began toe up with possible tasks.

    And finally, after two hours had passed, the tournament started as a sonorous voice resounded through the entire Colosseum.

    [Dear esteemed Guests, I, Card Melphy, president of the Golden Armaments Union, wee you to witness the glorious Runicier tournament, where more than 10,000 participants fight for the Grand Prize, and the right to call themselves, Heavenly Blessed Runicier!...]

    **

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 Chapter 325 Tricky Start

    ''He is still talking?!'' Nial was appalled after listening to the 10-minute speech of the Golden Armament Union''s president that seemed to drag on.

    The middle-aged man was definitely powerful, his voice was charismatic and his appearance was above average. Nial visualized him once, just to figure out that he belonged to a race that usually lived in mountains and other areas that had an abundance of minerals.

    Card Melphy belonged to the Negiv, a giant sub-race. He was more than four meters tall, and near-indestructible stones covered his body. They had grown out of his body and were a part of his skin which was what usually happened when Negivs reached a certain age.

    One could either let the stones be removed or use them as a means of protection. Card Melphy had someone grind the near-indestructible stones from his back, just to leave a thinyer that covered his body like skin.

    Listening to the speech had been quite interesting for a moment before one''s curiosity would die down. Nial felt like the tournament would never start, and it was only when the topic changed from talking about the history of the U21 Runicier tournament to the rules of the first round that Nial''s ears perked up once again.

    [I hope I didn''t bore anyone to death with my short story¡­.haha¡­ if that happened, so be it. We won''t stop the tournament, whatever may happen!] Card Melphy made a lousy attempt at a joke while he continued tough. He gave a sideways nce to his right, and the atmosphere changed for a quarter of a second before he cleared his throat once again as he continued to speak through the crystal thaty calmly in his hand.

    [Because the number of participants exceeds the usual number of participating Runiciers, we chose to start the tournament with a simple yet interesting round.

    In the next 48 hours, we want every Runicier to create various runic armaments to equip a total of 10 Originals!] Card Melphy announced with a feverish voice and when he finished his first exnation, arge holographic screen manifested in the center of each levitating tform.

    A list with a total of 10 dark outlines, each of whom had specific information was revealed, attracting everyone''s attention.

    Nial could visualize the holographic screen in his mind but it was a bit more difficult to decipher everything that was stated in the information because his knowledge of the writtennguage of Ximatra was non-existent.

    However, instead of panicking, Nial just smiled lightly before he left his designated workce. This was usually not allowed and only by following a specific path could he avoid getting disqualified immediately.

    He approached the center of the tform and pressed the red button which rmed all the support workers on the 9th floor before he turned his attention back to the President, who continued to talk, just like before.

    [While one of your goals may be to arm 10 Originals that would reward you with 100 points, the judges will reward points for the runic armaments that will be created in the next 48 hours. Ordinary, Low Tier-0 runic armaments will be rewarded 0.5 points, while Peak Tier-0 runic armaments of exceptional quality will receive 5 points.

    The list goes on and the detailed distribution of points can be found on the left side of the holographic screen.

    As for the number of participants, who will advance to the second round, there will be¡ª...] Card Melphy would have continued speaking, if not for his gaze that noticed from his high-up position at the VIP lounge of the Colosseum that the rm on the 9th floor had been activated.

    Someone already needed help!? Many spectators realized that something was going on, and all the participants on the 9th floor looked in the direction of the bright red light that shed up every now and then. Nial stood calmly in front of it, waiting for the staff to help him out.

    [Dear participant on the 9th floor. Why did you activate the rm before I finished my speech?] Card Melphy''s voice sounded calm and patient at first, but it was not difficult to hear the underlying tone that revealed his anger. Nobody dared to interrupt his speech, ever!

    "Well, I cannot see the list because I''m blind. Would it be possible for someone from the support team to reveal what''s written on the holographic screen? It blocks my mana senses," Nial tantly lied about his mana being blocked by the holographic screen.

    The mana of others might be restricted but Nial with his [Mana Sense] ability could clearly visualize the holographic screen. Despite that, he had a good excuse for not being able to perceive the holographic screen if he was not able to sense mana properly around it.

    Nial''s calmness while replying to the president astonished many, including the president of the Golden Armaments Union himself. He nced in Nial''s direction for the first time, just to find a blind human, who was still at the Lower steps of the Mirae rank.

    ''Did Siegfried send this boy to create trouble? No, he wouldn''t do that¡­he wouldn''t endanger a prodigious Runicier talent, though I doubt that this boy is good. If his mana aptitude is already that bad and he only managed to reach the Mirae rank at the age of 20, he shouldn''t be a good Runicier¡­'' Card thought and his expression changed every few seconds.

    In the end, he sighed deeply, and chose to maintain his image as a generous, fair and kind man!

    He cleared his throat delicately before he started to speak through the messenger crystal that acted like a megaphone.

    [Of course, you''ll receive all the help you need to ensure fairpetition, dear participant. The staff will dly assist you!]

    Card Melphy pointed at the staff members, who were already rushing towards Nial to help him. Nial thanked the president before he ignored the Negiv entirely. Instead, Nial focused on the information the staff revealed to make sure that he wouldn''t miss a single thing.

    ''This boy is a savage¡­and definitely crazy!!'' Many spectators thought, especially an old man, whose lips were curled upward. Card Melphy noticed that the spectators started to gossip with each other.<sub> </sub>

    He frowned for a moment but instead of giving into frustration and doing something that might tarnish his well-kept image, he chose to dismiss the incident as if it had never happened.

    [Where were we? I think I was just going to reveal how many participants will advance to round two. Alright.] Card Melphy quickly regained hisposure and he cleared his throat again.

    [In the end, the 200 Runiciers with the highest points will advance to the second round! That means more than 9800 Runiciers will be eliminated¡­isn''t that fun?]

    The moment the participants found out that only 1 out of 50 Runiciers would be able to advance in the second round, the tension in the entire Colosseum increased drastically.

    Even the spectators were shocked when they heard this. There were far more than 200 true prodigious Runiciers present today, yet, only 200 would advance to the second round.

    This was simply too small a number but that was not the only problem. In the end, 48 hours was simply not long enough to create equipment for 10 Originals. It would require two weeks to create proper runic armaments to equip everyone with all the necessary pieces of armor and weapons.

    This made it clear that the focus of the first roundy on the creation of perfect runic armaments. If every runic weapon was given points, one had to create high-quality Tier-1 runic weapons if possible. That alone was already difficult but to create 10 of them in 48 hours? That was basically asking the Runiciers to make the impossible happen.

    When Nial received all the necessary pieces of information, he returned to his position. He was subjected to the contempt and ire of many but that was not something the young human cared about.

    ? His mind was clear and he took a few deep breaths to figure out what exactly was going on.

    ''The first round is to create runic armaments for a batch of 10 Originals. The information presented of every single one includes their size, special abilities, unique features, mana core rank, and their ''upation''. They probably won''t need this for only one round, right?'' Nial thought.

    He had heard more than enough about the possibility of rounds havingponents ofbat in the U21 Runicier tournament and the more he thought about it, the weirder the situation became.

    Nial was unable to understand everything properly but he presumed that the information of the 10 Originals was something like a hint. Unfortunately, he couldn''t be certain about the theories that formed in his mind.

    It didn''t help him so he discarded most of his thoughts as he averted his focus back on the huge Countdown that had appeared above the holographic screen with the personal information of the 10 Originals.

    [I wish every participant good luck. Give your best and never back down against your opponents! Everyone, who wants to be a truly Legendary Runiciers has to trample the confidence of thousands of thousands of Runiciers before reaching that realm.

    Never give up and strive toward perfection!] Card Melphy shouted out at the top of his lungs before he added in an even louder voice.

    [Let the first round of the U21 Runicier tournament begin!]

    As if the spectators were bewitched by a spell, they jumped up from their chairs and joined The Union President''s shout. They cheered for the Runiciers of their respective race and turned into fangirls for a moment.

    Nial frowned lightly but he couldn''t dwell on it for long. The timer had begun to run which meant that Nial had to act quickly.

    Without hesitating even for a second, he released his [Mana Sense] to create a domain in the small workce that belonged to him. He could do whatever he wanted at will, which made things much easier.

    "Do they have a cast? No¡­then I should make a bunch of them real quick, I guess¡­" Nial thought out loud while he moved the tables around his designated work space.

    He was not the only one to do this, but there were not many Runicier with his level of affinity toward mana. He could control everything precisely, which was also how he ended up with a batch of 200 kilograms of Lithari iron ores thrown in the smithy''s furnace.

    Simultaneously a bunch of ingredients required for the most basic runic solution appeared on the concoction table.

    Coal covered the 200 kilograms of Lithari iron ores and they slowly heated up.

    However, instead of focusing on the Lithari iron ores, or the burning coals, Nial''s focus turned to the ingredients that were required for the most basic runic solution.

    "I guess we''re doing this then?"

 Chapter 326 48 Hours

    Nial was not a great cksmith and neither a special alchemist with some special techniques to draw out the impurities of the ingredients he used.

    That may be necessary if he were to attempt creating high-tiered runic armaments on his own, but it was certainly not a necessity to create Tier-0 or Tier-1 runic armaments.

    With that in mind, he decided to focus on the task at hand after shoving away all the negative thoughts.

    Tightening his grip over the hammer with which he would strike the mold, he began to control the entire process of the Weapon cast creation with [Mana Sense]. The hammer weighed more than 100 kilograms, but it felt like an ordinary hammer in his hand which made things a lot easier.

    He had clearly visualized what kind of Mold he wanted to create, which was why he crudely ''formed'' them with his mana before he created the mold around them.

    Lithari iron ore was close to a liquid state when it reached the melting point. This was one of the biggest reasons for him to pick Lithari Iron as an ingredient to create his molds.

    The 200 kilograms of Lithari Iron ore turned into around 120 kilograms of Lithari Iron when the reduction process of the carbon waspleted. The metal was extracted from materials that couldn''t be used in the forging process.

    Afterward, Nial heated up the Lithari iron before forming his first weapon cast by controlling both the Lithari Iron and his mana precisely.

    ''How long will it take until I finish all of this?!'' Nial grumbled inwardly when several hours had passed by. He had created only three batches of Basic runic solutions and had already used two of them to engrave them on the weapon molds.

    The weapon molds had been normalized quickly, meaning that they had been heated up before he put them inside a huge bucket of water to rapidly cool them.

    Water was not exactly a great choice to temper metal but it was everything Nial had, and it was enough. By normalizing weapons, and other goods made out of metals, they were tempered and became stronger in terms of Endurance.

    Nial had already engraved a few [Endurance] runic constetions on the molds but the normalizing process was still not to be ignored.

    In the end, Nial created a total of 4 casts within the first 4 hours of the tournament''s first round. To be ''fully'' equipped the 10 Originals were required to wear and wield a total of 3 runic armaments.

    Nial thus created a mold for swords, spears, chest tes, and boots. He didn''t really like the boots but Nial thought that they were the easiest to mold because the information of the 10 unknown Originals showed that they roughly had the same foot size.

    The same applied to the size of their torso, almost indicating that all the 10 Originals more or less had the same body measurements. This was why Nial had chosen the chestte and boots to be their protective equipment, while the sword and spear were going to be their weapons.

    After the molds had been created, Nial started with the casting process. He melted various ores, and filled the casts one after another with the near-liquified metals before he activated the other runic constetions he had engraved on the molds.

    They were runic constetions like [Cooling] to decrease the temperature of the molds to the temperature Nial wanted them to have. This made it easier to vary the speed at which the liquefied metal cooled down.

    Nial, Miranda, and Mathias had experimented a lot with casted weapons to elerate the creation process of Tier-0 runic weapons.

    Making use of this, Nial spent only an additional twelve hours creating a total of 20 Tier-0 runic swords, 10 Tier-0 runic spears, 10 Tier-0 runic chest tes, and 10 pairs of Tier-0 runic boots.

    That speed was shockingly fast, which was mostly owed to the fact that Nial was capable of engraving Basic runic constetions with a 100% perfection grade in a minute when he was fully focused.

    Nial was excited about the Runicier tournament and he didn''t want to be eliminated in the very first round. His focus sharpened and it was as if he had been alone in the entire Colosseum for thest 12 hours, especially at the end.

    When he finished the casting process, there were still 32 hours left on the clock. Nial was pretty sure that he was the only one who could be said to have fully equipped the 10 mysterious Originals.

    Of course, that didn''t mean he had created perfect runic weapons and protective gear, and it was more like Nial wanted to make sure that he would get the points for fully equipping the Originals than anything else.

    The Tier-0 equipment was certainly not good enough to survive many shes of the Tier-1 weapons he had perceived around him.

    Nobody under 21 was able to create Tier-2 runic armaments. There was a distinct difference between Tier-1 and Tier-2 runic armaments that even talent couldn''t make up for.

    To create a Tier-2 runic armament, one was required to use high-quality metals. Their mana veins were usually well hidden from the surface and the senses of the Runicier. In the hardened state, one wouldn''t be able to detect the living mana veins, which was why one would have to be a cksmith to detect the mana veins'' precise location in the heated block of metal.

    However, forging materials that could be used for Tier-2 runic armaments without damaging the mana veins was extremely difficult. One was required to expel the impurities within the ore, which meant that one had to avoid the impurities froming in contact with the mana veins when they were expelled.

    One required even more practice purifying metals than it took to engrave Intermediate runic constetions with high perfection grades. One needed talent and practice as a cksmith to prepare everything for Tier-2 runic armaments, and the same could be said about Alchemists.

    In such a case, using Basic runic solutions, or modified Basic runic solutions wouldn''t be enough anymore. One required lots of practice to create high-quality Intermediate runic solutions and other runic solutions that were basically customized to engrave certain runic constetions.<sub> </sub>

    To summarize, the difference between Tier-1 and Tier-2 runic armaments was ginormous because one needed to be an Artisan, who was proficient in the ways of concoction, forging, and engraving to create the lowest Tier-2 runic armament, while the same was not required for Tier-1 runic armaments.

    If a current participant was able to create Tier-2 runic armaments, they were either cheating, had been taught the ways of a versatile Artisan even before they were born, or they were prodigies of some Ancient race known for being the best in the creation of Runic armaments.

    Nial wouldn''t be able to understand what to do in such a scenario, especially since Master Crevian''s information didn''t mention such a prodigy.

    Furthermore, Tier-2 runic armaments were actually not useful for the 10 mysterious Originals. They wouldn''t be able to control Tier-2 runic weapons because their information clearly stated that the strongest of them was at the 3rd Superior Mirae rank!

    Some participants of the tournament could engrave the weirdest runic constetions, and they were certainly able to create Tier-1 runic armaments but that was of no concern for Nial.

    He was able to do the same, with a 100% perfection grade at that.

    In thest 13 months, his practice with all kinds of runic constetions had paid off. He didn''t face any problems engraving various Intermediate runic constetions with a 100% perfection grade. Not many were able to do that, including Meryl.

    Nial knew that he had be a better Runicier than Meryl in thest few months, even if her forging and concoction foundation was much deeper. She might be able to create Tier-2 runic armaments in a bunch of years but Nial could tell that she was rather rxed with her lessons.

    Meryl may look like she was determined to be the best Runicier of the Elven races, however, it was also a fact that Nial surpassed her rather easily. His talent was not even higher than hers but she had lost her enthusiasm even before she encountered Nial.

    Her fire had died down when the Elves had begun to call her the most prodigious Elven Runicier of the new generation. Findingpetition in her peers to be stronger had been one of the easiest ways to ignite herpetitive spirit and to re it up.

    Only when she encountered Nial and his ''talent'' that was mostlyposed of determination and abination of his range of perception, and [Mana sense], did Meryl''s ambition topete with someone awoken again.

    Nial could tell that there were a few Runiciers simr to Meryl. They wouldn''t pass the first round because they were upied with staring at others. The pressure they suddenly felt prevented them from doing their best, which was why their final results were not as good as they would usually be.

    Other than these Runiciers, there were also a bunch of people, who had no reason to participate in the U21 Runicier tournament, to begin with.

    Their talent was probably not even as good as that of Mathias.

    "If Mathias had begun engraving runic constetions from a young age, he would be much better than these no names¡­" Nial mumbled before he turned away his attention.

    The alloy he had created had just beenpleted, which was why he could start the shaping process. He had lots of work to do, especially since there were numerous ideas of customized runic armaments that swirled through his mind.

    ''The 10 mysterious Originals may have to do with the second round, or maybe not. At the end of the day, it doesn''t matter. There are 6 close-range Originals, 1 Original with supportive and healing abilities, and three Originals with long-range abilities. One of the three Originals is more suited for the use of a Wand because of his elemental affinity, while the others should use bows¡­''

    Nial could customize the equipment of all Originals, but he hade up with a decent variation by using different metals to create the casted Tier-0 armaments. The three Originals that focused on long-range and the Original with supporting abilities received flexible metal chest tes and morefortable boosts that were not that heavy.

    Their weapons would be exchanged with Tier-1 runic weapons, which he would customize for them in the next 32 hours.

    There was too much for Nial to do but he tried to make use of the information every participant received as well as possible.

    There had to be a deeper meaning and Nial wanted to make use of this.

    Nial didn''t sleep or rest even for a minute in the following 30 hours. He worked relentlessly, and created various runic solutions with his utmost efforts, which worked out pretty decently.

    Unfortunately, his cksmithing skillscked the most finesse, which was why he took longer to create certain weapons and goods than he wished for. However, that was still fine because he could tell that his engraving speed was much higher than the vast majority of participants.

    In thest 40 or so hours, Nial had gotten to know that the consistency of many Runiciers was much worse than expected. Their stamina was quite bad and it was not possible for them to handle the situation and stress well.

    They may have a higher mana core rank than Nial but their focus waned much faster than his. While Nial had only required a single break of 10 minutes to grab a snack and to rest his mind that was under constant strain, either way, the others seemed to be on the verge of copsing.

    It didn''t look like they had created more than a dozen runic armaments in a row to train themselves and improve their stamina.

    "This may be much funnier than I expected," Nial chuckled when he finished thest runic armaments less than five minutes before the countdown was over.

 Chapter 327 Evaluation

    All the runic armaments of each participant created were stored inside a small spatial ring that had the participants'' numbers engraved on them.

    Nial was pretty sure that it would take a while to finish evaluating the runic armaments. Thus, he cleared his working space which ended up looking just like it did before Nial touched it for the first time when he had arrived.

    Afterward, hey down on the stone ground, where he rested for a few hours.

    He was sleeping like a log and didn''t mind the people or the noise around him in the slightest.

    "Isn''t this participant too nonchnt? He is disrespecting the Golden Armaments Union for the second time by dozing off¡­has he no shame?" One of the spectators, who was also a member of the Golden Armaments Union,ined loudly.

    Everyone around him could hear the young man and most other spectators couldn''t help but feel the same.

    "His nonchnt behavior is clearly visible. He created a mold to start casting weapons¡­what did you even expect?" Another spectator sneered as he stared at the sleeping bling human.

    "I know that humans are shameless, but this¡­is still a bit too much," A Stk spat out these words as if he was disgusted to even say ''human'' out loud. Many humans turned around at once, ring daggers at the Stk, who just shrugged his shoulders.

    He turned silent but hisment made everyone understand his opinion of the human race.

    "Whether we''re shameless or not is of no concern to you. You should be more worried about how to console your ''prodigious'' Runiciers when theye crying to you after being thrown out of the tournament," The loud and angry voice of a human reached the Stk and all the spectators around them.

    He stressed the word ''prodigious'' a lot and revealed a mocking smile as he stared straight into the grey eyes of the Stk, who had spoken before.

    The spectator wasn''t going to let the Stk throw shade on humans, and let him escape unscathed. Thus, he didn''t hesitate the slightest to fire back.

    "You!! Do you want to fight?!" The Stk took the bait and was immediately offended, which was exactly what the human spectator wanted. He waved his hand andughed mockingly.

    "If you dare to fight me,e and get me," Heughed, not moving from his chair as the Stk shot up from his seat.

    "Sit down, you fucking idiot," The Stk next to the one, who had been offended, jumped up from his seat to pull down his friend.

    "If you seek death do that outside the Colosseum, not here, where you are publicly disgracing our entire race¡­Do you want to end up like the Elves, and be thrown out of the tournament for the next few centuries?" The Stk, who spoke, was much taller than his friend, and his presence was more than enough to hold the enraged Stk.

    He quieted down and took his seat again, albeit unhappily, while the human continued tough.

    "What a sweet friend you have! He even ys your nanny. Cute," the human said with a pouty smile, knowing that nothing would happen to him in the Colosseum.

    "You''re funny. Just tell me where you want to be buried. I may show you some mercy and let you rest there," The taller Stk spoke calmly while holding his friend back. He was about to do something stupid but the iron-tight grip of his tall friend was more than enough to prevent anything from happening.

    The silent threat of the tall Stk didn''t really feel like a threat to many spectators around him. However, others with keen senses and a properly working brain, and danger sense could tell what the tall Stk was doing.

    Seconds after he issued the threat, the tall Stk saw that his n had worked. The human paled because he realized that he had made a big mistake, which might even cost him his life. It caused him to shake for a moment before he heard the Stk''s voice once again, now even calmer than before.

    "Let''s go back to the topic. Don''t you think that your little blind human fellow is trying to offend the authorities? I would be more worried about saving my own skin than our race being thrown out of the tournament," The tall Stk threw a snarkyment.

    The human frowned deeply before he turned back to look at Nial, who was sleeping soundly, without any worries.

    "He passed the first round. Don''t worry too much about us," A new voice joined their heated debate all of a sudden. It was an old man, who nobody had noticed before. He was seated in between the rows of the two Stks and the human, who had been conversing for a while by now.

    "And how do you know that? I doubt you observed the engraving process of all ten thousand participants, did you?" The taller Stk was not angered by the sudden interference of the old man. In fact, he was pretty sure that the old man was not any ordinary person, which was why he genuinely asked why the blind human ought to have passed the first round.

    The old man was eerily calm and his presence was almost unnoticeable, yet, the tall Stk was not able to sense the slightest bits of his strength. The old man''s mana core rank had to be much higher than his own!

    "That''s pretty simple. He created great high-quality Tier-1 runic armaments, more than 10 of them at that. Even the bad quality of his forging, or the usage of a rathermonly used runic solution won''t change that fact. As for the casted runic armaments they''re of Peak-quality and at Tier-0.

    He should have earned enough points to enter the top 50, and if he didn''t focus on customizing the runic armaments, one for each of the listed mysterious Originals, he would have easily created more runic armaments or even better ones," The old man kept speaking and it was quite obvious that his opinion of the young sleeping Original was quite high.

    "Of course, this would just be the case if the mission of the first round was that simple. It may look like the mission tested the participants'' ability on the creation of a high quantity of high-quality runic armaments but that is only half true," The old man caressed his beard as he shared his insights.

    "Why is that only half true? I mean the mission clearly states that you get points ording to the runic armaments you create for the 10 Originals that have been listed. Shouldn''t that mean creating numerous high-quality Tier-1 runic armaments would be the best solution?" The tall Stk countered, not understanding what the old man meant. He was also a Runicier though he was not a renowned one or a Runicier with many talents.

    Nheless, he had his fair share of knowledge.

    "Of course creating a high quantity of high-quality runic armaments does the job as well, but for the second round, customized weapons will be of more use than random high-quality TIer-1 runic armaments!" The old man dered, looking at the tall Stk with a faint smile.

    "The second round?" Many people asked themselves at the same time, while the quiet human, who had been in a discussion with the Stk before, had hastily blurted out everyone''s confusion.<sub> </sub>

    However, the old man didn''t pay any attention to the troublemaking human. His focus returned to Nial and his expression lit up just a tiny bit as he mumbled,

    "Seems like the kid figured it."

    Their discussion came to a halt as everybody''s attention turned to the evaluation chart that had been updated and the scores were revealed to the spectators.

    Many cries of desperation and disbelief filled the air when the Runiciers didn''t find their number in the top 200. Everyone''s points were clearly shown, with some Runiciers easily crossing 2000 points.

    However, no one was impressed with the top spots because they were quite obvious. Nobody thought that the top prodigies of the Golden Armaments Union and other Runicier groups would lose against individual Runiciers or self-proimed prodigies.

    The vast majority of participants, who advanced to the second round were known by the public. Only a few were dark horses including Nial!

    <<-Rank 48- [8931] with 1205 Points!>>

    Nobody had managed to create as many runic armaments as Nial, let alone such a high quantity of Tier-0 runic armaments. However, from the looks of it, this was exactly why Nial ranked so high on the scoreboard.

    Each of his Tier-0 runic armaments got him 5 points, and he received 100 points for equipping each of the Originals with, at least, three runic armaments.

    The old man didn''t seem to be surprised by the result but many spectators were baffled when they tried to find out who the unknown participants were that nobody had ever heard about.

    Most spectators only tried to remember the numbers of the participants, who were famous, not someone like Nial, who was a nobody.

    Only the old man seemed to have taken a liking to Nial, which was something the poor young man had yet to realize.

    Nial was still asleep when he was woken by themotion around him.

    He felt a bit more energized than before but it didn''t seem like he slept long.

    "Can''t they give me a little break? I don''t demand a lot but a break would certainly be helpful¡­" Nialined quietly as he got up on his feet.

    He saw the list of evaluations just a short momentter, and his ranking.

    ''Well, that is not particrly surprising. I finished 10 high-quality Tier-1 runic armaments and loads of casted Tier-0 runic armaments of Peak quality, in 48 hours at that... If such an achievement wouldn''t be enough to pass round 1, I could have just stayed at home.'' Nial thought with a meek smile on his face.

    He could tell that there were quite a few participants, who were better than him. They could forge with more precision and their runic solutions were also purified. This was something Nial was not capable of, not yet, and he was not sure how long it would take before he would reach that level.

    However, he knew that his runic armaments were special because their quality exceeded the norms of what most Runiciers could create. Even Master Crevian acknowledged that he rarely saw someone who could engrave runic constetions as quickly and precisely as Nial.

    This was a talent and something that had been of exceptional use for the first round.

    [Now that the evaluation chart has been revealed, only 200 Runiciers are left behind. The second round of the U21 Runicier tournament will be held in three days and the spatial rings with all the runic armaments that have been created in the first round will be stored away.

    To all the Runiciers, who failed today¡­.failure is just a small bump and a stepping stone in your career. As long as you can ovee your failure, learn from it and grow, you will receive and learn much more than countless victories can teach you.

    Don''t be discouraged and give your everything to stride forward and emerge victorious the next time you challenge something!] Card Melphy''s voice resounded through the entire Colosseum, and many discouraged Runiciers feltforted by the words of the Union''s President.

    It may not heal the scar their loss inflicted on their hearts but it certainly helped them to ovee the struggle.

    [As for the rules of the second round, they''ll be announced in three days!]

    **

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    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

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 Chapter 328 Invasion

    Nial disappeared soon after he got to know that he advanced to the second round. There was no need for him to stay in the Colosseum, especially since many Runiciers frowned deeply at him.

    He felt like he was going to get killed by the envious Runiciers, who were unable to ept the fact that someone at the Lower region of the Mirae rank was a better Runicier than them.

    <o>,m Usually, the higher a mana core rank the stronger their control and perception of mana. That was why most Runiciers would also focus on the advancement of their mana core''s rank, especially since the difference between each rank was ginormous.</o>

    Thus, it was even harder for them to ept the reality that Nial was simply a better Runicier than them!

    ''They should have practiced more instead of acting like little kids, throwing a tantrum at the superiority of others,'' Nial thought on his way back to the apartment he had lodged. A lot of reporters were crowded around the entrance of the Colosseum but he managed to evade all of them without getting bombarded with questions.

    There were at least 500, and all of them were holding weird devices with which they created live images of the Runiciers, who advanced to the second round.

    "Wait¡­how can it be that I don''t see Livran Kerka''s participation number in the Top 200?!?" One of the reporters murmured when the chart of evaluation was projected on the outside of the Colosseum''s walls.

    Thement of the first reporter caused a chain reaction as all the reporters averted their focus from the entrance of the Colosseum to the chart of evaluation.

    They started to skim through the numbers of Runiciers who advanced and linked them to the Runiciers they had wanted to interview, from the beginning.

    "La Sherbical is also not on the list¡­" Another reporter voiced out in a clearly shocked voice.

    More and more reporters were struck by the realization that far more renowned Runiciers of the new generation were not listed on the chart of evaluation''s top 200 spots.

    They had failed to advance to the second round, which created a hugemotion.

    "Was thepetition this year so fierce? How can it be that there are more than a dozen Runiciers I''ve never heard about¡­and someone is even in the top 50¡­ is that what you call a ck horse appearing out of nowhere?" Arge reporter of the Stk race asked, frowning deeply.

    "Rather than a ck horse, this is an entire horde of ck horses¡­it''s not umon for one or two new characters to appear but more than a dozen talented Runiciers, who we''ve never heard about? That is insane¡­and I love it! I will take your leave and write an article!" The excited voice of a woman reached everyone''s ears and just momentster she disappeared.

    Meanwhile, the first spectators of the tournament began to leave the Colosseum, and some participants followed them. Separating them was extremely easy, since the participants, who passed the first round were mostly overjoyed, or radiating a pride that would put the sun to shamelike no one else could, while those who lost simply wanted to crawl into a pit and never get out if it. They looked shattered as if their entire world was crumbling right in front of them.

    Time passed slowly and the reporters started their first interviews with the participants, who were willing, but everyone quickly understood that none of the ck horses was amongst this batch. Only the well-known Runiciers joined the interview to receive easy fame and spread their name and reputation throughout the.

    Meanwhile, Nial had finally reached his ce and changed into a new set of clothes after a well-deserved shower.

    Ximatra''s technology was quite advanced, which was why he put on the television to hear some news. Precisely, he wanted to figure out who advanced to the second round because he didn''t know which participation number belonged to which Runicier.

    "Considering that they confiscated the runic armaments we created and that they store them, my guess must have been correct," Nial mumbled to himself, d that he didn''t bother about creating many high-quality Tier-1 runic armaments of the same type but that he focused on a great versatility of high-quality Tier-1 runic armaments, precisely weapons.

    Furthermore, there had been more than one reason for him to create molds for spears, swords, chest tes and boots, and not just the fact that it rewarded him with loads of points that were enough to advance to the second round.

    At that moment, Nial sensed something behind him, which caused him to flinch. A fraction of a secondter, the Dragonme spear manifested in his hand, Nial''s body was shrouded in darkness and he twisted his body to pierce the spear behind him.

    Simultaneously, spikes of darkness shot out of the darkness that enveloped his body, attacking the unknown being, who had appeared inside his room, just a few meters away from him.

    "Kiddo, calm down," A hoarse voice suddenly spoke as the being, the human, who had appeared in his room, caught all the attacks that shot toward him.

    The human did so with extreme ease that made Nial stop his attack in an instant. There was no need for him to waste his energy against a being as strong as the human, who had infiltrated his room.

    "This energy of yours¡­is pretty strong. Your mana is much stronger than you revealed as well. You''re just like I expected, a pretty good seed!" The human remarked in his old and hoarse voice. He seemed satisfied and not like he had any ill intentions.

    However, Nial didn''t really feel safe, considering that someone had infiltrated his private lodging. He frowned deeply and stepped backward.

    "Your guess in the first round of the U21 Runicier tournament was pretty good. I believe that less than a quarter of the participants had the time to think about the meaning behind all the hints they had received," the Old man simply continued to speak, while ignoring Nial''s tension and his difort.

    ''How could hee close to me? My mana sense didn''t detect anything at all¡­he just appeared out of thin air¡­'' Nial felt a bit troubled. The power of the old man was concealed and it was quite obvious that he wouldn''t reveal his mana to him.<sub> </sub>

    Fortunately, Nial''s range of perception and his [Mana Sense] had be much stronger than before. This was more than enough for him to outline the old man, and to get to know a few details about him.

    "Aren''t you that old man from the Union''s headquarters? I sensed you in the queue next to me¡­weird¡­" He suddenly blurted out with a grimace as he continued to ask,

    "You aren''t stalking me since then, are you?"

    Seeing Nial''s expression, Siegfried, the old man, who had appeared in the room, frowned deeply. And just a few seconds after he frowned at Nial, believing that the young blind Original was a nutcase, he began tough heartily.

    Nial was still rmed even though the old man lowered his guard in front of him. He had no idea who the old man was, or what he was doing in his room.

    The tiny possibility that the old man was a stalker didn''t make things better, and Nial could only hope that his mind had been corrupted and that his assumptions were wrong.

    "You could sense my presence at that time? Are you sure that you didn''t try to stir trouble by pressing the emergency button even before the jerk of a president finished his speech?" Siegfried continued tough as he looked at the young man, whose expression eased up a little.

    ''Jerk? He calls the President of the Golden Armaments Union a jerk?...'' Nial noted, thinking that the old man may not be as bad as imagined.

    However, just as he thought that Nial shook his head once again.

    ''I need to calm down. If he really wanted to harm me, he could have done so already. Act confident, and make it look like you have some big powerhouses as your support¡­'' Nial felt like pping his cheek to calm down but he held himself back.

    "Either, you think that I wanted to make fun of the entire tournament, or you believe that I cannot read Ximatrish," Nial said confidently when he finally came up with a n. The darkness around him was retracted inside his body and the Dragonme spear disappeared in the spatial ring he put on his finger again.

    "Is that so?" The old man said before he cleared his throat to get Nial''s attention to introduce himself,

    "My name is Siegfried Nar, nice to meet you!"

    ''The hell¡­now you finally remember to introduce yourself¡­?'' Nial could only think before he shook his head in denial.

    "My name is Nial Orin. How may I help you?" He responded confidently which astonished the old man a bit.

    Nial was trying hard not to scream at the old man for barging into his room, just to act as if he owned it. He took a few deep breaths and focused on the old man, hoping that he would receive an answer as quickly as possible.

    Nial had revealed his real name for the temporary Identification pledge, the tournament and to Siegfried, simply because it didn''t make a difference whether he registered with a fake name or his real one.

    "You¡­don''t know me?" Siegfried asked, and Nial felt like beating the old man to crap. Why was the old man so annoying? His actions made no sense, and he shoulde clean if he wanted something.

    "I have not the faintest idea as to who you might be. Please tell me what you want from me because I genuinely doubt that you identally appeared in my room, or am I mistaken?" Nial tried very hard to sound reasonable and calm but he quickly understood that he failed.

    "Oh¡­you don''t know me¡­." the old man mumbled in a low tone that would have been inaudible for most people. However, Nial could clearly hear him.

    "Well, whatever. I ''barged'' into your room because I wanted to see if you could tell me what the second round is going to be. Do you want me to help you with something?" Siegfried Nar asked with a confident smile on his face.

    "No thanks, I don''t need your help, Sir¡­" Nial instinctively replied and bit his lip to hold himself back from adding, ''...and I want you to leave my ce, right now!'' in an angry tone.

    Nial rejected the old man''s help instantly. He didn''t know anything about the old man, except his name, which could be a fake one.

    Master Crevian had told him to be careful of strangers he would meet in the U21 Runicier tournament, especially since there were crafty old masters of participants, who would do everything to ensure their disciples'' victory.

    Siegfried''s confident and prideful expression crumbled upon hearing Nial''s response.

    ''That has to be a joke? I worked so hard to make an impactful entrance without attracting anyone''s attention¡­and he doesn''t even know me?! Is this young man for real?''

 Chapter 329 The Insane Runicier Saint

    "You should really rethink what you just said¡­I will give you a minute to research my name, maybe you will think differently then¡­" The old man felt embarrassed for the first time in an eternity. He frowned deeply, not believing that anyone like Nial existed in the entire universe.

    How was it possible for a Runicier to be oblivious to his name and identity? And if Nial knew about his identity, he was one of the best actors Siegfried had ever encountered, and that was saying a lot.

    "Okay¡­" Nial replied in a defeated tone, understanding that the old man wouldn''t leave before he was satisfied.

    ''What an annoying character. Who the hell does he think he¡­is¡­'' He thought just to realize who exactly Siegfried Nar was.

    "Most handsome Runicier Saint, creator of the Disaster Brigarde, the Cmity Dagger, the Dragon-Cave Cleaver, and much more¡­" Nial mumbled with a deep frown on his face.

    The old man looked at Nial in satisfaction with a prideful smile on his face.

    "There don''t seem to be a lot of handsome Runicier Saints if you are one of them¡­no offense¡­" Nial was still displeased about the way Siegfried Nar had shown up uninvited in his room, which was also why he didn''t hold back from revealing his honest opinion.

    It might be great that he had created a bunch of high-tiered runic armaments and that he was considered a Runicier Saint, but the old man was certainly not handsome.

    He was, at most, average-looking, and that too only because of the long beard that covered half of Siegfried''s face.

    Siegfried''s smile vanished upon hearing Nial''sment and he felt a sudden surge of anger erupting from within him.

    "Don''t you think you''re a bit rude to your Senior?!" He asked, his veins popping out.

    "And you think that being a Senior automatically allows you to barge into your junior''s room? And what the hell do you even mean that I''m your junior, I know you only because of the quick search of the ''television''!" Nial felt no less angered than Siegfried, which was why he couldn''t care less about acting vignt anymore.

    He was tired after concocting, forging, and engraving for 48 hours. He hadn''t slept much before as well to finish creating the 3rd Ancient Origin ring. Thus, Nial''s mood was already bad when Siegfried chose to infiltrate his room, worsening it further.

    The old man was baffled at Nial''s angry retort and he quieted down for a moment. It was only now that he really looked at the young Original who seemed dead-tired. His mana fluctuations were weak and his footing on the ground was unstable.

    Siegfried calmed down a bit upon seeing his exhaustion but it didn''t mean that he had forgiven Nial''s ignorance.

    "As a fellow human of the same root, and Runicier, I am obviously your Senior. Don''t forget that we take seniority very seriously here! I never expected to teach my junior like this¡­how disgraceful¡­" The old man sounded truly disappointed.

    Nial knew that the humans on Ximatra and around took seniority more importantly than it was the case for humans on Jundra. On Jundra, background and strength decided everything, which was a tad different to Ximatra.

    Nheless, it was not as if Nial could care about that right now. He was exhausted and hated the current situation to the core.

    "You don''t even know the Ie from¡­" He mumbled quietly but Siegfried shook his head.

    "Of course, I know that. I saw your details!" He said with a smirk.

    "So you''re even a hacker now¡­that makes me feel much better around you¡­" Nial simply retorted the first thing that came to his mind.

    Siegfried''s lips twitched at Nial''sment but he told himself that it would be possible to lecture Nialter. For now, he had to ept that the young man was oblivious to literally everything he should know as a fellow human.

    ? "...just go to sleep and take a look at what I wanted to show you. You will realize that it will be better to treat me like your Senior, and to idolize me after you wake up!" Siegfried sounded arrogant and narcissistic and Nial could hardly keep a straight face.

    However, before he could retort anything, Siegfried had disappeared from his sight. The old man reappeared behind him and before Nial knew it, he lost consciousness.

    "Finally, he is quiet¡­" Siegfried sighed deeply as he looked at the young man, who fell unconscious in his grasp. He had to use only bits of mana topletely knock out the young Runicier.

    "He must have been more exhausted than I first assumed. Well, he is only at the 3rd Mirae rank, and it seems like his 3rd Origin ring hasn''t been a long time since he solidified it. Creating the third Origin ring and staying awake while being fully focused on the whole creation process of numerous runic armaments¡­I should give him some ck," Siegfried just mumbled to himself.

    He clearly recalled how frustrating he had been in the past. Siegfried had terrorized his fellow Seniors, and he never backed off against them. The memories of the past caused him to smile faintly.

    He agreed that Nial''s talent as a Runicier was quite exceptional, but that was a big difference to his mana core''s rank, which confused Siegfried a bit.

    "Did he awaken his Originter than everyone else? Hm¡­if he was a decade toote inparison to others, everything would make sense¡­ I guess?" He kept muttering to himself, trying to make sense of Nial''s talent as Runicier and his mana core''s rank.<sub> </sub>

    His anger had dispersed in all directions the moremon grounds he found between his old self and Nial. He started to take a liking to Nial, which was why he put him in his bed before he entered the corner for Artisans.

    "I should show off a little bit¡­maybe he can learn a thing or two if I show him his ws in the concoction and forging process he utilized. He could have worked a bit more efficiently¡­as for his runic constetions¡­even I couldn''t make such precise runic constetions at his age¡­he is a natural¡­" Siegfried was highly pleased with the youth as he recalled every single step Nial had taken during the first round of the tournament.

    The old man didn''t see anything wrong with the fact that he had barged into Nial''s apartment, that he had started to use his ingredients, and that he was still in the apartment of the Original, he had knocked out.

    It was as if everything was supposed to be like this and several hours passed in the blink of an eye. The few hours turned into 24 hours when Nial finally woke up.

    His neck ached but he felt oddly reinvigorated, which was why he silently thanked the Symbol of Life.

    However, Nial''s head began to buzz the moment he sensed something, or precisely someone, who was not supposed to be in his apartment.

    "That was not a dream?" Nial blurted out, attracting the old man''s attention.

    He waved at Nial as if they were friends and the only thing Nial could do in return was to prevent his jaw from dropping to the ground.

    "I hope you slept well, little boy. Look, I prepared a few presents for you, from a talented and knowledgeable Senior to a Junior, who has to learn a lot," Siegfried boasted about his creation with a faint smile on his lips.

    ''How can someone be so endlessly shameless?!'' Nial nearly blurted out, but kept quiet and stepped forward. He was not sure how long he had slept but what he could tell was that a bunch of perfect runic armaments had been created in front of him.

    "Aren''t those the runic armaments I created for the tournament''s first round¡­.just be-..." Nial was not even able to finish his sentence, when Siegfried intervened, "Just better, exactly. As close to perfection as you could get with the runic constetions and the materials you chose to create the runic armaments!"

    Nial was baffled. He could tell that the old man was not a Runicier Saint for show. It was one of the highest titles a Runicier could obtain, which was precisely why it astonished Nial that Siegfried was so interested in him.

    It was not as if he could be considered special in the face of a true talent like the old man.

    "Your concoction is much better than mine, let alone the forging. You made the first grind to even out the bevels you engraved in the first round of runic constetions¡­and then you repeated the process after a heat treatment¡­normalizing, I guess?" Nial mumbled as he got hold of the runic armaments.

    He didn''t ask Siegfried for permission to touch and inspect them because the old man had barged in his home without asking as well.

    Nial frowned deeply and he felt embarrassed about the runic armaments he had created when holding the Peak-quality runic weapons the old man had created with ease.

    "They''re much better than everything I created¡­" Nial acknowledged while nibbling on his lower lip, and the old man nodded his head.

    "Obviously my runic armaments are better than yours. What kind of dumb conclusion is that?!" Siegfried didn''t seem to be satisfied with Nial''s choice of words, let alone his reaction.

    He had expected Nial to be able to find his ws in an instant and to feel the urge to improve right away.

    Unfortunately, that didn''t seem to happen, even if Nial was able to tell what exactly Siegfried had been doing with his weapon.

    "You have yet to tell me what your reason is toe and find me¡­your true reason, not the bullshit you served me before knocking me out¡­" Nial said while his attention was still on the weapons in front of him.

    On the surface, it seemed like Nial was not particrly interested in getting to know the old man''s reasoning for barging into his apartment and copying and improving the runic armaments he created in the tournament''s first round but the exact opposite was the truth.

    He may not be fond of the old man but it was pretty obvious that he was a great Runicier. Nial acknowledged that and he wanted to figure out where Siegfried''s interest came from.

    "You faked your identity didn''t you?" Siegfried asked suddenly. At first, he was only curious about the existence of a blind Runicier. It was not enough for him to act up.

    However, there was something that attracted his curiosity and aroused suspicion.

    "Why would I do that?" Nial asked in return, trying to control his wildly beating heart.

    "Probably to help out the Elves? I mean, you are basically using most of the runic constetions that have been created by Elven races, or in coalition with Elves! No one in Ximatra teaches them, just so you know¡­"

 Chapter 330 Finally!

    Nial''s expression changed drastically when Siegfried unveiled that most of the runic constetions he used had either been created by Elves, with their cooperation or that they''d been altered by them.

    "I never thought about that¡­" Nial groaned, feeling a sudden headache.

    For a moment, he thought about abandoning his mission because it would be way too dangerous for him to continue participating in the Runicier tournament if everyone could tell that he used only the runic constetions of Elves.

    That would draw suspicion onto him and it wouldn''t be really difficult to figure out that his temporary identification pledge was riddled with lies.

    "There is no need for you to worry about anything, junior," Siegfried suddenly said in a calming manner.

    I am probably one of the only few Runiciers, who can tell that your body reeks of your association with the Elves, that you use various techniques rted to elves, and that you use their runic constetions as well. Others don''t really bother which technique they use, where ites from, or if these techniques are evenpatible with them!" The old man exined calmly before he added,

    "They don''t even know who created the runic constetions they''re using¡­in fact, most don''t think that''s important, which is not the case for me, though!"

    Nial was not really sure what to think about the old man right now. The situation seemed to be even more confusing than before and he began to doubt that Master Crevian hadn''t considered the fact that some people would link the origin of his engraving technique, or the origin of the runic constetions he was mostly using to the Elves.

    "What do you want from me?" He asked, doubting the old man, who could only smile weirdly.

    "There is no need for you to be so hostile to me. I''m just interested in you, your rtions with the Elves, and a few more things rted to you. But it''s not really something bad, otherwise, I would have already done something to you, don''t you think so?" Siegfried asked as he could slowly get a rough understanding of the mystery called Nial.

    He could tell that the young blind Original was different because he wasn''t familiar with the traditions of the human race of Ximatra. This was quite interesting, especially since it seemed like Nial''s connection with the elves was far stronger than expected.

    "How about you tell me where you actuallye from, and I will help you improve some of your ws during the next two days?" The Old man suggested, however, Nial could tell that Siegfried''s eyes were boring into his head.

    "I''m sorry, but I want to be honest," Nial replied before he proceeded to answer, "I don''t really know if I can trust you, Sir¡­"

    Siegfried just nodded his head before he pointed out something quite simple.

    "I can just tell the Jerk of the Union''s President that you are affiliated with Elves, and you will be disqualified from the tournament, imprisoned, and severely punished for being affiliated with the Union''s enemy."

    The old man sounded calm but it was obvious that he was lowkey threatening Nial to obey him. If Siegfried wanted, he could throw Nial in the pits of hell, whether he used his own strength to achieve this or someone else''s.

    "To put it simply, you don''t care whether I trust you or not, but you want me to fix my ws by all means¡­that sounds even weirder¡­" Nial mumbled in frustration, gritting his teeth.

    He could tell that there was not really a way out for him, which was why he chose to ept the fact that he was being ckmailed.

    "Ie from Jundra. Is that enough to answer your question?" Nial had to control his emotions while attempting to answer calmly.

    "Jundra? You mean the Origin? I never knew that it awoke from its deep slumber¡­" Siegfried lost hisposure and almost shrieked while the mana he had perfectly concealed inside his body slipped out for a second or two.

    The old man''s mana was overwhelmingly powerful, and it forced Nial on his knees before nearly taking him out. Nial would have lost his consciousness a secondter if not for the old man who quickly retracted his mana after a moment.

    "It didn''t awaken," Nial answered in a small voice. He didn''t want to answer the old man but something seemed to have forced him to speak out his thoughts.

    His expression turned ugly when he realized what had just happened.

    ''He used some sort of technique on me to force me to reveal more than I wanted to say? I really cannot trust him!'' Nial nibbled nervously on his lower lip. He was trying hard to control his emotions but that was hardly possible. The Old man was getting on his nerves.

    "So you''re here despiteing from the Origin? That''s pretty interesting," The Old man remarked. He clearly noticed Nial''s expression but ignored it easily. Siegfried merely smiled, not bothering to exin himself further.

    Nial had no idea what exactly the term ''the Origin'' meant, let alone how it was connected to Jundra, but that was his smallest worry right now.

    "I won''t answer any more questions. Just because you''re stronger than me, doesn''t mean that I would allow you to treat me however you want," Nial suddenly said with determination in his voice.

    Siegfried merely smiled at this, not taking Nial seriously.

    "Is that so? What if I threaten to kill you?" He asked in an amused voice and a huge greatsword manifested in Siegfried''s hand as if he wanted to make sure Nial understood that he could be killed at any moment.

    The weight of the Greatsword caused the floor of his small apartment to crack but Nial didn''t seem to be very impressed.<sub> </sub>

    "Then just kill me. I mean what is this annoying charade? Either leave me alone or treat me fairly. Everything you''ve done since you barged into my room is disrespectful and the behavior of a savage barbarian, not a civilized human, and certainly not a highly regarded Runicier!!" Nial cursed, his dislike for the old man growing more and more.

    "If you want to improve my ws, behave like a normal human being and offer your help, and don''t force me to ept your ''good-will'' in such a way! I really hate that!!! Get down from your throne and start treating others the way you want to be treated!" His voice was apanied by the dark energy that had umted deep inside his body.

    It reverberated through the entire soundproof apartment ought to prevent any cksmithing noises from leaking outside. However, at this moment, the soundproof apartment trembled as if caught in an avnche and his voice could be heard through the entire building.

    Precisely, it was the anger and frustration in his voice that reverberated through the entire building. Siegfried raised an eyebrow at this sight and he seemed to be contemting something as the huge greatsword that rested calmly in his hand disappeared.

    He sighed deeply and sat down on a chair he retrieved from his spatial ring.

    "I guess, I have been too long with overbearing races which is why I became like them¡­" Siegfried acknowledged before he spoke to Nial.

    Nial was still wary of Siegfried, but he thought that epting one''s misbehavior was a first step in the right direction.

    For the following two days, they talked a lot and Nial slowly grew ustomed to the idea of learning a bit under Siegfried. He got to know a lot but that didn''t mean he had taken a liking to the grumpy old man.

    The old man was still overbearing and he tried to force his ideals on Nial, who refuted this with all his might. In the end, both characters were theplete opposite. They were notpatible with each other and Siegfried quickly noticed that his true agenda foring over to Nial had failed miserably.

    ''He can never be my disciple. I would probably kill him identally if he keeps disobeying me¡­'' he thought, ignoring that Nial''s talent and persistence as a Runicier were quite exceptional.

    Nial''s affinity to mana was the most exceptional but that was not of any use for Siegfried if the student was someone as bothersome as Nial.

    ording to Siegfried, he was stubborn, felt like he needed to get treated equally, cherished his ''right or privacy'' against getting harmed, and so on.

    However, on the other hand, Nial fixed his ws quickly and he learned at a terrific speed.

    The old man was in a conflict with himself but he chose against trying to turn Nial into his disciple. The trouble was not worth the result, especially since the result was likely to be Nial''s death.

    Siegfried left Nial''s apartment for the first time in three days, and there was only one hour left before the second round of the U21 Runicier tournament would start.

    "Finally¡­he left¡­" Nial sighed in relief before he slumped to the ground.

    He had learned a lot in thest two days but the presence of the old man around him was simply too frustrating.

    Nial used thest hour before the tournament to freshen up and calm down before he went back to the Colosseum.

    200 participants were supposed to be in the Colosseum, but oddly enough there were less than 150 participants at the end of the day when the tournament started.

    [Dear participants, dear guests, it looks like we have a small¡­problem.] The voice of the Golden Armaments Union''s President resounded through the Colosseum shortly after the appointed time of the second round.

    [It seems like a few participants have not arrived yet. That being said, we will change the rules of the second round.

    Instead of starting the second round immediately, we will give everyone present a total of six hours to equip the runic armaments you created to ten runic puppets!

    Their data is precisely the information you''ve received about the 10 mysterious Originals in the first round.

    Equip your runic puppets and prepare them for war!]

    Card Melphy didn''t really sound concerned about the participants, who didn''t arrive, but he gave them a grace period of six hours to join.

    The spectators thought that this was pretty nice of him, which was why they began to cheer loudly.

    While the spectators were cheering, a total of 10 tall puppets created out of metal manifested in front of each of the participants. The puppets were of different sizes and they had various runic constetions engraved on them.

    They were of humanoid form and their heads were numbers, ranging from one to ten. Every participant had the exact same puppets in front of them, and their strength was also at the Mirae rank, just as it had been mentioned in the information sheet of the first round.

    "Basically, that means I was right? This will be abat round¡­just fought by puppets of the same rank and our runic armaments¡­"

 Chapter 331 Disappearing Runiciers

    Nial couldn''t care less about having fewer opponents in the second round.

    With only around 150 other Runiciers in the second round, everything would be much easier for him.

    This was especially the case since he received six hours to fix the ws in his runic armaments, or some of them, at least.

    Not everything was fixable in six hours, and the duration was definitely not long enough to fix all the Tier-0 runic armaments he created or the 10 Tier-1 runic armaments he made.

    Nheless, Nial used his time to equip all the 10 Runic puppets with special equipment. Nial even got to know that he could change the Runic puppet''s ''upation'', which was basically a change in their mindset and their tactics.

    A total of 6 Runic Puppets were focused on close-range, three were long-rangebatants and one was a Supportive character.

    Each Runic Puppet was equipped with a Tier-0 sword, whether they knew how to wield a sword or not. This was to make sure that the four Runic Puppets, who wouldn''t usually participate in closebat were still able to defend themselves if necessary.

    As for the remaining weapons, the closebat Runic Puppets received the remaining Tier-0 Runic swords and Runic Spears.

    He had his reason for giving all of them so much equipment but it was obviously something he would keep a secret.

    After he adjusted the protective garments a tiny bit to fit the Runic puppets to near perfection, Nial was quite satisfied. He fixed some ws of the Tier-1 runic armaments he had created for the Runic Puppets by adding a few lines in the runic constetions to improve them and equipped them with the runic armaments one after another.

    The duration of six hours psed quickly and Nial was somewhat satisfied with the final result. It was much better than he could have anticipated.

    He released his range of perception to visualize the armored Runic Puppets of the other participants. Nial noticed that he was one of the only participants, who bothered equipping all his Runic Puppets with three pieces of equipment. In fact, every single puppet had, at least, two weapons, if not three or more.

    This was quite out of the ordinary and it was frowned upon by many of the other participants.

    However, Nial couldn''t be less bothered about their opinion, or the fact that they presumed their way to be the only correct one.

    Most followed the simple idea of creating the exact same swords 6 times, to manufacture two bows of the exact same type, and two Wands of the exact type as well.

    One could even say that they were replicas, which was quite baffling because Nial was clearly able to tell that even their runic constetions were the same and that they were at the exact same position.

    This was in stupid, especially since metal was a living being with mana veins. One had to precisely sense the Mana veins to engrave the runic constetions at the intersections of the mana veins to receive the best result. And they seemed to have forgotten the fundamental fact that every piece of metal did not have the mana veins at the exact same location!

    "Did they just copy-paste what they''ve learned? To get the points they needed to be ced in the top 200?" Nial mumbled in confusion, not trying to hide that he was baffled by what he perceived.

    The others frowned at him but nobody said anything because it was considered rude to speak with other participants during the tournament.

    Nial''s work was considered extremely disgusting and crude by others, especially since his talent as a cksmith was visibly bad. He didn''t mind their gazes that were filled with various emotions, mostly to make fun of him, and he epted them as an encouragement to work even harder.

    [6 Hours passed and the preparatory work of the 2nd round wille to an end now. Fortunately, 10 more participants have arrived, which means that a total of 161 participants are present.

    157 participants will continue with the second round which will begin at any moment. The 10 Runic Puppets of each Participant will fight against groups of beasts. New beasts will emerge when the previous group has been defeated or the allocated time has passed. Each monster kill will provide a certain amount of points ording to their mana core''s rank!

    Let the ughter begin!] The president exined the 2nd round without going into further details.

    There was more information shown in the holographic screen that appeared in the middle of nowhere but Nial couldn''t read it.

    He understood the rules of the second round pretty well because it was simple.

    His Runic Puppets would fight monsters, he would get points until he passed the final round or his Runic Puppets were destroyed. Because he understood the basics of the second round, Nial was able to calm down.

    Nial was pretty confident that everything he had done in the first round would allow him to pass the second round as well.

    He sighed in relief, which didn''t really help him because something else bothered him quite a bit.

    ''Why are 4 participants missing? If 161 participants are present, why don''t all of them participate?'' He wondered in doubt.

    In response to his doubt, Nial released his range of perception and enhanced it with his [Mana Sense] supplied with as much mana as he required to find the four participants.

    It took him not even five minutes to find the missing participants but what he visualized was definitely not great.

    ''They''re about to die?'' Nial realized, clearly sensing that one human had lost his leg, a Stk''s entire abdomen was cut open while the two others had already died after sumbing to the severe injuries they sustained.

    All of the participants had a single injury on their bodies, but this injury was lethal enough to kill them.

    A few Originals with healing abilities were crowded around the human and the Stk but it didn''t seem like the Stk could be saved.

    Only the human had a tiny probability of surviving, which shocked Nial a bit.<sub> </sub>

    ''Just what the hell is going on?! I knew that the U21 Runicier tournament would be a bit bloody but if I remember correctly there had never been more than one or two casualties in between the tournament rounds¡­Bodyguards follow all of the Runiciers who passed the rounds to ensure their safety, after all¡­'' Nial was baffled.

    He knew that the U21 Runicier tournament would be dangerous but it seemed like this year things would go awry. Goosebumps sprang upon his entire body and Nial began to question the safety of his mission.

    p ''At least Siegfried was present during thest three days¡­otherwise, I might have been just another dead body by now¡­'' Nial might not like Siegfried but he was genuinely thankful that the old man had barged into his home and ensured his survival, in a way.</anda>

    As an Original with only three Origin rings, he was merely at the 3rd Mirae rank. All the other participants of the U21 Runicier tournament were, at least, at the Peak of the Mirae rank. In fact, it was more likely for them to be at the Prometheus rank.

    That was why Nial knew how lucky he had been.

    [The first participant, who achieved the highest ranking in the first round shall stay in the Colosseum''s arena, while the others may take a seat.] Card Melphy''s voice pulled Nial out of his train of thoughts.

    The President of the Golden Armaments Union sounded rather calm, despite the unease he must be feeling. Nial was impressed by this, but he also presumed that the President was more worried about his own students rather than anything else.

    Out of the 10 Union disciples, who had participated in the U21 Runicier tournament, only seven passed the first round, and only five appeared in the second round.

    Two Runiciers of the Golden Armaments Union must have been killed, abducted, or simply prevented from joining the second round, which subtly hinted that the Golden Armaments Union had nothing to do with the disappearing participants.

    ''The interval between the second and third round shouldn''t be that far apart because we won''t be tired out in the second round. That means it will only be problematic the moment we get closer to the final rounds¡­'' Nial was already thinking of ways to escape the mysterious murderer.

    He had no idea, who the murderer was, what exactly his or her mission was, or if he was one of the targets. Nial knew that he had to expect the worst, which was why his mind began to rattle.

    He was so lost in thought that he didn''t even witness how the first Challenger of the second round was faring with his 10 Runic Puppets.

    All of them were equipped with powerful Runic weapons, one of them had a mighty shield, and another one had arge quiver filled with various types of Runic arrows. The arrows were the biggest reason for the Runicier''s high number of points in the first round because every single arrow counted as a Tier-1 runic armament.

    Time passed slowly and the Runic Puppets fought their way through their opponents. Arge herd of more than a hundred beasts fought against the 10 Runic Puppets.

    Both sides were roughly at the same mana core rank, and the only differences between them were the superior equipment on the side of the Runic Puppets and the high numerical advantage on the side of the Lightning Panthers.

    The equipment of the Runic Puppets was not repaired after every round, which was why they got worn out. Nial smiled when he noticed this, but this didn''t really change his opinion of the dangers all around them.

    ''Should I try looking for Siegfried again?'' He wondered for a moment before shaking his head. The old man wouldn''t help him of his own volition. Siegfried did whatever he wanted and he would demand something in exchange for providing Nial with protection.

    Nial''s mind rattled trying to figure out what was going on. In the end, he didn''t perceive anyone suspicious with his range of perception and [Mana Sense] fully unleashed.

    However, during thest few days and weeks, he noticed that there were many people and objects that could block his [Mana Sense].

    It was not as if the mysterious murderer, if there was only one, to begin with, would run around openly staring at their next targets.

    Nial understood this pretty clearly and it was quite frustrating if one were to ask him.

    Unfortunately, there was not much for him to do other than be suspicious of everyone around him and act vigntly.

    This was contradictory to the goal of his mission but staying alive was far more important than winning.

    With that thought in mind, he turned his attention to the fighting Runic Puppets. The highest-ranked participant of the first round was still watching over the Runic Puppets under his control.

    Three of them had already been torn apart, and the other Runic Puppets didn''t look like they would hold on for much longer either.

    Nial perceived everything clearly around him, which was how he could tell that the first participant''s fight would end soon.

    ''Looks like I will do decently in the second round if everyone faces the same monsters¡­that''s good¡­I guess?''

    **

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 Chapter 332 Nials Challenge

    Only 25 participants would be able to advance to the 3rd round.

    That seemed a bit less but Nial wasn''t all that worried about it as he expected.

    He spectated the fight of the other participants'' Runic Puppets and figured that everyone would have roughly received the same number of points from killing the beasts that appeared in quick session.

    In most cases, the difference in points was created due to the behavior of the beasts that moved like the intelligent, ferocious existences they were.

    The moment the beasts'' rank exceeded the average strength of the Runic Puppets they started to face difficulties. Nearly no Runic puppet had received protective garments from their Runicier, which was why every single sessful attack of the beasts caused critical damage to the Puppets.

    Some Runic Puppets started to malfunction because crucial runic constetions were damaged through the inflicted wound, while others lost some of theirbat prowess.

    Thetter wouldn''t be noticed immediately but only slowly over time.

    The runic armaments created by the Runiciers were of exceptional quality in every aspect, whether it was the runic solutions that had been used, the forged metals which Runiciers had purified to create a strong metal, or the runic constetions that had been engraved on the shaped metal.

    Thus, while the Runic Puppets were slowly getting worn out, their weapons weren''t, not against monsters at the Mirae rank!

    "I wonder if someone created a full body armor, thinking that the second round would be like this when the first round had just started¡­A full armor of Peak Tier-1 Runic armaments should be more than enough to let a Runic Puppet fight alone against a bunch of beasts," Nial mumbled to himself while trying to analyze the thoughts the Runiciers must have had while creating Tier-1 runic armaments in the first round.

    "I don''t think that anyone even thought of creating a full armor set, especially since the Mirae ranked beasts used after the sixth round have armor-breaking ws, if I may say so," A young man of the winged race, Balgris, had appeared next to Nial.

    Nial had noticed the young man before but he didn''t really pay any attention to him.

    "I guess the armor-breaking ws will turn into a big nuisance for all Runic Puppets after they repeatedly get scratched by them.... Is that why all Runic Puppets seem to look worse after the sixth round of beasts than all five rounds before together?" Nial wondered out loud and the young Balgris nodded his head in response.

    His huge feathered wings fluttered lightly in the wind as he turned himself in Nial''s direction.

    "I guess that the 6th batch of beasts ought to show the difference between a mindful and careful Runicier and an ordinary Runicier, who can only create the same type of runic armaments over and over again.

    It would have been reckless to create only a single set of full armor because the other Runic Puppets would have been destroyed in the sixth round while the one and only armed Runic Puppet with the armor wouldn''t have survived for long either.

    But a simr situation happens with everyone, who focuses on gathering points in the first round rather than following the actual goal of the first round; to create runic armaments for the Runic Puppets!" The young Balgris was rather talkative and shared his opinions quite freely. It was great because it distracted Nial from thinking about the missing Runiciers, who were most likely dead.

    Nial started to chat with the Balgris and they began to analyze the new runic armaments that appeared in the Challenge of each Runicier.

    Most runic armaments were merely copied versions of each other but every Runicier was in possession of different runic armaments which they copied. This made things a bit more interesting as a small variety was created in each challenge.

    Only after 20 or so challenges did things change a bit, a few more customized runic armaments appeared on the Runic Puppets, who were able to kill more beasts than the Runic Puppets in the previous challenges.

    However, none of them was able to reach the record that was set in the 36th Challenge. His Runic Puppets managed to kill a total of 12 batches of beasts, which was three batches more than the second ce attained. The runic armaments the Runic Puppets were equipped with were a bunch of shields and powerful weapons.

    He had equipped three of his six closebat Runic Puppets with two shields, one for each hand. Their fighting style was switched to be fully focused on defense, while the remaining seven Runic Puppets were programmed to always stay behind the meatshields.

    The tactic was interesting and the final result was certainly worth it.

    Nheless, Nial was pretty sure that he could achieve a simr result, which he demonstrated when it was his turn.

    ''My runic armaments might not look aesthetically pleasing, but their efficiency is pretty darn good!'' He grumbled inwardly as he gave his Runic Puppets a light push to make them move forward.

    Five of six closebat Runic Puppets moved in a spearhead formation with the supporting Runic puppets just a few meters behind. Meanwhile, the long-range Runic Puppets stayed behind, merely staying in range to hit their designated targets.

    As for the remaining closebat Runic Puppet, it stood behind the long-rangebatants, and protected them, preventing any beast from surprise-attacking the long-rangers.

    The five closebat Runic Puppets wielded their customized Tier-1 runic weapons, which made it look like the spearhead formation was not perfect for them.<sub> </sub>

    However, the moment they activated their first ability, which was basically abination of intertwined runic constetions for Runic Puppets, the truth was unveiled.

    It was no longer a secret that the customized runic weapons allowed the Runic Puppets to release much higher strength as each initiated attack killed a beast.

    There were no wasted movements and everything looked almost perfect if perfection were to exist inbat or equipment.

    Nial''s Runic Puppets passed the first five rounds without an issue, just like every other Challenger had achieved.

    All of a sudden, Nial''s closebat Runiciers switched their weapons. From using the customized Tier-1 weapons that were the most suited for them, they began to wield the spears Nial had created in the first round. The beast with armor-breaking ws was a type of long-legged lizard, and Nial was fortunate enough to have created Tier-0 spears that were pretty neat, with the exact same runic constetions as the lizard''s ws possessed.

    The Tier-0 spears had the [Armor-piercing] runic constetion engraved, which was what Nial made use of to obliterate the lizards, whose defenses were not to be underestimated as well.

    Not just their mighty armor-breaking ws powerful but the lizard''s defenses were strong as well. The Tier-0 spears were the beast''s weapon of choice for the Runic Puppets and they easily obliterated the five dozen lizards that were fighting defensively.

    The whole time, the Runic Puppets never went overboard by charging at their opponents hastily. They carefully attacked the beasts that were the closest to them, while luring everyone into a narrow space to allow the only long ranger mage to create fireballs, which was one of the Runic Puppets'' abilities [Fireball].

    The ability, [Fireball] may seem quite simple at the first nce but it was basically aplexbination of runic constetions such as [Mana Ball], [Compress], [Ignis], and a few more. The runic constetions had carefully beenbined to create the ability [Fireball] that was strong enough to obliterate Mirae-ranked beasts.

    Nial wouldn''t be able to recreate theplex set of runic constetions even if he were to try to. Learning all the individual runic constetions was one thing butbining them like which was the case in the Mage-type Runic Puppet was not something Nial was capable of.

    He was quite interested in the Runic Puppets and their Creator but his curiosity had to take a step back for now. Nial saw that the Runic Puppets changed their weapons after the 8th round. They exchanged the Tier-0 spears that had been worn out bit by bit with the Tier-0 longswords.

    Fortunately, Nial had created enough longswords for every Runic Puppet to have two of them. This was not something Nial did by mistake or to make sure that he created enough Tier-0 runic armaments to get points.

    It was a n he hade up with in his mind, to make sure that he would pass two additional rounds.

    Thus, he began wielding the Tier-0 runic longswords, which began to glow brightly. They were overflowing with power and cracks appeared on the de almost instantaneously. The Runic Puppets shed out, creating something he and Master Crevian had lovingly named [Crescent Mana de].

    It was abination made out of various Basic runic constetions, and the result was basically a big failure. The ''ability'' Nial had created would destroy the weapon everything had been engraved. This was definitely not something a Runicier wanted to happen to their products, not under normal circumstances.

    Only under unique circumstances, or if one had too much money and runic weapons to spare was engraving the [Crescent Mana de] onto a runic armament feasible.

    Nial didn''t really like to create broken runic weapons but he could tell that the following two rounds would be fiercer and would inevitably end up damaging some of his Runic Puppets. Thus, he was happy when the Runic Puppets ''thought'' the same.

    They killed a dozen beasts with each [Crescent Mana de] they fired, allowing Nial to pass the 9th and 10th rounds without a problem.

    None of his Runic Puppets had been lost or gravely injured and they returned to use their customized Tier-1 weapons.

    In the end, it was a big advantage for the Runic Puppets to be nearly unscathed, which was something one could clearly see when his Runic Puppets passed the following rounds before they would be worn outpletely.

    The Runic Puppets reached the 14th round and they gave their utmost to kill all the beasts before all of them finally broke down after the strenuous wear and tear. It was not heart-breaking for Nial to visualize the destruction of his Runic Puppets.

    Rather, he was more interested in all the runic constetions that were unveiled to him when the Runic Puppets were torn apart. In every challenge, Nial used the moment when the Runic Puppets were damaged to scan their runic constetions and assess them.

    They were made out of a material that had a special trait; mana istion. This made it difficult to perceive whaty inside the Runic Puppets.

    Nial used every opportunity to learn more about Runic Puppets, especially since it might help him recreate them at a faster rate, potentially to abuse the fact that numerous Gods were trying to awaken Jundra''sary mana core faster with the use of dungeons

    Nial wanted to exploit all the Gods, who believed to be smarter than everyone by creating permanent dungeon portals!

    The Runic Puppets would be one necessary part for Nial to take revenge, and he was quite interested to make it happen sooner rather thanter.

 Chapter 333 Knock Knock

    Nial was subject to even weirder stares than before now that the efficiency of his n had been unveiled.

    His Tier-0 runic boots and chestte had been of exceptional use, especially the heavy boots which he had cast for the closebat Runic Puppets.

    They had been able to use their weight to elevate the strength and momentum behind their attacks. This was something many Runiciers had yet to learn about, the influence certain pieces of equipment had on the overallbat prowess of any being.

    Simultaneously, they got to understand that Tier-0 runic armaments were not entirely useless. Tier-0 runic armaments may not be on par with Tier-1 runic armaments in various aspects but they were certainly not worse.

    Given the fact that the Runic Puppets had the strength of beings at the Mirae rank, Tier-0 runic armaments were the mostmon equipment they could wear. Beasts wouldn''t be able to easily pierce through the protective garment of Tier-0 runic armaments either.

    This was a major factor the Runiciers had missed out on, believing that only Tier-1 runic armaments were of any importance.

    However, even Nial ignored the crucial importance of Tier-0 runic armaments. He could have created far more casts to create a full-armor set for every single Runic Puppet. This would have been quite interesting!

    Various ideas formed in Nial''s head and he began to wonder if he shouldn''t be more focused on learning more Basic and Intermediate runic constetions of other races, new techniques to engrave runic constetions, and so on.

    This might even allow him to study enough to grow stronger at a much faster pace than advancing in the ranks of a Runicier rapidly.

    Nial was contemting what he should do next.

    ''Well, it''s not like I will be able to start anything new, or rather something else as Runicier before the tournamentes to an end. And the moment it ends, I should leave as quickly as possible as well¡­the murders, or rather, disappearances of Runiciers are worrisome,'' Nial reminded himself, not even noticing that his thoughts had drifted back to the missing Runiciers.

    Finn, the Balgris, Nial had been talking to for quite a while, looked at him with a faint smile.

    "Looks like your runic armaments are stronger than they look¡­or maybe it''s the Runicier, who nned everything to happen?" Finn sounded mysterious as he talked to Nial, but Nial just shrugged his shoulders.

    He was neither satisfied nor disappointed with his final result. It was good enough for increasing his probability of advancing to the 3rd round and that was everything that mattered.

    The following challengers were not nearly as good as Nial, and he got bored. Finn was also bored, which was why the two, who had be friends, continued to talk with each other.

    They shared their knowledge about runic armaments, Runiciers, and much more, which was quite helpful to fill the gaps both of them had.

    None of them was all-knowing and they learned a lot. Nial was quite happy that he had finally found someone to talk to. It hadn''t been lonely in Yggdrasil but being alone in the Golden City was a bit different.

    His family was far away and not even a single Elf could be found in the Golden City. Nial didn''t really think that the Elves were that important to him but he could also tell that it would be easier to talk to just any Elf rather than approaching strangers.

    Elves would immediately be able to tell that he was loved by mana and nature, and that would help him have an easy and pleasant conversation with them from the get-go.

    Nial was not much of a talker when it came to strangers, which was why he would have been quiet until the entire U21 Runicier tournament would have ended.

    Fortunately, Finn was an extrovert, who was easily able to make friends. He was a bit young, barely 16 years old but that made things a bit easy for Nial didn''t feel that there was any pressure talking to such a young teenager.

    "Isn''t it your turn soon?" Nial asked, and Finn nodded his head in anticipation.

    "I may not be able to get as far as you but it looks like I will be able to get around 20th ce or something around that. Barely enough to advance to the 3rd round," Finn acknowledged, but that didn''t lower his anticipation in the slightest.

    He was still excited and wanted to show off what he was capable of as a 16 year old Balgris!

    In the end, he was the only Balgris, who had advanced to the second round, but that was already beyond everyone''s expectations because the Balgris race was said to be good alchemists and not Runiciers.

    Finn''s runic solutions were the best, by far, and that was how Nial found a good way to figure out many things rted to alchemy, while Finns'' knowledge about runic constetions was deepened through Nial''s knowledge.

    Finn had ranked at ce 121, which was quite low in Nial''s opinion, especially since the young Balgris was confident of advancing to the third round.

    However, the customized runic weapons he had created were all special, even if they were only Tier-0. All of his runic armaments were Tier-0 but they had been customized after taking into ount all possibilities and needs of the puppets, which was why Finn''s Runic Puppets easily reached the 11th round before they were finally destroyed.

    More than 36 hours had passed before thest participant of the U21 Runicier tournament finished his challenge. Nial ended up in the top 5, while Finn ended up advancing to the 3rd round at the 25th ce which was a tremendous improvement from his previous position.

    This overjoyed Finn, while Nial could smile drily.<sub> </sub>

    ''Seems like he''s quite lucky that more than 40 participants were missing, otherwise, he would have never been able to advance to the 3rd round,'' Nial thought though he was happy for him.

    However, in the end, it was a fact and many depressed Runiciers voiced out their anger without restraint.

    "This young kiddo is really lucky. To think that the death of more than 40 Runiciers would affect the tournament so much¡­ even a small kid with no talent as a Runicier can advance to the 3rd round now¡­ridiculous!" A Stk was fuming in anger and many other participants of the tournament, who didn''t meet the requirement nodded their heads, adding more fuel to the fire.

    "It is truly ridiculous, a Balgris without talent was able to advance. If I tell that to my master back at our territory, he will probably die of embarrassment. How could I lose out to someone like this tiny bastard?"

    Finn didn''t even seem to notice that anyone was talking about him. He was just happy, which caused Nial to smile.

    ''He is a really good kid!'' Nial grew certain that Finn was a good and well-raised kid. He smiled gently and congratted Finn for advancing to the next round.

    [Now that the final 25 participants of the U21 Runicier tournament have been determined, we will allow everyone to rest until tomorrow morning. We have prepared separate rooms for everyone in the Colosseum to guarantee the participants'' safety. Nobody will be able to visit you until the tournament is over!] Card Melphy''s voice resounded in the entire Colosseum and Nial inwardly rejoiced.

    It was quite advantageous that they would rest in the Colosseum, especially if there would be a few powerful Originals protecting them.

    Nial had hoped that they would finish the tournament today but that didn''t happen and he had to ept it.

    ''Well, a bit of rest won''t harm me,'' He tried to console himself before he followed his personal attendant who had appeared in front of him.

    It was a young woman, who led him to a small room that had been prepared in a hurry.

    "Feels like a small weapon storage to me," Nial sensed the remnants of mana that came from runic constetions. He could tell that the room had never been designed to be used as a sleeping ce but that was not something Nial had expected to find inside the Colosseum, to begin with.

    Stretching out his range of perception, Nial activated [Mana Sense] as well. The other participants of the U21 Runicier tournament were brought to rooms simr to his. Each room was quite small and they were quite cramped and closely packed.

    Some Runiciers were talking with each other, while others preferred to rest.

    Nial chose to rest as well and he fell asleep after a while. Several hours passed and it was alreadyte at night when he heard a knock at his door.

    His range of perception quickly detected that it was Finn, who was knocking at the door. Nial was drowsy, and he stifled a yawn before he got up from the bed.

    "Finn, what''s going on? Did I oversleep or something like that?" He asked, lightly pping his cheeks to get over his drowsiness.

    When he was fully awake, Nial halted in his tracks. His hand was already grasping the doorknob of the locked door but he didn''t hear anything from Finn.

    This was weird, especially since the young Balgris was a talkative young man.

    Thus, Nial released his [Mana Sense] to focus on Finn to perceive if something was wrong.

    Nial didn''t detect anything around the young Balgris, but there was something about the young man that seemed to have changed drastically.

    Nial frowned lightly before he released his range of perception and [Mana Sense] outward. It spread out, and as if he had already seen iting, he found more than 6 dead Runiciers in their rooms.

    He clearly visualized them, one big wound that killed them immediately.

    ''Finn¡­killed them? Doesn''t he fear getting found out¡­and I''m his next target? Just what is he nning?'' Nial was confused, but that was only obvious. The young Balgris was weaker than the Runiciers he seemed to have killed.

    ''But it seems like he is a bit dumb for thinking that I''m naive enough not to notice what is going on¡­'' Nial realized that Finn was taking him way too lightly just because he was blind. Or else he wouldn''t walk upto him without fearing that Nial wouldn''t sense the tiny droplet of blood of another Runicier that was sttered on the Balgris'' feathered wings.

    He pressed a button that everyone received at the very beginning of the Runic tournament. It created the copper sphere around him and notified the authorities that someone had activated the protection sphere. This would be enough for anyone to be able to conclude that something was wrong.

    "How did your mana kill all the Runiciers?" Nial asked and he opened the door in a sudden movement before he activated something he had retrieved from his spatial ring.

    A tiny ck ball heated up in his hand, releasing a dazzling light that forced the young Balgris to stop moving. He had nned to charge forward and end Nial''s life in an instant. After all, the young and blind Original was naive and at a much lower mana core rank than himself.

    "Weren''t there a bunch of them with much higher mana core rank? Your Mana core rank is only at the 5th Superior Mirae rank, so how did you do it?" Nial asked, looking straight at the young Balgris, who had retrieved a pitch-ck dagger from his spatial ring.

 Chapter 334 Insanity

    Finn didn''t charge at Nial after the bright ball of illumination stopped dazzling the young man. Meanwhile, Nial didn''t move either because something was bothering him about the eerie calmness of the young man.

    Finn had only two more Origin rings, which meant that the young Original was not necessarily much stronger than Nial. It shouldn''t allow Finn to feel as calm as he was, right now!

    Nial didn''t think that Finn was stupid enough to believe that he would be able to win the U21 Runicier tournament by killing all his opponents.

    Everything woulde to light, and the entire Balgris race might face trouble with the races Finn had just offended.

    It was nothing umon for beings of the same race, and especially of other races to fight each other once in a while. However, things changed the moment a merciless murderer started to ughter prodigious talents of other races, in an official event at that.

    The U21 Runicier tournament was a renowned event that all the races liked, especially since it was possible for young Runiciers to learn and improve a lot. If they won the tournament it would increase their reputation drastically and it would allow the entire race to gain more fame.

    The benefits of joining the tournament were obvious but it was also dangerous because all the prodigious Runiciers would gather at one ce.

    In the end, every race had to sign a special peace treaty to be allowed to join the U21 Runicier tournament and enter the Golden City.

    This special peace treaty was pretty simple, forcing all the members of a race to remain peaceful for the period they were inside the Golden City.

    All interracial conflicts that happened during the U21 Runicier tournament would be considered as an attempt of a race to stir trouble and weaken other races.

    Thus, Finn''s actions were beyond stupid because the Balgris race would face immense trouble and the wrath of all the other races the moment Finn would be discovered.

    "Nial, there is no need for you to overthink anything. Nobody will find out that I am the one who killed you and the others," Finnughed out loud before a prideful and arrogant smile appeared on his face.

    "Who would believe that a kid, a mere teenager at the 5th Mirae rank, can kill Originals at the Prometheus rank? Literally nobody would believe this, especially since it makes no sense, at all," He added with an even broader smile on his face as he spun the pitch-ck dagger in his hand.

    It spun in his hand freely, barely influenced by Finn''s faint and almost inconspicuous movements that were extremely hard to perceive.

    Fortunately, Nial was able to visualize everything and he could perceive it with his other senses as well. Finn''s calmness was slightly weird. He had yet to activate an ability or charge forward to kill Nial even after he had activated the Copper sphere.

    ''He definitely knows about the warning signal¡­ but why hasn''t he attacked yet? Was he able to cut off the signal? No¡­he didn''t activate anything and I cannot perceive any kind of frequency distorting runic armaments either¡­'' Nial thought in frustration.

    He couldn''t believe that the only friend he had made in the U21 Runicier tournament was a mindless murderer. It was ridiculous, and shocking to the least.

    Nial felt weirded out and he began to question how he could have fallen for someone''s acting like this.

    "Everyone thinks that I''m naive and that I am very kind to everyone, but it is quite hrious that they don''t even realize what is going on right in front of their face before they die at my hand. Their faces were really great when I drove my weapon into them.

    They only understand that they were dying when their body had been cut open. There are even some idiots, who didn''t realize it at all!" Finnughed heartily, and it was not hard to understand that he was enjoying the current situation.

    He was basically making fun of Nial, by being as unbothered as he was right in front of him. Nial didn''t really care about being made fun of right now. He was pretty sure that Finn''s confidence had a definite reason which was the most troublesome.

    "Are you not worried that someone wille to stop you?" Nial asked the obvious question. He tried to stall for time but Finn seemed to notice this as his smile widened even further, if that was even possible, to begin with.

    "Do you really think that I''m foolish enough to stay around here, talk to you as if I didn''t just kill more than 6 Runiciers? You''re really funny, to think that stalling me will help you in any way," Finn was stillughing like an overconfident fool. He made a big show of calming himself down and continued to speak as if there was nothing wrong with the murders he had justmitted,

    "Nobody noticed that I killed everyone, except you, and after I kill you, I can clear all the traces that lead to me and go back to bed. Who will think that I killed you, after all?!"

    Finn sounded insane to Nial right now. He had no idea what his reason for behaving like this was but it was a fact that it was necessary for him to fight!

    "You might have notified the authorities but you will die before they arrive," Finn suddenly said as something changed about the dagger he wielded. Cracks appeared on the de as it turned into apressed mass of energy, which Finn controlled precisely.

    The mass of energy engulfed the cracking de that broke when Finn shed out the air right in front of him.

    A de of energy shot straight in Nial''s direction, ready to cut through him.

    ''So that''s how he kills his opponents?'' Nial inferred as he released a hugepressed wall of dark energy in the direction of the energy de.

    Simultaneously, he twisted his body because he could clearly perceive the tremendous power the energy beam harbored.

    It cut through his dark energy as if it was merely a strong gust of wind that brushed against the de. The energy de was slowed down a tiny bit, which was barely enough for Nial to finish twisting his body to fully evade the attack.

    Nial''s range of perception, his [Mana Sense], and all of his senses were fully unleashed. He had predicted Finn''s attack moments before it actually happened.

    When Finn moved his muscles, Nial''s entire body reacted defensively. Finn hadn''t expected Nial''s reaction to be so fast. However, that was not all.

    Nial''s speed was much higher than one ought to have at the 3rd Mirae rank. The young man sted forward, his entire body enveloped in darkness.

    Nial didn''t even wait until the energy de cut through the wall behind him, destroying it easily.

    He sted forward, and knives manifested in his hand. Nial mantled them in darkness before he threw them at Finn without wasting a second.

    Before, he had been a little bit hesitant to attack Finn directly, but the moment he perceived the power behind the energy de, it was obvious that Finn wanted to kill him.<sub> </sub>

    Nial understood clearly that if he wouldn''t kill Finn he would have to die. Rather than epting his fate or relying on the guards toe and save him

    Finn didn''t try to evade the tang knives engulfed with Nail''s dark energy. He activated the runic chestte he was wearing, manifesting a whitish shield right in front of him.

    Cracks formed all over the runic chestte but it didn''t break like the runic ck dagger he had been using. Finn had used his Innate ability [Limit breaker] to overclock the runic constetions engraved on the Tier-0 runic armaments which he activated with traces of mana.

    A new dagger, looking exactly the same manifested in Finn''s hand as the tang daggers had been deflected by the white shield that dispersed only momentster.

    He activated [Limit breaker] on the dagger he used, increasing the lethality of the activated runic constetions while breaking the weapon as the energy de was released.

    Nial was right in front of Finn, and it was basically impossible for him to evade the new energy de Finn fired at him.

    At least, that was impossible if Nial were to be an ordinary Original. When Finn''s focus was on Nial, he released his dark energy through the ground and the walls of the hallway.

    There was more than enough space for Nial to make use of the surrounding energy. And that was exactly what he did by releasing bits of his ck Miasma as he disappeared into the darkness below his feet.

    The energy de cut through the ck miasma that dispersed momentster, leaving behind nothing but remnants of the ck Miasma.

    Finn''s eyes widened, and he instinctively activated his Innate ability on one of the mana rings he was wearing. An azure sphere manifested around him, moments before thorny darkness vines shot out of the darkness around him.

    Hands manifested out of darkness crawled out of the ground, and the tip of a zing spear emerged behind him, only for everything to be blocked easily.

    A small crack appeared on the protective sphere that shrouded the young Balgris, whose expression turned frantic.

    ''How can he be so powerful?! I thought he was only a good Runicier and not abatant¡­'' Finn grew a bit worried while retrieving several needle-like weapons from his spatial ring.

    All of them possessed different engravings, which the young man nned to make use of right now!

    He activated [Limit breaker] on all ten Tier-0 runic needles he had retrieved. They were mantled in mes, lightning currents, darkness, light, wind and water just to be thrown out at Nial, one after another.

    Their speed was slow but the attacks were extremely powerful as the needles turned into the purest form of the element, destroying the hallway the moment the elemental needles pierced inside it.

    However, Nial had already disappeared from his location again. He disappeared and reappeared every once in a while, releasing ck miasma wherever he was.

    Slowly, the hallways were shrouded in darkness, which made it more difficult for Finn to determine Nial''s location.

    And just when Finn had released thest elemental needle in the direction of Nial''s most recent location, he merely evaded the attack by hair''s breadth.

    His shoulder was grazed but Nial epted this without hesitation as a highlypressed dark spear shot toward Finn.

    Finn was forced to sacrifice several runic armaments to survive the sudden attack, and the young Balgris began to breathe heavily.

    It looked like the battle would be over soon, with Nial being the most likely to be victorious!

    "Stop right here, you vile murderer!" A demanding voice echoed through the hallways, startling Finn, who instinctively stored away the new de that had manifested in his hands.

    However, Nial had already expected the guard because his [Mana Sense] had allowed him to sense his arrival.

    He was d that a guard finally came. As a participant in the U21 Runicier tournament, it wouldn''t be great for Finn to kill another fellow participant, even if he was a mass murderer.

    He sighed in relief and smiled faintly as he took a step backward.

    "I told you to stop, you bastard! I will use force against you if you don''t listen!!" The Guard shouted, shing his longsword in front of him, pointing the razor-sharp de straight at Nial.

    "Are you talking to me? Why would I be the vile murderer you''re looking for, you dumb idiot!?"

    **

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 Chapter 335 A Dumb Guard And A Prince

    "Are you talking to me? Why would I be the vile murderer you''re looking for, you dumb idiot!?" Nial asked dumbfounded.

    When he emerged out of the dark energy in the ground a moment ago, he had intentionally retracted the dark energy all over the hallways, the darkness that shrouded him, and everything else that could lead to suspicion about him.

    However, even then, it looked like the Guard mistook Nial for the mass murderer of the U21 Runicier tournament''s participants.

    This made no sense, at all, which was why Nial''s expression turned ugly.

    "Don''t spout nonsense, you peasant! Why would the prince of the Balgris race attack someone like you?!" The guard shouted out in anger, causing a bright smile to form on Finn''s face.

    The young Balgris looked at Nial as if he wanted to say ''I told you, nobody would suspect me!'', and it was only now that Nial understood just how true that was.

    "So we have a mass murderer with royal blood right here? Great¡­" Nial mumbled, struggling to ept the reality as he cursed quietly.

    "That''s utter bullshit¡­"

    The Guard was at the Peak of the Prometheus rank. His senses were strong and he could clearly hear what Nial said, and brandished his longsword in front of Nial once again.

    "One more word and I will cripple you before you''ll be taken into custody! Surrender right now, expose yourrades, and you may be executed painlessly!!" The Guard demanded in a stern voice that echoed through the entire hallway.

    Nial had a hard time trying to stay reasonable with the guard, who didn''t even seem to put an effort into analyzing the situation.

    Finn, who was apparently of the Balgris race''s royal blood, couldn''t be the culprit in the guard''s opinion, which left only Nial as the vile murderer, or aplice of the mass murderers, who were terrorizing and brutally killing the participants of the U21 Runicier tournament.

    Nial turned quiet for a moment to think of the simplest solution to convince the guard that something was odd. He perceived that Finn had reced all the runic armaments that had been destroyed before and that he was wearing even more rings than before.

    "If I''m the murderer, why the hell would Finn be in front of my room, after midnight, fully armed as if he was ready to wage war?" Nial asked calmly, trying to put some sense in the guard''s narrow-minded head.

    The Guard had yet to stop ring at Nial, but it was only now that he asked himself the same.

    "Furthermore, it was me who activated the Copper sphere to send a signal to all the guards. Why would I do something as stupid as that if I''m the murderer? To trick you? Wouldn''t that be kind of stupid, though?" Nial continued to speak when he noticed that the Guard''s expressions softened and he seemed to be easily influenced.

    Nial''s words made sense and it was obvious that the guard started to think once again. Until now, the mass murderer had always been a silent killer, who didn''t leave behind pieces of evidence of his existence.

    The only things that could be considered pieces of evidence were the single wound on each of the victim''s bodies, and the fact that there were no signs of struggle on them except for that single wound. It indicated that the victims hadn''t defended themselves, which meant that they were taken by surprise.

    The mass murderer wouldn''t allow anyone to find him, under normal circumstances. This meant that the current situation was out of the murderer''s expectations and that something must have gone wrong.

    Finn sweated profusely, while Nial looked rather fine. The guard thought that this was the case because Nial must have wanted to wear out the Balgris race''s prince before he ended his life.

    However, after the narrow-minded guardbined all the facts, it looked more like Nial had evaded various attacks, while Finn was the one to have attacked.

    The young Balgris'' energy remnants could be found in the various holes his attacks had created in the hallway, and there were lengthy, angry cuts on the wall opposite Nial''s door.

    "Can that really be?" The guard asked quietly to himself, seemingly convinced that something was wrong.

    "The two of you will drop your weapons! I will take both of you into custody. Whoever dares to disobey mymand will be crippled or killed in an instant!" The Gard was confused but he could understand that the situation was too much for him to handle. He would let the seniors decide their fate. He was ready to take both into custody if this would mean that the vile murderer would finally stop the massacre.

    Finn clicked his tongue in annoyance, which caused the Guard to turn his head in the young Balgris'' direction.

    "I''m sorry, your majesty, but you will have toe with me, whether you like it¡ª..."The guard was just about to finish speaking when he saw that Finn''s expression turned into a devilish grimace.

    A weird-looking saber had manifested in Finn''s hand and the de looked like it would crumble a fraction of a secondter.

    "Get out of my sight, you piece of shit!" Finn shouted, revealing his true face and behavior as he shed out with the energy de that seemed to be manyfold stronger than the energy des he had used against Nial.

    Against Nial, it had never been a necessity to use the stronger energy des, especially since it was not efficient and rather inconvenient.

    However, Finn was not able to hold back against the Guard who dared to disrespect him.

    He shot the energy de in the Guard''s direction, without a trace of hesitation.

    The Guard, who belonged to the Stk race, wasn''t expecting the sudden attack. He was much stronger than Finn, meaning that it was suicidal for any of the two Originals to attack him.

    But now that it actually happened, the guard was a quarter of a second too slow to lift his head as the energy de of a Tier-1 runic armament shot in his direction.

    The energy de''s velocity was shockingly high, and the guard, who had paid most of his attention on Nial, was not able to deflect the attack.

    His armor and body were cut through as if both were made out of tofu, and the guard slumped to the ground, with a shocked expression.

    The moment his legs fell on the ground with a sickening thud, his upper body slipped from his lower body, and blood gushed out of it. His body had been halved¡­just like that.

    The guard didn''t believe what had just happened and he hoped that everything was a mere dream¡­of getting killed by a 5th Mirae ranked Original¡­that was not possible and had to be a dream¡­his worst nightmare.

    However, the moment his eyes fluttered shut to escape the dream, he entered an eternal slumber¡­<sub> </sub>

    "Peak Prometheus¡­killed just like that¡­.he was even equipped with a full Tier-1 armor¡­" Nial mumbled in disbelief. He had perceived the tremendous strength behind the energy de that had been created from activating [Limit Breaker] on a Tier-1 runic weapon, but he still couldn''t believe what he had just witnessed.

    It didn''t make any sense that Finn was able to create such powerful attacks¡­

    "My Innate ability is great, isn''t it?" Finn asked pridefully as his head flicked in Nial''s direction. The young Balgris Prince was visibly exhausted and breathed heavily but it looked like he was satisfied with his achievement.

    He looked at Nial as if he didn''t even see him as a threat. This would usually be annoying but Nial merely visualized the Prince of the Balgris race, trying to make sense of everything.

    "Well, it seems to require quite a bit of mana¡­ You cannot handle Tier-1 runic armaments with that ability yet, not too often at least!" Nail observed and stated the fact rather calmly when he recovered from the first shock of what had just happened.

    Nial didn''t think that Finn would actually attack him. In fact, he had thought that Finn would try to kill him, and run away from the guard, or do something simr.

    In the end, he was lucky, in multiple ways at that.

    All of a sudden, a faint smile crept up Nial''s face, which warned Finn. Nial wasn''t supposed to be smiling right now!

    Something was wrong but Finn didn''t notice anything.

    "Why are you smiling, you creep!" He shouted out in panic, feeling extremely ufortable with every single action of Nial.

    "I think you''ve just killed your entire race," Nial responded while shrugging his shoulders as he added, "Killing the Guard was an impressive feat but you''ve been exposed now, poor you."

    Nial''s sarcastic undertone caused Finn to grind his teeth. However, he didn''t understand what exactly Nial meant, which forced him to halt in his tracks for a moment.

    He could tell that Nial was not only trying to stall but had some ulterior motives as well, especially since something felt odd to him.

    "You should have studied more about the Guards of the Golden City, or about surveince runic armaments," Nialughed before he turned quiet once again.

    He was slowly retreating and didn''t allow Finn toe too close to him. Now it was only a matter of time before Finn would be caught.

    The entire Balgris race would be subjected to the ire and wrath of other races and face many issues in maintaining a rtion with any of the 10 main races that reigned Ximatra.

    The Balgris race was simr to the Elves. They had only a small branch spread out to Ximatra because they wanted to improve their knowledge of runic armaments and create new business rtionships.

    However, considering that the Prince of the Balgris race had killed more than 50 highly talented Runiciers, and a Guard of the Golden Armaments Union, it would be difficult for the Balgris race to stay on Ximatra, let alone to prevent waging war with everyone.

    The actions of someone with royal blood reflected the attitude of the entire race, after all!

    "What do you mean surveince runic armaments? The Guard is not equipped with a surveince runic armament!!" Finn screamed at the top of his lungs and Nial could only nod his head.

    "Yeah, that''s right. I lied to you about that part. But you should take a look behind the Guard¡­.around 20 meters, on the ground," Nial was enjoying the current situation much more than before.

    Finn was on the verge of losing his sense of reasoning. The young Balgris Prince was also exhausted from activating [Limit Breaker] on a Tier-1 runic armament. It seemed like the ability would demand exponentially more mana the higher the quality of the object the Innate ability was used on.

    Nheless, the Innate ability was extremely powerful, especially since it allowed someone at the Mirae rank to easily kill a fully armed Guard at the Peak of the Prometheus rank.

    That was simply insane!

    "You wanna share the reason for your actions before you will be caught by the other guards that wille soon?" Nial asked lightly when he perceived that Finn was staring intently at the surveince runic armament he had set up not too long ago.

    He had ced it using tiny traces of his mana when he had been talking to the Guard to convince the narrow-minded Stk to use his head to determine who the real murderer was.

    It recorded everything and sent it to the transmitter that was in Nial''s possession, or so it ought to be. Finn turned his head in Nial''s direction with wide eyes. Realizing that Nial possibly had proof to expose him, his eyes turned bloodshot and he released several ck Tier-0 daggers from his body.

    "Give me the fucking receiver, or I will cut you into thousand pieces while still not letting you die. You will face the worst death you can possibly imagine!!" Finn threatened but Nialughed it off.

    "Looks like your confidence is crumbling. You can only attack someone if they''re off-guard. Your attacks may be powerful but you are just throwing them at your opponent without aiming precisely. There is not an ounce of strategic knowledge in your mind¡­no wonder that the Balgris race might cease to exist because of your actions today," Nial said with a smug expression.

    If he had been annoyed and frustrated before, he couldn''t help but feel that the given situation was much better than he could have hoped for.

    "You do realize that you can also turn someone else''s message crystal into a receiver as long as you have their contacts, right?" Nial asked, and Finn, who was just about to attack the blind Original, froze in ce.

    "Just tell me why you killed everyone! Don''t even try to convince me that you acted only on your own because that wouldn''t make any sense!" Nial added, releasing his dark energy to make sure that he was intimidating enough.

    Simultaneously, the dark energy was a means of protection, in various ways at that.

    "You fucking bastard! Who do you think you are?!" Finn howled, releasing one energy de at Nial, who evaded it rather easily.

    The distance he kept from Finn was just enough to perceive the attack and evade it without too many difficulties. He had analyzed the strength and the speed of Finn''s ordinary Tier-0 energy des, which was enough for him to feel safe and sound.

    "Me? I''m Nial Orin, and quite hard to kill!"

 Chapter 336 Reasoning

    The receiver of the surveince runic armaments was no other than Felicia, the winged woman Nial had encountered in the cathedral of the Golden City upon arrival, and Siegfried.

    Nial couldn''t be sure that Felicia, as a fellow Balgris, would expose the secrets of her race''s Prince, but he was not ready to trust Siegfried with his life.

    Thus, Nial ended up adding all the contact details of the messenger crystals he had gotten to know into the receiver of the surveince runic armament.

    Finn didn''t know that Nial had only a few contacts and that he didn''t know the higher authorities'' contact details. Nial took advantage of Finn''s ignorance, which seemed to work perfectly fine.

    Finn was not sure who Nial sent the livestream of the surveince runic armament which was why he wanted to destroy it to prevent anyone from finding out more.

    He turned in Nial''s direction with wrath in his eyes but Nial was unaffected. It almost looked like he had been acting scared before, and as if Nial had known about Finn''s actions from the beginning.

    This caused the young Prince to shudder at the thought that Nial had nned everything.

    "You really aren''t going to tell me why you killed so many Runiciers? I really doubt that killing for the sake of it, or winning the grand prize of the U21 Runicier tournament is worth the risk of endangering your entire race," Nial said nonchntly, releasing his dark energy through the ground once again.

    However, instead of trying to be careful and preventing Finn from seeing what he was doing, Nial did so openly. Finn''splexion changed when he noticed that the entire hallways behind Nial turned into a ck abyss.

    Nial didn''t even cover the entire hallways with his darkness but just a tiny part behind him using his dark miasma to make it look like the entire hallway was suddenly shrouded in the darkness Nial controlled.

    Simultaneously, the dark energy spread slowly through the hallways in front of Nial, reaching out for Finn.

    "I will tell you if you stop expanding this weird¡­energy domain or whatever it is!" Finn said suddenly in an rmed tone. As if on cue, Nial stopped spreading out his dark energy almost instantly as if he had been expecting Finn''s demand.

    "Go on then," Nial motioned for Finn to start speaking.

    "Well, where should I start?..." Finn asked, dragging each word out. The young Prince knew that he didn''t have much time but he couldn''t simply attack Nial, especially since he knew that the blind Original had extremely fast reflexes.

    There were a few things Finn had to prepare, and answering Nial''s question would give him more than enough time to allow him to do whatever he nned.

    He activated [Limit breaker] on one of his rings before focusing the activated effects on the new goods he manifested in his hands.

    A bunch of tiny weapons appeared in his hands, which Nial was not able to perceive with his range of perception or his [Mana Sense]. That was exactly what Finn nned, but he was missing out on several important facts that were directly rted to Nial.

    Nial had to hide his smile as he acted impatient and showed as if his patience was wearing thin.

    "From the beginning," He began hastily, while using his extraordinary senses to perceive what Finn was preparing.

    "Okay okay¡­then I should start with the fact that nobody really cares about most Grand Prizes. For most races participating in the tournament, it is not exactly impossible to obtain a ze Dragon''s Heart or a Silvergaerd Unicorn''s Horn. It''s not easy but it is definitely not impossible if they are willing to sacrifice some of their Demi-Gods.

    However, for a Dryad Queen''s tear to manifest, one of the two things should happen. Either the Dryad Queen''s whole race must be on the brink of destruction, or the one and only love of the Dryad Queen must have died, making her gut-wrenchingly sad.

    Thetter happened and only the Dryad Queen manifested merely three tears afterward. Some say that this is only a legend and that the Dryad Queen never had a lover or that she never cried, which would mean that the grand prize of the U21 Runicier tournament would be a farce.

    However, the truth is that the tear truly exists and that it is thest of two existing tears. One of the Dryad Queen tear''s had been used to return the Dryad Queen''s lover to the ce he belonged; nature.

    He is said to have be a tree, but that is not something I can vouch for. Nevertheless, the tear of the Dryad Queen is said to be strong enough to heal DemiGods and even revive them from death''s bed.

    If the Golden Armaments Union is truly in the possession of one of the Dryad Queen''s tears, I need it, otherwise, my race is doomed, either way!" Finn seemed sad the more he spoke but he never stopped moving his hands.

    He was determined to protect his race, even if that meant he had to offend a dozen or more races. Waging war with a bunch of races meant that they still had the chance of survival, if only marginal. Meanwhile, not getting his hands on the Dryad Queen''s tear would inevitably result in the Brigas'' annihtion.

    "Well that sounds sad, but whatever. You are willing to sacrifice other beings for your own good," Nial reminded him before he shook his head as he spoke in all honesty,

    "I would probably do the exact same if my race''s survival would be dependant on winning the tournament¡­and with your talent as Runicier, winning without cheating is definitely not possible. You''re a good alchemist but definitely not someone with the talent of a true Runicier."

    In Finn''s situation, his only shot at getting what he wanted was to cheat in order to win the U21 Runicier tournament or to steal the Dryad Queen''s tear. Cheating was quite difficult if the rounds were observed by the judges intently and evaluated fairly, which was why Finn turned out to be a mass murderer.

    His reasoning was quite noble in Nial''s opinion but that didn''t mean he would allow anyone to kill him, whether that meant the death of his race, or not. It was not Nial''s problem and he needed the Dryad Queen''s tear for his race''s sake as well.

    If the Forest of Life would receive the Dryad''s tear, both humans and elves would have much better conditions to be stronger at a much faster pace. That being said, they would have it easier to survive the future threats that awaited them on Jundra.

    Nial was not willing to lose against Finn, which was why he turned serious as he began to expand his dark energy once again.

    "Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to win either. I need to make sure that my race will survive as well, even if I''m not a prince or whatever. I cannot allow you to hinder me from protecting my family!" Nial didn''t see a point in giving up on the Dryad Queen''s tear.<sub> </sub>

    He had given his best during thest 14 months to be the best Runicier in the short time he had received. Jundra''sary mana core was likely to awaken in less than a year, which meant that many powerful beasts and races would start appearing on Jundra.

    Nial was pretty sure that he would only be able to influence the events that were bound to happen if he were to be at the Prometheus rank the moment the Jundra would awaken its mana.

    In fact, being a powerful individual was not enough, everyone had to be powerful when Jundra would awaken. This was necessary to survive, and Nial would never surrender the Dryad Queen''s tear, not without giving his all and putting up a fight!

    "Thanks for listening to me and allowing me to prepare my counterattack, you idiot!" Finn suddenly growled, sounding devilish as his body turned slightly reddish. He released [Limit Breaker] on himself to release his whole power at once. The aftermath of this action caused Finn to feel like he had made a big mistake but he had to give his all to make sure that he could change his n ording to the trouble Nial had pulled him into.

    "You can die with the short story I gave you, bye bye!" He was seething in anger and activated all the mana-concealed objects he was tightly holding in his hand.

    He activated everything at once and didn''t hesitate to attack Nial directly with the aim to kill him.

    However, Nial just smiled, shaking his head lightly.

    "Did you really think that I cannot hear anything? You should understand that someone blind will never rely on his range of perception alone¡­not after they realize that mana concealing objects exist," Nial retorted while raising his arm.

    As if on cue, dark energy shot out of the ground, the walls, and the ceiling.

    A perfect wall of darkness was created. It was several meters thick and was supposed to be endurable enough to block all kinds of attacks that were thrown at him.

    Even if that was not the case, Finn''s sight waspletely blocked and he wouldn''t be able to attack precisely.

    "You fucking coward!" Finn yelled at him as blood popped out from all over his body. His skin had burst open, looking extremely painful as blood kept spurting out of him as if it was being squeezed hard.

    "Rather than a coward, I''m careful of not getting injured. I need to keep participating in the tournament, after all," Nial replied, unbothered by the curses thrown at him before he lightly added something that drained Finn of all his blood.

    "Unfortunately, you have other problems to take care of. You seem to have a guest!" Nialughed as he revealed that he had noticed the presence of someone after perceiving it with his range of perception.

    "What is going on here?! Finn Evergard, Youngest son of the Balgris race''s royal family, if you don''t stop moving right here and right now, I will fucking execute you immediately!" A thunderous voice resounded through the hallway, and Finn froze in an instant.

    A terrifying pressure engulfed the young Balgris, preventing him from doing anything but feel suffocated.

    The entire Colosseum had begun to tremble and an overly familiar Negiv stepped slowly through the hallway. He stretched his hand out, which allowed him to control the walls around him.

    The dark energy of Nial was destroyed at once as earthen pirs shout out from all directions. They prevented Finn from moving a single inch.

    His entire body turned into a statue shrouded inpressed earth. Only his eyes and nose were free, allowing the young Prince to see everything around him and to breathe for a few more minutes.

    "So you are the murderer, who turned my entire tournament in aughing stock? The bastard of the Balgris family¡­" Card Melphy was fuming in anger as he appeared in front of Finn, whose eyes were trembling in fear.

    He could barely breathe and looked at the Negiv in fright, fully aware of what would happen next.

    "If I knew that you were the son of this piece of trash, I would have figured that you have the same cursed Innate ability as he owns¡­ I could have stopped you from doing something so foolish," the President of the Golden Armaments Unions stated with pain and sadness in his eyes.

    "No wonder you were able to kill all these Runiciers¡­the pride of all races¡­" Card Melphy added before his gaze turned to Nial, who bowed his head lightly.

    "Well, except this young man, I guess¡­" He said with a special emphasis on every word he uttered.

    "Seems like he was able to trick you, and get stronger backers than you could ever wish for!"

    **

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 Chapter 337 Backer

    ** [A few minutes earlier] **

    "Why the hell are you calling me right now?! You know that I have no time to y around with you, jackass!" Card Melphy shouted through his messenger that was connected to someone.

    "I sent you a file. Watch the video attached to it, while you move over to the Colosseum. Finn is murdering everyone¡­" The voice of an old and seemingly ill person resounded in the small room the president was in right now.

    Numerous runic constetions that gatheredrge amounts of mana were being deactivated the moment the old man''s voice reached Card Melphy. The president of the Golden Armaments Union had been annoyed that someone called him while he had been focused on absorbing mana.

    However, considering that the old man was the one to have called him, it had to be something extremely important. Yet, when Card Melphy heard what was going on, he couldn''t believe the old man''s words.

    "Finn? You mean that young Balgris? Don''t joke around, he is not strong enough to kill any of the Runiciers, who were killed by the mysterious murderer!" Card Melphy said, disregarding the old man''s words before he opened the file he had received from that old man.

    Moments after he started to watch the video, he saw one of the many hallways inside the Colosseum. Precisely, it was the hallway where all the Runiciers were currently located. Inside the hallway, one could see the back of one of the Colosseum''s guards, followed by two young Originals, who seemed to have been fighting.

    "The blind Original and Finn? What are they doing? Aren''t they the weakest Originals in the entire tournament?" The President of the Golden Armaments Union was confused about what he was supposed to see in the video.

    However, as he continued to watch it, he saw the most important events in the video. The young Balgris'' ck saber began to glow and he shed out at the Guard, who was taken by surprise. The Energy de cut through the guard, killing him in an instant.

    Shortly after that, the video ended, leaving behind a baffled President.

    "Limit breaker on a runic armament¡­don''t tell me¡­" Card Melphy was shocked and the old man on the messenger crystal could only sigh deeply.

    "What you think is correct. He is his son and of royal blood. There is nothing I can say to justify his actions, and the only thing I can ask for is forgiveness¡­I will also offer all the support you need, and the entire Balgris race will cooperate with you¡­" The old man was trying his utmost to make it sound like the Balgris race had nothing to do with the actions of their prince.

    However, Card Melphy wasn''t convinced. He knew that the old man was just trying his best to prevent the worst-case scenario from urring.

    "You realize that you snitched on your own race¡­right? Are you fine with that, old man?" Card asked, feeling a bit sorry for him.

    There were not many likable characters on Ximatra in Card''s opinion, but the old man was one of them. He was also a Balgris and had been living on Ximatra ever since Card could think.

    The Balgris race may not be one of the 10 major races to controlrge territories on Ximatra but they were certainly a race that was well-known in the society on Ximatra, their reputation established with painstaking efforts.

    Thus, his heart was aching at the thought of what was bound to happen now that the young, and clearly foolish Prince of the Balgris had done something that couldn''t be forgiven.

    "Do whatever is necessary. He thinks that the Dryad Queen''s tear you reward to the winner of the U21 Runicier tournament is genuine and that it will be the answer to save and protect our home¡­ I don''t want his actions to influence the rtions between the races on Ximatra and the Balgris race¡­" the old Balgris was still trying hard to save his race from being humiliated and their reputation tarnished.

    Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. After all, all the races had signed special peace treaties to be allowed to join the U21 Runicier tournament, and the punishments were certainly not something any race would be able to evade, especially after seeing something as gruesome as Finn had done!

    "That is already toote. As Prince of the Balgris race, it will be impossible to save the rtions between the races¡­your action will probably be enough to prevent the other races from starting to wage a war with the Balgris race but that should already be everything," Card Melphy said before he thought of something he couldn''t fully grasp.

    "But where did you get this video from?" He asked in curiosity while getting up from the ground.

    He disappeared from his earlier position and reappeared in a location that was several hundred kilometers away.

    "My daughter sent me the video. She said that she received it from a human, whom she had met a week ago or so. He was blind, she said," The old man didn''t have much information to go on but he revealed everything he knew, hoping that the Balgris race wouldn''t face the worst-possible punishment due to Finn''s reckless deed.

    "What a foolish young Balgris¡­his actions were wrong even if his reasons behind it are noble¡­what a fool¡­" The old man mumbled quietly but Card Melphy heard him clearly.

    There was not much the President of the Golden Armaments Union could say as he was on the way to the Golden City and the Colosseum. He absorbed mana far away from the Golden City, which was why he would require a minute or two to arrive.

    Just at this moment, he received another call from the messenger crystal.

    "Siegfried is calling?" He muttered in shock, unable to hide his surprise.

    "He is calling you as well? Do you think we called because of the same reason?" The old man who was on another line asked before he shook his head behind the messenger crystal with a sigh.

    "Whatever it is, please know that the Balgris race doesn''t support the actions of the young Prince. I will hang up, so ept Siegfried''s call¡­nothing good will happen if you reject his call¡­" The old man hung up a momentter just as he promised, leaving Card Melphy with no other choice but to ept Siegfried''s call.<sub> </sub>

    "What is it?! If you want toin about anything, don''t even start to speak! I have bigger troubles than yourints to take care of¡­" Card Melphy was not in the mood to bicker with Siegfried. Thus, he was just about to hang up when he heard Siegfried''s voice through the messenger crystal.

    "Go to the Colosseum. Your tournament''s participants are getting killed by an insane idiot of the Balgris race. He seems to be the descendant of Jufnir, or he has just a simr Innate ability," Siegfried''s voice sounded rather calm at the first nce but Card Melphy knew that it was the calmness before a storm would unleash its wrath.

    Siegfried was a living example for the quote "calm before the storm", which caused Card to swallow his saliva and to step up his game by elerating his pace further.

    "You received a video as well?" Card asked, trying to sound nonchnt, only to fail miserably.

    "As well? Whatever¡­yes I received a video where Jufnir''s bastard kills a Guard with a much higher mana core rank than that youngling!" Siegfried acknowledged, his voice turning colder the more time passed.

    "Was it also from a young blind Original?" Card wanted to make sure of a few facts before he reached the Colosseum which was not far from him anymore.

    "Yes, now hurry up and call meter. If that Original dies, I will personallye and skin you alive!" Siegfried warned before hanging up the call a momentter.

    "The hell¡­just who is that boy to receive so much attention?" Card Melphy asked himself quietly before he increased his speed to the maximum to reach the Colosseum a momentter.

    **

    Nial visualized the situation that unfolded in front of him skeptically.

    He hadn''t expected the President of the Golden Armaments Union to appear out of nowhere, nearly kill Finn out of a fit, and keep the young Balgris in a prison-like earth cage.

    Finn could barely breathe and looked at the Negiv in fright, fully aware of what would happen to him and that his future was dark and bound to never exist.

    "If I knew that you were the son of this piece of trash, I would have figured that you have the same cursed Innate ability as he owns¡­ I could have stopped you from doing something so foolish," the President of the Golden Armaments Unions cursed with pain and sadness in his eyes.

    "No wonder you were able to kill all these Runiciers¡­the pride of all races¡­" Card Melphy added before his gaze turned to Nial, who bowed his head lightly.

    "Well, except this young man, I guess¡­" He said with a special emphasis on every word he uttered.

    "Seems like he was able to trick you, and get stronger backers than you could ever wish for!"

    Nial could gauge what the old man meant but he felt like it was a waste of time for the Union''s President to mention this right now.

    ''Siegfried must have contacted him¡­that old man is definitely fast. Lucky me, I guess!'' Nial thought, happy that he could prevent more misunderstandings from urring and being med for the deaths.

    He was confident that he could have killed Finn in the long run, but this would have led the suspicion toward him. His whole n was to expose Finn as the murderer of all Runiciers and to make sure to stay unscathed and continue participating in the Runicier tournament.

    Both missions seemed to have seeded, even if Nial felt a bit ufortable with the gaze of the huge Negiv resting upon him.

    He could tell that the Union''s President was suspicious of his identity, especially since he had the contacts of a Runicier Saint.

    It might have caused him a bit of trouble since he could remember that Siegfried and Card Melphy were not exactly best friends.

    Nheless, Nial was satisfied with the final oue of the evening.

    He had already been worried that he would die, that he might face the anger of the Golden City, or that worse things would happen.

    The result was quite fortunate from his point of view. As for Finn, he was the most unlucky. He fought for his race''s survival, without knowing that it had never been necessary and that he had sacrificed his life for no reason!

    Finn would only realize what he had done to his race when the aftermath would hit the Balgris race when everything his ancestors had built up would crumble. And that, just because the youngest Balgris with royal blood had believed that it was his mission, his responsibility to take care of the entire Balgris race.

    That was the fate he had forced onto his race¡­the race he wanted to dearly protect¡­

 Chapter 338 One Day To Finish

    ''So is that how it ends¡­just like that?'' Nial thought as hey down on his bed.

    Finn was whisked away into custody by the President of the Golden Armaments Union and Nial was forced to return to his damaged room.

    He couldn''t think about sleeping because his mind was restlessly thinking about Finn''s reasoning.

    ''I would definitely do the same thing if there was really no other way. My family will have it much easier as long as I can return with the Dryad Queen''s tear, and that''s everything that matters to me¡­'' He thought before deciding to return to work.

    There was no way that Nial could fall asleep, so instead of wasting his precious time with useless doubts, he might as well try to work on bing a better Runicier, and improve as much as possible in a few hours.

    In the end, he didn''t improve much but that was only obvious. Time passed quickly, and Nial went to the Colosseum''s arena to participate in the third round of the U21 Runicier tournament.

    ''Including me, there are 18 participants left¡­he really killed six Runiciers before he came over to me,'' Nial understood, which caused him to sigh deeply.

    p He couldn''t change the situation and it was not as if it was a disadvantage for him to have fewer rivals either though the thought might seem a bit selfish.</anda>

    [As everyone may notice, we have fewer participants in the third round than expected. The culprit, who caused this has been caught, which is why there won''t be anymore problems. Despite that, I have to apologize to all the inconvenience the 241st U21 Runicier tournament caused every participant.

    I apologize to everyone, who suffered due to the ipetency of me and my staff. We will consult with the masters and families of the deprived, andpensate them. This will not bring their loved ones back but there is nothing else we can do¡­but try to help¡­] Card Melphy sounded empathetic as he spoke.

    His voice was overflowing with sadness and guilt, which caused Nial to lift his eyebrow because he could clearly visualize the President of the Golden Armaments Union inside the VIP room.

    He didn''t really look all that sad and was more angered about the given situation than anything else. Nial could understand that to some extent but he found the two-faced president to definitely be a weird kind of person.

    [Despite all the sad incidents, we won''t allow them to affect the Runicier tournament any further. We will end the tournament today, by holding the 3rd round and the grand finale on the same day!] Card Melphy spoke calmly as he revealed the huge change.

    Usually, the U21 Runicier tournamentsted close to two weeks, and it would have five to six rounds in which participants would be asked to perform some grueling andplex tasks. However, this time, the tournament was going to be wrapped up in half that time, and in only four rounds.

    [Only six Runiciers will advance to the fourth round, which will be the great final, where everyone will have to create the best Runic armament they''re capable of!] The President simply continued to speak, ignoring the astonished gasps echoing through the filled Colosseum.

    Many had bought tickets for the entire U21 Runicer tournament, paying a lot to witness every single day of the tournament, but now it was supposed to end in half the time it was usually held? This felt like a big scam and not worth their expenditure!

    However, the spectators, who were present today, were still lucky. They could at least witness the grand finale of the U21 Runicier tournament.

    For those who purchased tickets to witness thest three days of the tournament only, all their money had been wasted without receiving anything. By the time the news about the big change in the tournament reached the civilians outside the Colosseum, the tournament woulde to an end.

    The President of the Golden Armaments Union knew that lots of trouble awaited him but worrying about angered spectators was the least of his worries at the moment.

    The trouble with the Balgris race was something of far more important than anyone could imagine and Card was more than a little bit annoyed about attending the Racial Ximatra court, where the punishment for Finn''s actions would be determined.

    Finn''s punishment would increase ording to how much his actions impacted the stagnation of the other race''s advancement, how important the Runiciers he killed was, and much more. And to make things worse, the entire Balgris race would be held responsible for the actions of one of their reckless descendants as well!

    It made things very difficult for the Union''s president, but he knew that he had to end the tournament properly, or it would never attain the same reputation as it had before.

    [The third round will be simple. There will be a Quiz with more than 100 questions, and your task is to answer as many as possible in the following eight hours. Certain Tier-0 runic armaments are the answer to the questions, and you have to create them in order to get the points!] Card Melphy finished before a huge list of 100 questions appeared in the air above everyone.

    Meanwhile, a young attendant appeared next to Nial and bowed lightly so as to assist him at any moment.

    ''So they thought about me this time? That''s a refreshing change, I''m not gonna lie,'' Nial thought with a faint smile before he told the young attendant to start telling him the questions one by one.

    [The third round of the U21 Runicier tournament will start now! Good luck to everyone, and may the best advance to the final round!]

    With that being said, the tournament started and everyone began to move rapidly. Most rushed to their small artisan space that had their number engraved on it.

    Numerous molds to cast all kinds of runic armaments had been prepared beforehand. This ought to make it easier to create the runic armaments, which was exactly what all the participants started to do.

    Rather than actual questions, all the ''questions'' sounded more like scenarios one was supposed to imagine themselves in.

    [A Mirae-ranked Titanium Rhinoceros attacks you.]

    [You want to preserve a Bluermial flower.]

    [A swarm of Leacrat Locusts corrodes your farm.]

    All scenarios could be answered with the creation of various runic armaments. The attack of the Titanium Rhinoceros could be countered by creating a runic shield, a runic ring with a defensive spell, or even an attack spell. One could also create a Rapier with [Armor-piercing] and other runic constetions engraved.<sub> </sub>

    Nial predicted that all answers would be considered correct as long as one could imagine that their choice of weapon would solve the issue mentioned in the ''question''.

    This made things quite interesting, especially since one''s efficiency in solving a situation was questioned in the third round.

    The third round''s task may look like it had been created in a hurry but that was not what Nial thought. He was pretty sure that eight hours were not enough for many ordinary Runiciers to create 10 Tier-0 runic armaments, even if they had been provided readymade molds.

    As for prodigious Runiciers, Nial doubted that they could create more than 25 Tier-0 runic armaments.

    If they engraved 2 runic constetions on each runic armament, and they wouldn''t be working in a highly efficient manner in every other step required to create runic armaments, they would need roughly close to 20 minutes to forge for each Runic armament.

    That was already extremely fast, but Nial wanted to create more than them. He wanted to make sure that there were no surprises and that he could create more than 30 runic armaments to be certain to advance to the final round.

    Thus, he told his helper to read him the situations twice before he spent a total of 10 minutes arranging all the scenarios.

    Nial had already visualized all the molds that had been prepared in advance, which was why he organized the scenarios to the molds their problem-solving runic armament would require to be cast.

    Many of the molds in the first 20 questions ovepped, which was why the Runiciers would have problems using several molds at the same time.

    Only if someone acted like Nial, and decided to organize all the runic armaments that were required to answer each question with the molds, was it possible for him to start making use of them.

    However, as some scenarios were not easy to answer, Nial ended up spending more time than he believed to be necessary.

    He had created enough liquefied metal to forge more than 10 runic armaments, which was near-perfect as he began to use all the eight weapon molds they had been given for the third round.

    Without hesitation, he worked on eight runic armaments at the same time without showing the slightest bit of nervousness.

    While others might be better in the engraving process of high-ranked runic constetions, Nial had been forced to learn how to engrave all the runic constetions he knew with a 100% perfection grading.

    It was not necessary for him to focus too much while engraving runes as long as it required only the runic armament to reach the threshold of a Tier-0 runic armament.

    Nial worked hard, while focusing his mind on making sure that he answered the scenarios with the correct runic armaments.

    Even if he wanted to work fast, rushing things was not helpful if he would make mistakes in the process of speeding up. Qualitative creations were just as important in this round as a high quantity of Tier-0 runic constetions.

    With that in mind, Nial worked relentlessly for eight hours before everyone was ordered to stop doing what they were doing and took a step back.

    All the runic armaments they created were taken away, from various staff members that appeared out of nowhere. They began to count the correct answers on the spot before they noted the final result of the participant on a holographic screen that was erged and shown to everyone.

    The first results were shown to everyone after a few minutes. The spectators and participants looked at the results but nobody was impressed by what they saw.

    Even the participants, who had been awarded points, weren''t impressed. Rather, they looked depressed as they looked at their abysmally low score which they had achieved after giving their best for more than 8 hours.

    "11 Points¡­how did I only receive 11 points?! I clearly created 31 runic armaments!! How is that possible?!?" One of the participants screamed out in anger and disbelief.

    He was certain that the attendant had made a mistake, which was why he turned to the female attendant in anger.

    However, even before he could do anything, the female attendant stared into the depths of the young man''s eyes, forcing him to retreat with a terror-stricken face.

    "I don''t make mistakes. Just ept reality!" She warned in a cold voice before she handed over his runic armaments without saying another word.

    The female attendant left the young man while looking at the results of the other participants.

    The first five results were all between 10 and 15 points. This was neither good nor bad, especially since it was necessary to think about all the scenarios before forging one of the few runic armaments that could be created in order to solve the scenario without casualties.

    Slowly, more results were unveiled and the highest points reached the 20s after the score of the 12th participant was unveiled. Earning 20 points was already a lot, considering that one had to create 20 correct Runic armaments in eight hours.

    Many spectators and participants believed that 20 points were more than enough to advance to the final round.

    However, there were still 6 more results yet to be announced, and their result shocked the masses as their earlier assumptions were shattered.

    [23], [25], [23], [31], [39]...

    [51]...

 Chapter 339 Draco

    [23], [25], [23], [31], [39], [51]

    The final results were disyed on the erged screen, apanied by a picture of the participant, who attained the results.

    While many faces shown on the screen were well known, the most astonishing fact for most participants and spectators was the fact that both the participants who had secured first and second ce in the third round were unknown Runiciers.

    The one who had bagged second ce had never been extremely high in the rankings but she had started to rise all of a sudden. It was a young woman from a race that had a tiny territory and presence on Ximatra.

    They were not well-known by others but their slightly reddish skin clearly showed their unique trait of being able to control fire precisely.

    The woman looked just like a human, just that she had golden reptilian eyes and her skin was red. Her skin was covered in an additionalyer of tiny, nearly inconspicuous scales.

    Until now, the woman hadn''t dared to show off her true power, especially since she feared facing attacks the moment she would reveal her trump card. Her worries grew even worse when the mysterious murderer had appeared and ughtered some of herpetitors.

    However, now that it was thest day of the tournament, and that the murderer had been caught, the young woman, who belonged to the Draco race, felt relieved and was ready to go all out.

    She gave her best and ended up creating 39 correct Tier-0 runic armaments.

    This was a shocking result, to have answered 39 questions with the proper Tier-0 runic armament, in only eight hours at that.

    "What is her name? Why did I never hear about her earlier!?" One of the spectators asked in awe of the beauty, who had shown up in the ranks out of nowhere.

    "She must be the pride of the Draco race! Beautiful and talented¡­amazing! I''m so jealous¡­" A female spectator mused, sighing deeply. She was not even close to being as beautiful as the female Draco, who was also talented enough to rank second in the 3rd round of the U21 Runicer tournament.

    "Oh my goodness! That is Ophelia Narit, isn''t it?!? Was she hiding the whole time?? No wonder that someone was able to answer almost 40 questions correctly!!" A renowned Runicier, who had won the U21 Runicier tournament a long time ago eximed.

    He had learned a lot about runic armaments from the Draco race during his long life, and he was grateful to them for imparting him knowledge and wisdom. Of course, he knew about the talented Runiciers of the Draco race, the only race that had never bothered to participate in any of Ximatra''s Runicier tournaments¡­until now.

    Not many civilians knew about the Draco race as they preferred to stay away from the limelight, and the minority who had heard about them didn''t know that they were the best Runiciers on Ximatra.

    As for the majority of Runiciers, they knew the Draco race, the fact that they were exceptional Runiciers, and that Ophelia Narit was said to be one of the highest talents in the way of a Runicier the Draco race had seen in thest ten thousand years.

    This was something the renowned and knowledgeable Runiciers began to unveil one after another. Themotion that reverberated through the Colosseum got louder and louder, while Nial could only start to frown.

    ''One of the Runiciers with the highest talent in thest ten thousand years¡­yeah, I''m so lucky¡­'' Nial nibbled on his lower lip, feeling distressed.

    He gained less attention than he thought he would attract with his final result of the third round but that was quite nice. After all, fame wasn''t the thing he was after.

    However, it was certainly nothing to be happy about when he heard how talented his opponent was.

    The remaining four Runiciers were already quite dangerous for him, especially since the Union''s President had already revealed that thest round would be to create a single, and their best runic armament.

    Nial might have a great foundation but the best runic armament he had created until now was a top-quality Tier-1 runic saber.

    He was not even sure if the other Runiciers were able to create a Tier-2 runic armament of the worst quality if they were to receive enough time to create a single runic armament.

    It was unlikely for someone below the age of 21 to be able to achieve this but one could never be certain, now even less than ever before.

    "She can definitely create Tier-2 runic armaments," Nial blurted out quietly, sighing in frustration.

    His sigh was louder than he had intended it to be, which was why many heads turned toward him. All the participants, who had been disqualified in the third round, stared at him in anger. They couldn''t believe that they had lost against a blind Runcie, who was merely at the 3rd Mirae rank.

    It was beyond theirprehension, and they had trouble understanding how this was even possible, to begin with. However, they didn''t dare to voice out theirints because it would turn them into bad losers right in front of all the spectators.

    All of them had performed well and achieved a great feat by advancing to the secondst round. This was something that rewarded them with lots of reputation, which they could use to improve themselves further or to settle down and be rich by creating a few runic armaments every now and then.

    Thetter was the least likely to happen but some would still do it. The Runiciers who had lost the round left the Colosseum''s arena quietly until only six participants were left.

    All of them stared at Nial, who looked totally inconspicuous. Yet, the reality was it had been possible for him to achieve first ce in the third round of the U21 Runicier tournament with a total of 51 correct solutions.

    It was not even as if he had won marginally by having only one or two more answers correct, but Nial''s score had a total of 12 more correct answers than Ophelia Narit, who ranked in second ce, and 20 more correct answers than the person at the third ce!

    Winning the third round was not something one could do with luck, and all the Runiciers understood this clearly.

    Ophelia''s golden reptilian eyes stared straight at Nial when his head flicked in her direction. She looked into his lifeless milky white eyes.

    Nial felt a bit burdened by her stare, which was why he wanted to avert his attention. He discarded this idea after a moment as the corner of his right lip curled upward.<sub> </sub>

    "Am I pleasing to the eyes? Just why are you staring so hard?" He asked in a low voice that was barely loud enough for everyone in the arena, who focused on him, to hear his remark.

    Ophelia kept staring at him and she noticed toote that Nial had spoken to her. This was totally out of her expectations and she blushed as she realized that she almost nodded her head imperceptibly.

    Nial was handsome and it was pleasing to the eyes to look at him, especially since he seemed rather cool-headed with all the eyes glued on him as if he was prey that had to be hunted.

    Ophelia would get annoyed with all the attention she received whenever someone discovered her real identity. That was also why she had used a cloak to hide her identity until thest day.

    It was annoying to be considered a once-in-ten-thousand years prodigy, especially since her race was innately already extremely talented as Runiciers. The only thing theycked was the talent to create exceptional potions, which was something that could be supplemented with someone else providing the runic solutions they needed.

    However, if she understood Nial''s situation properly, he was a rather new Runicier, which was why his progress was even more shocking for her.

    She had kept an eye on all the Runiciers, who had advanced to the second round and Nial had been the most impressive in her opinion. This was not because his runic armaments had been the best, which was definitely not the case, but because he had analyzed the rounds and the most likely future events precisely.

    He could advance in the rounds because of his analytical skills. That was something the third round showed very clearly once again.

    His forging and concoction skills still needed improvements, but that was something Ophelia took as a sign that Nial''s teacher had begun to teach him about runic armaments before he would be given proper tutge in the ways of cksmithing and alchemy!

    This would also hint that Nial hadn''t been taught for a very long time, which was something only a few Runiciers seemed to realize when looking at his runic armaments. Hecked the practice of someone, who had created Runic armaments for years naturally.

    Thus, it was the most surprising fact for Ophelia that Nial was so calm in front of the crowd of legendary Runiciers, who were watching the U21 Runicer tournament.

    She blushed subconsciously, which looked like her cheeks had begun to burn brightly when faint sparks were created out of nowhere. They started to crackle and Ophelia required her entire focus to regain control over her body.

    She turned away and mentally chided herself, telling herself that it was not good to fall for obvious provocations. Nial was her biggest rival in the final round because he was the least predictable!

    As for the others, they were no opponents for her, simply because she was a Draco, whether or not her talent appeared only once in ten thousand years or once in ten years.

    ''I will beat you!'' Ophelia swore inwardly before she returned to her artisan space, which she cleaned up to make sure that everything was ready for the final round.

    Nial, on the other hand, smiled lightly. He found the situation hrious, which helped him calm down.

    He disliked that he would have topete against Ophelia because the most likely result was that he wouldn''t be able to be the first one to pick a grand prize.

    ''A once in a ten thousand year prodigy, or whatever she is¡­a great challenge, I guess!'' Nial thought, feeling that defeating Ophelia would be the biggest challenge he would have to face since his journey as Original had started.

    It was ridiculous, especially since he had already fought against the Incarnation of a God and secured a victory. But that was a thing of the past. Now he had to focus on the present which was why he took a few deep breaths before he tried to replenish his mana as quickly as possible.

    He cleaned his artisan space as well and averted his focus from Ophelia and the troublesome doubts that squirmed through his mind.

    Nial used his range of perception and [Mana Sense] to figure out where the President of the Golden Armaments Union was located but it didn''t seem like he was even present in the Colosseum.

    However, just when Nial found him, Card Melphy''s voice resounded through the Colosseum once again.

    [Dear participants, I''m honored to announce the six of you as the strongest Runiciers in the newest generation of Ximatra. This is a glorious feat, and we would have celebrated it more under normal circumstances.

    Unfortunately, the tournament needs a true winner until midnight today, which will also be the deadline for all of you to create your strongest Runic armament!]

    Card Melphy didn''t say another word, which was frowned upon by many. Usually, the Union''s President would hold a lengthy speech and some words of encouragement to give every single Runicier in the finale the opportunity to shine brightly.

    This was not the case this year, where everything seemed rushed, whether it was the final round, the fact that Card Melphy wanted the final winner of the U21 Runicier tournament today by all means, or simply that the biggest tournament would end in a matter of hours.

    Once again, they were given roughly eight hours toplete another round, the final round of the tournament.

    Was that even enough time to create the strongest runic armament they could forge?

    Was the U21 Runicier tournament not supposed to allow the Runiciers to show off their skills?

    Nial was confused but a glimmer of hope ignited within him as he began to doubt that the four other Runiciers would be able to create a Tier-2 Runci armament in eight hours either.

    It wouldn''t be easy for Ophelia either, which was exactly what allowed Nial to have some hope.

    ''Maybe I can do it!''

 Chapter 340 Grand Finale

    Eight hours was definitely not a long time to create the strongest possible runic armament, but everyone gave their best nheless.

    For the first step, Nial created a bunch of runic solutions, which he would need either way. Because he knew that he was not a good alchemist, Nial worked rather fast and focused on quantity rather than quality.

    To create a single high-quality runic solution, he would require at least half an hour, and Nial nned to create four runic solutions. He couldn''t afford to waste two hours just to create runic armaments, especially not if he had to forge as well.

    Forging a high-quality saber would take way too long, which was why he reconsidered forging a small dagger. However, that would require just as much attention because there were many little details he would have to pay attention to.

    Furthermore, it was impossible for him to engrave more than 3 runic constetions on an ordinary dagger. Nial was not the best at ovepping runic constetions without letting them influence each other negatively, and he was not particrly skilled in the technique of miniature engraving as well.

    Miniature engraving meant engraving the miniature version of a runic constetion on an object. The runic constetion would usually be a quarter of what it was under normal circumstances.

    Some high-ranked Runiciers were exceptionally skilled to create miniature runic constetions that were a tenth of their usual size. However, Nial was not exactly adept at miniature engraving, which was why he didn''t even think of doing it, to begin with.

    This was also one more reason why he let go of the idea of forging a dagger. In the end, Nial created a saber, with above-average aesthetic looks. It was a good saber, made out of Amethyztan, a grade-2 metal with the same shine and color of an amethyst if purified properly.

    Nial was not good at purifying metals, which was why he didn''t waste his time attempting it. The grade-2 metal was alreadyplex enough for him to create a Tier-2 runic armament with the n he had in mind. This was also why it was not necessary for him to go out of his way to do something that would take way more time and efforts than he had to out in to create the entire runic armament.

    Only around six hours were left when Nial finished concocting the runic solutions and the first few steps of the saber''s forging. It was time for him to start engraving the runic constetions he had in mind.

    He lifted the engraving pen and wanted to start when he noticed that his hand was trembling and his heart was thudding wildly.

    "I can do that¡­an Advanced runic constetion¡­even if I will only barely get a 75% perfection grade, I can do it! I was able to create the third Ancient Origin ring with ease as well¡­that''s just as difficult as engraving an advanced runic constetion¡­well maybe not thaaattt difficult but still!" Nial reminded himself while slowly taking deep breaths to force his body to calm down.

    It was possible to create Tier-2 runic armaments with Intermediate runic constetions but that would require more than 10 Intermediate runic armaments, which had to bebined and ovep each other. All the runic constetions would be linked to be one big runic constetion that was extremelyplex, and it would be very easy to make mistakes in its creation.

    Simultaneously, high-quality materials would make it easier to create runic armaments of a higher tier as well. For example, a highly purified metal and exceptional runic solutions created with materials that had been purified perfectly would gradually decrease the needed requirements to create a runic armament of a higher Tier.

    With highly purified Amethyztan, and the same runic solution Nials had just perfectly purified, he would only have to engrave fivebined and ovepped intermediate runic constetions, and a bunch of Basic runic constetions to create a Tier-2 runic armament.

    But even then, one had to create a great synergy between the used metal for forging, the runic solutions used for the runic constetions, and the runic constetions as well.

    Nheless, it was said to be easier than engraving an Advanced runic constetion as long as one learned how to engrave ovepping runic constetions. Theplexity of advanced runic constetions was on apletely different level and Nial was actually not confident in engraving his first ever sessful Advanced runic constetions.

    Unfortunately, it was not as if Nial had much of a choice. He could tell that everyone was trying to create Tier-2 runic armaments, which meant that their ranking would be better than his the moment they seeded.

    At least, this would be the case if he were to follow the normal process to create the best runic armaments he was currently capable of creating.

    The time he studied being a Runicier was simply too short inparison to everyone else, and even if his foundation was great, he didn''t know many engraving techniques, let alone any techniques that were rted to cksmithing and concocting.

    He could only do his best to increase the quality of his runic constetions because his forging and runic solutions were much worse than that of any of the other five finalists!

    Nial knew that which was why he forced himself to break through his shackles and advance further! Even if it would just be a fluke, he had to engrave a proper Advanced runic constetion in the saber!

    Time slowly passed in which all the six finalists were working hard. The vast majority of finalists created runic weapons because they were the most experienced with weapons. Only Ophelia Narit didn''t bother creating a runic weapon. She had created a shield made out of a red ore that nobody could identify.

    She spent three hours creating the shield made out of an alloy with the usage of various grade-2 ores. Through this, the best possible shield for her purpose had been created.

    After spending three hours forging, she had spent an hour creating the runic solutions with which she would engrave the runic constetions on the front and the back of the metal shield.

    The shield''s appearance closely resembled a Celtic shield, which made it looks very unique as its form was oval with two rather big indents on each side of the center of the shield.

    The indents circled from the front and went all the way to the back, which made it easier for Ophelia to connect the runic constetions on the back with the runic constetions on the front.

    This was exactly what Ophelia wanted; to create a runic constetion that was connected with each other from all sides.

    She was a fast engraver and didn''t have any issues engraving numerous miniature Basic runic constetions that ovepped with each other. Ophelia easily added a bunch of Intermediate runic constetions on the shield that already had dozens of basic runic constetions.

    For the following four hours, it looked like she never lifted her head to look at the progress of the others. Her entire focus was on the fiery red Celtic shield in front of her and nothing could distract her.<sub> </sub>

    Meanwhile, Nial was giving his utmost to engrave a purplish runic constetion on the widest area of the saber in front of him. Arge number of runic constetions had already been engraved on the saber but they were mostly perfect Basic and Intermediate runic constetions.

    The saber could already be considered a peak Tier-1 runic armament, but that was not enough, and Nial knew that very well! His range of perception was solely focused on the saber in front of him, and his [Mana Sense] increased his sensitivity to mana. This allowed him to sense what he was going to engrave with much higher precision.

    Nial had to make sure that he didn''t make a single mistake while engraving and that he would be able to copy-paste the runic constetion that had been imprinted in his mind. He needed a perfection grade of, at least, 75%, which meant that he could only make a few mistakes.

    A single wrong stroke in an important area of the runic constetion would drastically decrease its efficiency, possibly decreasing the perfection grade by more than 10%.

    In the worst possible case, it would destroy the weapon altogether. This would be his worst nightmare, and it was something Nial had to prevent by all means.

    Nial was fully focused on his task ahead. He didn''t even realize that one of the finalists had started to throw a fit, destroying the entire artisan space that belonged to him.

    The finalist had made a big mistake and ended up overestimating his capabilities. He wanted to engrave a perfect Advanced runic constetion to make sure that he would win, especially against Ophelia Narit.

    Both winning the tournament and being considered a Runicier, who was better than a once in a ten thousand years talent, were things that would increase his reputation drastically.

    He had been daydreaming of bing the best Runicier of the new generation, even better than a prodigious Draco. Not many could say that about themselves, which was why all of his runic armaments would be an exclusive brand, increasing the value of everything he created drastically, just because he was the one to have worked on it.

    Unfortunately, he was led by greed and desires that overwhelmed his rational mind. The result was that the Runicier made a mistake by creating a thicker stroke in the advanced runic constetion than he wanted to create, thus, scrapping the runic armament in its entirety!

    The runic constetion was damaged and rendered unusable because of a tiny mistake the young Runicier made. However, this slight mistake was enough to destroy the entire runic armament, just two hours before midnight. The final round would end in two hours, and there was no time for him to attempt reforging a new weapon and to engrave itwith all the necessary runic constetions all over again.

    He had failed miserably and the young Runicier understood this very well. This was why he lost his cool and began creating a ruckus.

    Realizing that now he would humiliate himself and his race by achieving thest ce amongst all the finalists, and losing nearly all the prestige he would have gained just by creating a good runic armament in the final round made him murderously angry.

    His entire being was overflowing with rage and he couldn''t stayposed anymore, which was why he began destroying everything around him.

    In the end, he lost his sanity for a few moments until he was knocked out and removed from the scene by the tournament staff.

    However, despite having been removed, the fit the Runicier threw affected three of the five remaining finalists who lost their concentration as nervousness crept in.

    They began to sweat heavily, and it seemed like they were having problems maintaining their focus. They were at the exact same step as their rival and were about to engrave an advanced runic constetion.

    All of them had learned to engrave numerous basic, intermediate and advanced runic constetions, whether it was for the purpose of training or to create runic armaments on their own.

    With enough time, all of them were able to create Advanced runic constetions at every 10th attempt. At their age, this was very good, but it didn''t help right now, especially with their biggest rival being a prodigious Draco, whose talent was unrivaled and in as day when their eyes fell on to the Celtic shield.

    Looking at the elegance Ophelia demonstrated while engraving runic armaments, they couldn''t help but sigh deeply.

    They were just about to return their attention back to their own runic armaments when they noticed something that caused their bodies to freeze.

    "Is the Celtic shield humming?!"

    **

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 Chapter 341 Grand Finale (2)

    The Celtic shield began to hum after Ophelia engraved most runic constetions and that noise never stopped. It attracted the attention of three finalists, and almost every spectator craned their heads to stare at the Celtic shield with widened eyes.

    "Is that really possible?!" A spectator blurted out without realizing, while many others thought exactly the same. Nobody could truly gauge what would happen in the next few minutes but the U21 Runicier tournament would end soon and it seemed like the Celtic Shield was sentient!

    To call this shocking was the understatement of the century. An Original below the age of 21 was able to create a sentient runic armament¡­if that was not shocking, nothing would be considered such.

    "She didn''t use any unique runic constetions, so how is it possible for her to awaken the sentience of the Celtic shield?!" One of the younger Runiciers, who came to witness the U21 runicier tournament asked dumbfounded.

    His knowledge was shallow, just like that of many others, and it took a while before one of the veteran Runiciers was able to regain hisposure before he exined.

    "For the Celtic shield to gain sentience, the alloy, the runic solutions, and the runic constetions she used to need to have greatpatibility with one another. This is not easy to achieve, especially since it is hard to find out howpatible certain runic constetions are with specific metals.

    But that is not everything because the metals cannot have a high amount of impurities if they want to gain sentience. Not all metals can gain sentience, and even amongst the metals that can gain sentience, it is a herculean task to awaken it.

    However, Ophelia made this possible, while using an alloy made of a mixture of several metals at that! She must have used some special runic constetion with a highly purified runic constetion to increase the chance of awakening the Shield''s sentience¡­" A veteran Runicier exined calmly, trying not to leave out a single point.

    In the end, even the veteran Runicier was not very knowledgeable in the ways of awakening the sentience of runic armaments. He was fortunate enough to create one or two Sentient weapons but that was just luck and not his vast knowledge.

    All the spectators around the veteran Runicier nodded their heads as if they could understand his words. The reality was different and their understandingcking but they didn''t want to sound ignorant in front of all these well-known Runiciers.

    Nial noticed that his range of perception sensed something from around his artisan space but he never averted his focus. It remained on the task ahead of him, allowing Nial to create the best runic armament he couldbel his own.

    Never would he have expected that he could reach such a high threshold as Runicier in such a short time but the finished product in front of him was certainly a sess. It was a great runic saber with numerous runic constetions he had engraved on it.

    He was proud of his achievement, which was why he looked up to take note of everything that happened around him. There were only 20 minutes left before the final round of the U21 Runicier tournament woulde to an end and Nial wanted to sharpen the runic saber''s de when he noticed what was going on with Ophelia''s Celtic shield.

    ''How monstrously talented can someone be?!'' Nial cursed, realizing that the Celtic shield was not only a Lowest ranked Tier-2 runic armament but that it showed signs of gaining sentience as well.

    At the age of 20, nobody was supposed to be able to create a runic armament with sentience, no matter how prodigious. In fact, even at the age of 30, 40, or 50, there was no known record of someone who had sessfully achieved this miraculous feat.

    At least, it shouldn''t be possible to do so at will. It would need a stroke of luck to create a runic armament with sentience while being so young. Nial recalled that someone like Master Crevian was able to create even Spiritual Weapons right from the get-go.

    However, Master Crevian was extremely old and he had the experience and knowledge of over a thousand years. Nial didn''t even know how old Master Crevian truly was but he was respected even by High Elves while being a normal Elf.

    The difference in the status between ordinary Elves and High Elves was more than huge, yet, Master Crevian was able to ignore this difference as he was treated like an honorary elder by the High Elves.

    Even the Royal Princess was somewhat respectful to Master Crevian. For Nial, it was not a big surprise that Master Crevian was able to create sentient Runic armaments.

    But Ophelia, a woman at his age? Nial could hardly believe it, and he started to realize the difference between being a good Runicier and a true talent.

    All present Runiciers were the cream of the crop, even Nial, who was exceptional at engraving runic constetions.

    However, none was even close toparing with the talent Ophelia managed to showcase in merely eight hours. Her creation was a masterpiece and Nial could only frown deeply, hating the given situation.

    ''She will definitely win¡­'' He thought gloomily. After understanding this point as well, the three other runiciers stopped doing what they had started with. In thest 20 minutes, it was not as if any additional changes would improve their runic armament drastically either way.

    In fact, it was more likely for everything to be worse because their motivation had been shattered after seeing Ophelia''s creation. All of them were ambitious men and women, but looking at Ophelia, all their earlier confidence seemed to be breaking apart.

    Continuing to work on their runic armaments might as well destroy their creation if they were to do something stupid in their current flustered state.

    Only Nial was able to regain hisposure and return to the sharpening process of the runic saber''s de. The following 20 minutes passed quickly and a loud sound echoed through the Colosseum, indicating to the remaining five finalists to step back from their creation.

    Ophelia and Nial had been the only ones who still wanted to give their final touches on their runic armaments, while the remaining three finalists seemed to have given up already.

    This was frowned upon by many spectators, while the exact opposite was the case for the Runiciers, who watched the three Runiciers in pity.

    "I don''t think anyone would have expected such a terrifyingly talented monster to appear out of nowhere¡­They were really unlucky. I hope their will hasn''t been broken by the setback¡­" Many Runiciers shook their heads, feeling sorry for the finalists, who had had the bad luck of taking birth in the same generation as Ophelia.

    She was just too powerful of a Runicier even for most veteran Runiciers, who felt pressured by her mere existence.

    The sound of someone clearing his throat echoed through the Colosseum bringing everyone out of their shocked state.

    [I think everyone can already estimate the winner.] Card Melphy''s voice boomed through the air as if he wanted to elevate Ophelia Narit''s talent and reputation even further.

    Nial''s expression didn''t change much when he heard hisment, but the other finalists frowned deeply. They felt even more dispirited than it had been the case before, and they didn''t want to keep listening to the Union President''s words anymore.<sub> </sub>

    [But to make things fair, we''ll have to take two particr tests. First, we will evaluate the runic armament and how strong they ought to be theoretically, and then we will test them practically!]

    That being said, five well-known Appraisers hired by the Golden Armaments Union stepped inside the arena. They carefully evaluated one Runic armament after another as the crowd watched in silence.

    The Appraisers became the five judges, whose evaluation would be calcted as a cumtive average and shared with the outside world.

    Card Melphy was the first to receive the reports of the Appraisers after they finished their evaluation within 30 minutes. He looked through their analysis and was slightly astounded by what he saw.

    He looked down from the VIP aisle and kept staring at the young finalists for a while.

    Nobody knew what he was thinking except for himself, and it was only when he regained hisposure that the tournament truly ended.

    [I will announce the final result of the theoretical evaluation!]

    [#1 Ophelia Narit - Semi-Sentient Low ranked Tier-2 Shield

    #2 Kirant Leviant - Low ranked Tier-2 Sword

    #3 Nic Hurak - Low ranked Tier-2 Spear

    #4 Nial Orin- Lowest ranked Tier-2 Saber

    #5 Ulgarn Syzan ¨C damaged Low ranked Tier-2 Sword]

    The evaluation sheet was also shown in an erged holographic screen for everyone to see and all the spectators looked at it in interest.

    The evaluation didn''t really give much detailed information, which was why everything looked quite simr.

    Thus, none of the finalists couldin about the given rating, whether they liked it or not.

    Nial was surprised that the two other finalists had been able to create Tier-2 runic armaments in eight hours as well but he presumed that their potential had been fully unleashed under the pressure theirmon archenemy revealed.

    "Are you disappointed?" A sonorous voice emerged next to him all of a sudden, but Nial just smiled. He was not startled because he had already sensed that Ophelia Narit, the female Draco, had approached him.

    "Why should I be disappointed? The tournament is not over and the theoretical evaluation may be faulty," Nial answered in a simple manner, speaking to Ophelia as if he had known her for a while already.

    He didn''t act like others, who were overly friendly or respectful to Ophelia due to her talent, because he couldn''t care less.

    After he would get his hands on the reward he came for, Nial would rush back home as quickly as possible.

    It hadn''t been a month since he left Jundra but he was worried about everyone''s well-being nheless. On Jundra something could happen every single day.

    One time, a high-ranked dungeon portal might manifest in the middle of a shelter, another day, a new race would descend on Jundra, or there might even be the Incarnation of a God ying chess with humans as if they were his chess pieces.

    Nial knew that this could happen, which was why he was not really fond of Ophelia, who prevented him from winning the tournament. She was one of the many unknown variables that had appeared in his life without warning.

    "Your runic constetions will be the reason why your saber will be ranked second at the end of the day, exactly," Ophelia said in a confident voice before she added,

    "I thought you would feel desperate by now but you are quite calm. That is a bit unexpected, not gonna lie!"

    Nial was a bit confused about why Ophelia woulde over to him and start chatting, which was why he asked bluntly,

    "Did youe here to console me?"

    Nial''s expression was funny, which caused the female Draco tough lightheartedly.

    It didn''t look like she was worried about the tournament, at all. Her Celtic Shield spoke volumes about her confidence, which was something everyone could see clearly.

    "You don''t need the ze Dragon''s heart, right?" Ophelia suddenly asked Nial, who could only shake his head in response.

    "Then you will get what you want, I guess!"

 Chapter 342 Attack Power

    "Then you will get what you want, I guess," Ophelia Narit said with a knowing smile on her face.

    She looked deep into Nial''s eyes, as if she wanted to say something but didn''t speak about it out loud.

    Instead, she began to speak about something else,

    "You deserve to win something bying this far in the Runicier tournament while being a rather new Runicier. Congrattions!"

    Nial smiled oddly when he heard her remark, and he was not sure whether he should take it as a hidden insult or actual praise.

    He was pretty sure that Ophelia was more talented than him.

    "Is it so obvious that I''m not a proper Runicier? My forging and concocting proficiency, or actually the nonexistent proficiency exposed me, didn''t it?" He asked gloomily, only to receive a nod as an answer.

    Her nod didn''t really have much meaning, but Nial still sighed. Others were definitely able to tell that he was still a fledgling Runicier who was still learning the basics as well.

    Thus, he might attract some unwanted attention, but that was not something he could avoid either way.

    Setting all of that aside, Nial grew more interested in Ophelia''s earlierment. It looked like she needed the ze Dragon''s heart for something, which would mean that there was still a chance for him to finish his task without achieving the first rank.

    [The practical examination of the weapons will begin. Each attack-based runic armament will be shed or thrust against a barrier that measures the force of the fully empowered attack.

    As for the defensive-based runic shield of Miss Narit, we will simply use the runic armament with the strongest attack force and re-create the fully empowered attack.

    If the attack can be blocked sessfully without breaking the Celtic shield, and with minimal damage, she will be the final winner. As for the rest¡­I doubt that it matters, right?] Card Melphy''s voice sounded a bit displeased and as if he was in a hurry.

    He had to attend an important gathering on Ximatra to determine the future of the Balgris race.

    For him, this was of far more important than the obvious end of the U21 Runicier tournament which was quite opposite to what he would usually feel about his prestigious event.

    It was clear that Ophelia Narit would win and that one of the four others would be ranked in second ce.

    He didn''t really care who would be ced in second ce, as long as he could leave soon.

    The preparations for the practical round were quicklypleted. It didn''t require much time to erect a total of four measurement barriers.

    They were semi-translucent and created with the use of a runic armament. Nial would have loved to analyze it, but he held back, understanding that there were more important things to pay attention to at the moment.

    Four young men and women stood a few meters in front of the barriers, one in front of each barrier.

    They were tightly holding onto the Runic armaments the finalists of the U21 Runicier tournament had created.

    Each of the men and women was at the rank above the Prometheus rank in order to unleash the full prowess of the runic armament they would be using.

    Deux was the mostmon name given to the beings who advanced past the ranks of the Prometheus being.

    Their strength was manyfold higher than beings at the Prometheus rank, which was also why they could unleash the hidden potential of Tier-2 runic armaments.

    While Prometheus Originals were already able to wield Tier-2 runic armaments easily, Deux Originals were able to sense the synergy between the used materials, runic solutions, and runic constetions without problems.

    Thus, four Deux Originals ended up standing in front of the measurement barriers, fidgeting around with the runic armaments they had been given before they unleashed a fully empowered attack in the direction of the barriers.

    From left to right, a magnificent, awe-striking phenomenon manifested as a collective gasp resounded from the Colosseum.

    Kirant Leviant''s Low Tier-2 Runic Sword turned into a ginormous serpent manifested out of zing mes.

    The serpent issued a terrifying roar when the Runic Sword was shed out before it shot in the direction it was targeted to.

    In an instant, the zing serpent, which was more than twenty metersrge, collided with the measurement barrier, and the semi-translucent membrane of the barrier shook violently as several numbers appeared above it.

    The zing serpent burst open upon impact, and it turned into countless swirls of searing hot mes that shrouded the measurement barrier.

    Nial''s [Mana Sense] allowed him to detect everything precisely. The zing serpent was a powerful attack, created out of a multitude of runic constetions.

    It was pretty impressive, which was also what many others thought as he heard their exmations.

    "Oh my goodness!! His attack power is over 9000!!!"

    "Is that really the strength of a Low-ranked Tier-2 runic armament?!"

    "This attack is strong enough to make him second rank!! If only the Draco woman wouldn''t have participated¡­what a shame¡­"

    Nial had no idea what the numbers above the measurement barrier really meant.

    It was not really important to know either, because only the highest number mattered, indicating that the attack had the highest attack power possible.

    Of course, Nial didn''t like the fact that they tested only the power of an attack-based runic armament, especially since not all runic armaments focused on the same functions.<sub> </sub>

    A battle-axe was usually stronger than some dagger. Their functions were different, and so was their attack power along with the ability and extent to inflict damage.

    ''Looks like I was quite lucky with the runic constetions I engraved. To think that the only advanced runic constetion I was confident of engraving in was based on brute force, that''s quite funny,'' Nial thought with a faint smile on his lips.

    While Kirant Leviant''s attack ended the quickest, the attack with the runic armaments of Nic Hurak and Ulgarn Syzan had just begun.

    Ulgarn Syzan''s runic armament was a damaged low-ranked Tier-2 Sword. His attacks didn''t have the slightest trace of elemental empowerment.

    Instead, it was focused on thepression of mana, and the sharpening of the de.

    If the Runic Sword wouldn''t be damaged, Ulgarn Syzan would have ranked second. His runic armament was the best, if not for the damaged part that marred his performance and that of his weapon severely.

    However, even with the damage, the sword strike his Runic Sword could create was shocking, to put it simply.

    The sword''s de shone in bright white light as it created a deep gash inside the measurement barrier.

    The barrier regenerated but the depths of the gash were still astonishing, causing many spectators to gasp.

    "7000 points, despite being a damaged Runic armament¡­amazing¡­"

    "If the Runic Sword wouldn''t have been damaged, it might have been strong enough to damage Ophelia Narit''s Celtic shield!! Woahh¡­."

    Yet, just when everyone eximed, the eyes of the Deux Original, who was tightly grasping the damaged runic armament, widened.

    Spider-web-like cracks spread across the surface of the entire de before it shattered into countless pieces.

    The expressions of the Spectators changed, especially those who had shouted in support of Ulgarn Syzan until a moment ago.

    They frowned deeply and looked down to the arena of the Colosseum with a disappointed expression.

    [Ulgarn Syzan will be disqualified. A Runicier''s creation has to be reliable, and not shatter after the first encounter with an opponent!] Card Melphy''s voice thundered through the Colosseum, but not many Spectators were astonished by this.

    They nodded their heads in understanding, only for Nial to be a bit baffled.

    "If he gets disqualified, why wasn''t I disqualified during the second round? My Tier-0 Swords were basically one-time consumables¡­" He asked himself in confusion, without truly expecting anyone to answer.

    However, Ophelia was still standing near him, and she answered his question without further ado.

    "The main weapons of your Runic puppets weren''t one-time consumable items, but Tier-1 Runic armaments that never broke. The consumable Tier-0 runic swords you created had the purpose of using up the entire umted potential of the weapon to create a powerful sh manifested out of mana.

    Meanwhile, in this round, we had to create only one runic armament, our strongest one, at that. If the purpose of the Runic Sword would have beenbeled as one-time consumable, Ulgarn wouldn''t have been disqualified," Ophelia exined and Nial nodded his head.

    By the time Ophelia was done exining, Nic Hurak''s armament had been tested as well.

    Her Spear thrust manifested a serpent made of water. It was basically the same attack Kirant Leviant''s runic sword manifested, just that the fire element had been reced by water.

    The attack power of her spear was close to 9000 but it didn''t exceed the power of Kirant Leviant''s attack.

    This was quite difficult to achieve, which was also why Ophelia Narit was intrigued by what the attack of Nial''s runic armament would look like.

    The Deux Original wielding Nial''s Runic Saber had been keenly observing the runic armament in his hand longer than anyone else. It took him a few seconds longer to perceive the intention with which Nial had created the Runic Saber.

    However, when he understood his intent, the Deux Original''s displeasure to be forced to wield an unaesthetically forged weapon such as Nial''s creation disappeared.

    He was excited and activated all the runic constetions engraved on the weapon in a perfectbination; thebination Nial intended the weapon to be used with.

    There was a slightplexity between the runic constetions and the Amethyztan that had been used to create the saber, but once one found out about it, everything would turn out more interesting than before.

    The Deux Original couldprehend theplexity, and he was slightly excited to unleash the power sealed within the Runic saber.

    Thunderous crackling noises filled the arena of the Colosseum and currents of lightning shrouded the Deux Original''s entire arm.

    They squirmed forward and enveloped the Runic Saber tightly before they expanded, erging the de in turn.

    The currents of lightning became an extension of the Runic Saber that had begun to vibrate.

    Tremendous power was surging through the Runic saber and the vibration made it seem as if the runic armament wasughing as if it was enjoying the current situation.

    The Deux Original felt simr and he resonated with the emotions of the runic saber as his eyes twitched in anticipation. He shed a bright smile as he shot forward, shing the Lightsaber at the Measurement barrier, cutting it in half¡­.

    Everyone''s eyes widened in surprise and nearly fell out of their eye sockets as shock spread through their bodies.

    A pin drop silence settled in the Colosseum and the only sound that echoed was of the barrier that was crumbling to pieces. For an entire minute, nobody was able to say a single word, not even Ophelia, who finally recalled that she could speak and turned to Nial in surprise.

    "What the hell did you do?"

 Chapter 343 Shocked

    "What the hell did you do?" Ophelia asked in a choked voice but Nial could only smile weirdly.

    "Do you really not know what I did?" He asked in return, which caused Ophelia to groan.

    "Of course, I know what you did, but how do you know this runic constetion? I couldn''t sense it well before but isn''t that the unique [Thunder Blessing] runic constetion?" Ophelia was astonished and she couldn''t express her emotions, at all.

    Ophelia was one of the few Runiciers, who knew about runic constetions, such as the [Thunder Blessing], far more than anyone could imagine. She had spent the majority of her life inside the Draco race''s library learning about its intricacies.

    Thus, she knew that someone like Nial was not supposed to know the runic constetion of the [Thunder Blessing]. Even knowing the existence of runic constetions like the [Thunder Blessing] was not supposed to end up with someone as a rookie as Nial.

    "I don''t know what you''re talking about. No idea what the ''Thunder Blessing'' is, but you must be mistaken. I didn''t engrave that on the Runic saber," Nial was not lying. He had no idea what Ophelia was talking about, but she didn''t seem to believe him.

    This was quite weird since he didn''t really look like he was lying, or so he thought, at least.

    "That''s not the [Thunder Blessing]? But what then??" Ophelia asked, puzzled. Nial couldn''t help but feel that Ophelia was blinded by her own knowledge and talent.

    She didn''t even start questioning whatbination of runic constetions he might have engraved on the Runic saber to create the effects that had been revealed but she presumed that he was talented and knowledgeable enough to engrave some sort of unique runic constetion.

    "[Lightning Spirit], [Mana Expansion], [Saber frame], three [Tiny Mana Storage], and [Overclock], and for your information, I used ordinary runic solutions and unpurified Ametyztan," Nial added in a clear voice, not bothering to hide the obvious.

    Everyone could find out what runic constetions he had engraved on the Runic Saber sooner orter. Thus, there was no point in keeping things under wraps.

    It was simply not worth the trouble.

    Ophelia looked at him before she began to frown lightly.

    "So much trouble to recreate what a single Unique runic constetion can manifest¡­" She clicked her tongue disapprovingly but quickly noticed that Nial shook his head.

    "Just because you''re talented and knowledgeable, doesn''t mean that everyone else has the same privileges. Your behavior is quite disrespectful right now," He said calmly while looking at his score; [12563].

    It was much higher than Kirant Leviant''s score, and his ranking momentarily became #1 on the overall scoreboard of the final evaluation.

    Even if Ophelia''s Celtic shield was better than his Runic saber, he would only be pushed to second ce.

    That was the worst ce he could end up with the extraordinary score he had attained in the practice round.

    This was quite pleasant, especially since he had figured that Ophelia would pick the ze Dragon''s heart, for whatever reason she might need it.

    It didn''t really matter to Nial, and he was just happy that everything went ording to n, well not really¡­

    However, he would be the one holding the Tear of the Dryad Queen, which was everything that mattered and Nial was happy about it.

    While everyone was bbergasted by the strength Nial''s Runic Saber had attained, the measurement barriers were removed.

    The barrier, which had been split in half, had regenerated already and it was stored away just like the others.

    Now, only Nial''s Runic Saber, and the Celtic Runic Shield of Ophelia were left behind.

    The same Deux Original, who had been holding onto the Runic saber held it in their hand, while another Deux Original had finished analyzing the Celtic Runic shield.

    The President of the Golden Armaments Union had told them to hurry up, which was why they didn''t receive enough to start showing off the runic armaments in front of everyone.

    Instead, they stood opposite each other, and activated their runic constetions to generate the best effect before the Lightsaber shot forward.

    It was shed in the direction of the Celtic Runic shield with rapid velocity.

    For the ordinary spectators, it was not even possible to keep up with the rapid strike, and the only thing they could see was a purple sh colliding on a red shield that had erged all of a sudden.

    At least that was what they seemed to be able to see in a blur.

    The reality was different, which was something that not even Nial was able to visualize clearly. His [Mana Sense] also its limits and it was not able to detect the rapid movements of beings at the Deux rank.

    This was only obvious but it annoyed Nial nheless.

    After all, he couldn''t visualize what exactly happened with the Celtic runic shield.

    Nial was merely able to perceive that all the runic constetions had been activated one after another before the mana that had been inserted into the runic shield was released in the direction of the Lightsaber.

    Nial''s Runic Saber was nearly unscathed. There was only a small scratch on the de. Sharpening the de would fix that issue in a blink.

    Simultaneously, a small, almost invisible scratch had formed on the Celtic Runic Shield.

    However, just when a few veteran Runiciers were about to start praising the impossible, the scratch on the Celtic Runic Shield had already disappeared.

    The semi-sentience of the Celtic Runic Shield had initiated the healing process, or precisely to fix the small scratch on the shield''s surface.

    When Nial visualized this, his eyes widened in astonishment. He was not surprised about the result because he knew that it would be his loss, that he wouldn''t be able to defeat Ophelia.

    Nheless, he was amazed that the Celtic Runic Shield could heal itself so easily. Nial didn''t perceive that any mana was drained from the Deux Original, who was holding the shield.

    Instead, the Celtic Runic Shield had absorbed the mana from the surroundings to fix the small scratch on its own.

    This was astounding, and the reason for Nial to attempt visualizing all the runic constetions on the Celtic Runic Shield.

    "Tch!" He clicked his tongue when his range of perception was blocked as Celt Melphy, the Negiv, descended from the air.<sub> </sub>

    ''Just how impatient can someone be?!'' Nial cursed the President of the Golden Armaments Union, not understanding how someone was able to snatch away other peoples'' joy, like this.

    The Spectators and veteran Runiciers wanted to exim, and show their excitement when they witnessed how horrifyingly powerful the runic armaments of two 20-year-old Originals could be.

    They wanted to gossip and have some fun discussing the spectacle but were deprived of the opportunity because Card Melphy''s presence was more than enough for everyone to shut their mouths tightly.

    [Bravo! Bravo!! This is what I call a grand finale! Congrattions to Ophelia Narit for creating the strongest runic armament in the fourth and final round of the U21 Runicier tournament!! Please ept my apuse and congrattions,] Card Melphy said loudly and in a cheerful voice that was a stark contrast to his posture and appearance.

    Nial tried to hide his frown but that was hardly possible. He could only shake his head and doubt that they were truly in the grand finale of the U21 Runicier tournament.

    Right now, the entire situation felt more like they were in an amateurish tournament, instead of the grand and spectacr event created by the biggest Runiciers group that existed in the entire ster system Ximatra was a part of.

    After a while, Nial didn''t frown anymore. He had to hide his mocking expression as he realized that the Golden Armaments Union was not only the biggest Runicier group in the ster system but that it spread out through many other ster systems.

    Nial recalled Master Crevian''s words and that they were really powerful because many races owed them favors. The moment someone would dare attack them, more than 30 races would back them up.

    And the President of this Golden Armaments Union, Card Melphy, was none other than theughing stock¡­

    ''Fortunately, Damian''s memories told me that not every powerhouse is like this clown, otherwise, it would have been hrious for Damian to die at their hands. Well, at least, Card is not a True God. That is one advantage¡­I guess¡­'' Nial thought, hiding his smile, while Card Melphy continued to speak.

    After a while, he turned in Ophelias'' direction. An elegant-looking veil, morous lengthy boxes and a quadratic metallic box appeared out of nowhere.

    They were hovering in front of the young female Draco, who began to smile brightly as her hand reached out for the metallic box.

    However, before Ophelia was able to pick up something Card Melphy began to speak once again.

    [As an apology for all the trouble during the Runicier tournament, Ophelia Narit will be allowed to pick two grand prizes instead of one! As for the second ce, Nial Orin, he will be rewarded with the remaining grand prize! The third and following ranks will receive appropriate treasures as well!]

    Nial Orin began to frown deeply when he heard this.

    ''Wasn''t it said that the remaining grand prizes will be awarded to the second and third ce, to begin with??'' He asked inwardly, his dislike of the President growing more and more.

    The situation had be more troublesome because of the President''s words. Now, Nial had a 50-50 chance to get the Dryad Queen''s tear in his hand because Ophelia could pick a second grand prize.

    However, he was not too worried because he presumed that the Unicorn Horn was of more value to the Draco girl than anything else.

    It could be used to create high-ranked Runic armaments after all.

    Unicorns were hard to find, and their horns were exceptionally rare. Their value was high because they were a rare breed and forbidden to be used as trading goods in most gxies.

    In fact, hunting Unicorns was not allowed in the vast majority of gxies, including thes the Draco race hailed from.

    Thus, a Unicorn''s horn would be of the utmost value for Ophelia, especially a Silvergeard Unicorn''s horn that was rewarded in the U21 Runicier tournament.

    Card Melphy seemed to be on the verge of crying as he saw Ophelia picking her first prize. She picked the ze Dragon''s heart that was perfectly preserved in the quadratic metallic box.

    As for the second treasure, Ophelia ended up looking in Nial''s direction as she moved her hand between the vial with the Dryad Queen''s tear inside, and the lengthy elegant box containing the Unicorn horn.

    Nial just smiled seeing her attempts to tease him. However, when she actually grasped the small vial, Nial paled.

    Ophelia saw his reaction clearly but she didn''t say anything.

    She could only see how thest grand prize flew over to Nial, who could barely think about grasping it.

    ''She needs the Dryad Queen''s tear? Why?...'' He first asked, feeling confused and devastated.

    All his efforts would be for naught if he was unable to get his hand on the Dryad Queen''s tear, and that was something he didn''t want to happen.

    ''What the hell am I supposed to do now??'' Nial felt like he was falling off a huge cliff, straight into the abyss. His mind nked out and he remained standing motionlessly as his mind was trying to digest what kind of bullshit had just happened.

    While he was processing his ''real'' defeat, Ophelia appeared right in front of him.

    "You look like a ghost, you know?" She asked mischievously as she ced the vial with the Dryad Queen''s tear in his free hand.

    Simultaneously, she took the box with the Unicorn horn before she burst intoughter.

    "You should really see your expression¡­.way too funny hahaha!"

    **

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 Chapter 344 Fraud

    Nial realized toote that Ophelia had left the Colosseum shortly after she pranked him.

    He was still holding the Vial with the Dryad Queen''s tear in his hand and looked dumbfounded.

    Only after some time had passed and everyone had left the Colosseum did he regain his senses.

    Card Melphy was the first one to leave the Colosseum and the spectators felt weird staying back when the host had already left.

    The U21 Runicier tournament had been the weirdest of all the tournaments the Golden Armaments Union had ever hosted, and it was quite clear that the image of both the Union and the tournament would change quite a bit.

    All the incidents that had urred should have never happened. The image of the tournament was still a thing that could be improved over the passage of time as the incidents would fade from memory.

    However, families who lost their loved prodigious child in such an unexpected and terrifying manner would never be able to make up for that loss.

    Nial could tell that many reporters would tear the Golden Armaments Union''s image into shreds and leave a scathing review the moment they picked up the pen but it was not as if he was really bothered about it.

    "Are you satisfied with the Dryad Queen''s Tear?" An old voice reached his ears, but Nial knew who it was. He smiled wryly as he turned in Siegfried''s direction.

    His first reaction was to feel like cursing the old man. However, Nial recalled that Siegfried sent Card Melphy to the Colosseum when Finn, the prince of the Balgris, had caused a tiny bit of trouble

    "I got what I wanted. I''m more than satisfied, yeah¡­" Nial answered carefully, disliking the underlying tone in Siegfried''s voice.

    "Well, then I am sorry to tell you that this is not the tear of the Dryad Queen," Siegfried smiled as he exposed the truth of the vial Nial had just stored away.

    "Wait¡­what the hell are you talking about?!" Nial asked in confusion, clearly feeling that something was off. He was pretty sure that he could perceive the life essence inside the vial. There was a single droplet of a liquid inside the vial and it was full of vigor.

    Even the Ankh reacted intensively in presence of the droplet that ought to be a tear!

    Siegfried had to be lying¡­

    "Don''t doubt me so quickly," Siegfried added in his unnaturally calm voice as before. He was even smiling a bit.

    "The tear you received is the tear of a Dryad Princess, not the Queen. It has been enhanced artificially in the attempt to recreate the Dryad Queen''s tear. The final result was surprisingly great but the enhanced Dryad Princess'' tear is still far from beingparable to that of the Dryad Queen!" Siegfried exined while watching the changes in Nial''s expression in amusement.

    He was thoroughly enjoying the current situation and the fact that Nial could hardly control his emotions right now.

    "But¡­why are you telling me this? I mean, I would have never found out about it if you wouldn''t have told me just now?" Nial was baffled but he digested the information quickly.

    Trying to keep a calm head, he figured that it might be for the best to ask Siegfried for his reasoning to reveal this particr piece of information.

    The old man looked at Nial with interest. Siegfried had expected Nial to turn desperate or to start cursing the President of the Golden Armaments Union but to his dismay, neither happened.

    "I just wanted to see your reaction, and tell you the truth before you return to the Elven territory, where they will definitely sense that you weren''t able to get your hands on a genuine Dryad Queen''s tear," He shrugged his shoulders as if he was not really concerned about that like he was doing whatever he wanted just for fun.

    "Were the ze Dragon''s Heart and the Silvergaerd Unicorn Horn genuine then?" Nial asked another question, but Siegfried shrugged his shoulder once again.

    "That I don''t know, but it might be possible that they''re also fake. I merely researched the authenticity of the Dryad''s tear because I predicted that the Elves wanted you to get it.

    And considering that you live on Jundra, the Empress must have seeded in merging the Descending teau with Jundra. She is definitely a quirky woman!" Siegfried was still smiling but Nial was starting to get annoyed.

    Even if he was trying his best, Nial couldn''t force himself to take a liking to Siegfried. His instincts told him that the old man was a douchebag and from what he perceived, Siegfried did whatever he liked, whether it affected others negatively or not.

    He was self-centered and arrogant and he acted as the entire Universe revolved around him.

    Thus, Nial was trying hard not to make it seem as if he hated Siegfried and to end the chat with the old man as quickly as possible.

    "Thank you for telling me the truth, but I will have to go now," Nial bowed slightly to Siegfried and abruptly cut off the chat. Siegfried had expected this to happen, which was why he didn''t say anything.

    He merely smiled as if everything was going ording to his n before he disappeared. Nial had to take a few deep breaths so as to not release all his frustration in a roar that would attract too much attention.

    ''Finally he left!'' He thought in relief after a while before he left the Colosseum as well.

    It was past midnight but the streets were still brightly illuminated. Business never stopped and it would flourish when rich Originals didn''t need to sleep much anymore. The further their mana core advanced, the more pure mana they could hold.<sub> </sub>

    This would slow down their aging, increase their lifespan, and with time, allow them to live without mortal needs such as food, water, and sleep for ensuring their continued survival.

    Nial was still far from reaching such a state but he could stay awake for over a week without feeling too tired out. Thus, even after he finished the U21 Runicier tournament, he quickly rushed through the bustling streets.

    He was wearing a cloak over his Tier-2 runic mantle and entered various merchant shops to take a look at their offered goods.

    ''I have yet to use up all the Origin crystals I was given¡­so I might as well splurge them a bit, right?'' Nial thought, trying to improve his bad mood.

    He had worked so hard to get his hands on the Dryad Queen''s tear and had even seeded against all the odds, just to find out that he had been scammed.

    It may not be aplete scam and Nial didn''t actually know how worse the artificially enhanced Dryad Princess'' tear was inparison to the Dryad Queen''s tear, but Nial feared that the difference was big enough.

    This was annoying but Nial knew that crying over spilled milk wouldn''t help. Having something was already better than sitting around with empty hands.

    Despite all the frustration, Nial wanted to make use of the situation as well as he possibly could.

    He had enough Origin crystals to spend, had still one free spot to bind an ability to his mana core, and it was only a matter of time before he would create his fourth Ancient Origin ring, thereby opening a new vacancy to bind just another ability.

    "Two new ability crystals¡­and both will have to bepatible with the Odyssey seed at best¡­wait..that''s not entirely true¡­" Nial mumbled to himself when he recalled something.

    Nial had learned the most crucial point of someone''s rank advancement after the Prometheus rank. When he got to know a few facts about Deux Originals, he learned a crucial piece of information; abilities could be trained, nourished, and upgraded!

    The Prometheus rank opened thest vacancy to bind an ability to the mana core. Humans from Jundra would be able to bind their 5th ability to their mana core by then.

    While being at the Prometheus rank, the Origin rings wouldbine, forming a crystal around the Mana core. The Mana core would slowly be transformed into a seed, called Origin seed.

    The Origin seed would slowly remove the bound ability from its body. In this process, the abilities wouldn''t be destroyed or their connection to the Original harmed in any way.

    Once someone advanced to the Deux rank, the abilities would turn into stigmata that revolved around the crystal around the Origin seed.

    The Origin seed would metamorph, liquefy the crystal that enveloped it, and turn into a Mana sea. In the end, the Mana sea would form the moment one reached the Peak of the Deux rank, allowing the Original to gain the opportunity to progress even further.

    The size of the Origin seed was directly proportional to the Original''s talent, and the entire progress one made when one was at the Origin, Mirae, and Prometheus rank respectively!

    The number of ergements, the quality of the Origin rings, and how carefully the Origin seed had been created were the most crucial factors one could influence with hard work and an unbreakable will.

    Through this, one''s innate talent may be a factor that determined the beginning of one''s journey but the hard work, one''s opportunities, and unbending will could change an Original''s future as long as they were able to reach the peak of the Deux rank!

    By advancing to the Deux rank, one can use special means to train one''s Ability Stigmas. That would mean, Nial wouldn''t have to stubbornly search forpatible abilities that were well-suited to be used with his Odyssey seed.

    ''But having more ways to advance my abilities would be better as well¡­If my abilities be stronger as long as my rank advances, I wouldn''t have to waste my time training my Ability Stigmas once I advance to the Deux rank¡­'' Nial was contemting which path he should choose.

    It was good that he didn''t have to search forpatible abilities but it was certainly better to bind them.

    "Whatever¡­as long as there is no ability I want badly enough to disregard itspatibility with my Odyssey seed, I will search forpatible ones¡­" Nial concluded quietly as he spent one hour after another,bing through different merchant shops in search of suitable ability crystals.

    Nobody was scared that a youngster at the Mirae rank would steal from them. Thus, merchants were even willing to provide Nial with the opportunity to closely inspect all the ability crystals they had in their warehouse.

    Merchants in the Golden City were very nice. Their service was good, and they trusted all their customers to an almost excessive degree.

    Nial didn''t understand that at first before he asked one of the merchants why everyone was being so nice.

    The answer baffled him, especially since he had been cloaked, hiding his entire appearance as well as possible.

    "The moment you enter a shop, your mana fluctuations will be registered in the city''s AI. If you try to run without paying, you will immediately be registered as a wanted criminal by the AI, and you won''t be able to leave the city in any way. The higher your mana core''s rank, the more severe the punishment will be.

    Once, the entire Golden City had been locked down and the space all around sealed, preventing even DemiGods from using spatial abilities.

    When you try to steal something, just know that death is one of the nicer punishments!"

 Chapter 345 Unknown Goals

    Nial felt that the tight security of the Golden City was pretty helpful.

    It allowed the merchants to feel secure enough to exhibit all the ability crystals to attract potential customers without the need to worry about getting robbed.

    The crime rate in the Golden City was eerily low, which was also very pleasant to hear. He was in possession of a great treasure, whether it was the Dryad Queen''s tear or actually just the artificially enhanced Dryad Princess'' tear.

    Whether it was the former or thetter, both were valuable goods, which even high-ranked Originals would love to steal. Thus, Nial could feel much safer, knowing that the security was high enough to allow everyone to fall at ease including himself.

    Nial had been worried initially but he feltfortable enough not to rush to the Cathedral where he could be teleported back to the Elven territory. Instead, he was calmly shopping as if he had all the time in the Universe.

    In the end, when it was already noon of the following day, Nial had used up all his Origin crystals. He had even sold the Tier-2 Runic Lightsaber in order to earn a few more Origin crystals.

    Nial needed the money more than the runic armaments as he could recreate them with enough time and practice.

    "35 different materials, 13 books, and two ability crystals¡­my shopping spree was really nice!" Nial figured while looking at the red ability crystals thaty in his hand.

    One was the ability crystal he would soon bind to himself, while the other one was for Mathias. It was hard to find ability crystals that were useful for Mathias, which was why he chose to offer his friend a helping hand.

    Nial needed as many powerful allies as possible when Jundra''sary mana core would finally awaken.

    Thus, the [Fire affinity(Comprehension)] was certainly one of the best ways to increase his friend''sbat power.

    Ever since Nial had found out that it was not necessary to purchase abilities that could be used with versatility, irrespective of whether it was possible to upgrade them or not, his approach to purchasing ability crystals had changed a bit.

    At the Deux rank, Ability Stigmas could be trained and improved, in turn, strengthening the abilities altogether. Thus, it wouldn''t even be necessary for Mathias to get his hands on affinity crystals with theprehension tag because he could upgrade his affinities in the future.

    Nial bought the fire affinity crystal with theprehension tag nheless because it was always better to be able to create their own domain of rules, instead of abiding by the existing rules.

    If Mathias could upgrade his affinity''s strength faster byprehending them, it would be a waste to deprive him of this opportunity.

    Comprehension was something every affinity wielder required to be truly powerful with when controlling their affinity. Thus, Mathias could kill two flies with one stone by learning affinities with theprehension tag, especially since hisprehension of elemental affinities was exceptional.

    His Innate ability [Elementalprehension] was not just for show and Nial hoped for the best in Mathias by using the biggest chunk of his fortune for the Fire affinity crystal.

    "I had never expected to find only a single ability crystal for myself, though¡­" Nial started to mumble to himself as he was trying to find his way back to the cathedral.

    He wanted to return to the Elven territory, specifically Yggdrasil, and return home afterward.

    At home, nobody would bother him when he would bind an ability crystal to his body even if some catastrophe were to ur.

    Nial expected a lot from the ability crystal he found, especially since both the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] and his Odyssey seed reacted intensively to the red ability crystal.

    This was also the reason why he wanted nobody to bother him when binding the ability to his mana core.

    Many things had changed about Nial but he was pretty sure that he did not want to attract the attention of any truly powerful being.

    Thus, he left the Golden City by using the teleportation circle that brought him back to the Elven territory.

    Nial noticed that Felicia, the Balgris, who worked at the Cathedral, looked weirdly at him, but he ignored this entirely as he returned back home.

    He knew that she might have had questions about the video he sent her when Finn caused trouble, yet, Nial didn''t feel like answering them.

    Felicia didn''t force him to say anything either. She was already bothered enough by the uncertain future the Balgris race would have to face in the Golden City, all the other parts of Ximatra, and the gxies. Thus, she left him on his own.

    Upon arriving in the Elven territory on Jundra, Nial took a deep breath of fresh air. He smiled lightly and allowed the vigor of the flourishing nature around him to infiltrate him through every single pore in his body.

    The exhaustion of thest few days was quickly reced with energy as a bunch of Elves rushed toward him.

    "Sir Orin, you''ve already returned? Were you disqualified??" One of the higher authorities of the Elven on Ximatra asked skeptically. His eyes were filled with worry, which he tried to hide. His attempts to hide his true emotions were miserable and Nial could only smile in return, shaking his head.

    "Everything is fine. There were a few¡­interferences in the U21 Runicier tournament but that was swiftly dealt with. Can you take me to the portal?" Nial didn''t feel like staying any longer on Ximatra, and the Elf nodded his head immediately.

    He didn''t know what was going on or if Nial had seeded but that was not something the Elf had to know, to begin with. It was just that he had been curious, not like he was a higher authority to know about the truth before Nial would be allowed to return.

    Thus, the Elf took Nial through the huge forest, straight to the portal leading to Yggdrasil.

    Nial retrieved numerous runic armaments from his spatial ring, which he activated without hesitation before he raised a leg to step through the portal.

    His head flicked backward, showing a bright sh to the Elves, who had followed him like arge group of ducklings following their mother.<sub> </sub>

    "Don''t look so sad. It''s time for the Elves to be a bit happier," Nial said, giving a tiny hint to the clueless Elves before he stepped through and his body disappeared inside the portal.

    He left behind many confused Elves and it took them quite a while to realize that Nial had given them a hint.

    "So he seeded?" One of them asked while another one nodded his head vigorously.

    "He must have seeded! Why else would he tell us to be happier??" A female Elf eximed.

    Following Nial''s disappearance, all the Elves began to exim in excitement. They were certain that Nial had seeded, which would mean that the wish of their Empress was likely toe true.

    The Empress wanted her race to be powerful enough to ovee all obstacles and to be never forced to retreat if a powerful race would try to force them to obey theirmands.

    Being weaker than others was the worst and the Empress didn''t want to bow her head in front of anyone anymore. Not a single member of her race ought to be forced to submit to others, and to achieve this, Jundra was the most important chess piece in her grand n.

    She wanted the Elven race to be one of the powerful rulers of Jundra if it was not possible to reign the huge, unawakened all by herself.

    And to achieve this, she would do everything necessary, even if that meant she would have to die in the process. Her race''s future was more important than her life, and the Royal Princess was the best heir one could wish for!

    The Empress always said that this was her sole reason to attempt to get a foothold on Jundra, but everyone knew that this was just one of her many reasons.

    Nobody questioned the Empress'' reasoning but everyone knew that their race''s future was never to be the strongest race in the universe.

    The Empress knew the Innate talent of all the Elven races much better than anyone else.

    Thus, the real question was never how the Empress wanted her race to be the strongest, but rather¡­what her true ns were!

    Even Nial began to wonder what exactly the Empress of the Elven race was nning.

    He didn''t trust her wholeheartedly because the memories of the God of Darkness prevented him from doing so, and Nial was thankful for that.

    After all, he received more information about Jundra, and its uniqueness from a stranger than the Elves dared to reveal!

    Siegfried may not have revealed a lot, but calling Jundra, the Origin, and hinting that the had once been awakened already, was more than enough for Nial to understand that the human race on Jundra was more fucked up than they could have ever believed.

    It was even worse than the worst possible scenario they could imagine. After all, there must have been a reason for the awakened Jundra to fall into a slumber¡­or was that even what happened?

    For now, Nial didn''t have the upper hand when it came to demanding anything from the Elves, neither in their territory nor inside Yggdrasil.

    Only on Jundra, he was given the upper hand because he was needed there as a powerhouse and Runicier.

    Unfortunately, that was not enough for him to actually act like he could demand whatever he wanted from the Elves.

    Nial had other worries as well, but deep down he knew that humans were using the Elves and vice versa was true as well!

    The advance and changes of the dynamics of their rtionships would be decided over the course of time, which was why Nial believed it may be a bit cruel to have any prejudices against the Elves. After all it was not his personal experience but Damian''s memories that made him recall many bad things the Elves did in the past that had been long since forgotten by most.

    Nial was not sure how long it took before he emerged inside Yggdrasil''s Holy Hall, where two High Elves saw him.

    They reported his arrival immediately, which prevented him from taking a breather to calm down.

    The Elves treated him with the highest respect and it didn''t take long before the Royal Princess appeared.

    She was wearing a beautiful, revealing nightgown that showed something unique on her back.

    ''Her Fairies'' Blessing is engraved on her upper back?'' Nial realized while sensing that enormous amounts of mana and vigor were swirling toward her.

    While she had hidden her back with concealing clothes before, this was not the case right now.

    And this was also why much more mana and vigor of the Sacred tree was swirling towards her.

    ''Looks like revealing her blessing to mana and vigor amplifies its efficiency!'' Nial understood clearly, which was how he knew that his arrival pulled the Royal Princess out of her training.

    He smiled when he noticed this and stepped forward with confident strides.

    "Your Majesty, I have returned!" Nial greeted her, bowing deeply toward the Royal Princess with a smug smile on his face.

    ''This bastard!!''

 Chapter 346 Back Inside The Tree

    Nial had fun teasing the Royal Princess, while everyone thought he was being serious about treating her like the royalty she was.

    Only Princess Evalyne could tell that Nial was joking with her and that was the worst! She had to treat Nial with the same respect, force herself to act properly, and make it look like they were both of his status.

    This was annoying and not how Princess Evalyne had hoped to happen with Nial. He was one of the most rxed men she had encountered until now, which was why she disliked the situation even more.

    Princess Evalyne was finally able to drag Nial away from everyone else when half an hour had passed.

    They were nked by various guards to make sure that they received some privacy but that didn''t bother Evalyne much.

    She activated a Soundbarrier runic armament to talk to Nial alone as they walked through Yggdrasil.

    "You really are annoying, do you know that?!" She dered the moment the Soundbarrier was activated around them.

    Nial smiled and nodded his head, "I know."

    He didn''t seem all that affected by herment, and it didn''t look like he wanted to continue speaking with her as well.

    Princess Evalyne had to take a few deep breaths to make sure that she wouldn''t identally do something stupid. She was quiet for the next half a minute and only spoke when she had finally calmed down.

    "Did you obtain the Dryad Queen''s tear? Our broker told us that the Golden City was in a mess because of a mass murderer but that is everything we got to know so far. Crevian was worried and he even began to me himself for sending you to the Golden City, thinking that something might have happened to you," Princess Evalyne said a bit awkwardly, trying to hide that she had been worried as well.

    They could find other ways to rescue the Forest of Life and restore its former glory and vigor it had before the Dryx attacked, but the possibility of obtaining the Dryad Queen''s tear had just been too enticing.

    Nheless, it was more important for them that Nial survived because he was one of the most important humans the Elves had gotten to know from Jundra.

    Nial was bound to be powerful as long as he wouldn''t die because of a stupid mistake, or by overestimating his strength.

    Thus, by making sure he would stay on friendly terms with him, they would get their hands on a valuable ally on Jundra.

    "There were quite some problems during the whole U21 Runicier tournament, and I don''t really like how it progressed if I were to be honest," Nial spoke in all honesty before he added the most annoying factor,

    "Did you know that the Draco race would join the Runicier tournament and that a once in ten thousand years talent appeared all of a sudden? This girl was able to create a semi-sentient Tier-2 Runic shield within eight hours¡­"

    Nial was still baffled when he recalled Ophelia''s magnificent creation. It was already shocking enough that five out of six finalists had been able to create their Tier-2 runic armaments. Even the damaged runic armament of the fifth ranked Original had been extremely powerful.

    Thus, he could only shake his head whenever he thought about it. The Royal Princess misunderstood his head shake as a sign that Nial had been unable to get his hands on the Dryad Queen''s tear.

    However, that seemed only the natural oue, if a true prodigy of the Draco race had participated.

    "If the Draco race joined, a prodigy of theirs, at that, there was nothing you could do. I don''t think that you werezing around, and you must have done your best," Princess Evalyne reassured, trying to hide the small bits of disappointment she felt.

    She had known that it was unlikely for Nial to win the tournament but there had still been some hope. After all, Nial was a weird, yet, talented anomaly!

    "But what exactly happened?" Princess Evalyne asked, unable to hide her curiosity. If Nial said that a lot had happened, there must have really been a lot going on.

    After her question, Nial spent a few minutes summarizing the happenings of his days in the Golden City. At first, everything had been fine but with Siegfried''s appearance, the fact that Nial''s only ''friend'' turned out to be a mass murderer and the unveiling of Ophelia, things tensed up.

    In the end, Nial said that he ended up achieving the second rank, and he retrieved the prize from his spatial ring.

    "You can take the tear and let some Elf do his magic with the Forest of Life. I wouldn''t know how to use the tear on the Forest of Life, either way," Nial said, smirking lightly as he looked over to Princess Evalyne, who stared at him with a doubtful expression.

    "There has never been the tear of the Dryad Queen, to begin with. The Golden Armaments Union had only the enhanced tear of a Dryad Princess from the beginning," He exined as he handed the vial to Princess Evalyne, whose long, pointy ears had begun to wiggle in excitement at the sight of the vial.

    "Tear of a Dryad Princess? An enhanced version? Sounds like everything was a scam¡­" Princess Evalyne was a bit displeased about the Golden Armaments Union''s tant lie but she was more surprised that Nial had actually been able toplete his mission.

    This was impressive, and it caused the Royal Princess to look at Nial for a few seconds.<sub> </sub>

    "How about you stay in Yggdrasil until the Harvest of Life phenomenon ends? If you''re worried about your friends and family, I can send someone to look over them," She suddenly proposed, hitting Nial off-guard.

    He wished to stay longer in Yggdrasil, especially since his Ankh was nourished by the Sacred tree''s vigor. With the Ankh and the Fairies'' Blessing, he could already absorb tremendous amounts of mana and vigor, whenever he was somewhere with flourishing nature.

    To add to that, if he created a link with Yggdrasil, his training would elerate even more. Thus, he would have loved to stay a bit longer in the Elven territory.

    Now that he had received the opportunity, and Evalyne even said that she would make sure his family was fine, he felt ted.

    "Are you sure?" Nial asked uncertainly, feeling that he was quite fortunate.

    "Of course. We owe you a big favor, and allowing you to stay in Yggdrasil doesn''t really cost us anything. If you wanted to, Yggdrasil would probably create personal space for you¡­even if I don''t know why the Sacred tree adores you so much," The Royal Princess failed to hide her jealousy, which caused Nial to smile lightly.

    He was not really sure what kind of connection or bond Yggdrasil had with him either, but it was certainly advantageous.

    "As long as I can be certain that my family is fine, I will stay until the Harvest of Life phenomenon is about to end. That should be in five months, right?" Nial asked in excitement.

    He would have to lie if he were to say that it was not an interesting and exciting thought to stay in Yggdrasil for five more months. It would be possible for him to learn a lot more and to be much stronger after he would absorb a lot of mana to create more Ancient Origin rings.

    "The Harvest of Life phenomenon won''tst five more months. It will end sooner than expected because the portal to Jundra requires far more mana than we estimated earlier. But that should be fine because you will have three months until you will have to leave!" Princess Evalyne said in excitement as her gaze was locked on the vial with the enhanced Dryad Princess'' tear inside.

    They talked for a few minutes before Nial was brought back to the same old wooden hut he had been assigned to rest in before he left for the Golden City.

    Nial was fine with that and he chose to focus on the advancement of his rank.

    ''As long as everyone is fine, I can go home in a few months, meet up with my family, have a few days off, and then bind the ability crystal to my mana core. That should be perfect!'' Nial thought, imagining that his sister would be out of the Legacy portal by then.

    The Royal Princess left him with thement that Master Crevian might search for himter, or that others would visit him to make sure that everything about him was fine.

    However, that was something Nial barely heard because his focus was somewherepletely different.

    ''Now that I have the opportunity, I need to be much stronger! Jundra''sary mana core will awaken soon!'' He thought in determination.

    With that aim in mind, he continued to improve himself, and the following three months passed in the blink of an eye. Nial did not only focus on the creation of his Ancient Origin rings but he paid lots of attention to the enhancement of his knowledge as well.

    ? As Runicier, he had to keep learning and practicing, otherwise, he would quickly get rusty. Thus, Nial ended up spending an hour or two every day to improve as Runicier, while the remaining time was spent on absorbing mana and creating the frame of his next Ancient Origin ring.

    Nial''s control of mana was terrific, and he could easily absorb the ginormous amount of mana around him. In Yggdrasil, it was easy for Nial to absorb enough mana to create the droplets which he required to work on his Ancient Origin ring.

    While it would usually take a year, or potentially even longer to create another Origin ring that had the same size as Nial''s Origin rings, he needed one and a half months for each new Ancient Origin ring as long as he was inside Yggdrasil, and connected to the ginormous Sacred tree!

    After three months of hard work, Nial finished the creation of his fifth Ancient Origin ring. His control of mana increased drastically, his perception of mana had skyrocketed as well and his abilities were strengthened.

    Everything around Nial had enhanced and improved, especially his memories, his physical strength, and the Ankh.

    After three months it was time for Nial to leave because the Harvest of Life event was about to end, and he was confident that he had utilized his time well. He may not be at the Prometheus rank yet, but Nial''s strength was already equivalent to some powerful beings at the Peak of the Mirae rank.

    Nial was confident that it would be possible for him to be of great use. He was ready to throw fists at his opponents and smash them into tiny bits.

    The Ankh''s influence was constantly trying to overwhelm the influence of the Odyssey seed but whenever Nial''s mana core became stronger, more shreds of Damian''s memories shed through his mind.

    This was not something Nial could block off and he epted it readily.

    After all, he could make use of both the Ankh and the Odyssey seed.

    They were his possessions right now and their influence was much less significant than the impact he had on them!

 Chapter 347 Troublesome

    "I wonder if I can message them from Jundra¡­" Nial mumbled, holding a high-quality messenger crystal in his hand.

    Numerous runic constetions were engraved on the messenger crystal, and they were supposed to require only mana to be used seamlessly throughout three or four gxies.

    Nial was not exactly sure where Jundra was located in the Universe, let alone how far Elvian and Ximatra were located from each other.

    Thus, he couldn''t even be sure if it was possible to message Ophelia if he ever wanted to meet the Draco race.

    Nial was just making his final preparations to leave Yggdrasil. He had stored a bunch of books that were directly rted to forging techniques, concoction techniques, and other engraving techniques from races such as Rulikan Dwarves, Mechalins, and many more.

    The Elves used only their techniques because they were the most suitable andpatible with them. The techniques the Elves used were not necessarily great for him, which was why Nial ended up with all the books he was allowed to take with himself.

    None of the Elves needed them, which was why they had been sitting on the shelves of the library, collecting dust until now. Nial would make much better use of them.

    Nheless, he couldn''t help but keep thinking about Ophelia and her unique engraving technique. Ever since Nial had clearly visualized her Celtic Shield with [Mana Sense], he had been dying to replicate it. But for that, he had toprehend the technique behind what he visualized which was a big hurdle.

    In order toprehend everything, he would have to get a better understanding of the basics first.

    But despite thinking that it may be for the best to message Ophelia right now, it was not necessarily helpful to message her once and ghost her afterward.

    Nial didn''t know when he would return to Elvian, after all.

    ''It would be pretty darn interesting to challenge her right now¡­My affinity toward mana is much better now¡­a Lowest Tier-2 Runic Lightsaber is no issue for me anymore¡­I guess,'' Nial thought, trying to find excuses that allowed him to feel better.

    He was certain that Ophelia had definitely be an even stronger Runicier in these past three months and that it would be impossible for him to defeat her as Runicier, not just now but maybe never.

    His pride was hurt but he tried to make it seem as if he was perfectly fine. Instead of allowing his defeat in the Runicier tournament to crush him, Nial decided to be the person, who would learn, adapt and ovee his struggles.

    He was not ready to be defeated a second time, and he worked on himself as much as possible to make sure that nobody would ever be able to defeat him when a life and death battle or challenge awaited him.

    With that thought in mind, he activated various runic armaments, and stepped through the portal in the Holy Hall, without looking back.

    Master Crevian and a bunch of other Elves, who had intentionally suppressed the advancement of their mana core''s rank followed Nial quickly, readying themselves for the horror trip through to Jundra.

    Meanwhile, the Royal Princess and many other High Elves looked at the situation ahead of them with a deep frown.

    "Jundra will awaken in a few months¡­have all preparation beenpleted?" The Royal Princess asked with an imposing voice. Her expression was stiff and the atmosphere turned gloomy.

    "Your majesty¡­are you sure that you want to do this?" One of the High Elves asked, looking at the Royal Princess in concern.

    "If I don''t want us to get overthrown after the Origin reawakens, we will have to be ready, just like everyone else¡­I just hope that the Origin awakens slowly, and does not erupt like a volcanopletely¡­.otherwise¡­" The Royal Princess was not even able to finish her sentence as she involuntarily shuddered.

    She didn''t even want to imagine the worst-case scenario. Princess Evalyne was just about to turn around when a golden portal manifested in the middle of the Holy Hall.

    A tall female Elf emerged from the portal, wearing a full set of armor with the highest quality. She looked at the Royal Princess without a change in her expression as she spoke in a clipped tone,

    "Daughter, we have unwee guests, get out and greet them!"

    Princess Evalyne hadn''t expected her mother to appear out of nowhere. She hadn''t been in Yggdrasil for quite a while, so her return was a bit surprising. She had many questions but couldn''t ask anything as her mother stared sharply at her.

    "There is no need to greet us," The voice of a man echoed through the holy hall all of a sudden and a purple-skinned Elf emerged out of the shadows within the room.

    He shed a smile at the Elven Empress and her daughter before he bowed deeply.

    "I hope it''s not a problem that I let myself in," The purple Elf said with the same disgusting smile on his face, just for a ck-skinned Elf to emerge next to the purple Elf.

    "Shut it, Mikas," The Nightshadow Elf snapped at the Dark Elf, who turned silent at once.

    "Greetings your Majesty," The Nightshadow Elf turned to the Empress before he bowed a little. His expression was unchanged and he pointed in the direction of the portal before his voice changed at once as he released a suffocating aura.

    The Holy Hall began to tremble and the Nightshadow Elf''s voice echoed through the room.<sub> </sub>

    "Your majesty¡­howe you missed telling us, and all the others about the Origin''s reawakening and that you have a permanent portal to it? I hope you just forgot to inform us about it, and that you didn''t do so intentionally!!" The Nightshadow Elf spoke coldly, while releasing a set of pitch-ck tang knives from his back.

    Simultaneously, dozens of Nightshadow Elves emerged from the darkness all around the Holy Hall, with unsheathed weapons, ready to fight to their death.

    They were the Nightshadow Elves. Created by the darkness that embraced them when they were at their lowest, feeding onto their hurt and insecurities and fueling them with hatred.

    They had evolved from the Dark Elves and were more cunning and violent. They were desperate to snatch back their glory and would not mind sacrificing themselves to retrieve what had once been taken from them; their spot in the rows of the Elven, at the top!

    **

    Time passed in a blur for Nial because he focused his mind on reading through one of the many books he had visualized in his mind.

    It was one of the moreplex books, which was why he took his time slowlyprehending everything.

    ''The connection between Origin crystals, Mana, and runic constetions, how intriguing¡­'' Nial thought when he got to know various new things. All of them interested him a lot and he couldn''t help but feel a bit sad when his trip through space ended rapidly.

    He emerged in the middle of the Forest of Life and deactivated all his runic armaments. Afterward, he unleashed his range of perception and the passive augmentation of [Mana Sense] to perceive the entire Forest of Life.

    Many things had changed, more Elves lived in the Forest of Life by now, and the Forest of Life had expanded and flourished to a great degree.

    The mana it could release was much more than before and the Forest''s vigor felt much stronger as well but Nial was not impressed by that anymore.

    There was no way that the Forest of Life couldpare to the highly intense vigor and the high quality and quantity of the purest mana Nial had ever sensed.

    ''It''s obvious why we need so much longer to create Origin rings than the Elves,'' Nial thought lightly, shaking his head before he disappeared from his location.

    The Forest of Life opened a path especially for Nial, and he was not the slightest bit obstructed wherever he went. Even if the Forest of Life didn''t know that Nial had procured the augmented Dryad Princess'' tear, it could sense that Nial had been epted by Yggdrasil and the Fairy Queen.

    This was a big change from before and the Forest of Life submitted itself to Nial without resistance. Nial was not sure what was going on but he was d that he could pass through therge forest so quickly.

    He first went to his wooden hut to change his clothes. He couldn''t sense Miranda, Mathias, or his parents right now but he was not too worried.

    After he changed into a new set of clothes, Nial shot in the direction of the newly constructed shelter. It was the biggest shelter mankind had ever worked on since the first dungeon portals had manifested, and that was only possible because humans were more confident in surviving.

    The shelter was not in a well-protected area, but it was openly visible to everyone. This was supposed to be dangerous if there weren''t any powerful Prometheus Originals, or Prometheus Elves, who could help out if something troublesome were to happen.

    However, the chances that something bad would happen had decreased drastically during thest few months. The human Originals had grown much stronger, and were capable of conquering more powerful dungeons than before and by joining their forces with the Elven, it was even possible to create forces that could eradicate the biggest threats all over the other shelters.

    There had always been certain beasts that had been extremely hard to kill, even for Prometheus humans, and it was only now that they gained the necessary strength to defeat them.

    The humans within the other shelters were thankful for the help they received but they were a bit worried. All the talented and strong Originals left their side to be close to the Forest of Life and its high mana density.

    This was only obvious to elerate bing stronger, but it was troublesome for the normal citizens, who were worried about the protection of their city.

    Fortunately, certain groups had emerged out of the shadows and were finally able to show off their might after all the powerful groups had chosen to focus on the development of the shelters next to the Forest of Life.

    Some of the other shelters were now solely protected by smaller groups, who received status and power from citizens because they protected them.

    Nial found this to be quite interesting when he heard many Originals gossiping in low voices inside the new shelter. The construction progressed rapidly because numerous Originals were helping out, and Nial made his way to one particr piece ofnd; hisnd.

    Hisnd was much bigger than Nial had expected. It was located near the central district of the new, huge shelter, where more than three billion residents ought to live in the future.

    A huge mansion had been constructed on the plot ofnd he owned, which was evenrger than Miranda''s mansion in Liondra. Additionally, an even bigger workshop where runic armaments were constructed had been set up.

    Currently, nobody was in the workshop that covered more than half of Nial''snd, and he averted his attention to the house.

    Entering the mansion his parents seemed to have bought, Nial smiled brightly as he entered the room where all the people he had visualized before were in.

    "Hey guys, I''m back!"

 Chapter 348 Powerhouse Sabrina

    Nial was greeted heartily by his parents.

    Maline, his mother, rushed to him and hugged him tightly for several minutes, without intending to let go of him. Nial felt that his mother''s grip was too strong but he hugged her back nheless.

    His father, Miles, gave him a thumbs up once his mother let go of him. He didn''t say much but it was already enough to visualize his father for Nial to understand that Miles looked at him lovingly.

    He didn''t want to embarrass his son by acting overly worried or overprotective of his son. After all, Nial was already much stronger than his parents and there was nothing they could do, even if they wished to be of any help to their children.

    However, Nial didn''t really care about any of that. He went over to his father and gave him a tight hug.

    By now, Nial was even taller than his father, reaching a height of around 1.85 meters, and his physique was also much better than ever.

    His body was overflowing with vigor and the outlines of his tightlypressed muscles could be seen through the clothes he wore.

    After he released his father from the bear hug, Nial raised his head to look in the direction behind his parents.

    Miranda, Mathias, Kirlia Maverick, Hana¡­and his sister, Sabrina, were standing there.

    "Looks like you won''t shame your brother with your appearance anymore, little monster!" Nial teased his sister cruelly.

    Sabrina''s joyful expression changed drastically in an instant. She began to fume in anger as she stomped in his direction.

    Her body released extremely pure and altered mana naturally, clearly outlining her body as if she was trying to show off her figure and appearance to Nial. Sabrina was still under the impression that Nial was merely able to outline others with his mana if they shrouded their body with it.

    "You!! I look better than you, just for your information!" Sabrina said arrogantly, flipping her hair backward.

    Nial just smiled at her reaction before he pulled her in a big hug as well.

    "You worked hard, good job!" He praised his sister, clearly sensing that Sabrina had reached the 4th Superior Mirae rank.

    He was still not sure what kind of Legacy Sabrina went through but by now he could clearly tell why Sabrina had been bedridden for all these years.

    ''A special constitution caused her to demand tremendous amounts of pure mana¡­'' He used Damian''s memories to find out the answer to Sabrina''s earlier situation.

    The Heaven''s Gates organization was always on the lookout for terminally ill children, who showed signs of having simr conditions as Sabrina before they kidnapped them.

    Afterward, the organization would attempt to help them resolve their issues, awakening their special ability, constitution, or other traits they possessed.

    Their sess rate, however, seemed to be quite low, otherwise, Hana and Sabrina wouldn''t be amongst the only veiled disciples in the rows of the Heaven''s Gates organization.

    Nial didn''t really bother about that as he was grateful that Sabrina was still alive. That was also why he didn''t feel likeying waste to the Heaven''s Gates organization for the time being, at least, until they would do something stupid enough to enrage him.

    "Of course, I worked hard! I''m even stronger than you after binding my third ability!" Sabrina wriggled herself out of Nial''s embrace before she smiled slyly.

    "You think you''re stronger than I am? Little monster, don''t underestimate your big brother so much!" Nial returned a sneaky smile that caused a fiery fire in Sabrina''s eyes.

    "Let''s fight then! I will show you how powerful I am!!" Sabrina eximed, grabbing Nial''s hand before she stormed onto the floor, pulling Nial with her.

    He had no idea where his sister was dragging him to, but Nial let her feel as if she had an upper hand on him for a while.

    Meanwhile, the remaining people in the room looked at each other with amused smiles as two voices could be heard by everyone.

    "I couldn''t even greet him¡­" Hanained quietly, looking at the siblings in jealousy.

    "His sister is really obsessive¡­I want to greet my friend as well!" Mathias grumbled, without thinking about lowering his volume.

    Everyone in the room smiled when they heard the two young Originalsin. Miranda cleared her throat after a minute, and she took the first step forward.

    "How about we watch their spar? I don''t think that something bad will happen but I''m curious to know how strong Nial has be," She stated with a gentle smile on her face. By now, she could already tell that Nial was stronger than herself.

    This shocked her a lot, but Miranda could clearly tell that Nial''s strength exceeded hers, just by sensing his presence at that.

    At first, she didn''t want to believe it because it was not supposed to be so easy for anyone to be stronger than her. After all, she had worked for years to achieve her strength and reputation.

    However, Nial shattered her worldview more than once since they''d gotten to know each other. By now, Miranda should have grown ustomed to him surpassing her expectations and shouldn''t be surprised about anything Nial did, which was easier said than actually done.

    It was not as if it should be possible for a youngling to keep shattering an experienced person''s worldview over and over again, after all¡­

    Weirdly enough, Kirlia was the first to agree to Miranda''s proposal. She quickly followed Sabrina, clearly aware of where she had to go.

    Kirlia Maverick knew the Orin family''s mansion like the back of her hand! The sight of the formerly aloof woman rushing through the huge mansion was hrious and even her disciple began to smile, forgetting about herints.

    "Shall we go as well then?" Maline asked while she was beaming with pride over her two children who had grown stronger than her wildest dreams already. The others nodded and they made their way toward the underground arena that had been constructed for training purposes and spars.<sub> </sub>

    The mostpetent Elven Runiciers, who had been able to emerge on Jundra had engraved various protective runic constetions to make sure that nobody at the Mirae rank would be able to destroy the underground arena.

    It would cause lots of trouble if the underground arena were to copse, especially since the mansion would copse and Nial''s entirend would turn into ruins then!

    Nial and Sabrina were already armed with their weapons, ready to start their spar.

    Nial''s most-used weapon was still the Dragonme Spear. It was not a runic armament he had created but it was still a great Tier-1 spear.

    He had learned to forge a better spear by now, but the Dragonme Spear had yet to reach its limit, and wielding a Tier-2 weapon was not something Nial should be doing with his strength.

    Once he created his eight or ninth Ancient Origin ring, he could consider wielding a Lowest Tier-2 runic weapon to make use of it, but it was better to wait until he advanced to the Prometheus rank.

    ''Sabrina has two more abilities and a powerful constitution. I shouldn''t underestimate her!'' Nial reminded himself as he took a deep breath.

    Sabrina had put on a set of highly flexible metal gloves. She inserted her mana into them while activating her abilities without hesitation.

    Mana circted through her entire body, enhancing her strength drastically. Most manapressed around her gloves and her eyes that had begun to glow brightly.

    Sabrina stared intently at him, using her 3rd ability [Mana Eye] to detect even the smallest hint of Nial''s movements. Her 2nd ability [Mana Compression], allowed her to increase the strength of her [Mana Eye] even further, scanning everything that happened in her sight.

    As if that was not enough, her first ability, [Mana Increase], which passively increased the mana she could absorb, allowed her constitution to increase her strength even further.

    Her first ability was also the reason why Sabrina had been able to ''cure'' her disease, why she could drastically improve her constitution and for her to be able to create Superior Origin rings.

    Nial perceived numerous things about Sabrina and he digested all the information at once.

    ''Her physical strength is higher than mine!'' He concluded almost instantaneously while swirling the Dragonme spear around his body.

    He ignited zing mes at the tip of the spear while continuing to observe his sister with [Mana Sense]. Nial could clearly visualize that his sister''s eyes moved rapidly, taking note of every single movement he did as a tremendous amount of mana circted through them.

    It caused him to be more vignt as he created a few needles of darkness around his body to shoot them toward Sabrina.

    The darkness needles had been created in a moment and they sted in Sabrina''s direction with a shocking velocity.

    Mathias'' eyes could barely follow the trajectory of the darkness needles, while Miles and Maline could hardly see a ck sh shooting straight toward their dear daughter.

    Maline closed her eyes instinctively, only to open them when the sound of metal colliding with the darkness needles reached her ears.

    She looked at the spar ahead and saw the afterimages of her daughter. Sabrina moved rapidly, destroyed the darkness needles with ease, and pushed forward.

    Her gray gloves were shrouded in a semi-translucent membrane. Mana was beingpressed around her gloves and with every punch, she released some of thepressed mana, creating tiny shockwaves.

    With her strength and the precise use of [Mana Compression], she was able to create long-range attacks that used the wind pressure her punches created.

    Through the wind pressure, thepressed mana was sted forward, destroying several darkness needles in an instant.

    Through this, Sabrina quickly reached Nial''s side. She released dozens of punches within seconds, which Nial was trying hard to block using the Dragonme spear defensively.

    Sabrina was faster and she could see every single motion he did. By predicting his movements beforehand, Sabrina should have easily been able tond numerous punches on Nial''s body instead of his Dragonme spear''s thin shaft.

    However, oddly enough, it didn''t matter how hard Sabrina was trying to win against Nial, it looked like he always dodged her at thest moment, blocking her attacks by a hair''s breadth.

    Nial was giving his all to block Sabrina''s attacks. He had never fought against someone, who could predict his opponents'' attacks as she could.

    Sabrina''s means to predict his attacks and motions was by using her [Mana Eye] to read his body''s subtle motions urately.

    She was trying hard to overwhelm him and Nial acknowledged that with all his heart.

    But that didn''t mean he would allow her to win easily while fighting against him.

    He would never allow his sister to win a spar against him, not under normal circumstances, at least.

    Thus, Nial was giving his best while unleashing his senses to sense even the slightest change in his proximity.

    The movement of the wind, the lingering fragrance around him, the vibrations caused by Sabrina''s steps, and the other noises she created were more than enough to determine what she was doing.

    However, adding his precise range of perception, it was even possible for Nial to determine where she would attack, and how she changed her trajectory to adjust her attack to hit Nial''s body instead of the Dragonme spear.

    And this was more than enough for him to move at thest moment, blocking all of her attacks.

 Chapter 349 Adjusting

    "Is he toying with her?" Mathias asked all of a sudden, looking at the spar ahead of him.

    It felt a bit weird for Mathias to see Nial fighting like this because his friend never really bothered about defending.

    Since the start of the spar, more than ten minutes had passed, and Nial was still blocking Sabrina''s attack instead ofnding one himself.

    He was pushed back asionally before he turned in another direction whenever they were about to reach the border of the arena.

    Sabrina was fighting with all her might trying tond a hit but that seemed to be impossible.

    The only issue Nial had to ovee seemed to be the fact that the shaft of the Dragonme spear was not able to endure many more hits.

    The thin shaft showed thin cobweb-like cracks that spread through the areas of the shaft that had been hit by her the most.

    Mathias was a bit sad to see that the Dragonme Spear was about to break, which was why he was displeased about his friend ying around with his sister.

    "He is not really ying around," Miranda observed and both Kirlia and Hana nodded their heads.

    "Right now, he is just getting used to Sabrina''s strength, her fighting style, and her highly potent mana," Kirlia exined calmly before she added, "Sabrina''s physical strength should be much higher than Nial''s, even if he has one more Origin ring than her. Furthermore, her mana is purer than his as well!"

    "Sabrina had bound her Mana Eye ability and the other abilities to her mana core because of her constitution. The abilities strengthened her constitution''s special traits and the special traits augmented her abilities in return," Hana joined the conversation as well, rifying why Sabrina''s strength was so terrifying.

    However, Mathias didn''t seem to ept the three women''sments. He was pretty sure that Nial was ying around with his sister, and that was frustrating.

    "But I have to say that Nial is really strong. At his rank, I would never be able to block all of Sabrina''s attacks, even less considering that she is using the gloves with the [Rapid Release] and [Mana outburst] runic constetions engraved upon them," Kirlia acknowledged reluctantly as she kept watching the spar ahead of them.

    Nial could clearly tell that the Dragonme Spear wouldn''t survive this spar. It was sad but he had no other choice. Right now, he was not in possession of a Runic shield.

    Nial had yet to create a whole set of weapons for himself, and that was something he was a bit frustrated about.

    With runic armaments, it was possible to escape numerous tricky situations, even if his strength was lower than the opponents and dangers he faced.

    This was something Nial understood since he witnessed Finn using numerous runic armaments to fight against opponents much stronger than himself.

    His Innate ability had been unique while his usage of runic armaments was sloppy, but it was still enough for him to understand that runic armaments had to be used in a way that gave him a big advantage.

    Nial took a deep breath when he finished reading and analyzing Sabrina''s movements. Herbat style was focused on a single technique, and Nial had studied that martial art technique for thest 10 to 15 minutes.

    Now, he was ready to counterattack, which Nial did by releasing a massive amount of ck miasma with the use of the Curse [Hodur''s Heir].

    He blocked Sabrina''s sight for a short moment. This was more than enough to release his dark energy rapidly.

    Until now, Nial hadn''t attacked Sabrina even once. He had only used [Mana Sense] to perceive his sister''s movements precisely.

    That was also why Sabrina was astounded when her sight was blocked by dense ck miasma. She drove her fists in front of her to disperse the ck miasma with the wind pressure each punch created.

    However, she couldn''t find her brother, when the ck miasma dispersed. Nial seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden.

    But even before she could turn around to figure if Nial was behind her, hundreds of pitch-ck vines shot out of the arena''s ground.

    The whole arena was dyed ck and close to 300 vines created out of darkness emerged from it, tightly holding onto Sabrina''s arms, legs, head, neck, and upper body.

    For a moment, it was impossible for Sabrina to move. Her feet seemed to be sinking into the ground, while a quiet but amused voice resounded behind her as she saw the zing red tip of the Dragonme spear digging into her cheek.

    "Next time I won''t miss, little monster," Nial said,ughing lightly before he released the darkness vines.

    He retracted the dark energy inside his body, saving most of it. Nial could reuse the dark energy instantaneously if he wanted to.

    This was quite advantageous, especially since such a powerful attack barely drained him of his energy.

    ''Retracting the unused dark energy is truly a life savior!'' Nial thought with a meek smile as he visualized Sabrina''s annoyed expression.

    His smile turned even brighter at this sight and he began to dishevel his sister''s hair fondly.

    Ruffling her hair increased Sabrina''s anger about having lost so suddenly even more, but Nial seemed to bepletely oblivious to this.

    "Calm down, little monster. You don''t want to be known as a bad loser, right?" Nial asked quietly as he removed his hand from her head.

    Sabrina pressed her lips together in a thin line and she squinted her eyes, feeling the desire to punch Nial in his stomach right here and right now, but she held back.

    ''Mom will probably scold me if I punch him now...'' She could only think, ncing over at her mother. Maline was worriedly looking over to her kids, fearing that they might have injured each other.

    Fortunately, everything seemed to be fine.<sub> </sub>

    Nial stored the Dragonme Spear inside his spatial ring before he averted his attention to Mathias.

    A fiery red crystal appeared in Nial''s hand and he threw it over to his friend. Nial gave Mathias a peace sign before he averted his focus once again.

    He had bought a few gifts for his parents as well, mostly items that allowed them to increase their mana veins'' strength.

    This was one of the most important things to do in order to make sure that his parents would have a long life. As long as they were to give their best to advance their mana core''s rank, their life would never be endangered, Nial would make sure of that!

    After he handed over a few treasures, he gave Miranda a history book about various races, detailed information about the Prometheus and Deux rank, and various other facts Miranda would be curious about.

    Not only Miranda would be interested in the new information but the entire human race from Jundra would be more than eager to read that book. But Nial didn''t intend to let everyone know about it.

    He told everyone close to him what they had to know, and he shared all the necessary information while giving them the opportunity to do whatever they wanted to do.

    Nial had had enough of politics for the time being. His only goal was to be stronger and to protect what was important to him.

    To make sure that his family would be well-protected and safe, he had to make sure that the humans and Elves would be powerful.

    The artificially augmented Dryad Princess'' tear had been digested by the Forest of Life, and its effectiveness was clearly perceptible.

    Both humans and elves gained a lot from the changes in the Forest of Life. Nial could only hope that the Forest of Life would stay as exceptionally useful as it was right now because Jundra''s awakening would happen soon.

    If they could ensure that the Forest of Life remained the area with the highest mana density, they could elerate their growth to make sure that the new visitors wouldn''t be stronger than them.

    That was Nial''s n and hope!

    At this moment, Nial perceived something with his [Mana sense]. A few young men rushed inside his mansion, down the flight of stairs to reach the underground arena as quickly as possible.

    "Someone ising?" Nial said but he sounded more like he was asking if someone was expecting a visitor.

    Everyone turned toward the entrance of the underground arena, where they saw a 16-year-old young man arriving, breathing heavily.

    "A Hell Dungeon manifested inside the shelter...it is already starting to show signs of breaking out, and close to 100 beasts have emerged..." the young man said, just to realize that everyone was looking at him.

    The teenager felt a bit distressed with all the powerful beings around him but Kirlia and Miranda gave the young man a thumbs up before they told him to go.

    "We''lle in a moment," They said in unison, which caused the two women to look at each other with a weird smile.

    "A new dungeon portal is on the verge of breaking? Since when did the dungeon portals start emerging before they break out?" Nial asked in confusion, feeling that he missed out on too many seemingly minor changes when he was away.

    However, instead of answering, Sabrina began to smile brightly, and she forget about having lost the spar against Nial.

    "Perfect, let''s go!!"

    She rushed past the young man, whom she didn''t know, and was ready to leave the mansion in an instant.

    ''What the hell?! First of all, who is that guy, and second...why is a dungeon breaking out shortly after it manifested?'' Nial wondered.

    It was weird that some guy had entered his family''s mansion, known where to find them and delivered the news. However, the dungeon portal issue seemed to be even more pressing.

    Nial rushed behind Sabrina, whom he began to question.

    "Is it moremon for a unique type of dungeons to manifest? Since when? Are there more low-ranked unique dungeons as well? What is the strongest dungeon portal that manifested during thest few days?" Nial bombarded his sister with questions, but she just shrugged her shoulders.

    "How should I know? I came out of my Legacy trialst week or so. Mom wanted to spend some time with me, so I wasn''t even able to train properly!" Sabrina excused herself quickly before she began to smile lightly once again.

    Nial nodded his head in understanding. He was pretty sure that his mother would force him to stay with her for as long as possible too.

    It was not that he disliked this but it would certainly make things a little bit more inconvenient. After all, he had lots of things to do.

    Sabrina was the same. She had a lot to do but it was her disadvantage to having returned first. That way, Nial wouldn''t have to console his mother because his sister had already done so.

    It was quite advantageous, and something he was thankful for.

    Unfortunately, that didn''t mean the situation itself improved, especially since he had too many unanswered questions.

    But even if didn''t get any answers from Sabrina, Nial was able to tell her a few things about the current situation.

    ''The dungeon portals are getting wilder...seems like we have many impatient Gods breathing down our neck...''

 Chapter 350 [Underworld Plain]

    Nial''s clothes were soaked in blood as he emerged next to his sister.

    Her fists were stuck deep inside the body of a zing Direwolf, which exploded momentster.

    Sabrina had released some of herpressed mana within the dungeon beast''s body to finish it off.

    ''As expected from Sabrina. She is turning into a brutal and unstoppable monster!'' Nial thought, smiling faintly.

    He pushed past her, unsheathing the thin Elvensword from the scabbard, and executed a series of cuts and shes.

    The thin Elvensword was one of the few Tier-1 Runic weapons he had created for himself before he had left for the Runicier Tournament.

    It was far from perfect but it could store and make use of his dark energy which was why he quickly enveloped the Elvensword''s de with dark energy.

    Through this, the de turned pitch-ck, razor-sharp, and much more durable than before. There was no need for Nial to activate any additional runic constetions because the dungeon beasts around him and his sister were rather weak.

    They were only at the 4th Intermediate Mirae rank and it was no problem for the sibling duo to eradicate them.

    Until now, not too many monsters had emerged from the dungeon breakout and many Originals had been called out for help.

    Apparently, some dungeons would manifest near the Forest of Life and break out not long after, releasing a horde of beasts into the outside world. This phenomenon had begun not too long ago, and the Elves presumed that it was a consequence of the increase of the Forest''s mana and vigor.

    After the artificially augmented Dryad Princess'' tear had been used to rejuvenate and strengthen the Forest of Life, a few things changed.

    More dungeons manifested around the Forest of Life, and many of them were permanent. While this had been a problem before, it had be an opportunity for everybody to reap benefits.

    The resources they could gain from various permanent dungeons were exceptional and they helped both the human and elven races to be much stronger.

    The opinion of many humans about this change shifted gradually. They started to get more fond of dungeons, and their fear of the unknown future was slowly dispelled.

    There hadn''t been many issues in thest 15 months, which was why many civilians had ckened and grown rxed to a great degree.

    However, the Originals knew that the silence was just the calm before the storm. Everyone was preparing themselves and many were eager to fight and to use the opportunities that revealed themselves in front of them.

    Nial perceived that more than 100 Originals rushed to the outbreaking dungeon portal. All the dungeon beasts that had emerged inside the dungeon portal were swiftly taken care of, and both Sabrina and Nial reached the dungeon portal as one of the first Originals.

    Sabrina didn''t show a sign of hesitation as she rushed forward to enter the portal. Nial would have waited for someone to determine the rank of the dungeon portal but he followed her with a sigh.

    It was not as if he could let Sabrina wander alone inside the unknown dungeon!

    With his range of perception expanded as far as possible and [Mana Sense] activated, Nial perceived the area in a radius of tens of kilometers around him.

    There was almost nothing he couldn''t sense, which was why he could tell what the dungeon was in an instant.

    He frowned deeply as all his senses reaffirmed his first guess and he began to break a sweat almost immediately.

    "It''s so hot!!" Sabrina cursed as she activated her [Mana Eye] to perceive her surroundings.

    With her Mana Eye, she could easily detect swirls of mana, whether they came from dungeon beasts, nts or the surrounding environment.

    Thus, it was no problem for her to determine that they were in a unique environment, where numerous nts were able to ovee the extreme conditions of the searing heat and theck of water.

    "Are we in hell or what?!" She wondered, unsure of what exactly she was seeing.

    However, what she didn''t expect was for Nial to nod his head.

    "Well, it''s a in from the Underworld to be precise," He exined as memories of the Underworld in entered his mind.

    There were many independent realms and dimensions that were controlled by Gods. These realms were usually not directly connected to anys and they could survive on their own.

    The memories he received from the Odyssey seed didn''t tell him how these realms were sustained, let alone how they were created but that was not important right now either way.

    ''Is that a small part of the Underworld''s lowest in?'' Nial wondered, trying to make use of Damian''s memories.

    It was a relief to have Damian''s memories at times like this. He seemed to know about the Underworld in and that he clearly recalled the dungeon the siblings were currently in.

    The memories were not clear in Nial''s mind but he was pretty sure that he connected the dots correctly.

    "Let''s not waste too much time here. We don''t know if that''s only a temporary dungeon, or if we''re inside some sort of unique permanent dungeon¡­" Nial warned his sister, but Sabrina had already run off.

    She was too excited about being on an adventure with her brother and fighting powerful dungeon beasts that she rushed in the direction she liked the most.

    Nial had to run after her so as to not lose her in this unknown space, just to find her fighting some Centaur-like fire-shrouded monsters.

    ''Guardians of Hell, Hell''s Centaurs¡­We''re really in the Underworld¡­'' Nial hadn''t been so dejected to be proven correct when he perceived and visualized the Hell Centaurs.<sub> </sub>

    He let out a deep sigh but quickly joined the fight to help Sabrina.

    She was fighting with all her might, and Nial didn''t feel like interfering in her fight, at first. However, he also noticed that Sabrina didn''t even think of changing her weapons.

    With her constitution''s special traits it seemed to be harder for her to get burns as long as she could circte mana through her body.

    Unfortunately, this didn''t prevent her from getting any burns, especially with the Hell Centaur''s zing mes that could scorch through anything be it natural or man-made. They had powerful burning properties, which was why Nial jumped into the fray of a dozen Hell Centaurs.

    ''And here I thought that I would have a few days off aftering back from Yggdrasil¡­'' Nial grumbled inwardly, fully aware that he had yet to bind his second ability to his mana core.

    He had two vacancies but had only found one ability crystal he liked. Nial thought that this was more than enough, especially since it was a truly interesting ability crystal.

    Yet, from the way things were changing since he had returned from Ximatra, Nial believed that it would take a bit longer before he could finally set aside some time to bind the ability crystal.

    This frustrated him a bit, which resulted in his dark energy leaking from his body.

    He used the Elvensword with powerful and rapid thrusts. His attacks were rapid and the wounds he inflicted were lethal.

    Not even one of his attacks was missed because he began to use his dark energy together while fighting closebat.

    It was different from everything he learned with the Elementus Mylee technique and more focused on subtle yet rapid attacks to kill his opponents quickly.

    The dark energy was mostly used to shoot out vines from all over Nial''s body to restrict the movements of the Hell Centaurs and to allow Nial to create various unique movements.

    His dark energy could pull Nial in all possible directions when shot in a certain direction. Using the dark energy as a means to control the crowd around him, he and his sister ended up killing all of the dozen Hell Centaurs in no time.

    The 5th and 6th Advanced Mirae rank beasts had been taken care of within five minutes with just a small amount of his dark energy.

    Most dark energy that had been released against the Hell Centaurs either burned or it was used to maintain the shape of the ropes Nial manifested.

    Other than that, he had always received enough time to retract the dark energy that was left after attacking.

    This gave Nial the necessary energy and momentum to keep fighting.

    "Are you proficient with other weapons?" Nial asked as he followed his exhrated sister.

    Sabrina rushed through the surroundings like a blur. She plucked some of the nts she deemed to be valuable before they ended up in apletely different area of the Dungeon.

    The dungeon was much bigger than the siblings would have expected. Even after they ran a few dozen kilometers through the Underworld''s searing hot in there was no sight of an end.

    Even Nial''s fully expanded range of perception was not able to perceive the end of the dungeon.

    ''Is that really still a dungeon? If the Reign of the Underworld''s first in chose to turn the whole in in a temporary dungeon¡­that would be scary¡­'' Nial just thought, feeling an ufortable sensation crawl up his spine.

    "I can wield all kinds of weapons. If you have something with high mana conductivity, I will dly take it," Sabrina sought lightly, ignoring Nial''s weird behavior as she added as an afterthought, "But something heavy would be great. I feel like bursting some heads!"

    Nial felt chills running down his spine upon hearing the cold words of his sister but he just did as she said nheless.

    He retrieved the Runic mace with the broken [Gravitation] runic constetion in her direction.

    "You can configure the mace''s weight with [Gravitation]. Just¡­don''t overdo it¡­" Nial warned his sister, still not believing that his cute and lovely sister was actually a madwoman, a battle maniac, who loved blood and death!

    Unfortunately, Nial''s actions only helped her fuel her drive to kill. He supported his sister''s desire for blood and death by handing her the Runic mace.

    She swung the Runic mace in front of her, and activated the [Gravitation] runic constetion numerous times to test out how fast she could switch the mace''s weight and how heavy the highest gravitational force of the broken runic constetion was.

    Sabrina ran off once again after she figured out everything she wanted to know. However, she didn''t expect to find a huge, five-meter-tallva golem emerging from a riverbank that was filled withva.

    She shrieked and rushed back the moment she realized that the Lava Golem was an 8th Advanced Mirae rank monster.

    "Is that the Dungeon Boss?!" Sabrina asked while trying to brush off theva that sttered on her skin.

    She had barely been able to avoid getting serious burns and possibly her skin melting right off the bone by releasingpressed mana from all the spots she had been hit with theva drops.

    Nial visualized what his sister was doing and he could only shake his head.

    Sabrina was restless and didn''t seem to think her actions through ever since she returned from her Legacy trial.

    ''Maybe she has to rx a bit after facing the Legacy trial? It should have been quite dangerous¡­'' Nial wondered before his expression turned into one of determination.

    "It''s not the boss, but who cares? Let''s beat it into a pulp!"

 Chapter 351 Reckless Girl

    Nial''s entire body was shrouded in darkness as he rushed forward.

    He released some of his Darkness Essence as well, enveloping it to enhance the Elvensword even more than his dark energy was capable of.

    Kaeldur was not manifested because Nial didn''t see a use in allowing him to manifest. It would just drain him of the dark energy and Darkness Essence he had umted painstakingly.

    The Elvensword shot forward when Nial jumped high in the air the moment he reached the Lava Golem.

    It was extremely slow, giving Nial and Sabrina the opportunity to jump up in the air at eye-level with the dungeon beast.

    Nial locked eyes with the Golem and with a wicked smile thrust the Elvensword through the chest of the Laval Golem. It reacted by ring up the mes that shrouded its entire body.

    The mes and Lava which the Golem was made of were lurching after Nial, whose expression changed drastically.

    In response to the counterattack, Nial used up more of his dark energy to protect his body and create a defensive shell around himself.

    His thrust seemed to have been blocked rather easily, and both the dark energy and the Darkness Essence he had used to mantle the Elvensword seemed to be drained swiftly.

    Thus Nial released the dark energy in a burst to injure the Lava Golem while he retracted the Darkness Essence the moment he retracted the Elvensword.

    He felt the extreme heating off of the Elvensword and began to frown.

    ''The Elvensword is definitely not the right choice to kill this annoying beast¡­the runic solution I used is not highly resistant to heat and mes. It will burn and destroy the runic constetions if I prolong the fight with the Lava Golem!'' Nial concluded, his expression turning sour.

    The Elvensword would melt moments after the runic constetions would get destroyed. This was quite frustrating, especially since Nial knew that he hadn''t thought of engraving even e a single runic armament with highly fire-resistant runic solutions yet.

    The materials he used were also quitemonly found and had a rtively low melting point. Lava was more than hot enough to melt them in a moment.

    Nial frowned because the Lava Golem seemed to be more problematic than he had expected.

    However, when he saw what his little sister was doing, Nial realized that they wouldn''t have to fight much longer before the Lava Golem would die.

    Sabrina released a huge amount ofpressed mana through the Runic Mace, which began to glow brightly as the [Gravitation] runic constetion was used to its limit.

    Smashing the Runic Mace downward, Sabrina rammed it hard into the Lava Golem''s head.

    The Lava Golem staggered backward and swayed dangerously while Sabrina maintained an iron grip on the runic Mace and pushed it further down as the ball of the mace tore through its head, sinking down before getting stuck in the Lava Golem''s chest.

    Nial was astonished when he visualized the situation in front of him and grew concerned when he saw the excited smile on her face.

    ''She is about to do something stupid!'' He could tell at once. Instinctively, he unleashed Kaeldur. He shrouded Nial''s body at once as he shot forward.

    He jumped upward, and reached out for Sabrina, the little sister, who had released all the mana she hadpressed within her.

    [Mana Compression] was fully activated and released through the Mace. Sabrina had forcefully overclocked the broken runic constetion [Gravitation].

    This ought to be impossible, with the materials that had been used to forge the weapon and the runic solution used to engrave the runic constetion. But somehow it happened.

    Thousands of tiny cracks formed on the now melting Mace, and Nial barely reached Sabrina, who instinctively let go of the Mace.

    She smiled brightly at her doing, while Nial could only use all his dark energy to supply Kaeldur with it.

    Both Nial and Kaeldur had be one, but they had different mana vessels nheless. With the dark energy, Nial had instinctively transferred to Kaeldur, huge wings of darkness sprouted from their back.

    They shrouded Sabrina tightly, protecting her from the destruction her actions were bound to cause.

    Overclocking the broken runic constetion caused the Mace to get heavier and heavier. Simultaneously, the Mace''s material was unable to hold the pressure from all the weight and heat at the same time.

    It burst open and exploded, causing a devastating shockwave to fling Nial and his sister through the air.

    Nial didn''t even think of opening his wings. His back ached heavily and he could tell that some of the Lava Golem''s core essence, which was the hottest part of the beast, had sttered on him.

    He grit his teeth and silently cursed his sister for fighting so recklessly.

    ''If you don''t know what your weapon does when you use too much pure mana, think before you act!!'' Nial shouted inwardly just before they smashed into the ground.

    He embraced his sister tightly, protecting her while Kaeldur''s wings had to endure most of the impact.

    They rolled over the searing hotva spread on the ground, only for Nial to p his wings when he sensed that they were rolling in the direction of theva riverbank.

    Nial had never flown through the air before, which made it extremely difficult for Nial to control himself and find bnce when not on solid ground.

    It was even more difficult because of his momentum but to avoid getting drowned inva, Nial gave his best.

    In the end, it took him quite some effort to halt in the air before he descended to the ground.

    "I never knew that you could fly as well!" Sabrina said before a yful "Ouch!" followed suit.

    Nial lightly tapped her head as he sat down on the ground.<sub> </sub>

    "I didn''t either," He simply said truthfully. He never even knew that Kaeldur had wings. This was news to him just like it was surprising for Sabrina.

    "Why did you have to overclock the [Gravitation] runic constetion? You understand that this could have killed you, right?" Nial asked in anger.

    Sabrina was still in awe as she looked at Nial''s appearance. He looked like a Devil from various fairy tales, which excited her.

    However, she could only try to hide her excitement as she understood how angry Nial was at her.

    "Well, I didn''t expect your runic armament to be so weak¡­I trusted you, brother!" Sabrina replied with puppy eyes. Nial''s lips twitched and he felt like smacking Sabrina really hard. Maybe that would help her be more rational.

    However, hearing her call him brother, calmed Nial, which was exactly what Sabrina intended to do.

    "Brother, I will be more careful next time¡­or you should just create a much much much better runic armament for me. A set of customized weapons would be great¡­." Sabrina mumbled quietly, which caused Nial''s lips to twitch once again.

    He wanted to say something but Nial knew that he would just regret it afterward.

    His sister was not the type of person he could handle. She was just too¡­unique in her own ways.

    Nial nodded his head, and retracted the remaining Darkness Essence and Dark energy after he made sure that nova was left on his body before he tapped on Sabrina''s head once again.

    "If you provide me with the necessary materials, I can create whatever runic armament you want," He offered while ruffling her hair.

    Sabrina tried to defend against him but she stopped when she noticed that her brother had gone extremely pale.

    His mana fluctuations were weak and he looked exhausted. Sabrina''s excitement was reced with worry and guilt.

    However, before she could say anything, her gaze darted to the Lava Golem''s Lava Essence that was not yet destroyed.

    Its mana core was located within the Lava Essence and it would be able to regenerate as long as the core was still intact.

    With that in mind, Sabrina shot in the direction of the Lava Golem''s mana core. A huge fist of mana manifested around her hand and she pounced out, smashing the Mana core into smithereens.

    Nial could only faintly perceive thepressed mana around Sabrina''s hand and that she hadunched it like a rocket.

    The impact created a huge hole in the searing hot red stone ground, which caused Nial to swallow his saliva.

    "She is really powerful now¡­ That''s great!" Nial was happy that his sister had such a high strength, but her reckless behavior worried him a lot.

    ''I will have to surpass my limits to make her a set of armor and weapons that can bring the best out of her¡­that way, nothing she encounters can harm this little monster!'' He concluded in his mind, clenching his fist.

    But before he would be able to create a set of runic armaments for his sister, he would have to learn more about specific runic constetions, and Sabrina would have to bring him the necessary materials.

    ''I should create a few runic armaments with elemental resistance spells as well,'' Nial recalled, feeling sad that so much dark energy had burned to protect him from turning into a mass of molten human flesh and bones.

    It was only fortunate that the Darkness Essence was not damaged. Regenerating Darkness Essence was a lengthy task, something Nial wanted to avoid if possible.

    Rather, he would love to umte more Darkness Essence, as much as possible.

    Now that Sabrina had killed the Lava Golem, she collected the Lava Essence to sell itter. The Lava Essence could be altered and used in the forging process of various metals.

    It was a great fuel, and Sabrina knew that.

    She came back to Nial, just to see that he had several dangerous-looking burns and angry scars on his back.

    Sabrina bit the inside of her cheek in guilt as she quickly approached him.

    "Let''s go back home¡­you need some rest. You just returned from Ximatra, after all!" She said hurriedly while pulling him outside.

    Nial was d when they left the Underworld in dungeon. A cool wave of air hit them the moment they stepped outside, a stark difference from the boiling temperature instantaneously.

    However, Sabrina didn''t care about that. She dragged Nial to one of the many infirmaries in the shelter to make sure that her brother wouldn''t get an infection or permanent damage from the injury.

    The Medics surveyed his injuries as the pain was slowly starting to bother Nial after the adrenaline rush had worn off. Luckily, Nial''s body seemed to be overflowing with energy and he was already healing but the Medics felt that something was odd.

    "We can heal him, but if he has some other issues, he should visit the Elves¡­" The oldest Medic said carefully, fully aware of Nial''s identity.

    Sabrina nodded her head and looked at Nial in worry.

    "Why didn''t you say that you have other problems?! I would have never gone into the dungeon with you!" Sabrina was upset but Nial just brushed off her concern.

    "I don''t have an issue, I wouldn''t call it such¡­" Nial gave her a short answer before he got up from the infirmary''s bed.

    He knew his condition much better than anyone else.

    However, that didn''t make things better because he was currently facing a simple condition.

    "And what is your problem then?!"

 Chapter 352 Hating Himself

    "And what is your problem then?!" Sabrina asked with worry in her eyes but sadly didn''t receive an answer from Nial at that time.

    Her enthusiasm died down the moment she realized that her brother got injured because of her reckless behavior.

    Sabrina had been overjoyed to have some fun with her brother. However, that didn''t mean she had wanted him to get injured.

    It had been more than a decade since they had been able to y with each other, and they had hardly seen each other in thest three years.

    In fact, when they met shortly before her Legacy trial began, Sabrina had been too baffled to do anything. She had hardly been able to understand that her weak elder brother had been able to overthrow the Heaven''s Gates organization, kidnap their parents, and force them to meet up with her.

    Sabrina knew how powerful the Heaven''s Gates organization was and that it was not easy for anyone to order them around as Nial had done.

    She had worked hard in the Legacy trial to pass it with all her might in order to make her brother proud.

    Yet, when Sabrina emerged from the Legacy portal, she heard that Nial had left the. This came as a severe blow to the young, 19-year-old woman.

    After spending two weeks with her parents, Sabrina is finally reunited with her brother. She had desired to show off her strength and to demonstrate that Nial was not the strongest one in their group. In a way, her reckless behavior had stemmed from her childhood memories to goof around with him just like old times though now she repented her actions.

    Unfortunately, she had been defeated in their spar because of a minor mistake on her part though Sabrina''s pride wasn''t hurt through this.

    Instead, she was astounded to notice how powerful Nial had be all by himself. She started to look at her brother as a role model, and someone she wanted to get acknowledged.

    Nial was well-known all over the eight shelters, the Forest of Life, and the newly built shelter. He was liked by the Elves, was powerful, had the necessary talent to be a powerful Runicier and he didn''t abuse his powers.

    Sabrina wanted her brother to see that she was also powerful and that there was no need for him to worry about her.

    However, in the end, she ended up making Nial worry and injure himself.

    This was something that hounded her for several days.

    Meanwhile, Nial let go of her mischief and spent his time with his precious family and friends. Mathias and his father, who had moved to the new shelter recently, were temporarily living with his family as well. Hana had moved in with Sabrina two weeks before to make sure that they would spar with each other every now and then.

    They studied together, which made things a lot easier for both girls, who never really had a great childhood. While battling a terminal illness that worsened with the progression of their age, it was hardly possible for the girls to have a fun childhood.

    Thus, it was great when both Kirlia and Kristine Maverick allowed them to stay in the Orin household as long as they progressed quickly.

    The sisters would continue to teach their disciples and as long as their progression wasn''t getting hampered, they were given more freedom.

    This was a great motivational factor, which the Maverick sisters had realized in astonishment.

    Meanwhile, Miranda stayed over for a few days as well. She was very interested in everything that had happened in Yggdrasil and on Ximatra. His family and friends were very curious about everything he had experienced and Nial often spent hours reciting the tales without leaving out a lot.

    It was impossible to avoid mentioning the mysterious murders that happened during the U21 Runicier Tournament. Everyone was worried when they heard about it and they looked at the pale and weak-looking Nial in concern.

    Nial''s condition had nothing to do with the mysterious murders, which was something he exined quite simply when he was asked about his condition by everyone in his circle of friends.

    "To put it simply, I face a condition of Mana and Life force deprivation. I have no idea if there is a specific term for this but the Life force and both mana density and purity on the unawakened Jundra is probably one hundredth, or possibly much less than it had been in Yggdrasil," Nial had said at that time.

    His parents didn''t understand what that meant but everyone else understood his point to some extent.

    They were not sure what he meant by lifeforce because that was not something they could sense. And even if they could sense the lifeforce it wouldn''t affect them.

    In Nial''s case, the Ankh was constantly protesting, demanding more lifeforce than the Forest of Life provided.

    If that were to be the only issue, Nial would have still been fine. Unfortunately, his high mana affinity noticed theck of mana in and around the Forest of Life as well.

    An unawakened was simply notparable to Yggdrasil''s enormous high mana density and purity, whether there was the Forest of Life or not.

    In the end, the deprivation of Lifeforce and high mana density and purity Nial faced was like snatching away a drug addict''s drugs all of a sudden.

    Nial thought it was ridiculous to feel this way but he knew that he had to go through it and then everything would be fine.

    Everyone was bound to face an even worse situation than Nial the moment Jundra would awaken its mana.

    The sudden increase in the surrounding mana would lure and addict many humans, while numerous people would awaken their origin.

    Feeling power for the first time in their life, many would either cause trouble, or start venturing in dungeons, where they would either wreak havoc, die, or ascend as powerful beings.<sub> </sub>

    It was only a matter of time before many power-addicted humans would appear. They would do everything in their might to be stronger and cause trouble if not controlled properly.

    Nial wanted to make use of this opportunity but that would require quite some preparatory work and lots of funds.

    He was ready to work hard to achieve what he wanted to achieve. However, before that, it was necessary for him to get back to his peak condition.

    Several days had already passed since he returned home and his condition was slowly improving. A few more days and he would be back to his peak.

    By then, he could finally bind the second ability to his mana core. It was time for this to happen and he was excited about it.

    Meanwhile, Mathias was still working hard in the workshop. He was trying to work on both bing a better Runicier and creating more Origin rings to advance in the ranks.

    Since Nial had given him the [Fire affinity (Comprehension)] crystal, Mathias was working even harder. Not only had Nial supported him with the fire affinity crystal but it was also Nial, who had helped Mathias to get his hands on the Water affinity crystal when the Gier auction had been held before.

    It was only obvious that Mathias wanted to be helpful to his friend in return. Unfortunately, this was not easy. Nial was like a bullet train, while Mathias could only look at the trail of dust he left behind.

    Nial was way too fast for Mathias topete with. This was frustrating, even more so since Mathias had always thought he would be somewhat special.

    He was someone who had reincarnated. His reincarnation ought to have some reason, and Mathias had always thought that it was to protect the human race from extinction. He always saw himself as the beacon of hope for humanity.

    However, Nial seemed to be able to do that all by himself. His actions were more than enough to reassure that mankind would continue to exist, and that they would never get annihted.

    Mathias was jealous of his friend; the very friend who always helped him whenever he could. This feeling made Mathias sick of himself. He knew that he shouldn''t feel like this, that he was being ungrateful and jealous, making him the worst friend one could possibly be.

    But even then, it was not as if he could change how he felt, and that was what he truly despised about himself.

    ''I need to be stronger, whether it is to be of use for Nial, or to be stronger than him¡­'' Mathias thought in determination.

    His conviction had changed a bit but his fire had ignited and he had gotten more motivated.

    Meanwhile, as Mathias was trying his best to be better in various ways, his father was trying to build up a merchandise empire.

    Because he couldn''t keep his Cursed Crystal Shop open as it would conflict with his desire to build a business rtionship with the Elves, Mathias'' father had changed his profession slightly.

    He began to trade materials, runic armaments, and other ability crystals.

    His ''empire'' was still small but he was working hard to earn more and to support his son as well as possible.

    He could tell that his son had found good friends and that they were striving to be the strongest humans on Jundra. This was not an easy feat but Mathias'' father was certain that his son and his friends were capable of it.

    Without much dy, he made several deals with Miranda and various teams of Originals. The Elves were also more favorable to him because he was directly connected to Mathias, Miranda, and Nial in some ways.

    Nial dly allowed Mathias'' father to use his name as long as it was not for something bad.

    There were many things he wanted to focus on once he recuperated from his weakened state, but the most important seemed to be to find out something in particr.

    "Why are there so many different Elven races all of a sudden?" Nial wondered aloud when he returned to the Forest of Life.

    He wanted to speak to Master Crevian about something but ended up feeling bbergasted.

    If Nial hadn''t been able to perceive the shock of the other ordinary Elves, he would have thought that everything was nned and that the Royal Princess was hiding something from him. But that was not the case!

    It was quite obvious how shocked the Elves were to see Nightshadow Elves, Dark Elves, cier Elves, Vulca Elves, and many other Elves amidst them.

    They had used thest remnants of energy from the Harvest of Life event to enter Jundra and the Forest of Life.

    Their mana core rank was quite high as well. Most of the Elves were at the Prometheus rank by now, and they didn''t seem that old.

    But this was quite obvious, after all, Elves would usually reach the Prometheus rank before the age of 16. This was usually not a problem for them and Nial could understand this very well.

    Yggdrasil and various other ces provided more than enough mana to allow anyone with the necessary determination and talent to be extremely powerful at a rapid pace!

    However, that was not of any importance right now.

    It was far more important to figure out why the hell other Elves appeared from the Empress'' portal all of a sudden, especially Elves that were not supposed to be connected to the main race anymore!

 Chapter 353 Nightshadow Elf

    When Nial entered the Forest of Life, his condition had already been resolved.

    He was overflowing with power and he was ready to rumble once he had a nice talk with Master Crevian.

    There were a few things he wanted to discuss with Master Crevian, and possibly also the Moonlight Elf Valvian, which included the rough date for Jundra''s awakening.

    Nial was pretty sure that either Master Crevian or Valvian knew roughly when Jundra''sary mana awakening would be.

    Thus, he was on his way to the center of the Forest of Life when he noticed that there was some trouble ahead.

    A few young Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves talked down to the ordinary Elves, who were just doing their work.

    Nightshadow Elves wereparable to High Elves in terms of talent and they considered themselves nobles.

    Thus, the ordinary Elves were nothing but peasants in their view. This was something one could clearly see based on the way the Nightshadow Elves treated the Elves, annoying the hell out of Nial.

    There was no time to stir trouble in their own rows. Instead, everyone should focus on bing as strong as possible.

    "What is going on here?" Nial asked one of the Elves standing next to him. They were shivering in fright, which was an exaggerated reaction in his opinion. But he might as well be mistaken.

    "I..I''m not sure¡­Dark Elves usually steer clear of Yggdrasil¡­and Nightshadow Elves are forbidden from entering Yggdrasil altogether. Their innate powers are destructive, after all!" The Elf just exined, not noticing that he spoke to Nial.

    Nial nodded his head while looking at the young Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves.

    His own power had destructive properties as well, which meant that he wouldn''t usually be epted by the Elves, let alone Yggdrasil. Only the Ankh''s existence changed this for him, making him a unique existence.

    He may have destructive properties but the love of both nature and mana was still present for him.

    After he had been linked with Yggdrasil for quite a while, Nial could understand why the Nightshadow Elves were not allowed in Yggdrasil.

    However, they must have entered the Sacred tree in order to pass through the Empress'' portal. That was the only way for them to enter Jundra, after all!

    Nial sensed the presence of both Valvian and Master Crevian at that moment. He disappeared from his position and emerged next to them a momentter.

    Both Elves looked at Nial with a weird grimace but Nial ignored this.

    "What is going on here?" He asked simply and straightforwardly.

    "We received a report from the Empress¡­" Valvian just said, feeling like ending his exnation at this point already. He was way too aggravated at the mere thought of handling arrogant Nightshadow Elves.

    The youngest High Elf born in thest 30ish years was the Royal Princess, and she was too powerful to enter Jundra. The restricted her from using the portal to Jundra. This was also why not a single High Elf had emerged on Jundra yet.

    On the other hand, there were a bunch of young Nightshadow Elves, which meant that the Moonlight Elf, Valvian, would have to attempt to control powerful and destructive Elves, who were considered equals to High Elves and Sacred Elves¡­

    Valvian felt like resigning from his position as Moonlight Elf of the Forest of Life, but that was easier said than done.

    He had made a vow and was bound to it.

    "The Empress was ''requested'' to join hands with the other Elven races. By now, you should have already realized that a few more Elven races exist, including the exiled Elves. Not many Elves live in or around Yggdrasil anymore," Master Crevian suddenly said, exining the given situation to Nial.

    Nial was thankful for that and he waited for Master Crevian to continue speaking.

    "The situation changed now and all the Elves want to work together to build a foundation on Jundra. Of course, they only showed signs of wanting to cooperate when they realized that the Empress had found a way to stabilize a permanent portal to Jundra.

    Unfortunately, it is not like everyone wants to work under the Empress as her loyal subjects. On the contrary, a few new Gods have ascended in the rows of the other Elven races, and they have ''worked'' together to ''convince'' the Empress that it was in everyone''s best interests to open the portal to Jundra for all Elven races. Master Crevian sighed deeply when he was near the end of his exnation as he added the most obvious reason.

    "Being in a weakened state after she shattered her Divinity intentionally, the Empress is not as powerful as earlier anymore. Newly ascended Gods may not be on par with her but it looks like the other Elven races concealed all the Gods that ascended in thest circle of 100,000 years¡­"

    Nial listened intently and he understood the situation pretty well.

    ''So simply put, the Empress was forced to obey the other Elven race, and her power was undermined. And now we have some other Elven races here, Elves who are bound to cause lots of trouble¡­'' Nial scratched the back of his head in annoyance.

    The situation was definitely not likable but it was not as if they could change it now.

    "In that case, we have to show the other Elven races who''s the strongest, am I right?" He asked out loud, licking his lip as he sensed the darkness and shadow energy that leaked from the Nightshadow Elves.

    "Well¡­basically that would be correct¡­but we''re not strong enough to handle the Nightshadow Elves¡­there is a reason for them to be considered Master Assassins of the Shadow realm¡­" Valvian said grudgingly, acknowledging that the Nightshadow Elves were stronger than ordinary Elves.

    p They were a unique race that may have the Elven origin but their behavior and desires were a lot different. One could consider them to be a purebat race that had no rtion to the preservation of Life and Nature.<sub> </sub></anda>

    Even if the other Elves considered this problematic, Nial was not of that opinion. He had a big advantage over them, and that was something he wanted to test out.

    "Will it be enough if I use it myself? Probably not¡­I''m still at a lower rank than them¡­" Nial suddenly mumbled.

    There were a few things he was interested in, such as the actual number of Gods all over the Universe, and if the idea that formed in his mind was going to work out.

    He disappeared from the side of the two Elves, who realized with a frown where Nial was going

    "Do you think he will cause more trouble than the Nightshadow Elves?" Valvian suddenly asked, looking like he had aged tremendously.

    "Nial? Definitely! He is troublesome but also talented and has his heart in the right ce," Master Crevian said, revealing his honest opinion about the blind youth.

    The young Original might not have won the U21 Runicier tournament and Nial might have hidden a few bits of specific information about what had happened in the Golden City, but the informant of the Elves had been able to make up for all the missing and interesting pieces of information about what actually happened during the Runicier tournament and much more.

    ''He can already create Tier-2 Runic armaments, and he created two additional Unique Origin rings within the three months he stayed in Yggdrasil,'' Master Crevian thought with a small smile on his face.

    He imagined how strong Nial would have been if he had spent his youth in Yggdrasil and couldn''t help but shudder at that thought.

    It was already terrifying enough to imagine that Nial had awoken his origin only three years ago and that he had gotten to know runic armaments and runic constetions merely a year ago.

    Master Crevian didn''t want to get a heart attack imagining what kind of horrifying existence Nial would be if he would spend his entire life nurtured by a powerful race.

    And just like Master Crevian and Valvian expected, Nial was ready to stir some trouble.

    He didn''t think a lot about the situation and followed his instincts.

    Within seconds, he appeared behind the Elves, who had been pushed over by the Nightshadow Elves. The Nightshadow Elves seemed to be around the age of Js, the troublesome High Elven Brat, which was why he knew how to handle them.

    They were at the Prometheus rank and were likely to possess powerful Martial art techniques and even stronger abilities but Nial ignored their entire existence as he helped the other Elves get up from the ground.

    "Are you guys fine?" He asked calmly as he felt several pairs of eyes boring into his back.

    "W-we are fine¡­but l-leave quickly, otherwise, you will be their target!" One of the female Elves hurriedly said. She was even prepared to jump in between to give Nial a second or two to run away.

    He decided to help them despite knowing that it was dangerous. This was naive and foolish at his rank but it showed that he had good intentions.

    The opinion of many Elves had changed considerably. They didn''t think of humans only as a servant-like race, whom they could order around whenever they wanted to.

    This was an old prejudice that should have ceased to exist ages ago, which many Elves reciprocated.

    Nial and many other humans showed the Elves that the prejudices were not necessarily true, let alone good. Thus, they ended up enjoying their life in the Forest of Life, where they worked hard and improved side by side with humans.

    Yet, the appearance of the Nightshadow Elves changed everything once again.

    It was obvious what was going to happen and the Elves of the Forest of Life didn''t like it. They began to fear their future inside the Forest of Life, a rather disturbing one where no High Elf could protect them.

    "Yoo, human trash," A cold voice speaking elvish resounded from behind Nial, "What the hell do you think you''re doing here?"

    Nial turned around slowly, smiling lightly as he shrugged his shoulders.

    "No idea, what does it look like?" He answered, giving the Nightshadow Elves his entire attention.

    The Elves behind him rushed away, trying to seek help from outside.

    However, it was only now that they realized how everyone was already looking at the situation that unfolded in front of them.

    "You!!! Do you even know whom you are talking to?!" Another young Nightshadow Elf asked, stepping forward while releasing shadow energy from his body.

    The Nightshadow Elves were able to control shadows precisely, which was why their energy was called Shadow energy even though it was only altered mana.

    However, the degree of alteration reached a state where it could be considered new energy, just like the name suggested.

    ''It''s weaker than my dark energy, let alone the Darkness Essence. However, their rank is higher, which will make up for what the energycks¡­'' Nial thought before he shrugged inwardly.

    ''Whatever, let''s have some fun annoying a few brats! They''re different from the High Elf brat¡­ and they''re in my territory now!''

 Chapter 354 Ancient Devilization

    Nial had the direct support of the Forest of Life and he controlled dark energy. He was in possession of the Odyssey seed and Darkness Essence, which gave him numerous advantages over the Nightshadow Elves.

    However, he didn''t underestimate the brats even for one second. He smiled slyly in their direction, which enraged them in an instant.

    They only knew how to order around and to kill. Never in their life had they been looked down upon, and that was exactly what was just happening.

    The Nightshadow Elves in front of Nial looked straight in his lifeless, milky white eyes. This pair of lifeless eyes seemed to look down at them, or so it felt to the Nightshadow Elves.

    Thus, they enveloped their bodies in Shadow energy before they expanded the shadows around them.

    They disappeared into the shadows and used one of their special racial traits called Shadow Walking.

    It was possible for the Nightshadow Elves to use their shadow energy to merge with the shadows around them and reappear in another shadow.

    The longer the distance they covered while traveling through the shadows, the more shadow energy had to be used at once.

    Nial could clearly perceive what was going on and he made use of it. Therge trees of the Forest of Life provided good coverage and had numerous shadows ofrge and densely packed trees.

    There were not many spots without shadows and the gaps were also minimal. Nial released his dark energy through the ground to cover the shadows with his dark energy.

    This allowed him to perceive the Nightshadow Elves the moment they emerged from the shadows.

    Nial didn''t move even a single inch even after he had expanded his dark energy through the surrounding area.

    Hepressed his Darkness Essence and cursed silently because it was highly likely that his entire Darkness Essence would be used up today.

    Nial fed Kaeldur with his Darkness Essence and the being was ready to emerge from his body. However, instead of allowing Kaledur to emerge outside, Nial forced Kaeldur to envelop his body within him.

    The darkness armor that was supposed to cover Nial''s skin was now created on top of his flesh. This was something Nial had never done before but it was a necessity to make sure that the Nightshadow Elves would fear him, and not Kaeldur.

    The temperature around Nial dropped drastically, his milky white eyes turned pitch-ck and his skin showed signs of turning ck like the abyss.

    Even Nial''s silver hair seemed to be affected. Some silver strands turned ck and Nial''s height increased as his body erged a bit.

    ws grew out of the tip of his fingers and sharp fangs slunk out of his mouth.

    ''Seems like everything has worked out as expected,'' Nial thought, causing a bright smile to form on his face. The thought of losing all the Darkness Essence had disappeared with the pain he felt as two horns grew out of his forehead.

    He was fusing with Kaeldur, which was the same, yet also different from turning one with Kaeldur. Usually, Kaeldur would cover his body and act as if they were one. However, that was not a proper fusion.

    It was just that Kaeldur acted as it had fused with Nial, and that it moved ording to his will. Nial knew this very well, and he could also tell that it was not possible for him to use Kaledur properly yet.

    And that was the reason he actually fused with Kaeldur, allowing him to manifest below his skin!

    ''Ancient Devilization sounds like a good name for this technique,'' Nial thought though he knew that this wasn''t a technique per se. He was also aware that Kaeldur was not actually a Devil.

    In fact, Nial had yet to figure out what exactly Kaledur was. He could only tell that it was a living being and that it had been sealed within the Odyssey seed.

    The Odyssey seed was a fragment of the God of Darkness, which meant that Kaeldur was basically a part of Damian as well.

    Nial was not sure if he should just start searching for the other Fragments of the God of Darkness because that would, most likely, help him to be stronger and discover more of the Darkness God''s power.

    This was something he was interested in but it would take lots of time; time Nial didn''t really have to conduct a focussed andrge-scale search.

    When the time was ripe, things might change but until then there were more pressing matters to attend to.

    Nial''s appearance had changed drastically and so had the atmosphere around him. The air was frigid and the sounds of howling ghosts swept through the surrounding area.

    Chills spread down the spines of everyone, who was too close to Nial and it was hard for them to even move.

    This was especially the case for the Nightshadow Elves, who felt the incapability to circte shadow energy through their body.

    The moment they released shadow energy outside their body, Nial''s dark energy shot out to devour the shadow energy.

    A fight of energy was initiated and Nial turned in the direction of the three Nightshadow Elves, who were the closest to him. He shot forward, formed a huge w of darkness that swiped through the three Nightshadow Elves.

    They were not injured in the slightest but all their released shadow energy was devoured.

    The young Nightshadow Elves lost control of their body for a moment because they had nned to disappear into the shadows.

    However, shadow traveling didn''t seem to work right at this moment. Theynded on the ground, just for hundreds of darkness vines to shoot out of the ground as well.

    Nial controlled everything precisely. He transformed his huge darkness w into a dome of darkness that covered his body and that of the three young Nightshadow Elves.

    Nobody from outside was able to see what was going on inside, and they could only hear the screams of the young Elves.

    This was enough for everyone to freeze in their tracks, the horrifying screams of the young children ringing through the air. The Elves hated the Nightshadow Elves for everything they had done in the past, and the brats of the Nightshadow Elves were arrogant and off-putting.

    Yet, even then, the screams of the Nightshadow Elves were loud enough to rattle the Elven''s heart to the core. They began to wonder if the young Nightshadow Elves woulde out alive and their heart began to gleam in worry.

    If Nial was already powerful enough to kill three powerful beings at the Prometheus rank, and he acted however he pleased whenever he wanted to, it was not unlikely that he would soon be the Elven''s opponent.<sub> </sub>

    This thought was frightening and it caused even Master Crevian and Valvian to watch the events that were about to happen with a keen eye.

    Nial waspletely unbothered about the various unstable mana sources from outside the dome of darkness.

    His entire focus was on the Nightshadow Elves ahead of him and a bright smile formed on his face.

    "Are you guys done with your drama? I just deprived you of your shadow energy. There is no need to act like this!" Nial calmly said as he inserted his dark energy inside the Nightshadow Elves that were lying on the ground.

    After they had been deprived of the power they used the most often, the young Nightshadow Elves in front of him were basically left unarmed and defenseless. They couldn''t even retrieve the weapons from their spatial rings because it would require them to use shadow energy.

    Nial licked his lips when he felt the shadow energy of the three Prometheus rank Nightshadow Elves running through his dark energy.

    It was destroyed and the useful properties were converted into Darkness Essence.

    Nial couldn''t create much Darkness Essence with the given shadow energy but it was more than enough to satisfy him.

    "W-what¡­did you d-do t-ttto us???" One of the young Nightshadow Elves stuttered in shock, barely able to look up to meet his gaze.

    Being a race that relied a lot on their mana, and altered energies, the most horrifying that could happen to them was the loss of their energy.

    It was a different thing if they would have used their whole energy while fighting. However, they hadn''t even noticed that their energy had been already drained from their bodies, leaving them weak and a bit exhausted.

    Nial''s smile turned even brighter when he heard the fear in the struggling Nightshadow Elf''s voice. They were much weaker than ordinary Prometheus Originals in terms of physical strength alone.

    Elves possessed more mana and other advantages but physical strength was certainly not one of them.

    And to make things worse, Nial used their own energy against them after he devoured it easily. This caused great mental damage, preventing the three Nightshadow Elves from using the physical strength they had to free themselves from the darkness vines that were coiled all around their body.

    They had been pulled to the ground and dark energy covered everything except their heads. They were being tossed around by Nial like deadweights, but he just smiled at their sorry state.

    "To think that the Essence of Darkness can actually devour your shadow energy. That is quite funny, isn''t it?" He asked all of a sudden, bending down before he whispered quietly,

    "Don''t you think that this means my energy is superior to yours? The great Nightshadow Elves, the race that stands on equal footing with the High Elves and the Sacred Elves cannot even fight against a mere human at the 5th Mirae rank because their energy is too shallow¡­hahaha" Nialughed mockingly.

    He felt that the situation was ridiculous and he enjoyed it thoroughly. It was not even the fact that they were at the same rank, but Nial ought to be much weaker than the three Nightshadow Elves.

    However, he had clearly felt that it would be possible to overwhelm the three elven brats by making use of the Ancient Devilization.

    His dark energy was much stronger than ever before because all of it circted through his body at one point.

    It moved through his body, and thus through Kaeldur, who was summoned with the use of Nial''s Essence of Darkness.

    The three young Nightshadow Elves could hardly move but one of them, the only one, who hadn''t said anything until now seemed to desire to say something.

    That particr Nightshadow Elf hadn''t even participated in the bullying of the ordinary Elves and he had just quietly followed the orders he had received.

    She was not even the weakest in the group of three but followed themands of one of them.

    ''Hierarchical struggle? Maybe she was born in amoner family, and the other two are nobles?'' Nial thought before he ignored this idea. It was not really important.

    "E-Essence¡­D-a¡­Dar¡­" The little girl faced the most severe impact of being drained of all her shadow energy.

    Nial decided to have some mercy on her by removing some of the darkness vines from her body. This was enough for the young brat to breathe a bit before she weakly asked in elvish,

    "Essence of Darkness¡­"

    Nial tilted his head while trying to figure out what the young brat wanted from him but that was not exactly easy.

    "Yeah, I use the Essence of Darkness, what about it?" He impatiently replied in elvish, while trying to make the young brat speak more.

    But what Nial hadn''t expected was to see all the Nightshadow Elves suddenly frozen in ce at his revtion. They forced themselves to move their heads to stare at Nial in shock and disbelief.

    ''What is going on?''

    **

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 Chapter 355 Control

    Nial was now standing in front of the three Nightshadow Elves, whom he had pulled upward. They were now standing on their own two feet and were staring at Nial with confused expressions.

    He had terminated the Ancient Devilization, which left him in an exhausted state.

    However, that was not a problem because it looked like he was able to change his rtionship with the Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves

    This was just an idea he had in mind but it was quite interesting, especially since he had figured that the Nightshadow Elves'' behavior had changed ever since they found out that he was in possession of the Essence of Darkness.

    Nial had yet to figure out what exactly made the Elves change their opinion but they were extremely silent when Nial released the bits of Darkness Essence he was left with inside his Odyssey seed.

    He manifested it in his palm and showed it straight to the young Nightshadow Elves, who were staring at the liquid-like Essence in terror and fascination.

    Their eyes moved from Nial to the Essence of Darkness then back to Nial once again.

    They seemed to be contemting something and it had nothing to do with ill intentions. Nial was quite surprised when he figured that the Nightshadow Elves had shed their earlier ill intentions against him.

    On the contrary, it seemed like they looked up to Nial, even though they were at a higher rank than him.

    This was quite surprising but it was definitely not something bad.

    "What exactly is Darkness Essence, and why are you guys reacting like this?" Nial asked cluelessly.

    He only found out that his Odyssey seed could create Darkness Essence shortly before he fought Sylvian. The God of Darkness'' memories about the Darkness Essence had yet to be transferred to him, which was why he was rather clueless about everything.

    "Y-you¡­don''t know what the Essence of Darkness is, yet, you can control it?"

    "I can also create it. What''s the problem with that? Isn''t it just a more potent type of energy than dark energy?" Nial asked, manifesting dark energy in his other palm.

    The Nightshadow Elves were once again astonished. It looked like Nial waspletely ignorant of what he was able to do, and the two brats, who had been overly arrogant and confident until now, slumped to the ground.

    Their legs didn''t want to bear their weight anymore. The two could only stare at Nial in disbelief.

    "Just a more potent type of energy than dark energy¡­" One of them mumbled, shaking his head every now and then.

    Nial tried to extract more information out of the two but it looked like the circuits in their brain were melting. Thus, he turned his attention to the young female Nightshadow Elf.

    She was shivering and looked ufortable. Nial ended up removing the darkness vines around all three Nightshadow Elves so as to relieve them of their fear and worry.

    The situation had changed and it looked like he could get his hands on quite some information by asking the brats about Dark energy and the Darkness Essence instead of threatening them.

    When she was released from the shackles, the female Nightshadow Elf calmed down a bit. She could tell that she was not being sacrificed, which was reassuring.

    "Can you tell me more about the Essence of Darkness? I just know that dark energy is basically a purer and highly altered version of mana and that it is extremely easy for me to control it," Nial asked with a smile on his face.

    Nial didn''t feel any hostility toward the Nightshadow Elves anymore. This was mostly because it felt like the Nightshadow Elves had been subdued by him, which was a bit weird.

    However, it was not a bad feeling!

    "The Essence of Darkness¡­is something only the royalty of the Nightshadow Elves are born with, and only a few of them at that. It is said that they''re even higher beings than Nightshadow Elves but that might only be legends.

    I''ve never seen someone with the Essence of Darkness¡­until now¡­" The female Nightshadow Elf said, slowlying back to her senses.

    She was awed by Nial and didn''t dare to leave out any information. For the following ten minutes, the girl continued to speak and Nial listened carefully.

    "So to put it simply, the Essence of Darkness is the highest darkness attributed to energy that exists, and only a few lifeforms can create it. It can be nourished but not be umted, under normal circumstances," Nial summarized before he added the most important point.

    "And being one of the strongest darkness-attributed energies, every being with the Essence of Darkness can devour energies with darkness properties, such as shadow energy as long as the Essence of Darkness is not of a much lower rank than the energy they want to devour.

    That being said, I could easily defeat you guys!"

    Nial had a few more things he wanted to say but it was not really necessary. The two Nightshadow Elven boys seemed to go rigid as they sat on the ground in a submissive manner.

    Their kneecaps were digging into the ground and it felt like they were about to bow toward him at any moment.<sub> </sub>

    This reaffirmed Nial''s guess; the fact that Nightshadow Elves looked at beings with the Essence of Darkness as their Ancestors.

    ''If I remember correctly, Nightshadow Elves were born out of desperation for more strength. They had been Dark Elves first¡­maybe that has to do with the Essence of Darkness as well? If their first ancestor was a Dark Elf that was born with the Essence of Darkness, turning him into a being higher than the Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves, all the descendants without an Essence of Darkness might have turned out to be Nightshadow Elves¡­'' Nial theorized.

    He was not really sure if his theory was correct but he believed that parts of it might be close to the truth.

    This was quite interesting, especially since it looked like the Essence of Darkness had great influence over the Nightshadow Elves.

    "Stand up!" Nial suddenly ordered, so as to test something. He didn''t use even a single bit of his dark energy, let alone the Essence of Darkness that was tightly stored in his Odyssey seed while giving out orders.

    And as expected, the three Nightshadow Elves jumped back on their feet as quickly as they could. They didn''t dare to look into his lifeless eyes, which caused Nial''s smile to turn even brighter.

    ''Can I order them around now that they know I have the Essence of Darkness?'' Nial began to wonder as he got an idea.

    "Unseal your spatial rings and hand them over to me!" He ordered in an eerily cold voice and the Nightshadow Elves nodded their heads meekly.

    There was reluctance in his movements but they did as told.

    Nial only essed their spatial rings when he got hold of them and nothing else. He just wanted to see if he could actually order the Nightshadow Elves around.

    After he returned the Nightshadow Elves their spatial rings, he gave them a few more orders before he finally dispelled the dome of darkness that had muffled their voices.

    The crowd of Elves around the dome of darkness had increased drastically in the time Nial had used to defeat the Nightshadow Elves and to talk to them.

    They were currently void of even a single trace of shadow energy, which Nial had done intentionally to demonstrate that he was not to be taken lightly.

    Another offense against him or disobeying any of themands he had given to them would result in severe punishment. Under normal circumstances, this was not something a human could say to them lightheartedly.

    In fact, not even other Nightshadow Elves could say that easily because bullying was something perfectly normal and even eptable in the rows of the Nightshadow Elves.

    It was their tradition to create a ranking of the most powerful Nightshadow Elves of the newest generation. They made it quite clear that the strongest would be nourished the most and that they would gain the most opportunities to grow stronger than anyone else, while the weakest would be given the fewest resources and opportunities.

    This tradition of the Nightshadow Elves was considered to support the ultimate survival of the fittest. After all, only the strong could survive, while the weak had to obey, or die.

    Nial hadn''t heard a lot about the Nightshadow Elves but the few books about the different Elven races he had read until now were more than enough to give him a rough estimation of what he had to do in order to turn the Nightshadow Elves into his subordinates!

    ''Being the strongest should be enough. It will take time for more Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves to pass through the Elven Empress'' Divinity portal because it requires too much energy¡­.only when Jundra awakens that will be possible.

    However, the numbers won''t be high because all Elven races will demand a piece of the cake, which is Jundra¡­I have to use this opportunity!'' Nial was getting greedy because the feeling of subduing another race swept through his entire being, making him feel euphoric.

    It was a nice feeling and the Odyssey seed reacted to this strongly. The Odyssey seed''s productivity was directly influenced by Nial''s emotions and greed seemed to influence it the most.

    After all, it was one of the seven sins!

    There were many things Nial didn''t even realize changed in himself, but one thing was for sure; he was getting stronger and the feeling of having powerful subjects under him made him feel ecstatic!

    When he removed the dome of darkness, Nial realized that he still had lots of dark energy reserves. Even the Darkness Essence he had used in exchange for summoning Kaeldur had been replenished by absorbing the three Nightshadow Elven brat''s shadow energy.

    This was pretty advantageous because it allowed him to look full of energy as he and the three young Nightshadow Elves were seen by everyone.

    Nial perceived many other Elven races apart from the Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves but they didn''t interest him in the slightest.

    For now, the biggest troublemaker had been the Nightshadow Elves. This troublesome pack had been turned upside down and Nial had shown them their ce. Nial enjoyed this a lot, even more so when he saw that the young Nightshadow Elves were truly obeying hismands.

    They approached the Dark Elves, and spoke to them in a heavy dialect the Dark Elves were known for. The Dark Elves'' eyes widened as they looked over to Nial, who seemed eerily calm.

    They sensed that the Nightshadow Elves didn''t have even an ounce of shadow energy left and they recalled Nial''s transformation and his dark energy.

    All these facts were more than enough to cause various changes in the expression of the Elves, which was why Nial began to smile even brighter.

    "Damian, you probably never expected your Essence of Darkness to be capable of controlling the Nightshadow Elves¡­" He mumbled,ughing lightly as he perceived everything that happened around him.

 Chapter 356 Hell Will Break Loose

    Nial was pretty excited at the thought of ordering around the Nightshadow Elves, and the results were even better than expected.

    The three young Nightshadow Elves were hurriedly scurrying like mice while trying their best to follow every singlemand he had given them as quickly and perfectly as possible.

    This attracted lots of attention, especially when the Nightshadow Elves ordered the Dark Elves to obey Nial''smand as well.

    They kneeled down in front of him on a knee and swore allegiance to Nial.

    Nial hadn''t really expected this to happen, and neither had all the Elves around them.

    The Forest of Life had be home to not only the Elves but also new Elves and many sub-races, who had taken temporary residence in the Forest of Life for a few days.

    Until now, it looked like the Forest of Life was under the sole authority of the Moonlight Elf Valvian and that he was losing control of his small ''territory''. After all, the Nightshadow Elven brats had undermined Valvian''s authority as much as they could.

    But now things had changed. The Nightshadow Elves listened to Nial''smand and they didn''t even think about continuing to create trouble for anyone.

    Instead, they looked at Nial with glistening eyes that hinted at reverence as they followed hismands.

    "What the hell is going on?" Moonlight Elf Valvian asked in confusion. He felt as if he had aged even more than before and looked at Master Crevian, trying to seek help.

    "Did you expect that to happen when you said that Nial is troublesome? Was that really what you thought would happen? He asked, not sounding pleased at all.

    Master Crevian didn''t say anything for a while. He tried to wrap his head around the events that happened in front of him, but that was easier said than done.

    "That was not¡­really¡­what I expected to happen¡­" Master Crevian finally acknowledged.

    He had been certain that Nial would use his dark energy to defeat the three brats of the Nightshadow Elven race. Master Crevian knew that Nial''s dark energy had be a lot stronger than before and he had sensed that it was more powerful than the Nightshadow Elves'' shadow energy.

    His gut feeling told him that there was no need for him to be worried about Prometheus ranked, young Nightshadow Elves as long as Nial was there.

    However, that didn''t mean he thought something like this would happen.

    "A human subdued Nightshadow Elves, just like that¡­" Valvian mumbled in disbelief, totally ignoring the fact that all the Nightshadow Elves that had emerged on Jundra were between ten to thirteen years old.

    They didn''t have muchbat experience, and their willpower and mentality had yet to be fully developed. Thus, it was easier for Nial to subdue them.

    When Nial was sure that the Nightshadow Elves would pay heed to hismand and that they would ensure that the Dark Elves followed suit as well, he chose to leave their side.

    He returned to Master Crevian''s side while ignoring everyone''s gazes.

    Nial only thought about satiating the curiosity of Master Crevian and Valvian.

    "Don''t look at me like this. I''m just as astonished that they actually listen to me as much as you guys," Nial dered to stop them from bombarding him with more questions. Sadly, he failed.

    "You have some Essence of Darkness in your body? How the hell are you even alive?" Valvian blurted out when Nial finished his exnation.

    Nial looked confused, especially since he had never had any trouble with his Darkness Essence. In fact, it had been quite helpful to suppress the bits of Cursed Divine energy he devoured from Sylvian.

    "The Essence of Darkness is extremely dangerous to all living beings. In fact, only someone with a unique constitution should be able to endure it. All beings rted to darkness are said to be much stronger just by being close to beings who possess the Essence of Darkness.

    The remnants of the Essence of Darkness ought to make them stronger, which is probably why the Nightshadow Elves are eager to follow you," Master Crevian started to exin when he realized that Nial hadn''t changed.

    The Old Elf feared that Nial was different now that he had faced so many different situations and achieved so much. Fortunately, that was not the case and Nial was still the same person as before. At least his head was not filled with pride and ego, and this was everything that counted!

    "The Elven was told that all Elves with the Essence of Darkness are Monarchs, or future Reigns because only the Royal bloodline of the Nightshadow Elven bears offspring with the Essence of Darkness.

    Thus, now that there is a human with the Essence of Darkness, the young Nightshadow Elves feel like they had found a new Monarch at their new ce," Master Crevian said, sounding both worried and careful.

    He didn''t want to say the wrong thing, let alone make it look like Nial was at fault. The young Original had merely tried to help out the Elven, which the Nightshadow Elves had bullied.

    This was a good deed, and Master Crevian didn''t want to make it seem as if it was something wrong. After all, the aftermath of his intervention might be different than anything Nial could guess at this moment.

    However, Nial was not stupid, even if he was not actually the smartest either.<sub> </sub>

    "Basically, you''re trying to warn me that it could be troublesome when more Nightshadow Elvese over, or even someone from Royalty. They could try to stir trouble for me for ''deceiving'' them, and for controlling the Nightshadow Elves without having the actual ''right'' to do so?" He concluded with the subtle clues Master Crevian had revealed.

    The Old Elf nodded his head faintly but he quickly tried to reassure Nial so as to not make him feel bogged down.

    "But until anyone of royal blood will be able to emerge on Jundra a few years will have to pass. Thest royal Nightshadow Elf was born hundreds of years ago and they have long since surpassed the Deux rank.

    Until then, you won''t have much trouble controlling the Nightshadow Elves as long as you don''t overdo it¡­" Master Crevian tried to gently warn Nial to not make him think too highly of himself just because he could control the Nighthshadow Elves.

    Nial understood that the Old Elf meant it well, which was why he took his advice to heart. Controlling the Nightshadow Elves was basically equal to being able to control every single Elf in the Forest of Life.

    After all, they were the only truly ''noble'' and ''pure'' Elven race that was currently on Jundra. Until the would finally awaken itsary mana core it would stay like that, which was more than enough time for Nial to do whatever he wanted, and to gain a huge advantage over everyone else.

    However, Nial didn''t really need control over everyone. He just wanted the Elves to live peacefully with each other and to get his hands on various resources.

    The Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves were the perfect troupe of versatilebatants Nial needed to conquer all kinds of dungeons.

    He could hireborers for cheap money but to keep them protected and to conquer high-ranked dungeons with ease was not something many Originals could do.

    And those Originals were usually expensive, which meant that it was not worth it for Nial to hire them. It would result in a big loss to him which was something Nial couldn''t ept.

    He was not greedy for money but he was in dire need of lots of money for various things, especially to experiment freely to hone his skills as a Runicier.

    The Heaven''s Gates organization was still in his debt but Nial was pretty sure that their enormous debt wouldn''t be enough to let him do whatever he intended to do.

    After all, his ns were getting bigger and bigger!

    Nial was keeping his ns a secret for now because he needed much more money to achieve them, and the debt of the Heaven''s Gates organization was something he would have to use to umte more money and experience as a Runicier.

    Simultaneously, there were certain things he had to do, including binding his second ability to his mana core and searching for a third ability.

    He might as well umte more mana and keep advancing in the ranks as long as he would have bound five ability crystals to his mana core before advancing to the Deux rank.

    This was the only pre-requirement he had to fulfill to make sure that he wouldn''tck anything in his quest to be stronger.

    After Valvian and Master Crevian were certain that Nial didn''t intend to do anything bad, they calmed down a bit.

    It was still a bit of a shocking fact that Nial was in possession of the Essence of Darkness despite not having the required constitution.

    ? Not a single being with the constitution to possess the Essence of Darkness could be loved by nature. That had been their absolute undeniable truth until the fateful day Nial came along and changed their worldview instinctively.

    The Essence of Darkness was one of the most destructive energies that existed, and it was bound to destroy the nature around the beings who possessed it.

    Thus, the most shocking for the Moonlight Elf and Master Crevian was definitely the fact that Nial was still loved by nature. In fact, since Nial had spent months inside Yggdrasil, nature had a much deeper connection to the young Original.

    Master Crevian heard that the Fairy Queen had given him the blessing of her race, which could only happen because Yggdrasil had been willing to link to Nial and to lead him to the Fairy Queen''s hidden ce!

    It was a heavy pill for Master Crevian to swallow when he figured that Nial was even more unique than he had believed until now.

    They were always surprised when being around Nial, and whether the reason for this was good or not didn''t matter.

    When Nial and the two Elves finished talking, they went their own ways.

    Only Valvian and Master Crevian were left behind, who seemed to have been thrown into a tormenting storm of emotions.

    "What do you think about Nial?" Valvain asked for the first time since he had gotten to know the young Original. At first, he was just thankful for Nial but the more he developed, the more frightening the young human became.

    "He is nice, he loves his family and he truly cares about the humans on Jundra. Nial even helped us to get the Dryad Princess'' tear, knowing that it would be extremely dangerous¡­" Master Crevian started to speak, just for Valvian to interrupt, "But..?"

    "But¡­I''m pretty sure that if someone enrages him, hell will break loose¡­"

 Chapter 357 Crimson Moon

    Now that the problem with the Nightshadow Elves had been resolved, it was time for Nial to bind his second ability to his mana core.

    In fact, [Hodur''s Heir] was a Curse and not exactly an ability, which Nial could activate whenever he needed it.

    Its effects were different from an ability. This basically meant that Nial would find out for the first time how it was to bind an ability to his mana core.

    ''I should be a bit more careful than I was when binding [Hodur''s Heir].'' Nial thought, recalling the time he nearly killed Be in her mother''s apartmentplex.

    Nial smiled wryly while thinking about Be. He wondered how she was doing and what exactly she was doing.

    After the teleportation circles had been improved by the Elven, it wouldn''t be a problem to meet up with Be, and both Nial and Mathias had thought that their friend would definitely head to the Forest of Life to be stronger.

    But it looked like they were wrong because Be was nowhere to be seen. It was almost as if she had vanished into thin air.

    Nial could only shake his head when thinking about Be. Their separation had been a bit disappointing because Nial was pretty sure that the memories of Be''s Innate ability had slowly been transferred to her, some of it, at least.

    He could tell that some problems would ur in the future, which was another reason for him to feel the need to be much stronger. It was necessary for him to be strong enough to defeat Be without the need to kill her.

    She was his friend and it was not as if he wanted to kill her, even if her Innate ability might attempt to manipte her with memories that were directly rted to Dark energy and the ''dangers'' posed by every single wielder in possession of it.

    That was also why Nial ended up in his house while searching for Miranda.

    When he found Hana and Sabrina training underground, he approached them.

    "Have you two seen Miranda?" Nial asked as sensed the two girls walking toward him.

    Seeing Hana that way, Nial recalled something, which caused him to ess his spatial ring for a moment.

    "West saw her two days ago. Why are you looking for her?" Sabrina said while looking at what Nial was doing.

    He pulled a veil out of his spatial ring that was barelyrge enough to cover the lower part of her face and handed it over to Hana.

    "I need her to pay attention to the surroundings when I bind my second ability to my mana core. I have to go outside the shelter, and a bit further into the wilderness to make sure that I won''t identally kill someone in the binding process," Nial spoke as if his words made sense but Sabrina could only eye him weirdly.

    Simultaneously, she looked at the veil that attracted her attention. There was something weird about the face-veil, and it intrigued her.

    "First of all, what is this veil, and second of all, why the hell would you need to leave the shelter to bind your second ability? Just bind the ability here and it will be done¡­where is the problem?" Sabrina was confused and Nial could understand her in that regard.

    Usually, it was not necessary to leave the shelter to bind an ability to one''s mana core. However, Nial knew that the ability crystal he was about to bind reacted to both [Hodur''s Heir] and the Odyssey seed.

    Their reactions were pretty strong and that was not something Nial could simply ignore.

    "I just need to leave the shelter. It shouldn''t really matter to you, or am I wrong?" He asked, not showing any mercy. There was no need for him to exin his situation to his sister.

    "If you want, you cane and see for yourself what it looks like when I bind an ability to my mana core¡­if that''s not too boring for you," Nial smirked, aggravating Sabrina with that.

    She was ready to throw fists, only to realize that Hana, who was standing next to her, had begun to move.

    Her friend removed her veil, shocking Sabrina. Sabrina was just about to jump forward to block Nial from doing anything stupid as Hana''s Charm was released in an explosive manner.

    However, Nial didn''t even move a single inch. He merely frowned when his head flicked in her direction as his lifeless eyes stared toward her in an unfocused manner.

    Instinctively, Sabrina felt like Nial was giving her a scrutinizing look, telling her off.

    "Don''t underestimate your brother so much. I''m not affected by Hana''s constitution," Nial exined and Sabrina nodded her head before her eyes widened in shock.

    "So¡­my brother is the guy you were talking about?!" Sabrina eximed loudly, staring at the otherworldly beauty of Hana as she removed her cloak and veil for the first time in forever.

    She took the veil Nial had given her and put it on without hesitation.

    And as if a miracle happened, Hana''s Charm was concealed, and restricted to her body.

    "As long as you wear the veil, you should be fine. Even if you actively try to use your Charm to bewitch someone, it will still work. That could be quite helpful against monsters," Nial exined, ignoring his sister''sments as he calmly added,

    "It may not be perfect and others may be drawn to you but it would definitely not be as problematic as before. Furthermore, you are beautiful the way you are, so it should be normal for people to stare at you, whether you have this constitution or not."

    Nial was blunt with his appraisal. He knew that Hana was even more beautiful than his sister, and many people were of the belief that Sabrina was already a beauty.

    He had no idea that Hana''s eyes were a radiant purple or that her hair was ck in color but what he was able to tell was that she had big and sincere eyes, that she had very feminine and appealing facial features, that her hair was silky, reaching down to her upper back and that she had a great figure.

    It was not necessary for him to go further into detail with his visualization to tell that she had wless skin and that he couldn''t detect anything amiss with her body to tell that she was beautiful.

    This was Nial''s simple conclusion, which caused Sabrina to look at his brother in astonishment, while Hana blushed.

    "Nial?! Don''t you be a gigolo now!!" Sabrina tried to tease him, only for Nial to wave off his hand.

    He turned his attention to Hana, ignoring the annoying little girl, who was also his sister.

    "Do you feelfortable? It''s a Tier-3 runic armament, and shouldn''t tear even if someone at the Prometheus rank were to try tugging at it to take it off," Nial asked to make sure that he hadn''t made a mistake.<sub> </sub>

    However, when he heard Hana''s quite sobbing followed by a soft thud indicating that she had slumped to the ground, Nial felt weird.

    ''Did I do something wrong?!'' He wondered, visualizing Hana and the tears that streamed down her cheeks.

    She was bawling like a little child. This astonished even Sabrina, who knew Hana very well after living with her for thest three years.

    Never in these three years had Sabrina seen Hana look sad, let alone cry her eyes out.

    However, Sabrina could understand her friend very well. Hana thought that she would never be able to live with or close to other humans with her unique constitution.

    Even women were affected by her Charm. This made things quite difficult for Hana to interact with others and it was the whole reason for Hana to fear revealing the slightest bit of her skin, whether it was in front of Sabrina, or her master, Kirlia.

    Hana didn''t have it easy after awakening her Origin even though it had been worse before she had been picked up by the Heaven''s Gates organization, and Sabrina had always felt sorry for her.

    Thus, she was quite happy that her brother was able to fix her condition to a certain extent. It was not as if Nial did actually ''fix'' her constitution but he gave Sabrina a little bit more power to control it more precisely.

    Hana understood this very well and she was at a loss of words, feeling unsure of how to thank Nial. In a way, he saved her life, or so Hana believed, at least.

    Dissolving into a fit of hysterical cries, Hana was not able to stop tears from spilling out of her eyes. Nial was trying to ease her and make her stop crying and so was Sabrina but their words made things worse.

    She cried loud enough for Kirlia to appear all of a sudden. Kristine was by her sister''s side and Nial only pped his forehead in frustration.

    ''I''m fucked, aren''t I?'' He thought, d that he didn''t identally blurt that out loud.

    Kirlia unleashed her mana instinctively and she was ready to teach a lesson to the perpetrator for the sake of her cute little disciple, who looked adorable despite crying.

    Yes, she looked adorable¡­and Kirlia realized only now that something was off.

    "Since when can you control your Charm?" Kristine, who was the calmer sister, asked quietly. Kirlia first intended to ignore her sister''s words but she halted in her tracks when sheprehended their context.

    "Huh? What are you talking about¡­Kristine?" She first blurted out before realization struck her.

    With a loud gasp, Kirlia shot forward. She reached out for her little disciple and touched her bare hands without a second of hesitation.

    "I can still feel it¡­but it''s much weaker¡­Can you actually control it?! Is that why you''re crying???" Kirlia asked in excitement but Hana just shook her head.

    "Nial¡­preshent¡­" She continued to cry bitterly, not able to speak any further.

    Kirlia didn''t understand a word and she was just about to shake her disciple to make her answer properly when Sabrina intervened.

    "Hana just wanted to say that she cannot control her constitution better but that it was Nial''s present who allows her to do so. Looks like he brought something back for her from his earlier adventure in which he had left Jundra for a few months," She exined while looking at Hana''s veil that covered only half of her face.

    Sabrina tried to hide her jealousy but that was hardly possible. Only Nial''s promise that he would create a set of weapons for her prevented Sabrina from throwing a tantrum and made her smile a bit instead.

    Meanwhile, Kirlia looked at Nial, who was just smiling faintly.

    ''Just like he said before, he brought something back¡­seems like I didn''t give him enough credit yet¡­he is a good boy,'' Kirlia thought, shaking her head as she recalled how she had treated Nial before.

    "Thank you¡­I mean it!" Kirlia extended her gratitude to him by holding Nial''s hand for a few moments.

    "If you ever need help, just ask me. I will give my best to help you out!" She added, which caused Nial''s smile to turn brighter.

    "In that case, do you want to watch over me while I bind my second ability?" He asked, which caused both Kirlia and Kristine to look at him in confusion.

    "Better don''t ask him. He didn''t even exin to me why he would have to leave the shelter to bind the ability¡­" Sabrinained with a deep sigh.

    When Kristine heard this, her ears perked up, while an expression filled with curiosity appeared on her face.

    "You need to leave the shelter to bind the ability? What is it called?" She suddenly asked, just for Nial to take out the ability crystal he intended to bind to his mana core.

    "It''s called¡­Crimson Moon!"

    **

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 Chapter 358 Blood Eclipse Moon

    "Crimson Moon? That''s the name of your second ability?" Kristine asked, feeling slightly confused.

    The ability''s name didn''t really say anything and there was no way that she could figure out its actual use and effects.

    "So what does it do?" Sabrina asked, mirroring her master''s curious voice.

    Hana had stopped crying by now which was why everyone''s attention was now on Nial.

    However, Nial merely shrugged his shoulders in response.

    "I have no idea," He said truthfully.

    The four women in the underground training hall didn''t believe him but it was not as if they could extract further information out of Nial.

    Even Sabrina was not able to pierce through Nial''s iron wall of determination to keep everything a secret.

    Nobody believed that Nial was actually about to bind an ability to his mana core without having an inkling of its use.

    This was actually about to happen, which was why Nial had to make sure that nobody would sustain any injuries from the binding process.

    He had no idea what would happen, after all.

    Kristine and Kirlia were more than willing to follow Nial outside the shelter.

    They would protect him from any kind of dangers in the wilderness if someone or something were to approach them with ill intentions, to begin with.

    Meanwhile, Hana and Sabrina followed Nial and their masters out into the wilderness to watch Nial''s binding process.

    They were still pretty sure that nothing serious would happen, and the girls only followed him because Nial seemed way too confident.

    With the crimson-colored ability crystal in his hand, Nial stopped when he was roughly five kilometers from both the Forest of Life and the shelter.

    "That distance should be more than enough," He mumbled before he pulled thousands of Origin crystals out of his spatial ring.

    Nialid them out around himself while leaving a small empty spot in the center. He sat down cross-legged in the center and activated [Mana Sense] to ess every single Origin crystal at the same time.

    Simultaneously essing all Origin crystals was not easy but Nial did so without too many difficulties. He pulled a single strand of mana outside the Origin crystals before he led it straight to the crimson-colored ability crystal that began to glow.

    The name [Crimson Moon] manifested inside his mind, which was exactly what Nial required to initiate the binding process.

    He removed the ability from the crystal and led it inside his mana core, where he finally bound it to himself.

    This process was not very difficult because it required only lots of mana and a free vacancy in his mana core. With Nial''s control over mana, it was easy for him to do anything rted to mana.

    Thus, binding an ability was easy, in theory. At least, if it would end here!

    Nial''s binding process was just like that of everyone else. The only difference was that the hieroglyphs representing the ability [Crimson Moon] would have to be fully bound to his mana core before he would feel the changes, let alone the ability to activate it.

    Usually, the mana core required an hour or two before the binding process waspleted and the fusion seeded.

    But when Nial was still sitting on the ground after three hours, the four women looked at him in confusion. Nothing impressive seemed to have happened until now and they started to believe that Nial was merely being a show-off.

    "Should we just kick his butt?" Sabrina asked at one point but it was at this moment when Kristine lifted her hand.

    Sabrina turned quiet in an instant as she realized that her master was fully focused on Nial. Herser-sharp eyes were trained on Nial, making her feel jealous of her brother once again.

    The attention her master awarded her brother was much more than everything she seemed to have received, except for the day when one of the Legacy items chose her.

    Thus, Sabrina could tell that she was clearly missing something, and that irked her.

    Only then did she focus on Nial, which allowed her to see a faint bloody red hue around Nial. Strands of darkness swarmed the bloody red hue that kept expanding.

    Whenever it expanded, the bloody red hue was also retracted. It was a back-and-forth act that never seemed to end. Meanwhile, Nial''s eyes were closed and his hands clenched together.

    Sweat trickled down his temples and his back was already drenched in a cold sweat.

    It was impossible not to see that something weird was going on, but nobody was able to say anything, let alone figure out what this ''something'' actually was.

    Nial was currently trying to ept the influence both the Odyssey seed and [Hodur''s Heir] were trying to force onto the [Crimson Moon] ability that had yet to gain permission to fully fuse with Nial.

    ''Darkness Essence, go for it,'' Nial thought when he sensed that the temperature in the surrounding area had dropped considerably. It was alreadyte at night by now and he felt a cooling sensation sweeping through his body.

    This gave him the reformation he had required to allow his entire existence to influence his new ability as much as possible.

    [Crimson Moon] was activated when it was being influenced. Simultaneously, the brightly shining moon shone on Nial. The moon was what he had waited for.

    He used the bits of Essence of Darkness he possessed to activate [Crimson Moon] with it. The moonlight that shone on Nial and his surrounding changed in color and it looked like the moon turned crimson.

    The atmosphere in the surrounding turned heavy, while Nial''s strength seemed to increase exponentially.<sub> </sub>

    Darkness emerged from his body and it spiraled upward, almost as if it was trying to reach the moon that towered high above them.

    Everyone''s gaze followed the swirling darkness instinctively, and it was only at this very moment that everyone realized what was truly going on.

    "Did his ability recreate a moon of energy by devouring the moonlight?" Kristine blurted out the first thought that came to her mind. The others could only nod their heads or freeze in ce as they didn''t understand what was going on.

    They could only see that a tiny grain of a bloody red moon had begun to expand and swell to a football-sized moon. The moon that levitated hundreds of meters above them increased in size and it changed the atmosphere around them.

    Everyone felt heavier, breathing became harder, and the difficulty to circte mana through their body increased as well. Even Kristine, who was a Prometheus Original, faced difficulties, which caused her eyes to widen.

    "Is that really only his second ability crystal? Isn''t that way too powerful?!" She mumbled, feeling clearly confused because even she was not able to fullyprehend what was going on.

    The Darkness Nial''s body had instinctively released and finally reached the bloody red moon. It revolved around the moon and seeped into it, infiltrating the bloody red moon.

    When the Essence of Darkness entered the moon, its appearance changed drastically. Simultaneously, more and more moonlight was suctioned in the direction of the second moon.

    The surrounding area turned pitch-ck because all the light was drained from it. Every single speck of light was devoured by the bloody moon, nketing the area around them into nothing but pure darkness.

    The only source of light that was left behind was the bloody red hue around Nial. Swirls of darkness revolved around him while the bloody hue expanded once again.

    "Doesn''t it look like his hue bes stronger therger the bloody moon grows?" Kirlia wondered in fascination, not believing her eyes.

    Right now, Kirlia felt that Nial was superior to her in terms ofbat power. Without a shred of doubt, she could tell that Nial had grown stronger than her, which was not only frightening but downright impossible. But, it was the truth.

    She was just about to advance to the Prometheus rank with a total of 9 Advanced origin rings, and it was not supposed to be possible for anyone at the Mirae rank to reach her strength.

    Yet, the more moonlight Nial''s ability devoured the more obvious was the increase in strength he received.

    Nial''s body was overflowing with power and it was only when the bloody moon seemed to have finished changing and growing that Nial began to move once again.

    He got up from the ground swiftly and he lifted his hand, stretching it out to reach for the bloody moon.

    At first, nothing happened, just like it was supposed to be.

    However, when Nial opened his mouth to say a single word, everything seemed to change. Nature''sws didn''t seem to matter anymore and the bloody moon shot straight toward Nial.

    The moon shrunk in size before it pierced straight through Nial''s chest, and disappeared into him like air.

    And the word Nial had said was nothing but a simple order, "Come!"

    The moment the moon disappeared in Nial''s chest, his knees buckled under his weight. He was exhausted and felt freezing cold.

    But despite the exhaustion and the cold he felt, there was still a bright smile on his face.

    With the moon entering his body, the metamorphosis of his ability had finally changed. It waspleted and the transformed ability had fused with him as well.

    This was everything Nial had wished for, and it allowed him to feel extremely rxed as he activated the ability which he just bound to his body.

    [Blood Eclipse Moon]!

    The moon that had just disappeared in Nial''s chest came out of his body at his will.

    Instead of ordering it to influence the surrounding area or to devour more moonlight, Nial deprived the Blood Eclipse Moon of some of the moonlight it had absorbed.

    A darkish crimson strand of energy was pulled outside the moon that shrunk in size.

    Nial inserted the darkish crimson energy inside his body. His smile turned brighter in return as his physical strength increased drastically.

    The potency of his mana increased under the influence of the darkish crimson strand as well.

    "This will be great for the future!" Nial mumbled before he willed the moon to shatter.

    It burst open in front of everyone, releasing all the darkish crimson energy the moon had stored.

    Only a tiny grain of the moon was left behind, and that was everything Nial required to let it grow again.

    Simultaneously, he could burst open the remains of the moon as per his will using the darkish crimson energy.

    Nial yed around with them while allowing the grain-sized Blood Eclipse Moon to grow once again.

    His surroundings turned bloody red, merged with darkness and his earlier joyful smile turned into a devilish smile for all of the spectators, who had watched everything with bated breaths.

    "Yeah¡­now I get why he didn''t want to bind the ability in the shelter or the Forest of Life¡­" Sabrina mumbled quietly in understanding, while everyone else could only nod their heads.

    "I think I won''t be able to sleep tonight¡­" Hana added without realizing, just for Sabrina to chime in as well.

    "Me neither."

 Chapter 359 Guild?

    The power of the Blood Eclipse Moon ability was something that even Nial had yet to discover.

    He could only tell that the ability was both a supporting type of ability as well as an attack ability.

    Its attacks were not strong but when merged with other means of attack, it would definitely be a powerful lethal force.

    However, that was not the most important part. After all, the [Blood Eclipse Moon]''s main power was to devour moonlight and convert it into a type of energy that buffed other abilities and attacks.

    Nial could use the darkish crimson energy to merge it with his dark energy, the Essence of Darkness, and even strengthen his ck miasma.

    Simultaneously, it could enhance the strength of his body and his senses temporarily. This included his mana perception as well!

    As long as he was in possession of enough converted moonlight energy, Nial could elerate the creation process of his sixth and the following three Ancient Origin rings.

    This was quite helpful and much more than he had wished for.

    In the end, the Blood Eclipse Moon that grew the more moonlight energy it devoured also had other beneficial effects but Nial hadn''t studied them yet. The information that had flooded his mind whenpleting the binding process of the ability was also not very helpful.

    He couldn''t be sure how big of an influence the Blood Eclipse moon had when released outside his body while he was fighting.

    It might even be disadvantageous if his opponent were to destroy the Blood Eclipse Moon, including the tiny grain, that was the essence of his ability.

    If that were to be destroyed, his mana core might get damaged, or even worse his ability would get destroyed!

    This was just one of the many theories that swarmed through Nial''s mind, which was why he believed it might be better not to release the Blood Eclipse moon while fighting. Activating the ability worked without the physical manifestation of the Blood Eclipse moon just as well!

    On his way back to the shelter, Nial tested out his new ability. He used the darkish crimson moonlight to insert it in his ck miasma.

    With [Hodur''s Heir] and [Blood Eclipse Moon] activated at the same time, he was drained of some mana but the final result was pretty intense as dark miasma turned crimson.

    Sabrina and Hana were willing to be Nial''s experimental guinea pigs as they walked through the normal ck miasma before they entered the dark crimson miasma.

    They felt no big impact at first, but the moment they entered the dark crimson miasma, their heads began to spin and it was near-impossible for them to keep walking straight ahead.

    It was as if they had consumed the worst kind of drink to make them lose their bnce as it was harder for them to gather enough focus to control mana well.

    Nial was quite content with his new ability and he put his search for an ability to rest. In fact, Nial was pretty sure that his biggest struggle would be to find three more abilities that were as powerful as his Innate ability [Mana Sense] the Curse [Hodur''s Heir], and his second ability [Blood Eclipse Moon].

    This was not only difficult because his abilities were already powerful but especially tricky since he was in possession of the Odyssey seed that gave him control of dark energy, and the ability to create Essences of Darkness.

    There was also the Ankh, the Symbol of Life, that was engraved on his Odyssey seed, providing him with more mana and lifeforce, thereby healing his body faster, and allowing him to absorb more mana.

    As if that was not enough, the Fairies'' Blessing was symbiotic to the Symbol of Life, and their effects ovepped with each other, boosting one another.

    Nial advanced much faster than any other human and he could create numerous interesting and powerful runic armaments recing the need of various abilities.

    His confidence in creating various runic armaments that worked as well as the corresponding ability was the reason why Nial wanted to find abilities he couldn''t rece with runic armaments.

    Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. Thus, he would have to spend quite some time searching for new and suitable abilities in the future.

    It was only his fortune that the future was still ahead of him and that he was already extremely powerful and not in desperate need of more abilities.

    He could turn his focus to other, and more important things.

    "You do realize that buying such arge plot will be enough to write off the entire debt the Heaven''s Gates organization owes you, right?" Kristine''s voice resounded in his ear all of a sudden, forcing Nial to focus on the people around him.

    "Aren''t you going over the top? We are talking about one piece ofnd, not about an entire district¡­don''t tell me the prices ofnd have skyrocketed that much," Nial said, and he made it look like Kristine was trying to exploit him.

    She obviously knew that Nial had no idea about business deals or how to get your money''s worth. Thus, she was giving her best for her organization to free itself from the debt it owed to Nial.

    "If you keep up that act of yours, I might as well ask for hundreds of tons of ores. You can scrap them together then, while I go to the Elves and take a piece ofnd from them.

    It might even be safer if I were to ask them for somend because I can be sure that their defenses will be much better than what the shelter''s defenses will be when higher-ranked dungeons and more dungeons appear," Nial remarked bluntly.

    Everyone present knew that the Elves had far more Prometheus-ranked Originals, and with the appearance of more Elves of other sub-races, even the fact that many humans were powerful potential future ''Destroyers'' was not of much value anymore.

    This was something the Maverick sisters understood pretty well. Kristine grit her teeth and she felt like twisting his neck.

    "Then go to your fucking Elves, if you act like that!" She cursed under her breath, but her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.

    "Sis¡­" Kirlia tried to intervene, worried that the situation might escte. However, when she looked over to Nial, she could only see him grinning brightly.

    This was enough for Kirlia to abandon her n of mediating and to leave the two most frustrating people in her life alone.

    "Just do whatever you guys want¡­" She threw her hands up in the air as they entered the shelter.

    "If you give me thend I want, including all the resources written on the list, and all the permissions mentioned on the backside of the paper, the entire debt will be written off!" Nial said as he willed his mana to throw a piece of paper in Kristine''s direction.<sub> </sub>

    Intrigued, Kirlia began to read through the paper as well, just to see a batch of resources that were quite easy to procure.

    Both sisters looked at Nial for a few seconds, wondering why he was suddenly being so nice. However, they didn''t dare to say anything because they felt weird looking at his smile.

    Thus, the sisters ended up turning the page, where they saw arge list of permissions they would have to procure for Nial.

    "Guild Creation certificate, trading certificate, special merchant certificate for ability crystals which includes curses and blessings¡­permission to create your private army¡­.what the hell?" Kirlia mumbled, looking over to Nial, whose expression was carefully neutral.

    She felt weird looking at the young man, whose ns seemed to be much more fleshed out and had arger motive than she had first presumed.

    "What the hell are you nning?" Kristine asked, feeling that all the permissions led to only two results.

    "Isn''t that obvious? I will create an Artisan Guild, and an Organization for Originals," Nial spoke nonchntly before he made some minor changes to the offered contract.

    "Well, precisely both will be a part of the Guild, but I separated them on paper to make managing themter easier."

    Not only the Maverick sisters but also Hana and Sabrina looked at Nial in astonishment.

    "You¡­ want to open a Guild?" Sabrina blurted out astonished, staring at her brother as if he was an alien.

    Nial smiled in response before he nodded his head.

    "Do you think I''m not good enough to open a Guild?" He asked, curious about his sister''s opinion.

    However, Sabrina just shook her head. She was too baffled to answer because it seemed like Nial was serious.

    "I like that idea¡­we need more Artisans, and I feel like your Guild would be different than others¡­" Hana suddenly said, giving Nial a thumbs up.

    Nial''s smile widened at the unexpected appreciation and he turned his attention back to Kristine.

    "It would be helpful if you can get everything I asked for," He could only say, and Kristine nodded her head after a few moments.

    "Because you received a title from the President, you can already register a Guild. As for thend, I can get it as well. The remaining permits will be given to you at ater point, and the same goes for the ores and other ingredients. It should work just fine¡­I guess¡­" Kristine said, giving up trying to y around with the fact that Nial didn''t know just how much the Heaven''s Gates organization owed him.

    It was not necessary to fool around anymore and Kristine felt like her sister''s disciple. She believed that Nial would lead his Guild in a different way than others, and it might actually be helpful to form a close connection with him.

    For sure, it was better to have a powerful ally than an annoying opponent or rival.

    Everyone would agree with this, especially in the chaos mankind was about to face in the future.

    Nial was happy that Kristine agreed to his requests. He spoke a bit more about the requirements he had for thend and a few other things before he left the four women.

    The two masters and disciples had other things to take care of, and Nial was finally alone.

    He was exhausted but that was not enough to overpower his overwhelming excitement.

    The funds he possessed were not much and most of his ''fortune'' had been used up right now. However, the gains he made were definitely worth it.

    Nial didn''t want to annoy the Elves with his ns to create a Guild. It was obnoxious to request their help every single time something went wrong and it was time for him to start doing things on his own.

    There were numerous things he learned from his time outside Jundra and one of the few things was that he had to improve by himself instead of always seeking help from others.

    Others may not be able to understand this well but as Runiciers, allowing his creativity to let loose and flourish was extremely important. He may have to learn a lot but it was even more important to experiment a lot as well.

    And to achieve this, Nial had asked a young man, who had just recently awoken his Origin, toe to hisrge workshop.

    The young man was missing an arm, and he had no idea why someone with Nial''s power and authority had requested him toe to the newly constructed shelter.

    He was an ordinary Original, except for the fact that he had awoken his origin not too long ago.

    However, to Nial this was more than enough. After all, the sess of his experiments and the future of his Guild relied on the young man, and the creations Nial was about to make.

    **

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 Chapter 360 I Can...?

    Several days passed since Nial had entered hisrge workshop. He was on his seventh attempt to create a specific runic armament, which he customized for the young Original, who was at the 1st Origin rank.

    "Sir¡­are you sure that it will work out?" The young man, called Phillip, asked quietly, looking at the stump of his right arm.

    He felt a bit ufortable standing in front of Nial, the young Original, who had been officially titled the Dark Lord of humanity.

    It was extremely difficult to obtain a title for even grown-ups, let alone for young Originals which was why Nial''s achievement was spectacr. Nial was now 21 years old and rumors spread through the shelters that he had gotten control of the strongest Elves in the Forest of Life.

    Phillip had seen some Dark Elves running back and forth from the Forest of Life and to therge workshop. They handed over various resources which they had collected from conquering dungeons.

    The young Original knew that Nial Orin was a busy man and that he would usually never show any interest in a newly awakened Original, such as himself. That was something Phillip was fully aware of.

    However, when he had been notified that Nial Orin was searching for people like him, he didn''t hesitate a moment and readily epted the offer toe to his workshop.

    It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Phillip needed it more than others. His family was dirt-poor, which was why Phillip had started to work from a very young age to support his family financially.

    Unfortunately, an ident had urred and the machine he had been working on pulled his arm inside, smashing itpletely. It had to be amputated, which was why he was only left with a small stump of his right arm.

    "Of course, it will work out. If not with the seventh attempt, then maybe with the eighth, or 20th, or maybe only after the 100th attempt, who knows?" Nial answered calmly with a kind smile on his face.

    His reassurance was nice and it calmed Phillip that Nial would give up after a while. In the beginning, he had no idea what Nial was trying with him. In fact, he had expected to get paid for volunteering to be a guinea pig for human experiments, which was quite cruel but nothing too rare if one looked at mankind''s history.

    That was not actually wrong because Nial was quite literally experimenting with the human body¡­or what was missing of it, to be precise.

    Nial finished engraving thest runic constetion on the ck-colored runic armament. The runic constetions glowed in a faint golden light for a moment, which was enough for Nial''s smile to widen.

    "This should work¡­sit down and stretch out your right arm," Nial ordered before he started to move.

    Twenty minutes passed and Nial began to sweat a bit. He was not exhausted but it was his nerves that prevented him from calming down.

    "It works fine, right? Do you feel any pain while moving?" Nial asked, trying to visualize every tiny detail about the connection of Phillip''s arm stump and the runic armament that covered it.

    It was a ck-colored arm prosthesis, a Tier-2 runic armament Nial had created using every single bit of his knowledge.

    "Oh¡­my good¡­IT REALLY WORKS!!" Phillips eximed in shock. His joyous voice reverberated through the entire workshop. Phillip jumped up from the chair he had been seated on and he pulled Nial into a hug.

    The arm prosthesis felt a bit weird, at first, but that was only obvious. He had been ustomed to not feeling his right arm for quite some time after all.

    Yet, right now, he could feel something. It was different than feeling his left arm made of flesh and bones but Phillip was overjoyed, nheless. The government never cared about creating proper arm prostheses for the disabled. The authorities had other things to take care of and their focus had never been to create arm prostheses for civilians who were in dire need of one.

    Even Originals were usually ignored in this regard, and the only way to tend to their injuries was to use miraculous treasures with which they could regrow their limbs.

    Unfortunately, these miraculous treasures were extremely rare, even for the Elven race. Some of their healers could regrow limbs but that was only possible once in a month, and that too by using the vast majority of their lifeforce. It would take an entire month before they would regain their peak state.

    Nial knew that it was not possible to ask the Elves to aid all crippled humans, and he didn''t even think about asking the government to help him out.

    That was not necessary, either way. Nial had the capabilities to create all kinds of runic armaments and even if he was not a great cksmith, he was slowly getting better. The arm prosthesis had been tough to create but Nial had seeded in making it work.

    He was a bit astonished that Phillip hugged him so tightly but he embraced him as well. If someone would have been able to help him out when he had just awoken his Origin, Nial would have felt grateful as well.

    After all, one only learned to value what they had when they lost it. That was how it would usually be in various scenarios and Phillip felt the same with his arm right now.

    To the young Original, who was barely 16 years old, it was like he was finally getting a chance to live his life fully and achieve his dreams again. This made him feel euphoric and it caused his emotions to overflow.

    "You are the best!!" Phillip eximed even louder than before when he slowly let go of Nial.

    He looked at the blind Original, who was deemed as Dark Lord. Numerous rumors about the Dark Lord had spread through the shelters and most of them were exaggerated facts about his fight against the Dryx, how he defeated a few Elves when they spared with him, and his ''dominance'' over the brats of the Nightshadow Elven race.

    Phillip''s parents had worried a lot about their son because of these rumors, especially because he was an amputee. They imagined the worst possible things, and never once thought that the Dark Lord would think of helping their son.

    Thus, they felt the worst when Phillip ran away from home one day toe to the newly build shelter, where the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity had been waiting for him.<sub> </sub>

    "I will improve the prosthesis in the future but it should work fine right now, right? Tell me if something is missing or feels odd, I will keep improving it," Nial said and Phillip nodded his head, sharing everything he felt while moving his right arm.

    The day passed and Nial ended up altering a few configurations to fix the runic prosthesis for Phillip. The young man was confused about how someone like the Dark Lord could waste so much of his precious time on a newly awakened Origin like him.

    There must be a deeper meaning behind his actions, which was what Phillip was trying to find out.

    "Are you helping others to find a way to restore your eyesight?" He thus asked straightforwardly, while looking at the milky white lifeless eyes of the Dark Lord.

    "Not really, my eyes are beyond saving, but others can be helped. For many years, before I awoke my Origin, I felt helpless because I had to rely on others to do the most basic things. It is not easy to live properly while being blind, not in the current Era, at least.

    That''s one of the reasons I want to help a few newly awakened Originals, who have been crippled or have been born with issues that can be solved with my runic armaments," Nial exined calmly.

    He wanted to help the other disabled people but he didn''t want to make it seem as if he thought of himself as some sort of Saint because he knew that he was far from being considered one.

    "I mean it is not difficult for me to create runic armaments as long as I know what to do, so I might as well help¡­and I don''t work for free either, which you should know," Nial added while stretching his body.

    Phillip was fully aware that he didn''t get the prosthesis for free. It was not necessary for him to pay millions of dors for the arm prosthesis that could exhibit the brute force of a being at the 3rd Advanced Mirae rank without the use of a trace of mana which was a relief.

    p All he had to do was join his Original organization for 1 year to get the arm prosthesis. One year was nothing, especially since Phillip''s strength was basically non-existent.</anda>

    It would already be a wonder if Phillip were to reach the Mirae rank in the next 12 months. To Nial, someone at the Origin rank was useless but he wanted to nourish his own group of Originals, loyal ones at that.

    And by saving Phillip''s life in an indirect manner, he had taken the first step in that direction.

    "Let me bepletely honest, by creating runic armaments for those, I can get the loyalty of Originals, who have been abandoned by the government. You can be stronger than the government if you follow me willingly after you serve your time in my organization.

    I will provide upgrades and enhancements to your prosthesis whenever it is necessary, and nourish you while you will follow mymands. I make fair deals, and I don''t treat my people badly, don''t worry! Take the one year you will spend in the Onyx Association to see how I am doing before you make your final decision," Nial spoke a lot. He was trying to poach Phillip as the first member of his Originals organization, called [Onyx].

    After he would get his first member, the following would join on their own. Nial was pretty sure that his marketing strategy of creating a Tier-2 Runic prosthesis for Phillip would hit the nail on the head.

    As long as Phillip gained enough mana to use the prosthesis to its highest capabilities, it would be possible to injure Prometheus Originals. The raw materials used for the prosthesis came from a dungeon only Prometheus Originals could enter and survive, and the runic constetions strengthened the materials only further.

    It would be hard to destroy the prosthesis, which meant that killing Phillip would be the easiest way to defeat him. Nial made sure that the prosthesis would attract the most attention, and that it was strong enough to ensure the young Original''s safety in a life and death battle.

    "Even if I have to join your Onyx Association, don''t you think that you are making a big loss by giving me the prosthesis and proposing to nourish me? I mean¡­my mana veins are the only strong point about me¡­I won''t even be able to reach the 10th Origin rank¡­" Phillip was still not sure what Nial had in mind, which was why he sounded uncertain as he spoke to the Dark Lord.

    However, Nial just waved his hand.

    "This is a long-term investment. You may not understand it fully yet because you didn''t have the chance to show your determination until now, but humans who have had it harder than others are more desperate to be strong. I will give you the resources and the opportunities to grow and I hope you put it to good use," Nial said with a confident smile on his face as he added,

    "Humanity needs powerful Originals, and I believe that you can be one!"

    "I can?...."

    **

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 Chapter 361 Visitor

    While Phillip was still shocked that someone with Nial''s reputation thought that he could be stronger enough to be of any use to humanity, Nial had already returned to his study.

    He urged more people toe over so that he could take a look at their condition and create the runic armament they needed to be as strong as other Originals, or even stronger.

    Nial was pretty sure that the vast majority of crippled Originals were desperate to change their fate if their life had been only remotely as frustrating as his own.

    Living without the ability to see for 15 years and without awakening his Origin clearly told him that the government had to improve a few things. Nial wanted to change the government in this regard and in many other ways as well.

    For this he might not need to help other Originals to fix their issues but it would certainly be helpful if he could allow Originals with disadvantages to be even stronger than everyone else.

    Several days passed in which Phillip was given the opportunity to show off his strength in ordinary Rookie dungeons. He was doing well, not a single dungeon monster could even touch him which allowed him to conquer the dungeons quickly.

    Phillip was giving his best to show off the ck runic prosthesis, and it quickly turned into the ''breaking news'' of the shelter. Many were curious about the sudden emergence of a prosthesis with runic constetions engraved on it.

    Other Originals with simr conditions and Phillip found their way to Nial after they got to know that he had created the prosthesis, and a few mored around him to join the Onyx Association.

    However, Nial didn''t ept everyone at one go. He had to see the desperation in their eyes, and the determination to be stronger, otherwise, it would be a waste of time to create a runic prosthesis for them, let alone nourish them.

    Some cursed at Nial after he inly rejected them but that was not something he could be bothered about.

    Right now, he was not proficient at creating a prosthesis, especially since they had to be customized with specific runic constetions and different sizes, materials, and so on ording to an individual''s need.

    It would take days to create one product with his proficiency as a cksmith and to collect all the necessary resources. Thus, Nial couldn''t care less if someone begged him for help or cursed at him for sending them away. He didn''t have the time nor the ambition to be everybody''s savior because he wanted to increase the number of Ancient Origin Rings that revolved around his body in the next few months.

    There was only half a year, or possibly a little bit less than that left before Jundra was said to reawaken. Until then, Nial''s initial n had been to advance to the Prometheus rank.

    Unfortunately, that was not even feasible if he were to be in Yggdrasil, where he spent 45 days creating one Ancient Origin ring. He had to create four more Ancient Origin rings and merge them to advance to the Prometheus rank.

    On Jundra, it would require him at least four months to create another Ancient Origin Ring, maybe three if he spread out enough Origin crystals around him.

    That was something Nial wanted to make use of. He wanted to create his 6th Ancient Origin ring before Jundra''sary mana core would awaken.

    Afterward, he would use the higher mana density of Jundra to elerate his advancement. Until then, he might as well focus on the Onyx Association.

    He wanted the news to spread that he was the best Runicier mankind had ever seen through all the shelters to make sure that everyone knew about it. This was also one of the reasons why he helped out the desperate and determined Originals, who needed his help to live a normal life.

    Of course, this was only a small reason to create the prosthesis for others, but it was more than enough to attract the attention of various Artisans. Nial didn''t want to keep cksmithing and concocting forever.

    It was a time for him to learn something he was not innately talented in. Learning all three Lifestyle upations was not necessary if he had someone, who could concoct all the runic solutions he needed. The exact same applied to cksmithing.

    Nial knew that he was not a talented cksmith and that Phillip''s arm prosthesis still had room for improvement. Thus, it would be much better if there was a talented cksmith, who could create the weapons and goods he needed before he would engrave the runic constetions using the runic solutions that had been prepared beforehand as well.

    This was one of the reasons why he created the Artisan Guild, called Orion. Both the Onyx Association and the Orion Guildplemented each other because each needed the other.

    The Orion Guild would create all kinds of potions and equipment for the Onyx Association would ensure that the Orion Guild would have enough resources to keep creating equipment.

    Nial wanted to create a symbiotic rtionship between the two organizations, and earn a huge fortune, which he would then use to keep nourishing his people.

    That way, they would be stronger and stronger, whether it was in terms of proficiency, knowledge, techniques, or their ranks.

    Nial had big ns and the Onyx Association was just the first step to make sure that he would be acknowledged as the best human Runicier all over the shelter.

    The Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves joined his Onyx Association officially as well after a while. Nial created top-notch quality Tier-1 runic weapons and protective garments for them to make sure that they would assist him in reaching everyone''s ears. He wanted that publicity.

    Being at the Prometheus rank, the three brats of the Nightshadow Elven race were in possession of Tier-2 runic weapons. However, they were not able to use these weapons properly yet.

    It was not necessary for them to use them if they couldn''t even exhibit the same power with high Tier weapons as they could unleash by wielding top-notch Tier-1 weapons.

    Possessing higher-tiered runic armaments may be helpful in the future but it was certainly not something that would be useful while being at the Mirae or Prometheus rank.

    In fact, it might decrease theirbat power drastically!

    Nial spent his time in a rather rxed manner working on his n.

    He was busy but didn''t fight much. It was a calm time that made him feel as if he was on a vacation.

    There was not a lot of time for him to spend with his family but he tried his best to be with them as much time as possible.

    He asked his sister, Hana, and the Maverick sisters to join his association so that he could improve his reputation in a short amount of time, but that was not possible.

    The Heaven''s Gates organization prevented them from joining the Onyx Association, which was bothersome but still somewhat fine.

    Days passed in which Kristine finished all purchases, including therge piece ofnd he had wanted. After he got his hands on thend he wanted, Nial hired the biggest construction firm he could find to build everything he needed. Therge piece ofnd which he owned had the size of a small town that could house more than 3000 citizens.

    It was interesting for the construction firm to see what Nial had nned, which was also why they epted Nial''s deal immediately.<sub> </sub>

    He provided the necessary funds for them to start working and would pay the rest in installments. The Nightshadow Elves provided the resources required to build and Nial paid the wages by creating a bunch of Tier-1 runic armaments every now and then.

    After half a month had passed since Phillip and many others had joined the Onyx association, Nial figured that the number of people who were willing to join him had stagnated.

    There were still a few but Nial was not too keen to take them in based on their first impression. Nourishing someone required lots of resources, along with lots of time to maintain someone''s runic prosthesis after they''d been created in the first ce. Thus, Nial only wanted the best of the best.

    His gut feeling was the sole factor he used to decide whether to ept someone in his group or not. If he didn''t like them, their behavior, or something about them, Nial would reject them bluntly.

    That may be cruel but he had better things to do than care about others'' feelings.

    There was no room for mistakes and Nial was fully aware of this.

    "Is someone here?" A loud and hoarse voice resounded through the huge workshop in Nial''s home.

    Nial was still working on a runic armament, which was why he didn''t answer. He had sensed the neer who had tiptoed into the room but didn''t bother about greeting him.

    And that was even though the young man, who had entered the workshop, was the first Original at the Prometheus rank. Everyone knew the 30ish-year-old man, including Nial.

    After all, he had heard quite a bit about Melheim Zorn, one of the ten strongest Originals of mankind.

    Melheim Zorn walked through the workshop as if he had been there thousands of times. He found his way to Nial almost instantly, following the quiet sound of the young Original''s breathing.

    With calmposure, Melheim Zorn listened to the sound of Nial''s engraving and a faint smile appeared on his face when he sensed the neer.

    "I''m sorry but I cannot fix your eyes if that''s what you are here for," Nial said almost instantly when he visualized Melheim Zorn''s eyes, or what was left of them.

    Nial had heard that Melheim Zorn had once fought against an extremely powerful dungeon beast and that its w had brazenly cut through his eyes. Apparently, the beast had been too fast and Melheim had barely managed to save his life.

    However, he had sacrificed his eyes in the process and his nose bridge had cracked into a thousand pieces as well.

    The nose was not a big worry and it was reparable to an extent, however, Melheim''s eyesight had been lost forever.

    Nial could only guess that Melheim Zorn had heard about his capabilities to create arm and leg prostheses, which was why the young man must have approached him.

    However, his guess was wrong as Melheim shook his head.

    "That''s not what I am looking for. If you cannot tend to your own eyesight and restore it, I doubt that you are capable of fixing mine. That was not meant to be rude, by the way," Melheim said calmly and Nial nodded his head.

    "My eyes have a different sort of problem but I agree. In the future, I might be able to create runic armaments that can rece your eyesight but that will require lots of research, time, and practice," Nial was simrly calm as Melheim when he spoke to one of the strongest humans of the nine shelters.

    "How can I help you?" He added with a faint smile on his lips.

    "I know how the government usually treats ''defective'' humans. Even I am usually eyed weirdly when everyone thinks that I cannot sense their gazes, but that''s wrong," Melheim shared in a sad voice, shaking his head as he didn''t understand how the government could be so foolish before he added,

    "I like what you do, and I heard that you don''t force anyone to do something weird or expect a fortune from them even after they have to stay in your association for a year. You even nourish them, which means that you would make a big loss instead of a win by taking them in."

    Melheim released his mana to perceive Nial''s stable mana fluctuations. He smiled at this calmness of the young Original, and continued to speak,

    So, I wondered what you were doing and I came to the conclusion that you''re nning for the future. Everyone you help will need you, or someone capable enough to maintain their prosthesis. If that''s not enough, they will realize toote that they have grown dependent on your help and resources, and they cannot go back to living their old life. Of course, they will only realize when they think about leaving you.

    I like your way of thinking and the long-term investments you do, probably for both your own sake and to make sure that mankind will be strong enough to endure the future that awaits them!"

    Nial began to frown the more he heard Melheim talking. He felt a bit weird because he could already guess Melheim''s next words.

    However, that was exactly what confused Nial because there was no reason for Melheim to do what he was going to do.

    "That being said, I want to join you!" Melheim Zorn dered, proving Nial''s prediction correct."

    **

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 Chapter 362 Melheim Zorn, The Mascot

    "You want to join the Onyx Association?" Nial asked once again to make sure that he understood correctly.

    Melheim Zorn was one of the most prominent Originals in the nine shelters. Having him in his Association would increase its reputation by leaps and bounds.

    However, Nial was not someone who would ept a person just because he or she was prominent, or powerful. His gut feeling had to be just right to make him feelfortable epting him.

    Nial was not yet sure what to think about Melheim Zorn, which was something the young man realized.

    "You don''t want me to join? I expected you to be overjoyed and to fall on your knees in supplication," Melheim joked but Nial just shrugged his shoulders.

    "I want the Onyx Association and the Orion Guild to be perfect. If my gut feeling tells me to reject you, I would have done so by now already," Nial spoke in all honesty as he added, "...but I''m actually not sure what to think about epting you. It would be much easier to increase the number of Originals willing to join the Onyx Association or the Orion Artisan Guild with you as a member, but many would just apply to be around you. And that would defeat the purpose of the image I want to build up."

    Nial''s words made sense and Melheim nodded his head as well. However, he didn''t expect that Nial would think about all of this when reconsidering whether someone was a good choice to join his people.

    "You''re quite interesting," Melheim chose to speak honestly as well. Thus, he ended up giving Nial a few tips.

    "Right now, your title as Dark Lord is working against your n. Your strength and achievements inbat and with the Elven lifts you to a pedestal. Because of that, your achievements as Runicier get buried somewhere, especially since a small minority is only interested in getting a prosthesis.

    There are more factors that speak against you, including the fact that you are merely at the Seclon rank...or what the Elves call Mirae rank. Your funds are limited and you don''t have a big corporation backing you.

    The Witch of the South is probably on your side, and some Elves will probably help you every now and then as well. But that''s not enough for most Originals, whether they''re newly awakened or already powerful!" Melheim exined, and Nial couldn''t agree more.

    Various organizations and Guilds were currently recruiting more cksmiths, Alchemists, and Originals. They were all heavily recruiting Runiciers after Nial''s runic prosthesis had created a buzz all around.

    Nial thought about what to do for a while before he extended his hand.

    "I look forward to our cooperation then!" Nial could only say smiling dryly, just for Melheim Zorn to shake his head.

    "We are not a co-operation. You are my boss now, so I''ll work for you!" He corrected him with a mischievous grin.

    Melheim could tell that Nial was different from other Originals. His achievements spoke volumes about his future talent, and it was a great thing that Nial hade up with the idea to build up his own Association and Artisan Guild. Creating prostheses for disabled Originals was already very nice of him, especially since he didn''t ask for much in exchange.

    Most young Originals were oblivious to the value their prosthesis held but Melheim was fully aware of that.

    In the end, Runiciers wouldn''t even create customized prostheses made out of expensive materials and several days of work for 100,000,000$.

    The price of the dor was constantly deting and Origin crystals were more often used as a means of currency. This became even more apparent since the dor was of no value to the Elves.

    ? It was necessary for humans to use something as a currency, which all races would ept, irrespective of whether it was the Elves, or new races, whom they would encounter in the future.

    Thus Melheim was even more impressed by what Nial was doing with his Association and Artisan Guild. Nial was a good person and so were his goals. And this was enough for Melheim to be willing to work under Nial instead of trying to be a partner in crime, or to make Nial work under him instead!

    "Just try to help me see again whenever you think you are capable enough to achieve that..." He said to which Nial nodded his head without hesitation.

    Melheim pulled Nial in a hug and they smiled at each other for a second before they released each other from their tight grip once again. Nial was ted to have a strong Original by his side.

    "Now that you are one of my people, do you need a new weapon, or something else? I can create special ear pieces that amplify the surrounding sound, or other things for you to hear clearly if you need them," Nial suggested as if it was nothing special. His offer made Melheim chuckle as he pulled arge longsword out of his spatial ring.

    "I''m currently using this weapon. A Mythical Champion-grade longsword. If you can create something better, that would be great!" Melheim answered before he handed over the longsword.

    "If you tell me about your abilities, and special traits, preferences, and your favoritebat technique, I can create a Lowest-ranked Tier-2 Runic Longsword that only you can use precisely," Nial came up with another idea as he added, "If you don''t want to share this information, I will just create a generalized Runic Longsword, but I guess you can tell what will be better!"

    There was no need to beat around the bush with Melheim. The young man was rather rxed and quite nice. He would certainly be helpful to expand the Onyx Association.

    This only left him with one way to expand the Orion Artisan Guild, which Mathias and Miranda had entered just for the sake of it.

    "A customized weapon is much better, I know," Melheim agreed before he started to share his personal information. He went into detail and exined everything that could be of some importance for Nial to forge a suitable weapon or device for him.

    In the end, this required nearly 20 minutes before Nial went over to start forging.

    "Have you ever assisted in forging or concocting?" Nial asked all of a sudden and Melheim shook his head.

    "Well, then it will be your first time. Come over and help me a bit," He said with a faint smile on his lips. Melheim was a bit baffled for a moment. He was the eighth strongest human of the nine shelters, and third in the ranks of the most known Originals.

    Only the President and others above his rank were more well-known than he was. And Nial wanted him to turn into his assistant? If anyone of them were to hear this, they would probably eye Nial in disbelief.

    "Is there a problem?" Nial noticed that Melheim had gone stiff as a board. He didn''t receive an answer and thus asked, only to hear the Prometheus Originalughing out loud.<sub> </sub>

    "You are really good. I like your attitude!" Melheim said before he approached Nial and muttered, "There is no problem, none at all!"

    That being said, Nial and Melheim started to work on the Original''s customized weapons.

    The rest of the day passed in the blink of an eye, and the customized Runic Longsword waspleted at lunch on the following day.

    "You really are amazing...if you had a proper cksmith and alchemist working under, or with you, you would be even better..." Melheim said, swinging the ck sword in front of him.

    He brandished it in different ways and angles, inserted his mana into it, and smiled brightly. The weapon was basically perfect, and so were the runic constetions that had been engraved on it.

    "I know. One of the reasons why I created an Artisan Guild is to form small teams of three, where Runiciers work together with cksmiths and alchemists to create good runic armaments of high quality in a short period.

    Unfortunately, it will take a while before the Orion Artisan Guild will grow. It is quite difficult to teach Runiciers, and there are not many cksmiths and Alchemists that reach my standards," Nial revealed while shrugging his shoulders.

    He was getting greedy but that was perfectly fine with him. Others should know that he was greedy and picky.

    However, instead of feeling that Nial was too full of himself with all the demands he had, Melheim nodded his head.

    "If you want an Elite troupe that is worth nourishing, you need to be picky. Your forging and potion-making skills can soon improve and give the best in the profession a run for their money. It is good that you know that you are not a master forger, or able to create perfectly purified potions but that is also not a prerequisite for what you''re doing.

    Of course, it would allow your runic armaments to be even better but the number of cksmiths and alchemists, who are capable of doing what you want are only a handful...and extremely old as well.

    You are looking for talents, whose potential has yet to be used up, not old andzy people, who will hardly improve no matter how many resources you give them," Melheim said, understanding Nial''s situation.

    "But why are you not hiring some Elves to concoct potions for you? Do you not have good rtions with them? I thought that rumor was true..." Melheim asked, slightly confused and Nial could only sigh deeply.

    "Elves have other needs to cater to than helping humans. I was in their territory for a short time, and I can tell you that their resources exceed everything you can imagine...by thousands of times... I might be able to purchase purified potions from them but that''s different from having someone by my side, who can create the runic solutions whenever I need them," Nial exined slowly.

    In general, it was easier to ask the Elves to create a bulk of runic solutions for him but whenever Nial were to reach a state of enlightenment and he would need a special runic solution, he would have to go to the Elves,mission the special runic solution and wait for a long time before it would be created.

    In that time, his enlightenment might have worn off, which would be the worst that could possibly happen.

    "I see, the situation is definitely not that easy then. It would be much easier to have some Elves by your side to concoct potions...and maybe some dwarves to forge...if they truly exist like in the fairytales," Melheim mumbled, secretly hoping that some dwarves and elves would just appear out of nowhere and that they would be Nial''s subordinates like a dream came true.

    That would not happen but it was still nice to spend some moments daydreaming about that.

    Nial nodded his head, letting Melheim''s imagination run wild. However, he quickly changed hisposure as he pointed at Melheim.

    "Are you ready to y a mascot?" He suddenly asked, which caused Melheim to stop swinging his new weapon.

    "Mascot? Who...Me?" Melheim asked, dumbfounded and Nial responded with a nod.

    "Exactly. You''ll be the Mascot of the Onyx Association, which will allow my group to grow fast, and to gain some nice reputation. Yay!" Nial said in a monotonous way that made Melheim feel ufortable.

    "Are you ready?" Nial asked again without actually sounding like he was asking a question.

    "Can I still leave?" Melheim suddenly felt chills running down his spine, but Nial just shook his head.

    "Nope."

    **

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 Chapter 363 Its Time

    Five months passed in the blink of an eye and many things had changed.

    Several huge buildings had been constructed on the piece ofnd Nial had purchased with the help of the Heaven''s Gates organization and numerous people could be seen working on it.

    Nial worked relentlessly and improved a lot as Runicier, learning from his mistakes and trying again and again. Due to his efforts, it was no problem for him to create urate prostheses anymore. As long as he had all the required information and special remarks of the Original in question, it was possible for him to create a Tier-2 Runic prosthesis in less than 24 hours.

    However, Nial had not only worked on his talent as Runicier. He had also created his sixth Advanced Origin ring, which enhanced his strength drastically.

    Creating Top-quality Tier-1 runic armaments was now even easier than ever before. This was not only because his mana perception increased drastically by advancing to the 6th Ancient Mirae rank but also because Melheim had gotten his hands on several great cksmiths and alchemists.

    They were already pretty advanced in age but that was not something Nial was concerned with right now. For the current situation, they were perfect because they allowed him to focus on his upation as Runicier, and not as an all-rounder.

    This was great, and it made him very happy because it allowed him to improve much more than before.

    He became more proficient and had enough time to share some tips of improvement with all the Runiciers, who had joined the Orion Artisan Guild.

    His advice was extremely helpful, and so was the knowledge he shared through books and words.

    In the end, Nial had epted a total of 1000 Originals in the Onyx Association, and more than 200 Artisans in the Orion Guild. Both were the limit Nial could currently fund, whether it was to procure resources to nourish their mana core, or to improve their knowledge and practice!

    Nial would love to further expand his group but that was not possible for the time being. Everyone was learning and advancing quickly but Nial had to avert his focus on other goals for now.

    In thest five months, Nial had conquered a few dungeons to prevent getting rusty, but he noticed that his martial art techniques were not very helpful anymore.

    He was in need of new techniques but none of the few suitable ones he found was actually something he liked.

    This made things a bit more difficult, especially since Jundra''sary mana awakening could happen any day.

    All the Elves in the Forest of Life were ready to face the chaos that was likely to ur when Jundra would awaken. Meanwhile, the ordinary citizens were rather scared of than expectant of Jundra''s mana awakening.

    As for the rest, they were fully prepared, especially in the new shelter that had been fully constructed.

    With the Forest of Life around, it was highly likely that many new dungeons, more powerful dungeons, would manifest shortly after theary mana awakening.

    Everyone expected that the biggest trouble for the human race would be around the Forest of Life and the new shelter. Thus, most of the strongest Originals were stationed around the new shelter.

    However, that didn''t mean they could abandon the other shelters.

    And this was where Nial''s Orion Artisan Group came into the picture!

    Numerous organizations had realized that all of the Onyx Association''s members wielded powerful runic armaments.

    Nial had equipped them with these runic armaments to make everyone realize that his runic armaments were the best.

    Even the Elven''s runic armaments couldn''tpare to his, or so it looked like because Nial had created customized top-quality Tier-1 runic armaments for everyone.

    This didn''t require much of his time because he was only required to know all information and to engrave the runic constetions on the forged weapon by using the runic solutions that had been prepared for him.

    The organizations from the remaining eight shelters had made a beeline tomission thousands of weapons altogether from his group, but Nial only epted a few offers.

    For his group of 200 Artisans, it was not possible to create thousands of weapons in a matter of days.

    In fact, only Nial was able to engrave the runic armaments the organizations had asked for.

    That was why Nial ended up epting only a few requests, including the request of the new Governors of Katu. A particr sister-duo had be the Governors of Katu when their father retired.

    Mara Lyx and Kira Lyx had used their connection with Nial to be the new trusted Governors of the whole shelter, whether that was necessary or not to get what they wanted, and they asked him to help protect the shelter before it was toote.

    Nial had numerous memories of Katu, but one of the best memories was definitely his time with the sisters, who had given him the rmendation to join the Teradan military camp.

    He was still thankful for their help, and he wanted to repay the favor, which was why he had messaged them to create customized weapons for them in whatever quantity they required.

    Nial had ignored all the othermissions he had wanted to ept earlier in order to prioritize the sisters'' demands.

    Initially, Nial wanted to deliver their runic armaments personally but he didn''t really have the time to do so because he had plenty on his te.

    "I really wonder how they''re doing¡­well now that they''re governors, it shouldn''t be too bad¡­I guess?" He mumbled lightly at the thought of the Lyx sisters. They were really kind and he gave his best while forging their runic armaments to make sure that they would have as many means of protection as possible.

    He hoped for the best while returning his focus on the creation process of more and more runic armaments.

    After a few days had passed, Nial gave himself a break, while all the runic armaments were delivered to the different shelters.

    "Everything will be fine, right?" Melheim asked, wearing a full armor that had the insignia of the Onyx Association. It was just a rough-looking Onyx that resembled the insignia of the Association but the message behind it was great.

    The thought behind choosing the specific insignia was not because he was toozy to create a ''cooler'' insignia but because he truly felt the meaning behind it to be true.<sub> </sub>

    -Life will never be easy, but hard times can be a blessing in disguise. Embrace the difficulties of life, just like your mistakes, and be a better self. Difficulties are created to be ovee, not to fail, and to give up!-

    The rough Onyx resembled the ws of being humane and the hard times of life, and everyone, who had listened to Nial''s exnation of why the Insignia of the Onyx Association was so simple couldn''t help but agree more to their leader''s decision.

    "Of course, we will be alright!" Nial dered with a confident smile on his face.

    All the powerful Originals were ready for battle. There were more than 400 Originals at the Mirae rank, and close to 20 Prometheus Originals, who were willing to follow Nial wherever he wanted them to go.

    These numbers didn''t even include the Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves, who were also now under him.

    The Elves told him that the Queen would send over more troops from all the Elven races the moment Jundra''sary mana awakening had beenpleted.

    Other, simrly impatient Gods were likely to follow suit. Everyone understood this quite clearly, especially since the number of Dungeon portals manifesting all around the Forest of Life had already increased in thest few months.

    The number of dungeons was quite annoying but the resources one could get from conquering the dungeons was pretty amazing.

    It allowed many more humans to awaken their Origin. In the end, it was only a matter of time before everyone would awaken their Origin.

    And from that day onward, mankind''s growth would either skyrocket, or they would be annihted by other hostile races.

    Nial didn''t think about thetter because he wouldn''t allow it to happen, either way. He gave free reign to the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves to do whatever they wanted as long as they would focus on killing the dungeon beasts that would emerge from the various dungeon portals.

    During thest five months, Nial had never demanded a lot from them. He just asked for resources, which they procured without dy. Many Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves stayed around him as long as possible because they felt that their strength increased at a greater speed by being close to him.

    Thus, arge wooden hut had been created in the center of the town-like piece ofnd that belonged to Nial. One of the bigger trees of the Forest of Life had been rented there.

    Nial had no idea how exactly they received the permission of Valvian to remove that tree from the center of the Forest of Life but they had done it.

    More than 200 Elves lived in and around the huge wooden tree in huts. They were d to have Nial near them as it allowed them to gain far more than they had expected to gain by emerging on Jundra before itsary mana core had awoken.

    They were in a symbiotic rtionship, with Nial giving them something without even doing it as a conscious effort while they handed over various resources.

    Now, however, they had returned to the Forest of Life because something about Jundra was changing.

    "It''s time¡­" Nial mumbled all of a sudden when he sensed a surge of mana passing through the ground. It moved through the ground to the surface, and Nial with his range of perception and [Mana Sense] fully unleashed sensed it first.

    He took a deep breath and epted the impact of the first mana wave that reached the surface.

    The ground trembled and the buildings all around them began to shake heavily.

    While the eyes of everyone widened when the high density of pure mana swept past them, Nial left the building.

    He knew what was going on around him now that the entire shelter and the surrounding area were shaking heavily, but he felt the need to breathe in some fresh air.

    After all, the entire world, Jundra, was currently facing the exact situation. Wave after wave of mana sted through the inside of the to reach the surface.

    The moment the mana reached the surface, it could expand even faster and freely. Nial adapted to it quite easily but everyone around them was shocked if they were able to endure the high pressure of the mana without passing out to begin with.

    "Like a heartbeat¡­" Nial mumbled as he took a few deep breaths as his ears perked up.

    It was almost as if he could feel Jundra''s heartbeat and the''s joy to reawaken once again.

    At this moment, the Ankh and the Fairies'' Blessing began to shine brightly. However before they could even influence Nial in any way, the Odyssey seed began to vibrate strongly.

    Numerous pieces of information flooded him, and a stinging pain pierced into his mind, nearly knocking him out.

    He was not sure how much time had passed but his voice sounded eerily calm as he began to speak,

    "Wee back¡­Origin of the Universe¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 364 Awakening

    The Symbol of Life and the Fairies'' Blessing shone brightly while one wave after another of mana swept through the ground.

    They influenced Nial, soothed his raging emotions, and brought warmth to his body and mind.

    "Damian''s memories are really a mess¡­" He mumbled, further expanding his range of perception.

    Nial''s [Mana Sense] was fully released and nourished because of the surrounding mana that reverberated through the ground and the air.

    The atmosphere was filled with dense and pure mana, shrouding everything and everyone. Most citizens, who had yet to awaken their Origin either fainted or had awoken their Origin due to the sudden pressure that weighed on their bodies and minds.

    Nial sensed that many Originals at the peak of the Origin and Mirae rank received a small push, which was enough for them to advance in the ranks.

    Many Originals used the waves of mana to improve their mana core''s rank but not Nial.

    He tried to enter a state of full concentration. This was supposed to allow him to perceive everything around him and to sense when Jundra''sary mana awakening was over.

    At the same time, Nial wanted to digest the memories of the Darkness God. They influenced him a lot and took a toll on his mind, but the Ankh and the Fairies'' Blessing countered this quite well.

    He didn''t have many issues retaining his calm on the outside. Unfortunately, it was not that easy for his heart and mind to stay at ease.

    Memories flooded his mind while the entire trembled when Jundra was finally reawakening from its long slumber.

    Time passed slowly and the tremors intensified. Various buildings copsed, chaos descended, and whether it was humans or elves, all of them were suppressed, unable to move properly.

    Even the Nightshadow Elves at the Prometheus rank had issued enduring the pressure of the awakening. It was unbearable and a clear sign that Jundra was not like any other¡­it was far more than that!

    "So that''s where we start?" Nial mumbled to himself as he sat down on the ground. He entered a meditative stance and breathed calmly in and out before he epted all memories that the Odyssey seed was willing to share with him.

    In the memories, Nial saw the reflection of the God of Darkness for the first time. He was not human but belonged to some other race he had never seen or heard of before.

    Nial was able to see the memories of the God of Darkness and what he saw astonished him a little bit. In a particrly distinct memory, Kaeldur had emerged in front of Damian. The winged existence kneeled down in front of its master, both in fear and reverence, not daring to look into Damian''s eyes.

    Damian stretched out his hand that was shrouded in the purest Essence of Darkness. He made several motions Nial had never seen, or perceived before, causing Kaeldur to shrink in size.

    Kaeldur continued to shrink until it waspressed and reduced to a grain-sized ck mass. In fact, Kaeldur''s size was even smaller than what the Odyssey seed had been when Nial had awoken it for the first time.

    Nial had no idea what was going to happen with Kaeldur after it had beenpressed but something was weird. However, before he could see anything further the memory blurred.

    It was reced by another memory in which thousands of Gods surrounded Damian. His creations were all around him but there was not a single ally on his side. He was all by himself, while the thousands of Gods looked down at him, with bright smiles on their faces.

    The Gods belonged to numerous different races, races that ought to be each other''s nemesis. Yet, while facing Damian, all of them had united ande under one banner.

    They had created an alliance to oppose Damian, the God of Darkness, who didn''t want anything else but to live peacefully.

    Damian fought alone¡­he didn''t want to die despite all the hatred that was thrown at him. He killed Gods, subdued their subjects, and experimented with them to make them his. He made them fight other Gods, and kill them and their races.

    If anyone wanted him dead, he would kill every single one of them. There was no reason to leave any of the annoying pests behind, thus he killed¡­and annihted everyone and everything around him while continuing to be stronger and stronger.

    His strength increased the more his Empire expanded as he pilfered through the territories, iming them as his own. The Darkness that shrouded everything expanded and it nourished the God of Darkness and his loyal subjects.

    Damian fought for thousands of years that seemed to stretch for eons but his quest for power never seemed to end. Memories of countless battles shed through Nial''s mind. The bloodshed, death, and destruction were seared into his mind, never to be forgotten again.

    Over time, Damian had conquered numerous ster systems and dozens of gxies, making it impossible to count the number of existences that had died in his hands and with his orders.

    However, even after he had killed countless existences, there were still Gods and other existences, who were willing to fight him.

    He never took a break, worked relentlessly and even if he had free time, nobody would be willing to spend it with him. He had subjects to rule, but no loyal followers. He had power and wealth but nobody to spend time with, no one to give a pat on his shoulder for his achievements. Loneliness gnawed at him, slowly making him more angry and resentful.

    The only thing that had been on his mind was what he hated the most; War. Damian realized that it was time to end all of this, that it was time for him to gain freedom, true freedom.

    And to achieve this, the Origin of the Universe, the only thing Damian was not able to oppose had to be destroyed¡­

    "What a mess¡­" Nial repeated when he regained his senses. He took heavy breaths and tried to get up from the ground as he realized that his body was extremely weak.

    The memories of the God of Darkness had shed through him, numerous memories were etched in his mind, just to cause more and more questions.

    "If Jundra is called Origin, and it''s the thing Damian wanted to destroy, it seems like he failed miserably¡­or maybe he did not, considering that he can finally rest¡­" Nial mumbled, trying to get up in a second attempt.<sub> </sub>

    He was not sure how much time had passed but the mana density and purity around him had increased drastically.

    It affected more and more people. Most Origin-ranked Originals had finally copsed on the ground, while everyone else had problems remaining standing on the ground.

    Nial shrouded his body with dark energy, which he augmented with some of his Essence of Darkness. That was enough to prevent the mana around him to suppress Nial.

    In fact, he could absorb the surrounding mana through the mantle of Dark energy without feeling too pressured.

    "Mana during a''s awakening is truly the purest. I wonder how strong Jundra''s mana will be after its awakening. Hopefully not too powerful, otherwise, beings above the Deux rank will start troubling us¡­" Nial mumbled, feeling like they would be extremely unlucky if that were to happen.

    He was pretty sure that the mana density and purity of the mana in his surroundings were more than enough to allow Originals at the Keltian rank to emerge and live on Jundra.

    However, that would be quite problematic because Nial didn''t want to deal with such troublesome Originals yet.

    "I should focus on getting stronger rather than wasting my time thinking about problems," He told himself before he rushed through the shelter.

    He then emerged in the center of the Forest of Life, sat down, and connected to the Forest using the Fairies'' Blessing, and the Symbol of Life.

    "Little Dryad, pull all the mana from the surrounding toward me, okay?" Nial asked quietly.

    He received an affirmative response as a tiny, fist-sized existence appeared in front of Nial.

    [Aye Aye, Sir!] A voice with high frequency reverberated through Nial''s head. It caused him to calm down, which was quite helpful.

    The tiny existence that had appeared in front of him could be considered the Guardian of the Forest of Life. It had been given birth when the artificially augmented Dryad Princess'' tear had been used to strengthen the Forest of Life.

    A Dryad or precisely a nature spirit had been born and only Nial and Master Crevian knew about this unique phenomenon.

    Nial told Master Crevian about the nature spirit because only Nial was able to perceive and hear her. He was the only one in possession of the Fairies'' Blessing, which made things a lot easier.

    The Nature spirit was lonely and soughtpany so it was happy whenever Nial was near the Forest of Life. She did everything he asked her to do, and that was clearly visible as he was bombarded with swirls of mana.

    He was nearly flung through the air due to the mana''s high density. It was almost dense enough to manifest, which was quite astonishing.

    However, Nial epted it as he absorbed everything greedily.

    ''I wonder how long the awakeningsts? Crevian said at least a few days¡­in that case¡­I shall make use of that!'' Nial thought greedily as he expanded his range of perception to absorb even more mana than the newborn nature spirit could provide.

    Nial sat down on the ground, where he was able to focus the most. He entered a meditative state and focused only on his surrounding mana.

    He absorbed every little bit of mana around him, annexed it, and started with the creation process of the seventh Ancient Origin ring.

    As he was in a fully focused state, everything around him lost importance. Nial didn''t even notice that his range of perception had expanded even further. It reached the shelter and covered itpletely as his [Mana Sense] was fully unleashed and nourished to the extreme.

    Nial absorbed the purest mana while leaving behind the rest. This was enough for him to be overflowing with energy and to take away the pressure from all the Originals around him, whether it was elves or humans.

    Some regained their consciousness after a while, and those who could do it right away began absorbing mana as well.

    The purest mana was taken away from Nial but there was still highly purified mana, in extremely high masses at that.

    Time passed quickly and everyone regained their consciousness after a while. More and more humans awoke their Origin, even those humans who were in the other eight shelters, overwhelmed by the mana density around them.

    They were affected the worst because Nial didn''t devour the purest form of mana that permeated the air.

    Days passed in the blink of an eye and it looked like the process of Jundra''s mana awakening would never slow down. It was almost as if Jundra wasn''t going to undergo the normal form of awakening by slowly reaching its limit but that it would immediately elerate from 0 to 100.

    Even the Elves from the Forest of Life were afraid that something like this would happen.

    They had expected Jundra to be just like the others when awakening, but that didn''t seem to be the case.

    Only after two weeks had passed did it seem as if Jundra''sary core had awoken and that it would only slowly be stronger until it would reach the limit of itsary mana core.

    However, Nial''s guess had been reaffirmed, as the Empress'' gate finally opened, allowing the first stronger Elves to emerge on Jundra.

    But even then, the Empress was neither the first nor thest one to give her children the opportunity to step on Jundra. After all, there were numerous inpatient Gods, who wanted to gain control of Jundra¡­or regain it.

 Chapter 365 Peak

    Many things had changed since Jundra''sary mana core had awoken.

    The vast majority of humans had awoken their Origin. Numerous talents with Innate ability were given birth during Jundra''s awakening and they received an influx of high and potent energy in the form of mana that they had been eagerly waiting for.

    This was the first time for the whole to release tremendous amounts of mana, giving everyone the ability to be stronger even without the use of Origin crystals.

    Most couldn''t even make use of Origin crystals because the surrounding mana was way denser and higher in purity.

    The most Common, Superior, and Champion graded Origin crystals that were once highly sought after now turned obsolete in an instant. Their value decreased because nobody needed them anymore and there was suddenly an overflowing amount of unused and cheap Origin crystals.

    However, oddly enough, this overflow of unused and cheap Origin crystals disappeared every now and then.

    Everyst crystal was purchased, and nobody knew who was behind it. The only clue that hinted in a specific direction was the fact that the Origin crystals had been purchased in exchange for runic armaments, high-tiered ones at that.

    Only a few humans could create high-tiered runic armaments along with many Elves, who had the capabilities to create runic armaments.

    Every single Elf with a certain status had now learned the most basic information about Runiciers. They could engrave Basic runic constetions, and create Tier-0 runic armaments.

    The value of Tier-0 runic armaments had increased drastically since hundreds of millions of new Originals had now appeared in thest weeks.

    Since the awakening of Jundra''sary mana core, almost two months had passed and numerous mysterious things had urred.

    The new Elves, who had appeared out of the Empress'' portal, had gained control of their own people.

    The Forest of Life was overflowing with Life, especially since High and Sacred Elves had emerged from the Empress'' portal.

    In fact, even the Royal Princess had chosen to descend onto Jundra to make sure that the other Elven sub-races wouldn''t cause trouble to her subordinates.

    She and the other High and Sacred Elven had feared that the violent and destructive Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves would bully and possibly even kill their subordinates.

    However, upon emerging on Jundra, they were shocked to realize that the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves were living peacefully with the other Elven races.

    This was a wee change but even the newly arriving Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves couldn''t understand why that was the case. Only when the three brats of the Nightshadow Elven race approached their seniors to talk to them did the older and stronger Elves realize what was going on.

    The news they had received was shocking enough for them to abandon everything else and to disappear almost instantaneously in search for something or someone.

    After they returned, the Nightshadow Elves at the Deux and Keltian rank didn''t even think of opposing the words of the Royal Princess.

    She was ready to fight the Nightshadow Elves with her life on the line if that was needed, but this didn''t seem to be necessary. Princess Evalyne had no idea what was going on but she could tell that the attitude of the Elven, who had lived longer in the Forest of Life was different from the neers.

    Everyone, who had just emerged on Jundra, instinctively treated the humans they encountered with less respect than the ''veteran'' Elven.

    Princess Evalyne was not different from them. She had only treated Nial differently because he was powerful and Yggdrasil had epted him.

    Nial was loved and adored by both mana and nature. epting him as if he was one of their kind was not a problem for her and her brethren. However, she couldn''t award all the other humans the same level of trust.

    They seemed filthy and like barbarians to her. This was her instinctive evaluation of the humans, who were neither loved by nature nor mana.

    Thus, Princess Evalyne had hoped to find Nial to make him the only eptable representative of the human race. After all, she was only willing to speak to him.

    But, Nial was nowhere to be found.

    Not even Master Crevian or the Moonlight Elf Valvian knew where exactly Nial was currently located.

    The only thing everyone knew about was that Nial was the reason for everyone being able to move freely during Jundra''sary mana awakening.

    He had absorbed the purest mana that theary core had released for two weeks straight before he seemed to have disappeared.

    Nial was nowhere to be found and the only hints of him still being alive was the fact that his creations popped up in the market every now and then.

    His Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild had been growing rapidly. Their reputation was great, and many newly awakened Originals wanted to be nourished by joining his associations and bing powerful Originals or well-known Artisans.

    Nial''s Onyx Association and his Orion Artisan Guild had amongst the best training programs with the best reputation and nobody could rival them.

    It was a rare sign for groups like Nial''s Association and Artisan Guild to appear and flourish on their own without the support or interference of other organizations but that was exactly what had happened.

    No organization attempted to tarnish Nial''s reputation because all of them needed him more than ever.

    All the organizations wanted his Tier-2 runic armaments, some even asked him to be affiliates, but Nial only epted a fewmissions.

    Whenever one of his creations was seen in the hands of his people, everyone was in awe. The more time passed, the stronger Nial''s creations seemed to be as he constantly worked on eliminating even the tiniest ws but that was only obvious.

    New dungeons had emerged, unveiling new, better materials to use for stronger runic armaments, and the Orion Artisan group had quickly gotten their hands on them.

    The new dungeons were muchrger than the old ones and most of them were only temporarily manifested. The Gods who manifested them wanted to send their subjects to Jundra to wreak havoc and kill the existing life on the so as to make space for their races to emerge.

    To their misfortune, this didn''t work very well around the Forest of Life and the nine shelters of mankind. The Elves had chosen to protect and defend the humans from the iing threats for the time being.

    With hundreds of millions of awakened allies on their side, it would be much easier for the Elves to gain control ofrge pieces ofnd in the future.<sub> </sub>

    No God was able to create a permanent link betweens yet, not if they didn''t want to sacrifice their Divinity to create a permanently activated portal from one to another.

    Even the Elven Empress'' portal was not a permanently activated portal. Only a few hundred Elves could emerge every other month. This was not a lot, but it was still more than the number of beings of any other race that could emerge on Jundra.

    After Jundra''s sentience awoke from its deep slumber, it restricted the ess of Gods actively. They were not supposed to emerge on Jundra, especially since their powers were enough to cause death and destruction to numerous continents.

    Jundra had yet to gain the strength to endure the battle of Gods to determine who was supposed to reign supreme. And until the Origin was powerful enough, it wouldn''t let Godse too close to it!

    This was something Nial had realized. He was currently in seclusion, absorbing tremendous amounts of mana using all the Origin crystals he had gotten his hands on.

    Even before Jundra''s mana awakening urred, Nial had created a specific isted ce for his family and himself.

    Everyone had their own private room, which could store and hold mana within its four walls. The outside mana would be pulled toward the isted rooms and seep inside through the walls, but it couldn''t leave as long as it was configured that way.

    Nial made use of the function he had installed in the room all by himself while adding the function to release mana below a certain purity degree from the isted room to the outside to filter out the impurities.

    Only the purest mana was left behind in Nial''s room, allowing him to advance his mana core''s rank rapidly.

    There was no time for him to waste, especially now!

    What his fellow brethren didn''t seem to have realized until now was that Origin crystals were created out of the purest form of mana.

    It may not feel like this at the beginning because there was also impure mana mixed into the Origin crystals but by separating the impure mana from the purest form of mana, it was easy to elerate advancements in the ranks.

    After purchasing millions of Origin crystals of all three grades that the human Originals had gotten their hands on until now, Nial was seated in the isted room, using the functions he had activated in the room to disperse the impure mana while continuing to absorb the pure mana and bing the strongest version of himself possible.

    The Nightshadow Elves, who had visited him at one point, had created their own home on Nial''snd without asking him. Even if Nial didn''t actively use his Essence of Darkness, the overflowing energy he unleashed without realizing was more than enough for the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves to feel that they could improve their strength by staying close to him.

    Nial gave them a few orders, which they followed without dy, especially since the given orders were tasks they would havepleted either way.

    He wanted the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves to conquer dungeons as quickly as possible and collect everything of value.

    Simultaneously, Nial gave them customized Tier-2 runic armaments without demanding anything in return. Thus, the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves ended up bing Nial''s subjects without realizing it.

    They readily followed his orders, provided him with all the resources he needed, and fought the opponents who opposed him, if there were any, to begin with.

    That way, more and more time passed.

    A total of three months after the mana awakening had passed before Nial finally got up from the ground, which released tremendous waves of energy as the millions of dried-up Origin crystals turned into countless shreds.

    Nial was greeted by his parents, his sister, Hana, and their masters, Mathias, and Miranda when he returned to the mansion. The isted rooms underground had been built below the best-protected location in the shelter; exactly under his plot ofnd where the Onyx association was located.

    Walking home didn''t take long and it allowed Nial to spend some time adjusting to the advancement in strength. His physique had improved drastically, but that was not everything.

    Even without the use of [Mana Sense] he was able to perceive and visualize everything and everyone in the shelter.

    Thus, he knew what awaited him at home, and he was not surprised.

    "Are you all living here now?" Nial asked, shaking his head as he quietly added,

    "You guys are not homeless, right?"

    It was obvious that Nial was joking but nobody dared to say anything. Even Kristine, who was known for shing with Nial didn''t say a single word.

    "You¡­are not yet at the Prometheus rank, right?" Kirlia suddenly asked as all the color drained from her face.

    "Obviously not. Why are you asking? Can''t you sense what rank I am at?" He asked in return, smiling craftily.

    "No¡­I cannot sense your strength anymore¡­" Kirlia answered almost immediately, unable to get her act together.

    She was pretty sure that Nial couldn''t improve so quickly, and that something had to be wrong. However, Nial just smiled after seeing her fluster, not intending to provide her with an answer in any way.

    "He is at the 9th Mirae rank¡­I think," Kristine said, not exactly sure if she perceived correctly. After all, it was impossible for Nial to be at the 9th Mirae rank, considering that his strength seemed to exceed hers by now.

    But that ought to be impossible¡­it couldn''t be true!

    "Pretty smart, little Maverick!" Nial remarked while circting mana through his nine Ancient Origin Rings to unleash his unbending power at once.

    "Did we raise a monster?!" Miles suddenly asked, looking at the pressure his son released. He could hardly breathe as the wind was knocked out of his lungs.

    Yet, Maline didn''t answer her husband''s question. She just looked at her son, worry gleaming in her eyes.

    And at that moment, Miles realized what his wife was troubled with.

    ''Ipletely forgot about them¡­''

 Chapter 366 Nials Might

    Nial was on his way toward some of the new dungeons that had emerged not too long ago.

    He hadn''t fought for quite a while and he felt a bit rusty.

    The dungeon he approached was also one of the few dungeons where Magnatit crystal deposits of higher quality were located.

    Nial didn''t really need Magnatit crystals anymore because his perfection grade with most runic constetions was extremely high but the neers in his group would improve a lot using mana-dense runic solutions.

    Thus, Nial ended up entering the dungeon that only beings below and at the early ranks of the Prometheus rank could enter.

    A few Dark Elves and the three brats of the Nightshadow Elves followed him with cloaks covering their mana fluctuations and appearance.

    This attracted some attention because not many people near and around the shelter would bother hiding their mana fluctuations anymore. There was no apparent reason to do so except if one wanted to hide, which was quite obvious the case right now.

    However, no Guard blocked their paths, even when the group of cloaked men wanted to enter the permanent dungeon. Nial merely showed one of the few guards his insignia before they could even move.

    The Guards, who had seen the insignia looked at Nial in astonishment before they stepped aside in unison.

    When Nial and his people disappeared in the dungeon portal, the Guards began to pant heavily.

    "I can breathe again..." One of the Guards blurted out in between two breaths, not understanding what had happened.

    "His presence...is he at the Keltian rank?!?" Another Guard asked, wondering if it had been one of the overly powerful Elves who had walked past them and they had somehow missed noticing him.

    "That can''t be. He could enter the dungeon portal... He should have been at the Peak of the Mirae rank, or just advanced to the Prometheus rank..." A third Guard said, his eyes filled with horror as he looked at the dungeon portal.

    Meanwhile, Nial had just emerged on the other side of the portal.

    There were several groups of powerful Originals all around the dungeon that was located on a huge mountain.

    Frigid air swept around Nial, which he ignored quite easily. He felt warm because the cloak had a [Heating] runic constetion engraved on it.

    The runic constetion barely drained some of his mana, which was why Nial and everyone else were unaffected by the frigid cold.

    They walked over the hignds teau on which they had emerged and descended the mountain on a certain side. Nial had released his range of perception and his [Mana Sense] into the ground.

    Usually, this would restrict the range of perception tremendously but Nial was different. He could easily perceive and visualize everything that was located several kilometers below and around him, no matter whaty in his way.

    The only restrictions were specific mana-isting or mana-blocking materials, or man-made ces with specific runic constetions that were supposed to block curious people from seeing what they were not supposed to see.

    Nial didn''t have trouble perceiving anything within therge dungeon, which was also why he hiked down the mountain without hesitation.

    Some humans and elven Originals stared in the direction of the cloaked men but nobody dared to follow them. They felt ufortable while looking in his direction. The eerie feeling was more than enough for anyone to know that it was better to ignore the group altogether.

    Within the following two hours, Nial and his people climbed down the mountain and entered a cave. They faced a few monsters but they were quickly taken care of.

    Nial fought effortlessly, using the various Tier-2 runic armaments he had customized for himself.

    He used a ck spear that amplified the power of darkness-attributed affinities if circted through the spear.

    Thus, he called the Spear "Eclipse Spear".

    Nial had never been good at naming something but he was pretty sure that a rather simple name was much better than somethingplicated like "Cursed de of Hell''s Pits".

    In the end, names didn''t really matter for ordinary runic armaments because they didn''t enhance the strength of a runic armament. That was also why Nial chose the simplest names for his runic armaments while allowing others to change the name if they wanted to. It didn''t really matter to him, except if someone like Sabrina changed the names of the weapons he made for her.

    Sabrina had demanded a total of 30 runic armaments to be created for him and Nial had given her everything. This was his way of telling his sister that he loved her and that it was fine for a brother to spoil his little sister a bit.

    Time passed slowly as Nial walked through the cave. The brats of the Nightshadow Elven race were getting impatient but they didn''t say anything.

    They were already satisfied that Nial had released his Essence of Darkness to nourish the power of their Shadow Energy.

    This was something that happened naturally as long as their Shadow Energy was not much stronger than Nial''s Essence of Darkness.

    Nial''s Essence of Darkness was extremely powerful, which was also why the Nightshadow Elves at the Keltian rank gained some benefits from being exposed to the Essence of Darkness.

    Their gains were minuscule but that was still better than nothing, especially since none of them had ever gained permission to be close to any of the few royals of their race, who had awoken Darkness Essence.

    Nial was a great opportunity for them to be stronger and everyone with even the slightest bit ofmon sense would follow Nial willingly and assist him in whatever he was going to do.

    This was something Nial understood very well, which was why he ordered the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves around when he needed them.

    "We''ll encounter a few Hobgoblins and a Goblin Chieftain soon," Nial announced quietly before he added, "They''re the Guardians of the Magnatit crystal deposit, and reside not too far from it...sooo be careful and don''t destroy too much."

    He didn''t want the Magnatit crystal deposit to get destroyed. Yet, instead of nodding their heads, the elves rolled their eyes.

    They might be known as a destructive race but Nial''s energy was not only more destructive and dangerous but the way Nial fought caused more damage than the most destructive elf amongst all of them.

    The Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves were more like Assassins, while Nial was a Berserker wielding a spear....<sub> </sub>

    And just as they had expected, Nial was the first one to shoot forward.

    He passed through therge tunnel and emerged in a huge hall, where more than a hundred Hobgoblins at the Peak of the Mirae rank and one Goblin Chieftain at the Prometheus rank, wielding a humongous broadsword were seated.

    Nial had sized up is opponents the moment his [Mana Sense] had perceived them. Thus, he was already prepared for a countermeasure for all of their possible movements.

    He used his dark energy to retrieve one of the tennis ball-sized metal balls from his belt. He inserted mana into it before his dark energy that had turned into a hand threw it straight ahead.

    The metal ball exploded, releasing a dazzling fiery-red light that forced all the beasts to close their eyes.

    Seconds passed and the painful screams of dying Hobgoblins reverberated through the hallway. Yet, when the beasts that were still alive opened their eyes, all they could was red, quite literally.

    Nial had activated both [Hodur''s Heir] to manifest some ck miasma, and [Blood Eclipse Moon] to enhance the strength of his ck miasma.

    It turned bloody red and filled the entire hallway. The Bloody ck miasma was dense and prevented anyone from seeing anything.

    Even after the Goblin Chieftain brandished its broadsword to disperse the bloody ck miasma, it didn''t disappear. Instead, bloody red spikes manifested out of dark energy and the darkish-crimson energy of the Blood Eclipse Moon ability shot out of the ground, piercing through the three-meter-tall Goblin Chieftain''s body.

    Nial was like a ck sh that shot through the surroundings, killing everyone and everything in his path. He didn''t leave a single dungeon beast alive. They were killed with a single strike, without any problems.

    It looked like Nial didn''t even have to put in any effort to kill the Hobgoblins at the Peak of the Mirae rank as they died without receiving the opportunity to raise their weapons to block him.

    And even if they were able to raise their weapons, Nial''s Eclipse Spear had the [Shatter] runic constetion engraved on its de.

    With his Tier-2 runic weapon, Nial was able to destroy most ungraded, and Tier-0 weapons. There were even Tier-1 runic armaments he could easily shatter with his Eclipse Spear. That was how powerful it was!

    Nial jerked forward, cleanly slicing the Eclipse Spear through the Goblin Chieftain''s skull, which shattered into smithereens.

    The fight ended afterward as the Goblin Chieftain''s body went limp. Nial lifted his hand and retracted all the remnants of the bloody ck miasma to make sure that he didn''t waste any of it.

    It was a battle of two minutes that Nial had fought all by himself. The Elves rolled their eyes once again as they saw Nial''s eerily calmposure. He was not sweating in the slightest and it almost looked like he could go on like this for hours.

    This was frightening, even for the Nightshadow Elves, who had witnessed their parents fighting...and their parents were truly powerful...

    "I think it was a good choice to follow him... He might be just a human, butparing him to any kind of ordinary human race would be a disgrace for his power..." One of the brats mumbled and everyone else nodded their heads.

    Even if they didn''t like the fact that they were following and taking orders from a human, it was quite obvious that Nial didn''t have to rely on his Essence of Darkness to overpower his opponents.

    His physical strength was high enough to rival the brats of the Nightshadow Elven race and that was more than enough for them to understand that Nial was not to be taken lightly.

    After all, Nial''s physical strength had been much lower than theirs just half a year ago.

    Now that Jundra''sary mana core had awoken, Nial''s strength would increase much faster than theirs but that was only obvious.

    Nial was in possession of the Essence of Darkness, which indirectly suggested that his talent was unrivaled. All Nightshadow Elves with the Essence of Darkness were unrivaled existences in their generation. Thus, Nial had to be exactly the same. That was what the Nightshadow Elves were certain about.

    "What the hell are you guys standing around here for? Help me in mining!" Nial suddenly shouted, ordering his followers to do what they were supposed to do; work.

    Meanwhile, Nial retrieved more than 20 mining pickaxes which he wielded with the strands of dark energy he controlled.

    A total of 20 arms of darkness shot out of Nial''s body. They grasped a mining pickaxe each and started to mine the Magnatit crystal deposit.

    Hours psed quickly and Nial left the dungeon with his people afterward.

    Conquering the dungeon was possible for them but it was not what Nial had nned to do.. His goal had been different after all.

    Yet, what he didn''t expect to find when leaving the dungeon was a beautiful, young and extremely familiar Elven.

    "Oh? Your majesty," Nial said quite nonchntly when he noticed that the Royal Princess rushed toward him with heavy steps, her expression filled with uncertainty.

    "We have a problem!"

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 Chapter 367 Tears Of Blood

    Nial was not exactly sure why he ended up like this, but he was suddenly in his office within the Onyx Association''s building.

    In fact, Nial had never been there, and Melheim, who had been promoted to the position of Vice-Leader of the Association usually resided in the office.

    The Royal Princess Evalyne had thrown Melheim out of the office, and she had pulled Nial inside it while telling Nial''s followers and her own guards to stay outside.

    "You''ve changed, haven''t you?" Princess Evalyne asked while looking deeply at Nial.

    Nial didn''t really know what she meant but he just nodded his head.

    "Isn''t it normal to change while advancing in the ranks? I''m still young and learning as well¡­" He tried to exin but Evalyne just lifted her hand.

    She was tense and didn''t seem to be in the mood for jokes. Thus, Nial quieted down while waiting for Evalyne to tell him what problem they had.

    "Did you hear about the reports of the Heligav race? They have emerged on Jundra, only a few thousand kilometers away from the Forest of Life!" Princess Evalyne revealed in a worried voice, just to see Nial nod his head.

    Damian''s memories shed through Nial''s mind and the appearance of a race that was just like Centaurs¡­with the sole exception that their whole body seemed like a cross between a Bull and a minotaur.

    Minotaurs and Bulls were essentially a simr race. The only difference was that Minotaurs were half humans and half bulls while bulls were¡­bulls.

    "That''s nice, isn''t it?" Nial instinctively blurted out as he digested the memories he had received from the Odyssey seed.

    He, or rather Damian, knew the Heligav race very well. They had been on friendly terms with the God of Darkness, or precisely, Damian had forced them into submission.

    "What the hell is good about them? The Heligav race hates us to the core. They''re the Elven''s Nemesis and vice versa!" The Royal Princess shouted, which nearly forced Nial to shut his ears with mana.

    It was obvious that Princess Evalyne was distressed. She hadn''t expected a hostile race to appear so close to the Forest of Life, shortly after the awakening of the Origin at that.

    As the Royal Princess she had to make sure that her race would survive and that they would be able toy their foundation on Jundra. This was her first royal mission and the most important task she had ever been given by her mother.

    "Ah, yeah¡­I remember that," Nial recalled as the memories of what Princess Evalyne had just said emerged in his mind.

    Evalyne looked at him with squinted eyes but she ignored hisment.

    "You must not be aware of the Heligav race, so I just wanted to warn you. They may look like they''re a race that is great at closebat, which is true, especially since they can be considered to be an entire cavalry unit, but they''re very good at assassinating others, and backstabbing!" Princess Evalyne exined with a frown.

    Her frustration was clearly perceptible which is why Nial stayed quite epting of everything she was going to say.

    "I''m only going to warn you once. Prepare yourself to face their attacks. Tell everyone around you to prepare themselves as well because you never know when something will happen!

    The Heligav will definitely try to annihte the human race the moment they find out that you''ve formed an alliance with us. After all, they would rather get rid of the easier targets first than us¡­.and you guys are weak¡­all of you!" The Princess spoke facts rather than beating around the bush.

    Nial was a bit astonished that Princess Evalyne had thought of him and rushed to him to give him a warning in advance. He hadn''t expected the Royal Princess to be concerned about him.

    It warmed his heart and improved her image in his eyes, making him feel nice. He smiled lightly and then took a moment to reflect on her words.

    ''Is it really necessary to worry about them right now already? The Heligav would probably rather create their own settlement and wait for more of them to emerge before they would attack us¡­ If they attack, the Elves would probably attack them immediately, I guess¡­'' Nial thought as he began to wonder about a few things.

    "Why are you not charging at the Heligav to annihte them? I mean, if you guys are Nemesis, just kill them as long as you have a numerical advantage," Nial pointed out the easiest solution to the given problem but the Royal Princess shook her head.

    "First of all, we are not a violent race anymore. If not provoked we won''t attack others first¡­not under normal circumstances at least. And second, the Heligav have created a powerful dome around their settlement, if you can call their ce a settlement, to begin with," She began exining which caused Nial to frown deeply.

    The Elves were not willing to attack, which means that they were prepared to see the human race suffer as bystanders. That was not nice to hear, and it decreased the bonus points Evalyne had just gained for her race for warning him about the Heligav race.

    "Either way, I will probably be fine. Even if I''m not fine, I can inform my family and friends to move to the Guild, where all the Nightshadow and Dark Elves inhabit.

    Furthermore, I have also created a bunch of Tier-2 runic puppets that are equipped with Tier-2 runic armaments. Theirbat prowess is on par with Prometheus Originals!" Nial said, calming his worried heart a tiny bit.

    He knew that relying on the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves to protect his family and friends was imusible. All of them would leave hisnd once in a while, whether it was for training purposes, to shop or to do something else.

    Holding his family back was not something Nial ever wished to do. Thus, he would just warn them and try to make sure that the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves would protect them.

    It was not as if he could do much more, either way.

    "If you say so, it will be fine¡­probably," The Royal Princess said, hoping for the best. She told Nial about the Heligav because she didn''t want him to change too much.

    Right now, his personality was perfect to be the Elven''s longtime ally. However, if something were to happen to Nial''s family, he would change¡­for the worse, and that was something Princess Evalyne wanted to avoid.

    It was obvious that Nial treasured his friends and family. He supplied them with everything they might need to be stronger.

    They were important enough to Nial that they turned into his biggest weakness, and the Royal Princess was not the only one who could sense this.

    Nial was about to thank the Royal Princess for her help when his heart skipped a beat. One of the bracelets he was wearing began to crack, and Nial''s expression changed drastically.

    The blood in his face was drained and he instinctively released all the mana stored inside his body, expanding his range of perception to the limits.

    His nine Ancient Origin rings rotated rapidly, much faster than ever before as Nial turned in the direction of his home.

    "Mom¡­." He mumbled in shock as he jumped up from his chair.

    Shrouding his entire body in darkness, he charged outside the building at a shocking pace. He jumped through the ss on the fifth floor, just tond hard on the ground.

    His expression was filled with anxiety and despair. A bad feeling overcame him as he catapulted his body in the direction of his home, where he sensed the remnants of mana with hostile intentions against each other.

    ''Please be fine¡­'' Nial could only pray as he charged back home. He summoned the Blood Eclipse Moon and used its powers to enhance his physical strength, just to reach home faster.

    Meanwhile, Princess Evalyne had appeared next to him. She was much faster than Nial and looked at his expression.<sub> </sub>

    By connecting the dots, including the direction he was headed and his expression, Princess Evalyne''s mana shot out in the same direction.

    "Fuck¡­" She cursed out, sensing that there had been a battle in Nial''s home while her mind turned into a mess.

    ''Was I already toote? No that cannot be¡­the Heligav have just emerged on Jundra¡­it cannot be them¡­'' Royal Princess Evalyne thought before she sensed what exactly had caused Nial''s expression to turn into one of despair

    Instinctively, Princess Evalyne changed her direction before she elerated, turning into a sh, desperately looking for some Elvingar Elves to rescue¡­those that could still be rescued¡­

    Nial had no idea that Princess Evalyne had been next to him, and even if he were to know about it, he couldn''t care less.

    He reached his home¡­or what was left from it.

    Nial clearly sensed the mana remnants of his Sister, Hana¡­and someone else fighting them. The mana remnants of the third being were the strongest and Nial was somewhat familiar with them.

    He knew them from somewhere but couldn''t exactly pin the fluctuations to anyone he knew. In the end, it didn''t really matter. It was not important enough for him to care about it.

    Inside the mansion, or what was left of the mansion that had turned into a huge mass of rubble and debris, Nial released his dark energy rapidly, flinging everything that obstructed him dozens of meters away.

    His dark energy was nourished by his desperation, moving at his will and it destroyed everything around him.

    "Nononono¡­that cannot be¡­ this cannot be happening!!" Nial cried out in desperation the closer he came to his parents.

    His range of perception and [Mana Sense] wouldn''t fail him¡­not this time¡­the only time he sincerely hoped that he perceived something wrong.

    However, everything he perceived was bitter facts, the truth he didn''t want toe true, wasn''t prepared to witness.

    Heavy breathing and painful groans rang through his ear, while the iron smell of blood reached his nose, as a tiny seed of fear began to nt itself.

    Nial may have no idea what had happened but he knew very well what was just happening.

    Destroying everything around him, he found his injured father under a pile of debris. His body was blocking something¡­a hardly moving body¡­his mother''s body.

    Nial staggered to his mother. He moved slowly, and his legs gave in for the shock was too much to take in.

    Her chest was pierced by a huge spear manifested out of holy energy, she could barely breathe and her eyes seemed to be void of vigor.

    Even after Nial tried to desperately circte the overflowing vigor of his body inside her, his mother could barely look at him. Tears trickled down her eyes as she looked at Nial''s disheveled and desperate appearance.

    "E-everything will be fine¡­" She mumbled, trying to lift her hand to caress her beloved son''s cheeks.

    However, no matter how hard she tried, her arms were too heavy to move. Nial instinctively reached for her hand and moved it toward his cheek. He tried to force a smile on his lips to lessen his mother''s worries only to fail miserably.

    "Please¡­rescue your sister¡­" Maline spoke weakly, convulsing and shuddering as her body struggled to take a breath.

    "Someone attacked your sister¡­and she destroyed everything around us¡­Sabrina and Hana tried to distract the attacker and move the battle somewhere else, but¡­it was already toote¡­your mom was hit by an attack of this wicked bitch that went astray¡­" Miles spoke iprehensibly while lovingly caressing his dear wife.

    She was in pain and Miles would have dly taken the brunt of the attack to save his dear wife¡­but it was not as if he could transfer her wound to him¡­ he looked at Nial helplessly while biting his lip so hard that it began to bleed as he said,

    "Nial¡­you have to rescue Sabrina, and Hana¡­they''re not strong enough¡­this witch yed with them¡­" He could barely say, his eyes in tears.

    He didn''t want to burden his son, let alone force him to leave behind his dying mother, but Miles knew that Sabrina would face the same fate if nobody was going to help her, right now!

    Nial grit his teeth leaned forward and kissed his mother''s forehead as a lone tear trickled down his cheek.

    "I wille back mom¡­don''t worry¡­Sabrina won''t be missing a single hair¡­I promise¡­" Nial said, trying to suppress the emotions in his voice. The effort to contain his rage was too much and his knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms.

    Taking a deep breath, he got up from the ground. He sensed that Princess Evalyne and some Elvingar Elves were on their way to help.

    His mind was in turmoil and he was trying hard to not let rage take control of his mind surged up from the depth of his consciousness.

    "We did a good job taking you in¡­you''re the best we could ever find¡­" Maline mumbled, not realizing that Nial had already disappeared with a heavy heart before the light in her eyes dimmed. Thest remnants of her vigor were deprived of her and she closed her eyes, with a gentle smile on her lips.

    She lived a good life, a precious life, and she didn''t regret anything. There were only a few things she had wanted him to know, things that she would now take with her to the grave.

    ''Don''t be too angry at us for never telling you¡­please take care of your father¡­he will need you, and Sabrina¡­'' She could barely think before her mind shut down.

    Meanwhile, the cracked bracelet around Nial''s left arm crumbled, while tears trickled down his cheeks.

    ''I will fucking kill you!!'' He promised the being who had attacked his mansion in broad daylight, and both uncontroble rage and wrath filled his entire being.

    He didn''t even notice that tears of blood were freely flowing down his cheeks, or that his entire body was turning ck, the purest Essence of Darkness seeping outside his body.

    **

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 Chapter 368 Its You...?

    Due to his ginormous range of perception and his [Mana Sense] that had reached a threshold that he had never attained, Nial immediately knew where he had to go to find his sister.

    He shot through the shelter, left it, and sted over the ground of the wilderness, while bloody tears trickled down his cheeks.

    His mother''s visualized features manifested in his mind and her voice resounded in his ears.

    He could clearly hear her nagging voice, her daily worries from the past, and the love that apanied her voice whenever she had spoken to her family.

    Nial clearly recalled every single moment he had spent with his mother and he couldn''t believe that she had died¡­that he had been unable to save her.

    That was simply not possible, it couldn''t be true¡­it had to be a lie! The more Nial told this to himself, the more he wanted to believe it.

    However, the bracelet on his arm, informing him of his parent''s health and well-being had broken and he could clearly sense that his mother had stopped moving.

    She was lying in Miles'' arms, unmoving¡­ Miles was crying bitterly, the sounds of his gut-wrenching cries filling the ruins of the mansion. He couldn''t believe what had just happened.

    They had just been eating lunch when some woman appeared out of nowhere. She attacked Sabrina without warning, wreaked havoc on theirnd and an astray attack hit Maline. The woman didn''t even notice that she had just killed someone when she had activated her spatial affinity to forcefully move Sabrina and Hana to a spot further away.

    Maline was left behind on the verge of death, without anyone being able to help her. Even the Elvingar Elves, who had appeared toote weren''t able to resurrect the dead.

    They could only help the Soul of the deceased to have a safe trip to the afterlife after the mortal body had given up and surrendered to the wounds.

    Nial had still a trace of hope when the Elvingar Elves had appeared in his home with the Royal Princess by their side.....that there was still time.

    However, even thatst trace of hope dispersed when Miles'' cry turned more desperate and sad.

    The Elvingar Elves had rushed towards Maline but they didn''t try to help her anymore.

    When Nial, who perceived everything that was currently happening in his home, understood the situation, his heart skipped several beats.

    Uncontroble sadness, anger, and wrath emerged from the depths of his body and Nial unleashed all of it at once. He didn''t even think about trying to control himself, maintain a calmposure or prevent others from seeing how he was feeling.

    All of this didn''t matter anymore. His mother had been killed, and his sister was in mortal danger. Nial let himself loose and allowed his emotions to control the dark energy that surged from his body and the Essence of Darkness that he had manifested all over his body.

    Kaeldur was summoned at Nial''s will in an instant, and he merged with Nial, following the orders of the young master.

    Nial subconsciously used the Ancient Devilization. He allowed his body to metamorph in whatever way Kaeldur wanted to change. Nothing mattered anymore.

    Nial''s mind was overflowing with rage and the desire to kill the person, who was at fault for everything. He didn''t care the slightest bit what kind of authority it was, or what powers the being wielded who had killed his mother. Only the thought of revenge burned brightly in his soul as his skin turned pitch-ck.

    ck horns protruded out of his forehead, his milky white eyes turned pitch-ck just to remain lifeless. Simultaneously, the energy of the [Blood Eclipse Moon] was unleashed. Swirls of a crimson tone merged with his pitch-ck eyes, just for tremendous energy waves to emerge from his body.

    His speed increased by leaps and bounds and he shot forward, ascending in the air, pping Kaeldur''s wings that had spread out of his shoulder des.

    The longer Nial sensed the unmoving body of his mother, the intenser his hatred and wrath became. He could hardly control himself as the dark energy infested his mind with intrusive thoughts.

    The Odyssey seed had begun to vibrate. It sucked the surrounding mana inside and converted it to dark energy, providing Nial with more and more energy that attempted to influence his mind.

    The dark energy was trying to influence him but that was not even necessary. Nial''s anger was already overflowing and his speed increased even further.

    Meanwhile, the Ankh and the Fairies'' Blessing were shining brightly in an attempt to pacify Nial''s anger. They tried to calm Nial and make sure that he wouldn''t do something stupid.

    However, it was already toote to calm Nial. Someone had done the unforgivable and he had to make sure that it would never repeat itself.

    With bloody tears in his eyes, Nial shot in the air above his sister, Hana, and the third being. He descended to the ground like a meteorite and smashed into the ground, creating a huge crater.

    This inevitably interrupted the battle of Sabrina and Hana against the unknown third woman.

    All three nced at Nial, who looked like the incarnation of a true Devil. He didn''t resemble his former appearance in the slightest. Even his hair had turned bloody red at this moment as uncontroble fury and wrath were coursing through him.

    Nial was ready to kill everyone who was against him, whether they were old, young, weak, or strong. He was not able to distinguish between good and bad right now and the only thing that reverberated through his mind was the image of his father crying bitterly while holding his mother in his arms.

    This image caused an overflow of dark energy to be released within Nial''s body and he roared out in anger.

    Hana and Sabrina were pushed back several meters when the terrifying roar reverberated through the wilderness, the Forest of Life, and the shelter that began to shake heavily as the gloominess of his dark energy apanied his roar.

    Sabrina and Hana looked in Nial''s direction in shock, especially since they realized who the terrifying being they were looking at truly was!<sub> </sub>

    "Brother??" Sabrina asked, her eyes widening in shock. She had yet to understand Nial''s pain, his sadness, and his anger because she had yet to realize that her beloved father had been severely injured and that her mother died due to the mortal wound she had inflicted.

    Sabrina was oblivious to what happened, but she had a premonition while looking at Nial.

    "Go home," Nial suddenly ordered, his lifeless eyes darting in Sabrina''s direction.

    "No, I wa¡ª..." Sabrina began to retaliate but Nial had already disappeared at this moment.

    He emerged by her side and lifted his t hand to knock her out with a single hit. Thus, before Sabrina was even able to finish speaking, her sight got blurry.

    Nial caught her in his huge ck hands that were now reced by ws.

    "Take her home¡­and take care of her¡­" Nial instructed Hana. The young woman could only swallow her saliva before she followed the orders she had been given.

    Hana supported the unconscious Sabrina and she brought her back, or so she wanted to do.

    Numerous spears manifested out of a holy, and somewhat divine energy was shot in Hana''s direction. They were supposed to prevent Hana from moving and locking her in ce.

    However, Nial quickly intervened with a single swipe of his arm. A storm of dark energy was released to block all the spears that had been fired at Hana.

    This gave her the opportunity to grasp Sabrina tightly and to run away from the battlefield which would cause more destruction than any warzone would create. That was something Hana was certain of.

    ''Nial¡­please be fine¡­'' She could only think while looking back once, just to see that Nial, in his transformed form, was paying attention only to the human, who levitated in the air above Nial.

    "So you did all of this¡­you killed my mother?" Nial asked coldly, despite knowing the answer pretty well. By now he was fully aware, who the woman levitating in the air was and that knowledge made him even more furious.

    "Nial, is that you?!?" The woman asked in true shock, her golden eyes widened in terror.

    "So it is really you¡­Be¡­you killed her¡­my mother?" Nial asked, his ice-cold voice reverberating through the wilderness. Dark energy shot out of his body, it covered the ground all around them, while killing intent radiated from Nial.

    No words were required to understand that Nial was ready to tear everyone apart, who obstructed his way right now¡­.even if that someone was one of his few friends, the girl with whom he and Mathias had spent months together while trying to ovee the struggles of the Teradan military camp.

    Be unleashed her strongest form of the [Celestial Transformation] which enhanced her strength as Prometheus Original further the moment she sensed his killing intent.

    "If your mother was killed in the fight before, I apologize¡­ But if I''m going to be honest, that was her inevitable fate for giving birth to someone like the two of you!" Be dered, her golden eyes coldly looking down on Nial.

    A golden halo had emerged above her head while her golden hair fluttered in the air. Holy light emerged from her body, which made her seem like the epitome of a pure Saintess.

    However, Nial could only look at her in shock, trying to digest the words of the woman he had once called friend.

    "Dying like this¡­was her fate?" Nial asked, his voice growing colder and colder. The temperature in the surrounding area dropped further and Nial''s dark energy expanded more rapidly.

    ws grew out of his hand, and both his horns and wings grew in size. More and more dark energy was created in his mind, and even the soothing energy of the Symbol of Life and the Fairies'' energy had been rendered useless.

    Nial''s wrath was uncontrobly released when he lifted his head to allow Be to look straight into his lifeless eyes.

    "Is that so¡­then her fate is sealed¡­" Nial mumbled mindlessly, clenching his fist as drops of fresh blood trickled down his hands, sttering on the ground as he found back to his senses.

    "Then your fate shall be the same!" He dered roaring out in anger, while lifting his transformed hand. A humongous w manifested out of the purest dark energy emerged beside him, towering above Nial.

    "You will die at my hands¡­that will be your fate!!!"

    **

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 Chapter 369 Wrath

    [Kill them! Kill them all!!]

    The voice of a woman resounded through Be''s ears from the moment she encountered Sabrina.

    Numerous memories of her Innate ability shed through her mind and the face of a man appeared in front of her. The being, whose memories shed through Be''s mind, had fought against that man.

    She lost, was caught, and imprisoned for thousands of years. The man had done unimaginable things to her that had nourished her rage and wrath. The thought of revenge was the only thing that prevented the woman from ending her life.

    And Be encountered a being with the exact constitution as that of the man in her memories; the Body of the Ancient¡­

    Influenced by the deeply rooted memories she had received from her Innate ability the [Celestial Transformation], Be was consumed by her rage and had attacked Sabrina with the deepest desire to take revenge.

    The pain and destruction she caused to the people around her were of no concern to Be. Only the intention to take revenge was apparent in her mind.

    However, this thought changed quickly when another overly familiar figure appeared in front of her.

    The God of Darkness had emerged in front of her all of a sudden. His wrath could be sensed tens of kilometers around him and his overflowing energy caused the surrounding area to decay.

    Everything around him crumbled the moment he took another step. Damian, or the being Be presumed to be Damian due to the memories that shed through her mind once again, had appeared right in front of her.

    He was enraged but focused on knocking out the woman with the Body of the Ancient. This was iprehensible for Be, who knew that the man with the Body of the Ancient was not on good terms with the God of Darkness.

    Yet, realization dawned on Be only when she heard the overly familiar voice of the young man she had been with for months.

    "So you did all of this¡­you killed my mother?" The man with the devilish appearance asked with an ice-cold voice, a voice Be could recognize everywhere and at any time.

    "Nial, is that you?!?" She asked, her eyes widening in terror while concluding that the woman with the Body of the Ancient must have been his sister.

    This thought shocked her deeply but thement that followed suit caused her to feel even more stunned.

    "So it is really you¡­Be¡­you killed her¡­my mother?" Nial asked, his ice-cold voice reverberating through the wilderness. Dark energy shot out of his body, it covered the ground all around them and he pointed his killing intent toward her.

    Be was fully aware of how important Nial''s family was to him. Thus, she panicked internally for a moment, not understanding how things could have escted so quickly.

    No words were required to understand that Nial was ready to tear her apart, even if she had spent months with him and Mathias. She had done something unforgivable, which was something Be understood quite clearly.

    Whether she had intended to attack his mother or not, it didn''t look like Nial cared about that, either way.

    [KILL HIM!! He is the Eminence of Darkness, the Lord of the Realm of the Abyss!! KILLL HIMMM!!] The voice of the same woman as before shed through Be''s mind.

    Memories of numerous deadly battles shed through Be''s head after the woman''s order had resounded within her mind. Influenced by the death and destruction she saw in the memories she had received, Be''s expression changed drastically.

    [All of this happened because of the God of Darkness! KILL HIM if you don''t want to die!!]

    More and more memories were transferred to Be. She was overwhelmed with the sight of terrifying battlefields where an eerily simr energy to that of Nial''s dark energy caused the most devastation and deaths.

    Seconds that felt like an eternity passed and the young woman swallowed her saliva once she had digested all the memories she had received.

    Her expression stiffened and she looked at Nial just once before she unleashed all the seals she had put on her body to control her powers.

    Be unleashed her strongest form of the [Celestial Transformation] which enhanced her strength as a Prometheus Original within moments before she made a decision that weighed heavily on her heart.

    ''If his mother has already died¡­because of me¡­only the death of one of us can end this!'' Be realized, fully understanding that Nial was not ying around anymore.

    "If your mother was killed in the fight before, I apologize¡­ But if I''m going to be honest, that was her inevitable fate for giving birth to someone like the two of you!" Be dered, her golden eyes coldly looking down on Nial.

    A golden halo had emerged above her head while her golden hair fluttered in the air. Holy light emerged from her body, which made her seem like the epitome of a Pure Saintess.

    Both the women with the Body of the Ancient, and Nial with the same energy as the Eminence of Darkness had to be annihted to ensure mankind''s survival¡­her survival!

    Be took a deep breath and she willingly epted the order the woman had given her. She was ready to end Nial''s life, and manifested a golden longsword within her hand, which she brandished to the side.

    Tremendous amounts of energy were released when Be brandished her weapon, and a huge sh tore through the ground, creating a terrifying-looking fissure that was several dozen meters deep.

    Be''s strength was terrifying and Nial would wonder how she was able to reach the Prometheus rank faster than he had advanced, if not for their special circumstances.

    She pointed her sword at him, and the endless fury within Nial''s heart was unleashed without hesitation.

    "Is that so¡­her fate is sealed¡­" Nial mumbled mindlessly, clenching his fist until he began to bleed as he found back to his senses.

    "Then your fate shall be the same!" He dered roaring out in anger while lifting his transformed hand. A humongous w manifested out of the purest dark energy emerged, towering above Nial<sub> </sub>

    "You will die through my hands¡­that will be your fate!!!" Nial released all his anger at once, smashing his at Be, who shed her holy sword against the humongous w of darkness.

    A sword beam of holy energy shot out of Be''s holy sword. The beam collided with the hand of darkness that was pushed back a momentter.

    It was pierced through and it seemed like it would disperse at any moment when Nial''s terrifying roar reverberated through Be''s entire being.

    The hand of darkness grew together once again. It smashed upon Be, whose expression had grown cold.

    Golden particles formed around her and she disappeared from her earlier spot.

    Be emerged in the air above Nial, thrusting her sword downward. She didn''t show a sign of hesitation to kill Nial and he epted this readily.

    The moment he knew that Be had killed his mother, he was ready to end her life in the worst possible way, whether she was sorry or not. He didn''t care about her reasoning in the slightest but it made things still a lot easier for his mentality considering that Be attacked him with the intention to kill as well.

    Nial took a single step to the side, evading Be''s attack easily. He had predicted the attack while dispersing the humongous w of darkness to counterattack.

    Given Be''s posture, while smashing to the ground in an attempt to pierce Nial''s body, he could easily attack her in retaliation.

    Thousands of vines of darkness shot out of the pitch-ck ground that had been covered with his Dark energy.

    The Essence of Darkness covered his body and Nial created dozens of daggers out of it which he shot straight toward Be. She was not even a meter away from him and it was impossible for her to evade the daggers manifested out of the Essence of Darkness.

    Thus, she could only ept and block the attacks. After releasing a golden aura, her strength increased by leaps and bounds. The Aura enveloped her body like an armor and a st of golden energy shot in Nial''s direction.

    It purified and destroyed some of Nial''s dark energy while weakening the Darkness Essence daggers. However, it was impossible for Be to destroy the Darkness Essence Daggers.

    Her eyes widened in shock when she realized this. Instinctively, she manifested eight tiny spatial portals to catch the Darkness Essence Daggers and change their flight trajectory.

    This worked almost perfectly well because the Darkness Essence Daggers shot back through the spatial portals, straight toward Nial.

    Yet, instead of panicking, Nial simply epted the Darkness Essence Daggers. They disintegrated into the Essence of Darkness at his will before Nial reshaped them once again.

    On the other hand, Be realized that her instinctive reaction had been too slow. Nial didn''t attack her with only eight Darkness Essence Daggers but nine!

    Thest Darkness Essence Dagger had seeded in piercing through the aura that protected her body. It pierced through her highly resistant body and dug deep in her abdomen.

    "Burst!" Nial ordered coldly and the Essence of Darkness burst out. It spread through her body while Nial continued to attack her relentlessly, forgetting that she had once been a friend to him.

    Other than vines of darkness that shot out of the ground below and around Be, spikes of darkness were already manifested. They pierced her feet, and legs and they tried to restrict her.

    Nial was mercilessly led by his wrath and the tremendous influence the dark energy had over him.

    He would only stop attacking Be, the moment her dead and the unmoving body was right in front of him.

    Uncontroble rage fueled him and he released everything onto Be. Her body was littered in numerous scratches covering her body and the wound on her stomach was bleeding heavily.

    Meanwhile, the Essence of Darkness that had entered her body prevented Be from properly circting mana through her body.

    The effect of her Innate ability was also worn off as she was unable to control it properly.

    However, Nial still didn''t end his attack.

    He had unleashed the ck miasma of his Curse [Hodur''s Heir] and augmented it drastically with the use of [Blood Eclipse Moon]''s energy. Nial didn''t hold back the slightest as he shrouded Be with the bloody ck miasma that further decreased her power.

    She may be able to control the space around her when fully focused but Nial had figured out several perks about her affinity that only someone with his high mana affinity could tell.

    Every single motion of Be was visualized by Nial, whose mind digested everything in an instant. He could even decipher what kind of attack she would use when Be circted her mana through her body.

    Or at least, Nial would be able to do all of this if Be was currently still able to move.

    She was extremely powerful and could be considered the strongest human on Jundra right at this moment. However, in the face of a wrath-filled Nial, she was a mere toy that could do nothing but struggle.

    Her strength seemed insignificant in the face of Nial''s limitless power and he was just about to end her as he noticed something behind him.

    His expression changed a bit but he understood what was going on.

    "Now¡­look who is here¡­fucking winged pieces of shit!"

 Chapter 370 The Angel And His Saintess

    "Now¡­look who is here¡­fucking winged pieces of shit!" Nial cursed out loud when he noticed what kind of being had appeared out of nowhere.

    Slowly, Nial started toprehend what was going on and it caused him to feel even more enraged than before.

    His blood was boiling in rage and even the being that had appeared out of nowhere couldn''t force him to calm down.

    Holy Aura and tremendous pressure filled the surrounding area and the weakened dark energy around Be began to disperse.

    ? When Nial noticed this, he scowled before he released some of his dark energy that was altered by the [Blood Eclipse Moon] that strengthened to an extent where it couldn''t be easily destroyed.

    He retracted the remaining dark energy and only used the bloody dark energy to create thorny vines that pierced deep inside Be''s flesh.

    She screamed out in pain, which caused the being that was hovering in the air to look at Nial with wrath-filled eyes.

    "You!!! How dare you injure our Saintess?!" The being snarled in the humannguage, and manifested dozens of Light Spears that were all released to attack Nial just a momentter.

    "I don''t care, who or what she is to you, you fucking poultry!" Nial shouted in anger after visualizing the human-like creature with feathered wings and created dozens of spears of darkness in return. The tip of his darkness spears was coated crimson, thanks to a small alteration through the [Blood Eclipse Moon] ability.

    He sted two darkness spears at each of the Light Spears to destroy them easily before he returned his whole attention back to the being, who wanted to rescue Be.

    The neer was an Angel, a powerful one at the Deux rank at that! Nial didn''t know that Angels had already appeared on Jundra but it made things moreplicated.

    Nheless, Nial would never allow the Angel to take Be away, whether she was their Saintess or their Goddess!!

    "I will torture and kill her, so fuck off, or I will take your life as well!" Nial warned in an ice-cold voice, disregarding the strength of the Deux Angelpletely while tightening the bloody darkness vines around Be''s body further to make his point.

    The Essence of Darkness had spread further through her body and some of the dark energy within the thorny vines entered her body through the thorns that continued to dig deep into her flesh.

    Nial did not have the slightest bit of mercy toward Be right now. His entire existence was consumed by wrath and the thought of taking revenge, the thought of avenging his mother and killing Be

    Even now, his range of perception and [Mana Sense] were able to perceive what was going on inside his destroyed abode. The mansion was now just argend of rubble and ruins, and his father was still sobbing bitterly, clutching Maline with shaking arms, begging her to move, to respond to his gut-wrenching pleas.

    Hana had reached his home as well and the Elves, who were still at the destroyed mansion, were tending to the injuries Hana had faced and the unconscious Sabrina.

    Nial was d that his sister was being taken care of but that didn''t change the inevitable fact that his mother was dead and that she would nevere back to life, never smile at him and never talk to him again.

    Even if Nial didn''t want to ept this reality, it was a fact and something that couldn''t be changed.

    Though Be had never aimed directly at his mother, the fact remained that the girl he had once called his friend had attacked his sisters without an actual reason.

    He could tell that Be''s Innate ability shared various memories with her and he knew how much they could influence someone.

    But even if the influence of someone else''s memories were not something that could be underestimated, it was also true that those memories were not essentially ''yours''. After all, he was a living example of such a case.

    Had he let the memories and emotions take root in his mind and driven away all rationale andmon sense, Nial would have attempted to eradicate all the Elves if he would have followed the memories of the God of Darkness. He knew that Damian hated the Elves to the core, but that didn''t mean he would have to attack them.

    It was simply not necessary because he didn''t have a reason to be hostile to them. Elves were aplicated race, just like humans but that didn''t mean the memories of the God of Darkness were enough to influence him to attack or kill innocent people just because Damian was vengeful.

    However, that was exactly what Be did. Not only had she attacked an innocent just because his sister had the constitution of a being which the memories of Be''s Innate abilitybeled as ''evil'' but Be was not even remorseful about killing his mother.

    In fact, she had let herself be blinded by hate and said that it had been Maline''s inevitable fate to die for giving birth to Sabrina and Nial.

    This was something Nial couldn''t ept¡­he didn''t want to ept it. Thus, all the memories that had been shoved deep inside his mind, whether it was his own or Damian''s were strong enough now resurfaced, fueling him with madness. It amplified the strength of the dark energy to an extent where it was powerful enough to rival the Light affinity of the Deux Angel.

    "YOUUU!!" The Deux Angel''s face contorted in fury.

    Yet, despite feeling all the anger churning in his gut, the Angel didn''t dare to make a move.

    He could tell that Nial had the capabilities to kill Be at any moment. Their Saintess was already extremely weak and she was caught in the tangle of crimson and dark thorny veins.

    It was impossible for the Saintess to free herself and a single wrong move would be enough for Nial to decide to kill her.

    However, Nial wanted more than just to kill Be. His uncontroble emotions didn''t allow him to kill her just like that. She had to suffer, painfully, for viciously snatching away what had been the dearest to him.

    He wanted her to feel even worse, and beg him to kill her so as to free her of the pain. Nial wanted her to understand how big of a mistake she had made by attacking Sabrina, his dear sister, and for destroying their life by taking their mother.

    Be was never allowed to be happy again¡­that was something Nial was going to make sure of!

    His thoughts grew worse and angrier by the second as the dark energy and Essence of Darkness circted through his entire being. Destructive thoughts were nted in his mind and the influence of the Ankh and the Fairies'' Blessing decreased with every moment that passed.

    The only advantageous influence they had was the amount of mana they pulled toward Nial. He absorbed more and more mana, made it his and turned it into dark energy without realizing it.

    His rage, sadness and wrath were more than enough to make the Odyssey seed do everything on its own.

    Nial''s emotions influenced the Odyssey seed, the dark energy, and his Essence of Darkness a lot. The more anger he felt the stronger they became.<sub> </sub>

    In return, the influence they had on him increased exponentially as well. His attitude toward everything around him began to change and Nial realized this quite clearly.

    However, he didn''t mind it. Nial couldn''t care less because the only thing of importance left for him was to take slow revenge on Be and to give his mother the eternal rest she deserved.

    Nothing else mattered to him right now. He reached out with his right w and grasped Be''s head tightly.

    His w shapeshifted with the use of some dark energy and it turned into a slimy mass that slithered down Be''s head and covered her face. She was suffocating but Nial didn''t stop doing what he was doing.

    He smiled devilishly in the direction of the Deux Angel, who had no idea what he was supposed to do.

    A single nce was enough for him to tell that Nial would kill Be the moment he would get a step closer..

    Nial lifted his other hand when he noticed the Deux Angel''s behavior and he created more than a hundred darkness spears that pointed in the Angel''s direction.

    "Dance for me!" He ordered before he shot the darkness spears toward the Angel one after another.

    Meanwhile, he didn''t forget about Be, who was struggling for life.

    She was struggling to grab the slimy mass of ck energy that was choking her breath but it clung to her skin like a leech.

    Nial only watched her futile struggle with a detached expression and he only moved his hand when he noticed that Be was almost about to pass out.

    He smashed her head in the ground as hard as he could.

    Afterward, he removed the slimy mass of darkness, which Nial reshaped to Kaeldur''s w, that was also his right now.

    Nial and Kaeldur were currently still fused through the Ancient Devilization, enhancing Nial''s strength to the same threshold Be had attained.

    However, his anger and rage were more than enough to enhance the power of Kaeldur''s even further. Kaeldur was nourished by emotions that reached an uncontroble state and the desires of his master, merged with his own desire to kill and wreak havoc.

    Through this, the Ancient Devilization''s effect increased further. Nial''s strength skyrocketed over time and the more negative emotions umted in his heart.

    Memories of Damian''s worst times were transferred from the Odyssey seed and they were etched deep inside Nial''s mind where they remained stuck.

    Visualizing Be in a nearly unconscious state was satisfying but it didn''t ease his pain the slightest. He hadn''t been strong enough to protect his mother and the only being he could me for this was himself.

    Be was lying on the ground next to his feet, and she was alive only because Nial had granted her a few more breaths. Killing her wouldn''t alleviate his pain but it would make sure that Be would never have a second chance to attack Sabrina.

    That was the most important right now, and not his thought of revenge.

    The only thought that was more important than his revenge and anger was his desire to protect his family¡­.or what was left of it¡­

    With that in mind, he manifested a huge sword of darkness. It levitated right above Be, its pointed tip hovering upon her abdomen. A simple flick of his wrist and it would pierce through her and end her life in an instant.

    The Deux Angel was upied with blocking and destroying the hundreds of darkness spears Nial was simultaneously controlling to make sure that nobody could interfere in the final strike he was about to deliver.

    "Just do me the favor¡­die, and rot in hell!" Nial dered while willing the darkness sword to smash down on Be.

    He wanted her to disappear from his sight, forever!

    Yet, just when Nial thought that he couldn''t bear even a second of her being alive an overwhelming pressure began to weigh down on him.

    Nial''s senses were blurred and all his dark energy was destroyed in an instant. Only his Essence of Darkness remained as a huge domain of holy light swept through the surrounding.

    A second Angel appeared in front of Nial all of a sudden and he only had to snip his fingers to st Nial hundreds of meters backward.

    "That was the first one for daring to speak rudely to the Saintess of Light!"

    **

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 Chapter 371 Black Heart

    An Angel with two pairs of wings and golden eyes had appeared in front of Nial before he snapped his finger against Nial''s stomach, sting him several hundred meters away.

    "That was the first one for daring to speak rudely to the Saintess of Light!" He dered in a voice that was almost void of emotions.

    The Angel looked at the Deux Angel with a shaking head before he turned his attention to the Saintess of Light.

    He clicked his tongue at the pitiful sight of their Saintess and he picked her up by grasping her clothes with one hand.

    He threw her over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. The Angel ignored the silently-issuedints of the Saintess as he averted his attention to the devilized human being, who he had flung away.

    Nial had already gotten up from the ground and he was shooting back in the direction of the Angel and Be.

    "You won''t get away!" He roared out in an ear-deafening manner as he allowed the Odyssey seed to go all out. Until now, he had restrained the Odyssey seed but Nial was ready to sacrifice this control and unleash the seed to its full potential if it was necessary to kill Be!

    He was not sure whether the Angel was still at the Deux rank or if he had already attained the Keltia rank. Nial just knew that the Angel was manifold stronger than the first Angel he had encountered.

    That was enough reason for him to give his all in order to get his hands on what he wanted and needed.

    To his dismay, instead of being unleashed and allowed to gain full control, the Odyssey seed was being influenced by the Symbol of Life. The Ankh had been constantly trying to influence Nial after he had witnessed the death of his mother.

    It had been trying to numb his pain, the anger that was churned deeply within his being, and the wrath that influenced his entire being.

    The Symbol of Life had also been trying to prevent the Odyssey seed, the dark energy, and the Essence of Darkness from influencing Nial too much. It failed miserably but it had been trying to go up against the flow the entire time.

    However, that had now changed. The Symbol of Life''s color had turned abyssal ck, outlined by a deep crimson before it slowly erged, covering the Odyssey seed in its entirety.

    Instead of working against the Odyssey seed and everything it created, the Symbol of Life was trying to be one with the Odyssey seed and to influence it.

    If it could alter the core problem and get to the root cause, Nial was bound to have fewer issues. That was at least the main intention the Symbol of Life pursued.

    Nial noticed that the Odyssey seed and the Ankh were bing one and he epted it readily as he sensed that the change allowed him to be stronger.

    The Essence of Darkness that had shrouded his body the whole time was retracted and it shrouded the Ankh and the Odyssey seed before pressing them together.

    They were already fusing but the Essence of Darkness was used as an elerant and a means to further alter the final result of their fusion.

    The Essence of Darkness was not only one of the most destructive types of energy but it was also one of the strongest types of energies as well.

    It could easily allow Nial''s strength to elevate further if he were to use it against the Angel with two pairs of wings.

    But he instinctively allowed all the Essence of Darkness to be used up in order to elerate the fusion of the Ankh and the Odyssey seed.

    Nial terminated the Ancient Devilization forcefully as well. He ordered Kaeldur to engulf the Ankh and to provide it with every single trace of energy he had umted.

    While giving this order, Nial fully unleashed the Fairies'' Blessing to enhance his range of perception and his [Mana Sense].

    "Mana, heed my call!!! Come forth and aid me in these dark times full of death and destruction!" Nial shouted at the top of his lungs, allowing all the emotions within him to let loose.

    A shockwave originated from Nial''s body as his appearance reverted back to his original looks. The powerful presence that had shrouded him until moments ago had also disappeared and it looked like Nial had just lost all his power.

    Not a single trace of energy radiated from his body. However, that was impossible¡­had Nial never awoken his origin, to begin with!

    "What is he doing?" The Angel, who was carrying the struggling Saintess asked in confusion. A trace of fear could be seen in his golden eyes because he could clearly tell that something was terribly wrong.

    Nial''s strength had been equal to a being at the Peak of the Prometheus rank for a moment before it dropped to the Mid of the Prometheus rank just to decrease further until it had disappearedpletely.

    It was as if Nial''s whole energy was sealed within his body and shouldn''t be possible for someone to umte even more mana than he already possessed, let alone make it move in his direction on its own.

    However, that was exactly what happened. Mana emerged from the ground and mana that swirled through the surrounding area was being pulled in Nial''s direction, rapidly.

    The Mana was absorbed, and annexed before it seemed to disappear all of a sudden. That was not supposed to be possible but it was what was currently happening¡­right in front of him, by none other than a human of Jundra¡­the who had awoken its mana core not too long ago.

    Under normal circumstances, the Angel would have long since shot forward to kill Nial or use his spatial affinity to disappear with the Saintess of Light.

    His task was to bring the Saintess back, not to wreak havoc, and he was known for being great at following orders. However, for the first time in his life, he was finding it difficult to follow orders. Right at this moment, the Angel''s golden eyes were locked on Nial, and he was unable to look anywhere else, let alone to move his body.

    Even the Deux Angel looked at Nial in confusion because his current appearance and presence had changedpletely.

    Nial''s uncontroble rage and wrath had disappeared, just like that¡­or it seemed like this at least.<sub> </sub>

    If the Angel had even the slightest inkling of what was going on, they wouldn''t have been able to stay that calm. After all, Nial''s emotions, all the umted energy he possessed, including the small strand of sealed Cursed Divine energy, and the existence of both the Odyssey seed and the Symbol of Life showed signs of merging together.

    Kaledur had sacrificed almost all the energy that allowed it toe into existence to elerate the fusion and to temporarily create something that was supposed toe into existence only after a long time.

    For a short period, Nial''s body reached a state where everything had already fused together. A ck mass with crimson veins hade into existence, and it began to beat wildly, elerating the absorption of the mana that surged toward them much faster than before.

    It was as if Nial was temporarily in possession of two hearts. One heart kept his mortal body alive while the other heart was overflowing with energy that it deprived out of the surrounding in a radius of five kilometers.

    And Nial made use of this whole energy without hesitation.

    A huge broadsword with numerous runic constetions engraved on it and manifested in his hands.

    The moment Nial grasped it tightly, he sunk deeper into the ground. Nial ignored the heavy weight of the huge broadsword as he used a ginormous amount of mana from within his second heart, the ck heart that kept suctioning all the mana from the surrounding and the ground toward him, to supply the broadsword with it.

    The broadsword''s de began to shine brightly before it began to crackle restlessly.

    A huge inferno of mes and bolts of lightning erupted from the huge broadsword.

    The inferno of mes and the bolts of lightning were forcefully pulled together andpressed. The sword de chipped and the mes and lightning turned unstable, but Nial didn''t pay any attention.

    He used all this and the momentum he had generated to sh the huge sword in the direction of the two-winged Angel and Be. After the first sh was issued, a second sh followed suit a quarter of a secondter, creating a tremendous reaction as the Inferno of mes and the bolts of lightning were merged together, creating an attack of death and destruction as they were released in the form of a Cross sh.

    [Cross sh of the Lightning Inferno]!

    When the Broadsword broke in his hand and crumbled to pieces, he threw the hilt aside before another weapon manifested in his hand.

    He had the liberty to discard enough broken weapons for situations, where a stronger existence annoyed him enough to make him use them.

    Broken Tier-2 runic weapons required a tremendous amount of mana to be activated but the power they could unleash was even more terrifying.

    If used properly, even beings at the Deux rank could be injured by a single attack of a Broken Tier-2 runic weapon. And Nial was ready to use dozens of Broken Tier-2 runic weapons if that was necessary to kill Be!

    His mind was filled with hatred and the thought of taking revenge.

    He had to kill Be by all means and the mana around him aided him to make that happen.

    Hisbat power might only beparable to someone at the Prometheus rank right now but the mana he controlled right now allowed him to attack over and over again.

    There was not an ounce of hesitation in his attacks. His killing intent was clearly pointed at Be and he was ready to eradicate all the existences, who blocked him in his advances.

    If necessary, he wouldn''t mind wiping out entire races to terminate Be. That was the extent to which Nial could go to get what he wanted as the frustration about theck of dark energy and the Essence of Darkness was driving him insane.

    Right now, Nial was struggling to control any dark energy and the Essence of Darkness in order to allow the ck heart to stay in existence for a few more minutes.

    All of it had been used up in order to create the ck mass he considered a beating second heart. It suctioned enormous amounts of mana toward his body and acted as a second type of mana storage.

    Nial made use of this second storage to initiate more attacks using Broken Tier-2 runic weapons.

    A huge ice-spear followed the Lightning Inferno Cross sh, and afterward, a ginormous serpent was created out ofpressed water.

    Following that, a storm of wind des emerged, holy spears, mana bullets the size of bullet trains and many more attacks followed suit.

    Nial was barely able to control each of the attacks, his mind was exhausted beyond measure and he could hardly stand on his own feet when he finished the 10th attack with a broken Tier-2 runic weapon.

    His rage had consumed him and it was near-impossible for him to control his body that seemed to have acquired a mind of its own.

    However, despite all of his efforts and the sacrifices he made, Be had yet to die. The two-winged Angel had blocked all of his attacks without much difficulty.

    Despite the ease with which he blocked Nial''s attacks the Angel was still surprised.

    ''He is really powerful¡­and persistent in his attempts to kill the Saintess¡­'' He thought, sighing deeply in regret.

    "Looks like I will have to kill you. Curse your bad luck for being the Saintess'' enemy," The Angel said, creating a huge spear of holy light as he threw a look of regret at the struggling figure of Nial.

    "You will die without much pain. Take my attack as a sign of my respect for your efforts!" He dered as he directed the spear that released a shockwave the moment it shot toward Nial with rapid speed.

    Die¡­

 Chapter 372 Leaving

    The energy that radiated from the huge holy spear suppressed Nial.

    He was way too exhausted to move his body and every single motion caused his bones and muscles to creak. His face was drained of all its blood and Nial''s body was ice-cold.

    He was no better than the walking dead. It was a terrifying sight to behold and the Angel didn''t even want to think what it must feel like to be in Nial''s shoes right now, but Nial didn''t give up.

    His mind was mush and his body was on the brink of tearing apart due to all the strain it had to endure.

    His own powers were at fault for this because they had allowed him to reach abat prowess that he was not supposed to reach yet.

    However, Nial wanted more¡­he needed more. He couldn''t just give up right now.

    Be had to die, she could not escape alive!

    Spitting out blood, Nial forced his body to obey him. The ck heart inside him beat wildly. It absorbed a tremendous amount of mana and allowed Nial to use them.

    A longsword manifested in his hand and upon activating the runic constetions, the broken runic weapon chipped while the runic constetions were fully unleashed.

    Nial spit out more blood but he couldn''t care less. In order to kill Be, he had to destroy the huge holy spear first.

    When he directed the huge torment of frigid winds that emerged from around Nial toward the holy light spear, it was slowed down rapidly.

    However, despite all the efforts, it was impossible for Nial to destroy the attack in its entirety.

    His range of perception barely worked right now and he could only sense the power of the holy light spear as it shot in his direction.

    ''Will I really die here?'' He wondered, now epting the reality and what was about to happen. He didn''t want to ept it, and to die just like that.

    Nial unleashed his remaining strength at once and was ready to sacrifice everything to survive and to continue fighting.

    Yet, even before he could make use of his remaining power and permanently injure himself in the process, Nial sensed the arrival of a bunch of Originals.

    Nial''s legs gave in as a powerful draft swirled around him.

    Tremendous wind currents engulfed the holy light spear before theypressed and destroyed it in a matter of minutes.

    All of a sudden, an arm reached out for him while a sweet scent entered his nose.

    "Took you long enough¡­" Nial could only say, forcing a weak smile on his face.

    Everyone saw that he was forcing himself to smile. Nial''s current appearance was the worst anyone had ever seen, yet, he was still conscious and ready to keep fighting, making sure that his opponents would never be able to escape his grasp.

    "We were pushed back a bit," Royal Princess Evalyne said, supporting Nial with one arm.

    She had sensed Nial''s power from more than a dozen kilometers away, where she and the Elvingar Elves had tended to his mother''s soul to assist her in the journey to afterlife, while Evalyne had been afraid of his power.

    For the first time in her life, she had been truly afraid of someone''s power¡­the power of a being that was merely at the Peak of the Mirae rank.

    This made it quite clear that Nial was not to be underestimated. The moment he was to reach her mana core''s rank, hisbat prowess was bound to reach unimaginable heights.

    The Royal Princess hadn''t expected anything bad to happen to Nial, especially after hisbat prowess exceeded hers for a short period.

    Thus, she was surprised at the arrival of an Angel and an Elite Angel. While the former was already extremely powerful, thetter was a force to reckon.

    Fortunately, the Elite Angel was only at the Peak of the Deux rank, indicating that he was still pretty young.

    But that didn''t mean Nial was fine anymore. He was not able to sustain his strongestbat prowess for long, which was why she had rushed over with a bunch of other High Elves, who hade to her to make sure that nothing would happen to their Royal Princess.

    Simultaneously, all the powerful Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves had emerged by Evalyne''s side as well. They had sensed Nial''s power clearly and they could tell that his entire existence was overflowing with rage and anger.

    Even now when Nial''s condition was at its worst, the Nightshadow Elves were clearly able to perceive the uncontroble anger within him.

    There was something else inside Nial that caused the Nightshadow Elves to look at him in fear but they still forced themselves to enter a protective stance in front of him.

    They could clearly tell that something within Nial was changing and that it was even more frightening than his Essence of Darkness.

    At the sight of a bunch of High Elves, Nightshadow Elves, and Dark Elves, the Elite Angel started to frown.

    He was using his holy light''s power to tend to Be''s injuries, which made him realize that the Essence of Darkness within her had spread out.

    The Essence of Darkness wreaked havoc within Be and the Elite Angel was only able to slow it down from spreading further.

    This allowed Be to regain her full consciousness as a pained groan escaped her lips.

    The Elite Angel moved his body to allow Be to look straight at Nial, who was panting heavily.<sub> </sub>

    "This is not yet over!" Be tried screaming at the top of her lungs, but all she could manage to utter was gibberish in a hoarse voice.

    Nial was trying to spread the Essence of Darkness within Be''s body but it was impossible for him to continue assaulting her.

    He was struggling to stay conscious, and the mana that entered through the pores all over his body allowed him to make this possible.

    With endless efforts, Nial lifted his left arm, showing Be his middle finger as he cursed her,

    "Your heart will end up crushed in my hands, and your head will roll to the ground!"

    His voice was low but everyone in the surrounding could hear him. It felt weird to everyone around as goosebumps crawled up their skin when Nial spoke.

    His voice was colder than the Lake of Ice and it sounded like he had made a promise to himself, and the world around him.

    Nial would be the cause of Be''s death and he openly dered it!

    The Elite Angel moved backward instinctively upon hearing Nial and Be''s hair stood up on its end as she shuddered for a moment.

    "If that''s everything, we will take your leave," The Elite Angel spoke, looking vigntly at all the Elves in front of them as he created a spatial portal behind him.

    He didn''t want to leave Nial alive but the situation was in their favor. The Saintess of Light would die with him the moment he was to attempt killing Nial.

    The Elves had a numerical advantage and there were a bunch of stronger Elves in their rows as well.

    It was impossible to kill Nial in front of the Elves and to make sure that the Saintess would survive. Thus, he took a diplomatic decision to make sure that his mission would be solved without furtherplications than killing a future threat.

    "Young brat with the Essence of Darkness¡­we will meet again¡­and you will end up buried underground!" The Elite Angel vowed before he disappeared in the spatial portal.

    The other Angel disappeared in his own spatial portal while the Elves only watched in horror.

    They didn''t have any animosity with the Angels. It was way too dangerous to start waging war with them because of the fight of two humans. The Nightshadow Elves would have attacked the Elite Angel upon hearing Nial''smand but the young, blind Original couldn''t speak anymore.

    He had to use his whole strength and willpower to stay conscious. Mana flooded his body uncontrobly, and he could only helplessly visualize them disappearing from before him before his range of perception malfunctioned.

    Nial''s legs gave in and Princess Evalyne lost her grasp of him. His body crashed to the ground like a bag of potatoes with his face down first.

    Princess Evaylyne tried to help him up but Nial didn''t have even an ounce of strength left in his body.

    He couldn''t even attempt stabilizing his body anymore.

    Two Nightshadow Elves had to hold Nial from one side each to keep him from falling down again. They tried to insert their energy inside him to give him some strength but their energies were just devoured in an instant.

    Nial''s condition didn''t improve but they were deprived of their power at once. The ck heart within Nial was slowly morphing back into the mergedplex of the Essence of Darkness, his dark energy, the Ankh, and the Odyssey seed.

    It was slowly transforming, which would require a long time before it would bepleted. At the same time, the Cursed Divine energy that had been sealed until recently was fully unleashed now. Nial''s condition gradually worsened due to the Cursed Divine Energy that ravaged inside his Odyssey seed.

    However, instead of sealing it again, Nial epted the potent energy of the Cursed Divine energy. He could tell that his Odyssey seed had begun to change and that it needed the Symbol of Life and the Cursed Divine energy toplete the process.

    Both were essential ingredients, including the Essence of Darkness, the dark energy, and even more the basic ingredients for everything; mana.

    Nial needed enormous amounts of mana, and the terrifying amount of mana he was currently absorbing was not yet enough.

    He required far more than that to make sure that he would ovee everything.

    "Ma¡­na¡­" Nial could barely issue when he was brought to the Forest of Life to allow the vigor of the forest to nourish him.

    "You need more mana?" Princess Evalyne asked in a disbelieving voice.

    There was already no mana in the surrounding for others because Nial was absorbing everything, and still, he wanted more than that?!

    "Send everyone out to purchase as many Origin crystals as possible and to conquer Deux-ranked Dungeons!" Evalyne ordered all the Elves in the Forest of Life in an instant.

    All the Sacred Elves, High Elves, and ordinary Elves followed her orders immediately, while the others hesitated for a moment.

    Yet, the moment the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves appeared in the Forest of Life with the aim to massacre everyone, who didn''t obey The Royal Princess'' order, they began to move at once.

    "Why are you helping me?" Princess Evalyne asked the leader of the Nightshadow Elves, an Old Elf, who had long since reached the peak of his potential.

    "Helping you? I don''t care about you, Princess," The Nightshadow Elf answered bluntly before he reached out for her hand to ce it in the center of Nial''s chest.

    "I care about what I feel within this young man!"

 Chapter 373 Nightmare

    Nial writhed in pain.

    He was lying on a wooden bed inside his hut, surrounded by dozens of Elves at the Keltia rank.

    They had all gathered around him and touched his bare chest for a few seconds before a shocking expression formed on their faces.

    "It''s really true¡­how is that possible?" One of the Keltia Pyromas Elves asked. His red skin lit up and all his mana was forcefully pulled through his arm and spread inside Nial.

    The moment someone touched Nial, his body was subconsciously deprived of all mana.

    Nial was currently unconscious, and being tormented by the worst memories of the God of Darkness and the constant reminders that his mother had died at the hands of Be, his former friend, and the woman who was nowbeled as the Saintess of Light.

    Angels had suddenly appeared and they had be her subordinates, preventing Nial from killing her.

    Tormented by his guilt, regrets, anger, sadness, and wrath, the speed at which the Odyssey seed evolved had elerated drastically. It was nourished by his emotions as they enhanced the power behind his Essence of Darkness.

    In exchange for the eleration of the Odyssey seed''s evolution, Nial''s demand for mana had increased by leaps and bounds.

    He was given the best Origin crystals, only for his body to devour the energy within them in seconds.

    The temporary leader of the Nightshadow Elves had forced the Royal Princess to touch Nial who had subconsciously deprived all the energy out of her. However, instead of getting angry at the Nightshadow Elf for doing something that could be considered an attack, Evalyne followed suit and ordered all the Elves to give Nial his energy as well.

    This decisive order shocked the Nightshadow Elves because they had been sure that the Royal Princess would attempt to dispose of Nial. He was the most destructive existence they had encountered until today but the Elves, especially the princess, still epted them, even after what had happened today.

    That realization shocked the Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves. They felt betrayed by the other Elven races, even if they understood that Nial was different from them.

    But despite all this, they chose to support Nial, in the hope that his existence would change something for them.

    They hoped for the best while giving their best to tend to Nial''s unique condition.

    Not even the Elvingar Elves could tell what was currently happening to Nial. He was mentally unstable and his body was on the verge of breaking apart.

    But at the same time, there was a weird power within Nial that erupted all of a sudden, invigorating him, and creating a safety around him to protect him from being permanently injured by anything that had happened today.

    The more mana entered his body, the faster his condition improved, and soon his heartbeat improved as well. At least that was what it felt like until they figured that there was not only one heart beating within Nial but something else as well that felt just like a heart.

    After running numerous tests on him, it was concluded that something new had been given birth within Nial.

    For the first time since the awakening of the Odyssey seed, others were able to perceive it. However, to them it was just a ck mass, something that felt like a tumor but in reality was far more than that.

    It pulsated every now and then, which was what made it seem like the thing inside him was actually alive.

    All the Elves had been interested in this phenomenon. They were ready to provide their entire energy to Nial if that meant that they would receive the chance to sense what was happening to Nial.

    However, it was not as if they had actually believed Nial to have suddenly awoken a second heart.

    This was not supposed to be possible, after all.

    When all the thousands of Elves had provided Nial with their energy, he stopped writhing in pain. Two days had already passed since his encounter with Be but Nial had yet to wake up from the nightmares that tormented him.

    It had been an eternity since thest time where he was able to ''see'' in his dreams. His dreams of the Divine Goddess had been the only time he was able to see. The memories of the God of Darkness were just shes that yed over in his mind from Damian''s eyes, not as if Nial was witnessing everything on his own.

    Thus, it was terrifying when Nial''s brightly shining silver eyes were not cursed by [Hodur''s Heir] and not affected by whatever had happened in the dungeon when he was only three years old.

    "Mom¡­" Nial sobbed miserably, thick tears trickling down his cheek as he looked clearly at the image of his mother.

    She was standing calmly in front of him, holding her hands out for him. His mother was wearing a white dress and she smiled lovingly at him. Not a single word escaped her mouth but the loving gaze she looked at him was more than enough for Nial to break down and turn into a small child.

    He cried bitterly as he rushed into the arms of her mother, hugging her tightly. Yet, the moment he hugged her, the scenery around him changed.

    Nial was now standing in the middle of debris and rubble, while his mothery on the ground, unmoving. Her white dress was dyed crimson and was still soaking her own blood. Nial''s legs gave in at the sight of this sight, and a momentter, his father and sister appeared by his side.

    At first, Nial thought that they would try to console him or that they would cry bitterly next to him.

    However, upon looking at them, he saw that their expressions were filled with anger, disgust, and fury.

    "How could you let her die? Didn''t you always say that you would protect us? Where were you when we really needed you?" His father demanded, grabbing Nial''s cor as he picked him up from the ground.

    Nial''s feet hovered in the air above the ground as his father lifted him up high in the air, shaking him violently.

    "Brother¡­you killed mom¡­" Sabrina med him, staring vengefully at Nial as a golden spear manifested in her hands.

    "In that case, you can die as well!" She screamed, crying bitterly as she thrust out with the spear.

    Nial didn''t move a single inch. He was too stunned to react or to do anything. He only watched in shock as Sabrina''s spear dug deep inside his flesh.<sub> </sub>

    She twisted the spear inside him, pulled it back and pierced it inside again, ignoring the warm blood that sttered on her face.

    A choked voice escaped his lips before he nked out.

    When he opened his eyes once again, Nial was back to the ce he had been at first. His mother smiled lovingly at him and she spread out her arms, ready to hug him and give him all her love.

    Nial instinctively knew what was going to happen but he couldn''t stay away from his mother. He hoped that he could save her, and that it would be possible to prevent the inevitable.

    However, the moment he hugged his mother again, the scenery changed just like before and his mother''s dead body ended up in front of him. The sight of his mother lying in her own puddle of blood was etched in Nial''s mind and he began to cry again as he stepped forward.

    He reached out to his mother in the hopes of saving her, thinking that there was some way he could help her.

    But even before he could grasp her unmoving hand, the de of a spear pierced through his hand, pinning it down to the ground.

    Nial screamed out in pain and he was about to turn his head to see what was going on behind him when the foot of an adult man kicked viciously on his head, smashing his face on the ground and driving it deep inside the rubble below him.

    "Don''t you dare to touch my wife, you monster!!" Nial heard his father''s voice towering above him, while his sister appeared behind him once again.

    "You are garbage, entirely useless¡­ you couldn''t keep the only promise you ever made. Just look at how weak you are! You cannot even protect the only people you ever truly cared about!! How ridiculous!!" Sabrina admonished him and her words cut through his heart, wing at it as Nial grit his teeth in anger and pain.

    "I¡­I gave my best!!" Nial screamed out but his voice cracked with raw emotion.

    He knew that his excuses were futile. They were just that¡­excuses. What did it matter if someone knew that he had given his best, just to fail miserably? His mother had died, and searching for excuses was everything but helpful.

    She would nevere back and that was a fact.

    If he had been stronger, his best would have been enough but that was not the case, at all!

    "Your best is not enough¡­ It has never been enough!" Sabrina said coldly, retracting the spear before she pierced it into Nial''s neck.

    "You are nothing but a failure¡­" She added just before Nial cked out once again.

    Before he could get over the shock, his mother appeared in front of him once again. This time, he didn''t dare to approach her. He thought that it may help her if he stayed away from her, and he should have never been in her sight in the first ce.

    But the final result didn''t change. In fact, his mother''s bright expression crumbled to a sad and hurt one before a light spear manifested out of nowhere. It pierced through her chest and Nial was forced to witness the cruel and painful death of his mother right in front of her.

    Nial''s eyes widened in terror, just for the voices of his family to reverberate through his ears once again.

    "Why didn''t you do anything?"

    "Why are you so weak?"

    "We should have never raised you, you ungrateful brat¡­."

    "How can you be so shameful and stay alive if you let your mother die so miserably!??!"

    Nial was clutching hard at his head, willing the voices to leave him alone but they kept hammering on him, tearing out a piece of his heart every time he heard them. He smashed his fist against his head in an attempt to quiet down the voices but it was futile.

    Only when he used enough force to end his own life did the voices finally quiet down.

    However, instead of being freed from the horrifying repetitive cycle of nightmares, his mother appeared in front of Nial once again.

    He shook his head. He knew what was going to happen and willed himself to look anywhere but at her.

    But, she smiled lovingly at him and a horrifying look appeared on Nial''s face. He closed his eyes tightly, or he tried to do so. Yet, just when his eyelids had closed, hands reached out for his head. Nial was forced to see the death of his mother again and again with vivid rity every single time.

    It was impossible for him to escape the cycle and he slowly stopped attempting to fight it. He only watched helplessly as his mother appeared in front of him over and over again.

    She was killed hundreds of times and every single time his sister and father med him for her death. Whenever Nial dared to say something, they pped him in return, either with words or actions.

    They killed him over and over again, destroyed his existence, and forced him to ept reality.

    He had been too weak, made promises that he couldn''t keep, and he had been too arrogant to believe that everything would go ording to his ns.

    He might have given his best but that hadn''t been enough. His mother died, his father was devastated and Nial didn''t even want to imagine how his sister must be feeling.

    Nial was horrified and he didn''t want to live anymore. He was just about to give up on himself when something around him changed.

    It was only after Nial had watched the cycle of his mother''s death on a loop more than a thousand times out that a huge ck door manifested in front of him.

    [Unleash your wrath, and follow the path that has been chosen for you!]

 Chapter 374 Graveyard

    When Nial finally woke up from his slumber his back was drenched in sweat, and he was panting heavily.

    "That¡­was just a dream¡­.right?" He asked quietly, not really realizing what had just happened.

    A distinct clue that he was not asleep and caught in the loop of a horrid nightmare anymore was the fact that his eyes were as lifeless as ever.

    Nial got up from the bed and attempted to stretch his body. But the moment his feet touched the ground a searing pain spread through his feet all the way up to his head.

    He was electrocuted and couldn''t move for several seconds as he remained in that state.

    However, Nial was not really bothered by this. His mind was still tormented with the nightmare that had felt too real and too terrifying.

    The images of his mother dying over and over again had been etched on his mind and Nial wanted nothing more than to get rid of them.

    Only the good memories of his mother was what he wanted to retain in his mind and heart. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done because it was near-impossible for his mind to consider the memories of his mother hugging him and her looking at him lovingly as higher priority than the moments of her death; the same scenario that he had seen hundreds of times in session.

    ''Will they really me me?'' Nial asked himself, not sure whether his family would me him for his mother''s death. Even if they did, Nial was not sure how to react.

    After all, he had begun to believe that he was also at fault.

    "No, fuck it¡­I gave my best¡­" He mumbled quietly, knowing deep down how useless his words were.

    After the electrocuted sensation had worn off, Nial stretched his badly damaged and horribly aching body a bit. This allowed him to realize just how bad his condition truly was.

    ''To think that I can even move,'' Nial thought in astonishment when he understood how badly he was injured. He tried to smile wryly but the smile he was forcing on his lips disappeared the moment he put it on.

    With a monotonous expression, Nial left the wooden hut he had been lying in before he walked through the Forest of Life aimlessly.

    Tremendous amounts of mana swirled toward him and Nial''s body absorbed it almost instantaneously, but he had not released his range of perception nor [Mana Sense] in any way.

    In fact, it was currently not possible for Nial to perceive his surroundings in any way, and neither was he inclined to do so. The range of perception didn''t work properly and [Mana Sense] couldn''t be executed since the ability was bound to the Odyssey seed that was still transforming.

    The Odyssey seed was probably forming into the ck heart it had temporarily created when he had fought the Elite Angel, but Nial felt a bit weird about that.

    ''It feels like something else will happen¡­as if the ck heart won''t be the final result of the Odyssey seed''s transformation¡­'' Nial thought for a moment until he discarded this useless premonition.

    It didn''t really matter what would happen to the Odyssey seed because Nial had other things to be worried about.

    ''I have to find dad and Sabrina¡­'' Nial reminded himself while dreading the encounter. He didn''t really want to face his family just after the nightmare he had gone through, but it was not as if he could avoid them forever.

    He somehow felt that it might be hard to meet both of them together if not for today. This was a bit weird, but Nial was certain that he was correct.

    Thus, he spent quite a while searching for them using only his heightened senses to walk through the Forest of Life.

    [Niallll, how are you awakeee?] The Nature Spirit of the Dryad emerged in front of Nial all of a sudden. She spoke drowsily and seemed very confused, but Nial didn''t feel like speaking.

    He sighed deeply and thought about avoiding the nature spirit by simply ignoring her, just to do the exact opposite.

    "Where are my father and Sabrina?" He asked straightforwardly, his voice weak and cracking uncontrobly.

    His body was simply too weak and his mood too low right now¡­

    [I can take you to them!] The Nature spirit spoke in his mind before itnded on his head, pointing in a specific direction.

    [Northhh!] She screamed in excitement causing Nial to sigh deeply once again as he walked straight ahead.

    It took him a while but Nial found his parents. The nature spirit could only lead him through the Forest of Life before it told him exactly where they were located.

    However, Nial knew very well where he was going and his expression paled in an instant.

    "The graveyard¡­"<sub> </sub>

    There was not yet a proper graveyard in the new shelter but the Elves and Humans had created a temporary graveyard after the battle against the vicious and vile Dryx. This temporary graveyard was still used, maintained, and expanded.

    His mother''s grave was likely to be there and Nial was truly afraid to visit it. Yet, instead of being the coward, he was in his opinion, Nial clenched his fists before he walked over the small parts of the wilderness.

    He reached the graveyard in less than 10 minutes, where he realized that his range of perception worked a little bit, once again.

    He could faintly perceive the mana fluctuations of his father and his sister and Nial approached them with lots of self-doubt and hesitation.

    When he reached his family, he was able to visualize their almost soulless eyes and their bodynguage which was void of any discipline or energy.

    Nial''s arrival was quickly noticed and Miles'' eyes widened in surprise, while Sabrina shot toward him without hesitation.

    Nial imagined the worst as it had been his sister, who killed him in his nightmare every single time.

    However, instead of trying to evade this fate, Nial simply epted it. If his sister wanted to kill him for what happened, he would have to ept it.

    But what Nial didn''t expect to happen was that Sabrina would punch him in the chest, forcing him to the ground.

    He was too weakened and couldn''t keep his bnce anymore. As hey on the ground, Nial wondered what Sabrina would do now, just to feel her embracing him tightly.

    She started to sob and muttered iprehensibly,

    "I¡­thought¡­losing you¡­.as well¡­."

    Nial was not sure what was going on because the nightmare''s images shed through his mind over and over, but Sabrina was hugging him right now.

    His father didn''t move an inch, but he looked at his son with a faint trace of relief.

    It was good that Nial seemed fine¡­

    Miles'' eyes moved back to the tombstone and his eyes turned soulless again after a few seconds.

    Nial was relieved that Sabrina didn''t me him and he patted his sister''s head while trying to calm his raging heart. He got up from the ground when Sabrina allowed him to and he walked over to his father.

    They didn''t exchange even a word but Miles grasped his son''s shoulder once before his arm grew weak.

    Miles'' arms hung down his shoulder and Nial could easily visualize his father¡­or the shell of the person he used to be.

    His father''s condition seemed to be the worst. He was barely standing and it felt like he had given up on himself.

    That was not good, obviously, but Nial didn''t feel like he had the right to say anything.

    Sabrina stood in between her brother and her father, holding one of their hands, without saying anything else either.

    All of them were depressed and stood quietly, unable to say anything for more than an hour. They were merely standing in front of the tombstone of Maline, the person all of them had loved the most.

    After an hour, Sabrina was finally ready to let go of her brother and her father''s hands. She cleared her throat, which brought them back to the present and the two men turned to her direction at once.

    "I will leave," Sabrina said after a while. Miles'' eyes widened when he heard his lovely daughter''s words and he quickly grasped her hands to hold her back.

    "Noo! Don''t leave me as well¡­." He eximed, looking ghastly. Sabrina looked at her father in hesitation and bit on her lower lip.

    He was not doing well, but Sabrina had already made her decision. She had to do it!

    "I will leave! I have to¡­kill this wench," Sabrina said in a choked voice, ncing at the dispirited Nial. She hoped to offer him some words offort but couldn''te up with anything.

    ''He will be fine, right?''

 Chapter 375 Ultimatum

    Nial was anything but fine.

    Sabrina wanted to take revenge for their deceased mother. She wanted to do something he had failed miserably with.

    It was only obvious for him not to be fine, but Nial couldn''t tell Sabrina to not leave. He didn''t dare to.

    His only task had been to protect Sabrina, and killing Be could merely be considered a secondary mission.

    However, it was obvious that Be was extremely dangerous. Her being alive would mean that he, Sabrina, and even their father were in danger.

    ''I should have killed her when I had the opportunity,'' He thought, regretting that he had intended to torture her first.

    Torturing Be might have been satisfying and a means to decrease his guilts and regrets temporarily, but it hadn''t been worth it.

    Meanwhile, Sabrina began preparing everything for her journey, with the goal to be much stronger. After she gained enough strength, Sabrina would start searching for Be to finish her off andplete the mission Nial had failed with.

    Meanwhile, Nial was trying to take care of his father while simultaneously slowly epting the bitter reality.

    He sold thend where the Orin Mansion had been located to prevent being reminded of the horrifying incident that had happened there.

    At the same time, Nial didn''t want his father to be alone and unprotected. Miles was depressed and he feared that his father might do something to himself the moment Nial looked away.

    Harming himself was not something Nial would ever expect his father to do, but the situation was something that had never happened before.

    He looked worse than ever and he was in a state of shock and denial, a disturbed state where anything could happen.

    However, at the same time, it was also obvious that an attack simr to what had happened a few days before might ur again.

    Be had been able to attack Sabrina within the shelter and it had been possible for her to use her spatial affinity to move the battlefield.

    Nobody had been fast enough to guard Sabrina at that time, and the final result of the incident had been tragic.

    Nial didn''t want the same, or a simr incident to repeat itself, which was why hemissioned the construction of a house right next to the Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves'' ce in the shelter.

    The Onyx Association was also located there, providing an extrayer of security for them.

    Nial was also prepared to create numerous runic armaments for his father to make sure that he would be safe and protected by all means.

    He had also asked Sabrina if she needed more runic armaments, but she had more than enough Tier-1 and some Tier-2 runic armaments with her.

    There was nothing else Nial could create for her.

    Thus, in a matter of a few days, Miles moved inside the house that had beenpletely constructed while Sabrina ended up leaving the shelter.

    Determination gleamed in her eyes and she clenched her fists tightly, ready to go all out in order to achieve everything she was going for, whether that was revenge or to ensure that her family¡­or what was left, would be protected.

    For others, the death of one woman was not much, considering that the shelter had been attacked in the midst of it, by a fellow human at that, however, to the Orin family it was devastating.

    Maline''s death left a huge impact on Nial, Sabrina, and Miles, but that was not something many noticed. No one knew Miles, and Sabrina had left.

    As for Nial, he had entered a state that could only be described as¡­weird.

    Not many people saw Nial in the days that followed the incident. He worked the whole time without a single break not bothering to rest.

    The only thing that could be considered as something close to a break was the short period when Nial switched from engraving more and more pieces of equipment with his runic constetion to absorbing more and more mana.

    This period was extremely short and merely enough for Nial to take a deep breath before he would get to work once again.

    While working as hard as possible, Nial didn''t have to be in contact with others. He avoided the people who approached him, whether it was Miranda, Mathias, Master Crevian, or even the Royal Princess of the Elven race.

    They understood that he was having a hard time and grieving the loss of his mother. They wanted to help, but that was not easy.

    Nial didn''t want anyone''s help and his sole goal, if one could call it such, was to get stronger.

    However, his will to actually get stronger had drastically decreased. His mother was dead, his father depressed and his sister had left them.

    Nial didn''t know what else to do but to work as hard as possible because he was haunted by nightmares of his mother that came flooding back to him the moment he stopped working hard.

    In fact, Nial was not even sleeping. The nightmares appeared out of nowhere even in broad daylight while he was wide awake when he stopped doing something that was rted to bing stronger.

    It was almost as if his mother was giving her utmost in the afterlife to make Nial work harder and harder.

    And that was exactly what he did. A few weeks passed in the blink of an eye and Nial had be a lot stronger.

    Sleep was something he rarely got, or thought of getting and it was never something he enjoyed because the nightmares returned the moment he closed his eyes.

    They got worse every single time he fell asleep and Nial ended up using potions to keep himself awake and to revitalize him so as to prevent himself from falling asleep.

    This didn''t help him to solve his problems but it gave Nial some temporary ''help''.

    One day, weeks after the incident, Nial heard the news that forced him out of his self-imposed seclusion.<sub> </sub>

    The Elves had their first bloody encounter with the Heligav race. Many Elves and Heligav had died in the encounter and their hatred only increased.

    In the end, the Heligav realized that the humans on Jundra were on good terms with the Elves, which was why they ended up threatening the humans.

    They were given an Ultimatum; to start killing the Elves, or to get killed by them.

    This Ultimatum was obviously just for show and to scare the humans from Jundra. This worked very well as they created a vivid image of how powerful the Heligav were.

    24 hours after the Ultimatum had been dered, the Second strongest Original of the human race had been found in his bed, beheaded.

    His head had been impaled on a wooden pir that had been erected between the Forest of Life and the human shelter for everyone to see.

    48 hours after the Ultimatum had been dered, the right hand of the President had been killed. Just like the Original, her head had been impaled on a second wooden pir that had been erected right next to the head of the second strongest Original.

    Nobody had seen the perpetrators, not even the Elves, who had chosen to guard the human shelter after the first assassination had urred.

    The Elves felt partially responsible for the mess that happened and they wanted to prevent more assassinations from urring.

    However, this was a lot harder than it first seemed, especially since the right hand of the President hadn''t been in the human shelter next to the Forest of Life, to begin with.

    She had been somewhere else, yet, the Heligav had found her and killed her. Not even the Elves were certain how they had found the right hand of the President because that woman had been at a location only a handful of people had known about.

    It was eerie and frightening enough for the humans to understand that their situation was far from easy.

    They could only attempt to hide somewhere, knowing that it might not bepletely safe, or seek help from the Elves, such as permission to enter and stay inside the Forest of Life, or to get a bodyguard of the Elven race.

    Only a few hours were left until the 72-hour mark after the Ultimatum had psed and both humans and elves were wondering who the third target would be.

    There was no apparent connection between the second strongest Original and the right hand of the President, except the fact that both possessed high authority and that they were well known by the public.

    Anyone with high authority and a big reputation could be considered highly likely to be the next target.

    Nial was told toe to the Forest of Life by the Royal Princess, but he couldn''t care less. If someone were to attack him, he would show them what it meant to go against him.

    The Assassin couldn''t be at the Keltian rank, otherwise, the remnants of his powerful mana would have lingered around the bodies of the two first victims.

    There hadn''t been a single trace of mana, indicating three things; first, the attack was caused with little to no mana. Second, the assassin could avoid the mana radars within the shelter, hinting at a low mana core rank that could be concealed more easily. Andst but not least third, the heads of the victims had been severed neatly when they were still alive, hinting that the Assassin was powerful and well-trained.

    Nial was unruffled by all this information. He was ready to fight at any given time, and if he were to be honest with himself, he looked forward to it!

    There was nothing for him to look forward to in his life and he was trying to figure out what was necessary for him to gain a new goal to pursue.

    As of now, bing stronger had turned into a necessity rather than a goal.

    What was it that he wanted? Was he even allowed to stay alive? Should he start fighting others until he died in a battle of honor? Or would it be the best for everyone if he were to allow the God of Darkness to resurrect using his body as a vessel?

    Sometimes, Nial was truly not sure what to do anymore, but he felt that his mother wouldn''t want him to die, or to give up on himself. She would already be disappointed in her husband for ending like this, and that Nial was being so miserable.

    That was something Nial knew. His mother would never openly scold him for being pitiful or ask him to get his act together. She was not only his mother in name, but she loved him unconditionally, and her love would never falter!

    However, she would regret it if she were to know that her death was the reason for the way their family had ended up.

    Thus, instead of giving up on himself as he felt like doing more often than not, Nial took a deep breath as he walked through the shelter to get some air, sort his thoughts, and start from scratch.

    Hours passed and the 72-hour mark had ended not too long ago.

    Nial hadn''t been attacked and he didn''t feel anything amiss in the shelter as well. His range of perception and [Mana Sense] that covered the entire city hadn''t sensed anything odd either.

    However, the third head had been collected by the Heligav and they showed it off just like the other two heads.

    And Nial couldn''t believe who had been picked as the third target by the Heligav.

    It made no sense¡­

    "That''s not possible¡­that cannot be¡­WHY?"

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 Chapter 376 Your Fault!

    Just when Nial had thought that everything would get a little bit better, life pped the reverse card straight in his face.

    His body began to shake as he visualized the head of the third victim the Heligav race had chosen to kill.

    It was a totally unexpected target but Nial''s blood began to boil when he finished visualizing the head of the woman he had known for years now.

    "Master¡­" Nial mumbled, while the severed head of Miranda was visualized in his mind. The very graphic image of her severed head was etched deep in his mind and heart, making him falter in his steps. For a second Nial lost the ability to function.

    He hadn''t sensed that anything was wrong in the new shelter, yet, it looked like the Heligav race had sessfully assassinated their third target¡­Miranda, the Witch of the South¡­

    "That cannot be real¡­" He uttered in disbelief, making his way to the ce both Mathias and Miranda had moved in weeks ago.

    Nial''s slow steps turned into a jog before he ended up running to the house Mathias and his master had bought not too long ago.

    He barged through the door and felt a freezing cold shrouding his heart the moment he found his friend leaning over the headless body of the woman that had once been their master.

    Mathias was crying bitterly and he didn''t even notice that Nial had appeared in the house when he heard a voice from behind.

    "No¡­that''s not possible¡­no¡­" Nial spoke quietly as all the memories of his master shed through his mind. Simultaneously, the scene of his mother''s death began reying in his mind, causing Nial to almost ck out in shock due to yet another trauma.

    Nial froze in his ce, while Mathias turned around. He looked at Nial with teary eyes, just to see the blurred image of a shock-shelled Nial in front of him.

    "This¡­is all your fault¡­" Mathias said silently at first, his sobs drowning his words. Nial had yet to regain hisposure and at first he didn''t hear what Mathias had said.

    Gritting his teeth, Mathias got up from the ground. He wiped his tears away and approached Nial with quick steps.

    "This is your fault!!" He screamed at Nial, grasping his cor as he began to shake his friend frantically.

    This was more than enough for Nial to regain his senses. However, he was confused.

    "What¡­are you talking about?" Nial could only ask, not understanding what Mathias meant. How was it his fault that the Heligav had attacked Miranda?

    For a moment, his sadness was marred by confusion. Mathias'' words didn''t seem to make any sense.

    "How can you just let her die?!? Are you not powerful and almighty?? HOW CAN YOU LET OUR MASTER DIE???" Mathias screamed at the top of his lungs, continuously shaking Nial.

    Nail allowed Mathias to shake him for a few seconds before he moved his hands to hold his friend''s wrists tightly. He forcefully interrupted Mathias while his lifeless milky white eyes stared unfocused at Mathias.

    "What the hell are you talking about??" Nial asked as anger he had fought so hard to control began bubbling up. He had just gotten to know that his master died¡­how was it his fault that she had been assassinated?!

    He wanted answers but Mathias seemed to be beyond salvation. Mathias was struggling and trying to free himself out of Nial''s iron tight grip. In the end, his physical strength was not high enough to free him.

    Thus, Mathias dared to use his fire affinity to create a massive fireball above Nial, which he shot straight at his friend''s head.

    Nial took a moment to realize what was going on and he moved a second toote. He could barely lift his hand and release a tremendous amount of dark energy to manifest a shield of darkness above his head.

    It was not difficult to block the attack afterward but Nial was bbergasted. This was more than enough to give Mathias the opportunity to punch Nial straight in the face.

    The blind Origin was flung through the room and hended hard on the ground where he remained for a second, until realization struck him.

    ''Did he just¡­hit me?'' Nial asked himself before getting up from the ground.

    Mathias charged forward as if he had abandoned all reason and logic, seemingly as if he was actually ready to fight his friend.

    However, Nial was the wrong target to attack, now more than ever before. He was still grieving the loss of his mother whom he had not too long ago. The wounds of her death were still fresh and the news of his master''s assassination had just reached him.

    How could he not be agitated, sad, angry and frustrated?!

    With a single motion, Nial''s dark energy shot through the ground, and the walls of the living room he had entered. Vines of darkess, covered in a bloody red color shot out from the wall and ground at once, restricting Mathias'' movements and holding him in ce.

    "I asked you why I am at fault for our master''s death¡­TELL ME!!" Nial demanded in an overbearing manner as he stepped closer to Mathias. His body released an eerily cold dark energy that was apanied by traces of the Essence of Darkness.

    Mathias twitched the moment the dark energy reached him and he wanted to give his all to free himself under Nial''s terrifying power, only to fail miserably.

    "Let me go!!" Mathias screamed in anger, but Nial didn''t seem to listen to his friend anymore.

    He lifted his right hand that was suddenly shrouded in dark energy as it shaped itself into a w before he reached out for Mathias'' neck.

    Nial grasped Mathias'' neck tightly before his milky white eyes turned pitch-ck, causing Mathias to shudder once again.

    "I told you to speak!" Nial repeated, his voice colder than ever before. The vines of darkness were retracted, just for Nial to lift Mathias by his neck. The young Original was struggling because he couldn''t breathe.

    Nial''s expression and his attitude made it seem as if he was apletely different human than before. Mathias was afraid and he began to shake heavily when Nial finally decided to let go of him.

    Mathias crashed on the ground, where he remained for a few seconds, digesting what had just happened.

    "If you have calmed down, get your fucking act together and speak! WHY am I at fault for Miranda''s death?" Nial asked, his voice still as cold as before.<sub> </sub>

    Seconds of silence passed and Nial was about to move or yell again when Mathias finally began to speak.

    "You should have protected Miranda, just like everyone else you deemed important to you¡­ Why did you abandon us?!" Mathias screamed, his voice getting louder and louder with every word he uttered.

    His eyes looked bloodshot as he cried bitterly, looking deep into his friend''s eyes and at Nial''s frightening expression that didn''t change a bit.

    "Are you serious right now? Are you actually a dumb idiot??" Nial asked, scoffing as he shook his head in disbelief.

    The moment he sold thend where his mansion had been located before the incident with Be, he had proposed to Miranda and Mathias to move in with his father.

    His father was depressed and it would have definitely been helpful to have more people around him. Thus, it was only obvious for him to ask the two people he trusted toe over.

    However, Miranda had rejected the offer, saying that it was not right for the master to live under her disciple''s roof. Nial never minded that but Miranda had always been rather conservative.

    She had even paid some money to his parents as a rent for living in the mansion, which was something that had never been necessary.

    Mathias'' words made no sense but he seemed to actually believe everything he had just said.

    "Of course, you are also saying that I''m a dumb idiot! You are a fucking jerk who abandoned us!!!" Mathias screamed thest words at the top of his lungs, causing Nial to take a step back.

    He frowned deeply as he visualized his friend, who stared daggers at him.

    "Don''t you think it is time for you to grow up, you fucking dickhead?" Nial retorted. He had no nerve left to keep his calm in front of Mathias.

    His friend was not the only one, who had lost someone important to him right now. Nial was also hurting, more than Mathias would be able to understand¡­because everything in his life was currently falling apart.

    Nial''s mother had been killed by one of his few friends, his father was depressed and he felt like he might do something to himself to get rid of the pain and anguish on most days. Sabrina had just left without saying much, searching for her path to attain the necessary strength to kill Be, Nial''s ex-friend. And to make matters worse, his master had just been assassinated.

    How could Nial have the patience to deal with an ignorant fool such as his friend? He really didn''t care about Mathias'' emotions right now, and released his pent-up frustration,shing out at him.

    "If you have the strength to punch me, and to me me, you should have gotten stronger by now!" Nial first said in a barely controlled voice before he continued in a much more enraged tone,

    "ming others is easy, isn''t it?! You are ignorant and selfish to think that only you are hurt. If you had worked harder, you might have gained the necessary strength to protect Miranda by yourself! Only real losers search for their own faults and weaknesses in others!"

    Nial was fuming in anger and he felt like beating Mathias into a pulp. However, he held back and didn''t do anything like that.

    Nial was still able to control himself to a certain extent. Even if Mathias was currently the worst kind of human being in Nial''s opinion, he was still his friend.

    However, Mathias'' will was not as powerful as Nial''s. Hearing Nial''s words caused him to enter a state of utter denial.

    He knew very well that Nial was correct and that his friend was not at fault for Miranda''s death. Mathias knew that he might have been able to save Miranda if he had just been stronger.

    He knew that only the Heligav race was to me, and his own weakness. But Mathias didn''t want to ept this.

    How could he willingly ept that his own weak strength had been at fault for his incapability to rescue Miranda? Would he feel better if he had known that Miranda had been killed by some being he would have never been able to defeat even if he had the strength of a Deux Original? Would that really ease his conscience?

    Mathias had no idea, but he couldn''t ept the reality¡­he didn''t want to.

    Nial''s words caused the final spark within his body to erupt. He was enraged, mostly about himself and the fact that he had been too weak to do anything when his master had been assassinated.

    He witnessed everything but had been too much of a coward and too weak to do anything.

    Thus, when all the stored-up emotions erupted within Mathias, he unleashed them at the only person that was in front of him¡­Nial.

    Mathias shot up from the ground, using all his affinities as he punched Nial''s face.

    Nial understood how Mathias was feeling but he was in no mood to keep getting med for no fault of his.

    "I''ve had enough of you¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 377 I Will Be Your Death

    "I''ve had enough of you¡­" Nial said coldly as he twisted his body, evading Mathias'' punch easily.

    He could use the darkness domain to forcefully end the fight with Mathias but Nial was not even thinking about doing something like that.

    Nial thrust his t hand into Mathias'' abdomen the moment Mathias missed Nial''s face before he released arge amount of darkness energy through his hand.

    The dark energy was released at a single point and in an explosive manner, pushing Mathias several meters to the side.

    Mathias'' breath was taken and a piercing pain spread through his abdomen. He tried to ignore the pain and initiate a second attack but Nial had already appeared in front of Mathias.

    Just like he had said, Nial had had enough of Mathias. He was not willing to hold back his emotions for his friend and he would do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted!

    Nial''s right hand pierced out and a w of darkness formed around his right arm as he grasped Mathias'' head tightly.

    With a smooth motion, Nial stomped his left foot on the ground when he sent Mathias flying through the living room. The young Original''s neck hurt even before he was hurled around like a piece of paper and his back arched as he was smashed against the walls of the living room.

    The impact caused the living room''s wall to break, which was why Mathias ended up in the kitchen.

    Mathias jumped up from the ground, as a surge of endless pain shot up his spine. He ignored it with all his might but that was easier said than done.

    A wand manifested in Mathias'' hand and he began to utilize his three elemental affinities, earth, water, and fire so as to fight Nial.

    However, Nial didn''t even make the effort to ess his spatial ring to retrieve a weapon as well.

    Hundreds of needles of darkness shot out of his darkness domain and their target was the kitchen, or Mathias, to be precise.

    They shot toward Mathias with high velocity and would have impacted on the young Original if he hadn''t been fast enough to create a wall of water, that was covered by a wall of earth, which was also covered by a thick wall of fire.

    The threeyered wall of defense was strong enough to block the needles of darkness, but it drained Mathias of lots of mana.

    Thus, by expanding his darkness domain to the kitchen, Nial was able to force Mathias to create more walls of defense, which further drained him of his mana.

    Needles of darkness shot out from the ceiling, the ground, and all the walls, putting Mathias under lots of pressure. It was near-impossible for him to do anything against Nial''s attacks, and Mathias was forced to ept the attack from some of the darkness needles that dug deep into his flesh.

    Mathias couldn''t block them properly and Nial didn''t show any mercy as he attacked.

    It was obvious that Mathias had provoked a sleeping Dragon, someone he should have never offended, to begin with. Nial''s whole body was engulfed in darkness and his hands had turned into huge ws of darkness.

    He shot through the threeyered walls with ease and burst the kitchen apart as he grabbed the leather chestte that had emerged around Mathias'' body.

    Nial held tightly onto it as he used all his energy to smash Mathias to the ground.

    The floor cracked and a resounding thud echoed through the entire house when Mathiasnded painfully on the ground. However, Nial didn''t show any hesitation even when he heard cracking noises originating from Mathias'' body.

    He was unable to hold himself back anymore as he had had enough of Mathias'' ridiculous behavior. If it was necessary to beat Mathias to a pulp to make him understand that his personality and attitude had to change, Nial was more than willing to do that.

    At this moment, he didn''t even care whether this would destroy his friendship with Mathias because he didn''t want to allow anyone to tell him that he was at fault, certainly not the person who knew better than to me him for something that was not his fault!

    Nial had already been at the edge and Mathias did the worst a good friend could have done at this moment when Nial had received a fresh scar even before the bigger, older scar had begun to heal.<sub> </sub>

    After Nial had smashed Mathias on the ground he used every ounce of strength to throw him upward. Mathias crashed into the ceiling of the kitchen before the gravitational force pulled him down again. Mathiasnded hard on the ground and was ready for Nial to beat him into a pulp.

    What followed suit were several minutes in which the kitchen and sometimes the whole house trembled wildly. Afterward, an eerie silence shrouded the house, while the darkness that had covered the entire first floor was retracted.

    "You take care of Miranda''s funeral," Nial said, turning his head away from his friend while totally ignoring the state Mathias was currently in.

    His friend was barely hanging onto his consciousness and was bleeding. Several bones in his body were broken and he didn''t have an ounce of energy left to even move.

    Angry blisters and wounds covered his face and his blood merged with the tears that trickled down the corners of his eyes.

    He didn''t even have the strength to cry out loud. Thus, Mathias ended up crying silently, feeling unable to hold back the torment of emotions that erupted from within him.

    Meanwhile, Nial left the house with a heavy heart. He was using his dark energy to cover Miranda''s body to prevent Mathias from being forced to look at her headless corpse and ease his pain.

    Simultaneously, he wanted to give his master ast farewell. He hoped that his dark energy could offer her soul some peace, which was a stupid thought.

    Darkness shrouded his heart and Nial slowly realized that he had nobody left by his side. Almost everyone he held dear had left him.

    It felt weird and his heart felt hollow and empty. Nial could only disappear from the shelter as he reappeared at the ce where the three heads had been ced.

    A sign written in an unknownnguage was ced there. The Elves had tranted it for all humans to understand.

    [Remove the heads and you will die!]

    The meaning of the message was obvious. However, Nial didn''t care about that. He stored the head of all three victims before he disappeared from that spot once again. He brought the heads back to the headless bodies they belonged to before he returned to the area between the Forest of Life and the new human shelter.

    Even if he didn''t want to, darkness swirled around him while enormous amounts of mana flooded him. Strands of darkness seemed to have merged with Nial''s fair skin, which made it seem as if his skin color was changing.

    He sat down on the ground and seemed to prepare for something while waiting calmly. However, it was only his appearance that looked calm. His entire existence was simmering in rage.

    And just like he had expected, it didn''t take long before some Elves appeared in his surrounding area.

    "Write a tranted message for me," Nial said when the Royal Princess approached him. She had heard that Nial had taken the bait and fallen to the provocation of the Heligav and hurried over.

    She wanted to scold him and give him a warning, but upon seeing Nial, Princess Evalyne felt incapable of saying anything.

    ''Is that really Nial?'' Evalyne wondered, not sure what the hell was going on.

    The surrounding mana still loved Nial but it also feared him. Thisbination was something that had never urred before and it made the Royal Princess feel more vignt of Nial.

    "What¡­do you want to be tranted?" She asked after she had gotten control over her emotions.

    "Write a message in thenguage of the Heligav," Nial first said before he added what exactly he wanted to have written on the sign,

    "If you''re too scared to attack openly, prepare yourself to get a taste of your own medicine. When the darknesses it will be toote for you to escape my wrath.

    Face me openly and I will show you how much of a mistake it has been to offend me. I will be your death and the cause of your nightmares¡­ that, I swear in the name of your king, Yalvan!"

 Chapter 378 Nothing Left To Lose

    Nial waited patiently for the Heligav to arrive, or so it looked.

    He was seated on the ground and his outer appearance made it seem as if he was eerily calm. Only the darkness that covered some spots of his skin made it clear that something was wrong.

    Nial was boiling in rage from within and he didn''t really have the desire to sit idle and let the attackers take the next life. He couldn''t allow the Heligav to leave unscathed.

    It didn''t matter that the God of Darkness was the Lord of the Heligav, or that they obeyed his words when he had still been alive. Damian was dead and Nial was not the same person.

    He may have some memories of thete God of Darkness but he was different.

    The Heligav made him suffer, which meant he would repay this debt a thousandfold.

    "Are you sure that you''re doing the right thing?" Princess Evalyne suddenly asked. She frowned deeply at the sight of the message she had tranted for Nial.

    He wanted her, or someone else, who was adept at the tongue of the Heligav to be with him so that he could converse with them when they arrived.

    Instead of telling others toe to his aid and act as trantors, the Royal Princess stayed at Nial''s side. She would rescue him if the Heligav were to attack him all of a sudden. That was something she swore to herself, knowing that Nial was currently not in a condition to think properly.

    Evalyne had yet to get to know everything that had happened in Nial''s family and around him but she knew that his mother had been killed by a former friend of his, that his sister left and that his father was in a very bad mental condition.

    As for Nial''s reason to target the Heligav, it was quite obvious. The third victim they killed had probably been very important to Nial.

    His motive was revenge, and he didn''t care the slightest bit about the aftermath of his actions, which was something Evalyne figured from his answer to her question.

    "I don''t care whether or not I am doing the right thing. I do what I want," Nial answered coldly. He didn''t want to keep talking with the Royal Princess.

    She would probably dissuade him from his n and talk him out of it, convincing him that it was not necessary to seek revenge and that he could just focus on bing stronger to protect the remaining people he held dear instead.

    But all of this didn''t matter to Nial. He knew that the Elves could have eradicated the Heligav on Jundra by now, but they had been too afraid because of the aftermath.

    Princess Evalyne didn''t want to make a mistake by waging war right off the bat because she had a whole race to protect. That was not something Nial had to be worried about.

    There was no need for him to be afraid of the battle''s repercussions because he had lost almost everyone by now, he practically had nothing left to lose.

    This thought caused his blood to churn even more. He was enraged but he couldn''t act immediately because he knew that attacking the Heligav in their base was not something he could handle in his current state. Beings at the Keltia rank were still too powerful for him to handle, even if he were to be ready to sacrifice his bodily health to initiate all kinds of overwhelmingly powerful attacks!

    Almost a day passed before some Heligav finally appeared in his erged range of perception. Nial got up from the ground, and more than a hundred pairs of beautiful Elven eyes moved in his direction.

    He took a deep breath to control his powers, clearly perceiving the partially transformed Odyssey seed.

    By making a few changes in the transforming Odyssey seed, he momentarily regained control of all the dark energy and the Essence of Darkness that was necessary to advance the progress of his Odyssey seed''s evolution.

    "Kerakid, musvra levinda!" The thunderous voice of a Heligav reverberated through the surrounding before their outlines appeared at the horizon.

    All the Elves stiffened for a moment while Nial stepped forward, not showing a trace of hesitation.

    "That''s their leader. Don''t do something stupid for the time being!" The Royal Princess cautioned but Nial couldn''t care less.

    "Tell him that I want to fight the Heligav Assassins that had been sent out to kill a human every 24 hours," He spoke in a seemingly calm voice.

    However, his eyes had already turned pitch-ck and his skin was slowly swept through by the darkness that fused with him.

    "Are you serious?!" Princess Evalyne asked, trying to wage the benefits they could gain from killing a few powerful elite Heligav with the possible dangers.

    There were far more dangers, such as the fact that Nial may die fighting the Heligav Assassins, or that he was actually able to kill them. Thetter was likely to result in an all-out war if the situation was not handled properly.

    "I want a Rykarn with the Heligav Assassins!" Nial dered as his head turned in Evalyne''s direction.

    Nial regretted not having been able to have a final talk with Miranda, that she died just like that and that the situation ended in such a miserable way.<sub> </sub>

    However, this was not his only regret. Nial knew that he was far from perfect and that he had made many mistakes. But despite all of this, he had always given his best to make sure that the people he loved were taken care of.

    He had begun to truly despise himself for being too weak to keep his promise and for being too much of a coward. In the end, he might have faced a few dangerous situations, but to gain bigger opportunities, it was necessary to have a bigger appetite for risk.

    And now that he didn''t have much more to lose than his own life, Nial grew more reckless. He was ready to risk his all if that was necessary to take revenge on all the beings, who believed that it was fine to y around with him just because he was weaker than them.

    He was tired of being used as a scapegoat, as a ything and not to be taken seriously.

    It was obvious that he was weak inparison to beings at the Keltia rank, let alone Gods but that didn''t mean they should take him too lightly, not anymore!

    "Do you even know what a Rykarn is?!" Princess Evalyne asked with squinted eyes before her eyes widened as she hurriedly added, "How do you even know these terms??"

    "A Rykarn is a Warrior''s tradition that allows the challenger to fight all his mortal enemies at the same time," Nial answered in an emotionless voice while ignoring the Princess''tter question.

    Princess Evalyne looked at Nial for a few seconds before she gave up. She could tell that Nial was hellbent on doing what he wanted. If she wouldn''t propose to have the Rykarn, Nial might as well attack the Heligav openly while ordering the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves to aid him in the battle.

    This would result in a far worse situation than they were already in. Avoiding an all-out war with the Heligav was not something Princess Evalyne was trying to do but there were still a few preparations that had to be done.

    These preparations included ensuring that all the Elven races were ready to fight for one goal, and not that they would start betraying each other all of a sudden.

    Unity was the most important now that the other Elven races wanted their fair share of Jundra as well. Thus, to make sure that everything would go ording to the n, the Royal Princess needed some more time, time Nial didn''t have to waste!

    "Rykarn propuas Nial Orin chu Heligav assurian!" Evalyne dered loudly in thenguage of the Heligav. The Heligav, which had the upper body of a Minotaur and the lower body of a bull, halted only hundreds of meters away from the Elves and from Nial, who stood in the center of the Elves.

    The Royal Princess was standing next to Nial, and she was the target of most piercing gazes. The Heligav were willing to sacrifice themselves to kill the Royal Princess at this very moment.

    However, they weren''t allowed to do so because their lives were a necessity for the race toplete other tasks and progress further.

    "Rykarn? Humanity?" The hoarse voice of the Heligav''s Leader resounded through the area before he began to loud out loud.

    The Heligav''s Leader on Jundra sounded disgusted and almost all the Elves present began to frown. Even the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves felt the desire to tear apart the Heligav. That was how much they loathed the Heligav; their hatred for the race was enough to unite all the Elves with themon goal to eradicate them!

    Nial knew that he was beingughed at but he was not bothered. The Four meter tall Heligav were all muscr and it was obvious that he couldn''t rival their physical strength easily.

    But that had never been his intention, to begin with. Nial stepped forward while releasing some of his dark energy in an explosive manner. The ground all around him burst open and a tiny crater was created wherever he stepped.

    Nial took one step after another, and marched forward until he stood in the open space in between all the Elves and Heligav, ready to fight.

    "Are you afraid to fight me? Seems like your race is nothing noteworthy!" Nial said, smirking at the leader of the Heligav on Jundra.

    He didn''t need to tell someone to trante his words because more than a handful of Elves were more than willing to provoke the Heligav.

    The Princess had been a little bit reluctant to trante the obvious provocation but one of the younger High Elves at the Deux rank immediately tranted Nial''s words.

    In return, the Leader of the Heligav began to issue weird noises that turned into an earth-shattering roar. It almost looked like he was about to attack Nial and the High Elf trantor at the next instance, just to calm down a momentter.

    The Heligav Leader turned around as he pointed at two Heligav that were at the Mid of the Prometheus rank.

    They stepped forward and the Heligav Leader began to speak a few more words but Nial didn''t even hear them anymore.

    ''As expected, they''re weak enough to avoid the hyper-sensitive senses of the radar and they possess some sort of concealment trait¡­Was I not able to sense them when they attacked Miranda because they activated this special trait with some concealment technique?'' Nial made his conclusion within seconds before he started acting.

    He forcefully distributed the mana fluctuations of the two Heligav Assassins with the use of his own mana and [Mana Sense] to mark them before he retracted his mana fluctuations.

    There was no need for him to y fair in his opinion, even if the Heligav didn''t feel like this.

    "Can we start the ughter, or do you guys have anyst words?"

 Chapter 379 Revenge?

    The Eclipse Spear manifested in Nial''s hand as he walked around therge circle that had been created on the ground.

    In the end, the circle had be the arena of the life and death battle between him and the two Heligav Assassins. Nobody was allowed to enter the circle before the battle had been concluded and the participants were not allowed to leave before the end of the battle either.

    Nial was not sure which of them was responsible for his master''s assassination but he had had enough of the entire Heligav race right now.

    There was no need for him to spare anyone, to begin with, which fueled his anger, urging him to justsh out at the two opponents and do what he wanted to do.

    A slow smile crept up his face as he released the dark energy from within him.

    He spread it through the ground that turned pitch-ck. The properties of the soil didn''t seem to change but the two Heligav Assassins began to frown the moment the ground below them was covered in darkness.

    They activated their Innate traits and turned invisible. A sound-muffling ability was activated, followed by another ability that allowed them to mask their scent.

    Afterward, they activated a technique that concealed their mana core. Nobody would be able to determine where exactly the Heligav Assassins were located, not even beings at the Deux rank!

    In fact, even some Elves and Heligav at the Keltia rank were taken aback after getting a glimpse of the Heligav Assassins'' ultimate stealth.

    They were born special and their special traits were further honed and nurtured by allowing them to learn special techniques and abilities.

    But all of this was not something Nial was bothered about. He had marked the Heligav Assassins before their life and death battle had started.

    It didn''t matter that this was likely to be against the rules because nobody had detected what he had done.

    Nial continued to walk within the circle, while the tip of the Eclipse Spear grazed lightly over the pitch-ck ground.

    If not for the terrifying power Nial''s body released on its own, one might as well think that Nial was utterly calm and not on the verge of causing death and destruction at the slightest motion around him.

    With his range of perception, it was easy for him to detect the two Heligav Assassins. They may only be at the Mid Prometheus rank but their physical strength was on par with much stronger beings.

    On the other hand, their mana affinity was below-average. Even humans, who had just advanced to the Prometheus rank might have a higher affinity toward mana than the Heligav Assassins.

    The corners of Nial''s mouth curled upward when he noticed that the two Heligav Assassins attacked him, one from the front and another one from his back.

    Nial bent down while he shot huge spikes of darkness out of the ground. The entire arena was riddled with various darkness spikes that had shot out of the ground. Blood spurted in Nial''s face and on his body but he remained unscathed, while the Heligav Assassins'' invisibility cloak had been ripped to shreds, blowing their cover.

    Their hooves and legs had been pierced by Nial''s darkness spikes and they were forced to keep running over the spiked arena. The Heligav Assassins grimaced as they tried to endure the unbearable pain that swept through their four legs before they retrieved a scythe from their spatial rings.

    With the scythes, they began chopping off the darkness spears around them to make space for them to stand on solid ground instead of letting their feet be sliced by the sharp darkness spikes.

    Little did they know that their actions were not only for naught but that they had actually given Nial the opportunity to further damage themselves.

    Nial manifested a crimson-colored ball, which he threw in the direction of the Heligav Assassins. The moment the crimson ball reached the area between the two Helgiav Assassins, it exploded, releasing bloody ck miasma.

    Simultaneously, a dome of darkness manifested around the small patch around the Heligav Assassins which they had freed of darkness spikes.

    It isted the bloody ck miasma Nial had created with thebined efforts of his Darkness Essence, the [Blood Eclipse Moon] ability, and the Curse [Hodur''s Heir].

    The power of the bloody ck miasma was not to be underestimated and it didn''t take long for shrill cries from within the dome of darkness to reach the ears of spectators.

    Nial had retracted the spikes of darkness from around but instead of absorbing the dark energy he had used for the spikes of darkness, he turned the dome of darkness into an Iron maiden.

    Lengthy but extraordinarily thin needles of darkness were released from within the dome of darkness that had trapped both of his opponents inside it. The needles began to elongate and grow, slowly piercing through the skin, flesh, and organs of the two Heligav Assassins, whose strength decreased by the second.

    They had to breathe to stay alive but every breath they took caused their strength to deteriorate as the highly potent bloody ck miasma entered their body through their nose and infiltrated their lungs.

    Nial let go of the Eclipse Spear with one hand and he touched the dome of darkness. He inserted more dark energy, and Essence of Darkness inside it before he summoned a humongous Blood Eclipse Moon.

    Nial had nourished it from the day he had bound the Blood Eclipse Moon ability and he had never used the entire power his ability had umted over time.

    Even now, Nial was not ready to use the entire umted power. He was beyond furious but he knew that the Heligav Assassins were just the pawns of the true powerhouses and perpetrators, who had caused his master''s death.

    They were just the tools used by the strong, and it was not worth it for him to spend too much time on them.<sub> </sub>

    "But that doesn''t mean I will allow you guys to die easily. Just like you are the puppets of your very own race, you will be my tools to assert dominance, and to show that I am not a pushover," Nial dered quietly as he shot a stream of crimson light toward the dome of darkness that slowly began to turn crimson.

    The smile on his face began to turn brighter as he heard the painful screams of the two Heligav Assassins ringing in his ears with satisfaction.

    It was enjoyable and worth listening to because it seemed to lessen the pain he felt from losing his master.

    The soothing sensation was only temporary but that was enough for Nial to feel increasingly inclined to torture the Heligav Assassins as much as possible and make them beg for death.

    With that thought tormenting his mind, Nial retracted the Blood Eclipse Moon before he created a dozen huge crescent-shaped darkness des. They were coated in the Essence of Darkness and the darkish crimson energy of the Blood Eclipse Moon, strong enough to pierce through the defense of a Deux Angel!

    Nial disintegrated the dome of darkness and the bloody ck miasma at once, revealing the grotesque appearance of the two Heligav Assassins.

    They were bleeding profusely as dark thick blood oozed out of thousands of tiny puncture wounds. Even their eyes were pierced through, blinding them and they barely had the strength to remain standing on the ground.

    However, Nial was far from done as he smiled devilishly while controlling the darkness des and preparing for the next attack.

    The darkness des were shot out and the Heligav Assassins could instinctively feel the danger approaching them. But they didn''t dare to move in fear that the thin needles would pierce inside them once again.

    Thus, the two Heligav Assassins noticed only toote that darkness des had shot toward their legs, and before they could react, had cleanly sliced through the flesh and bone.

    All the legs of the Heligav Assassins were cut through and their heavy bodies slumped to the ground, as pools of blood gushed through the severed stumps.

    Nial''s smile turned even brighter than before if that was even possible. He approached the bleeding opponents and manifested hundreds of long but thin needles of darkness around him, which he intended to pierce into the Heligav Assassins to make sure that they would feel more pain, that they would suffer longer.

    "LOOOOOOO!!" A few Heligav from outside the circle shouted at the same time. They showed obvious signs that they intended to ignore the rules of the life and death battle between Nial and the two Heligav Assassins and that they were about to charge in the circled arena.

    But even before they could intervene, the Nightshadow Elves had disappeared from their positions before they emerged in the shadows of the Heligav, who intended to break the rules of their most important tradition!

    "Move a single inch, and we will kill you, just like our master will kill your rotten breed!" One of the Nightshadow Elves spoke in the tongue of the Heligav before he merged with the shadows once again, leaving behind the frozen Heligav, who had no idea what had just happened.

    They had been so focused on their youngest that they didn''t even sense the killing intent the Nightshadow Elves had directed at them.

    Nial noticed what was going on outside but he just smiled. After giving it some thought, he realized that he was still not satisfied with his revenge.

    He created four huge arms of darkness that shot out of the ground.

    One of the darkness arms got hold of one arm of the two Heligav Assassins, whom they lifted from the ground.

    They hung down from the arms of darkness, powerless and bleeding severely. Even if Nial wouldn''t do anything else anymore, the Heligav Assassins would end up bleeding to death.

    That was something everyone had realized by now. However, Nial was far from satisfied with the torture.

    He was still angry, full of wrath...uncontroble wrath that didn''t seem to decrease no matter what he tried to do.

    Thus, Nial shot the long but thin darkness needles inside the Heligav Assassins that were already void of power, and helplessly lying on the ground, unable to do anything.

    Nial was confused by his rage but he didn''t mind this at all. It was a satisfying feeling to be powerful enough to take revenge on the beings, who took away what was important to him.

    But even if it was satisfying to be able to take revenge, it was not as if he could get anything in return. The people he loved would never return and that was a fact.

    The only thing Nial could do now was to keep living in a way he wouldn''t regret anything...not anymore than he had already regretted.

    Whether his decisions would impact others positively or negatively was not something that concerned Nial a lot anymore. Others acted however they wanted as well, which was more than enough reason for Nial to desire to do the same!

    And with that in mind, he pierced hundreds of long darkness needles deep inside the two Heligav Assassins.

    Slowly, he killed them, while savoring every second of their torture and pain to his heart''s content until they stopped twitching altogether.

    Nial just smiled in response before he released his dark energy that greedily towered above the corpses of the Heligav Assassins.

    "Thanks for the feast!"

 Chapter 380 Exposed Secrets

    After Nial had ended the miserable lives of the Heligav Assassins, he allowed the darkness of his heart to have free rein.

    Darkness oozed out of his whole body and it shot toward the two corpses thatnded on the ground with a thumping sound.

    "Devour everything!" Nial ordered coldly as the darkness of his body engulfed the corpses that were disintegrated and devoured by the Essence of Darkness and the dark energy Nial had unleashed.

    Upon witnessing what Nial was doing, some of the older Heligav froze in their ce.

    The younger Heligav showed signs of moving toward the circle but the Nightshadow Elves'' brightly gleaming daggers prevented them from taking a single step forward.

    They were at a numerical disadvantage and only some Heligav were truly powerful.

    "Isn''t that¡­No that cannot be¡­" The leader of the Heligav spoke in their mother tongue, while one of the Elves tranted it almost reflexively.

    Nial turned his head in the direction of the Heligav Leader, just to retract all the darkness he had manifested.

    It was tightly stored within the Odyssey seed that continued to evolve. However, something was different from before.

    The speed at which the Odyssey seed was evolving had elerated drastically. This was quite advantageous, especially since the reason for the elerated evolution was none other than the corpses of the Heligav Assassins that had been devoured by Nial''s power.

    He never knew that something like this was possible before, and Nial was actually not sure if he could do that before, or how exactly it was possible for him to devour a living being and turn it into an elerant for his Odyssey seed''s evolution.

    However, the answers to how and why were not important right now. All that mattered for him was that it was possible for him to devour other beings and turn them into his power!

    The corners of his lips curled upward while his head was turned to face the Heligav Leader to allow him to see his expression clearly.

    "When the darknesses, you shall offer your body without resistance, Vngar," Nial suddenly said when a memory shed through his mind.

    Yet, instead of tranting anything, all the Elves and the Heligav stared at him with aplex set of emotions.

    Nial hadn''t spoken in the human tongue, elvish or Heligaish. It was anguage that caused everyone''s skin to crawl, even more so for the Heligav Leader, who had understood everything Nial had said.

    The Heligav Leader swallowed his saliva, and only now did he realize that he was facing a being that was far more dangerous than any Elf could ever be.

    His hands moved to the broadsword that was sheathed on his back, but even before he could move, a dozen Nightshadow Elves had simultaneously emerged out of the shadows of the Heligav Leader''s body.

    They had hid their killing intent clearly, just to release their shadow energy at this very moment.

    "Leave or we will kill all of you right here and right now! This is the first andst chance the Nightshadow Elves give the Heligav to retreat!" A Nightshadow Elf at the Keltia rank whispered coldly as he pressed the de of his dagger upon the abdomen of the Heligav Leader the tip piercing into the leader''s flesh who growled in anger.

    "We''ll leave¡­for now!" He spoke, gritting his teeth afterward.

    The Nightshadow Elves merged with the shadows once again. They reappeared next to Nial, whom they surrounded as if their new mission had be to protect him by all means.

    The other Heligav didn''t know how the tables had turned but they followed their leader when he turned around to leave.

    Meanwhile, all the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves had gathered around Nial to reassure that nobody couldunch a surprise attack on him.

    It was not likely for the Heligav to go up against their Sacred Rykarn tradition but the actions of some Heligav, including their leader, had been suspicious.

    The Elves didn''t want to lose Nial, and the opportunity to grow stronger through his Darkness Essence just because they thought that they were mere bystanders in the battle.

    Evalyne had been standing outside the circle, watching everything with a deep frown on her face. She was currently trying to sort her thoughts because the incidents of thest few minutes were more than enough for her to understand something particr.

    In the end, the Royal Princess had seen Nial fighting from the start to the end for the first time since they had gotten to know each other. In Yggdrasil, she never saw him fight, which was only obvious, and his fight against the Angels was something she hadn''t witnessedpletely either.

    Evalyne had only sensed the darkness within him, but that was not enough for her to feel it was too sketchy. After all, Master Crevian had already told her about the existence of Nial''s highly destructive energy.

    But her knowledge was different than Master Crevian''s knowledge and there was something that bothered her.

    Nheless, she had to slowly find out one piece of information after another and string them together instead of jumping to conclusions. That was even more so important because the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves were very protective of Nial and because the young and blind Original was a good kid.<sub> </sub>

    She sincerely hoped that her predictions were wrong, which was why she started her bombardment of questions.

    "Since when are you able to speak thenguage of one of the Ancient Gods?" Princess Evalyne asked in shock. Too many questions tormented her mind but that was one of the most important questions.

    She was confused and only knew that Nial had spoken in thenguage of an Ancient God. Meanwhile, Evalyne also understood that the Heligav Leader had been able to hear and understand Nial''s words. Or else he wouldn''t have had the angry reaction to Nial''s words.

    This simply meant that the Ancient God, who had controlled the Heligav in the past had spoken in the same ancientnguage as Nial. And that was enough for the Royal Princess toprehend many things¡­things she never wanted toprehend because they would change the Elven''s rtionship with Nial forever if they were true.

    "I only know this sentence, and I cannot even tell you what exactly it means," Nial said in all honesty. A memory of Damian had been transferred straight in his head when the Heligav Leader had been looking deep into his lifeless eyes. These words were something the God of Darkness had once said to the Heligav when he had conquered them.

    Nial had said it instinctively, without giving it much of a thought. However, it looked like Princess Evalyne didn''t really like this. Her emotions were clearly unstable, just like her mana fluctuations.

    "You can ask me anything. I will answer you to the best of my ability," Nial said, dreading her iing questions. However, it was not really important anymore because he had already expected some things to get some of his secrets unveiled after Jundra''s mana awakening.

    He never thought that he would be able to keep all his secrets hidden, after all!

    Princess Evalyne felt a bit relieved when Nial gave her this offer. She could tell that Nial was sincere in his efforts, and Evalyne was more than happy to see him open up a bit about himself.

    "Are you the Incarnation of the God of Darkness, or are you the Descendant of the God of Darkness?" The Royal Princess asked straightforwardly, attracting all the Elves'' attention.

    They looked at her in shock and disbelief, clearly recalling that the God of Darkness had disappeared tens of thousand of years ago. Only the oldest history books and the oldest living Elves had memories about the God of Darkness stored within them.

    But that didn''t mean the terror the God of Darkness had unleashed had been forgotten. Everyone, who had once fought the God of Darkness still remembered the mayhem he had caused.

    It was only obvious for all the Elves to be shocked, even the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves, who didn''t know where to look.

    "Neither," Nial answered calmly, understanding that he couldn''t keep everything a secret anymore. It was a shame but nothing he could avoid.

    The reaction of the Elves was interesting, and it showed Nial once again that Damian was much bigger than he could have expected.

    However, having a part of his cover blown didn''t mean that he would reveal everything about himself to the Royal Princess. She didn''t have to know everything!

    "I think my innate ability is rted to the God of Darkness, which is also why I can control his dark energy, and why I''m in possession of the Essence of Darkness. Sometimes, I can see his memories as well," Nial exined roughly, not intending to share more about his secrets, "But I cannot be certain about that. It''s just the conclusion I came up with!"

    Everything he just said was somewhat true and it was more than enough for Evalyne to understand that he was not directly rted to thete God of Darkness, let alone being his reincarnation, or someone with a simr mindset.

    He was different than the God of Darkness, which was something the Royal Princess would have known had she studied the Elven race''s history well!

    But even if that was the case, everyone started to look at him with confused expressions, some even with anger and hatred.

    "You guys can hate me or whatever, I don''t really care if you''re so narrow-minded," Nial said coldly, his head turning toward the High Elves who were ring at him with hatred and wrath.

    Nial couldn''t care less about these Elves. If they wanted to fight him just because he possessed the power of the God of Darkness, he was more than willing to end their lives.

    Right now, Nial had other things to take care of than allowing some idiots to make him feel bad for having the same powers as someone else.

    His words were enough for the enraged High Elves to start acting. Yet, before they could attack Nail, some of the Nightshadow Elves had already emerged around the said High Elves, pressing their pitch-ck daggers against their necks.

    "Don''t you think that attacking someone, who has been blessed by the Fairy Queen, and epted by Yggdrasil will be enough for us to kill you legally?" The Keltia-ranked Nightshadow Elf asked coldly as he wielded his dagger threateningly at the High Elf, who had first intended to act against Nial.

    Nial hadn''t expected the Nightshadow Elves to be on his side but it looked like they had moved even closer to him to make sure that nobody would harm him.

    ''Is that because they think that my Darkness Essence will be even more powerful when I regain the strength of the God of Darkness?'' He wondered for a moment before disregarding this thought.

    It was also possible that the Nightshadow Elves, who had reacted, were simply annoyed at the obvious prejudice Elves had against those, who are different just because of the power they were born with.

    After all, it was the same with the Nightshadow Elves. The High Elves and Sacred Elves loathed the Nightshadow Elves, just because they possessed destructive powers.

    But it was not as if that was their fault. They were just born like this¡­

 Chapter 381 I Dont Care

    "Enough of that. We don''t have time for internal conflicts¡­" Princess Evalyne said, not sounding confident at all.

    Nial could tell that his revtion caused various conflicting emotions to rise within her and it was only obvious that she began to doubt him.

    He possessed the power of the most terrifying enemy the Elves had encountered in the entire history of their existence. Even if he was not yet as strong as the God of Darkness, it was obvious that Nial possessed the necessary talent.

    ''How did I not notice anything earlier? And what about Crevian? Didn''t he feel odd about his power at all?'' Evalyne was confused, more than anyone else at that.

    However, she also knew that it was necessary for her to keep her calm and control the situation, otherwise, it would escte.

    "What will you do now?" Nial asked calmly, trying to figure out the n of the Royal Princess.

    His question had multiple meanings but Evalyne didn''t have an answer to any of them.

    "Yggdrasil was willing to link to you, which means that the Sacred tree knows about your power and its origin. The Fairy Queen gave you the Fairies'' Blessing as well, meaning that both trust you enough," She said resignedly before she shrugged her shoulders.

    Nial answered her questions quite honestly without trying to hide the facts that could turn them against him. He knew that Elves disliked destructive powers, and the powers of the God of Darkness had been the most dangerous and destructive.

    That was why she regarded his honesty highly.

    "Let''s just see what the future awaits. I don''t want to fight you as long as you don''t act up against my people. Harming each other wouldn''t help either of us. So¡­let''s just work together!" Princess Evalyne said, slowly getting to a point where she could reach a conclusion about what had happened in thest few minutes.

    She extended her hand to make sure that Nial understood what she wanted to do. After shaking their hands, both chose to work together, one way or another.

    "What are you going to do against the Heligav? Their leader will probably attack you and every other human now that you''ve provoked him," Evalyne asked Nial after she let go of his hand.

    Nial shrugged his shoulders, not really worried about the oing threats.

    "I don''t care¡­not anymore. I will kill them¡­all of them!" He dered, clearly knowing that the extent to which he could go to make it happen was jarringly clear to the Elves especially now that they found out whose powers he possessed.

    However, Nial couldn''t care anymore.

    He had lost everything, and the Heligav were partially at fault for this. Thus, Nial was ready to eradicate the Heligav race from Jundra. There was no mercy left in his heart.

    He knew a way to be strong enough to fight most Heligav as long as he advanced to the Prometheus rank and he finished the Odyssey seed''s evolution!

    Nial would then be able to wield Tier-2 Runic armaments properly, which would increase his strength even further.

    But runic armaments wouldn''t be the most essential portion of his true power, that was something Nial knew for sure.

    He was ready to do everything that was necessary to be stronger and take revenge, EVERYTHING!

    There was no scope for mercy, even if it was Mathias, Master Crevian or anyone else who would dare cross his path.

    "You will die fighting the Heligav all by yourself¡­you should know that!" Princess Evalyne eximed, trying to convince Nial that he shouldn''t act recklessly and that it was more important for him to calm down and think rationally.

    But rationality was thest thing one could expect from Nial just now.

    His eyes were pitch-ck as he turned in Evalyne''s direction. She felt a sudden pressureing from Nial and a crimson red dot manifested in his eyes in the center where his pupils ought to be.

    The crimson red dot erged and it covered the ck that had engulfed his eyes before. His eyes turned crimson red in their entirety before they started to glow brightly as a devilish smile formed on Nial''s face.

    "Who said that I will be alone?" He asked quietly, while the Royal Princess felt bewitched as she stared deep into Nial''s crimson eyes.

    The High Elves and the Sacred Elves felt a sudden pressure weighing on them. Meanwhile, the ordinary Elves, who had alsoe to spectate the battle were unable to endure the suffocating pressure Nial released.

    Their legs gave in and they ended up kneeling on the ground, using every ounce of strength within their body to prevent themselves from getting pushed into the ground.

    Nial''s devilish smile widened when he visualized this. However, even before the stronger High Elves could react and obstruct Nial, he retracted his pressure.

    His eyes turned lifeless and milky white once again and his devilish smile turned kind once again.

    "Or do you think the Elves should continue to shy away from fighting their nemesis?" Nial asked calmly when he saw that everyone''s attention was upon him.

    "How many Elves died because the Heligav race was left alive? Hundreds of thousands? Millions?" He asked out loud making all the Elves around him think hard about the answers before he continued to speak,

    "Now the opportunity to take revenge hase forward. The time is ripe to attack the Heligav on Jundra. Their numbers are much less and there is a lot less powerful Heligav at the Keltia rank. The only question is how long will the Heligav be at a disadvantage? How long will they need to increase their numbers, be stronger, and actively oppose the Elves'' progress on Jundra? Whether it is weeks, months or years doesn''t matter.

    If you start to overwhelm them right now, the Elves and humans will be able to dominate them on Jundra until the end of time! Is that not what you want? A ce where your youngest won''t have to be scared of any dangers, a ce where they can grow without any restrictions?!?"

    Nial had a lot more to say but he chose to quiet down after he finished his short speech. He allowed the Elves to make their own conclusion, to reconsider his words, and reflect on their life choices and future path.<sub> </sub>

    The Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves were evidently on his side. Their loyalty seemed to have increased after they got to know that he possessed the power of the God of Darkness because the High Elves and Sacred Elves had shown signs of discriminating against him because of that power.

    And that was even though Yggdrasil and the Fairy Queen had epted Nial''s power without hesitation. This just showed that the prejudice of most Elven races was wrong, which was why they felt much closer to Nial than before.

    It was a bit weird that the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves felt much closer to him all of a sudden, but it was certainly advantageous, and Nial wanted to make use of this!

    "I''m just waiting for the permission to wage an all-out war from the Empress, and the other Elven Lords to gain control over their people. Afterward, I would have initiated warfare against the Heligav, either way!" Princess Evalyne said before she sighed deeply.

    She could tell that Nial had be increasingly impatient and had nothing but death on his mind. It was kind of frustrating but also understanding if one knew about his circumstances.

    "Are two weeks enough?" Nial asked straightforwardly and the Princess nodded her head after pondering about it.

    "Two weeks should be more than enough," She answered in affirmative, while her mind wandered off.

    Evalyne thought about Nial''s power and the fact that it was basically the same power the God of Darkness possessed. Telling her mother and the Elven Lords about this was something she ought to do but the Princess hesitated for a moment.

    "Just tell them about the origin of my power," Nial suggested as if he knew what the Royal Princess was bothered about.

    "Huh? What did you say?" Evalyne asked, not sure if she understood properly. Her eyes widened and she stared absentmindedly at Nial.

    "You can tell your mother about the origin of my power. I don''t really care," Nial repeated himself, not mentioning that he was pretty sure that the Elven Empress could already guess where his powers stemmed from.

    It would be weird for the Elven Empress not to know what was going on in her own ce, and it was not as if he had been particrly careful with the use of his dark energy.

    Whether that was a mistake or not was up for debate and the answer would unveil itself in the future. As for now, Nial had to be much stronger in the following two weeks.

    There was no time to waste, which was why he left behind the baffled Royal Princess as he dashed in the direction of the Forest of Life.

    Most Dungeons were located in that direction, which was where his targets were located as well; hundreds of dungeon portals that were waiting to be conquered and devoured from within!

    Meanwhile, as Nial left quickly, the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves wondered what they were supposed to do. In the end, they didn''t follow Nial because they were certain that he was sure what he was doing.

    However, they couldn''t help but feel a little bit weird as well. It was hard to imagine that Nial''s power was rted to the God of Darkness.

    "Is it really possible to procure the Innate ability of an Ancient God? I mean¡­the God of Darkness is said to have disappeared tens of thousands of years ago. Usually when Gods disappear that means they died and their body couldn''t be found¡­how is it possible for an Innate ability to be found on the sealed away Origin¡­" One of the Nightshadow Elves asked, voicing out his confusion.

    Many others intended to answer instinctively but they didn''t open their mouth to spout nonsense because they didn''t know the exact answer.

    "I just know that the prophecy shouldn''t be wrong¡­and that Nial might be the answer¡­though, his power seems to be something we should pay more attention to¡­" Princess Evalyne said, not exactly sure what they should do with Nial either.

    It was obvious that the Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves were drawn toward him, for various reasons at that, but that didn''t mean they were narrow-minded, let alone subjects that followed their master blindly.

    They asked the same questions others had in mind, and if not for their violent attitude and destructive powers, they would have been epted by every single Elven race a long time ago.

    "Princess¡­are you sure that we should attack the Heligav? Will the Empress really give you permission to attack them on Jundra? This will probably lead to an all-out war, within and outside Jundra¡­.is that really eptable?" A High Elf asked the question many Elves wondered about and the Princess could only smile bitterly.

    "We will see whether the Empress epts it or not, but I am certain that it won''t matter whether we attack the Heligav race or not because Nial will do whatever it takes to eradicate them, and the Nightshadow Elves will follow him¡­" Evalyne answered, looking over to the Nightshadow Elves, who were overflowing with the intention to kill the Heligav.

    The Heligav race had been a nuisance to the Elven races for a long time, and it was only now that the perfect opportunity had unveiled itself in front of them.

    How could the Nightshadow Elves not take it?

    Whether it was for Nial or for themselves, they would let their des do the talking and the killing!

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 Chapter 382 Heart Of Darkness

    "Seems like it''s working well on the Rookie dungeons¡­that''s pretty good!" Nial mumbled quietly as he continued to spread out his dark energy.

    He devoured one monster after another and turned them into his energy.

    However, that was not where Nial stopped. He was prepared to devour the entire dungeon or precisely the dungeon''s core.

    To make sure that a dungeon could manifest and that it would be sustained, Gods had to use bits of their energy that would be umted and preserved within a specific orb. The orb was the core of the dungeon that could preserve itself after it received the necessary energy from a being that was powerful enough to activate it.

    Higher ranked dungeons wererger in size and the number of powerful monsters within them was on the higher side as well. Thus, it was only obvious that they required more energy to be sustained and empowered.

    In the end, the number of low-ranked dungeon portals was manyfold higher than the number of Deux and Keltia ranked dungeons.

    Nial had only perceived two Deux dungeon portals until now and not a single Keltia ranked dungeon had popped up around him.

    As for rookie dungeons, there were thousands of them just in a range of 500 kilometers around the Forest of Life!

    And those dungeons had been Nial''s targets! It didn''t require much effort for him to expand his darkness domain through a whole rookie dungeon. Killing the monsters within the said dungeons was even easier. Devouring them didn''t provide much energy but it was better than nothing.

    After a permanent dungeon was conquered in less than a minute, Nial ended up demolishing the dungeon in its entirety until he found the dungeon core.

    Destroying the dungeon core was usually not possible. One would be expelled from the dungeon the moment the dungeon core was removed from its designated position. Thus, Nial should have been expelled from the dungeon the moment he destroyed its structure.

    But nothing happened and Nial ended up with the dungeon core in his hands. Nial''s Essence of Darkness poured inside the dungeon core while his dark energy engulfed it.

    Within seconds, the sounds of loud cracks resounded through the tremoring dungeon that showed signs of disintegrating into countless particles.

    Nial''s smile widened the longer it took him to devour and tarnish the energy within the dungeon core. After all, that meant the dungeon core possessed more energy for him to devour and make use of!

    Once he drained the dungeon core of thest trace of energy, it crumbled and turned into countless shards.

    Nial walked out of the dungeon portal that was only maintained by the mana he provided it, and it crumbled the moment Nial stopped his supply of mana.

    The permanent rookie dungeon portal disappeared when Nial emerged through it. He visualized a Nightshadow Elf at the Keltia rank, who had been waiting for him.

    Nial wasn''t familiar with the Elf but he had been very helpful so far considering the fact that he was holding the reins of a monster the Nightshadow Elf had beaten into a pulp for Nial''s sake.

    "My Lord, I brought you a sacrifice. It is not necessary for you to lower yourself and conquer lowly dungeons to be stronger. Just say the word and the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves will bring you everything you might need!" The Nightshadow Elf bowed in reverence and said when he first approached Nial.

    Nial had felt a bit weird at the beginning but it was certainly advantageous to have a powerful Guard by his side. However, what Nial liked even better was that the monster the Nightshadow Elf had brought him was a Wyvern.

    In many tales, Wyverns were said to have traces of the bloodline of True Dragons. For others, this may be interesting because it meant that the Nightshadow Elf sacrificed a living Wyvern to him.

    However, Nial didn''t really care about that. He had looked at the Wyvern that was struggling to free itself from the tremendous force the Nightshadow Elf had used to restrict its freedom and hold it down.

    "Be my subordinate for two weeks, and after that, you can go wherever you want!" Nial proposed when he first encountered the Wyvern. He was not sure if the monster understood him but it seemed to have worked out quite fine.

    Nial was able to ride the Wyvern without any issues, and the beast took him wherever he wanted to go. It was almost as if the Wyvern could understand Nial''s intentions whenever he said or thought about something and obeyed him.

    This made things a lot easier, especially since the Wyvern was in the possession of the wind affinity, and abilities closely rted to speed and an increase in its agility.

    As it was extremely fast, the Wyvern required no time to transport Nial to the dungeon portals he desired to conquer and destroy.

    Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye and as Nial had promised, the Wyvern was set free. It was a shame to let go of the Wyvern because it was a powerful mount but Nial didn''t have the time to bother convincing a beast to continue following him.

    He had other things to take care of, such aspleting the evolution of the Odyssey seed and advancing to the Prometheus rank.

    Both the evolution and his breakthrough were closely rted to each other. Nial could tell that his advancement to the Prometheus rank would inevitably finish the Odyssey seed''s evolution and vice versa.

    Whatever would happen first would serve as the necessary catalyst to initiate the other process!

    And that was something Nial had worked toward during thest two weeks. He had conquered and destroyed more than a thousand rookie dungeon portals, killed more than a million dungeon beasts that sumbed to his mercilessness, and Nial had umted all the energy he had procured in thest two days to provide the necessary push he required to advance as quickly as possible.

    His entire body was overflowing with energy as he sat down on the ground in the middle of a huge in with only a few trees and a Nightshadow Elf guarding him.

    And just when he was ready to push all the energy within his body in one direction, both his Mana core and the evolving Odyssey seed began to vibrate violently.<sub> </sub>

    As a result, Nial''s body began to shake. He was excited because he could easily tell what was going on.

    "Pay attention that nobody interferes in my breakthrough!" He ordered the Nightshadow Elf, who just nodded his head without a second of hesitation.

    After some of Nial''s secrets had been exposed, the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves had grown much closer to him than before. They felt that they had a lot more things inmon than expected, especially the fact that they possessed powers for which both races were frowned upon.

    They were born with these powers and it was not as if they wished to receive these destructive powers, to begin with.

    That, and the obvious fact of Nial being in possession of a Darkness Essence with tremendous potential, only made it obvious that the Nightshadow Elves were ready to serve Nial.

    There were limits to their loyalty and Nial was fully aware of this, but he was fine with that.

    He wasn''t expecting the Nightshadow Elves to be ready to kill someone against their will if he were to order them. Nial didn''t n to do something like this, either way, as he didn''t like bossing around. This was why he was perfectly fine with the bits of power he gained from partially controlling the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves.

    He then focussed on spreading the overwhelming powers that were umted within him through the Odyssey seed. This made it tremble even more than before. The shape of the Odyssey seed began to change and it started erging.

    Nial felt a searing pain spreading through his body when the Odyssey seed erged. His body''s structure was forcefully altered, which Nial felt quite intensely.

    Cold sweat trickled down his forehead, and back. His back was drenched in cold sweat within minutes but Nial endured everything.

    The searing pain that spread through his entire body was a necessity that apanied the changes of his body structure. Even his bone structure changed.

    New mana veins that were pitch-ck in color, were created and they shot out towards Nial''s heart and his Mana core where they connected to them.

    The evolving Odyssey seed thumped violently, releasing tremendous amounts of dark energy through the mana veins it had just created and spread out.

    Nial''s entire body was swept through with dark energy that circted through his dark veins for the following minutes. The dark energy caused Nial''s mana veins to feel like they were on fire.

    This was already painful, but it could be considered child''s y when the Essence of Darkness spread out from the evolving Odyssey seed.

    Nial spat blood the moment the Essence of Darkness began to circte through his mana veins.

    His body turned ice-cold and he paled in an instant. Nial''s appearance looked just like a frozen statue for more than half an hour until the Essence of Darkness returned to the evolving Odyssey seed.

    Something was being formed but the energy Nial''s body had required for metamorphosing and to ensure thepletion of the Odyssey seed''s evolution was tremendous.

    Nial felt extremely weak and the following hours that felt like eons passed in a blur. Numerous changes urred to his body and two wildly beating heartbeats could be heard deep inside the blind Original.

    The evolution of the Odyssey seed waspleted after almost tens of thousand years seemed to have passed and Nial slumped to the ground feeling weak and powerless.

    And that happened despite the tremendous power that circted through Nial''s body. He felt weak and exhausted but his body was not yet done.

    His Mana core was aching to advance to the Prometheus rank and Nial could only surrender to this desire.

    He knew that it was necessary for him to advance to the next rank to gain more strength.

    His n was to eradicate a whole race, after all!

    Breaking through to the Prometheus rank was not asplicated as Nial had presumed. He read many reports about the breakthrough process of Originals and that it heavily relied on their willpower and talent that changed the level of difficulty for each being who wanted to advance past the Peak of the Mirae rank.

    Nial had never been worried about reaching a bottleneck in his rank because he underwent so many transformations in thest few years that his body could be considered to be arge cauldron where all kinds of beings threw their blessings and talent in.

    He had received the Titan heart''s power, the Odyssey seed''s influence and strength, the Symbol of Life, the Fairies'' Blessing and he was in possession of his very own innate talent as well.

    His mana core might have been weak in the beginning but his mana veins had always been the strongest.

    As for his willpower, this was something he possessed more than anyone else.

    His desire to advance in the ranks and to gain the necessary strength to breakthrough was more than present..

    Thus, Nial ended up advancing shortly after the Odyssey seed had finished evolving.

    Meanwhile, the pitch-ck heart in his chest was beating full of vigor, celebrating its birth¡­the birth of the Heart of Darkness.

 Chapter 383 Prometheus

    By advancing to the Prometheus rank, the fifth andst ability could be bound to human Originals from Jundra.

    While being at the Prometheus rank the Origin rings wouldbine and they would form a crystal around the Mana core that would slowly turn into a seed called the Origin seed.

    The moment the Origin seed was created, one would reach the peak of the Prometheus rank.

    However until Nial would reach the Peak of the Prometheus rank quite some time would have to pass.

    For now, it was necessary for him to create the first part of the Origin seed whilebining his nine Ancient Origin Rings.

    The former was not difficult because Nial''s entire body was overflowing with the energy he had umted. Simultaneously, the Fairies'' Blessing, and the Heart of Darkness pulled mana from anywhere his range of perception could perceive.

    The Heart of Darkness was the evolved product of Nial''s Essence of Darkness, his dark energy, the Ankh, the Odyssey seed and the trace of Cursed Divine energy he had deprived from Sylvian before he had killed him.

    It had the same functions as the Odyssey seed and the Ankh had before, just that the Heart of Darkness enhanced the functions and that it provided Nial with even more options to choose from.

    Nial had yet to figure out what each of these functions could do but one thing he knew for sure was that the Heart of Darkness pulled tremendous amounts of mana in his direction.

    He absorbed them readily and constructed a bridge between the nine Ancient Origin rings that would create a crystal around the Mana core in the future.

    Time passed slowly, while Nial progressed rapidly. After the evolution of the Odyssey seed had beenpleted, it was only a matter of little effort and time before he would finish advancing to the Prometheus rank.

    It may not seem like a lot but creating a tiny fraction of the Origin seed within his Mana core and connecting the nine Ancient Origin rings enhanced his strength tremendously.

    Nial could clearly feel that the nine Ancient Origin rings had begun to resonate with each other. They augmented one another while the tiny fraction of the Origin seed within him enhanced the strength of his mana.

    Being directly connected to one another, the Heart of Darkness and the Mana core strengthened one another.

    Upon sensing this, Nial was extremely satisfied with the result he had gained from staying awake for two weeks, conquering and destroying far more than a thousand dungeons and devouring their energy.

    ''It was definitely worth it¡­'' Nial thought before he fell into a deep slumber.

    He slept for 24 hours straight and woke up confused and without a single clue to where he was. Only when Nial recalled what had happened the day before did he take a deep breath and slowly got up from the ground.

    "Let''s go back!" He told the Nightshadow Elf, who had been guarding Nial for the whole time.

    Stifling a yawn, Nial stretched his body a bit, and prepared himself to dash in the direction of the Forest of Life. He was toote for his meet-up with the Royal Princess but that hardly bothered Nial.

    After all, he could feel tremendous powers surging up from within him, powers that were clearly far more higher than any newly advanced being at the Prometheus rank should be able to attain!

    Even without his unique power, advancing to the Prometheus rank with nine Ancient Origin rings, Origin rings that were even more powerful than Superior Origin rings was a feat in itself.

    His strength was bound to be higher than other Originals at the same rank, to begin with. And the limits of his strength were something he wanted to find out right now.

    Dashing through the wilderness, Nial crossed a kilometer in the blink of an eye. In less than twenty minutes, he reached the Forest of life, where a huge crowd of Elves was already waiting for him.

    "Looks like I''m a little bit toote," Nial muttered weakly as he appeared next to the Royal Princess.

    Evalyne had already seen Nial from farther away. This allowed her to tell that his physical strength had increased quite a bit. She could tell that he had advanced to the Prometheus rank, but it was still astonishing to notice the changes in him when she perceived a few things as Nial arrived.

    "You¡­what did you do in thest two weeks?" Evalyne couldn''t help but ask while frowning deeply at him.

    Many Elves had looked over at Nial when he arrived and various emotions were disyed on their faces.

    Most were neutral toward Nial because they knew that Yggdrasil and the Fairy Queen wouldn''t blindly give him their blessings and support to just any random stranger. Thus, the fact that he possessed the same power as the God of Darkness was something they could ept somehow. Their trust in the Sacred tree and the Fairy Queen was high enough for them to do so.

    As for the others, they either liked him for being honest with them, despite being fully aware that the God of Darkness was not someone the Elves liked in any way, and for being in a situation where he was not at fault, or Nial was hated by a bunch of Elves.

    The vast majority of the few Elves who hated him were High Elves and Sacred Elves. They were annoying, whether they disliked him or not. Ignoring them was something Nial was very good at.

    "I devoured a few dungeon cores, gave birth to a second heart and I advanced to the Prometheus rank. What about you?" Nial exined nonchntly while smiling innocently as he expanded his range of perception to figure out the number and strength of the Elves around him.

    There were six different Elven races present and it looked like all of them would pay heed to Evalyne''smand. The Elven Lords of the other Elven races had acknowledged the attack of the Heligav race on Jundra. They''d given their permission!

    They wanted to eliminate the monster-like race once and for all, which was why they epted the Royal Princess'' proposal to unite and fight together, to begin with.

    In the end, there had been a few smaller issues, including the fact that a human with an Essence of Darkness, possessing some powers of the God of Darkness had appeared in their midst.

    However, that was quickly pushed aside because the Elven Empress prevented the situation from escting. Evalyne was not sure what her mother said but from what she heard the Lord of the Nightshadow Elves and their King supported the Elven Empress in her efforts.

    Whether this was because of Nial''s existence or not was up for debate but it didn''t really matter right now.

    At this very moment, the only important factor was that theybined their forces of close to 3000 Elves to attack the Heligav race''s settlement.<sub> </sub>

    More than enough Elves would be left behind in the Forest of Life to make sure that nobody could attack their territory all of a sudden.

    3000 Elves were more than enough in Nial''s opinion. He was ready to eradicate the Heligav, the beings who had tested his patience that was wearing thin.

    Nial was still angry, and he needed only a single spark for numerous emotions to erupt from deep within him, emotions that would allow him to be stronger, to go berserk, and destroy everything and everyone around him.

    However, before Nial could go ahead, it looked like he had to endure the Royal Princess'' stare.

    She didn''t believe what Nial had said so nonchntly and she gave him a disapproving look before she released her mana to scan Nial''s body.

    The first thing she noticed was the clear sound of two heartbeats instead of one from within Nial. This was enough for her eyes to widen. One of the heartbeats released dark energy and it was extremely weak, almost untraceable.

    Afterward, her mind seemed to have fallen into a trance. It was hardly possible for her to regain her senses but when she did, a frown appeared on her face

    ''I cannot sense his strength anymore?'' She concluded with a grunt.

    Her rank would soon reach the Mid of the Deux rank, yet, she was not even able to sense the extent of a newly advanced Prometheus Original''s strength. That didn''t make any sense!

    Princess Evalyne took a few seconds before she gave a few orders to the Elves around her.

    "Finally after thousands of years, it is time for us to initiate a war against the Heligav race! Now it is US, who is in control. WE hold the reins of our fate, and we will be the doom of the Heligav, who once overwhelmed and dominated us!!" Princess Evalyne suddenly said in an imposing tone as her fingers curled into fists.

    Nial smiled lightly while listening to her speech that continued after Evalyne took a deep breath. He quickly noticed that Princess Evalyne was a little bit distracted by his presence.

    She looked over at him, unsure how to feel and what exactly she should do about the information Nial had shared with her just a minute ago.

    Evalyne was pretty sure that Nial didn''t lie to her but his words seemed like gibberish.

    But the exact same could be said about a few sentences the Princess said in her speech.

    Nial didn''t say anything but it was obvious that this was Evalyne''s first time waging a war against another race. She had yet to experience an all-out war against another race or to oversee a war with other races and ensure victory.

    The most she had ever done so far was to fight a few beings of another race or spar with some beings of another race.

    It was only obvious for her to be nervous. Nial understood that it was normal for many Elves to be nervous. They would be fighting against one of their few arch enemies in a few hours.

    That should wreak havoc with their mind, make them nervous but also make them anticipate their future on Jundra. It was an unknown future, but also a bright one as long as all obstacles were removed on time!

    The faster they took care of the Heligav on Jundra, the quicker they would gain the opportunity to expand their territory on Jundra.

    Only humans, Elves, and Heligavs had their habitat in proximity to the Heligav.

    Sooner orter, they would have fought and it was today that the war would start.

    Nial and the Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves were probably the only ones looking forward to the battle. They had various emotions to unload and the Heligav were their target as the Heligav race was a big reason for the misery they faced in the past.

    After the Royal Princess had finally finished her speech, they started to travel toward the settlement of the Heligav race. They ran slow enough to preserve their stamina and energy.

    But even then, it took them only eight hours before they finally saw the gigantic blue dome that was erected around the Heligav race''s settlement.

    "Is everyone ready?" Nial asked after throwing a nce around while stretching his body onest time before the battle would start.

    Princess Evalyne looked over to Nial, not sure what exactly she should say, just to realize that the blind Original was not even listening anymore.

    Darkness oozed out of his body, his eyes turned pitch-ck and huge wings protruded out of his back.

    "What does it matter if I''m ready when you don''t even listen¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 384 Dissatisfactory

    Huge wings spread out from Nial''s back and darkness oozed out from all over him.

    His eyes had turned pitch-ck, the darkness around him decreased the temperature tremendously and he unleashed a heavy presence.

    As he flew in the air above everyone else, Nial''s range of perception was fully unleashed. His cold and near-emotionless voice resounded through the surrounding area,

    "They have only 300 Prometheus, 100 Deux, and five Keltia. The rest are some youngsters, who probably came to Jundra to conquer the lower dungeons."

    Nial made a precise report about the Heligav race''s numbers and their strength even though the protective dome around their settlement restricted his [Mana Sense] from sensing a lot.

    His rage and wrath were hardly suppressed by Nial as he was ready to barge inside the moment the dome would crumble to pieces.

    However, he was pretty sure that this wouldn''t be as easy as it sounded in Nial''s mind.

    The Royal Princess and the rest of the 3000 Elves had gathered up to make some necessary preparations.

    Nial presumed their preparations to result in something simr to the tornadoes Valvian and his people had summoned when the Dryx had attacked them.

    But what Nial didn''t expect was to see the strongest of the Nightshadow Elves receive a lengthy wooden staff from the Royal Princess.

    Numerous runic constetions were engraved on the wooden staff that began to glow in a gloomy dark light the moment the Keltia rank Nightshadow Elf touched it.

    A semi-translucent ck sphere formed around the tip of the wooden staff. Nial felt a cold draft sweeping past him as the swirls of mana around him and anywhere around were pulled toward the wooden staff that began to glow even brighter than before.

    More than a thousand Elves released the mana they had umted within their body to lead it toward the ck sphere that erged in size as it absorbed the mana.

    Nial kept watching this with great interest.

    ''They''re trying to supply enough energy to the Nightshadow Elf for him to destroy the dome?'' He asked himself, thinking that there would be easier ways of doing so.

    However, sometimes it was not the best decision to take the easiest path, especially if one wanted to intimidate their opponents even before their life and death battle had begun. Taking bolder risks would sow a seed of fear in the minds of their opponents, and their self-confidence would crumble.

    Nial perceived that the Nightshadow Elf was doing something with the mana that gathered within the wooden staff''s sphere. He created a tiny dot ofpressed shadow energy at the tip of the sphere.

    The tiny dot slowly began to grow in size and in a matter of five minutes it had turned into a huge ball ofpressed and unstable shadow energy.

    Forced to be more potent and lethal, the shadow energy had been altered,pressed, and turned unstable.

    Nial began to get suspicious because he felt like thepressed shadow energy would explode at any moment. He could clearly perceive that the unstable shadow energy began to sh.

    Yet, the moment Nial thought that it was time for him to intervene, the Nightshadow Elf moved, and he pointed the tip of the wooden staff straight at the blue dome of the Heligav race.

    The dome was more than two kilometers away from its current position but when Nial sensed what would happen next, he immediately reacted.

    The wings on his back pped quickly and with tremendous power and he soared higher in the air.

    Just when he stopped in the air once again, all the mana that had been stored in the ck sphere of the wooden staff was released toward the tip.

    The mana was highly potent and shot straight toward the tip, where the unstablepressed shadow energy ball was located.

    It expanded further the moment the tremendous amounts of mana impacted it before it was flung forward with tremendous force.

    A beam ofpressed mana shot toward the unstable shadow energy ball that kept erging the longer the mana beam impacted on it.

    The sound of the sound barrier being broken resounded through the area just before the erging shadow ball crashed into the blue dome of the Heligav.

    Nial instinctively covered his ears with mana, blocking most sounds as if he could already tell what was going to happen.

    However, the blue dome blocked the advance of the shadow ball beam and was resisting it. In response, the mana beam kept erging the unstable shadow ball that was being pressured from two sides.

    It was only a matter of time before the shadow ball exploded due to the enormous pressure, releasing all the energy that had been forcefully restricted within.

    "Is that a ckhole or what?!" Nial mumbled, feeling stupefied as he visualized how all the energy of the shadow ball slowly seeped over the dome and continued to expand until it covered a part of the whole blue dome.

    At this moment, all the energy that had expanded shot back toward the center, where an earth-shaking explosion urred the moment all the mana and shadow energy collided with one another at the exact same moment.

    Nial may not be able to see the spectacle that happened two kilometers away from his current position but his hearts were beating wildly as he visualized the destruction the Nightshadow Elf had caused with a single attack.

    "It''s not a ckhole, and neither is it an attack someone at the Keltia rank can initiate single-handedly. The Nightshadow Elf and the 1000 Elves, who sacrificed their mana with a portion of their Essence will be forced to rest for a week before they can circte mana once again," Princess Evalyne answered as she appeared by his side.

    With the use of her wind affinity, she had created a wind tform below her feet. It was possible for her to run through the air as long as she controlled the winds around her precisely.

    "Weren''t you guys against destruction? I expected you guys to kill the Heligav with as little destruction and as few injuries as possible," Nial spoke calmly while clearly visualizing the pain of more than dozens of heavily injured Heligav, who had lost parts of their bodies due to the humongous explosion that had blown them and their settlement to bits.<sub> </sub>

    With the exploding shadow energy, more than 50 Heligav had been killed, a circr crater with the length of more than 1000 meters had been created and the blue dome was destroyed beyond repair. It was reduced to rubble and ruins, leaving the Heligav open and defenseless without their protectiveyer.

    It was possible for Nial to rush into the settlement of the Heligav but he was more interested in the wooden staff the Royal Princess had taken back from the Nightshadow Elf before she had appeared near him.

    "Can I hold the staff for a moment?" He asked straightforwardly.

    Nial could tell that the wooden staff was extremely valuable and unique equipment. He could sense that the staff was a branch of Yggdrasil that had been prepared ordingly and engraved with numerous runic constetions.

    That was even more reason for him to be interested in the wooden staff. It should be one of the Elven races'' treasures and Princess Evalyne had used it to gain a huge advantage over the Heligav even before their fight had started.

    Evalyne looked at him for a moment before she shrugged her shoulders as she handed him the wooden staff.

    Most High Elves and Sacred Elves would frown at her if they were to see her right now, but the Royal Princess could do whatever she wanted. She trusted Nial enough, whether he was in possession of the God of Darkness'' powers or not.

    As he held the wooden staff in his right hand, he felt a connection building up with it in an instant. His mana veins were clearly visible through his skin for a few seconds. They shone in a gold luster before they turned pitch-ck a momentter.

    The pitch-ck mana veins began to throb within his body and his Heart of Darkness started to beat rapidly while holding the wooden staff. Instinctively, he pointed the staff toward what was left of the Heligav race''s battlefield.

    A big smile blossomed on his face and he didn''t even need to think much as he willed the creation of hundreds of ten-meter-long darkness spears.

    They covered the area around him and possessed enough power to destroy everything in their surrounding.

    Nial waved the staff downward and all the darkness spears shot down, right at the hapless settlement dwellers. They rained down on the settlement that had turned into a graveyard as one spear after another pierced into the Heligav that were scurrying around like mice.

    In a matter of seconds, more than 200 Heligavs had been killed, including many at the Lower Deux rank. When his attack seeded, Nial sighed deeply.

    It was much less satisfactory to overwhelm and kill 200 Heligav from a distance and just with a flick of his wrist, whether they were at a higher rank than him or not.

    After terminating his connection with the branch of Yggdrasil, Nial handed the staff to the Royal Princess, who looked at him with a heavy expression.

    Under normal circumstances, it required lots of focus and talent to wield the branch of Yggdrasil. In fact, even she couldn''t use it as well as the Nightshadow Elf, who seemed to have used a simr type of energy amplifying weapon before.

    However, Nial was different. He connected to the branch in an instant, and willed it to amplify his creation of hundred of darkness spears before they rained down on his opponents.

    Each of the darkness spears had been 10 meters long, more than half a meter in width, and their power was tremendous, rivaling beings at the Deux rank.

    As long as Nial used the branch of Yggdrasil, he could easily kill beings a whole rank above his own. If he were to go all out, Nial would certainly be able to do even more unimaginable things.

    Princess Evalyne didn''t even want to imagine Nial in his strongest form or what kind of powerhouse he would be in the future because everything he had shown until now was already more than frightening enough.

    But it was interesting that Nial returned the branch of Yggdrasil without a single sign of hesitation or the slightest greed.

    For a moment, Evalyne thought that Nial waspletely uninterested in the branch of Yggdrasil, one of the Elves'' Sacred treasures!

    However, when she saw his expression, the sadness in his facial features, the frustration, and the anger, she could tell that it was not as if Nial was oblivious to the power of Yggdrasil''s branch.

    Nial was not satisfied with being able to kill his opponents that easily. It didn''t feel right for him to be the one to kill those who had killed his master. He wanted to fight tooth and nail, not take the easy way out.

    In Nial''s opinion, it should have been a struggle to kill everyone, a fight of life and death where even the winner would barely be able to escape life.

    If that would have happened, Nial would have felt much better because it meant that he had given his best to take revenge on his master.

    It would also mean that he would have never been able to protect his master if she had been by his side or near him when the Heligav Assassins came for her.

    But the current situation was dissatisfactory because the Heligav, who had been arrogant and looked down on humans or elves, were dying like moths would get attracted to a me and die in vain.

    And Nial was not the only one feeling like this.

    **

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 Chapter 385 Needs Time

    In the end, it was not difficult for the Elven to eradicate Heligav settlement in its entirety.

    The Heligav race''s mentality had been broken the moment the shadowhole, which was what the Nightshadow Elvesbeled the first attack, had impacted their grand protection dome.

    A single attack had been more than enough to destroy the grand protection dome and a quarter of the settlement. It was only obvious that witnessing such an attack left a devastating impact on both the Helgiav race, who were afraid to face a second attack like this and the Elves, whose zing fighting will had soared drastically.

    Instead of facing a second attack that was highly destructive with only a few casualties just like the first attack, the bright sunlight seemed to disappear for a few seconds. It was clouded by the dense envelope of more than 200 darkness spears that devoured the sunlight as they rained down on the settlement.

    More than half of all the Prometheus Heligav were killed within seconds and thest wall of protection in the Heligav''s mind seemed to have crumbled down.

    Desperation filled their entire beings and they could clearly see the Grim Reaper approaching them. At least, that was what happened in their mind.

    The utter shock deprived them of their ability to think properly, and the remaining Heligav were overwhelmed by the flood of 2000 Elves that were eager to eradicate the Heligav.

    Screams overflowing with pain filled the air for a few minutes before everything turned quiet. The surrounding area became eerily silent but not even the Elves said a word.

    It was satisfying to be on the winning side when fighting against the Heligav but this easy victory against a small number of Heligav that had also been at lower ranks than the Elves on average didn''t really feel satisfactory.

    At the end of the day, the numbers of the Heligav were manyfold higher than the Elves, who rarely gave birth to children. The Heligav had also great innate talent, which turned them into a worse enemy when it came to a ''fair'' fight without any restrictions.

    Thus, the warfare they had initiated on Jundra was just one of the many that would follow suit in the future.

    Everyone knew this and it was also why nobody felt overly satisfied with the end result of the battle because now was not the time to ck off and be too confident.

    Nial descended to the ground when the battle came to an end and the screams died. He spread his dark energy through the ground to turn everything into his domain, even if it was only temporary.

    "You guys missed one heavily injured Heligav fighting a Dark cier Elf," Nial mumbled when he sensed something before pointing in the direction of a small hut that was about to copse at any moment.

    Making use of his dark energy, he shot hundreds of darkness needles out of the ground from within the building where the two were fighting.

    The building isted all sounds, vibrations, and mana fluctuations from within. This was rather weird and the reason why nobody sensed that something was off.

    When the others heard Nial, they dashed in the direction of the small hut and tore it apart when they entered it in search of the Heligav.

    What they saw were hundreds of darkness needles protruding out of a Heligav, who had been leaning over a young Dark cier Elven woman.

    Both were at the Deux rank but the Heligav had been able to overwhelm the Dark cier Elf. She would have died, if not for Nial, who had arrived at thest moment and killed the already heavily injured Heligav.

    Many Elves looked at Nial withplex emotions, even more so the High Elves and Sacred Elves, who hung their heads low and pretended to study the ground.

    However, Nial didn''t care about that in the slightest. He was more focused on expanding his darkness domain to devour the corpses of all the Heligav, who had been killed mercilessly.

    Their energy was necessary for his strength to increase faster. Furthermore, by devouring them, he could eradicate their entire existence.

    It would be as if they had never existed in the first ce!

    Nial focused on the surrounding area and the dead corpses around him instead of the living beings around him.

    This made it much easier for him to devour everything of value in the following minutes.

    Everyone observed what Nial was doing but they couldn''t see much. The Elves could only feel that energy swirled through the ground, straight toward Nial where it ended up gathering around him.

    It was as if the ground below the Elven''s feet was restlessly alive and moving whenever a new wave of energy swept toward Nial.

    He absorbed everything greedily and retracted the darkness domain when he was done. Everything was tightly sealed within him before Nial began to move once again.

    Nial''s head turned toward the center of the settlement. Arge building had been constructed there and many interesting things were located inside.

    "The Heligav''s treasures, a few devices and a somewhat different dungeon portal is located inside it," He mumbled as Evalyne and the others approached therge building

    "That''s probably not a dungeon portal," One of the Keltia rank Pyromas Elves shared his observation after he had heard what Nial said before they heard the Royal Princess'' voice.

    "A man-made world bridge with a timer!"

    Nial had recently gotten to know that other than portals, world bridges existed as well. Apparently, somes connected to each other in order to create a better bnce of their overflowingary mana core.

    These world bridges would have been created naturally, which was different to the world bridge Evalyne spoke about.

    Upon hearing that it was man-made and with a ''timer'', Nial released his range of perception and [Mana Sense] in the direction of the man-made world bridge.<sub> </sub>

    Only when he used a tremendous amount of mana and put his entire focus on the world bridge that looked simr yet a bit different in his visualization to a dungeon portal, did he notice something?

    Nial could perceive a humongousbination of ck, golden, silver, and gray runic constetions that had been merged together. There were millions of miniature runic constetions of a very higher Tier that he could barely perceive despite giving his all to visualize whaty behind the world bridge.

    "This must have been created by a God, who studied runic constetions for centuries¡­if not millennia!" Nial eximed, which attracted lots of attention.

    "You don''t have to be a God to create a man-made world bridge. The usage of certain devices and enough time to prepare yourself is all that you require," Princess Evalyne answered when she stepped back outside therge building. She saw that Nial had approached the building as if he wanted to take a close look at the world bridge.

    "The world bridge was not created by a God?" Nial asked doubtfully as he perceived more and more things about the world bridge''s structure.

    He now figured what Evalyne meant by ''timer'' because the world bridge was currently in a hibernating state, and umting mana from the surrounding area.

    Every few weeks or months, the world bridge would open and allow all kinds of beings to pass through the gate, until all the mana had been used up.

    Once the countdown of the timer ran out, a new batch of Heligav was likely to emerge from the man-made world bridge.

    But that was not something Nial could focus on right now.

    "That''s not correct either. This world bridge was probably created by a God," Evalyne said with aplex expression as she added,

    "I just think that it didn''t have to be a God to create a man-made world bridge like this one."

    Nial nodded his head before he averted his attention to some ce else once again.

    He was not sure how to feel now that the Heligav on Jundra had been killed. It was definitely advantageous, and Nial should be happy that his master''s murderer and everyone closely rted to the murderers had been killed.

    However, Nial didn''t feel happy or content in any way.

    His master was still dead, after all.

    "By the way, I wanted to ask this earlier but¡­are you fine?" Princess Evalyne enquired worriedly.

    Nial hadn''t expected Evalyne to be bothered about him but he must look like a beaten-up dog for her to ask this question.

    Yet, even if he wanted to, Nial was unable to lie and say that everything was fine. Because he felt far from fine!

    "Do I look fine to you?" He just asked in return before he sighed deeply. Nial didn''t really like where the conversation was going but it was not as if he could go away right now. Something held him back from moving¡­

    "Not really. That''s why I''m asking," Evalyne said slowly, feeling that the pressure around Nial got heavier without him doing anything actively.

    His heartbeat got louder and the pressure around Nial increased drastically.

    "Then I''m not fine," He could only answer before he noticed how suffocating his presence had be. Nial didn''t even realize how depressed he sounded and how much pressure he was releasing.

    Thus, he sighed deeply once again before he went his own way.

    Nial didn''t feel ufortable with the Royal Princess but he needed some time for himself.

    Even now, he was not sure how to feel about the things that had happened, let alone what he was supposed to do.

    Was he willing to work hard to help others and prevent them from facing the same situations as he had been forced to face? Not really. Nial might like to help others when he encountered them in tricky situations but he would always prioritize his family and friends over others.

    Going out of his way to help others was something Nial had only done for the Originals, who had been disabled while conquering dungeons, or even before they awoke their Origin.

    However, even that had been something Nial had done in order to improve his reputation, and let more people know about him, and not just with the sole intention of helping others. The helping part had been important but it was not his only reason to help.

    It was already a wonder that Nial was functioning with the severe blows he had received one after another. His mother and master were dead, his sister had gone on a journey, his father was struggling with depression and it was almost impossible for him to force anything down his throat.

    Even the only friend who should have been his pir of support had med him for the death of their master.

    Nial knew that he had to take care of his father and that he would have to work hard to make him get his act together, but he didn''t know how.

    He was barely hanging on to his own sanity with all his might, so how could he help others to be better, make them feel good, and drag them out of their pit of misery when he was drowning himself?

    Was that really possible?

 Chapter 386 Why?

    The warfare against the Heligav race ended in a dissatisfying manner and everyone returned back to their residence.

    Nial wanted to see how his father was doing because he was a bit worried about his condition.

    However, while flying home, Nial passed by Miranda and Mathias'' home. Mathias was not at home, which was somewhat unexpected.

    And it was only shortly after that Nial found out that Mathias had left the human shelter as well.

    "So he gave up?" He wondered at this point, not sure if Mathias had been too weak-willed or if getting beaten up by his friend had hurt his pride.

    What Nial realized only when he was back at the base, was that he had received a message through the Originals bracelet.

    The message was from Mathias and Nial checked it after a moment.

    [By the time you get this message, I would have left already.

    First of all, I want to apologize for ming you for Miranda''s death¡­

    You suffered more than enough even before our master had been assassinated, and I was selfish enough to search for a target to vent my frustration, sadness and guilt.

    I know you might not forgive me for what I''ve done to you but I sincerely hope that we can remain friends, or stay on friendly terms when we see each other in the future, at the bare minimum.

    Others might not understand why you beat me up but after I gave it some thought, I totally understood it. Thank you for beating some sense into me, and for being such a good friend.

    Without you, I would have never been able to be the person, I am right now.

    However, now it''s time for me to be independent and to find out who I am and what I want to do and be in the future. I have to find out my future goals all by myself without anyone''s influence or support!

    I am leaving in search for answers to all of this, and I will only return when I find an answer.

    That being said, let''s see each other again in the future.

    Have a great life and don''t you dare to crumble!

    You are stronger than you might think, and I don''t mean your physical strength or even your Mana core''s rank!

    See ya!

    Mathias]

    "..." Nial was stupefied when he visualized and read through the message in his mind.

    At first, he couldn''t believe that Mathias had also left but after he read through the letter three times, his mind finally seemed to be able to ept what had happened.

    "I also hope that you can be stronger, and find out more about yourself and your dreams¡­" Nial mumbled as if he was talking to Mathias directly.

    He didn''t send a message back to his friend immediately. Nial knew that the message wouldn''t reach Mathias if he was not in one of the other shelters, and he was not even sure what to write, to begin with.

    There were so many things he wanted to say and numerous thoughts shed through his mind but he simply could not find the right words to express his feelings well enough.

    Thus, Nial ended up choosing the simplest way to answer Mathias'' long message.

    [Let''s talk when you return!]

    Nial felt a bit weird after he received the message from Mathias, knowing that he was truly alone. With a heavy heart, he approached his father, who was seated in a wooden rocking chair on the terrace of the house Nial had ordered to be constructed for his father.

    It looked like his father had lost more than 10 kilograms of weight and as if he was about to die of thirst if he didn''t get something to drink right away.

    Nial perceived all of this with a sad expression as he shook his head lightly.

    "How is it possible for the man I looked up to¡­to end like this?" He mumbled in a voice low enough to not reach anybody''s ears. His voice was filled with frustration and sadness. He felt¡­defeated.

    It was only obvious that his father was devastated because the woman he loved for close to 25 years had died right in front of him. If Miles were to be unbothered about his wife''s death, that would have been a real cause of concern.

    However, Nial couldn''t help but feel disappointed and frustrated by looking at his father''s condition.

    <o>,m It was clear that he hadn''t eaten anything for thest two weeks and that he must have only taken sips of water when his body would have forced him to do so.</o>

    "Dad, you have to drink something!" Nial said as he climbed up the two stairs of the terrace before he gently grasped his father''s skinny hand.

    His father''s hand felt ice-cold, which Nial tried to ignore for a few seconds before he retrieved arge nket from his spatial ring.

    One could find almost everything in Nial''s spatial ring, and the nket was one of the many things that finally found a use.

    He enveloped his father in the nket, while he tried to continue conversing with him.<sub> </sub>

    Unfortunately, he failed miserably because his father didn''t say a single word.

    "If you don''t want to talk, at least eat something¡­." Nails continued to try in a pained voice. He could not see his father die like this, slowly perishing into nothingness.

    He was all that was currently left with him to not make him take an extreme step and let depression and hopelessness ravage him from the inside out.

    Even Nial began to salivate when the dishes finally arrived, yet, his father didn''t move a single inch. Not even his nose twitched, let alone the corners of his mouth.

    Nial couldn''t see his father properly but what he visualized was more than enough for him to feel distressed.

    "Do you want to worry your kids to death?!" Nial exploded after a few hours of futile effort had passed. It was as if his father was not even in this world anymore.

    He was more dead inside than on the outside, and that was what frustrated Nial.

    "If you want your lovely daughter to fall into depression when she finds out that you starved yourself to death after she left, then continue like this!!" Nial shouted at his father while feeling that the anger within him was fully unleashed.

    However, even after he had shouted at his father, Nial was unable to perceive a single motion in Miles'' movements. He had no idea how to motivate his father to eat something, or what he was supposed to do to drag him out of the misery.

    Sabrina had just left the new shelter to embark on a big journey. It was great that she wanted to avenge her mother but in her quest for revenge she not only left Nial but abandoned her father too. Suddenly, Nial was the only one left to take care of himself and his father.

    At this moment, Nial loathed Sabrina for her selfishness. First her and then Mathias, both had simply left him alone. Was he supposed to take care of everyone around him, while the others were allowed to tend to the scars their loss had caused deep inside their heart? When was he supposed to heal?

    "Mom would be disappointed in you!" Nial growled when he had had enough of his father. He put down the te with food he had been holding to spoon-feed his father if necessary and walked away from him.

    ck wings made of the purest dark energy sprouted from his back and he shot in the air, full of rage and anger.

    Since the day his mother died, he had always been on the edge of erupting like a volcano. It was near-impossible for him to control his emotions, especially hatred, anger, wrath, and so on, and the behavior of the people around him was anything but helpful.

    Almost everyone acted as if they were the only ones who had been hurt and as if they were the most important people all over the universe.

    It was almost as if they believed the sun revolved around them. Nial felt uncontroble anger erupting from within him, his Heart of Darkness began to beat rapidly, and before Nial knew an unfathomable amount of dark energy shot out from his body.

    The dark energy was released explosively from his Heart of Darkness, and it expanded rapidly as he began to roar out in frustration, anger, and wrath.

    ''Is that my fate? Do I deserve all of this? Why me?''

    Various questions shed through Nial''s mind but he didn''t receive a single answer. He took a deep breath, while continuously releasing his dark energy that continued to expand around him.

    A huge sphere of dark energy formed around Nial as he continued shooting higher into the air.

    The darkness he released could be seen by everyone in a rage of more than a hundred kilometers. The pressure the sphere around him created was terrifying and it intensified the higher Nial shot in the air, which was something that caused many to frown deeply.

    Everyone, who was looking at the darkness that kept spreading high in the air, felt weird. They could clearly feel Nial''s emotions wreaking havoc deep inside their own heart that was already turbulent due to the chaotic emotions post battle. As a result, tears began to stream down their faces even though they hadn''t been sad.

    Nial continued releasing all his emotions until he felt empty for the first time in a while. His body felt much lighter than ever after he had released all his emotions and tears of blood trickled down his cheek.

    He didn''t want to live in this misery anymore, feeling angry and full of wrath. It was exhausting, and so was seeing his father, knowing that everyone else had left him and that he could only rely on himself.

    Nial had never felt that exhausted, even when he had been severely injured in the process of killing Sylvian''s Incarnation.

    Nial closed his eyes, he retracted his range of perception and the [Mana Sense], while pressing the wings of darkness against his body despite being high in the air.

    He began to fall fast to the ground without a single clue to how high his speed was, or how close the ground was located.

    Nial could only feel the wind pressing against him and the warmth of the bloody tears that were picked up by the air pressure.

    Despite knowing the obvious, Nial made no move to save himself from harm. He felt like he would keep traveling down and his descent would go on for eternity, right into the abyss of nothingness and that feeling eased his mind.

    For a while, he wished to fall and never get up, to be able to ignore all the evil of the world, all the pain, and misery that had urred to him.

    However, ignoring, let alone forgetting the pain that was etched deep inside his heart and had left raw, aching wounds was hardly possible. Nial knew that he was not the only one hurting but it felt like he was the only one who wanted everyone to work together to ease each other''s pain.

    But that wouldn''t happen because everyone had to process their pain differently and the raging emotions within one.

    Somehow, Nial felt selfish thinking that everyone should console each other, that everyone around him should try to help one another to face fewer difficulties in the future, to feel less pain, or learn how to control the pain, if that was possible, to begin with.

    The reality was different than what Nial wished to happen, and he knew that very well.

    A lone tear trickled down his face as he opened the wings of darkness once again, slowing down his fall.

    And it was just momentster that hended on the ground, unscathed, feeling like a changed man.

 Chapter 387 Leave

    When Nialnded back on the ground, he released his range of perception and [Mana Sense] once again.

    He walked back to his father after he had regained hisposure.

    His mind was calm and he visualized his father, just to notice that he had moved a little bit.

    ''Was it my outburst or talking about mom?'' Nial wondered almost immediately before he disregarded the former.

    "Can you eat a little bit? Mom would want you to be healthy. She would definitely me you if you were to get sick because of her!" He tried to coax his father again and noticed that Miles'' fingers moved the moment his wife was mentioned.

    Nial continued to speak to his father while mentioning his mother every now and then. Miles made small movements after a while that made Nial sigh in relief. Immediately, he got a fresh te of food and began talking to his father while urging him to eat bits of the savory food.

    This was a big improvement from before, enough for Nial to be satisfied with the progress he had made.

    Only then did Nial realize that two familiar Elves had been waiting in front of the house for quite a while. They didn''t approach the terrace just because Nial was on it and they respected the time he needed alone with his father.

    "Master Crevian, Meryl, pleasee inside¡­" Nial said in a voice that was barely loud enough for the two Elves to hear.

    They stepped on the terrace carrying a basket of vegetables and something to drink.

    The two knew everything that had happened to him, and the secrets he had openly revealed to the Elven not too long ago.

    However, neither Master Crevian nor Meryl took his actions to heart and were bothered enough to change their ways.

    Nial had suffered enough in thest few weeks and it was obvious that he was unable to get his act together. Otherwise, he wouldn''t have caused a ''small'' incident that shocked all the Elves, who believed that someone had initiated arge-scale attack on the new human shelter.

    The Elves had already imagined the worst and dreaded the annihtion of the entire human shelter as the enormous ball of darkness hadn''t stopped erging until it dispersed just like that, releasing a young human who fell to the ground with closed eyes. Some Elves wondered if Nial was trying to kill himself but he opened his wings when he was only ten meters above the ground, saving his life.

    Master Crevian and Meryl, who had already been on their way to Nial could immediately tell that he had been unable to cope with the emotions that had raged within his body.

    Nial''s anger and frustration were not enough for them to change their opinion of him. He had himself under control, otherwise, he wouldn''t have thought of ascending into the air, where nobody would be hurt, before he released all of his bottled-up emotions at once.

    "We brought highly nutritious food and something to drink. The Miracle flower syrup is quite tasty and it can ease one''s mind. We often used it in the past, after our wars¡­and in other situations when¡­I think you know what I mean." Master Crevian said, fumbling helplessly at the end.

    He didn''t want to speak about Miles'' condition right in front of him and Nial because he felt that this would be rude and not helpful to Miles.

    Nial understood Master Crevian''s intention and he forced a smile on his lips.

    While the other Elves didn''t really care about what happened to Nial''s family, master, or friends, Master Crevian and Meryl were a bit different.

    They had been around his parents, sister, and friends far longer than anyone else. The connection the two Elves had with all of them was much stronger than one might imagine.

    It might not be enough to make them cry for days when they heard that Maline had been killed but they had been sad.

    Their sympathetic side was clearly noticeable and Nial was genuinely thankful for their behavior.

    However, he couldn''t help but still feel a little bit down.

    His emotions might have been sorted to a certain extent but Nial knew very well that he wouldn''t be able to control himself properly in the future. The influence of the dark energy and the Essence Of Darkness was simply too impactful after all the incidents Nial had faced.

    Furthermore, Nial had no idea what he was going to do now. Taking care of his father wouldn''t be easy even if he made incredible progress today.

    Nial was not sure how long his father would need to be the same old person he had been before his mother died. Only then would he finally be able to take care of himself, or so he thought.

    "What are you nning to do now? I heard you can elerate the pace with which you will be stronger by conquering and destroying dungeons. Are you nning to make use of that?" Meryl asked the same question Nial was asking himself.

    She was way too nosy but that was exactly what turned her into an interesting being, someone Nial thought of as a close acquaintance.

    "I don''t know," Nial answered honestly before he added, "What am I supposed to do?"

    Even if someone asked him what he would do now, it was not as if he would suddenly receive enlightenment and be able to tell what he would do with his life and future.

    "How am I supposed to know what you are going to do? That''s your life, and your decision to make!" Meryl answered with an expression that said ''Are you serious?''.<sub> </sub>

    She gave him the most obvious answer and it was only logical. Nial had to figure out what he wanted to do with himself, not follow the wishes of others.

    "I cannot leave because of my father, and even if I would want to leave to train or explore the world, I wouldn''t even know where to go¡­" Nial mumbled, sighing in frustration.

    "It would be interesting to meet the Draco race but that''s not possible¡­ If I would leave the human shelters and the Forest of Life, I would definitely stay on Jundra¡­and only after I have created some sort of teleportation device that allows me to return home whenever something happens to dad¡­" Nial spoke in all honesty, not hiding how he felt about leaving his dad alone.

    Both Meryl and Master Crevian could tell that Nial wanted to leave as well but only thoughts and concern about his father held him back. It was not as if he could take his depressed, malnourished, and weak father with him to adventure through Jundra.

    If his father had been mentally stable and with enough talent to be stronger in a short period of time this wouldn''t have been a problem.

    However, life is never easy, especially for Nial, whose mind was tormented by the ideas he had but the incapability to actually test them out.

    ''He only said ''dad'', not shelter or Forest of Life. Looks like his priority is still the same as before,'' Master Crevian thought with a faint smile on his lips.

    Even after everything he had faced, Nial''s core was still the same as before. He loved his family and would give his all to protect them.

    Right now, only his father was left behind and Nial was willing to stay by his side, even if it would slow down his advancement and growth.

    This was a sacrifice not many would make if they were blessed with Nial''s terrifying talent and achievements.

    By now, Nial should be addicted to the sensation to be stronger and the overwhelming feeling one would feel by being able to dominate powerful opponents.

    He was a great Runicier, spent lots of time reading and trying to be a better and more knowledgeable Runicier, and his innate talent in every possible way was far above average.

    However, his determination and sense of responsibility are even stronger than his desire to be stronger by all means. And it was exactly those factors that made it extremely hard for Nial to even think about leaving his father in such a state.

    But even if Nial was such a great child, it was obvious that he was dreaming about adventuring through Jundra as well.

    The human race had never even conquered Jundra in its entirety. They didn''t know what they would find on the other continent, or what would have awaited them in the depths of the vast oceans before the first dungeons had emerged.

    There were numerous things to see, whether it was dungeons, unique beasts, the scenery on Jundra, or what they could find on others.

    Nial''s life was still long and it would be possible for him to do everything he wanted to at ater point, but he was currently in the prime of his life.

    His talent was currently still being honed and the sooner he advanced in the ranks the higher his chance to be a true powerhouse, and existence that could travel through the Universe without any obstructions!

    Master Crevian wanted to say something to Nial but he held back when he saw the seriousness in Meryl''s expression. Everyone could clearly tell that Nial had to decide what he was going to do.

    Idling around would be the worst decision but it was his choice and others couldn''t pave a path for him to walk on.

    "L-L-leave¡­" A weak and crackling voice resounded from behind Nial. He turned around in astonishment and bend down to hold his father''s trembling hands.

    "I¡­I wi-will be fi-fine¡­if you¡­want¡­travel¡­fi-find yourself¡­ Maline would want tha-that as well¡­" Miles'' weak voice resounded in Nial''s ears and before he knew it, tears began streaming down his cheeks.

    "Are you sure, dad? I don''t want to leave you if you cannot take care of yourself¡­" Nial said while he tried to wipe away the tears from his face.

    He had many wishes and dreams but it was the most important for him to look after those who were important to him.

    Nial knew something his parents had always tried to keep a secret from him. Not even Sabrina knew about this but their parents'' secret, and the reason why Nial was so obsessed about protecting his family was this very secret.

    "I¡­can take care of myself¡­when youe back¡­we will talk about something¡­okay?" Miles said, tightly grasping his son''s hands.

    He knew that his son wanted to make sure that he was fine, but Miles needed some more time to digest the reality. It was not easy for him to ept everything that had happened, and it was only today that he regained his senses to a certain extent.

    Miles had no idea how much time had passed since Sabrina left because everything that had happened felt like a blur. He only knew that Nial had continued to tend to him, even though he was frustrated, sad, and hurt just like everyone else.

    Miles didn''t even know that Nial was in more pain than anyone else.

    It was already a wonder that Nial was still sane¡­or somewhat sane.

 Chapter 388 Finding Oneself

    "Just travel around Jundra, conquer dungeons, get to know other races and their traditions, and find yourself," Meryl answered after a while.

    She knew that she shouldn''t influence Nial in his decisions but the young Original was not able to follow his desires because he was afraid that something might happen to his father if he left him on his own.

    It was not as if that fear was bad but restricting himself to the new human shelter would only result in stagnating his strength which would inevitably mean that he would be weaker than the beings who would attack the human shelter in the future.

    That being said, he wouldn''t be powerful enough to defeat his future opponents, which meant that it wouldn''t be possible for him to protect what was left of his family.

    "Who knows¡­maybe you might encounter other humans all over Jundra as well?" Master Crevian joined Meryl''s attempts to convince Nial. He could tell what his disciple was struggling with so he wanted to extend a helping hand as well.

    Meanwhile, Nial was thinking a lot. He didn''t doubt that it was better to leave the human shelter, whether it was to adventure through Jundra or to leave the altogether to explore the vast Universe and be stronger in the process. Nheless, it was obvious that he couldn''t leave his father alone, at least not in this state even if his father himself was of a different opinion.

    "Do you mean other humans from Jundra?" Nial asked Master Crevian, feeling slightly confused. It was not impossible for more human shelters other than their nine to exist but Nial was not sure how high the chances for something like this were.

    Even for the human race of Jundra, the was still a mystery. They hadn''t explored more than 20% of it before the first dungeons had appeared.

    "I thought more about human races from¡­others, but humans from Jundra might be somewhere as well, who knows?" Master Crevian asked with a faint smile on his lips. He felt that Nial''s questions were a good sign of his willingness to travel around and explore ces.

    "Just find out who you are and what you want on your adventure, ande back when you think you have all the answers," Master Crevian suggested before he added nicely, "We can make you a radar that is locked to the Forest of Life''s coordinates, and a device, which which you can teleport short distances. It will have infinite uses if you can provide enough mana to utilize it!"

    Nial could tell that both Master Crevian and Meryl were trying their best to make sure that Nial wouldn''t feel bad in any way when leaving. He was grateful for this but he could also tell that the situation might as well end up as it had been with his mother.

    He hadn''t even been far from his mother when she had been attacked, yet, he had been unable to save her before he had been a bit toote.

    "We will also make sure that we create amunication device for you that can be used with mana all over Jundra, okay?" Master Crevian asked and Nial felt as if his teacher was reading his mind.

    Nial was unable to hide a tiny smile that crept up his face as he nodded his head after he was pulled into a ''discussion'' with his father. Miles'' condition seemed to have improved a bit and he was basically ordering Nial to leave the human shelter and to be strong enough to make sure that Sabrina wouldn''t get into trouble.

    It felt like Miles was not bothered about his own safety or life but he wanted his children to take care of each other. He was too weak to do anything, which was his biggest regret in life.

    If he had been a little bit stronger, or just a little bit faster, his wife might not have died. If he could, he would have gone back in time and sacrificed his own life to protect his wife, but his body had been paralyzed, and he had been unable to move when the incident happened.

    He had helplessly witnessed the murder of his wife, and if not for Nial''s quick actions, Sabrina would have died as well. Miles knew that his son had done his best and that he would always give his utmost to protect his family.

    That being said, it had been a necessity for Miles to make his son leave, otherwise, Nial would never be able to get his act together, let alone find out who he truly was and what he wanted to do in the future.

    When Nial finally epted to leave, a small fire of determination and ambition had been ignited within the young Original once again. He started to prepare lots of things for his journey.

    Nial didn''t think that he would need so many things but he started to use his Heart of Darkness while engraving runic constetions on various pieces of equipment.

    This was something he did to experiment with a few things and the results were marvelous. The Heart of Darkness increased the potency of the runic constetions he engraved by more than 30%. This allowed him to attain exceptional results but it brought forth great difficulties as well.

    The more potent runic constetions that had been engraved while Nial had used his Heart of Darkness in various ways, whether it was to release dark energy or his Essence of Darkness, were more likely to cause his runic armaments to break.

    Nial epted this rather easily, especially since they didn''t possess many materials that could endure the highly potent power of augmented Advanced Runic constetions.

    Almost three weeks passed before Nial finally decided to leave. He received an improved Originals bracelet, a teleportation device that could teleport up to three beings to a ce several hundred kilometers ahead as long as he had visited that ce once in his life before.

    The teleportation device was a bracelet that would map his surrounding area to ensure that he would never be teleported in unknown terrain, say inside a mountain or in the sky, which was also why he could only teleport to ces he had been before. It was a safety measure and Nial was more than fine with that.

    He wouldn''t want to jump hundreds of kilometers through unknownnds because he would never know where he wouldnd. Furthermore, the reason for him to travel around was to find himself and be stronger. That would be a lot more difficult if he were to teleport himself through Jundra like a madman.

    That being said, Nial finished his preparations before he hugged his father tightly. Miles looked much better than before, which was even more reason for Nial to feel more confident to leave his father''s side.

    It was time for him to find out more about himself instead of acting like others wanted him to.<sub> </sub>

    "Leave now¡­and don''t forget that we will have to talk when you are back for good!" Miles said, forcing himself to smile at his beloved son.

    Nial smiled back at his father before he hugged him again.

    "You can always message me¡­and don''t do something stupid while I''m away. Take care of everyone and scold the ckers of the Onyx association and the Orion Artisan Guild. You are in charge of them!" Nial eximed before heughed lightly as he took his leave.

    He walked slowly away from his home before his steps elerated the moment his father was not able to see him anymore.

    Nial turned into a sh and he left the shelter in the blink of an eye.

    As for his first destination, it was the destroyed settlement of the Heligav race! Nial wanted to figure out a few things, and the Heligav''s destroyed shelter should be a great target!

    It took Nial quite a while to reach the destroyed settlement of the Heligav, where he met a bunch of Elves. They had been stationed at the destroyed settlement to allow researchers to look through the tomes and goods of the Heligav race.

    At the same time, it was not impossible for the man-made world bridge to get altered on the side of the Heligav race. Alterations would be quickly noticed if someone was near them to witness them when they were in process.

    Thus, it was mandatory for Guards to be present at the destroyed settlement all the time. Nial was not obstructed by the Elven Guards. They greeted him in a rather neutral manner before they avoided his existence altogether.

    Nial was thankful for that because he wouldn''t want anyone to bother him right now. His heart and mind were still in turmoil even though he had been certain that it wouldn''t affect him much to leave the shelter.

    ''I wonder if I will really be able to find out what I want to do, and who I am. The purpose of my life¡­'' Nial mumbled before he shook his head with a deep sigh.

    There were so many things Nial had yet to get used to, and one of them was the fact that not all races would be like the Elves, who had epted him for possessing the powers of thete God of Darkness.

    Other races would either start worshiping him, while the vast majority would attempt to kill him at once.

    "I need to learn how to fight without using my dark energy¡­ Even if I could use bits of the Essence of Darkness without anyone being suspicious about the origin of my power, it would be better if I avoid using both the dark energy and the Essence of Darkness¡­" Nial mumbled while he was deep in thought.

    He was at the Prometheus rank and had yet to bind a total of five abilities. In the end, Nial had only upied two out of five vacancies on his mana core, and he would have to bind the remaining three abilities to him before advancing to the Deux rank.

    After he attained the Deux rank, he wouldn''t be able to bind any ability to himself anymore. Thus, Nial had to use the following months, or maybe even years to figure out what kind of abilities he wascking, how to hide dark energy perfectly if necessary, and a lot more.

    Nial had a lot more to do than he initially thought but it was definitely good that he had a lot on his te.

    Working hard allowed him to forget the things that concerned him, whether that was his father''s well-being, what his sister was doing if Mathias was doing fine, finding out more about himself, and so on.

    And with that thought in mind, Nial started to expand his range of perception and [Mana Sense] to find out more about the Heligav race''s settlement.

    Not many researchers hade to Jundra yet because the Elves had focused on sending a horde of numerousbat Elves to the first, rather than a high number of Runiciers or other intellectual Elves.

    Their highest priority was to make sure that the Elves would retain control of their territory and defend themselves against all possible opponents rather than getting to know some of the world''s secrets.

    This made it much easier for Nial to size up everything in his surrounding area and to digest the ginormous batches of information that flooded his mind.

    Within a day or two, Nial finished his analysis of everything the Heligav had brought to Jundra and his finds were quite surprising.

    "Looks like the Elves underestimated the Heligav. They''ve already managed to secure an alliance with quite a few races," Nial mumbled, intrigued as he visualized a map that had manifested in his mind.

    It was somewhat old and not up to date anymore but it was definitely a map of Jundra, or rather the region where all human shelters, the Forest of Life, and a few red dots were marked on.

    Interestingly enough, Nial was able to read a bunch of the signs that had been drawn on the map, which was why he began to smile so foolishly.

    "I guess it''s time for me to enter a city of foreign races once again!"

 Chapter 389 How Far Can I Go?

    There had been quite a few interesting things in the destroyed settlement of the Heligav, with most of them being information about their allies on Jundra.

    The map of the northern side of the continent they were living in was also quite intriguing.

    All nine human shelters, the Forest of Life, and more than 10 settlements of other races had been marked on the map.

    Nial didn''t know the names of the other races, or if they were more settlements of the Heligavs but one mark was quite unique. Two particr symbols? were written on top of the mark, which made Nial feel interested in it.

    The symbol for [Alliance] and [City] had been written above the mark that had be Nial''s second destination.

    He was not sure if it was an intelligent decision to jump right into their of a bunch of races but without risk there wouldn''t be any rewards either. That was what Nial told himself when he began to travel in the direction of his destination.

    "How many months will I have to travel without being able to read anything, or to properly absorb mana? I''m wasting my time like this¡­" Nial grumbled after traveling for three days.

    His mana core rank was obviously not high enough and he wanted to improve as a Runicier as well. However, if he wanted to absorb mana properly or read a book in a fully focused state, Nial wouldn''t be able to run as fast as he was doing right now.

    "Should I just subdue a beast at the Prometheus rank?" He began to wonder as he began to expand his range of perception and [Mana Sense] with the goal to find a suitable beast to subdue.

    There were a bunch of powerful beasts he had passed by but none of them were great mounts. Tigers, Cheetahs, Velociraptors, and so on were not exactly suitable to ride on, not without a saddle, at the very least.

    Thus, Nial ignored them as he passed through their territory. Not many beasts dared to attack him because they felt uneasy while approaching him.

    The beasts could instinctively sense that Nial''s true attack power was much higher than a newly advanced Prometheus Original was supposed to have. His two beating hearts and the terrifying amounts of mana the Heart of Darkness pulled toward him at any time were not to be underestimated.

    Unfortunately, the fact that his Heart of Darkness pulled tremendous amounts of mana toward him was not only advantageous but it was risky as well.

    He attracted the interest of many powerful beasts that had emerged on Jundra not too long ago.

    This was also the reason why Nial ended up encountering a huge scaled Rhinoceros when he entered thend the beast had ordained its territory.

    "How about you let me walk through your territory and we will end this nicely without creating a bloody mess?" Nial asked once, just to receive a thunderous roar as an answer as the blue-scaled Rhinoceros charged at him angrily.

    Its horn seemed to grow in size as huge amounts of water formed around it. Nial frowned deeply as he visualized the five-meter-tall monster that was running straight toward him.

    It was a beast at the Deux rank and certainly not something Nial should underestimate.

    Nheless, he wouldn''t flee from the fight, just because he was not able to make the Rhinoceros leave him in peace. Nial was done with running away. If the monster wanted a fight, it would receive the chance to die at his hands.

    With determination flooding his entire being, Nial retrieved a bunch of runic armaments from his spatial ring. It was just a momentter that he wore ck leather gloves, a flexible metal chestte, a new pair of pants, boots that could regte the gravitational force weighing on him, and a bunch of more runic armaments.

    Each of them had been created with the augmentation of the Heart of Darkness and only Nial was able to wield them properly.

    This was especially the case for the huge broadsword that had manifested in Nial''s hands.

    It was extremely heavy but Nial swung it around as if he was holding a small wooden branch. He smiled lightly as he circted mana through his entire body, and activated all the runic armaments he was wearing in one go.

    The pressure he released intensified and his physical strength increased by leaps and bounds. Nial''s body felt featherlight and so did the broadsword he wielded after all runic armaments had been activated.

    Nial dashed toward the charging Rhinoceros without hesitation. He was ready to go all-in and kill the beast that wanted to unnecessarily pick up a fight instead of letting him have a calm journey through Jundra.

    Nial had many things on his mind but fighting the blue-scaled Rhinoceros at the Deux rank was not one of them.

    Thus, it was time for him to eliminate his opponent as quickly as possible, without the use of his Essence of Darkness or dark energy.

    That was why he felt that the fight against the Rhinoceros wouldn''t be for naught and he would learn a lot.

    Nial took lots of things into consideration as he jumped ahead and activated the runic constetion [One with the wind]. It was an Intermediate runic constetion, which Nial hadbined with lots of other runic constetions, such as [Burst Wind], [Gale], [Dash], and more to create a simr effect like short-distance teleportation.

    With One with the wind, Nial could run on the wind for a few seconds. Meanwhile [Burst Wind], and [Gale] created winds around Nial that shot forward, providing him the opportunities to burst forward and to run on the winds, using them like stepping stones. On the other hand, [Dash]''s effect was quite simple as well.

    It allowed Nial to maintain great bnce wherever he was running over. The effect might make it look like the runic constetion should be named something different but that was not really a concern to Nial.

    He relied on the effects of his runic constetions, not the name some idiotic creator gave them after spending years to study about runic constetions.

    Nial just used them and their effects were amazing. He was very satisfied as he shot up in the air. Meanwhile, the blue-scaled Rhinoceros charged over the ground below him in an effort to attack him with his horn, which was exactly what Nial wanted.

    He could perceive that the beast tried to slow down and turn around to initiate a different kind of attack, but Nial didn''t want to give the blue-scaled Rhinoceros any chance to retaliate.<sub> </sub>

    The battle had to end with a single blow, otherwise, it would be a hassle!

    Nial activated the broken runic constetion [Gravity] of his boots and he increased his gravitational force manyfold.

    Simultaneously, he activated [Burst], a runic constetion of his chestte that sted him straight on the ground.

    With shocking velocity, Nial was catapulted to the ground, where the blue-scaled Rhinoceros'' body awaited him.

    The Rhinoceros had instinctively erupted a huge wall of water that had shot up horizontally to block all the attacks from above.

    However, Nial ignored this altogether as he activated all the runic constetions of his augmented Tier-2 runic weapons.

    The huge broadsword''s color changed to sky blue as a chilling cold spread out from it. This was the doing of the Advanced runic constetion [Frost King] that had been further augmented by [Chilling Cold], [Frost de], [Vibration], and [Force of Destruction] to create a powerful and highly lethal attack.

    Nial shed the huge broadsword downward while the tremendous gravitational force weighed down on him. Thus, the moment he smashed the wall of water, it froze due to the Frozen King''s de before it burst open.

    Nial''s fall was not slowed in the slightest and his attack was not yetpleted either. He shed at the broad back of the blue-scaled Rhinoceros, using his momentum, tremendous weight, and force in a single attack, hoping that it would be enough to kill the mighty beast.

    But no sooner than his attack impacted the Rhinoceros, Nial felt a tremendous resistance. He had already had some idea that beasts were different than Angels, Heligav, and other races when advancing in the ranks.

    However, only now could Nial truly fathom the difference of a strength of a beast with specific racial limits and unique traits too that of humans. Such traits couldn''t be learned entirely even by attempting to learn and exert specific techniques and intelligent races, such as humans and elves, had to learn how to control mana, how to improve themselves, and techniques to enhance their strength.

    Beasts would advance in the ranks and be stronger until they would reach their racial limits. Humans and other races would have to work hard to improve one step at a time. Thus, while humans didn''t possess as much of a restriction on their strength, it would take them far more time to improve and they would be able to advance as long as they possessed the right mindset, willpower, and luck.

    As for beasts, they would always be stuck at their racial limit if they were not capable enough to unlock the hidden bloodline within their body or evolve their bloodline on their own!

    In the end, it was said that most beasts were stronger than Originals at the same mana core rank after they reached maturity. This was why Nial had far more issues prating the scales of the Rhinoceros, let alone its hide as opposed to fighting the Deux ranked Angel.

    At least, he had been able to overwhelm the Deux Angel, even though it required him to make use of his Darkness Essence, dark energy, the Ancient Devilization, and both his rage and wrath!

    Right now, Nial was trying to use his physical strength, a bunch of augmented Tier-2 runic armaments, and the ginormous amount of mana in his possession to his advantage¡­to fight a beast that was a full rank above his own.

    That was insane to put it simply, but the same could be said about the fact that the Frozen King''s de was powerful enough to prate the blue-scaled Rhinoceros'' wall of water, its scales, and a few centimeters of its flesh.

    Nial was baffled when he was only repelled after a good portion of the Frozen King''s de had cut into the flesh of the Deux beast. It was truly shocking and more than enough for him to be satisfied with the result of the battle.

    The Heart of Darkness began to beat rapidly and a flood of dark energy and Essence of Darkness was released at once. Nial''s body oozed out darkness that spread over to the Frozen King''s de where it infiltrated the body of the blue-scaled Rhinoceros.

    The beast began to shake heavily and it used enough force to push Nial more than a hundred meters away by conjuring a stream of water that hit right into Nial''s abdomen.

    However, instead of feeling dissatisfied about that, Nial blocked the water stream by activating his chestte''s runic constetion [Iron Will].

    This was enough to block the attack from inflicting serious injuries to him while the light metal armor ended up with a dent inside.

    But that was only a small loss in exchange for surviving a surprise attack.

    "So that''s how far I can go by solely using my physical strength, mana and runic armaments¡­. I didn''t use a single ability and was still able to injure a Deux-ranked beast. That''s quite good!" Nial thought with a faint smile on his face as his experiment came to an end.

    He activated the Curse [Hodur''s Heir] and his second ability [Blood Eclipse Moon], erupting bloody ck miasma from his body.

    "Now sleep my little kid! Don''tin to me when I devour you!"

    **

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 Chapter 390 Perfect Mount

    After fighting for more than half an hour, Nial finally managed to defeat the blue-scaled Rhinoceros.

    It had been a much harder battle than expected but he overcame it sessfully. Now he could reap the rewards by devouring the corpse of the huge and powerful beast.

    The beast turned into countless particles of pure energy that nourished the Heart of Darkness.

    "I wonder how far I can enhance the Heart of Darkness¡­" He mumbled to himself as hey down in the middle of the crater his battle with the blue-scaled Rhinoceros had caused.

    Nourishing his Heart of Darkness was different from advancing his mana core rank. The more he nourished his Heart of Darkness, the more dark energy he could produce and the stronger his dark energy became.

    Both his dark energy and the Essence of Darkness were stored, umted, and strengthened within the Heart of Darkness but there were too many things Nial didn''t know about.

    "Was Damian in possession of the Heart of Darkness as well? I didn''t see it in his memories, so I don''t think that he possessed it as well¡­does that mean it is something that belongs to me, and me alone?" Nial wondered as he tried to make sense of the Heart of Darkness'' existence.

    He knew that the Odyssey seed had started to form after his mother''s death. One could say that her death was the spark that initiated everything.

    His raging emotions, the fact that he had been in possession of a trace of Cursed Divine energy, and his own energies had been important factors in the creation of the Heart of Darkness, but the two most important ingredients had been the Fragment of a God and the Ankh.

    The Fragment of the Darkness God was different from the defective Lesser Divinity Fragment of Life, but Nial didn''t really know what exactly it was.

    "All these factors caused Damian''s Fragment to evolve¡­but is that really it? Couldn''t it have been a perk of me being a human? No, I doubt that¡­" Nial was trying toe up with theories to figure out more about the Heart of Darkness because it was the biggest obstacle in his emotional control.

    The influence of the Heart of Darkness was something Nial was not able to control anymore. This hadn''t been the case when the Odyssey seed had yet to evolve, which was why many things had been easier that time.

    Now things had changed and Nial felt a little bit weird because he was not even sure whether he wanted to obstruct the Heart of Darkness'' influence or if he should just ept it.

    "Seems like there is one more thing I will have to find on my journey¡­" Nial sighed before he got up from the ground. He headed in the direction of his designated destination while his mind was in big turmoil.

    This slowed down his steps drastically and it made him think about getting his hands on a mount to travel around with.

    ''Somethingfortable to sit on and easy to control would be best,'' He thought while expanding his range of perception and [Mana Sense] to look for a suitable mount.

    While traveling around for three days and searching for a suitable dungeon beast on his way, Nial came across various beasts that would be somewhat suitable.

    However, Nial didn''t even think of subduing them because he was not ready to waste his time taking care of a being that was not perfectly suitable to what he desired.

    He would just start recing one mount after another, which was stupid and not something he desired.

    That was why Nial was so happy when he sensed a beast that was considered a cripple in the eyes of its brethren.

    He had reached a small mountain range where Gryphons were flying around.

    A Gryphon was a creature with the body, tail, and hind legs of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle, and they asionally possessed an eagle''s talons as its front feet. That was how they usually looked as they towered over others with their three-meter height.

    All the Grpyhons in the air were exactly like this, soaring through the air majestically. Nial might have been interested in them if he wouldn''t found something even better than them.

    ''Gryphons are considered extremely prideful existences that would rather die than subdue themselves and bow to someone who is not worthy of even standing in front of them. Using brute force would only make matters worse!'' Nial recalled something he had read about Gryphons and his smile became even brighter.

    He focused on the ground and the only Gryphon that couldn''t fly¡­a wingless Gryphon! His hyper-sensitive senses could clearly hear the miserable whimpers of the wingless Gryphon and Nial felt genuinely sad for it.

    Seeing how all its brethren were able to do something naturally that it would never be able of doing made it caw in sorrow. Its face inly showed the sorrow it felt at being abandoned and left behind on the ground.

    Nial was pretty sure that it was even worse than being blind, or missing a limb as a human because he could still live in society, even if there may be certain difficulties ''ordinary'' humans wouldn''t face.

    However, as a mutated and wingless beast, it stuck out like a sore thumb among the other Gryphons that almost had shunned it for being different. Its feathers and fur were mostly ck in color while the other Gryphons were brown and white feathered. Nial couldn''t see this but he could tell that the wingless Gryphon had a seed of darkness within him.

    At least that was what Nial presumed as the Gryphon''s screams were swept through with the darkness affinity. And that was exactly why Nial climbed the mountain to reach the cave of the Gryphons.

    It may be dangerous since all the Gryphons were between the peak of the Prometheus rank and the Deux rank but Nial''s mind repelled the thought of being bothered at the thought of danger.

    He focused only on the wingless Gryphon and the thought of making it as his personal mount. There were multiple ways he could achieve this but Nial hoped to find a rather simple way to achieve his goals.

    He wanted to avoid getting into too much trouble or spending too much time convincing the wingless Gryphon to journey with him.

    Thus, the moment he reached therge cavern entrance of the Gryphons'' home, Nial released his Essence of Darkness which he spread out in a thin line toward the wingless Gryphon.

    All beings rted to darkness would be drawn to the Essence of darkness. With that in mind, Nial wanted to introduce himself to the Gryphon without scaring it.

    He had only used bits of his Essence of Darkness before he calmly waited for the wingless Gryphon to approach him. The beast was not too far away from him and it could see him almost immediately.<sub> </sub>

    Nial didn''t seem to be very impressive to the Gryphon as it was only around 1.85 meters tall, with lifeless eyes and a mere mana core rank at the Lowest threshold of the Prometheus rank. Nheless, his Essence of Darkness was enough for the beast to approach him vigntly.

    It always cried out in misery whenever its family left him to go hunting because he was not able to fly, and until now nobody had ever cared about its miserable cries.

    The wingless Gryphon was lonely, jealous, and unable to ept reality. Even now it was of the belief that its wings may grow soon and that it would fly again.

    Yet, despite not epting the reality and fighting against it day in and day out, the Gryphon fell silent at the sight of Nial.

    It was intrigued about the crippled being that didn''t possess a high mana core rank and not a single trace of mana or vigor around its eyes.

    Nial smiled in the direction of the Gryphon, trying to make it like him but that was far from easy.

    The wingless Gryphon started to make low high-pitched noises which it repeated several times as if it was trying tomunicate with him.

    "Are you trying to talk to me? I''m sorry but I don''t know anynguage which the dungeon beasts can understand as well¡­" Nial could only say with aplex expression on his face.

    He had nned lots of things to convince the Gryphon to follow him but thenguage barrier was definitely the biggest problem.

    With that in mind, Nial chose the easiest way to make sure that the Gryphon would understand that he had good intentions in his mind.

    He removed his shirt and turned his naked back in the direction of the Gryphon. The beast was confused and its wild instincts were urging it to attack Nial right now.

    However, instead of attacking, the wingless Gryphon watched in awe as darkness protruded out of Nial''s back. After fusing with Kaeldur multiple times, Nial could manifest wings of darkness to fly through the air.

    His ability to fly using his dark energy was probably also something he learned from the memories of thete God of Darkness but that was not really important right now.

    The only important fact was that darkness could be used to fly through the air, which was what Nial intended to show the wingless Gryphon.

    Sadly, his efforts had the opposite effect and the wingless Gryphon took his actions as a provocation. It screeched at him in anger and charged forward with a shocking speed.

    For a moment, Nial was pretty sure that the wingless Gryphon was faster than the blue-scaled Rhinoceros. This made things a lot more difficult and Nial shot in the air while he used arge amount of dark energy that shot and merged with the ground.

    He didn''t want to injure the wingless Gryphon because he felt that he could help it while making use of the monster.

    Nial didn''t want to acknowledge it but he felt sympathetic to the beast. The beast was special in its own way, whether that was advantageous or not and it was rejected because it was different.

    Thus, Nial wanted to give his utmost to make sure that the Gryphon would be unscathed while he wanted to convey what exactly he desired from the Gryphon.

    This was not difficult because he had just enraged the Gryphon but Nial felt that he would be capable of changing the beast''s opinion of him.

    The only troublesome part would be to make sure that no other Gryphon would attack him because he was currently making use of the fact that he was able to fly while the wingless Gryphon could only use its darkness affinity to attack him from afar.

    Nial manifested many balls of darkness that he shot toward the cavern entrance to spread his dark energy further to make sure that his n was working out.

    ''If that doesn''t work, I will either be eaten alive, or I will have to leave!'' Nial thought in his mind but he smiled nheless.

    Somehow, the current situation was quite enjoyable to him, especially since he would get what he wanted while helping a miserable creature to be stronger and ept its ws.

    That was something Nial would not be generous with which was a change to his earlier behavior. Now he would only think of extending a helping hand once or twice before he would feel that it was too troublesome to help others while giving his all.

    But that was fine because he was currently helping because he wanted to, not because he was forced to do something!

    **

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 Chapter 391 The Flying Wingless Gryphon

    Nial didn''t spend too much time preparing the n he hade up with on a whim.

    He was not in need of many things because it was already more than enough if he continued to provoke the wingless Gryphon by evading its attack, flying through the air and emerging in the sky outside the cavern entrance.

    The wingless Gryphon ought to feel more miserable than before but it was just enraged right now. If it could fly, it would have attacked Nial and torn him into pieces.

    That was the first thought it had when looking at Nial, who continued to provoke the Gryphon by turning his back to the beast as he erged the pair of wings.

    However, that was not everything Nal did. He let a second pair of wings grow out of his back to show the Gryphon what he was capable of with his dark energy.

    The wingless beast could clearly sense that Nial''s wings were made of darkness but it was not possible for the beast to replicate his wings, otherwise, it would have done so by now.

    While standing at the edge of the cavern entrance, the Gryphon looked down the mountain, just to see that it would fall more than a thousand meters if it were to jump now.

    It wished to attack Nial and to show him just how powerful it was, but that would require the beast to be able to fly and reach Nial who was hovering in the sky.

    Nial smiled when he perceived that the Gryphon was at the edge of the mountain, looking down the terrifying cliff it would fall by taking the risk to jump.

    He knew that the wingless Gryphon would never jump on its own but that was not necessary, to begin with.

    Nial could just force the wingless Gryphon to jump, and that was exactly what he did!

    All the dark energy and the Essence of Darkness Nial had thrown towards the cavern entrance moved through the ground. It shot out of the ground behind the wingless Gryphon and pushed the beast with a terrifying force.

    A horrifying screech filled with fear and shock reverberated through the surrounding area as the Gryphon began to fall down. The beast''s short yet miserable life shed through its mind. It was unwilling to give up and die but there was no way that it would suddenly grow wings.

    At this moment, Nial appeared less than five meters in front of the wingless Gryphon. If it wanted to, it could attack Nial right now and drag him with it to the grave.

    But that was not what the Gryphon did. Its dark-brown almost ck eyes darted at Nial, who smiled gently at it. Both were falling and it looked almost as if Nial was ready to die with the wingless Gryphon if it was unable to start flying all of a sudden.

    However, that was simply not possible in the beast''s opinion, which meant that Nial was willing to die with the beast. The Gryphon couldn''tprehend that at all. Its anger, wrath and the feeling of having been forced to live an unfair life dispersed at this moment, only for confusion to fill the beast''s entire being. It had trouble understanding why Nial was doing nothing to save himself.

    All of a sudden, the wingless Gryphon noticed that it was falling slower than Nial. It looked like Nial was falling at a slower pace too but that shouldn''t be the case.

    Only a few hundred meters of empty space were left between them and the ground, yet, the wingless Gryphon continued to fall slowly.

    The beast didn''t understand what was going on as Nial shed a smile at the Gryphon.

    "Spread your wings!" He screamed at the top of his lungs while doing exactly what he ordered the Gryphon to do. He spread out both pairs of wings, which slowed down his fall a bit more until he ended up levitating mid-air.

    Nial was still smiling while both he and the wingless Gryphon were both hovering in the air.

    The Gryphon''s mind nked out as it realized that it was not falling anymore and the beast tried to see behind itself, almost twisting its neck at an ufortable angle.

    However, that was enough for it to see that wings had spurted out from its back. The wings clearly belonged to Nial because his dark energy and darkness essence had only temporarily attached to the back of the wingless Gryphon but it could also sense that the wings would listen to its will as long as Nial gave the permission to do so.

    After giving it a try, the Gryphon willed the wings to p, which they did at the same instant the beast thought about it.

    A sound of excitement erupted from within the wingless Gryphon as it began to p its wings over and over again. More screeches of joy and excitement came from the beast that began to fly through the air.

    "If you work hard enough and be stronger, you should be able to do the same on your own!" Nial suddenly said out loud and the Gryphon instinctively halted mid-air. It looked over to Nial, who had spoken something and tilted its head trying to understand what exactly the human had said.

    It was an intelligent beast and could roughly understand what Nial meant as his Essence of Darkness stimted the wingless Gryphon''s darkness affinity to be active as well.

    For now, it might not be possible to recreate the wings of darkness but the wingless Gryphon could clearly perceive that it was possible to learn everything as long as its darkness affinity would get stronger¡­and be strong enough to do what Nial achieved with his dark energy and the Essence of Darkness!

    After what Nial had said, he released more of his Essence of Darkness for the wingless Gryphon to absorb and use in order to strengthen its darkness affinity.

    Once the beast fully understood that his Essence of Darkness would allow it to be just like its brethren and learn flying, Nial would gain the upper hand.

    By then he was pretty sure that the beast wouldn''t be able to escape him anymore.

    Unfortunately, Nial had forgotten to consider something very important into his n! The other Gryphons had heard their brethren''s scream of overwhelming fear as it had fallen down from the entrance of the Gryphons''ir.

    Alerted by the noise, all the Gryphons in the nearby surrounding had returned to check on what was going on, just to see a winged human levitating a few meters away from their crippled brother. The wingless Gryphon, who had been so different from them, was also flying in the air.<sub> </sub>

    However, that was not something the Gryphons realized because they could only see and perceive the power of the human, who was clearly trying to overwhelm their brethren.

    Even if the wingless beast was different and a cripple, the Gryphons couldn''t allow one of their kind to be taken away by force. Their pride didn''t allow this to happen and their protectiveness of their family and kindliness took over.

    Nial heard the loud screeches from above and he clicked his tongue when he saw how the beasts dived down straight toward him.

    It was obvious that they wanted to kill him, which forced Nial to retract the strand of Essence of Darkness he had connected to the wingless Gryphon.

    Nial shot closer to the ground, leaving behind the ck Gryphon, who stared down at Nial with confusion spreading through his entire being.

    The beast was not sure what was going on and it only clicked when four of its brethren shot past it, attacking Nial with all their might.

    They didn''t possess any elemental affinity, but their physical strength was already more than enough to allow them to catch up with Nial in no time.

    Nial had shot down to the forest on the ground, where he seemed to have disappeared. However, the Gryphons didn''t stop their attack. They began to wreak havoc within the forest in an attempt to find Nial.

    While wreaking havoc, they woke the Overlords of the huge forest, which caused a territorial fight of aerial beasts and beasts living on thend to erupt.

    A six meter tall zing bear, a four-meter-tall wolf shrouded in thunder and arge group of powerful Goris appeared as they ganged up on the Gryphons.

    "I didn''t even know that so many powerful beasts had emerged on Jundra. Am I missing something or is Jundra evolving much faster than calcted by the Elves?" Nial wondered as he concealed his whole power in the tree top of arge tree.

    He was not too far from the battlefield that had erupted on the ground and had enough time to observe the flourishing nature around him.

    Until now, he hadn''t really paid much attention to the nature around him but the forest and the mountain range possessed almost as much mana as the Forest of Life.

    That was interesting but somehow Nial felt that all his efforts in participating in the tournament had been for nought. He had worked his ass off to procure the augmented Dryad Princess'' tear to evolve the Forest of Life, just for the Forest of Life to turn out as nothing overly special.

    Nial knew that the Forest of Life was not yet done digesting the augmented Dryad Princess'' Tear. Until that would happen quite some time had to pass, enough time for many things to happen, whether they were good or bad.

    Nheless, he was a bit frustrated.

    ''Well, it is not like I didn''t gain anything in return¡­'' He finally concluded, trying to disperse his frustration.

    At this moment, Nial noticed something that made him forget about his grumbling in an instant.

    The wingless Gryphon shot down into the forest and it released its mana while trying to perceive everything in its surroundings. It saw that its brethren were fighting with other beasts but that was not to the wingless Gryphon''s concern.

    It knew that the Gryphons had only acted to ''save'' it from getting kidnapped because it was also a Gryphon, whether crippled or not. Before Nial''s arrival, they had never really cared about him, the young male, who was ''tarnished'' and born wingless.

    Right now, they only wanted to protect their pride and the majestic reputation they had imed in the mountain range region by not letting one of their own get subdued by a puny human.

    The Gryphon knew all of this very well which was why he would rather look out for Nial than anyone else.

    By now he understood that Nial didn''t want to provoke him. He had yet to figure out what Nial truly wanted but his intention at their first encounter hadn''t been to humiliate the wingless Gryphon for being unable to fly but to tell him that it was possible to fly even though he was not born with wings.

    As long as he worked hard enough it would be possible for him to learn how to fly using his darkness affinity. It was never supposed to be an easy feat but the possibility was already more than enough for the wingless Gryphon to feel an infinite amount of gratitude.

    Nial had given him hope and pulled him out of misery, whether that was his n or not and the wingless Gryphon didn''t want Nial to die. Not only did he need the stimtion Nial''s Essence of Darkness could provide but it was also his thankfulness that yed a major role in the Gryphon''s action to fly down to the ground and search for Nial!

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 Chapter 392 Companion

    Nial watched the battle on the ground for quite a while before he realized that no side was really at an advantage.

    The Gryphons were fewer in number but their physical strength was not to be underestimated. The razor-sharp talons of a Gryphon''s front legs dug deep in the body of the thunder shrouded four meter tall wolf, which howled out in pain while releasing a high amount of high-voltage lightning.

    They injured each other like this, and the same scenario could be seen in several ces all over the battlefield that had formed.

    The six-meter-tall zing bear was the fiercest intruder and was fighting the strongest of the four Gryphons. It tried to grasp one of the Gryphon''s wings to tear them apart before it would do the exact same with the Gryphon''s remaining body.

    Fortunately, the Gryphon was able to evade most attacks, if one excluded one or two fireballs that impacted on the Gryphon''s chest and back.

    As for thest two Gryphon''s, they had killed a few Goris by ripping them apart and digging their sharp beaks deep inside their head. The Gryphons were trying hard to fight their opponents but it was not hard to notice that they were slowly losing their upper hand.

    Nial was not really bothered when he perceived this and he focused more on the wingless Gryphon. The beast was still looking for him, which was enough reason for Nial to appear next to it on the thick branch where the wingless Gryphon hadnded.

    There was not much energy left within the wings of darkness he had manifested on the wingless Gryphon''s back but it was still more than enough for the beast to fly around a little bit.

    "Hey," Nial attempted to talk to him, knowing that the Gryphon couldn''t understand him. He couldn''t sense any hostility from the wingless Gryphon anymore and that was something that made Nial smile brightly.

    ''Does he trust me now? No¡­that shouldn''t be it,'' Nial thought as he was trying to figure out what the wingless Gryphon was thinking of him. That didn''t seem easy and he decided to ignore whether the beast trusted him or not.

    It was not really important whether he trusted him, or if he considered him to be a neutral existence. He wanted something from the wingless Gryphon and the beast had clearly shown interest in his Essence of Darkness!

    That was enough to ''make a deal''.

    With that in mind, they watched the battle of the four Gryphons for quite a while. The wingless Gryphon hadn''t been very interested in the battle at the beginning, which only changed when all four brethren were slowly losing the battle against their opponents.

    They had been strong enough to injure their opponents more or less but all four Gryphons had been injured even more severely.

    The bones within the wings of two Gryphons had been fractured and one of the wings of a Gryphon had been broken. Upon seeing all of this, and hearing the painful screams of its own kind, the wingless Gryphon felt the sudden urge of joining the battle.

    Earlier he had assumed that he wouldn''t be affected to see the other Gryphons struggle but that didn''t seem to be the truth. In the end, he cared about the other Gryphons enough not to want to see them die.

    Nial could clearly perceive that the wingless Gryphon was ready to help. He sighed quietly and nodded his head afterwards,

    "Alright, let''s help!" He said out loud and it was as if the wingless Gryphon understood him as he took off when Nial jumped off the branch.

    Arge spear emerged in his hand and his wings of darkness shot out on either side of him and spread out immediately.

    Darkness oozed out of his body and he was d in an pitch-ck armor merely a momentter. All of a sudden, a Blood Eclipse Moon manifested above him, Nial stretched his spear in the air and the crimson moonlight of the moon shone onto it.

    Nial felt tremendous energy circting through his right arm as he inserted dark energy in the spear that was already augmented by the Blood Eclipse Moon''s power and a faint smile emerged on his face.

    He used the dark energy of his wings of darkness to turn it into threads that shot in the ground, where he was pulled by the same dark energy.

    Using the broken [Gravitation] runic constetion of his boots, the gravitational force weighing on Nial increased exponentially and a huge crater was formed around the area he impacted.

    Big fragments of soil and stone were flung through the surrounding, and coincidentally enough, only the zing bear, the thunder-shrouded wolf and the Goris received the brunt of the attack and were hit in their face and vital spots.

    The dark energy that had merged with the ground had precisely controlled the direction of the fragments, which was more than enough for the attention of all hostile monsters to be drawn to Nial.

    This was even more so the case when Nial unleashed his bloodlust and the dark energy that was amplified by both his emotions and the Blood Eclipse Moon''s power.

    All beasts in the surrounding stopped fighting and their gaze was drawn over to Nial, whose face had turned into the grimace of a merciless murderer; Kaeldur''s face.

    Taunted by his actions, the beasts except the Gryphons turned over to Nial and they initiated attacks one after another not long after.

    Darkness intertwined with crimson threads shot out from the ground. They formed spikes, spears and needles that catapulted forward, piercing through their designated opponents before the darkness dispersed inside the ground once again.

    Nial controlled his dark energy precisely and he intended to injure all the opponents around him and make sure that they would target him with their attacks.<sub> </sub>

    This had worked much better than expected, forcing Nial to face more than 20 beasts at the same time.

    He took a deep breath and inserted the vast majority of his dark energy and Essence of Darkness inside the Blood Eclipse moon that erged in size while its color changed.

    However, before it finished changing color, Nial smiled lightly as he said a single word.

    "Burst!"

    The Blood Eclipse Moon burst into countless fragments that were shrouded crimson and ck while one tiny grain of the moon had been left behind. It was the Origin of his Blood Eclipse Moon ability and everything required to regrow the moon as it had been before.

    There was no need for Nial to be worried about destroying his ability, which was why he went all in.

    The fragments of the Blood Eclipse Moon levitated around Nial, while the remaining dark energy within the ground shot outward in the form of vines.

    While the vines restricted the movements of the monsters for a quarter of a second, the highly augmented Blood Eclipse moon fragments that had been empowered by his Essence of Darkness and dark energy shot out as well.

    Nial had not yet learned how to control the moon fragments perfectly, but that was something he could do right now!

    The moon fragments ignored all obstructions, whether they were bushes or thick trees that not even attacks of Deux ranked monsters could destroy fully as they pierced through everything with little to no effort.

    Nial was shocked when he realized how terrifyingly high the prative force of the moon fragments were. He didn''t want to imagine getting pierced by the moon fragments as they pierced through the opponents that were charging at him with the intention to kill him.

    Nial knew that it was now or never and that gave him the necessary confidence to pierce all the hostile beasts around him.

    He didn''t show any mercy and attempted eradicating the life of all beasts, but some survived, even if they were merely hanging on to dear life and desperately trying to stay alive.

    Nial began to breathe heavily when he finished the attack. The moon fragments dispersed, and Nial slumped to the ground.

    Each of the moon fragments had been controlled by him, meaning that he had controlled more than a thousand fragments with the necessary power to easily kill most beasts at or below the lower Deux rank.

    Nial''s head felt like it had been mashed but he also knew that the battle was far from over. As long as some opponents were still left standing, he would have to keep fighting, otherwise, he would end up on the losing side!

    He didn''t want to lose ever again, which was why he forced himself to get back on his feet. Post that, tens of spears manifested out of darkness shot through the body of the remaining beasts, ending their life.

    The wingless Gryphonnded on the ground next to Nial. The beast looked at him for a few seconds with a specific glint in his eyes before he began rubbing his head against Nial''s upper body.

    Nial was not sure what was going on with the Gryphon but he didn''t reject it.

    "Are you thanking me?" He asked out loud, wondering if that was it, just to end up shrugging his shoulders.

    He was not sure what beasts were thinking, what kind of mindset they had, or how different they were from humans and other intelligent beings, but that was of no concern to Nial right now because his mind would never be able toprehend anything at the moment.

    Nial was tired after using the Blood Eclipse Moon in such a unique way and overly augmenting it for the first time. It was a great feeling to be able to defeat a bunch of powerful monsters in an instant but Nial could tell that the moonlight power he had umted within it had been far more than expected.

    Every night Nial released the Blood Eclipse Moon to allow it to store more moonlight inside it to grow stronger. He hadn''t expected that unleashing all this power would end up in such a powerful move.

    ''I should really learn to control myself better. I have no idea how much power I need to kill a Deux ranked opponent which is why I end up going all-out¡­'' Nialined as he lifted his hand to caress through the fluffy plumage of the wingless Gryphon.

    He knew that he hadn''t tamed the beast and that there were four wild Gryphons around him but Nial''s full focus was on the wingless Gryphon next to him.

    "Do you want to join me in my journey? It will be pretty interesting¡­and dangerous, but let''s ignore that fact!" Nial asked with a gentle smile on his face.

    Right now, he didn''t really care about the benefits he would gain from having the wingless Gryphon by his side or that the beast would probably only follow him to further stimte his own darkness affinity until the day where his Essence of Darkness was of no use to the beast anymore.

    Rather than minding that too much, Nia felt a weird connection with the wingless Gryphon and he began to wonder what this meant!

 Chapter 393 Linked Abilities

    After all the beasts had been taken care of and there was no imminent threat, Nial spent some time caressing the wingless Gryphon. The four Gryphons that had attacked him before didn''t mind him anymore and they simply left.

    That was something N couldn''t really understand but he epted it. After all, it was something positive if he wouldn''t have to trouble himself by looking after the four Gryphons as well.

    The four Gryphons ran through the forest because their wings were injured and they left the proximity of Nial and the wingless Gryphon.

    ''Weird¡­'' He could only think when averting his focus back to the ck, wingless Gryphon, whom he continued to pat.

    What Nial didn''t know was that the wingless Gryphon had turned him into his Chosen One. Having a Chosen One was not something many beings had and most didn''t even know that something like this existed or what the reason for its existence was but Gryphons were one of that kind!

    The wingless Gryphon hadn''t known Nial long but it had observed him intently and followed its wild instincts by epting Nial as his Chosen One!

    A fragment of the wingless Gryphon''s essence was broken off and etched on Nial''s soul, creating a connection between both Nial and the wingless Gryphon.

    Nial sensed that something was slowly changing the longer he caressed the beast but he couldn''t know that the fragment of the wingless Gryphon''s essence was being transferred to him. Not even in his wildest dreams would Nial imagine something like this to happen.

    That was especially weird now that his emotions were clearly in a disarray and that he had be someone, who could kill with far more ease than ever before.

    "Let''s leave, otherwise, we will have trouble with more beasts," Nial suggested and the wingless Gryphon, who chirped out in joy, followed him without hesitation. ''Did he understand me? Wait¡­is the Gryphon even a he?'' Nial was pretty sure that the wingless Gryphon''s behavior was different from before but in a good way.

    He didn''t mind the change and he could slowly feel that something deep inside him was changing as well. It felt like he was getting a better understanding of the wingless Gryphon.

    Upon visualizing the beast in his mind, he figured out that he was a male.

    "If we''re traveling together, I should give you a name, right?" Nial mumbled while trying to think of a name for the wingless Gryphon.

    [Ryu]

    ''Hmm?'' Nial frowned as he felt some pain spreading through his mind.

    [Ryu!]

    Blood trickled down his nose and he felt nauseous. His stomach was rumbling and Nial felt like he would vomit at any moment.

    [Ryu!!!]

    A scream rang through his mind and Nial turned instinctively to the wingless Gryphon''s direction as he began to chirp once again.

    "Your name is Ryu?" He asked and the beast nodded his head as if he could understand Nial.

    ''Am I getting crazy or can I actually talk with Ryu?'' Nial began to wonder just to hear the same voice ringing in his head for the fourth time.

    [Talk! Me understand!]

    ''Is that for real?!'' He thought, slowly digesting what was going on.

    The changes within his body had only begun after Ryu had rubbed his head against his chest and Nial thought that it had initiated some sort of link with him.

    Nial was pretty sure that the connection he had with Ryu was a bit different as it was the case with Yggdrasil but he liked it nheless.

    There was no reason for him to reject Ryu''s connection, especially since he needed the beast to travel around. He was powerful as well and with enough time, Ryu would be able to fly as well.

    Nial wouldn''t make a single loss while the exact opposite seemed to be the case with Ryu. For now, Nial was not sure about all the effects of the link Ryu had initiated but he was pretty sure that Ryu wouldn''t be able to disobey Nial''smands.

    As long as Nial wanted Ryu to follow him, the wingless Gryphon would have to do so, whether it was suicidal or a walk in the park.

    "Why would you do that?" Nial couldn''t help but ask. He was pretty sure that he couldn''t understand Ryu''s reasoning.

    It was pretty amazing to be able tomunicate with each other but if that was the only benefit both gained from their connection, Nial was pretty sure that it wasn''t worth it.

    [More Good! Me trust! You decide!]

    Even if the connection to Ryu allowed them tomunicate, Ryu had yet to learn how tomunicate fluently with someone, who was not a Gryphon.

    Thus, theirmunication was not yet easy. However, Nial could roughly understand what Ryu wanted to convey.

    "There are more benefits, and you trust me enough to let me decide what we''re going to do? Okay¡­" Nial concluded, not sure if the Gryphon was dazzled by the opportunity to be able to fly in the near future, or if there was something he couldn''t perceive yet.

    In the end, the truth shouldn''t really matter to Nial because he knew that Ryu would follow hismands and that he didn''t lose out on anything.

    Thus, Nial resumed his journey to the Alliance City with a newpanion by his side. Ryu acted as his mount and Nial had a much easier time traveling around without the need to neglect to be stronger and more knowledgeable.<sub> </sub>

    His Heart of Darkness was beating rapidly, pulling the purest mana out of the surrounding area for him to absorb and be stronger.

    They were able to leave the mountain range behind in only three days and Ryu hadn''t cried even a single time. It didn''t feel like Ryu was sad to leave behind his family but they had never treated him nicely, either way.

    Nial was the opposite. He may seem cold on asion but deep down he was a softie and cared for others. Nial always made sure that they had enough delicious food and that Ryu would be able to improve his control with the darkness affinity by releasing the Darkness Essence a little.

    Several weeks passed in the blink of an eye and Nial had gotten a lot closer to Ryu. The Gryphon couldmunicate with him much easier than before and they could properly talk to each other by now.

    The nine Ancient Origin rings had been fully connected, through multiple links, and the crystal was slowly forming around the Mana core.

    Simultaneously, the Origin seed was slowly forming as well, which posed more of a problem than Nial had initially expected.

    The creation of the Origin seed would destroy the mana core slowly, and the Stigmata of his abilities would be removed from the Mana core.

    He thought that there was no need for him to worry about his remaining abilities until he would advance to the Deux rank but that didn''t seem to bepletely right.

    It was a bit troublesome but Nial got to know that he would have to bind three more abilities to his mana core in the next few months or a year.

    Knowing this was better than being oblivious to the shocking truth. As such, Nial''s mind would always think about binding abilities rather than worrying about other things.

    Nial was currently thinking about what type of ability would be most suitable for him.

    He was searching for something that waspatible with the Heart of Darkness because he didn''t want to go through the trouble of spending too much time improving these abilities when they could be linked to the Heart of Darkness and thus be enhanced whenever the Heart of Darkness improved.

    Linked abilities were abilities that had extremely highpatibility with the user.

    They would usually fuse with the mana core of the user and create a symbiosis that augmented the abilities. Even after the abilities would be removed from the mana core at the Deux rank, a trace of the mana core''s Essence would remain with the ability, creating the function to grow along the progress of the wielder''s mana core.

    It was extremely difficult to find some under normal circumstances because any ability crystal could evolve into a linked ability when bound to the perfect match.

    Nial''s chances to find linked abilities were at least twice as high as for others because he was not only in possession of a highly adaptable mana core but also the Heart of Darkness.

    His mana core and Heart of Darkness would also vibrate or pulsate while holding a suitable ability, which made things even easier.

    Thus, the only problem was to find these abilities, get his hands on them and bind them at a ce no unwanted soul would be able to see him.

    That was Nial''s n, especially to find other means of attack than using his dark energy, the Darkness Essence or to destroy the Blood Eclipse Moon whenever some powerhouse attacked him.

    But Nial didn''t only want something to attack his opponents mindlessly with. He was picky and wanted nothing but the best and that didn''t make things easier for sure.

    During the entirest week of traveling, Nial had gotten to know many new ces. The lush environment was interesting to travel through and so was finding new ces on the that had once been considered overcrowded with monsters.

    This couldn''t be further from the truth!

    The number of monsters seemed to be perfectly controlled with respect to the ecosystem of each region he passed through, which was something nature regted on its own.

    In most regions, one would find one or two Overlords ruling over the territory that was further distributed to inhabit the weaker beasts.

    The weaker beasts would have to heed themands of their lord or try to defeat him in a territorial battle.

    And that was what happened quite often in regions where new dungeons had manifested, releasing powerful dungeon beasts that wanted to be the new overlords of the region.

    Nial had witnessed many territorial battles and whether they were powerful beasts or weak ones, he would always gain insights from their fights.

    That was because he focused a lot on trying to understand the beasts, their fighting style and how intelligent they were.

    Some higher-ranked beasts were almost on par with the intelligence of humans, while others didn''t seem more intelligent than ordinary beasts.

    Their fighting style varied a lot ording to their intelligence, and so did their strength.

    The higher the intelligence of a beast, the more power it could utilize.

    Thus, Nial could asionally witness the death of a higher-ranked beast when its opponent had been more intelligent.

    Analyzing the data he had collected based on his observation, Nial learned how to quickly adapt his strength whenever he and Ryu were attacked.

    But it was not only Nial, who had learned to observe and adapt!

    Ryu''s intelligence had improved a lot since Nial became his Chosen One, and he had be a lot stronger!

 Chapter 394 Encounter

    Almost three months had passed since Nial left the new human shelter and there hadn''t been any bad news from his father or Master Crevian.

    No news was good news, which was even more so the case considering that he couldmunicate with his father through themunication device Master Crevian and another Master Runicier had created especially for him.

    Nial was thankful for their help but he was also a bit worried. The man-made world bridge in the destroyed Heligav settlement had umted enough energy to allow several hundred Deux ranked Heligav to emerge from it but so far not a single being of the Heligav race had shown up.

    The Heligav had figured that their settlement had been destroyed and it was not unlikely that they would keep umting more energy within the man-made world bridge to make sure that it would have enough energy when they wanted to initiate a surprise attack.

    Nial was pretty sure that the Heligav were nning something but the Royal Princess was no different. She had prepared lots of traps and several ns to attack the Heligav the moment they would emerge from the man-made world bridge.

    Thus, Nial was not really worried and he kept traveling through the wilderness, facing some ferocious dungeon beasts once in a while.

    Nial had slowed down the amount of mana he absorbed for his mana core because he didn''t want to improve his rank at a rapid pace. It would be tooplicated if the creation of his Origin seed prevented him from binding three more abilities.

    With that in mind, the Heart of Darkness absorbed the mana for itself to progress and to integrate itself properly with Nial''s body and mind. His mana veins were still growing as well and they required a constant supply of mana to be used and to keep improving.

    The Heart of Darkness was certainly useful but Nial was also a bit worried about its existence. After the Heart of Darkness had been created, it was even more difficult for him to control his emotions. The influence of the dark energy had already been quite impactful but after everything that had happened with him and to him, he was an uncontroble force.

    However, the worst was that Nial didn''t really mind the fact that he couldn''t control his emotions properly anymore. He knew that when he was angry, he wouldn''t be able to control himself. He was also well aware of the fact that he might somehow end up killing someone, yet, he was not scared of that.

    This was a bit worrisome and Nial felt that the only reason why he could still calm himself a bit was that he was notpletely alone right now.

    Ryu was by his side, which was why Nial''s mind was not tormented with the thoughts of taking revenge, of killing everything and everyone, who threw weird gazes at him.

    [There are other people¡­like Nial!] Ryu suddenly eximed in his mind as he continued to run forward. They weren''t that far from Alliance City anymore and Nial had estimated to meet a few other races in the next few days.

    But even then, he was a little surprised because Ryu''s vision seemed to be much better than he had thought until now.

    Nial had already perceived the four sources of mana that were much more stabilized than the ferocious and somewhat unstable mana which dungeon beasts possessed.

    He knew that the four beings would be of some race, and the only issue Nial had was that he couldn''t visualize them yet. Nial''s range of perception and [Mana Sense] were utilized to their limit but the distance to them was still more than 50 kilometers.

    "I know. Just keep running for now," Nial told Ryu as he patted the wingless Gryphon''s head while he kept trying to find out what race the four beings belonged to.

    Ryu chirped out loud and he kept running across therge steppe that spanned hundreds of kilometers. Some ruins of old buildings that had been taken over by nature hundreds of years ago were visualized by Nial but he didn''t cast another nce in their direction.

    During thest three months, Nial had often encountered some ruins of ces that had once been towns, cities, or even shelters.

    Nial felt a bit bad about everything when he visualized the ces that had once been flourishing cities but he knew that it was neither his fault for mankind to have been pushed back to a total of nine shelters, let alone that dungeon portals had manifested.

    There was no need for him to feel sorry about something that happened hundreds of years ago and because of something he was not at fault for. He hadn''t even been born at that time.

    Nial ended up visualizing everything around him. This included the hordes of grazing dungeon beasts, the pack of wolves that were hunting old and sick beasts to fill their stomach, and the evergreen and fast-growing nature that spread out everywhere.

    It didn''t take Ryu long to cross a distance of tens of kilometers before he slowed down drastically as Nial had mentally ordered him to do so.

    ''They''re human-like but have a different type of skin, and their mana is different as well,'' Nial concluded quickly when his [Mana Sense] had finally reached the four beings.

    Three seemed rather young and they were fighting a monster at the Peak of the Prometheus rank despite being at the lower ranks of the Prometheus rank, while an old woman was observing them.

    The old woman had noticed the presence of both Nial and Ryu as well and it looked like she was waiting for them to approach their group.

    Nial concealed the power of the Heart of Darkness before he ordered Ryu to approach the four with caution.

    "I wonder if they can speak the universalnguage¡­" Nial mumbled to himself.

    He had learned that every race usually spoke in their ownnguage to make sure their conversation couldn''t be understood by their opponents on a battlefield when they were at war with each other, but there were also somenguages that were predominantly spoken in certain parts of the Universe.

    Master Crevian and the Royal Princess had handed over a few books to him about the different universalnguages before he had departed and now it was finally time for him to make use of what he had learned.

    "Excuse me for iner¨C...." Nial had begun when he was interrupted by the old woman. She lifted her finger and ced it in front of her mouth and Nial shut his mouth instinctively. She motioned him toe closer and Nial riding his new mount, Ryu, instructed him to approach her.

    When Nial was less than a hundred meters away from the woman, he got down from Ryu and walked toward her.<sub> </sub>

    "I''m sorry for interrupting you but I didn''t want my students to be distracted by your sudden arrival." The old woman apologized before he introduced herself in a rather simple manner, " I''m Elder Walin of the Thousand Body Refinement Dojo! With whom do I have the pleasure of talking?"

    Nial was d that Elder Walin, the old woman, was able to speak in one of thenguages he could understand. That was pretty helpful and he began to visualize her from up close.

    This didn''t even take him a moment as the image of a three-meter-tall woman with an athletic build formed in his mind.

    From up close, Nial could clearly perceive that she was extremely powerful. Her skin was tough and Nial could feel that his mana was being repelled by her. It was very hard for him to keep visualizing her without the usage of more mana.

    ''A mana-resistant body? Maybe that''s just her skin?'' Nial wondered before he recalled that he had yet to introduce himself to the Elder.

    "Greetings Elder Walin. My name is Nial Orin, and I''m a traveler, who is in search of myself and my purpose in life," Nial introduced himself in a somewhat broken universalnguage.

    He was pretty adept at learning newnguages but that didn''t mean he could speak them fluently. Nial tried to smile lightly as he realized that Elder Walin kept looking toward him instead of her students.

    "A blind human traveler trying to find out who he is¡­on Jundra? And you''re only at the Prometheus rank, with a loyal, mutated, yet, crippled Gryphon by your side," Elder Walin summarized, and gave him a knowing smile before she lightly added,

    "You are very interesting, Nial Orin!"

    Nial looked at her, not sure if she thought that he was amused or if she was about tough at him.

    He didn''t like this but it was not as if he could do anything against the attitude of the huge Elder Walin.

    "I''m nning to get to know the cultures of several races, which is why I chose to go on a solo journey all around Jundra. The Alliance city should be a suitable destination to get to know multiple cultures and races in a short period," Nial said, making a small effort in the attempt to prevent Elder Walin from finding out that he was actually a human from Jundra.

    He hoped that she would think he was from some other human race that might have emerged on Jundra by now. ording to Master Crevian, there were many different human races, and one of them should have chosen to conquer Jundra by now.

    That was something Nial was pretty certain about, which was why he tried to create a misunderstanding for Elder Walin.

    Nial was not sure why he was trying to do that but he felt that it would be better if nobody were to know that he was a native resident of Jundra.

    "You should have had a hard time surviving until now, Nial Orin. Your adventurous spirit must be very strong!" Elder Walin stated in return. She again gave him a small smile before she returned her focus back to her students as she continued to speak to Nial,

    "But I am pretty sure that you will have a hard time in Alliance City. The City might have been created to merge the forces of several races and it is considered neutral territory where all races are allowed to roam around, but that doesn''t mean the city is harmless."

    Nial learned something new but he could tell that the news was not necessarily a positive one.

    "So you mean that I will get killed inside Alliance City, or that it is highly likely that something will happen to me?" He asked in return and Elder Walin just nodded her head.

    "Most small groups or individuals of minor races disappeared overnight. They might have left the city but I don''t believe that it''s the truth. To survive, you would have to join one of the bigger Martial groups, or be the servant of stronger individuals because your strength is not high enough!" Elder Walin exined calmly before she shouted out a fewmands in her own nativenguage.

    The three students, who had been fighting against arge group of Hyenas, changed theirbat style into a more aggressive style that focused on the destruction of their opponent''s body.

    "I don''t think that you''re telling me all of this just because you want to help me," Nial said all of a sudden. He could tell that kindness was not something he should expect from his own brethren, let alone other beings. Every piece of information was important and everything came at a price. He had learned this by now.

    Elder Walin was a stranger to him and Nial was not the same fool he had been before.

    "What do you want from me?"

    **

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 Chapter 395 Overthinker

    "What do you want from me?" Nial asked without a change of emotions. He was not angry at Elder Walin for trying to y around with him because she had shared many essential pieces of information with him.

    However, the pieces of information were not enough for him to foolishly trust the Elder of the Thousand Body refinement Dojo.

    Elder Walin smiled when she heard Nial''s question. It had been quite a while since a weaker existence was brazen enough to openly question her about her schemings and ns.

    Nial didn''t even seem to realize that he was being rude and that his actions could end up in his painful death if he would be as reckless with other people as he was with Elder Walin.

    ''Looks like my first impression was correct. He is a native from Jundra and has zero social skills with other races, otherwise, he would be far more careful!'' Elder Waling concluded as she realized a few things that interested her a lot.

    ''His physical strength is higher than his mana core rank, and he doesn''t seem as frail as I first expected. Furthermore, he learned the universalnguage, tamed a mutated Gryphon, and all that while being blind¡­not bad!''

    "How about I allow you to take the entrance test to be a student of the Thousand body refinements Dojo?" Elder Walin suggested to him all of a sudden.

    Nial was pretty sure that this had nothing to do with his earlier question. Furthermore, the question came out of nowhere, which didn''t make sense at all.

    Elder Walin didn''t even know him but had presented a tempting offer in the first five minutes of interacting with him. As long as he became a student of the Thousand Body Refinement Dojo, there shouldn''t be too many things he would have to fear within Alliance City.

    ''Something is wrong with that offer¡­are they just a small dojo and on the verge of getting shut down?'' He suddenly wondered, feeling extremely suspicious.

    However, the confident smile on Elder Walin''s face made him disregard this idea. The three giant-like students of Elder Walin were still fighting and Nial had been multitasking to observe their fight while speaking with the Elder.

    That was why he could tell that the three giant-like students were pretty powerful. Their physical strength was much higher than their mana core''s rank, they didn''t use or possess many abilities and they used their mana to exert powerful martial art techniques.

    Because he had perceived all of this in the short time in which he had observed the three students, Nial could tell that they were powerful and that the Thousand Body Refinement Dojo shouldn''t have much of an issue getting more members, if they wanted to.

    Nial didn''t really feel that the offer of Elder Walin was genuine either. Something felt terribly wrong and the smile on the giant woman''s face didn''t really help him to feel better.

    He squinted his eyes and thought about it for a moment before he put one and one together.

    "And if I don''t pass the entrance test, you''ll probably demand something from me, right?" Nial asked, lifting his right eyebrow.

    Elder Walin looked at Nial a bit astonished but she didn''t refute his words.

    "If you fail our entrance test, you would be the Dojo''s servant for three months. Every member of the Dojo would have permission to order you around and you will have no choice but to obey them! After three months you regain freedom and you can either retake the entrance test or leave," She exined quite calmly, affirming Nial''s doubts.

    "Why would I ept your offer then?" Nial asked, feeling that it would be quite stupid to take a test with the possibility of being enved for three months straight.

    It didn''t really make sense but Elder Walin didn''t see it that way.

    "Mostmoners of the Valxian race would kill for the opportunity I am giving you right now, and you''reining about bing a servant for three months upon failing? Even if we were to increase the punishment upon failure to 10 years, not many Valxians would reject taking the entrance test," Elder Walinughed and said with an air of confidence while looking at Nial from the corner of her eyes.

    She had multiple reasons to take interest in Nial, but the most important was her gut feeling. Elder Walin was certain that she was doing the right thing by offering Nial to take the entrance test to be a member of the Thousand Body refinement Dojo.

    She felt that others would soon queue up to give Nial the chance to be a member of their martial group, dojo, or other organizations if she wouldn''t grab the early bird offer.

    This was a very weird feeling and it was a sign for her to do what had to be done.

    ''If their race is called Valxian, and most would start killing for the offer I''ve just received¡­isn''t that more suspicious than actually trying to enve me?? What is her n? Did my dark energy leak, or did she sense something different? Maybe she can hear the heartbeat of my two hearts¡­or she can sense that my physical strength is extremely powerful¡­'' Nial thought as he scanned his body, but did not find anything unusual that would spill his secrets in front of the unknown woman.

    The only problem he didn''t reconsider was that he was still wearing Tier-2 runic armaments, his self-made runic armaments.

    However, it didn''t feel like Elder Walin knew that he was a Runicier, let alone that he could create Tier-2 runic armaments at the age of 22.

    Because Elder Walin should be oblivious about his talent as a Runicier, Nial felt even more suspicious about her offer.

    He subconsciously took a step backward while Ryu stepped forward. The Gryphon started to chirp threateningly, which Elder Walin noticed with a frown.

    "Just say no if you don''t want this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," She said, shrugging her shoulders as if she was not interested in wasting her time with Nial.

    "If you can tell me what the entrance test is, and why you''re giving me this opportunity, I will reconsider your offer!" Nial dered all of a sudden.<sub> </sub>

    He was still not sure what exactly Elder Walin was nning but Nial could clearly tell that the wide variety of martial art techniques the three Valxian students used was extremely powerful. If he could learn them as well, it would increase hisbat prowess drastically.

    Furthermore, by learning some martial art techniques, he might stop relying on his constant usage of dark energy and the Essence of Darkness while fighting.

    After taking that into consideration, Nial knew that he should give the entrance test a try, whether Elder Walin was scheming something or not.

    ''If their dojo is really as impressive as Elder Walin says, joining them would be quite helpful¡­'' Nial scratched the back of his head while waiting for Elder Walin to answer his questions.

    "I am giving you the opportunity because you are not afraid to talk recklessly to someone, who is clearly stronger than you and of a race you''ve never heard before. Your attitude is quitepatible with most martial art techniques we have in our dojo," She answered, speaking half the truth and hiding the remaining reasons she had for inviting him to take the entrance test before she answered his other question as well.

    "As for the entrance test, it''s quite simple. You''ll have to fight against the newest member of the dojo, and demonstrate your talent. If you can defeat our newest member, you will immediately be epted. However, even if you lose, you will not be immediately deemed a ve. We will evaluate your talent, passion, and various other factors before deciding whether we will let you enroll in the dojo or not!" Elder Walin exined before she pointed at one of the three students, who had finished fighting the Hyenas by now.

    "The tallest of them is our newest member, Khain. He is 14 years old, is roughly at your mana core rank, and hisbat talent is extraordinary," She said, but Nial could only frown.

    Khain, the tallest of the three Valxian students, was more than four meters tall¡­and he was only 14 years old.

    Nial shook his head at this thought but there was something else that bothered him even more.

    ''Why is she helping me so much¡­?'' He wondered, clearly realizing that he was overthinking everything once again.

    At the end of the day, Nial shrugged his shoulders before he sighed deeply.

    "Alright, I''ll take the entrance test!" Nial dered when he reached a consensus with his mind. He knew that overthinking everything wouldn''t help him. He was just troubling himself, which was far from helpful.

    Rather, his attitude might cause more trouble the longer he hesitated to take action.

    Nial felt that Elder Walin didn''t reveal everything to him but that was only obvious. Why would she tell some stranger everything she knew? That would be stupid.

    Thus, Nial epted the entrance test without hesitating a lot. He could tell how strong Khain was, and that was more than enough for him to know that he could defeat him.

    "I guess we''re not allowed to use runic armaments to fight fairly, right?" Nial asked, pointing at his runic armaments.

    Only then did Elder Walin realize that Nial was wearing several Tier-2 runic armaments.

    "Our race trains their body to the peak, so we rarely use runic armaments, but you can use one runic armament if you want to," She observed all his armaments and answered with a shrug, dismissing the threat that could pose to Khain.

    In her opinion, it wouldn''t make much of a difference if Nial used one runic armament. Elder Walin was more interested in the sudden change of his personality, too.

    The moment she showed him who her opponent for the entrance test would be, the tension within his body seemed to have dissipated.

    He looked confident and rxed right now, and that was what made her wonder if Nial was actually confident to defeat the Valxian or if he had something else in mind.

    ''Well, I will figure out the answer shortly, there is no need to trouble myself by thinking too much about it,'' She shrugged her shoulders and turned over to the three Valxian students who approached their teacher.

    Only now did they notice Nial and the wingless Gryphon, but didn''t do anything because they could tell that their master seemed to be on friendly terms with the human and his mount.

    "Khain, he will challenge you when we''re back at the Dojo. If you lose, you will have to undergo the Dojo Master''s Heavenly training once again!" Elder Walin spoke in the universalnguage as she looked at Khain.

    It was obvious that she wanted Nial to hear and understand what she said, but he was more interested in Khain''s reaction. The tall giant shuddered for a moment before he stared daggers at Nial.

    "And if you win against him without breaking a sweat, I might consider allowing you to participate in Hell training!" She added, which caused all the Valxians to exim.

    "Are you serious, teacher?!" Khain asked, passion burning fiercely in his eyes as he turned over to Nial.

    "Don''t me me for what is going to happen!" He dered while Nial could only shake his head.

    ''Are they masochists or what?''

 Chapter 396 Pagoda

    Nial was not worried about the entrance test anymore. Khain was only 14 years old, they were at the same mana core rank and the Valxian didn''t seem to be capable of using mana outside his body.

    This seemed to be one of the few racial traits of the Valxian, who were basically Giants. They might be unable to use their mana outside the body, but their natural physical strength and control of mana were far above average.

    Through these means, Valxians could learn various martial art techniques, which was also the goal Nial had in mind.

    ''As long as I don''t have to fight against all three Valxians without the use of my dark energy, I will be fine,'' Nial had a simple thought in his head.

    He could tell that overthinking everything as he had done before wouldn''t help. Thus, he ended up traveling with Elder Walin and her three students for the next three days until they finally reached Alliance City.

    ''My universalnguage proficiency should be more than enough by now, but I''m pretty sure that Elder Walin knows that I''m a human from Jundra¡­ that''s annoying¡­'' Nial concluded when they were only a few kilometers away from the city.

    During thest three days, Nial had studied the books whose content he had imprinted in his mind. This included the universalnguage books, some books rted to Runiciers, and a few misceneous books to improve his knowledge.

    Simultaneously, he tried to figure out more about the Alliance City by asking subtle questions to Elder Walin and the three students.

    Khain and the other two students hadn''t epted him yet but that was something Nial liked more than someone, who weed strangers by showering them with kindness and great opportunities right away.

    Elder Walin was such a person which was why Nial was more suspicious of her than her students.

    Entering the city was not difficult. Because Nial was a new resident, his individual mana fluctuations, his fingerprint, and a droplet of his blood were registered in the database of the city before he was given his personal ID.

    As long as nobody was able to steal, or replicate his mana fluctuations, fingerprint, and his blood, his identity would be safe.

    After he walked past the entrance gate with a new identity, a new world was unveiled to Nial.

    "How¡­?" Nial was just about to question something when he realized that his question revealed his ignorance. However, Elder Walin had already heard him.

    "You might wonder how such a technologically advanced city can be constructed in a matter of months, right?" Elder Walin asked in a proud voice but she didn''t receive an answer from Nial.

    Nial was trying to look away from Elder Walin to be less suspicious. However, that didn''t work as nned because the old Valxian started to grin when she saw his reaction.

    "The awakening of the Origin happened recently but the preparations for building the Alliance City had begun a long time ago. The 10 Divons, the creators of the Alliance city, had been anxiously waiting for the news of the Origin''s awakening for a very long time.

    That''s why the city looks like this¡­as if it had been created tens of years ago!" She exined calmly.

    ''She calls it Origin as well¡­'' Nial thought at first. There were a few things that bothered him in Elder Walin''s exnation but her words made him understand why the Alliance city was way more developed than all of humanity''s shelters.

    Everything was regted with technology that was empowered with Origin crystals and Nial''s head began to spin as the information of everything he visualized got deeply imprinted in his mind.

    Digesting the numerous pieces of information was one thing but understanding what was going on was somethingpletely different.

    Comprehending every single bit of the technology used in the Artificial Intelligence that seemed to be found in every single device was not something Nial was capable of.

    It was impossible for Nial to keep his calm and retain a poker face. This made it even more obvious that he was a human from Jundra rather than belonging to a human race from another.

    It was a bit frustrating but Nial couldn''t really do anything about the shock he felt.

    He followed Elder Walin and her students to a huge pagoda. It was the dojo of the Thousand Body Refinements and its appearance was a huge contrast to all the rather modern and highly developed buildings that were located everywhere around it.

    Nial might not be able to perceive and visualize the entire Alliance City with his range of perception and Mana Sense, but his range was around 50 kilometers. That was more than enough to tell that there were only a handful of buildings with few runic constetions engraved in the concrete and the foundation to make sure that they would stay strong for millennials.

    "You guys really hate runic constetions and modern trends, or not?" Nial asked all of a sudden. By now, he could tell that Elder Walin knew about his identity as a human from Jundra, and it was not something that he could change.

    Nial decided to ept that fact, which made things a lot easier for him.

    "Why do you think so?" Elder Walin asked while Khain and the other two students stared at Nial''s small body frame.

    "Because your Dojo stands out as a rather traditional building, especially with theck of runic constetions to protect it. Furthermore, you said that you don''t really use runic armaments, not that you don''t use weapons. That means you guys use weapons but not those that have runic constetions engraved on them," Nial exined his chain of thoughts in an easy way.

    He was able to guess the reasoning for the Valxians to have a mindset that rejected runic armaments but he wanted to know if he was right.<sub> </sub>

    However what Nial didn''t expect to see was that Khain answered his question before Elder Walin could, and he didn''t seem calm at all.

    "Everyone, who relies on runic armaments to survive is weak and narrow-minded! The moment you start relying on external means to be strong enough to defeat your opponents, you''ve already lost in the long-term progress!!" Khain eximed, tightly clutching his fists as he continued,

    "Your mind and heart will be tarnished by your actions and your progress will be hindered at the thought of using better runic armaments to procure better results.

    Slowly, your talent to be a truly powerful warrior would diminish while your dependence on runic armaments would keep increasing. We want to be our strongest self and reject giving into the temptation of runic armaments!"

    It was the first time that Khain had spoken so much to him, and the youngest Valxian turned his head away from Nial after he realized that his temperament and passion for putting the young human in his ce had been the reason for his spontaneous outburst.

    The exnation was pretty much what Nial had expected. The Valxian race''s mission was to turn their body into a weapon and shield. As long as their body was strong enough to protect themselves and those around them, they would have achieved everything they could have dreamed of.

    Using runic armaments to temporarily enhance their strength by external means might be helpful for some time but it would prevent the Valxian from tempering their body and creating an iron will.

    Nial felt that this reasoning was honorable but also quite stupid. He didn''t rely on runic armaments to fight, not because he could fight without them but because his opponents were usually stronger than him.

    In order to fight stronger opponents, Nial might as well have to go all-out and end up getting injured while gaining a lot of experience but that was only useful as long as one wouldn''t sustain severe injuries, or end up as a cripple.

    Gaining more experience while fighting without the use of runic armaments might be useful but the fact that one was likely to sustain more injuries was a big problem.

    Sustaining injuries was equivalent to a weakenedbat prowess and this would make it more dangerous for him to keep fighting.

    Thus, if one wanted to fight more opponents while gaining the most experience from it with a lower chance of getting seriously injured, one would have to use runic armaments.

    That was Nial''s opinion, which was also the reason why he had created numerous runic armaments for himself and Sabrina.

    It was better to be safe and well-protected than dead. It was as simple as that.

    ''Well my Ideals are different from others, that''s only obvious,'' Nial thought, not wanting to discuss more their reasoning to reject runic armaments and rely on physical strength most of the time.

    "Thank you for sharing your race''s Ideals with me. I learned a lot and I understand your reasoning. Tempering the body is very important, especially for a race that relies on their physical strength as much as the Valxian race," He said before he smiled at Khain gently.

    The young Valxian looked at Nial and merely grunted in response. Nial almostughed out at this when he heard Khain''s following words.

    "Don''t think that I will go light on you just because you''re so nice!" He warned, pointing at Nial as if he was threatening him.

    However, everyone around could tell by now that Khain was just a young man, who was trying his best to look tough and instill fear.

    "There is no need for you to hold back. Just don''t me me when I beat you," Nial retorted with a smug when they finally reached the entrance of the Dojo.

    The proportions of the entire pagoda were created to fit Valxians that were more than ten meters tall, and the ceiling of the pagoda''s first floor was almost 50 meters high, allowing the tall Valxians to fight without any restrictions.

    Nial was quite impressed by the size of the pagoda but he wasn''t given much time to visualize everything down to the finest detail as an eight-meter-tall Valxian entered his range of perception.

    ''Howe I didn''t sense him before?'' Nial realized in shock. Instinctively, he used his hyper-sensitive senses to take in all possible information his senses could ask for, and it was only after that that he got to know that there were seven more Valxians that were seated near the wall of the other side of the dojo.

    They sat there in a stance that was simr to meditation and they had concealed their mana tightly within their body.

    Only by focusing on them was Nial able to perceive that they hadn''t concealed themselves but that their surroundings concealed their mana fluctuations.

    The surrounding area seemed to be acting actively, trying to cover the existence of the Valxians. This was enough for Nial''s eyes to widen in a stupor.

    "What technique are they using?" Nial whispered quietly because he felt that making a lot of noises would unnecessarily disrupt the Valxians from whatever they were doing.

    However, it was none of the four Valxians with whom Nial had entered the Pagoda, who answered his question but the eight-meter-tall Valxian.

    "You don''t need to speak in a low voice. They won''t hear you even if you were to shout in their ears," the tallest of the Valxians said while Elder Walin and her three students made a weird motion with their arms, greeting the tallest Valxian.

    ''So that''s the Dojo master¡­impressive, indeed!''''

 Chapter 397 Close Combat (1)

    The Master of the Dojo was not a man of many words.

    He exerted some sort of martial art technique as he sped his hands together, creating a sound wave that swept through the entire pagoda.

    The seven Valxians who had been fully focused on their task at hand were pulled out of the weird state they had entered.

    Nial''s range of perception perceived them once again but his focus was somewhere else.

    "Elder Walin contacted me already. So you''re the human she talked about?" The huge Valxian asked as he stood in front of Nial imposingly and looked down at him. Nial was less than two meters tall and he must look like a tiny dwarf to the Dojo Master.

    However, Nial didn''t allow this thought to influence his mind or let his confidence waver. He looked upward to smile straight at the Dojo Master.

    "If she talked about a new challenger for the entrance test of the Thousand Body Refinements Dojo then yes, that''s me!" He answered confidently while he held his chin high up.

    Nial may not be able to see but his facial features, expression, and attitude were more than enough to make it clear that he was not someone to be underestimated.

    The Dojo Master nced over to Elder Walin before his eyes fell on the wingless Gryphon, whom he looked at keenly for a moment.

    While it had been easy for Nial to enter Alliance City, the same couldn''t be said about Ryu. The wingless Gryphon had to undergo various tests and his mana fluctuations were noted down while his blood sample was collected to be run tests on and the results to be uploaded to the database of the Alliance City''s artificial intelligence.

    Ryu wasbeled as Nial''s pet and he was responsible for the beast. The moment Ryu made trouble, Nial would have to take responsibility and he would receive his pet''s punishment ording to the severity of the crime Ryumitted.

    "You have an interesting pet. I''ve never seen a wingless Gryphon, and he is a mutation that leans toward the darkness at that. If you decide to sell him, you would make a big fortune," The Dojo Master said, seemingly nonchnt before he turned his attention back to Nial.

    "If you''re ready to take the entrance test right now, I would be willing to be your judge!" The Dojo Master dered, which caused several Valxians to gasp in astonishment.

    While the Valxians were astonished, Nial could only look around in confusion.

    ''Isn''t it normal for the Dojo Master to be one of the judges to see if I''m good enough to get epted, to begin with?'' Nial wondered.

    His knowledge of other races might be low but he could tell that most races were prideful. It was very important for them to increase their reputation and to ensure that their image would stay the best.

    By epting a troublemaker in the Dojo, its reputation would face a big hit if he were to stir trouble.

    This was why Nial was confused about the reaction of the other Valxians.

    "Seems like you don''t know our customs well. If I were to be your judge, you are unlikely to get epted in the Dojo if you cannot win against Khain because I''m a harsh judge. To put it simply, you either win and get epted, or you lose and you''ll be our servant for three months," The Dojo Master exined what had caused the reaction of the other Valxians calmly.

    "I don''t really care about that but why would anyone sane be willing to ept you as their judge then? I mean, it''s possible that they might lose against the most recently joined member¡­" Nial was still not sure if he understood things correctly. Logically speaking, he should reject the Dojo Master''s offer to let him judge their fight because it would mean guaranteed very for Nial if he were to lose against Khain.

    Nial wanted to avoid bing someone''s servant, after all!

    However, he was also interested in what the Dojo Master would say about his strength and use the given opportunity to find out more about all the techniques that were taught in the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo.

    The Dojo''s name had already piqued Nial''s curiosity, which was also another reason for him to even consider joining the dojo without getting to know other dojos, organizations or whatsoever.

    "You''re just like Elder Walin said," the Dojo Masterughed lightly for a few seconds before he pointed at himself with a slightly more serious expression.

    "If someone wants to join my Dojo, their reason is usually to attract my attention. They want to be my direct disciple and learn the secret techniques I''ve learned from my master, who learned it from his master, and so forth.

    I was able to gain some glory and territory for my race in thest few centuries, which is why I was granted permission toe to Jundra and build my own Dojo despite my age," The Dojo Master sounded prideful as he spoke but that was only obvious if his words were the truth.

    "So you are some bigshot at the Keltia rank? That makes sense then¡­" Nial said, trying to sound as if he had been convinced with the Dojo master''s offer but that failed miserably.

    Even if the Keltia rank was the highest rank someone on Jundra could have right now, it was not as if beings at the Keltia rank really stood a chance against other beings in the vast universe.

    Maybe the Keltia rank was something special for some races with low innate talent but Nial had seen too much through the memories of thete God of Darkness to be fooled by it.

    He had seen countless battlefields and the terror caused by real bigshots.

    It was easy to tell that Nial was still a bit suspicious, which caused many Valxians a major headache. They wanted to thrash Nial into a pulp and beat some sense into him but they held back knowing that the Dojo Master didn''t like getting interrupted when he was speaking to others.<sub> </sub>

    "I wouldn''t call myself a bigshot because I''m not that old yet, but I''m on my way to bing a real bigshot!" The Dojo Master offered, and Nial began to smile lightly.

    He liked the Dojo Master''s personality quite a bit because one could tell that his words were sincere and that he said it without a trace of sarcasm.

    There was no need for the Dojo Master to lie, to begin with, which was why he didn''t do so. But that was not everything! Nial knew that hisment was a bit rude. He wanted to p himself for one of hisments, yet, the Dojo Master kept treating him with respect without getting angry.

    Nial was at a much lower mana core rank, of a different race, and without a special background or advantages that could be considered a reason for the Dojo Master to treat him nicely, but the tall Valxian treated him well, nheless.

    "Is it possible to learn to control my emotions as well as you can?" Nial asked on a whim, feeling that the answer to this might give him even more reason to join Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo.

    "I don''t think that I''m particrly good at controlling my emotions. I just lead them in the correct way using the experiences I''ve gained and my martial art techniques to release them when I feel like releasing some of my anger or stress," The Dojo Master answered before he cleared his throat.

    "But enough of our chit-chat for now. Do you want me to be your judge, or should Elder Walin evaluate your fight?" He asked seriously.

    "Go for it, I don''t mind," Nial retorted with a small grin.

    He could tell that Khain was agitated at the way his teacher and the Dojo Master were being treated by the human. Khain didn''t like Nial''s attitude or his current behavior.

    He was eager to defeat Nial and to show the Dojo Master that he was strong and talented enough to be his first direct disciple.

    Thus, while Khain and Nial remained in the arena and the others made enough space for the two to fight, the young Valxian''s emotions erupted uncontrobly.

    Nial was not sure why Khain was so agitated but he felt that it was quite advantageous.

    He took a deep breath, entered a neutralbat stance, and unleashed his hyper-sensitive senses and Mana Sense simultaneously. Everything on the first floor of the pagoda was perceived in the finest detail, whether it was the noises, vibrations, sounds, or visualization of Valxians and objects surrounding him.

    "Ready¡­set¡­go!" The Dojo Master started the fight without hesitation and Khain burst forth in the same instance.

    His huge body lunged forward and he crossed a distance of close to 200 meters in the blink of an eye. He pulled his right arm back and started to exert some martial art techniques that required a tremendous amount of mana to be utilized.

    Nial circted mana through his entire body before he changed his stance lightly. It was an inconspicuous movement but it was more than enough for him to be ready to move at any moment.

    In less than a minute, Nial could tell that his physical strength was lower than the physical strength Khain could exhibit. However, the difference was not much because Nial had been in possession of Ancient Origin rings, which were a grade above Superior Origin rings.

    Even if Khain was powerful and talented, he had only created Advanced Origin rings. Nial might not be stronger than Khain but his speed was roughly the same.

    Furthermore, Nial had observed the fighting style of the youngest Valxian during thest three days.

    That gave Nial the necessary leeway to react in time and to prepare a counterattack.

    Khain''s t hand thrust forward when he reached Nial''s proximity. His entire arm was covered in apressedyer of steaming mana that shot straight toward Nial.

    Nial would die the moment he was to face the attack head-on. The young Original moved at thest moment and he evaded the attack by twisting his body.

    Khain missed him by a hair''s breadth and his fist pierced into the ground where all the mana was released all of a sudden. A burst of mana shot in the ground, just for a second impact to erupt all of a sudden.

    The first impact was enough to cut deeper into the ground but the second impact caused everything in a radius of one meter to be devastated. The ground had burst open and Nial was bombarded with the small stone fragments that shot through the surroundings.

    He lost his footing, as well as the ground below his feet, turned into rubble. Khain used this opportunity to punch out with his other fist.

    His right arm pulled out of the ground while he twisted his upper body to deliver a dangerous blow with his left hand.

    Khain had changed the martial art technique he exerted in order to elerate the speed of the push with his t hand that didn''t create a single sound.

    It was deadly silent and goosebumps sprang up over Nial''s entire body as he reconsidered what to do in a quarter of a second.

    ''Should I just use my dead energy¡­or a runic armament?'' He wondered for a moment before deciding against both.

    ''Fuck it, I can whoop his ass without runic armaments!''

 Chapter 398 Close Combat (2)

    Nial was not ready to give Khain a chance to excuse himself for losing against him. Thus, he didn''t feel like using a runic armament to evade the high-velocity punch that almost reached him.

    Nial knew that Khain was using a different martial art technique than before but he had also concluded that one of the Valxian''s abilities was to create a second impact with the mana he released from his body.

    Thus, the moment Khain hit something, a second impact would be created, causing more damage than the first one.

    This was something Nial had to avoid until he knew if the second impact had a prative trait or not.

    He didn''t n to get defeated because of a stupid mistake and it was because of this reason that Nial twisted his body in an ufortable angle to evade the high-velocity punch.

    Nial miscalcted the speed of the punch, which was why he couldn''t simply evade it and he was forced to circte mana through his left arm to deliver a blow to the fist that shot down toward him.

    The fist of the Valxian was twice, or even thrice as big as Nial''s head, giving him enough room to impact with his t hand.

    His physical strength might not be as strong as the Valxian''s, but Nial was still capable of diverting the trajectory of Khain''s high-velocity punch, even if it was just a little bit!

    The small change in the punch''s trajectory was enough for Nial to regain a proper foothold on the ground and to gain the opportunity to counterattack.

    Khain had just pulled his right hand out of the ground before he had twisted his body to punch Nial in surprise. Because his stance was not perfect while executing the second blow and due to the obvious fact that Nial was a much smaller target to aim Khain''s body posture was a bit off and more leaning toward the ground.

    Nial used this opportunity to st forward and jump upward, sting an uppercut that was further strengthened with his mana in Khain''s direction.

    His uppercut hit the Valxian almost too perfectly and Khain lost bnce for a moment due to the terrifying strength Nial had delivered despite his tiny figure.

    The Valxian''s head was forced upward and blood spurted out of his mouth as he fell to the ground, where he remained motionless for a moment.

    "What the hell¡­" Khain mumbled as he lifted his body from the ground not even a secondter.

    "You are the first human I will fight," The Valxian said before he lightly added, "Looks like I have to change mybat style to be able to fight someone as small as you!"

    Khain began to smile, which looked hideous because he was still bleeding out of his mouth.

    ''This will probably get more annoying now, won''t it?'' Nial let out an exasperated sigh while focusing all his senses on the Valxian and the changes that urred around and within him.

    "Just keep making excuses. Maybe that will make you feel better when I defeat you!" He said out loud and dashed forward without waiting for the Valxian''s reaction.

    It was a waste of time to speak during a fight, especially if one had an advantage. Stalling time to give Khain the opportunity to create a counteroffensive attack against him was not something Nial was ready to do.

    On the contrary, Nial wanted to overwhelm Khain without the use of runic armaments or his dark energy. He used the Heart of Darkness to pull mana toward him nheless but that was merely to provide him with more mana to use for martial art techniques, [Hodur''s Heir] or [Blood Eclipse Moon].

    Nial didn''t reveal all his trumps immediately, which is why he activated [Blood Eclipse Moon] to release some of the stored and altered moonlight within his body.

    His physical strength increased and the potency of his mana skyrocketed in return. Nial appeared in front of Khain, whose stance had changed once again.

    ''Another martial art technique?'' Nial wondered when the Valxian kicked out at him. Khain''s kick was extremely powerful and fast.

    The Valxian''s sudden attack was twice as fast as before, which was why Nial had no way of evading the attack. The t base of the Valvain''s foot smashed against Nial''s side, flinging him dozens of meters away.

    ''No second impact?'' He thought in confusion as he somersault mid-air tond on the ground without an injury.

    Khain''s kick had been extremely fast but it hadn''t been as powerful as the t hand thrust or the high-velocity punch. Furthermore, there was no sign of the second impact, which decreased the danger of Khain''s attack tremendously.

    Changing hisbat style in ordance with his opponent''s traits and abilities was useful but if Khain was not able to injure Nial, all his power would be for naught.

    Khain disappeared from his location and he emerged right in front of Nial. He kicked Nial once again, disappeared, and reappeared magically at the spot where Nial would inevitablynd.

    This time Khain prepared a punch and the attack impacted Nial mercilessly, flinging him through the air like a big sack of potatoes.

    The Valxian repeated the same attack pattern multiple times, catapulting Nial in various directions.<sub> </sub>

    Everyone who had been witnessing the battle right in front of them couldn''t help but frown deeply including Elder Walin.

    "Did I overestimate him? Khain''s proficiency in the Secea Wind Cutter technique exceeds my expectations by far but still¡­" Elder Walin mumbled as she watched Nial getting beaten into a pulp. It almost looked like Khain was ying around with arge ball to perfect his technique, rather than fighting a battle.

    The beginning of the entrance test had been in Nial''s favor but the moment Khain changed hisbat style, everything changed as well. This was enough reason for Elder Walin to believe that Nial may not be the person she had presumed him to be.

    "Since when have you be so impatient, Walin?" The Dojo Master asked without taking his eyes away from the battlefield. His arms were folded across his chest, clearly showing that he didn''t intend to intervene and end the battle.

    Some Valxians felt that this was cruel, but they didn''t expect less from the Devilish Dojo Master.

    "Impatient? Are you not too confident that nothing will happen to Nial?" Elder Walin asked in return, not sure what the Dojo Master had in mind.

    He smiled lightly and nced toward Elder Walin, who looked straight at him.

    "Who says that I care if something happens to the human?" The Dojo master retorted nonchntly and Elder Walin finally understood what was going on.

    It was true. There was not really a reason for them to care what would happen to Nial. It would have been the case had Nial belonged to any other race, or was someone with a unique background or special powers, but it was quite obvious that Nial was a human from Jundra.

    He had decided to explore Jundra on his own and no one would ever find out about Nial''s death if he were to die right now.

    "But it looks like I will have to intervene soon," The Dojo Master suddenly said and his expression changed a bit.

    "To save Nial?" Elder Walin asked but the Dojo Master could only shake his head grimly as he mumbled, "No, to save Khain!"

    Moments earlier, Khain had kicked Nial high in the air. The Valxian had had enough of Nial, which was why he created the opportunity to change his martial art when his opponent wouldn''t expect it.

    Nial couldn''t change his trajectory mid-air, which was why Khain had sted him close to the ceiling before he appeared above Nial.

    Khain activated his only ability [Mana Impact] as he exerted [Piercing Clouds], a powerful technique that was capable of prating his opponent''s defense with a seemingly simple thrust of overlypressed mana.

    It was not easy to execute the [Piercing Clouds] technique, especially while changing the exerted martial art technique all of a sudden. However, Khain was capable of doing so because he was in his peak form.

    He felt stronger than ever before and thrust his t hand toward Nial. His fingernails were just about to cut deep inside Nial''s abdomen when Nial shed a bright smile at Khain.

    "Got you, you little fucker!" Nial shouted out from above, while the ''Nial'', who was being pierced by Khain, disfigured all of a sudden.

    The disfigured Nial burst open and turned into a huge mess of ck miasma that expanded rapidly while Khain''s head flicked upward.

    "I wouldn''t breathe in the miasma if I were you!" Nial shouted a warning while he was hanging from the ceiling of the Pagoda''s first floor. He was clutching the ceiling tightly and breaking parts of it so that he wouldn''t fall. He smiled at Khain while controlling the ck miasma.

    He sent it straight toward Khain''s face which was shrouded before forcing his way into the body of the young Valxian, who was trying his utmost to prevent the miasma from entering his body.

    However, Khain was too inexperienced in fighting against someone, who used gaseous attacks against his opponents.

    He was not sure how to defend against them and ended up trying to use his mana to restrict the miasma from entering his body.

    Simultaneously, as Khain had begun to struggle, Nial swung himself a little to catapult himself toward the Valxian.

    His fist was coated in crimson energy and he shot down, using all his might to punch Khain straight in the chest, breaking several ribs at once.

    The impact of Nial''s attack was more than enough to turn the Valxian''s body into a missile that smashed into the ground and stayed there, unmoving.

    Nial was pulled to the ground not long after but hended gracefully.

    However, his expression was serious because he could tell that the battle was not yet over.

    It had just begun!

 Chapter 399 Close Combat (3)

    From the beginning, it had been hard for Nial to believe that Khain was only 14 years old.

    He was a very good fighter and his mana core rank was also really high for his age. Considering him a natural talent would fit the young Valxian perfectly.

    Being able to exert three or more martial art techniques at the age of 14 was also something that couldn''t be underestimated. This was even more reason for Nial to keep his focus high up when the other Valxians thought that the battle was already over.

    Nial had been keeping watch on the Dojo Master the whole time and it was obvious that the Valxian was waiting for something.

    Even after Nial had created the mirror image of himself while simultaneously ying around with the perception of the young Valxian, the Dojo Master hadn''t reacted a tiny bit.

    At first, Nial thought that the Dojo Master wanted his students to learn from their failures and get up from the ground. Failing was nothing bad, but something one could learn from.

    However, he quickly noticed the truth behind the Dojo Master''s unbothered behavior.

    After Nial had tricked Khain and attacked him using the [Blood Eclipse Moon] in a way he had never done before, ying tricks with the mind of the Valxian, he had used [Hodur''s Heir] to infiltrate Khain''s body.

    Yet, only when Khain smashed into the ground after Nial had delivered a feisty punch in the chest of the Valxian did the Dojo Master start reacting.

    The Dojo Master smiled lightly and he changed his posture slightly, preparing himself to move at any moment.

    At the same time, Nial''s attention was pulled over to Khain''s direction again. The Valxian seemed to have increased in size and Nial''s danger senses told him that it would be better to retreat a few steps rather than charge at Khain right away.

    Khain''s body was steaming hot and his presence had changed altogether. It was as if he had turned into a ferocious beast with a human-like appearance. His eyes were bloodshot and his brownish skin showed signs of tearing apart and turning red.

    Nial''s lips twitched when he sensed the pressure that came off of Khain. The young Valxian seemed to have changed entirely, whether it was his presence, expression, or the way he moved.

    When he took his first step after getting up from the ground, the ground below his feet burst open. Khain looked at the ground once before he gazed at his steaming hot hands.

    It looked like Khain was not sure what exactly was happening to him but simultaneously it felt like he had gotten 100% control of his strength now.

    ''Did he remove his limiter, or is that some sort of Berserk state?'' Nial took a wild guess, just to discard all the thoughts that were flooding his mind. It was obvious that this was something rted to his race rather than a martial art technique because the entire demeanor and being of the young Valxian seemed to have changed.

    This was not something a mere martial art technique was capable of!

    Taking the reaction of the other Valxians into consideration as well, Nial knew that the fight would be more cumbersome.

    However, that was something he could ept. He controlled the ck miasma that had infiltrated Khain to devour and absorb his mana.

    The natural repelling force the Valxian race had against mana worked against Nial''s action but his ck miasma slowly circted through the body of the young Valxian, further deteriorating his strength.

    His ck miasma didn''t have any attack properties but that was not necessary if it was powerful enough to weaken his opponent. And a weakened opponent was something Nial needed right now.

    Khain was already very powerful and his current state despite him being a bit injured was not something Nial could take lightly.

    Nial merged the ck miasma with the stored power of the Blood Eclipse Moon ability, turning it crimson before he released it explosively from his body.

    The surrounding 20 meters were shrouded in a dense crimson miasma within a second and Khain wasn''t able to see anything.

    However, instead of losing his reasoning, or hesitating, Khain exerted one of his many martial art techniques to kick toward the dense crimson miasma.

    An air fissure that swept the dense crimson miasma aside was released due to Khain''s attack, revealing everything the miasma had hidden from his sight.

    Meanwhile, Nial had disappeared and dark miasma emerged all around the area, recing the crimson miasma that seemed to have vanished into thin air as well.

    ''So he is still able to keep his cool and didn''t take the bait, that''s a shame,'' Nial concluded as he changed his way of attack.

    He used the Blood Eclipse Moon ability to merge the umted power with his mana to manifest crimson-colored des. Nial threw them toward the young Valxian, who moved rapidly the moment the first few des hit him.

    Khain blocked the des easily and he shot in the area where the crimson des hade from. His rapid movements pushed the ck miasma around him aside and Khain quickly discovered more crimson des that were hovering in the air.

    Nial willed them to shoot forward and he aimed at Khain''s head, forcing him to react, blocking all the attacks easily.

    The crimson des were not powerful enough to pierce deep into Khain''s skin. They caused only small scratches before they dispersed.

    However, that was enough to distract Khain and prevent him from realizing that Nial had emerged out of the dark miasma a few meters away from the young Valxian.<sub> </sub>

    Nial reached Khain''s head in an instant and he used all his might to smash his hand against the stubborn Valxian''s head.

    He intended to give Khain a concussion, or possibly make him feel dizzy for a moment.

    Unfortunately, that was far from easy, especially given Khain''s tough physique. Khain''s head barely moved from the impact of Nial''s p and the young Valxian reacted almost instantly.

    This forced Nial to use Khain''srge body as a stepping stone to jump backward and merge with the ck miasma that began to shroud Khain once again.

    Khain roared out in anger and he punched out in all directions so as to dispel the ck miasma but Nial kept using the tremendous amount of mana he had stored to make sure that the entire first floor of the pagoda would be densely filled with ck miasma.

    Simultaneously, Nial conjured crimson des using the Blood Eclipse Moon ability andrge amounts of mana to tire out Khain faster.

    The other Valxians, who had been observing the battle, couldn''t see anything that was going on. Nial''s mana was everywhere but it was near-impossible for them to pinpoint the origin of Nial''s mana. And if that was not possible for them despite being in a fully focused state, it was much more difficult for Khain to determine anything as he was in the fight.

    Controlling his mana grew more and more difficult as the effect of the ck miasma showed how efficient it was. The superficial cuts all over Khain''s body had increased at an rming rate as well. There were only a few spots where he wasn''t injured.

    ck miasma infiltrated Khain''s body through these cuts and the dispersing crimson daggers amplified the ck miasma as well.

    Khain''s strength decreased slowly over time and the only thing the young Valxian could do was mindlessly run through the surroundings and charge in the direction where the crimson daggers shot from.

    However, the result of these actions was not as he had expected and Khain ended up exhausting himself more than anything else.

    Almost an hour had passed since the start of the battle, but it was still not over yet. Nial had turned the tables without much difficulty. It was almost as if he had nned everything from the beginning.

    Thus, he was not really surprised when the Dojo Master intervened when he had seen enough.

    Rather the surprising fact for Nial was the way in which the Dojo Master intervened.

    The tall Valxian sped his hand while exerting the same martial art technique as earlier. Yet, this time it was a bit different and all the ck miasma Nial had painstakingly created disintegrated as the Dojo Master''s sound wave swept through the Pagoda''s first floor.

    ''Looks like I was lucky that Khain has yet to learn this weird martial art technique,'' Nial thought, understanding that he had won mostly due to his advantageous abilities rather than his physical strength.

    But that was only obvious because he had been fighting the being of a race that was fully focused on closebat fighting and the creation of a perfect body.

    "That''s enough," The Dojo Master said calmly, and as if on cue, Khain stopped moving. His steaming body deted once again and he swayed from side to side before he slumped to the ground,nding on his butt first.

    Khain looked at his body in disbelief, just to let out a deep breath. ck miasma emerged from Khain''s breath and the various cuts he had sustained before it dispersed when Nial snapped his fingers.

    The young Valxian looked over to Nial and saw that the human Original was only a little bit dirty but did not have even a single injury on his entire body.

    ''My attacks were entirely useless?'' He realized in shock, not expecting that to be the case.

    Even if the Secea Wind Cutter technique decreased the Strength of the user''s attacks in exchange for allowing the user to increase his speed drastically, Khain had been confident in his strength.

    To him, it was a shame that Nial was unscathed, and even more so the fact that he didn''t seem exhausted after fighting for an entire hour.

    ''Is he really a human? Or is that the power of humans???'' Khain wondered when he felt a soothing feeling spreading through his body as a warm hand grasped him tightly.

    "Looks like you unlocked bits of your Bloodline''s special power," The Dojo Master said seriously as he added, "but you are still young. You have to train a lot to learn how to control the power of the Berserk Titan properly!"

    After he said this, the Dojo Master kept using a special martial art technique to stimte the cells within the designated target''s body. He wanted to make sure that Khain wouldn''t face any serious injuries.

    However, his interest in Nial was enough to look over at the young man with interest gleaming in his eyes.

    "Looks like you''ve passed," He just said, while keeping his attention on Nial.

    "Yes, but I''m not really satisfied with myself," Nial answered honestly. He felt like sighing but that felt oddly inappropriate right now.

    Nial was not sure why he had this feeling but he visualized the Dojo Master nodding his head.

    "I can see that, but that doesn''t mean I understand why you feel like this," The Dojo Master said as he added in all seriousness,

    "Didn''t you already hold back a lot?"

 Chapter 400 Crumbling Farce

    Khain couldn''t believe what the Dojo Master said. He looked in disbelief at the Dojo Master before his gaze moved back to Nial.

    "You¡­held back?" Khain asked in confusion and frustration. If the Dojo Master''s words were true, it would be a great humiliation for Khain to have lost against Nial with such a big gap of strength at that.

    Nial was not even tired and he could keep fighting even now for a much longer time if he wanted to.

    "I wouldn''t say that I held back because I gave my everything to fight you without my runic armaments and so on¡­" Nial said first because he added, "...but I cannot say that I went all out."

    Going all-out in a spar, or an entrance test was not worth the effort in his opinion. For Nial, going all out meant that he was ready to sustain serious injuries in a life-and-death fight against an extremely powerful opponent.

    He would have to be ready to risk his life in an attempt to kill his enemies if he had to leave no stone unturned to ensure his victory. Khain and all the other Valxians had a simr understanding of giving their best, just that their means to go all out were different than Nial''s.

    In the end, the young Valxian was not pleased with the result of the battle and he looked dispiritedly at Elder Walin.

    "Don''t look at me like that. I was just motivating you to win against Nial by telling you that you would have to undergo the Heavenly training if you lose. You don''t actually have to¡­" Elder Walin said and she smiled oddly.

    Her gaze kept flicking to Nial every now and then. She was not sure what the Dojo Master meant by holding back but her understanding of the behavior of motives of the Dojo Master was also not that profound.

    He should be able to see things that were well hidden from her eyes.

    Nial was equally interested in the Dojo Master''sment.

    ''He shouldn''t have sensed my dark energy, so how does he know that I held back ''a lot''. Not using my runic armaments can be considered having held back a little bit, but only the fact that I was not able to unleash the true power of the Heart of Darkness, let alone bits of the power the dark energy and the Essence of Darkness which should be considered akin to holding back A LOT¡­'' Nial thought, feeling slightly suspicious.

    It was not difficult to tell that the Dojo Master was everything but simple and that was something Nial liked quite a bit about him.

    The Dojo Master was a rather likable character, which was why Nial felt that it had been a good choice to consider joining the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo.

    Nial turned to the Dojo Master and he waited to hear his verdict that he passed the entrance test. However, before anyone could say something, Ryu chirped and rushed toward Nial.

    The wingless Gryphon red at Khain and darkness emerged out of Ryu''s ck feathers, ready to pierce out and devour the young Valxian, who had kicked and punched Nial without the slightest bit of hesitation.

    It was only obvious for Ryu to be enraged and he had only held back because his connection with Nial had told the wingless Gryphon that Nial was still unscathed after he had kicked and punched so often.

    "This Gryphon is really loyal. I wonder how you were able to gain his trust," The Dojo Master said suddenly as he turned his attention to the three meter tall wingless Gryphon.

    Ryu''s body stiffened when the Dojo master''s gazended on him and he quickly hid behind Nial, which looked rather ridiculous.

    "It even considers you as a stronger being and seeks your protection¡­that''s interesting¡­" He added and an even broader smile appeared on his face.

    "Everyone has one or two secrets, don''t they?" Nial replied before he began to smile as well. He didn''t feel intimidated when the Dojo Master stared at him.

    Rather, it was the Dojo Master, who felt a sense of uncertainty after witnessing the battle between Khain and Nial. Now the Gryphon, whose strength was definitely not weaker than an ordinary monster at the Lower Deux rank, was hiding behind Nial to protect him.

    That was odd, especially since Gryphon''s were too prideful and would not hide behind other beings under normal circumstances.

    Only a Gryphon Lord or Gryphon King was capable of influencing other Gryphons in a subconscious manner like Nial had managed to achieve in the case of the wingless Gryphon without even trying hard.

    Nial as a person was as interesting as a fighter. He didn''t even hide the fact that he had secrets. It was only obvious that everyone had a few secrets but nobody openly spoke about it¡­it was not normal at least.

    "Of course, everyone has a few secrets, but I hope that you can trust me and my judgment in the members of the Thousand Bodies Refinement Dojo to reveal one or two secrets now that you''ve been epted to possess them," The Dojo Master said without a change in his facial expression.<sub> </sub>

    This was not the way Nial had hoped the Dojo Master to announce that he passed the entrance test but it didn''t really matter at the end of the day.

    "You will have to undertake a few tests, tell us what abilities you have bound to your mana core, how many vacant ability spots you''ve left, and a few more pieces of information so that we can create the most suitable training n for you.

    It would be quite beneficial for us if you share what martial arts techniques you want to learn and in what direction you want to progress in the future and how much focus you want to divert on other things than the Dojo!" The Dojo Master dered and everyone else in the room nodded their heads as if the Dojo Master had just imparted some wisdom.

    Nial ignored the reaction of the other Valxians and he focused his attention on the Dojo Master.

    After his body was thoroughly scanned, his Heart of Darkness would be found. It might shock the Valxians but it wouldn''t expose his dark energy or the Essence of Darkness.

    Exposing his Essence of Darkness would attract lots of attention but it was better to expose this than the dark energy because more than one being could be in the possession of the Essence of Darkness.

    He could tell that he would have to trust the Dojo Master with a few things to create a perfect training n for himself but that was a bit bothersome.

    ''If something goes wrong, I will be in big trouble¡­'' Nial sighed deeply before he thought of something.

    "Can we sign a Soul Contract? And I would prefer just to tell you about the things you asked for." Nial asked straightforwardly and the Dojo Master nodded his head without hesitation.

    "That''s only obvious. Your secrets are your trump cards in a life-and-death battle. Sharing them is dangerous." He said, and everyone else nodded once again.

    ''Are they robots or what?'' Nial began to wonder at the stoic reactions of the other Valxians before he was brought to the second floor which only the Dojo Master, he, and Ryu entered.

    A contract had already been prepared, and it only required a strand of the soul from both parties to sign it.

    Nial read through the contract, he requested a few changes and they signed the contracts with a mark of their soul on it not muchter.

    Once the Soul contract had been set up and signed, Nial was free to expose a bunch of his secrets.

    He didn''t reveal everything to the Dojo Master but the information he revealed was shocking enough.

    "You have three ability vacancies, no idea what kind of abilities you are looking for because you are stubborn enough to search for linked abilities, and you are an Expert Runicier, capable of creating Tier-2 runic armaments¡­.and that''s just the tip of the iceberg¡­what, or who the hell are you, seriously?" The Dojo Master''s expression crumbled upon realizing what a monster he was standing in front of.

    He was ready to bombard Nial with questions but he put aside the topic for a moment.

    "Your Essence of Darkness should be turned into your trump card. Using a powerful instant kill technique with your Essence of Darkness, which is augmented with the power of the Blood Eclipse Moon ability will allow you to deal with veteran fighters at the Deux rank¡­one or two abilities about closebat should be quite suitable for you, but I won''t tell you what kind of abilities you should bind," the Dojo Master said and his mind began to rattle.

    Nial smiled at the reaction of the Dojo Master. He seemed to have changed quite a bit since they left the Pagoda''s first floor. It was quite interesting to see the true face behind the Dojo Master and it calmed Nial quite a bit.

    ''I am really lucky to find good people when I need them, huh?'' He could only think and he began to shake his head while continuing to caress Ryu.

    Quite some time passed and the Dojo Master ended up doing everything rted to Nial''s tests by himself. He led Nial to the underground floor of the pagoda, administered all tests on Nial and ended up frowning even deeper than before.

    "How is it possible for your Mana core to be so strong? And this ck heart is truly something in apletely different league than anything I''ve ever seen as well¡­ Your physical strength is extremely high but your body hasn''t been tempered, let alone refined even once. You have so many impurities within your flesh that I could cry a river¡­" The Dojo Master summarized his observations. He had always thought of himself as someone who is quite talented.

    But it made him hurt to see how much hidden potential Nial had yet to unleash within his body.

    ? Was he not powerful enough already?

    If the first human from Jundra was already like this, what did the rest look like?

 Chapter 401 A Mess Of A Body

    "Considering that you''re still looking for new abilities to bind to your mana core, you should start refining your body and learn a few basic martial art techniques. That way you can be stronger without the possibility of destroying one of your ability vacancies!" The Dojo Master suggested when they finished running all possible tests he could think of on Nial.

    They required much longer than expected to finish all the tests but there were certain problems that had to be figured out early enough.

    "My body is really a mess, isn''t it?" Nial asked, feeling a bit frustrated. Even if he was not able to read the universalnguage yet, he could see the graphical representation that showed the test results of his body, and the images that were created from the mana stability and other important factors of his body.

    What he saw didn''t look good, which was quite obvious because the Dojo Master had turned quiet.

    In the beginning, Nial had been sure that the Dojo Master was a man of few words but that didn''t seem to be entirely true. As long as the Dojo Master was curious about something, he would talk a lot. Other than that, he would keep his answers and instructions rather simple.

    Nial knew that the Dojo Master was interested to find out more about Nial and his secrets because he was special. That may sound weird when hearing it for the first time but after visualizing all the graphics and images that had been made in response to the tests, Nial didn''t feel likeughing at all.

    ''Every single alteration of my body was healed without the intention to correct anything, let alone to make sure that everything inside my body was located at the right position¡­such a mess¡­'' Nial felt a headache and he began to sigh deeply.

    Starting from the fact that the Odyssey seed had always been a part of his body, up to the part where the Heart of Darkness was created, Nial coulde up with only a handful of events and things that must have happened to change his body.

    The Symbol of Life and the Fairies'' Blessing were included, and so was the fact that Ryu had created a bond with Nial.

    His body was in extremely bad shape and the existence of the Heart of Darkness made everything only worse by pushing aside bones, flesh organs, and more.

    The Heart of Darkness made everything only worse by creating new mana veins where no mana veins were supposed to be ideally. His body was also forced to change in ordance with the Heart of Darkness because the human body was not supposed to have two hearts and a mana core in his body.

    Nial''s mana core wasrger than the mana core of others, especially since he was in possession of nine Ancient Origin rings that created a muchrger crystalyer around the Mana core than other Origin rings would do upon being connected and enhanced.

    "Will a normal body refinement technique help me remove all the impurities, fix my body, which includes the location of my mana veins, organs and so on, and allow me to be physically stronger¡­without anyplications?" Nial ended up asking despite knowing the answer to his dumb question.

    "A normal body refinement technique will definitely not be enough, but I might have a technique that is somewhat suitable to your situation. My master, the master of my master, and many more generations of masters were known for collecting unique techniques that couldn''t be used by normal existences¡­so I might find something," The Dojo Master exined and Nial could only smile weirdly.

    He knew that he was not an ordinary human but hearing it from the Dojo Master made him feel like it was really the truth. From the weird way in which he had lost his vision, to the way the Fragment of the God of Darkness found him, up to everything else that happened after he turned 18 years old, every single experience of his life was weird.

    For a long time, Nial had forgotten the monthly dreams he had had between the age of three and 18. Upon recalling them, he visualized the face of the Divine Goddess once again.

    ''I wonder what she wanted from me. She didn''t know about the Fragment of thete Darkness God within me, and she nned to help me regain my eyesight¡­was her n to turn me into one of her vessels, or make me something like Be?'' Nial was not sure why he thought about the monthly dreams he had to have in the past.

    But after thinking about it for some time, Nial was pretty sure that it was only natural for him to think about something messed up when he thought about his broken body.

    Right now, he might not feel how troubled his body was but it would only require a tiny spark to cripple him. At least, that was what the Dojo Master seemed to be telling him when he finished his train of thought.

    "Your Heart of Darkness absorbs far more mana than your body can handle¡­but that is also one of the few reasons why your body is still moving ording to your will. Right now, your mana, the Heart of Darkness, and your Darkness Essence are too powerful for your body to handle properly, yet, oddly enough your Heart of Darkness does not only have destructive traits in it. It heals you as well!" The Dojo Master exined that he was not able to understand why this was the case either.

    However, Nial was able to understand everything perfectly fine. The Symbol of Life might not exist anymore within him because it had merged and evolved with the Odyssey seed to be the Heart of Darkness but its effects were still intact.

    In fact, the effects of the Symbol of Life had been augmented severely when it evolved to the Heart of Darkness, and Nial was still kept alive due to this.<sub> </sub>

    "If you cannot find a suitable body refinement technique in your wonder box, can you tell me what I should be looking for? Finding a suitable technique should be quite expensive but I can still create and sell Tier-2 runic armaments. It shouldn''t be difficult for me to create a bunch of Tier-2 runic armaments as long as I have a good cksmith by my side.

    Otherwise, I''ll have to do everything on my own, which would take up way too much time," Nial had already epted that he was now a member of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and that the Dojo Master wanted to help him.

    He could trust the Dojo Master to a certain extent, especially since he would die if he were to expose certain secrets to the outside world.

    "Because you''re a member of my Dojo, you won''t have to take care of anything. Just train hard, gain glory for the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo¡­and merit points if you feel like beating up a few people in the Colosseum, orplete some missions in the Guild," The Dojo Master offered him a variety of options to choose from.

    However, the pressure around the Dojo Master was not something Nial took lightly. He had yet to figure out how the Alliance City worked and what everything meant but Nial was pretty sure that he would be fine.

    There was no need for him to be too worried, but that didn''t mean he would allow others to support him constantly without repaying their kindness and generosity.

    "I will create runic armaments nheless. I understand why the Valxians don''t rely on them but my standpoint regarding the importance of runic armaments is different. If I can survive by using runic armaments, by learning how to create better ones and preferably kill my opponents as well, I am willing to give my best to be a better Runicier¡­

    Because survival is everything that counts!" Nial made his stance regarding Runic Armaments clear. If the Dojo Master couldn''t ept that Nial would leave willingly.

    He would never allow anyone to restrict his growth, not anymore.

    Yet, contrary to his expectations, the Dojo Master agreed with him.

    "I am d that you understand why we don''t really use runic armaments, and I can also understand where you''reing from. You must have worked hard to be an Expert Runicier at your age, and your talent must be exceptional as well.

    I might not be able to give you advice in regards to runic armaments but you can tell me if you need something!" The Dojo Master said, astonishing Nial greatly.

    The Dojo Master was truly a weird kind of person and the longer Nial was around him he grew increasingly confident of the fact that the Dojo Master was actually an open-minded person, who was strict with his students for their sake.

    Nial kept talking to the Dojo Master for a while. They thought of other ways to fix the ws in Nial''s body that seemed like a ughter feast from within rather than a well-functioning body.

    Afterward, Nial and Ryu returned to the first floor of the Dojo where they met Elder Walin, who continued to instruct the other students.

    "How about you join us? I will teach everyone a new martial art technique today." Elder Walin asked as she looked down at the small figure Nial, who could only shake his head.

    "The Dojo Master said that I have to refine my body before I can start learning a martial art technique, otherwise, my entire body might get ripped apart. I''m on my way out to see where I can lodge a room or something like that, and explore Alliance city to get to know everything I need to know," Nial just said when Elder Walkin waved her hand.

    "You''re a member of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, which means that you get your own small room in the pagoda. Well, the small room might be toorge for you but Ryu can stay with you if you two want to share the space.

    As for exploring the Alliance City, wait until we''re done teaching and I can show you everything!" Elder Walin exined and Nial could only nod his head.

    "¡­Okay."

 Chapter 402 Body Refinement

    Nial got to know Alliance City in its entirety after Elder Walin finished teaching the Dojo students.

    This required a few hours but Nial had more than enough time, which was why he studied a small guide about the major races that had created the Alliance City.

    The 10 races were called Divons because there were mostly 10 Gods, who had been working together to make sure that everything involving the alliance would be without a problem once Jundra, the that was also called the Origin, would reawaken.

    The Valxian was one of the 10 Divon races, and apart from them, there was also a human race from a rather small poption with only a few remarkable figures in their race, and eight other unique races.

    Amongst the races were the Keril, a small human-like race with gray skin and few hair that was known for being powerful Runiciers rather thanbatants, the Alcam race, a very old race that had found the secrets of Alchemy and the creation of youth potions, which had turned them into one of the few races not many dared to offend due to their ability to create youth potions.

    Their only strength could be considered to create mythical potions due to their unique racial traits but that was already more than enough to make up for their small poption and weakbat talent.

    After all, nobody wanted to offend someone, who had a strongwork of allies throughout the thousands of years by handing out mythical potions such as youth potions, temporary mana aptitude increasing potions, and much more.

    Each of the other six Divon races had a special characteristic and only three were truly strong in terms of fighting power.

    One was technologically advanced, one was very knowledgeable in all possible fields, one race was mostly known for their numbers, one had great assassins and others were considered natural Elementalists.

    All-in-all, one could find basically everything in Alliance City, even proper tamers or treasure hunters.

    Nial was pretty impressed by all of this and the most astonishing was probably the fact that there were more than just the 10 Divon races in Alliance City.

    After his range of perception and [Mana sense] had had enough time to perceive everything around him, Nial even figured that some Heligav were trying to build their own small ce in the Alliance city.

    There were more than enough empty buildings in the huge city that kept expanding because everyone was working hard to make sure that more and more races and people would decide to live in neutral territory.

    "The Divons want to create a neutral city nobody would ever dare to attack, or am I missing something?" Nial asked when he was sure that he understood the intentions of the 10 Divons properly.

    There weren''t even 100,000 residents in Alliance City as of now but the more races would emerge on Jundra, the faster the city would grow.

    He could already imagine that the city would end up bing the most versatile ce all over Jundra, which turned it into a near-indestructible fortress.

    Only those, who didn''t fear the rage of dozens of Gods would dare to attack and annihte Alliance city if they were even strong enough to think of achieving this.

    "An indestructible fortress and an undefeatable army consisting of numerous races that can utilize their strengths perfectly¡­so basically what you said, yeah," Elder Walin answered him with a nod.

    The answer she gave was pretty interesting because it highlighted one particr fact; a bunch of races making up for the weakness of other races!

    The Keril race could create powerful runic armaments and the Alcam race could create wonderful mythical potions. This would enhance the prowess of thebat forces drastically, providing all the support they could give as races that were more of a burden than being helpful on the battlefield.

    A small group of well-trained and extraordinarily armed Originals with racial traits that were especially great forbat was certainly stronger than thousands of Originals that were not made forbat.

    "That''s quite smart¡­but many races won''t be bothered about that. The neutrality of the Alliance City will face problems if mortal enemies sh against each other in the city," Nial said in a serious tone as his mind drifted toward the thought of eradicating the Heligav.

    He had already killed everyone who was responsible for his mother''s death but the Heart of Darkness thudded wildly whenever he thought about the Heligav.<sub> </sub>

    It made him angry, angry enough to make him feel like he was getting devoured by his own emotions.

    Nial knew that this was very dangerous and he ended up sighing in frustration whenever he felt his emotion ovee him. Somehow, the deep sighs allowed him to release portions of his treacherous emotions.

    However, little did he know that darkness had begun to subconsciously ooze out of him at this moment, causing Elder Walin to halt in her tracks.

    "The Divons will create rules to solve this problem when it urs. They''re already prepared for lots of trouble¡­and they expect a lot¡­like a lot of trouble to happen in the future," Elder Walin said in a mysterious tone as if she wanted to highlight what she had said.

    Nial considered her words as a warning because he realized toote that his emotions had been about to overtake him¡­once again, and he began to smile weirdly.

    "Let''s go back. You can visit everythingter, and there shouldn''t be too much trouble with your Insignia as a student of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo!" Elder Walin dered before she turned around, leaving Nial with no other option but to follow her.

    The Alliance city was very interesting. It was a really big city, spanning more than a hundred kilometers. It was still being expanded, rapidly at that and Nial was getting curious how exactly the city would develop in the future.

    "As a student of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, I''m probably not allowed to join some other group such as the Keril to study runic constetions under their tutge, right?" Nial asked with a faint smile on his lips.

    Elder Walin gave him a long piercing stare before answering,

    "Even if someone were to forbid you to do something, I doubt that anyone can actually stop you from doing anything. If the Dojo Master didn''t say anything to you, you can do anything you want¡­as long as you keep the image of the Dojo in mind. Don''t ruin our reputation!" Elder Walin dered, staring deeply into the eyes of the small human next to her.

    "Well, that''s okay then. I''ll have to take a look at the Keril then¡­after I started fixing and refining my body!" Nial said hurriedly and they returned back to the Dojo.

    Nial returned to his room where he found an old-looking scroll and a small metal te that manifested a holographic image of the Dojo master when Nial touched it.

    "I found a scroll that might be of use for you. I''ll be sending over a basin, medical solutions, nutrition serums, and some Origin crystals for you to start practicing with the [10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia] body refinement technique. It is a technique that requires the practitioner to have a messed-up body with wounds that are pretty weird, but the final result should be in your favor.

    The technique turns the imperfect body or vessel into something that is as perfect as possible, meaning that your messy body will be fixed properly!" The Dojo Master said through the holographic message before he added,

    "Once you feel that your body has been fixed to arge extent, you can search Elder Walin or me to seek ess to the martial art library''s first floor. You can learn one technique for free before you will have to earn contribution points to be eligible to learn another technique!"

    Nial was d that the Dojo Master found a proper body refinement technique and he would have started practicing it immediately if he had all the necessary things by his side.

    However, he was missing nearly everything, which was why he waited patiently.

    Ryu was by his side and he chirped cheerfully, demanding to be petted just like always.

    Nial caressed Ryu for quite some time while simultaneously visualizing the content of the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia body refinement technique in his mind.

    It was a huge scroll and the words were written in an extremely small font. Thus, a small shred of the technique was already enough for Nial to understand what he had to do in order to undergo the first 10 Refinements of Imperfectia.

    "This will be darn painful¡­"

 Chapter 403 100 Refinements Of Imperfectia

    His body would undergo a drastic modification and be reshaped in the refinement process. Thus, it was only obvious that Nial would be in pain while exerting the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia technique.

    However, he was pretty sure that everything would be worth it.

    First of all, every single refinement in the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia technique would contribute to the whole reshaping process but that was not everything.

    Nial''s strength would improve, the flow of his mana was bound to increase drastically, the impurities in his skin, flesh, and veins would slowly be taken care of and he would receive a few more gains as well.

    All these things were more than enough for Nial to understand that he had to practice the body refinement technique whether he would undergo hellish pain or not.

    The pain would just help him improve more and more...or so Nial hoped while imprinting that thought deep in his mind to make sure that he wouldn''t give up before it had even begun.

    It didn''t take long before one of the Dojo''s many servants arrived in front of his room. It was a Valxian, who had failed the entrance test. His expression was eerily calm but his eyes seemed lifeless as he put down everything he had been ordered to bring before he left without saying a single word.

    "That was weird..." Nial mumbled and Ryu chirped in acknowledgment before their gazes flicked to the things the servant had brought.

    There was everything he needed to undergo the first 100 Refinements of Imperfectia, which was why Nial chose to undergo so many refinements in a single session, no matter how long it would take or how painful it would be.

    Nial knew that it required determination and ambition to be stronger, and he was ready to give it all if that was necessary to get closer to his goal.

    What exactly that goal was, was something Nial had yet to decide but he was already satisfied with the thought of bing stronger for him to survive.

    Everything would turn to dust and the goals he had or the achievements he had painstakingly made would not matter anymore the moment he died, which meant that his survival was a necessity to attain all kinds of goals and it could also be considered a goal all by itself.

    The feeling of having a new goal was nice even if it was not necessarily something special.

    Thus, with newfound energy and willpower, Nial began to visualize the first 100 Refinements of Imperfectia in his mind. The first 10 Refinements were to build a foundation in order to start refining the body from a certain point outward.

    At first, Nial thought that his entire body would be refined ten thousand times but that couldn''t be further from the truth. The first 100 and thest 100 Refinements of Imperfectia would refine his entire body, first to create a foundation to start refining with before his body would be ''divided'' into numerous portions. Even they would be refined one after another until thest 100 Refinements of Imperfectia would sew everything together, create a perfect synergy between all parts of the body and finish the refinements by undergoing tens of refinements of the ''perfect'' body once everything was done.

    Nial figured that it was far moreplex than that but he didn''t intend to understand the technique in its essence. That would be a waste of time and it was actually not something he could achieve, to begin with.

    He was not knowledgeable, let alone intelligent enough toprehend the essence of the technique. It was already good enough for him to understand the individual refinement procedures and imprint them in his mind.

    That was something Nial could do rather quickly because Nial was good at learning and remembering things.

    Nial finally got the chance to start practicing the first few refinements of the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia technique.

    Nial had filled the basin with hot water after which he dissolved the medicinal solutions and nutrition serums inside it before he spread out a bunch of Origin crystals around the basin.

    While removing his clothes, Nial essed all of his Origin crystals before he pulled mana toward him. He began to circte all of the mana that was inside his body in a specific manner, just as suggested in the body refinement technique''s first steps.

    Nial pushed his entire body underwater, he opened his pores to allow the nutrition and the effect of the medicinal ingredients to be fully unleashed as he started to exert the first Refinement of Imperfectia.

    "Argh!!" He growled out underground as a searing pain spread through his entire body the moment he started practicing the first Refinement of Imperfectia.

    It was mentioned clearly that the practitioner would feel more pain the bigger the mess of a body he or she possessed. However, even then, Nial would have never expected to feel that much pain.

    His body was being pulled apart, or so it felt, at least and Nial couldn''t do anything to stop it. If he were to stop the first refinement of imperfectia, the pain would be permanent. Nial wanted to avoid that if possible.

    He devoured the nutrients in his body and spread them through his entire body to create a soothing sensation that kept spreading through his body. The Heart of Darkness was beating slowly as it absorbed some of the nutrition, altered them with the amplification of the evolved Symbol of Life and returned the altered nutrition.

    Time passed slowly and the pain that Nial felt decreased gradually. The water inside the basin had turned red due to the blood that was continuously trickling outside his body and a ck reeking mass now covered the surface.<sub> </sub>

    After finishing the first Refinement of Imperfectia, Nial had to clear the water of the impurities. He couldn''t rece it because there was still loads of nutrition inside the water and Nial didn''t have the time, let alone wealth to waste precious resources.

    ''I wonder how much the Dojo Master paid for everything...does he invest that much in every student, hoping to get back a thousandfold in return?'' Nial wondered when he realized just how many impurities the first Refinement of Imperfectia had already been removed from his body.

    He knew that most imperfections would be removed in the first 100 Refinements to make sure that his body could be reshaped with as few impurities inside him as possible but Nial didn''t expect such a result, nheless!

    His surprise was clearly visible on his face and Ryu chirped out in joy seeing that Nial was not only doing fine but that he seemed better than before.

    The wingless Gryphon had been in a mess upon sensing how much pain Nial had been in all the time. Ryu was in distress, not knowing what he should do instead of trying to be stronger by himself.

    Thus, the Gryphon had begun to try using his darkness affinity to manifest wings on his back. This would be the fastest way for Ryu to be happy and to help Nial in various ways.

    With that in mind, Ryu focused on himself, while waiting for Nial to say that they would go out for a walk, hunt something, or do something else.

    However, until that happened, quite some time would have to pass. After all, Nial had just gotten a taste of how beneficial it was to refine his body.

    He couldn''t just leave after getting a single bite of the tantalizing appetizer!

    Nial chose to use up all the resources he had been granted from the Dojo Master and he started refining his body once again undergoing the second Refinement of Imperfectia.

    He had cleaned the basin from impurities, which was enough for him to start refining his body once again.

    Time passed slowly and he finished the second, third and fourth refinement in the following two days. His progress didn''t elerate afterward but he didn''t slow down either.

    Every day he finished two Refinements of Imperfectia after facing unbearable pain...pain that seemed to be necessary to clean his body from the inside that was far more messed up than he could have ever expected.

    Almost two months had passed before Nial finally stepped out of the basin. His skin was nearly translucent and it had begun to glow in a milky white hue.

    But that was something Nial was obviously not able to see. However, he didn''t care about his appearance, no matter how handsome he was, either way.

    Nial was more focused on the changes going on in his body and the newfound feelings that were coursing through him as he smoothly circted mana through his body.

    "How the hell was it even possible for me to fight opponents stronger than myself when my body was in such a bad condition?" Nial began to wonder when he realized that his mana cirction speed had elerated by at least 200% while his physical strength seemed to have increased as well.

    He finished the first threshold of the Refinements of Imperfectia technique...the first 100 Refinements werepleted and Nial had finished all the resources he had been given, and his heart began to palpitate in anticipation.

    ''I want more...''

    **

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 Chapter 404 The Guild And The Rivals

    Nial was happy about the improvements 100 Refinements of Imperfectia allowed him to achieve but he was far from satisfied.

    The thought that he had merely finished 1 percent of the whole body refinement technique was enough for him to shudder because he was pretty sure that perfectly refining his body by using the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia would allow him to be truly powerful.

    Once he would havepletely fixed his body by using this technique, he might as well search for a different type of Body refinement technique, one that would create a symbiotic rtionship with his unique traits and the five abilities he would have bound by then.

    Both of his hearts began to palpitate and he immediately began to daydream of an interesting future, a future where he was powerful enough to protect everyone important to him, where nobody had to be afraid of getting killed at any moment.

    His mother''s death had left a gaping hole in his heart and the memory often ate at him and Nial was still haunted by nightmares whenever he fell asleep. He thought that the nightmares would end after leaving the new human shelter but they kept tailing him wherever he went.

    Nial had finally epted the nightmares and his fault for his mother''s death but that did little to help him. Instead, it made things even more difficult because Nial was not sure what exactly his subconscious wanted to tell him through the nightmares.

    Would the Nightmares stop when he found out what he wanted to achieve in the future or would they keep haunting him until the end of time? Nial was not sure about the answer but he hoped that the nightmares would end soon.

    Ryu noticed Nial''s mood swings and he chirped out while releasing theplex emotions he felt as well.

    The wingless Gryphon hadn''t been outside Nial''s room for the past two months and he was bored to death after being caged in the walls. Monsters didn''t need to actively work to refine their body or to improve their mana core.

    They would just grow up on their own as long as they had enough nutrition and mana around them. Afterward, they would have to find ways to surpass their racial limits to keep improving.

    For some of them that was easier, while it was far more difficult for others. As for the wingless Gryphon, Ryu, he was trying hard to rece his missing wings by bing more proficient with his darkness affinity.

    Training the darkness affinity had worked pretty well but Ryu had yet to gain actual practical experience. Yet, because he didn''t want to leave Nial, Ryu had yet to find an opportunity to try creating properly functional wings.

    "I know, I know¡­" Nial just said when he heard theints of the wingless Gryphon and he got up from the ground.

    His mana core rank hadn''t changed in thest two months but that was not something Nial was bothered about. He had to find three suitable ability crystals to bind to his mana core before he could focus his work on the mana core, either way.

    In the meantime, he might as well finish the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia technique, and be a better Runicier!

    "Let''s register at the Guild to earn some contribution points, otherwise, we will die as poor beggars, rather than bigshots," Nial suggested with a grin as he changed into a cleaner set of clothes before he left his room with Ryu.

    They needed more resources andpleting missions of the Guild was probably the easiest way to earn contribution points. Contributions points were not only the currency of adventurers in Alliance City but they could also be used by organizations to gain more power.

    Alliance City was a neutral ce for all races to have an equal chance at procuring power. The 10 Divons and the organizations they had created might have the most power in Alliance city but other forces were allowed to attain the same rights in the City as the 10 Divons and their organizations possessed.

    The only thing they required was to possess enough contribution points, which could be used to upgrade the ranking of their organizations or to procure specific titles for individuals.

    Every newly established organization would start from scratch, without any benefits in the city. Their ranking would be at the 0-Star, and upgrading the rank would cost them a tremendous amount of contribution points.

    As members of the Divon races, the Divon of the Valxians had shared some contribution points with all those, who had achieved many glorious feats in the past.

    That was also one of the reasons why the Dojo Master had been eligible to buy arge piece ofnd in the Alliance city, build the ginormous pagoda and create the 0-Star Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo!

    Until now, the Dojo Master had yet to upgrade the Dojo to a 1-Star organization, which was mostly due to the fact that the Dojo Master had spent a major chunk of contribution points to nourish the new members that joined the Dojo.

    Every single member was given a grand wee gift that was as valuable as the resources and techniques Nial had been given.<sub> </sub>

    Thus, it was only obvious that the Dojo Master had yet to umte enough contribution points to gain more power in Alliance City.

    Every member of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo knew about this, which was also why they worked hard to collect contribution points whenever possible.

    And that was also one of the reasons why Nial was ready to collect a bunch of contribution points bypleting missions for the Guild.

    He could get his hands on resources and contribution points by solving the Guild''s missions, and it would be possible for him to test his new powers.

    Meanwhile, Ryu would finally get some space to test out his proficiency in the darkness affinity. The wingless Gryphon was excited to see if it could finally gain the ability to fly without the need for someone else to help him in any way!

    Unfortunately, Nial sensed something that was rather annoying when he was on his way to the Guild.

    The Guild was located in the center of Alliance City and Nial had to ride on Ryu for a short while to get there.

    On his way, he was able to perceive many things that attracted his attention, including a rather annoying situation.

    Khain and two other Valxians seemed to have encountered trouble with members of another race. This race was none other than the Heligav, which was enough for Nial to tell Ryu to make a detour.

    It didn''t even take two minutes before he reached the huge crowd that had formed upon seeing themotion that the Heligav and Valxians made by shouting at each other.

    Nial didn''t even try to listen to their bickering and catcalls. Instead, he went to one of the few humans, who hade to observe what was going to happen between the members of the two races, and asked them a bunch of questions.

    "What happened here?" Nial asked in the universalnguage, which caused some humans to look at him weirdly. They squint their eyes and spoke in their ownnguage just for Nial to smile apologetically.

    "I can only speak in the universalnguage. My family prepared me for the Origins'' awakening and they thought that I should rather learn the universalnguage than anything else," He came up with an excuse in the hopes that the humans would buy it.

    They looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders before one of them spoke to him.

    "Your parents must have been hard to deal with then. I know a few families who are simr to yours¡­ Erratics¡­ well, whatever¡­" The young man said, realizing toote what his words implied. He faked a cough and gave Nial an awkward smile.

    "You wish to know what happened here, right?" He asked and Nial nodded his head, ignoring what the young man had said before. It didn''t really matter to him because it was unrted to him.

    "As you might know, Valxians and Heligav are not really on good terms with each other, to begin with, but these two groups are shing with each other way too often. Whether it is a coincidence or not, the members of the 0-Star Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and the members of the 2-Star de Obliteration Academy usually ept the same missions at the Guild.

    Thus, they end up fighting each other a lot outside Alliance City. There were already a bunch of casualties and the situation between these two organizations seems to be getting worse by the day," The young man exined and Nial started to smile when he heard this.

    "Won''t the higher ups of the Alliance City say anything against the murders that happened outside?" He asked in curiosity and the young man could clearly see the faint grin that had appeared on Nial''s face.

    Nial''s expression and his weird attitude caused the young man to hesitate for a few seconds, especially since Nial had asked questions that weremon knowledge by now.

    "The higher ups won''t do anything as long as nobody acts up inside the city, and as long as they don''t hunt each other actively. Fighting each other for picking the same missions is not something that can be avoided, and intervening might make things worse," The young human exined and Nial nodded his head once again before he stepped forward.

    "Wait, don''t interfere, or you will get pulled into their trouble as well!" The young man tried to pull Nial back, just to miss him by a hair''s breadth as Nial turned his head.

    "I''m already in the midst of the storm¡­ Why should I try to escape it?" He asked while the insignia of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo dangled down his neck.

 Chapter 405 The Bet

    "He is a member of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo? How is that even possible?" The young human asked when he saw the Dojo''s insignia hanging down from Nial''s neck.

    Nial had turned the insignia into a ne to carry it around, but it was still easy to decipher to which organization the insignia belonged.

    "Weren''t their Dojo master and their Elders against epting other races in their Dojo? I thought they wanted to focus on teaching Valxians because they are not aware of the anatomy of other races, and some other bullshit¡­ Was all of that a lie, to begin with?" Another human Original asked, feeling just as confused as the others were as he looked at Nial''s back, not sure what was about to happen.

    "Yo, can you guys shut up for a moment?" Nial asked in a low voice as he looked at the bunch of Valxians and Heligav in front of him, but none of them seemed to hear him.

    This caused Nial to sigh deeply and he got on Ryu''s back before he cleared his throat.

    "You braindead idiots, shut it!" He bellowed while using his Essence of Darkness to amplify his voice in the direction of the Heligav. As for the Valxians, they received a p on the back of their heads from Ryu, who had used his darkness affinity to do so.

    The buildings behind the Heligav started to tremble when Nial''s voice reverberated through the alley while blood trickled down the ears and eyes of the weaker Heligavs.

    He attracted everyone''s attention within seconds, especially Khain, who was looking at Nial with an iprehensible expression.

    ''What was this gloomy and weird power that apanied his voice just now?'' Khain wondered, while clearly recalling that Nial didn''t use this type of power or ability when they had been fighting.

    ''Is that what the Dojo Master was referring to when saying that Nial was holding back?'' He asked himself and his expression turned grim for a moment.

    "Nial, what are you doing here?" Khain asked nheless, his voice much calmer than his expression.

    "I just saw you guys and wanted to have a nice chat," Nial answered, not bothering that nobody believed his words. He was blind, so how was he supposed to see anyone, to begin with?

    "You wanted to chat with us? Right now¡­why?" The other two Valxians were as confused about Nial''smentary as Khain. However, they didn''t dare to say anything right now because it was obvious that the Heligav was far from pleased about the attitude both Khain and Nial showcased when facing them.

    They chatted calmly while ignoring the Heligav with whom they had been fighting until now, even if it had just been a verbal fight.

    "I just want to know if it would be better toplete Guild missions with multiple people, or ifpleting missions alone will provide me with more contribution points," Nial made up something on the spot, ignoring how weird his words sounded.

    He could sense that the Heligav were getting more and more annoyed. Nial felt like making use of this opportunity, which was why he acted as he was doing right now.

    "Or maybe it would be better to join the Colosseum? A few rounds should reward me with a bunch of contribution points¡­hmm¡­I wonder what I should do?" Nial sighed helplessly and he shrugged his shoulders acting as if he had no idea what he should do right now.

    Ryu chirped in confusion in response. The wingless Gryphon wanted to leave Alliance City for a while to fly around and do other stuff. He had felt caged in Nial''s room but stayed nheless because he didn''t want to leave his master''s side. Thus, the change of the situation was far from pleasing.

    "Don''t worry, Ryu. I will take away some trash from the streets and we can leave the city toplete a few missions from the Guild afterward," Nial tried to reassure the wingless Gryphon before he sat down on Ryu''s back once again. He patted him lovingly, making the confusion and anger of the wingless Gryphon disappear rather easily.

    Ryu demanded only a few caresses to be content with his life, which was what Nial provided without hesitation.

    "You want to earn contribution points?" One of the Heligav asked all of a sudden, looking deeply at Nial. In return, Nial smiled gently at the Heligav before he nodded his head.

    "The more the better. I have yet to earn some contribution points, so I''m dirt poor," He answered rather calmly while continuing to caress Ryu''s fluffy plumage.

    The Valxians frowned for a moment when they saw the kind way in which Nial spoke to the Heligavs, which didn''t seem to make any sense. Nial would have to be a dimwit not to realize that the Heligav were one of the biggest threats to the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo.

    They actively restricted the Dojo''s progress and many of their members had been injured due to the actions of the Heligav race. It was quite troublesome, yet, Nial treated the Heligav with kindness as if he was too stupid to read the room.

    Even the Heligavs were a bit astonished about Nial''s weird and entric behavior. At first, he told them to shut up using a weird power and now he was treating them with kindness.

    It looked like Nial had actually used his power to shut up everyone just to talk to Khain and the other Valxians, rather than joining the verbal fight against the Heligav.

    However, it was not as if the Heligav would ept this so easily.

    "How about I tell you an easy way to earn arge amount of contribution points?" One of the strongest present Heligav asked, forcing himself to speak nicely.

    Nial faked an even brighter smile than he had had before and he sped his hands together lightly, showing how exhrated he was.

    "There is something like that? What is it?" Nial asked in a seemingly innocent voice and the expression of all the Heligav lit up as they began to understand that the human was naive and pretty dumb.

    "Of course there is. You can challenge other people in the Colosseum while cing a bet by using the contribution points!" The leader of the Heligav group said as he lightly added, "but because you don''t have any contribution points, you would have to bet something else¡­such as your little mount there¡­or your life!"

    ''Do they really think that I''m that dumb?'' Nial asked himself in his head while he maintained a foolish look on the outside.

    "Betting my life¡­or Ryu? I can''t do that¡­" Nial said quietly just for the leader of the Heligav to startughing lightly.<sub> </sub>

    "The higher the bets, the more you can gain. If you dare to fight against my friend right here, we will bet 500,000 contribution points if you bet your mount!" The Heligav said while pointing at another Heligav, who was at the Lower Prometheus rank.

    Nial''s mana core rank was already higher than the Heligav, who seemed to have been appointed as his opponent and Nial made it seem as if he was faltering.

    ''They want me to lower my guard by telling me to challenge someone with a weaker mana core. But that Heligav is obviously one of their Assassins with the invisibility trait,'' Nial concluded as he turned his head to look at Ryu.

    "Only 500,000 contribution points¡­that seems a little bit low¡­" He mumbled while caressing Ryu and added "...low for the chance of risking my mount if I were to lose¡­he is my trusted partner, after all¡­"

    It would be weird if Nial were to ept the bet immediately. Thus, Nial was trying to make the Heligav raise the bar.

    The group of Heligav were not many but the eyes of each of them were overflowing with greed. They could tell that Ryu was a rare existence, especially since most mutated Gryphons would awaken a light, or holy affinity rather than a darkness affinity!

    It might be a bummer that the Gryphon was born without wings but that could also be considered a rather rare trait. Ryu was worth a fortune to most monster tamers, and even more so breeders.

    Thus, the Heligav were ready to risk their fortune if it provided them with the chance to get their hands on the wingless mutated Gryphon.

    "500,000 contribution points is already a high enough bet. You''ll be able to focus on training your mana core, body, and mind for an entire year before your contribution points will run out!" The Heligav emphasized his point again but he could see that Nial was shaking his head, disagreeing with the Heligav''sment.

    ''This fucking human bastard!! Is he willing to bet the Gryphon or not?! Why is that dumb idiot trying so frustrating???'' He thought in his mind before he turned to the others.

    "How many contribution points do each of you have right now?!?" He asked the other Heligavs around him. His eyes were bloodshot and the others couldn''t help but feel that their leader was slowly losing his shit.

    Most Heligav looked at the insignia of their organization to manifest a holographic screen where their individual points were revealed to everyone around.

    Only one of the Heligav didn''t do as their leader said as he began to doubt their leader''s sanity.

    "Sir¡­all of us have umted these points throughout thest few months and based on the achievements we made before we came to the Origin¡­if we lose them the Elder will punish us severely¡­" He tried to convince his leader to not be foolish in a pleading voice. But it was just a moment before he finished hisment when his leader''s hand shot out toward his head.

    A huge hand covered his entire face and he was lifted from the ground as the Leader''s voice resounded in his ears.

    "Do as I said, or die!" He bellowed before letting go of his subordinate, who slumped to the ground.

    When he got up with shivering legs, he revealed his contribution points as well, just for the leader to turn around once again.

    "I will give you just one opportunity to make it big, little human!" He said with a bright smile on his face as he offered the deal, "You will bet your life and your mount and we will bet three million contribution points as long as you fight Jivam!"

    Nial couldn''t hide his frown anymore as he looked at the Leader of the Heligav with furrowed eyebrows.

    ''Does he want to kill me that badly? Is that because I''m a member of the Thousand Bodies refinements Dojo and because I look foolish, or does he know who I am and what I did to the settlement near the Forest of Life?'' Nial wondered, just to discard the second theory.

    It was unlikely for the Heligav to know him especially because he was a mere ''human'', a seemingly weak race with only few powerhouses, which meant that Nial was just a scapegoat in the Heligav''s eyes which they wanted to use to ruin the image of the Dojo.

    This was quite interesting, especially since the Heligav had gotten greedy enough to offer him three million contribution points to make him bet his life and Ryu as well.

    "What do you say, Ryu?" Nial asked in a slightly concerned voice. He was not worried if he would win or not, but if Ryu would agree to the bet or not.

    His query was answered a momentter as the wingless Gryphon chirped out loudly.

    "He agrees to the bet¡­and so do I!"

    **

    If you want to support me use your golden tickets and powerstones.

    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

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 Chapter 406 Worth A Try!

    "Will he be fine, or should we message the Dojo Master? Maybe he can rescue Nial if something bad were to happen¡­" One of the two Valxians next to Khain asked in a concerned voice.

    He was not concerned about Nial''s life but more about the fact that their Dojo might get into trouble after the news about the bet between Nial and some Heligavs would spread throughout Alliance City.

    The bet itself was not the problem but more the fact that the Heligav would give their utmost to humiliate the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and tarnish its image as much as possible.

    That was bound to happen in the Colosseum, where all of them were currently heading.

    The Heligav had separated from Nial and the Valxians but their expressions before departing had been full of joy and malice. It was obvious that they had nned something bad and Khain''s friends and colleagues didn''t like the current situation, at all.

    "I don''t think that you need to message the Dojo Master¡­but I''m not sure, to be honest¡­" Khain answered. He was genuinely confused about the current situation. Nial had behaved weirdly when the Heligav was still with them.

    Khain thought that Nial had nned to trick the Heligav but it was weird that the human Original continued to act foolish and naive even after the few Heligav had departed. This made Khain worry a lot even if he knew that Nial was stronger than him.

    ''Did something happen in thest two months? The Elder and Master said that he used a special technique to fix the issue of his body¡­did he have a rpse, and his brain was damaged?'' Khain wondered as he looked at the young Original, who wasfortably riding the wingless Gryphon.

    Nial patted Ryu as he was deep in thought, a weird smile had formed on his face.

    ''This is really annoying. Why would they send a spy out to watch over me? Do they think that I will run away, or that Khain will give me some sort of overpowered secret technique that I can learn within a few minutes to defeat their Assassin Heligav, Jivam or whatever his name was?'' Nial thought in frustration as he kept visualizing the invisible Heligav, who followed them.

    At first, he hadn''t noticed anything, but the Heligav didn''t try to hide or mask the vibrations his steps created upon touching the ground. When Nial found out about the spy, he was forced to keep acting foolish until they reached the Colosseum where they verified their bet.

    Three million contribution points were given to the Referee, who would be the judge of the battle and Ryu calmly stood next to the six-eyed Referee without questioning anything.

    "The human participant Nial, member of the 0-Star Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo bet his life and his pet, called ''Ryu'' in today''s battle against the Heligav participant Jivam, member of the 2-Star de Obliteration Academy, who bet three million contribution points.

    The battle will end when one participant is knocked out, severely injured, or unable to continue fighting in any other way. Killing is strictly forbidden under normal circumstances but participant Nial bet his life, which means that his death won''t be pursued!" The Referee announced loudly before he gestured the two participants to enter the huge arena of the Colosseum.

    Upon perceiving everything around him, Nial quickly noticed that the Heligav had acted quickly. They made many calls and told various organizations about the bet between the de Obliteration Academy and the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo.

    Many renowned figures hade to personally witness their humiliation, and it didn''t take long before Nial found all members of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, including Elder Walin and the Dojo Master.

    When Khain and the others had reunited with the Dojo Master and the others, they reported everything that happened, including Nial''s sudden appearance and the possibility that his brain had been damaged during thest two months.

    The Dojo Master couldn''t believe this but it didn''t really make sense that the Heligav would be foolish enough to bet three million contribution points to make sure that Nial would bet his life and Ryu.

    ''Either his brain was actually injured and he didn''t even think while epting the bet, or he is tricking everyone¡­'' The Dojo Master thought, hoping that it was thetter.

    However, even he couldn''t help but feel a bit doubtful because it was not unlikely that Nial would have sustained a rpse if he had somehow made a mistake while undergoing the Refinements of Imperfectia.

    The Dojo Master hoped for the best, especially since it would be a waste if they were to lose someone like Nial.

    After Nial stepped inside the arena, Nial felt quitefortable. They were given the whole space of the Colosseum to fight, which was mostly to give the Heligav Assassin an advantage.

    As long as he activated a few abilities while turning invisible, it would be near-impossible for Nial to find the Heligav, especially if Jivam were to wait for the perfect moment to attack Nial.

    For an Assassin, who could hide his entire presence, timing was the most important. They had only one opportunity to make sure that their opponent would die, otherwise, they might face a counterattack that could kill them in an instant.

    Thus, it wouldn''t even be weird if they were to wait for several hours before they would attack their designated target with a lethal blow.

    "I will start the countdown when everyone is ready," The Referee announced and both Nial and Jivam lifted their hand, indicating that they were ready.<sub> </sub>

    A set of poisonous green daggers manifested in Jivam''s hands, his body was suddenly covered in ck armor that covered his bull body, including his four legs near-perfectly, while a chainmail enveloped his upper body.

    Interestingly enough neither the chainmail nor the bull armor created any noises when Jivam began to move his hooves and arms.

    ''It is not like the sounds don''t exist but more like the noises cannot be heard by me or anyone around. He probably used a bunch of Noise-canceling runic constetions?'' Nial concluded as he perceived the various runic constetions of the Tier-2 runic armaments that covered the Heligav''s body.

    After the bull armor, the chainmail, and the dagger set had manifested, Jivam put on a bunch of bracelets and a helmet as well.

    This caused amotion in the Colosseum because it was a rarity for the Heligav to use so many Runic armaments.

    Themotion got only louder when Nial retrieved only a single runic armament from his spatial ring¡­ a ck glove¡­

    "Is that boy suicidal? Doesn''t he realize that it''s time for him to go all out?? I guess he really wants to die!" One of the higher ups of arge organization yelled angrily, ridiculing Nial and his intelligence before he lightly added.

    "Well, if I were to belong to such a ridiculous 0-star Dojo, I would prefermitting suicide instead!"

    Khain and the other students of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo grit their teeth when they heard the hateful words of the 3-star Dojo''s leader, but they didn''t dare to stand up and start a riot. The Dojo Master had lifted his hand, indicating that they should calm down and remain seated.

    "Possessing many Tier-2 runic armaments doesn''t really mean that he can use them. Even if he can use them, what does it matter?" Elder Walin said, trying to reassure her students that everything would be fine.

    However, even she couldn''t help but feel a bit worried. She clearly recalled the set of runic armaments the Heligav Assassin was wearing, and it didn''t require lots of talent to utilize it properly¡­after all the only effects it had were passive such as poisoning their opponent when cut with the dagger, noise-canceling, vibration-silencing, scent-dissolving, and multyered concealment that included the concealment of mana in a range of more than one meter around the Heligav, concealment of killing intent and much more.

    The runic armament Jivam was given had been customized for the Assassins of the Heligav and it required many unique materials to be created, including highly rare and exotic runic constetions that only few Runiciers know of, and even less had perfected the engraving process!

    Thus, Elder Walin couldn''t help but feel worried when the battle started with themand of the Referee.

    "Let the battle begin!"

    The instant the referee signaled the start of the battle, Jivam turned invisible.

    His entire existence seemed to have disappeared at this moment and only Nial was left within the Colosseum.

    Nial stepped forward in a calm manner while putting on the ck glove. He opened and closed his hand to make sure that he feltfortable before taking a deep breath after he reached the center of the arena.

    Nial took a few light jumps before he bent down to the ground to punch the floor of the arena with his left hand.

    "Looks like my strength won''t be able to pierce through it, that''s sad," Nial mumbled, not realizing that his actions attracted lots of interest from everywhere around.

    Everyone was looking at him because he was the only participant that was visible. Jivam had disappeared, while Nial acted extremely weird.

    "What the hell is he trying to do? Is his brain damaged?" One of the other big leaders of an organization with many stars asked. He felt like he was wasting his time watching this battle.

    The result was quite obvious, either way. If the Heligav Assassin lost after everything Nial did in thest few minutes, it would be extremely humiliating, especially after all of their earlier attempts to ensure that all the bigshots of the Alliance City woulde to visit!

    Nial didn''t bother about anything that happened around him, let alone the fact that the Heligav had been trying to con him because he was doing exactly the same!

    "That''s worth a try!"

 Chapter 407 Tch!

    "That''s worth a try!" Nial mumbled to himself but his voice traveled through the entire Colosseum.

    The calmness in Nial''s voice made everybody feel stunned and even the Originals, who had been making fun of Nial, instinctively turned silent.

    Something in Nial''s voice bothered them.

    Was it the calmness, the groundless confidence, or the killing intent that apanied Nial''s voice no matter how silently he spoke? Nobody could really tell how they felt but their thought about having wasted their precious timeing over to the Colosseum had disintegrated into nothingness.

    The tension in the whole Colosseum had reached to an unprecedented level and the atmosphere got even less bearable as Nial activated all the runic constetions on his Broken runic armaments, the Darkness Eruption Glove.

    The Broken runic Darkness Eruption Glove had been created with his Heart of Darkness and the purest Essence of Darkness for emergency situations when traveling around.

    Nial might not be traveling right now but he was pretty sure that he could simply replicate the Broken runic armament as long as he got his hands on a bunch of materials.

    Thus, there was no need for him to be worried about destroying the Broken runic armament Nial had created with various ways to use it.

    After inserting a tremendous amount of mana inside the Darkness Eruption Glove, the dark onyx that had been etched on top of a specific runic constetion began to glow in a gloomy dark light that began to shroud Nial''s hand and entire lower arm.

    The runic constetion, [Soundwave], [Eruption], [Darkness], [Mana Flood], and [Intermediate Mana Storage] had been fully unleashed.

    With a tremendous amount of mana stored inside the [Intermediate Mana Storage] that could also store mana in other objects, all the runic constetions he had engraved and activated were ovepping with one another.

    Their effects were overclocked manyfold as the stored mana was unleashed. Altogether, Nial had unleashed more mana than an ordinary Deux-ranked Original could store in their body, he controlled it easily while inserting more mana from within his Heart of Darkness and Mana core inside.

    Nial was not trying to test out the strength of his body after a few refinements but his intention was to defeat the fully geared Heligav Assassin in a single attack.

    With the use of enough mana, one could overclock the effect of runic constetions and unleash the power that was manyfold higher than the use of the runic constetion unleashed under normal circumstances.

    The use of the ''Overclock'' effect was something that would inevitably harm the runic constetion and destroy the entire runic armament in the process.

    However, Nial didn''t care the slightest about the destruction of the Darkness Eruption Glove. It had been created to be a one-time consumable item, to begin with.

    Thus, when all the runic constetions that were tightly intertwined with one another began to unleash their effect, tremendous power was released in an instant.

    As they were tightly intertwined with one another, the runic constetions created abined effect, which was exactly what Nial had intended to do.

    Rather than creating a single runic armament with multiple different effects, Nial''s biggest focus was to use several rather simple runic constetions to create terrifying attacks bybining the power of seemingly simple constetions.

    The Darkness Eruption Glove was supposed to be pierced through the ground and create a terrifying earthquake to distract opponents, topple them out of bnce or kill them immediately if possible.

    But it was Nial''s misfortune that the arena''s ground of the colosseum had been constructed by a material that was so tough and hard that his meager strength was inadequate to help him do that.

    Yet, instead of being focused on that, Nial disregarded his own safety, only to seal off all his senses for the next few seconds a moment before his right fist smashed into the ground.

    The moment his fist touched the ground, all the power umted in the Darkness Eruption Glove was unleashed. A Soundwave that was solely created out of tremendous amounts of Darkness shot through over the ground. It erupted, split up, and turned into a humongous flood that swallowed everything in the eternal darkness out of which it had been created.

    The whole arena that spanned more than two kilometers in length and width was swallowed by the darkness that had been released explosively from Nial''s right hand.

    His right hand looked extremely bad and misshapen, almost as if it had been broken over and over again but Nial barely paid any attention to this as he used his left hand to fix his broken hand.

    Nial''s expression didn''t change in the slightest as he fixed his hand and he essed his spatial ring just a momentter to retrieve a potion from his spatial ring.

    It was a potion made by the Elves, a potion that would elerate the healing process of the body.<sub> </sub>

    "If you drink the potion, you will lose the battle and the bet," The Referee''s warning resounded through the darkness-flooded arena all of a sudden, which was followed by Nial clicking his tongue.

    "So you''re saying that this idiot can use more than ten runic armaments to fight me, and I cannot even drink a single potion?" Nial asked, his voiceced with anger as he added, "Sounds like a lot of bullshit."

    "Another annoyingment and I will disqualify you from this battle! I was lenient before because this is your first battle in the Colosseum and you are not aware of the rules. You would have lost without my warning, remember that!" The Referee spoke in a stern voice and though he used softer words, his intent was quite obvious; ''Shut up on your own, or I will make you do so!''

    However, Nial couldn''t care less about the Referee''sment and he cleared his throat and cross-checked to make sure that he understood everything properly,

    "So as long as I defeat him, I can drink the potion?"

    The question was stupid and the Referee sighed deeply after hearing the stubbornness in the young human''s voice.

    "Yes," He said and it was just a momentter that Nial stored the potion back in his spatial ring as he disappeared from his spot.

    The flood of darkness slowly dispersed but that was not important to Nial. He had visualized every single detail about the surrounding area when he had unleashed the darkness flood.

    Thus, Nial could easily decipher the outlines of Jivam, the invisible Heligav, who was smashed against the walls of the Colosseum''s arena.

    Even if someone was invisible and it seemed like they had disappeared, their corporeal bodies would still be present. It was not as if the Heligav''s existence had been wiped out just because his body turned invisible.

    This was enough reason for Nial to use the Darkness Eruption Gloves to figure out where Jivam was.

    Now that he found the young Heligav, who was squeezed against the walls of the arena, Nial began to smile.

    "Found you, shithead!" He dered and retrieved a huge morning star from his spatial ring as he emerged in front of the invisible Heligav Assassin.

    He ignored the pain in his right hand as he used his full force to smash the morningstar down on the invisible opponent that began to scream out loudly.

    While Jivam was still incapable of moving through the flood of darkness, Nial felt like he was home when being around darkness. He couldmand any kind of darkness however he wanted, which made it easier for him to attack the fully armed Heligav.

    First, Nial crushed both arms of the Heligav and all the bracelets he was wearing, in the process.

    His Ter-2 runic daggers ttered to the ground, and Nial thought about stealing them for a moment. However, after giving it another thought, he figured that his own runic armaments were of much higher quality.

    He didn''t have to pick up the trash of others because he could make his own treasures.

    That was why he didn''t think of hesitating as he continued to trash the Heligav by smashing the Tier-2 runic Morningstar with several ovepping [Armor-breaking], [Armor-piercing], and [Pration] runic constetions engraved on it.

    The runic constetions werebined and their effectiveness could be seen very clearly once the darkness in the surrounding had dispersed. What was revealed was a bloody mass that was covered by crumbled, broken, and dented runic armors while a small human with a height of less than two meters kept striking the morningstar down onto his opponents.

    "Referee, please tell me when to stop, otherwise, I will consider his death your responsibility!" Nial''s eerily calm voice resounded through the whole Colosseum, preventing anyone from speaking out their doubts as the eyes of many widened when they saw the appearance of the once fully-geared Heligav Assassin.

    For thest two minutes, they had only heard pained screams and something smashing down on bones, metal, and naked flesh, and now they saw who had caused the injuries, and what exactly happened.

    "Is that the strength of runic armaments?" Khain couldn''t help but ask as he continued to look at the cruel battlefield. As Valxian blood and death were not something he was afraid of.

    Yet, upon watching what Nial did after he looked so foolish when he came out of his two-month-long seclusion was enough for Khain and many other Valxians to feel their hair standing up on its end.

    "His runic armaments are powerful¡­extremely powerful¡­but that''s not everything," The Dojo Master said as he calmly observed the final seconds of the battle between Nial and the Heligav Assassin before he added, "But it looks like we got our hands on a monster¡­a real monster that hates the Heligav from the bottom of his heart!"

    "Stop the battle!"

 Chapter 408 Value Of A Trashy Life

    "Stop the battle!" The Referee''s voice rang through the arena of the Colosseum and Nial stopped moving immediately.

    He stepped back from the half-dead body of the Heligav Assassin and smiled lightly as he turned in the Referee''s direction.

    Nial essed his spatial ring, he retrieved the same potion he had been holding before and cheered the vial toward the Referee before he led it toward his mouth. After he swallowed the content, Nial felt the changes that urred in his hand. The broken bones would heal quickly and there wouldn''t be the need for him to waste his time resting up.

    The Referee frowned in Nial''s direction but he didn''t say anything. He gestured with his right hand and a group of medics rushed toward Jivam to make sure that he would survive.

    "Next time, you should stop earlier. I can tell that you knew he wouldn''t be able to fight back after you created this weird¡­darkness flood," the Referee said, but Nial shook his head and snapped back at the Referee''sment.

    "Just do your job and stop the fight when one side is unable to continue fighting. That would be much better than epting bribes, don''t you think so?" Nial said the first sentence out loud while he mumbled thest one in a voice quiet enough only for the Referee to hear.

    "I might not be able to see but don''t think that nobody noticed what you''ve been doing before the battle started. As you said before, I might not know the rules but I am not stupid!" Nial dered in an ice-cold voice that rang in the Referee''s ears.

    The Referee wanted to say something but he turned quiet after understanding that he didn''t have any cards to y against Nial.

    Ryu rushed to Nial while chirping joyfully. The wingless Gryphon hadn''t been worried about Nial for a single moment, otherwise, he wouldn''t have been so calm when he had been standing next to the Referee.

    Nial began to pat Ryu as he left the arena. He ignored the attention he received from the various influential spectators as he walked toward the attendant, who had verified his bet with the Heligav.

    "Hello Sir. I was told the result of your battle, congrattions!" The Attendant bowed politely to Nial as he spoke. Nial could only smile weirdly as he handed his Insignia to the attendant.

    "The contribution points of the bet have been transferred to your insignia. Because this is your first time using the Colosseum, the Colosseum won''t charge a fee for your first bet. You may use contribution points that have been stored in your insignia for anything else you desire!" The attendant exined calmly before he returned the insignia.

    He prepared a few more things and returned to his other work afterward, not bothering anymore about Nial.

    ''3,000,000 contribution points are quite a lot¡­I wonder what I should buy with them?'' He began to think hard about possible purchases.

    It was not as if he would purchase more resources to keep practicing the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia technique for another half a year or year right now.

    Instead, it would be better to take a look at various shops to see if there was a suitable ability crystal for him to purchase before he would leave Alliance City toplete some Guild Missions.

    Even if he had enough contribution points to focus on increasing his strength, that didn''t mean he would focus on that solely. He wanted to go on a walk with Ryu, conquer a few dungeons and test the full extent of his newly improved strength.

    Nial looked forward to it and he was just about to leave the Colosseum when he perceived a bunch of rowdies, the same Heligav who had bet against him before.

    "Give me my points back!" The leader of the Heligav group from before shouted at him. His mana was unstable and it looked like his emotions were about to explode at any moment.

    Nial may only be able to perceive others using his range of perception and [Mana Sense] but that was still more than enough to tell how others were feeling, sometimes.

    "I don''t want to do that though," Nial said, shrugging his shoulders as he began to smile lightly, "How about we ce another bet?"

    The Heligav Leader stared daggers at Nial, ready to throw his fist when he heard hisment about a bet.<sub> </sub>

    "A bet? What kind of bet are you talking about?!" He asked, his voice overflowing with anger. The leader of the Heligav group was still not able to digest that Nial had tricked them, that a mere human, a cripple, had yed around with them.

    Nial had humiliated him and their higher ups had told them to return the 3,000,000 contribution points or to be ready for a Hellish punishment.

    The higher authorities of the Heligav were already displeased that the de Obliteration Academy had been humiliated by the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, especially in front of the higher ups from more than 10 powerful organizations.

    But that was not everything because the higher ups of the 10 organizations had been drawn to the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo. They were interested in why a human had been epted in the Dojo where only Valxians were supposed to be eligible to join, and how Nial could have be so powerful.

    With today''s battle and the publicity, the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo had attracted it was only a matter of time before they would grow.

    Until now, their growth might have stagnated because the Heligav had always intercepted.

    But that wouldn''t be possible from today onward because the Dojo had garnered too much attention This frustrated the higher ups of the Heligav race even more than the loss of three million contribution points.

    However, instead of worrying about that, it was necessary to make up for their losses, otherwise the growth of their own organzations would start stagnating.

    "You can bet your life and 2,999,999 contribution points and I might consider betting three million contribution points!" Nial dered the bet he had in mind without feeling the slightest bit odd about what he had just said.

    However, the leader of the small Heligav group didn''t feel that Nial''s words were the slightest bit amusing. He stared daggers at Nial and started growling.

    "What the hell are you talking about, you fucking bastard!?!" He roared out, attracting the attention of the spectators that were just about to leave the Colosseum after they had watched the earlier battle.

    "What am I talking about? Well, that''s quite simple, but let me exin it to you so that even someone like you will understand it, okay?" Nial spoke calmly and slowly as if he was trying to exin to a three-year-old what was going on.

    "I valued your life at one contribution point, which means that you will have to bet the remaining points to make a wager worth three millions points. I was quite generous to put any value on a trashy life such as yours don''t you think?" He exined, shing a bright smile at the leader of the small group of Heligav.

    Nial initially nned to show a serious expression in the Heligav''s direction but he was way too amused to achieve this. Thus, he began to smile in the same direction without feeling the slightest bit odd about it.

    Other Originals, who had heard Nial began tough lightly and the expression of the Heligav changed in response. He began to fume in anger and clenched his jaw.

    Tremendous amounts of mana surged through the Heligav''s body as he dashed forward all of a sudden. A dagger had manifested in his hand and killing intent started to leak from his body.

    Nial didn''t expect the Heligav to be stupid enough to attack him in the open but it was not as if he could be bothered about this. On the contrary, it was quite advantageous in Nial''s opinion.

    There were many witnesses, whom Nial could use to justify his actions. Thus, he manifested a Broken Tier-2 runic weapon from his spatial ring to defend against the Heligav''s attack and kill him with a counterattack.

    However, it was just when Nial wanted to move when he heard that someone cleared his throat.

    This someone had appeared next to Nial all of a sudden and by simply lifting his hand the charging Heligav at the Peak of the Prometheus rank stopped mid-air.

    "What do you think you''re doing in my Colosseum?!"

 Chapter 409 Owner

    "What do you think you''re doing in my Colosseum?!" A cold, yet mature voice rang through the ears of everyone present.

    A young-looking human had appeared next to Nial and he gestured two of his fingers downward, resulting in the levitating Heligav smashing into the ground that caved in.

    The sound of bones crunching due to the impact could be heard but nobody dared to bother about that because all eyes were drawn to the young-looking man, whose power exceeded the norms by far.

    "The Colosseum belongs to the human race of Kryptan and it is under my protection! If you break our rules, your whole race will be banned, or I will just kill you¡­or maybe both!!" The Owner of the Colosseum spoke in the universalnguage as his sky-blue eyes stared coldly at the suffering Heligav, who was further pushed inside the floor of the Colosseum.

    "I wonder what your superiors would say¡­ Do you think they would rather see their entire race getting banned from the Colosseum, or would they prefer your death? I genuinely doubt that your life is valuable enough for them!" The Owner said, shing a bright smile in the direction of some higher-ups of the Heligav, whom he had perceived earlier already.

    "Tell me, what do you value more? The gains you can make in the Colosseum, whether it''s through betting, bartering, or challenging the Missions, or the life of this lovely junior of yours?" He asked, staring intently at the higher authorities of the Heligav race, who began to feel ufortable.

    It was only obvious that they wouldn''t like the situation but they knew that they wouldn''t be allowed to leave if they were to ignore his question. The Owner of the Colosseum would actually just kill their junior and ban their entire race from the Colosseum if they did not apologize for using numerous treasures if they were to get on his nerves.

    "We¡­value the Colosseum more¡­" One of the higher-ups of the Heligav race admitted in a reluctant voice while his expression turned worse.

    Meanwhile, the human''s expression turned brighter as he lifted his fingers once again. The pressure on the young Heligav disappeared, just for him to remain on the ground. His legs had been broken, which forced the Owner of the Colosseum to point at other Heligavs and gesture them to move away the garbage they''d brought to his ce.

    Some members of the Colosseum''s staff rushed over without paying any attention to the people around them as they began repairing the floor that their boss had destroyed recklessly.

    As for the Owner of the Colosseum, he turned in Nial''s direction with a faint smile on his lips.

    "I am a little bit jealous of you, you know?" He said lightly as he patted Nial''s shoulder

    "Why would you?" Nial frowned, not really understanding why anyone would be jealous of him after the battle was concluded.

    "Isn''t that kind of obvious? You''ve attracted lots of attention from the people around you, you earned three million contribution points without much effort, you''re a member of a powerful Dojo that no other race but the Valxians ought to be able to join, and you are still alive and kicking!" The Owner of the Colosseum smiled at Nial, but it felt a bit weird.

    "I worked hard to get all of that, and one of my most valuable Broken Runic armaments was destroyed in the process. That means I had to use up one of my trump cards that was supposed to save my life in dangerous situations had to be sacrificed to defeat this bamby of a Heligav Assassin!" Nial responded, trying to make the Owner of the Colosseum understand that he worked hard to get his hands on what he achieved until today.

    He was not sure why he did that, or why he thought that it was important, and he simply did so without thinking.

    The same could be said about his attitude toward other people. His behavior was questionable in most cases, especially since he treated others as if he had known them for years.

    It didn''t matter whether other people were fine with that or not because Nial would treat them like this nheless, ignoring how others would feel.

    The Owner of the Colosseum was not really bothered by this. He could tell that Nial was either born in one of the noble families in Kryptan, or that the noble family had some sort of treaty with the Valxian to ept him in their group. If not that then there was some sort of other reasoning for Nial to treat him rather nonchntly and for getting epted in the Valxian''s Dojo that was said to be the strongest except for being a 0-star Dojo.

    "Alright, you did an excellent job. But why do you call it a Broken Runic armament? It worked perfectly fine," The Owner of the Colosseum asked and Nial began to smile after seeing that the human didn''t really bother lecturing him about his behavior.

    "As you may know some runic armaments break when you overclock their runic constetions too often. Usually, that''s bad which is why you don''t really overclock runic constetions except if you''re in a dangerous situation. However, Broken runic armaments were created for the purpose of being overclocked. They''ll be overclocked and generate an effect like the one you might have seen in my battle against the Heligav Assassin.<sub> </sub>

    After being used once, the Broken Runic armament will be destroyed," Nial exined calmly before he showed his broken hand to the Owner of the Colosseum.

    "Most of the time, there will be some coteral damage but that shouldn''t be something to be worried about as long as you can defeat your opponent by using Broken Runic armaments," Nial said, while gingerly holding his broken hand.

    He was healing rapidly and wanted to show the Owner of the Colosseum that there was not really a need to be worried.

    "Broken Runic armaments¡­interesting. I''ve heard of some Runiciers trying to create runic weapons with higher use, but their pride would never allow them to create something simr to what you''ve just said," The Owner of the Colosseum thought out loud before he asked, "I wonder which Runicier is daring enough to go against the ideals of the majority of Runiciers. Can I find him, or her in Alliance City, or did you encounter this Runicier somewhere else?"

    Nial smiled when he heard the question and he was just about to answer it when he heard another question of the Colosseum''s Owner.

    "And just how expensive are these Broken Runic Armaments? If they''re consumables, they shouldn''t be too expensive¡­but on the other hand, you can create new ones and unleash the power you shouldn''t be able to grasp, let alone control at your rank¡­this is truly fascinating!"

    Nial scoffed when he heard everything the Colosseum''s Owner said and he pointed at himself with the aim to answer truthfully.

    Yet, in the end, Nial chose to change his answer when he saw that they had attracted too much attention.

    "I can introduce you to the Runicier if you would like me to!" He offered and the young-looking Owner began to smile meaningfully as he stretched out his hand.

    "Nice meeting you, Nial Orin. My name is Adam, a small and unimportant human in the vast Universe!" He introduced himself, causing Nial to frown deeply.

    "Probably not even ordinary Gods are considered important inparison to the endless vastness of the Universe," Nial retorted, which garnered the intense stares of many Originals all around him.

    Adam smiled at his response but he didn''t say anything else about it. He released Nial''s hand and allowed the young man to take his leave and do whatever he wanted to.

    Nial did exactly that and he stepped outside the humongous building not long after.

    "What a weirdo¡­" Nial mumbled before he realized that he was not really normal either. "Well, weirdos might attract one another¡­I guess."

    He began to smile lightly and made his way toward the Guild.

    However before he reached the Guild, he felt a pulling force from his right side. His Mana core began to vibrate lightly and Nial began to smile when he saw that there were dozens of shops revolving around ability crystals to his right.

    "Is it finally your time to shine, my lovely Mana core?" Nial asked quietly.

    With three million contribution points, Nial hoped to have enough to purchase at least one useful ability.

    Little did he know that¡­.

 Chapter 410 G-Rank Adventurer

    "Why are these ability crystals so expensive?" Nial grumbled as he looked at the wide variety of high-quality ability crystals in front of him.

    Every single shop had a corner with ability crystals and all of them were of great quality. There were lots of affinity crystals with theprehension tag as well.

    Their price was understandably high but Nial couldn''t help but feel that he was getting scammed.

    "Most of these ability crystals have been harvested from high-ranked monsters that are rare to find and hard to kill. Isn''t it obvious that the price of their ability crystal would be higher than the norm?" The young human merchant asked in return with the same businessman-like smile on his face as all the other merchants before.

    Nial could only frown when holding one ability crystal after another in his hand. Upon touching the ability crystals with his bare skin, Nial''s Mana core and Heart of Darkness could react to them.

    It was possible for him to tell whether it was feasible to turn the ability into a linked ability, which was not something others were capable of.

    His Mana Core had reacted earlier just to die down after a while. Except that it didn''t react anymore, no matter how many ability crystals he held in his hand.

    This was quite frustrating but it was also something Nial had expected to happen.

    ''And here I thought I could decrease my worries by finding one suitable linked ability and buying it immediately. Not only am I too poor to buy most ability crystals but I cannot even find the ability that can be linked to me¡­'' Nial thought in frustration. He sighed deeply and felt like punching the air for being unable to find what he had been looking for.

    That way, Nial ended up spending more than six hours in the merchant alley and strolling through the shops without actually buying anything.

    All merchants said that they would receive a new supply of ability crystals every other week but that was not enough to negate the sour taste in Nial''s mouth.

    "It was a good decision toplete a few Guild missions¡­ I''m itching for a massacre¡­" Nial mumbled when he left the shop. Ryu chirped in joy though his reasoning was different. The wingless Gryphon was just happy to leave the Alliance City after such a long time!

    Thus the two made their way to the Guildhall while people looked at them weirdly. With the mutated wingless Gryphon by his side, it was easy for anyone to put two and two together andprehend who he was.

    His battle against the Heligav Assassin had ended only a few hours before but rumors and shocking news spread through Alliance City like wildfire, even more so if many higher authorities of big organizations had witnessed everything.

    The Heligav had nned to ruin the reputation of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and the Valxian race, but the final result was the exact opposite.

    Right now, the Heligav were facing a severe recession, especially in the organizations where members of other races had joined with the intention to be stronger than they could be by joining an organization of their own race.

    Many lost their trust in the Heligav race, while the interest in the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and Nial had skyrocketed.

    However, Nial ignored the attention he received as he rode on Ryu to the center of Alliance City.

    The Guildhall was quite big and Nial wasn''t intimidated in the least when perceiving the whole building and the Originals inside.

    Thus, he didn''t put any pressure on himself as he visualized the details of the building in his mind.

    When he was done and satisfied with what he had visualized, Nial approached the counter where they were already awaiting him.

    "You must be Nial Orin if I''m not mistaken, or am I wrong, Sir?" the female receptionist of the Alcam race asked while sizing up Nial from head to toe.

    "Huh? Yeah that''s me," Nial answered with a nod, not hiding his confusion.

    "How may I help you, Sir? Do you want to register as an Adventurer?" The female receptionist asked with a bright smile on her face, and Nial answered once again with a nod.

    Before he could answer anything, the receptionist began typing quickly.<sub> </sub>

    "In that case, do you want to register as an adventurer under your organization''s tag, or do you want to be considered an independent Adventurer?" The attendant asked, confusing Nial.

    "What is the difference?" He thus asked and the female attendantunched into a short exnation,

    "If you be an adventurer under your organization, the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, a small portion of the contribution points you earn will be deducted from every mission youplete sessfully. That way you can solve missions, and earn something while simultaneously supporting your organization.

    At the same time, you can join special missions that will only be given to organizations toplete. These missions are harder toplete but the rewards are a lot better than anything you can fathom.

    On the other hand, you cannot easily joinrge-scale missions when you''re an Independent Adventurer. However, there is a catch. Even if you can join, your reward will be less than what you would receive had you been a member of the same Organization that had been given the mission to solve.

    However, as an Independent Adventurer, you won''t have any contribution points deducted from your reward.

    There are a few more perks of each choice and you can read about everything in the Guild Tome for Rookies if you''re interested beforeing up with a decision!"

    Nial didn''t really see why one side was better than the other one at first but upon giving it another thought he understood that he would make a big loss by bing an Adventurer under the name of the Dojo.

    He was thankful for their help but there were other ways to support the Dojo than giving them a portion of his personal rewards for every mission Nialpleted.

    Rather than thanking them by forcing himself to make a decision he didn''t want to make, Nial would find a different way to repay the Dojo Master for the help he provided.

    "I want to be an Independent Adventurer!" Nial dered, understanding that one could earn more contribution points by solvingrge-scale missions with the Dojo. But it was quite important for him to understand that he didn''t even need topleterge-scale missions at the time being.

    Thus, the only perk of bing an Adventurer under the Dojo''s name was negligible for him.

    "Alright. Please let me proceed then¡­ Please hold your hand on this Orb to let me measure your Mana," The female attendant stated as she retrieved a bluish orb from somewhere.

    Nial frowned when he perceived the oversized marble and it took him a few seconds to get back to his senses.

    "Do I have to let my mana be measured?" Nial asked as he stared at the blueish orb warily. He was pretty sure that it would measure the amount and strength of his mana by depriving his body of all its energy, including the dark energy that was tightly stored inside his Heart of Darkness.

    Of course, Nial couldn''t be sure about that but he didn''t want to mess things up right now.

    "That''s possible, but you will be ranked as a G-rank Adventurer, and you won''t be able toplete missions at a higher rank as well," The female attendant exined, much calmer than Nial had expected her to be.

    ''There are probably many, who don''t want to expose their true strength to others¡­'' Nial concluded as he listened to what the female attendant had to say.

    "Ranking up as Adventurer in the Guild hall is a hassle for most Originals at a higher rank because it requires days, or even weeks until they reach the rank they would''ve achieved with a quick test, either way," She added, just to see that Nial shook his head.

    "Please register me as a G-rank Adventurer, and allot the G-rank mission [Firal Flower Gathering], [Goblin Annihtion], and [Dungeon Forestry]. I will take them!" Nial said with a sly smile on his face.

    "I can do that¡­but how do you know what missions you want to take? I didn''t even show you the catalog of missions yet?" The female attendantpleted the formalities of his registration and she did everything he had asked for, but she couldn''t help but feel a bit confused.

    The mission catalog could only be essed by registered Adventurers and there should be no way for Nial to have seen it anywhere around, literally, whether he was blind or not!

    "Even though I''m blind, I can see things others can only dream about!"

 Chapter 411 A Pest-Like Monster

    Nial had seen the file of missions that nobody wanted to solve after he visualized the entire building, including the mission boards that showed some of the missions not many desired toplete. The rewards were not worth the effort, especially when it came to G-rank collecting missions.

    The three G-rank missions Nial had chosen were all in one Origin-ranked dungeon, the same one at that.

    Nial intended to increase his rank as an adventurer quickly enough to get his hands on some well-earning missions.

    The female attendant finished his registration and he set off to the permanent Origin dungeon that not many entered.

    The entire dungeon was without a source of light, which scared many Origin-ranked Originals. As for the higher-ranked, Originals, they wouldn''t enter the dungeon if it was not necessary.

    That was why Nial ended up inside it. He had the necessary means to conquer the dungeon andplete all missions rather quickly.

    "Ryu, you can just kill the Goblins, while I will collect 15 Firal Flowers. Afterward, we''ll collect 300 logs and leave. Let''s work hard today!" Nial dered, feeling light-hearted. He was not too worried that anything could happen to Ryu, especially since the Gryphon could see in the darkness.

    Nial sent out Ryu while he spread his range of perception and [Mana Sense] to envelop the whole dungeon.

    He didn''t desire to destroy the permanent dungeon, let alone devour it. Without uncontroble rage surging through his entire being it was much easier for him to perceive the first Firal Flower and to imprint its mana fluctuations in his mind.

    This made it easier for him to find more Firal Flowers when he sensed the same or extremely simr mana fluctuations.

    As he rushed through the forest that was filled with darkness, Nial ended up with more than 100 Firal Flowers in fifteen minutes. Ryu had finished his conquest as well, leaving only the Boss monster behind.

    It was precisely stated that the Hobgoblin should only be crippled and not killed. Ryu did exactly that, and Nial collected the remaining corpses, which the Gryphon had left behind.

    Afterward, it was time to be expert lumberjacks with years of experience.

    Ryu created des of darkness using his affinity before he shot them out to cut down various trees.

    At first, Nial wanted to use his dark energy to do the same, just a tad more efficiently when he realized that remnants of his energy would be attached to the area where the logs had been cut.

    With that in mind, he changed his n to create a crescent-shaped de out of the Crimson Eclipse Moonlight power he had umted in thest few months.

    It was not even necessary for him to use a lot of his power to harvest the trees, and Nial finished chopping off everything in less than twenty minutes. 300 logs were secured inside his spatial ring and Nial returned from the dungeon.

    He was just on his way back to alliance city, which he had left to reach the dungeon portal of his mission when he realized why exactly there had been a Goblin mission at the Guild hall.

    "You guys build your settlement outside, it was not a bad decision to do it underground to prevent most powerful Originals from perceiving you guys," Nial acknowledged before his expression changed quickly, "unfortunately, you guys met me¡­so you''ll die!"

    With that derationpleted, Nial shot in a specific direction. Small, well-hidden holes could be found at the spot he halted his tracks and a bunch of boxing gloves appeared in Nial''s hand.

    He put them on, activated their runic constetions and smashed his fist on the ground without hesitation.

    The ground in a radius of more than ten meters began to tremble lightly, but Nial didn''t move a single inch. On the contrary, he inserted some of his Essence of Darkness inside the gloves to increase the potency of their runic constetions in order topletely break the few small tunnels that were located close to each other.

    The tunnel copsed and a chain reaction was initiated, breaking all the support pirs that had held up the underground settlement.

    There were no powerful Goblins underground and one wouldn''t usually care about them until they were toe to the surface and wreak havoc after reaching certain unfathomable numbers or evolving to a degree where they would actually be dangerous.

    However, Nial was bothered about them, since he knew how terrifying Goblins could be if they were given enough time to adapt and ovee their troubles.

    The Goblin Wolfriders they had encountered on the unnamed ind during the first trial of the Teradan military camp were already quite dangerous but his experiences with those Goblins were not his reason for attacking the underground basement.<sub> </sub>

    Rather, they were the distinct memories that the God of Darkness had given him pertaining to various races and monsters. Goblins may seem simple due to their lustfulness and their desire to copte with all kinds of races. This turned their image into the monsters that they were just weak and disgusting monsters with uncontroble carnal desire and no intelligence, but that was not everything.

    As long as they evolved, which was something they could do rather easily under certain circumstances, Goblins could turn into the biggest nightmare of any other race.

    The God of Darkness had faced a Goblin God and trillions of his descendants, and saying that it was difficult to defeat them was definitely an understatement.

    The memories of the God of Darkness were still apparent in his mind and it was for everyone''s good if he prevented the gue called Goblins from establishing a foothold on Jundra.

    When the tunnels copsed and the pirs that held the underground settlement crumbled, stones and soil copsed on the small huts the Goblins had built with all their dedication and might. But that was their smallest problem because Nial moved to all other locations where tiny and well-hidden holes were located. He destroyed them in a simr manner, blocking all possible escape routes for the Goblins.

    Nial could start digging a hole by now and eliminate the Goblins with his brute force, but he didn''t do so. He was extremely calm as he turned back to Ryu, who had begun to focus on his joy and fun rather than the things Nial was doing.

    "We can go back, buddy!" Nial dered when he finished everything, leaving hundreds, or possibly even thousands of Goblins in the underground settlement where they would slowly but steadily suffocate! That was exactly what Nial had nned to do when he destroyed all holes that reached the surface, cutting off their supply of oxygen, rather than just trapping them there.

    Trapping them was not enough to obliterate them, after all!

    Ryu chirped out in joy and he created a small pair of darkness wings on his back before he jumped in the air. He was hovering in the air for a few seconds before he slowly descended due to the heavy gravitational force.

    "You''re learning pretty fast. If you continue to work hard, it will take only a few months until you can fly through the air just like your brethren¡­probably even better!" Nial praised Ryu when caressing the Gryphon''s plumage.

    Afterward, he climbed on his back, they rushed back to the Alliance City and the Guild hall.

    Nial handed the female receptionist the spare spatial ring which he had prepared for simr situations as the one in front of him.

    He could either retrieve all corpses, wooden logs, and Firal Flowers from his spatial ring and throw them right in the female receptionist''s face, or hand her a second spatial ring that was not locked.

    Thetter was evidently easier and less inappropriate, which was why Nial had made the purchase.

    "Because you provided everything in a very short time span, more than necessary at that, you don''t have toplete two more missions to advance in the ranks. Your rank has been upgraded to a <F> rank Adventurer! Congrattions! It won''t be necessary for you to undergo an advancement test yet either," The female receptionist didn''t seem impressed that he had taken only an hour to finish three missions, but Nial just smiled at her.

    It was not as if he had expected anyone to look at him with a shocked expression just because hepleted three G-rank missions in an hour.

    "That''s great. How many F-rank missions do I have to finish to advance to rank E?" Nial asked calmly, not impressed by his swift progress while ranking up so quickly either.

    He was calm,posed, and ready to spend only a few days to reach C-rank or whatever rank he would have to reach to face Deux-ranked monsters.

    Only by then would he start earning contributions points, and get to know just how powerful he had be.

    "After a total of ten F-rank missions have beenpleted we will take a look at your score and determine if you are eligible to be an E-rank Adventurer or not!" The receptionist said and Nial thought about it for a while before he opened the mission catalog''s holographic screen with the smallest font and zoomed it to its biggest size.

    Nial scrolled through everything rapidly and he only stopped when he reached the bottom. Afterward, he thought of something, namely a total of 10 F-rank missions, and smiled innocently at the receptionist.

    "I will take these missions!" He said and the female Alcam couldn''t help but frown as she epted his request.

    ''Does he have some sort of super brain? How could he read all missions and pick those who belong together so perfectly?'' She wondered as she saw Nial walk away, leaving behind only a shortment that caused the Alcam''s legs to nearly give in.

    "I wille back in a few hours!"

 Chapter 412 Master Runicier?

    Just like announced earlier, Nialpleted the ten F-rank missions within a few hours. Hepleted them quickly enough for the receptionist in the Guild hall to upgrade him to an E-rank Adventurer without hesitation.

    Afterward, Nial required a day to finish 25 E-rank missions that were interlinked to one another. In addition to that, he took four days toplete 25 D-rank missions.

    Once hepleted the D-rank missions, he ought to get ranked up to a C-rank Adventurer. However, most C-rank adventurers were already at the Deux-rank, meaning that Nial had to pass the assessment exam to be eligible to advance to Rank C!

    "When you''re ready, please inform me or my colleagues. We will let you challenge another C-rank Adventurer and if you can defeat him or her you will advance!" The receptionist told him, which caused Nial to question something.

    "What if I challenge one of the C-rank Alcam or Keril?" He thus asked the receptionist, who looked at Nial with a faint smile on her lips.

    "You can challenge them but don''t underestimate them. They might have advanced to a higher rank because theypleted missions rted to their profession but their strength might as well be higher than that of a normal C-rank Adventurer!" The receptionist warned while subconsciously handing Nial information that he had yet to figure out.

    "Does that mean I can also use my profession as a Runicier to advance through the ranks?" Nial asked with a meaningful smile on his face as the receptionist nodded his head slowly.

    "That is correct¡­but you would have to be acknowledged by the Alchemy or Runicier association and show me the official document that you are either a Master Runicier or Alchemist to advance to C-rank," The receptionist exined and Nial''s smile widened.

    "Is that why I never saw any missions rted to runic armaments and potions? Because I don''t have ess to the catalog for those missions?" Nial assumed, which the receptionist affirmed.

    This was enough for Nial to keep smiling and to leave the Guild hall.

    "I wille back soon. Prepare my C-rank badge!" He stated in a confident voice before he took his leave.

    Ryu had no idea what was going on but the wingless Gryphon followed Nial quickly. The receptionist was left behind with a confused expression as he looked at the fleeting image of the young human Original.

    "Should I really prepare everything already? Why do I feel like he wille back in a few hours with a bunch of certificates?..." He mumbled to himself before he discarded this thought and went back to work.

    Meanwhile, Nial left the Guild hall before rushing to a ce that was mostly upied by the Keril race and a bunch of customers that were trying to buy various runic armaments.

    "How may I help you, Sir? Are you in need of new weapons, or do you n to purchase new armor, maybe some essories with unique effects?" A young attendant of the Keril race asked when it was finally Nial''s turn.

    "Is this Tier-2 runic armament something only Master Runiciers can create? If not, what type of runic armaments do they usually create?" Nial asked as he retrieved the Tier-2 Eclipse Spear from his spatial ring.

    The Eclipse Spear was one of his best runic armaments, which was why Nial wanted to know how he was faring with respect to the others.

    Master Crevian had never told him the ranking system of Runiciers because he thought that it was not important. Nial had been pretty sure that it was not important either, until now at least.

    "That is a Tier-2 Runic armament¡­Usually, only a master should be able to create something at that rank, but there are exceptions because a master has to be able to create a wide variety of Tier-2 runic armaments in order to be considered a True Master of his work, not just an Expert!

    So¡ª..." The young Keril was just about to keep exining what the difference between an Expert and a Master was when he heard a smallmotion in front of him.<sub> </sub>

    He had been observing the Eclipse Spear with interest because it had been created with a wide variety of runic constetions. Most runic constetions were quite simple and not exceptional if they weren''t connected to all the other runic constetions, creating an borate and properly workingwork like a spiderweb.

    That was why he was so interested in the Eclipse Spear, especially since the connection between runic constetions was perfect. Yet, upon looking up, the young receptionist of the Keril race found himself in front of a batch with more than 10 Tier-2 runic armaments created out of a wide variety of runic constetions.

    "Would that be enough to be considered a Master Runicier?" Nial asked, shing a smile at the receptionist, whose mouth opened and closed several times as he struggled to form a response.

    He had stopped moving and looked helplessly at all the Tier-2 runic armaments before his head turned back to the end of the room. His eyes sought help and one of the Runiciers, who passed by, approached his colleague, who exined the situation.

    The young Keril spoke quickly and the Runicier grasped the Eclipse Spear before he took a look at it.

    "That''s definitely the work of a Master Runicier. I can tell that the spear has been forged by an expert but that doesn''t really matter because the runic constetions were engraved in a near-perfect manner," The Runicier of the Keril race switched to the universalnguage as he eyes flicked over to Nial. He noticed Nial''s lifeless and milky white eyes, which caused him to look at the young man with bits of interest.

    "Did your Teacher ask if his work is already on par with a Master Runicier? or Why are you bringing all the runic armaments to us and bombarding us with these questions?" The Keril Runicier asked while keeping his eyes on the young-looking human Original.

    "I created all of them, and just wanted to know if I''m already on par with a Master Runicier. Now that I figured that I am actually on par with Master Runiciers, I would like to conduct some sort of test and get a certificate to show the Guild hall, if that''s possible," Nial spoke quite nonchntly as he retrieved his runic armaments.

    Bits of his Essence of Darkness shot out and he shrouded the Eclipse Spear that vanished out of the Runicier''s hands, whose eyes squinted.

    The young receptionist was about to say something about Nial''sment but the Runicier lifted his hand, preventing the receptionist from saying a single word.

    "How old are you, human?" He asked instead of showing any discontent for Nial''s ridiculousment. Nial was only at the Prometheus rank and he didn''t seem old as well.

    The higher the rank of the mana core the longer one could live. That was also why it was quite difficult for many people to gauge the age of others. However, there were still certain indicators that showed inexperience of life, whether it was someone''s behavior, way of thinking or something else.

    "I should be around 22 years and six or seven months. I have not been keeping track of time ever since I began traveling around a bit before I spent some time in seclusion," Nial answered with a shrug, understanding that he gained some suspicious looks because of his vague answer.

    "You say that you''re a Master Runicier at the age of 22? That sounds like lots of bullshit!" The receptionist suddenly eximed while the Runicier who was standing next to him kept looking at Nial.

    "Are you sure that you want to take the test? You''ll have to create three different Tier-2 runic armaments of the same quality as the ones you revealed earlier," He said after a while, and Nial thought about it for a moment.

    ? "I''m not a very good cksmith or Alchemist¡­so if you want me to create the runic armaments from scratch, I might need a little bit more time, and the aesthetics won''t be pleasing either. But yeah, I want to take the test," Nial answered honestly, which made it seem like he was actually sincere about his request.

    The Runicier nodded his head before he gestured Nial to follow him. Nial did as requested and the two left the receptionist behind, knowing deep down that he was being red at.

    "You won''t be required to forge or create the runic solutions during the exam. Just engrave runic constetions on any type of equipment you want using whatever runic solution you desire!" The Runicier said as he led Nial to arge room that was filled with everything Nial could wish for.

    "Is this ce a Heaven for Runiciers?"

 Chapter 413 Forgetting Ryu

    Nial was given the opportunity to choose any weapon, essories, or armor to engrave his runic constetions on. This was a great opportunity, especially since the runic solutions and armaments had been created out of expensive ingredients.

    However, instead of feeling satisfied, Nial turned toward the Runicier, who brought him to the warehouse with a faint smile on his face.

    "Can I just take a few runic solutions and meet up with a cksmith?" He asked, trying not to sound rude. It was possible to engrave runic constetions on armaments that had been forged for quite a while but the efficiency of runic constetions would decrease drastically if they were not properly connected to the veins of the armament''s metal and other ingredients.

    "You can spend ten minutes here to figure out what type of runic armaments you want to create, and those which you want to engrave. After ten minutes you will have to leave with the runic solutions which you will require forter, as well as the type of armament you want to create for your test. It will be replicated for you using the same materials as the already finished product," The Runicier said calmly as if he had expected Nial to ask this question.

    "Looks like I passed the first test," Nial mumbled quietly to himself and the Keril Runicier smiled lightly in response. He could tell that Nial was notpletely inexperienced as a Runicier, and that made him more suspicious of the fact that the young human might actually be a Master Runicier disguised as a rookie.

    ''He is so young¡­but what if he is a prodigy? Even if that''s the case, there shouldn''t be many prodigies like him who are capable of achieving the same feat as he did¡­if he really created the runic armaments from before that is¡­'' He thought, recalling theplexity of the runic constetions that had been engraved on the runic armaments Nial had shown before.

    "I''m done," Nial said, holding a rather simple spear with a long shaft and broad de, followed by a wide variety of runic solutions.

    "You want to create three different types of Lecasmir Spears? Are you sure?" The Runicier asked, feeling unsure if Nial knew about the special trait of the Lecasmir metal.

    However, Nial nodded his head, which was enough for the Runicier to lead him to the next ce.

    They walked through the building that connected the three associations of the Runiciers, cksmiths, and Alchemists.

    In the next five minutes, they reached arge hall, where many cksmiths were busy at work. The Runicier, who had led him to this ce, called out a name and a bulky man of a race Nial had yet to meet, approached them.

    "You called for me, Levandor?" The bulky man with four arms asked before his gaze moved over to Nial, who was still holding everything he needed.

    "Don''t tell me that you want me to forge a Lecasmir Spear for this human''s Runicier test?" He squinted his eyes for a moment but Levandor, the Runicier, nodded his head.

    "That''s exactly what I want. A total of three newly forged Lecasmir Spears for his test as a Master Runicier, Beran!" Levandor dered, just to hear Beran scoffing.

    "You have to be insane. Why should I bother forging Lecasmir Spears just for the Master Runi¡­.wait a moment¡­.he is willing to take the Master Runicier test?!?" Beran was certain that his ears were ringing, but Levandor could only smile oddly.

    "You heard correctly. He wants to take the Runicier test to be a certified Master," Levandor answered with a trace of suspicion in his mind.

    "Well¡­in that case I can be bothered to forge the Lecasmir Spears¡­" Beran mumbled before he turned in Nial''s direction.

    "If you''re not confident of passing the test, don''t bother to apply for it. Forging the Lecasmir Spear is dangerous and engraving runic constetions on it is even more so!" He warned, trying to convince Nial that he should just give up as he added, "Don''t even think about ming someone else if something were to happen to you!"

    "I''ve never heard about Lecasmir, but I still want to have three spears made of that metal, thanks," Nial bowed slightly toward Beran as he restated his wish.

    This caused the tall man''s lips to start twitching but he only sighed in the end and nodded his head.

    "Whatever you want, just follow me then¡­" Beran answered before he turned around and left. Nial followed Beran quickly, just to realize something.

    "By the way¡­where did Ryu go? The wingless Gryphon, who had been by my side at the reception?" Nial asked, turning to Levandor in confusion.<sub> </sub>

    He noticed only now that Ryu was away but ording to the link he shared with the wingless Gryphon, he was not far away from them.

    "Pets, mounts, or whatever you want to call a tamed monster are not allowed in any of the three associations, so we threw him out. You were not particrly bothered about him when it happened, weren''t you?" Levandor looked at Nial weirdly.

    The human looked a little bit dense and clumsy. How was it not possible for him to hear the annoying screams of his own partner when it was dragged out?

    "Ryu is not tamed, but whatever¡­ Just so you know, he is on top of the association''s building right now, trying to find a way inside without destroying anything," Nial answered calmly while trying to recall when exactly Ryu had been dragged away.

    He didn''t realize that at all and ended up following Beran, his head filled with confusion.

    "It will take around five yours to finish the first Lecasmir Spear, so you can sort your thoughts, think about what runic constetions you want to engrave on it, and most importantly, get information about Lecasmir metal and what to pay attention to when engraving runic constetions on it!" Beran dered after he retrieved a book from his spatial ring.

    He threw it toward Nial, who evaded it by using his mana to stop the book from breaking the vials of a bunch of runic solutions.

    Nial put the runic solutions down on the table that had been prepared for him, he picked up the book and used his Mana Sense to imprint every single page in his mind.

    Afterward, he started to read the pages that manifested in his mind one after another to gain more in-depth knowledge about Lecasmir.

    "Looks like I should learn a lot more about metals and other ingredients to create runic armaments¡­" Nial muttered, earning a small smile from Beran, who thought that the young human finally learned his lesson. Yet, it was just a sentenceter that Beran''s smile froze in ce.

    "This is so interesting, and the perfectly purified Lecasmir is perfectly suited for what I want to do!" Nial eximed just to start talking to Beran excitedly.

    "I don''t care how much you would usually purify Lecasmir for the Master Runicier test, but please do a full purification procedure while forging the Lecasmir Spears!" He requested, nearly causing Beran to break the Lecasmir ore he was about to put in the forge to reduce it to the metal.

    Beran gawked at Nial, just to see the stubborn expression of the young man. There was no need to look for a trace of determination in his eyes to know that Nial was truly not bothered by taking the Master Runicier test. Instead, his entire focus was on getting to test out a few things.

    "You really are a Master Runicier at your age, aren''t you?" Beran asked quite calmly instead of feeling angry that Nial made his job more difficult than it already was.

    "I don''t really care about that. I just want to see the Guild missions for C-rank Adventurers and missions about runic armaments. That''ll make things much easier¡­and this is so interesting!" Nial had almost forgotten that he was here because he wanted to be a certified Master Runicier to advance his Adventurer rank to ''C'' and not to have fun getting to know new types of metals and ingredients that could be very well used for various things.

    Beran looked at him but he didn''t say anything else regarding that topic.

    "I will create a perfectly purified Lecasmir Spear, but expect it to take one or two hours longer," He just said before he started to work while Nial thanked him twice.

    ''If he fails, I will break his legs!'' Beran told himself while feeling that this wouldn''t be necessary.

    At least that was what his gut feeling told him.

    As for Levandor, he was currently trying to figure out how to take care of Ryu.

    "This fucking wingless bird got inside!!"

 Chapter 414 Dominated

    After working tirelessly for almost seven hours, Beran finished creating the first Lecasmir Spear. The Lecasmir Spear Beran had forged waspletely different from the one Nial had given the cksmith to replicate, but that was something he had expected.

    The Lecasmir Spear had been created out of perfectly purified Lecasmir metal and its hidden wild and ferocious nature had been unveiled.

    Controlling the Lecasmir Spear ording to one''s will was extremely difficult and the wielder was required to have a powerful mind, which included willpower and the desire to make the most use of the weapon, and it required an even stronger control of mana.

    Under normal circumstances, not even ordinary Deux Originals would be able to wield the Lecasmir Spear properly.

    Thus, Beran couldn''t help but look at Nial in vignce as he handed the young human Original the first finished and freshly forged Lecasmir Spear.

    When Nial held the spear in his hand, he could immediately feel the power of the rebellious metal. It was almost as if the Lecasmir Spear had been transformed into a Spiritual weapon after being perfectly purified.

    That was something Nial didn''t expect but it was not something he disliked. In fact, Nial felt that this was in his favor.

    "Pay heed to mymands!" Nial hissed at the Lecasmir Spear as he released his Essence of Darkness inside the Lecasmir Spear all at once.

    There was no time to hesitate. Every single second after a good had been forged was important to make sure that the engraved runic constetions would retain their full efficiency.

    Most Runiciers required hours to engrave all the runic constetions they desired, and it was even more important for them to create and maintain high stability between the outlines of the runic constetions and the forged goods as quickly as possible.

    As long as they were capable of connecting the runic constetions with the veins of the forged metal, everything would be alright and they would have more than enough time to continue engraving the remaining parts of the runic constetions.

    However, Nial didn''t use the same tactic to engrave runic constetions on the desired forged product. He followed his instincts whenever he engraved runic constetions rather than using a traditional way.

    Thetter was much better for most Runiciers, who required a long time to engrave all the runic constetions on the forged product, but that was not the case for Nial.

    He had always been good at engraving runic constetions and he could do it extremely fast without making mistakes.

    That was also why it was necessary to bring the Lecasmir Spear under his control, no matter what he would have to do!

    To achieve this, he utilized his full focus, including his range of perception and his Mana Sense upon the Lecasmir Spear after it was already shaken thoroughly by the massive amount of Essence of Darkness that passed through the metal''s veins. After this, it became an easy task for Nial to achieve the desired effect.

    The Lecasmir Spear began to vibrate violently as if it was shaking in fright, just for Nial to retract his range of perception, his Mana Sense and even more importantly, every bit of the Essence of Darkness.

    "I will make you stronger than anyone else could ever make you. I only need your cooperation and trust to let me do everything I want!" Nial spoke to the weapon calmly and the Lecasmir Spear magically stopped vibrating as if it could understand Nial''s words.

    ''This guy¡­what the hell is he?'' Beran asked himself before he started to size up Nial once again. He looked at the small human from head to toe but couldn''t really detect that anything was off.

    But that didn''t make any sense. How was it possible for an ordinary human being to dominate the Lecasmir Spear so easily?

    "Can you start with the second Lecasmir Spear, please? I will be done before you otherwise!" Nial joked lightly when he noticed that Beran was nkly staring at him.

    The cksmith flinched involuntarily and he nodded his head mindlessly before he got to work. He reduced arge piece of Lecasmir ore to the metal before he started purifying it.

    Meanwhile, as Beran began with the forging process of the second perfectly purified Lecasmir Spear, Nial smiled at the spear in front of him.<sub> </sub>

    "Let''s see just how powerful your Elemental augmentation has be after you''re perfectly purified!" He mumbled as he removed one of the red runic solutions caps.

    He wanted to start with the mainponent of the runic armament he desired to create, which is why he used the Laviran Silverblood runic solution right off the bat.

    Four hours passed in the blink of an eye, and Nial had used more than four different runic solutions to engrave various runic constetions that were allbined with the main Advanced runic constetion he had engraved using the Laviran Silverblood runic solutions.

    "To think that I have improved so much¡­is that also rted to my stronger perception and mana control after I underwent 100 Refinements of Imperfectia? That cannot be¡­right?" Nial mumbled to himself, not even realizing that Levandor was less than five meters away from him.

    The Runicier of the Keril race appeared to be truly devastated. However, that was not due to Nial''s terrific abilities as Runicier but more thanks to the trouble Ryu had caused.

    The wingless Gryphon was currently standing right next to Levandor, whose hair waspletely disheveled. Ryu had found a way inside the cksmithing hall and it took Levandor a great amount of effort to prevent Ryu from charging straight toward Nial.

    In the end, Ryu was given permission to stay by Nial''s side as long as he didn''t stir any trouble, but that was also only due to the fact that some Runiciers had gotten interested in Nial''s runic constetions and the fact that he replicated inscribing Superior and Ancient Runic constetions bybining Basic, Intermediate and Advanced runic constetions.

    One of the Archmaster Runiciers, who had been invited to witness the battle of a blind human fighting against a Heligav Assassin, had seen the runic constetions Nial had used in the battle and he had heard that the young human imed to have created the runic armaments by himself.

    Thus, it was only obvious that the Archmaster was interested in the engraving procedure Nial made use of while creating runic armaments.

    But what the Archmaster Runicier saw through the orb that controlled the surveince cameras in the Hall of Forgers was something beyond his understanding.

    "Does that young man even know what he is doing, or is hepletely oblivious to everything??" He asked himself, without a single clue as to what the answer might be. Nobody else was in the room he was resting in and everything he saw through the orb seemed to be too odd to be true.

    He picked up a messenger crystal, called someone, and Levandor, the Runicier, retrieved his own messenger crystal to answer the call he had just received.

    "Once he has forged the first Lecasmir Spear, test it out immediately!" The Archmaster Runicier demanded, which caused Levandor to freeze in his ce.

    "But what if I injure anyone here, or the runic armament malfunctions and destroys something? That would be disa¡ª..." Levandor knew that it was not the best move to go against a Superior''s order but he couldn''t help himself.

    Using runic armaments in the Hall of Forgers was forbidden, and for a good reason at that.

    "Shut up and follow mymand! I will take full responsibility of any untoward incident that might ur¡­just show me the power of the freshly forged Lecasmir Spear!" The Archmaster Runicier reassured in an impatient voice and Levandor could only nod his head before he looked over to Nial.

    Nial had been engraving runic constetions at a terrifyingly fast pace and the young human was now towering above the Lecasmir Spear as if he was trying to figure out what else he had to do.

    He added a few connections between the different runic constetions while making use of all the metal veins of the Lecasmir metal.

    Nial didn''t want to waste any of the spear''s potential because it was such a great metal. It was definitely an extremely rare piece of metal and Nial began to wonder just how expensive it would be if he were to make an attempt to create the same runic armaments he was currently creating.

    "The runic armaments I will create in the Master Runicier test won''t be mine, right?" Nial asked lightly as he turned his head to Levandor, who stared at him for a few seconds, not sure what to say.

    "That''s¡­.what you''re thinking about right now?" Levandor finally blurted out after a few seconds and Nial could only shrug his shoulders in response.

    "Yeah, why not? I''m done here, after all!"

 Chapter 415 Release!

    ''What a mess¡­'' Levandor thought as he held the fully forged Runic Lecasmir Spear in his hand.

    At the beginning of the day, he had been pretty sure that the day would pass just like every other day. Nothing surprising was supposed to happen and he should have worked on his own Runic armaments to be a better Runicier.

    Yet, somehow, Levandor had ended up watching and assessing Nial''s Master Runicier test while simultaneously getting specific and custom made requests from the one and only Archmaster Runiciers, who had emerged on Jundra until now.

    Levandor had been forced tomand all cksmiths except Beran to stop forging and step aside. This earned him various angry stares, which made the rather young Keril feel ufortable.

    It was not as if he wanted to stop everyone from doing what they had been doing but he had been forced to follow themands he had been given.

    As he held the Runic Lecasmir Spear in his hand, Levandor could tell that it wouldn''t be easy for him to unleash the full power of the Runic Armament.

    "Sir¡­there are three designated configurations I can use upon activating the runic constetions, but I can only use the first and second one confidently¡­as for the third one it requires too much mana and I''m not confident that I will be able to endure the aftermath of it¡­the Lecasmir Spear might injure me severely if I fail to handle it well¡­" Levandor started to stutter when speaking to the Archmaster Runicier, fear evident in his voice and eyes.

    He could tell that the Archmaster''s patience was waning which was clearly evident based on the way his brow creased. This was weird but Levandor didn''t dare to question the abrupt change in the Archmaster''s behavior. He was not yet tired of living after all and cherished his life!

    "Use the second configuration then," The Archmaster replied before he clicked his tongue reproachfully.

    Levandor swallowed his saliva, just to see from the corner of his eyes that Nial was smiling at his response.

    The smile on Nial''s face was not because he was amused by the conversation between Levandor and the Archmaster Runicier but more because he got to know pretty interesting things.

    As long as someone was interested in buying the Runic armaments created during the Master Runicier test, one could just do so.

    If Nial was interested, he would have to pay for the Runic solutions and Beran''s hard work, instead of the whole Tier-2 Runic Lecasmir Spear.

    That was quite interesting but also something Nial couldn''t afford. He would rather wait for others to buy them, and for him to get his profit share when someone bought it.

    ''I should really get my hands on some aspiring cksmiths and alchemists to create a smallfortable ce where I can earn a huge fortune by creating powerful runic armaments,'' Nial thought while waiting for Levandor to start the assessment of the first Runic Lecasmir Spear.

    He was not worried that anything would go wrong. Instead, it was excitement that filled him as he anticipated Levandor''s verdict, both on the forged equipment and his skills.

    ''I wonder how strong it will be¡­'' He thought as Levandor started inserting his mana inside the Lecasmir Spear.

    It didn''t even take a second before Levandor had used up almost a quarter of his mana to fill the second configuration of the runic constetions that began to glow up.

    The runic constetions emerged above the surface and they began to form the head of a small dragon around the top of the spear shaft and the de.

    Levandor''s eyes widened slightly when he saw the small dragon head forming in the air and he imagined various things to happen when he thrust the Lecasmir Spear forward.

    Yet, oddly enough nothing happened when Levandor thrust the spear forward.

    ''Is that it?'' Levandor thought for a moment and the cksmiths from all around were just about to startughing in ridicule when they saw that the young human stepped forward with a bright smile.

    "I forgot to tell you that this set of runic constetions is a tad bit different from the norm. I added the [Command Release] runic constetion, so only the person who is actually allowed to use the runic constetions can use them. Of course, I can simply change the person of authority whenever I want to," He exined before his head flicked in the direction of the surveince camera.

    His milky white, lifeless eyes stared unfocused at the camera before his smile turned even wider. In response, a smile appeared on the face of the Archmaster Runicier on the screen as well. He began to tap his fingers against the armrest of his chair and kept staring at the screen that revealed Levandor and the Lecasmir Spear he was holding tightly.<sub> </sub>

    "Hold tightly," Nial said calmly to Levandor before hisposure and voice changed all of a sudden when he spoke a single word with an authority that caused Levandor to instinctively grasp the spear shaft as tightly as possible, "Release!"

    The moment Nial issued themand, overwhelming pressure descended onto the whole Hall of Forgers. The cksmiths, who had been smiling foolishly before, lost their smile and it required a great deal of effort for them to remain standing on the ground.

    "A Dragon''s Authority?" One of the more knowledgeable cksmiths wondered out loud and his head turned to Nial, who just continued to smile toward the Lecasmir Spear.

    The small Dragon head had erged, a long neck manifested out of mes had formed and the head was now erged to the size of a whole smithy.

    The Dragon head lunged in all directions because Levandor lost control of the Lecasmir Spear when the terrifying and unexpected scenario had unveiled itself in front of him.

    He was not abatant, and loved his work as a Runicier¡­he was not adept at facing the pressure of a Dragon, suddenly at that!

    However, upon regaining control of the Lecasmir Spaer, the huge zing Dragon head that had formed out ofpressed fiery mes calmed down as its neck retracted.

    But just when everyone thought that the attack was over, Levandor''s eyes widened as he realized something.

    ''That was not the attack but just me losing control of the actual attack¡­the real attack is justing¡­'' He thought when he felt terrifying pressure being released straight from the Lecasmir Spear that began to heat up.

    The poor Keril Runicier heard a crackling sound in his bones as the true might of the runic constetions was unveiled.

    "Out of the way, everyone!!!" Levandor could only scream before a terrifying roar swept all over the Hall of Forgers as the head of the zing Dragon was unleashed and shot forth.

    The zing Dragon head sted forward and it paved its way through the Hall of Forgers without any mercy. It left behind nothing but destruction in its wake and zing mes spread out rapidly, devouring everything in its way.

    However, the destroyed smithies and the ground that had burst open and melted were just aftermaths of the attack and not the main purpose. The damages could be considered coteral damage, nothing else.

    As for the main attack, it urred the moment the zing Dragon head impacted the first target that obstructed its way entirely; one of the walls in the Hall of Forgers!

    The moment the zing Dragon head collided with the wall, the force behind the attack waspressed before everything was unleashed at once.

    Jaws dropped to the ground and some cksmiths identally pulled their hair at the sight of the terrifying attack that ended up melting through the wall of the Hall of Forgers¡­a wall that not even attacks of a Deux Original were supposed to destroy, even if they wielded powerful runic armaments.

    Thepressed mes that were shaped into the fiery zing dragon dispersed by spreading out in all directions in an explosive manner, creating a second impact to the Hall of Forger''s wall that began to crack all around the hole the attack had burst into.

    Nial had visualized every moment of the attack in his mind where everything was deeply imprinted. His smile had been reced by a serious expression as various thoughts shed through his mind.

    "Should I have said that it will be a bit destructive?" He asked innocently, not sure if his words were appropriate. After all, he was not even sure if the Lecasmir Spear had unleashed the desired effect.

    Thest moments of the attack had been different from what he had intended to achieve but Nial was pretty sure that the attack was not a tiny but weaker than what he had hoped to happen.

    "Well¡­that would have been better¡­I guess?" Levandor mumbled absentmindedly, not even realizing that his arms were trembling and that he was mindlessly staring at the hole his attack had inflicted to the wall that was more than 500 meters away from him.

    "It will be a bit destructive!"

 Chapter 416 Sir Master Runicier

    Nial passed the Master Runicier test without a question.

    While Levandor and the other cksmiths were busy trying to fix the mess the Lecasmir Spear''s attack had caused, Beran and Nial were busy finishing forging thest two perfectly purified Lecasmir Spears.

    After Nial witnessed the terrific potential of Lecasmir metal, he found a few ways to make full use of them. It was important for him to make sure that the attacks created with the runic constetions could be controlled properly. If there was no control, it would be cumbersome to fight properly, and an astray attack could hurt innocent bystanders. That was not what Nial wanted to happen.

    Thus, he spent a little bit more time engraving the runic constetions onto the other two Lecasmir Spears.

    Once he was done both Levandor and Beran ended up staring at the young human Original withplicated expressions.

    "Is he really just 22 years old? I''ve never seen a human with such terrifying talent," Beran spoke in all honesty and Levandor could only nod his head.

    "Even prodigies of the Keril race are hardly as talented as Nial when ites to engraving runic constetions. But the weirdest thing is that it looks like he visualizes the effect he wants hisbo of runic constetions to have before engraving them using his instincts and logic.

    Hebines the runic constetions precisely and attains the desired effect easily. His knowledge has to be quite advanced to achieve that, and I don''t even want to imagine what exactly is going on in his mind¡­" Levandor further added, marveling at the potential of the blind youth in front of him as he continued, "...and he is a better Runicier than I am after years of practice¡­that''s ridiculous."

    Beran looked at Levandor with a faint smile and he patted the small Keril''s back to back him up. However, he couldn''t help but feel a little bit astonished.

    "Didn''t you say that you will soon be a Grandmaster Runicier? Does that mean that this young brat will be a Grandmaster before the age of 30?" Beran couldn''t help but hide his curiosity and his mind began to spin.

    "If he works hard enough, maybe he will be a Grandmaster Runicier even before he turns 25¡­" Levandor revealed and he sighed deeply afterward, not believing what he had just said.

    Nial had finished his work before he tested out the lowest form of all runic constetions. They had all the [Command Release] runic constetions engraved to make sure that only one person could wield them properly. This was also a means to make sure that nobody could steal their weapon and use it afterward.

    He gave Levandor the spears before he started to pat Ryu, who chirped out in joy. The wingless Gryphon was fed up of being confined to the proximity of the Hall of Forging and Nial would leave the hall with him once he received what he came for.

    "How long will it take until the Certificate ispleted? If it takes a few days, I cane backter," Nial said while doubting that it would take more than a few minutes to finish preparing the certificate.

    Levandor looked at Nial with aplicated expression, not saying anything for a minute.

    "I already finished the certificate. Take it and leave your contacts if you''re willing to sell the three Lecasmir Spears. We will do a magicule transaction using your contact. Your insignia will update you about the change of your finances!" He exined after a while, just for Nial to nod his head.

    He knew how the magicule transactions worked because it was pretty simr to online banking. His insignia was connected to his contact details and one could make invoices as long as one had all the necessary data toplete the transaction.

    Nial handed Levandor all the necessary information before he thanked Beran and Levandor for their help in thest 28 or so hours. Beran was an exceptional cksmith and Levandor had been very calm while talking to him.

    He had been very lucky to meet these two for his test and Nial was thankful for that.

    Nheless, there was no time for him to waste. He returned to the Guild hall and approached the very same receptionist he had left less than 30 hours ago.

    "It took me a few more hours than expected but please upgrade my Adventurer rank!" Nial said while handing the receptionist his Master Runicier certificate.

    It was an original and authentic copy and was even signed by both a Master Runicier and the Archmaster Runicier of the Runicier association. This caused the receptionist to look at Nial with squinted eyes before a deep frown appeared on his face.<sub> </sub>

    ''He really did it? Did he fake his age? That shouldn''t be possible¡­but how did he attract the attention of the Archmaster Runicier? The bet in the Colosseum? Maybe¡­'' The receptionist had numerous thoughts shing through his mind but there was no answer.

    He was really not sure what had happened and by looking at Nial, he couldn''t help but feel that something was wrong. If one ignored the fact that Nial waspletely blind and had silver hair, he looked rather ordinary.

    Maybe he was more on the handsome side for a human but one wouldn''t feel overly shocked when facing Nial. He didn''t really have an overwhelming presence that caused anyone to feel shocked while observing him from afar.

    At least, that was what the receptionist thought when looking at Nial. Little did he know that there was something far more dangerous and hidden behind the seemingly ordinary appearance, something unfathomable¡­something that should have never been unveiled.

    "I finished updating your rank, and I''ve unlocked the mission for Runiciers in your catalog. You can now see missions up to Rank C and Runicier missions!" the Receptionist said respectfully and Nial smiled at him.

    He opened the catalog, scanned through it, and found something shocking.

    "So many contribution points¡­" Nial mumbled, realizing that Runicier missions provided a tremendous amount of contribution points, especially if one created a custom Tier-2 runic armament.

    There weren''t many Master Runiciers in Alliance City yet, let alone Jundra because the required mana control and aptitude was something only beings at the Mid Deux rank were supposed to be capable of.

    And even if one was at the Mid Deux rank, there were not too many Originals, who were capable ofprehending how to create Tier-2 runic armaments, let alone customized runic armaments that requiredplex runic constetions, or variousbinations of runic constetions!

    "I should really start a small workshop, or hire one or two aspiring cksmiths and an alchemist to earn a huge fortune with all the missions out there¡­" Nial mumbled, trying to grasp just how many contribution points he could acquire by creating a few runic armaments every week.

    Most beings were not in possession of any runic armaments when they emerged on Jundra. The possession of runic armaments with them, while they crossed the world bridges, increased the burden on them, and other means to leave their own to appear on the Origin.

    If it were other ces, it may not be troublesome but Jundra''s mana awakening hadn''t happened too long ago, and permanently activated world bridges didn''t work yet.

    The took its time to saturate itself first before anything else. Thus, it would take a while before enough mana to empower all world bridges and other means of long-range teleportation would have been umted.

    Until then, everyone would have to emerge on Jundra with only a few belongings if they were not privileged enough to take everything they needed with them.

    And for that reason, Runiciers were in high demand, especially those who could create customized high-tiered runic armaments!

    They were all busy creating runic armaments, which increased the price of themissions as only those who bid most were picked under normal circumstances.

    The demand was extraordinarily high but there was no way to provide adequate supply. This was even more difficult if one were to consider that more and more beings were entering the Alliance City, whether they belonged to newly emerged races or races that had already found their way to Alliance City.

    "You can also hire cksmiths for a certain period and buy the runic solutions directly from the Alchemist Association. That way, they won''t demand a profit share from your runic armaments, Sir Master Runicier," The receptionist exined in an overly respectful voice.

    Nial frowned when he noticed the change in the receptionist''s behavior. It was obvious that his status had changed in the eyes of the receptionist, but Nial didn''t really feel like it.

    Nheless, he didn''t say anything about it because his mind had already gone astray.

    ''Hiring someone to work for me¡­that should work, I guess?

 Chapter 417 Found One!

    It was not the best solution but hiring a cksmith for a whole month, a small workshop with a smithy and enough workspace to engrave runic constetions and to store runic solutions properly, followed by all necessary materials was a lot cheaper than creating a temporary group with a cksmith and an Alchemist.

    The cksmith he hired was not as good as Beran, otherwise, he would belong to the Forging Association, but he was still much better than Nial.

    As for the runic solutions Nial bought, most of them were rathermon, and there were only a few unique runic constetions he would require for special runic constetions.

    Nial epted a total of 30 C-rank Runicier Missions. Most of them were about the creation of a single customized runic weapon, which made things very easy for Nial.

    As long as he paid attention to the requirements of the client, he could finish forging a single customized runic weapon within a few hours. In exchange, his pay would be extraordinarily high.

    Nial had calcted how much profit he would make bypleting each of the 30 C-Rank Runicier Missions, and the result was quite satisfying.

    Some custom weapons required Nial to learn new runic constetions but that was not really difficult because he was given permission to the library of the Runicier association as a certified Master Runicier.

    He read various books, engraved the runic constetions he had to learn in his mind and he studied them for a few hours after engraving them numerous times on a piece of paper.

    When he reached a perfection grade of more than 85%, he would start engraving them on the custom runic armaments andplete the missions one after another.

    Meanwhile, Nial studied a lot and he got to know a bunch of new ingredients as well. It was quite helpful, especially since he got to know several things about new runic constetions.

    Until now, Nial had only gotten to know Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced runic constetions but the library of the Runicier association had also books rted to Superior and Ancient runic constetions.

    The difficulty of learning them was enormous and Nial didn''t dare to attempt engraving them yet, whether it was on a piece of paper or somewhere else.

    He wanted to be more proficient in engravingplex Advanced runic constetions before he would dare to engrave Superior runic constetions, let alone Ancient runic constetions.

    Many of the runic constetions he found seemed to be made out of severalyers of miniature runic constetions that had been morphed into a single giant runic constetion.

    Their power was manyfold higher than anything Nial had created on his own bybining runic constetions, which was easy to tell ording to theplexity andyers of lines the higher-ranked runic constetions required.

    ''So basically...Superior and Ancient runic constetions are a chaotic mess of Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced runic constetions?'' Nial concluded when he finished thest of the 30 C-rank Runicier Missions he had epted.

    He received the contributions points forpleting the missions and ended up bing even richer than before.

    Afterward, it was time for him to continue refining his body using parts of the massive amount of contribution points he had umted. As for the lovely wingless Gryphon Ryu, he was granted special permission that allowed him to fly around andplete missions just like others.

    Ryu had been bored to death. Thus, he learned how to read and write in the universalnguage. By using his darkness affinity, he learned how tomunicate with others.

    Nial was impressed by hispanion''s intelligence which had increased by leaps and bounds. He was pretty sure that the wingless Gryphon hadn''t been as intelligent before meeting him as he was right now. Ryu had never been stupid but there was still a difference between being an intelligent monster to find prey and survive and having the capability to learn how tomunicate using letters.

    If Ryu would ovee the obstacle of being able to make only a select set of sounds and go beyond that, he would definitely be able to speak in the future, and that was what impressed Nial the most.

    His partner was basically better than some beings of another race, whether it wasbat, the use of his affinity, or the ability tomunicate with others.

    That was also why Nial was seldom worried whenever Ryu left him every now and then to finish some Guild missions, which helped him to learn how to control his darkness affinity better.

    Funnily enough, everyone who saw Ryu would automatically connect him to Nial. Thus, Nial was rewarded with the contribution points his wingless Gryphon would usually earn whenpleting missions.

    When Ryu needed something, Nial would buy hispanion whatever was required but it looked like Ryupleted missions because it was fun not to earn anything other than a higher proficiency with the darkness affinity.

    Ryu was already fully matured and he had yet to master what made him special; his mutation through which he gained the darkness affinity seed.

    If not for the darkness affinity seed, Ryu would have to attempt challenging his limits to further mutate or to evolve his bloodline and be a higher existence.

    Nial wanted to help Ryu to evolve because it would be helpful for everyone but it was certainly not easy to help evolve a unique existence such as a darkness-type mutated and wingless Gryphon.

    There were too many uncertain variables and Nial''s knowledge about how to evolve monsters was not exactly profound either. Thus, he was doing his research whenever he had time, which was not often.<sub> </sub>

    He was troubled with the Refinements of Imperfectia and searching for new abilities to bind to his Mana core.

    The wide variety of abilities to choose from was shocking and there were many abilities that attracted Nial''s interest but he didn''t want to be forced to focus on advancing his abilities after advancing to the Deux rank.

    It would consume too much of the time he would rather spend advancing in his ranks, studying or engraving runic constetions.

    That was also why Nial didn''t rush binding abilities to his mana core just to advance in the ranks. He wanted to receive long-term benefits, which is why he epted advancing at a slower pace to amass long-term gains.

    And it was not as if he did nothing either. Completing the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia before advancing to the Deux rank would be his preferable goal, especially since the size of the Mana sea that was created at the Deux rank was directly proportional to the potential of the host, the bigger the size the higher the potential and vice versa.

    This should include his physique''s condition and future potential. Thus, Nial had all the time in the world to improve and create the best possible foundation.

    Despite the time he was given it was not as if Nial would dare to ck off. On the contrary, he worked as hard as possible to improve as quickly as he could to make sure that he would never be pressured by the most threatening curse in existence; time crunch.

    In the following three months, Nialpleted 150 Refinements of Imperfectia, he improved his work as a Runicier, earned lots of contribution points, and also made a habit to browse through all the shops in the Alliance city every two weeks when the ability crystals were restocked.

    Nial had yet to find anything even though his Mana Core had often reacted when he passed through the shops. He just never found the reason for his Mana Core to react like this.

    As such, he could be considered to be fortunate when his Mana Core began to wreak havoc the moment his fingers closed around a specific ability crystal in his hands.

    It was a small ability crystal and didn''t seem to be special.

    Out of all the ability crystals he had inspected until now, the ability crystal he was holding right now was quite ordinary.

    [Mental Control] was the name of the ability stored inside the crystal. It sounded both meaningful and in, especially if one considered that the ability crystal originated from a dungeon at the Origin rank.

    Everyone could conquer the dungeon, no matter what rank they were at and it was easy to conquer it.

    "How much for the [Mental Control] ability crystal?" Nial thus asked, not expecting that he would have to pay too much.

    It was just a low-ranked ability crystal that could be easily procured as long as one found the correct Origin-rank dungeon.

    "Are you sure that you want to learn [Mental Control]? It may not seem like a powerful ability at first but after upgrading it will be extremely powerful. That''s why many desire it as one of their abilities, just to end up miserable when they find out how difficult it is to actually upgrade this ability!" The merchant cautioned the blind youth. He chose to speak facts instead of trying to lure a potential customer to make easy money.

    Nial frowned when he heard what the merchant said but it was not as if the man''s words would change his opinion.

    "How much would it cost?" He repeated his question, just for his breath to hitch in his throat when the merchant answered with a sigh.

    "..."

    "What did you say??"

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 Chapter 418 Investment

    "Why would I have to pay 100,000,000 contribution points for an ability that can be procured in an Origin dungeon??" Nial was baffled by this and his first reaction to the price the merchant told him was to call him a fraud.

    However, the merchant just shook his head with a bitter smile on his face.

    "I can understand your concern but 100 million contribution points is already a verypetitive price considering that so many people seek this ability. Not many can upgrade this ability properly but those few, who have the capabilities and the necessary time to improve are bound to be true powerhouses provided they don''t die!" The merchant said before he added a few more facts,

    "Furthermore, you''ll only get one [Mental Control] ability crystal on average for conquering the dungeon 10,000 times!"

    Nial had no idea if the information he received was valid but he knew that if a merchant was found out to be extorting his customers to an inhuman degree, they would have their business license revoked.

    Thus, even if the price of 100 million contribution points was high, it was probably still their eptable norm ording to the regtions of Alliance City.

    ''I thought that I was rich with all the contribution points I''ve umted in thest few months but it looks like I will have to save up more to buy the remaining two abilities¡­and more resources¡­'' Nial though not without feeling bothered that he would have to shell out his entire fortune to buy a single ability crystal.

    "It seems that epting andpleting the Runicier missions with the highest pay was needed¡­" He mumbled while reaching out his free hand to touch a small orb that was ced right in the center of the counter.

    "Transfer 100 million contribution points!" Nial ordered and a holographic screen emerged above the insignia of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo the count that had been at 101,563,400 changed rapidly as 100 million contribution points were deducted.

    The merchant looked at the screen in utter dumbfound for a few seconds before he opened the insignia of the shop where a hundred million contribution points had been added.

    "I can leave now, right?" Nial asked as he removed his hand from the orb before he turned around.

    "Y-Yes¡­Sir! If you ever need something again, juste to me and I will help you at once!!" The merchant replied enthusiastically while bowing deeply to Nial.

    The business had taken a hit in his casetely because too many shops with unique ability crystals had cropped up like mushrooms while there were only a handful of Originals who were in actual need of expensive ability crystals.

    Thus, Nial''s purchase was like a dreame true for the merchant, and as if his prayers had been finally answered. The merchant''s eyes got teary and he imagined that a holy halo surrounded Nial even if that couldn''t be further from the truth.

    Even if Nial didn''t feel like using 99% of his fortune to buy the ability crystal, it was quite obvious that the [Mental Control] ability would be something extremely terrifying upon bing a linked ability.

    He had been looking for a linked ability for several months and it was the first time for him to get his hands on an ability that reacted solely to his Mana core.

    Mental Control sounded like a pretty useful ability as well, which was even more reason for Nial to ept investing all his savings into it.

    The result would definitely be good enough to make the purchase worthwhile!

    "The Dojo has an istion room¡­but I need more mana to bind the ability¡­If I use my remaining points, I shouldn''t need to deprive my surrounding of mana and make everyone worry that some sort of powerhouse has arrived to destroy Alliance city," Nial mumbled to himself. Hispanion Ryu chirped and was pulling at his master''s sleeves to gain his attention.

    Nial turned his head to look at Ryu and saw that the wingless Gryphon was eager to show him something. He revealed the darkish-blue gem that was attached to the ne the wingless Gryphon had received from Nial quite a while ago.

    "You want me to take a look inside?" Nial asked and Ryu nodded his head faintly. Thus, Nial closed his fingers around the gem before he inserted some of his mana inside to ess the storage space of the spatial ne which had a much bigger storage space than Nial''s spatial ring.

    "Damn¡­you''re rich Ryu!" He eximed when he saw just how many corpses, weapons, ability crystals, Origin crystals, and unique drops were stored inside the storage ne.

    Ryu chirped out while pressing his head against Nial''s chest, demanding rubs as payment instead of praises.<sub> </sub>

    "Do you want me to sell all of this?" He asked while caressing the Gryphon who chirped out again, agreeing to whatever Nial said.

    "If I exchange everything with Origin crystals and I use the remaining saved-up points, I will definitely have more than enough to purchase everything I need to bind the Mental Control ability crystal to my mana core!" Nial was getting excited because he knew that the more mana was used in the binding process of ability, the smoother everything would go.

    There was even the possibility of his ability evolving, which was something that existed only for linked abilities. All of Nial''s bound abilities changed after getting bound to him, but he always presumed that to have been caused by the Odyssey seed.

    This was not wrong, but it was not the only reason, especially since the Odyssey seed had merely increased the chances of his ability evolving upon getting bound.

    With various thoughts running wild in his mind, Nial rushed to the Guild hall, and sold everything Ryu had collected, including the corpses that belonged to members of other races.

    Ryu killed them because they had attacked him first and by sharing that note, he was giving the higher authorities of the said races the opportunity to help their dead brethren to break the shackles that tied them to the mortal world and travel to the afterlife.

    They would sell the corpses of their brethren to exorcist or burn them which was why the Guild hall would buy them for a specific number of contribution points without asking any questions to the Adventurers who sold them.

    Their identity would be kept secret to prevent the higher authorities of the deceased''s race from finding out about their people''s killers and taking revenge.

    That was also why Nial had been willing to sell the corpses.

    After he earned enough contribution points, it was time to purchase arge quantity of high-quality Origin crystals.

    Once that was done as well, he reserved the isted space below the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo for three days, just to reach it a few minutester.

    He met a few Valxians and greeted them politely but he didn''t strike up a conversation with them because he was way too excited to bind his third ability to his mana core.

    Nial was slowly getting closer to his goal and that feeling was quite pleasant. This was even more so the case because he could tell that working toward something with all his might prevented the nightmares of his mother to haunt him whenever his body forced him to fall asleep.

    That was good but it was also not a perfect solution to the problem of having recurring nightmares whenever he took the shortest possible break.

    He knew that his condition was far from good and that he should attempt to figure out who he was, what he wanted, and much more by leaving behind the humans from Jundra and the Forest of Life.

    However, it was not as if that was easy as he made it sound in his mind.

    In the isted space underground, Nial spread out the Origin crystals while leaving only a small space in the center. He spread out his range of perception and his mana sense after sitting down in the center of the isted space.

    Ryuy down next to him before he went to sleep.

    Nial smiled at this but he didn''t allow anything to disrupt his full focus as he essed every single Origin crystal around him at once. He released a strand of the purest mana from the Origin crystal before circting them through the [Mental Control] ability crystal that began to heat up in his hand.

    Nial took a deep breath before he removed the power of the ability from the ability crystal that crumbled as the power of the ability shot through his body, appearing right in front of his Mana core.

    "Don''t create too much trouble, and we''ll be good friends, buddy!" Nial mumbled to the [Mental Control] ability but Ryu opened his eyes before he tilted his head, wondering what Nial wanted from him.

    "Kyue?"

 Chapter 419 Dominion

    "That''s it?" Nial mumbled to himself while Ryu rubbed his head against Nial''s chest.

    He was confused because there was no special phenomenon or anything like that happening when he began binding [Mental Control] to his mana core.

    This was out of his expectations because binding the ability had been just like it would be for everyone else.

    The only difference was that Nial had used a humongous amount of Origin crystals to unleash the hidden potential within his ability.

    Thus, [Mental Control] had evolved to [Dominion] which was quite a surprise and something Nial had hoped for. He couldn''t know that Mental control would evolve to Dominion for sure but he had hoped that his ability would evolve a bit.

    That was exactly what happened, which was due to it bing a linked ability, where it was fused with a portion of his Mana core''s Essence. The overflowing mana from the Origin crystal had been connected to his ability and it had immediately nourished the Mana core''s Essence within [Mental Control]. That in turn, unleashed some of its hidden potential, thus resulting in the given evolution.

    "Dominion¡­allows me to suppress other beings if their willpower is weaker than mine¡­If I overwhelm them, it''s even possible to turn them into my loyal subjects¡­that''s crazy¡­" Nial mumbled while trying to sort out the flood of information that appeared in his mind.

    It was not easy to organize everything because some facts shed with others, confusing him. That was quite a hassle and Nial took a while to figure out what was going on.

    In the end, he was pretty satisfied with the ability, even more so because he knew that he would never have to actively train the technique to improve it.

    However, there were a bunch of new thoughts that shed through his mind.

    "How can I make proper use of that ability? Should I try to find another linked ability that suits this one perfectly, to turn it into something that allows me to be manyfold stronger than I already am? How can I achieve that? What''s the perfect ability to create an undefeatable synergy with [Dominion]?" He blurted his thoughts out loud and tried to figure out what exactly he was supposed to do.

    ''Well, I can always think of what to do when the time is ripe¡­I am broke now¡­time to earn some contribution points!'' Nial told himself and he got up from the ground.

    By using his Mana Sense, he shrouded all emptied Origin crystals and stored them inside his spatial ring before he left the isted space below the Pagoda.

    Once Nial reached the surface, he encountered Khain and the others. Khain stared at him for a few seconds before he walked over to Elder Walin, who had shown up as well.

    She was just about to start teaching her students when her gaze fell on Khain. Slowly, her eyes moved over to Nial, who greeted everyone before she nodded her head at them both.

    "Nial, do you mind sparring with Khain? He wants to see how much you''ve improved since you arrived, and I''m also quite interested in your progress!" Elder Walin proposed and Nial agreed without giving it a lot of thought.

    "I wonder how much stronger I''ve be as well. I''m just returning from the isted space where I bound my new ability," He revealed and many pairs of eyes were drawn to him after his revtion.

    "You said that you had three ability vacancies left when you arrived in Alliance city, right?" Khain asked all of a sudden and Nial nodded his head once again.

    "Yep, and now I have only two ability vacancies left," He acknowledged and everyone could visibly see that Khain was getting more and more ufortable.

    Valxians didn''t have many ability vacancies. Most Valxians could only bind one ability to their mana core because they had a few special traits as a race. Binding more abilities would harm their body which was mostly focused on attaining physical strength rather than depending on the usage of abilities.

    Nheless, there were some Valxians who were capable of binding two abilities to their mana core without issues.

    But even that was nothing inparison to what Nial was capable of. His physical strength was lower than a Valxian''s innate strength even if it was not too much, and he could bind three to four more abilities than them.

    Furthermore, Nial seemed to be in possession of other special traits that made him stronger than ordinary humans, which was something many were envious of.

    Life was not fair, it had never been but it looked like Nial was a walking cheat code who kept receiving fate''s blessings in abundance.

    "Don''t hold back while fighting me!" Khain stated, trying to see if he had a chance against Nial when he gave his all.

    He would also give his everything but that was only obvious.

    "Hm¡­okay¡­" Nial was in thoughts for a while but he nodded his head regardless.

    "Elder Walin, please take precautions if anything happens to him¡­or me. I don''t know what exactly will happen," He added honestly.<sub> </sub>

    This caused Khain to look at Nial with furrowed eyebrows for a few seconds before he went to the arena on the first floor of the pagoda. Everyone else made some space for them while Elder Walin kept her eyes glued to Nial.

    She was not sure what would happen but she followed Nial''s advice and started to set up extra security measures so as to be prepared for any unforeseen circumstances arising out of their spar.

    When Nial saw that Elder Walin did as requested he was relieved and went over to the other side of the arena.

    "We can start whenever you want," Nial said while Khain bumped his fists together and soon his skin started to turn red.

    Khain''s skin began to steam and it was quite obvious what was going to happen.

    ''Did he learn to control the Berserk thing of the Valxian race?'' Nial wondered but he quickly averted his focus as he noticed something of much more importance.

    ''That is possible? For real?'' He began to smile, which was quickly noticed. Khain was being extra cautious of Nial and did not want to lose this time. A momentter, Elder Walin initiated the countdown.

    "Three¡­twoo¡­one¡­.fight!" She announced loudly and Khain charged forward the moment the battle started.

    His body inted, his skin turnedpletely red and the steam that emerged all around his body made it seem as if he had gained a secondyer of protection from all kinds of physical attacks.

    However, Nial just smiled as one of his eyes turned crimson in its entirety before it started to glow brightly.

    Using the [Blood Eclipse Moon] ability together with [Dominion], Nial gained an upper hand over the spar and Khain''s mind in an instant. Khain didn''t even know what was going on and he was already on the losing side. The little natural defense of the Valxian''s mind was broken in an instant and he only realized that something was odd when one of the corners of Nial''s mouth curled upward in a smirk.

    "Stop!" Nial ordered quietly, but the words rang through Khain''s head as if they had been shouted at the top of his lungs and augmented with the use of a tremendous amount of mana.

    Khain''s head felt like it would burst apart into pieces and he stopped in his tracks, holding his head in his hands. He felt as if his head was on fire and his body had been frozen into a stone statue. Khain was not even able to try to move ahead when a secondmand was issued by Nial.

    "Surrender!" He instructed and Khain''s lips began to move on their own.

    "I surrender¡­." Khain spoke the words he did not want to before his legs gave in.

    Nial lifted his hand and pointed at Khain when his head turned to Elder Walin.

    "I think you should help him," He suggested while his eyes returned to the same color as they had been before, milky white and without a trace of life.

    When he stopped using [Dominion], Khain''s loud screams filled the arena. His voice reverberated through the whole Pagoda and many students and even the Dojo Master reached the first floor of the pagoda to take a look at what was going on.

    Khain''s eyes were bleeding as fat drops of blood trickled out of his eyes and his mind faced a meltdown.

    "What is going on here?!" The Dojo Master asked in an imposing voice and Nial turned around with a dry smile before he answered,

    "Khain and I sparred, he told me to go all out after getting to know that I finished binding my new ability less than half an hour ago¡­and that''s the result. Though I told Elder Walin to take precautions, so I guess nothing will go wrong¡­maybe?"

    Nial didn''t really feel guilty about what had happened. His warning had been more than enough, and the Dojo Master could imagine Khain doing exactly what Nial told him.

    Thus, he averted his attention from Nial to take a look at Khain, and see if he could help out a bit.

    But what the Dojo Master found made him frown deeply because Khain''s mind was in a total mess.

    "What exactly did you do?" He couldn''t help but ask before turning his attention to look at the way too calm human.

    "I forced myself in his head and ordered him to surrender," Nial exined nonchntly and his answer made everyone raise their eyebrows.

    "Are you serious??"

 Chapter 420 Power Of Domination

    The Dojo master was shocked when he heard what Nial had achieved easily.

    It didn''t take him much effort to break through Khain''s natural mind protection and to force him to surrender after recently binding a new ability.

    "What is the name of the ability you bound? Is it rted to submission?" The Dojo Master was bewildered but Nial only shrugged his shoulders.

    In Nial''s opinion, it was quite obvious what ability he bound to his mana core but it would be funnier to make others question if it was truly [Mental Control] or something else.

    Seeing that Nial didn''t answer, the Dojo Master was a little dumbfounded, especially after the human Original had already told him a lot about his body''s secrets. However, it was not as if he could force Nial to speak, which was also why he turned silent.

    "I would like to continue to test my ability. If there is nothing else for me to do here, I will take your leave," Nial said with a faint smile on his lips and the Dojo Master nodded his head before he turned his attention to Khain.

    The young Valxian required some treatment to make sure that his mind wouldn''t sustain any injuries after what had happened.

    Meanwhile, Nial left the pagoda with Ryu by his side.

    "Let''s see how powerful my new ability truly is!" Nial stated as he swung himself on Ryu''s back. The wingless Gryphon chirped out in joy and he rushed to the Guild hall while Nial spent some time taking a look at all the missions in the Guild''s mission catalog.

    When they reached the Guild hall, the receptionist who was already ustomed to Nial''s unique requests greeted him.

    "How may I help you today, Sir?" He asked with a bright smile on his face.

    "I want toplete the C-rank Mission [Territorial Domain Conquest], and all the 148 missions that are located in the same territory!" Nial answered confidently and his words made the receptionist''s bright smile fade in an instant.

    "You want to ept all these missions...Sir? Are you sure?" The receptionist asked after a minute of silence and Nial answered him with a nod.

    "I know about the Guild hall''s rules as well. If I fail to finish the missions in the given time, I will have to pay a small fee for failing my task, so don''t worry about that. I willplete all missions quickly enough!" He assured the nervous-looking receptionist after a while when he noticed that the young man wasn''t moving a single inch.

    "That...is not the problem Sir...I don''t want to be responsible if something were to happen to you...are you sure that you want to take these missions, Sir?" the young receptionist asked again, his voice filled with concern.

    Nial understood what the young man was so worried about but Nial made a simple gesture of waving his hand off to make it seem as if there was nothing to worry about.

    "I will take care of myself, don''t worry!" He said with an air of confidence, and the receptionist nodded his head meekly as he followed Nial''s order to ept 149 Missions at once.

    "Please take care of yourself," The young receptionist said afterpleting the formalities. Nial smiled in response before he turned around to leave the Alliance City for a few days.

    It was time for him to start conquering a small territory that was crowded with dungeon beasts, dungeon portals, and certain existences that should have been taken care of much earlier already; Undeads!

    Nial epted all the missions especially since there were Undeads. He wanted to test something, which is why he traveled with Ryu for three days until they reached the region where all 149 Missions were to bepleted.

    Taking a deep breath, he tried to steady his nerves and a reeking stench filled his nose. Nial wrinkled his nose in disgust before his expression changed once again.

    "Let''s see how strong [Dominion] truly is!" He said and Ryu chirped out as he shot toward a group of Ghouls at the Mirae rank.

    Some of the Ghouls were human-like and were walking on two feet while the rest were mostly walking on four or six feet. Nial ignored all of this as he activated [Dominion] by using his dark energy as an energy supply instead of mana.<sub> </sub>

    He tested something and wanted to see if everything would work ording to his n.

    "You guys, enter the Kv cliffs, bring me Juvaline corals and 1000 Origin-ranked Pir Fishes without infesting them!" Nial ordered as his eyes turned pitch-ck before they began to glow eerily.

    The Ghouls had just charged in Nial''s direction to attack him when they froze in ce. It took them a few seconds to turn around but once they had done that they headed straight to the dungeon portal he had spoken about.

    "Ah, and bring me all the Essence crystals and special things you find in the Kv cliffs dungeon!" Nial added as an afterthought when he perceived a change in the mana around their heads.

    It was not difficult for him to tell that [Dominion] altered the thoughts and behavior of the Ghouls. This was pretty interesting and exactly what Nial had wished to happen.

    When he spread out his range of perception and his [Mana Sense] he began to lick his lips when he sensed just how many suitable targets there were in a range of 50 kilometers for him to choose from.

    The territory he was supposed to clean of all their overpopting dungeon beasts and the various dungeon breaks that urred around that location was several hundred kilometers in length and width. Thus, nobody really wanted to ept this mission, especially if most of the dungeon monsters around were either at the Origin or Mirae rank rather than the Prometheus rank.

    It wouldn''t be useful for any Original at the Deux, let alone Keltian rank to travel a day to waste more than a week to clean up a territory if they weren''t capable of usingrge-scale attacks just to earn a few million contribution points.

    They could earn much more in a shorter time when advancing to the Keltian rank!

    Furthermore, the corpses, Origin crystals, and other drops of most dungeon beasts at the lower ranks were rather...weak, to put it simply. Thus, they wouldn''t make up for the ''little''pensation one could get from conquering the surrounding region.

    Nial''s n was a little different than others would attempt. He was ready to use the monsters all around him toplete his missions while he would continue using [Dominion] with his dark energy to force all monsters up to the Peak of the Prometheus rank to heed hismands.

    And once their missions werepleted, he would let all of them loose and force them to fight one another until none of them would be left alive. Afterward, he could do a clean sweep of the battlefield by storing the bodies of the deceased, receive the rewards forpleting the missions and rake humongous extra profits for selling millions of bodies.

    That was what Nial had in mind and controlling Undeads was, by far, the easiest way to achieve everything he wanted to attain. They were tireless and near-mindless existences that could be controlled rather easily.

    How could Nial not be interested in gaining control over Undeads now that he was in possession of such a powerful ability as [Dominion]. It was perfect for the given situation and Nial exerted it while shrouding everything with his mana as if it was his domain.

    "Pay heed to mymands from now on!" Nial spoke in an imposing manner and all the dungeon beasts looked in his direction whether they wanted to or not.

    Once Nial figured that everything worked out as he had hoped for, he began to order around the dungeon beasts.

    Their intelligence was not at a high level, which was why they followed his orders without any issues. However, that made it also a little bit more difficult for him to make them fulfill his wish.

    There was no way that they would understandplex orders. This was also why Nial thought about giving them easy orders such as,

    "Go pluck all the flowers you can find in the Wildfire forest," instead of "Harvest 10 Livansran flowers inside the Wildfire forest dungeon!"

    The former would end up in him receiving a truckload of flowers but that was no problem because Nial could simply sort them neatly once he stored everything inside his spatial ring. All he would need was a little bit of patience.

    This would make things a lot easier, especially since he could order around hundreds of dungeon beasts with a single use of his ability as long as they were not too intelligent or their mind fortified to block Nial''s domination.

    "That''s how I like it!"

 Chapter 421 Subjects

    After receiving his own set of ''loyal'' workers, Nial learned a lot more about his [Dominion] ability.

    This included the limit of his ability, and how much of a difference it made if he used only mana to activate the ability inparison to using dark energy, that is the Essence of Darkness or the energy stored within the Blood Eclipse Moon.

    By using both the Essence of Darkness and the Blood Eclipse Moon''s energy, the effect of Dominion would be the strongest. Not even dungeon beasts at the Prometheus rank were capable of disregarding his orders, which made things very easy for him in the long term.

    Two days passed and Nial had ordered more than ten thousand dungeon beasts. More than 60 missions had beenpleted by now and it would require only around three more days to finish the rest. The time limit toplete the shortest mission that he had epted was fourteen days.

    This was a rather long duration, which was only obvious if one considered the huge distance one had to travel to the region that was considered to be the Breeding Pce and the Domain of the Undead. This was a weirdbination of titles for a region but Nial didn''t really bother about that.

    He was more focused on finishing his missions and getting to know the true extent of his ability than anything else.

    There were three Deux-ranked beasts to defeat but Nial was not really worried about them. He was already in control of more than ten Prometheus Undeads. He believed that they would be more than enough to wear out the living beasts at the Deux-rank and make it easy for him to finish them off when he would join the battle.

    Nial was ready to finish off the Deux-ranked beasts soon, but before anything else, he wanted to take a look at the progress of his orders and the gains he made by sending his subjects to all kinds of ces.

    They had brought back many unique things, including a bunch of books, unique ability crystals that had dropped from exotic beasts one rarely encountered, and a few items in a special loot that had dropped from some dungeon beasts they had killed within the dungeons.

    Some monsters would leave behind weird drops, such as odd liquids that had unique uses.

    Nial had no idea what was the most special use the liquid might have but it had been dropped in a small vial, which was also why his subjects were able to bring it back.

    In the end, Nial had to store everything neatly without knowing what most things were. He would let some things be appraised after he returned to the Alliance city and everything he didn''t need would be sold, or put to some use.

    Thousands of dungeon beasts surrounded him but none of them dared to attack Nial. They stared at him in fear, feeling uncertain of what the unfathomable existence in front of them would do.

    Nial may look like a small human being to most of them but deep down they knew that he was not someone they could escape.

    It was not even possible to go near him as he had already used [Dominion] to prevent anyone with ill intentions froming close to him. Nial smiled upon perceiving the desperation of all the dungeon beasts to eliminate the threat posed by him but he couldn''t care less.

    Rather than stopping to use [Dominion], he spent his time traveling around the Breeding Pce to turn more and more dungeon beasts into his forcefully loyal subjects.

    The feeling of being able to order around whoever he wanted whenever he wanted was exhrating and Nial had to hold back from attempting to use his entire energy to control one of the few dungeon beasts at the Deux rank. He knew that he had already used up too much of his energy to control all the other dungeon beasts, and he would require a few days to replenish the energy it would take to attempt controlling one of the powerful beasts.

    It was not worth the wait, which was also why Nial spent only two days turning more and more dungeon beasts into his subjects before he ordered them toplete his remaining missions except the Conquest of the Breeding Pce and Undead Domain region.

    That was hisst mission left after a total of five days had passed since he appeared in the region with Ryu and it was time to finish it off toplete everything properly.

    "Attack the Deux beasts!" Nial gave his secondst order to all his subjects, forcing them to go up against the Overlords of their region.

    It was suicidal and all the dungeon beasts instinctively knew that they were unlikely to escape alive, but they followed the givenmand nheless.

    They were not able to deny the given orders, after all!

    Tens of thousands of dungeon beasts charged over the vast expanse and Nial followed them while riding Ryu. His heart was calm and he used his Mana sense to perceive everything around him.

    Thus, he was the first one to perceive the Deux-ranked dungeon beast that had already noticed that something was amiss in thest few days.

    It looked at the massive crowd of dungeon beasts, who wouldn''t take long before they would reach it and they began to frown deeply.

    The Deux-ranked beast was a Behemoth, the size of a huge mansion, and nothing was supposed to be able to overwhelm it. Yet, the massive horde of dungeon beasts marching towards it made it falter.

    It might be difficult for therge horde to injure it while being at a lower rank but it was certainly not impossible. There were always ways to injure someone at a higher rank than oneself, especially if one was at a numerical advantage of more than tens of thousands to one!

    Nheless, the behemoth let go of its initial hesitation and charged at its opponents, ready to trample them all if necessary.

    But this was the biggest mistake it could have made. Under normal circumstances, it could have been considered charging at its opponents when they initiated an attack but not now. Its opponents were not wild and untamed beasts but Nial, Ryu, and a bunch of Undeads at the Peak of the Prometheus rank. Furthermore, they all wielded Broken Tier-2 Runic armaments.

    Nial had prepared more than enough Broken Tier-2 runic armaments by using the cheapest possible materials to unleash the strongest effect.

    Thus, when a bunch of dragon heads formed out of different elements shot toward the ginormous behemoth all of a sudden, all hell broke loose.

    Five deep gashes formed in the ginormous body of the Behemoth the moment the Dragon heads impacted on the dungeon beast that was mostly focused on training its powerful body.

    The gashes burst open when the dragon heads exploded and the Behemoth''s skin and flesh were revealed while the beast could only roar out in pain.

    Ever since it had emerged on Jundra, it hadn''t felt such devastating pain and even that level of effort was hardly enough for the Behemoth to survive. Wanting to save its life, the Behemoth continued to run.

    The longer it ran the worse the injury seemed to be, which was more than enough reason for Nial to start smiling.

    "How about you have some fun, Ryu? Use your darkness however you like!" He told Ryu while caressing his fluffy plumage.

    Nial decided to sit back and just watch as it was time to let others do his job.

    He was feeling quite tired and exhausted after constantly using [Dominion] and testing out various things rted to the ability.

    And visualizing tens of thousands of monsters charging at the Behemoth that was crawling up its legs or jumping straight toward its huge body was oddly satisfying.

    Nial was in control of most types of dungeon beasts right now. Whether it was huge monsters on the ground, beasts that lived underground and were creating tunnels below the Behemoth for the ground below it to break in, or aerial dungeon beasts that were adept at flying straight at the weak spots of the Behemoth to worsen its injuries all over its massive body.

    The scenery that unfolded in front of him was miraculous and something that was not supposed to happen. All types of dungeon beasts attacked the Behemoth that killed thousands of beasts by trampling them to death.

    There was no doubt that the Behemoth''s power was immense because not even other Deux-ranked dungeon beasts would be capable of surviving a single charge of the ginormous existence.

    However, thebined attacks of all the beasts helped Nial slowly gain an upper hand on the Behemoth. Nial and Ryu were flying high in the air, and the Broken Tier-2 Runic Armaments had inflicted mild injuries, which was more than enough to wear out the Behemoth and worsen its injury slowly but steadily.

    "You are mine!!"

 Chapter 422 Worth The Investment

    It was only a matter of time until all the Deux-ranked monsters had been defeated and were lying on the ground. Their corpses were huge and Nial was pretty sure that he would gain lots of contribution points for them.

    "You took less than 10 days to reach the Breeding Pce region, andplete 149 missions, includingpleting the Deux-ranked Overlords? You are crazy¡­literally!" The receptionist said with a shocked expression on his face.

    He stared at the young Original, whose expression couldn''t be more emotionless than it was right now.

    Nial''s lifeless eyes stared unfocused in the receptionist''s direction, which made the man feel lessfortable with every passing second.

    "Of course, I did!" He dered before he continued to speak calmly, "Who else should havepleted these missions?"

    Nial might sound calm but the young receptionist couldn''t help but feel that something would go terribly wrong if he would be foolish enough to upset Nial.

    "O-okay¡­I approved yourpletion of the missions. The monster corpses and other extraordinary drops will be totaled and you will be awarded your contribution points ordingly!" The receptionist quickly said.

    Nial nodded his head after Ryu chirped out in joy and they left the Guild hall not long after.

    When Nial''s army of Undeads had killed all the Deux-ranked Overlords, he made them kill each other with simplemands.

    [Dominion] worked out far better than he had expected and numerous new strategies formed in his mind. There were certain things he wanted to test out but instead of doing so, Nial rather collected his contribution points forpleting all missions.

    149 Missions and millions of corpses were worth a lot more than 100 million contribution points, meaning that Nial would require only 10 days to make up for his earlier investment.

    [Mental Control] might have cost a total of 100 million contribution points but it was pretty obvious that it was far more than that for Nial. Of course, that was also rted to the obvious fact that [Mental Control] had evolved [Dominion].

    It was also a linked ability, which made things even better for Nial, whose mood had improved drastically. There was no way that he would be displeased with his new ability, especially after the devastating 10 days during which he had witnessed the whole prowess of his newest linked ability.

    It was the first ability that was only linked to his Mana Core and Nial was very satisfied with the oue.

    "Now I can buy a new ability, or look for one, to be precise!" Nial muttered in satisfaction with a small excited smile on his face.

    The chances of him finding a new ability crystal that reacted with his Mana core or Heart of Darkness were slim but Nial had more than enough time. After all, he wanted to improve his physique a lot more before advancing his Mana core to the Deux rank.

    There were many things he had to aplish before, including thepletion of the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia!

    Because he had more than enough contribution points, Nial didn''t even think about being stingy to buy enough resources to undergo as many Refinements of Imperfectia in the shortest possible time.

    At the same time, it was very important for Nial to look out for ways to improve Ryu''s strength. Even if Nial didn''t want to acknowledge it, Ryu had gotten very close to him in a very short amount of time and he was equally fond of him.

    It was something he didn''t expect to happen so soon after he had built up a wall around his heart to not let others in, but somehow Ryu had managed to sneak in.

    That was weird but it was not as if Nial disliked the feeling of caring about someone. Ryu cared about him a lot as well, which was quite clear for both of them due to their unique bond.

    Several months passed after Nial got his hand on an enormous amount of resources and he finished a total of 1000 Refinements of Imperfectia.

    A tenth of the technique had been sessfullypleted and the effects were already pretty amazing. Nial felt a lot stronger than before and he could already feel that his body was functioning at a much faster rate than before.

    This was pretty interesting but it was nothing inparison to the other gains he had made.

    He had learned a lot more about Superior and Ancient runic solutions, his proficiency with the [Dominion] ability had increased rapidly and the number of contribution points he had umted skyrocketed as well.

    Nial had yet to learn lots ofbat techniques from the Thousand Bodies refinements dojo but that didn''t really matter. He contributed to the fame the now 1-Star Dojo gained and it was only a matter of time before the number of daily challengers to undergo the entrance test would cross 100.

    Even 1000 daily challengers weren''t unlikely to be achieved the moment more and more races would reach Alliance city.

    Nial was given the opportunity to gain new martial art techniques but he was so focused on the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia technique that he couldn''t even think of anything else.

    Unfortunately, the overall situation was far from being nice. He had yet to get his hands on one of thest two abilities he could bind to him and even his Mana Core was not vibrating anymore.

    He presumed that the [Mental Control] ability had been the sole reason for his Mana Core to react like this, which was not very nice considering that his Mana core had annoyed him for a very long time.

    But there was still more. Not only was his mission to look for more ability crystals to find a suitable ability but there were also a few pieces of news from the Forest of Life that were both likable and unlikeable at the same time.

    First of all, humans were expanding their range and territory. Nine shelters were not enough for them anymore and the dangers radiating from the dungeon beasts and races all around them didn''t seem to be too high.

    That being said, it seemed like humans from others had begun to meet with humans from Jundra. Nial was pretty impressed by this information, especially since there were humans that were connected to the Golden Armaments Union.

    Old Elf Clevian and the other Elves didn''t really like this change of events that much but Nial was pretty amused by it.

    He didn''t expect the Golden Armaments Union to act so factually, let alone that they would be capable of getting in contact with humans from Jundra when they were clearly in an alliance with the Elves.

    Nial figured that this was a provocation directed at the Elves, showing them that fellow humans would join forces together no matter which ce they came from.

    The humans from others had various powerful techniques to use in order to be a lot stronger, while the humans from Jundra were known as one of the few races with the capabilities to bind five abilities to their Mana Core.

    It was even rare for Ancient races to have individuals capable of binding a total of five abilities to their Mana Core, let alone every single member.

    This was pretty interesting when Nial figured that news out but he was more concerned about other things.

    "Is there still no news of Sabrina and Mathias? Where the hell are they?" Nial asked through the long-distance messenger device and Miles, his father, answered him with a much stronger voice than one would expect a depressed and broken man to possess.

    "Don''t you worry too much about them? They''ll be fine. Take care of yourself instead of others."

    "The Royal Princess told me to convey a message to you¡­are you ready?" His father suddenly asked, causing Nial to feel a little bit confused.

    He knew that his father was doing much better than before based on the way he talked but Nial didn''t expect his father to be ready to start teasing his son.

    "Then go for it!" Nial didn''t like the tension his father was building up. Thus, he shifted his weight from one foot to another in an effort to calm himself as he waited for his father to answer.

    "The Royal Princess told me to tell you that you are hereby allowed to use the portal to Yggdrassil whenever you want! You cane to Yggdrasil to study if you wish to do so or to use Yggdrasil''s lifeforce to turn it to your advantage.

    I don''t really know what all of that means but she said that you would know that Yggdrasil has given you even more permission to do things than most Elves had ever gotten since the sacred tree came into existence!" Miles forwarded the message and Nial noticed the excitement in his father''s voice even though he was ignorant about the weight of his words.

    "Eh¡­okay, but no thanks!"

 Chapter 423 Helping The Dojo Master

    "You don''t want the Elves'' help?" Miles asked in confusion. He was pretty sure that his son would ept this offer under normal circumstances.

    Was something wrong? Miles expected the worst as he waited to hear his son''s voice.

    "I don''t think that I should leave this ce right now. I''m trying to figure out a few things about myself and staying here will probably deliver the answers I''m looking for," Nial finally answered without sharing everything that was going on in his mind right now.

    Right now, Nial was not sure if the sacred tree, Yggdrasil, would ept him now that the Symbol of Life had fused with the Odyssey seed. And even if Yggdrasil epted him, Nial had no idea if the life force supply would actually help him out.

    It might somehow help him but Nial didn''t think that it was worth traveling back to the Forest of Life because it would take around two months for a one-way journey.

    He could use the teleportation device but that required an enormous amount of mana from Origin crystals, and he preferred using it only in emergencies as he didn''t know how many times the teleportation device could be used.

    Nial didn''t want to risk anything if it was not really necessary.

    "Okay¡­" Miles could only ept his son''s decision even though he didn''t think that it was correct.

    The support the Elves, especially the Royal Princess, provided him was extremely helpful. It would be easy for him to gain a lot as long as he epted the Elves'' help.

    Unfortunately, it looked like his son was too proud to keep epting the Elves'' support.

    His father misunderstood a few things but that did not matter. The only thing of importance was that Nial would remain in Alliance City until he found a new destination, or what he truly wanted to do and who he wanted to be in the future.

    He had yet to figure out who he truly was, after all!

    "The mana storage has been used up. Don''t hesitate to call me if something happens!" Miles tried to sound rxed but Nial noticed the concern in his father''s voice.

    "That''s okay dad. I''ll call you soon. You should tell me if something is troubling you as well! The moment you feel that something is off, call me!" Nial replied before they ended their call with a rather awkward goodbye.

    Ryu pushed his beak against Nial''s chest, demanding pat''s from him. Nial did as requested and they ended up spending a few minutes standing around, doing nothing but caressing him. Ryu was caressed and Nial found the necessary time to think about what they should focus on right now.

    ''The Dojo Master said that he had a few things to tell me, but he said that it won''t be that important¡­.though he seemed quite happy, so saying that it is not important may not actually be the truth¡­'' Nial contemted before he chose to follow his gut feeling.

    He went over to the pagoda of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and decided to search for the Dojo Master.

    "Looks like it''s quite busy today as well," Nial mumbled when he visualized hundreds of Originals belonging to various races. Most of them were young and they didn''t belong to any organization, which made their motive quite obvious; they wanted to join the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo with the hope to make huge gains.

    They just knew that Nial had gotten a lot stronger after he got his hand on a secret technique that he had received from the Dojo Master in addition to various other resources.

    However, what they didn''t truly believe was that Nial had already been powerful enough before joining the Dojo. Most of the new challengers were certain that Nial had be powerful only after he joined the Dojo and due to the Dojo Master''s interesting and unique way of nurturing his students.

    The Dojo Master''s generosity was something everyone knew about by now. It may be difficult to get epted into the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo and most challengers of the entrance test would end up bing temporary servants if they fail the entrance test.

    Thus, it was no surprise to see thousands of servants lurking all around the Pagoda, acting as if they were actually doing something impressive.

    This something was not a lot because there were too many servantspared to the few tasks the Dojo had for them.

    Nial was quite amused about that but he was not actually sure if the Dojo Master gained something from having too many servants around.

    "If you''re questioning what we''re doing with all the Servants, don''t worry about that. They''re given the chance to exchange their contribution points with freedom, or to shorten the period for which they have been punished to be the Dojo''s Servants!" Elder Walin said when she appeared next to Nial.

    She gave him a small smile and could see that Nial had been thinking about what she just said.

    "You can read my mind, can''t you?" Nial asked with a faint smile on his face.

    "Not really but you''re always facing the direction of what interests you most. You are not even looking at all the challengers but in the direction of all the servants," Elder Walin exined.

    Even if Nial was blind, his behavior was quite simr to a person with vision. It was not unusual to look in the direction of the things that were the most interesting. That being said, his ''gaze'' was a pretty great indicator for others to gauge what was going on in his mind.

    Nial never realized that but now that he thought about it, it made sense. In the past, it mattered a lot as to where he looked so that he could properly listen to all the sounds around him.

    With that in mind, he could tell that there were a few habits he would have to change or improve in the future.

    ''I am still pretty bad at controlling my emotions, my senses are powerful but I don''t use them enough and mybat style is still pretty one-sided. I would rather use my abilities in an extravagant manner than fight closebat. That may be more useful but it''s also pretty obvious that Ick closebat experience.'' Nial reflected on his strengths and weaknesses as more and more troublesome habits shed through his mind.

    He was not actually bad in closebat but it was not his forte either. As long as he learned a few new martial art techniques, it would be easy for him to fix this issue. However, there was something that could be considered to be a little bit more difficult to change.

    The most annoying habit was that he was sometimes an overthinker and mulled over certain things more than required while neglecting those that required his attention and time. It was stupid but something he had to work on and improve, otherwise, things would go downhill in the future.

    "I''m looking for the Dojo Master. Where can I find him?" Nial asked Elder Walin and she pointed toward the back.

    "There are a few entitled challengers in the back. They''re the descendants of some powerful families and the family heads were pretty aggressive saying that they wanted their children to be the new elite of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo. I''ve never liked them, to be honest," Elder Walin started toin and Nial left her side withoutmenting on her little rant.

    He was aware of where the Dojo Master was and that there were a few Valxians around him but he could tell that the Dojo Master had been annoyed, thus, he asked Elder Walin about it instead of directly approaching him.

    Nial went over without saying much more and the Dojo Master''s expression and attitude began to change upon seeing Nial.

    "Your timing is perfect, Nial! As one of the newest members of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, you have to lend me a helping hand, right now!" The Dojo Master dered before pulling Nial straight into the center of the small group around himself.

    "You want me to fight them for their entrance test?" Nial asked in return, clearly understanding what the Dojo Master wanted from him.

    "As smart as always. Fight them!" The Dojo Master said before quietly whispering into his ears, "Defeat them in an overwhelming manner!"

    The Dojo Master''s request was quite interesting. He didn''t seem to like the descendants of the influential families, or their heads¡­or maybe neither of them. With that in mind, Nial prepared himself to defeat the bunch of Valxians in an overwhelming manner as an idea shed through his mind.

    "Do you mind if I have some fun?" Nial thus asked and a faint smile emerged on the Dojo Master''s face.

    "Do whatever you want!"

 Chapter 424 Altering The Mind

    "Do whatever you want!" The Dojo Master said with a bright smile on his face.

    He was ready to face all the consequences if something were to go wrong but he wanted to see the six Valxians suffer.

    There were many distinguished families at high positions in the government of the Valxians and the six youngsters around Nial belonged to six influential families that had a few powerhouses amongst them and an abundance of wealth and resources.

    The powerhouses had umted their fortune and the six families had left no stone unturned to increase their wealth because it would result in a drastic increase in the amount of resources they could procure. With that, producing powerful offsprings and nurturing them wouldn''t be difficult anymore.

    "In that case, let me fight all of them at once!" Nial said all of a sudden, causing amotion as the six young Valxians began to murmur. Their expressions had changed drastically and Nial perceived that they had instinctively activated their Berserk racial trait, which was quite an interesting sight.

    ''Their temperament is even worse than that of Khain''s. Looks like most Valxians'' are level-headed and unable to control themselves,'' Nial thought before he visualized the Dojo Master. He was calm andposed right now, which was quite different from how he had been before.

    There was no sight of his earlier annoyance anymore, and it was already quite a bit astonishing for Nial to see the Dojo Master lose his calm to begin with. It was an indicator of just how bothersome the existence of the six Valxians was for the Dojo Master.

    "Fight all of us at once? Are you a fucking idiot?" One of the young Valxians shouted at Nial, who remainedpletely unbothered even after the other Valxians joined him in the usations.

    "If you like getting beaten up, suit yourself, loser!"

    "How about you just give up immediately and save us some trouble? Maybe we can ept you as our errand boy and won''t beat you to a pulp!!"

    "You''re just a tiny human. Don''t you think it would be better for you to know your fucking ce?! You belong in the dirt below us, not in our equal standing!"

    "You might be revered as a powerful Original, but inparison to our greatness, you are just a tiny peasant!!"

    Nial almost burst intoughter when he listens to the young Valxians''me attempt to insult him. Not only were they horribly wrong but they had just added fuel to the me. Nial was motivated to beat them to a pulp because they were too arrogant for their own good.

    Destroying their seemingly unshakable confidence was something he looked forward to.

    "You guys will fight him together. If you don''t want that you can always give up the challenge before it even started," The Dojo Master instructed calmly as he looked at the six young Valxians before he added, "but that would also mean you will never be able to challenge the entrance test of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo!"

    The six young Valxians stared deeply at the Dojo Master before their eyes turned to Nial almost simultaneously.

    "Will we really be your disciples once we defeat this pimp?" One of them asked, uncertain why the Dojo Master was so confident in Nial.

    After all, they would have a numerical advantage and Nial was blind which should make him look even more worried. However, Nial was extremely calm as well, which meant that he was also confident in his capabilities. That was pretty interesting and also something that worried the Valxians. Only one of them was smart enough to use his rational thinking in the current situation.

    The other five Valxians was not in the condition to ask themselves why both the Dojo Master and Nial were so calm in the current situation.

    "We will clear the arena for you guys. You can start after I step out of the arena''s markings!" The Dojo Master instructed before he moved slowly to the outer area of the arena.

    He sped his hand together and as if onmand all students of the Dojo began to move outward and away from the arena''s ground. Following their actions, the challengers left the arena as well, leaving behind Nial, the six Valxians, and the Dojo Master.

    The Dojo Master''s steps were slow and rhythmic. This gave the seven people in the Arena a pretty clear understanding of when the start of the battle would be.

    Nial didn''t move an inch from his earlier position while the six Valxians had moved around him to form a circle. They formed a loose circle around him and kept a distance of over 50 meters but that was basically nothing considering that their height alone was already above an average of five meters. With their cultivation being at the Prometheus rank, they would have a very easy time leaping forward and snatching Nial within a second.

    They wanted to make use of their physical strength while preventing Nial from using some Broken Runic armament that required a few seconds to be unleashed.

    Those runic armaments were the worst because their prowess was much higher than runic armaments that released an effect immediately after it had been activated.

    Nial just smiled after perceiving what the Valxians nned and the intelligent looked at him warily. He really didn''t like the fact that Nial was still smiling and grew more uneasy when he saw his smile widen.

    That was not supposed to happen and the Valxian was just about to warn the others about his bad feeling when the Dojo Master stepped outside the arena.

    The instant the Dojo Master left the arena, Nial unleashed [Dominion] in its strongest form. He didn''t use any of the umted energy within the Blood Eclipse Moon, or the Heart of Darkness, but that was not necessary, to begin with.

    Nial''s proficiency with [Dominion] had increased to such an extent that he knew what he had to do in order to achieve a specific result.

    There was no need for him to change or subdue the mind of his opponents in their entirety. On the contrary, the only thing he had to do was to nt an idea or thought in his opponents'' minds.

    [Dominion] was mostly used to overwhelm the mind of his opponents and force them to do certain things, but that was not a necessity. The ability evolved from [Mental Control], meaning that the standard functions of the ability hadn''t been lost even after evolving to something else.

    Nial was thus naturally able to control the mentality and mind of his targets and make them dance to his tunes.

    Upon using [Dominion] with a tremendous amount of mana, Nial quickly noticed that not everyone was as absentminded as they initially seemed. However, that was not necessary because the thought he created in the minds of the others was pretty simple.

    [You need to defeat the Valxian next to you to get epted as the Dojo Master''s direct disciple. He will reward you greatly provided you beat your opponent in an overwhelming manner!]

    Nial hadn''t thought long about the content of the message he''d wanted to convey to the Valxians but that had not been necessary, to begin with. The picture that had formed in his mind was more than enough to achieve everything he was looking forward to.

    Thus, he ended up saying a single word while his eyes turned crimson in their entirety.

    "Fight!"

    Nial visualized everything around him clearly. Five out of six Valxians had been ready to attack Nial the moment the battle started. Yet, just a split secondter, his booming voice andmand rang through their ears, and it was as if a dam had been broken.

    A flood was unleashed and the Valxians changed their target almost instantly as they flicked their head in the direction of their neighbor to their right, forgetting all of their schemings and earlier ns to defeat Nial.

    The five Valxians'' eyes turned bloodshot and they activated their Berserk racial trait and clocked it to the maximum possible level to make sure that they could defeat their opponent as quickly as possible and in the most destructive way.

    This was something they achieved but the result was against everyone''s expectations.

    The Valxians started a brutal fight amongst each other and the horrifying sound of fists smashing mercilessly on their opponents along with the cracking of bones resounded through the arena. They had lost their capacity to think rationally and they even ignored paying attention to self-defense.

    Their sole goal was to break their opponents'' bones and literally turn them into a mashed pulp!

    Nial stood back with his hands folded as he surveyed the arena with a satisfied expression, his eyes glinting with a hint of wicked euphoria.

    Meanwhile, the rest of the spectators were utterly gobsmacked and their mouths hung wide open as they witnessed how the Valxians around Nial attacked each other and left the blind youth alone.

    Only one Valxian was not under the full effect of [Dominion]. He was the only one who could tell that there was something wrong but his mind was befuddled to understand what exactly was going on.

    Even when his own friend began to attack him and the rest of them were at each other''s throats as if it was perfectly normal.

    But something was terribly wrong¡­that the Valxian knew!

    **

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 Chapter 425 Not So Important? Fuck It!

    "Are they nuts? Why are they fooling around like this?" A confused voice reverberated through the Pagoda''s first floor.

    "Does this look like fooling around to you? They clearly intend to kill each other!" Another voice, one filled with worry could be heard by everyone as the harrowing and unexpected sight in front of them caused them to feel various emotions surging through their entire being.

    They could clearly tell that something in the arena was going wrong but they didn''t really understand it. By now, all six Valxians had several broken bones and there were bruises all over their body.

    None of the Valxians was unscathed and it looked like they would suffer a lot more and receive permanent injuries if they were to continue to fight. Yet, it looked like they couldn''t be less bothered about holding back. The strength they exerted to smash their fist onto their designated target kept increasing and some spectators began worrying about the Valxians'' life and sanity.

    Even if they were to survive the fight, it was not certain that all of them would be able to escape permanent and lifelong injuries.

    For most Valxians permanent injuries could be considered a worse problem than dying on the battlefield. They were a race filled with Warriors, meaning that only powerful Warriors were truly respected in their race. A person who could not fight was just a burden to them.

    That was also why the Dojo Master had gained enough respect from the leaders of the Valxian race even though he was not born into their nobility.

    His achievements on the battlefield had been more than enough to elevate his status, and only a few families dared to annoy the Dojo Master of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo as much as the descendants of the six influential families did.

    Their current fight, if one couldbel it such, was a disgrace for the six influential families and their biggest advantage was not to be present and witness the humiliation with their own eyes. If the heads of the six influential families were to be present right now, they would die of shame and end up coughing up blood or fainting from anger about the attitude of their descendants.

    However, what nobody had yet realized was that Nial was at fault for all the things that were happening right now. He didn''t move around, which decreased others'' awareness of his presence drastically.

    Right now, Nial was already trying not to attract anyone''s attention. Thus, his presence was already as shallow as possible. Only the Dojo Master, Elder Walin, and the other students of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo were still paying attention to Nial. As for the rest, they had already forgotten why the six Valxians had started to fight in the arena, to begin with.

    They didn''t notice Nial at all, especially because he was less than two meters in height while the average height of the six Valxians was above five meters.

    Nial began to smile as he perceived everything that happened around him. His n had worked out much better than expected and it was only a matter of time before the six Valxians would have defeated each other...the same Valxians who had tried to mock him for his strength.

    ''Should I end it here?'' He wondered while he focused on the one Valxian, who had been able to resist [Dominion] if only for a few seconds before he was also forcefully subdued by the tremendous power the ability executed.

    What had followed suit was a brutal battle of brute force, a battle Nial enjoyed watching thoroughly. However, his interest had died down and Nial had perceived more than enough.

    "Leave the arena!" He thus ordered while activating [Dominion] once again.

    As if they had been frozen in ce, the Valxians stopped moving all of a sudden. They turned around after a moment and faced toward the closest wall. For a second or two, they didn''t move just to start walking slowly.

    It looked like they were unable to feel the injuries they had sustained as they walked out of the arena on their own ord, or so it looked to the gobsmacked spectators at least.

    "Thest standing person in the arena is¡­the human¡­" One of the spectators blurted out in disbelief when he saw the tall and mighty warriors of their race walk out, leaving behind the small human.

    The final result of the battle was different than what most had presumed to happen when the battle had yet to start. Even the Dojo Master was surprised about the result, but his mood was rather good because Nial''s capabilities were clearly beyond what he had expected.

    It was a good sign and the Dojo Master began to think about a few ways to help Nial to continue making use of this new ability which he had bound to his Mana Core.

    The Dojo Master had yet to learn what exactly Nial''s third ability was but he could only make a few guesses that shouldn''t be too far from the truth.

    He was getting excited, not only because Nial''s actions would draw more attention to the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo as soon word of his heroic act would spread but also because Nial had beaten up the six entitled Valxians in the most humiliating way possible.

    Defeating them with a single blow wouldn''t be as impactful since it would end the fight in just a minute. At first, the Valxians would be baffled until they would have to ept that Nial was stronger.

    However, making them fight each other until they were about tond a killing blow at each other and making them stop and leave the arena to save their lives left a jarring impact on the minds of everyone present. The fight and Nial''s prowess would be the talk of the town! It took most of the spectators a while to understand what had actually happened but when they fathomed the situation, everyone ended up utterly dumbfounded.

    It was hard to ept what they had witnessed just minutes ago but the situation was clear; Nial used some ability to make the Valxians fight each other, just to end the battle at his will.

    The Valxians had no way to escape Nial''s ability because they were clearly weaker than him. And this was something the six descendants of the influential Valxian family couldn''t ept. They just couldn''t ept that Nial had defeated them easily as if he was wiping his butt.

    However, Nial couldn''t care less about that. He walked outside the arena, straight toward the Dojo Master, who stared down at him with a faint smile.

    "I heard that you wanted to speak to me about something before we were¡­interrupted," Nial stated rather inly. He began to smile lightly as well just to perceive a faint change in the Dojo Master''s expression.

    The change was barely perceptible but it was something Nial still perceived even if it was hardly detectable for others.

    "I know that I said this, but it is not something that affects you right now," the Dojo Master said at first before he stopped talking for a few seconds to think about what exactly he should tell Nial.

    "A new type of monster has appeared in the Universe and they''re spreading out really fast," He ended up adding further.

    "Okay, and what about it? Isn''t it normal for monsters to evolve often and new lifeforms to be born?" Nial asked, not sure what exactly the Dojo Master wanted to say.

    Considering that he was so worked up, the situation had to be serious but the content of the message he tried to convey was definitely not easy for Nial to understand.

    "I don''t mean something as simple as that¡­ A new type of being appeared in the Universe, using a portal that is not connected to any of the miraculous ces in this universe!" The Dojo Master exined after setting up a sound istion barrier using a powerful runic armament.

    It was notmon for Valxians to use runic armaments. That being said, many people were staring at the Dojo Master with a mixed expressions. The fact that the Dojo Master was using a runic armament to iste whatever he and Nial said from the outside world meant that they talked about something extremely important, something none other than Nial was allowed to hear.

    And ording to Nial''s expression, the situation was utterly shocking.

    "A portal that leads to a ce not rted to this Universe? Does it lead to another Universe or what?" Nial said jokingly but the Dojo Master didn''t startughing with him.

    "Seriously?" He asked in a stupor while the Dojo Master just nodded his head.

    "So¡­how did youe to the conclusion that this is not important? I was told that you have something trivial to share with me¡­and then you go ahead to tell me something like that???"

 Chapter 426 Exotic

    Nial was not sure why the Dojo Master thought that the information he shared was not extremely important, but somehow that was exactly what the Dojo Master thought, or so it felt at least.

    "It doesn''t really concern you that the beingse from another universe, if that is even true, to begin with. I don''t know all that much either, but that''s not very important right now!" The Dojo Master eximed while staring with squinted eyes at Nial.

    "If you say so¡­" Nial said in response, not feeling convinced. He was pretty sure that the information about a new race, or type of being, entering their Universe was pretty important.

    As long as the words of the Dojo Master were real that would mean a lot¡­the existence of another Universe, for example!

    If the words he had just heard were not shocking Nial had no idea what else would be.

    "For you, it should only be important that these beings gave birth to a new type of ability crystal, only one at that!" The Dojo Master dered, attracting Nial''s interest.

    However, it was pretty annoying that the Dojo Master revealed only shreds of information to him.

    ''Is he trying to tease me?'' Nial wondered. He was pretty sure that his guess was correct but he didn''t say it out loud and waited silently until the Dojo Master would continue to speak facts rather than troubling him.

    The Dojo Master waited for a few minutes until his patience had worn off. He was a bit disappointed that Nial was not excited and that the human Original didn''t bombard him with thousands of questions.

    "Alright alright¡­I will tell you," He gave up on trying to evade his questions and sighed deeply.

    "The God, who procured the ability crystal couldn''t find anyone capable of binding the new type of ability. Nobody met the requirements to bind the ability. That''s also why the God tried to sell the exotic ability crystal to one of their allied races.

    Unfortunately, nobody was able to bind the new type of ability crystal, which is why the news of the new ability spread throughout the vast Universe," The Dojo Master exined calmly before he stopped for a moment, allowing Nial to digest the given information.

    "That means the new type of ability is troublesome, or rare conditions have to be bound to the Mana Core. The requirements had to be extremely difficult to be met¡­" Nial mumbled, trying to sort his thoughts and the Dojo Master nodded his head, just for Nial to end up feeling confused.

    "But why did you tell me this?" He thus asked.

    It had to be a highly sensitive piece of information, which meant that it made no sense for Nial to receive it!

    "Because I believe that the ability will suit you pretty well. There is not much more for me to say," The Dojo Master replied, which caused Nial to start frowning once again. He was pretty sure that determining what ability was truly suitable for someone else, especially if it was something with strict requirements, was fairly hard.

    "Just what is this ability you''re talking about?" Nial inquired curiously and the Dojo Master started to smile once again.

    "The ability is called [Swirl of Chaos]!" the Dojo Master said in a proud voice.

    "Swirl of Chaos?" Nial repeated in confusion.

    "Yes, Swirl of Chaos!" the Dojo Master eximed.

    Nial was already confused, and the Dojo Master didn''t even attempt to help him understand the situation better in any way.

    "And how is that ability suitable to me?" He questioned, feeling pretty sure that the Dojo Master had a good reason to believe that something called ''Swirl of Chaos'' was suitable for him.

    "You are quite chaotic and it seems quitepatible with your Darkness Essence. That''s at least what I feel like," The Dojo Master exined in a manner that caused Nial''s frown to deepen, if that was even possible, to begin with.

    "I am?" Nial could only ask because he was not sure what to think.

    "Yes, you are."

    "Okay¡­" Nial tried to process everything and added, "In the end, I would have to see the ability crystal before I can even consider binding it to my Mana Core. If my¡­gut feeling¡­tells me that the ability is not suitable for me, I won''t bind it!"

    The Dojo Master scratched his head as he recalled something.

    "That won''t be easy¡­but even if you''ll be allowed to see the ability crystal, you won''t have enough wealth to actually buy it. The ability crystal is currently the only one out there in the whole universe and it is unknown if more can be procured!" The Dojo Master exined and it made Nial feel dejected.

    Even if he liked the Dojo Master under normal circumstances, he felt like twisting his neck right at this moment. The usually nice personality of the Dojo Master was truly bothersome right now. Nial wanted nothing more than to get his hands on proper information.

    Nial felt that the ''Swirl of Chaos'' ability crystal was quite interesting. Just like the Dojo Master said, it was likely to bepatible with him because that was something Nial believed as well.

    At least, the chance that it was a linked ability was quite high. If it was not too difficult, he would like to get closer to the said ability. That would help him understand if the ability was what he was looking for, or if it was a failure.

    Thetter would mean that it was not necessary for him to bother about the ability, while the former would pretty much force him to buy the ability crystal by using a bigger fortune than the Gods were willing to spend.

    Even if he would think positively about it, umting a bigger fortune than Gods could afford to buy something they wanted was not exactly easy. He could hope and pray but the bitter truth was that he was not capable enough to earn a big enough fortune on his own!

    But that was only obvious, which was why he had one particr thought in his mind.

    ''Is it even worth bothering about this ability crystal?''

    The answer was a big, fat ''No'' because it was too much of a hassle. Yet, even though it was quite a hassle to even try getting close enough to the exotic ability crystal to see if his Mana Core or his Heart of Darkness would react to it, Nial was willing to do so.

    However, before he was able to say anything else to the Dojo Master, the sound istion barrier around them dispersed. The Dojo Master cut his mana supply to the runic armament that had manifested and maintained the stability of the barrier without bothering about Nial''s confusion.

    Nial tapped his fingers against his thigh but he kept his mouth shut.

    "We should talkter about it. Now, I have to tend to the injuries of the six Valxians you made fight each other," The Dojo Master spoke seriously and Nial nodded his head. Even if he wanted to talk more he could not go against the Dojo Master''s decision but that was fine.

    He could tell that the Dojo Master was trying to help him by providing him with information, even if the result was rather¡­confusing and angering.

    Nial didn''t want to act shameless enough to disregard kindness when someone showed it to him. However, the talk with the Dojo Master was truly a little bit confusing.

    It seemed like Nial always found people who wanted to help him but that was confusing because he didn''t think that he expressly stated his wish for others to help him. He was pretty sure that he had the aura and personality of a lone wolf rather than a pack wolf.

    But even if that was not true, there were too many people who liked to help him. Nial wouldn''t reject their help because it would be stupid to deny help that was offered freely but more than often he wondered why people would try to assist him in one way or the other.

    It would be awkward to ask them about this and make him look a bit dumb or maybe even snobbish.

    Yet, before Nial could continue thinking about all the people who had supported him in his lifetime, he was interrupted.

    "What the hell did you do to us?!?"

 Chapter 427 Being Nice

    "What the hell did you do to us?!?" The strongest of the six Valxians shouted while pointing at him with one of his many broken fingers.

    Nial smiled in the direction of the six badly beaten-up Valxians without saying anything. There was no need for him to give them an exnation because they should be very well aware of what had happened.

    Even if the alteration in their mind was subtle and barely perceptible, one only needed a keen eye and an acute sense of observation to sense it. Meanwhile, the other five Valxians remained silent. They tried to avoid meeting the attention of the spectators from all around because they were ashamed of what had happened.

    Only one of them had been able to have any sense of what had happened while the others were still trying to figure out what was happening.

    The Dojo Master looked at the six Valxians while trying to hide how satisfied he was about the given situation. He cleared his throat and attracted enough attention from the people around him to start speaking without too many disturbances around him.

    "So what are you guys nning to do now? Do you want to pay or be the Thousand Bodies Refinement Dojo''s servants?" The Dojo Master asked before he added, "Please remember that it will be more expensive to buy yourself out of the servant service because you guys wanted me to be your judge!"

    The Dojo Master could have increased the charges by a lot more than he had actually nned because the six Valxians had fought Nial at the same time but he knew that the failure of the entrance test was already humiliating enough.

    Nial had worked hard to humiliate the six Valxians and it was not necessary for the Dojo Master to worsen the situation further. It would only make things more ufortable for all parties involved.

    The strongest of the Valxians wanted to say something to the Dojo Master, but the youngest of the small group quickly intervened. He stepped forward, cleared his throat, and prevented the strongest and oldest of them from doing something he would definitely regret.

    "We will pay everything in a lump sum. Please don''t worry about this, esteemed Dojo Master!" The youngest of the six Valxians said after doing the traditional greeting of their race to show his utmost respect for the Dojo Master.

    As of now, the Dojo Master was one of the most respected Valxians in Alliance City. His achievements were great and he had already attained more at his age than most Valxians would be able to achieve in their entire lifetime.

    It was obvious that the Dojo Master would be a true powerhouse in the future, and the young Valxian could clearly tell that they had gone too far with their earlier behavior.

    The situation was troublesome and the young Valxian would rather avoid more trouble. Fortunately, the Dojo Master didn''t reprimand them for their behavior openly and he merely gave them a precious lesson by sending out Nial to fight all of them at once.

    As long as they would calm down and thought about their situation, the six Valxians would realize that the Dojo Master had already been pretty nice to them. He could have been far crueler but he had decided to hold back.

    "Elder Walin will prepare the bill and I will take the remaining entrance tests of the other students. Nial is exempted from his responsibility to ept everyone''s challenge and the other members of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo will rece him," The Dojo Master announced in a loud voice.

    He allowed Nial to leave, which was quite nice as it gave him the time to think about all the pieces of information he had received from the Dojo Master minutes ago.

    ''Beings foreign to our universe¡­Swirl of Chaos ability crystal with harsh binding requirements¡­ what else is there for me to get to know¡­ am I not way too weak to face all of these troublesome things?!'' Nial didn''t like the current situation but it was not as if he could do anything against it.

    The situation was quite confusing¡­once again¡­as if he didn''t have enough trouble, to begin with.

    Nial gestured at the Dojo Master and he went his way. He received many curious stares from the people, who had spectated his ''fight'' against the six Valxians but Nial ignored the attention they gave him.

    It was most important for him to arrange his thoughts and to figure out if the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal was actually useful for him. He wanted to get the best possible foundation before advancing to the Deux rank. This was rather important, especially since the God of Darkness had had many enemies when he was alive.

    It wouldn''t be weird for tens of races to attack him the moment they would find out that he was somehow rted to Damian. He might only be in possession of a Fragment of the Darkness God but that was already troublesome enough.

    ''I will start umting contribution points with [Dominion] while studying more about runic armaments. That way I should be able to work more efficiently and attain the theoretical knowledge to create Tier-3 runic armaments. The moment I learn to create Tier-3 runic armaments, I can hasten up the process, earn a huge fortune, work on my Refinements of Imperfectia, search and find another ability to bind to myself and then take a look at the ability crystal for Swirl of Chaos¡­somehow'' Nial thought as he tried toe up with a n.

    It was certainly not easy toe up with a n on how to earn a fortune that could rival the wealth of Gods but Nial had to give it a try. The goal seemed impossible to achieve but that was exactly what Nial looked forward to.

    Wasn''t it better to strive to achieve the impossible and go beyond his mortal body''s limits? Nial was pretty sure that it would be near impossible to achieve what he was trying to do, but there was still a tiny little chance!

    He wanted to reach out for that tiny little chance and make use of it.

    With that in mind, Nial came up with a n on how to use his current fortune in the best possible way.

    He bought a Guild hall messenger, which was a unique Tier-2 runicmunication device. It was quite expensive but one could ess the mission board, look at missions and even ept them. At the same time, he wanted to make use of Ryu to send him back and forth between the ces where all the missions would lead him to the Alliance city.

    Ryu was already considered to be one with Nial in the records of the Guild hall, which meant that the wingless Gryphon couldplete his missions as long as he brought the goods that were asked for.

    This would make things a lot easier for everyone. Having Ryu as his ''porter'', and with themunication device, the only things he was missing were the necessary resources to continue practicing the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia body refinement technique and tons of books that recorded the best ways to learn about Superior and Ancient Runic armaments.

    Nial felt the need to learn more about materials, including types of wood, metals, farn, cloth, and so on as well. Not only was it important to be knowledgeable about runic constetions, but runic solutions and the materials one wanted to engrave something on were just as important.

    A notepad runic armament could store the content of thousands of books so Nial bought all the books he needed as the content got stored in the Notepad. He didn''t buy the physical book but just the data format which made things a lot cheaper as well.

    This allowed him to buy a lot more runic armaments and to end up with much more contribution points to distribute them differently.

    Instead of buying anything that was only of little value, Nial purchased Darkness attributed Origin crystals, and Onyx stones that were filled with the darkness element. Ryu would be able to make great use of them and improve the control of his darkness affinity much faster as well.

    Other than the gifts for the hard-working wingless Gryphon, Nial bought more resources to practice his body refinement technique. He hoped that it was possible to finish the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia before the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal would be sold off.

    "Gods shouldn''t really be impatient¡­so they won''t rush to sell off the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal¡­maybe they''ll announce that an auction will be held for it and invite various races to make the most out of the given situation¡­that should be the most logical move¡­I guess," Nial mumbled to himself when he left the Alliance city once again.

    It was time for him to get his hands on billions of contribution points. There was no time to ck off. The feeling of being busy was something Nial had missed for a while now and he smiled foolishly.

    "Let''s go!"

 Chapter 428 Monster Army

    A naked man could be seen taking a bath in a river in the middle of the wilderness.

    Tens of thousand of monsters surrounded him but none of them dared to attack him.

    They simply stared in the direction of the young man and awaited his nextmands.

    All of a sudden, they started to move around and charge outward and away from him.

    Nial had given them a mentalmand using [Dominion].

    From the moment he left Alliance City, he had begun to amass a huge army of monsters.

    His mission was to make sure that certain types of monsters would consider him as the leader of their group, pack or horde.

    Not all monsters had a leader or epted an alliance with other kinds of monsters. Thus, it took Nial a while to get his hands on various monsters at the Prometheus rank and subdue them.

    He altered their mind lightly to make sure that it wouldn''t be too difficult for him to control an enormous number of monsters.

    This made it a lot easier for Nial to multitask, which was how it was possible for him to refine his body and learn more of the things Runiciers had to know.

    More than eight months had passed since he left Alliance city and lots of things had changed.

    Nial''s knowledge as a Runicier had improved a lot and had reached a level that was enough to give him the necessary theoretical proficiency to be a Grandmaster Runicier. As long as he gained the necessary practical experience, it wouldn''t be too difficult for him to create Tier-3 runic armaments.

    Time was everything he needed but that was exactly what he was missing right now.

    "There really is an auction," Nial mumbled as his head emerged out of the water.

    He reached his hand out to pat Ryu, who chirped out in joy when he saw Nial. The situation during thest few months had been rather simple and he did the same thing over and over again.

    ''Did the Dojo Master know about this? Probably not¡­or maybe¡­'' Nial was really not sure whether the Dojo Master had given him a big hint that allowed him to gain a huge advantage over others, or if the situation had just coincidentally turned out like that.

    Niall didn''t spend a single minute advancing his mana core. Instead, he focused on the refinements of Imperfectia, acquiring knowledge and gathering more and more dungeon beasts.

    He wanted toplete as many guild missions as possible, conquer tens of thousands of dungeons, and collect all the monsters'' corpses, Origin crystals, unique drops, and so on.

    All of these provided him with countless contribution points which were exactly what he aimed to achieve, after all, the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal was going to be sold in Alliance City!

    The God, who had procured the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal, was interested in bing the 11th Devon of Alliance City. He wanted to gain the benefits of setting a strong foothold for the races under him before he would descend on the Origin by himself once that was possible.

    Alliance City was a favorable ce to emerge for a small race with many weaknesses and only a few superior traits.

    It was quite easy to get to Alliance City because the 10 Devons had created a permanent world bridge in the middle of their neutral territory.

    In exchange for a certain amount of money or unique resources, everyone who wanted to could use the permanent world bridge. This increased the wealth of the 10 Devons and in turn also increased the number of civilians inside Alliance City.

    The economic situation was bound to improve as the poption of Alliance City increased, meaning that the Devons would earn a big fortune as they received a share of the city''s profits.

    This was also why it was not easy for the God, who had procured the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal, to be the 11th Devon.

    He didn''t help in the preparations for Alliance City''s creation for several hundred years. The Swirl of Chaos ability crystal was merely one of the things the God had to give the other Devons to please them to a certain extent.

    There were numerous other treasures the God was prepared to offer but the Swirl of Chaos was the most popr by now.

    This poprity was something that would y into the hands of the Devons, who sensed a great opportunity unveiling itself in front of them.

    Thousands of Gods were interested in the Swirl of Chaos and they would have to send their people to the Alliance City in order to ensure that they would earn enough contribution points to join the Alliance Auction, to begin with.

    A prerequisite to attending the Alliance Auction was to have more than 500 million contribution points ready to use.

    It might be possible to bring lots of things from their native but the price to use the permanent world bridge to Alliance city would increase exponentially the more things one would bring.

    That meant that all the Gods had to pay a fortune to bring resources and their people to the Alliance City, and they wouldn''t have umted any contribution points to buy the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal then.

    With that in mind, it was quite obvious that Nial had a big advantage over everyone else.

    First, he could make use of the Alliance Auction''s poprity to create more customized runic armaments, especially after the demand would skyrocket while the supply wouldn''t increase as much.

    He could attend the Alliance Auction both as a customer and a seller. Selling some of his rarest stuff at the auction would inevitably result in tremendous profits.

    Nial was ready to make it big, which meant that he had to start mass-producing Tier-2 runic armaments and start creating Tier-3 runic armaments.

    As for the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia, so far he had finished 5,000 Refinements of Imperfectia.

    It should take him around half a year to finish the remaining Refinements of Imperfectia as long as he was in possession of the required resources and time.

    However, for now, he had to focus on gathering contribution points and the creation of more runic armaments.

    To achieve both goals, Nial returned to Alliance City for a short time to hire a Master cksmith to apany himself for the next six months, a movable smithy and workspace, and more than a thousand high-quality runic solutions.

    His Monster army had collected more than enough precious resources to create all kinds of runic armaments. As a potential Grandmaster Runicier, it was time for him to make some money.

    The cksmith was not sure what was going on at first and he only realized the true horror that awaited him after tasting the bliss of earning a sry that was equivalent to the payment a Grandmaster cksmith would receive in an entire year.

    Of course, there had to be something weird about this ginormous payment but the cksmith had been blinded by greed, just to get greeted by tens of thousands of monsters.

    Niall smiled when he perceived the shock of the cksmith, and his heart swelled with pride when the monsters made way for them.

    "Are these monsters¡­under your control?" The old cksmith asked, not feeling great at the thought of what awaited him in the near future.

    "You can say so, I guess," Nial shrugged before he went to the main topic.

    "But you won''t have anything to do with them. We will just create all kinds of runic armaments in the next six months while they willplete missions from the guild hall.

    We will travel around a bit every few weeks but it won''t take long for every single mission because I just want to make sure that the Monster army will have enough work to do."

    Nial told the cksmith everything he had to know but nothing more. There were lots of things the cksmith was interested in but he was not supposed to ask any questions.

    The non-disclosure agreement he signed before he received his money made that fact pretty clear.

    Thus, the old cksmith just nodded his head to let Nial know that he understood the deal.

    Nial had prepared everything ordingly to make sure that nobody would know about his involvement as a participant in the Alliance Auction.

    That would make things a lot easier for Nial because nobody would expect a single individual to turn into a dark horse.

    The only problem he had was that the situation in the Forest of Life had started to change as well¡­and it was not in a good way!

 Chapter 429 Laying Out The Foundation

    Apparently, the Forest of Life was facing some problems with certain races. The Heligav race was not even the biggest problem anymore because their ce had been destroyed and no Heligav used the permanent world bridge for transportation anymore.

    Thousands of races had emerged on Jundra by now, and it looked like there were quite a few races that hated the Elves to the core. There were quite a few Elven races and the Nightshadow Elves seemed to receive the most ire.

    This was quite interesting, especially since it looked like quite a few battlezones had been created all around the Forest of Life.

    When Nial heard about that for the first time, he had been quite a bit worried. However, his father had told him that it was not necessary for him to hastily return all of a sudden. Miles asked him to just focus on whatever he was currently doing.

    Nial did as asked and focused on his runic armaments but the thought of the wellbeing of his father worried him quite a bit.

    He hadn''t expected thousands of races to emerge on Jundra. The Origin was a ce that easily epted world bridges and all kinds of dungeon portals.

    This was something Nial had gotten to know quite well, especially when it came to dungeon portals.

    In all the missions he solved using his Monster army, the beasts had conquered thousands of dungeon portals by now. He was not sure how many Origin crystals they had collected for him but each of the secondary leaders of each Beast Unit had one or more storage rings.

    Nial had prepared everything to make sure that they would be able to collect as many resources as possible.

    His investments were more than worth it because they were basically making him rich even without him doing much. The only thing he had to do was use [Dominion] once a day to make sure that his Monster Army consisted of tens of thousand of dungeon beasts that would heed hismands.

    Sometimes there were dungeon beasts with anomalies in his group or mutating beasts that became immune to the alteration of their mind, but that was not something Nial was truly affected with.

    He could just kill these mutating beasts, or order his dungeon beasts to eradicate the beasts that won''t listen to him anymore.

    In the end, Nial was prepared to get rid of his entire Monster army, to begin with. They were useless to him after a certain period because he would have to return to Alliance city at one point and the dungeon beasts wouldn''t be controlled by him anymore afterward.

    Thus, by controlling many Prometheus dungeon beasts right now, he was basically preparing the beasts he would soon order to kill each other.

    "What types of runic armaments do you want to create¡­Sir?" The old cksmith asked with a trace of fear in his eyes.

    He knew that Nial could kill him at any time and there was nothing he could do against it. If something were to happen to him, he would inevitably end up dead and nobody would me Nial for it.

    That was the old cksmith''s biggest worry even though it didn''t look like Nial would do anything to him. Nial was nning something big but the cksmith had no idea what exactly it was.

    "What are the most popr Peak Tier-2 runic armaments?" Nial asked in return, not exactly sure about the correct answer.

    He had a few runic armaments in his mind, especially those he could mass produce but he wanted to gain as much as he could in the shortest possible time.

    ? With that in mind, he decided to enquire with the cksmith.

    "Swords are always high in demand because there are many Swordsmanship techniques, but all types of meleebat armaments are rather popr. As for armors, chest tes and pants are the most popr.

    And then there are essories with unique life-saving functions engraved on them. These are the most sought items if we''re going to ignore runic armaments with the function to store items.

    Spatial rings are basically THE most expensive runic armaments, which is only obvious because it is pretty hard to create them, and the materials are already more expensive than ordinary Tier-2 runic armaments," the old cksmith exined.

    He had a lot of knowledge when it came to business rted to runic armaments. Nial was missing that, which is why the old cksmith was pretty helpful in terms of business transactions.

    "Would life-saving essories that can only be used once but protect you from a barrage of attacks equivalent to the peak of the Deux rank, or one attack of a being at the Keltia rank be worth a lot more than ordinary life-saving essories?" Nial asked. If the theory he had in mind was correct, it would be pretty easy to earn a huge fortune in an extremely short time.

    Abination of advanced, intermediate, and basic runic constetions was forming in his mind and he was ready to create a bunch of life-saving runic essories at once.

    His mind was really weird. Afterbining his thoughts with his perception and the [Mana Sense], Nial could easily visualize all the runic constetions he wanted to engrave.

    After applying this visualization to the materialized object, he could easily engrave all the runic armaments in a shockingly short period.

    This was also why Nial was so good at mass-producing runic armaments.

    "Life-saving runic essories that can only be used once, but with tremendous defensive power won''t fetch you a lot of money. They shouldn''t be worth much if you cannot use them at an extremely low rank," the cksmith answered after he recalled a few particr experiments that had failed miserably.

    "What about Mid Mirae rank being able to use one or two of such essories before their mana would be used up?" Nial asked curiously.

    "That¡­if you can actually use two such essories while being at the Mid Advanced Mirae rank all big families would be after such runic essories for the price of high-quality Tier-3 runic armaments!" The cksmith eximed as he took a guess.

    He was not actually sure about the actual price influential families would pay if it was truly possible to create the runic armament Nial was talking about.

    "Very good. In that case, we''re going to create a few Peak Tier-2 runic essories with life-saving skills and an Intermediate Mana storage directly connected to thebo of miniature runic constetions," Nial mumbled and he began to smile lightly.

    "Okay¡­" The cksmith just said before a huge portable smithy and workce for Nial appeared in front of them.

    They started to work and several weeks passed in the blink of an eye. After these weeks, the cksmith''s attitude toward Nial changed quite a lot. Instead of being careful and afraid of the Monster Army and Nial, there was reverence glistening in his eyes. He was shocked about all the things that had happened in thest few weeks even though they had mostly remained inside the portable smithy.

    However, that was exactly the ce where the old cksmith had been shocked to the core. For the first two days, Nial focused on conducting a lot of experiments but sadly these experiments didn''t work out very well at first.

    That was why the cksmith had been quite rxed in the beginning, thinking that Nial was just a nutjob for experimenting around with expensive materials and so on.

    Yet, the more time passed, the bigger the shock of the old cksmith. He witnessed the creation of the craziest runic armaments and they broke the moment they''d been used once.

    Nial wasted materials worth millions of contribution points in his experiments, not caring about the costs, at all. The old cksmith felt that Nial was just joking around or that he was some nouveau riche, who was trying out something new.

    However, the more time passed, the more interesting the situation became.

    Nial showed his great ambition and after several weeks, he showed the capability to engrave a widebination of miniature runic constetions on a tight-knotted metal chain bracelet that had more than 15 runic constetionsbined on it.

    Being able to create such a highlyplicated runic essory was already extremely difficult for ordinary Runiciers, and even Master Runiciers didn''t have such capabilities.

    That simply meant Nial had already advanced to a Grandmaster Runicier ording to his knowledge and expertise. He was only 24 years old, yet, had the capabilities not many were even capable of attaining below the age of 100.

    It was even rare to be a Master Runicier below the age of 100, yet Nial had already be a Grandmaster Runicier at the age of 24.

    That was amazing, but it was just the tip of the iceberg with respect to Nial''s capabilities.

    It was just one of many things, and Nial had a long road in front of him before he would end everything!

 Chapter 430 Plan To Achieve Richness

    The God, who had procured the Swirl of Chaos was officially promoted to the position of the 11th Devon not even two months before the Alliance Auction''s preparations started and it was not soon after that when the news of the Alliance Auction was made official.

    Earlier, it had just been a highly likely possibility that was known by everyone but the official statement made by the 10 Devons confirmed its urrence for sure. Thus, now everything was disclosed to the public, whether it was on Jundra or all over the known Universe.

    Alliance City was flourishing and the poption of the city skyrocketed, crossing millions in the following days.

    Afterward, it didn''t take long for small problems to crop up. Examples included an acute shortage of supply of nearly everything followed by the obvious fact that most missions in the Guild hall were being taken by the vast number of Adventurers that registered at the Guild in the hopes of making a big fortune.

    The ratio between the number of Guild missions and the adventurers who wanted toplete them went for a toss much like the demand for resources, goods and so on that skyrocketed as well.

    Everyone wanted to collect contribution points but the new citizens of Alliance City quickly noticed that many things were extremely expensive as well.

    The shortage of Tier-2 runic armaments was the worst. Tier-2 runic armaments were basically the best weapons Originals at the Deux rank could use. Some Tier-3 runic armaments could be used by Keltia Originals but the number of Keltia Originals who were actually capable of using the full potential of such armaments was quite low.

    Thus, Tier-2 runic armaments were currently of more use, especially because they required less mana for the same effect they would be able to unleash within Tier-3 runic armaments.

    With that in mind, even the few Grandmasters and the only Archmaster Runicier began to create Tier-2 runic armaments. Their n was to make use of the business opportunity, earn lots of money, and allow the city to prosper as fast as possible.

    When more dungeons would be conquered and more resources would be provided, the faster the city would grow. Alliance City''s working force required a tremendous amount of resources to expand the city, and most of the Guild hall''s basic missions had been invoiced by them.

    They required a constant supply of resources, which made things a lot more difficultpared to the case when the poption of the city had been smaller.

    In fact, Nial''s rapid pace ofpleting those missions turned him into one of the biggest contributors to ensure that the City''s working force had their hands full, continuing to expand the city.

    Only now that more Originals of various races with varying degrees of demands had appeared in the city did things change quite a bit.

    There was not much time left until the Alliance Auction would start and news of certain unique goods that were going to be sold at the auction was already released to the public.

    That gave Nial the motive to ensure that he could increase the value of his goods as well.

    He finished creating more than 1000 Broken Peak Tier-2 runic essories with life-saving abilities engraved on them. It wouldn''t be a problem for any being at the Mid Advanced Mirae rank to use two of them in self-defense and save their lives before their mana would run out, and it was possible to block two Keltia-ranked attacks like that as well!

    The old cksmithbeled these runic essories as heavenly blessed, while the other runic armaments Nial had forged werebeled even worse¡­they werebeled ''Blessed by a True God'' by the old cksmith.

    Nial liked this, which is why he chose to give his runic essories a unique brand name [Heaven''s Protectors], while the other runic armaments he created were eitherbeled, [One Strike to Hell], or [Asura''s Wrath].

    Nial knew that these were not really brands and that he merelybeled them like this but the names signified power and that was already more than enough to entice prospective buyers towards his creations, even before the tournament.

    That was the reason why Nial wanted to sell a few [Heaven''s Protectors], [One Strike to Hell], and [Asura''s Wrath] weapons. It was pretty simple, in fact!

    He had to give a few highly renowned Originals some freebies of his three ''brands'' or runic armaments in order to market himself as an efficient seller and creator that people would flock to.

    They would then share their experience about the weapons with others, or just search more of these runic armaments, which would in return create interest in the Originals around the renowned Originals giving them free publicity.

    Why are they so interested in these runic armaments? Where can you buy them? How can I make the most use of them once I buy them?

    All those questions were something of utmost importance to the Originals, who wanted to have the best possible weapons to protect their life even if they were to encounter powerful opponents. It was obvious that one would want to avoid dangerous situations but, in the Universe, where the Law of the Jungle prevailed, only those who were ready to face dangerous situations would grow, be stronger and advance.

    The moment one stopped challenging oneself and cked off everything might already be over. Nial knew this very well.

    He thought a lot about his parents when creating the [Heaven''s Protectors] because he was pretty sure that his parents would have been able to ovee the unfortunate incident with Be if they had been in possession of a simr runic armament.

    Nial knew that he would have never been able to create a powerful Tier-2 runic armament with simr characteristics as the Heaven''s Protectors at that time. His knowledge hadn''t been that advanced when the incident had happened, but that did not make him regret any less that he wasn''t able to save his mother.

    Selling the "Broken" Peak Tier-2 runic armaments to renowned Originals through certain channels and in small numbers at specific, well-known shops in Alliance City, Nial took the first step toward attaining his grand goal.

    There was still a month left before the Alliance Auction would be held but Nial had already killed off his Monster Army. He used their Origin crystals, their unique drops, and a few more things to his advantage.

    He had thousands of extraordinary drops and he paid a Master Appraiser to appraise all of the goods that the apprentice Appraiser was unable to identify let alone appraise properly.

    Spending hundreds of thousands of contribution points for that might seem like a waste of precious points at the first nce, but the reality was different. Nial was pretty sure that he made huge gains as some of the appraised goods were exceptionally valuable.

    Amongst them were five items that even Master Appraisers couldn''t appraise. Nial was forced to get his hands on a Grandmaster Appraiser to have them identified.

    The price for their appraisal was enormous but the result was even better because Nial found out that he had gotten his hands on a handful of exceptionally rare items.

    However, Nial''s focus was not on them. He was more focused on the ns that hade up in his mind. He had applied for the Alliance Auction, and gave them all identified goods that were appraised to be valued over 500,000 Contribution Points, including the vast majority of his life-saving runic essories.

    Nial provided a very detailed description of the capabilities of every single type of runic armament. There were certain runic essories that had been ''customized'' for certain races to be used.

    There was a reason for Nial to do all of this but he didn''t feel as if he had the necessary time to make sure that all of his ns could be properly executed.

    After all, it was quite difficult to make sure that everyone would get to know about his runic armaments, and believe the rumors they were bound to hear.

    Nial could tell that he made a few mistakes but he intended to fix them with quite an easy task.

    "To make sure that you guys will earn big profit from my sales, you can demonstrate the power of my runic armaments by releasing a [Asura''s Wrath] used by a Keltia Original against the [Heaven''s Protectors] wielded by a Low Advanced Mirae Original. Sacrificing one of the Heaven''s Protectors will be worth it as long as you demonstrate everything properly!"

    Only the Heaven''s Protectors and One Strike to Hell were broken runic armaments. Meanwhile, the Asura''s Wrath were extraordinary Peak Tier-2 and Low Tier-3 runic armaments with the capability to elevate the power of ordinary Keltia Originals by leaps and bounds. As long as they could wield the Asura''s Wrath properly, it wouldn''t be impossible for someone to defeat Elite Keltia Originals while being considered a Keltia Original with ordinarybat prowess!

    And this was something Nial wanted to make use of as much as possible, after all, he wanted to be as rich as possible!

 Chapter 431 Little Girl

    Only two weeks were left until the Alliance Auction would start and Nial was fully prepared.

    His ns had been a huge sess and hundreds of big families had begun searching for the anonymous creator of the Peak Tier-2 Runic essories that had numerous runic constetions engraved on them.

    The broken runic armaments might be bad for Originals, who were already strong enough to fight opponents that were at a higher rank, but it was obvious that the number of Super Elite Originals was only a handful.

    There were numerous wealthy Originals with rather ordinarybat prowess instead of being extraordinarily powerful Originals.

    With that in mind, Nial didn''t have to be worried about making a huge fortune if the Swirl of Chaos were to be useful for him.

    He felt that he could bind the ability crystal to his Mana Core but it was only obvious that he couldn''t be certain whether the Swirl of Chaos was trulypatible with him, or if it would just be an ordinary ability.

    No matter how powerful an ability was, the moment he learned that it wouldn''t be able to be one of his linked abilities, Nial would give up attempting to bind it to his Mana Core.

    It was simply not worth trying to get something in his arsenal that would slow his progress as much as an ability that was hard to improve.

    Nial hoped that thest two weeks before the Alliance Auction would pass in the blink of an eye, but he was pleasantly surprised when something else happened.

    He hadn''t expected to be lucky enough to find another ability with a high chance to be a linked ability but upon finding something in particr, Nial''s opinion changed drastically.

    His Mana Core vibrated so much that his body began to tremble wildly.

    "Another one? Great!" Nial eximed to himself and he set off in the direction of the Merchant shops. Almost all older shop owners within the Alliance City had be familiar with him by now and it was no surprise that he was shown the newest batch of ability crystals upon entering their shops.

    The news of his buying an ability crystal for 100 million contribution points had already spread through the merchantmunity like wildfire. Thus, it was only obvious that he was treated with respect and a bit of admiration.

    Nobody would try to push away a big fish after catching it in their. That would be way too stupid.

    Nial understood their mindset as well, which is why he let them treat him like a royal prince. His hands reached out for the small box of ability crystals and he held each of them one after the other in the hopes that one of them would react with his Mana Core.

    Unfortunately, more than half a day passed without any progress, and Nial was forced to check out the newer shops that had been recently put up by the new citizens of Alliance City.

    There were more than ten million citizens in Alliance City by now and the number of new shops had increased rapidly as well. They weren''t aware of Nial''s fame. Hence, he was forced to show them his Insignia, including the huge fortune sitting in his bank ount to make sure that they would follow his requests and pay him adequate attention.

    ''It looks like everyone is getting a little bit greedier now that the Alliance Auction is about to start,'' Nial deduced at the sight of the merchant''s uncontroble greed. It glimmered in their eyes the moment they saw his finances that were in the billions, followed by his Mana Core rank which was only at the Prometheus rank.

    It was obvious that anyone would be interested in getting their hands on his contribution points and he could imagine that even Keltia ranked Originals would consider attacking him in Alliance City, whether it was forbidden or not.

    ''A wise decision by me to make all necessary preparations in advance...'' He mentally patted himself.

    It was good that he had left Ryu at the Pagoda of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, and that he was wearing a ck robe and a Crow mask to ensure that nobody would recognize him as a human, or uncover his entire identity.

    Nial quickly left the merchant shops where he couldn''t sense anything and he tried to focus on the other shops. There were numerous shops but only one ability crystal that could be linked to his Mana Core.

    He was dreading that someone else had already bought the ability crystal and that his great fortune had run out. Nial felt terrible at this thought and he quickened his pace to make sure that he would get his hands on what he was supposed to possess, in the first ce!

    "That''s a fucking scam!!" A high-pitched voice rang in Nial''s ear the moment he entered a rather unkempt shop that had only been opened the same day. No building in Alliance City was truly shabby but the small shop Nial had entered could be considered as one of the most ordinary and least taken care of ces he had entered since he arrived in Alliance City.

    Nial used his range of perception to figure out who was screaming at whom, and found out that a small little girl was shouting at the merchant of the shop.

    ''Why would a child be here? Nobody would pay the teleportation fee for someone who cannot hunt monsters, or do something else for them...'' Nial wondered. He was pretty sure that no God would be willing to pay the teleportation fee for someone, who had recently awoken their Origin.

    The little girl at the other side of the merchant shop was probably six years old and she had barely awoken her Origin.

    She wanted to buy her first ability crystal, but nobody paid attention to her as they believed that there was no way that she possessed enough contribution points to purchase a powerful ability crystal from within Alliance City.

    Nial ignored the little girl as much as possible and he walked through the merchant''s shop while focusing on the ability crystals all around him.

    He had a weird feeling and his gut was rumbling, almost as if it wanted to tell him that something frustrating was about to happen.

    Nial had a premonition but he really hoped that the situation would end up differently.

    "Calling someone a scammer just because you don''t have enough contribution points to pay for the value of the ability crystal is not exactly nice, little girl!" A hoarse voice reached Nial''s ear and he let out a subconscious sigh.

    ''Why did I know that they were talking about ability crystals?'' He asked himself before he finished checking thest ability crystal.

    The merchant had nced over to Nial several times by now but so far the masked man hadn''t taken or shown interest in anything. Thus the merchant didn''t pay any more attention to Nial. His entire focus was on the little girl, who had grasped one of the most precious ability crystals with the intention to take it for herself without paying the price!

    That was something the merchant couldn''t ept and he was merely being nice to her because he feared that the little girl would blindly absorb the ability''s Essence. That would be the most terrifying and the merchant''s calm words felt like they were the only means to prevent a catastrophe.

    "Little girl, give that to me for a moment!" Nial instructed with the use of [Dominion] as he reached out to the hand of the little girl.

    She didn''t move an inch when Nial grasped the ability crystal before a bright smile appeared on his face.

    "I will buy it. How much for this one?" He asked while his body was shaking more than ever before.

    ''Finally, I found it! And barely in time at that!!'' Nial was ted as he firmly held the ability crystal after searching for one for hours.

    The Merchant looked over to Nial with a nk expression on his face and it took him a few seconds before he realized what was going on.

    "Of course, Sir, of course!! It''s 500 million contribution coins for the [Summoning] ability crystal!" The merchant quickly added, rubbing his hands greedily.

    He shed a bright smile at the crow-masked man and expected Nial to readily agree to the price. Sadly, he heard no answer from Nial.

    "Sir...please don''t call me a scammer as well...This ability crystal was harvested from the Great Devi--..." The merchant was just about to exin the reason behind the high price of the ability crystal when Nial lifted his hand.

    "I don''t care where you got it from, I will just pay the price," Nial said calmly, even though he felt a sting deep down in his heart.

    "You thief...Don''t take my stuff!!!"

 Chapter 432 My Name!

    The little girl tried to reach out to the Ability crystal Nial was holding but Nial didn''t even think about returning the ability crystal.

    He smiled as he flicked his index finger lightly against her forehead. The little girl squealed as her head flicked backward and tears welled in her eyes while she rubbed her fingers upon the area Nial had snipped against.

    "You...hit me!!" She grumbled before she began to bawl out loudly. Nial was still smiling lightly and he patted her head, ignoring that the girl was sobbing bitterly.

    "You don''t have enough contribution points to buy the ability crystal, either way. How about I get you a different ability crystal instead? It will be my treat, so you don''t have to worry about paying," Nial said lightheartedly. He was in a good mood because he had found his secondst ability to bind atst. That was more than enough for him to be happy, which was also the reason why he was being generous with the little girl.

    Had she already absorbed the ability crystal, he would have been forced to wait for a very long time to get another opportunity to get his hands on a linked ability. Thus, he felt like rewarding her.

    "You will buy me an ability crystal?... Really?" The girl asked doubtfully while tears finally stopped streaming down her cheeks. Nial chuckled when he visualized her reaction and he ruffled through her silky hair, nodding his head.

    "Of course, I will buy you one. I''ve been searching for the ability crystal you''ve been holding for a very long time, so I have to reward you for not snatching it away from me!" Nial dered, ignoring the fact that he had quite literally stolen the ability crystal she had wanted to bind to herself.

    "But bind an ability crystal to your mana core that won''t kill you. The [Summoning] ability crystal is too powerful for you to bind at the Origin rank," Nial cautioned before he pointed to the other corner of the rather shabby merchant shop.

    "There you can find ability crystals that are more suitable for you. If you have awoken an Innate ability, you should search for abilities that arepatible with the Innate ability. This will make things a lot easier for you in the future. Never mindlessly bind an ability to your Mana Core!" Nial tried to exin to the young girl, who was staring at him with greed twinkling in her eyes.

    He felt a bit weird visualizing how awestruck she was, staring at him with a wide-open mouth. It was almost as if he was telling her something she had never heard before.

    ''Just who is this girl and where did shee from?'' Nial began to wonder. He was pretty sure that most citizens of Alliance City had been taught well.

    Their education in various subjects should be much more advanced than everything Nial had learned about a handful of specific topics, yet, the young girl in front of him seemed clueless about basically everything.

    "Do you have an Innate ability?" Nial asked, just for the tiny girl to shrug her shoulders.

    "What is an Innate ability?" She asked, causing two men in the shabby shop to sigh deeply. One of them was Nial and the other one was the merchant, who had been discussing the ability crystal for quite a while.

    "You don''t even know what an Innate ability is, yet, you wanted to bind a dangerous ability such as [Summoning] to your Mana core? Little girl, you shouldn''t act recklessly!" The merchant warned, but his words caught the attention of Nial who turned toward the merchant.

    "Why exactly is [Summoning] dangerous? I understand that it''s a rare ability that requires the binder to have a powerful Mana Core, but I don''t see any other dangers in the ability," Nial enquired, feeling interested rather than concerned.

    He could tell what he could do with the Summoning ability because the name of the ability was self-exnatory. [Summoning] allowed him to summon monsters.

    "The beings you''ve summoned are not tamed. Some will attack the user of the ability, while others might not attack anything or anyone. It''s also possible that the beings you summon will die due to the drastic change in their environment. Imagine summoning a fish in the middle of the city. If the fish doesn''t have the ability to breathe air or create water around it, it will die!" The merchant exined, slightly frowning at Nial''s question.

    Nial had just paid half a billion contribution points for an ability crystal whose effects he didn''t even knowpletely. If that was not weird, the merchant was not sure what exactly could be considered weird anymore.

    Nial noticed the expression of the merchant because he could visualize it clearly but he didn''t really care about it. There was no need for others to know why he bought the [Summoning] ability crystal to begin with.

    He hoped that the merchant wouldbel him as a young master with a wealthy background rather than a self-made wealthy Original. This would make things a lot easier for him.

    "So it''s like that," Nial spoke slowly as he processed the information while the little girl kept looking at him.

    "I still don''t know what an Innate ability is..." She whined and Nial kept ruffling through her hair in an attempt to quiet her down.

    He wanted to bind the Summoning ability crystal to his Mana Core but he somehow ended up picking up a tiny human girl. This was rather unexpected and not exactly what he wanted to do two weeks before the Alliance Auction started.

    However, fate seemed to be ying against him because he couldn''t even leave without creating amotion as the tiny girl kept tailing him.

    She didn''t want to let go of him, which caused Nial to sigh deeply.

    "Can you tell me where your parents are? I will take you to them..." Nial tried to sound calm but the merchant could clearly tell that Nial was far from satisfied with the given situation.

    To Nial''s misery, the merchant didn''t want to intervene in the situation. He was already tired of the tiny little girl and was relieved that the crow-masked man had taken the responsibility to take her to her parents.

    In fact, the merchant didn''t really care what the masked man would do to the kid. The moment they left the shop, it was not his responsibility anymore and the merchant simply wanted to get rid of her.

    "Parents? What are parents?" The girl asked, causing Nial''s lips to twitch while the merchant of the shop looked at her with discontent.

    "Eh...you know, the people who gave birth to you? The man and the woman who raised you..." Nial said, trying his best not to sound taken aback, but failed miserably.

    The merchant looked at him with a weird grimace and Nial didn''t really know how to respond to that.

    "I have no parents then..." The girl replied, continuing to hold Nial''s hand tightly as she asked him a question that stupefied both men once again,

    "Are you my parents?"

    Nial froze in ce for a second before he shook his head quickly.

    He figured that the girl was utterly clueless about what he was enquiring so he decided to change the topic.

    "What is your name, little girl? Maybe we can make an announcement and find your parents as long as we know your name!" Nial gave his best to find a solution for the little girl but she seemed to ignore his words altogether.

    Her hands had reached out for his right hand which she held on to tightly as if she was desperately clinging to herst ray of hope.

    "Name...Name...Do I have a name?" The little girl wondered out loud and the merchant let out a frustrated sigh.

    "If you guys do not wish to buy anything else, please leave! Please..." The merchant couldn''t take this weirdness anymore and Nial could tell that it was only a matter of time before the merchant would use force to whisk them both out of his shop.

    ''What a jerk...'' Nial could only think, but he didn''t speak out loud. Instead, he picked up the little girl. He carried her on one arm, and she swung her arms around his neck while he walked outside the shabby shop.

    "I remember my name!" The little girl squealed out the moment they left the shop.

    "That''s great! What are you called, little one?" Nial asked gently, just to perceive a unique type of energy circting through the little girl as she revealed her name.

    "Oracle! That''s my name and profession...hehehe!"

 Chapter 433 Summoning

    ''Her name cannot be Oracle, right?'' Nial wondered, pretty sure that it was more of an upation or title rather than an actual name.

    However, it was not important to him whether the name was correct or not. He was more concerned that he wouldn''t be able to find anyone who knew the little girl.

    "Is it possible to make a city-wide announcement here?" Nial enquired upon reaching the guild hall. He was still holding the little girl in his arms and his face was covered by the crow mask he had been wearing for thest few hours.

    Nial had to show his insignia to the receptionist, which was why he was treated very well. All receptionists working in the guild hall knew that he was one of the Adventurers with the highestpletion rate of high-ranked missions.

    Thus, they were overly polite to him.

    "It is possible to make a city-wide announcement but it will be very expensive and the content of the announcement has to be approved by a representative of a Devon, Sir!" The receptionist exined, giving Nial a slight headache.

    "What exactly does ''very expensive'' mean? Give me a precise number, please!" Nial requested and it was not long after that the receptionist wrote a big number on a piece of paper.

    "Yeah...that''s too expensive for now..." Nial acknowledged when he visualized the number in his mind.

    The little girl looked at the number and squealed.

    "Woaahhh, that''s a big number! So exciting!" She pped his hands excitedly but Nial could only frown at her reaction.

    "Will you be fine if we wait for a few weeks before making the announcement? After that, we can find your parents if they don''t file a report that you''re missing..." Nial asked, trying not to sound inconsiderate. He could tell that it was selfish of him to think that the Alliance Auction was more important than the little girl reuniting with her family, but the opportunity to get his hands on the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal would only unveil itself in front of him once in a lifetime.

    That was something Nial was certain about and it was also the reason why he felt a little bit bad for the little girl, who gave him a small smile.

    "I have no parents. How do you want to find something that doesn''t even exist?" She asked, curious about Nial''s answer.

    However, Nial could only wonder how the little girl could be so fluent in the universalnguage. Oracle, or whatever her real name was, seemed quite intelligent and Nial began to wonder if her words might actually be the truth.

    ''But that doesn''t make any sense...'' He thought, tapping his free hand against his thigh.

    "Alright, if you say so...how about I bring you to the Pagoda of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, or if you don''t want to go there, I can take you to an orphanage as well..." Nial gave her two options, not sure what else to do right now.

    He didn''t want to spend too much time thinking about what to do with the little girl, but it was definitely wrong to leave her behind just like that.

    "I want toe with you!" She screamed and Nial perceived that hundreds of pairs of eyes flicked over to him. He nodded his head and lightly stroked her hair with his free hand.

    The little girl let out a happy squeal after seeing that Nial wasn''t letting her wander on the streets all alone. They both left the guild hall not long after.

    "Are you sure that it will be fine to leave them alone? This seems to be a little bit too weird..." an older Original spoke to the receptionist in front of him. His eyes were filled with worry and his legs began to quiver when trying to see what was covered behind the ck cloak and the crow mask.

    To the older Original, Nial seemed extremely dangerous. Thus, he couldn''t help but feel a little bit worried about the well-being of the young girl.

    "Do you think that little girl behaved as if she was being kidnapped?" The receptionist responded with another question that was supposed to convince the older Original that everything was fine.

    However, this didn''t work out well because the older Original kept looking at the retreating figure of Nial with a deep frown on his face.

    "It''s possible..." He merely said before he heard a deep sigh from the receptionist.

    "The masked man is a respected Adventurer, who has finished the most missions since the guild hall has been built on the Origin. Please refrain from tarnishing his image..." The receptionist told him off in a seething tone before he added a few more convincing words "...ask yourself why a kidnapper would be bothered about bringing a child to the guild hall and inquire if we can do a city-wide announcement!"

    The older Original clearly heard what the receptionist said but he didn''t really want to ept it. The situation was simply too weird and it looked like he was the only one seeing the bad in this situation.

    ''Maybe I''m wrong then?'' He wondered, just to get back in line to ept a C-rank mission.

    Meanwhile, Nial and the little Oracle spend their time purchasing a bunch of Origin crystals and other essentials for the little girl.

    "After the Alliance Auction is concluded, I''ll find your parents...it''s not possible for you to drop from the sky or appear out of nowhere!" Nial informed, visualizing the eyes of the little girl. They were swept through with a purple glimmer, which was something that Nial had never perceived before.

    Furthermore, it was only now that Nial heard other people speaking about the appearance of the girl. He knew that she looked like a cute little doll but that was already everything.

    Apparently, she had long straight silver hair, a round face, and brightly glistering purple eyes. Silver hair was extremely rare and so were purple eyes. Nial had silver hair as well, which was why he knew that not many people had such hair color!

    When Nial arrived in the Pagoda, he was eyed weirdly by some of the present Valxians and a bunch of challengers of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo entrance test but he ignored them.

    There was no more time to waste because he had to make up for the investment of 500 million contribution points and earn more than that if possible.

    Furthermore, he had to bind the [Summoning] ability to himself. Nial was pretty sure that it wouldn''t be difficult to bind the ability to his Mana Core because [Mental Control] didn''t make things difficult for him when he bound it to his mana core either. It was different than binding an ability crystal to his mana core and the Odyssey seed that had evolved to the Heart of Darkness.

    There would be a few more things going on when the Heart of Darkness was involved, but that was not the case right here.

    Thus, Nial would be able to bind [Summoning] to his Mana Core quite easily.

    "Little Oracle, please have some fun with Ryu, myrade," Nial said when they entered their room as he introduced the wingless Gryphon to the little girl. Ryu was already waiting for Nial and the wingless Gryphon was overjoyed when he finally saw Nial.

    He jumped toward his master and demanded to be caressed just to notice that a tiny little girl was sitting on his arm.

    "Kieuk?" Ryu chirped in confusion and tilted his head as Nial exined who was the new member.

    "I somehow picked up this little girl, and she says that she has no parents...sooo I have no idea what I''m supposed to do. You can y with her while I bind a new ability to my Mana Core. Afterward, I will have to craft a few runic armaments to make up for the contribution points I''ve invested." Nial knew that his exnation was not very helpful but Ryu could sense theplex emotions Nial felt right now.

    It was obvious that Nial was overwhelmed with the thought of taking care of a little child, and he was not really supposed to do that, to begin with. He was not the father of the little Oracle after all nor was he someone of age or experience to look after a kid!

    Ryu rubbed his head against Nial''s chest to reassure him that he would look after the kid. That gave Nial the necessary confidence to remove all Origin crystals from his spatial ring.

    He held the [Summoning] ability crystal tightly in his hand. After essing all Origin crystals around him, Nial made sure that the strands of pure mana would sweep through the ability crystal.

    The power of the ability crystal would then be circted through his body while the crystal crumbled. There was no hesitation in Nial''s movements as he bound the ability to his Mana Core. However, the same unique scenario as it had urred with [Mental Control] happened once again.

    The ability evolved and an abyssal ck insignia was engraved on his Mana Core instead.

    This was something Nial had hoped to happen but he didn''t actually expect his newly bound ability to evolve once again. After all this meant that all of his abilities had already evolved to a certain degree.

    The Curse [Hodur''s Heir] had had a tag removed when it had been bound to him, [Crimson Moon] had evolved to [Blood Eclipse Moon], [Mental Control] had evolved to [Dominion], and now [Summoning] had evolved to an ability called [Awakening of the Prymal]!

 Chapter 434 Human?

    "Awakening of the Prymal...what a weird name. How is it rted to Summoning?" Nial wondered when he perceived the name of the ck symbol that had been engraved on his Mana Core.

    Not even a full day had passed since he had started binding the Summoning ability to his Mana Core, yet the binding process waspleted and the ability had evolved.

    Nial was pretty sure that there was something weird about himself because it was not normal for abilities to evolve upon getting bound to the Mana core.

    It was still possible that something like that would happen every now and then, but Nial had faced this situation four times in a row. That could not be just a stroke of luck but there was no other logical exnation for it for now.

    "Let''s test it out then!" He eximed.

    It was interesting to test out newly bound abilities and Nial started to hope that Awakening of the Prymal was just an enhanced version of Summoning, an ability that would summon wild monsters!

    With [Dominion] by his side, there wouldn''t be a problem to alter the mind of most summoned monsters. Nial wanted to make use of that and attempt to control the summoned monster the moment it was to emerge.

    That way, he could counter the only downside of the Summoning ability; the possibility of the summoned monster attacking both foes and friends!

    Nial inserted arge amount of mana inside the symbol of the Awakening of the Prymal ability but nothing seemed to change even after more than half of his Mana had been drained.

    ''Why is it not working? Does the ability have such a high mana consumption?'' Nial wondered. He shrugged and began to test out a few things, such as inserting his dark energy, the crimson power of the Blood Eclipse Moon and bits of the Essence of Darkness.

    Each of the other types of energies was more useful than mana because their potency was much higher, but even they were not able to umte enough energy to summon the first monster with the Awakening of the Prymal.

    ''At least the energy umted within the ability symbol...'' Nial consoled himself when he noticed that the ability symbol was being nourished. It was only a matter of time before it would activate as long as he would insert bits of his energies inside it.

    With that in mind, Nial averted his focus. He visualized both Ryu and the little Oracle, who was looking at him in curiosity.

    "What''s wrong? Do I look weird?" Nial asked whilebing through his disheveled hair. It had grown much longer than before and he tied it into a man bun because there was no time to waste cutting it right now.

    His schedule was filled to the brim, and now he had an additional responsibility to take care of. The little Oracle made things quite a bit difficult for him but she didn''t seem as ill-mannered and noisy as many kids her age.

    In fact, if Nial would have to guess her age ording to the way she behaved, he would probably think that she was even older than him. Sometimes, he felt a lot more childish than the little Oracle.

    Nial didn''t really want to acknowledge this but deep down, he sometimes felt like a child. His childhood had been a little bit different than kids his age because he had faced some harsh realities of human society. Now things had changed a lot for him and those who had been neglected by society. But that was a thing of the past.

    Now, he was more focused on himself rather than worrying about the opinion of others. That way, he could improve much faster as his mind was cleared of many doubts he had harbored in the past.

    "Do you want to test out binding an ability crystal to your Mana Core?" Nial asked when he visualized that the little Oracle was still mindlessly staring at him.

    She was sitting on Ryu''s back and fondly cuddling with the wingless Gryphon, who chirped out in joy.

    It felt like Ryu and the little Oracle had be besties within thest 24 hours and that was something to Nial''s liking. It was better for Ryu and the little Oracle to get used to each other and to like one another rather than feeling hate.

    "You do look weird because you changed...not your appearance but something inside you. As if you''re preparing to unleash something that has been sealed deep within you...or somewhere else..." The little Oracle first said, answering Nial''s first question. Her answer made Nial have many doubts but he couldn''t think about it a lot because she was already answering the second question he had asked.

    "As for binding an ability crystal to my Mana Core...I don''t think my Mana Core ispatible with any ability crystal...after I saw what you did with the Summoning ability crystal I felt...weird, almost as if I will never be able to choose my abilities on my own," The little Oracle revealed in a mysterious tone.

    "So you cannot bind an ability to your Mana Core? That''s weird. Do you want me to send you to a specialist to figure out if there is something wrong with your Mana Core or your Mana veins?" Nial asked in a concerned voice. He might have not known the little Oracle for long but he felt oddly connected to the little girl.

    She had indirectly helped him get his hand on the [Summoning] ability crystal, and her attitude was oddly simr to that of his mother''s. Of course, there were a few things missing in the little Oracle''s behavior and it was only obvious that she was not his mother, but Nial felt a connection to her nheless.

    He wanted to make sure that she would be protected and well-treated before he bid her goodbye.

    "No need of a specialist...I have abilities and can awaken more by advancing my rank," The little Oracle said, causing Nial to frown deeply.

    "What do you mean?" He thus asked.

    "What I said..." The girl retorted, pouting at him. She was pretty sure that Nial didn''t understand her, which caused her to manifest a huge clock in front of her.

    Time was ticking and Nial felt a small domain of mana spreading through the surrounding area. It was not perceptible to the bare eye but that was not something of Nial''s concern either way.

    He could clearly visualize and perceive the things that happened around him, meaning that he could clearly tell what the little Oracle was doing.

    The little Oracle began to sweat profusely andrge droplets trickled down her cheeks. The clock burst open and a shockwave reverberated through the surrounding area.

    No sooner than that, every living and inanimate existence in the domain of the little Oracle began to move backward until every single object and being was located at the same position as it had been when she had activated her ability.

    "Time reversal?" Nial was confused and he took a while toe back to his senses, "...are you able to control time, little Oracle?"

    He was pretty sure that he had never seen an ability crystal rted to the control of time. If someone could influence and manipte time, they could basically do whatever they wanted to.

    ''What the hell is she?!'' Nial began to wonder and a shudder spread through his entire body.

    He was not even sure anymore if the little Oracle was a human because she was simply too powerful. The amount of mana she had revealed all of a sudden was certainly not something an Origin Original was supposed to be able to wield.

    Thus, Nial could only try to visualize the little Oracle and roughly gauge the power she was hiding.

    However, that was not possible because his range of perception and [Mana Sense] was not powerful enough to assess her true potential.

    ''Am I too weak to visualize her power??'' Nial realized in shock and it was not long after that his jaw dropped to the ground.

    He could tell that there were certain powerful Keltia Originals that were strong enough to block his overwhelming control of Mana but the little Oracle was only a 6-year-old child, who had awoken her Origin not too long ago...or so it seemed.

    Only now did he realize that he was actually not able to perceive whether the little Oracle was at the Origin rank or a higher rank, and the fact that he couldn''t actually visualize it showed quite clearly that he was mistaken about many things revolving around the little Oracle.

    "Are you sure that you''re human?" He thus asked, only for the little Oracle to stare at him with her brightly shining purple eyes.

    "I never said that I''m human..."

 Chapter 435 Alliance Auction

    Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye and the Alliance Auction was about to start.

    Nial had more than enough contribution points to be eligible to participate in the Alliance Auction and so was the case with many other Originals.

    The poption of Alliance City had crossed tens of millions by now and everyone wished to participate in the Alliance Auction because there were hundreds of races that had given up on some of their unique treasures to receive permission to use the World Bridge to enter Alliance City.

    Even if it were not for the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal, Nial would be interested in the Alliance Auction. There were numerous items of his interest, yet, he couldn''t buy any of them if the Swirl of Chaos would bepatible with him.

    He was just waiting to find an ability crystal that hailed from the existences the leaders branded as ''Vile Creatures''. The moment his Mana Core or Heart of Darkness would react to such a crystal, Nial would shell out his entire fortune to buy it.

    But even after being in possession of an enormous fortune, it was not as if he could be confident of having more than enough contribution points than that umted by other races in thest few months.

    ''Well, whatever... I will just give my best and if it doesn''t work, I can just change my ns ordingly,'' Nail thought with a shrug. Before he could give it any more thought, he was pulled aside by the little Oracle and Ryu.

    The two had grown close to one another and Nial was pretty sure that it was only a matter of time before they would be inseparable.

    But, Nial didn''t mind it. He kind of adored the little Oracle because she was somewhat mature, yet, also childish and yful.

    It was obvious that the little Oracle was different from others. He was also different from other humans, which is why he felt a certain barrier or gap between himself and most of them.

    There were only a few people he had taken a liking to until now and the majority of them were either dead, had betrayed him, or had simply left him.

    In the end, Nial understood that maintaining rtionships with other people was difficult. Both sides would have to makepromises for the rtionship to work out and it would clearly show if the effort was only one-sided.

    Nial was also aware that he was not very sociable but he was giving his best when it came to people he liked.

    That was also why he epted the little Oracle even though there were numerous mysterious and somewhat fearsome facts that revolved around her.

    Nial couldn''t sense the true extent of her power but what he was able to tell based on his observation so far was pretty simple. The little Oracle had grown rapidly. Nial was pretty sure that the little Oracle was now as tall as an eight-year-old human child.

    Her strength had increased drastically as well and by sensing the surrounding mana that was being pulled toward her, Nial could clearly tell that her affinity toward mana was much higher than his own.

    That was pretty hard to achieve in Nial''s opinion because his mana affinity could be considered to have reached a threshold where even Keltia ranked Originals would sweat buckets to match him.

    ''She is not human but looks like one. Just what is she?'' Nial wondered once again as he was on his way to the Alliance Auction.

    The Auction was held in the colosseum because it was the biggest building in the entire Alliance.

    To amodate millions of Originals that had entered Alliance City, the Colosseum had been erged and adequate preparations were made for the Alliance Auction to be a roaring sess.

    This is why the ce where he had defeated the Heligav Assassin didn''t feel the same as before.

    While entering the Colosseum with Ryu by his side, and the little Oracle on top of Ryu, Nial attracted lots of attention.

    Monsters and kids were not allowed to the Alliance Auction and it didn''t take long before the staff of the Alliance Auction rushed towards him.

    "I''m sorry to say this, but your pet and your daughter are not allowed to enter the Alliance Auction with you, Sir!" The staff member, who was the closest to Nial, informed him.

    More eyes flicked in their direction, but Nial wasn''t fazed by the attention.

    He wasn''t wearing the ck cloak today but he had put on the crow mask to hide his true identity.

    "They''re not my pet and daughter," Nial merely replied while fidgeting with his ne, trying to pull it out from below the formal clothes he had chosen to wear for today''s event.

    He was wearing Tier-3 runic garments, upon which he had engraved the runic constetions all by himself. Nial had hired the best tailor to sew him an elegant, yet still flexible suit, and by engraving his own runic constetions on the threads, he made sure that it was self-cleaning, able to fix the wear and tear on its own and do lots of other things.

    ? "Okay...but Sir, that doesn''t matter...if they don''t have enough contribution points, they''re not allowed to participate in the Alliance Auction," the staff member tried to exin the rules calmly to Nial in order to make sure that he wouldn''t be enraged.

    It was undeniable that Nial''s demeanor and clothes were clear indicators that he was not an ordinary participant in the Alliance Auction, but that didn''t mean he was above the rules.

    Nial shook his head and held his insignia in front of the staff member which also disyed the number of contribution points he had umted.

    "I think this is enough to give us some private ce in the VVIP lounge, right?" Nial asked with a grin on his face and the staff members took a few seconds to react.

    They bowed deeply to Nial, the little Oracle, and even Ryu when they had gotten back to their senses and gestured in a specific direction.

    "Of course, Sir. We will immediately lead you to the private lounges." One of the staff members said hurriedly while another one shot forward.

    "If Sir or his esteemedpany needs any refreshments, please don''t hesitate to tell me. I will bring you whatever you desire, Sir!" The staff said in an excited voice, making more eyes look over at them.

    Not many had been able to see the number disyed on Nial''s insignia, but those who had seen it couldn''t help but freeze in ce.

    Their eyes were glued on Nial''s back as he left the crowd and some of them could hardly breathe.

    "Did you guys see his contribution points...?" One of the passersby asked in a stupor. He rubbed his eyes and could hardly believe what was going on.

    "I just saw a bunch of numbers... was it nine or ten numbers? I don''t really know anymore..." Another one answered, feeling a bad headache all of a sudden.

    There were a few more Originals who had been confident in their wealth and the high number of contribution points they had umted in thest few months.

    However, upon seeing the number Nial had disyed with a nonchnt expression, they were utterly shocked, especially considering that the masked man didn''t even conceal his Mana core''s rank.

    He was at the Mid Prometheus rank, and was not supposed to be in the possession of so many contribution points...at least they had note across such a person before.

    Nial was unruffled by the stares that lingered on him. He smiled and went into the private lounge that had the size of a small living room.

    They had the lounge all to themselves and the staff member left him after they exined to him how the betting system inside the private lounge worked. It was pretty easy and there was no need for him to think about what to do for too long.

    Ryu sat down on the ground and looked downward at the Colosseum''s arena that had been turned into the stage where all auctioned goods would be disyed.

    Nial couldn''t see but he was pretty sure that the demonstration of his [Asura''s Wrath], [One Strike to Hell], and the [Heaven''s Protector] would leave a huge impact on the audience.

    His runic armaments had attained enough poprity throughout the city to make sure that everyone would be interested in buying them.

    However, that was only obvious after everything Nial had done to make sure that his n would work.

    He had worked hard and it was time for him to reap the benefits of his hard work.

 Chapter 436 Exceeding Expectations

    "Five million contribution points for the Peak Tier-2 Heaven''s Protector! Is there someone who wants to raise the bid? Nobody? Three¡­Two¡­One¡­S--¡­" The loud voice of the middle-aged Auctioneer thundered through the entire Colosseum as the light of three private lounges lit up at once.

    "Looks like we have three more bids! Private lounge 15 made the highest offer, bidding Seven million contribution points. Is someone willing to raise the bid further? No? Three¡­Two¡­One¡­sold!" The Auctioneer''s eyes gleamed brightly at the high price they''d obtained for the first of many Heaven''s Protectors.

    At first, the Auctioneer had been worried that nobody would want to buy the Heaven''s Protectors knowing that they had only one use before they would break apart.

    However, the reputation of the three brands of runic armaments the unknown Grandmaster Runicier had created was something that transcended anything the Auctioneer could imagine.

    But what was even more terrifying was the true powers of all three types of runic armaments the Grandmaster Runicier had created. An ordinary Keltia Original wielded one of the [Asura''s Wrath] runic armaments to test out the defensive power of the Heaven''s Protectors that made heads turn because a humongous phoenix manifested out of bolts of lightning and zing mes.

    The Lightning-fire Phoenix sted toward the Mid Advanced Mirae ranked Original, who was not even 12 years old. The young Original was scared shitless but by inserting a trace of mana inside the Heaven''s Protector it had been possible for him to protect himself and survive the terrifying attack.

    A humongous white shield had manifested in front of the young Original, blocking the Lightning-fire Phoenix that collided with the shield. The Colosseum''s ground burst open as shockwaves apanied by bolts of lightning and zing mes swept all over the Colosseum, nearly burning hundreds of Bidders, who were seated in the first rows of the Colosseum''s seats.

    Everyone knew that the floor of the Colosseum had been created by the best craftsmen of Alliance City using Keltia ranked materials. Not even Elite Keltia rank Originals would be capable of destroying the Colosseum''s floor, yet, a single attack using an [Asura''s Wrath] runic armament had been more than enough to achieve this easily.

    The same terrifying attack that easily destroyed the ground and nearly killed hundreds had been blocked by the runic armament empowered with the mana of a Mid Mirae ranked Original, who was still a child.

    This clearly showed how powerful the Heaven''s Protector truly was and that it was something all youths would need if they were to enter the wilderness all alone and nobody around to protect them.

    There were thousands of big families that were too busy protecting their descendants 24x7. They usually hired bodyguards to protect their descendants, which was a norm.

    However, there were also times when bodyguards were not strong enough to protect their clients, or their reflexes too slow against an iing attack.

    In such cases, it would be best if their clients would be capable of protecting themselves, which would give the bodyguards the necessary leeway to go all out to defeat the dangers that lurked around them without being worried about their client''s safety.

    This was just one of the many scenarios where the Heaven''s Protectors were exceptionally useful and it was because of that and all the other reasons that the first Heaven''s Protector was sold for seven million contribution points.

    Nial auctioned off more than a hundred Heaven''s Protectors and he was quite satisfied with the gains he made. The Auctioneer used his words wisely and he made it look as if the following Heaven''s Protector would always be thest one.

    That was how he increased the tension within the Colosseum and made sure that the price of the Heaven''s Protectors would never fall but increase instead.

    Nial earned more than 800 million contribution points by selling a hundred Heaven''s Protectors just for the [One Strike to Hell] runic armaments to appear.

    The same [Asura''s Wrath] runic armament as before was used topare the power of [One Strike to Hell] and the Lightning-fire Phoenix.

    This ended up creating devastating destruction because many of the [One Strike to Hell] runic armaments had been engraved with the terrific power to destroyrge parts of the surrounding. The runic armament the Auctioneer chose to use was a cier Tornado, a Tornado that possessed the power of ice. Tiny prisms with sharp edges manifested from Ice were thrown around within the cier Tornado and they led to the onset of death and devastating destruction.

    The already destroyed ground of the Colosseum was burst open even further and many Originals in the surroundings were hit by the sudden release of sharp ice prisms, stones that were flung around, and the powerful winds of the Tornado.

    Some Originals tried to shield themselves from the unexpected attack but they quickly noticed that the sharp ice prisms were far from ordinary. They seeped in through the mana membranes which most Originals had used to protect their body, broke through it, and dug deep inside the flesh of the Originals, who could clearly feel the horror of slowly freezing to death.

    The Originals were quickly tended to by therge number of Medics that had been hired for the day of the Alliance Auction. It almost felt as if the Auctioneer had already expected many Originals to end up getting severely injured.

    Nial just smiled when he perceived the shock of all the Originals around them. Nobody would have expected a Broken Tier-2 runic armament wielded by a Prometheus Original to possess enough power to pierce through the defenses of a Keltia ranked Original.

    The Keltia ranked Original didn''t use any runic armaments or abilities to protect himself properly but it was still an achievement to injure an opponent two ranks higher than oneself!

    Everyone could tell that this was an amazing feat which was why the price for the [One Strike to Hell] began to skyrocket. Their price ended up bing even higher than the Heaven''s Protectors because they could not only be used to defend against powerful attacks but also to initiate terrific attacks.

    Thus, Nial ended up earning more than a billion contribution points from the [One Strike to Hell] runic armaments.

    As for the [Asura''s Wrath] runic armaments, they were, by far, the best Peak Tier-2 and Low Tier-3 runic armaments to be used for the long term. It was very easy to wield them as long as one possessed the necessary control over mana. That was not hard to achieve for someone at the Keltia rank.

    Originals at that rank were the customers he wanted to attract with the [Asura''s Wrath] runic armaments, and his n worked out extremely well.

    He auctioned more than 200 [Asura''s Wrath] runic armaments and there was still a growing demand for more.

    Nial didn''t know how rich some individual Adventurers were until they started to bid in the Alliance Auction.

    "How about I change my tactic?" He blurted out all of a sudden.

    He could tell that the demand for his runic armaments was much higher than he had presumed before. Nial was still in possession of arge quantity of runic armaments, which he had wanted to stock up and sellter to ensure that he would get a decent price once the demand was to increase once again.

    It was hard to believe that there were still thousands of Originals who were willing to pay millions of contribution points to buy the runic armaments.

    With that in mind, it was pretty easy for him to change his strategy and earn even more by using a simple, yet, somewhat petty tactic.

    Nial left the private lounge for a moment, and he released his mana and activated [Dominion].

    "Spread the rumor that the Guild hall is selling [Asura''s Wrath], [Heaven''s Protectors], and [One Strike to Hell]!" Nial ordered, altering the thoughts of the people around him to make sure that they would listen to hismands.

    Simultaneously, he began to smile and he turned in the direction of Ryu and the little Oracle, who were both staring at him.

    "Do you guys want to go on an adventure?" Nial asked while his smile widened.

    The little Oracle''s expression changed drastically and she jumped up with joy while eximing,

    "What adventure are you talking about?"

    Her squeal was loud enough to ring in his ear but Nial just kept smiling.

    "The adventure is called making money through exploitation!"

 Chapter 437 Suitable...?

    "15 million contribution points for thest [Asura''s Wrath] runic weapon¡­ Sold!" The auctioneer''s voice resounded through the entire Colosseum before a confident smile appeared on his face.

    ''Perfect!'' He could only feel ted at the thought of the fortune they had raked in the first part of the Alliance Auction. All the goods that were auctioned went through the hands of the Auctioneer, his staff, and the Devons, who would receive a total of 5% of the gains they made altogether.

    Through the sudden and unexpected arrival of hundreds of [Heaven''s Protector], [One Strike to Hell], and [Asura''s Wrath] they made far more money than through any other auctioned item so far and the Alliance Auction had just started!

    Before the Auction would end quite some time had to pass, and the Auctioneer was quite certain that he could get his hands on a big bonus for today''s performance.

    That thought was enough to let a bright smile blossom on his face as he was hoping to umte a big enough fortune to purchase the resources and unique treasures he had been saving up for.

    "Sir¡­we have a big problem!" The voice of a female staff reached the Auctioneer''s ear when he was about to announce the second part of the Alliance Auction.

    He turned around to the staff in a slow manner while pointing at the earpieces he wore to be up to date whenever something happened.

    His gesture told the female staff member to continue speaking but she was more focused on all the participants of the Alliance Auction.

    ''What is going on here?'' The Auctioneer thought when he looked at the rows of empty seats that entered his sight.

    "Where is everyone?" He asked quietly and in an obviously confused voice. It was possible to add a small break in between the different parts which the Alliance Auction had been divided into but the Auctioneer was pretty sure that it wouldn''t be needed.

    Something was wrong and the Auctioneer wanted to figure out what exactly was going on.

    "S-Sir¡­everyone is leaving to buy more of the runic armaments we''ve just sold. More than ten merchants with a huge stockpile for the big three brands have appeared in their shops and the news has already spread through the entire Colosseum. Everyone left to buy as many of the big three runic armaments as they can¡­and we''ve received lots of harshments and me from people who said that we exploited them¡­" The female staff member was trying to exin the current situation but words seemed to fail her. The poor girl was trying very hard to not start shivering and face a mental breakdown.

    At first, it was pretty hard to understand what the female staff member was trying to say, but the Auctioneer''s mind cleared up when he understood the situation.

    ''The Grandmaster Runicier used us¡­is that how it is?'' He wondered, trying to put the pieces together. It was easy to tell that one would be able to gain poprity at events simr to the Alliance Auction. Still, the Auctioneer hadn''t expected the anonymous Grandmaster Runicier to be shameless enough to exploit the Alliance Auction''s connection and the cluster of Peak Elite Originals to keep increasing his reputation and wealth.

    ''But why didn''t he sell the runic armaments at the Alliance Auction if he had more of them? We would have been able to support him in acquiring a bigger fortune¡­'' The Auctioneer was not sure what kind of n the anonymous Grandmaster Runicier had but one thing was clear; the Grandmaster Runicier didn''t care that his actions were responsible for tarnishing the reputation of the Devons'' representatives within Alliance City.

    The representatives were responsible for the Alliance Auction and every mistake would inevitably leave a mark on the once-perfect reputation the Devons had so painstakingly nurtured.

    ''Should I continue, or add a short break before everyone returns? We won''t be able to make as big profits selling the Ability crystals now that everyone is trying to get their hands on the runic armaments sold outside the Colosseum¡­'' The Auctioneer thought. He was slowly getting a headache, and things got only worse when he received multiple notifications from the private lounges.

    His eyebrows creased at the sight of the notifications and he sighed deeply to regte the mess of emotions that began to riot in his head.

    Hence he lightly cleared his throat in front of the microphone and garnered the attention of everyone, who had remained in the Colosseum.

    This included Nial, who was smiling devilishly at the visualization of the small coin badge that had manifested a big holographic screen in front of him.

    The coin badge was an anonymous bank ount where all the contribution points umted from the merchants and the sold goods from the Alliance Auctions were added. By visualizing the huge number that kept increasing the more time passed, Nial realized that his chances to acquire the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal were getting higher and higher.

    He knew that he would have gotten a little bit more contribution points if he had sold all runic armaments at the Alliance Auction despite the decreasing numbers of participants.

    It was obvious that not everyone was interested in ability crystals but that was not Nial''s primary focus. He wanted to make sure that the focus of the others, including those who desired to purchase the Swirl of Chaos in the next few hours, would be distracted for the time being and that they would pay a high price to get as many runic armaments from Nial''s limited batch of armaments as possible.

    His n seemed to work out well which was quite obvious when the Auctioneer started to speak.

    "Now that we finished the first round of the Alliance Auction, it is about time to reveal the item everyone has been waiting for!" The Auctioneer announced, and not long after, the stage in the center of the Colosseum started to change.

    Several ss cabs emerged from under the stage and the whispered murmurs of thousands of renowned Originals rang through the surrounding area.

    "So that''s the Swirl of Chaos?" One of the human Originals near Nial''s private lounge asked with gleaming eyes.

    His voice was cracking but nobody dared tough. They were just as baffled as the human Original and unable to say a thing.

    ''''That doesn''t look like an ability crystal¡­'''' Nial mumbled when visualizing the Swirl of Chaos.

    The Swirl of Chaos was actually not a crystal. It was a silver colored swirl of liquid. Nial could easily visualize it because the power of the Swirl of Chaos was extremely dense and pure.

    He could even visualize the color of the Swirl, which made things moreplicated for Nial because his greed was slowly overtaking his rational mind.

    The ability crystal was extremely powerful ording to the density of the silver energy that was likely to be Chaos, and his Mana core reacted violently with it.

    Nial''s hearts were throbbing, his hair stood up on its end and it was only a matter of time before his entire being began to react to the Swirl of Chaos.

    "That''s definitely a linked ability for me¡­mypatibility with it should be the best amongst all the abilities I''ve bound¡­" Nial spoke in excitement, and the little Oracle began to bounce up and down.

    "You have to get that! It''s the perfect choice for you¡­ hehe" She said while trying to be cute, but Nial could only sigh deeply.

    It was obvious that it was very good for the Swirl of Chaos to suit him, but that was exactly what made things moreplicated.

    If the Swirl of Chaos wouldn''t suit him, he could use his vast fortune for something else and search for another suitable ability to bind.

    However, now that he knew the Swirl of Chaos and his perfect suitability, it was quite obvious what he had to do!

    "I know, I know¡­I will get it¡­somehow," Nial mumbled before he started to ruffle through the little Oracle''s hair.

    She let out a squeal and her arms shot in the air while Ryu chirped out, trying to tell Nial that he wanted to get patted as well.

    "I won''t forget the two of you. Let''s just give our best!" He added with a faint smile on his lips as he began to visualize the other ability crystals that were disyed on the stage.

    ''Let''s see how many contributions points the Devon races and everyone else have collected in thest few months!''

 Chapter 438 100 Billion

    Hundreds of races were interested in the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal, but the number of races that were actually able to participate seriously in the Auction for the ability crystal was minuscule.

    The Divon races which some races also called as Devons were very interested in the ability crystals, and so were around a dozen races that had built a strong foundation within Alliance City.

    ? They possessed enough contribution points to attempt making bids for the Swirl of Chaos so that their strongest descendants would receive the opportunity to see if they werepatible with the Swirl of Chaos.

    No Original at or above the Deux rank was in need of an ability crystal. Thus, the only thing most races could do was to make big investments for their children in the hopes that the Swirl of Chaos would bepatible with the physique of the other races.

    This problem was not something Nial faced because he knew that the Swirl of Chaos was highlypatible with him, to the extent that it would be one of his many linked abilities.

    Nial knew that it was not even unlikely for the Swirl of Chaos to evolve into something even stronger the moment it linked to his Mana Core and the Heart of Darkness. Thus, he was very interested in the ability crystal and ready to pay as much as necessary as long as he could get his hands on the ability!

    "Now that everyone''s attention is already on the main attraction of the first Alliance Auction to be held in Alliance City, I would like to start the bidding for the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal!" The Auctioneer thundered through the surrounding area.

    His voice reached every nook and cranny in the Colosseum and everyone present turned their attention to the middle-aged man.

    Nobody knew the price of the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal but everyone hoped that they would be able to participate in the bidding process.

    However, the vast majority of participants'' jaws dropped to the ground as they stared at the holographic screen that appeared in front of them with disbelieving looks.

    [10,000,000,000 Contribution Points]

    "What the hell?!?" A shrill cry reverberated through the entire Colosseum when the holographic screen popped up.

    The voice originated from one of the many private rooms, which was also the reason why nobody said anything.

    Nial was just as shocked as the owner of the voice who had blurted out disdainfully and everyone else present could rte to the shocking outburst.

    Most of the participants had never even seen anyone with as many contribution points as demanded to make the first bid for the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal.

    ''Looks like I won''t have enough...'' Nial quickly concluded once he got back to his senses. It took him a while to ept that he wouldn''t be able topete with the Overlords of Alliance City in the bidding process but that was only obvious.

    Nial had only Ryu by his side to acquire points while the other bidders had their people from their native and tens of thousands of others who hade to the Alliance City to work hard and procure contribution points.

    Thus, he was not even surprised when he heard the confident voice of a woman who ced the first bid echo through the Colosseum.

    "11 Billion contribution points!"

    Nial''s lip twitched upon hearing the 10% increase, but he knew that he had to calm down, otherwise, things would go south real quick.

    ''Should I just...?'' He wondered, lost in thoughts.

    "12 Billion contribution points!" A new bid soon followed, leaving the other participants feeling bbergasted.

    Nial sighed deeply and he unleashed some of his Essence of Darkness to empower his Mana Sense with a little bit more energy.

    ''Heligav...and Negiv...I didn''t expect them to be so interested in the Swirl of Chaos...'' Nial thought upon finding out who the first two bidders were.

    A faint smile appeared on his face as an idea shed through his mind and he cleared his throat after a moment.

    "15 Billion Contribution Points!!" Nial thundered with his amplified voice just when the holographic screen changed by a few hundred million.

    He smiled when perceiving the change on the holographic screen in the center of the Colosseum''s stage.

    ''Go on guys, increase the bids!'' Nial shouted in his mind, feeling prepared to lose the bid.

    One could only spend as many contribution points as one possessed. Thus, Nial had to be in possession of 15 Billion contribution points to be able to make his bid.

    Being able to earn such a fortune as a single individual at the Mid Prometheus rank was basically impossible, but Nial was different.

    He yed around with his Dominion ability and took control of thousands of monsters that began to work for him while he was focusing on Runic Armaments.

    However, in the end, it looked like his hard work was not enough...but that was fine as he paid attention to the bids that followed suit.

    "20 Billion Contribution Points!"

    "21 Billion Contribution Points!"

    "25 Billion Contribution Points!"

    "30 Billion Contribution Points!"

    "50 Billion Contribution Points!"

    ''What the hell...'' Nial could ept that he didn''t have as much money as the 11 Devons but what he didn''t like to see was the huge gap between his fortune and the umted fortune of the Overlords that controlled Alliance City. Suddenly, he felt he was dirt poor.

    ''Well, it makes sense that they have the biggest fortune because they receive a share from everything...but still...'' Nial sighed deeply as he finished his thought.

    He could tell what the Devons had nned by auctioning the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal; that it was just a huge advertisement gimmick and that the ability crystal was never intended to enter the hands of someone unrted.

    This was frustrating but Nial could ept it as he had a different n forming in his mind.

    "100 billion contribution points, you fucking whore!!" The enraged voice from one of the private rooms reached Nial and his expression lit up.

    ''The Heligav are still in the game!'' He realized, ignoring the fact that the Leader of the Heligav participants was enraged to the point where he was ready to kill everyone who was willing to obstruct him.

    He had been given clear instructions to buy the Swirl of Chaos by hook or crook and the Heligav would never allow anyone else to get their hands on it, no matter how many treasure chests they would have to empty.

    Nheless, 100 billion contribution points was not a small amount, and not even the other Devon races should have a lot more than that.

    Every single Original required an enormous amount of contribution points to increase their strength, study, and learn a lot more.

    Instructors, resources, pieces of equipment and amodation were certainly not cheap. Thus, it was a big risk for the Heligav race to be willing to spend 100 Billion contribution points if they didn''t even know whether the Swirl of Chaos ability could be bound by anyone of their race, or if it was a powerful ability crystal to begin with.

    Even 15 Billion contribution points could be considered too much of an investment for something as uncertain as the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal. Yet, the Heligav were ready to spend such a fortune even if that could mean a stagnation of their growth, and expansion.

    Nial felt that the Heligav''s action was quite decisive, but also notpletely thought through because they could have gotten their hands on the ability for much fewer Contribution points and less trouble.

    "You fucking horse! How dare you call me a whore!?!" The female in another private lounge burst out. She couldn''t bid more than the already existing offer but that didn''t mean she would let the Keltia Heligav call her vile names.

    "Come down here and fight me!" She thundered in the direction of the private lounge where the Heligav was located. Hatred could be seen in her eyes, and Nial could quickly decipher that the situation would escte soon.

    However, that was not something he disliked. On the contrary, it was ying straight into his hands.

    ''You guys are such fools, but thanks for that!'' Nial thought only to be distracted by a sudden call he received.

    "A call from the Forest of Life? What do they want from me...?"

 Chapter 439 Give It To Me!

    Nial ignored the Alliance Auction when he received the call from the Forest of Life.

    They wouldn''t call for no reason and Nial started to get worried as he picked up the messenger crystal.

    "Hello, Master Crevian, is that you?" Nial asked in a slow voice as the memories of his family and friends getting torn apart reappeared in his mind.

    His mother''s death, and the death of his master were still fresh in his mind, and so were the Nightmares that had been haunting him whenever he fell asleep.

    He sighed inwardly as he impatiently waited to receive an answer from the other side of the Messenger Crystal.

    "Yes it''s me. How have you been, Nial? I hope you are doing fine and advancing quickly," Master Crevian''s familiar voice reached Nial''s ears and he calmed down visibly.

    Master Crevian didn''t sound hurried, in pain, or desperate. That was very good to know.

    "I''m doing fine, though I am slowly getting impatient," Nial revealed before he stopped the small talk.

    "Why did you give me a call? Without reason, you wouldn''t use Origin crystals to call me!" Nial suddenly spoke bluntly and the young Original could clearly tell that the Old Elf was notfortable with the sudden change of the situation.

    "The human Originals from Jundra started to get in contact with other races, including Angels, Demon, Dwarves¡­and other humans," Master Crevian said before he took a pause and continued talking once again, "The humans from others have influenced your people the most and it looks like their armies are on their way towards the Forest of Life!"

    Nial listened carefully and he took a deep breath after digesting the news.

    "So what do you want me to do? Fight against the humans from others?" Nial was pretty sure that Master Crevian didn''t ask for that but he might also be mistaken.

    "I just wanted to inform you that it''s possible for problems to ur between our races. You are free to do whatever you want, but the beings from Jundra would suffer the most the moment the Elven races and other human races were to start fighting. The native humans are simply too weak!" Master Crevian exined.

    Nial frowned deeply and he took some time to reply.

    ''My dad would suffer the most if war were to break out. I have to go back, whether it''s to fight or to prevent warfare from erupting¡­'' Nial thought, understanding very well that Master Crevian''s scheming was working out as desired.

    "Are some races, including other humans,ing over with some armies, or did a fight already break out?" Nial enquire to make sure that he understood the current situation properly.

    However, before Master Crevian answered him, Nial heard something else.

    "Congrattions to Number 152 for winning the bid. May the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal bring great fortune upon you!" The Auctioneer''s voice boomed through the wide colosseum as he grinned from ear to ear.

    He had made a big fortune by selling the ability crystal for a much higher price than he had initially anticipated.

    Nheless, the Auctioneer understood very well that the tension in the Colosseum was way too high.

    "The main attraction of today''s Alliance Auction has been auctioned sessfully but the auction is not yet done. Let''s wee the heavenly treasures that have waited for a very long time for your arrival!" The Auctioneer was trying his best but one could easily see that his eyes were quivering as they moved from one direction to another.

    The Auctioneer''s gaze flicked towards the more than six different private lounges with worry as things had gotten far more interesting, especially when the group of Heligav left their private lounge without caring about hiding their identity or the fact that they were exhrated about their purchase.

    A few more beings had chosen to leave their private lounges and the killing intent and deadly res that were directed at the Heligav made it clear as to what was going on.

    "A Brawl? I should definitely join them!" Nial muttered to himself before switching his attention back to his call with Master Crevian to make sure that everything was fine.

    But before Nial could do that Ryu had appeared next to him. The wingless Gryphon chirped out in joy and he pulled Nial closer to the stage of the Alliance Auction.

    They were still inside the private lounge but Nial didn''t want to focus on the auction for the time being. However, due to Ryu''s interference, he averted his attention to the stage of the auction where he perceived the setting with his Mana Sense which intrigued him quite a bit.

    "Pure Darkness Essence?" Nial asked, baffled and Ryu chirped out in the agreement, overjoyed that Nial finally found what he had been looking for.

    "The Darkness Myphelia is a heavenly treasure that is found in the Caves of Lyveria, on Darkyl. If you don''t know what this small crystal is capable of, allow me to give you a short introduction!" The Auctioneer spoke carefully and in aposed way. He could see hundreds of Auction participants, who left the Colosseum with the exact same goal in mind.

    This was worrisome, to put it simply but it was not in the Auctioneer''s jurisdiction.

    ''Just let them fight if they want to. We can just continue earning a huge fortune!'' He thought, confident that they would make a big fortune even if many Originals had left the auction.

    "1 Billion contribution points!"

    Silence swept all over the Colosseum and everyone turned subconsciously in the direction of Nial''s private lounge. In their opinion, he had hastily bid one billion contribution points without further listening to the description of the Darkness Myphelia, a treasure that looked just like a normal crystal.

    However, Nial and Ryu could tell that the Darkness Myphelia housed Pure Darkness Essence.

    Ryu sensed that the Darkness Myphelia was something which might allow him to evolve his bloodline, or unleash the hidden Ancient Bloodline he harbored inside his body.

    Nial didn''t want to waste any time as he wanted to join the Brawl and possibly get his hands on the Swirl of Chaos.

    Thus, the bid he made before the Darkness Myphelia had been introduced properly was high enough to scare away the other potential buyers.

    "Sir, I apologize but I''m not yet done introducing the treasure¡­" The Auctioneer tried to cut in but Nial couldn''t care less.

    "Either you ept the offer, or I will take your leave without it. Others won''t pay the price I offered!" He thundered while giving the remaining participants the opportunity to retort him.

    However, nobody said anything, which was enough for Nial to continue.

    "See, nobody wants it. Hand it over," Nial spoke calmly and he transferred his contribution points to the ount that was linked to the Alliance Auction.

    "If Sir wishes to receive the Darkness Myphelia, you may get it," The Auctioneer said, giving up trying to argue with Nial. He knew that one billion contribution points were too much of a price to pay for the Darkness Myphelia. Thus, it was fine for the buyer to act a little bit rude.

    He had just let himself be scammed, after all.

    Of course, Nial didn''t think that was the case but the Auctioneer did not have to be concerned about it.

    ''Now the Guild hall¡­I hope they have enough Origin crystals for me to buy!'' Nial thought while essing the Guild hall''s shops and services. He messaged them and transferred over 14 billion contribution coins to buy as many high quality Origin crystals as possible.

    ''I feel like a madman¡­'' Nial almost blurted out when he epted the Darkness Myphelia that had been brought to his private lounge. Without giving it much thought, Nial handed the Darkness Myphelia to Ryu, who gobbled it down without hesitation.

    "That''s how you burn money!" Nialughed through his pain as he visualized the way Ryu gobbled down the entire Darkness Myphelia as if it was some light afternoon snack.

    He hoped that Ryu would evolve soon but the chances were quite slim.

    Nial hoped the best for the wingless Gryphon but there were other things he had to pay more attention to.

    "Let''s leave. We have a lot to do!" Nial reminded his small team and both Ryu and the little Oracle squealed.

    The little Oracle had been observing the proceedings with a boring look because the Alliance Auction hadn''t been to her liking.

    Nial hadn''t expected the little girl to like the Alliance Auction so he didn''t really care about her mood.

    However, what he actually cared about was collecting lots of Origin crystals from the Guild hall.

    He had to empower the teleportation device and make sure that his other n would work out.

    After all, he wanted to get his hands on the Swirl of Chaos¡­and that would definitely not be easy.

 Chapter 440 City Brawl

    ''I didn''t want the situation to escte like this...but it''s fine... I guess,'' Nial thought as he rushed outside the Colosseum.

    He was still wearing the Crow Mask but he didn''t care about hiding his identity anymore. The ck cloak hid his appearance very well but it was also a hindrance to his movements.

    Thus, Nial abandoned it before he charged inside the Guild hall.

    "I had ced an order for Origin crystals worth more than 14 billion contribution points. Are they ready?" He asked in a hurried voice. His appearance began to change drastically as ck, leathery skin seemed to grow out of his fair human skin.

    The receptionist stared at Nial for a few seconds with nk face. He swallowed his saliva and was unable to say a single word.

    "Are they ready or not?" Nial thundered when the receptionist simply stared at him for five seconds. His voice reverberated through the guild hall, and most Adventurers turned to his direction as they felt a tingling sensation spreading through their bodies.

    Nial had subconsciously used his Dominion ability to influence the mind of the beings he spoke to. As a result, the receptionist nodded his head in response and he began to move without even realizing it.

    "The Guild hall provided a mass purchase discount. Have a nice day," The receptionist''s voice was monotonous as he handed Nial a seemingly ordinary spatial ring.

    Nial essed the spatial ring and he began to smile brightly. A humongous mountain made of countless Origin crystals had been stored inside the spatial ring that was much bigger in size than most spatial rings in Nial''s possession.

    The young Original smiled lightly, he nodded his head and disappeared once again.

    Countless Adventurers stared at the retreating figure of the Crow Mask, and both the wingless Gryphon and his rider, the little girl, who followed him for every single step.

    "Isn''t the wingless Gryphon thepanion of the human Original from the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo?" One of the stronger Adventurers asked in curiosity and others nodded their heads, agreeing to the former''s guess.

    Nial knew that his identity was being exposed but that didn''t matter. He could either be considered a wealthy tycoon or an individual with unimaginable potential in the business world but Nial''s focus was somewhere else.

    It was time to leave Alliance City and make his way back to the Forest of Life. Troublesome days awaited him there but Nial was fine with that.

    His hard work and nning had paid off and allowed him to bind two new ability crystals to his Mana Core. Now, it was time for him to make use of his new and old abilities to get his hand on his fifth andst ability crystal, the Swirl of Chaos!

    Nial rushed through Alliance City while spreading out his range of perception and his Mana Sense. This allowed him to perceive everything that happened in a range of close to 100 kilometers.

    ''The Heligav are trying to get back to their headquarters....but the others are pulling them to the least popted outskirts of the city...seems like the Overlords of Alliance City are not as united as everyone says they are!'' Nial was amused by what he saw.

    The creation of the Alliance City was something exceptional because it was the first neutral city created with the help of 10 races. More races joined the City and yet another Overlord had gotten his way through the rows of the Devons as well. Alliance City was flourishing and it was obvious that the city would grow exponentially and so would the wealth of everyone with the capability to grasp opportunities when they were unveiled in front of them.

    And that was exactly what could be considered the biggest problem. Too many races had sensed the opportunity to get their hands on the Swirl of Chaos right now.

    They might have failed to procure the ability crystal with the use of their contribution points, but that didn''t mean they couldn''t get their hands on the Swirl of Chaos now that the Keltia Heligav had left the Colosseum.

    Fighting might be prohibited in Alliance City but it would be near-impossible to enforce thisw and control the crowd of thousands of powerful Originals if they were to initiate a brawl all of a sudden.

    It was even less likely for the protectors of Alliance City to do anything because a bunch of Divon races was trying to reach out their grasp to the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal.

    "Considering that it''s not possible to store the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal in any kind of storage it''s only obvious that many are trying to get their hands on the ability crystal...but even then...I didn''t expect the Divon races to be willing to sacrifice their peace for a mere ability crystal. They cannot even use it, to begin with!" Nial blurted out his thoughts and both Ryu and the little Oracle nodded their heads as they reached one of the deserted districts in Alliance City that had no inhabitants.

    It was a newly constructed district and exactly what Nial required.

    Thus, he released more than half of the Origin crystals he had just purchased, meaning Origin crystals were worth more than seven billion contribution points.

    His high mana aptitude allowed him to expand his Mana sense and ess every single one of the Origin crystals he had just retrieved.

    "Let''s go!!" Nial shouted at the top of his lungs all of a sudden as he unleashed all his Mana, Essence of Darkness, and Dark energy at the same time.

    He used every bit of energy within his body to control the pure Mana within the Origin crystals.

    The pure Mana from the Origin crystals was inserted inside his body, which allowed Nial to activate [Awakening of the Prymal].

    "Come forth, Tyrant of Destruction!" Nial shouted as he inserted the tremendous amount of mana that was unleashed from millions of high-quality Origin crystals to activate the ability that had evolved from the Summoning ability crystal.

    His entire being screamed that the only way to attain whatever he wanted was to activate [Awakening of the Prymal] and to shout out what he had just screamed hoarsely.

    There was no way that Nial knew what exactly was going on but he trusted his gut feeling and the sensation he felt from the Heart of Darkness.

    Thus, he kept forwarding all the pure Mana that swept through his Mana. The ck stigma of the Awakening of the Prymal ability was shining in a gloomy dark color and a chilling cold spread out from Nial''s body all of a sudden.

    Darkness oozed out of his body and it slowly began spreading in the direction of the dark alley. Nial might not be able to see anything but he could clearly perceive the darkness that shrouded the walls of the alley and the humongous Gate that was slowly forming out of the darkness Nial unleashed.

    Hot, stinging pain manifested in his Mana Core and Nial clutched his chest with a pained expression, making him spit out blood all of a sudden.

    However, instead of panicking, or trying to do something against the sudden change of the situation, Nial began to smile brightly.

    "Heed themands of your Essence, the Fraction of your Soul, and the Darkness within your Heart, ande to me, your new Master and the Source of your life!" Nial''s voice boomed through the surroundings. His breath was apanied by the purest Essence of Darkness within Nial''s body and his voice was amplified to such an extent that it was terrific enough to cause the surrounding ground to tremble wildly, the ss windows to shatter, and the building constructions all around him to shake wildly.

    Nial''s smiled kept widening as he felt tremendous power surging through the humongous Gate he was manifesting. Huge cracks formed on the walls that were crumbling due to the force he exerted but Nial couldn''t care less about that. He was just smiling brightly as he visualized what was happening around him right now.

    The Awakening of the Prymal ability had worked out, one of its functions had been unleashed and a terrifying existence was about to emerge from the Gate the moment it would be fully constructed.

    ''This is exactly what I need. Come on!!'' Nial eximed triumphantly, his excitement overwhelming him as both his heart and his Heart of Darkness started to beat erratically.

    There was no holding back anymore as all the pure mana from the Origin crystals worth seven billion contribution points swept through his body, just to keep empowering the Awakening of the Prymal ability.

    Meanwhile, Nial retracted the Dark energy, Essence of Darkness, and the Mana he had used to control the Origin crystals'' Mana.

    He needed all of this forter.

    After all, there was a Keltia ranked Heligav to defeat and a City Brawl to ovee!

 Chapter 441 Tyrant Of Destruction

    Huge, ck arms shot out of the gate, followed by a massive horned human-like head.

    The monster Nial had summoned was more than ten meters tall. Its body was trembling violently as dark energy erupted from its leathery ck skin, and its yellow serpentine eyes stared down at the tiny figure of the human, who had summoned it.

    Its nose twitched as a unique smell entered the monster''s nostrils.

    The yellow serpentine eyes of the monster were locked on Nial, who did not appear to be fazed by its might.

    "I might not be able to see you, but I can still tell that you''re pretty powerful," Nial spoke calmly, his lifeless and milky white eyes resting on the Tyrant of Destruction.

    Ryu and the little Oracle turned their heads in Nial''s direction as he spoke using words in anguage they had never heard before.

    "Master?" The humongous monster asked in the same iprehensiblenguage Nial had just used.

    ''Master?'' Nial wondered, feeling slightly dumbfounded when he felt something, or rather someone, emerging from his Heart of Darkness.

    Nial''s skin turned ck, horns protruded out of his forehead and a ck grimacing face of a devil covered his entire head.

    "Kaeldur? You are with Master?... No that isn''t master¡­ is that his descendant? He smells simr¡­" The Tyrant of Destruction had been enraged to be awakened from his deep slumber, but the beings in front of him left him no chance of even harboring ill intentions.

    However, that was only obvious because the beings in front of him were overly familiar to him, at least, one of them!

    "Tyrant. I didn''t expect you to still be alive. Looks like your power has dwindled with the passage of time!" A hoarse voiceing out of Nial''s mouth that didn''t quite belong to him teased all of a sudden.

    ''Kaeldur can speak?!'' Nial realized, as his lips twitched. ''Why did he never speak to me before?''

    "You should look at yourself instead of trying to provoke me. My powers might have dwindled in the absence of our Master, but I am still stronger than you!" Tyrant thundered, releasing a terrifying roar that shook the buildings in the surrounding area.

    Dark energy that was much stronger than Nial''s swept through the surroundings due to the Tyrant''s roar, destroying the structures in a range of a few dozen meters.

    A huge maze made out of darkness manifested in the bulky arms of the Tyrant of Destruction and he smashed it into the ground using all his might.

    Soil and rubble were flung through the air like prickly shards, nearly hitting Nial who had yet to move an inch.

    "Are you done?" He asked coldly, ignoring the power disy of the Tyrant of Destruction.

    "I have some work to do. If you have nothing better to do, how about you and Kaeldur get your act together and give me a helping hand?" Nial''s voice was even but it thundered in the ears of the beings around him.

    His patience was waning, especially because of the news of trouble at the Forest of Life.

    There was no time to waste on idle chit chat, or how it was a miracle that Kaeldur''s acquaintance had been summoned through the Awakening of the Prymal.

    Nial could tell that the Tyrant of Destruction had had a close rtionship with Kaeldur and also Damian, the Lord of Darkness, but that was an advantage he could exploit.

    "Yes, Mas¡­Master?" Tyrant spoke, his voice faltering for the first time.

    The Tyrant of Destruction was not sure how to address Nial, the human, who possessed a very simr smell to histe Master¡­the man who could be said to have given birth to Kaeldur, Tyrant, and many others.

    He had nurtured them into beings of unfathomable powers and unwavering loyalty.

    The same man who had raised them to be powerful existences had disappeared after sealing them away at ces no soul ought to be able to reach even if the Universe were to be destroyed.

    Yet exactly those ces had been found by the same being¡­twice at that.

    [He is in possession of the Eclipse Fragment¡­well not anymore, not exactly¡­but he has received Master''s acknowledgment and portions of his memories!] Kaeldur spoke in Tyrant''s mind after he had calmed down.

    Kaeldur had witnessed all the achievements Nial had attained in recent years. Thus, he knew the young man''s potential very well.

    It was wise to follow him, even if Nial had yet to fully mature.

    Tyrant kept staring at the grimace on Nial''s face for several seconds. It looked like he was contemting something while Nial was apparently done with the discussion.

    "I will heed yourmands!" Tyrant hastily announced and he stretched out his bulky arm that erged all of a sudden.

    A ck Star appeared out of the Tyrant of Destruction''s chest. It erged for a moment and shot straight toward Nial.

    The star hit him in the chest and began digging inside his flesh. Nial felt a searing pain while his physical body was, oddly enough, not actually injured.

    His Heart of Darkness began to vibrate violently as the ck Star impacted on it.

    At first, the Heart of Darkness rejected the ck Star but upon sensing Nial''s approval, the ck Star was allowed to enter the pits of the Heart of Darkness, the exact area where Kaeldur resided.

    ''Both are creatures bound to thete God of Darkness. Looks like they epted me as a sessor¡­'' Nial thought, though he was not certain how he could have been lucky enough to summon another creature of the Late God of Darkness.

    It looked like hispatibility with the God of Darkness was quite high, enough to get mistaken as Damian.

    He epted Tyrant''s link to the Heart of Darkness, which had once been the God of Darkness'' fragment.

    His Heart of Darkness was the ce the creatures of thete Darkness God called home, where they could find shelter, regain their former strength and be beings that followed their new master''s will.

    The gigantic Tyrant of Destruction turned into countless particles of darkness. The particles of darkness swirled around Nial as if he was the heart of the typhoon.

    Their speed intensified and an astronomical amount of mana flooded in his direction.

    He absorbed the mana while noticing that the particles of darkness attached themselves to the mana currents that entered his body.

    Nial could sense a few changes urring inside his Heart of Darkness the more particles of darkness he absorbed.

    Tyrant''s presence could be sensed inside the Heart of Darkness and Nial instinctively lifted his hand high in the air before he motioned for the remaining particles to enter his body as well.

    ''Tyrant''s physical strength might be enough to rival the Keltia Heligav¡­'' Nial thought as he felt his mind teeming with the influx of information flooding his mind.

    The information was solely rted to the Tyrant of Destruction, the being that seemed to have been born as a crippled Titan youngling.

    The rise of the Tyrant was rather unspectacr.

    After being sold to a mercenary group, the crippled Titan youngling was abused and turned into aborer whose sole purpose was to do chores and menial work.

    A long time passed before the Origin of the crippled Tyrant awakened, creating a frightening force that was to be reckoned with.

    He ughtered every single member of the mercenary group that had abused him, no matter what rank they were.

    His ughterfeast had turned him into a wanted criminal and decades of running away had followed.

    When Tyrant had nearly been caught, his chest pierced by a huge spear while his life force seeped out of his veins, Damian came to his rescue.

    What happened afterward was a blurred memory to Nial who was unable to perceive anything for now.

    The things Nial couldn''t see about Tyrant''s life were not that important to him. He was just ted to have gained another ally.

    And this ally was extremely powerful!

    "Are you guys ready to join the City Brawl and beat up some Keltia ranked Heligav?" Nial asked enthusiastically while he released arge amount of his Essence of Darkness.

    His Heart of Darkness was beating wildly and the power it released increased drastically as well.

    ''Does this mean that the more forces of the Lord of Darkness I gather, the stronger my Heart of Darkness will be? That''s good to know!''

 Chapter 442 Trust Me!

    Nial rode on Ryu and they marched toward the thunderous noises that resounded through the entire City.

    The City Brawl had already begun and Nial was interested to find out who was going to get their hands on the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal.

    He was pretty sure that the Divon races were doing a big mistake by epting that their members had attacked the Keltia Heligav, but it was not something he should be concerned about.

    It was more to his advantage, either way.

    "Little Oracle, will you be fine, or should I drop you off somewhere safe around this area?" Nial asked, while lightly stroking the little Oracle''s silky silver hair.

    Nial didn''t treat Oracle like a little child because she was not human and waspletely different from the oblivious, yful, and naive human children.

    He could tell that she was more mature, that her powers were already developed to a certain extent, and that she could make certain decisions for herself.

    "I won''t be in danger, don''t worry," Oracle answered, which was enough for Nial to nod his head and divert his focus.

    Her confidence reassured him to not worry about the Little Oracle, so he started patting Ryu, who was currently undergoing a drastic change.

    Ever since he had consumed the Darkness Myphelia, the wingless Gryphon had be increasingly restless. Ryu''s body was twitching violently every now and then, and it was quite obvious that he was undergoing some changes.

    Nial could clearly sense that thanks to their connection and his precise control of Mana.

    ''Maybe he will evolve and grow a pair of wings?'' Nial thought, hoping for the best for Ryu.

    After all, it would mean a lot if hispanion would be stronger. The stronger his allies, the less trouble awaited them when fighting enemies that would overpower them if they were on their own.

    A faint smile appeared on his lips as he patted both the Little Oracle and Ryu at the same time.

    Along with Kaeldur now even the Tyrant of Destruction had taken up residence inside his Heart of Darkness, which was beating wildly as dark energy and the Essence of Darkness swirled inside it violently.

    His dark energy was expanding while his Essence of Darkness'' quality improved by arge margin.

    When Nial breathed out, he exhaled ck fog.

    The ck fog spread in all directions, reaching out to the citizens he passed by.

    However, the citizens didn''t even look at Nial. Their whole attention was somewhere else, in the direction Nial was headed to.

    "They''re holding back from killing anyone, that makes it¡­easier, I guess?" Nial mumbled when he sensed the thousands of Originals that had begun to fight.

    There was a lot of bloodsheds but nobody was on the verge of getting crippled, let alone killed. The amount of severe injuries Nial perceived all over the battlefield wasughable low. It almost looked as if the Originals of the Divon races were just ying around.

    Their attempts to get their hands on the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal were miserable in Nial''s opinion, especially since he was ready to kill to procure what he deemed his.

    His hatred for the Heligav race was more than enough for him to bepletely unbothered about the fate of their entire race. He would not give a damn if they would be annihted or if they would keep existing. The only thing that mattered was the Swirl of Chaos and nothing else!

    With that thought in mind, he released more energy and drew Kaeldur out of the Heart of Darkness. He used the Ancient Devilization to fuse with Kaeldur. His skin turned into a hide that was as ck as the abyss, his eyes turned into red glowing crystals and tworge horns grew out of his forehead.

    His hands were slowly transforming intorge ws that were sharp enough to cut through metal and the defenses of a Heavy-armored Rhinoceros at the Deux rank.

    "I''m ready. What about you, Tyrant?" Nial asked out loud, and just a momentter, received a signal from within the Heart of Darkness.

    Tyrant was ready, his strength was fortifying from being able to sense the pure Essence of Darkness once again and he was ready to risk his life to fight alongside his master.

    Nial perceived all of this and extended his hand forward as arge ive with a length of more than two meters manifested in it. He grasped it tightly and inserted mana inside the weapon, thereby activating a bunch of runic constetions at the same time.

    "Do you want some help? I can separate the holder of the Swirl of Chaos from everyone else!" The Little Oracle, watching him intently, offered all of a sudden.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Nial turned his head to the little girl curiously.

    He was not sure what to make of the Little Oracle''s words. She might be powerful in a certain way but that didn''t necessarily mean that she was strong enough to make sure that Nial and his allies would be able to fight the Keltia Heligav without a disturbance.

    "Are you sure that you can handle it?" He thus asked, just to be red at by the little Oracle. Nial visualized her expression quite clearly which made him frown. He didn''t know the little Oracle well enough to determine whether she was capable of doing what she dered confidently.

    "Just trust me!" The Little Oracle insisted.

    Nial''s frown turned deeper but the little Oracle didn''t seem to be too bothered about this anymore.

    "I can give you five minutes. If that''s not enough time for you to deal with the Keltia ranked Heligav, it''s not my fault!" The Little Oracle spoke provokingly.

    "Alright, just go ahead and prove yourself!" Nial gave in whileing up with a different n in his mind.

    ''Even without the Little Oracle''s help, I would have to attack the holder of the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal. Stealing it with the use of force will be of much more help than trying to act stealthily,'' He thought, knowing deep down that he was the worst at trying to be silent and running around in stealth.

    Nial perceived close to ten thousand beings that were shing with less than 300 Heligav. They were trying to overpower the Heligav using their numerical advantage. However, that didn''t seem to work out because the Heligav were using the narrow alleys and streets all around them to prevent therge numbers of opponents from reaching them at the same time.

    The Heligav race could be considered both, stealthy Assassins and a race with the perfect build to be Cavaliers. Their physical strength and racial traits were simply too advantageous, which made it difficult for other beings to face them in closebat.

    Some of the Heligav had the special trait to turn invisible, and they made use of that very well. The Keltia Heligav who held the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal was also invisible right now. Nheless, one could still sense the power of the Swirl of Chaos; the Chaos that resided deep inside the crystal, and gauge his location.

    Nial and everyone else knew very well where the Swirl of Chaos was located so he led Ryu through the masses of people. Huge wings manifested out of darkness spread out of Ryu''s back and they ascended in the air.

    Within the following minute, they crossed therge distance to the invisible Keltia Heligav, who was deep inside a narrow alley, fighting a Valxian while simultaneously trying to evade more than a dozen long-range attacks.

    Nial smiled when he perceived that the Keltia Heligav had already sustained a bunch of injuries. The wounds he had sustained were not yet serious but the body parts they affected restricted the Heligav a little bit.

    "Can you locate him from here amidst all the chaos, or do you have to see him clearly?" Nial asked the Little Oracle at this moment.

    "You need to be within a range of five meters of the target, and I need to be able to perceive his Mana clearly," The Little Oracle answered shortly.

    Nial understood what he had to do, which was why he inserted more mana inside the Broken Tier-2 runic ive. A huge hawk manifested out of bolts of lightning emerged at the tip of the ive.

    The bolts of lightning spread along the ive''s shaft and it was only a matter of time before the entire runic weapon was fully engulfed in them.

    It was only at this point that Nial inserted bits of dark energy into the Broken runic armament which he threw in the direction of the invisible Keltia Heligav a mere momentter.

    "That should be enough¡­" Nial mumbled as the Broken runic ive smashed down on the invisible Heligav, releasing a thunderstorm as the thunder hawk was unleashed.

    **

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 Chapter 443 Time And Space

    "What is happening?!" One of the many Originals who had joined the City Brawl shouted out in confusion.

    His eyes widened in shock as he saw the huge hawk manifested out of bolts of lightning p its mighty wings.

    It crashed down on the ground, exactly where the invisible Heligav holding the Swirl of Chaos was located.

    Blood erupted in a fountain that spurted through the surrounding area. It sttered on the invisible Heligav, whose outlines were unveiled due to the blood that drenched its body.

    "He wants to kill him!" Another aboriginal shouted when he sensed the killing intent of the ck being that was hovering in the air.

    Nial was the ck being in question and he looked down at the destruction he had caused with a satisfied smile while telling Ryu to dive downward.

    Silver rays emerged from the Little Oracle as she formed a small hourss with it. By the time they reached the surface, the hourss was filled with silver grains of sand, 300 in total.

    Each grain of sand was extremely precious because it was equivalent to one more second the little Oracle was trying to secure him in the uing battle against the injured Keltia ranked Heligav.

    "I''m ready!" The Oracle squealed out the moment Ryu burst into the alley everyone was focusing on.

    "Then go for it, little one!" Nial shouted out as he released a sudden burst of his ck miasma.

    His Curse had umted a tremendous amount of miasma and power in thest few months. Thus, the moment he unleashed [Hodur''s Heir] ck miasma filled the entire alley.

    For several seconds, nobody was able to see anything. At the same time, it became much harder for the Originals that were caught inside the ck miasma to sense anything around them.

    Their senses were drastically affected by the highly potent ck fog, preventing them from perceiving the slightest bit about the Swirl of Chaos'' whereabouts.

    Several seconds passed in which the Originals within the alleys used their elemental powers and martial art techniques to disperse the ck fog.

    However, what was unveiled to them when the fog cleared left them shell-shocked.

    "Dead... is he dead?" The Valxian who had been the closest to the invisible Heligav blurted out in doubt as he looked at the bloody mass that had once been one of the strongest Heligav in Alliance City.

    "Where is the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal??" Another Original asked while spreading out his mana trying to find traces of the Chaos'' whereabouts.

    But there was nothing. Thest traces of Chaos were already...a minute old...

    "Huh? What the hell..." The Original blurted out, confused at the nonsense his mana perceived.

    Yet, upon looking around, he could clearly tell that the others were feeling the same...that thest trace of Chaos belonging to the Swirl of Chaos disappeared a minute ago, even though everyone had been able to sense and even see traces of the Swirl of Chaos before the ck miasma had shrouded the entire alley.

    "There is a note..." the Valxian said all of a sudden and he picked up the mutted body of the Heligav from the ground, removing a blood-soaked piece of leather.

    [I took what belongs to me. Don''t waste your time searching for the Swirl of Chaos anymore!]

    The message was written in the universalnguage and the content told them what they had been wanting to figure out.

    However, what seemed to have happened didn''t make any sense.

    "How is it possible for someone to kill the Heligav in a matter of seconds, without letting anyone even notice their arrival? The Heligav was at the Keltia rank and he had been turned into a mashed pulp of meat...just like that.

    It shouldn''t be possible for something like that to happen...there are no beings at a higher rank than the Keltia rank on Jundra...not yet, at least," The Valxian and many others were utterly dumbfounded but there was no answer to their endless doubts.

    After all, they had no idea that Nial had not fought the Keltia ranked Heligav for only a few seconds but for a whole five minutes...just in a different ne where time and space had been distorted!

    When Ryu had been less than five meters away from the invisible Heligav, the little Oracle had unleashed the power within the Hourss.

    It burst open and released the 300 silver grains of sand. The grains of sand released silver threads that connected with one another before they spread out, forming a big cocoon around Dn, Ryu, the little Oracle, and the blood-smeared Heligav.

    Time and space were distorted as the isted area formed around them.

    One minute in the white, empty space turned out to be one second in reality.

    But that was only something Nial noticed muchter when the battle against the Keltia Heligav had concluded, giving victory to Nial and his allies.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Little Oracle, you are the best. I didn''t think tha-...." Nial said with a glint of excitement when the little Oracle interrupted.

    "You didn''t believe that I could do it?!?" She shot him an indignant look before she issued a ''hmpf'' while flicking her hair backward, "I gave my best!"

    Nial patted her head in amusement before he got down from Ryu''s back.

    He took a deep breath and turned in the direction of the Keltia Heligav, who simply looked around in all directions to figure out what was going on.

    The Heligav was holding his injured shoulder to try to stop his blood loss and subsequent defeat. Nial''s attack had inflicted a deep wound into the Jeligav''s shoulder, injuring him severely when he had least expected it.

    "You didn''t expect something like that to happen, did you?" Nial asked lightly. He was ready to give the Heligav ast chance to survive, even though he loathed their race.

    It was his way of showing that he acknowledged the wealth and determination of the Heligavs to procure the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal.

    "You? Who are you?!?" The Heligav growled while terminating his invisibility state.

    It was a waste to maintain the invisibility cover as he was bleeding severely, either way.

    "I am just a tiny Original who is after the Swirl of Chaos. Give me the ability crystal and you will be spared," Nial informed the Heligav calmly.

    "Hahaha, do you really think that a crippled monster, a tiny girl, and you, an Original at the Mid Prometheus rank will be enough to kill me? You were just lucky that you took me by surprise with your earlier attack!" The Heligav roared, but Nial couldn''t care less.

    "I guess that''s a no," He simply responded. The Heligav began tough again, but upon seeing Nial''s ice-cold expression along with a ck grimace that gave him an eerie look, his attitude changed.

    "Scram, Bastard!" The Heligav shouted as tworge battle axes manifested in his hands.

    He charged forward in rage, determined to eradicate the threat in front of him.

    "Yep, that''s definitely a no," Nial chuckled, while his ck skin began to move. His entire body seemed to transform as a humongous being emerged out of him.

    Holding a huge mace, Tyrant emerged from within Nial, taking the charging Heligav by surprise.

    The Tyrant of Destruction used his humongous force to smash the mace sideways on the surprised Heligav''s face.

    His attacknded cleanly on the Heligav, whose head jerked backward.

    Blood, a chunk of flesh, and teeth spurted through the surrounding, and a devilish smile formed on Tyrant''s face.

    Excitement swept through the body of the Tyrant of Destruction and his smile kept getting wider as more blood sttered in his face. The scent of blood made him feel ecstatic, and his movements elerated as he yearned for more blood.

    Tyrant pulled the mace backward and he initiated another attack to deliver a killing blow.

    However, the mace stopped merely a millimeter above the Heligav''s head, brushing against his hair.

    "This only works once, you fucking bastard!" The Heligav roared out, as he brought down his free battle-axe down to split up Tyrant.

    But the Tyrant smiled wickedly and it was no sooner that dozens of needles manifested out of darkness pierced through the Heligav''s body.

    The needles dug deep inside the arm of the Heligav, making blood gush out yet again.

    "Fortunately, we don''t repeat the same tactic over and over again!" Nial gave him a sassyeback as four arms shot toward the side.

    Two arms created out of dark energy manifested from Kaeldur''s body, along with his own two arms that were shrouded in dark hide and the Essence of darkness, created several balls ofpressed dark energy in their palms.

    He threw the balls of darkness toward the Heligav, ignoring Tyrant, who obstructed his way.

    However, that was no problem as the balls of darkness passed through Tyrant just like the needles of darkness before they unleashed their true prowess upon impacting on the Heligav.

    "Fuck yeah!!"

 Chapter 444 5 Minutes

    Nial didn''t like the Heligav race. They were arrogant, selfish and they acted however they pleased.

    Thus, he didn''t feel the slightest bit of guilt while attacking the Keltia ranked Heligav with all his might.

    Tyrant''s mace crushed down on the Heligav''s head, while Nial''spressed balls of darkness collided with the Original''s upper body.

    The power of the darkness balls was extreme due to their destructive nature. Nial''s Essence of Darkness and his dark energy were extremely powerful and both had several unique features that would be unveiled the moment they came in contact with the wielder''s opponents.

    But the Keltia Heligav still thought that he had a chance. After all, Nial was merely at the Mid Prometheus rank. His attacks were supposed to be only fast enough to injure beings at the Deux rank.

    It was because of Nial''s lower rank that the Keltia Heligav didn''t sustain severe injuries even if the darkness balls had been fired at the Original with a rapid velocity.

    "You''re a weakling!!" The Keltia Heligav roared in a seething tone when he regained control of his body. The Tyrant of Destruction was trying hard to prevent the Heligav from moving but his physical strength was not high enough to make this possible.

    The Heligav shed the heavy battle axes at Tyrant, who was too slow to evade the attacks. In an attempt to save himself, the Tyrant of Destruction''s physical and solid body turned blurry.

    The battle axes swung through the blurred image of the Tyrant, whose body transformed into ck fog.

    "What?!" A shocked exmation escaped the lips of the thunderstruck Heligav, but it was not soon after that he was forced to get back to his senses.

    ck marks appeared on the upper body of the Heligav, exactly at the location where he had been hit by Nial''s darkness balls. The ck marks spread out like cobwebs, covering big parts of the Heligav''s upper body and a devious smile appeared on Nial''s face.

    "Looks like Kaeldur''s powers became a lot stronger after Tyrant joined us!" Nial mumbled when he perceived the highly contagious power of Kaeldur.

    It was not a power that was supposed to destroy his opponent from within, but more a power that weakened the targeted being''s defenses. Nial would be granted the possibility to heavily injure the Heligav as the ck gue spread.

    That was something he had hoped for when using the power Kaeldur had never shown until now. Nial''s smile widened even further as he absorbed the ck fog, which had previously been the Tyrant of Destruction.

    He released an exorbitant amount of bloody red miasma with thebined use of [Hodur''s Heir] and [Blood Eclipse Moon]. The power that had umted within the Blood Eclipse Moon was tremendous.

    The Blood Eclipse Moon had be a humongous power storage, and Nial was ready to make use of all of it today!

    "You should have given me the Swirl of Chaos when you still had the chance!" Nial smirked while blood burst out of the ck hide that covered his entire body.

    He tried to make use of Ancient Devilization with both the Tyrant of Destruction and Kaeldur at the same time. He wanted Kaeldur''s unique features and Tyrant''s exorbitant strength to overwhelm the Heligav, but he ended up injuring himself severely in the process.

    While exhaling, Nial released a tremendous amount of Crimson Dark energy. Hundreds of needles manifested out of crimson dark energy were created, and they were fired in the Keltia ranked Heligav''s direction.

    The Heligav shed his battle axes in Nial''s direction, creating powerful air currents. The air currents were strong enough to divert the trajectory of the crimson darkness needles.

    Nial frowned when he perceived this, but he had more important things to take care of.

    He retracted Tyrant''s power back to the Heart of Darkness while using only Kaeldur''s arms which he had manifested with Ancient Devilization.

    The Devil''s two arms changed in shape. They now morphed into chainsaws that rotated rapidly. After activating the Blood Eclipse Moon, he empowered his body, including the two chainsaw arms. Crimson-colored veins spread through Nial''s ck hide and his muscles bulged.

    Nial''s physical strength increased drastically, making a malicious grin appear on his face as he activated Dominion as well.

    "Freeze!" He ordered in a thunderous tone while using a tremendous amount of mana.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    A humongous mace manifested in Nial''s hand while the Keltia Heligav froze for a quarter of a second. This was not long but more than enough for Nial''s arm to expand and for a terrifying amount of Essence of Darkness and dark energy to merge with the mace that smashed down on the Heligav''s shoulder.

    Nial had targeted the already severely injured shoulder of the Heligav to further worsen the Original''s condition. However, what neither Nial nor the Keltia Heligav had expected to happen was to see Kaeldur''s mark spread out through the Heligav''s shoulder, further weakening his defenses.

    Thus, the moment the humongous mace smashed down on the Heligav, Nial was able to inflict hellish injuries on the Original, nearly killing him.

    The Heligav''s shoulder finally broke, and blood gushed out of his now limply-hanging arm. An expression of utter disbelief and horror swept through the Heligav as he was smashed to the ground.

    "I''m not done yet!" Nial shouted at this moment. He created a bunch of attacks with the use of his Essence of Darkness, the Blood Eclipse Moon''s crimson power, and the use of more Broken runic armaments.

    There was no need to hold back, especially now that he had an upper hand. The situation was in his favor with the Keltia Heligav being heavily injured and lying on the ground.

    The mace Nial had held before dispersed and Tyrant was summoned, holding the same mace in his huge hands. The Tyrant of Destruction pulled his arm backward, released arge amount of dark energy, and swung the mace down upon the Heligav.

    Meanwhile, Ryu didn''t remain idle either. The wingless Gryphon had been preparing his attack from the moment they had entered the isted space. Arge ball of grayish dark energy was being formed in his wide-open beak.

    Ryu had umted andpressed the vast majority of power his body harbored in order to initiate an attack.

    He unleashed everything at once, creating arge darkness beam that crashed onto the head of the Heligav. The Heligav staggered back due to the unexpected attack. A pained groan left his lips but it was no sooner that the situation got even worse.

    Nial had terminated the Ancient Devilization with Kaeldur. He allowed Kaeldur to emerge from the Heart of Darkness and to wreak as much havoc as he desired.

    And that was exactly what Kaeldur did by creating a flood of darkness, which he threw straight toward the Keltia rank Heligav.

    Kaledur''s darkness flood was fully focused on inflicting more lethal damage. Thus, the moment the flood of darkness sshed onto the Heligav, his whole body was covered in the marks of weakness.

    The highly durable and tough hide that covered and protected the Heligav was altered and weakened, allowing Ryu, Tyrant, Nial, and even Kaeldur to inflict numerous injuries upon theirmon enemy.

    Ryu''s darkness beam ended after a few seconds and he switched his means of attack to using his ws and beak. Meanwhile, Tyrant kept using the humongous and overly heavy mace to smash it onto the Heligav.

    As for Kaeldur, the Devil used the dark energy inside his body to initiate all kinds of long-range attacks. After the Heligav''s hide had been weakened, it was only a matter of time before his defenses would crumble.

    It was already a wonder that the Heligav could evade every other attack of Tyrant, and get up from the ground.

    Nial hadn''t expected his attacks to slow down his opponent in such a short time, but it was even more obvious that the Heligav was able to ovee all obstacles, get up from the ground, and attack once again.

    The Heligav''s entire body was covered with marks of weakness, a severe injury had been inflicted on his face, the wounded shoulder was getting worse with time, and the mana that radiated from the Heligav was slowly getting weaker.

    However, even then, the Heligav didn''t seem to consider giving up. On the contrary, it looked like the Heligav was just getting started.

    His eyes were slowly turning red, steam was released through the marks of weakness and the body of the Keltia Heligav began expanding.

    The power of the Original continued to increase and the weakening mana fluctuations gained strength once again.

    ''Seems like it is not yet done!'' Nial thought with a grim expression.

    ''Good that the five minutes are not yet over!''

 Chapter 445 Done And Dusted

    "Is that all you can do with your measly strength?" Nial asked mockingly when he merged with the darkness inside the ground.

    He retreated to the border of the isted space while keeping an eye on the Keltia ranked Heligav.

    Ryu, Kaeldur and Tyrant had retreated as well, albeit reluctantly.

    They wanted to end the battle as quickly as possible, especially after the Heligav''s eyes had turned red, and steam was released from his expanding body.

    Kaeldur''s ck marks were slowly disappearing from the Heligav''s body, but that was something Nial had expected.

    "Please show me the true power of someone at the Keltia rank. I am already getting bored!" Nial further provoked his opponent. His hair stood up on its end and his hearts began to race. He wanted to end the Heligav as quickly as possible, but his desire to fight his enemy when he was at his strongest overwhelmed his rationality.

    He was only at the Prometheus rank, which meant that not even a hundred Nials would be strong enough to defeat the Keltia Heligav. Yet, with the help of his allies, his unique abilities, and the use of his runic armaments, Nial was able to gain the strength he was not supposed to possess at his rank.

    He possessed far more energy than anyone at his rank would be able to handle under normal circumstances, and Nial made use of that by retrieving a bunch of weapons from his spatial ring.

    "Catch this!" He told Kaeldur and Tyrant, who turned around to see their master throw a bunch of runic armaments at them.

    Nial gave Ryu a few runic armaments as well while keeping his attention on the Keltia Heligav, whose body was shrouded in a bloody dome. The bloody dome was created with the empowered blood of the Heligav as a means of protection. The Heligav still required a minute or two to finish metamorphosing, after all!

    "Do you want us to interrupt his metamorphosis?" Tyrant asked eagerly but Nial shook his head.

    "Get into position, prepare yourself and attack with all your might the moment the dome shows signs of dispersing," Nial instructed while releasing and merging his energies to create the strongest version.

    His Essence of Darkness fused easily with the dark energy, strengthening it tremendously. To further enhance the high quantity of dark energy, Nial unleashed arge amount of his umted crimson power.

    While Nial fused his energies, Tyrant and Kaeldur unleashed their whole dark energy. The isted space began to tremor violently and one could hear faint crackling sounds resounding through the entire space in response to the tremendous power that was released at once.

    Nial smiled at this but he didn''t allow it to distract him. He took a deep breath and focused on the bow and arrow he was holding in his hand.

    Darkness currents began to swirl around the bow and the ck arrow when Nial came in contact with them. The Abyss Bow was created with Darkness Essence runic constetions. Only Nial and other beings capable of wielding the Essence of Darkness could unleash the bow''s true power.

    That was exactly what Nial did by nocking the arrow at the bowstring before he pulled it backward.

    His ordinary physical strength was not enough to pull the arrow backward, which is why he had been forced to use a runic armor called [Power Chestte]. It had several [Physical Reinforcement], and [Strength Amplification] runic constetions engraved and it enhanced Nial''s strength enough to wield the Abyss Bow.

    He took a deep breath and held his breath while aiming at the Heligav. Nial might not be able to see anything but his [Mana Sense] and perception were more than enough to make up for that.

    It was not even a problem for Nial to visualize the exact trajectory the arrow would have upon releasing it.

    Thus, Nial could focus on slowly inserting more and more power inside the Reinforced Doom Arrow that was made out of ck Hyanut Metal.

    ck Hyanut Metal required a tremendous amount of mana to be utilized properly. Even Originals at the Deux rank wouldn''t be able to wield weapons made out of ck Hyanut Metal for more than a minute, not while it was in its peak form.

    Nheless, many Originals desired weapons made out of ck Hyanut Metal as the metal had special traits, including the trait to pierce through the defenses of most opponents. The trait itself was called [Anti-Magic], and its function was self-exnatory.

    It required a tremendous amount of mana to be activated but one could cut through all kinds of defenses with ease. There were only few exceptions.

    Currents of Darkness and Crimson power circted around the Reinforced Doom Arrow that had numerous runic constetions engraved on it. It was a One-time-use arrow and Nial''s fingers were twitching as he waited impatiently to fire it.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    He didn''t have to wait too long until the bloody dome began showing signs of dispersing.

    Ryu had already prepared a second Darkness Beam, a stronger one this time that was amplified by the proper use of certain runic armaments.

    As for Tyrant and Kaeldur, the weapons they wielded and the runic armaments they had put on showed signs of breaking already. The power they had unleashed exceeded the endurance of the Broken Tier-2 runic armaments Nial had created, but that did not deter his group.

    A Crow manifested out of Darkness emerged from the weapon Kaeldur wielded, followed by a humongous ck bull that emerged next to Tyrant.

    Nial took a deep breath while waiting for the perfect timing before he issued a shortmand, "Fire!"

    The moment Nial issued hismand, everyone unleashed their attacks. The ck Crow and the ck Bull created with every bit of Kaeldur and Tyrant''s Dark energy burst forward while Nial and Ryu unleashed their respective long-range attacks.

    Nial''s arrow was the first to hit the target, piercing through thest bits of resistance from the bloody dome just before his attack impaled the Heligav''s chest.

    The arrow dug deep inside the Heligav''s flesh and it was not even a matter of seconds before the true powers that were stored within the arrow were unleashed.

    Nial watched excitedly as he perceived how the arrow tip turned into a replica of a ck hole. Every bit of mana around the arrow tip was forcefully suctioned toward it, preventing the Heligav from building up a proper defense against the remaining attacks.

    The Darkness Beam impacted on the Heligav''s chest as well. Coincidence or not, the Darkness Beam hit the same spot as Nial''s arrow, piercing it deeper inside the Original.

    On the other hand, the ck Crow shot forward, targeting the head of the ignorant Heligav. Nial knew what was about to happen but he was exhrated nheless when he visualized how the Heligav''s head burst open.

    The Heligav had already been weakened before his transformation, and the metamorphosis had demanded a tremendous amount of power. Adding the weakened state caused by the deprivation of mana, it had been impossible for the Heligav to protect himself in any way.

    Yet, even after the Heligav''s head burst open, the attacks were not yet over. The ck Bull had yet to cause a rampage, which was exactly what happened as it rammed its horns into the Heligav, hurling him several meters through the air before he was trampled upon.

    The ck Bull didn''t disperse immediately after the attack was concluded but it kept trampling on the Heligav, who was still twitching even though his head had burst open.

    In the end, the Heligav didn''t even know how it had been possible for someone like Nial to defeat him, but it had happened. He was going to die without knowing the secret.

    It was obvious who had emerged victorious from the battle, even if it was not supposed to happen.

    Of course, Nial couldn''t care less about what should have happened and what was supposed to be impossible.

    He acted on his own ord and gave his best.

    As for the result¡­it was obvious.

    Nial had won the battle in a spectacr way!

    "Thanks for protecting the Swirl of Chaos for me, until now!" He said with a smirk as he stepped toward the mashed body of the Heligav.

    He bent down, picked up the unscathed ability crystal, and began to smile from ear to ear.

    His hearts were beating rapidly, his Mana core was going wild and his entire being seemed to scream at him, telling him one particr thing.

    Bind the Swirl of Chaos!

 Chapter 446 Slumber

    Sweat trickled down his temples as he felt a wave of tiredness hit him after releasing the vast majority of his energy at once.

    His body required a few seconds to cope with the sensation of being deprived of most of its power, and Nial started to feel dizzy and extremely weak afterward.

    Nheless, he was happily holding the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal while trying to get used to his current condition.

    "You have only one minute left..." Oracle reminded him all of a sudden. She hadn''t spoken much during the battle against the Heligav and only informed him about the isted space''s remaining time.

    "Thanks," Nial replied, "Your help was exceptional!"

    He ruffled through Oracle''s hair while trying to stop his arm from shaking before he averted his focus.

    Nial retrieved two items from his spatial ring, followed by a bunch of Origin crystals. The Origin crystals were deprived of the mana they harbored in the following seconds, filling the two items Nial had just taken out.

    Both were runic armaments, but only one had been created by Nial!

    "Kaeldur, Tyrant...you guys can go back. Replenish your powers and restore some of your former strength," Nial ordered and the two subordinates swiftly followed hismands.

    They returned to the Heart of Darkness and entered a state simr to hibernation.

    "Come closer," Nial said just moments after Kaeldur and Tyrant had turned into darkness currents to enter Nial''s Heart of Darkness, "We will leave soon."

    Oracle struggled a bit with getting up on Ryu, who inched toward Nial after he had issued hismand.

    Nial helped the Little girl before he got on Ryu as well. He inserted his remaining energy, including every bit of Mana inside the two runic armaments he held before waiting for the isted space to crumble.

    "Three seconds left..." The little girl informed Nial, who nodded his head.

    He waited patiently for thest three seconds before he activated both runic armaments the moment the isted space around him burst open.

    A nauseous feeling overwhelmed Nial but he forced himself to focus on the two runic armaments so as to make sure that his n of escape wouldn''t fail miserably.

    The first runic armament he unleashed was a [Camouge] runic device. It was only a Tier-2 runic device, which was also why the perfect camouge wouldn''tst longer than a second, especially since Nial had configured the runic device to camouge a range of two meters.

    However, that second was more than enough for Nial to make use of the second batch of runic armaments he used. It was the Teleportation runic device, which Master Crevian had given to him before he departed from the Forest of Life.

    The teleportation runic device didn''t take long to be activated and to teleport Nial, but he was not the only one to make use of it. Nial had been forced to alter the teleportation runic device because Ryu had joined him.

    Leaving behind the wingless Gryphon was out of question so he had no option but to make sure that there wouldn''t be an instance where he had to leave hispanion. As for Oracle, Nial was actually not sure if she would stay by his side or if she would leave soon.

    He was not even sure who or what the little girl truly was, to begin with.

    Nheless, using the altered teleportation device required a quarter of a second to be activated, and that was also why he had simultaneously activated the Camouge runic device.

    With both runic devices activated, it was easy for Nial to leave the isted space undetected.

    He, Ryu, and Oracle were teleported into the wilderness, more than a hundred kilometers away from Alliance City.

    "Yay, we got the Swirl of Chaos!" The little Oracle eximed while Nial was trying to hold his ground. His legs were shaking and there was not much Mana left in his body.

    Despite that, Nial forcefully expanded his range of perception to make sure that he had not identally entered the territory of a powerful dungeon beast.

    "We got the Swirl of Chaos, yes... but I cannot return to Alliance City with it..." Nial mumbled as he rearranged his thoughts.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "I shouldn''t leave any evidence behind!" He came to a conclusion after a few seconds as he clenched the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal tightly.

    The ability crystal''s Chaos could be sensed easily because its power was unique, and it was not possible to simply store the ability crystal anywhere.

    With that in mind, Nial used the only way to solve all his ''problems'' at once. He decided to absorb the Swirl of Chaos ability before activating the teleportation runic armament once again.

    To do that he had to use the bare minimum of Origin crystals to absorb the Swirl of Chaos and activate the teleportation runic device, leaving him in an even weakened state. His mind felt like it would explode at any time and he had a hard time focusing on his surroundings that changed once again.

    He had appeared in his room inside the Pagoda of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, where he spread out more than half of his remaining Origin crystals.

    "So...tired...painful..." Nial said as he stumbled forward. His legs were unable to keep their hold on Ryu, and he fell down on his soft bed. The exhaustion overtook him and he entered a deep slumber in an instant.

    As Nial fell asleep the power of Chaos began to sweep through his body. The Swirl of Chaos ability was bound to his Mana Core and connections between his fifth, andst ability, along with both the Heart of Darkness and his Mana Core were established.

    At the same time, the Little Oracle and Ryu kept staring at Nial. The power of Chaos oozed out of him, the mana that had been stored within the Origin crystals surged toward Nial and it pushed the Chaos back inside Nial.

    Only traces of Chaos were able to escape the surge of the mana currents, and they filled the room in its entirety.

    But instead of leaving them alone, the Little Oracle swung her hand, releasing some of her power.

    White currents emerged from her hand, and they grasped the traces of Chaos. The traces of Chaos were pulled back to Nial, where they fused with his body once again.

    Ryu kept switching his gaze between Nial and the Little Oracle, not sure what to think about Nial''s current condition, or the fact that the little girl was still overflowing with power.

    She didn''t seem exhausted in the slightest, and from the looks of it, Ryu began to ponder whether the Little Oracle had unleashed her full power when creating the Isted space, or if she had still held back.

    Ryu was extremely exhausted and the wingless Gryphon could barely keep his eyes open. On the other hand, the Little Oracle was still brimming with energy.

    "Just go to sleep. I will take care of everything!" The Little Oracle said with confidence in a shrill voice.

    Ryu didn''t want to fall asleep, but the little Oracle''s words were like a charm, a spell strong enough to influence Ryu''s subconscious.

    The wingless Gryphon closed his eyes and he slumped to the ground as well, falling asleep.

    Only little Oracle was left awake. She smiled slightly at the sight of the two and reached out for them. Unfathomable power swept through her entire being. Her facial features seemed to change all of a sudden as she grew in size. Her body changed as well as she matured and her smile turned even brighter as she touched the back of both Nial and Ryu.

    She circted her power inside the two Originals and helped them digest the Darkness Myphelia and the binding of the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal.

    The Little Oracle made use of the Origin crystals that filled the room to further reinforce the digestion process of the two Originals, and it was only after a long time that her cheerful expression changed slightly.

    "Origin... I think I understand now why you want me to help him..." The Little Oracle said all of a sudden. She was deep in thoughts and sighed deeply as she kept her gaze fixed on Nial''s broad back.

    "He can wield Damian''s powers, but he has even more to offer than that. Damian would never be able to get his hands on the Power of Mental Control, let alone the ability to attain the Powers of Chaos...just who are you?" She mumbled to herself.

    Even though the Little Oracle was quite literally an Oracle, there were certain things that escaped her sight.

    Nial was one of the beings, who had escaped her sight for so long, and she wouldn''t have known about his existence if not for the Origin''s order to keep an eye on his actions.

    ''Just what is he...you cannot tell me that he is human...''

 Chapter 447 Vengeance Of...

    Nial was not sure how many days had passed since he had defeated the Keltia Heligav and bound the Swirl of Chaos ability to his mana core.

    However, what he could tell was that his mind was much clearer than ever before. His body was overflowing with vigor, and there was no sign of drowsiness, or tiredness left within him as he opened his lifeless, milky-white eyes.

    "You became a lot stronger as well, didn''t you?" Nial said all of a sudden when visualizing the finest details of everything inside his room.

    Millions of crumbled Origin crystals were scattered through his room, and Ryu was resting his head on top of his chest, waiting for him to wake up.

    The Gryphon''s ck eyes stared into Nial''s soul and he chirped out in joy.

    "But why do you look so tiny¡­?" Nial may not be tired anymore but his mind required a few seconds to digest all the changes that had urred within his body and around him.

    Ryu''s three meter tall figure had disappeared and the loyalpanion of Nial had be a Gryphon youngling, who was as big as a small lion cub.

    The Gryphon continued to chirp in his high-pitched voice and he snuggled up close to Nial''s and began rubbing his head against it.

    "Did your bloodline evolve?" Nial tried to understand the chirping of his loyalpanion using their tight-knit connection, which was how heprehended the most important things mentioned by Ryu.

    After he digested the Darkness Myphelia crystal, Ryu''s bloodline seemed to have shown signs of advancing. However, as the wingless Gryphon didn''t have enough power and potential to evolve his whole bloodline as a mature Gryphon his body chose to discard itself, much like a snake that would shed its skin.

    Nial was able to perceive the ''shed body'' of Ryu next to the bed. If not for Ryu sitting in front of him, there would not have been a way for anyone to assume that the wingless Gryphon was still alive.

    Everything hinted that Ryu had died, and not that his body had been reconstructed, and ''reborn'' in a youngling state, where his advanced bloodline coulde into existence.

    ''But to think that our connection is still intact,'' Nial thought, feeling slightly astonished. He hadn''t expected his bond with Ryu to still be intact, let alone as strong as before. After all, the wingless Gryphon had basically been reborn.

    ''Well¡­calling him wingless is not correct anymore, as well!'' Nial figured and a bright smile appeared on his face when he realized that two small pairs of wings had grown out of the youngling Gryphon''s back.

    "You got your wings!" He eximed in joy and Ryu responded with exhrated emotions that swept through Nial''s body, and loud chirping that rang through the young Original''s mind.

    Nial kept smiling while he caressed tiny Ryu.

    ''Where is the Little Oracle, though? Did she leave?'' He wondered while using his range of perception and Mana Sense to figure out if the Little Oracle was still nearby.

    The little girl had enamored him right in their first meeting and if Nial were to be honest, it was hard to believe that everything was a mere coincidence.

    But then again, she had proved to be a useful ally and he was very lucky to have her by his side, whether they met by coincidence or not.

    She had helped him a lot, and Nial was grateful for that.

    "Oh, there you are," He blurted out, lifting his nket when his perception perceived the little Oracle sleeping soundly under his nket.

    Even Oracle''s body had shrunk to the form of their first encounter, and she now looked like a six-year-old girl.

    Nial didn''t think much about it, he patted her head and diverted his focus to something else.

    ''The Power of Chaos is really weak¡­looks like I failed in absorbing everything?'' Nial thought after his mind gave him a full-fledged report about the condition of his body and the changes that had urred within him after absorbing the Swirl of Chaos ability.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "My body adapted to the Power of Chaos by devouring traces of Chaos into every single cell of my body¡­is that why the ability feels weaker than expected?" Nial scratched his head in confusion.

    ? He could easily tell that his fifth and final ability was weaker than before. That was only obvious because Nial was merely at the Prometheus rank while the ability was something a being that only Gods were capable of defeating had dropped.

    Thus, it was not that worrisome that the ability''s power was weaker than expected. But what Nial was conscious of was pretty much the fact that Swirl of Chaos had be a linked ability and that its name had changed as well!

    Nial was oblivious to the additional functions the name change brought his final ability, but it was not actually something he could be bothered about right now.

    He was just happy to have finally bound his fifth ability. Now it was time to be stronger, absorb lots of mana, and advance to the Deux rank as quickly as possible!

    The Universe wouldn''t wait for him to be stronger, after all!

    ''Whether the ability is called Swirl of Chaos, or Vengeance of Chaos doesn''t matter!!'' Nial shouted in his mind and he clenched his fist, showing that he was ready to rumble.

    However, only when he was mentally prepared to start training his mana core once again did he recall something he had nearly forgotten during thest few months.

    "I have to finish the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia before advancing to the Deux rank to make full use of my body''s potential¡­what a hassle¡­" Nial was not actually bothered about thest mission that was still pending before advancing to the Deux rank because it would allow him to create a much more durable andrger Mana Sea upon advancing in the rank.

    The potential of his entire being would be evaluated upon advancing in the rank, and Nial had always given his utmost to make sure that he was taking the path with the highest difficulty and the best rewards!

    If he were to ignore the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia now, it would mean that he gave up on achieving the best results as an Original, meaning that his future wouldn''t be as bright as it could have been!

    ''I can use the Elves'' wealth and connections to provide me the necessary nutrition, that shouldn''t be an issue,'' Nial figured quite quickly. But the thought of Elves reminded him of yet another pending task.

    He knew that it was necessary for him to return soon.

    Master Crevian seemed to have called him again, indicating that the situation around the Forest of Life, and the newly constructed shelter had worsened a little bit, but Nial was not yet worried.

    ''As long as dad doesn''t call, everything is fine!'' He told himself while thinking about returning the call to Master Crevian nheless.

    Yet, before he could do that, Nial had to figure out the current situation in Alliance City. Considering that he hadn''t been taken into custody while he was asleep, Nial could tell that nobody knew that he was currently in the Pagoda of the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo, or that he had been the one to kill the Keltia Heligav.

    There shouldn''t be many traces leading to him, and even if there were some clues that pointed at him, nobody would actually believe that he was strong enough to defeat a being two ranks above him!

    Nial knew that he wouldn''t have been strong enough to defeat the Heligav all by himself, either.

    Only with the help of the Little Oracle, creating an isted space, and the help of Ryu, Kaeldur, and Tyrant had it been possible for them to overwhelm and kill the Keltia Heligav.

    The use of Broken Peak Tier-2 runic weapons and armaments had allowed their group to make the seemingly impossible possible. Without them, Nial couldn''t tell for sure how high their survivability would have been in a fight against the Keltia Heligav.

    After all, the Keltia Heligav had been unique, in multiple ways at that!

    Nial smiled at the thought of defeating the Heligav and stealing the Swirl of Chaos, but his expression changed all of a sudden when a rather unexpected memory flooded his mind.

    ''Mom?''

 Chapter 448 Go!

    ''The Nightmare¡­changed?'' Nial realized and his jaw dropped to the ground when he realized that he had forgotten something extremely important.

    In thest few months, the intensity of the Nightmares where his Mother would be killed right in front of him, and where his sister would kill him afterward had gradually be a lot weaker.

    He figured that this was because he tried hard to be stronger and protect what was left of his family.

    Nheless, Nial tried to discard the nightmares from his mind whenever he woke up after some overly necessary sleep. The nightmares would disturb him and distract him from giving his utmost to be stronger, which made things even harder for him.

    But what he didn''t expect to happen was that the Nightmare of his mother would change all of a sudden.

    There hadn''t really been an instance that could have caused the change in his nightmare, or so Nial thought.

    "Can I even consider it a nightmare anymore?..." He mumbled, his voice filled withplex emotions as he recalled everything that happened in the nightmare.

    In the dream, he was able to see his mother standing in apletely white room, waiting for him. She bore a gentle smile that carried all the love she felt for Nial and her family.

    There was not a single trace of anger, sadness, let alone frustration in her eyes, just love.

    Nial felt his eyes grow moist and something wet trickling down his cheeks but he didn''t care about that in the slightest. He was just staring at his lovely mother and he imprinted her image deep inside his mind, just like always.

    "Nial¡­my lovely son¡­how have you been?" His mother asked while slowly striding forward. Her expression changed slightly and a trace of guilt and sadness now marred her beautiful face.

    "You had a hard time, didn''t you?" She asked in a broken voice, her eyes getting teary. Nial looked at his mother for a while, as she reached for him and cupped his face.

    Tears trickled down her cheeks as she took another step forward to give him a tight hug. Nial wanted to reciprocate the hug but he was neither able to move nor to speak.

    Except for his eyes that moved while they shone in the same lifeless glister, it looked like his entire existence was frozen. It was almost as if everything that was broken began working all of a sudden and everything that was supposed to work properly had broken down.

    Nial was not sure if that was a thing but he was not actually giving it more thought. His entire being was focused on his mother and the changed nightmare.

    "I know that you have had a hard time because of me and your sister¡­but you will have to ept my death¡­ I have already left the mortal world, and you cannot help me anymore¡­but your father and your sister are still alive. Your father is much weaker than you might think, so please take care of them¡­" Nial''s mother sobbed softly without ever letting go of Nial.

    She held him in her embrace for a very long time and tears continued to trickle down Nial''s cheeks. He was unable to keep his emotions under control, and it was torturous that he was unable to move or say anything.

    Thus, his tears never stopped, as they were nourished through his sadness, frustration, the anger he felt for himself, and all the remainingplicated emotions that surged through his mind.

    "I will have to take my leave now¡­my time hase¡­" Maline spoke softly. She gently caressed Nial''s hair while his eyes widened in shock.

    ''Noo!!!'' He screamed out loud in his mind, sensing the deeper meaning behind her words. Nial could tell that his mother would disappear¡­forever, and he didn''t want that to happen.

    Even if he had to meet her through Nightmares, Nial would rather suffer the torturous sight of his mother leaving him whenever he fell asleep than never see her again. He knew that time would slowly blur his memories and image of her, and he didn''t want that to happen.

    Tears kept freely flowing down his face, and his mother wiped them away, still smiling lovingly at her son.

    She was proud of what had be of her son. Nial had grown up very well, but it was time for him to live on his own!

    "Remember, the danger is lurking everywhere¡­return home and protect those important to you, whatever it may take!" Nial''s mother said while taking a step backward.

    Her hand slowly moved away from his cheek and Nial could clearly see that his mother was slowly disappearing from within his dream. Her legs had already turned into white particles.

    "I love you, my little fighter!" Maline said, smiling from ear to ear, her gaze never leaving Nial''s face.

    Something within Nial awoke at the sound of these words and his body began to jerk.

    His lips twitched and his mouth opened slightly, releasing faint noises,

    "I¡­love you too¡­"<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Afterward, Nial''s mother vanished, to be never seen again.

    Ever since that day, Nial never had a Nightmare involving his mother again¡­

    *Chirp*

    Ryu chirped to grab Nial''s attention as he had gonepletely rigid in his bed for thest few minutes. He had relived the memories of thest dream he had with his mother.

    Tears were soaking in his shirt, causing Ryu to be worried about Nial''s sudden change of attitude.

    Nial''s body jerked several times and it took a while before he regained his senses.

    However, when he finally regained his senses, a deep sigh escaped his lips.

    "Looks like we have to leave Alliance City today," Nial mumbled while wiping his tears.

    His mother''s only request had been for him to return home. Thus, Nial would do as she asked. There was not actually the need for him to stay in Alliance City, either way.

    He got his hand on his fifth andst ability crystal, and it was finally time for him to take a look at the situation back home.

    ''But before I leave, I should still finish my unfinished business here,'' Nial figured and he got up from the ground once he had gotten a hang of hisposure.

    Nial spread out his mana, he collected the used up Origin crystals and the shed body of hispanion before he picked up both Ryu and the little Oracle.

    The Little Oracle was still sleeping. Thus, he wouldn''t just leave her alone. He wanted her to decide whether she wanted to join him on his trip back home, or if she wanted to separate.

    After she had helped him with the isted space, Nial considered her as a very preciouspanion rather than baggage that weighed them down.

    Ryu hopped on Nial''s shoulder and he was chirping in joy when Nial left his room. He went downstairs to speak to the Dojo Master.

    "Is he not in his office?" He muttered when his range of perception couldn''t perceive the Dojo Master.

    Nial entered the Dojo Master''s office nheless, he essed one of his many Spatial rings, took a look at the content and he transferred a few things to the other rings before nodding his head in satisfaction.

    "I hope this is enough to thank you for everything you''ve done to support me!" Nial spoke out loud as he removed the spatial ring from his finger.

    He put it down on the office table and turned around. The Little Oracle yawned while Ryu kept chirping as he made his way to the office door to leave the Pagoda and the City altogether.

    But what he perceived upon turning to the door was something or precisely someone, he wasn''t able to perceive before.

    "So, you''re leaving?" The Dojo Master''s loud voice rang in Nial''s ears. Nial smiled at the Dojo Master in response, not showing that he was surprised by the tall Valxian''s sudden appearance.

    "Yes. I think it''s time for me to leave. I''ve spent a long time in Alliance city and I have achieved everything I could have asked for, and more!" Nial spoke in all honesty.

    The Dojo Master lifted an eyebrow as he looked down at Nial, the little Gryphon, and the sleeping little girl.

    ''What happened to his Gryphon? Did it evolve¡­but then it shouldn''t have be a youngling¡­that''s weird¡­'' The Dojo Master wondered, ignoring the existence of the Little Girl after giving her a cursory nce.

    He averted his focus to Nial, and simply looked at him for several seconds without saying a single word.

    "You are still at the Prometheus rank¡­hmm¡­" The Dojo Master muttered while caressing his clean chin.

    "What about it?" Nial responded warily.

    "I''m just wondering how you were able to kill the Keltia ranked Heligav!"

 Chapter 449 Honor

    "I''m just wondering how you were able to kill the Keltia ranked Heligav!" The Dojo Master smiled lightly at the small frame of Nial while leaning against the door.

    The Dojo Master didn''t appear to be tensed, which Nial noticed quite easily.

    "I just gave my best, I guess?" Nial answered with a shrug, acknowledging that he actually killed the Keltia Heligav.

    ''Just give your best?... Is that so¡­'' The Dojo Master thought while his attention remained on Nial.

    "I hope you will not tell the Heligav that I was the one who stole their Swirl of Chaos ability crystal, right?" Nial asked in an attempt to make sure that he was on the safe side. In the future, he might want to return to Alliance City, which meant that he shouldn''t be cklisted, let alone on the wanted list.

    "Telling them? I''m not insane, you know! They''re our enemies as well, so if anything, I should thank you properly for killing this piece of shit, hahaha." The Dojo Master burst into a shortughter that died down within the following seconds.

    The Dojo Master was quite rxed andfortable around Nial, telling the young Original that he was actually happy about him killing the Heligav.

    "And you absorbed the Swirl of Chaos, didn''t you?" He asked Nial one of the other questions he was curious about.

    The Dojo Master could see the finances of all members, who belonged to the Thousand Bodies Refinements Dojo. The Insignia where their finances were stored were connected to the banking system of the Dojo, which was how the Dojo Master could tell that Nial was currently one of the richest individuals in the entire Alliance City!

    "It''s myst ability, yes. After I finish the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia, I will finally advance to the Deux rank. But I will take your leave before that. There is something I have to do," Nial answered in all honesty. The information he shared was actually not that secretive if one were to ignore the origin of the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal.

    "I expected you to leave, so I prepared a few things that should be quite useful for you. There are also a few new creations of body refinement pills in the storage ring, so you can test them out while practicing the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia technique," The Dojo Master said, throwing a storage ring in Nial''s direction.

    Nial caught it easily and he essed it in an instant.

    ''Martial Art techniques, Advanced Body Refinements techniques, a bunch of resources suitable for body refinement¡­not bad at all!'' He thought, slowly nodding his head as he put on the storage ring.

    "Thank you very much¡­" Nial wanted to thank the Dojo Master properly, just for him to recall something he never noticed before, "By the way¡­what''s your name?"

    Nial smiled wryly when he asked the Dojo Master for his name, but the Dojo Master didn''t seem to be all that bothered about this. He burst into augh and waved off his hand.

    "It has been quite a while since someone asked for my name. All Valxians know it but they don''t dare to speak my name because they deem it rude," The Dojo Master exined before he cleared his throat, "My name is Colossus, you can call me that as well."

    "Colossus? That''s a nice name," Nial mused and he nodded his head while his grin turned wider, "It was nice meeting you, Colossus! Let''s have a spar when we encounter each other in the future!"

    Nial stepped forward and he reached his hand out to Colossus. His entire frame was tiny inparison to Colossus'' huge build, but Nial was not fazed by it in the slightest as he kept smiling confidently.

    Nial didn''t even know that it was an honor to be allowed to call Colossus by his name. He was oblivious to the Valxian''s achievements and that he was basically considered one of the Valxian race''s Heroes of the New Age.

    But not even Colossus was bothered by this because he had a weird feeling about Nial.

    ''Why can I tell that he is serious about sparring with me? ¡­ And why am I certain that I will have to do my best if that spar were to actually happen?'' Colossus thought.

    He was confused by his own thoughts and the feeling he got when wondering how strong Nial was and the true extent of his talent.

    ''Looks like I have to keep working hard to make sure that he won''t be able to defeat me in the future¡­'' Colossus concluded, smirking at the thought of fighting Nial with all his might as he extended his humongous hand.

    "It was nice meeting you. Let''s have a battle that shakes the heavens and earth when we meet again!" Colossus replied while shaking Nial''s hand.

    Nial smiled in return, and he nodded his head.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "I will definitely defeat you at that time!" Nial said with a grin and they let go of each other''s hand after a few seconds.

    Nial was still cradling the Little Oracle in her arms, and he had intended to wait for her to wake up before leaving.

    However, to make the current situation less awkward, Nial would have to leave the Pagoda right now.

    "I left you a small gift. I hope it will help you and your Disciples to grow stronger!" Nial said, pointing at the office table before he walked past the Dojo Master.

    He left the Pagoda with the Little Oracle in his arms and Ryu on his shoulder.

    ''So¡­where the hell am I supposed to wait until this little Princess wakes up?'' Nial wondered while bearing a mysterious smile.

    As Nial was searching for a pleasant ce to stay until the Little Oracle would wake up, Colossus took a look at the storage ring, which Nial had left behind.

    Most storage rings would automatically adjust themselves to the being that held them. Thus, there was no problem for the Dojo Master to pick up the storage ring, wear it and ess it.

    "Oh?... Huh?" Colossus'' expression changed every few seconds and it grew more intense the longer he spent time examining the contents of the storage ring.

    The storage ring was far from being filled but the content inside it was exceptional even if it didn''t look like this at the beginning.

    Seconds of investigating the items inside the storage ring turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours.

    The Dojo Master missed several important appointments thanks to the findings he made within the storage ring. He bore an expression of ecstasy and nothing would be able to disrupt the genuine happiness he felt right now.

    "I didn''t even know that there was something like that¡­ That''s amazing!!" Colossus eximed, not even noticing that a familiar figure had appeared in the office.

    "Dojo Master¡­ what are you doing here instead of the Emergency Meeting of the Alliance??" Elder Walin looked at the exhrated expression of the Dojo Master in dumbfounding. She had never seen Colossus that happy.

    "Oh, Walin, it''s you," Colossus merely said after he saw Elder Walin out of the corner of his eyes.

    "Yeah¡­it''s me¡­You didn''t answer my question, Dojo Master¡­" Elder Walin spoke quietly, but she looked a little distressed. The Dojo Master had been requested to be present at today''s Emergency Meeting because the agenda of the meeting was rather important. They had heard of a Valxian, who had been fighting the Keltia Heligav before another contestant joined the battle, killing the Heligav inside ck fog, in the blink of an eye at that!

    Fortunately, the Heligav didn''t pin their suspicion on the Valxians about the murder of their strongest member. They could tell that something, or someone else had killed the Keltia Heligav. Nheless, they wanted the support of everyone, especially since it was the fault of those races that the City Brawl happened, in the first ce!

    "I won''t attend the meeting. This is far more important!" The Dojo Master waved his hand off and retrieved a bunch of items to highlight the importance of his words!

    A wide grin was stered on his face as his eyes stared at the liquid that levitated in front of his eyes.

    "What is that?" Elder Walin''s interest was piqued as well.

    "Something Nial left behind before leaving," Colossus gave a brief answer.

    "Nial left? Why?" Elder Walin didn''t know that Nial had left, which made her feel confused.

    "That''s none of our business¡­but this is our business," Colossus said while pointing at the liquid.

    "Perfect-quality ability-removal liquid with hundreds of ability crystals that are perfect for Valxians¡­"

 Chapter 450 Return Home

    "So do you want toe with us, or do you want to stay here?" Nial asked after the Little Oracle''s drowsiness was washed away.

    She had slept for around half a day more before finally waking up from her deep slumber.

    The Little Oracle squealed out in joy when seeing the change in Ryu''s appearance and she started to caress him gently.

    Half an hour passed as she yed with him before she was fully awake and ready to properly answer Nial''s question.

    "I have no reason to leave yet. Once I''m told to leave, I will naturally do so," Oracle responded in seemingly simple terms, but Nial''s brows twitched.

    ''Just how old is she?! Sometimes she acts like a normal child and then she gives mature answers¡­that''s so confusing,'' Nial sighed but then quickly realized something else that interested him more than the Little Oracle''s duality.

    "You said that once you''re told to leave you will do that, but who is that person, who can order you around?" He revealed the doubt he had been harboring for quite a while already.

    He was pretty sure that the Little Oracle wasn''t acting on her own and that there was someone, who told her to stay by his side. Nial had this hunch since the Oracle had joined their group.

    She was far stronger than expected, her powers were extremely unique and it was not unlikely that she was sent by someone to help him.

    "There is no person who can order me around," The Little Oracle said proudly, throwing her hair backward. She smiled confidently, but Nial could only frown deeper.

    ''There is no one? Was I mistak¨C...'' He thought before he was interrupted by the words the Little Oracle added, "But the Origin can order me around."

    "The Origin?... You mean Jundra told you to journey around with me?" Nial blurted out in astonishment. He couldn''t actually believe the gibberish she was spouting but something deep down within him told Nial that there might be a trace of truth to her words.

    And that was what made him get goosebumps all over his body.

    "Yes and no¡­ can''t we leave it at that?" The Little Oracle asked quietly. Even if she wanted to tell Nial more, she couldn''t do so. The moment she would reveal something he was not supposed to know right now, the Origin would take countermeasures to ensure that he was punished for the forbidden knowledge he received.

    There had often been simr situations where the Origin issued its support to certain individuals just to punish themter. And some beings never understood why they were punished.

    They were oblivious to the equilibrium of the Universe, and the fact that the Origin was the Center of the Universe, its Guardian, and also the judge!

    ''I wonder if the Immortal Witch is doing fine,'' The Little Oracle thought at this moment, recalling the worst case of betrayal that had ever happened since the birth of the Universe.

    The Origin was the one, who raised the Immortal Witch, just to discard her in the worst possible way, cursing her with Immortality and imprisoning her for eternity.

    The Little Oracle''s expression turned sad at this thought and she frowned.

    Nial visualized her expressions clearly which is why he discarded his curiosity and lightly caressed the Little Oracle''s silky hair.

    "In that case, let''s leave for the Forest of Life!" Nial announced, retrieving a bunch of Origin crystals and the Teleportation device.

    By constantly supplying the Teleportation Device with Origin crystals, it would take them less than an hour to return to the Forest of Life, instead of wasting several months traveling.

    With that in mind, Nial teleported himself, Ryu, and the Little Oracle outside Alliance City before he waited for the Teleportation Device to be charged once again.

    It would require arge amount of Origin crystals to return home but that was not something worth mentioning. His mother''sst wish was for him to return home and he was already prettyte because he had waited for the Little Oracle to wake up.

    Thus, while waiting for every mana charge that urred after the mana within the Teleportation device was fully utilized, Nial organized his storage ring as he was talking to Kaeldur and Tyrant in his mind.

    ''Kaeldur, why didn''t you talk with me earlier? Wouldn''t that have made things much easier?'' He asked one of the few questions that bothered him the most.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    [You were too weak, Master!] Kaeldur answered simply, causing Nial to frown.

    [I cannot even use a tenth of my true power because your tiny bit of strength restricts mine!] He added bluntly, just for Tyrant to add,

    [My strength is also restricted but I''m slowly getting stronger thanks to your Heart of Darkness. The Heart of Darkness has a really pure Essence of Darkness!]

    Nial didn''t really feel better after hearing thements of his subordinates, but he was somewhat d that they didn''t treat him like a pushover just because he had be their master.

    The two Demons, or whatever they were, still retained their personality, whether it was a nice personality, or not.

    ''But what are you guys even, to begin with? What did Damianbel you guys? Devils, Demons?'' Nial asked the question which popped up in his head whenever he wondered what kind of existences Damian''s direct subordinates were.

    [You can call us whatever you like. Ourte Master merely called us using the names he granted us,] Tyrant said quite nonchntly, and Nial nodded his head in understanding.

    ''How did Damian die?'' Nial asked after he thought about asking a few other questions. There were lots of things he wanted to know but he was also quite interested in finding out details about Damian''s end, especially after all the things he had seen from Damian''s memories.

    Nial knew that Damian had been one of the strongest existences in the vast Universe. He was pretty sure that nobody must have been able to actually kill Damian, not by normal means at least.

    [We don''t know that] Kaeldur was the one to answer Nial''s question after a few minutes of silence.

    [Most of us were sealed away long before we felt his death] Tyrant rified Kaeldur''s words, his voice filled with sadness and frustration.

    Nial felt that the situation revolving around the Late God of Darkness'' death was far moreplicated than first expected, but that was fine.

    He had more than enough time to find out how Damian had died. It was important to get to know this, especially since the knowledge mighte in handy in the future, but time was currently on his side.

    ''Alright then¡­how strong am Ipared to Damian? Not when he was in his prime but if you know how strong he was at my rank¡­just give me a rough estimation if you don''t know for sure!'' Nial was confident in his strength, however, it was pretty obvious that the God of Darkness was on apletely different level.

    From the memories the Odyssey seed had shared with him in the past, Nial could tell how overpowered the God of Darkness had been from the moment he had awoken his Origin.

    The God of Darkness had possessed control of the Essence of Darkness the moment he awoke his Origin, and he could merge it with the dark energy his body created out of every tad of mana he had absorbed.

    [Your foundation¡­] Tyrant mumbled just for Nial to sense darkness spreading through his body. It was Tyrant''s darkness that spread through his body to analyze his foundation and strength.

    The Tyrant of Destruction hadn''t been with Nial for a long time, so he couldn''t actually gauge his strength properly.

    [Your foundation is definitely weaker than what ourte Master''s foundation was at your age and rank, but that''s only if we''re talking about themon powers you and ourte Master possessed¡­you¡­are different¡­you possess more powers¡­a wider variety of them and also have the capabilities to be stronger¡­probably,] Kaeldur took over the evaluation.

    He had been with Nial for the longest and he knew Nial''s personality, strengths, and weaknesses best.

    While the God of Darkness had been overpowered with the use of dark energy and the Essence of Darkness, Nial was merely ''above-average'' in that regard. This might actually change in the future, but currently, Kaeldur would consider Nial to be merely above average.

    Nheless, Nial possessed far more powers than Damian, who had fully focused on strengthening his dark energy instead of trying to get his hand on new powers.

    Nial possessed a power-supporting ability, the ability to control the Mind to a terrific degree, the power to Summon otherworldly existences, and the mysterious Power of Chaos, something Nial had yet toprehend and learn about.

    Thus, Kaeldur had a change of opinion and started to wonder if Nial might actually possess a stronger foundation than theirte Master¡­and that was something he never expected to be possible!

 Chapter 451 Expanded

    It was quite hard for Nial toe to terms with the fact that his overall foundation was actually on par with the Late God of Darkness if not even higher.

    However, upon thinking about it with a calmer heart and mind, Nial figured that he possessed all powers of Damian, though a bit weaker, in addition to an Innate ability and five evolved and linked abilities.

    Even if his innate mana talent as a human was supposed to be weaker than Damian''s, it was quite obvious that the external support of the absorbed Titan heart, the Symbol of Life, and the Fairies'' Blessing made a huge impact as well.

    ''I had many precious encounters, didn''t I?'' Nial thought with a smug expression on his face. They were still jumping through space using the Teleportation Device. It was not long before they would reach the Forest of Life, and he would see his father once again!

    Less than half an hourter, Nial stored the Teleportation Device in his spatial ring. He expanded his range of perception using his Mana Sense and a small amount of mana.

    The range in which he could visualize everything to a certain extent crossed 100 kilometers, which was more than enough to find out where everyone he knew was located.

    ''Mathias and Sabrina are still not back, and Dad is with the Royal Princess¡­doesn''t she pay way too much attention to my dad?'' Nial figured out everything important in no time. He couldn''t perceive Master Crevian right now but he knew that the Old Elf was doing fine, so there was no need to worry about him.

    After circting mana through his body, Nial dashed toward the Forest of Life. He chose to visit his father first. There were a few things that intrigued him, especially the reports from the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild about what had happened in thest few months, but they could wait for a few more hours.

    ''I can, at least, inform Melheim, I guess,'' Nial thought and he made a small detour to the recently established shelter. He knew that the shelter had been constructed a few months ago, but its name was still a mystery to him. And that was perfectly fine!

    Nial reached the plot where his organizations were built to flourish and an expression of satisfaction reced his confusion.

    Both the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild were thriving well. More buildings had been added and Nial could clearly sense the presence of close to a hundred thousand Originals. That was quite shocking because Nial hadn''t expected such a terrific number.

    Yet, even more astonishing was the fact that Originals of other races seemed to have joined the Onyx association and the Orion Artisan Guild as well.

    That didn''t really make sense because the humans of Jundra were neither the best Runiciers, Alchemists, and cksmiths, nor the strongestbatants.

    Even if Nial didn''t know the exact rank of the strongest human on Jundra, he was pretty sure that it was, at most, at the Deux rank. As for their talent as Runiciers, it was safe to assume that most new Runiciers were only able to create Tier-0 runic armaments, at most.

    Even that would be great enough for Nial to be satisfied with the progress of his Artisans.

    Nheless, for other races, who had a history with mana and runic constetions of millennia if not nearly an eternity, Nial couldn''t understand their reasons for joining his organizations.

    ''I can figure out everything necessary in the future. There is no need to stress myself,'' Nial calmed himself easily and he diverted his attention. Melheim Zorn had been the strongest and most trustworthy Original when Nial had still been in the Forest of Life.

    That was also why he had appointed him as the Guild leader of the Orion Artisan Guild and the Vice-President of the Onyx Association when he left. Nial was merely the leader who would oversee things from the shadows either way as it made things much easier for him.

    If he could avoid the bothersome attention that would be given to him upon returning as Guild Leader and President, Nial would dly keep that aspect of his identity a secret.

    ''There are, at least, five foreign races I''ve never heard about, and the number of humans increased drastically as well. As for their mana, it has been trained and strengthened with the use of special Martial Art, and Spellcraft techniques.

    Looks like other races have taken a keen interest in the humans of Jundra. Being able to bind five abilities is quite unique, after all!'' Nial figured while turning into a shadow that passed through the building.

    He appeared in the office that had belonged to him before he left, and the sound of a chair falling over resounded through the room just a momentter.

    Melheim Zorn had been leaning over a stash of paper a moment earlier when he sensed some familiar, yet far stronger, mana. He instinctively jumped up to greet Nial with a weing smile.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Nial, you''re back!!" Melheim eximed in a voice that was much louder than he expected from himself.

    Nial raised an eyebrow at the excessive enthusiasm of the Ranked Original, but he didn''t mind it.

    "I am back, but I will visit my father soon. Please prepare all necessary reports, and give me a list of prostheses I have to make for the new members. There should be a big stockpile of pending requests of prostheses to make by now," He ordered, pointing out a few things he wanted to have done.

    "I hope you guys carefully read through the application forms of our members before taking them in so I can take a look at all of them when I have the time. We have a bunch of unique new members, after all, haven''t we?" Nial smiled when he finished his question but Melheim Zorn''s earlier excitement evaporated.

    His smile faltered and it looked like ck rings were forming under his eyes.

    ''Thankfully I found a few meticulous secretaries, otherwise, Nial would probably kick me out of this ce right at this moment,'' Melheim thought, wiping away the sweat that had formed on his temples.

    Nial knew that he was asking for quite a bit right now but it was essential for him to find out what exactly had changed and the reason for the members of the foreign races to join his organizations.

    There had to be something amiss and reading the application form and reports would give him some insights.

    "I''m off then, and I will probablye back in a few hours," Nial announced after a few seconds of silence.

    Melheim Zorn bowed to Nial who merged with the shadows below him. He disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, leaving the human Original in a stupor.

    "I could tell that he became stronger¡­but what the hell is that?" Melheim clutched his chest after he lifted his head when he sensed the faint fluctuations of dark energy that were released as Nial turned one with the shadows.

    He realized that Nial''s strength and control of his powers exceeded his by far. A child much younger than him had attained power Melheim couldn''t even imagine receiving.

    However, that was something he could have expected. Nial was the one to have helped him regain his sight in a manner that was not supposed to be possible. He had created a near-identical replica of an eyeball using runic constetions, providing him with provisional sight.

    Melheim knew that Nial would improve the runic eyes whenever his knowledge and skills as a Runicier would improve and the middle-aged man''s heart fluttered at the thought of further improved sight.

    He clenched his fist and tried to control the surge of emotions that swept through him as he blinked his eyes to stop the daydreaming.

    ''I should get to work, otherwise, I might displease Nial¡­I really shouldn''t do that!'' Melheim Zorn thought, returning to work a mere secondter. He was determined to leave no stone unturned to please his master.

    While Melheim returned to work with more motivation than ever before, Nial made his way back to the Forest of Life.

    He had picked up the Little Oracle and Ryu from where he had left them before talking to Melheim and he slowly made his way through the new shelter.

    Lots of attention was pulled toward him because of the Little Oracle''s otherworldly beautiful appearance.

    No one had ever seen such a beautiful young girl, but that was not all.

    After all, there was a charismatic young man holding the otherworldly beautiful young girl''s hand, and a fluffy monster youngling was lying on his shoulder.

    Just what was going on?

 Chapter 452 Troublemaker

    "Looks like many foreign races are putting out feelers to assess the humans of Jundra. That''s pretty annoying," Nial mumbled as he kept walking through the newly constructed shelter.

    Everything around him could be visualized clearly, giving Nial the intel about the shelter''s building style. Everything was constructed in a blend of modern architecture along with bits of the style of the middle ages. It waspletely different from the highly technologically advanced style of Alliance City.

    However, Nial liked the style of the shelter a tad bit better than Alliance City because he felt out of ce in Alliance City.

    But, of course, that was of no concern right now as Nial continued to curiously investigate the vast majority of humans all around him.

    Every human in the shelter seemed to have awoken their Origin. This was no surprise to Nial as the surrounding mana was much denser than it had been in the past.

    What interested him more was the obvious fact that a bunch of races had ascended on the and turned millions of humans into their pawns. The humans, who epted the deals of other races might not have noticed it yet, but it would be very difficult for them to practice martial art or spellcraft techniques that were ipatible with their altered mana.

    The moment mana was altered to suit a certain element, the alteration process would change every bit of mana inside the practitioner''s body. Even the mana stored inside the mana core would be altered, and so would the new mana which the host would inevitably absorb in the future.

    That was also why one should be careful when making a decision to practice certain techniques because they would alter one''s neutral mana if one was not in possession of the required energy.

    Trying to use Water Elemental based Martial art techniques while being in possession of Fire attributed Mana was impossible if the wielder of the Fire attributed Mana was not able to rewrite the entire Martial Art technique. And that was basically impossible if one didn''t practice a Martial Art technique to perfection.

    Of course, there were still other ways, but Nial couldn''t help but pity the human Originals, who had been too greedy and wanted to hastily try improving with their own talent. They trusted Originals of foreign races, strangers they didn''t even know, and epted deals that forced them to keep in contact with the said Originals.

    If they wanted to get their hands on stronger Mana Training, Martial Arts, or Spellcraft techniques they would have to be dependent on the Originals, who could provide the specific techniques they required.

    In the end, the Originals of foreign races would get their hands on cheapborers the moment the humans fell into their trap. They would show signs of addiction upon realizing how much of a difference it meant in a fight to use no techniques and low-ranked techniques.

    It would only be a matter of time before their greed would force them to strive toward getting their hands on high-ranked techniques in order to attain even higherbat prowess.

    By then, they would be trueborers or rather ves without actually realizing it. Nial shook his head when he realized what had happened in thest few months and he began to rub one of his spatial rings with his free hand.

    He sighed once but chose to give up the thought of educating the humans of Jundra on the traps they had walked into willingly.

    Instead, he left the shelter, picked up the Little Oracle, and charged toward the Forest of Life.

    The Forest of Life had grown a lot and it had changed tremendously as well. Nial could clearly tell that the Forest of Life was adapting to the mana it was exposed to, meaning that its environment was adjusting to the different mutations of Elves, who were scattered all over the wide area.

    Being in need of different types of environments, many sub-races of Elves couldn''t live together. They thus lived in separate groups, using certain treasures in an attempt to create an artificial environment that suited their needs perfectly.

    The Forest of Life adjusted to this and it changed, which made it seem as if a dozen or more types of forests had grown together in the center of the Forest of Life.

    From the center outward the changes in the forest''s environment became clearer. While the center looked like a colorful ce, the outskirts of the forest didn''t seem to have any change in color.

    Of course, Nial had no idea about the actual color of the Forest of Life because he could only determine what he was able to perceive with the use of his range of perception and [Mana Sense], and that was a lot more than some might think.

    After stepping inside the territory of the Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves, Nial felt as if his mana absorption rate would skyrocket. This was a great feeling and something that made him want to halt in his tracks and start absorbing mana right at this moment.

    But Nial did not give in to the urge.

    "Woah¡­how did you get your hands on a True Dryad Princess'' Tear?" The Little Oracle asked all of a sudden, and Nial froze in his tracks for real this time.

    "How do you know?" He was astonished that the Little Oracle figured the most important part of the Forest of Life''s growth; the use of the Reinforced Dryad Princess'' tear!<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Because it''s me?" The little Oracle answered, brushing her hair backward with a proud expression on her face.

    "Yes yes, you are amazing," Nial responded, patting Little Oracle''s head without listening to her any further.

    The Little Oracle was truly an existence of unfathomable power and knowledge. He was bing increasingly convinced that thinking of her as a small child would turn into one of the stupidest mistakes one could make. The past few days had given him ample proof of that.

    He may not be aware of herbat prowess but that was not necessary to know that the Little Oracle was terrifying.

    "We''re almost there, behave properly in front of my father," Nial issued a quick warning to the Little Oracle and he averted his attention toward Ryu for a moment as well.

    The Gryphon had been silent for quite a while and he was currently absorbing the darkness attributed mana inside this part of the Forest of Life. Ryu was far from able to do something troublesome, which Nial noticed with relief. Hence, he focused his attention on the little troublemaker and grasped her hand once again.

    He had the feeling that the Little Oracle would create trouble, but he hoped that she would prove him wrong.

    Taking a wooden suspension bridge that was constructed all around the humongous trees, Nial was slowly finding his way toward therge wooden hut where his father and the Royal Princess were currently seated with a bunch of other Elves.

    Nial knocked on the door of the wooden hut when he reached it a few minutester, and it was his father, who opened it slowly.

    "Who is the¨C..." Miles couldn''t even finish his sentence when a small figure shot forward, hugging his leg.

    "Grandfather!!" The Little Oracle shouted out loud, hugging Miles'' leg tightly.

    ''This little¡­'' Nial nearly cursed the Little Oracle but he bit back his tongue and smiled at his father.

    "She is joking."

    Miles looked at his son before his gaze settled on the tiny, silver-haired girl.

    Both his son and the girl had silver hair, and she called him ''Grandfather''...Just what had his son done while he was away??''

    "You¡­what¡­since when? How?" Miles'' brain felt like it was melting. He bent down, held the Little Oracle by her shoulders, and took a proper look at her.

    "Purple eyes¡­is Hana her mother?!?" Miles shouted out, making Nial want to beat up his father, for the first time in his life¡­but definitely not thest.

    "Did you hit your head when I was out?! I said that she is joking!" Nial dered, his hands reaching out for the Little Oracle, whom he picked up.

    The Little girl reached out with her hands to coil them around his neck when he was holding her tightly.

    "Is she my mother?" The Little Oracle asked all of a sudden, pointing in the direction of the small group of Elves, who was just staring at the unexpected visitors.

    Yet, they grew further bewildered when they realized that it was the Royal Princess, Evalyne, whom the Little Oracle pointed at.

    The Elves around the Royal Princess looked at her, confusion and a trace of interest gleaming in their eyes. They didn''t even wait to consider if it was possible for Princess Evalyne to be the Little Oracle''s mother and began to make wild assumptions!

    "I am your mother?" Princess Evalyne stared at the girl before her eyes flicked over to Nial.

    ''Don''t look at me like this?!?''

 Chapter 453 Annoying Little Girl

    "So¡­who is that girl?" Princess Evalyne was finally able to ask after a few minutes of awkwardness had passed.

    Nial had repetitively tried to say that the Little Oracle was just joking around, but he was only subjected to doubtful gazes.

    Even his father had a hard time believing that the Little Oracle was not his granddaughter and that was something Nial couldn''t understand at all.

    The Little Oracle looked like a six-year-old child right now, meaning that Nial had to have met someone roughly seven years before to father a little demon such as the Little Oracle.

    Nial hadn''t even awoken his Origin seven years ago and he was not someone who left home if it was not really necessary. Thus, his father should know that the Little Oracle''s words were utter nonsense.

    Nheless, Miles Orin didn''t seem to trust his poor son. He would not leave a single opportunity of teasing him, and Nial had to bear with his father''s teasing until the Royal Princess had asked the question everyone was interested in.

    "She calls herself Oracle, and she is quite powerful even if she looks timid," Nial exined what he knew about the Oracle while ruffling through her silky hair. The Little Oracle squealed while trying to remove his hand from her head, just to sense that Nial increased the intensity of his movements. Hepletely disheveled her hair as revenge for the joke the little Oracle had yed.

    She didn''t like his act but it was not as if she could do something against it.

    "I don''t know that much about her either. Just ask her if you''re curious about something rted to this little monster!" Nial told the Royal Princess and the other Elves before he turned his attention to his father.

    He smiled in Miles'' direction, took a step forward, and hugged his father tightly.

    "I''m d that you''re doing well!" He spoke sincerely while tightening the embrace.

    "N-Nial¡­too tight!" Miles suddenly eximed in a suffering voice, causing Nial to loosen his hold. Miles took a few deep breaths and he held him by the shoulders before ring at his son.

    "Looks like you became strong enough to forget how to control your strength¡­" He analyzed while continuing to observe his son.

    Miles had advanced to the Mirae rank not too long ago. Using his son''s resources and connections it was not difficult for Miles to erge his Mana Core to the 10th Origin rank. He had also created an Advanced Origin ring and reached the 1st Advanced Mirae rank.

    Never in his life would Miles have imagined that he had the talent to create an Advanced Origin ring. Even talented human Originals may not be able to attain the same feat, and their Mana Core''s natural limit was much higher than his.

    Yet, by using various means to ovee his natural limit, Miles seemed to have attained the seemingly impossible¡­and it was all thanks to his son''s hard work.

    "It''s good to have you back!" Miles said, his expression changing to a bright and genuine smile before he pulled his son back into a hug.

    Nial was a little overwhelmed by his father''s emotions but he reciprocated the hug and he patted Miles'' back lightly.

    "I''m happy to be back as well," He said, enjoying the moment he had with his father.

    Unfortunately, the moment didn''tst long because the Little Oracle''s squealing and Ryu''s chirping filled the room.

    Nial''s lip twitched and he had to let go of his father when he visualized what the little troublemakers were doing.

    The Little Oracle had picked up Ryu before she ran around in the room, trying to evade the Elves, who were trying hard to make her talk to them.

    Even if the Elves in the wooden hut were not sure who the Little Oracle was, their gut told them that the little girl was some sort of bigshot. Only in the presence of the Empress were they as nervous as they were right now, and that was definitely not normal!

    The Royal Princess was also a little astonished about what she felt when looking at the Little Oracle.

    However, rather than being interested in her identity, Princess Evalyne was more intrigued to know how Nial had found that girl, how he made sure that she followed him, and what the hell had happened in thest few months to make him get back to his senses again.

    Nial''s condition had been extremely bad when he had left the Forest of Life. Princess Evalyne was pretty sure that Nial would fall into depression because of what happened to his mother and his master. Fortunately, that didn''t happen and it looked like he had ovee the painful memories of his past.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    But there was still this weird feeling she got from him, and it was stronger than ever before.

    ''His rank didn''t change that much since he left¡­but his strength changedpletely¡­what are his limits now?'' The Royal Princess wondered as her fingers began to tremble subconsciously.

    Nial stepped forward, and he bent down to pick up the Little Oracle and Ryu. Ryu chirped in joy, feeling happy that Nial would rescue him, the damsel in distress, from the bad Demon God, the Little Oracle.

    Yet, before Nial could get a hold on either of them, mana oozed out of the Little Oracle''s body and she seemed to disappear from Nial''s perception for a millisecond before she reappeared half a meter ahead.

    ''Did she just use her control of time for something like that?'' Nial wondered, bearing a smile as he released his dark energy through the ground in an explosive manner.

    He summoned Kaeldur''s arms that emerged from below his shoulder, expanded and burst forth.

    Simultaneously, Nial shot hands of darkness from the ground of the wooden hut with the intention to restrict and catch the Little Oracle.

    Nial was about to catch her again when he sensed a subtle release of mana from her body. As a countermeasure, he created a small dome of darkness in the blink of an eye.

    "Arghhhgh, it''s dark!!" The Little Oracle grumbled as she struggled to find her way through the dome of darkness, but that did not make Nial pity her.

    Kaeldur''s arms shot through the dome, and reached out for the Little Oracle, and finally got hold of her after some struggle.

    Nial snapped his fingers and the dark energy was retracted in the blink of an eye, releasing the struggling figure of the Little Oracle, and Ryu who suffered the most.

    To relieve Ryu from his suffering, he helped the Gryphon by picking him up and cing him on his shoulder.

    "You did well!" Nial ended up telling Ryu while patting him gently. As for the Little Oracle, she looked at him with a scowl and began to sulk.

    "You''re boring¡­always taking away my fun!" The Little Oracle grumbled, just for Nial to pull her closer to him, close enough to whisper into her ear, "Just stop ying around. I know that you can alter your body at your will!"

    Only the Little Oracle could hear what Nial said, but that was more than enough for the little girl to stare at him with aplicated expression.

    It looked almost as if she couldn''t believe that Nial had figured out her secret so quickly.

    Little did she know that Nial was able to put two and two together. There had been more than enough clues that pointed toward the Little Oracle''s true age and agenda.

    The Little Oracle finally quieted down after hearing Nial''s words and he put her down as she stood meekly by his side. Despite what she had just heard, the Little Oracle subconsciously grasped Nial''s hand, which looked cute from the outside.

    "Let''s ignore this incident for now. What are you guys doing here?" Nial changed the topic to something else he had been interested in.

    ording to him, there was actually no reason for Miles, the Royal Princess of the Elven, and a bunch of other Elves to be together. It didn''t really make any sense if Nial were to be honest with himself.

    "Ah, I knew we were forgetting something," Princess Evalyne said when she regained her senses. She had been staring at the Little Oracle for too long and felt almost as if she had been bewitched.

    "We were just talking to your father because we need his help with something," Princess Evalyne revealed in a mysterious voice.

    Nial was unable to follow, thus he asked, "My father''s help? Why?"

    "We want him to infiltrate the ck Market!"

 Chapter 454 Drug

    "What the hell are you talking about?" Nial nearly exploded when he heard the bullshit of the Royal Princess, "Why would my father have to infiltrate the ck Market?!"

    For a moment, Nial was unable to control his emotions. Darkness surged out of his body and the pressure in the surroundings increased drastically.

    The wooden hut began to tremble and one could hear the creaking wood that was about to break at any moment.

    ''Why would you put my father in danger?'' Nial was clenching his fists and was ready to teach the Royal Princess a proper lesson if that was truly necessary. It looked like she had temporarily forgotten, whose father she was referring to, after all!

    Evalyne swallowed her saliva at the sight of the dense darkness that oozed out of Nial''s body and she felt her knees quake a little.

    Thus, she was just about to take a step back, when Miles'' hand reached out for his son''s shoulder.

    "Nial, calm down! It was my idea to help them with the infiltration of the ck Market!" Miles informed Nial and the pressure in the surroundings decreased almost instantly.

    "But why would you do that? You are only at the 1st Mirae rank...if something happens, you might even die before someone cane and rescue you!" Nial tried hard to not shout when he told his father how foolish he was.

    Miles had just been under depression because of his wife''s death, and now that he had finallye back to his senses, Miles wanted to go on suicide missions that werepletely unrted to him? The ck Market, or anything rted to him, was of no concern to Miles!

    "You don''t know how much we struggled because of the new items foreign races sell at the ck Market...it is devastating!! There are all kinds of altered techniques that force you to follow a specific path, inevitably turning the wielder of those techniques into the pawns of the techniques'' Originator, but that''s not everything.

    There are all kinds of Treasures with short-term uses and benefits but they will harm the body in the long run. And then, there are Cultivation Drugs, or whatever they call them...if you take these drugs, your mana aptitude increases temporarily and you will get addicted to the sensation of being able to handle more mana. The Drugs turn you into an addict, and the worst kind of human being who would go at any lengths to get those drugs...

    They even give out free samples to recently awakened children..." Miles informed, and he felt like cursing out loud when he revealed the part about the children.

    Nial figured that Miles wanted topletely take down the ck Market because they didn''t even spare innocent children from their evil ns. Though his father''s anger was justified it was still not to Nial''s liking.

    "Does it have to be you?" He thus asked, hoping that the Royal Princess would try to put some sense in his father.

    "Unfortunately, it has to be your father. He is the only one, who is not known by anyone but has most information about the happenings in Halheim. Your father was very interested in everything that happened in the shelter, which is why he made his daily research using the information department of your Onyx Association!" Princess Evalyne exposed Miles'' deeds and that was more than enough for Nial to sigh deeply.

    "I don''t like it..." He revealed his honest thoughts and turned to his father, "Only if you can use this Heavenly Protector Runic Armament twice will I allow you to y hero!"

    Nial revealed a bunch of rings to his father, and he forced him to wear all of them, obviously as a safety measure and not a means to dress him up.

    Nial knew that he was a jerk for his choice of words right now, but it was hard for him to control his emotions right now. There were too many things that frustrated him about his father''s decision, especially since he was not sure if his mother had sent him back to the Forest of Life just to look after his father, or something else.

    It was possible that his mother had only sent him back to the Forest of Life to protect him from any future mishaps, or that his dream was something his subconscious mind had generated to tell him that now was the time to get back home.

    Nial was not sure about the true nature of his nightmares and dreams, but they had always been a little weird. Thus, his premonition was definitely not something great, and far from his liking.

    Miles, however, was quite unruffled despite his son''s obvious worry. He felt that their roles had been reversed and that Nial treated him like a child, which caused him to shake his head.

    However, his interest was also pulled toward the rings that Nial hadbeled ''Heavenly Protector''.

    "What are those?" He ended up asking, ignoring the bits of frustration he felt.

    "You can materialize arge shield in front of you by inserting enough mana into one of the rings. The shield is strong enough to deflect one attack equivalent to the power of an Original at the Keltia rank, or multiple attacks with lower power output. The ring will break after you use it once though. That''s why I gave you a bunch of them," Nial exined quite simply, replicating a weaker version of the Heavenly Protector Shield with the use of his dark energy to serve as a demonstration.

    Nial''s demonstration was viewed by all Elves with widened eyes as their jaws nearly hit the ground.

    "You mean I can survive the attack of a Keltia Original while being at the Low Mirae rank? That''s amazing...but doesn''t that mean this Runic armament is extremely valuable? Are you sure that I can have that many...you didn''t use your whole fortune on them, right?" Miles asked, feeling concerned about his son''s finances.

    He didn''t want to be the reason for his son''s bankruptcy. He was just about to remove the rings from his fingers when he heard Nial chuckling lightly.

    "Forget it, these rings don''t cost much. If you want, I can make you thousands of them!" Nial offered while pulling the dark energy back inside his body. He ignored the way all the Elves keenly observed his control of the dark energy, and focused solely on his father.

    Miles'' frustration had dissipated and he looked from the rings to his son, back and forth, over and over again.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "You made them?" He asked after a while and Nial nodded his head while showing his father a peace sign.

    "Of course, I did!" Nial responded, his words proving to be the final blow for the Royal Princess, who stumbled forward.

    "Nial...what the hell did you do in thest few months? If you really created these runic armaments...what is your current rank, and where have you been?! Just what happened to your control of dark energy as well...it''s so precise and your dark energy is so dense...What exactly happened to you?" She bombarded him with one question after another, but Nial could only smile.

    "I worked hard?" He answered half-heartedly, nearly giving the Elves enough reason to want to beat him up.

    Nial retrieved one runic armament of each type of ''brand'' he had created. One [One Strike to Hell], a [Heavenly Protector], and a [Asura''s Wrath] for everyone to see what he was currently capable of.

    Both One Strike to Hell and the Heavenly Protector were usable by Mirae Originals and were Broken Runic Armaments that could only be utilized once. As for Asura''s Wrath, it was a Lowest Tier-3 runic armament with the power equivalent to the might that was unleashed in the Broken Runic Armaments he usually created.

    The sole difference between them was that Asura''s Wrath Runic Armaments wouldn''t break after being used only once!

    "You...are a Grandmaster Runicier...are you serious? At the age of what...25?" Evalyne felt herself involuntarily shudder when she screamed in astonishment. She stared at the runic armaments for a while, then back to Nial, who looked at her with a faint smile, and then back to the runic armaments.

    "I''m not yet 25. I still have a few months to go..." Nial felt like correcting her but the cold atmosphere in the room prevented him from speaking out loud.

    However, it was at this moment that he noticed something. Nial turned his head to the door of the wooden hut and he made a small wave.

    "Long time no see, Master Crevian, Meryl!" Nial spoke as he continued to wave in their direction.

    "I knew that I saw correctly! Didn''t I tell you that I saw Nial?! See, I''m right!" Meryl eximed and she sped her hands together. Meanwhile, Master Crevian nodded his head but his attention turned over to the runic armaments.

    He sensed the runic constetions that had been engraved on them and stepped forward without greeting Nial or anyone else in the wooden hut. His entire attention was on the runic armaments and it was almost as if there was nothing else of interest in the world around the Old Elf.

    Meryl noticed her master''s interest as well which made her look at the runic armaments intently.

    On the other hand, Nial''s attention had been pulled away from the runic armaments.

    "How many foreign races have been stirring trouble in the ck market, and how far have the drugs spread? The drugs are the biggest problem or are the Cursed treasures, and the techniques more problematic?" Nial asked to the Royal Princess, who looked up upon being spoken to.

    "No, you''re right, the drugs are the biggest menace. Everyone with a little bit of brain can discard the cursed treasures before it''s toote. As for the altered techniques, the Originals practicing these techniques can clearly feel the changes in their mana. If they were to stop after the first week of practicing these techniques, it wouldn''t be a problem to prevent a permanent alteration of their mana.

    That leaves us with the biggest problem that apanies the Cultivation Drug; the fact that the distributor of these drugs is unknown and that thousands of drug addicts have disappeared in thest few months!" The Royal Princess rified, ignoring the shocked exmations from left and right.

    Everyone was focused on Nial''s runic armaments, except Nial, Miles and the Royal Princess. However, that yed into their hands, especially since it looked like Nial had be a lot faster atprehending the situations than before.

    "Don''t tell me..." Nial mumbled as he put together the picture,

    ":..are they turning the drug addicts into breeders?"

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 Chapter 455 Insane Nial

    "Breeders?" Meryl asked in confusion when she heard what the others were talking about.

    She looked up from Nial''s runic armaments and stared at the Royal Princess with furrowed eyebrows.

    In the past, it might have been near impossible to get close to the Royal Princess, let alone be in the same room as her, however, many things had changed since Princess Evalyne had set foot on Jundra.

    It was almost as if she was letting go of her role as Princess and that she had begun to live an ordinary life as a High Elf. Most Elves knew that this was only a change of her personality, something that made her get closer with the subjects she reigned, but many High Elves and Sacred Elves frowned upon her behavior.

    But, of course, ordinary Elves such as Meryl benefited a lot from the changes that urred within the Princess'' heart.

    "Yes, Breeders. These races want to attempt cross-breeding humans with the members of their own race in order to improve the number of abilities their future generations can hold. They want to find out if they can evolve into a new race with the help of the five abilities of the human race born on Jundra," Princess Evalyne exined, not without hiding the disgust in her voice and expression.

    "Basically the whole Cultivation drug scene was probably set up by a single race to kidnap humans, breed more humans for future purposes, and then probably sell a bunch of humans to other races for a fortune¡­as breeders, of course!" Nial guessed and he was pretty sure that his guess was spot on.

    After spending lots of time with other races in Alliance City, Nial had learned a lot. Humans might be at a disadvantage in terms of physical strength or mana aptitude inparison to some excellent races, and their average talent in terms of Alchemy, cksmithing, and Runic engraving might be worse than most races, BUT all of them were in possession of five ability slots.

    There were a handful of extraordinary humans with Innate abilities, special constitutions, and a much higherprehension talent than others, and various other unique traits! If they were to use the five empty ability slots, which all humans of Jundra possessed, in a perfectly synchronized manner, it would be possible for those humans to attain the peak in a specific subject¡­and that was byparing those humans with the strongest in that field, all over the Universe!

    Nial scratched the back of his head and let out a deep sigh.

    "We truly are the best option for them to turn into ves. Our people are spread out in the ten shelters, everyone is easily influenced because we are yet to build our own foothold in the vast expanse of the Universe, and even the weakest race is stronger than us right now. Even if we wanted to be on our own, it looks like the human race will have to continue relying on others¡­

    Our potential is good but we don''t really have the necessary time or the resources to make use of it," He blurted out, without bothering that he was surrounded by members of another race.

    Nial knew that Princess Evalyne had helped him and other humans a lot, but the Elven race had used them often enough to make up for that mess.

    They were the ones who had protected the Forest of Life from Silvian and the Dryx, and Nial helped them restore the Forest of Life by going out of his way to procure the Reinforced Tear of a True Dryad Princess.

    It might not look like much inparison to what the Elves had done to help them, but Nial knew that the Elves were in his debt, whether they liked it or not!

    "How are we going to stop the Cultivation drug from circting in the ck Market?" Miles asked, dragging Nial out of his thoughts. He had done lots of research on the ck Market, but he couldn''t really figure out a way to eradicate everyst bit of the Cultivation Drug.

    The Elves looked at each other after hearing Miles'' question and they nodded their heads, telling everyone that they had already thought of a way.

    "We will nip the Cultivation Drug and the market in its bud, which means that we will search for the distributor, and destroy the ce where it''s constructed. Afterward, we can reconsider eliminating the responsible race, or the members of the race that reside in close proximity. But that is something we will have to figure out when the time is ripe," A fully armed High Elf standing next to the Royal Princess borated in a deep voice.

    At the first nce, it looked like the High Elf''s n was good. Eradicating the threat in its entirety would ensure that the Cultivation Drug would stop getting circted in the human shelters.

    However, Nial didn''t really like it. He was frowning deeply and his mind was rattling.

    "If you destroy the root of the problem, there will just be others trying the replicate the same scheme, just without the loopholes of the way we employ to eradicate the Cultivation Drug, won''t they?" Nial countered, not speaking to anyone specifically.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Silence spread through the wooden hut when Nial''s words died down within it. Everyone looked over at him with the same expression on their faces.

    ''What the hell do you want us to do then?'' Their expressions seemed to ask but Nial didn''t know the perfect answer either.

    It was a short-term solution to eradicate the Cultivation Drug because an even worse Drug might find its way to the humans of Jundra in the future.

    "Does someone have the Cultivation Drug at their hand?" Nial asked all of a sudden, and the corners of his lips curled upward.

    "Son¡­what are you nning?" Miles asked in doubt.

    "Why would we have the Cultivation Drug?" The High Elf Guard asked in disgust, just for a small pouch to appear in the smooth and elegant hands of the Royal Princess.

    "Of course, I have the Cultivation Drug in my possession. I had to see how the addicts react upon seeing the drug¡­.and it was bad!" Princess Evalyne said as goosebumps erupted on her skin as she recalled the memory of dozens of humans with seemingly lifeless eyes and foam covering their mouths, charging at her.

    It was almost as if these humans had turned into wild monsters.

    "Did you already send the Cultivation Drug to the Alchemists to research them? They feel just like pills concocted by Alchemists, after all!" Nial asked when he reached for the pouch where a bunch of pills was stored.

    He took out one of the marble-sized Cultivation Drug pills from the pouch. Nial inserted mana inside the pill, and the result astonished him quite a bit.

    "There is something dark inside the pill¡­is that the cause of the addiction?" He mumbled to himself, before popping the Cultivation Drug inside his mouth.

    Nial sat down afterward, ignoring the shocked expressions on everyone''s faces as they realized what he had just done.

    "Are you¡­insane?!? Don''t you know that a single pill is enough to make you addicted??? Spit it out already!!" Miles shouted as the veins in his head throbbed. He bent down, grabbed his son''s shoulders, and tried to put sense into him.

    However, Nial''s body seemed to be an unmovable iron pir. Miles frowned when he saw that his son had already closed his eyes and that he had begun to suction the mana from all around him inside his body.

    The Cultivation Drug''s content was released inside Nial''s body and a tremendous amount of Mana was unleashed. His mana aptitude skyrocketed, allowing Nial to insert far more mana inside his body than before.

    ''An increase of 30% is pretty great considering that my mana aptitude is already at the top. Others would sense an increase of 100%, maybe even 200% or more than that,'' Nial concluded after a few minutes.

    He could tell that every cell in his body was temporarily improved in terms of mana eptance, which made it even easier to absorb the surrounding mana.

    But all of that was not enough to exin the highly addictive effect everyone was talking about. Nial understood this pretty clearly and he focused on the tiny dark substance that was slowly dissolving in his stomach.

    ''As expected¡­''

 Chapter 456 Whooping Asses

    ''As expected, it''s this thing!'' Nial thought, a smile forming on his face as he made a visual imprint of the object in his stomach.

    He could visualize it in the mind of others and inform them about the appearance of the ingredient that was at fault for the highly addictive sensation.

    Unfortunately, there was only one problem that prevented satisfaction from spreading through his body.

    ''That''s the main ingredient, isn''t it?'' Nial realized when he felt that his heightened mana aptitude and mana eptance state was prolonged as his body digested the ck substance.

    The moment he sealed the ck substance his improved cultivation effect deteriorated drastically. It was heightened again when he unsealed the ck substance, helping him understand just what was going on.

    His mind was a clean te and there was no way that Nial would get addicted. But that was, of course, not something Nial had an easy way of dealing with.

    On the contrary, he could easily tell that his body was already getting addicted to the heightened mana aptitude sensation. Only by using his Essence of Darkness was it possible for Dn to cleanse his body of the ill effects as well as his mind. He cleansed his stomach and every cell of his body using the power of the Essence of Darkness to expel the harmful substance from his body after he used it up in its entirety.

    A few hours had passed in the blink of an eye after which Nial got up from the ground. His body was overflowing with Mana and he could clearly tell that his Mana Core had progressed a little bit.

    "The main ingredient of the Cultivation Drug is the problem. It spreads through the entire body upon being digested. Is there something like a body cleansing pill, or something simr to that?" Nial''s mind was working hard and was trying to find a way to make use of the Cultivation Drug rather than abandoning it.

    He had this feeling before already, but if they could actually make use of the Cultivation Drug without giving birth to an entire race of addicts, it would be possible to further assist in the growth of the human race.

    It might not even be impossible for the human race to stand on equal terms with other, much older, and more experienced races!

    "You are fine¡­right?" Princess Evalyne asked, looking at Nial from head to toe. There were no ring red marks all over his face, neck, arms and legs, making her sigh in relief.

    ''He is really fine. That''s great¡­but how?'' She wondered while continuing to stare at Nial.

    "I am totally fine, but you didn''t answer my question," Nial retorted cheekily. At the same time, Miles checked all over his son''s body for cuts or wounds to see if he was truly alright.

    "Dad, I''m fine," Nial reassured his father so as to prevent him from running back and forth like a squirrel.

    "But¡­ugh, okay¡­" Miles gave up and stepped back after noticing that Nial was not only fine but also oddly determined.

    "There are body cleansing pills, but they''re not perfect and the ingredients are expensive. Not many Alchemists are capable of creating them either!" Princess Evalyne finally exined, which resulted in Nial nodding his head.

    "In that case, it should be possible to alter the Cultivation drug, decrease its effect a little and remove the addictive effect altogether as long as we get our hands on the Alchemists responsible for them, or am I making a wrong conclusion?" Nial asked, his earlier gloom getting reced by a bright expression that improved more and more.

    His smile reached his eyes and it didn''t take the others in the wooden hut a long time to figure out what Nial was trying to say.

    "So¡­you don''t want to remove the Cultivation Drug from the ck market but you want to integrate it in the official economy after altering it? That''s¡­brilliant!" The Royal Princess sped her hands in joy, ignoring the others'' baffled expressions.

    They didn''t understand that Nial was not trying to swim against the stream but that he wanted to swim with the stream, and erge it at that.

    He wanted the stream to turn into a huge river, a river that was created based on hisws, and the Cultivation Drug was a perfect means to achieve this.

    "But we will have to find the creator of the Cultivation Drug first. The main ingredient of the Cultivation Drug is some sort of ck substance that looks like this," Nial said while visualizing the ck substance of which he had made a visual imprint. He showed it to everyone in a 3D projection while using his dark energy in order to replicate the ck currents that had oozed out of the substance.

    "I don''t know what exactly that is, but it maintained and prolonged the effect of the Cultivation Drug while spreading out the highly addictive effect as well!" He further exined and the others nodded their heads while staring at the 3D projection without realizing what Nial was currently doing with his mana.

    He could project anything he wanted with his mana, in an instant at that. To achieve something like this, one required tremendous control, something that was not supposed to be possible at the Prometheus rank.

    However, nobody was extremely shocked by his feat, especially since Nial was not really considered as an ordinary Original, let alone as a being at the Prometheus rank.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    He was just a monster in the eyes of the Elves, who had once frowned upon the weakness of the human race. Most humans were still weak and the Elves did not think highly of them. It was fine to look down on them, secretly at least, but Nial was different, whether it was because of his inherent powers or everything else about it!

    "Can your research department take a look and search for the ingredient I just showed you, search for a way to rece it, and a way that would lead us to the Creator of the Cultivation Drug?" Nial asked as he thought of something. He had already epted that his father wanted to infiltrate the ck Market, even though he didn''t like the thought at all.

    His father was old and sensible enough to make his own decisions and it would be the worst possible thing to restrict his father from doing what he wanted to do.

    Nial was ready to protect his father no matter what dangerous mission he would choose next, even if he wanted to ughter a Dragon!

    With that thought in mind, Nial epted everything rather easily.

    "Your father will have to look for the Drug dealers, and find their connections before we can do it on our own. Until then, we will try to find ways to create a better version of the Cultivation drug, and to cleanse the body of the addictive substance," The Royal Princess nodded her head before she waved her hand to bid farewell to Nial, and Miles.

    She left the wooden hut, followed by her followers that rushed behind her.

    Thus, only Nial, his father, Master Crevian, and Meryl were left behind.

    A minute of silence followed after the Princess'' exit. Mater Crevian and Meryl looked at the father-son duo and they smiled lightly before their attention returned to the bunch of runic armaments.

    "By the way, dad¡­did Sabrina or Mathias call when I was away?" Nial asked, but Miles only shook his head.

    "These brats¡­" Nial grumbled, clenching his fists tightly. ''Sabrina¡­at least you could have left dad a message!! Looks like I will have to teach you a good lesson once you''re back!!''

    His irritation was apparent in his bodynguage and the expression on his face turned devilish while a tremendous pressure radiated from him.

    However, instead of getting worried about what might happen, everyone looked at Nial with a faint smile.

    ''He is worrying too much¡­again,'' Miles thought and he patted his son''s shoulder in response.

    Nial regained his senses just a momentter and he cleared his throat as the pressure dispersed.

    "What do you think of my runic armaments?" He asked Master Crevian, trying to hide the bits of embarrassment he felt for having lost his control for something as childish as the thought of lecturing his sister.

    "They''re¡­amazing¡­"

    **

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    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 457 Comfortable?

    Nial and the others didn''t think any further about the ck Market or the Cultivation Drug.

    They allowed the Royal Princess to make all preparations before they would call Nial and his father for help.

    Until then, Nial would take care of other things, such as the creation of better runic prostheses for those who need them, and a thorough check of his Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild.

    There were definitely a bunch of ck sheep in his organizations and Nial had to remove them before he could focus on supporting the growth of those who wished to unlock their talent.

    He was ready to spend lots of time and work to ensure that his organizations were safe and considered the strongest.

    "Is there a reason for you two to follow me?" Nial asked Master Crevian and Meryl when he reached therge piece ofnd his organizations were built on.

    The trees belonging to the Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves were still present, but there weren''t as many Elves guarding it anymore. But that was to be expected since Nial had not been in the new shelter for quite some time.

    The new shelter''s name was Halheim, and Nial knew that his Essence of Darkness was essential for the Dark and Nightshadow Elves to increase the potency of their darkness affinity and Shadow energy.

    That was why the number of guards slowly decreased since the person they needed was not even close to Halheim.

    ''Well, they will return now, one way or another,'' Nial figured, not minding it too much. He understood their thoughts and it was already a wonder that a handful of Elves decided to stay behind.

    "We want to know more about the creation process of your runic prostheses. They''re just like weapons, and work perfectly normal as arms, legs or eyes at the same time. I tried to replicate the runic prostheses with the help of your cksmiths and also researched half of the prostheses you created, but it''s much harder than I would have expected..." Meryl acknowledged grudgingly.

    She didn''t dare to look up from the ground and could only sigh deeply. Never in her life could she have expected that Nial would be a better Runicier than her. It had only been a few years since Nial had learned that an upation like Runicier exists, to begin with, yet, he was already much better than the vast majority of Runiciers all over the Universe.

    Only the cream of the crop was able to reach the Grandmaster rank below the age of 100. But, Nial was even better than that. He was just breezing through the ranks of Runiciers without a care of the pride of the Originals he hurt with his devastating talent.

    That was frustrating, but it was also quite obvious that Nial was working tirelessly to be stronger. It was not as if his highprehension and precision in the arts of rune engraving were the sole reason for his sess. Meryl had understood that albeit a bitte and she was ready to learn from Nial rather than cursing him in her mind whenever his name came up.

    "Are you also interested in the runic prostheses, Master?" Nial asked in curiosity. It was quite obvious that Meryl had yet to learn lots of things, but if Master Crevian was ignorant of the existence of runic prostheses as well, it would mean that Nial must have invented something entirely new.

    That would be quite an achievement, but Nial actually doubted it.

    "I am also interested in the runic prostheses you''ve created, especially since it looks like you used quite unique ways to connect the prostheses to your patients," Master Crevian pointed out what he found the most interesting, and Nial nodded his head.

    ''Well, it was obvious that I didn''t invent something new. That would have been too weird...haha,'' Heughed in his mind for a second or two before he averted his focus back to the current situation.

    "If you see any drug addicts around here, just let me know. I have yet to figure out how to find them because I can''t see the addiction marks on their body," Nial requested all of a sudden and the Elves nodded their heads.

    At the same time, Miles just kept listening to the discussion of his wonderful son and the two renowned Elves with great interest.

    ''My son is really a prodigy... He is the best!!'' Miles concluded and he began to smile from ear to ear.

    "If their addiction progresses to the second stage, you should be able to sense their addiction marks with your mana as well. But we will help you, nheless, of course!" Meryl exined shortly, providing Nial with a few more pieces of information.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    He returned to the office with the others, and Melheim Zorn was already waiting for them with several stashes of reports and application forms.

    "I prepared everything you''ve asked for, Master!" Melheim Zorn said, his chest swelling with pride as he bowed lightly to Nial. Nial nodded his head in response, and he approached the stashes of reports.

    He put his hand on top of the first stash of papers and released mana to visualize every single detail of the papers in his mind.

    Afterward, he went through the application forms in the blink of an eye. Following that his head stung for a second or two, but Nial ignored this as best as possible as he went over to the second stash of papers.

    They were the reports that revealed the statistics of the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild. The statistics of the Onyx Association clearly mentioned how many dungeons they cleared every month, which rank the dungeons had, how many association members were involved in any dungeon raid, and how many ingredients they had brought back to the Artisan Guild. At the same time, it was also mentioned how much the Adventurers of the Association had grown since they joined.

    Furthermore, every single conflict was reported down to the finest detail, no matter how insignificant the conflict seemed to be.

    As for the Orion Artisan Guild''s statistics, they mostly revealed how much his Artisans'' progressed and how efficiently they had used the provided resources. The number of goods they finished crafting in a certain period was also duly noted as well as the internal and external conflicts.

    "This is great. I didn''t expect to find such detailed and sinct reports. That is quite helpful, good job!" Nial praised Melheim before he walked over to thest stash of papers. It was also the smallest stash with only fifty or so papers in it.

    "The only downside is that we have not received anymission requests. It looks like the Elves and other foreign races started to sell runic armaments on arger scale as well, but that was something we could have expected. Our Runiciers are not exactly considered talented, for now, at least," Nial revealed when he finished visualizing the details of a fewmissions in his mind.

    "That''s right, we don''t have manymissions. That is also the reason why the Orion Artisan Guild members are mostly focusing on mass-producing goods..." Melheim Zorn revealed, not daring to look in Nial''s direction.

    "They would be better off studying the books I left behind in the library. What''s the use of earning a few extra Origin crystals if they won''t improve?" He asked mostly to himself rather than others. There was no need for anyone to answer his question.

    "But what I''m curious about is the reason for the foreign Originals to join us. I understand that some of them are crippled and that they want to receive a prosthesis made by me, but I don''t really get why the others would be so eager to join me.

    There is even some foreign Original at the Keltia rank in our members...nobody ever questioned that, or did you?" Nial asked sharply, not understanding how nobody could have questioned the Keltia ranked Original about why he wanted to join an Organization filled with humans at or below the Prometheus rank!

    "We...actually did ask..." Melheim said before shutting his mouth when he realized that his response would seem like a rebuttal.

    "Oh? And what did he say was his reason for join us?" Nial asked, his interest piqued.

    "Well...he just said that this ce feels..fortable..." Melheim answered honestly, not hiding a thing.

    However, Nial was not satisfied with the answer. He tilted his head in an attempt to figure out what the hell was going on.

    "Comfortable? What isfortable about a ce that might as well be under attack at any moment if some random race were to decide to destroy Halheim and kidnap all of us?" Nial asked an extreme question but Melheim could only shrug his shoulders.

    He didn''t know the answer either.

    "But this ce is veryfortable...don''t you feel that as well?" The Little Oracle eximed all of a sudden.

    "Huh?"

 Chapter 458 Universes Favor

    "How should I put it¡­" The Little Oracle spoke mysteriously, cupping her chin with her hands before she began to giggle.

    "If you want the short answer, thefort you can find in this areaes from the remnants of your presence and energy. Most beings won''t even notice that they feel much morefortable in the ce you''ve been, but that''s the answer," She exined while actually not exining anything at all.

    "Hmm?" Meryl was just as confused as everyone else after hearing the Little Oracle''s answer. Meryl had actually forgotten that Nial had a tinypanion by his side, and upon hearing what she said, it was quite obvious for her that the little girl was beyond saving.

    "Why would someone feelfortable around the remnants of my presence and energy? I mean you know that I''m in possession of Dark energy and all that stuff," Nial said, not further exining what else his body harbored.

    It would just scare his father and maybe even Old Elf Crevian if he revealed more of his secrets.

    "So, you want to hear the long answer, the answer that will put you to sleep by the time I finish?" The Little Oracle asked lightly and she began to giggle once again.

    ''This girl¡­is really helpless,'' Nial thought while his lip began to twitch.

    "Just give me a satisfying answer that won''t take up too much of our time," He ended up saying, which was enough for the Little Oracle to click her tongue and pout for a few seconds.

    "Okay Okay¡­then the somewhat detailed answer that is not too detailed to put anyone to sleep¡­" She grumbled before clearing her throat.

    "A long time ago, the Universe spoke through me, revealing a prophecy that is closely rted to the end of the Universe. The Origin was sealed afterward to make sure that the prophecy would nevere true. However, as you might have noticed by now, the Origin, or Jundra, which is what you call it, is awakening once again.

    Once the Origin is fully awoken and it attains its peak state once again, the prophecy wille into effect and troublesome times will await us.

    Only two beings are said to be able to ovee these times, and they''rebeled as the Eternal Darkness and the Undying. Both the Eternal Darkness and the Undying have been born, and I''ve already sent the Undying to the Path of Preparation.

    He is currently learning everything he needs to know to fight off the Veilures, the pest that will infest the Universe at a terrific pace the moment the Origin regains its full power," The Little Oracle took a few deep breaths after speaking nonstop.

    She spent a few seconds of utter silence looking at the baffled expressions of the others before she continued to speak.

    "But toe back to your question, the Universe is in favor of you because you and the Undying are the only ones who will be able to protect it from its inevitable destruction. Due to this favor you two received, other beings will feelfortable around you, and your energy remnants even if the two of you are currently still weaker than countless beings.

    The two of you are growing rapidly but that is more than necessary to cope with what awaits you two in the near future!" She said, ending her not-so-short monologue and summary of the given situation.

    A minute of silence followed, and even afterward nobody really dared to say anything. The eyes of the people all around the Little Oracle stared at her feeling baffled and confused, and it was only after some time that Meryl couldn''t help herself anymore.

    "What is that¡­bullshit? Is this little human on drugs?" She blurted out. Meryl pointed at the Little Oracle with a red face and was ready to lecture the little girl.

    Yet, just when she thought of saying something, Meryl noticed that no sound escaped her mouth and that she couldn''t move her body anymore.

    "Why is that young woman so annoying?" The Little Oracle asked, looking up to Nial, who could only sigh deeply.

    "Please don''t freeze her in time. She just doesn''t know that you''re not human and that your job is actually that of an Oracle," Nial patted the Little Oracle''s head but he couldn''t help and add something to lecture the little girl as well, "but you should stop cosying as a six-year-old child as well. That is he confusing for other people¡­"

    The Little Oracle pouted after hearing Nial''s lecture but she didn''t change her appearance in the slightest. She turned her head with a "Hmph!" and ignored Nial.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    But that was actually something he was thankful for. After all, his mind was going wild with the information he had just gotten to know.

    "Somehow that really sounds like bullshit¡­me and someone else being favored by the Universe and supposed to rescue it¡­I''ve never heard of a weirder story¡­some Undying and Eternal Darkness being told to turn into thest ray of hope for the Universe''s survival¡­" Nial shook his head disapprovingly. He didn''t like the way things developed, especially since he didn''t feel like epting the responsibility for something as big as rescuing the Universe.

    He was not even sure if the Universe was worth being saved, to begin with. The only people of importance were his friends and family. As for the rest, Nial couldn''t really care about them or their survival right now.

    "But¡­even if it sounds like bullshit¡­the Elven Empress received a simr prophecy a long time ago¡­" Master Crevian suddenly said, revealing one of the reasons for the Elven Empress to favor Nial as much as she did in the past.

    Nial recalled the benefits he had been granted by the Elven race, and it looked like things were making far more sense now.

    Despite that, Nial couldn''t help but doubt the things he had just heard.

    "But from what I understand this Undying person and I are still way too weak. So why have we been chosen?" Nial was trying to put two and two together but his mind was still not ready to ept what was going on. He really didn''t like the situation¡­

    Yet, just when he was about to change his thoughts a little, Nial''s Heart of Darkness began to rumble.

    [I might have met the person she calls Undying¡­] Kaeldur spoke in his mind all of a sudden, stunning Nial with the unexpected revtion.

    ''You¡­met that person??'' He nearly shouted out.

    [Yes, I think so¡­ he woke me up from my hibernation and summoned me for a short period. It was a little bit weird, which is why I recall meeting this human¡­] Kaeldur revealed and Nial''s head began to hurt because of all the information he received.

    Initially, Nial just wanted to get his hand on the answer of why some Original of a higher rank and stemming from a foreign race would feelfortable in Halheim, but what he received as an answer was something entirely different, something he would have never expected to hear.

    He did not only not expect to hear something like that but he didn''t want to hear it as well. It was something he would rather ignore if possible.

    ''And when was that, Kaeldur?'' Nial asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

    [It was probably shortly before you were born before the Darkness Fragment found you! So probably around 30 years or a few more decades, maybe less. I cannot recall the exact time when I was sealed,] Kaeldur borated and Nial ended up merely nodding his head just to recall something.

    ''Wait¡­you said ''human'' earlier¡­so he is a human as well?'' He realized and Kaeldur nodded his head.

    [He is human but different from you. His body is overflowing with Essence because he nourishes his body with it. His path toward godhood will be different than yours. His Powers are exceptional but his personality is a little bit¡­extreme if I were to put it like this.

    You should understand what I mean when you meet him in the future!] Kaeldur spoke calmly and in a somewhat different way than he usually did.

    Nial felt like saying something but he chose to shut his mouth.

    Too many thoughts shed through his mind, and there was one big thing that bothered him a lot.

    If the Universe favored and supported him¡­were all his achievements really his own achievements?

 Chapter 459 Kick Them Out!

    Nial didn''t like to think that the Universe had given him a helping hand in everything he had achieved so far. It made him feel as if his efforts had been without any value, which was depressing.

    ''But even if the Universe were to support me, I wouldn''t have be a Runicier, and I would have never advanced my Mana Core''s rank as fast as I''m doing right now if I had not put in tremendous efforts¡­'' Nial told himself in an attempt to ept that the Universe might have its hand in the game, but that he was still the one in charge.

    He attempted to change his thoughts ande to a consensus with the fact that some strangers may feel fortable'' around him due the Origin Energy inside his body.

    Now that he thought about it, Jundra, the Origin, had always been there, either way and had awakened a long time ago.

    Furthermore, there was not only him, the Eternal Darkness, but also the Undying, a human.

    "This is really a big mess¡­but I think I can ept it," Nial ended up mumbling after a few minutes. He took a deep breath and added a few words afterward, "though it''s quite interesting that there is another human, who became the chosen one. That''s almost too much of a coincidence; the two beings mentioned in the prophecy are both humans."

    Nial was just trying to ease his tension, but he quickly noticed that he was being looked at weirdly. His perception told him that something was off but nobody spoke to him for a few seconds.

    "You didn''t tell him yet?" The Oracle''s voice rang through Nial''s ears as she spoke to Miles, who flinched upon hearing her. He looked at the little girl as if the biggest secret of his life had been uncovered. His eyes widened and he broke into a sweat.

    "Eh¡­well¡­not ye¨C..." Miles struggled to give a proper answer. This was more than enough for the Little Oracle to lift her hand and to turn to Nial.

    "It looks like your father will have to exin to you a lot in the near future because I don''t want to be the one spoiling everything in your father-son rtionship," The Little Oracle spoke in a brutally honest way, making Miles want to disappear from the face of the.

    His gaze flicked at his son as well who looked confused.

    "I had told you¡­that there is something I want to talk about when you will be back¡­but we should do that when its just the two of us¡­that''s fine with you, right?" Miles asked, feeling intimidated. Nial, on the other hand, just nodded his head. He didn''t really know what was going on, but he wanted his father to calm down and get some rest.

    Thus, he turned his attention to Meryl and Master Crevian, while patting his father''s back.

    "I wanted to start the production process of the remaining prostheses today, but it looks like I can only make one or two before I will take your leave with my father," Nial informed the two Elves before he focused on Melheim, whose entire being was frozen.

    Melheim didn''t want to understand a single thing that the little Oracle had revealed earlier, but every single word was deeply etched in his mind. It didn''t make sense that such a small girl would say something so big with such a serious expression¡­and that he actually believed it.

    Nheless, it made him feel as if he was overloading with information he didn''t want to know as the content was way too shocking.

    "If you need to talk with someone, juste to me. I don''t really understand the situation myself, but I can tell that you are far more disturbed than I am. You can even tell others about it if that makes you feel better¡­though I''m not sure if anyone will believe your words, or if they willbel you crazy and start avoiding you," Nial tried to reassure Melheim Zorn but his words seemed more like a warning than a constion in any way.

    Melheim just nodded his head, and he was trying not to look too dispirited. Despite all of that, his attention switched over to the Little Oracle, who had returned to Nial to hold his right hand.

    ''She may act as if she is cute and all that¡­.but she is definitely not human¡­let alone normal¡­ Monsters really act like mas¡­'' Melheim realized, his heart slowly calming down after what Nial had said.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "There are a bunch of things I should give you, and there are a handful of Artisans and Adventurers I want you to kick out of the organization. They''re already at the second stage of the Cultivation Drug addiction. Even imprisoning them won''t do any good to stop the effects of the drugs in their body, and their body''s natural addiction... They need proper help and medical attention!" Nial opined, handing Melheim a spatial ring before he used his mana on the stash of papers.

    More than a hundred applications were pulled out of the stash of papers and theynded in front of Melheim Zorn.

    "Tell everyone that this is what happens if my people cannot get rid of their drug issue. Give every 1st Stage Drug addict one week to show that they can survive without the Cultivation Drug. If that''s not possible, kick them out as well. I don''t want any idents to ur in our organization just because some Drug addicts cannot focus, or if they''re unable to control their emotions!" He denounced, and Melheim nodded his head.

    He had an opinion simr to Nial in that regard, especially since there had already been a bunch of incidents where Drug addicts had been involved. However, without Nial''smand, Melheim Zorn had not dared to throw out everyone, not if the drug addicts were rather talented Artisans or if they had great future potential asbatants.

    "Wow¡­where did you get all of this from?" Melheim blurted out when he essed the spatial ring Nial had handed over.

    Nial just shrugged his shoulders and patted the back of his Vice-Leader once before turning around.

    "The Martial Art techniques are not yet tranted, so their use will probably be not that much for the time being. Nheless, I have noted down the tranted name of the techniques I brought. You can share that list with the Onyx Association and tell them that they will need to upgrade their Soul Contract with us if they want to learn one of those techniques. The Soul Contract will forbid them from forging close ties with other races, if they are considered to be hostile to humans, except with special permission, of course.

    As for the Orion Artisan Guild, there are also a few techniques and books that may or may not be useful for them." Nial said and he walked away, leaving behind a baffled Vice Leader.

    ''This¡­Nial is really amazing¡­'' Melheim could only marvel as he looked at the broad back of their Leader using the runic eye''s sight.

    While Melheim stared nkly at him, Nial hade up with other tasks to do once again.

    "I will create two runic prostheses before I leave. That should be fine with you guys, right?" Nial asked with a faint smile on his lips.

    Meryl and Master Crevian nodded their heads meekly. Their minds were still tormented by the words of the Little Oracle, and it was already a wonder that Nial was so unaffected.

    It was truly astonishing, and iprehensible for Meryl. As for Master Crevian, he understood the situation a little bit better than others because he had already heard about the existence of a prophecy that revolved around the Darkness that would be the Universe''s ray of hope.

    Thus, it was not really astonishing for Master Crevian to hear that there was another prophecy. It was only a little bit baffling that the little girl holding Nial''s hand considered herself the Oracle.

    Master Crevian had only heard legends about the Oracle, and nobody had ever seen her, or so they said.

    The legends said that she was otherworldly beautiful and that even the Goddesses of Love, Beauty, and Lust paled inparison to her, but that didn''t seem to be the case, at all.

    The Oracle was just a beautiful little girl though she looked like she was six-year-old. This granted her many brownie points because people would easily underestimate her and allow the Oracle to do many things that would be frowned upon if she were to look like a mature woman.

    And this definitely included the fact that the Little Oracle was constantly holding Nial''s hand!!

 Chapter 460 Picture

    "Since when are you so fast at engraving runic constetions?!?" Meryl eximed in shock as she stared at thepleted runic prostheses.

    She did not even dare blink for the fear of missing out on anything. That was shocking even for Master Crevian who perceived everything with his range of perception, just like Nial.

    "You manifested the whole prostheses in your mind, and you finished engraving the runic constetions in your mind in a matter of seconds before you started, didn''t you?" Master Crevian asked, unable to hide the dumbfounding tone in his voice.

    He was truly shocked because he knew how difficult it was to visualize something perfectly in one''s mind, let alone engraving runic constetions in your mind as well. Thebination of runic constetions Nial had used was also far from easy and it required a tremendous amount of focus and practice to be able to create something like Nial had just finished in less than an hour.

    "I can even engrave Superior runic constetions now. Thesebinations of Beginner and Intermediate runic constetions are not a problem for me anymore. Maybe the only issue I have is to create ovepping runic constetions without connecting them. Once I add miniature runic constetions to the ovepping runic constetions I will have to slow down and give my best to finish creating the runic armament to near perfection.

    However, for a normal Tier-2 runic prosthesis, I don''t really need much time," Nial said as a matter of fact before he realized that hisment mighte off as a bit standoffish.

    But even if that were to be the case, it was obvious that his arrogance was not baseless!

    "Looks like the humans will get their hands on another Saint Runicier in the future," Master Crevian said. He sounded a bit sour but that was understandable. Bing a Saint Runicier was far from easy. There was only a handful of them in some races, and some races didn''t have even a single Saint Runicier.

    That is why having one more Saint Runicier was highly beneficial, especially since they had the capability to give pointers in the creation of Divinities!

    WIth their knowledge about runic armaments, it was possible to help other individuals to ascend to godhood. That was more than enough to denote the true value of a Saint Runicier, and Nial was likely to be one of them once he could engrave Ancient runic constetions in every possible way,bine them with all kinds of runic constetions and thus create runic armaments that even Gods would want toy their hands on!

    "We will see how far I can go, but let''s first finish another runic prosthesis before we call it a day," Nial dered and the others agreed readily.

    He retrieved the information about one of the Onyx Association''s Adventurers, visualized his body ording to the given information in his mind, and then added his own visualization of the prosthesis he had in mind.

    After a few minutes, he approached the cksmith and imprinted his visualization of the prosthesis in his mind as well.

    This was quite easy with the use of his ability, Dominion. The ability had once been Mental Control, which was how Nial could easily activate the ability to alter the picture that formed in the heads of others. At least that would be possible as long as their willpower was weaker than that of Nial''s!

    The cksmith epted the infiltration of his mind and he started to create the prosthesis Nial wanted.

    Less than two hourster, the runic prosthesis was done¡­a wonderful leg that could be used until the Adventurer would reach the Mid Deux rank.

    "He should be able to use his zing kick ability as well. I focused on engraving the runic constetions around the prosthesis'' feet to enhance the effect of fire-based attacks. That way, he shouldn''t really face problems when conquering dungeons!" Nial exined to the young woman, who was supposed to deliver and install the prosthesis.

    "I hope he can get back on his feet and give his best after his unfortunate ident. He really shouldn''t give up on himself!" Nial added words of constion even if he was not talking personally to the young man, who had lost his leg in a dungeon conquest.

    "I will forward your message. Thank you very much for taking care of all of us!" The young woman''s eyes shone brightly as she looked at the milky white, lifeless eyes of Nial before she took his leave.

    She was not intimidated by Nial''s eyes in the slightest. In fact, her eyes shone even brighter when looking at them.

    "Looks like our little hero is quite popr!" Meryl eximed, just for someone to pull her pointy ear.

    "Argh¡­master! Why??" She squealed as she was dragged behind Master Crevian, who bowed to Nial, Miles, and the Little Oracle to formally bid them a nice rest day.

    "We will see each other soon, and I hope that it will be with less shocking news then," Master Crevian said politely, and took their leave afterward. Meryl was not even able to say something as her master kept dragging her behind.

    "You guys cane by whenever you want to study the prostheses I made. It would be great to have a helping hand or two," Nial joked as he wished them a good day as well.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Afterward, the Little Oracle waved her free hand as well and began ying around.

    As for Ryu, the tiny Gryphon was chirping out,ining that he was as hungry as a fully matured Gluttony Pig.

    "Let''s eat something before we talk, how about it?" Nial asked, smiling faintly in his father''s direction.

    However, Miles was not able to listen to his son anymore. His heart was beating loud enough to drown out all other sounds around him.

    Miles seemed to be panicking, which was more than enough for Nial to call someone to prepare enough food for 10 people and to bring his father back to the wooden hut.

    The food was prepared and brought to the wooden hut, where they ate in silence. Ryu was gobbling up more food than anyone else, while the Little Oracle ate nothing.

    She didn''t have any mortal needs and just looked at Nial, who was waiting for his father to say what he had to say, and Miles, whose expression was far from good.

    "Dad, no matter what you have to say, I will always love you and mom!" Nial dered after half an hour had passed. He was done eating and visualized his father not eating anything and just toying with his food.

    "What about Sabrina?" Miles asked all of a sudden, confusing Nial.

    "That little demon will have toe home first and get a good beating for not calling you at all!!" Nial said grumpily while shaking his fist.

    His reaction was more than enough for Miles to breathe out in relief and look at his son.

    "You don''t remember the day when you lost your eyesight, when the Dungeon Portal manifested in the middle of nowhere, and swallowed you, right?" Miles began the first question that led to a much bigger truth.

    "I mean¡­I was three years old. How am I supposed to remember anything from that day?" Nial retorted and his heart started to hammer against his ribcage. He felt that something big was about to happen.

    "Well, that is obvious¡­but you do remember that you took a look at my wallet when you were only six years old, when you saw the picture of someone else standing with us, right?" Miles asked question after question, not realizing that he was going down a rabbit hole.

    Miles was not actually sure what he was supposed to say, or how he should address the issue he had been ignoring for so long.

    It was a delicate matter and hoped that his lovely wife could have unveiled the bitter truth to Nial.

    "I remember that picture. Do you still have it with you?" Nial nodded his head and Miles retrieved his wallet from the spatial ring before he pulled a small photo from his wallet.

    There, one could see a small young child at the age of 1 or two hanging in the arms of Miles and Maline, smiling from ear to ear.

    "That''s not you before the ident," Miles said in a low voice, pointing at the picture and Nial nodded his head. "I can tell,"

    "But it''s our son¡­Maline and my dead son¡­the only son we ever had¡­" Miles revealed as his expression soured.

    His eyes were filled with sadness, and guilt and a single tear trickled down his cheeks.

    Nial took a moment to realize what his father had spoken and the only word that escaped Nial''s mouth was stupefied;

    "HUH?!?"

 Chapter 461 Revelation

    "What are you talking about?" Nial asked as his smile faltered.

    "The young boy in the picture is Killian, Maline, and my son. He died 22 years ago, just a few days before Maline found you¡­" Miles answered. His voice was trembling and he was getting quieter the more he spoke.

    But Nial could hear everything.

    "He was ill, and we couldn''t afford the medicine to treat him. I just hope he didn''t suffer as much as my wonderful wife. Maline was so tortured by the loss of her child that she would often go to the ygrounds where they had always yed. She stayed there for several days without eating or drinking anything, and she didn''t get any sleep either¡­"

    Nial''s lips twitched and he was not even able to force a smile on his face.

    ''Is that for real?''

    Even if he didn''t want to know what his father was just about to say, Nial was able to guess it. Nheless, his expression turned into an even worse grimace when the very words he didn''t want to hear out of his father''s mouth fell on his ears.

    "I was searching for my wife, expecting the worst while the anomaly of a dungeon portal manifested. But what I didn''t expect to happen was that the horror of this incident turned out to be a blessing in disguise¡­because it brought you into our family¡­"

    Miles'' voice cracked and though he was sitting close, it felt distant and cold to him all of a sudden. Nial didn''t even realize that he had fallen back on the chair that had appeared behind him. His expression was filled with iprehensible emotions and his mind was overflowing with doubts.

    "So¡­Mo¨C...Maline picked me up from the dungeon portal like a stray cat, and she decided to raise me to make up for the loss of her own blood and flesh¡­" Nial summarized, his voiceced with bitterness and pain.

    He tried to breathe but it felt like his throat had suddenly gone dry. The mana and dark energy within him were reacting wildly, and his hands began to tremble.

    "We never thought of you as a recem¨C..." Miles wanted to defend himself, but Nial wasn''t having it.

    He sighed deeply in an attempt to calm himself but his father''s words made him feel even worse. "Do you think I''m stupid?"

    "N-No¡­of course not¡­"

    "I am fully aware that you are talking bullshit right now¡­" Nial said in a bitter tone. He wanted to shout at Miles, but the words he had in his mind were stuck on his tongue.

    Nial could clearly tell that Maline had picked him up to tend to the wound caused by the loss of her son, her biological son.

    This realization hurt much more than any pain Nial had ever gone through. He had always loved his family and he had sworn himself to protect them by all means, no matter what.

    However, it was the same family that had pierced a dagger deep into his back, backstabbing him and hiding the truth for so long.

    "I¡­no¡­We found you and brought you back¡­yes¡­, but you were never the recement for Kilian¡­ We visited the yground every single day to see if someone, your parents, were looking for you, but nobody came for an entire year. Not even the police knew anything about a missing report of a small child, and we didn''t want you to suffer as an orphan at such a young age.

    Thus, when Maline got pregnant with Sabrina¡­we thought that it would be great for our little girl to have a big brother, a brother she can trust and rely on¡­" Miles tried to exin why they did what they had done but he was having a hard time getting it all out as tears continued to stream down his face.

    He couldn''t hold back his emotions anymore and started to cry bitterly. His hands reached out for Nial in the hope that his son would understand him, that he would know that he was not a substitute for the loss of their son and that they had always loved him for being himself, not for being someone else.

    Despite his emotional breakdown, Miles was not able to reach Nial''s hand because his son moved his hands to avoid getting touched by Miles, the man he had always presumed to be his real father.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    "Hah¡­so I was really a stray cat, and you guys picked me up¡­" Nial mumbled, unable to think of anything else to say. His mind was in a mess after what he had just heard, and he didn''t know what was right and wrong. Everything felt like a lie all of a sudden, and he didn''t want anything else but to be alone at this moment.

    "Does Sabrina know as well¡­that I''m not actually her brother, but just a stranger picked up from the streets?" Nial asked bitterly, and saw Miles freeze in response.

    "We never told anyone about you¡­we thought you were going to get taken from us if something were to happen¡­ so we just asked for help to have your ID renewed¡­saying that you were our son and that we found youing out of the dungeon portal, which is the truth¡­you actually came out of the dungeon portal!" Miles was trying hard to convince Nial but he was too overwhelmed. He simply got up from the seat and prepared to take his leave.

    "I will conquer a few dungeons to clear my mind. You¡­just stay here or do whatever you want. I wille back¡­probably," Nial said, getting up from the chair before he turned into darkness currents as he merged with the shadows around him.

    "Wait!..." Miles shouted out loud and he jumped forward to grasp the darkness currents but his hands brushed against empty air.

    "You cannot just leave like this¡­"

    "As you can see, he can," The Little Oracle said all of a sudden. She pushed her tiny body up the chair and sat down in front of the sobbing Miles Orin. Ryu jumped on the Little Oracle''sp where heid down to take a well-deserved nap.

    "That¡­was not what I meant," Miles Orin retorted and the Little Oracle couldn''t agree more.

    "You really messed up the exnation."

    "I¡­know¡­"

    "At least, I know that you guys did a fabulous job. Nial would have had it much worse in an orphanage. He would have been thrown out before awakening his Origin and his chances of surviving until the age of 18 would have decreased drastically!" The Little Oracle said as a matter of fact.

    She didn''t really care whether it was any constion, or if it made things worse for Miles. However, who she was interested in was Nial.

    "It''s just sad that he forgets to ask the most important questions. Seems like he is far more naive and soft-hearted than expected," The Oracle mumbled before she averted her focus on patting Ryu.

    There were too many questions Nial had forgotten to ask. He knew that he possessed memories about his life before losing his eyesight, but they were blurred.

    That meant Nial would have found out more about his life before he emerged on Jundra, sooner orter.

    However, as of now, Nial didn''t even question whether he was born on Jundra, to begin with, who his parents were, or other questions of even more importance!

    "Did you ever question whether Nial is truly a human or not? Or did you imagine that raising him could turn out to be the worst possible decision in your family''s life?" The Oracle asked, her purple eyes darting straight into Miles'' grief-stricken eyes.

    "Of course not¡­why would we ever think like that?? We always loved him, no matter what. Others might have hesitated raising a blind child that was not even theirs but we felt connected to him right off the bat! It would have been better if Kilian was still alive because they would have grown up as great and loving brothers, but Killian''s death has nothing to do with us picking up Nial¡­even if it might look like that¡­" Miles replied vehemently, which was rewarded with a thumbs up from the little Oracle.

    Her eyes darted over to the shadows that were moving and the corners of her lips curled upward. ''Are you satisfied with that, Nial?''

    Nial was already far away from Halheim Shelter but his shadows had heard everything necessary. Nial felt as if a heavy weight was taken off his chest, though he was still not able to smile as too many thoughts shed through his mind.

    "Dad¡­you are really bad with words, aren''t you?"

 Chapter 462 Parents?

    Even though Nial knew the truth now, he didn''t intend to go back to his father immediately.

    There were quite a few things he had to test out and the timing was quite good as well.

    His mind was overflowing with questions that had no answers, not yet at least.

    ''At least I can tell that dad truly loves me, I guess?'' Nial thought. He was still questioning everything that had just happened even after what he had heard based on the short chat between the Little Oracle and his father.

    However, it was the exact same chat that confused Nial even more than he already was.

    ''Why would she ask about my race all of a sudden? Isn''t it obvious that I''m a human? I have five ability slots like every human from Jundra, and I was born he¨C...no I don''t know where I was born¡­''

    Nial was still pretty sure that he was a human because only humans from Jundra had five ability slots. For now, that was enough to calm Nial in that regard. At least, he didn''t start questioning his race or origin all of a sudden.

    ''But where are my biological parents? Did they abandon me, or did they just lose me?''

    If his father''s sorry attempts to exin everything that happened in the past were true, Miles and Maline had searched for his biological parents for over a year. At that time, his biological parents could have sent a missing report to the police, searched for him at the yground or done something else to find him.

    Because that didn''t happen, Nial concluded that his biological parents had either abandoned him at the ygrounds, or they had never cared about him, to begin with.

    There were countless other possibilities, including that his parents had also been caught in the dungeon portal incident and that they were killed inside it but Nial didn''t want to think like that.

    He didn''t want to idolize his biological parents without knowing anything about them. Maybe they were the worst kind of human beings and he was just trying to uplift his mood by telling himself that they had died a heroic death while trying to save the son they had loved dearly.

    [After you woke me from hibernation, I saw your family only a few times, but I can tell that they loved you as a member of your family]

    Kaeldur''s voice rang in his mind all of a sudden. Nial didn''t expect one of Damian''s Devils to be adept at consoling. That was quite the surprise and it was enough to make a tiny smile bloom on his face.

    Meanwhile, the Tyrant of Destruction roared out from the deepest parts of the Heart of Darkness.

    [I never thought that you were human, to begin with! How dare a mere human use the powers of our grand master, the Lord of Darkness, Damian?!]

    ''I am human though¡­''

    [Don''t kid yourself! No human can possess as much power as you do. How dare a human try to control me?!!]

    Tyrant was going wild in Nial''s mind, but he just found it amusing, if Nial were to be honest. The tension in his body was disappearing and the frustration and sourness within were slowly dispersing as well.

    Nheless, there were quite a few things he had to do before returning.

    By spreading out his range of perception and Mana Sense, Nial found a bunch of powerful beasts. He used his dark energy to grow wings out of his shoulder des and he started flying in the direction of the closest dungeon beast.

    It didn''t take him long to reach the beast and hended right in front of it, showing no sign of fear or hesitation.

    "Heed mymand, and you may live!" Nial thundered, releasing his Dominion ability with arge amount of mana. He didn''t leave the dungeon beast much of a leeway. It could either submit to him or die at once.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    The horned, four-meter-tall Wolf snarled and showed its teeth menacingly. It was just about to pounce on him in a desperate attempt to escape submission when a huge ck shadow emerged from Nial''s back.

    "Calm down, Tyrant. I want to test a few things!" Nial said mere moments before the Tyrant of Destruction would have smashed the horned Deux Wolf''s head into pieces.

    The Horned Wolf whimpered and threw himself on the ground. This was enough for Nial to nod his head, give the beast some mentalmands, and get on its back.

    His ck wings transformed into darkness currents that shrouded Nial''s body, thereby protecting him from any harm.

    "Let''s collect a few more of your caliber before conquering a bunch of dungeons!" Nial shouted and the Horned Wolf roared out before it dashed in the direction he was ordered to run.

    With the use of Dominion, Nial was able to do many magical things. It was possible for him to alter the thoughts of beasts and lead them subtly in a specific direction. That way, the dungeon beasts would be oblivious when they did something that was against their natural instinct.

    This subtle change required arge amount of mana to be used at once and it would be permanent as long as the dungeon beast wouldn''t face a situation that shocked it to the core. As for beasts with strong willpower, they were likely to be able to remove the alteration after a while or bepletely immune to it.

    But Nial didn''t use this type of function against the Horned Wolf and the other dungeon beasts he was getting his hands on in the following two hours. He overwhelmed them and forced them into temporary submission. With the use of Dominion, Nial put a leash on the monsters with the only rule they had to adhere to; as long as you heed mymands, you will be able to live on!

    Nial could have used Dominion a little differently but he didn''t want to use the Blood Eclipse Moon, or his dark energy, let alone Essence of Darkness simply to put a bunch of dungeon beasts on a leash.

    He tested out a few things, including the current limit of Dominion and his mind''s capacity to control the two Devils in his Heart of Darkness along with the leashed dungeon beasts.

    However, that was not everything Nial wanted to test out. In addition to this, he also wanted to test hisbat prowess while controlling that many beasts at the same time.

    It was a special and one-of-a-kind training that allowed him to improve his multitasking abilities in battle.

    And to make sure that he would be subjected to more than enough pressure, Nial entered one of the Deux-ranked Dungeon portals which he had found on his way.

    He got down from the Horned Wolf''s back, shrouded his entire body in darkness and he spread out his dark energy to cover the ground all around him.

    Kaeldur and Tyrant emerged from the ground, feeling ready to fight at once. Their dark energy was uncontrobly spreading through the surroundings and Nial stepped through the Dungeon Portal just momentster.

    The moment he emerged on the other side of the portal Nial''s Mana burst forth. He devoured all the information his Mana took in and the dungeon''s interior was slowly formed in his mind.

    "There are only a few Deux-rank beasts in the dungeon. However, that one bastard at the top of the mountain seems to be quite powerful for a Deux dungeon beast. It''s probably the Dungeon Boss," Nial informed the others before he motioned his right hand. Dominion was already activated and the ten leashed dungeon beasts began to move without the slightest indication of a rebellion.

    They burst forward and started with the killing spree of all the monsters in their way.

    [Can I y with the Boss?] The Tyrant of Destruction asked, smashing the mace he was holding in his other hand. The loud pping sound resounded through the chilling surrounding of the freezing mountain, but Nial merely shrugged his shoulders.

    "Do whatever you want, but I don''t think that you can handle it alone, not in your current state," Nial responded tly, annoying the Tyrant of Destruction.

    [Master, you take me too lightly. Even if I''m not at the peak of my power, I can still handle someone like this!]

    "Then go on and show me."

 Chapter 463 Vengeance Of Chaos

    The frozen mountain''s Boss Beast was a four-meter-tall Yeti.

    White fur covered the dungeon beast''s entire body, and it towered above Nial. It was holding a huge blunt bat made of stones in its ridiculously long limbs.

    Nial visualized the situation that urred far away from him with little interest as he saw the Tyrant of Destruction getting beaten into a pulp.

    [I don''t know why he is trying so hard to overwhelm his opponents with nothing but brute force. It is exactly the same as in the past, though he got a lot weaker.]

    Kaeldur''s voice resounded in Nial''s mind as he spent some time analyzing the fight between Tyrant and the Yeti. The Tyrant of Destruction didn''t make use of any mana. He had fought the Dungeon Boss with nothing but brute force, just like Kaeldur had said before.

    ''We should just let him suffer then. Maybe he will get to his senses after the Yeti crushes his head and body!''

    [If only that would be enough¡­]

    While Nial and Kaeldur conversed through telepathy and shared their opinions of the opponents, the Tyrant of Destruction was giving his everything to fight the Yeti head-on.

    However, this was rather difficult because the Yeti was at an environmental advantage, and it was not forced to restrict its own power by not using its abilities and mana.

    The Dungeon Boss was in possession of a special trait that strengthened its fur the colder the surrounding area was. In the frozen mountain dungeon, this meant that its power was naturally higher than anywhere else. This was even more true when it came to the tip of the mountain where the freezing wind caused chills to spread all over the Tyrant''s ck shadow hide.

    The Yeti and Tyrant delivered one strike after another on the head of their opponent. Their weapons were blunt but the might behind each strike was not to be underestimated.

    ''I would definitely die facing the attacks of these maniacs head-on¡­''

    Blood spurted all over the tip of the mountain, but Nial wasn''t worried about Tyrant. They thought Devil would survive, even if he were to leave the dungeon with a few bruises and a concussion.

    As for the leashed dungeon beasts, Nial paid little attention to them. They were doing a good job on their own by tearing apart the residents of the frozen mountain.

    Even the residents at the Deux rank were not strong enough to face abined attack of a handful of ferocious beasts that joined hands with Kaeldur, who merged with the shadows of the dungeon beasts to attack them whenever the opportunity presented itself.

    Nial, on the other hand, was not doing much. He tried to ess the Vengeance of Chaos ability, but that was not as easy as it seemed.

    He felt the ability and he could tell that he met the requirements to activate it. However, something seemed to hold him back from unleashing the power of his fifth and final ability.

    ''Is it because I''m confused about my family''s situation? I know that it will take a long time for me to unravel my emotions and sort the mess¡­''

    Nial hoped that the reason behind it was not his confused mind. Thus, he changed his way to approach the situation. He focused on a small pebble on the ground by visualizing it to the finest detail to drown out every other thought bothering him

    The pebble became the highest priority for Nial''s existence all of a sudden, and he subconsciously lifted his hand and pointed at the pebble with his t hand.

    Tremendous power surged through his arm all of a sudden, his muscles bulged all over his arm and his veins seemed to protrude through his skin when he squeezed his hand due to the horrifying pain.

    All of a sudden, Kaeldur and Tyrant stopped in their tracks. Tyrant released a tremendous amount of dark energy to fling the Dungeon Boss hundreds of meters away, just to be able to turn his head in Nial''s direction.

    Kaeldur had also turned toward their Master and what he saw caused a devious grin overflowing with ecstasy to appear on his face.

    The arm Nial had stretched out was enveloped in faint grayish currents. The grayish currents reached his hand, just to form a small ball in his palm moments before Nial clutched his hand to a fist.

    The grayish ball burst open and it formed back to the gray currents that circted around Nial''s hand.

    Yet, just when Kaeldur and Tyrant had expected something grand to happen, they realized that their master''s action had already beenpleted.

    A trace of the grayish currents had dispersed in order to twist,press and burst open the tiny pebble that Nial had found not even five meters away from him.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    However, Nial was not yet done with his experiments.

    Wings sprouted out of his back and he shot high in the air before he burst in the direction of the closest Deux Dungeon Beast. There weren''t many left in the frozen mountain dungeon but Nial found one with a few injuries.

    It looked up at the flying Nial when it felt a horrifying strong presence from above, but even before it could do something the Dungeon Beast''s sight blurred.

    The Dungeon Beast looked down at its chest, where it felt an unbearable sting spreading out, affecting its body all over. Yet, what it saw when looking down was nothing unusual. It was stillpletely unscathed.

    But then¡­why did it feel so weak all of a sudden¡­so tired, that it felt that it would never be able to wake up again?

    The answer was Nial or the Vengeance of Chaos ability that had been unleashed through the wielder''s right arm.

    Grayish currents still shrouded his arm, but the amount had decreased once again. Meanwhile, a smile had formed on Nial''s face as he was slowly getting an understanding of the ability.

    ''This ability doesn''t really have a form but it will do whatever I want with it¡­that''s pretty neat!''

    The ability''s name was grand, being called [Vengeance of Chaos] and all that, but its final use seemed to be much simpler than expected.

    Nial had desired to twist,press, and burst apart both the pebble and the heart of the Dungeon Beast at the Deux rank, and his wish had been granted not once but twice.

    Testing out Vengeance of Chaos for the third time, just with a target further away for a change, Nial noticed a few things.

    ''So it''s like this?''

    He smiled when he noticed that more of the grayish currents were used up the moment he desired to sh through the throat of a beast further away from him.

    In a fourth attempt, he tried to make use of the same sh on a nearby dungeon beast. This provided Nial with more information that he could make use of very easily.

    The further his designated target was from him, the higher the consumption of currents. As for the exact extent of the wish, it would demand more or less of the power that had been umted in the Vengeance of Chaos ability.

    Vengeance of Chaos could be activated with any type of energy but Nial noticed a few differences upon using the Blood Eclipse Moon''s crimson power, mana, dark energy, and the Essence of Darkness.

    The traits of every type of energy were clearly noticeable when used through the Vengeance of Chaos. The power he could unleash varied a lot, and so did the wishes he could grant by using different types of energy.

    Calling it ''granting wishes'' was a little bit exaggerated because he couldn''t create miracles as of now but Nial couldn''t think of a different way to think of his ability.

    ''A flexible power with a uselessly imposing name? A powerful all-rounder ability? Well¡­who cares¡­except me?''

    Nial discarded those thoughts and ended up flying to the Yeti to use the Dungeon Boss as his guinea pig. There were lots of things to test out, with one of them being the limit his power held.

    Thus, Nial ended up using arge amount of his Essence of Darkness to create new currents around his right arm. The grayish tone slowly changed into a dark, nearly pitch-ck color as Nial tested out the thing he was the most curious about.

    -Can I kill a Mid-range Deux rank Dungeon Boss with a single attack?-

    "Burst!" Nial shouted at the top of his lungs, twisting his right hand while the abyss-ck currents dispersed.

    The Yeti looked at Nial in confusion for a moment before it bent down. Its arms were hanging down and barely brushed the ground for a moment before it sted high into the air.

    The Dungeon Boss reached Nial in the blink of an eye but Nial just smiled as he visualized what was going on in the beast''s mind.

    "It''s over," He said in a quiet and confident voice and it was merely a secondter that the Yeti''s eyes began to bulge before its head burst open.

 Chapter 464 What Is That?

    [Master¡­what is that Power?] The Tyrant of Destruction was sure that he had never seen anything like Nial had shown.

    Even Kaeldur was baffled, unsure of what must have happened to Nial, and wondering how he was suddenly able to kill the Dungeon Boss of a Deux-ranked Dungeon as if it was nothing but a mere ything.

    "This is the ability I gained from absorbing the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal. I think that I was granted the control of Chaos, but I''m not sure. I''ve never been in contact with Chaos, after all," Nial tried to exin and he briefly summarized what was going on with himself.

    "It''s like the Vengeance of Chaos ability listens to my desires and acts ordingly. When I want someone''s heart to burst open I can do that as long as I use enough energy to do so. The mana consumption increases ording to various factors and its extremely painful to keep the ability activated. It feels like my heart will burst open."

    The Vengeance of Chaos ability was linked to Nial''s Mana core and the Heart of Darkness. Yet, the highly destructive ability did not harm either of them, it was like the ability released chaos inside his body whenever it was getting activated.

    Upon getting activated, the Vengeance of Chaos ability would start hurting his body. That fact was a clear indicator showing that his body was not yet ready for the full potential of the Vengeance of Chaos ability.

    Nheless, what he could unleash with the ability was already quite a lot, and not something he should underestimate!

    It allowed him to kill a Deux-ranked Dungeon Boss, after all!

    He might have to use some of his Darkness Essence to make it possible but he was not even tired.

    Thus he terminated the use of his newest ability, calmed his heart, and chose to focus on getting back to his peak state before continuing to test his new ability.

    There was a lot to learn and Nial had yet to feel the urge to return to Halheim or the Forest of Life!

    "You guys start collecting everything of value, including the corpses and dungeon loot, while I will get a few more helping hands," Nial said all of a sudden before he flew outside the dungeon.

    He was trying to sort his thoughts but that was quite difficult. Too many different subjects tormented his mind and each of them wanted to be his highest priority.

    That was obviously not possible, which was also why Dn ended up in front of another Dungeon Portal just a few minutester.

    He didn''t intend to enter it immediately because there were enough dungeon beasts around the dungeon. There were Trolls, Orcs, and smaller monsters such as Kobolds and rats.

    "You guys are mine now! Follow mymands for a while and you can live, deny my supremacy, and die a painless death!" He thundered, activating Dominion with the amplification of the Blood Eclipse Moon''s power.

    There was no need for Nial to hold back with the usage of Mana. He was in possession of too many abilities and traits that allowed him to hoard energy, in seemingly infinite amounts at that.

    The Blood Eclipse Moon umted the moonlight''s energy and sucked it inside it. This type of energy was used as a means of support for other abilities and types of energies.

    As for his Mana Core, it was muchrger than the mana core of any Original Nial had encountered until now. Mana Cores were only present in beings until the Deux rank as the Mana Core would dissolve and transform into a Sea of Mana beyond that rank.

    However, even then, Nial had never seen someone with arger Mana Core than his own. Thus, the amount of mana he could store within it was more than anyone else!

    And that was not even everything because he possessed another means to store energy, and his storage seemed like a ckhole. Nial had no idea how much dark energy or Dark Essence he could store inside the Heart of Darkness because he had never encountered a time when his Heart of Darkness was filled to the brim.

    ¨C

    Even when the Tyrant of Destruction entered his Heart of Darkness and the Tyrant''s dark energy was fully unleashed, Nial merely felt as if a single droplet had been put inside the endless storage of the Heart of Darkness.

    It was a weird feeling and Nial couldn''t help but feel overwhelmed by the Heart of Darkness and everything rted to the Late God of Darkness.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    However, he hadn''t been influenced by the Heart of Darkness for a long time. Thest time he recollected feeling that was when he had been at his most vulnerable. His mother had just been killed by a friend of his, and his mental state had been extremely bad.

    But that was in the past. He had ovee the influence, or so he thought, at least.

    What he didn''t know was whether the influence had permanently tampered with his mind, or if he was the same as before.

    That was not something Nial could figure out even if he wanted to. After all, it felt like everything was perfectly normal, so how could he find out whether something was amiss or not?

    **

    The beasts below him submitted to Nial when they sensed the power that resided within him. They might be able to tell that he was merely at the Prometheus rank but Nial didn''t even think about hiding the massive amount of dark energy his body possessed.

    Under normal circumstances, one wouldn''t be able to sense the energy within his Heart of Darkness, whether they wanted to or not. However, Nial made his stance clear by showing the dungeon beasts who the boss was!

    "Let''s go. We have a few dungeons to clear!" Nial announced, flying back to the entrance portal of the frozen mountain.

    Kaeldur, Tyrant and the leashed dungeon beasts emerged from the portal not long after. At the sight of more than a hundred new leashed dungeon beasts, Tyrant''s darkness shroud fluctuated slightly.

    The Tyrant of Destruction looked over to Nial, without saying a word. However, one could clearly tell that the thoughts in his mind were wreaking havoc in his brain.

    [You do realize that this is nothing? Tyrant, you really missed out on the glorious feats our Master has achieved at such a young age. You better act more docile in front of him, or you might actually get exiled if you stir too much trouble!] Kaeldur''s voice resounded in Nial''s mind and he began to smile.

    His Devils wouldmunicate inside his mind, and they quarreled a lot. At first, it had been a little bit disruptive to have a bunch of voices in his head, but Nial quickly became ustomed to it.

    This was necessary, especially since it was only a matter of time before more and more of Damian''s Devils would join his army.

    "You two lead them to a bunch of dungeons, conquer them and collect everything of value. But this time, you should also harvest rare nts, and other natural resources¡­and don''t be toozy or too stingy in picking up stuff. I know that you guys are ustomed to getting your hands on Godly artifacts or whatever stuff Damian gave you, but I am only at the Prometheus rank, and I need lots of nutrition, mana, and resources to earn a huge fortune, okay?" Nial rified.

    He felt a little bit stupid thinking that it was necessary to rify that his Mana Core was merely at the Prometheus rank. However, when he visualized both Kaeldur and Tyrant, Nial quickly figured that it had been far from a uselessment.

    ''They wouldn''t have picked up anything in a Deux-ranked Dungeon despite knowing that it was bullshit, wouldn''t they?''

    Nial sighed inwardly, but he calmed down in the blink of an eye. He threw a bunch of spatial rings toward the two Devils and let them lose.

    Using Dominion to alter the minds of the leashed dungeon beasts was not difficult and the rest of the beasts followed the two Devils without further dy.

    The Devils didn''t even ask what Nial would do while they conquered the dungeon. They merely followed themands they had been given and moved on with that.

    Nial could sense the confusion of the Tyrant of Destruction, but he didn''t say anything.

    Kaeldur could tell Tyrant what he had done in the past.

    "Finally I am at ease¡­now let''s sort these annoying thoughts and start testing my new power!"

 Chapter 465 Debtors

    Because there was so much to test out, and Nial was in need of a mountain of resources, he spent more than a day conquering dungeons. He experimented a lot as well, but he couldn''t quite get a hang of the Vengeance of Chaos ability even after he sorted his thoughts.

    Nial now knew that the Orin family was not rted to him by blood at all. That didn''t mean his love and care for them would suddenly disappear, but it made him wonder who he was and where his biological parents were.

    If they were dead, did he have some other rtives he didn''t know about?

    Why did the Oracle ask if he was human?

    Was he really born in Jundra, or did he emerge from the other side of the irregr dungeon portal 22 years ago?

    There were dozens of simr questions tormenting his mind, and they didn''t disappear even after he told himself that everything was fine.

    ''At least, I don''t doubt my parents'' intention behind taking me in, not anymore¡­ I should thank the little Oracle for asking the right questions when only my shadow was left behind¡­''

    Now that he thought about it, the Little Oracle knew way too much about his family, and his situation. That made it seem as if she had always been by his side. It was quite weird and it made him shudder as he recalled a few situations in the past, but overall, it was quite calming to know that someone was looking over him.

    But that made him question something else.

    Was the Little Oracle something like a Guardian sent out by the Origin?

    If Nial was favored by the Universe, the little Oracle might be an Original who came into existence to make sure that the prophecy woulde true¡­or that it would be prevented.

    Without an answer to any of his doubts, Nial ended up joining the dungeon conquest of Kaeldur and Tyrant. Instead of doing something useless and getting distracted all over again, he felt that fighting some powerful dungeon beasts would provide him with the best help.

    There were way too many dungeons all over the wilderness, and Nial chose to spend a little bit more time conquering a bunch of permanent, low-ranked dungeons as well.

    He used the massive amount of dark energy in his body to create a darkness domain throughout the dungeon before crushing it in an instant. Afterward, he took the Dungeon Core and left, leaving behind a destroyed permanent dungeon that would close and cease to exist in no time.

    The Dungeon Cores possessed a tremendous amount of highly purified mana, which Nial would make use of once he came back to the Forest of Life.

    He had yet to finish thest half of the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfection, after all!

    ''I cannot clear my mind¡­let''s just take one step at a time¡­''

    After he had cleared his thoughts, Nial ended up freeing the leashed dungeon beasts. The Spatial rings were returned to him, filled to the brim. And both Kaeldur and Tyrant returned to the Heart of Darkness where their powers would slowly recuperate.

    It was only a matter of time and a question of Nial''s progression until the two Devils would regain all their powers.

    Flying back to the Forest of Life, Nial first took a nce at his father. He was sleeping soundly, so Nial didn''t disturb him.

    Nheless, a gentle smile appeared on his face when he visualized his father.

    "Take me with you!" A shrill cry reached his ear. Nial halted in his tracks, turned around, and visualized the Little Oracle, who was holding the sleepyhead Ryu.

    The Gryphon was growing rapidly and he almost reached the Little Oracle''s height. Ryu was also quite heavy because he had to eat lots to fill the seemingly endless ckhole that was his stomach. But the Little Oracle carried Ryu with ease even if he weighed a ton for her little hands.

    Though, visualizing them was enough to make Nial grin.

    He picked up Ryu and pushed the monster''s body against his broad chest, allowing Ryu to sleep once again. As for the Little Oracle, she stretched out her hand and demanded him to pick her up as well.

    "Don''t you think that you''re a little bit too old for that?" He scoffed, knowingly.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    The Little Oracle bit her lips, not wanting to say anything.

    "I really don''t understand why you try to keep up the image of a little girl. Last time you grew up from a six-year-old child to an eight-year-old child in a matter of days but now you don''t grow at all.

    You are probably as old as somes in the vast Universe, and much stronger than anyone who can currently enter Jundra, or Origin if you want to call it such. I really don''t get it," Nial confronted the Little Oracle in a calm andposed manner.

    He didn''t hate the Oracle for barging in his life and revealing things about the Universe that he didn''t actually want to know. He was not nning on bing part of the prophecies everyone spoke about, so they might as well stop talking about them altogether.

    Nheless, he could not deny the fact that the Little Oracle had helped him to get his hands on the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal. He was not sure if he could have done that without her creating the isted space.

    There were also many questions Nial had about the Oracle''s help, but he didn''t feel like hearing the answer because he was quite certain that he wouldn''t like it.

    "I will leave soon, either way¡­so let me have some fun and memories that are not filled with pain and sadness¡­" The Oracle squealed, her voice cracking a bit and showing that she was on the verge of crying.

    ''What a frail Oracle¡­Did the Origin pick up a crybaby?'' Nial thought for a moment before he grasped the Little Oracle''s tiny hand.

    Her violet eyes began to shine brightly and her expression improved drastically. The tears that had umted in her eyes trickled down her cheeks but she was not sobbing anymore.

    "Let''s goo~!"

    Nial circted some dark energy around the Oracle to make sure that she wouldn''t be dragged behind him while they flew.

    Afterward, he set off to make his way to Orion Artisan Guild. He gave the reception the resources they had collected when conquering dungeons, and he wanted to leave afterward.

    Unfortunately, it was just at this moment when his sensitive ears heard something that made him focus his range of perception and Mana Sense in a specific direction.

    "Are the Drug addicts of the second stage still here? Why were they not kicked out of the Guild and the Association?" Nial asked, his head flicking in the direction of the staff members that he had handed over his spatial ring just a moment earlier.

    The staff member, a young woman in her early 20s, looked into Nial''s milky white, lifeless eyes and she subconsciously swallowed her saliva. Her throat felt like it was tightening as she felt the pressure originating from the young, and handsome man in front of her increasing all of a sudden.

    "T-th¡­they were kicked out¡­but there are always a few troublemakers¡­some have a debt to pay because they wanted to deal with the Cultivation drug by themselves¡­it didn''t work out because Mr. Zorn found them and destroyed the drugs¡­so there are a few Artisans in high debt¡­" The staff member exined while stuttering.

    Her exnation provided him with more details than Nial could have hoped for. Thus, his expression changed slightly and he nodded at her with a faint smile.

    Afterward, he went on his way toward the troublemakers, while holding a mutated Darkness Gryphon in one arm, while holding the hand of an otherworldly beautiful child.

    His steps were slow but he found the troublemakers in no time.

    Clearing his throat while amplifying his vocal cords with mana, he spoke in an imposing voice that could be heard by the bunch of people in front of him.

    The troublemakers, who were beating the shit out of three human Artisans, belonged to various races. Nial was not even familiar with the races which the members belonged to and which he visualized in his head just now. They turned their heads toward him upon hearing him clearing his throat.

    "You guys realize that you''re infiltrating someone else''s property, right?" Nial asked, feeling emotionless and calm.

    "So what?!" One of the troublemakers asked, kicking the Artisan thaty on the ground just next to him.

    ''So what? This might be a little bit funny!''

 Chapter 466 Dealer

    "So what?!" One of the troublemakers asked, kicking the Artisan thaty on the ground just next to him.

    ''So what? This might be a little bit funny!''

    Nial''s expression remained the same as before but his thoughts were getting darker. Before he felt like getting over this trouble without causing any trouble but now his mind was filled with thoughts about doing the exact opposite.

    The troublemakers issued onest kick, and almost broke the legs and ankles of the three human Originals they had beaten to a pulp while they guffawed in a mocking way. They finished scanning Nial from head to toe, causing some of the dozen troublemakers to chuckle quietly, while others kept ncing at him with ridicule in their eyes.

    "What is a Blind Clown doing here with his minions? I didn''t know that there was a Circus in this guild''s mansion...that''s funny!" One of the troublemakers bellowed and he started tough while pointing fingers at Nial.

    Nial just kept his lifeless eyes in the direction of the troublemakers without saying much.

    "No matter what race you belong to, the shelter''s rules apply to everyone."

    His words caused the troublemakers to burst intoughter. They could not contain theirughter and some even pped their thick thighs as tears trickled down their cheeks. They wereughing so hard that their jaws were now beginning to hurt.

    "Are they stupid?" The Little Oracle''s voice resounded through the small hall where hundreds of Artisans were usually working diligently.

    Her voice was loud enough to be heard by theughing troublemakers, who quieted down all of a sudden. Theirughter died down and their expression turned solemn and it was only a matter of time before Nial visualized the anger in their faces.

    "Looks like you made them angry," Nial stated the obvious.

    "You fucking piece of shit, do you want to die?!" A bulky and dumb-looking Original roared out loud. He looked like arge lizard walking on two hind legs. His physique seemed simr to a human at the first nce but he had a bent back and couldn''t even straighten it properly. His ent was strong, and his anger was apparent.

    "Calm down, Lizzy. We came here to take a look at themotion you guys were creating. What''s the reason for you to trespass on someone else''s property and beat up his employees?" Nial asked, still calm.

    "Li...Lizzy?! Do you have a death wish???"

    There was no change in Nial''s expression, which caused one of the other troublemakers to lift his hand, while the Lizardman wanted to burst forth to tear apart Nial and hispanions.

    "Calm down!" Hemanded in a voice that didn''t allow disobedience.

    The Lizardman halted in his tracks but his eyes that were filled with hatred never left Nial and the little Oracle.

    "Given the way you''re speaking, you should know the owner of this ce. In that case, how about you call him up and tell him that his dear employees owe us a shitload of money?" The troublemaker, who looked like the replica of Horus, an existence from fairy tales, asked.

    He seemed easy to approach at the first nce but it was quite obvious that this was a mere farce.

    ''A cunning fox looking like a human hawk...that''s something new.''

    There was a subtle change in Nial''s expression. The corner of his lip tilted into a smirk before he shrugged his shoulders.

    "Why should their Boss care whether they''re in debt or not?" He asked.

    The Horus replica looked at Nial as if he was one of the dumbest humans in the shelter. "Huh?... Because we will thrash everything inside here until we have our money?"

    "Seems like you guys have yet to understand that behaving like hooligans and invading someone''s property is dumb, no matter for what reason," Nial said monotonously. He shook his head and he began to question the intelligence of the troublemakers in front of him.

    "Just because you guys are at the Deux rank, doesn''t mean that you can do whatever you want."

    Each of the troublemakers was an Original at the Deux rank. If they were to conquer a bunch of dungeons, they could earn much more rather than bullying a poor rookie Artisan, who was desperate enough to lend money to buy and trade some Cultivation drugs.

    ''Melheim shouldn''t have destroyed the Cultivation Drug...it would have been quite useful for me,'' Nial thought and he sighed deeply.

    It was a good thing that he could destroy the addiction-inducing ingredient within the Cultivation Drug pill, but getting his hands on the drug wouldn''t be easy.

    ''Wait...these guys?''

    Nial was pretty sure that a newly awakened Original, who had just decided to be an Artisan didn''t have the necessary connections to buy the Cultivation Drug.

    This realization was enough to deliver a smile on his face while the troublemakers were getting angry.

    The Lizardman, whom Nial had lovingly named Lizzy, was not to be held back anymore. His body expanded and he charged straight toward Nial.

    He ignored the earlier words of his boss and began to hiss while his eyes turned crimson.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    ''Is that a Berserk ability? These are quite rare, not bad!'' Nial thought without moving an inch.

    Even after a huge greatsword manifested in the hands of Lizzy, Nial merely smiled.

    ''Burst''

    Just when Lizzy entered the range to cut through Nial and hispanions with the greatsword, he smashed into the ground. Nial didn''t move an inch as the lengthy snot of the Lizardmannded right in front of his feet, blood pouring out of his mouth.

    From the outside it looked like Lizzy had tripped and fallen. The troublemakers at the Deux rank began tough out loud. They started to make fun of their friend for a while until one of them noticed something.

    "Did he bit his tongue while falling, or do I need some new sses?" He mumbled, mostly to himself as he saw something trickling out of the Lizardman''s mouth.

    However, the boss of the troublemaker had also noticed that something was amiss.

    "He is not moving. Did he lose consciousness? No, that shouldn''t be it..." The Boss mumbled, attracting the attention of the other troublemakers.

    They stoppedughing and took a closer look at theirrade as well.

    "He is dead, don''t worry. Let''s focus on something more important, shall we?" Nial said all of a sudden, kicking the corpse of the Lizardman at his friends.

    "Tell me where you guys get the Cultivation Drugs from!" He thundered while using Dominion with a tremendous amount of mana.

    Because the troublemakers had been focused on the flying corpse of their buddy, their mental barriers hadn''t shot up around their mindpletely.

    That made it easier for Nial to break through their natural mental defenses and influence their mind from the inside.

    "We get the Cultivation Drugs from Poleg..." One of the troublemakers with the weakest will stuttered.

    "...Poleg the Fat," Another one said, just for a third to add, "...He is really fat."

    Nial nodded his head and he thought of something while visualizing the weak-minded Originals ahead of him.

    "Where exactly can I find Poleg the fat, and is he just a middleman, or is he directly affiliated with the producers?" He asked, just to notice that the Boss of the troublemakers was getting back to his senses.

    "Horus faker, you just shut up!" Nial shouted, using Dominion and shooting dark energy out from the ground right next to the winged Boss.

    He used his dark energy to forcefully shut the mouth of the Horus replica and seal it tightly as well.

    The Boss of the troublemaker was struggling, but Nial received the answers he was looking for.

    "Poleg the Fat is just a small dealer... but he had connections to the big fishes!"

    "He lives in the Silverstar avenue''s Golden Nut Inn!"

    That was enough information for Nial. He retracted his dark energy and sped his hands together, thereby terminating the subtle influence of Dominion.

    "You are so dead!!" The Horus doppelganger shouted out loud but Nial shook his head.

    "I won''t die that easily. You guys are just pawns. Rather, tell me...are your lives worth more than my employees'' debts?"

    Nial''s words caused a smallmotion amongst the bunch of troublemakers.

    Most of them hadn''t even realized that they had been influenced by a mental control ability. Thus, they were still enraged, and ready to beat the shit out of Nial.

    Unfortunately, that was not something they were capable of.

    "Maybe, I should sell your organs, blood, and body parts at the ck market. I would make a ton of money...seems like a valid n!" Nial figured and his expression changed for real for the first time.

    A ck grimace shrouded his face and the darkness all around the troublemakers erupted all of a sudden.

    "I think that''s what you call ''Game Over''!"

 Chapter 467 New Scheme (1)

    At the end of the dayws in a society were only something that held power as long as the majority of the society would follow them, and as long as the heads of the society would punish those who broke thews.

    As such, it was quite obvious that thews in the human shelters didn''t hold any power upon the Originals of foreign races, on most of them, at least.

    The troublemakers turned a blind eye to the Shelterws and they did whatever they wanted to as they believed to be strong enough to be able to do so.

    It was their grave misfortune to encounter Nial because he couldn''t really be bothered with following the protocol and abiding by the Shelter Laws either.

    Otherwise, he would have called the guards to take care of the troublemakers. The guards in Halheim shelter would take too long to reach his property and Nial couldn''t even be sure that they were strong enough to defeat a dozen Originals at the Deux rank.

    Furthermore, it was a hassle to depend on others in this time and era.

    "This is much better, isn''t it?" Nial suddenly asked after he had used Dominion over and over again. The troublemakers were covered in ck and blue bruises from head to toe and they nodded their heads obediently like dogs that followed themands they had been given.

    "Leave ande back when you guys acquire some information about Poleg the Fat''s Boss. If I don''t get any results or leads by the next month, I will snap your necks in front of your family, if you guys have something like that, to begin with," Nial''s voice was ice-cold and the troublemakers all gave an involuntary shudder before they nodded their heads vigorously once again.

    However, instead of scurrying around, the troublemakers stared at Nial with quivering eyes and sealed lips. They didn''t dare to move even though they had been told to leave.

    It was hard to believe that someone as mighty as the blind Original in front of them would allow them to leave, just like that!

    "He said you guys can go¡­go go go~" The Little Oracle waved her arm and she jumped around in joy, but the troublemakers still stood rooted to the spot.

    Only when Nial motioned his hand to indicate to them that they should get going, did they jump up from the ground to leave the Artisan Hall as quickly as possible?

    ''Turning them into Spies and forcing unbreakable loyalty onto them with Dominion should be more than enough as revenge. They will never be able to run away from me either.''

    Not only had Nial used Dominion on all of the Spies for a few hours to slowly alter their mind and make it a permanent change but he had also inserted a trace of his Essence of Darkness inside them.

    The Essence of Darkness was something the troublemakers couldn''t sense. It resided inside their body, without doing anything special except that it acted as a GPS for Nial.

    That way the troublemakers would never be able to run away from him.

    ''So we have Poleg the Fat, a small dealer or middleman, and a bunch of troublemakers who will try their best to gather more information to survive by all means¡­ not a bad haul from an unexpected encounter.''

    Nial turned his attention to the three rather young human Originals on the ground. Two of them had fainted, while the third one witnessed what Nial did to the troublemakers with horror-stricken eyes.

    "Why did you buy the Cultivation Drug, with the money of loan sharks at that?" Nial asked the only conscious Original. He was a young Artisan, who was barely at the 0th rank. He was 18 years old and he awoke his Origin not too long ago.

    Nial could tell who the Artisan was because he had read through the list of all members earlier, including their application form. His name was Felix and his family lived in a different shelter. None of them had been an Original before Jundra''sary mana core had awoken.

    Thus, it should have been quite taxing for the family to collect enough money to send one of their family members to Halheim, where mana was the densest, and most dungeon portals with rare materials were located.

    The vast majority of organizations tried to build their small empire in Halheim Shelter as well, providing a valid chance to newly awakened Originals to get their hands on a golden ticket toward wealth and power.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Of course, not everyone was talented enough to receive the attention of the strongest Organizations.

    In times when the vast majority of humanity awoke their Origin it was basically impossible not to put harsh conditions if someone wanted to enter their organizations, let alone be an Elite.

    Thepetition was fierce, but that did not deter many families from trying to change their fate, nheless. This put lots of pressure on the young, newly awakened Originals, who shouldered the future of their entire family on themselves.

    "In the end, I know that you will answer me, whether you want or not¡­ so you better start answering me. You saw what happened to the loan sharks who beat the shit out of you!" Nial was still holding Ryu in one of his arms and held the Little Oracle''s pinky finger with his other hand.

    However, that didn''t change the imposing pressure he released when he squatted down in front of the young Artisan.

    He could have called the medic team by now, but the three Originals would survive either way. Hence, he thought that they deserved to get punished for what they had done and suffer a little bit.

    With that in mind, Nial released his dark energy through the ground, activated the power of the Symbol of Life and spread some mana inside the unconscious youths'' bodies by passing the dark energy through it.

    The youths stirred and they would awake soon enough.

    ''Looks like the troublemakers held back a lot when they bashed these youths¡­well that''s only obvious, they wanted their money, after all.''

    The young Artisan, who could barely move his head to look at Nial''s face, bit his lower lip nervously. He was in pain but the memories of Nial killing the Lizardman without moving an inch, and the ease with which he acquired information before he turned the loan sharks into his loyal subjects were seared in his mind.

    "I¡­I need money¡­more money¡­'' Felix, the young artisan said bitterly. He grits his teeth and tried to ignore the pain that spread through his entire body.

    His leg was broken but he wanted to look at Nial''s face while speaking. Something within him told him that he should give his all to look sincere in Nial''s eyes¡­or to his senses.

    But...was that really enough?...

    **

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 Chapter 468 New Scheme (2)

    "You could have gotten money from the loan sharks. They would have given you as much as you needed¡­though with a pretty bad interest rate," Nial responded to Felix''sment, his voice devoid of any emotions.

    Every new Original needed money, that was a fact. As a 0th Rank Artisan, it would be possible to earn a significant amount of money within a month as long as one worked hard enough. The money should be more than enough to buy a bunch of resources and to support the young Artisan''s family.

    "No¡­they couldn''t give me enough¡­" Felix said, piquing Nial''s interest as he continued:

    "My sister awoke her Origin after I arrived in Halheim. She was said to have great talent, and soon a powerhouse from a foreign race''s Embassy approached her. They gave her a small fortune worth of Origin crystals and a Mana Breathing Technique, which their race uses.

    In exchange, they set up a Soul Contract that says she has to advance to the Deux rank in a certain period of time and help them with something in exchange for the resources and technique she obtained. In case she failed to meet the standards they had set up, she would be their ve, or she would have to pay for her freedom¡­"

    The story went on, but the most important was that Felix''s sister epted the deal because she had been certain that she could advance quickly. Her Mana Veins had been ranked as ''Superior'' and her Mana Core didn''t have a limitation in terms of the numbers of ergements it could undergo.

    She epted the deal, and her progression skyrocketed with the use of the resources she had received. However, it was just two months after she started to practice the Mana Breathing technique she had obtained from the foreign race that she noticed something was off.

    ''The Mana Breathing technique was altered to prevent humans from advancing. That means she would have to create a new mana core and get rid of her old one¡­while that''s possible to start anew as an Original, it would cost her a long time and resources¡­and then she wouldn''t be able to meet the requirements set up in the Soul Contract¡­not bad, that''s a really intelligent way to get their hands on ves with great potential¡­''

    Nial could tell that this tactic was just a different means for foreign races to get their hands on more ves, more high-quality breeders.

    It was bothersome to think that even foreign races belonging to the Embassy, which had been epted inside the human shelters, would do something like that and resort to cunning practices, but Nial could imagine it.

    ''Are we that interesting for other races? Just the fact that we have five ability slots seems to be enough for them to go insane¡­''

    He could understand where the foreign race''s interest wasing from, especially after he had encountered many other races in the past. Nial was able to tell what their perks were and he got to know the number of ability slots most of them possessed.

    Through that, it was quite obvious that five ability slots were not only the highest number he encountered as the average number of ability slots every member of a race could bind to their mana core, but they didn''t even have a disadvantage.

    Many races with three or four ability slots had certain ws and disadvantages that decreased their power drastically. Yet, the humans from Jundra didn''t really seem to possess something like that.

    Not every human from Jundra was talented, and there were many ck sheep in their rows, but that was something one could find anywhere.

    ''Were we that talented before we were born on the Origin? Did we ept getting sealed away when the Origin sealed its power to postpone the prophecy froming true?''

    There were many questions he had about the humans in Jundra and their connection to the Origin, but the answers were not within his reach as of now.

    That was why Nial told himself that the humans from Jundra were unique because of their ce of birth and especially because of their heritage.

    This made him feel much better and it allowed him to focus more on the young Artisan, Felix.

    "So after you figured out what the foreign race did with your sister you wanted to make some quick cash by using the money of loan sharks to buy the Cultivation Drug.

    Afterward, you wanted to sell it on my property where many newly awakened can be found. You tried to tell them that the Cultivation Drug is nothing bad and that they will advance much faster, which would result in a domino effect to elevate their progression as Adventurers, or Artisans.<novelnext>  </novelnext>

    Unfortunately, you were reported and your Cultivation Drugs were taken away," Nial summarized what happened to Felix, who could only nod his head before he lowered it.

    He was looking at the ground with slumped shoulders, not daring to say anything for quite a while.

    "Do you know how many newly awakened Originals like your sister were approached with the same scheme? And have you heard about something simr happening in the other shelters?" Nial asked, changing the topic for a moment.

    Felix had expected to get beaten up for his attempts to turn Nial''s employees into drug addicts, but Nial was calm, too calm in Felix''s opinion.

    ''I will definitely die today¡­'' He thought, dreadfully.

    However, he was not ready to die, not without ensuring his sister''s well-being. Dying might be bad, but it would only hurt for a moment. Being enved and forced to obey the will of your master was something much worse than death, if you encountered the wrong master, that is.

    "I will tell you everything I know¡­but please¡­please help my sister!!" Felix fell on his knees and moved his broken body despite tremendous pain coursing through him, just to crawl closer to Nial.

    However, Nial merely got up from the ground, which was enough to create distance between them once again.

    "Why the hell should I help you? You really don''t understand in what kind of situation you are, do you?" Nial''s ice-cold, and emotionless voice rang through Felix''s ear and the young Artisan further slumped to the ground, his eyes red and teary.

    "Please¡­" He mumbled, repeating the same word over and over again.

    "Please¡­"

    "Please¡­"

    "Please¡­"

    Several minutes had passed, yet, Felix didn''t stop asking Nial for help desperately.

    ''What tenacity¡­he could have just worked hard to save his sister instead of bing a pseudo-savage by trying to sell the Cultivation drugs.''

    "Alright, hold your horses, youngster," Nial said all of a sudden before he sighed deeply.

    He could tell that Felix cared for his family and that he would give his all to protect them, even if that meant he would do something immoral.

    That was not necessarily bad because it showed that he was loyal to his family, especially since Nial would do exactly the same.

    If it was necessary to annihte an entire race for the sake of his family, he would do that as well. That was how life was.

    "If you get me the information I want, I might reconsider helping your sister!"

 Chapter 469 Connection

    Once the two other young Originals woke up, Nial asked them the same questions as Felix.

    Oddly enough, their answers were uncannily simr in a sense that made him wonder whether all of them told them the truth, or they orchestrated a big lie together.

    However, Nial doubted thetter given that he could sense the slightest changes in the bodynguage and mana fluctuations of the people around him.

    He was pretty sure that he could tell if someone was lying to him as long as they were not tricksters from the depth of their hearts.

    ''That New Scheme is more troublesome than expected, spreading through multiple, if not all, shelters at the same time¡­ it''s just good that the bastards belong to one race and not to multiple different races. That makes things a lot easier!''

    The new scheme to get their hands on human ves under ''legal'' circumstances was quite simple. A Soul Contract was used to seal certain deals. If the conditions couldn''t be met by either party involved, the one who broke the contract would be the ve of the other party.

    In this regard, Party A, the member of the foreign race, would deliver training resources, and a seemingly powerful, yet altered Mana Breathing technique that was supposed to allow the practitioner to elerate the training of their Mana Core, which would be enough toplete the conditions for Party A.

    There was no danger for Party A of breaking the Soul Contract, which was why only Party B could fail, if they didn''t meet the conditions in the given period. ording to the new scheme, the conditions seemed feasible at the first nce, but that was only the case until one figured that the Mana Breathing technique was actually altered, preventing human Originals from reaching the Prometheus rank.

    They would have to destroy their cultivated mana core and start anew, without the use of the altered Mana Breathing technique and without enough time left to reach the threshold required in the Soul Contract. Thus, one would inevitably end up as Party A''s ve!

    It was treacherous but not exactly unfair because everything was written down in the Soul Contract. One was even allowed to read through the Mana Breathing technique a few times before actually signing the contract.

    Party A was not at fault for Party B''s ignorance or greed, but that didn''t really make things better because Party A was deceiving the humans of Jundra intentionally.

    They did not know anything about Mana Breathing techniques, or any other techniques, which was what made it impossible to figure out that they were getting deceived.

    "What are you going to do against them?" Melheim Zorn asked Nial when he heard about the situation. His face was red and the broken table thaty crookedly between the two Originals clearly showed what happened just a moment ago.

    "Right now? Nothing," Nial responded calmly.

    Melheim looked at his Boss through the runic eye, his mouth opening and closing several times. No word escaped his lips but it was not hard for Nial to tell what he thought.

    "I don''t have enough information yet, and these idiots told me that their family members and loved ones have a few months left before the duration of their Soul Contractes to an end," Nial exined further. He thought of something and added,

    "Furthermore, I should destroy the root of the problem rather than giving everyone a big paycheck to save their loved ones. It''s too much of a coincidence that the Cultivation Drugs appeared nearly at the same time as the New scheming surfaced, don''t you think so?"

    Nial was pretty sure that there was a connection between the Cultivation Drugs and the new scheming. There were many valid theories that swarmed his mind, but the most prominent reasons for him to believe that something was odd were probably the timing and the follow-up actions of the contracted loved ones!

    With timing, Nial meant that the period when the Cultivation Drugs appeared was just weeks, if not days after the first Soul Contracted surfaced. Nial knew only about three Soul Contracted until now but there were certainly more.

    As for the follow-up actions of people like Felix, all of them tried to make a huge fortune with the use of Cultivation Drugs rather than raiding dungeons. Easy money was a tantalizing offer not many could refuse.

    Dungeons were quite lucrative, even Origin dungeons. Given the long period, Felix and the others had to earn the required fortune, it wouldn''t be impossible to say that they could earn more than enough just by conquering one or two dungeons a day.

    It was more dangerous but one wouldn''t have to deal with loan sharks, let alone search for them, to begin with!<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You mean that they''re connected?..." Melhem Zorn gasped in shock, his voice turning quieter with every word as realization struck him. His expression changed and he scowled, "Tell me what you need, and I will make sure that you will get everything you asked for and more!!"

    Nial was a little bit stumped because Melheim was extremely energetic all of a sudden, but he merely nodded his head.

    "I want to know every single person who signed a Soul Contract with the same kind of scheming. It might not be easy for you to find out about it, but their families should be desperate to make money after they realize that their loved ones were tricked. Maybe that will help you¡­ It needs to be a covert operation because things will get a little bit more difficult the moment the Embassy of that shitty race finds out about it!"

    The thoughts of Nial were rather simple right now. He wanted to figure out how deep the foreign race had dug its talons in mankind''s flesh without letting the government and organizations notice. There might only be tens of people under a Soul Contract who were publicly known, but Nial presumed the numbers to be in the hundreds or possibly even thousands.

    Losing a thousand rather talented Originals would be quite a big loss, and the long-term problems that would surface in hundreds of years might as well turn worse.

    ''While Princess Evalyne searches for the hiddenboratory for the Drugs, the troublemakers will slowly move up the leader of Drug dealers, and Melheim will take care of the new scheming with the use of the organizations'' wealth and connections¡­that should be enough¡­''

    "I will take your leave. Just message me whenever you find out something new¡­but don''t bombard me with messages, I don''t want to be interrupted every half an hour," Nial ordered before he took his leave with Ryu sleeping on his shoulder, and the Little Oracle jumping around at his side while continuing to hold his hand.

    Now that Nial had finally finished his business in the Orion Artisan Guild, it was time for him to visit a bunch of merchants.

    He had many Beast Corpses and Dungeon loot drops to sell and a bunch of nutrition solutions to purchase.

    Nutrition solutions were not actually popr in the human shelters because their uses were rather restricted, but Nial had a great use for them.

    His need for nutrition was tremendous because of the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia technique. It required both mana and nutrition, not too little of either, at that.

    Thus, he would have to buy most merchants'' stock of nutrition solutions.

    ''The foreign races are probably still withholding body refinement techniques because they don''t know whether it will harm humans from Jundra to refine their body using techniques that were customized for other races¡­which makes sense¡­ but some human Originals will probably get greedy in the future and make demands¡­how stupid¡­''

    Nial could pretty much tell how mankind was about to develop. Their development was likely to be split up. A part of mankind was likely to willingly and unwillingly follow the steps of foreign races to use their techniques, learn from their vast knowledge, and be close allies¡­or even a sub-race to those ''Saint''-like members of foreign races.

    As for the other part of mankind, they would attempt to grow on their own, independently, and without the help of other races.

    They could maintain their freedom like this and make sure that their growth and versatility in the choice of abilities and techniques would never be restricted due to others.

    Nial belonged to thetter with the sole difference that he allowed other races to help him, if he trusted them to a certain extent. He wouldn''t blindly practice a certain technique just because someone was willing to give it to him.

    That was also why he had read through the entire tome of the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia several times in a row before he even considered practicing it.

    This might be enough to make him look a little bit distrustful and way too vignt about others, but it was important to be both.

    There was no need to trust a stranger, even less someone, who wanted to gift you with something!

    That was just way too suspicious!

 Chapter 470 Interpreter?

    Once Nial was done purchasing the entire nutrition solution stockpile in the Halheim shelter, Nial returned to the wooden hut in the Forest of Life.

    His father was awake and he rushed to Nial, who stood in the wooden door frame with Ryu in one arm and holding the little Oracle''s hand with another.

    However, Miles didn''t care about them at all. He rushed toward his son and hugged him tightly.

    "I thought you would nevere back¡­" Miles said in a low voice that cracked a bit. Nial felt a sting in his heart hearing his father and it was just a momentter that he noticed his empty hand.

    The Little Oracle had let go of him with a gentle expression on her face. Nial patted his father on his back, while ignoring Ryu, who chirped out at the sudden pressure that weighed him down.

    The Gryphon was squeezed in between two men, who hugged each other tightly, waking him up from a pleasant dream, at that!

    Ryu chirped out, both liking the emotional hug and suffocating from the force that was put on him from both sides.

    "I think you should write down what you want to tell me, the next time you have a big secret to expose. You are really bad when ites to exining something verbally¡­" Nial said when he realized that his father had no idea what he was supposed to say first.

    There were so many things Miles wanted to say, but it felt as if everything that left his mouth would somehow create a big misunderstanding.

    "O-okay¡­just never think that we picked you up as a recement for Kilian¡­we would have loved to see both of you grow up as brothers¡­" Miles finally said after contemting for several minutes.

    Nial''s expression changed slightly when he heard this and he nodded his head.

    "I know¡­"

    There was not much to talk about for the father-son duo. Both could tell that they needed the hug.

    Nial felt that he had been a bit too childish when he found out that the people he had called his parents all his life had never actually been his biological parents, but he didn''t mind that anymore.

    Was it even important, who his real parents were? Nial couldn''t disregard that question but he was able to tell that he wouldn''t want to rece Miles and Maline with someone else, no matter what! They had done a terrific job raising him with love and care while doing exactly the same with his sister.

    Money hadn''t been easy toe by for them but they gave their best to be good parents¡­and that was everything that counted for Nial.

    Now that he thought about the past, Nial felt mncholic.

    It was almost as if decades had passed since they had been too poor to even think about purchasing powerful weapons, let alone waste precious money by absorbing mana from within Origin crystals.

    Nial felt like a hypocrite at that thought because he was now wasting millions of Origin crystals to do numerous things. First of all, he had wasted close to seven million Origin crystals to bind the Summoning ability and to summon the Tyrant of Destruction.

    That was not even that long ago, and it was just the first time he wasted a good amount of resources. What followed afterward was his splurge of Origin crystals to empower the Teleportation device, allowing him to return home as quickly as possible.

    As if that was not enough, Nial was ready to use the remaining bunch of several million Origin crystals to practice the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia as quickly as possible.

    He had invested a humongous fortune, which would have been big enough to allow several hundreds of Originals to advance to the Prometheus rank, just to refine his body a little bit.

    His actions might seem ridiculous, but it made total sense to Nial.

    He needed a perfect foundation before advancing to the Deux rank and if he could elerate his progress by splurging a fortune of Origin crystal, he had even more reason to do so.

    "I forgot to give you a few things when we talked a few days ago," Nial finally said when he separated from his father.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ryu was struggling in Nial''s arm. He wrestled out of Nial''s tight grip and jumped on top of the blind Original''s head. pping his two pairs of wings, he disheveled his master''s long hair without mercy.

    Nial didn''t mind whatever Ryu did as he retrieved a few books from his spatial ring.

    He put them down on the nearby table before sitting down on thefortable wooden couch that had been padded with soft cushioning.

    "I have yet to write down the trantions for the techniques, and I''m not sure if the effects will be the same if you don''t learn it in the originalnguage as I might mistrante a bunch of words, but these two techniques are a neutral body refinement technique that focus on the cleansing of the body rather than the umtion of brute physical strength.

    Practicing these techniques is possible for every human-like race and it will help you circte mana through your mana veins much faster than you can now. Basically, it increases the rank of your Mana Veins by reinforcing and cleansing them," Nial stopped talking and took a few breaths before he continued.

    "As for the other technique, it is a Mana Breathing technique. Practicing the technique will allow you to sense mana with much more precision and absorb it more naturally than through the crude ways we usually absorb mana. I have already learned the technique and I think it will suit you very well¡­though it might feel a little bit weird to change the way you breathe, even if it''s just a little."

    Nial had a lot to exin about the techniques but Miles lifted his hand as if to ask a question, or to ask for permission to interrupt his son.

    "I learned a trantion ability because it was too hard for me to learn all the differentnguages¡­" Miles said when Nial stopped talking to listen to his father.

    "Oh, well that makes things a lot easier."

    Nial understood his father''s reasoning to bind a trantion ability to his mana core, but he felt that it was a bit of a waste.

    Learning othernguages, written and spoken, was merely something that required effort. Some had to put in more effort to learn a newnguage while others had it rather easy, nheless, one had to put in effort.

    However, that was already it. Effort and persistence were all it took.

    ? Thus, it would have been far more efficient to learn a different type of ability to his mana core rather than the trantion ability.

    ''It''s not like dad wants to start fighting again¡­he was never really a goodbatant, either way. Maybe bing a foreign race ambassador or interpreter will suit him better?''

    The future was bound to have several instances when mankind would encounter new races- races whosenguage was alien to humans. It would be difficult to find ways tomunicate with each other, which might eventually turn into a conflict due to differences in culture and misinterpretation.

    Someone''s polite action might turn into a challenge for a life-and-death battle. Knowing that it was only obvious that interpreters would y a crucial role the more races were to emerge on Jundra.

    Nial tried to ept this, but it was very hard. He would rather have his father bind one powerful defensive ability and four abilities that reinforced his defensive ability to prevent even Gods from being able to scratch his father.

    Unfortunately, it looked like Miles didn''t feel like doing anything like that, not even remotely. Miles didn''t possess a single ability for his protection, and knowing his father well enough to understand his actions, Nial was able to tell that Miles wouldn''t bind a defensive ability to his mana core even with five empty ability slots at his disposal.

    ''Why is Sabrina not here¡­she would scream at him until he would listen to her and do whatever she wants¡­this little girl¡­ whenever you need her she is not around, so frustrating¡­I hope she is fine though¡­''

    Thinking about his sister, Nial felt a little bitplicated. He wanted to scold her a lot, but at the same time, he wanted to make sure that she was doing fine.

    And then there was the revtion that he was not actually her brother by blood. That would shock her a lot, probably more than it shocked Nial.

    Scratching the back of his head, Nial figured that he had a reallyplicated family.

    ''Well, it''s not like I didn''t know that they''re all nutcases¡­''

 Chapter 471 Put To Sleep

    Nial finished setting up everything he needed to practice the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia properly.

    It was pretty simple; he needed a basin in which he would fit, and enough clean water to fill the basin several times so as to rece the water when it would be overflowing with impurities. This was to make sure that he could maintain the highest efficiency in the practice of the body refinement technique.

    As for the other things he required, they were nutrition solutions and a powerful source of mana. Nial possessed a few million Origin crystals and a bunch of Dungeon Cores. That was more than enough to finish the 5,000 Refinements of Imperfectia he was missing to finish the technique.

    ''I told the merchants to deliver nutrition solutions to the Orion Artisan Guild whenever they have fresh stock¡­that should be enough, I guess?'' Nial thought with a shrug before he averted his focus to Ryu and the Little Oracle.

    He knew that Ryu would absorb mana from his surroundings and the Origin crystals when he was busy refining his body but he was not actually sure if the Oracle would be fine without him.

    "I will give you a big surprise when you finish your Cultivation session!" The Oracle merely said as if she could read his memories.

    Nial nodded his head, not thinking too much about the word ''Cultivation'', or what surprise the Oracle could give him. He ruffled her hair before finishing thest preparations to go all out practicing the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia.

    ''It''s time to get stronger again!''

    ***

    ''Sooo tireddd¡­.''

    Nial felt stiff and drained even though he was stretching his body. He was not sure whether it was day or night but it didn''t really matter either way.

    His body felt much stronger than ever before and the power that surged through every cell of his existence pulsated, invigorating Nial over and over again.

    Nheless, he was tired¡­his mind seemed to have been wrung dry, but that was only obvious¡­he hadn''t had any sleep in thest four months, after all!

    As he was invigorated from the surrounding mana and the drastic changes of his body, Nial didn''t really have the need to sleep anymore.

    Unfortunately, given that he wasn''t just awake in thest four months, his mind was exhausted.

    He couldn''t form a proper thought right now and the tiredness that fogged his mind wanted to make him sleep by all means, while his body wanted the exact opposite.

    His body wanted him to stay awake, continue to refine the imperfections within his existence and be much stronger.

    But that was not exactly something he could do just because he wanted to¡­well he could but he didn''t want to, not while feeling like this.

    ''1500 Refinementspleted in four months, and bits of progress in my Mana Core¡­ I guess that is not bad¡­''

    Nial whisked away the remaining Origin Crystals around him, preventing them from further empowering his body before he weed the huge body that emerged from the shadow behind him.

    He didn''t even have to turn around to know who it was as he smiled lightly.

    "Don''t hesitate, Tyrant, just knock me out!" Nial said quietly but in a tone that didn''t allow the Tyrant of Destruction to disobey his orders.

    Tyrant lifted his huge hand that was stretched out and shaped as if he wanted to imitate a de before he moved rapidly.

    The only thing Nial felt was a blow impacting with tremendous pressure on his neck and it was only momentster that he slumped to the ground, his mind slowly overpowering his body.

    Finally, he fell asleep¡­or did he lose consciousness?...it didn''t really matter, either way. His mind was able to shut off.

    [Are you sure that you didn''t hit him too hard?] Kaeldur''s voice resounded quietly in Nial''s head but he didn''t care anymore.

    [I gave it my all¡­Master is strong¡­]

    **

    Nial was not sure how long he was asleep, but he woke up in his bed after some time. The bed had been added to the wooden hut when he decided to move in with his father.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As for their old wooden hut, it was located in the territory of two other Elven races, exactly at their borders.

    Miles moved out of the house because the environment was rather degrading for his health as both extremes of searing heat and chilling cold had affected him.

    He felt much more secure and oddlyfortable in the Forest of Life that had adapted to the energies of the Nightshadow and Dark Elven. It was a little bit gloomy and ominous but that was the only problem.

    As the father of Nial, the one in possession of the Essence of Darkness, Miles was treated very well by the Nightshadow Elves and the Dark Elves.

    This was especially true in the case of the Royal Princess and a bunch of High Elves, though it was not rted to his Essence of Darkness.

    "Are you finally awake, son?" Miles asked with some relief in his voice. He prepared some tea and ced one of the mugs at the nightstand next to his bed.

    As for the remaining mugs, they were given to the guests that had arrived.

    "I''m awake, and feeling as if I''ve been reborn¡­but why are there so many Elves around our wooden hut? Did someone start selling treasures nearby, or what?" Nial asked, still sleep-drunken when he visualized everything around him.

    In a range of several hundred meters, hundreds of new wooden huts had been created. That was insane, especially as Nial realized that some trees had been moved aside to make space for a bunch of new, already-grown trees.

    The forest''s density around their ce had increased dramatically and so had the poption of Nightshadow Elves and Dark Elves.

    "If you consider your naturally leaking darkness out of our hut a treasure sale that doesn''t cost anything, then yes, someone is selling treasures nearby," A familiar voice resounded from the living room.

    Nial''s focused moved over to the living room, where he visualized the Royal Princess, Evalyne, and a few more Elves other than the guards, who followed her everywhere at any time of the day.

    It was almost as if the guards didn''t even know what it meant to give the Royal Princess some privacy, or what holidays were.

    Did they even sleep?

    Nial had no idea, but he was more focused on the new guests, whom he had never seen, or more like visualized, before.

    Nial stifled a yawn and went to take a shower up without too much of a hurry. He put on some clothes that could be consideredfortable yet also formal enough to meet up with the Royal Princess.

    At the same time, he had investigated the new bunch of people using his Mana Sense in its finest form.

    He left the room and was immediately confronted with the pressure of several strong presences. "Nial, the treasure merchant, finished washing up,"

    Nial tried to lift the mood with a small joke, but he could tell that he failed miserably. Everyone in the room was way too serious. Only the Royal Princess liked his joke. The corners of her lips rose for a moment until she recalled the reason for their visit.

    "It''s good that you finally woke up. Sleeping for four days straight makes me envy you¡­" Princess Evalyne tried to crack another joke and lighten the atmosphere but she also failed miserably to release the tension in the room.

    ''Four days? Well¡­that''s nothing in exchange for staying awake for four full months. Nice deal, I guess.''

    "Either way, how about I give you a quick run-down on the situation, while you sit down?" The Royal Princess asked, yet, her voice didn''t really sound as if she gave him a choice.

    ? Nial nodded his head and he sat down while releasing a whip of darkness from his arm to reach for the mug of tea from the room he had just left.

    The darkness whip got hold of the mug and it ended up in Nial''s hands just a momentter.

    "I''m ready," He said calmly, taking a sip from the tea before he gave the Royal Princess his whole attention.

    However, before Evalyne could even open her mouth, they heard the sound made from a clicking tongue that was followed by some silent grumbling.

    "What a rude brat¡­"

 Chapter 472 Royal Blood

    "What a rude brat¡­"

    The voice was not loud but considering that it came after the young Elf clicked his tongue, it was evident that he wanted everyone to hear him.

    The Guards standing next to the Royal Princess muffled their sighs, which were filled with frustration, and they maintained their professionalism.

    Princess Evalyne looked over to the other guest and her expression soured, but she didn''t say anything to make the Elf shut up.

    "I don''t think I''ve met you before. How about you introduce yourself first, instead of calling someone else rude?" Nial asked, sporting a kind expression on the outside.

    On the inside, he was still calm as well. Nheless, he decided to focus a little bit more on thepany of the Royal Princess rather than taking their meetings too lightly. Today''s meeting seemed pretty tense, after all.

    ''Oh? A Nightshadow Elf with a very small Essence of Darkness¡­looks like I am meeting someone from the Nightshadow Elven''s royalty¡­interesting¡­I guess.''

    Nial was not exactly impressed by what he saw. The Nightshadow Elf was at the Keltia rank but he didn''t feel much more pressure than he had sensed when facing the Keltia Heligav.

    In the end, Nial still managed to defeat the Keltia Heligav, which meant that this youngster of the Nightshadow Elven''s royalty was also someone he could defeat. It should even be easier than it had been against the Keltia Heligav because the small bunch of them became stronger!

    "Do I really have to introduce myself to a peasant? Is the royalty of the Nightshadow Elven unknown to the likes of you? In that case, let me, the Great 7th Sessor of the Nightshadow Elven''s Emperium, tell you who you''re talking to!" The Nightshadow Elven Royal thundered while rising from the chair.

    It felt like he expected someone to apud, but nobody, not even the young Elf''spanions was able to give him the attention he sought, not right now.

    Nial was still able to keep a stoic expression, however, the Royal Princess didn''t seem to possess the willpower to do so.

    "I, the Great 7th Sessor of the Nightshadow Elven''s Emperium, have been baptized with the name of a great Warrior, the name of a Hero, an Emperor!! My¡­Name¡­is¡­Nightingale!!!"

    Nightingale¡­was a jackass name¡­the name of a bird, a small and cute one at that.

    Good job dude.

    Nial thought that it would be in everyone''s favor if Nightingale would never find out that the trantion of his name was quite literally the name of a bird. He was pretty sure that the young heir would travel all around the Origin to eradicate the nightingales in a fit of uncontroble rage.

    "Okay¡­nice to meet you, Nightingale, I guess. My name is Nial Orin," Nial was giving his utmost to control hisughter while speaking to Nightingale. The young royal was quite annoying, but that seemed to be part of his usual behavior given that everyone was annoyed at him, even his ownpany.

    He extended his hand to greet the Royal nheless, but Nightingale pped it away with enough force to break the arm of ordinary Originals at the Prometheus rank.

    Everyone sensed the force behind Nightingale''s p and then looked over to Nial, thinking that he might have gotten hurt. However, the only thing they saw on Nial''s face was the uptilted corners of his mouth.

    Nial''s milky white, lifeless eyes stared straight at the young Royal and his smile only widened. Nobody was able to sense Nial''s mana, not even the slightest trace of it, yet, everyone stiffened at the sight of Nial''s smile.

    The stomachs of the Royal Princess, her Guards, and Nightingale''spany felt like they were getting twisted, and a feeling of oppression overcame them. Only Nightingale seemed to be oblivious to what trouble he had invited.

    "Are you usually such an obnoxious, frustrating and spoiled child, or are you behaving like a bag of trash that had been picked up in the slums because you figured that my Essence of Darkness is bigger and more potent than yours? That shouldn''t be it, right?" Nial''s voice was not filled with anger, or ridicule in any kind of way.

    In fact, one couldn''t hear any emotions when Nial spoke, giving his question a unique effect, something that was much worse than being shouted at in anger, or even in wrath.

    "Do you want to die?!?" Nightingale thundered, threateningly releasing his Shadow energy while he stepped on the table that separated him from Nial.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial sensed the Shadow energy that reached his skin not even a secondter, but he didn''t move an inch. He didn''t flinch, nor did the expression on his face change.

    "I just asked a perfectly normal question. There is no need for you to act like that¡­except if my question hit the bullseye, of course. And a small reminder, you''re in our house, if you have forgotten about that. Please calm down, or I will throw you out," Nial said in the same impassive voice.

    And to prove his point, Nial released bits of his power to show his new friend that he was not supposed to act strong if he was just a small mouse facing Tigers and Lions.

    He released a bit of his dark energy that was enhanced with the crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon to attack and devour the Shadow Energy of the young Royal.

    The Shadow energy that came in touch with Nial was destroyed at once and his dark energy initiated a conquest just momentster.

    "Your house was built in our territory. By that logic, the only one who can be thrown out is you!!" Nightingale barked, acting as if he was still in his puberty. Nial was getting a headache because of the stupid royal, whose foot was still on the table that was located between them.

    This was more than enough for Nial to sigh deeply.

    "Your territory doesn''t really belong to you if the Forest of Life can just decide to throw you out. If you think about it, I can just tell the Dryads of the Forest of Life to expel your whole race and she would do it in a heartbeat¡­so hold your horses, and remove your goddamn shoes from our table, alright?!" Nial exined, his voice getting louder and more imposing at the end.

    At the end, he was not able to hold back anymore. Dark energy, reinforced by the Essence of Darkness and crimson moonlight leaked from his body.

    The energy that leaked from him was dense and stronger than anything a being at the Prometheus rank was supposed to be able to hoard, let alone control. But that was exactly what Nial did, very precisely at that.

    He controlled his energy, devoured the Shadow energy that had spread through the majority of the wooden hut, and put his entire focus and energy on the destruction of the ''Great'' 7th Sessor''s will.

    Nightingale hadn''t expected the sudden retaliation from Nial, and it was impossible for him to defend against the flood of energy that swept all over him in the blink of an eye.

    His body began to shake as darkness engulfed him, depriving him of his sight first before his remaining senses were slowly taken away by the darkness that mantled him like a secondyer of his skin.

    However, that was not everything that happened.

    Two creatures manifested out of the purest darkness, emerged from behind Nial. The Elves that were seated around the table were only able to see their blurred outlines for less than a second, but the killing intent they radiated was something they had never felt before.

    The killing intent was enough to prevent the Elves from moving. At this very moment, they feared the two outlines of darkness more than anything in the world.

    Even the oldest Hunters in the rows of the Nightshadow Elves and the High Elves weren''t able to create a killing intent as dense and potent as the killing intent the two creatures of darkness were able to unleash.

    ''Go back guys. I didn''t call you!''

    [But, he ridiculed you!]

    [He has to die!!!]

    Nial noticed toote that he had gone a little bit too far. Everyone except his father was drastically influenced by the sudden appearance of Tyrant and Kaeldur, but that was only because Nial made sure that nothing would happen to his father.

    At the same time, it was his pressure that broke through the firstyer of their mental defenses, followed by the passive effect of Dominion, the means to dominate and break the will of those that were weaker than him.

    But oddly enough he felt good after perceiving the fear around him¡­really good¡­

 Chapter 473 Laboratory

    After Nial held back Tyrant and Kaeldur and made them retreat, he retrieved the energies he had released as well.

    Nial sealed everything cleanly, which made it seem as if everything had merely been an illusion.

    Nial''s expression changed back to the ''hard toprehend'' expression and his Mana was cleanly sealed.

    This made him look weak and vulnerable, even though he was the most terrifying existence in the wooden hut.

    Miles was still rather calm because he had never been affected by Nial''s pressure or power. Thus, he looked at the Elves that surrounded therge oak table in confusion.

    "Is everything okay? I know that it might be hard to work with everyone because we have different upbringings and our personalities are different, but it would be great if we could work together without facing a lot of issues¡­We have enough on our te to deal with, either way!"

    While he was speaking, Miles served the remaining Elves some tea. The tea was made from a special type of leaves. It provided a soothing warmth that spread through the entire body, releasing one''s tension. At the same time, it was very good to calm the mind, which was very good for a better understanding andprehension of whaty ahead of them.

    "I totally agree. Problems would be¡­problematic, after all," Nial said in a simple manner, understanding very well that all the eyes were on him.

    The Royal Princess, her guards, the Royal blood of the Nightshadow Elven race, and hispanions were all staring at him, but with different emotions flickering in their eyes.

    "I think we can find a way where everyone, or most of us, will have no problem with the execution¡­" The Royal Princess said, throwing a sideways nce at the 7th Heir of the Nightshadow Elves for a short moment.

    The young heir''s Mana Core might be at the Keltia rank, but he had rarely fought against beings that were stronger than him in terms of brute strength, let alonebat prowess. He had always evaded facing troublesome opponents when he left his safe havens, the pce where he had been trained and where he had lived for the vast majority of his life.

    His experiences of how cruel life can truly be were basically non-existent. He had never been forced to fight anyone, and he was never thrown into a battlefield, surrounded by thousands of desperate and bloodthirsty enemies, who wanted nothing but to spill the 7th Heir''s royal blood.

    A sheltered life was nice, but it was also the reason for the 7th Heir was shaking like a small twig caught inside a typhoon.

    Never in his life could Nightingale have expected toe face to face with an Original and be afraid of him; an Original who ought to be much weaker¡­ and a mere human!

    "Miles found the undergroundboratory where they concoct the pills of the Cultivation drug!" Princess Evalyne revealed all of a sudden, pulling Nial''s attention over to her.

    His expression didn''t change on the outside but he was quite surprised on the inside.

    ''Dad found it already? I expected them to take a little longer.''

    Nial had yet to go to Melheim and contact the bunch of troublemakers, who had tried to extort his Artisans and almost beaten them into a pulp. He had thought that he would have to do that after this discussion was over.

    It was about time for him to get back into action.

    "Is there only oneboratory for all shelters, or are we just focusing on the producers for Halheim first?" Nial asked, conversationally.

    He knew that he had to make sure that there was no room for mimunication and that their goal was the same. The Cultivation Drug was not exactly troublesome to the Elven races, and the only problem they caused was to create problems for the humans all over the shelters.

    The strongest Originals from the Halheim shelter were likely to cause trouble to the Elven races the moment their addictions were to reach a stage in which they wouldn''t even hesitate to attack their own allies.<novelnext></novelnext>

    When that time woulde, it would be impossible to prevent more troubles from following up. The moment blood was spilled between humans and elves it would be very hard to calm everyone down. In fact, even if it was possible to calm down both sides temporarily, hate and anger would slowly creep up in the subconscious of the races and things would get worse, ultimately resulting in them terminating their Alliance.

    That was not even the worst that could happen but it was enough for the Royal Princess to intervene and help the humans a little bit. She wanted to give them a helping hand, whether it was because she didn''t want Nial as her opponent or because certain other things she never disclosed to anyone didn''t really matter.

    "We don''t know if theboratory distributes the drugs to all shelters or just Halheim. The n we came up with was to raid theboratory, kill the guards and clean up the entireboratory without leaving anything behind.

    The Alchemists who are in charge of creating the Cultivation Drug will be captured alive and they can be investigated afterward, which will help us find out whether there are moreboratories and how widespread the nuisance the entire Drug scenario truly is!"

    It looked like the Royal Princess had a decent n in mind. Given that Nial had Dominion it wouldn''t be difficult to interrogate the Alchemists as well. With that, Nial could agree rather easily.

    "But if we act, everything will have to happen rather fast¡­and I need roughly half a day to procure a few more pieces of information¡­" Nial agreed to the Royal Princess'' n but he thought about the Soul Contract scheming nheless.

    Something told him that both the Drug scenario and the Soul Contract scheming were two sides of a coin and that they belonged together.

    "You want to find the connections between the Foreign Ambassadors who hand out Soul Contract and the Cultivation Drugs, am I right?" Princess Evalyne asked, and her eyes began to gleam when she noticed that her guess was spot on.

    The corners of Nial''s lips curled upward and he nodded his head.

    "That''s basically what I want to do. It won''t take that long either. But I might as well kill the Ambassadors¡­or just capture them¡­before we leave for theboratory¡­.When do you want to initiate the attack, or did you not think of a date yet?"

    Many thoughts shes through Nial''s mind and he had to think about a bunch of things to make sure that things would get better rather than worse.

    "There are still a few things to find out, including the exact location of their warehouses, the number of opponents, and a few other things to make sure that we''re not identally attacking a race that can annihte the Elven races with a simple wave of their hands. To make sure that no one else can find out the date of the attack and prepare in advance we will have to do it rather spontaneously as well. If you''re fine with that, I will just call you and then we raid theboratory," The Royal Princess suggested and Nial nodded his head once again.

    ''They''re more worried about the fact that helping us will create conflict with other, stronger, races. Well, it is only obvious that they will have to wager whether helping us will provide them with more benefits than losses.''

    Nial couldn''t reallyin about Princess Evalyne''s mindset because she put the safety of her race above everything else. It was her highest priority, which was something that may cause lots of sorrow, pain, and sadness in the future.

    However, it could also bring her happiness and satisfaction.

    Nial didn''t feel that he was the right person toment on someone else''s goals, let alone the best judge between right or wrong.

    He was not supposed toment on others'' goals, let alone say that they weren''t worth it, or that their goals were fantastic. His own goal was nothing extraordinary or special, so why would hement on others just because their goals were unfathomable for him?

    ''What am I even thinking about? Did I fall on my head while sleeping?''

    Nial shook his head a few times before he dispelled the intrusive thoughts that were bothering him. Afterward, he paid more attention to listening to the rest of the discussion before the Royal Princess and her cohort chose to leave. Nightingale looked at Nial every now and then but Nial didn''t sense the hatred he had expected the 7th Heir to direct at him.

    On the contrary, Nightingale seemed to have realized that Nial was not someone to take lightly, thus, the only thing he directed at Nial was fear of the unknown, and¡­curiosity?

    ''I don''t like this curiosity¡­can''t he just be afraid of me?''

 Chapter 474 Matured

    "We are very lucky to have the Royal Princess on our side. She helps us a lot with everything that revolves around the Cultivation Drug¡­and we really need her help¡­" Miles said with a bright smile on his face.

    Visualizing his father allowed Nial to understand many things, including that he was very relieved and happy about the Elven''s support.

    "Did you know that there had already been dozens of deaths in the shelter because of the brawls between humans? I give you one try to guess the reason that started the brawls," Miles said all of a sudden while continuing to clean the table, put aside the used mugs and wash them afterward.

    Nial, meanwhile, was focused on caressing the lion-sized Gryphon, who had entered the wooden hut after the guests had left.

    Ryu had grown up a lot and he was much stronger than before. The Gryphon was able to fly using his own wings now that he finally grew wings after his bloodline evolution. That was more than enough reason for Ryu to spend most of the day flying around and having the time of his life.

    As for the Oracle, Nial was actually not sure where she was right now. She didn''t leave behind a note or something like that to let him know about her whereabouts, and Ryu told him that she had been in the wooden hut just a day before. At least that was what Nial understood bymunicating with Ryu through their somewhat crude, yet thick Soul link.

    Thus, there was no need for Nial to be worried, or wonder if the Oracle had already left them.

    "If you ask me like that, the brawls probably started because of the Cultivation Drug. I don''t think there are many other reasons for a bunch of brawls to start all of a sudden," Nial replied quite nonchntly, while his mind was cursing the idiotic drug addicts who were simply throwing away their lives for nothing.

    "You are not wrong because a few brawls started thanks to the not-so-pleasant existence of the Cultivation Drugs, but there is something else. Unfortunately, you''ve just used up your chances at guessing, so¡­you will never be able to find out theplete truth!" Miles was trying to joke with his son, something he had started to do after Nial found out that he was not rted to any of them by blood.

    Nial smiled wryly while he continued to caress Ryu, who was chirping wildly, enjoying the affection he received from his master.

    "Don''t look at me like that, okay? I will tell you. Calm down!" Miles said, without turning his attention away from the sink.

    ''You cannot even see me¡­ and how the hell am I supposed to look at you, to begin with?!''

    Nial would sometimes question whether his father was actually just yful or if Miles was just trying to make sure that his blood pressure would always be high as long as he was at home.

    "Foreign races have created a bunch of factions in Halheim, where most members are humans, which use their techniques. They try, very very hard, to expand their influence. Unfortunately, not everyone epts that, especially the government and other organizations. Thus, humans end up fighting each other whenever the conflicts escte!"

    Miles provided a detailed exnation, and Nial''s interest was piqued.

    "Do you know if there had been trouble in the Orion Artisan Guild, or the Onyx Association?" He asked hurriedly, just for his father to shake his head.

    "Melheim messaged me a few days ago that there had been two conflicts but they were stopped early enough when one of the foreign members of our organizations intervened. Your friends, who used the fortable'' scheme in the application forms when they joined your organizations, are pretty nice.

    Don''t you dare to treat them badly!"

    Nial was not sure how to react to the order he had just received from his father. He could only tilt his head and frown.

    "When did I start treating my people badly?!?"

    His father didn''tment on Nial''s question but that made him feel even worse.

    ''Am I treating them badly? Not really, right?''

    Nial was getting confused and it was at this moment when the Oracle appeared in the wooden door frame of the hut.

    "Oh? You finally chose to change back to your real form?" He asked when he started to visualize the Oracle, in her mature form.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Long and wavy silver hair fell from her slender back, reaching down to her waist. The Oracle smiled gently at Nial as she stepped into the wooden hut.

    Her long, slender legs highlighted the sheer perfect figure of the Oracle, who sat down on the couch next to him before she crossed her legs.

    A floral scent swirled around Nial the moment the Oracle stepped closer to him, naturally pulling his attention over to her.

    She smiled mischievously at him, knowing deep down that Nial was able to visualize her beautiful figure, her voluptuous curves, and the face that screamed ''Goddess''.

    Saying that the Oracle was beautiful would be an insult to her otherworldly gorgeous appearance. Even Nial could tell that very clearly. The Oracle''s presence had changed tremendouslypared to four months ago and it was quite obvious that she had finally given up on hiding her true self in front of Nial, at least.

    Nial could tell that Miles didn''t even realize who¡­or what the Oracle truly was. He put a ss of water on the table in front of her and started chit-chatting with her as if her appearance didn''t affect him at all.

    "He cannot see what I can sense and visualize, right?" Nial muttered slowly to make sure that he wouldn''t start stuttering all of a sudden.

    ''What the hell is wrong with me? Am I a 14-year-old guy in the middle of puberty or what?''

    He was trying hard to organize his thoughts and he attempted to dispel the effect the Oracle had on him. Doing both at the same time was not easy but with some effort, everything worked out.

    "Your father can only see my appearance, though a little bit blurred to make sure that he won''t linger around me all the time. It''s hard for weak mortals to resist me, after all!" The Oracle flung some strands of her hair backward while smiling proudly.

    This was enough for Nial to feel like ruffling through the Oracle''s hair to dishevel it beyond recognition. However, just when he moved his hands, Nial stopped midways.

    ''She doesn''t have the appearance of a little kid anymore¡­I shouldn''t treat her like that anymore either¡­I guess?''

    Nial sighed and he retracted his hand after a moment. The Oracle seemed disappointed when she saw what Nial did, but there was a glint in her eyes that indicated the exact opposite.

    "You don''t feel anything upon visualizing me, sensing my presence, or smelling the scents that naturally surround me? Nothing, at all?" The Oracle asked, leaning forward to get a bit closer to Nial.

    Nial felt like shouting out loud and saying ''I don''t sense anything!'', but he felt like the Oracle would be able to sense that he was not being entirely truthful. It was a little bit weird. He was not sure how strong the Oracle was, let alone what she was¡­but even then he could predict a few things about her persona.

    "It would be a lie to say that I don''t feel anything if someone as beautiful as you approaches me like you''re doing but I don''t really feel the urge to pounce on you and rip your clothes apart¡­if you mean that?" Nial answered truthfully.

    Being a man, he felt something around a beautiful female but that was already it. It would be rather weird if he didn''t feel something in the presence of someone who not only had wless beauty, but also the charming and elegant presence of a Goddess.

    Nial was still not sure if the Oracle was an ''ordinary'' Goddess, and then wondered if something like that existed in the first ce, however, what he could tell was that the Oracle was different from ordinary existences¡­and he knew the reason for that.

    The Oracle was given permission to do things many others weren''t allowed to do, and the reason for this was that she worked together, or even in the name, of the Origin.

    The Origin of the Universe, Jundra, was a weird ce where fate turned everyone into fools, and the Oracle was the Trickster chosen by the Origin¡­or so Nial felt at least.

    "Hmm, so you don''t want to pounce on me¡­okay, noted," The Oracle said quietly, and in a tone that suggested that she was¡­disappointed?!

    ''What the hell is wrong with the people around me? Why would she want me to pounce on her?!''

 Chapter 475 Needy Pets

    Nial spoke a little bit more with the Oracle which allowed him to get to know a bunch of things.

    The Oracle said that she left the Origin to visit a ce where she did not only regain her strength but where she observed the progress of the Undying, a human, who was considered a Fate Changer, just like Nial.

    Both he and the Undying were mentioned in the first prophecy of the Universe, ording to the words of the Oracle, and certain preparations had beenpleted to help them be ready for what would happen.

    She mentioned Veils, cracks in the void that could also be considered Gateways connecting Universes, and the emergence of Vile Existences, called Veilures. Veilures devoured everything in their surrounding area, whether it was mana, the living, or mere objects. As for their reason to devour everything, the Oracle didn''t specify why that was the case.

    Nial felt as if he had heard some pieces of information not too long ago but he didn''t stop the Oracle from telling him more. It was not as if he would incur a loss from hearing certain pieces of information twice or thrice.

    He was not sure whether every single piece of information she mentioned was true or if some information could be considered hearsay but it was interesting nheless.

    But if the pieces of information were already interesting, Nial felt as if the first prophecy of the Universe was even more so.

    ***

    When Chaos spreads through the Universes, the Eternal Prisoner is to be released.

    The of the Universe will face destruction. A favor will be granted to the Savior of Infinite Growth.

    When the ruby moons rise over the crimson sky, the Eternal Prisoner will retrieve her freedom.

    Her fated one will reach out to her, saving the woman blessed by the Curse of the Origin.

    When their Universe will be devoured, the Eternal Darkness and the Undying will be the only ones left alive.

    Their life will be intertwined, and their actions would send tremors through the Universes.

    When the Veils open, the terror of all Universes will be unveiled.

    Whether everything will cease to exist or continue will be decided by those who are able to change the Fate.

    Only they can change what cannot be changed.

    ***

    It was the first time that Nial heard the prophecy, and there were many things he didn''t understand.

    Who was the Eternal Prisoner?

    Wasn''t the Origin the of the Universe? If so, how was that rted to the Savior of Infinite Growth?

    Who was the Savior of Infinite Growth, to begin with?

    Why would he and the Undying be the only ones who survived when their Universe would be devoured?

    Nial asked the Oracle many questions but she avoided answering them.

    Her attitude was simr to the first time when she had told him a few things about the prophecy, when Master Crevian was present, just minutes before Nial found out that his family was not rted to him by blood, and that he had been picked up from a dungeon where he had emerged.

    The Oracle was truly frustrating sometimes, but Nial couldn''t really be mad at her. At times, he felt that she wanted to tell him more but that she couldn''t reveal more about the prophecy and other things. It was almost as if certain restrictions had been put on her.

    "I was finally able to return to my Original form after regaining my powers, yet, you are bombarding me with questions rather than praising my beauty day-in and day-out!" The Oracleined under her breath, feeling like Nial was taking advantage of her.

    She continued to grumble but Nial didn''t react to that, or he tried to.

    It was quite annoying to be seated next to a sobbing Goddess, or whatever the Oracle could be considered- and having a father, who seeks justice whenever possible, nearby.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Every now and then Miles stared at his son with a threat in his eyes. Nial may not be able to see but his senses were quite sharp, extremely sensitive, to be precise. Thus, his father turned out to be the most bothersome traitor in the family because he was forcing his very own son to go out of his way and console an¡­attention-seeking Goddess¡­

    ''To think that this would actually happen¡­who would have expected this?'' He thought while lifting his hand to gently pat on the Oracle''s shoulder.

    "You''re very beautiful and you''re doing an amazing job holding the Universe together¡­your fa¡­.the Origin, and the Universe are definitely proud of you¡­probab¡­that''s for sure!" Nial tried to console her to the best of his ability but he felt like a hypocrite right now.

    ? He could tell pretty much that the Oracle had tricked him several times, especially about the truth revolving around her true form. Considering that the Oracle''s mana fluctuations had feltpletely wrong earlier when she had been in the form of a small child, her current form was definitely her true form.

    The subtle and almost untraceable mana fluctuations that the Oracle radiated right now made much more sense than before. But that was exactly where the Oracle had tricked him.

    ''Why would she have to regain her power to return to her Original form? Maintaining the form of a six-year-old child should have required her to use only bits of her power at any point of the day¡­so it doesn''t really make sense that she said that¡­right? Or¡­was the reason something else?''

    There were many questions that shed through Nial''s mind, but he was not able to find an answer for even a single one of them. But there was something else that bothered him more.

    When Ryu demanded more pats, Nial began to ruffle through his plumage. It was only at this moment that he realized that the Oracle had moved his hand on top of her head to caress her as well.

    ''Did I get my hand on a human-like pet or what?!?''

    "I guess you will leave soon, considering that you''ve finally revealed your true form, or am I mistaken?" Nial asked after epting his fate with the two pets he got.

    No matter what he thought, it was pretty obvious that the Oracle would leave soon. At least, it was obvious for him¡­maybe not for the Oracle.

    "I will leave when you and the small cohort of Elves leave for theboratory," The Oracle said against his expectations.

    Something about the way the Oracle spoke attracted his attention and he squinted his eyes, trying to think of a means to figure out whether his assumptions were wrong or not.

    "You know when we will attack and where we will attack, don''t you?"

    "I know that much."

    "But you won''t tell me where theboratory is, how strong their defenses are, or if there are multipleboratories, I presume?"

    "I am not supposed to tell you anything. In fact, I already shared too many things that were not supposed to be revealed¡­well that is also not entirely true, I guess¡­"

    The Oracle was acting a little bit odd which he noticed when she stopped in her tracks to sigh deeply, but Nial could roughly gauge what was going on.

    "Usually, you would be punished for going against the rules of your ''Boss'', right?" Nial guessed, which was answered by a small nod from the Oracle.

    The new pieces of information he gathered slowly were quite interesting but they were also the reason for Nial to question himself many other things once again.

    Unfortunately, like usual when it came to his chats with the Oracle, Nial was unable to answer most of them.

    That was also why he got up from the couch with a loud groan after he removed his hands from both the Oracle and Ryu.

    Both looked at him as if he had abandoned them, but that was not something Nial had to be concerned about. He was not able to see, after all!

    "Let''s go to Melheim. We have a bunch of things to get to know before we depart to theboratory!" Nial merely said, retrieving a ck mantle from his spatial ring which he wore on his way out.

    "See you, dad!" Nial waved to his father before darkness shrouded him.

    However, just as he was on his way to turn one with the darkness, Nial was held back by a duo of needy¡­pets?

    "Okay¡­juste with me¡­"

 Chapter 476 Otherworldly Residency

    "So you''re saying that there are more than 2500 newly awakened Originals who have been approached by the foreign ambassador, and all of them signed the Soul Contract? All of them, really?"

    Nial had a file with a long list of names, and bits of information written down in the same row of graphics written down in files in his hand and he visualized everything in his mind.

    There was not a single Original in the list, whose awakening had urred earlier than nine months ago, yet, all of them were pretty talented in terms of their natural mana core limitation, or their mana vein''s rank.

    At the same time, not one of them had an Innate ability, which Nial found quite interesting as well. Every single Original with an Innate ability was sought after, no matter what their natural talent was.

    Thus, avoiding the Originals whose Innate ability would attract too much attention made sense.

    "That''s right, Boss, and all of the Ambassadors belong to the same race as well. They didn''t even try to remove the pieces of evidence we found. I have way too much footage of them talking to the victims on the list. A few surveince cameras even got a glimpse of the Soul Contract process," Melheim Zorn reported angrily, his fist smashing on the reinforced wooden table, for the third or fourth time since he started narrating his report.

    He was breathing heavily and was visibly enraged, but Nial could only sigh deeply.

    "There is no need for you to be that angry. In the end, I wouldn''t evenbel the Originals on this list as victims¡­well, maybe they are, but whatever. They signed a contract despite being fully aware of the ''extraordinary opportunity'' that appeared in front of them, just like that, without putting even the slightest bit of effort¡­Don''t you think that they could have figured that something was off, no matter how little knowledge they possess about Mana Breathing techniques?

    The Originals have been tricked into a Soul Contract, that is correct, but I think that they were just too greedy, impatient, and naive to question whether someone belonging to a foreign race might con them resulting in their demise, or if the opportunity was just given to them because their talent was highly exceptional."

    Nial stopped at this moment. He took a deep breath and ignored Melheim''splicated expression as he continued:

    "Let''s be honest, the Originals on this list are all great talents, but they''re not exceptional enough to get scouted by every single organization the moment their Awakening Test was registered in the Shelter''s database. The foreign Ambassadors picked them very well, and it''s about time for us to visit one of them¡­let''s see how far we can go!"

    Nial didn''t want to lose 2500 potentially strong Originals. No matter how determined they were, or how many fruitful encounters they would have in the future, it would be quite difficult for them to advance to the Deux rank in the next two years.

    The Soul Contract everyone had received was exactly the same. They gave Party B a total of 1000 days to advance to the Deux rank and finish a small mission for Party A, otherwise, they would be enved ording to the rules of the Soul Contract.

    Nial was pretty sure that everyone should have noticed that something was wrong, the moment very was involved in the Soul Contract. However, 2500 somewhat talented newly awakened Originals seemed to be the biggest fools in human history¡­well maybe not the biggest but certainly the greediest¡­and they signed the Contract with a stamp of their Soul.

    Nial felt that he should help them, for mankind''s sake, and to make sure that the disgusting ambassadors wouldn''t be given the opportunity to create a breeding station consisting of humans. The thought alone made a vivid image sh through Nial''s head every now and then, and it felt disgusting¡­truly disgusting!

    He inwardly shuddered and turned away from Melheim after throwing the list of names back to him.

    Nial noticed a stare that almost burned holes in his back and he sighed once again.

    "If you want toe with me,e over, but stay quiet when we arrive," He said and it was just a momentter that Melheim Zorn appeared next to him, his left hand tightly grasping the handle of his sheathed longsword.

    "Staying quiet doesn''t mean that you are allowed to swing around your sword like a madman, either!!" Nial informed sternly while pointing at Melheim''s left hand.

    Melheim flinched and he removed his hand from the handle after a moment of hesitation.

    "That''s better¡­"

    Afterward, they went their way to one of the few neutral territories in the Halheim shelter, the Residence of the Ambassadors from others.

    There were also two other human ambassadors in the Residency, their origin from outside Jundra. Nial had already forgotten where they came from, but he was pretty sure that they didn''t belong to the same human race as the Old Saint Runicier, whom he had encountered in the Golden City.<novelnext></novelnext>

    If that were to be the case, Nial would face a few annoying situations in the near future¡­and that was something he wanted to avoid at all costs; trouble.

    ''But I''m actually getting into trouble right now¡­I''m really a hypocrite¡­well, who cares?''

    Ryu ran around the two humans and the Oracle-Goddess. Melheim, the Guards, and everyone else were rather nonchnt around the Oracle as if she was nothing special in their eyes.

    That was a spell, that the Oracle had weaved around her. Nobody noticed her because everyone felt she was just an average-looking woman, someone one could easily forget.

    Nobody was able to recall the Oracle the moment she passed by them. There were only a few exceptions who were excluded from the effects of the spell, including Nial.

    "We would like to see Baron Inon," Nial informed calmly to one of the maids working in the Residency when he passed by the Guards with the use of Dominion. They closed their eyes for a few seconds and forgot having seen Nial and the batch that followed him closely.

    The maid bowed to him before she excused herself. She made a call to the Head Secretary of the Otherworldly Residency and returned after a moment.

    "Sir¡­I apologize but I don''t know Sir''s name. Baron Inon doesn''t seem to have a scheduled appointment with anyone right now¡­the Head Secretary will forward Sir''s name to the Baron to see whether he has time or not¡­" The maid replied, lowering her head even further.

    From the way Nial and Melheim were clothed, she could tell that they were strong Originals. She had not awoken her Origin, so the maid would never be able to block an Original from entering the property, either way.

    Furthermore, the guards didn''t even block them, which usually meant that the Originals were of high status.

    That made it even more difficult for the maid to say anything to obstruct the humans¡­and the monster in front of her.

    She swallowed her saliva and her eyes began to tremble as she recalled what happened to two other maids, who had tried to obstruct the path of a few intruding Originals.

    "Can you take us to the Head Secretary? She will know who I am when she sees me," Nial just said and the maid quickly nodded her head.

    There was nothing she could do, other than lead the small group of Originals to the Head Secretary either way.

    The woman in charge of all secretaries looked at Nial, who smiled gently at her as he used Dominion.

    "Long time no see. Baron Inon has no time for me¡­or did you forget to add my meeting with him in his schedule?"

    It was easy to trick weak Originals, let alone humans who hadn''t awoken their Origin, especially with an ability such as Dominion.

    The Head Secretary gasped for air and she looked at a few schedules before she bowed deeply to Nial.

    "Oh my God¡­I''m so sorry, Sir¡­I am terribly sorry¡­how could I forget the appointment¡­" The Head Secretary apologized profusely and spoke with Nial in the most formal way afterward, and she pointed at the maid after a while,

    "Teresia, take them to Baron Inon and leave them alone afterward. Tell Secretary Kim to activate the Dome of Silence!"

    The maid was confused at the sudden change of the scenario, especially the change in the Head Secretary''s behavior. She had never seen the Head Secretary being that formal to anyone.

    ''There is always a first time, I guess?''

 Chapter 477 Baron Iglanon

    Nial and hispanions were treated in the best possible way as the Secretaries and the Maid thought of them as nobles.

    The maid led them to arge room that was located right in front of Baron Inon''s office before she left after asking if they needed some refreshments, or if they would be fine if left alone.

    Nial didn''t want to be distributed, so he informed the maid and Secretary Kim to leave after activating the istion dome.

    The runic constetions of the istion dome were not perfect, but they were good enough for Nial''s n.

    Upon visualizing the room all around him, Nial quickly noticed that they had entered arge living room that was most probably used for all kinds of meetings.

    A small ss table was ced in the center of the living room, and several wooden chairs were neatly ced around the ss table.

    In the left corner of the room was a couch, and Nialy down there waiting for Baron Inon to leave his office. He could perceive everything the Baron was doing, but there was no point in intervening and rushing the poor idiot.

    The Train to Hell would reach him sooner orter, either way.

    There was no need for Nial to rush anything, which was why he spent some more time focusing on his surrounding area.

    ''A few hidden cameras, microphones to record the audio separately, and a few runic armaments to see one''s mana core rank and fluctuations, and to make an imprint of the mana fluctuations¡­ there is even a device to see through fabric and camouge runic armaments¡­not bad, they''re really prepared!''

    Nial was truly impressed by the number of runic armaments that had been installed in therge living room. Every single runic armament in the living room was worth a small fortune because they had been customized to remain extremely small and inconspicuous, basically well hidden from everyone''s eye, yet still in possession of high-quality functions.

    Some runic armaments were hidden within therge, exquisite, and expensive-looking cabs, or the highly ''artistic'' paintings that filled the empty walls with some life, while other runic armaments were considered unique pieces of decorations owing to their appearance.

    However, each of the runic armaments was useless against someone, who knew that they were around him. The runic armaments were not activated 24/7. They would only be turned on when the Baron pressed a button that would send a mana frequency signal to the runic armaments within the living room.

    To the Baron''s misfortune, Nial made sure that none of the runic armaments would work for the next half an hour. This might arouse suspicion, but he had already nned out everything¡­well maybe not everything.

    When Nial found himself extremely bored on the couch with the Darkness Gryphon lying on his chest, demanding more caresses, the Baron finally found his way to the living room.

    Baron Inon was wearing exquisite linen clothes, which immediately suggested that he was wealthy and of high political status.

    In contrast, Nial''s appearance suggested that he was just a hoodlum, someone who was not really supposed to be able to talk to a Baron, no matter what race he belonged to.

    He had also retracted his mana and temporarily sealed it inside his Mana Core and Heart of Darkness to make sure that Baron Inon wouldn''t think highly of him.

    And as expected, Baron Inon''s attention was pulled to the Oracle for a moment before he split his focus onto Ryu and Melheim Zorn.

    The Baron''s interest in Ryu was the highest, but that was to be expected. It was quite rare to see a Gryphon youngling in the flesh, especially one with the mutation of a Darkness Affinity.

    Ryu had two pairs of wings at that, hinting that he had awoken the dormant bloodline that the monster harbored.

    "I apologize for beingte, but I didn''t expect the Head Secretary to make such a big mistake. She shouldn''t forget to schedule the appointment for such important guests as you!" Baron Inon greeted formally with a thin smile on his face as he did the standard greeting of the Linaton race.

    The Linaton race was a race with mostly gray skin, big emerald-colored eyes, and a small, frail body. They had overly long arms and legs whenpared to their torso¡­if one considered them long because they were shorter than human arms and much thinner. Baron Inon was only 120 centimeters tall and that was alreadyrge for a Linaton. His arms reached his knee cap, which made him look ridiculous in his noble clothes.

    He looked everything but aesthetically pleasing, but that was not something the Baron could be bothered about¡­probably.

    The Linaton race looked ugly in its entirety, to begin with. Their wrinkly gray skin made them look old and their huge head andrge emerald eyes made it look like they were a crossbred of a bunch of ugly monsters.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Melheim repeated the greeting''s gesture again but it looked a little clumsy as he tried to put his right foot to the left of his left foot bowing lightly with his hands nearing the opposite shoulder.

    Upon visualizing Melheim''s attempts, Nial almostughed out loud. However, he got himself under control quickly enough and he repeated a different action, motioning his right hand against his left chest before he tipped his head forward slightly.

    That was enough for him to greet the Royal Princess of the Elven race, let alone a piece of shit such as Baron Inon.

    "Unfortunately, I don''t know how I deserved to meet such a noble character such as you¡­sir¡­I am sorry, but the Head Secretary didn''t even tell me your names¡­I am terribly sorry¡­" Baron Inon apologized while looking extremely distraught. He pointed at the table and motioned his guests to sit down with him.

    Melheim nodded his head calmly with a faint smile on his lips, thankfully, before he sat down. The Oracle followed Melheim, while Nial ordered Ryu to run around the table from the right side.

    "We are sorry to hear that you didn''t know about our appointment. It''s no problem that you don''t know our names either. We made the appointment not too long ago, and we are already d that you waste your time speaking to us," Melheim said in an obedient and slimy voice. He rubbed his fingers and forced himself to fake a greedy smile.

    Nial smiled at the bad acting of his Vice-Leader and he inwardly apologized to Melheim for having to do that.

    At the same time, Nial merged with the shadows and he emerged on the other side of the room, behind Baron Inon.

    ''Let''s see what I can do with Dominion¡­ How should we get started?'' Nial wondered, an evil smile slowly forming on his lips.

    Oblivious to Baron Inon, Nial had begun to temper his mind and to make his way through the old and stubborn trickster¡­after all, Linaton was just that¡­a small race of disgusting tricksters and hypocrites!

    Nial ignored the discussion between Baron Inon and Melheim Zorn as he focused on the domination of the Baron''s mind.

    And slowly but steadily five minutes psed before the Baron ended up looking around in confusion.

    "What¡­is going on? Where am I? I met with the Shelturion just a moment ago, and now I''m¡­in prison?! WHO dares to imprison me, Baron Inon, the highest-ranked Ambassador who is scamming the Origin''s humans!?!" Baron Inon burst out loud, his emerald eyes shining brightly.

    He was just about to use his mana to use one of his few abilities when realization dawned upon him.

    "I¡­don''t have any mana anymore? I cannot even control my mana either¡­Where is my MANA????"

    Fear and desperation due to the unexpected and sudden situation could be seen in his eyes as Baron Inon jumped up from his chair.

    Meanwhile, Melheim, the Oracle, and Ryu looked over at him.

    "He is exposing a lot more than expected. That''s pretty neat. I guess everything has worked out," Nial answered calmly and he stepped out of the darkness of the corner of the room with a faint smile on his lips.

    His lifeless milky-white eyes stared unfocused in the Baron''s direction before he sat down opposite him, to Melheim''s left side.

    Ryu charged over to him and he jumped on Nial''sp where he tried to find afortable position to snuggle up.

    "Ryu¡­you are not that small anymore," Nial joked before his expression turned serious as he focused on the Linaton once again.

    He pointed at the chair just a momentter.

    "Sit down you ugly piece of shit!"

 Chapter 478 Goods

    Baron Inon was sweating buckets.

    The hair all over his body was standing at its end and his emerald eyes fell on the young man whose lifeless eyes were staring in his direction.

    No matter what Baron Inon did, his eyes kept flicking back to the young Original.

    "How about you tell us more about the Shelturion friend of yours? Why did you have to meet a member of a race that is at war with the Linaton race? Shouldn''t he be your nemesis?" Nial asked calmly, his smile still as bright as before.

    Baron Inon stiffened the moment he heard Nial''s voice and a dull ache began to spread through his head. The headache grew stronger the longer he waited to answer Nial''s question. The Baron groaned out in pain and he clutched his chest while his mouth foamed.

    "There was no major reason for us to meet...can''t there be friends amongst rival races? Not everyone is bad..." Baron Inon answered, just to realize that his headache and the pain in his chest grew worse.

    "Maybe you should tell the truth, otherwise, your body might continue clogging your veins with mana. It would be quite a hassle if you were to die right now," Nial said calmly, his evil grin growing wider with every passing second.

    He could have told the Baron to tell him the truth from the beginning. With Dominion, this would have been rather easy. However, Nial didn''t really want to give Baron Inon an easy time.

    His presence was enough to annoy Nial because he knew that it had been the Linaton race''s Ambassadors who caused most, or at least, half the trouble that he had to take care of!

    "I...I..:I met with the Shelturion to...change the deal about the Cultivation Drug production..." Baron Inon finally revealed after the pain in his head and chest reached a stage where he could hardly breathe. His sight had already blurred and he was on the verge of copsing.

    Yet, upon telling the truth, his mind and body released his heart and head from the torture he put himself through.

    ''Dominion is really powerful...to think that I can force people to speak the truth, or they willmit suicide. That''s quite funny!''

    Nial was learning new things about his ability every single day, and it made him feel more excited. He began to wonder how strong his abilities would be when he reached the Deux rank, or the Keltia-rank...or once he advanced past those ranks!

    His mind was going wild with the things he imagined and his evil grin would have grown wider, if that were possible, to begin with.

    "I heard that the Shelturion are great Alchemists and arrogant idiots because they think that their intelligence transcends the mortal threshold upon awakening their Origin. I guess they created the Cultivation Drug pills and you guys are their...dealers?" Nial asked, knowing that he was not exactly good at interrogating others.

    He was not a detective, let alone tactful with words. It was much better to let actions speak!

    Unfortunately, that was not exactly helpful in the given predicament. If Nial were to kill every single Ambassador belonging to the Linaton race, without caring to check the necessary pieces of evidence, not only would the issue about the Soul Contracts still be there but the Cultivation Drug issue wouldn''t be solved either.

    Everything had to be solved at the same time, or in a period that wouldn''t allow anyone to create a n to counterfeit Nial and his people, let alone to run away!

    "We...have nothing to do with the Cultivation Drugs!...Arghhhh!!!" Baron Inon screamed out loud when he attempted to lie yet again. He held his chest and bloody foam oozed out of the corners of his lips.

    Tears trickled down his cheeks and he looked at Melheim and the Oracle miserably, trying to invoke their pity. However, the only thing he was greeted with was cold expressions and threats gleaming in the runic eye of the human Original.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "We are not directly linked with the Cultivation Drugs!!" Baron Inon shouted out and the pain in his chest receded and he took a few breaths. The Linaton had no idea how the situation could have escted to this stage, but he was not even able to get up from the chair...even though there was nothing holding him back...except his mind!

    "But you handed out Soul Contracts to a few hopeful and naive newly awakened Originals before sending a bunch of loan sharks with connections to the Cultivation Drug dealer to the doorsteps of their family and friends a few days after the Originals realized that the Mana Breathing technique was altered, which made it impossible to improve the mana core to the Prometheus rank...is that correct upto here, or am I missing something?" Nial summarized what he had concluded and the Baron nodded his head.

    "The Loan sharks are not affiliated with us directly but they''re a necessity for us to be able to get our hands on good quality goods once the Soul Contracts'' rulinges into effect!

    The Cultivation Drug pills are manufactured by the Shelturion, and they''re given to Dealers who will then forward the pills to the addicts and the loan sharks to further distribute them in the shelters. Using both the Soul Contracts and the highly addictive Cultivation Drugs to get our hands on more goods, we split the spoils of war with the Shelturion faction of the Great Wirliam. He is not rted to the Shelturion''s royal bloodline and doesn''t act in their favor either, which is why we, the Linaton work together with him!" Baron Inon exined in a far more detailed way than necessary.

    However, because the Baron was afraid of the heart-wrenching pain, he chose to speak rather than getting asked one question after another and trying to find a way around the truth, just to protect others. He didn''t want to die, and if telling the truth made that possible, Baron Inon would simply tell the truth...tell everything!

    This made things a lot easier for Nial, but he didn''t feel pleased in the slightest. He was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists in anger. His nails dug so deep in the flesh of his palms that blood trickled down to the ground.

    "Do you know how manyboratories the Shelturion have? Also, do you know where they''re located, and how many guards are located around them? Do they have other affiliated races to they distribute the Cultivation Drug to? If so, what races do they belong to? Where are the drug-addicted humans they have already kidnapped? SPEAK! Where are all the human ves??" Nial was slowly losing his rationale as he thundered loudly.

    His emotions were in a turmoil and the dark energy he had sealed in his Heart of Darkness oozed out of it. The dark energy spread through his body, and slowly crawled up his mind where it circted in a tranquil and calm manner.

    But it was exactly this tranquil and seemingly calm dark energy that began to influence Nial once again, for the first time in what seemed like an eternity.

    Nial imagined his sister, his father, Mathias, Hana, and others getting enved, and used as breeders to create crossbreeds of a new race that possessed the best traits of both the human race and the beings they were getting sold to.

    His mind wasing up with wild thoughts and it took him a tremendous amount of effort not to tear apart the entire living room. He was not sure what was going on with his mind, but he could hardlye clean with the fact that the Linaton and Shelturion considered humans nothing but mere goods.

    ''They will have to die...all of them...'' Nial decided as his thoughts started to be clearer. Darkness oozed out of his body and the Baron of the Linaton began to shiver.

    His hands were trembling violently and he lifted them hurriedly to block his head from the attack he predicted.

    Yet, nothing like that happened. Seconds turned into minutes, but even then nothing happened.

    Baron Inon lowered his arms, just to see that Nial had calmed down. However, the expression on the faces of the humans and the...other human-like existence were slightly confusing...and a big contrast to each other.

    Melheim was also angered, but the pressure he felt from Nial made him feel as if he was suffocating. The killing intent that oozed out of Nial following the darkness was more than enough to kill Peak Prometheus Originals by suffocating them. His eyes which had been filled with anger were now filled with fear.

    On the other hand, the Oracle was trying to hide that the corners of her lips had curled upward.

    ''That''s it!...Show me more!!''

 Chapter 479 Memory Wipe

    Nial had a hard time controlling himself. He didn''t want to leave behind any traces after his job was done in the Otherwordly residency.

    That was also why he ended up diverting his focus onto the blood that trickled down his palms.

    ''Calm down¡­I can still kill him after everything is over¡­''

    Nial tried to ease the tension of his body and change his train of thought but that was easier said than done. Focusing on his blood that sprinkled on the wooden floor was the only way to do so.

    He ended up using his crimson moonlight to devour the blood that seeped inside the wooden floor. Nial shrouded his hand in crimson moonlight as well, catching the bits of blood that trickled down his hands before they could turn into pieces of evidence.

    "Is that everything you have to say? Are you that dumb or does nobody trust you, not even other Linaton?" Nial finally asked after listening to Baron Inon for quite a while.

    He finally calmed down a little and regained his senses. The dark energy that circted through his brain had been pulled back inside his Heart of Darkness where it was sealed tightly.

    Nial didn''t really want to think about it, but it was quite troublesome that his dark energy had influenced him once again, even if it was just a little bit.

    ''Damian doesn''t want to resurrect but the dark energy wants to get him back¡­or change me until my personality fits the dark energy better¡­did Damian have problems with the Dark energy as well, or is that just a problem I have to face?''

    Based on his experiences, it was quite easy to tell that Damian was actually tired of living. Even thest remnants of his consciousness that had been sealed in his Godly fragment had sounded rather tired whenever he had encountered the Late God of Darkness.

    It was not as if Nial had encountered Damian often but that was not necessary for him to conclude that the Late God of Darkness was a good person and that his image in the vast known Universe was a stark contrast to the person he had gotten to know.

    This was one of the reasons why Nial had begun to believe that Damian had also been under the influence of dark energy.

    Whenever Damian was angry, his anger would get influenced and more negative emotions would resurrect from the depths of his subconscious thanks to the dark energy. Following that, the obliteration of several races would take ce, all thanks to the influence of dark energy and bits of intrusive thoughts. Afterward, everything would spiral downward, all hell would break loose and Damian would go on a killing spree, whether he wanted to or not.

    The opportunity to change his fate would have long since ended and no redemption would be given to the God of Darkness.

    That was what Nial imagined to have happened to Damian, though he had yet to receive more memories from him.

    In fact, it had been quite a while since Nial was given an opportunity to take a look at the Late God of Darkness'' memories!

    "I told you everything I know¡­" Baron Inon''s frightened voice reached Nial''s ears, bringing him back to reality. He shook his head once and let out a sigh.

    "Are the other Ambassadors of the Linaton as oblivious as you, or do they know more?" Nial asked, trying to gather his thoughts once again.

    After he was influenced by the dark energy it was somewhat difficult for him to get back into interrogation mode. It was frustrating but the distraction, even if it had only been temporary, had been more than enough to calm down and to forget whether all of his questions had been answered or not.

    "No¡­" Baron Inon answered in a low voice, honestly once again. There was no heart-wrenching pain in his chest or the feeling of a zing pole being pierced into his brain.

    Afterward, Nial repeated a few questions to make sure that the answers would be exactly the same and that he wasn''t missing out on anything important.

    "Forget that this Interrogation ever happened, that you had guests just now, and that someone yed with your mind. If someone asks whether you met one of us today, you will say that you went to sleep after your little female friend left your office.

    Forget our faces, voices, mana fluctuations, and anything even remotely rted to thest 30 minutes!" Nial ordered using Dominion which was reinforced by the crimson moonlight and dark energy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Afterward, Nial used Dominion to remove the earlier alterations he had done to Baron Inon and he moved his hand over the Baron''s head.

    "You will feel sleepy and stay asleep for the next few hours!"

    The Baron''s eyes closed afterward and it took him a tremendous effort to open them just a little bit and to get going. He trotted back to his office, and tripped over his feet several times before he somehow reached his office, and slumped on the couch. Baron Inon fell asleep on the couch the moment his head hit the soft cushioning.

    "Let''s move everything to how it had been, remove our scent, and mana fluctuations and ensure that we don''t leave even a shred of evidence behind," Nial merely said and they left just minutester.

    Once all of them were outside, Nial fixed the runic armaments within the living room and he released his range of perception to find a bunch of people.

    "I will wipe the memories of the two secretaries and the maid before we leave," He quickly said, while being prepared to take action against the surveince cameras that may or may not get a good picture of them or the people all around them.

    When they had entered the Otherworldly Residency not too long ago, Nial had ensured that nobody would see, or remember them. That was what he did while leaving too and made a few memory wipes as an extra precaution.

    They didn''t want even a single soul to remember what happened in thest 30 minutes, after all!

    Nial wanted to raid theboratory first, get his hands on some information and then take care of the Linaton¡­and then he would have to pick a fight with the government¡­or at leastin loud enough to make it impossible for them to keep silent.

    ''You greedy bastards were silent long enough¡­I cannot believe that you guys sacrificed your own kind for the greater good, just to prevent a tiny war from breaking out¡­ I should really wipe out the government as well¡­'' Nial thought before he actually noticed what his subconscious had just proposed to him.

    ''Wipe out the government? What the¡­calm down¡­''

    Once they were outside the Otherworldly residency, Melheim threw a fit. He was raging like a little kid who was throwing a tantrum because his favorite toy was confiscated.

    The visualization was enough to nt a small smile on Nial''s face, and he forgot about the intrusive thoughts his mind harbored deep inside him.

    "I know how you feel, but we cannot get rid of the Linaton Ambassadors, not yet¡­" Nial said after a while. He led the others inside a restaurant to eat their fill and to calm down from the shocking information they had procured thanks to the interrogation.

    The Oracle was mostly silent, Ryu chirped happily as always, while Melheim was still fuming in anger.

    "I really don''t know how nobody noticed that something is fishy with the Linaton¡­ it was not even difficult for me to find all, or more likely, most victims of their scheming¡­neither the government nor any of the other big organizations seem to notice that anything is off¡­that''s too weird!!"

    Nial was d that Melheim acted like this. It showed him that he made the right choice when epting Melheim, whether it was as a mascot to increase the members of his organizations or because he was just a good-hearted, middle-aged man.

    "Maybe they chose not to see it rather than not being able to see it? It might not be worth it for them, or they might gain more from not looking at the Linaton''s scheming," Nial replied. He had thought about this answer for a few times already.

    Unfortunately, it didn''t really make him any happier. On the contrary, the answer was saddening and not something he wished to know the truth about.

    He was just making theories but the probability of his theories being right was too high not to consider them highly likely¡­

    "But why?" Melheim asked, even though he knew the answer deep down.

    "...Because it is easier."

 Chapter 480 Leaving

    "I don''t care about others, but we will have enough pieces of evidence to make sure that the government will be forced to confront the Linaton race about their schemings. There is still enough time left before the period of the Soul Contractses to an end as well!

    Theboratory has to be raided first and then we will see¡­ maybe we will wage war sooner orter," Nial acted nonchntly but he didn''t really feel that calm andposed.

    He understood that the government didn''t want to see the indirect kidnapping and enving of a few thousand humans because they looked at the bigger picture. In their point of view, it was not that much of a problem to lose a few thousand newly awakened Originals if that meant they could maintain good rtionships with a race that was not only stronger than the humans from Jundra but also could improve the economic status of the entire human race.

    The Linaton race was a race that was very good at making business. They were rich, even if they were not the greatest fighters.

    Yet, despite not being the greatest fighters, they had Originals at the Keltia rank. No human from Jundra had advanced to the Deux rank yet, not to Nial''s knowledge at least.

    With that in mind, it was only obvious that mankind did not dare to offend the Linaton race just because they had kidnapped a few thousand humans and enved them.

    However, that mindset was wrong, not only because of the innocent humans who were enved and used in the worst possible way but also because their entire race would be known as pushovers by the Linaton race, and other races once their reputation spread through Jundra.

    It was not even unlikely that the Elves would break off their alliance with them in the future to distance themselves from mankind. That way they would make sure that their image wouldn''t get dragged through the mud just because they were on good terms with the pushovers from Jundra.

    Nial understood this very well because he had encountered a few members of ''pushover races'' in Alliance city. They weren''t treated nicely, most gave them fewer rewards than they deserved, and they were mostly used as scavengers.

    To put it simply, they were being bullied!

    Nial wanted to make sure that the humans from Jundra wouldn''t be considered pushovers. There were several reasons for him to be like that but it was mostly to make sure that his father, friends, and family would be fine, no matter what happened.

    He knew that this was quite difficult, but that was fine.

    "So your n is to act first and then force the government to follow your example, just in a more extreme manner by waging war against a stronger race? That is pretty dangerous¡­and savage, I like it!" Melheim gave Nial a thumbs up before he smiled at his boss brightly.

    He was a lot older than Nial but the boss'' talent andbat prowess exceeded his a million times, if not more. Following someone younger, let alone someone who had been of a lower rank when Melheim first started to work for Nial, was actually something most people wouldn''t do, just to make sure that nobody would doubt theirpetency and their image would be clean, without the slightest wrinkle.

    However, Melheim never regretted his decision to follow his intuition and join Nial''s organization. He was pretty sure that it was the best decision he had made in his life, even if it resulted in a shit-load of work from time to time.

    "My n is not to have a n. I imprinted Baron Inon''s mana fluctuations in my mind and can now differentiate the Linaton from other races much easier while sensing them. That will make things a lot easier.

    As for waging a war, I just hope that we don''t have to wage a war against both the Shelturion and the Linaton at the same time. This would make things very problematic, especially since we are currently weaker than most races and because we have 10 different shelters. It won''t be possible for us to defend all of them at the same time¡­if we''re even strong enough to protect a single shelter, to begin with," Nial revealed the truth, no matter how annoying it was.

    The humans from Jundra, including him, were still in their growth phase. They had yet to reach their limit, let alone have a human attain Godhood or something like that. There were countless humans with the talent to be stronger and attain higher heights, but what they required most was time rather than mountains of resources.

    The resources would elerate their progress but it wouldn''t negate the fact that they were in need of time and proper guidance to grow well.

    But time was a luxury they could not afford, not if they wanted to make sure that nobody were to look at them like pushovers, and not if Nial wanted to make sure that the newly awakened Originals wouldn''t be kidnapped and enved.

    "Let''s take one step at a time¡­I guess," Melheim just said and Nial could only nod his head.

    Thinking too much about the worst-case scenario would do them no good. It would bother them and prevent other, more useful thoughts from entering his mind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    With that in mind, the two calmed down and their small group finished eating before they returned to the Orion Artisan Guild.

    **

    Ten days had passed and the Royal Princess had yet to notify him about theboratory''s attack. After Nial found out that the Shelturion, precisely the followers of Great Wirliam, were in charge of theboratory that created the Cultivation Drug, he told Princess Evalyne about it.

    She had not messaged him since that day, which was enough reason for Nial to question whether the Elves had bailed out of theboratory raid, or if they were still mulling over their choices.

    That was enough reason for him to send the loan sharks to Poleg the Fat and slowly crawl up thedder of hierarchy and find out more about theboratory''s position and defenses by himself.

    If the Elves wouldn''t help him, Nial was more than fine solving their problems without anyone''s help.

    He didn''t tell his father about his n either because it was quite obvious that Miles would tell the Royal Princess about what he was doing. Miles trusted Princess Evalyne, presumably more than his own son, but that was quite obvious because he knew his son too well.

    Nial was ready to go in all by himself and raid theboratory, of course, without killing the alchemists, and everything, or everyone, who seemed to be important!

    It was only today that he noticed a small change. The Oracle was being a little bit impatient and was tapping her heels on the wooden floor while she was seated on the couch.

    Ryu was snuggling up to her as if he noticed the same change as Nial, who got up from the chair he had been seated on.

    "You have to leave today, don''t you?" He finally asked and the Oracle smiled bitterly. She gave him a faint nod.

    "It looks like my vacation is over. To think that I was able to rest for such a long time¡­I don''t think I can remember a time where I didn''t do much for several months¡­" The Oracle tried to sound nonchnt but traces of frustration and sadness could be heard in her voice.

    ? Or, at least, Nial was able to hear the sadness and frustration in her voice.

    ''She wasn''t able to rest even though she is already that old?...Wait¡­how old is the Oracle even, to begin with?''

    Nial didn''t know the answer but he felt a little bit bad for the Oracle. He could tell that she was doing something good in the hopes of helping the Universe to survive the catastrophes that awaited them in the unknown future. But he was not really sure if the Oracle was doing all of this because she actually wanted to or if she was told to do so.

    "I will leave in an hour or so. Is there something you want to know¡­if so, you should ask now? I cannot see when we will meet each other again, or how long it will take," The Oracle offered quietly, trying to hide her sadness in the hope that she could speak a little bit longer with Nial.

    Nial had too many questions but he also knew that the Oracle wouldn''t be allowed to answer most of them.

    Thus, he decided to spend the next hour ying a few card games with the Oracle, something she had never done before.

    And she was happy doing so¡­as happy as never before in her life¡­or maybe not never¡­but it had been a very long time¡­a very very long time since she and the Immortal Witch had been together, spending theirst happy days with one another, before there was nothing, no happiness, not the slightest bit of joy.

    Until Nial appeared.

 Chapter 481 Go Go

    Even though the Oracle didn''t want to leave, there was nothing she could do against it.

    She had to leave because many tasks were waiting for her to solve them.

    Their separation was not too emotional, but Nial had to acknowledge that it was a little sad.

    The Oracle had been arade to him whose presence was not easily receable. She had not offered him much help other than creating the istion space when he had fought the Keltia Heligav in Alliance City. Despite that, it had never really been boring with the Oracle.

    Though it was not as if Nial would get bored easily because he had lots of things to do.

    Ryu chirped out sadly and Nial caressed his littlerade. The Gryphon was probably the most emotional, and he would have an even harder timeter as well.

    Just as Nial had expected, he received a call not even half an hour after the Oracle left.

    It was the Royal Princess who was calling him!

    "We finished our business and will attack the Shelturion''sboratory this evening. Our cohort will set off in half an hour. If you want to join us, you shoulde to the center of the Forest of Life!" Princess Evalyne informed him, giving Nial the option to join them or to stay out of trouble.

    However, Nial couldn''t stay out of it, not anymore. He was already in the midst of the chaos, and it was time to clear up the mess the others had created!

    "I will be there," Nial responded before hanging up.

    He continued to caress Ryu for a few minutes before he went to his father.

    "Can you take care of Ryu for a few days? I will leave with the cohort of the Royal Princess¡­and clear up some other trash when I''m already at it. It will probably take a few days, and I can hardly take Ryu with me," He asked his father, who nodded his head.

    "Of course, I can take care of your little friend¡­but wasn''t there someone else?" Miles responded with a faint smile, yet, feeling slightly confused.

    Nial knew that his father was talking about the Oracle, but he could only shrug his shoulders.

    "I don''t know what you''re talking about. There is only Ryu and I!" Nial responded, feeling slightly guilty.

    ''Sorry dad, but you probably won''t remember the Oracle at all, after a while.''

    "Is that so?...must be my memories then¡­weird. I could have sworn that there was someone by your side¡­am I already getting old?"

    Miles scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, shrugging his shoulders after a while.

    He squatted down on the ground and smiled at Ryu.

    "We will be roommates for a while, isn''t that nice?"

    Ryu chirped as if he was trying to answer Miles, but there was no answer. Nial tried to hide his grin and he cleared his throat to make sure that he had their attention.

    "I will take your leave then. Have some fun¡­but not too much to get into trouble!" Nial dered in a half-serious half-joking tone before he took their leave.

    Everything he needed was in his spatial ring, Ryu would be fine as long as he stayed in or near the Forest of Life and his father would be fine as well!

    Nial did not rush as he walked through the thicket of the Forest of Life after he jumped down from the elevated wooden hut. Instead, he walked slowly, taking every bit of information from his surrounding environment and the living beings.<novelnext></novelnext>

    There was not a single detail that escaped his senses, and he began to rx upon sensing the flora and fauna. A vast mixture of floral scents swirled around him, the life force of the Forest of Life that pulsated vigorously in the trees and nts around him was getting stronger the closer he came to the center and the different types of altered mana were getting stronger as well.

    ''To think that the altered mana doesn''t try to devour or destroy each other in the center, that''s a pretty impressive feat of the Forest of Life. The Dryads did a really good job there¡­''

    Nial arrived at the center of the Forest of Life at the scheduled time but he could tell that the others were already waiting for him. Seeing that Nial was unhurriedly walking through the Forest of Life with his arms raised high into the air made them feel as if he was stretching his body. His eyes were closed and there was a faint smile on his lips.

    Did he understand how serious the situation was? Not even the Royal Princess was sure about that as her eyes fell on Nial.

    "Am I toote?...I shouldn''t be¡­" Nial asked the Royal Princess when he reached her. He mumbled a few iprehensible words under his breath before he turned silent.

    "You are not toote. You''re perfectly on time, to be precise¡­ Either way, should I exin the n again, or do you remember what we''re going to do?" The Royal Princess asked while looking at Nial.

    "I know the n," Nial nodded his head before he began to summarize the n''s steps to her.

    "We''re going to teleport to the nearby region of the undergroundboratory, activate the camouge runic armaments, charge in theboratory, kill the guard, and take everyone else in custody while making sure that they cannotmit suicide before we question them if there are otherboratories and their locations.

    After that, we''re going to message this Shelturion called Great Wirliam and tell him topromise with us. Thepromise will probably be something like; returning all ves, helping us remove the addictive substance from within the bodies of the drug addicts, improve the Cultivation Drug''s effects so that it won''t turn anyone into an addict

    If he won''tpromise we will kill his alchemists, and figure out ways to make sure that he will have greater losses than receiving any benefits he will ever be able to get his hands on in Jundra. Maybe we should tell the higher-ups of the Shelturion about Great Wirliam¡­at least we will be able to prevent waging war with them."

    In the end, Nial added thest few sentences that were rted to messaging the Great Wirliam and ensuring that he willpromise with the Elves and humans from Jundra.

    That was something he hade up with not too long ago, but it was the easiest way to make sure that most humans would be safe, that everyone would be helped, and that they would be getting their hands on a new friend¡­or maybe an acquaintance, who was good, if not the best at concocting potions and pills!

    It would be great to make sure that nobody would think of humans as pushovers as well¡­and it was always great to prevent waging war if it was not really necessary. Rather than waging war, a win-win situation would be the best!

    The Royal Princess and the cohort behind her looked at Nial without saying a word. Several seconds passed but they had yet to say anything.

    Nial was just smiling and decided to wait for someone toment.

    "Your addition to our n is pretty decent. It should be better to make friends rather than waging a war. It''s too troublesome¡­not just for your race," Princess Evalyne said, motioning to one of the High Elves behind her.

    Nial was not sure what exactly her gesture was supposed to mean, but that mystery was quickly solved.

    The High Elf essed the teleportation magic circle that had been engraved into the ground below them. The Forest of Life had supported the creation of the magic circle, providing it with a tremendous amount of power from the surrounding mana. Nial felt the mana swirling around him, surging inside the magic circle that began to heat up.

    Nial closed his eyes and he released his range of perception to epass the entire magic circle which he could see in his mind down to the finest details. He didn''t miss a single thing, which caused him to smile lightly as he imprinted the magic circle in his mind.

    ''Maybe I will need thatter¡­''

    "You have your own camouge runic armament, right?" Princess Evalyne inquired just to see that Nial pointed at a small emblem on his mantle.

    "...Alright¡­"

    ''The emblem is his camouge runic armament? I didn''t even notice it¡­ Wait¡­what tier is that armament?''

    He didn''t create it by himself¡­.right?

 Chapter 482 Entrance

    Of course, Nial had created the small runic armament by himself.

    It was not a big feat as long as one knew how to engrave ovepping miniature runic constetions. Nial could do that as long as the ovepping runic constetions were not all Advanced Runic constetions.

    However, the Royal Princess was oblivious to this. She still thought of him as a rather new Runicier, though with exceptional talent, unable to create something even Grandmaster Runicier had a hard time creating.

    Nial was fortunate enough to be a unique Grandmaster Runicier, with a terrific mana affinity, decent knowledge as a Runicier, and the ability to visualize everything in his mind.

    The details of the things he visualized varied a lot ording to his focus, his memories, and the distance to the object. If he wanted to engrave runic constetions on something, he would use his memories and visualize everything down to the finest details before adjusting it ording to the leveling, edges, and surface of the object he wanted to engrave the runic constetions on, in his mind.

    He ignored how baffled the Royal Princess seemed while looking at the emblem and focused on the teleportation. It didn''t take the High Elf long to move them to the wilderness where arge spatial portal had manifested. They appeared next to a huge mountain range that was located near a cliff, which was also where the entrance of their designated target was located.

    Nial activated his camouge the instant they appeared in the wilderness and the others followed suit just secondster.

    "We will attack from all sides, you guys using spatial portals to obstruct them from using the exits, while I will have fun barging through the front door?" Nial smiled lightly at the thought of ying the ruffian, who was more muscles than brain.

    With the proper use of his abilities and his two lovely Devils, there wouldn''t be a problem. There shouldn''t be, at least, in his opinion!

    "Will you be fine at the main entrance? We nned to split up equally, and not leave you all alone!" The Royal Princess asked before realizing that everyone would focus on Nial rather than the emergency exits.

    For a moment the Royal Princess wondered why Nial''s summary of the n didn''t mention anything about the details of the attack and it was only now that she realized what he was trying to do.

    ''He''s revising our n to his liking¡­that¡­''

    Princess Evalyne was not sure what to think of this, but it was a first. In fact, Nial was the reason for many firsts whether it was pleasant or not.

    He was the first human she met, the first human to have entered Yggdrasil, the first human to receive the Fairies'' Blessing, the first human to be acknowledged by Yggdrasil, the first human who dared to retort to her¡­in fact, other than her mother, nobody dared to talk back to her.

    He didn''t use formalnguage while conversing with her, treated her like a friend rather than the Royal Princess of the Elven, and didn''t really care about much when it was not rted to his family, friends, or ways to be stronger.

    Thetter could be achieved in numerous ways, including the proper utilization of runic armaments, earning a fortune as Runicier to pay for his own development, and so on.

    But no matter how weird Nial was as an Original, his persona was still that of a good and confident young man.

    There were only a few times when the Royal Princess recalled that Nial was in possession of the Late God of Darkness'' Powers¡­and during these times¡­she was truly afraid of him.

    This was also a first for her¡­being afraid of someone, or rather the power they could unleash the moment they lost their calm.

    "I will be fine. In fact, it will make things a lot easier for me if I can fight all by myself. You guys don''t like my dark energy either way. You find it disgusting, don''t you?" Nial chuckled as he spread wings manifested of dark energy out of his back.

    He could weave them in an instant, which was what he did to sense the reaction of the Royal Princess'' cohort. While the Princess just flinched, the others'' reactions varied a lot.

    The High Elves, and the Sacred Elves changed their stance in an instant. They switched tobat mode and were ready to tear Nial apart, if necessary.

    Nial just shook his head, while his attention switched to the Nightshadow Elves. There were a few Nightshadow Elves, who had chosen to join the raid. To be precise, Nightingale had been told to join the raid because the Royal Nightshadow Elf was not willing to give up that easily.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Well, except you guys, everyone else would obstruct me once they release their mana and abilities," Nial corrected his earlier statement and a faint smile appeared on his face. Nightingale swallowed nervously before he cursed himself in his mind.

    ''I know that he has the power of the Late God of Darkness¡­but why the hell am I scared? I''m two fucking ranks above him!!''

    Nightingale couldn''t understand the reason for his unease. His subconscious told him not to mess with Nial, and he didn''t dare to act against his intuition, not after the incident in the wooden hut.

    He had messed up in the first meeting with Nial and Nightingale was sure of one thing; he never wanted to feel like that ever again!

    Only once in his life had he felt like this before, terrified and unable to move a single inch even though he was not physically restricted? The pressure weighing on him, pressing down on him, prevented his body and mind from functioning properly.

    It was the day he met his father, the Monarch of the Nightshadow Elves, the only person who deserved the utmost respect from all Nightshadow Elves¡­Yet, his encounter with Nial felt exactly the same¡­or had it been worse?

    Nightingale had too many questions that required answers, and Nial was the answer to all of them. He didn''t like encountering Nial, let alone being near him but it was a necessity to get the answers he wanted!

    "In that case, let us apany you. We will just obstruct each other if our Shadow Energy collides with the other energies!" Nightingale suggested and Nial just nodded his head. It was not as if Nial had a reason to reject Nightingale.

    The 7th Heir of the Nightshadow Elves'' royalty seemed to have changed a little bit, and Nial wanted to find out how much the young Nightshadow Elf had changed.

    ''I can observe them and figure out how strong they''re¡­and scare them a little!''

    A few minutes passed before everyone began to move. Nial and the Nightshadow Elves would go first. Their task was to attract the attention of the guards. While the Guards would attack them, the Shelturion Alchemists inside theboratory were likely to panic given that their race mostly consisted of cowards rather than brave warriors.

    The High Elves, the Sacred Elves, and the other Elves would block all emergency exits before moving closer to the center, catching everyone.

    As long as the majority of their ns would work out, everything would be fine.

    Nial and the Nightshadow Elves charged toward the cliff and jumped down. There was a huge ravine in the ground, covered byrge bushes, and the branches of twisted trees that spread out haphazardly. The ravine was well-hidden thanks to the natural cover nature provided, but it was not enough to fool someone like Nial.

    He charged through the thicket andnded on the ravine''s base which was quite deep. The Nightshadow Elves followed him without hesitation, and theynded next to him.

    "There is no need to continue hiding our presence. The Shelturion probably has other means to tell when someone without authorization enters the ravine," Nial informed before he manifested arge spear of darkness in his right hand.

    He pulled his arm back a little and fired the darkness spear upward. The spear crashed into the upper area of the ravine''s walls, which resulted in it bursting apart into fragments. Rubble and dirt rained down on the ground of the ravine, followed by a bunch of runic devices.

    "How did you sense them? I couldn''t perceive¡­anything¡­" Nightingale blurted out just to see that Nial was smiling.

    "My senses are simply more advanced than yours. I can see better than you even though I have eyes like these," Nial said, the corners of his lips curled upward as he pointed at his eyes.

    "You cannot see, don''t fool me!" Nightingale grumbled, just to step back when he saw that the corner of Nial''s lip twitched.

    "Did you say something?" Nial feigned surprise, and Nightingale shook his head.

    "N-nope¡­"

 Chapter 483 Fear

    It was pretty convenient that Nightingale stopped being a bother.

    The Royal Nightshadow Elf was much easier to deal with and so was the Nightshadow Elven cohort around him.

    They obeyed themands of the Royal Nightshadow Elf, who in turn obeyed Nial. Thus, one could say that Nial had everything under control.

    ''Sometimes it feels great to possess the Essence of Darkness. It''s like having another race in my grasp.''

    Looking around at the ravine, Nial walked slowly and unhurriedly toward one end of it. It looked like there was nothing special in that direction but Nial knew better.

    He might not be able to see something but his range of perception,bined with his Mana Sense were strong enough to perceive the ck of mana'' in certain areas around this side of the ravine.

    It was not impossible to be invisible and create a runic armament capable of camouging oneself and a small area around oneself. Nobody, not even Nial or someone with greater perception would be able to sense anything.

    However, the Shelturion were both too greedy and too scared. They didn''t want to be discovered and were greedy enough to attempt using Tier-3 runic armaments to hide their entireboratory.

    If they had used customized Tier-4, or even Tier-5 runic armaments, this might have been possible, but not with the runic armaments that could enter thends of Jundra right now!

    Nial was well-informed about the limited supply of high-quality ores and ingredients. He also knew that Tier-3 runic armaments were the highest rank of a runic armament that could be brought to the Origin in its current form.

    That was why they had taken great care to keep the location of theboratory a secret. It was well-hidden, but not invisible, let alone perfectly camouged from the perception of someone like Nial.

    He created a bunch of spears out of darkness and cleared his throat to ensure that the Nightshadow Elves listened attentively to his words.

    "I will mark the regions you should attack for the time being. I can sense two entrances to the hiddenboratory, but getting in is quite annoying because they''re either too narrow or spiked with traps. That''s why we''ll create our own entrance near theirs!" Nial exined.

    A momentter, he released three darkness spears, one near the furthest point of the ravine''s end, one more than ten meters to the left, and another one a few meters above.

    The holes he pierced in the wall near the ground of the ravine were merely traps. They were located at the original entrances of the hiddenboratories and the follow-up attacks of the Nightshadow Elves were something that was supposed to work as a distraction.

    The camouge runic armaments of the hiddenboratory stopped working after their runic constetions had been damaged and Nial was able to gauge a considerable chunk of information from the situation within theboratory.

    While visualizing the interior, Nial felt almost like he was back to Alliance City. Everything was pretty modern and the technology they used was pretty simr as well. If he was not wrong they used the same artificial intelligence system, but he might as well be mistaken.

    It was not as if Nial''s knowledge about artificial intelligence, or truly modern technology was vast in any kind of way. He didn''t even know much about the technology humans had used before various races had descended, but that technology was already considered to be outdated by now!

    The attacks manifested from the Nightshadow Elves'' shadow energy destroyed the ravine''s wall, exposing a huge white building where not even a speck of dust or dirt was sticking to it. Large tinted ss doors could be seen in the area Nial had fired his first two darkness spears in, but not even a small crack appeared on them.

    Even after the Nightshadow Elves that were at the Late Deux rank and the Low Keltia rank, attacked the tinted ss doors, not a single crack appeared.

    "Forget it, these doors are made out of some Anti-Magic Sand that was mixed with something to reinforce and guard them from the physical impact. The doors are even stronger than the building''s walls!" Nial exined shortly.

    Nightingale nodded his head at that but he didn''t ept giving up. On the contrary, he created several spears with his energy before he released them at the white marble walls next to the tinted ss door.

    ''If I cannot go through the door, I will make my own pathway!''

    Nial understood what Nightingale was thinking but the walls near the entrance of the hiddenboratory were also reinforced.

    However, the same couldn''t be said about the roof of the building or a specific area to be precise.<novelnext></novelnext>

    That was why Nial jumped up to reach therge hole he and the others had carved into the ravine''s wall with their long-range attacks. The hole was several meters broad, wide and high. There was enough space for everyone to stand and move around.

    Bending down, Nial''s t hands touched the rooftop of the hiddenboratories'' entrance area. It was not the highest position in the entire building but that didn''t really matter. Nial and the others were supposed to cause distraction and attract the guards'' attention, all of them, if possible!

    When he released his dark energy in the white marble, it was first repelled. Energies from outside the building were repelled naturally, but that was also expected. Nial didn''t allow that information to distract him.

    He spread out his dark energy once again. However, this time, he fused it with his Darkness essence and used a considerable amount of the umted crimson moonlight to further reinforce his dark energy.

    Crimson, vein-like patterns spread through his dark energy that spread slowly through the ground.

    The potency of his dark energy caused some Nightshadow Elves to subconsciously step back as the dark energy crept towards them and was about to cover the ground below their feet. However, they stopped moving after a moment when they realized that they had acted in panic¡­possibly even in fear.

    Their bodies'' instinctive reaction was humiliating, especially since they attempted to hide away from the power of a human whose rank was lower than theirs.

    They knew that Nial was not ordinary but it was still a hard pill for them to swallow.

    "Don''t bother feeling embarrassed¡­he has the same power as the Late God of Darkness. It would be weird if you wouldn''t feel anything¡­" Nightingale said, trying to sound calm andposed.

    However, what everyone could see quite clearly, was that Nightingale had broken out in a cold sweat and his legs were quivering lightly. He had had a rather traumatic past experience with the exact same type of energy, after all!

    The Nightshadow Elves noticed that Nightingale was giving his best to remain calm while Nial didn''t notice anything.

    He focused on the information he could absorb while slowly spreading his dark energy through the ceiling of theboratory''s entrance hall.

    There was no need for him to cover every inch of theboratory''s ceiling with dark energy, but he was looking out for something.

    "Where is the weakest seam¡­" He mumbled after a while. The Nightshadow Elves had regained theirposure and they were trying to act as if the eerie dark energy didn''t affect them in the slightest.

    They were supposed to be brave warriors, unshakable and silent assassins with a high amount of patience andposure that would allow them to face Gods with zing eyes.

    However, that was not the case. In fact, they were far from feeling like that, especially because it felt like Nial''s dark energy was devouring their exuded mana as its nourishment.

    The Nightshadow Elves had to seal their mana to prevent the dark energy around them from draining them of their entire energy.

    How was that even possible?

    In the end, not even Nial was sure about the correct answer. There were quite a few things he didn''t know about dark energy, the Essence of Darkness, and basically, everything else rted to the Late God of Darkness.

    But Nial was not impatient. He knew that the time woulde when he would get to know everything he was supposed to know.

    Now was not the time, because he had finally found the weakest seam to break through the anti-mana reinforcement of the hiddenboratory.

    "Let''s take a look at my new lovely power," Nial mumbled to himself but the Nightshadow Elves could hear him. Grayish currents emerged around the wrist of his right hand and Nial opened his mouth slightly.

    He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and controlled his power precisely.

    "Crumble!"

 Chapter 484 Crumble

    Nial released the power of the Vengeance of Chaos ability to break through the weakest seam that held theboratory together.

    It was impossible to create aboratory of that size from a single piece of marble. There were also runic constetions carved inside the marble, which made it even more obvious that the hiddenboratory was actually a structure made from countless pieces of marble.

    Nial could feel that everything seemed to belong together but his dark energy had found the seams, every point that connected the rest. He looked for the weakest and released his strongest attack, breaking everything apart.

    There was no hesitation in his movements as darkness wings spread out of his back to slow his fall as the ceiling copsed.

    Destroying a single connecting point had such a great effect¡­and probably the fact that there had been more than ten Originals wielding heavy weapons and weapons that wereparatively a bit light, yet, also heavy pieces of armor.

    A huge hole could be perceived in the middle of the hiddenboratory''s entrance hall and Nial couldn''t help but smile weirdly.

    "Sorry, I forgot to issue a warning¡­hah¡­" He said.

    Nial scratched the back of his head, but nobody said anything.

    They were too baffled due to the fact that the ceiling had copsed all of a sudden, and even more so about the power Nial had just used.

    "Chaos?" One of the oldest Nightshadow Elves asked almost as if he was questioning himself and his eyes as if they were deceiving him.

    The other Nightshadow Elves looked at each other for a moment before their eyes flicked over to the currents that were released from Nial''s wrist.

    "That really is the Power of Chaos¡­" Another Nightshadow Elf mumbled.

    "Chaos?" Nial mumbled to himself before shrugging his shoulders. He possessed the Vengeance of Chaos ability that had evolved from the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal. It was quite obvious that the grayish currents were closely rted to Chaos, if not Chaos itself!

    But he didn''t know what Chaos was, notpletely, at least. Was it just a new type of energy? Probably not because he manifested the gray currents with mana and the other energies at his disposal. But what was Chaos then?

    [You really need to learn a lot. What you''re trying to control is Chaos¡­ you don''t understand that right? You can control Chaos¡­PURE Chaos!] Kaeldur marveled all of a sudden.

    Nial could not really understand his oldestpanion. What was he trying to say?

    ''So?''

    [What SO? Do you even understand what that means?] Kaeldur asked in Nial''s mind, not believing his ears.

    ''I have literally no idea what that means¡­.by the way, why didn''t you tell me what exactly these gray currents were when I first used them?'' Nial countered and Kaeldur turned quiet for a few seconds.

    [You never asked? You were so good at controlling the Chaos that I expected you to¡­why do I feel like you want to beat me?]

    ''...Tyrant can beat you upter¡­''

    Nial made a mental note to ask Kaeldur more about Chaos when the task at hand would bepleted. It might take a while before he had some time but that was more than fine.

    He visualized a few guards that were at the Deux rank, followed by a handful of Keltia ranked Originals. There were ten Deux Originals for every Keltia Original Nial visualized.

    While both numbers were rather high, Nial was not exactly impressed based on what he perceived.

    ''Probably mercenaries or ves?'' He thought when he visualized that there were dozens of different races in the groups of guards. There weren''t more than three members of the same race in the guards, which made it quite clear that the guards shouldn''t belong to a sub-race of the Shelturion.

    Shelturion were rather cowardly, so it was to be expected that they used others to fight for them. They were quite wealthy and had enough riches to pay mercenaries or nourish arge quantity of ves.

    However, that was where their problemy. Mercenaries would only work for what they''ve been paid, nothing more or less. There was no loyalty and they would prioritize their own life over the task to waste it for their client if things went south.

    It would be unnecessary to ask for a biggermission if there was a high-risk factor that would render them unable to spend the riches after all.

    As for the ves, theirbat talent was likely to be extremely low, and so was the quality of their abilities and equipment. It was unlikely for the master of the ves to give them high-quality equipment and ability crystals. To make up for that investment would take years, if not decades!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thus, Nial and the Nightshadow Elves chose the most appropriate tactic to fight against the Guards, ignoring the fact that they were actually mercenaries or ves. They would overwhelm them with tremendous power and bash their heads to instill deep-rooted fear and desperation.

    Their aim would be to break their opponents'' morale as that would signify that they had won half the battle.

    Nial understood this quite clearly, and it was because of this reason that hended on the ground. A huge ck hand emerged from his abdomen. The ck hand was growing in size and a forearm soon took shape. The huge ck hand wed into the ground a few meters away and it pulled himself out of Nial, allowing the Tyrant of Destruction to emerge.

    ''Looks like we have to train that a little bit. Your entrance was not exactly¡­glorious¡­'' Nial merelymented while the bulky Devil got up from the ground. A huge mace was forming in his hand, and currents of darkness oozed out of his body, shrouding every inch of his body, leaving only his ruby-glowing eyes clearly visible.

    Tyrant roared out, unleashing a terrifying pressure that was strong enough to make the ss walls all around him shake before he smashed the mace into the floor and burst open in an instant.

    ''Nevermind, that is good enough.''

    Nial gave a small smile before his expression changed swiftly as well. Darkness exuded from all over his body, shrouding him in his entirety. However, instead of ending up as a mereyer of protection, the darkness continued to emerge from his body.

    A hand of darkness pierced out from below each side of his shoulder and it grew in size. The fingers of the hands of darkness ended inrge ws coated in a dark-greenish color. Simultaneously, crimson vein-like patterns began to spread out from the area of his chest.

    The pressure around Nial increased slowly but steadily and a distorted grimace of darkness covered his face. The ruby eyes of the grimacing face shone brightly and a huge, excited smile followed suit.

    Dark energy spread through the ground and it expanded with every step he took. Two pitch-ck daggers had appeared in Nial''s hands, just to make it seem as if they disappeared once again. It looked like the daggers had never existed, but only Nial and Kaeldur knew that they were still resting in Nial''s hand, calmly waiting to shed the blood of his opponents.

    ''It looks like our Ancient Devilization''s second form works quite well.''

    Kaeldur''s body had fused with Nial once again. However, this time, Nial had been able to manifest a few more body parts of the first Devil he had encountered.

    He called them Devils because they were creations of the Late God of Darkness, but he was actually not sure if Kaeldur and Tyrant were actually Devils.

    Something told him that their names were different but it didn''t really matter, not right now.

    Kaeldur''s arms had grown out of Nial''s shoulder and he was able to use them as if they were his own arms. At the same time, Kaeldur''s powers were retained in his body. Thus, Nial was able to use Kaeldur''s powers while they were fused into one being.

    Nial made use of this by forming balls of darkness within Kaeldur''s ws while he burst forward, exposing the ck des that were able to disappear in the darkness¡­and bringing forth darkness was what Nial was best at.

    He threw the balls of darkness that were filled with the Hodur''s Heir miasma and he waited before he would make them burst open when the two forces were about to sh.

    The Nightshadow Elves had been prepared for the sudden disruption, but the same couldn''t be said about the Guards.

    The sudden darkness that spread through the white entrance hall of the hiddenboratory came unexpectedly¡­and so were the des that pierced through the narrow gaps in the Guards'' armors.

    Let there be a river of blood!

    **

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 Chapter 485 Fight, Commerce

    ''Skilled Mercenaries, and a high number of ves¡­''

    That was the first thing Nial realized when he burst through the ck Miasma without any hesitation.

    The moment the ck miasma was released from the darkness ball, the majority of guards panicked for a second.

    They changed their positions and stopped with their charge at once. Noticing the change in their own rows, the more experienced Guards had to stop as well. Without wasting a moment, they released various abilities to dispel the ck miasma and make use of it at the same time.

    It was not only their sight that had been restricted by the ck miasma, after all!

    The long-range attacks the Guards had released with a great precision cut through the ck Miasma, yet, no screams of unbearable pain resounded through the entrance hall of the hiddenboratory.

    To their disbelief, the most dangerous long-range attacks had been destroyed by some unknown power, baffling even the experienced Guards, who knew just how strong one had to be in order to obliterate one of the attacks they had released.

    What they didn''t know was that Nial had used Chaos to work as per his will and break the long-range attacks, which would have reached several Nightshadow Elves.

    ''They would have survived, but the safe route is still the best.''

    No casualties, or at the most having severely injured Originals on their side would be the best oue. Nial might be able to scan, visualize and perceive everything that happened in the entrance hall and the hallways around him, but his mana sense and range of perception were still restricted in certain areas.

    The entire hiddenboratory was not a ce where someone with his needs to perceive his surroundings was supposed to be.

    But that was the misfortune of the hiddenboratory''s guards rather than his own.

    He could visualize his immediate surroundings perfectly which was exactly what Nial made use of. His dark energy spread through the ground toward all guards whose shadows quickly disappeared under the cover of the abyss-like darkness of his dark energy.

    A small smile appeared on Nial''s face as he ducked under apressed mana de that released a mighty crescent-shaped beam. He leaned forward, and his upper body nearly touched the ground. Mana merged with a crimson bloodline that circted through his body, enhancing his speed drastically.

    The sudden spurt in his agility allowed Nial to appear in front of the closest guard. The guard, who was probably a lizardman, or a being of some other race with simr gics, shed at Nial but his movements were weak and sluggish.

    Despite being at the Deux rank, the lizardman guard was not adept at fighting. He was a mere ve who was forced to obey his masters and protect the hiddenboratory. Under normal circumstances, guarding this ce wouldn''t be a problem for him. Nobody knew about the location of theboratory and it would be foolish to attack it.

    The Shelturion had installed various traps at the entrance doors and in every hallway a long time ago, and then there were the truly powerful and veteran fighters, the mercenaries.

    But despite all of the safety mechanisms in ce an attack was happening, just now, right in front of the lizardman''s eyes.

    The guarding ve''s eyes were locked on the terrifying ruby eyes that stared at him through the eternal darkness that shrouded the living being, if the being in front of him was even alive, to begin with.

    He tried to activate one of his abilities to push the perpetrator away, but it was already toote. He felt a sting in his chest and neck, his sight blurred and he lost the strength to hold his sword. The Lizardman''s legs gave in and he copsed on the ground, his body unable to heed themands of his mind.

    His body twitched a few times while a pool of dark red blood formed on the white marble that was now coated in the color of the abyss.

    Meanwhile, his attacker had already disappeared, the blood on his daggers'' de sttering to his side as the daggers vanished into thin air once again.

    The grimace that had formed on Kaeldur''s face turned even more devilish than before and he shot forward once again. His speed increased further and he made use of the dark energy on the floor all around him.

    Chains weaved with precise control and willpower and emerged from the ground. They were pitch-ck in color and exuded eerie dark currents that filled the surroundings with heavy tension.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, neither Nial nor the Nightshadow ves seemed to be affected by the heavy tension. Their focus was only on Nial''s chains of darkness that had burst forth and coiled around the necks of the guards restricting their movement, even if it was just for a moment.

    Nial had created one chain for every guard in the entrance hall of the hiddenboratory. It required a tremendous amount of dark energy to be utilized but that was worth it. He couldn''t be stingy with his dark energy consumption, especially since the dark energy umted within his Heart of Darkness didn''t feel less after his creation of dozens of chains.

    The Heart of Darkness was an endless pit of dark energy and Nial had ess to it. That was exceptional and exactly what he needed when pushing forward.

    Restricted by the dark chains that shocked them, the guards reacted very differently. Some unleashed their mana and attacked the dark chains with the use of their mana, while others made a twist to cut through the dark chains with their razor-sharp Runic weapon.

    As for the others, there were two or three guards that used their brute force to break the darkness chains, while the remaining guards, all of which were ves, panicked even more than before.

    The skilled mercenaries were just about to shout out loud and tell the ves to regain theirposure and make sure that nobody would be able to push past them when a terrifying sight unfolded in front of them.

    More than ten Nightshadow Elves emerged seemingly out of nowhere. Some used Shadow Steps to step through the shadows and emerge behind the Guards, while others were focused on distracting everyone, and pulling everyone''s attention onto them.

    This was done in a rather simple manner with the creation of hundreds of shadow spears. Nial gave them a helping hand by willing the darkness in the ground to pierce spikes out of the ground''s surface.

    At the same time, Nial didn''t stop his assault. He was not an Original, who focused on long-distance fights. Nial would rather enter closebat.

    And that was exactly what he did just a momentter. Kaeldur''s ws were spread outward and they began to move in sync with his original arms.

    Nial turned into a ck sh all of a sudden as he burst to his right. All of a sudden, it looked like he was sinking into the ground, which was exactly what happened.

    He merged with the dark energy in the ground and emerged somewhere else just a momentter.

    As he moved rapidly, his four arms turned into the instruments of a massacre. His dagger and Kaeldur desired the warmth of blood on their body and Nial would be thest one to reject their wishes.

    He shed the daggers through the small slits between the guard''s neck and his helmet. A pained groan and a shriek of desperation followed just a momentter before blood gushed out of the small slit.

    At the same time, Kaeldur''s ws ripped through the low-quality runic armor. Kaeldur''s arms pierced through them with ease, causing devastating damage to the Original they had attacked, and crushing the fighting morale of the guards all around them.

    While Nial''s fighting style and appearance were already grotesque enough to instill fear in the guards, the Tyrant of Destruction made things far worse.

    Tyrant''s mace was brutally spun in all directions, smashing the heads and bodies of the guards around him. At the first nce, it may look like he was fighting without a n in mind, but the veteran mercenaries realized that the opposite was the case.

    The Tyrant of Destruction might be considered a blockhead, someone who had only muscles and no brain, but he was actually very versatile and cunning when it came to fighting techniques.

    Even Nial didn''t know the true extent of Tyrant''s power because his second Devil never exposed everything.

    As for the current situation, Tyrant had yet to sustain an injury because nobody dared to get too close to him.

    He inflicted fear and terror in the minds of his opponents while killing those in a certain range around him with brute force and immense brutality!

    That was his mantra for today!

 Chapter 486 First Hurdle, Destroyed

    Nial, fused with Kaeldur and Tyrant, was a great team.

    While Nial was mostly focused on swift movements and the death of as many opponents as possible, Tyrant was there to pull everyone''s attention onto him.

    Even the other Nightshadow Elves didn''t inflict enough fear and desperation in the hearts of the guards to make them nce over at the Tyrant every few seconds.

    Their nces were discreet and there was nothing they could do about it. Their confidence and willpower had already been broken, and it was only a matter of time before they would end up just like their brethren.

    That was, at least, the thought that shed through the minds of all guards when they saw the fearsome brute strength of the Tyrant.

    Even the mercenaries at the Keltia rank had a hard time coping up with his strength. They could clearly tell that Tyrant''s Mana Core was only at the Deux rank but something was extremely weird. The mercenaries could tell that something was off but it was not as if they could do anything against it.

    Their hands were tied when it came to acquiring knowledge about the truth of the situation that unfolded right in front of them¡­or so it felt. The guards, whether ves or mercenaries, could clearly tell that their life was on the line.

    Right now, was not a brawl to defend against the invaders of the hiddenboratory, but it was a fight for survival¡­and the ves had already lost, no matter what was about to happen.

    Their masters had ordered them to fight, and die if necessary. They were supposed to give their utmost to fight against the invaders if some were to appear. It might be a fact that the Shelturion didn''t expect someone to actually appear, and that the guards had been stationed all over the hiddenboratory as an addedyer of security, but they instructed their ves to die if necessary, nheless.

    As long as it was possible for the ves to stall the invaders for a few additional seconds, their masters would happily use them as cannon fodder.

    Unfortunately, a few seconds were much longer than the guards had left to live. The Nightshadow Elves were frustrated about the non-existent attention they received. All focus was pulled toward the weirdly metamorphosed Nial and the demon he had summoned.

    None of the Nightshadow Elves could fully grasp what they were witnessing, but their pride was hurt. A human, no matter how impressive he was, stole their thunder.

    Nial was merely at the Late Prometheus rank as well, and here he was, stealing the thunder of more than ten Nightshadow Elves that were at a higher rank, killing dozens of opponents that were also at a higher rank than him¡­and he made it look like a cakewalk!

    Nightingale observed Nial for a while but the things he was seeing didn''t really make any sense. It was as if Nial was an anomaly among anomalies in the human race. However, even that wouldn''t exin the things he was witnessing.

    ''Even if a human was born with the power of the Late God of Darkness, it''s not as if the God''s subordinates would follow Nial just like that¡­right? Is there more behind it¡­or are the Darkness God''s Creations after Nial''s dark energy and the Essence of Darkness?''

    The Royal Nightshadow Elf had too many questions in his mind, and it was not as if he could go over to Nial and question him about every single detail that seemed suspicious.

    If Nightingale were to do that, he would probably be subjected to Nial''s ridicule and possibly even beaten into a pulp. Maybe not by Nial himself, but there was still that brute he could control.

    The thought of getting humiliated once again caused Nightingale to shudder. He released his Shadow energy, and coated his arms and his longsword with it before he enhanced his strength with traces of his Essence of Darkness.

    He was not the heir with the highest potential in the royal family, and neither was he a Nightshadow Elf with exceptionally strong, or in possession of a high quantity of Essence of Darkness. Nheless, he knew what he was doing and did not hesitate to utilize the little bit of Darkness Essence he possessed.

    After turning into a ck gust, he emerged around a few Guards, whom he killed in the blink of an eye. Revealing his strength as a Keltia Original, Nightingale eliminated close to ten opponents in the following seconds.

    Two skilful mercenaries died due to his de as well, yet, he was far from feeling satisfied. There was no reason for him to be proud of his achievement because neither the guards nor the slightly more skilled mercenaries were actually powerful opponents.

    It was unlikely for true prodigies to be mere mercenaries. For most prodigies, it was a disgrace to be a mercenary, not only because the pay was just peanuts for most missions, but because the clients that paid would be entitled and demanding.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The pride of true prodigies wouldn''t allow anyone to treat them badly.

    That was why even the Guards with a Mana Core at the Keltia rank were not able to stall their small group for too long.

    Nial was not sure how much time passed before thest mercenary copsed on the ground while nobody in their group had been killed, let alone injured!

    Some Nightshadow Elves were a little exhausted because they hadn''t been able to fight using their usualbat style, while they were pulled ahead by the zing fire that had begun to burn in their heart when they saw Nial fighting.

    Tyrant disappeared in the darkness that covered the ground and Nial retracted the dark energy after a few seconds. He kept Kaeldur fused with him. The Ancient Devilization was not a taxing technique to use, if one could evenbel it as such, to begin with.

    Nial didn''t have to use mana or anything to fuse with Kaeldur. He just had to voice out his will to Kaeldur and the Devil would merge with him.

    Nial was curious why it was possible for him to merge with Kaeldur especially since he had never seen Damian doing something like that while fighting either.

    ''Well, Damian was a lot stronger than I am. He probably didn''t need to fuse with his creations. He created them when he was already a God, after all¡­''

    Nial just shrugged his shoulders and he removed the darkness around his head temporarily. Kaeldur''s grimace was also retracted. His ugly face was quite intimidating. Thus, Nial was being quite nice right now, giving everyone a favor by retracting the Devil''s face.

    "We''re supposed to wait for the reinforcement of the guards¡­so what are we doing now?" Nightingale asked.

    He hadn''t really paid attention to the n the Royal Princess hade up with but that was not exactly necessary either way. It was enough for him to use his strength to obliterate the opponents, who were daring enough to obstruct his path.

    "We can destroy the traps in the hallways and attack the Guards rather than waiting for them. It would be a waste of time to wait for them here. They might note to us and go straight to the other Elven groups if they noticed their infiltration.

    Who knows? Maybe that would happen if we weren''t loud enough" Nial responded.

    He had listened to the n of the Royal Princess but it was a little bit weird that no reinforcements hade to give the other guards a helping hand.

    Either way, rather than wasting their time and staying around the same spot, it would be much better to spread out and obliterate everyone and everything.

    That way, they could even make sure that there was no opportunity for the Shelturion Alchemists to escape.

    The other Nightshadow Elves were also motivated to attack the Shelturion and show off their strength. Their pride had been hurt quite a bit when witnessing Nial''s fight and it was time for them to regain their honor and prove that they were, in no way, inferior to Nial.

    In the worst case, they could at least say that they were able to ''see'' what happened¡­not like Nial¡­

    However, that would be petty and it would harm their pride and honor more than acknowledging that Nial was just stronger than them despite being blind.

    But even the Royal Nightshadow Elf was trying to find ways to show it to everyone that there was, at least, one thing he was better at than NIal.

    But damn¡­that was not easy¡­

 Chapter 487 Race

    "They''re much weaker than expected¡­" A Nightshadow Elf, following Nightingale, voiced out when he cut down another guard.

    Calling them guards was already too much of apliment in the Elf''s opinion because it didn''t take even three shes to end the life of one of them.

    Only the Guards at the Keltia rank were somewhat decent, but that was to be expected. They were the mercenaries that had been hired by the cowardly Shelturion to make up for the low fighting skills of their guards.

    "Just be happy about it. Would it be better if all of us were forced to use our whole strength and fear dying¡­for a mission like that?" Another Nightshadow Elf pointed out with a shrug.

    The current situation was pretty simple, Nial had separated from the Nightshadow Elves, and the group of Nightshadow Elves had split up as well.

    There had been three paths leading away from the entrance of the hiddenboratory and they had decided to use all of them.

    As for the reasoning for the shrugging Nightshadow Elf, it was pretty obvious. Their mission was to raid the hiddenboratory of the Shelturion race. No being above the Keltia rank was currently capable of emerging in Jundra nor was it possible for runic armaments above Tier-3 to appear in Jundra¡­not if they were not produced outside of Jundra.

    There were also some restrictions on the ingredients and materials that could be brought to the current awakened state of the Origin. That fact and the point that the Shelturion race were bad fighters, who had solely focused on hiding theirboratory while creating and spreading a maleficent drug, made it quite obvious that the raid wouldn''t be too difficult.

    Luckily, their preparations and numbers were too high to reduce their chances of failure of raiding the hiddenboratory. The only somewhat problematic task was ensuring that no Shelturion would be able to escape, destroy important notes, or kill themselves.

    Escaping was near-impossible for them by now. The High Elves and Sacred Elves sealed the space outside the ravine. It wouldn''t be possible to use any runic armaments or magic circles to teleport far away from danger.

    As for the remaining two points, the Shelturion Alchemists were unlikely to dare kill themselves.

    "Makes sense, but was it fine to leave Nial all by himself? I know that he is a little stro¨C..."

    The Nightshadow Elf couldn''t even finish his sentence as Nightingale interrupted him. "A little strong? That''s probably one of the weirdest underestimations I''ve recently heard."

    It was not usual for the Royal Nightshadow Elf to praise anyone but it made sense. The other Nighthshadow Elves closed their mouths and returned their focus to the task they had been assigned.

    Meanwhile, Nial spread his mana through the surrounding hallway and the rooms that were adjacent to it. Everything with the slightest value, including seemingly simple pieces of parchment that were scribbled on in a unique hieroglyphguage, was stored in his spatial ring.

    He was in possession of a huge spatial ring for a reason and it was time to make use of it!

    Only dust was left behind in the rooms Nial passed by. He didn''t even leave behind the furniture¡­

    [Master¡­if you need money, we can conquer a few dungeons¡­]

    Kaeldur''s voice rang through Nial''s head all of a sudden. Nial just smiled in response, shaking his head.

    Why would he be in need of money?

    Just because he collected everything within the hiddenboratory didn''t mean that he was doing it for the sake of money. In fact, he was just toozy to search for the important files which were why he simply dumped the entirety of the contents of theboratory in his ring.

    He used his range of perception and Mana Sense to let it spread through every single room and analyze them precisely. That required most of his focus as he was looking for secret passages, and treasures that were hidden behind walls or stored in a secret shelf hidden away from the eye in some furniture.

    From the information Nial had collected about the Shelturion race, they were intelligent and very vignt cowards. Thus, it was only obvious that the important documents wouldn''t be lying around in an unused room.

    Either, the documents were well hidden, or someone was always holding them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Despite that knowledge, it didn''t mean that the files, which the Shelturion race considered unimportant and of no value, wouldn''t possess any value to the human race.

    The progress of the human race was rapid thanks to various factors but they were stillcking a lot inparison to any other race that had been in possession of mana for a few thousand, or even hundreds of years.

    The Jundra humans had yet to get their hands on more knowledge. This included knowledge that was not directly rted to Runiciers,bat Originals, or abilities! There was too much knowledge for the human race to procure but they had yet to get their hands on the necessary time to absorb the knowledge, digest it and start creating their own theories about worldly things.

    ? "If you worry about my financial situation, that means you can go out and make money with Tyrant once we return. I will make sure that you two will have some toys to y with and then you can conquer dungeons with your best friend, for a few months!"

    Nial''sment caused Kaeldur to turn quiet. The Devil didn''t say a thing for almost a whole minute, only for Tyrant toin.

    [Why¡­me? With him¡­and who are you calling his best friend? Hopefully, it''s not me¡­Kaeldur is creepy¡­]

    The Tyrant of Destruction was more than just a little displeased. However, he knew that Nial was their master and that it would only bring him trouble if he were to shout loudly at him. Nial might be a good master, who wasn''t as petty as Damian had been, but that didn''t mean that their current master was a pushover.

    On the contrary, Nial knew when to pull the necessary strings without even realizing it, at that!

    "Then let me give the two of you an offer¡­or let''s just call it apetition instead," Nial suggested all of a sudden while pointing at the huge door at the end of the hallway.

    "Whoever kills more guards, catches more Shelturions, and collects the most useful information sheets will be given the position of the Leader when you guys go out to raid dungeons!"

    The moment Nial finished his announcement he spread his dark energy out in front of him.

    One huge and one smaller body emerged from the dark energy at the same time and they charged toward the huge door at the end of the hallway. The opportunity was too exciting to not jump on for both of them.

    The huge door connected the hallway with the main hall of the hiddenboratory, which in turn, connected to every other space inside theboratory. There were a few dozen guards shivering in fright, looking in all directions to find an escape route if someone would reach their position.

    It was not long after they had been told that the entrance hall of the hiddenboratory was under attack when two doors leading to the main hall were thrown open.

    A group of Hight Elves, led by a gorgeous young woman, Princess Evalyne, emerged from one side, while the other side had a mixture of Sacred Elves, cier Elves, and Pyromas Elves. They were led by an old man, who bowed lightly in the Royal Princess'' direction when he saw her.

    "Looks like we were the first to arrive. Unfortunately, the guards didn''t react as we hoped¡­so unfortunate¡­" The Old man said without showing much of a reaction at the sight of the trembling guards.

    "They made quite amotion though¡­The entire building shook. But th¡ª...." The Royal Princess was trying to distract the guards by casually chatting with the Old Sacred Elf when her eyes flicked toward the huge door to her right.

    "I didn''t hear anything about monsters. Did the Shelturion have some pets?" The Old Man asked after he felt that the ground below him began to tremble.

    Eerie mana and a chilling cold came from the direction of the door, yet, Princess Evalyne didn''t grow vignt, let alone prepared herself to fight what was about toe.

    "Those are not the Shelturion''s pets¡­I don''t even know if you shouldbel them as pets. They''re on our side¡­" The Royal Princess answered just before the huge metal door was ripped out of its frame.

    A huge giant-like figure emerged from behind the metal door, followed by a swift ck humanoid figure. Darkness oozed out of them, hiding their bodies, and only revealing the gloomily glowing ruby eyes.

    "...probably¡­"

 Chapter 488 Devils Brawl

    With Tyrant and Kaeldur emerging in the main hall, the atmosphere changed drastically.

    While the Royal Princess smiled weirdly, trying to cover that she was a little shaken by the extremely dense killing intent that radiated from the two Devils, the Old Sacred Elf had switched his position.

    He could tell that the two monsters posed far more danger than the trembling guards.

    In fact, the guards stared at the two Devils in horror. They felt as if they were about to get devoured by the darkness currents that exuded from Kaeldur and Tyrant.

    "Elves¡­unimportant¡­where are the Shelturion¡­" Tyrant grumbled while his huge hand reached out for Kaeldur, who was about to shoot past him to kill the guards that were crowded in a tight corner.

    He grasped Kaeldur''s body tightly and looked at the Devil with a faint smile on his face.

    "Sorry, but I will never follow yourmands!" The Tyrant of Destruction said while a mace of darkness manifested in his other hand. He hurled Kaeldur high in the air in front of him and smashed the mace against Kaeldur with all his might.

    The smaller Devil was flung through the air with tremendous force and he smashed against the marble wall that crumbled due to the impact.

    "...Huh?" The Old Sacred Elf and basically every other Elf in the main hall of the hiddenboratory looked at the situation with confused expressions.

    They didn''t understand what exactly was going on, but they could gauge a few things quite quickly.

    The huge giant-like Devil was not interested in them and didn''t even spare them a nce. They were searching for the Shelturion as well, and the Devils'' rtionship was far from close.

    And, as if it was not obvious enough, both the Devils were extremely powerful!

    "You motherf¨C..." Kaeldur shouted out loud before he realized that Tyrant had already begun to move.

    Kaeldur''s head was buzzing but he couldn''t give up, not like that¡­never!! He didn''t want to be Tyrant''sckey when going out dungeon raiding. That would be the worst possible fate¡­because he was bound to die in a mission led by Tyrant consisting of a bunch of Unique Keltia ranked Dungeons.

    Nial was fully aware that the Tyrant of Destruction was reckless and that he loved to fight stronger opponents. It was quite obvious that Tyrant would target and end the worst dungeons and that it was likely for the group to sustain severe injuries.

    Furthermore, Nial also knew that Kaeldur and Tyrant wouldn''t be able to heal properly if they didn''t rest inside his Heart of Darkness where a massive amount of dark energy and a considerable amount of Darkness Essence could tend to their injuries and nourish them.

    ''Nial believes that I can defeat Tyrant, otherwise, he wouldn''t have proposed this bet¡­master believes in my strength!!'' Kaeldur thought and he repeated thest part of his thought over and over as if it was a mantra that would give him unfathomable strength.

    Kaeldur''s limbs extended all of a sudden and his physique changed a little. The change was nothing remarkable at first and nobody paid attention to Kaeldur at first, either. However, the moment he disappeared from his position, everything changed drastically.

    Tyrant had just appeared in front of the trembling guards. He raised the mace and smashed it downward with the intent to end several guards at the same time when a ck light shed across his field of vision. The ck light burst through his mace, breaking it in countless pieces. Tyrant''s attack was interrupted with tremendous force but a small and hideous smile appeared on his face as he looked to the ceiling on his right.

    "You''re finally getting serious?" He asked, looking at the monstrous, yetpact form Kaeldur had changed to. Kaeldur''s physique had morphed into the form of an apex predator that was strong like a bear and as fast as a cheetah. Yet, somehow he looked like a ck wolf with two long and dangerously gleaming tusks growing sideways out of his jaw.

    His ws were longer than before and were glinting dangerously. Kaeldur didn''t utter a single word but he opened his mouth and released a growl that was amplified with dense dark energy.

    Even the veteran mercenaries began to quiver when the growl reached their ears. Their legs began to shake and they regretted having epted the ''easy'' money they were supposed to make guarding the hiddenboratory.

    However, it was already toote to regret it. They had made their decision and had to live with the consequences¡­or die with them.

    Tyrant didn''t form a new mace with dark energy. Instead, he formed tworge gloves withrge knuckles before he averted his focus back to the shaking guards.

    "If you tell me where the Shelturion Alchemists are, I will make it painless¡­" Tyrant said generously while smashing his fists against each other.

    However, before any of the guards could even think about answering, Kaeldur had already begun to move and had turned into a ck sh again by pushing himself from the ceiling of the main hall.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Cracks spread through the ceiling due to the applied force when Kaeldur shot forward and they continued to extend.

    But nobody paid any attention to this.

    On the contrary, all the attention was focused on the center of the main hall where two unidentified Devils were mercilessly ughtering the ves and mercenaries that had been bought, or hired to guard the hiddenboratory.

    Unfortunately, all of them had not only failed in their duty but they all died as well, miserably at that¡­just because of a bet.

    Kaeldur and Tyrant only cared about the number of guards they killed and increasing their kill count. They moved rapidly and recklessly, ignoring everything around them.

    Nial scratched his back in embarrassment when he entered the main hall.

    "That¡­was not exactly what I had expected¡­"

    He sighed deeply but then shrugged his shoulders. His mana spread throughout the entire main hall and he quickly collected the remaining files and furniture that would be torn apart or altered thanks to the recklessbat style of his two Devils.

    He might have given them a reason to feel like fighting but Nial hadn''t expected Tyrant to smash Kaeldur against the wall, using his mace and full force at that.

    But while that was already very impressive, Nial was also quite interested in Kaeldur''s change of appearance.

    ''Kaeldur''s mana and dark energy are sealed in exchange for the alteration in physique and increase in both strength and speed¡­that''s pretty cool¡­''

    Nial was d that he had learned something new about Kaeldur and he began to wonder if it was possible to make use of this function while undergoing the Ancient Devilization with Kaeldur.

    It was definitely worth a try even if Nial was pretty sure that it wouldn''t work out.

    Nheless, he kept observing the fight in front of him with extreme focus. His visualization gave him the finest details and Nial was pretty sure that he could perceive more than everyone else could see through their ordinary eyes.

    There were several reasons for that, but it was mostly the rubble, dust, and body parts that were flung through the surroundings that made getting a good look at everything quite tricky.

    Furthermore, Nial had heard that most people could only focus on one spot or area to look at at a time. He didn''t have that problem because he could visualize everything and remain focused on every single detail of the battle all around him.

    That way, he could also perceive that one of the mercenaries had turned invisible. The mercenary was just about to leave the enclosure and run for his life, when Kaeldur emerged behind him. Kaeldur didn''t seem to be affected by the invisibility of the mercenary, let alone the fact that the mercenary''s mana was camouged. The Devil was just about to tear the mercenary apart when Nial lifted his hand.

    Kaeldur looked at Nial for a moment before turning away. The mercenary felt overjoyed to be spared his life and he began to thank mother God for his fortune when he noticed that a needle of darkness had pierced through his leg.

    Stars swam in front of his eyes and he had to clench his fists and grit his teeth so as to not scream out loud.

    Nial nodded his head in satisfaction before he cleared his throat.

    "It''s good that you survived, bute to me!" He ordered using dominion with the reinforcement of crimson moonlight.

    His target was the invisible mercenary, who flinched at his words.

    A momentter his eyes turned milky and it looked like he had lost something in his eyes, the gleam.

    Afterward, he turned visible again.

    "Yes, Sir¡­"

 Chapter 489 Not Over!

    Nial patted the shoulder of the veteran mercenary who stood next to him with a hunched back.

    The mercenary''s eyes were empty and it looked like his IQ dropped by half, but that was not something anyone present could be interested in right now.

    Kaeldur had returned to his humanoid form. He held the head of a Keltia-ranked Guard in his hands and threw it at Tyrant, who smashed his mace into the ground, exactly where a bunch of dead guards had been piled on top of each other.

    The crackling noise of dozens of bones breaking to pieces echoed through the entire main hall of the hidden libratory. The Elves present in the hall flinched and grimaced, while Nial could only shake his head.

    "What do you want, you meagre insect?!" Tyrant snarled as his upper body tilted forward. The Tyrant of Destruction was towering above Kaeldur and it almost looked like David and Goliath were about to start fighting. After all, Kaeldur didn''t seem like wanting to back off.

    "I killed more guards, so I''m obviously your master now, musclehead!" Kaeldur boasted pridefully as his ruby eyes gleamed malevolently. His voice sounded cold, yetposed.

    Kaeldur was also ready to fight.

    "You¡­how can someone be that shamele¡ª..." Tyrant bellowed angrily but Nial interrupted their verbal spar by erupting a wall of darkness between the two Devils.

    "Calm down guys."

    Their heads flicked in his direction and the same thoughts shed through their mind.

    ? "Master, tell this idiot that I killed more guards than him!"

    "I would like you to tell this musclehead that he shouldn''t overestimate his capabilities!"

    Both were agitated but they knew that Nial had the ultimate authority to decide who won. Nial, however, didn''t think that the two devils understood the situation properly. He removed the wall of darkness with a sigh and pointed around him.

    "Tyrant killed more guards," Nial first said, causing the Tyrant of Destruction tough out loud.

    "...but I don''t see any captured Shelturion here, let alone research papers. Do you guys think that thepetition is over?"

    Tyrant''sughter ended abruptly while Kaeldur froze in ce. They had messed up, and only now did they realize that their focus had been on thepletely wrong thing. Instead of serving their master as well as possible, their only thoughts had been to put the other Devil in his ce!

    Kaeldur looked at Nial once before he turned into a sh once again. However, instead of bursting through one of the doors on the first floor to search for the Shelturion Alchemists, he jumped high into the air to get onto the fourth floor of the main hall.

    Meanwhile, Tyrant was still frozen. His eyes followed Kaeldur subconsciously and he turned back to Nial only secondster.

    "...I didn''t win?"

    "Definitely not. Looks like you will lose with that kind of mindset."

    "...I will lose?"

    "If you keep idling around, that''s only given."

    "I don''t want to lose¡­"

    Nial gave him a wry smile and he waved his hand, motioning Tyrant to leave.

    "Then do your job properly and get going!" He ordered, and a momentter the ground below Tyrant to burst open.

    The Tyrant of Destruction seemed to have been waiting for themand, and as if on cue he jumped on the third floor of the main hall with a single leap.

    What happened afterward could only be heard, but that was more than enough to clearly understand that the Tyrant of Destruction hadn''t received his title for anything.

    While Kaeldur was more of a silent killer, Tyrant was a purebred brute!

    However, that huge difference was exactly what Nial was thankful for. Sometimes he would require Tyrant''s brute force, while it would be better to have Kaeldur''s poison and powers in other situations.

    ''I wonder what it will be like when I get my hands on more of Damian''s Devils.''

    Nial was trying to sense both Kaeldur and Tyrant at the same time but they had entered areas that were well hidden from his senses.

    "This ce''s mana istion is so¡­fucking annoying¡­" He mumbled to himself. His ears twitched when he heard something from his left and right and he recalled that the Royal Princess and a few more Elves had arrived in the Main hall even before them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Why are you guys here? Did you already finish sealing the exits?" Nial asked them calmly, ignoring that he had left the entrance hall of the hiddenboratory which was against their initial n.

    However, the Royal Princess didn''t really seem to mind that.

    "Yourpanions are very interesting¡­" She mumbled, not answering his question at first.

    Nial didn''t respond to herment as he listened to the Old Sacred Elf to his right.

    "The exits and all spatial ports were sealed. It''s impossible to use anything rted to the spatial element!"

    This was good to hear, but it didn''t mean that the Shelturion hadn''t expected something like that.

    In fact, being an easily frightened race, they were extremely vignt. It was not unlikely that they had ten or more ns to escape, including five or more escape routes through the underground or somewhere else¡­routes that nobody had found out yet!

    Nial was pretty sure that the Royal Princess and the other Elves hadn''t found out about all escape routes either.

    "How about you tell us if there are any other secret routes of escape¡­and if you''re already at it, tell us about the hiding spots of the Shelturion and where their Alchemists usually concoct potions and the Cultivation Drug pills!" Nial ordered the seemingly lifeless merchant to his right.

    Dominion was utilized in its fullest and the mercenary began to writhe in pain, seemingly as if he didn''t want¡­or could not tell him the answers to the questions he asked.

    However, Nial didn''t show any mercy. He kept utilizing Dominion until the mercenary''s will was broken in its entirety.

    "The¡­innerboratory¡­second floor¡­hiding¡­everywhere. Secret routes¡­everywhere¡­underground¡­like ant tunnels¡­"

    It was impossible for the mercenary to speak properly, and form a coherent sentence. But that was no problem for Nial because he got the answers he wanted.

    He was subjected to weird stares by the Elves but that was also of no concern to him.

    "Answer the questions the Elves ask without leaving anything out," Nial ordered before he quickly added while looking at the Royal Princess, "...I will take your leave then. We don''t want the Shelturion to escape after all¡­right?"

    Saying so, Nial''s body was shrouded in darkness. His dark energy had already shot in all directions, creating small paths for him to dash and disappear. The dark energy dispersed when Nial merged with the darkness of the ground, leaving behind the white marble floor.

    Many Elves flinched at the eerie sight of Nial''s dark energy and the expert way he was able to use it. Even though all spatial elemental based abilities and objects were restricted, Nial was able to walk in the darkness.

    It was quite eerie even to the eyes of the Royal Princess. He didn''t use any additional mana to merge with the ground and emerge somewhere else either. It was as if he had received the infinite power of unlimited teleportations.

    That was obviously not the case but it certainly felt like that.

    "Are we seriously staying behind?" One of the High Elves behind the Royal Princess asked and he earned lots of heated gazes.

    "Of course¡­we won''t. One can stay behind to interrogate the mercenary and inform us about the answers he gives. I don''t expect much from the mercenary but it''s still worth a try," Princess Evalyne said firmly before she pointed at the second floor of the main hall.

    "Let''s first clear the second floor with Nial. The most important Shelturion should be located there¡­as for the rest, Nial''spanions, will do the rest. We can also tell the other teams to take a look at the third and fourth floor."

    The Royal Princess finished speaking and she was just about to tell everyone to disperse when she recalled something.

    "...but warn the other teams about Nial''spanions¡­"

    The other Elves were also about to move, including the team of the Old Sacred Elf when they recalled the terror caused by the two Devils. Just thinking about them was enough for everyone to feel shudders running down their spine.

    Even if they were confident of defeating the Devils, that didn''t mean they wanted to encounter them in a life-and-death battle!

    "...That would be for the best."

    The Royal Princess sighed deeply, not sure what to do about Nial. However, she was hoping for the best-case scenario¡­that was why she had chosen to help the humans from Jundra, in the first ce.

    She was not the Saint some people saw in her, after all!

    "Disperse!"

 Chapter 490 Weaklings

    Time passed in the blink of an eye and an hour had psed

    Nial and everyone else had been busy rushing through the hallways and rooms of the hiddenboratory, collecting all kinds of things.

    Nial didn''t know how many pieces of furniture, stashes of paper, alchemist tools, ingredients, and much more he had gotten his hands on¡­but it was a lot!

    From the gains he made just by collecting everything around him, Nial was bound to be a truly wealthy man, if he wasn''t already wealthy, to begin with.

    He was currently running through one of the many tunnels the Shelturion had built as a means of escape.

    "This is really like a fucking ant tunnel system¡­" Nial cursed out loud as he continued to spread out his range of perception and Mana sense as much as possible.

    Even though the range of his perception was drastically reduced underground, thanks to all the soil, stone, and other things that could be found underground, it was more than enough to find a bunch of Shelturion.

    They were running for their lives, but their physical strength was below average. To be fair, their physique was extremely bad and the only good thing about them was their brains and their talent in Alchemy.

    Nial didn''t n on killing them because they were of more use to him alive than dead but for that, he had to catch every single one of them.

    There were too many questions he wished to ask them and he didn''t want to allow them to escape, whether it was to warn the otherboratories that may or may not exist, or to let someone knowledgeable slip!

    Nial wanted as much information as possible. Thus, he turned into a sh as he ran through the tunnels that led him straight to the shelturion.

    Upon visualizing them, Nial noticed that they were iparable to humans. They were only 1.5 meters tall at most, and 30 centimeters of that was their massive head. Their head was extremely long and it was curved backward. Nial was not sure where exactly their brain was located, or if it was all over their lengthy, curved-back skull¡­and he didn''t really want to find out the answer either.

    With their tiny frail body it was hard for most Shelturion to move properly. It was almost as if their head would be heavier the higher their Mana Core rank. After all, it didn''t look like the increase in their physical strength allowed them to move faster, or with more easy.

    ''I am so lucky to be human¡­I wouldn''t want to be one of them¡­'' Nial thought, feeling a bit sorry for them.

    ? Their life must be hard because their bodies looked brittle like eggshells that would break easily. At this moment, Nial could only hope that Tyrant wouldn''t squash the Shelturion he found.

    But then he wasn''t sure why he felt pitiful for them. He didn''t like the Shelturion. They were a ghastly and cunning race. Because of their actions, tens of thousands of humans, if not more, had ended up as second stage drug addicts. The Cultivation Drug was simply too tempting for many Originals, especially those who were confident that they wouldn''t get addicted after taking it only once or twice.

    But even a taste of it was already more than enough to make anybody crave more, unfortunately.

    Nial gritted his teeth and he caught all Shelturion, tied them up and gagged them with some cloth. He didn''t want to hear them speaking, voicing out excuses, or doing whatever they would usually do in situations like these.

    For a few seconds, he cursed himself for having pitied the Shelturion. The tiny beings of the race, that were walking on two legs and four feet might look weak, useless, even pitiable¡­but they were the perfect example for the phrase ''looks can be deceiving.'' They were cunning and the vilest beings he hade across.

    They had two tiny and stick-like legs that split up at the kneecap, where the two legs branched out in a total of four calves and feet. It was a grotesque sight but also something Nial ignored quite easily.

    The smaller bone connecting the knee and the ankle were separated from therger calf bone, creating a second and smaller pair of feet.

    This was the reason why they were able to find bnce and walk around¡­after all, their physical strength didn''t increase when their Mana Core''s rank advanced.

    That was something Nial figured out only when he got hold of the Shelturion. They didn''t possess much Mana and it was impossible for them to circte mana anywhere except their arms and head.

    These areas were the only ones with intact mana veins.

    ''Is that why they''re so smart? Because they''re quite useless if not for their heads?''

    Nial would be lying if he were to say that he waspletely uninterested in the Shelturion race. Being in control of them would be extremely useful, whether it was to make use of their head or their alchemy talent.

    Nheless, it was time to take revenge and make the leader pay for the mistake he made.

    He was a blithering idiot for turning Nial into his opponent!

    Nial was not sure how long he took to return to the hiddenboratory after he started with the hide-and-seek y in the ant tunnel system but he got hold of a dozen Shelturions.

    All of them had a high mana core rank but they didn''t even dare to retrieve a runic weapon from their spatial ring and attack Nial the moment he appeared in the darkness behind them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Some of them even fainted, forcing Nial to instruct the other Shelturion to carry their friends back. This was quite difficult, which was how Nial ended up releasing the Blood Eclipse Moon in its corporeal state to shine the crimson moonlight onto them, increasing the Shelturion''s strength.

    He couldn''t carry several Shelturion at the same time, after all.

    Furthermore, he was pretty sure that he would identally kill one of them¡­that was how frail their bones were inparison to Nial''s physical strength.

    "Oh, you guys are done? What did you find?" Nial asked when he saw two dozen Shelturion tied down on the ground floor of the main hall.

    It looked like Nial was thest one to arrive because everyone was staring at the Shelturion. Tyrant and Kaeldur jumped up to the second floor and they appeared right next to Nial, startling the Shelturion behind him.

    They were already scared witless, but the appearance of two figures mantled in darkness, and shining ruby eyes that stared at them with distaste as if they were not even worth bing their prey was an overkill.

    "Just go down to your friends. If you dare to run away, they will hunt and tear you apart," Nial ordered calmly while pointing at Kaeldur and Tyrant. The Shelturion flinched and nodded their heads at once while their humongous ck eyes continued to quiver.

    "Show me what you got!" Nial opened his hands to retrieve the two Devils'' spatial rings. They had been instructed to collect the information sheets in addition to capturing Shelturion and killing the guards.

    Tyrant just looked at his hand with a tilted head while Kaeldur snickered before a huge file filled with information appeared in his ws.

    "I have more files but these seem the most important for now," Kaeldur spoke submissively before his head turned to Tyrant.

    "Looks like someone forgot what we were told to do."

    "...I¡­ This¡­is bullshit¡­"

    Tyrant couldn''t believe that his excitement had ovee his rational mind. He had killed more than a hundred guards and a third of the Shelturion that were tied down on the ground floor were sitting there because of his hard work¡­but, he hadpletely forgotten about the most important part of the task¡­the information!

    "But my Shelturion might have more information in their huge heads than the files you''ve collected!" The Tyrant of Destruction retorted, making Kaeldurugh out loud mockingly.

    "Looks like you are the same fool as ever. The Shelturion you''ve caught were merely pawns. The assistants to the real mastermind, which our master brought back, by the way. You cannot even tell the difference between pawns and the real deal¡­how disgraceful¡­"

    "Enough!" Nial said all of a sudden and Kaeldur shut his mouth.

    Nial didn''t really care that Kaeldur was making fun of Tyrant, but he didn''t want Tyrant to go berserk right now.

    The Shelturion would all die the moment Tyrant would unleash all of his power.

    "Looks like thispetition ended in a tie. I won''t give any of you guys the right to order the other one around," He ended up saying as he put down the files.

    "But¡­why?" Kaeldur who had been in ecstasy couldn''t understand what was going on.

    "Isn''t it obvious? Information is important but you brought back only two Shelturion from down there. You couldn''t have killed more guards than Tyrant either, otherwise, you would have shown off that achievement by now.

    Both of you did great, but neither you nor Tyrant were overwhelmingly better than the other, not enough for me to grant the permission to let one of you y master!"

    **

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 Chapter 491 Call

    "I''m not sure if it''s possible to interrogate them with the use of my mind-controlling ability," Nial said after he and the Elves hade together.

    A few Elves were currently sorting out the information and making notes based on the physical files while others had essed the database of the hiddenboratory with the use of the Shelturion whose biometric fingerprint and iris were required to be scanned to ess most data.

    The data was copied to an external drive, where it would be organized and shown to Nial and the other higher authorities.

    Nial had received the right to get his hands on the ''valueless'' files and information which the Elves didn''t require. As for the rest, he would be allowed to take a look at them before the Elves would take them for their own use.

    One could say that it was their payment for helping the humans from Jundra and the slight possibility that they would be dragged in a war because of their actions.

    Nial had nothing to say about their demands. In fact, the Elves didn''t ask for much in exchange for the help they provided. It was more than fine with Nial.

    Unfortunately, he didn''t ask the government for permission when he chose to raid the hiddenboratory¡­but that was also fine. The government would have never epted his actions because they hadn''t done anything against the Cultivation Drug pill until now, either way.

    He was quite sure that the government epted the drugs because they were the lesser evil. Instead of waging war, losing some humans to drugs and some weird Soul Contracts was fine with them.

    The government had too many problems to solve at the same time to bother about some greedy humans. This was especially true when other races were involved. Other races were usually stronger than the humans from Jundra because they already had a foundation and stronger Originals on their side.

    Of course, Nial didn''t really care about all that.

    "If your ability doesn''t work, we can just torture him using other means," The Royal Princess said with a shrug. She didn''t seem to have anything against torture, which was quite unexpected.

    Nial expected the Royal Princess to say that he should try out Dominion over and over again.

    "We can still ask them some questions, and I have a n."

    He ended up showing Princess Evalyne a messenger device with a faint but evil smile on his face.

    "I wonder what Great Wirliam will say after hearing that his little hiddenboratory has been raided and that I possess a mind-controlling ability," Nial muttered before he added the most crucial point rted to his n.

    "...or what he will say if we hand over all these traitors to the Shelturion''s government. I am curious what will happen to them¡­"

    His voice was cold and barely loud enough to reach the ears of the tied-up Shelturion. They began to shiver in fright, which further increased after Nial changed the effect of the Blood Eclipse Moon''s crimson moonlight.

    The targets Nial considered as allies would receive a physical enhancement and other augmentations thanks to the crimson moonlight of the manifested Blood Eclipse Moon. Meanwhile, the targets that werebeled as enemies would feel weakened, a light dizziness would affect them and negative emotions would feel much more intense than usual.

    This was one of Nial''s means to weaken the mind of the tied-up Shelturion, but there were far more tricks in his arsenal. He made sure that the Tyrant of Destruction retrieved one of the Guard corpses from his body while exuding arge portion of his killing intent.

    His killing intent was not targeted at anyone present but the remnants swept over to the Shelturion nheless. Their heads turned to the huge ck monster, whose ruby eyes shone dangerously. The harrowing sight made their eyes quiver before their body followed suit as they started to tremble violently.

    Right in front of their eyes, the Guard transformed into one of their fellow brethren. This was done with Nial''s use of Dominion, enhanced by the Darkness Essence and some Chaos. He had never used Chaos to enhance Dominion, let alone together with Darkness Essence but it worked out much better than expected.

    The Shelturion looked at the corpse in fright, some even screamed out in terror, just to see how the body of their own ''brethren'' was torn apart by Tyrant.

    Gasps, heavy breaths, and screams filled the main hall of the hidden libratory for a moment.

    "I think Dominion will work now," Nial spoke slowly before he activated Dominion once again.

    ''...Intensify their fear and alter their mind slowly¡­use their damaged will and fear to break through their mental defenses¡­''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial was telling himself what he was supposed to do and he focused all his attention on the task ahead. He could not afford the distraction and ended up making a big mistake.

    Using the crimson moonlight and the Shelturion''s fear and terror to his advantage, Nial was slowly unleashing the might of Dominion. He altered the mind of the Shelturion in front of him, temporarily of course. It was not possible for him to permanently alter the mind of a few dozen Originals who were not only at a higher rank than him but also in possession of a big head, literally.

    If the Shelturion were physically extremely weak, their mind was strong and well-protected.

    Thus, temporarily altering them was everything he could do, and even that required a few hours.

    Nial was exhausted afterward so he left the Royal Princess and her people to give them some space in interrogating the Shelturion.

    He eavesdropped on their discussion but that was already it.

    Like that two more hours passed and a heavy silence filled the room.

    "Looks like there are a few more hiddenboratories¡­hah¡­" Nial exhaled heavily and he kept rubbing his temples for a few minutes.

    The locations of the other hiddenboratories were just as annoying as the hiddenboratory they had just raided.

    There were also as many guards and Shelturion Alchemists as they caught in this ce¡­and all of them created not just the Cultivation Drug pills but also other medicines.

    Only the Cultivation Drug was purposely created to turn humans into addicts, while the other potions and pills were manufactured to make more connections and money.

    "They''ve already sent an emergency signal to the headquarters, so there is no point in searching for the others. Just to return and use the Forest of Life''s teleportation magic circle a few more times would cost us a few days. We don''t even know the most suitable coordinates to be teleported, either and our guesses might end up in the maw of a Dragon or in the magma pool of an active volcano¡­" Nial mumbled, understanding that raiding the other hiddenboratories was not usible.

    It would be nothing short of a miracle if the vignt and cowardly Shelturion wouldn''t have fled already.

    "Let''s call that bastard then!" Nightingale shouted out loud from behind. The other Elves turned to the Royal Nightshadow Elf, not really understanding his enthusiasm, except Nial, who scoffed.

    "Of course, we will call him. I''m just wondering how to make it clear that I will turn his life into a living hell if he doesn''t give me what I want¡­."

    Dark energy exuded from Dn''s body and traces of darkness spread through his milky white, lifeless eyes. He licked his lips after almost half a minute had passed before he picked up the messenger crystal of the hiddenboratory''s Head Alchemist.

    He was the only one with Great Wirliam''s number, but that was more than enough.

    Dialing the number, Nial retrieved a chair from his spatial ring. He sat down and leaned against the backrest. His left leg rested on his right leg while he was waiting patiently.

    And it was not long after that the call went through.

    [I know that you''re the Invader¡­ Who the hell do you think you are?! Do you know whoseboratory you''ve just attacked?] A voice seething in anger rang out from the messenger crystal. He spoke in the universalnguage, which made things a lot easier for him.

    "Of course, I know whoseboratory I attacked, but who said that I care?" Nial retorted in the universalnguage. His voice was calm andposed.

    [You¡­WHO are you?!?] Great Wirliam bellowed, just for Nial to start snickering.

    "Me? I''m just one of the humans you''re looking down at¡­"

 Chapter 492 Not A Pushover!

    [A human from the Origin?... Don''t spout nonsense! I know that you''re lying! No human from the Origin reached the Deux rank yet. How the hell are you¡­no forget that¡­ just release my people and return the research data!]

    Great Wirliam''s voice was filled with anger but Nial didn''t think much about it.

    "I don''t really think that you should make any demands right now. You are fully aware of the current position¡­and if that''s magically not the case, let me read something very interesting for you¡­" Nial said with a faint smile on his lips as he cleared his throat.

    He visualized a particr piece of paper in his mind and read the first sentence out loud.

    "-The primary testing of the Nervous distortion Virus has beenpleted. Further testing with the test subje¡ª..." Nial spoke slowly enough to give Great Wirliam enough time to grit his teeth and shout out loud

    [...Stop!]

    "I know that you''re fighting against your own people, but I don''t really care whether your reasons for doing so are justified or not. You have a few things that I want, and I am in possession of information that will turn you into a wanted criminal with a much higher grade than you are right now. Every single member of your small group of rebels will be searched, found, tortured, and hung.

    Of course, that is only if they can find them¡­but let me give you a nice piece of information¡­I can break through your people''s mental barriers and make them do things you cannot imagine¡­they would even kill their own family without batting an eye eyelid. So you can imagine that betraying you is a fairly easy task inparison!!" Nial''s voice turned colder the longer he spoke and the Elves around him began to shiver instinctively.

    It was as if the temperature around them had decreased drastically. Thus, everyone stepped back subconsciously.

    Nial had yet to say that he knew where the headquarters of the rebel army was located, or that he could hand out that precious piece of information to the Shelturion''s government.

    He was pretty sure that he would gain a lot from the information he could provide to the Shelturion. However, the things he had gotten to know about the government of the Shelturion made him despise them even more than his own government.

    [...What do you want?] Great Wirliam asked, trying hard to suppress the anger in his voice.

    "I like this attitude much better, you know¡­" Nial poked Great Wirliam and he coughed lightly once.

    "I don''t want too much, just a few promises¡­ Return all human ves, find a way to remove the addictive substance within the bodies of the human drug addicts, improve the Cultivation Drug to make sure that it won''t cause any addiction¡­and never touch a human from the Origin ever again!" Nial put forth his demands in clear words before he added something about thest part.

    "Not touching a human ever again includes the fact that you are not allowed to help the Linaton anymore. You will soon hear news about them waging war with us, probably, ¡­after I''m done with them¡­and our own government!"

    The Linaton had the audacity to enter the human shelters with nice prospects and an open mind. Everyone was d that the Linaton was one of the friendly races because it made trading much easier.

    Their presence allowed the human race to prosper at a much faster rate and to make a huge fortune. The human race was bound to develop much faster thanks to their hard work and ''great'' connections.

    Unfortunately, this was nothing but a farce because the Linaton were greedily devouring the human race from within, taking their somewhat talented newly awakened Originals under their wing¡­or rather forcing them after handing out a sly contract that was no better than being reduced to a ve.

    [You¡­really are a human from Jundra? How did you destroy theboratory then?...No scratch that¡­you want to wage war with the Linaton? Your entire race will be obliterated the moment you even raise your voice against them. They will snap their fingers, buy an army of mercenaries, and stampede on your shelters¡­as for your government¡­I don''t care!]

    Nial''s lips twitched when he heard that. He didn''t really care if anyone believed him whether he was human or not. Great Wirliam was way too focused on whether Nial was actually a human, which made him listen to only half the conversation. He merely heard the content of Nial''s words rather than paying attention to the promises he was supposed to listen to and ept.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "...I didn''t ask you for an advice¡­I want you to return my people and fuck off afterward!" Nial ordered coldly.

    "Furthermore, you won''t get your data back. Your words are mere words and empty promises to me¡­and I doubt that you''ll dare to meet me openly to sign a Soul Contract with me!"

    There were multiple reasons why Great Wirliam would never sign a Soul Contract with Nial, but the biggest was that the Shelturion was a coward and overly vignt, just like any other Shelturion.

    It was probably easier to find a needle in a stash of hay rather than find a courageous Shelturion.

    This was the bitter truth, even if it looked like Great Wirliam was quite courageous for creating an army of rebels. The truth was that they would never fight for themselves and that they would hire other people or use deceitful means to destroy their opponents.

    Because of thetter part, Nial would never give up on the data they had collected today, even if Great Wirliam were to do everything he said.

    [If you don''t hand over the data, I cannot see why I should ept your offer!] Great Wirliam retorted but Nial didn''t even think about epting this kind of petty scheme.

    "If you don''t do everything I''ve told you, I will not only destroy allboratories, which will cost you a fortune to repair, but I will hand over the three dozen Shelturion I''ve caught to the government. After that, I will hand over all the information we''ve collected and use my mind-controlling ability to make sure that every single of the Shelturion I captured will talk.

    By then, the Shelturion''s government will search for the rtives of every single rebel, and torture them for months before they hang them at the city walls all over their territory.

    Your life will turn into a living hell and your fellow rebels will loathe you for not epting my demands. Do you really think that you''re at an advantage right now? I''m just trying to help my own people because I''m tired of other races looking down on us as if we''re pushovers. Either, you ept my demands, or you prepare to lose¡­everything!"

    Nial hadn''t intended to act overbearing in front of Great Wirliam at first. The problems revolving around the Cultivation Drug were far more troublesome than he wanted to acknowledge¡­but it was also true that it wasn''t necessary for him to get involved. He did so because he was not only tired of other races seeing the humans from the Origin as pushovers, but also because he was frustrated that nobody with the necessary strength seemed to care about the envement scheme and the things that happened behind the scenes.

    It was frustrating and Nial felt somehow obliged to do something for mankind. He was powerful and the humans from Origin were not only much weaker but many were also oblivious to their actions that were about to destroy their future. A single signature was enough to turn into the worst decision of their life.

    Being oblivious to the cruel reality of the universe, and the knowledge some foolish humans required to know better made it necessary for someone to act¡­and that was Nial¡­this time.

    He scratched the back of his head and sighed in frustration.

    "I''m already makingpromises by telling you to release humans you''ve enved, and research a way to remove the ck mass from within the body of the addicted humans. Creating a non-addictive Cultivation Pill shouldn''t be hard for you smart-asses.

    If you don''t like it, I will just spend a few months permanently altering the minds of the three dozen Shelturions I caught and they will get me the solutions I want. As for the humans you''ve enved, they might not be my responsibility but I should be able to find them by obliterating your headquarters, don''t you think so?" Nial asked before he gave Great Wirliam an option.

    "You can also surrender."

    [..:Surrender to whom?]

    "To me, who else?"

 Chapter 493 Helping Hand

    "You guys cannot win against the government on your own because none of you Shelturion is strong. Even the government should have several alliances with physically stronger races or a heavy focus on hiring mercenaries to instruct ves and protect the higher authorities.

    But your problem is different. Don''t you need funding and a ce to hide from the government, rather than hiring mercenaries? You want to get your hands on origin humans to build an army but you are forced to trade with the Linaton because youck resources and connections.

    Basically, your rebellion has already failed!" Nial''s harsh but true words rang through the messenger device straight into Great Wirliam''s ears.

    Great Wirliam''s grasp around the messenger device tightened and his face flushed red but he didn''t even possess the strength to destroy the messenger device in anger.

    Nial heard some rustling noises from the messenger device but he ignored them.

    He was rather rxed by now because the turn of events was something that could help him and everyone else in the human race.

    ''It wouldn''t be a bad idea to turn them into our allies¡­or at least, my allies¡­'' Nial thought. He believed that he could easily exploit the rebel army of the Shelturion, using their bad deeds as a means to make them obey him.

    They had to fix many things, which included returning the origin human ves,pensating them for the mental and physical trauma they faced while being enved, and fixing the mess they had created with the Cultivation Drug.

    That was only the most basic of Nial''s demands without giving anything in return. He would just ignore the fact that the Shelturion had looked down upon the origin humans, and keep ckmailing them with the information he had collected in the hiddenboratory.

    "Are you fine with that?" Nial asked while looking in the direction of the Royal Princess to assess if she had other ns. However, there was not much of a reaction from the High Elf. She merely nodded her head before she motioned him to go on.

    ''If you don''t care, why do you look so excited?'' Nial snickered in his mind as he turned his attention back to the messenger device.

    [You¡­where did you get all that information from?!? Who are you???] Great Wirliam thundered while the sound of something getting pushed followed up.

    "Calm down, buddy. I am just stating my opinion based on what I''ve heard, read, and visualized in thest few hours. The hiddenboratory might be fancy with its special traits and such but the mercenaries were weak and your ves were basically unmoving meatshields.

    They were cut down easily and had ame defense. That being said, you invested a lot in the hiddenboratories in the hope that nobody would ever find them while saving as much money on the guards as possible. If others would have invaded the hidden libratory, they wouldn''t even be able to enter it without suffering a bunch of casualties. Unfortunately, I''m different¡­though still an Origin human, or whatever name you give humans born on Jundra, the Origin.

    Either way, return the ves, and start working on a way to remove the harmful substance of the Cultivation Drug from the body! And I don''t want just the majority of the substance removed, but want it flushed out of every single cell of the addicts. Not even the slightest trace of the substance should be left!"

    Nial felt that it was quite a hassle to converse with Great Wirliam, but he could somehow manage it. He was pretty sure that he was slowly getting through to the leader of the Shelturion''s rebel army. Great Wirliam didn''t say anything for a while and it looked almost as if he would leave the conversation hanging by abruptly ending the call.

    However, there was no reason for Nial to feel any pressure. He had the upper hand in this situation, and he hadn''t even hesitated to offer more than he was initially willing.

    Unfortunately, the information written in all the files he read was more interesting than he wanted to acknowledge. There were so many types of potions and pills that the Shelturion Alchemists were already able to create that Nial began to wonder how it was possible for them tock funding.

    He was pretty sure that many races would throw fortunes at the rebel army the moment they were to reveal their capabilities as Alchemists. This was exactly what Nial wanted to make use of. From the looks of it, the rebel''s Alchemists hadn''t revealed their skills to the outside world yet.

    The Shelturion were timid and very vignt. Thus, they didn''t want to be found out by their own government, which was more likely to happen once their creations would find a way to the market.

    It would be necessary to find a trusted ally to make immediate use of the goods, without telling anyone where their goods came from, or to sell them by forwarding them further to others and forming a supply chain of sellers who would deliver it to the end user.

    That way, the goods would be used up immediately, or they would only enter the market by going around ten or more corners.

    [...What do you want?] Great Wirliam asked after a long time had passed. The Elves had finished organizing most files andpiling the necessary data, and Nial had used his range of perception to scan all files and ''look'' through the data as well.

    He had processed most information by now, and a creepy smile emerged on his face.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Looks like I hit the bullseye¡­He took the bait!''

    Great Wirliam''s voice was not filled with anger anymore. On the contrary, it sounded like he was being more careful now. He could tell that the odds were against him, in all possible ways, at that.

    Nial offered a helping hand instead of constantly threatening the Shelturion to follow his orders. This gave the leader of the rebel army enough reassurance to listen to what Nial had to say.

    "If you guys want to increase your chances to win in the civil war against your own people, you need stronger people. I am that person or one of them.

    If you don''t believe my words, you should watch the recordings of the surveince cameras in the hiddenboratory we''ve raided. By now they should work again because I removed the darkness cover. I have Elves by my side, so you guys could establish connections with them as well¡­that is if you act properly and please them enough to consider you as a worthy party to have business rtions with. I am not their spokesperson soo¡­you will have to please them. As for any promises, I can just tell you that it would be better to please me rather than attack me.

    To put it simply, that means¡­return the ves as quickly as you can and fix the chaos you caused with the creation of the Cultivation Drug!" Nial said while repeating thest part once again in a much colder and sharper tone.

    In fact, everything he just said was simply a repetition of what he had mentioned before if one were to exclude the talk about the Elves. He just mentioned them because Great Wirliam would take a look at the recordings of the surveince cameras either way.

    At that moment, the Royal Princess took arge stride forward to appear next to Nial. She leaned closer to the messenger device with a faint smile on her face before she threw in ament as well, "Believe me, it''s worth investing in him rather than making him your enemy!"

    Because her race had already been mentioned and the surveince cameras had gotten a good picture of her as well, Evalyne thought that she might as well help Nial a little bit more.

    This should give her some brownie points and make Nial favor her and the Elven race more. Nial was thankful for herment, just as expected. It made many things easier if you had someone with credentials backing you up!

    "I''m redeeming as well¡­and I will do my best to help Nial as well!" Nightingale suddenly shouted as well. He swallowed his pride to say this out loud but he knew very well that Nial was a much better option to invest in than his brothers and sisters.

    Their personalities were even worse than his, whether that was because of their upbringing, the surrounding environment, or just because their talent was higher than Nightingale''s.

    Meanwhile, Nial was rather tame. There were circumstances when he would lose his calm, which would result in feeling like an ant in front of a towering Titan, but other than that Nial was rather reasonable.

    He could even be considered kind for not obliterating the rebel army by exposing the information he had collected. The Shelturion''s government would reward him handsomely for his deeds, but that was not his n nor purpose.

    He was just using this threat as leverage to make sure that the rebels would be his people.

    This would provide much more benefits and it would make things much easier for the origin humans, whether it was in the short or long term!

    **

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 Chapter 494 To The Embassy!

    After some back and forth with Great Wirliam, Nial finally received the answer he wanted to hear.

    The leader of the rebel army released the origin human ves and he promised to find a solution for the Cultivation Drug issue. Not only would the Alchemists research a way to cleanse the body to wash away the addictive substance but Great Wirliam also promised that he would let the Cultivation Drug be altered to remove the addictive substance.

    It would take a while to rece the substance with something that was not harmful, or addictive for origin humans but it was not as if time was running out. The most important were the ves and their body cleansing either way.

    Nial chose to make a small imprint on the Shelturion he caught before he freed them of their ties. Only then did he also release the alteration he had put on their mind.

    The Shelturion were scared a bit but Nial told them to leave.

    ''If you dare to y tricks with me, I will find you¡­and you will never know how!'' Nial thought while sensing the imprint he had put on each of the Shelturion.

    When he asked the Royal Princess to check if there was a change in the appearance of the Shelturion, such as a small ck mark, she confirmed that there was nothing noteworthy, not even a change in their mana fluctuations.

    That was exactly what Nial wanted and it reaffirmed that his imprint was quite hard for ordinary people to find. After all, the Shelturion had epted the imprint, though it was while they were under Dominion''s control.

    The Shelturion didn''t remember anything about the Imprint because the removal of the alterations on their mind wiped out their memories of the imprint entirely.

    Nial had thus infiltrated the rebel army of the Shelturion without giving them any way to find out about it¡­or almost no way.

    "Your trust in Great Wirliam is quite surprising. I expected you to y with him a little bit more until he would give you everything you demanded before you released his people," Princess Evalyne said while she watched the Shelturion leaving.

    The weak Shelturions'' bodies were trembling and their gazes kept darting at Nial and the Elves in vignce every now and then but nobody ended up attacking them once again.

    "Trust? Not really¡­ I just gave him a small present, which he will probably value a lot¡­he should value it a lot, if he is as smart as I expect him to be!" Nial said while taking a deep breath, his attention moving to the data the Elves had collected about the hiddenboratories.

    "What about the inform¡ª...." He was just about to ask for the data to be transferred when Nightingale appeared by his side.

    "What did you give him?"

    Nightingale had changed quite a bit, which was very nice. The annoying and arrogant pain in the ass Nightingale was different now¡­unfortunately, he had now be a nosy pain in the ass¡­

    Thus, Nial''s answer was short, "The chance to survive and win."

    He disappeared after saying this while messaging the Royal Princess to send him the data.

    "He knows that we were supposed to bring him back to the Forest of Life, right?" The Old Sacred Elf asked when he saw that Nial had disappeared but the Royal Princess could only shrug her shoulders.

    Sometimes, she was not sure if Nial was a mastermind who was trying to stay humble, or a brickhead with great luck and insights every now and then.

    "...I really don''t know."

    Nial knew that the Elves could use their spatial affinity to bring him back to the Forest of Life. However, they wanted to spend some more time in the hiddenboratory to search for more secret passages and hidden ces. It was quite obvious that the vignt Shelturion had created hidden passages and sectors that only a few knew about.

    Maybe there were even more Shelturion, who had hidden away to save certain documents. The Royal Princess wanted to gather as many files as possible because she could tell the value of the potions and pills the Shelturion could create.

    If their own alchemists were able to recreate these potions, they would be able to swim in high-quality Origin crystals, even if the product''s quality were to be much lower than the original!

    Nial understood Princess Evalyne''s train of thoughts but he had other things to do.

    The information he had acquired was already more than enough. As for his deal with Great Wirliam, he would find out how honorable the Shelturion was soon enough.

    ''But before that, I should visit a few Ambassadors!''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial retrieved a bunch of Origin crystals followed by the teleportation device that Master Crevian had given him a while ago before leaving the Forest of Life.

    Now it was time to use the teleportation device again to return back.

    Using the Origin crystals as fuel for the device, Nial reached the Halheim Shelter in no time. It took him less than half an hour and he was already back at the Otherworldly Residency.

    Using Dominion on everyone around him, he entered the living room in front of Barion Inon''s office after he destroyed the runic armaments in the room.

    He sat down on the couch and messaged Melheim Zorn while waiting for the Baron to finish his business in the office.

    [Make an anonymous post on the emergency hotline of the Heaven''s Gates website. Forward the recordings where you can see the Linaton Ambassadors signing a Soul Contract with the newly awakened, the copy of the soul contract which we''ve received from a few victims, and a few pages of the victim list.

    Include a copy of the alterations in the mana breathing technique and the videos you''ve received from the victims, where they state that the mana breathing technique was intentionally altered. But blur their faces¡­we do not want to expose their identity just to be sure that nothing will happen to them.

    Write that the government turns a blind eye to all of this because they''re afraid of war and that they''re too greedy and focused on the benefits they receive from the Linaton¡­word it in such a way that it feels like the message of an amateur, who has found out the truth of the harsh world, or something like that. I don''t want any traces to lead back to the Orion Association, you, or me!]

    Nial felt like giving out a few more instructions but Baron Inon had already appeared in the living room. The guest who had been in his office had already disappeared through a different door.

    "Hello, esteemed guest. I am terribly so¨C...." Baron Inon started, just like thest time they had met but Nial lifted his hand while his expression turned ugly, "Just shut your mouth and listen well!"

    Nial''s voice thundered in the ears of the Baron, who stared at the blind young human with a dumbstruck expression.

    "Who do you think you¡­a¨C..." Baron Inon was just about to release his one and only ability when chains of darkness shot out of the ground. The ground around him was dark like the abyss and it looked like he was getting devoured by it.

    Baron Inon was slowly seeping into the darkness of the ground. He was pulled down by the chains that only stopped moving when Nial took a step forward.

    "Are you willing to record a video where you will say nothing but the truth about your deeds, or do you want to be stuck in eternal darkness until the end of time? As you can see, I am capable of doing that¡­so choose wisely!"

    Nial couldn''t actually put anyone in a prison of eternal darkness, but that was not something Baron Inon had to know. To Baron, it looked like Nial was capable of doing what he said and that was more than enough.

    In fact, had Baron Inon not been so flustered he would have concluded that Nial was not able to imprison him in eternal darkness until the end of time but the Linaton was too overwhelmed to think straight.

    "I¡­I will say everything you want me to say!!" He eximed, his voice quivering in terror.

    "That is what I hoped for. Good job, my little boy!"

    **

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 Chapter 495 Anonymous

    Nial didn''t want to receive all the focus of the government or the races who were trying to expand their influence in the human shelters.

    He had heard enough things to know that there were quite a few races who had employed various tactics to take origin humans under their wing. They became the sponsors of the humans in exchange for the creation of organizations in the human shelters.

    Following that, the origin humans backed by other races tried to spread their backer''s influence in order to pay back what they owed.

    This was just one of many ways for foreign races to exert their dominance and influence in the human shelters. Most of them were trying to take the long route so that they would be able to gain enough influence to leave a permanent mark on the origin human''s history.

    However, Nial didn''t know what these races wanted to do with their influence, or if they might actually be the same as the Linaton and Shelturion race that was trying to get hold of origin humans to turn them into ves.

    Nial would obliterate their influence and teach them a proper, painful and expensive lesson!

    And to show everyone that he wasn''t merciful, at all, Nial made videos of Baron Inon and the other Linaton Ambassadors who were residing in the Otherworldly Residencies inside the other human shelters.

    These videos were pretty simple.

    Before starting the recording, Nial would threaten the Ambassadors in the exact same way as he had threatened Baron Inon. They turned into bbermouths afterward, hoping that Nial would spare them from further harm.

    What they didn''t know was that Nial sent the videos of their confession of every single crime they hadmitted to the Heaven''s Gates, which forwarded the videos to the government.

    Nial had made use of Dominion to alter the mind of the Linaton Ambassadors to make them reveal and ept every single crime they hadmitted. He didn''t y with their mind too much. He barely influenced them to the extent that they would expose everything and stop shaking in fear, but his influence was too little to be noticed in the video.

    Collecting all videos didn''t take too long, merely a day.

    Some shelters were near to each other, which is why Nial used the teleportation device instead of the teleportation station within the shelters. After all, they made recordings of everyone using the Gates.

    The surveince cameras in and around the teleportation gates recorded everything as well. Thus, Nial used the gates only once to get to the best position before he started to splurge Origin crystals charging the teleportation device.

    He moved only within the darkness inside the shelters as well. And if someone got a peek at him, he made sure that they would forget about him with the use of Dominion. This made it look like he had never actually appeared in most shelters.

    When he returned, the news about the Linaton Ambassadors had not yet spread. The Heaven''s Gates organization was probably investigating the ten videos that had been sent to them and the truth behind the information Melheim had forwarded.

    Nial''s videos were sent through an anonymous ount which he deleted after he received a question from the administrator of the Heaven''s Gates website. This was to make sure that they saw the videos and that they wouldn''t lose the data after he would delete his ount.

    Afterward, it was only a matter of time before the secretaries, maid, and guards in the Otherworldly Residencies all over the shelters found the corpses of the Linaton Ambassadors.

    Their corpses were twisted, their hearts seemed to have disappeared and their eyes had nearly popped out of the sockets in terror. Additionally, there was no trace of mana left behind in the room.

    No clue about the identity of the murderer had been left behind. The runic devices had been destroyed beforehand, the guards, maid and secretaries had never seen someonee in or out of the Linaton Ambassador''s office and it was as if nobody except those permitted to enter had ever been there.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, there was still something the murderer had left behind. It was a small letter, with the same content all over the ten murders Nial hadmitted on that day.

    Yes, it was Nial who had murdered the ten Linaton Ambassadors! Who else could it have been?

    Nial didn''t see the Linaton race in good light after they used the origin human race in such a distasteful manner. They entered the shelters like samaritans, just to kidnap thousands of origin humans, turn them into ves, and breed them or use them for worse, if that was even possible, to begin with.

    A race that acted in such a way was not worth being considered as a potential ally of mankind. They were different from the Shelturion''s rebel army, whose reasons for doing everything were much better.

    The Linaton had funded them to build the hiddenboratories so that they could conduct research and had created the Cultivation Drug. The fact that the Shelturion''s rebel army created the Cultivation Drug was bad, but they had been in dire need of the funding, otherwise, they would have starved to death, let alone be able to build a small foundation on the Origin.

    Supporting the extensive research of Alchemists was certainly not cheap, neither was nourishing ves to turn them into proper guards nor hiring guards.

    As rebels or specifically cowardly rebels, it was very hard to act openly because of the fear that the government would find and eradicate them.

    Nial understood the reasoning of the Shelturion, though he didn''t acknowledge or support it. Nheless, he could overlook their crimes by turning them into his people and exploiting their knowledge and talent. They would receive everything they could wish for in return without even realizing that they were being exploited because they were clueless of their losses and bound to be over the moon.

    That was Nial''s n with the Shelturion rebel army. As for the Linaton, it was already kind enough of him that he was trying hard to collect all necessary evidence to prove that the Ambassadors of the Linaton were trash.

    The officials of the Linaton race might me the human government for the death of their people in the human shelters, but that was all they could do. It was not as if any human was at the Deux rank and thus strong enough to infiltrate the Otherworldly Residencies of 10 human shelters in a single day, and without being seen.

    The officials of the Linaton race wouldn''t wage war with the origin humans, considering that they would think that the anonymous posts on the website of the Heaven''s Gate organization were created by an enemy of the Linaton race to distract them.

    In the end, the Linaton race was not too intelligent, but they thought highly of the rank of someone''s Mana Core. In their eyes, someone at the Prometheus rank would never be able to kill an Original at the Deux rank.

    Thus, Nial could be said to have saved mankind from being thrown into a war and simultaneously gave them the opportunity to question the officials of the Linaton race about the recordings which were clear evidence they had received.

    The officials of the Linaton race were unlikely to bother about them. They would just say that the Ambassadors had acted on their own ord and that they would remove the Soul Contracts. Maybe they would hand out a smallpensation as well, or they wouldn''t demand anypensation for being unable to ensure the safety of their Ambassadors in the Otherworldly Residencies.

    However, their focus would still be on the investigation of the 10 murders that happened in the span of fewer than 24 hours.

    The only clue they had was the letter, written on a machine and in the universalnguage. It exposed the secrets of the Linaton race and the fact that the government didn''t do anything against the scheming of the Ambassadors.

    The letter also pointed toward the Heaven''s Gates organization, who had been forwarded the necessary information to prove his points.

    There were no fingerprints on the letters and they were all identical. A small mark, resembling a mixture of both Tyrant and Kaeldur''s face was printed on the letters as if Nial wanted to engrave the signature of his hidden identity onto the letters.

    It was almost as if he wanted to expose himself to the world, yet stay hidden from the public eye at the same time.

 Chapter 496 Exposed

    A week had passed since the day the dead bodies of the ten Linaton Ambassadors had been found in the Otherworldly residencies.

    Nial was currently in the Orion Artisan Guild, precisely in the workshop hall, engraving a bunch of weapons, pieces of armor, and prostheses one after another.

    He had been busy for thest week but Melheim informed him about thetest news rted to the investigation of the incidents.

    The public had gotten wind of the letter because one of the maids, who had learned the universalnguage to serve all the foreign Ambassadors properly, had found the letter lying next to the Ambassador''s corpse.

    She was also the first to find the corpse and the person, who made an anonymous post online, quoting the message that had been written on the letter word for word. The public questioned the Heaven''s Gates organization about the truth to the extent that they were simply being nosy.

    After giving in to the public ire, they revealed the truth in the end as they understood that exposing everything they had received in the two anonymous posts would calm down the masses. It may be bad for the government but it was hard for the government to me them after the Heaven''s Gates organization revealed the truth. After all, they had been pressured by the public voices.

    Thus, the Heaven''s Gates organization exposed everything Nial and Melheim had sent them.

    It was obvious, but the public didn''t think nicely of the government after they found out what they had hidden from them. An uproar happened and many protestors demanded the officials be reced.

    Things escted quickly and it looked like a civil war was about to start.

    "Good thing that I didn''t want to be directly involved¡­" Nial mumbled while scratching the back of his head. When he wrote the letters, he hadn''t taken into consideration that the maids would be able to read the universalnguage and that she would expose everything to the public.

    That was where things began to spiral out of his control¡­but that was fine. He felt that it was rather helpful to have the public on his side, though they didn''t know about that yet. The public would keep the government in check and force it to expose far more secrets on its own, get reced, or be better while openly showing more than what it had been willing to expose earlier in order to improve its image.

    There were still many doubts and questions in his mind but he held back most of them. His focus was on the creation of more and more runic armaments to earn a huge fortune, and nourish the Adventurers in the Onyx Association and the Artisans of the Orion Artisan Guild.

    Many Artisans wanted to be Runiciers after they witnessed what Nial was able to achieve with seemingly simple runic constetions, but they quickly realized that it was far from easy to attain Nial''s dexterity, knowledge, andposure while engraving runic constetions, and the fact that he had far more practical expertise than anyone his age was supposed to have.

    Fortunately, Nial found a way to help the Artisans in the Orion Artisan Guild to improve themselves. The origin humans'' standards were extremely low inparison to other races. That was why Nial found the simplest solution; he asked Master Crevian to be an Instructor in the Orion Artisan Guild, well-paid of course!

    Nial had also hired a few more instructors that were well-known Runiciers, and even Alchemists. They were all paid whatever they desired. Nial was basically handing them a nk check but he was not being too charitable and warned that he will fire them if they were asking for the impossible.

    The threat of being fired was not exactly harsh under normal circumstances for the Elves. However, as a very prideful race, it was quite obvious that the Elves would feel humiliated and extremely embarrassed if they were to get fired.

    But that was not the sole reason for the Elves to be eager to help Nial, after all, he was in possession of unique runic armaments as well. Archmaster Runiciers at his level were extremely rare. He could engrave all kinds of miniature runic constetions by now and his approach in various situations was exceptional, andpletely different from the norm.

    However, it was exactly this approach that allowed Nial to create various unique runic armaments, including Broken Runic Armaments such as the Heaven''s Protectors, or One Strike to Hell.

    They could be considered ''bad'' weapons because they were expensive and broke after unleashing just one attack but they could be used by Originals of a much lower mana core rank.

    All kinds of nobles, rich merchants, even the royalty would purchase Nial''s Broken Runic armaments for an unbelievably high price if that meant they could protect their offsprings from assassinations, encountering death during missions in the wilderness, or facing death in various other situations.<novelnext></novelnext>

    And somehow, only Nial seemed to be able to properly create the Broken Runic Armaments. The demand was extremely high but the supply was just a grain of sand at the beach.

    That was why many Elven Runiciers wanted to learn from Nial, to make it big even if their talent prevented them from advancing further on the path of a Runicier.

    The only instructors that were hard to find were proper cksmiths. If possible, Nial wanted to get his hands on some Grandmaster cksmiths just like the cksmiths in Alliance City.

    Unfortunately, getting them to the Halheim shelter wouldn''t be easy.

    He could hire some cksmiths of other races but they were not that proficient. Nial was displeased by their attitude as well, which is why he ended up not hiring any instructors for cksmithing rather than hiring someone stupid.

    More time passed quickly and the situation revolving around the human shelters grew tenser. Nial could clearly tell that the government was made out of idiotic and greedy Originals, who valued nothing more than money.

    They straight out denied the credibility of the proofs Nial had anonymously sent to the Heaven''s Gates organization. The officials of the government said that they were fabricated, which stirred up even more chaos because more and more videos made by surveince cameras were discovered.

    Hackers had hacked the government''s security system to copy the videos and upload them in various websites to expose the truth.

    This forced the government to act and hastily make an announcement. However, that announcement was the worst they could have done if they wanted to calm the masses because the result was the exact opposite!

    Nial felt like beating every single official of the government into a pulp when he finished reading their statement.

    Quickly summarized, the statement said that the government wanted to prevent waging war with other races because they were too weak. They epted the wrongdoings of the Linaton race''s ambassadors because of that, and to make sure that the human race would survive. The victims of the Soul Contract scheme were med for signing such a stupid Soul Contract, to begin with. The statement made it clear that such idiots were merely a sacrifice for the greater good.

    It was a necessity to maintain peace and to allow mankind to grow faster¡­

    Nial really wanted to overthrow the government and destroy everything rted to the government when he read the statement. However, he held back and forced himself to stay calm. He would make things only worse¡­if that was even possible, to begin with.

    The Investigators of the Linaton race had arrived and they were a pain in the ass, however, their attitude was more violent and merciless in the face of the citizen''s anger.

    They killed several humans who obstructed the Linaton Investigators'' way through the shelter. The Linaton race was not weed anymore. However, that was not something the tiny Linaton was bothered about. Their response to the public ire was cold-blooded murder.

    It was not their fault for being obstructed.

    Fear swept through the humans when simr incidents happened in every single shelter. Some humans had to be stupid enough to think that an Original at the Keltia rank was afraid of an unawakened human. It was only obvious that the Linaton''s reaction would be drastic.

    Nheless, it was quite unexpected that the Linaton Investigators didn''t even hesitate to behead their obstacles in public. It looked like they were provoking the human race to see if the mysterious murderer would appear to take revenge.

    And that was exactly what they had done¡­

 Chapter 497 Getting Started

    The incidents that caused the brutal murder of dozens of ordinary humans all over the shelters were something the Linaton race had schemed to discard the small possibility of the mysterious murderer belonging to the origin human race.

    They wanted to see if the mysterious murderer of their Ambassadors was rted to the human race or if their guess was correct and one of their many enemies had used the origin humans'' situation to divert the focus to them.

    However, not a single being stronger than the Prometheus rank had appeared to protect the human citizens so far. Not a single human Original was capable enough to kill the Investigators of the Linaton race, no matter how weak they were then ordinary Keltia-ranked Originals.

    The Linaton race was not strong, and the vast majority of Originals at the Keltia rank could easily defeat them. In fact, even Originals at the Peak of the Deux rank were unlikely to get harmed in a head-on encounter.

    Nheless, Nial never appeared in the name of the mysterious murderer to take revenge on the origin humans who had been killed mercilessly or to prevent the Linaton Investigators from killing more humans mercilessly. He had been busy and had not even heard about the incidents that happened outside the closed doors.

    Only when Nial had finished creating arge batch of Broken Runic weapons and a few new powerful Tier-3 runic armaments with miraculous effects did Nial regain his senses of the surrounding area.

    He had been in a fully focused state where nothing around him was taken in by his range of perception, and nobody dared to approach him because they felt that they would have to endure Nial''s anger.

    They were too scared to enrage Nial¡­

    However, when he came back to his senses, they witnessed a furious Nial nheless.

    "Are they still ughtering whoever stands in their way?" He asked, his voice colder than the Antarctic region.

    Melheim and various Artisans, who had been afraid for thest few days, were cowering in front of him. They didn''t know what was happening in the human shelters, or how they were supposed to survive against powerhouses that were much stronger than them due to their foundation.

    Their''sary mana core had awoken long before the origin had been unsealed and most Keltia ranked Originals had taken more than a thousand years to reach that rank.

    In the human race, there was not even a single human whose age exceeded 300 years, officially, of course. Unofficially, there might be someone whose age exceeded 300 years but that didn''t really matter.

    "T..T-the Linaton race''s Investigators are still inside the Otherworldly Residencies¡­ investigating the murder of their Ambassadors¡­ it doesn''t look like they will leave soon¡­ some Maids died trying to offer them something to eat or drink. I am not sure what exactly the maids thought but¡­they died."

    A rather young Artisan stepped forward after he had gathered his courage to answer Nial. His voice was weak and he stuttered while speaking but he finished what he wanted to say while tears trickled down his cheeks.

    "Please excuse this young man, he lost his oldest sister when the Linaton Investigators appeared. She¡­ well, let''s not talk about that¡­" Melheim Zorn interrupted and he gently pulled the young Artisan away.

    Nial''s anger was evident and Melheim didn''t want anyone at the Origin rank to be harmed by Nial''s presence.

    "I am sorry to hear that¡­what a mess¡­" Nial responded, while his hands began to crack. Chaos emerged from the back of his hands and his fingers. The Chaos formed into light-gray threads that intertwined and formed into currents.

    "Yeah, it''s sad. Fortunately, Nightingale, the seventh Heir of the Nightshadow Elves stopped the ughter of the Linaton Investigator in the Halheim shelter. The Investigator here had been the most brutal¡­" Melheim added, his words astonishing Nial a bit.

    ''Nightingale intervened? Looks like he was sincere when he said that he wanted to be better and redeem himself. That''s good¡­''

    Nial scratched the back of his head and went into deep thought. Being angry was not helpful right now. It wouldn''t help if he were to turn into the mysterious murderer once again, either. The Linaton would just stir more trouble and they might as well end up waging war with the origin humans.

    Waging war with the Linaton race was not the biggest problem. The Linaton race was not that strong, but physical strength was not their strongest forte, either way. They were a race full of shrewd businessmen and women. It was not unlikely that they would throw an army of a million Mercenaries at each shelter if they decided to wage a war with the origin humans, and the result would be quite obvious.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A million Deux-ranked mercenaries attacking each shelter would be enough to eliminate all but one shelter. Halheim would survive, not only because Nial was there but also thanks to the support they would receive from the Elven races.

    Now that he thought about the problems caused by splitting the human race into multiple shelters, Nial couldn''t help but sigh deeply. Before, when they weren''t able to survive in the wilderness, it was good to split the human race in multiple shelters. Many shelters were destroyed in the past, yet mankind survived¡­all because of the split-up poption and the well-hidden areas of the shelters.

    That was of no importance right now but it was an interesting piece of information.

    "How many Adventurers of the Onyx Association are at the Prometheus rank?" Nial asked all of a sudden.

    "...Huh?" Melheim responded in confusion before he regained his senses. He cleared his throat and thought about the answer for a second before he replied, "More than 400 Adventurers have reported that they advanced to the Prometheus rank, but there should definitely be more by now."

    Nial''s mind began to rattle with that information and a small smile blossomed on his face.

    "Alright, in that regard keep me informed about the situation in the shelters, what the government''s official statement is and what the other organizationsment about the recent happenings. Ah¡­and don''t forget to tell me if the citizens wreak havoc with the government. They might be in a shocked state right now because of the Linaton Investigators'' sudden appearance and cruelty but they will soon start ming the government once again¡­with more than enough reason, but whatever¡­"

    In the end, Nial had to agree that it was quite difficult for the government to do something against overbearing members of other races. Even the weakest races with shallow foundations could crush the origin humans easily. There were simply not enough strong Originals on mankind''s side. That was a fact, but it didn''t really make things easier, and neither did it justify the government''s actions.

    If the outside world were to know that other races could y around with origin humans however they pleased, their reputation would suffer tremendously. Worse than not having any reputation and being a nobody was, obviously, being known as a pushover and weakling.

    Jundra, the Origin, was bound to grow stronger in no time and it was only a matter of time before more powerful Originals would emerge. They were likely to be much older, or geniuses of innately stronger races, but none of that mattered, not even if their potential was used up.

    Their strength would be the highest on the Origin even if it would only be for a short while, and they might or might not feel like taking the origin humans as ves. And the Linaton race was not the only one to do that. There were many other races who were currently trying to do the same, the only difference was that they were less discreet.

    Nial felt that it was time to show the Linaton race and the outside world that the origin humans may be at a low Mana Core rank but that their will was strong enough to ovee rank and defeat their opponents, no matter what!

    "Gather all of them until the end of the week," Nial ordered before he turned his attention to the young crying Artisan, "If you want revenge, stop crying and gather all the Expert cksmiths¡­we have a lot to do until the end of the week!"

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 Chapter 498 Masked Shadows

    The end of the week came in the blink of an eye and Nial finished thest runic armament.

    More than 400 Originals at the Prometheus rank were eagerly waiting for him. None of them was sure what would happen but it would be their first meeting with the mysterious leader of the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild.

    They had only heard a few things about their actual leader, and they marveled at his wealth and insights.

    However, there were also a few doubts that spread through the minds of the adventurers. The most recent incidents with the Linaton Investigators had left them shaken, and it was pretty obvious that the situation would soon reach its climax.

    The Linaton Investigators were unable to find any clues about the mysterious murderer. There was nothing to find, not the smallest trace of evidence that gave enough information to start researching.

    They had spotted the emblem on the letter after weeks of looking for clues but there were not even simr emblems in the database of the Linaton race. This frustrated the higher-ups of the Linaton race, which was also why they instructed the investigators to never return if they cannot even find out who, or what murdered their Ambassadors.

    It was humiliating that 10 Ambassadors had been killed inside the shelters of the weaklings of a human race. The origin humans were certainly too weak to kill their ambassadors, let alone in such a short period, or without leaving behind any traces.

    Frustrated by the fact that no clues could be found, the Linaton Investigators killed a few more humans. Everyone was told to stay away from the Otherworldly Residencies but there were always a few overly curious humans, who didn''t seem to value their lives.

    A few of them were killed with a small energy st that shot out of the Investigator''s finger. The energy sts usually burst open their targets'' heads, or pierced their hearts, ending their lives instantaneously.

    Seething in anger and frustration because they were not able to do anything, the adventurers who were waiting in the huge entrance hall of the Orion Artisan Guild began to hope that their leader could turn the tables.

    Something had to change and the adventurers felt as if their mysterious leader was theirst ray of hope.

    And they were taken aback to see that their leader was a young-looking man with silver hair, and milky white¡­lifeless eyes.

    He was clearly blind which caused an immediate response in the disciplined stance of some adventurers. Their straight back hunched a little, their shoulders pulled forward as if they had lost strength, and the tension in their body was released.

    Nial visualized this with a faint smile on his face.

    "Am I that disappointing to look at?" He asked with a faint grin. The tension in the entire entrance hall seemed to have evaporated into thin air.

    Yet, the moment Nial halted in front of his adventurers, the entire world seemed to change.

    "Stand Still!" He ordered, using Dominion on all four hundred Originals at the same time. His voice was quiet but extremely cold, and it possessed an unimaginable authority.

    The hair of every adventurer stood up on its end, they strained their back subconsciously and stood still in front of Nial, whose faintly smiling expression seemed to turn into the smile of a devil.

    "Salute!"

    The volume of Nial''s voice remained the same but there was not even the faintest noise inside the entire entrance hall. Thus, Nial''s voice traveled through the hall like the overwhelming thunderous growling of a thunderstorm.

    Every single adventure moved ording to the givenmand and they saluted Nial, who hadn''t even used Dominion for his second order.

    "That''s better," He added before he cleared his throat to announce the reason why he had called the meeting and asked everyone to gather.

    "Now that we overcame the first hurdle, I want to ask if everyone here is willing to beat the shit out of the Linaton race''s Investigators?"

    Nial''s attitude changed a little when he asked the adventurers and the corners of his mouth curled upward even more.

    "If everyone is willing, how about I help you a little?"

    While the question reverberated through the room, time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.

    The bright sun of a new morning shone onto the ten shelters of the human race, revealing tens of well-hidden figures that appeared in front of each of the ten Otherworldly Residencies.

    The robed figures were motionless as they stood in the open space in front of the Otherworldly Residencies.

    They were assembled in an orderly and disciplined manner, four rows with ten robed men each.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Their appearance all over the ten shelters attracted lots of attention almost immediately. Most citizens took out their bracelets'' holographic screens to either start spreading the news or record a video because it was obvious that something big was about to happen.

    Nial was not even close to the Otherworldly Residencies of any of the ten shelters but he received the information of what was going on in the surrounding areas of all ten shelters.

    It was not too long ago that he had created a runic device that could be considered a transponder of information depicted by mana fluctuations.

    Nial held the main body of the transponders in his hand and he was given all the raw information the transponders absorbed from their surroundings.

    Meanwhile, he was just seated in his office in the Orion Artisan Guild. He was tired and could barely caress needy Ryu who had grown once again.

    But despite having grown a lot, Ryu was still picky about his sleeping ce. Nial''sp was still the mostfortable, even if the same couldn''t be said for Nial because the Darkness Gryphon was longer than Nial''s height. It was simply not possible for Ryu to sleep on hisp anymore.

    Unfortunately, that was not something the Darkness Gryphon cared about.

    Taking some time to focus back on the ten different sources of information, Nial realized that the Linaton Investigators had emerged at the windows of the Otherworldly Residencies.

    It was as if they moved at the same time because they had appeared at the windows nearly simultaneously. And as if on cue, they lifted their hand at the same time and targeted the same area altogether.

    To inflict the most fear, it would be easiest to kill one opponent after another, slowly and with as much cruelty as possible.

    That was why the robed man in the first row on the right side was their first target.

    They released an energy st without hesitation and shot their designated target with an exhrated smile on their face.

    It almost looked like the Linaton Investigators had been waiting for humans to do something against them and that their wait was finally over.

    "I wonder how stupid people such as them can be good Businessmen¡­"

    The energy st shot through the air and it hit its target just a momentter¡­or it was supposed to.

    A huge white shield appeared in front of each of the designated targets, blocking the attack.

    The white shield withstood the energy st easily and it kept levitating in front of the robed men who had been targeted by the attack.

    The force of the energy st''s impact was enough to create a small ring-shaped shockwave. It swept over the robbed men and revealed what was hidden under their robes.

    The men and women removed their robes after the first few faces, or what one could see in their faces, were unveiled.

    All men and women were wearing the exact same things. A ck leather armor protected their body, only exposing the skin of their arm and neck.

    Their mouths were not covered as well. This allowed everyone to see the confidence and pride-filled smiles of the men and women, whose eyes and noses were covered by a mask.

    The mask had the shape of a crow with ruby-like eyes, and they all stared straight at the Linaton Investigators without a shred of hesitation.

    One of the robed men in each of the ten groups retrieved a spear from their spatial ring and they stepped forward.

    They stood in front of their group and circted mana through their body, clearly revealing that they were merely at the Prometheus rank, and that they were human.

    Then¡­they unleashed the power stored within the Broken Runic Spear, with their target being the entire Otherworldly Residency.

    If other races treated them like pushovers, there was no need for the origin humans to tend to them!

    The Otherworldly Residencies were thus not necessary anymore!

 Chapter 499 Revenge

    Standing in front of the ten Otherworldly Residencies a total of 400 masked humans, divided in ten groups, could be seen.

    They wore identical outfits and crow masks that covered only the upper part of their face. The ruby-like eyes of the mask started ominously at the Otherworldly Residencies while one masked man from each of the ten groups stepped forward.

    The natural mana of an Original at the Prometheus rank emerged from each of the ten men, clearly showing everyone in the surroundings that humans had appeared to get rid of the Linaton Investigators and the Otherworldly Residencies in their entirety.

    The mana fluctuations of the ten men were distorted, but only to a certain extent. One could still perceive the familiar fluctuations, that every human from Jundra, also called Origin human, possessed.

    Humans really came to the rescue of their own race, even if they were only at the Prometheus rank.

    The corners of Nial''s lip curled upward when he visualized that the Linaton Investigators in every Otherworldly Residency seemed to have frozen in ce.

    ''You guys didn''t expect my Masked Shadows to be able to deflect your Energy sts¡­what a big mistake! Never underestimate humans, even less, me!''

    With a proud smile, Nial witnessed how the ten Masked Men spun their spears over their heads while adjusting their stance. Every masked man in front of the Otherworldly Residency was doing the exact same motion and Nial''s smile widened automatically.

    This was even better than he had expected, especially since raging mes shrouded the tip of the spears held in the hands of each Masked man. They were standing alone in front of their group as if they were asking to be attacked by the Linaton Investigators, but not a single trace of hesitation could be seen in their movements.

    More mana was inserted in the spears whose shaft and de began to glow brightly, mes engulfed the spears in their entirety, yet, no injuries were inflicted upon the wielders.

    The wielders continued to insert their mana, which resulted in raging mes bursting forth from the spears'' des. A booming noise echoed when the mes burst, sounding like a humongous bird was crying out loud.

    Yet, instead of seeing a phoenix appearing from the raging mes that were hot enough to melt the ground, it looked like the color of the mes was slowly transforming, turning bright blue.

    Bright blue wings manifested from bright blue mes that emerged at the tip of the shaft, just below the start of the spear''s de. The wings pped once and then another time as if they wanted to escape the restriction of their wielder.

    However, the masked men were probably thest people who would want to restrict the Broken Runic Spears. As if the masked men heard a signal they began to move nearly at the same time. They pulled their right arms back, twisted their back and they took two rapid, yet smooth steps forward to umte enough momentum to throw the Broken Runic Spears with all their might.

    When the masked men threw their spears toward the center of the Otherworldly Residencies, the winged spear elerated drastically.

    A single swing of therge blue mes was enough to reach a terrific velocity that made it impossible for most Originals to see the trajectory of the Broken Runic Spears.

    Most were only able to see a blue streak that passed through their line of sight before a huge explosion urred. A ring-shaped st reverberated through the surrounding area just before the blue mes of the Broken Runic Spear were unleashed explosively.

    Everything in the immediate surrounding was destroyed, including 90% of the Otherworldly Residencies whose remaining construction copsed due to the impact. Bright blue mes spread through the surrounding area. The mes leeched on the mana it found in the air, the ground, and the materials of the otherworldly residencies, or what was left of them, and they expanded.

    Large raging mes were licking the air and they ate away everything they could. Muffled screams and shrill cries of pain reverberated through the surrounding area but the masked men didn''t even pay any attention to the aftermath of their attack.

    With no weapons in their hands, they turned around and stepped back into the group of 39 masked men and women. The masked men merged into their group, without showing a sign of exhaustion.

    Meanwhile, a masked woman stepped forward. Ten masked women attracted the attention of all spectators who happened to be near the Otherworldly Residencies of the ten shelters when the open assault urred.

    One masked woman appeared in front of the group in each human shelter. These women held a bow in one of their hands and a single arrow in another hand.

    Moving their hands in unison, the masked women nocked the arrow on the bowstring before they pulled the bowstring back. All ten women moved at the same time and they aimed high in the air.

    Mana circted through the masked women, and the arrows were filled to the brim not long after. The arrows began to glow brightly and it was not long after that the masked women released the arrow high into the air, almost simultaneously once again.

    When the arrows were released their runic constetions were activated as well. Thus, upon reaching the highest point in the air the arrows released a bright light that dazzled the spectators in the surrounding area.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The dazzling light dispersed not long after, but what filled their sight was not a single arrow, but close to a hundred glowing arrows!!

    The arrows released by the masked women had split up into 100 mana arrows each and they rained down on the Otherworldly Residencies, or what was left of them.

    The blue mes were extinguished the moment the arrows impacted, while more pained screams filled the air around the Otherworldly Residencies.

    Everyone present knew the origin of the stifled screams that were overflowing with seemingly endless pain, which is why nobody showed pity. On the contrary, most spectators began to smile, while some even began to cry in joy.

    The Linaton Investigators, who had killed members of their families, or their beloved friends, were currently writhing in pain, their skin was scorched and severely burned while several mana arrows had found their target, more or less.

    Nial visualized this and he nodded his head in satisfaction.

    It was a great relief that the other ambassadors had chosen to keep a distance from the Linaton Investigators. They released an official statement that they had nothing to do with the Linaton race''s doing, which was also why they chose to leave the Otherworldly Residencies the moment the Linaton Investigators entered the building.

    Nobody could say for sure whether their official statements were merely a farce or if they were being sincere, but that was something one could think aboutter. It didn''t really matter for now¡­after all, the chaos created by the Linaton race had to be cleaned up first!

    "Did you record everything?" The voice of a spectator could be heard, followed by his female friend, whose hands were shaking.

    "...Yes..I..I got it all¡­"

    Many spectators thought the same. They were either uncertain about what they had just witnessed, were crying in joy because they had finally gotten the revenge they sought, or they stared at the masked men and women withplex expressions.

    Nobody had ever heard of a group of crow-masked men and women before, yet, they were strong enough to destroy the Otherworldly Residency with a single attack and almost kill a Keltia-ranked Original with only two attacks.

    However, it looked like the masked archers were not yet done. To be precise, they retrieved another arrow from their spatial rings. These arrows were different in color and length than the previous ones.

    They were too long to be used with an ordinary bow, or so it looked at the first nce.

    Yet, what happened only secondster was enough for everyone''s eyes to widen in shock.

    The moment therge arrow was released a huge tiger manifested around the arrow and it pounced toward the remains of the Otherworldly Residency, precisely the area near the Linaton race''s Investigators.

    "...Spirit Manifestation¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 500 Warning

    Thest arrow that manifested the spirit of an animal, a tiger to be precise, wasrger than ordinary arrows because of a simple reason; Nial couldn''t properly engrave ancient runic constetions in a miniature formation.

    He was not some God, or a genius, who could engrave all kinds of runic constetions just because he knew what they looked like. It was still necessary for him to get both theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

    Furthermore, there was a big difference between engraving runic constetions on a t surface and doing the same around an edge, or a round object.

    Arrows were especially tricky because their shaft was usually extremely thin. Engraving anythingplicated on the shaft of an arrow was extremely difficult, which was also why Nial ended up using muchrger and thicker arrows for the spirit manifestation arrows.

    He would improve them in the future but Nial just wanted to show off his capabilities and instill fear in the minds of their opponents. He wanted to make sure that everyone understood that the Masked Shadows were not to be underestimated.

    Nial was pretty sure that the n he hade up with was perfect, or near-perfect, at the bare minimum.

    Thus, he visualized the ten Spirit Tigers wreaking havoc by destroying everything in the immediate surrounding. The streets were destroyed and so were the remnants of the fence surrounding the Otherworldly Residencies.

    Therge arrow lodged itself into the ground merely centimeters away from the shivering Linaton Investigators.

    When therge arrow dug into the ground next to the Linaton Investigator, the Spirit Tigers ended up digging their ws through the frail bodies of the Linaton Investigators before they disappeared in the ground.

    The Spirit Manifestations dispersed just like that, merely leaving behind scared Linaton Investigators who were on the verge of death. Only a thin thread held them alive, and they were more likely to die the moment they would try getting up from the ground.

    As for the humans in the shelters, nobody would even think about helping them.

    However, it was just at this moment that a third arrow came flying in arge arc.

    The same archers as before had released the third arrow that dug into the ground on the left side of the dying Linaton Investigators.

    A small orange sphere formed around the dying Original and currents of healing mana rained down on them. The deep wounds of the Linaton Investigators were healing slowly, and the bleeding had stopped meaning that the Original would survive.

    Nial would have rather killed the Linaton Investigators but he was pretty sure that his demonstration was much better if forwarded by the severely injured Linaton Investigators rather than origin humans speaking about it.

    However, Nial''s n was far from over. His smile did not falter as he awaited the cringe-worthy lines and movements of his Masked Shadows.

    The ten archeresses took a step back, and their bows returned inside the spatial rings. One of the Masked Shadows located in the center of each group activated the runic constetion engraved on a ck ring as he raised his arm high in the air.

    Darkness oozed out of the ck ring and an emblem formed right above the ring. It was the same emblem that had appeared on the letter and everyone recognized it.

    "The mysterious murderer was a human?" One spectator mumbled, just for another one to intervene.

    "That''s impossible¡­we don''t have anyone capable of killing ten Linaton Ambassadors without leaving behind any clues¡­within less than a day at that¡­"

    "ording to the logs of the teleportation station, no one used the teleportation stations of the ten shelters more than two times on that day. Can he jump through space or what?" A third one intervened, his voice quivering in excitement.

    Many spectators were excited, while others were afraid.

    What would happen now that the Linaton race would find out that the mysterious murderer was rted to the human race? Were the Masked Shadows really on their side or were they just trying to spread their influence through the ten shelters? Was the mysterious killer human or did he belong to another race? If he was from another race¡­did he just exploit the masked men and women, or were they treated nicely¡­not like ves?<novelnext></novelnext>

    What was the n of that new organization, or group that had emerged out of nowhere?

    Hundreds of questions shed through the minds of the spectators, while everything was recorded from more than 30 angles as many passersby used their bracelets or phones to record everything neatly.

    No question was directly answered because the masked men and women went deathly still. Then suddenly a loud mechanical voice resounded from amidst the ten groups that were spread through the ten shelters.

    [Mankind will never surrender. This is the first, andst warning. We won''t hold back in the future.]

    The voice rang loudly through all the shelters and everything turned silent for a few seconds, just for five more words to follow suit.

    [Try us if you dare!]

    The silence that followed up was stifling and the breaths of the people who had spectated the fight, if one could evenbel it such, hitched in their throats.

    It had been a massacre caused by humans, for humans¡­and the mechanical voice clearly said that this was just a warning. The destruction of ten Otherworldly Residencies and the near-death state of ten Keltia-ranked Linaton Investigators was merely a warning!!

    The question was just for whom the warning was. It was obvious that the warning epassed the entire Linaton race, but was that really everything?

    Was the warning really just for them? Nobody thought that this was the case. In fact, everyone was certain that there was a bigger meaning behind the warning that spread through the ten shelters, and was heard by everyone!

    Some stupidly brave spectators came out of their hiding. They wanted to approach the Masked Shadows and ask them a few questions with the intention to make it big on WeTube.

    However, before anyone could get closer to the Masked Shadows, darkness shrouded them. They seemed to merge with the darkness that dispersed only secondster.

    As for the Masked Shadows, they dispersed as well. It was almost as if they had never been present.

    "Did you get¨C..." The same young spectator from before asked but his female friend answered even before he could finish speaking, "I got everything!"

    In the span of a few hours, hundreds of videos were uploaded from the ten shelters. TV shows spread the news about the attack on the ten Otherworldly Residencies as well and they showed clips from the uploaded videos.

    The most popr WeTube videos with the best video quality got millions of clicks within the first 24 hours of their upload and everyone began to speak about the Masked Shadows and their warning.

    Nial, on the other hand, was smiling brightly as he watched the return of his people. He had to ask the Royal Princess to lend him a bunch of High Elves with powerful spatial ability control because he didn''t want to use the official route of teleportation for his Masked Shadows.

    Everything that was recorded, whether it was in the form of a video or a log could be considered quite dangerous.

    Of course, Nial had nned everything ordingly.

    This even included the fact that his Broken Runic Armaments were clearly visible, and that he would be suspected to have an affiliation with the mysterious murderer and his Masked Shadows.

    Everything went ording to his n!

 Chapter 501 Woof

    Nial hoped that some viewers of the WeTube videos would recall his Runic Armaments, and that was exactly what happened.

    The emblem of the Orion Artisan Guild was engraved on all goods made in the Guild, which included Nial''s Broken Runic Armaments and the bow the archeresses had used.

    In no time, the poprity of the Orion Artisan Guild increased by leaps and bounds, but that was also quite obvious. He was the only person who could create Runic Armaments that were strong enough for Prometheus Originals to kill Keltia-ranked Originals. It didn''t even matter whether they were only one-time use weapons because a single and perfectly timed attack was more than enough to serve the purpose.

    The prowess of the Orion Artisan Guild''s runic armaments was clearly shown to everyone and the number of customers increased in the blink of an eye.

    However, what most didn''t expect was to see that the price of his Broken Runic Armaments was on par with Tier-3 runic armaments, or customized Peak Tier-2 runic armaments.

    Most Originals, who weren''t able to afford such expensive Runic Armaments in the first ce, could only leave with depressed expressions. Their interest in Broken Runic Armaments wouldn''t help them if they would never be able to afford them¡­

    However, not just poor Originals were interested in the Broken Runic Armaments. There were also wealthy Originals, Merchants, and also powerful human organizations that clearly showed their interest in the Orion Artisan Guild''s products. This included the other Runic Armaments, not just the Broken-Type ones.

    Many Organizations were ready to strike a deal with the Orion Artisan Guild but Nial was not willing to meet their leaders and he was not ready to give anyone a discount either.

    Melheim met the leaders of the organizations which was also why he was considered the real Guild Master rather than someone who was hiding in the shadows. Nheless, Melheim Zorn was not someone who easily gave in to the pressure of others. Some Organizations were trying to force the Orion Artisan Guild into giving them what they desired but Adventurers from the Onyx Association would thene and point their customized Runic Weapons at them, thereby silencing them.

    Some even revealed Broken Runic Armaments at the first Tier. Nial could produce close to 20 Tier-1 Broken Runic Armaments in the time he required to produce one Tier-2 Broken Runic Armament. This was partially due to theck of Master cksmiths in the Orion Artisan Guild and also theck of resources.

    It was not as if they were actuallycking resources in terms of materials but more like manpower. They were currently missing out on talented Artisans, which was also why Nial had hired many instructors in the hopes of finding a gem in the rough.

    Nial knew that it would take a while before the Instructors would show their true value but that was fine. He had enough time.

    A few days passed in which Nial was fully focused on making money. Most Organizations had purchased only a handful of Tier-2 Runic Armaments and a few Broken Tier-1 Runic Armaments. Broken Tier-1 Runic Armaments were as strong as Tier-3 Runic Armaments but they could be wielded by Origin-ranked Originals.

    That meant one could defend against a monster at the Deux-rank with the Broken Tier-1 Runic Armament by using the entire Mana inside the body. The higher the rank of the Origin-ranked Original, the stronger the Broken Tier-1 Runic Armament, but even 1st Origin ranked Originals were able to unleash some of the Broken Runic Armaments'' power, though it was not possible to defend against a Deux-ranked Monster.

    They wouldn''t even be able to activate the runic armament before they would die at the hands of such a terrifying monster.

    Melheim Zorn gave a detailed exnation of the armaments'' effects to everyone who purchased Broken Runic Armaments, how to use them best and what to pay attention to. He made sure that nobody would be able toe back and demand a refund for being unable to kill a powerful monster with their runic armament, or something like that.

    He made every customer sign a deration that clearly stated they had been taught the utilization of the runic armaments and that the Orion Artisan Guild wouldn''t be responsible for any incident whatsoever.

    Nial wanted to avoid trouble through this, though he knew that some organizations were likely to create more problems for him in the future. He watched the recordings of Melheim''s meetings with the heads of those organizations, or their managers by visualizing everything. Visualizing the facial expressions and listening to the tone in their voice was enough for Nial to tell whom he would give prioritized service in the future, and whom he might decline in the future.

    Their attitude toward the Orion Artisan Guild, Melheim, and his Artisans was the most important in Nial''s opinion.

    Thus, he left the hall he had worked at for thest few days when a group of government officials arrived in Melheim''s office, unannounced and threw a fit.

    ''Looks like I will have some fun!''

    Nial shrouded his body in darkness which allowed him to change his clothes while he was walking through the corridors of the Guild''s building. He found himself in the corridor connected to Melheim''s office.

    "Another blind kid¡­there are so many cripples in this ce¡­" One of the Guards who had apanied the government officials muttered disgruntledly. Heughed mockingly, just to quiet down when the bulky guard next to him tapped on his shoulder.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Shut it!"

    The smaller guard stiffened and he nodded his head in confusion.

    Nial halted in his tracks less than two meters in front of Melheim''s office.

    "I need to pass through," Nial spoke calmly while pointing at the door of Melheim''s office. A total of four guards could be seen there, all humans and at the Prometheus rank.

    Their Mana Core''s rank was lower than that of Nial''s but the guards couldn''t even sense any mana within him. Thus, three of them began tough while the bulky guard remained silent. The bulky guard looked at Nial as if he was trying to assess something.

    ''He is not intimidated, and he doesn''t seem as if he was bothered by Lacron''sment, but something is off¡­His clothes are of extremely high quality and he is too calm¡­''

    "I''m sorry but you have to wait until the officials are done dealing with your boss. We''ve been ordered to safeguard this ce by the government. It''s an official mission," The bulky man exined in a very polite tone.

    Theughing guards halted in their tracks and they looked at their captain for a moment before they resumed making fun of him again.

    Nial visualized the four guards and he nodded his head at the bulky guard with a faint smile.

    "I know, but that''s why I need to be here. They''re asking for me, after all!" Nial exined to the bulky man as he added, "If you feel like the government treats you too badly, consider joining the Onyx Association. I pay them better, they have a nice training ground with Nightshadow Elven Combat Instructors, and you can get more resources. If you tell me your name, I will make sure that I will wee you with a Tier-2 Runic Armament, or a full set of Tier-1 Runic Armaments."

    The sounds from within the office were getting louder, but Nial was still calm. He had the entire corridor and the interior of Melheim''s office clearly visualized in front of him.

    Nial''s visualizations were more than enough to tell that the government officials were making a fuss while Melheim was calmly seated on hisfortable chair.

    The office table was between them and Melheim was calmly looking at them through his Runic eye.

    "Hmm?" The bulky man blurted out before shutting his mouth. He was not sure what Nial was trying to do right now, but he seemed genuine with his offer. However, that sincerity confused the bulky man even more.

    The other guards continued tough when they heard what Nial said but the young, blind Original merely continued to smile.

    "The three of you are dogs," Nial spoke calmly while unleashing his mana all of a sudden. Dominion was activated and it affected the threeughing guards immediately.

    They abruptly fell silent for a few seconds and turned over to Nial in shock.

    "Woof?!" One of them asked, his eyes widening in shock as he heard the word that left his mouth.

    "Woof woof!!" Another oneughed before turning silent himself.

    "Sit over there!" Nial ordered and the three guards sat down on the ground where he had pointed at.

    Meanwhile, the bulky guard could only look at him, baffled.

 Chapter 502 Loyal Dogs

    "Just think about my offer. I think your talent is wasted in the government. You''re nothing but trained dogs, either way," Nial said before he walked past the bulky guard, who didn''t dare to obstruct him anymore.

    Nial''s mana was too dense and pure for the Prometheus-ranked Guard to even think aboutparing it with his own Mana. At the same time, his eyes lingered on his three fellow guards, who were barking like dogs.

    He was not sure what exactly had happened but it was quite obvious that it was Nial''s doing.

    The bulky guard thought about Nial''s offer and his words as he saw Nial close the door behind him.

    ''Who the hell is that¡­?''

    While the bulky guard was overwhelmed and confused, Nial found himself being eyed by Melheim and three officials of the government.

    "Didn''t we tell the guards not to let anyone in?!" One of the government''s officials asked his fellowrades who nodded their heads in unison.

    "We did tell them¡­who the hell are you?" One of the two asked, his voice sharp and intimidating¡­or that was what it was probably supposed to be.

    Nial, however, ignored the government officials. He walked past them while perceiving that Melheim sprang up from hisfortable chair. Melheim bowed to Nial and he pointed at the seat.

    "Please sit down, Leader!" He greeted him in an overly polite tone but Nial just shook his head.

    He retrieved a second chair from his spatial ring and sat down.

    "You are making our esteemed, and uninvited guests ufortable. Sit down, yourself first," Nial said calmly and Melheim listened immediately. He sat down while ignoring the bewildered expression on the faces of the three government officials.

    Nial had already visualized every single piece of paper inside the office. He used his mana to pick up a certain contract and shoved it in the hands of the leader of the officials...or the one who behaved like their leader, at least.

    "I presume that the government officials came here to question us about the Runic Armaments that had been used for the attack of the Otherworldly Residencies. This is a copy of the contract we signed a week before the incident happened all over the shelters. This is probably the mysterious leader you''re looking for. If you''re looking for him, that is."

    Nial shrugged his shoulders as he pointed at the signature of the contract with hispressed mana. It was blue in color and shaped into a hand to point out everything necessary.

    "Up there is the number of runic armaments we''ve sold and down there is my signature and the signature of the person who purchased it. Unfortunately, I cannot identify him because he was wearing a robe that concealed his mana. You can take a look at the footage recorded by the surveince cameras if you don''t believe my words."

    In the end, Nial chose to mention everything necessary even before the three officials could even utter a word.

    He received weird gazes but the three officials of the government didn''t say anything for a few minutes. They looked at the Magic Contract and sensed the mana fluctuations of the mana that had been used to sign the contracts.

    "I don''t know who you are to barge in this ce¡­but the Orion Artisan Guild sold Runic Armaments to a foreign race without conducting business with his own race first? What is the meaning of this?" The self-proimed leader of the officials asked.

    Nial snickered at this hypocrisy.

    "I am the Boss here, if you haven''t figured that out until now. You really didn''t research at all, and came running to the Orion Artisan Guild the moment you were given the order, did you?" He asked sharply, his words cutting through the tense atmosphere in the office.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "As for the reason why I sold something to foreign races¡­they have more money than you. That''s probably the same reason why you''re selling innocent humans to the Linaton race, calling it ''for the better good'', isn''t it? In my case, however, I''m happy that someone stepped in to beat the shit out of the Linaton¡­that was satisfying to watch¡­I couldn''t really see it though, that was sad."

    Nial''s voice was calm but with an undercurrent of sharpness to it. The pressure he radiated without using an ounce of mana was enough to force the three government officials to retreat two or three steps.

    They looked at the young man with squinted eyes, feeling unsure if he was telling the truth.

    However, considering that Nial spoke in such an overbearing manner and that Melheim Zorn was being docile and submissive, it was quite clear that Nial was of higher status than the man they had considered the real leader.

    Clearing his throat, the self-proimed leader of the three officials stepped forward once again. He tried to ignore Nial''sment about the Linaton race but that was easier said than done. After all, it was notpletely wrong and hit the bullseye precisely.

    Nial knew that he was not at fault for selling runic armaments to foreign races. The entire human race made business with the Elves, who were also a foreign race. The Orion Artisan Guild did a few deals with Elves and it was the first time they made a deal with another foreign race.

    Of course, that was all bullshit. The signature below Nial''s belonged to none other than Kaeldur. The magic contract that was currently held by the government official was nothing but a farce, created by Nial for the government, or the Linaton race to be precise.

    ''Those fools are worse than the dogs outside¡­''

    "Melheim, make copies of the recordings and hand it over to the officials¡­It looks like the Linaton raised loyal dogs¡­" Nial said and Melheim Zorn promptly got up just a momentter.

    He left the room to get the copies of the recordings while the three officials were fuming in anger.

    "You!!!" One of the two quieter government officials shouted out loud while releasing arge amount of mana. The ground below him cracked due to the uncontrolled release of his mana.

    Feeling that something was off, the bulky guard barged inside the room, just to see that Nial was calmly seated opposite the three government officials. Two of them released their mana in an uncontrolled manner, while the self-proimed leader was looking at Nial with a red face.

    "Please don''t be that obvious next time. I can tell from a distance of 100 kilometers that you guys are not up to something good. Tell the Linaton race''s higher authorities to look for the culprit themselves. You can take the copy of the mana contract. The mana fluctuations are copied perfectly as well," Nial said before he waved his hands off.

    He was done with the discussion and didn''t want to be bothered by the existence of the three officials for even a second more. However, the exact opposite was the case for the three officials. Only the leader was able to retain hisposure, to a certain extent.

    As for the other two, they stepped forward, waving their fingers in front of Nial threateningly.

    "Who the hell do you think y-...."

    "Kneel down and apo¨C..."

    While both were shouting out loud, their eyelids felt heavier and they closed their eyes and slumped to the ground just when Nial got up from the chair.

    "Sleep tight!"

 Chapter 503 Spies

    There was no need for Nial to spend a lot more time with the only government official who stayed awake.

    He used Dominion a little on the awake official and the two sleeping officials before he allowed all of them to leave.

    If not for the entrance of the bulky guard, Nial would have done a little bit more but he still wished the bulky man to join his Onyx Association.

    The three dogs of a guard were returned to their old mentality. They didn''t dare to look into Nial''s direction again and they rushed out of the building and his territory once they got hold of the sleeping government official.

    With their exit, Nial retrieved a little bit of his freedom. He sighed deeply nheless.

    ''Looks like the influence of the Linaton is quite strong. Just how many officials of the government were corrupted?''

    ''...I will probably find out soon enough¡­''

    With that in mind, Nial turned his attention away from the government officials and the Linaton. He started to focus on the creation of powerful Runic Armaments and two weeks passed in the blink of an eye.

    The bulky guard chose to join the Onyx Association, which satisfied Nial quite a bit. He gave him a neutral mana breathing technique, some resources, and two Tier-2 Runic Armaments of his choice. Neither of the things he handed out was extremely valuable for Nial, but that didn''t mean others thought of it in the same way as him.

    The bulky guard was overjoyed, even if he looked at the mana breathing technique in suspicion. Nial didn''t understand why the former guard was eyeing the technique warily. Only when the guard told him what was on his mind did Nial fathom what the guard thought.

    It was a misunderstanding created by the Victims of the Linaton race''s Soul Contract scheme. They made several posts about the Linaton race''s schemes, warning fellow humans about everything, which included never using a mana breathing technique, no matter how much you trusted the person who handed you the technique.

    Nial exined to the guard that the mana breathing technique used by the Linaton race was different and that they altered it to trick humans. To make sure that the guard had no need to doubt him, Nial practiced the mana breathing technique in front of him for an hour.

    ''If I can use the technique, you shouldn''t have the need to be scared about any after-effects!''

    That was what Nial''s action seemed to scream. The former guard was relieved after the live demonstration and he began practicing it.

    It was also the first time for Nial to hear about the posts, which was why he told Melheim to hire someone to spread the truth in thement section of the posts. Nial also added that he wanted thements to be sent by an anonymous name, which was why many might not believe the truth but that was something he didn''t really have to worry about.

    Others could decide whether they wanted to believe the truth or not.

    Two weeks had passed since the visit of the three government officials and it was oddly silent. Not too many people came to Nial''snds with the thought of causing trouble.

    All of them were easily repelled, or if Nial encountered them, they had to face the consequences of annoying him. Nial used Dominion on them without any qualms, turning the tables by interrogating the people who hade to create trouble.

    Most of them were higher authorities of organizations, or they had some connection to the government, somehow. Nial made them reveal all their secrets, recorded all of it, and he sent them back with a copy of the recordings.

    Through his acts he instilled fear in the minds of everybody including the higher authorities of government and other influential organizations. The repercussions that could be caused due to most recordings were also not to be underestimated.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thus, nobody tried to create trouble a second time. That was beyond stupid and suicidal, after all!

    Now that he was left alone to work in peace, Nial finished quite a few runic armaments in two weeks. He didn''t eat much and Nial could hardly remember when hest slept but that was not really important anymore. His need for water, food or some sleep decreased the further he advanced his Mana Core. Precisely, the higher the quality and quantity of the mana inside his body, the less mortal needs he had.

    Thus even if he stepped out of the artisan hall after two weeks, Nial made lots of money. It would be more than enough to maintain the expenses for both the Orion Artisan Guild and the Onyx Association for a year or two.

    That excluded the expenses and sries of most Instructors but the Elves were rather cheap. They instructed the members of his Association and Guild because they desired something from Nial. Their curiosity made them less expensive than ordinary Instructors at the same level.

    Nial was not too worried about the Instructors and he returned to his father while making sure that he was kept up to date with thetest news when he was focused on his work as Runicier.

    ''Things are a lot easier than expected¡­but also quiteplicated, ain''t it?'' Nial wondered when he read the reports that had been further summarized by Melheim Zorn.

    The reports included information provided by the three government officials whose minds he had permanently altered. They had be his spies, whether they wanted or not!

    It was only obvious, but the Masked Shadows didn''t reappear again. Two weeks had passed and it would be a lie if one were to say that there hadn''t been any trouble in the ten human shelters but the Masked Shadows never appeared again.

    But that was only obvious because some of the trouble that happened when Nial was in the artisan hall had been caused by the government itself.

    Rather than apologizing to the civilians for what they had done to their fellow brethren, the government chose to use apletely different tactic.

    They did not only not apologize but also started to imprison those who were actively seeking justice for the victims. The government should take responsibility for the traumatic events their people had to go through, just because the government had been too afraid to offend one of their trusted ''partners''.

    Nial could tell that the situation between the government and the civilians was getting tenser and that a civil war was unlikely to be avoided.

    The only problem in that regard was that not every human was equally strong, or simrly strong. A single Prometheus ranked Original could obliterate hundreds of Mirae Originals and countless unawakened Originals.

    It was not possible for the civilians to fight the government head-on¡­and that was something the government was fully aware of. Nial was pretty sure that this factor was one of the most important when it came to the actions the government took.

    While they were too afraid to offend the Linaton race for a few thousand newly awakened Originals, they had no problem using their imposing power to overwhelm unawakened civilians!

    No matter how Nial thought about it, the government was ridiculous and not capable of leading more than a billion humans. He was pretty sure that they would sacrifice tens of thousands of humans, if not more, as long as it would allow them to save their necks.

    That was also why Nial kept reading the reports, including what his lovely spies had written down.

    ''So that''s what they think?''

 Chapter 504 Secret Organizations

    Nial had hoped that the issue with the Linaton race was properly solved after everything that happened.

    Unfortunately, it looked like the Linaton had the tenacity of cockroaches. If they wouldn''t be eliminated properly, the Linaton race would never back off.

    That was what it looked like ording to the reports he had read. Nial would have to remove the Linaton''s deep-rooted presence from within the human race to make sure that they would stop bothering the origin humans.

    Fortunately, it looked like the Linaton Investigators had mellowed down a little. After they had been beaten easily by a bunch of Masked Shadows at the Prometheus rank, they turned quiet.

    Now that they had also gotten their hands on the copy of the Orion Artisan Guild''s contract without too many problems, their voices had turned even more silent.

    However, that didn''t mean the Linaton were not confused.

    They figured that Kaeldur''s signature was made from the mana fluctuations of someone with the properties of poison, darkness and the Devil race¡­or some mixture that had been devilized in the end.

    This was quite interesting for Nial as well because he found out that Damian had actually created Devils by injecting different races with his dark energy, and bits of his Essence of Darkness.

    The piece of information was also an indicator to Nial. It showed him that he would be able to do the same as Damian¡­create his own army of Devils! He was quite excited about that possibility but he figured that it would take a long time before he could create his own Devil.

    Furthermore, he was already a target to Devilize. At least, Nial was pretty sure that he would devilize ''him'' once he found out and eliminated any bad side effects.

    He put aside the thought of creating his own army of artificially created devils, for the time being, knowing that he was not ready, and he paid more attention to the present.

    ''They think that mercenaries had been hired? So they don''t know what race Kaeldur could belong to¡­well that makes sense¡­''

    Given the recordings Nial had handed over, one couldn''t even see Kaeldur''s body, let alone a single inch of his skin when he had signed the fake magic contract which Nial had only created to lead the Linaton race by their nose.

    Nial''s transparency, his helpfulness, and the fact that he had recordings and the signature of the magic contract were pretty clear indicators that the Orion Artisan Guild had only been making business deals with the unknown being.

    That was nothing umon to do ons where countless races encountered each other. The only issue that could be named was that the origin humans had yet to get their hands on more close allies than the Elven races.

    For origin humans it shouldn''t be consideredmon to trade with other races. Of course, Nial had traded a lot with other races, but that was not something others knew.

    ''Either way, nobody seems to be overly interested in me for anything other than my runic armaments. Using Dominion to wipe the memories of the officials and higher authorities I encounter is truly helpful to stay low profile!''

    Nial didn''t really feel the need to be a famous personality known by everyone. It would make things more difficult, especially if others were to start treating him like the civilians chose to treat the Masked Shadows.

    Even if it was just a public opinion and not an official title they had received, the Masked Shadows were considered the heroes of the human folk. Everyone could tell that the Masked Shadows had been humans, whether it was their body structure or the bits of familiar mana fluctuations that could be sensed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Masked Shadows had used some runic armaments to hide their mana fluctuations with the sole exception being the mana fluctuations that indicated the race they belonged to.

    It was as if they wanted everyone to know that they were origin humans, that origin humans were not weak and that they could defeat powerful opponents as well¡­there was no need to be afraid, or to back off at the sight of other powerful races!

    Nial expected this knowledge to be enough for the civilians to initiate a civil war and to start fighting the government for their wrongdoings. However, the exact opposite happened.

    Knowing that there was someone, an entire group of heroes, was on their side, most civilians calmed down a little.

    Nial didn''t really understand that but it was not as if he wanted a civil war to break out either way. Civil wars might have been helpful in the old age, but it was only an unnecessary massacre now.

    A single powerful individual was enough to overthrow the entire government of a race without causing bloodshed.

    However, Nail didn''t intend to be that person because he didn''t have the focus, and desire, let alone time to be the leader of an entire race. He knew himself very well, which was even more reason for him to never want to be the leader of the origin humans.

    He would be the cause of their demise, just because he, or rather Damian''s Powers, were hated by so many races. Exposing himself openly would probably cause war to erupt with more than a hundred races.

    More than 10% of the known Universe hated Damian to the core. They had more than enough reason for that¡­but it was not like Damian didn''t loathe them either.

    Thinking about the Late God of Darkness caused Nial to feel a little bit weird and he shook his head with a deep sigh.

    ''I wonder if I will meet him again¡­well, hear his voice fits more, I guess¡­it has been a while since I underwent the first Godly Trial, as well¡­''

    Nial got up and walked through the wooden hut of his father. Miles was not around right now because he was investigating something. Since Nial didn''t spend much time in the wooden hut, Miles had found a new job. He was now officially employed as the spy of the Royal Princess.

    Miles was told to research quite a few things and find out more about all kinds of organizations. Nial was also interested in those organizations, just like the Royal Princess of the High Elven. He had a good reason for that as well.

    Most of these organizations had been ''secretly'' created by other races. None of those organizations was located in the Halheim shelter because that shelter was already considered the product of the human-elven alliance.

    Said organizations desired to increase their influence in the remaining shelters, and to make sure that more humans would follow them. They didn''t force anyone into a ve-like soul contract but they would have to pay off the debt they had umted by purchasing expensive martial art techniques, cultivation techniques, and so on.

    Because not many origin humans were able to get their hands on proper cultivation techniques such as a neutral mana breathing technique, a body refinement technique, or a strong martial art technique that waspatible with the fighting style and abilities one possessed, many Originals of the human race were willing to pay a hefty price.

    Unfortunately, that was what caused them to enter a deep pit of debt that only grew due to the high-interest rate and the fact that the origin humans became greedy for more and better techniques once they tasted the potency of those techniques.

    That was how they turned into obedient followers of their organization, voluntary ves if one wanted to call them such!

 Chapter 505 Interest

    Because the Linaton race didn''t bother Nial too much anymore, he chose to spend the next few days taking a look at the other shelters.

    When he had been in the shelters to assassinate the Linaton Ambassador of each shelter, Nial noticed a few things that attracted his interest.

    He could visualize the shelters in their entirety when he emerged in the teleportation station of the respective shelter. Thus, Nial knew where he had to go even if he had never been to most of the shelters he visited right now. He had only been there to kill the Linaton Ambassadors, that was it.

    All ''secret'' organizations, created by other races, were trying to expand their territory of influence. They used the shelters in the territory of the origin human''s race to achieve this as quickly as possible. Origin humans were useful thanks to the racial trait to bind five ability crystals to their mana core, after all.

    ''The shelters look much better than I expected. The shelter walls are a little run-down but people seem more satisfied in the other shelters¡­''

    Nial realized quickly that the Halheim shelter was the only one that could consider waging a civil war. The civilians of the other shelters were not agitated enough to reconsider waging war with their own government.

    That was not caused due to the terror the Linaton Investigators but it was something the secret organizations of the other races caused.

    There were many brawls that broke out between the secret organizations that were trying to hinder each other from expanding their territory. Everyone wanted to make as many gains as possible and they didn''t even think about sharing.

    Thus, seeing the members of the organizations'' fight in the shelters, most ordinary civilians couldn''t help but be afraid of Originals. The members of the organizations were origin humans, who had been given martial art techniques.

    It was obvious that these techniques couldn''t be learned for free, however, that was not something the ordinary civilians could even think about when they witnessed the bloody brawls of their own people firsthand.

    Nial witnessed a bunch of brawls in the four days he had spent in the remaining human shelters. He procured some information about the dangers of the wilderness around each shelter, made sure that the economy was doing fine, and visualized and analyzed thebat prowess of the secret organizations'' members.

    Nial could tell that they were a lot stronger than ordinary origin humans, but that was a given. After all, Martial art techniques allowed the wielder to unleash potent energy from the depths of their body.

    The better the foundation of the practitioner, the more strength they could unleash with the use of a martial art technique.

    Of course, it was also important that the martial art technique waspatible with the practitioner and that the technique''s rank would be high enough to be of actual help to the practitioner.

    If a technique was nothing special, even possessing perfect proficiency and great mana control would provide a worse result than the practitioner using no technique and just his instincts, creativity, and understanding of his own body.

    Techniques had been created to make use of a certain amount of mana and use it in the most efficient way, however, not every technique was perfect. In fact, most techniques weren''t! How could it be easy to find, let alone create a perfected Martial Arts technique, after all!?

    Either way, the casualties caused by the brawls between the secret organizations were extremely small, and no civilian had died until now. Thus, nobody said anything. Everyone joining an organization of guild knew, for sure, that their life as adventurers would be dangerous.

    Death was not umon when living the life of an adventurer.

    They took a high risk by seeking opportunities to be stronger and they would either get high returns, or their life would end badly.

    Nial understood this as well, especially since he had encountered more trouble than most ordinary humans could even fathom.

    Nheless, he felt that the brawls were a nuisance. The secret organizations had been created by foreign races. Shouldn''t it be better to act sneakily while expanding their range of influence, rather than openly fighting with other organizations?

    Nial couldn''t help but feel a little bit odd about that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He was thinking of an answer to ease his suspicion and he came to a quick conclusion when he finished visiting thest shelter.

    ''I think it''s time to spread the Orion Association''s influence to the other shelters!''

    Nial''s answer to the doubts he had was pretty easy. The Orion Association had many members and they were better in terms of skills, and stronger than the average of most organizations. But there was another reason for his confidence to be the apex predator within the remaining shelters¡­

    Even the lowest-ranked members of the Orion Association were in possession of, at least, two pieces of runic armaments!

    It didn''t matter that some of them had been produced by Rookie Runiciers, or that they were Tier-0 runic armaments. The only important factor was that the Orion Association had equipment of much higher quality than everyone else.

    They had Nial, the unique Grandmaster Runicier, after all!

    When he made his decision, Nial acted quickly. He told Melheim to purchasend in the other shelters and look after the construction of the Onyx Association''s buildings. It was also necessary for him to look at the permission to ept missions in the different shelters, but Nial simply ignored that. Melheim and his people could take care of the paperwork.

    Nial, meanwhile, was ready to get to work, create thousands of Runic Armaments and focus on the progress of his Mana Core''s training.

    He had yet to finish the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia as well. Knowing that Nial purchased more nutrition solutions and he came up with a rough schedule to n everything.

    He adjusted his n in ordance to the information provided by Melheim but they didn''t actually change a lot. In fact, Melheim''s information made it seem like Nial would be the one who was bound to slow down the expansion to the other shelters.

    ''To think that we would have so many new applicants. Are they interested in the Runic Armaments, in my people, or in the association?''

    Nial wondered, hoping that it would be thetter.

    "Well, we will see in the future¡­" He mumbled before he diverted his focus once again.

    It was time for him to go full throttle and work hard to be stronger rather than amassing more and more wealth!

    Nial stayed in the Artisan''s building with that in mind. Ryu came over to him as well, mostly to reunite with Nial but also to make use of the Essence of Darkness which Nial released subconsciously.

    The subconscious release of his Essence Darkness was also why many Dark Elves and even Nightshadow Elves had requested to stay by Nial''s side. It was a weird request but it made sense.

    His Essence of Darkness strengthened beings that were affiliated to the darkness element.

    That was why Nial ended up getting paid for allowing others to cultivate when he was doing the same.

    Who wouldn''t want to earn a fortune in such a way?

    It was easy money, and the people around him were getting stronger as well¡­a win-win situation!

 Chapter 506 Wealth

    Nial spent several months in seclusion if one could call it that.

    He had been surrounded by hundreds of Dark Elves and Nightshadow Elves while exerting the mana breathing technique to progress faster.

    At the same time, Nial spent lots of time refining his body and trying to remove every single imperfection from his body.

    Unfortunately, it would still require quite a while before the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia would bepleted.

    But that was fine because he was now at the Peak of the Prometheus rank and he could focus on his body refinement technique.

    Producing Runic Armaments as a side gig was also quite helpful as it increased thebat prowess of his people and it earned him a huge fortune when sold for a hefty price outside the Orion Association.

    Kaeldur and Tyrant earned him a huge fortune as well. They kept conquering dungeons, though separated as the acting leaders of their own small groups. The group they controlled were Deux-ranked monsters whose minds Nial had altered using Dominion.

    The two Devils were doing their best to collect as many Origin crystals, corpses, and other valuable materials as possible. This increased Nial''s wealth to an extent where he didn''t even know if there was something he couldn''t buy inside the human shelters.

    He was pretty sure that he was the wealthiest Origin Human by now, and he used this fortune to fund the expansion of his Onyx Association. They worked hard, which resulted in the achievements of the Onyx Association and its name spread throughout the shelters.

    It was rare for organizations to spread out from Halheim nowadays. The Halheim shelter was considered the new capital of the human race because it was the biggest shelter, which also boasted a high mana density in and around the shelter.

    The wilderness around the Halheim shelter had more and better dungeon portals, which further increased the mana density of the surrounding area.

    Compared to the remaining shelters, Halheim could be considered a paradise.

    Of course, that didn''t mean the other shelters were hell. Nial was of the exact opposite opinion because he was pretty sure that the remaining shelters were much more peaceful than Halheim, where everyone was fighting for the bountiful opportunities and the resources they could acquire.

    It required conviction and true talent to make it big in Halheim, that was for sure. However, that didn''t mean it was impossible to be equally powerful if not born with the innate skills or trying to be powerful in the other shelters.

    That was something Nial wanted to make use of by funding the Onyx Associations all over the other shelters. It was time for Nial''s group to make it big everywhere. That way, no origin human could bother him in the future, not even the human government.

    Nial didn''t hear much about the Linaton since he had received thest report. They had been oddly quiet but that yed into Nial''s hands.

    After all, he could make use of their silence and spread the healing reagent that had been created by the Shelturion Alchemists. Great Wirliam had kept his word. He had created a healing reagent that would cleanse every single cell in the human body.

    The cleansing process was focused on the ingredient that made origin humans addicted to the Cultivation Drug. It wouldn''t remove additional impurities from within the body nor would it have any other benefits than being free of the drug addiction.

    But that was more than enough and it showed Nial that Great Wirliam and his people were quite capable. His opinion of their capabilities improved even further when he got his hands on a Cultivation Pill that had a simr effect to the Cultivation drug.

    Yet, it didn''t have any aftereffects, not for origin humans, at least!

    Nial was certainly satisfied with the results the team of Great Wirliam provided and it was more than enough reason for Nial to make more serious ns about business with the revolution army of the Shelturion race.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was certainly risky to deal with Great Wirliam and his people but the gains they could make outweighed the risks.

    That was why Nial and Great Wirliam ended up bing business partners. Nial got his hands on arge stockpile of Cultivation drug cleansing reagents and the upgraded Cultivation Pill.

    Melheim used their newly gained fame and spread the news about the existence of a Cultivation drug cleansing reagent. Everyone got to know about it and the vast majority of mankind made a beeline to purchase it. After all, almost every Original had tried the Cultivation Drug thinking that nothing much would happen.

    Unfortunately, they weren''t anomalies like Nial, who were truly immune to the harmful substance of the cultivation drug.

    Thus, many had be addicted over the course of months and were so desperate to grab thest remnants of cultivation drugs circting in the market that fights broke out every now and then.

    Now everything would be over as Nial gifted everyone one cultivation drug cleansing reagent on the condition that they came to take it themself.

    Though on one hand, Nial incurred a huge loss for the resources needed to create the cultivation drug cleansing reagent, on the other, his Onyx Association became more famous. He made lots of profits from other sold goods in exchange.

    After all, most people, whether awakened or ordinary civilians, felt weird simply epting a gift after they entered a stranger''s shop, or their association''s buildings.

    Once the first person donated some Origin crystals in exchange for the Cultivation drug cleansing reagent, everyone started to feel guilty about taking the reagent for free and a chain reaction urred, increasing Nial''s finances.

    After everyone had gotten their hand on a cultivation drug cleansing reagent, the market for the cultivation drug died down quickly. Many found out about the Cultivation Pill that was sold in the shops, which were affiliated with the Orion Artisan Guild, but only a handful of people purchased them at first.

    The terror of the Cultivation Drug was still too deeply imprinted in the mind of the origin humans.

    Nial understood their worries which is why he didn''t force anything. That was simply not necessary because there were a few origin humans who trusted their instincts, or precisely the reputation behind both the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild.

    People trusted both organizations to a certain degree thanks to their past actions. However, they had been oblivious to the ring truth¡­that both the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild were led by the same person.

    It was only obvious because the organizations had been created on the very same day, on the piece ofnd that belonged to the same person and each member of the Onyx Association received Runic Armaments the moment they joined.

    It was no secret that the Onyx Association handed over its precious resources to the Orion Artisan Guild, whose profits were used to fund the growth of the association.

    All of that was well known but only a few cared enough about other organizations to join the dots ande to a conclusion.

    Thus, it was quite a shocker for most civilians and even awakened Originals to find out more about the connections between the two organizations.

    Trusting both organizations, a few Originals, whose resistance to harmful substances was quite high, bought and tested the Cultivation Pills.

    And the moment they gave their go-ahead, everyone stormed the affiliated shops to purchase as many Cultivation Pills as possible.

    As a result, Nial was getting wealthier by the second!

 Chapter 507 Primordial Ascension?

    In the blink of an eye, half a year passed and Nial finished thest of the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia.

    His body released all the umted impurities from within. He underwent drastic changes now that he finished the Refinements of Imperfectia.

    Nial''s physique was as close to perfection as possible. This provided a solid foundation for him to advance to the Deux-rank and create a Mana Searge enough to rival the biggest Mana Seas seen in the known Universe.

    He might have spent a greater amount of time than he initially wanted to spend at the Prometheus rank but that was finally over. His Mana Core was already crumbling. The liquefaction process had already been initiated and the Emblems of his abilities had been removed from Nial''s Mana Core as well.

    The emblems hovered above the crumbling Mana Core, connected by a thin and nearly invisible strand of Mana. The linked abilities had fused with the Mana Core when they had been bound to him before. A shard of his Mana Core was inside every linked ability.

    As they were connected to the Mana Sea, the linked abilities would grow in proportion to Nial''s rank and growth.

    That was also why he wanted to advance to the Deux rank as quickly as possible. It was time for him to receive a drastic enhancement in strength.

    The Origin didn''t really make things easier for him now that the mana all over the kept increasing rapidly.

    More dungeons emerged in certain areas that were quickly turned into hunting grounds and thriving hotspots for various races to live and grow. The Elven races were not the only ones capable of descending in an isted realm.

    However, instead of doing something that would inevitably damage the Divinity if used wrongly, the other races would rather make use of abilities, items, and seeds of particr nts to create their own holy grounds of cultivation.

    The Origin might be a that had reawakened from its long slumber but that didn''t mean it had been civilized for a long time. Before it put itself to sleep, not many beings had lived on Jundra. At least, that was what the Royal Princess had said about the Origin.

    She mentioned that the Origin had been the most suitable for all beings in possession of a Mana Core because the potent mana of the allowed beings to break through their natural limits. This didn''t work for everyone and every single time, but it was universally known that the Origin had been used by the leaders of the strongest races and that they had be more powerful thanks to the Origin.

    The Royal Princess had also mentioned that there were other means of Cultivation in the known Universe. Instead of a Mana Core that resided near their heart, the other means of Cultivation required one to be in possession of an Essence Crystal residing in the brain.

    Instead of tempering the body, mind, and even more so, the Mana Core with mana to expand it and advance it, the ''Ascenders'', Cultivators with Essence Crystals, used the Essence of the earth and heaven to enhance their Essence Crystal.

    It was possible for them to advance much faster than Originals by absorbing the Essence of the opponents they had defeated. As long as your opponent was in possession of an Essence Crystal, you would be able to absorb his Essence and be stronger.

    That way, it was possible to advance rapidly and be a true powerhouse in the blink of an eye. However, there was also a big downside.

    Most Ascenders weren''t able to be ''True Gods'' on their own and hasten up the process because their Essence crystal absorbed too many impurities by devouring the Essence of other beings. They were forced to receive external help, which was their reason to create ''faux'' Divinities.

    The faux Divinities were much weaker than real Divinities that were generally considered as a necessity to be a ''real'' God, but they helped the Ascenders a lot.<novelnext></novelnext>

    When Nial heard all of this about Ascenders, Essence Crystals, and faux Divinities, he was quite intrigued. He didn''t even know that there was a different kind of Cultivation path, to begin with.

    Beings with Essence Crystal were bound to be physically strong as long as they advanced rapidly. However, Nial could immediately tell that their foundation was far from strong, whether it was knowledge aboutbat or the fact that they advanced without consolidating their cultivation.

    The path on which an Original had to walk was long and arduous until they would finally be able to create their Divinity and ascend to Godhood, but their knowledge,bat experience, techniques, and foundation would allow them to be much stronger along the path that would be unveiled after one became a proper God!

    Getting to know all of this all of a sudden made Nial feel utterly confused for a few days. He couldn''t tell for sure why the Royal Princess would tell him about this without context, or how any of that mattered to him.

    If an Ascender were to attack him, he would just defeat him by giving his all, no matter how strong his opponent would be!

    Once Nial got to know about the existence of Ascenders, he asked Kaeldur and the Tyrant of Destruction about them.

    "You met an interesting Ascender a few years before Damian''s godly fragment fused with me when I was a baby? Weren''t you sealed in the fragment?" Nial blurted out when he found out that Kaeldur actually met an Ascender, not too long ago at that.

    [He was a Peak Tier-2 Ascender at that time. That''s roughly equivalent to the Peak of the Advanced Mirae rank. However, his strength was devastating. I''m pretty sure that the Primordial Ascension had urred recently and that this human was able to increase his strength to a much higher degree. It has nearly been more than two decades since that¡­]

    Kaeldur''s answer was not exactly satisfying because he didn''t directly answer what Nial had asked. His first question had been answered by talking around the bush, while the second question was still unanswered.

    However, Nial''s curiosity was piqued and he was still interested in a few things that he didn''t really understand.

    "They use Tiers to determine their rank? Forget about that¡­but there were human Ascenders? And what is the Primordial Ascension?" Nial was quite confused and unsure what else he should ask.

    There were too many things he wanted to know about the other way of cultivation because it made him feel quite excited.

    Maybe, it would even provide some important information that he could make use of for his own growth!

    [There was a human Ascender, yes, and considering that he was able to unintentionally summon me from within Damian''s seal, he should be the same as you- special in the eyes of the Universe.

    As for the Primordial Ascension, it''s a means to awaken theary mana core ofs and increase the amount of both Essence and Mana in certain parts of the Universe. The Primordial Ascension provides an artificial intelligence supportive device, also called ''System'', to all beings thate in touch with the Primordial Ascension.

    That is a means to support Ascenders to be True Gods, thus increasing the number of powerful beings all over the Universe. There are a few more things but I doubt that they''re of any importance to you, right now.

    You will meet the human Ascender I''ve encountered as well, probably not too far in the future!]

 Chapter 508 Dracos

    Nial got to know lots of things today.

    He realized that Kaeldur and the others knew a lot more about this Universe, and even Jundra than he did.

    Usually, he would think about changing that but Nial didn''t really have the time to leave the human shelters and spend a few years searching for answers to all the questions he had in mind.

    It was quite a hassle but he was in no rush and it had to be fine being oblivious to a bunch of things for the time being.

    This included the answer Kaeldur had given him when he asked his first Devil why he was so certain that the human Ascender he encountered would soon meet him as well.

    Nial felt that meeting a human Ascender all of a sudden would be quite random. Ascenders wouldn''t really go to the Origin, not if they could prevent it, at least. The Origin was overflowing with Mana but it didn''t have that much Essence ording to what Kaeldur had said.

    Thus, there was not really a way for Nial to meet the said human Ascender for the time being.

    ''-The Oracle visited you, so I wondered why. She probably was keeping an eye on your progress¡­-''

    Nial thought about Kaeldur''sst words for a while and he couldn''t help but feel suspicious as well.

    The Oracle had appeared out of nowhere and she left after extending a helping hand once. That one time she had been quite helpful but it was not as if he would have died without her help, probably.

    That was when Nial realized that Kaeldur''s guess could have been correct.

    ''Did she really visit me to assess my strength? If so, why would she do that and leave all of a sudden?''

    Nial had many questions in his mind but it was not as if he could just summon the Oracle to answer them. He didn''t even know if it was possible for him to see the Oracle in the near future.

    With that in mind, he averted his focus to something else. Nial asked Kaeldur to tell him more about Chaos, again. He wanted to find out more about the Power of Chaos that seemed to be directly connected to the Vengeance of Chaos ability.

    Nial would love to get to know the reason why the name of the ability was Vengeance of Chaos, to begin with. Did the Chaos have feelings, to begin with? Wasn''t it just another type of energy? Or¡­was Chaos the name of someone, a nickname?

    Nial didn''t know and Kaeldur was the only one who seemed to know something about the Power of Chaos, and even nicknames used by certain people.

    Unfortunately, most pieces of information were rather useless for Nial currently. He was not at a level where he could freely wield the Power of Chaos and it would probably take quite a while until that would be the case. For now, he was trying to endure the pain in his arms whenever he used the Vengeance of Chaos ability.

    It was quite a big mess, but he was fortunate to be in possession of both, the enhanced version of the Symbol of Life, though evolved and fused with the Odyssey seed and the Fairies'' Blessing. He could heal faster than others and it wasn''t that easy for anyone to injure him, in the first ce.

    Kaeldur continued to speak about many things in great detail. Thus, Nial was getting a rough understanding of many things. Unfortunately, they were interrupted when it was about to be truly interesting.

    Loud explosions resounded in the surrounding area, attracting everyone''s attention in the Halheim shelter and the Forest of Life. Nial spread out his range of perception, and he used arge amount of dark energy to amplify the power of Mana Sense.

    Nial focused on the perception of mana sources rather than the visualization of everything in great detail. Thus, he could sense everything in a radius of more than 200 kilometers quite clearly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''An Army?''

    Nial tensed up the moment he perceived more than a hundred thousand sources of mana clustered together. Wanting to get a good look at what was going on, he rushed over to Ryu.

    Ryu was fully grown by now and he was already at the Deux rank. Now, the Darkness Gryphon had to umte higher proficiency in the darkness element and absorb more Mana to break through the limits of his Mana Sea.

    Ryu was able to reach the Deux rank so quickly because he had once been at the Peak of the Prometheus rank. The Mana Core had already been liquefied to a certain extent and it was only because of Ryu''s lesser bloodline that he had never advanced to the Deux rank.

    Now that Ryu''s bloodline was devoid of impurities it was possible to be much stronger than ever before. With Nial and his Darkness Essence by Ryu''s side, this was, even more, the case.

    Listening to Nial''s will, Ryu shot high into the air. He shot through the cover of leaves and branches of the trees that surrounded the territory of the Orion Artisan Guild.

    When Ryu reached a certain height, the three-meter-tall Gryphon spread out his wings that seemed to erge further. A fog of darkness oozed out of the Darkness Gryphon''s wings and Ryu burst forth with a swing of his two pairs of wings. They generated a terrific force that was more than enough for him to reach a speed much higher than what Nial could attain on his own.

    At least, Nial wouldn''t be able to reach Ryu''s speed for now as his rank was too low.

    But that was fine because he could ride on Ryu''s back. They flew through the air while Nial focused his Mana Sense solely in the direction of the army of clustered mana sources.

    He wanted to find out more about the beings who seemed to approach the Halheim shelter with slow strides. There were not many chaotic mana fluctuations, showing that the clustered mana sources were stable and the owner of the mana was confident in himself.

    Nial was not able to tell whether they had any bad intentions or not but that was something he would find out soon enough.

    While charging in their direction, Nial noticed that the Royal Princess of the Elven, Nightingale, and a bunch of higher-authorities of the other Elven sub-races were doing exactly the same.

    ? Ryu was almost as fast as the Elven''s Keltia-ranked Originals¡­but only almost. They didn''t use any mana to move either. This was to ensure that the other party would not misinterpret their actions and think that they were about to attack the army of the clustered mana sources.

    As for the mana sources, Nial found out what kind of race the mana clusters belonged to¡­and he couldn''t help but frown deeply.

    "Dracos¡­" He mumbled, just to sigh heavily.

    "...will they take all my profits from Runic Armaments now?!"

    The Dracos race was one of the races that were considered at the top of the Runicier Industry. One could say that they were Nial''s enemies, whether they would be hostile or not.

    ''Should I hope that we start waging a war¡­no that''s stupid¡­''

    One way or another¡­the Dracos race had appeared, with an army of more than 100,000 members.

    Did they desire blood, or were they searching for allies¡­or possibly a ce to stay?

 Chapter 509 Enemies?

    Nial had only encountered a single Draco until now, but that was already enough for him to know that they were not to be taken lightly.

    Ophelia was probably one of their most important geniuses, if not the most important. However, that didn''t say much about the Draco race''s average strength, which races they were at war with, and so on.

    The only thing Nial knew for good was that the Dracos were a race with a high fire affinity and great Artisan skills. They were exceptional in the fields of cksmithing and rune engraving.

    Thus, theirbat prowess increased by a notch no matter what rank they were at or how bad theirbat awareness andbat experience were. They could simply forge high-quality equipment from low-quality materials.

    ''I really hope that they can''t create Broken Runic Armaments, otherwise, everyone is dead¡­'' Nial mumbled, not even daring to imagine how powerful Broken Tier-3 or Tier-4 Runic Armaments would be. Everything would end up getting destroyed the moment someone were to use such Broken Runic Armaments.

    Nial shuddered a moment before he told Ryu to slowly descend near the Royal Princess.

    "Are the Elven and Dracos at war?" He asked immediately while Ryu continued to fly a few meters above the surface.

    Nial was ready to jump down if necessary, and fight if there was no other way around but he was still hoping that things wouldn''t escte to that level.

    Unfortunately, visualizing the tense expression of the Elves all around him only made him feel worse. None of them looked calm, or as if they had the situation under control.

    That was a little bit worrisome but it also answered Nial''s question before the Royal Princess could open her mouth.

    "Let''s just say that our traits are different. They love fire, we don''t really adore fire. Even the Pyromas Elves don''t love fire to the extent the Dracos are obsessed with it. There is definitely tension between our races, but we haven''t been at war, until now," The Royal Princess exined at the end, her voice cracking lightly.

    ''The fact that you guys are tense is not something I cannot not see¡­.''

    Nial was not sure in what direction the situation would turn but the tension all over the region was definitely high.

    "Alright, I will observe first. You guys do whatever you have to do, I guess¡­" He told the Royal Princess who had already diverted her focus from him. She looked at arge Draconic Bull whose entire body was d in burning scales.

    The dungeon beast was powerful and it was not an existence that could be tamed easily. The beast wouldn''t listen to anyone but the Original it had epted as its master.

    "Desmian Leshoq, long time no see!" The Royal Princess shouted out a greeting after a moment. Her voice reverberated through the surrounding area, just for a hushed line to follow suit, "...not that I like seeing you again though¡­"

    Nial''s lip twitched at Princess Evalyne''s outburst. He was still hoping that the entire situation would not result in bloodshed, but it didn''t look like the Elves were of the same opinion.

    ''Have they forgotten the fact that provoking an army with more than a hundred thousand members is not something you should do when you''re just a group of what¡­100 Elves?''

    For now, less than a hundred Elves had emerged from the Forest of Life to aid the Royal Princess. Most were still unsure of what was going on, but that was not the problem.

    Nial could pretty much tell that the Dracos were at an advantage, whether it was in terms of Armaments, Mana Core Rank, racial traits, or environmental advantages.

    The Dracos could attack the Forest of Life, forcing the Elves to react in a desperate manner to protect their home.

    There was also the Empress Divinity Fragment in the Forest of Life. The Elves had to protect that as well!

    "I don''t really like seeing you either, Wood Princess. How about you hand over your mother''s divinity fragment and we separate immediately after that? I hope I don''t have to see you anytime soon either!" A loud voice answered.

    It echoed through the entire region and filled Nial''s ears. He felt weird for a moment, just to realize that a type of altered mana had been used to make sure that the Draco''s voice could travel through the surrounding area.

    He didn''t amplify his vocal cords but the noises that came out of his mouth were very loud and clear.

    Nial had never witnessed something like that even if it was nothing he would consider difficult to do.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''To think that this could have such unique effects¡­'' Nial thought for a moment before he repeated what the presumed leader of the Dracos had done.

    "How does my voice sound?" He asked Ryu quietly while using normal Mana to amplify his words rather than vocal cords.

    Afterward, he did the same with his dark energy.

    "And now? Am I more imposing, is it the same? What changed?"

    Nial and Ryu couldn''t directly talk with each other, but they could transmit feelings. Nial was also able to speak to Ryu, but the Darkness Gryphon was not able to reply if one excluded his violent chirping.

    Nheless, Nial and Ryu were good atmunicating with one another because they could understand each other.

    That made it quite easy for Nial to experience what exactly the change in his voice caused when he used mana or different types of energies.

    In the end, he spends two minutes testing out a bunch of things. He even tried to use Chaos to change his voice, but that was rather painful. The entire lower part of his face hurt when he tried to converse with Chaos. However, other than thest attempt, it was a great and very intriguing experience.

    Nial didn''t forget to pay attention to whatever urred below him while he was having fun in the air. He observed everything with great detail using his range of perception and Mana Sense.

    That was also how he figured that there were not only Dracos but also a bunch of tamed monsters on the ground and hovering on top of the clouds above him.

    Wyverns were hiding above the clouds, ready to dive down the moment they received the order.

    It was pretty obvious that the Wyvern were either there for a nice meeting with the Elven, or to burn everything to ashes if things were to go south.

    Considering that the Dracos demanded the Divinity Fragment of the Elven Empress, it was pretty obvious that it was only a matter of time before war would break out.

    Nial didn''t really want that.

    Thus, he chose to act like a fool and pull the Dracos'' attention toward him.

    "I''m sorry to interrupt your reunion, but how about we don''t fight? There are more than enough enemies all over the Origin. Furthermore, Ophelia, your once-in-ten-thousand-years prodigy, wouldn''t like seeing my death. She finally found a rival¡­" Nial said, knowing deep down that he was just spouting nonsense.

    But maybe¡­just maybe, it would work!

    **

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 Chapter 510 Trying Hard

    When Nial spoke to the Dracos from his elevated position, he used Dominion and some of his Essence of Darkness to alter the effect his words had. He made use of the crimson moonlight to further enhance the effect of his voice and sound even more intimidating.

    The final result was somewhat expected but also a bit surprising.

    "Who the hell are you?" The presumed leader of the Dracos asked Nial the moment he had proimed that he knew Ophelia and that she wouldn''t like it if he were to die.

    That could be utter nonsense, but Nial''s voice held a lot of conviction.

    It was hard not to trust his words, which was why the Dracos leader didn''t think of attacking Nial and his mount immediately.

    Ryu was diving toward the ground and he stopped only when he was less than ten meters above the air. He hovered in the air around at that height.

    Both Ryu and Nial were clearly visible to the Dracos who ended up staring at the odd pair for a few seconds.

    The sight of a Darkness Gryphon was also somewhat unexpected, even more so because the Gryphon had epted a blind human as its master.

    Usually, Gryphons were too prideful to ept cripples as their masters, even if they were a little bit stronger than them. Nial''s blindness could easily be considered a weakness in that regard.

    But seeing how well the Darkness Gryphon behaved without the need to receive a voiced-outmand from the blind human rider, it was quite obvious that the Darkness Gryphon had actually epted Nial and was loyal to him.

    "You''re a human? I didn''t know that another human race had emerged near this area," The Dracos Leader added without waiting for Nial''s answer to the first question he had voiced out.

    "I''m Nial Orin and I''m an Origin Human. I didn''t emerge from anywhere," Nial responded straightforwardly.

    He responded quite bluntly and was mildly surprised to see many Dracos gasp upon hearing him.

    "You''re from the Origin? I thought they were all weaklings¡­You''re only at the Peak of the Prometheus rank¡­but you said that you know our Gods sent Miss Ophelia. If you''re really her Rival, you would have to be strong¡­" The Dracos Leader seemed to be much calmer when speaking to Nialpared to the Royal Princess.

    He was vignt of Nial but he was not furious or harboring ill intentions when looking at Nial.

    "I participated in the same tournament as Ophelia. I was ranked second in it and I got the artificially reinforced Dryad Princess tear from her in exchange for my reward. Though, I''m pretty sure that I would have been the winner if I had learned about the existence of Runic Armaments earlier.

    She had the advantage of possessing more theoretical knowledge and practical experience. But she is probably already an Archmaster Runicier by now, right?"

    Nial was extremely calm in front of the army of 100,000 members. He willed Ryu tond on the ground and he got down in order to face the Dracos head-on. There was no need for him to look down at them from Ryu''s back.

    It would make the situation and conversation more awkward than necessary.

    The tournament Nial was referring to was the big tournament in the Golden City. The Runicier tournament wasn''t held often and everyone clearly recalled that Ophelia had disappeared for a while to participate in a tournament. She came back with two treasures, one being a Unicorn''s Horn.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At that time, Ophelia hadn''t said a lot about the tournament, only that it would have been boring if not for her encounter with someone. Muchter the Dracos found out that there had been a mass murderer participating in the tournament. They had been enraged but Ophelia was still alive andpletely unbothered by the shocking incidents that had urred during the tournament.

    Instead, she had worked hard and became a much more proficient Runicier. However, rather than rushing anything, Ophelia seemed to have found inspiration during the tournament because upon returning home she started to recreate Superior and Ancient runic constetions with thebined force of ovepping effects, created through Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Runic Constetions.

    That was exactly what Nial had always done simply because he didn''t know much about Superior and Ancient runic constetions at that time.

    Thinking back to that time, Nial could tell that he had been an extremely bad Runicier at that time. He had improved a lot and had even started researching new types of Runic armaments and how to improve existing runic armaments.

    "How can you prove that you participated in the tournament and that you know Ophelia?" The Dracos Leader asked suddenly, his voice much calmer than before. He gave a sideways look to the Royal Princess which Nial noticed through his visualization.

    "You can ask Ophelia. Other than that, I don''t know how to prove it¡­ I encountered Saint Runicier Siegfried when I was in the Golden City. That old man was a real nuisance¡­ Other than that, the Forest of Life devoured the artificially reinforced tear of the Princess Dryad. We had some problems with a God''s Incarnation before, Sylvian the Trickster, to be precise. I don''t know if you know that God but it was a hassle¡­.

    The Dryx destroyed parts of the Forest of Life, and I solved that by getting my hands on Princess Dryad''s Tear!"

    Nial might have jokingly thought that war between the Elven races and the Dracos would be a good solution, but that couldn''t be farther from the truth.

    The Origin humans of the Halheim shelter would inevitably be dragged into their war, just because they lived so close by. He would rather avoid seeing a big portion of his race getting identally killed.

    At the same time, Nial figured that the equipment of the Dracos was not as terrifying or worrisome as expected. They were not in possession of Broken Tier-2 runic armaments, or he didn''t perceive them at least.

    "Why are you telling him everything?" The Royal Princess whispered in his ear as she appeared by his side. She was ready to pull him back and protect him from the army of the Dracos if necessary.

    That was the least she could do. After all, Nial was evidently trying to prevent war from breaking out. The timing was simply too bad, and it was stupid to wage a war without a reason.

    "Looks like the Wood Princess has changed a little bit. I could have never expected the Elves to get so close to a human, even less a human weaker than them!"

    "Who says that I''m weaker than them?!" Nial suddenly retorted with a crafty smile on his face.

    The Royal Princess was just about to say something. However, upon recalling what Nial''s two Devils did to the guards of the Shelturion''s hiddenboratory, she halted in her tracks.

    Right now, the Royal Princess couldn''t even deny what Nial said. He might not be able to defeat some High Elves at the Keltia rank, but that was not actually something anyone could tell for sure.

    With his two Devils and Ryu by his side, nobody could ascertain the true might and strength of Nial. Furthermore, his powers were something nobody could truly fathom.

    The Dracos noticed the Royal Princess'' hesitation to respond to Nial''sment.

    ''Interesting!''

 Chapter 511 Bet?

    Even if the Dracos leader was talking calmly to him, it didn''t mean that the two parties had reached a consensus.

    The Army of Dracos wanted to take the Elven Empress'' Divinity Fragment that had been transformed into a portal between the Forest of Life and Yggdrasil, the Sacred Tree.

    It was only obvious but the Elves didn''t want anyone to take away what rightfully belonged to them. The portal to Yggdrasil was the most valuable asset in their possession right now and losing it would permanently weaken the Elven Empress.

    That was not something the Elves could ept, ever!

    Nial understood the mindset of the Elven because he wouldn''t give anyone what belonged to him either. It was even worse given that the Dracos were acting in an overbearing manner in front of the Elves.

    ''I really don''t want to fight them¡­I would rather hire them to be my cksmiths, Instructors, and more¡­'' He thought while still hoping that the things he said had been enough to persuade them from taking an extreme step, at least a little.

    "Can''t we solve this in a different way? If you guys fight, the casualties will be enormous and many innocent origin humans will die, though I doubt that you guys care about that a lot¡­" Nial tried to intervene, "The Elves won''t simply hand over the Empress'' Divinity fragment either. So¡­is there a way to prevent unnecessary bloodshed?"

    The chances were pretty slim because everyone was already extremely tense but Nial was still giving it a try. He couldn''t just let war erupt after he had worked so hard to make sure that the Halheim shelter would prosper in peace. Everything would be destroyed the moment an army of 100,000 soldiers attacked.

    "Solve this in a different way? We came here because we need the Divinity Fragment of the Elven Empress. Fighting until the bitter end is probably the only way to end this!"

    While ring at the Royal Princess every now and then, the Dracos leader answered Nial. His voice was soothing and warm which was a huge contrast to his tense body and the reptilian eyes that were filled with hatred.

    ''Something happened between the Elven and Dracos, that''s for sure!'' Nial told himself the moment he visualized the Dracos leader.

    He tried to assess the situation, and the results didn''t make things better.

    "Nial, there is no need to be worried about us. We will eliminate everyone who dares toe too close to the Forest of Life with ill intentions. There is no need for you to intervene anymore!" The Royal Princess said, her voice ice-cold as she pulled Nial behind her.

    It looked like she was trying to protect him but Nial ended up sighing deeply.

    ''I doubt she realizes that the Dracos are only hostile to the Elven¡­None of the Dracos looked at me with the desire to kill me even after Ryunded on the ground¡­''

    The problems were only between the Elves and Dracos, but Nial didn''t really feel like witnessing them tearing apart one another.

    "Why do you need the Divi¨C..." Nial was just about to ask the most important question when two High Elves at the Keltia rank appeared behind him. They covered his mouth at the same time and intended to drag Nial further away from the area everyone presumed to turn into a battlefield at any time.

    ''What the hell?! Ryu,e here and help!'' He ordered the Darkness Gryphon who acted instantaneously. Darkness shot out of Ryu''s entire body as he shot past the Royal Princess.

    Ryu elerated further as he burst toward Nial whose corners of his lips curled upward moments before hispanion smashed into him.

    Nial didn''t want to hurt anyone around him. Thus, he turned into Ryu''s target aftering up with a n in an instant. The grasp of the two Keltia ranked High Elves on Nial''s arms loosened the moment Ryu''s head impacted on Nial. They were too astonished by what was just happening.

    Nial grasped Ryus plumage tightly and he used Shadow Step in an instant, traveling across the darkness that exuded from Ryu''s body.

    That way, Nial ended up on Ryu''s back in a millisecond. As for the Keltia ranked High Elves, they could only look behind themselves dazedly as Ryu shot in the air, just to dive down at the frontlines once again.

    Nial would have loved to leave the Dracos and Elves to figure out things on their own but he could tell that they would end up bashing each other''s heads.

    "I admire your determination, Wood Princess, but I don''t really think that you''re at an advantage here. The only reason for us to postpone our attack is that we don''t want to pull other races in our fight!" The Dracos leader dered just at this moment.

    It was just like Nial had expected. The Dracos merely wanted the Empress'' Divinity Fragment. As for everything else of value, they didn''t really care about it. A point worth noting here was that they weren''t inclined to attack other races because that would inevitably create more trouble.

    The Royal Princess was just about to retort to the Dracos leader when Nial intervened.

    "Just do whatever you want, but both sides will shed each other''s blood unnecessarily. You guys could use different means to ''fight'' for what you desire and sign a Soul Contract with all necessary terms and conditions previously agreed upon. Waging war right now will just weaken both sides and make you vulnerable to other races."

    Nial had had enough of the Dracos and Elves. If they wanted to fight, they should do that far away from the Halheim shelter. He voiced out his opinion at the end but it was more like a frustrated outburst than anything else.

    "You mean they should bet the Empress'' Divinity Fragment and both sides should appoint fighters to represent them? The winner will take everything?" The Dracos Leader asked, not opposing Nial''s unexpected advice.

    He didn''t think too highly of the human Original but he was certainly interesting and helpful.

    If the Army of Dracos were to attack the Forest of Life, they were not sure of seeding. The Elven races were said to have formed an alliance to build an Empire on Jundra. They required the Divinity Fragment portal because it was much cheaper to use the portal rather than world bridges.

    The cost-efficiency was exceptional. It provided an advantage that was worth taking a risk for.

    In the end, it was only obvious, but the Elves would fight desperately until theirst Original were to die! The Elves were unlikely to die that easily as well. The defensive mechanism of the Forest of Life was bound to boost the strength of the Elven races drastically and provide additional means of support.

    Nial had exined that he met Ophelia when he was working on a mission for the Elven race. He collected the artificially reinforced tear of a Dryad Princess. The Forest of Life had been healed and strengthened through this tear, which meant that the Forest of Life was likely to have various means to obliterate the opponents who dared to enter its proximity while harboring ill intentions.

    That was why the Dracos Leader didn''t really want to attack the Forest of Life and all Elven because the result wouldn''t be pleasing to the eyes.

    Even if they managed to get their hands on the Empress'' Divinity Fragment, it was uncertain if they could reach back home safely, in the first ce.

    The vast majority of their people were bound to die needlessly and this was something all members of this army knew about very well.

    They didn''t want to die but it was not as if they could reject the orders they had been given. The moment they did that, they would be considered traitors, and their families would be imprisoned, tortured and finally killed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was cruel but a very efficient way to ensure that most ordinary people of the Dracos race followed themands they were given.

    Thus, Nial''s intervention was like a Godsend!

    The Elves didn''t think like that though! The Royal Princess stared daggers at Nial, whom she wanted to tear apart for butting in unnecessarily.

    In the end, the Elves knew that they were at an advantage in their home grounds. Yet, Nial''s intervention was enough to destroy it all.

    It was only fortunate that the Elves didn''t have to agree to his ''advice''. The Royal Princess could just inly reject it, which would force the Dracos to attack the Forest of Life.

    However, instead of doing so right away, the Royal Princess stalled time to make sure that everyone in the Forest of Life was fully prepared to go all out. The Dryads of the Forest of Life were also ready to use the Power of the Forest to provide the necessary support and protect the Forest of Life from the fiery mes that would shroud everything the moment a battle would ensue.

    The Royal Princess was sure that Master Crevian would request reinforcement from Yggdrasil as well. They would send a bunch of warriors over to the Forest of Life, strengthening both attack and defense!

    "But we''re the only ones to lose something then. That''s not exactly fair." She thus said, while continuing to re at Nial. His intervention might have been an inconvenience but he didn''t even realize that he was actually helping the Elves stall for more time.

    Her head flicked to the Dracos Leader, whom she stared at with killing intent.

    "If you want us to consider this battle, we should ce bets on things of equal value. That means something as precious as the Divinity Fragment has to be betted by the Dracos!"

    It was only obvious that a one-sided bet would never go through. The Dracos leader also understood that the Royal Princess was at an advantage right now.

    Thus, for them to even consider betting on the Empress'' Divinity Fragment, the Dracos would have to bet something the Elves couldn''t reject. It had to be worth more than the Divinity Fragment in the Elven''s eyes!

    "What is of equivalent value to a Divinity Fragment?" Nial mumbled to himself. He had actually noticed that the Forest of Life was changing rapidly. The life force originating from the Forest of Life was getting much stronger, and more sources of mana appeared as well.

    ''I wanted to prevent a war from erupting¡­but if I were to choose between the two, it would probably be better if the Elves were to emerge victorious¡­''

    "The Divinity Fragment portal is our most valuable asset in Jundra, and the Empress paid a huge tribute to make it descend onto the Origin the moment it was possible. You could say that the Divinity Fragment portal is amongst the most prized possession of the Elven races!" Princess Evalyne exined.

    She made it clear that the Dracos were unlikely to possess anything valuable enough to make a bet enticing enough.

    At first, the Dracos Leader frowned because he knew that it would be quite difficult to make the Royal Princess agree to anything he could offer as bet. The Royal Princess had the authority to bet anything but the Dracos leader didn''t possess such high authority.

    That was also why he ended up retrieving arge messenger crystal from his spatial ring.

    "I have to make a call¡­" He said after a few moments which caused a smile to appear on the Royal Princess'' face.

    "Take as much time as you need. We will just wait here¡­" She responded, ''we will wait and turn the Forest of Life into a fortress before you guys can even think of attacking!''

    The Royal Princess was no fool to invite a one-on-one battle because their chances of victory were slim. It was simply not worth the risk, no matter what the Dracos would bet, or so she believed.

    After a few minutes had passed the Dracos leader finished his call. He had a mysterious smile on his face.

    Clearing his throat he appeared in front of the Royal Princess once again.

    "We are in possession of an egg. It looks like the beast within the egg wants to hatch soon," He stated before his smile widened,

    "How about you bet the Empress'' Divinity Fragment, while we bet the hatching egg of thest Greater Forest Dragon?"

    The Royal Princess had just opened her mouth to reject the offer when she froze in her ce. She thought that she had misheard something. She could not believe the words that came out of the mouth of the Dracos leader!

    "Wait¡­what?!" She blurted out, which was enough reason for the Dracos Leader to grin pridefully.

    "I think you heard me correctly. We will bet the egg of the Greater Forest Dragon, who died thousands of years ago. That''s probably itsst egg and it''s about to hatch!" He said.

    "...Make your decision!"

    **

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 Chapter 512 Tricked

    ''A Greater Forest Dragon''s egg? Is that really valuable enough to bepared with the Empress'' Divinity Fragment?''

    Nial was confused because it looked like the Royal Princess was extremely interested in the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg.

    Dragons were Mythical Creatures but he still didn''t understand how it wasparable to the Divinity Fragment portal.

    However, it was not in his hands to make a decision whether they would ept the bet and fight a one versus one battle with a representative from each side.

    "Thest Greater Forest Dragon was killed thousands of years ago¡­ How did you obtain its egg, and why is it hatching now?!" A High Elf at the Keltia rank asked all of a sudden. He was skeptical of the Dracos and couldn''t allow the Royal Princess to fall into the trap that was being spread out right in front of her.

    "There is no need for you to believe my words. However, you should understand that I will die the moment I lie while signing the Soul Contract we will have to set up before our fight. I understand your concerns but we don''t lie. That''s against our pride as descendants of the Great Dragons!" The Dracos Leader thundered at the end. He raised his right arm into the air and spit mes out of his palms.

    In response to this action, the other Dracos began to shout out loud as well. They repeated the same action as their leader, raised their right arm into the air, and released searing hot mes from their palms.

    Nial visualized this with great interest. The entire conversation was pretty intriguing, especially since it looked like the Royal Princess wanted to get her hands on the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg.

    Nial wasn''t aware of its true worth but considering that the Royal Princess was uncertain whether to ept the item they had bet, or just to wage a war in the Forest of Life was more than enough to understand the egg''s value.

    The Forest of Life was prepared for an all-out war right now. They had received more than enough time to make sure that everything would be ready for an attack!

    "Your life is not important enough for me to trust you. I can already tell that your senior ordered you to lie about the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg and to die if you were to lose the bet against us. Don''t think that we''re foolish enough to trust a single word from someone like you!" The same skeptical High Elf from before said, his eyes filled with anger and even hatred.

    ''They really resent each other¡­'' Nial thought as he visualized thousands of Dracos that were ready to tear off the High Elves'' heads. The Elves, no matter which sub-race they hailed from, had a simr vibe. They didn''t look angered because their expressions were stoic and seemingly without emotion. However, the pressure their bodies exuded was nothing to scoff at.

    Nial was not sure if he had made a mistake by trying to decrease the casualties as much as possible. He had been hoping to deal with the Dracos since his impression of Ophelia had been really good. She was tremendously talented and her personality was as good as her talent.

    At least that was what he remembered about her, including that she had teased him after winning the Runicier tournament in the Golden City.

    Turning his head back to his subordinates, the Dracos Leader gave everybody a cold look making everybody turn silent. Even if the High Elf wanted to provoke the Dracos Leader and his people, it was quite obvious that his words were true. His life was not valuable enough to bet against the Empress'' Divinity Fragment.

    That was a matter of fact and a bitter truth not a reason to get agitated about.

    "All of us will sign the Soul Contract, and more than a hundred thousand Dracos and thousands of powerful monsters will be your ves for eternity if we don''t bring you the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg upon losing. Though I doubt it will be necessary to say that, but we won''t lose either way!" The Dracos leader said in a calm tone, which was a stark contrast to the angry, yet, somewhat excited expression he showed.

    "We won''t even be able to kill ourselves or each other upon signing the Soul Contract, that is if the Royal Princess is willing to bet the Empress'' Divinity Fragment against the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg! You might spout nonsense and question our value and worth again, but I can reassure you that we are a proud race. Everyone here is a Master cksmith at the bare minimum and also a Runicier, though most are not Master Runiciers!<novelnext></novelnext>

    You will eventually earn a big fortune with us as your ves, that is, if I''m really lying about the Greater Forest Dragon!!"

    ''Damn¡­even I want to bet on the Empress'' Divinity Fragment!''

    Nial didn''t know what the Royal Princess wanted to do with a Greater Forest Dragon hatchling, but he could tell that having a fleet of Dracos, and their monsters at his disposal would surely be a huge benefit.

    If they were to be his ves, no Origin human would everck runic armaments of all Tiers. He would teach the best Runicier Dracos how Broken Runic Armaments are created, mass produce them, and sell everything to his people before he would expand his business.

    The economy within the human shelters would receive a boost and skyrocket because everyone would be able to raid dungeons much easier. Everyone''s wealth would increase rapidly and it would only be a matter of time before their mana core ranks would increase as well.

    Nial didn''t even notice that he was licking his dry lips and that his demeanor was slowly changing. He didn''t like having ves but he would love to have 100,000 well-trained Artisans in his Orion Artisan Guild. The Dracos could also raid stronger dungeons with their tamed dungeon beasts.

    All of this would be quite interesting, but it looked like his expression and change in demeanor were misunderstood.

    The Royal Princess looked at Nial for a few seconds and a faint smile emerged on her lips. Her conflicting thoughts were cleared up at the sight of the blind human and she turned to the Dracos Leader.

    "Alright¡­in that case, I will choose Nial as our representative!" The Royal Princess dered proudly and a cold smile appeared on her face.

    The Elves froze when they heard what the Royal Princess said. They had been certain that Evalyne would reject every possible offer simply because it was way too dangerous to bet on the Empress'' Divinity Fragment.

    It was also pretty certain that the Forest of Life wouldn''t sumb to the mes of the Dracos and their tamed beasts.

    However, the Elves were not the only ones to be astonished. Even the Dracos Leader could hardly fathom that the Royal Princess had agreed to the bet so easily, let alone that she would drag someone who didn''t belong to their race in their trouble.

    Nial was human, and only at the Peak of the Prometheus rank. The Dracos Leader couldn''t really understand what was going on¡­

    And while looking at the blind human, it was pretty obvious that Nial was just as astonished as everyone else.

    ''She tricked me!!'' Nial screamed in his mind, feeling the urge to twist the Royal Princess'' neck¡­well, not really¡­

    ''What the hell is she nning?!''

 Chapter 513 Lose-Lose

    "I won''t make the mistake of sending a Keltia-ranked Dracos in a fight with him if he dares to fight. He can even fight with hispanion and every ability he possesses, even if it''s an overpowered ability!" The Dracos Leader said, a little bit too excited in Nial''s opinion.

    Nial knew that the Dracos had a prodigy at the Peak of the Deux rank. He had assessed the strengths of the Dracos a while ago already, and he immediately knew that their prodigy was likely to be stronger than the Heligav he had fought in the Alliance City to get his hands on the Swirl of Chaos ability crystal.

    ''I guess they wanted the Royal Princess'' to send someone at the Deux rank in the ring. The Dracos are surely too excited¡­'' Nial thought while he was still trying to calm his mind.

    He didn''t really want to openly intervene in the trouble between the Dracos and the Elves, but that was probably something he should have thought about before he started to speak up for both sides earlier. It was pretty stupid of him to butt in matters not concerning him, but he was not sure if he regretted it.

    He could still maintain a good rtionship with the Elven as long as he won against the Draco''s prodigy. It was certainly not easy for him to win against their prodigy but considering that he was allowed to use everything he had up his sleeve, including Ryu, he didn''t really think that he stood no chance of winning.

    If he really wanted to overdo it, he could hand Kaeldur, Tyrant, and Ryu a few dozen Broken Tier-2 Runic Armaments, which they would then use one after another to obliterate the prodigy of the Draco race.

    Unfortunately, that was likely to cause more trouble than it would be helpful. Nial hoped to not aggravate the Dracos, after all.

    ''If I lose, the rtionship with the Elves would turn awful. Maybe they would start hating the entire human race¡­'' Nial thought, imagining how the Elven races attacked Halheim shelter simply because the shelter of the origin humans was too close. They would certainly be enraged if they would lose the Divinity Fragment portal their Empress had created out of her blood, sweat, and tears.

    With that in mind, losing was no option. As for winning in an overwhelming manner, Nial was not sure if that would be a good tactic as well.

    However, then again, holding back would make things much worse. Nobody would want to be befriended by someone, who pitied your strength and held back when fighting seriously.

    While Nial was frustrated about his own stupidity to have intervened in the battle to begin with, he was also wondering why the Royal Princess couldn''t send her strongest High Elves into the ring and chose him instead.

    Why did she have to ask him, someone who waspletely unrted to her entire race?! Nial could tell that the other Elves were displeased about the attitude of their Royal Princess and her choice of a worthy candidate, but Evalyne just looked at him with a radiant smile.

    Nial might only be able to visualize her smile, however, he could tell that her smile was dangerous. It was more than enough to make him feel like running away from her.

    Nial felt that something was off and wanted to run but the Royal Princess wouldn''t allow him to leave, that was for sure!

    ''Can Nial even lose? I don''t know how strong he is but even Nightingale said that he has no chance against Nial. This arrogant fool''s attitude changed after a single encounter with Nial, and they didn''t even fight.'' The Royal Princess was deep in thought and she recalled the two Devils who could emerge from Nial whenever the origin human desired.

    Nial could control the two Devils perfectly and the energy they radiated was exactly the same as the dark energy he possessed. The Royal Princess could tell that the Devils were somehow rted to Damian, the former God of Darkness.

    That was even more reason to consider Nial''s overall strength as unknown, yet, extremely powerful.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Recalling Kaeldur and Tyrant''sbat prowess inside the hiddenboratory was enough to widen the Royal Princess'' smile. She remembered the reports the Nightshadow Elven had given her about the happenings in the hiddenboratory, how they entered it thanks to Nial''s weird power, who demolished theboratory, and how the fights progressed.

    Thus, even if the Elves had a few powerful fighters with lots ofbat experience and various sly strategies up their sleeve, she chose Nial as their representative. She knew that the others frowned at her but it was her decision and she would take all the responsibility, whether Nial would win or lose!

    "Evalyne¡­at least give me some rewards if I win¡­I will only lose, no matter what the oue of the battle!" Nial almost shouted, his expression showing quite clearly that he was even more annoyed with being the representative of the Elves in this battle than the High Elves were.

    The High Elves understood how Nial felt because they felt exactly the same. How could the Royal Princess allow a human to fight in their stead? Were they really that weak?

    "You won''t lose anything if you win. As for a reward¡­just be happy that I''m so nice to you all the time!" Princess Evalyne retorted. Her voice not only held a trace of anger but also a bit of teasing in it. That confused Nial but it didn''t mean that he would change his stance.

    "If I win, I lose the opportunity to make business with the Dracos in the future. They''re Master cksmiths and great Runiciers. You put me in a shitty position right here, just because you want to exploit me¡­" Nial whispered while leaning toward the Royal Princess. Their heads almost bumped into each other but that was not something Nial could be bothered about right now.

    "Don''t worry, we will add a use in the Soul Contract to ensure the Origin humans rtionship with the Dracos will remain the same as before; neutral. If you act nicely, I might allow you to y around with the Greater Forest Dragon once it hatches!" Princess Evalyne whispered back, trying to lure him again.

    The thought of raising a Greater Forest Dragon, the only Greater Forest Dragon in the known Universe, was exhrating.

    However, Nial could see through her act.

    "If you let it y with me the Greater Forest Dragon will end up following me. I might as well turn it into one of my Devils then¡­sounds like a good n," Nial retorted, teasing the Royal Princess who squinted her eyes while looking at Nial who turned his head around.

    "Let''s set up the Soul Contract and sort this mess. We''re wasting too much precious time. I want to return to my Artisan hall¡­" Nial said, his voice filled with confidence.

    The Dracos Leader was excited, just like the Royal Princess. However, he was also vignt of Nial''s confidence and the obvious fact that the Royal Princess and the blind origin human were ying around with them.

    "Alright then, let''s set up the Soul Contract." The Dracos Leader said to the Royal Princess who nodded her head.

    However, just when he walked over to Princess Evalyne, he heard Nial whispering in a barely audible whisper.

    "...I really hope that you''re lying about the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg¡­"

 Chapter 514 The Tricked Trickster

    While Nial was hoping that the Draco Leader was lying to him and the Elves, the Royal Princess hoped that everything was the truth.

    The value of a hundred thousand Dracos was not even close to the worth of the Empress'' Divinity Fragment in her opinion. However, the same couldn''t be said about the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg. As long as the egg would hatch, things would change a lot.

    Creating and signing the Soul Contract took a while, which was mostly due to the detailed uses that were necessary to make sure that no side would be able to run away from their responsibility.

    After an hour had passed, both sides were as ready as they could be. They made enough space for their representatives to fight. Nial and Ryu entered the empty space that they considered the arena for the battle.

    Nial was allowed free reign and he could use every single weapon in his arsenal, including Ryu. That made it look as if the Dracos Leader was taking Nial lightly. However, it could not be farther from the truth.

    He wanted to make his opponents feel as if they were underestimated, which in turn would make them use their full power from the beginning. That way, they wanted to end the battle in the blink of an eye.

    Nial, however, didn''t really care about that. He was sure that the Dracos Leader was too stupid to realize that his actions and thoughts were far from a mastermind''s!

    ''As expected, they sent him!'' Nial thought when a Draco at the Peak of the Deux rank stepped forward. His mana fluctuations were somewhat familiar, yet, Nial knew that he had never met that guy before.

    It was a little bit odd because Nial would never forget someone''s mana fluctuations. Thus, he knew that he had never met his opponent but also that there was something familiar about that young man.

    "So you know Ophi?" The Draco, whose golden reptilian eyes stared daggers at Nial, asked. His voice was sharp and he seemed annoyed for a moment before he calmed down a little after a second or two, "Don''t worry, I will try not to kill you!"

    ''Ophi? He means Ophelia, I guess? So that dude is one of her friends?'' Nial figured just as his ears perked up.

    "Michael Ignis, there is no reason for you to say something like that to your opponent. Even if you''re a prodigy, don''t underestimate your opponents!" The Dracos Leader reminded him in a stern voice.

    Michael Ignis shrugged his shoulders, seemingly not bothered by the Dracos Leader''s words.

    However, that was a big mistake. The Dracos Leader already had a bad feeling about the Royal Princess'' choice. It didn''t make sense that the Royal Princess would choose an origin human to fight for her. Nial was also blind and only at the Peak of the Prometheus rank.

    The Dracos Leader could have sent a Keltia-ranked Dracos in the fight while telling them that it wouldn''t be fair for the Darkness Gryphon to join the battle. That way, Nial would have to fight someone at the Keltia rank while being at the Peak of the Prometheus rank, all by himself at that!

    But he didn''t use this tactic simply because he was confident of his warrior. Michael Ignis was stronger than everyone else in the entire army of one hundred thousand Dracos and thousands of mighty dungeon beasts. It was a fact, and something the Dracos Leader wanted to make use of by ying around with the psyche of his opponents.

    "Just worry about yourself, Michael Ignis," Nial responded to Michael''sment calmly. There was not an ounce of fear or hesitation in his voice. Nial''s movements were also smooth and confident as he retrieved a spear from his spatial ring.

    He spun it around his body for a while and entered his battle stance smoothly. He was ready to fight, and so was Ryu, who screeched loudly.

    Darkness oozed out of Ryu''s entire body which made it look like the Darkness Gryphon had grown.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Listen to him. Go all out, and don''t even think about holding back¡­even if he is her friend, or whatever they are!" The Dracos Leader bellowed, his loud voice reverberating throughout the arena.

    It was as if the Dracos leader''s voice hit the switch button. The scales all over Michael''s body grew in size. They ovepped with one another causing loud ttering noises to reverberate through the arena. mes shot out of the small gaps that had been created through the ovepping of the scales.

    The searing hot mes increased the temperature by more than twenty degrees in an instant and the temperature was still increasing. Michael''s golden reptilian eyes seemed to dte and they began to shine much brighter than before.

    He stared intently at Nial and grit his teeth due to the things his eyes unveiled to him. His tail grew in size and it smashed into the ground, scattering the dry soil around.

    Michael''s appearance had changed drastically. He looked like a superior version of the Dracos. The pressure that radiated from his body was much more intense than before. It was even higher than the pressure most ordinary Keltia could radiate.

    ''Just by releasing his power, he can almost create a Domain? That''s not bad¡­''

    Nial sensed what Michael was doing but he didn''t respond in any way. The battle had yet to officially begin. There was no need to overdo it right from the start. Michael was just wasting his precious mana and the other mysterious energy or power that resided within him.

    It was only a moment or twoter when both heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Afterward, a loud voice rang through the ears of the two contenders.

    "The battle willmence in three¡­two¡­.one¡­fight!"

    When the battle started, Michael leaned forward and he turned into a fiery sh. He left behind a trail of mes and footprints that were deeply engraved into the dry ground.

    Michael crossed more than half the distance between him and Nial in an instant and it would take a mere moment before they would collide.

    However, before they collided, Ryu released a tremendous amount of darkness in front of Nial. A wall of darkness emerged between Nial and Michael all of a sudden.

    Ryu tried to make it difficult for Michael to attack Nial, or so it looked, at least. But instead of making a detour around the wall conjured from darkness, Michael releasedpressed mes on it.

    The mes burned down the wall of darkness in an instant, unveiling Nial and¡­two more outlines! At this moment, Ryu shot high in the air, providing support from the air by shooting darkness arrows and spears to the ground.

    However, Michael''s focus was not on Ryu''s figure that shot away from his line of view, but on the two new figures that were emerging from the abyss-like ck ground around Nial.

    A huge giant-like figure charged at Michael in an instant, wielding a mace manifested out of darkness. At the same time, the smaller figure shot to the left, disappearing from Michael''s sight in the blink of an eye.

    Meanwhile, Nial was just smiling as he formed a knit-tight armor of dark energy around his body.

    It was time to start the battle for real!

 Chapter 515 4 Vs 1

    "Isn''t that cheating?! Why the hell are there two more¡­whatever they are, on Nial''s side??" The Dracos Leader shouted out loud all of a sudden.

    He was standing next to the Royal Princess, feeling like ignoring the Soul Contract and killing her in this instance. It would take only a small snap and her neck would be twisted.

    The Dracos Leader''s w-like hands were trembling in rage but the Royal Princess could only smile in response.

    "You said that he is allowed to use all his means. These two belong to him. I think they cannot exist without him, in the first ce," She said, uncertain what exactly these Devils were.

    Evalyne had once asked Nial what or who these two Devils were but there was no satisfactory answer to this. Nial could only answer honestly and say that the Devils were something created by Damian and that they belong to him, one way or another.

    Nial didn''t possess much knowledge about the Devils either, but he knew that time would tell him.

    "That¡­" The Dracos Leader was at a loss for words. He could clearly tell that the two Devils had exactly the same type of energy as Nial, but he didn''t want to acknowledge it. And he also had a sinking feeling that Michael was not going tost long.

    Both Devils were at the Deux rank and they looked quite powerful as well. The pressure they released the instant they emerged from the pitch-ck ground next to Nial was terrifying, and it grew only worse the moment the Dracos witnessed how fast the small Devil was.

    As for the muscle-packed giant-like Devil, it was just as terrifying, if not even worse. The Dracos were known for their closebat talent. Their control of the fire element was known throughout the Universe. The fire element was also partially the reason for their great talent as cksmiths and Runiciers.

    Learning how to fight in closebat with their powerful fire affinity was what turned them into great Warriors, not only highly-talented Artisans.

    However, facing the Tyrant of Destruction was not something one could easily do just by being a prodigiousbatant.

    It was only fortunate that Michael''s Mana Sea was well developed and that he had already activated his Draconic form, by using the Draconic Power that had awoken deep inside him a long time ago.

    His fire affinity had been temporarily altered and reinforced, while his physical strength was naturally strengthened as well. Michael was in his strongest form, yet, he felt the need to take it one step further at the sight of the Devils.

    He was not exactly sure what was going on but Michael could tell that the situation was spiraling out of his control. Thus, Michael activated one of his few abilities. The zing mes that were raging all over his body dimmed down. They grew smaller and changed to a blueish hue.

    The blue mes spread all over Michael''s body and he elerated, shing with the Tyrant of Destruction head-on.

    Michael evaded the darkness mace by ducking its attack. His face almost touched the ground and he had to shoot upward the moment Tyrant'' full-force attack missed the designated target.

    His w-like hands erged into head-sized ws. The ws were mantled in blue mes that dug deep inside Tyrant''s chest just before the Devil''s other hand shot out. Tyrant grasped Michael tightly while acting as if he didn''t even notice the injury he had sustained.

    ck blood trickled down his chest but the Tyrant of Destruction didn''t care about that as he headbutted Michael with all his might.

    Michael was just about to block Tyrant''s headbutt with his free arm when dozens of darkness vines shot out of the pitch-ck ground that covered the area below him. The darkness had spread out from Nial and it covered almost the entire arena by now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial had yet to move from his earlier position but it was not as if he was doing nothing. He was actively participating in the battle even if he used underhand means to figure out how strong Michael Ignis was and if the Draco was even strong enough to defeat the Devils and Ryu in the first ce.

    The darkness vines restricted Michael''s arm only for a second but that was enough for Tyrant''s headbutt to impact. The Tyrant of Destruction was not fully unscathed because the hand holding Michael was burning in bright blue mes and his head hurt as well.

    He was forced to let go of Michael and he retreated for a few seconds. Dark energy oozed out of his injured hand and he circted it through his hand to heal it faster.

    Tyrant threw an enraged look at his opponent and had the mad urge to fight him all by himself. However, he knew that his strength was too restricted to go all out. It was not yet the right time for him to go all-out and neither was it possible for him to use certain means as they would permanently injure himself, or possibly even his new master.

    However, it was not necessary for him to tackle his enemy alone, to begin with. Ryu released tens of long-range attacks from high in the air the moment Tyrant backed off. The Darkness Gryphon worked in unison with the two Devils who seemed to have changed sparring partners now that Kaeldur emerged behind Michael Ignis.

    Kaeldur''s ws were coated in poisonous dark energy as he dug them deep inside the narrow gap between Michael''s scales on the back. Kaeldur knew that this wouldn''t be close enough to defeat Michael but an injury was an injury. The more wounds the better, especially since his poisonous dark energy was hard to get rid of.

    The poison was nourished by mana and it could hardly be expelled even with zing mes.

    Yet, that was exactly what happened. Most of the poisonous dark energy was expelled from the Draco''s body even before it could spread through his body.

    The zing mes burned everything which was a small surprise even for Kaeldur.

    ''Did I be that weak?!'' He wondered when he backed off as well. Michael was just about to turn around and attack the new target when ck miasma filled his vision. It was impossible for him to see anything in the thick miasma.

    He had to use his mes to burn down the miasma. At the same time, he shot in the direction of the smaller Devil, intending to finish off at least one opponent.

    However, before he could even lift his foot, more vines of darkness had shot out of the ground. The vines threw Michael off bnce even though they burned almost instantaneously.

    He nearly fell to the ground but managed to break his fall with the outburst of mes.

    Michael regained his footing and he remained vignt of his surroundings. The ck miasma was not in his way anymore but the smaller Devil had also disappeared.

    Dozens of darkness arrows shot down on him at this moment. Michael was forced to create a curtain of mes to destroy the mes. Simultaneously, he was trying to focus on his surroundings so that he could find his opponents the moment they attacked.

    However, there was nobody in his surroundings except the ck fog wherever he looked for several seconds.

    ''Where did they all disappear?''

 Chapter 516 Freeze!

    While Michael Ignis looked around in confusion to see where the Devils and the Darkness Gryphon had disappeared to, Nial had appeared behind the Dracos.

    He traveled through the darkness, and created several spikes that shot out of the ground to distract Michael as Nial appeared less than a meter behind him.

    With a rapid movement, Nial thrust the spear at Michael. The runic constetions of the Tier-2 Runic Spear were activated dark energy. The tip of the spear was shrouded in dark energy and shot out as if it was a crossbow bolt.

    Michael''s golden reptilian eyes narrowed the moment he realized what awaited him. He twisted his upper body while moving his tail at the same time. His tail shot upward, it collided with the spear shaft and pushed it further upward.

    Nial lost bnce due to the unexpected counterattack, which was what Michael made use of. Michael barely evaded the darkness bolt that had been released from the spear in Nial''s hand. It hadn''t been possible for his reinforced mes to destroy the dark energy of the bolt. Thus, he was still scratched by the sharp edges of the darkness bolt.

    His bleeding stopped immediately which made it look like he had never bled to begin with but the pain was still apparent in his mind. As if that was not enough, Michael noticed that two of his scales had been cut through.

    A young original at the Peak of the Prometheus rank was able to cut through his scales despite being reinforced by the blue mes!

    ''How is that possible?'' Michael wondered and he turned even more serious than before. Nial had already left his footing and Michael used his tail to coil it around Nial''s spear.

    He was just about to move rapidly and either tear the spear out of Nial''s grasp or fling Nial around while he was desperately holding onto the spear when a cold shiver spread all over his scales.

    His scales began to shudder and his tail stiffened.

    "Freeze!" Nial whispered silently as he activated Dominion with the use of dark energy.

    He could have used his crimson moonlight, Essence of Darkness, or even Chaos to further increase the potency of Dominion but Nial was in a trial-and-error phase, right now.

    Michael froze for less than a second due to the eerie feeling that still haunted him before he could move yet again. However, Nial had already pushed back, holding his spear.

    His expression was the same as before. He was calm and not even a single droplet of sweat glistened on his forehead.

    Nial had yet to go all out!

    Meanwhile, it looked like Michael Ignis had already used arge amount of mana. He was forced to maintain the blue mes because of the opponents he fought. At the same time, his Draconic Transformation drained his stamina rapidly. He couldn''t maintain either of the two powers for long anymore.

    Nial, on the other hand, was fighting with threepanions. Michael was not sure how the Dracos Leader could have been led by the nose so easily but their pride as Dracos was on the line! If they were to lose against the Elves, who had appointed a human to represent them, their entire race would be humiliated.

    And it would make matters worse if they were to lose the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg to the Elves. They had nned to use the Dragon egg to build a rtionship with other races.

    "...What is that power?" The Dracos leader asked the Royal Princess all of a sudden.

    ? He broke into a sweat after witnessing the course of the battle in front of him, and he didn''t like it at all. He had only seen Nial move his lips and Michael freeze in response but he didn''t hear what Nial said.

    However, that was not the problem. The problem was that the two Devils and Nial used a type of energy that was not supposed to exist anymore.

    It was something that only existed in legends that ought to belong to the history of the Primal Age. If his memory was not deceiving him, only one being was said to possess the type of energy that seemed eerily simr to the unique energy that had appeared in front of him, and it caused the Dracos Leader to shudder.

    He immediately recognized the energy because he had read about the sensation of that energy hundreds of times when he was still young. In his opinion, the history of the Universe had been extremely interesting, especially certain beings that had been feared by everyone.

    "How¡­can he possess this energy?!" The Dracos Leader asked, without letting the Royal Princess answer the first question.

    She almost rolled her eyes, not feeling like answering just because the Dracos were a nuisance. However, after thinking about it for a moment, Princess Evalyne couldn''t help but smirk.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was a good decision to send Nial into the ring. He was the best representative she could have appointed!

    "I think you already know what this power is. At least, you know the energy he is using based on the ugly face you''re making¡­not that your face looked good before, but whatever.

    As for how he can possess this energy, I have no idea. He just has the power of the God of Darkness even if he is not his descendant or anything like that!"

    The Dracos leader had somehow expected this answer but he couldn''t help but look at the Royal Princess with a wide open mouth.

    His jaw dropped to the ground and he couldn''t say a single word for a while.

    The Dracos Leader''s gaze flitted back to the arena again, his eyes fixed on Nial.

    "He doesn''t even move as if he can''t see, has the powers of the God of Darkness¡­and he is an origin human¡­" He mumbled to himself before his scales began to rattle as a shudder overcame him.

    "Don''t tell me¡­he has five ability slots like the other origin humans?!"

    The Royal Princess looked at the Dracos Leader with schadenfreude and she could hardly control her facial expression.

    "If that''s your biggest concern right now¡­" She said with a shrug, "I guess he has five ability slots, but I never asked him."

    Thinking about it, Evalyne recalled that Nial was also in possession of the Fairies'' Blessing, he had been recognized by Yggdrasil and nature loved him even before they met.

    Putting all of that together, it was pretty obvious that Nial''s constitution was highlypatible with all kinds of powers, even if they repelled each other.

    That was also why he had been epted by the High Elves, the Empress, and even Yggdrasil. He was not only Destroyer but much more than that!

    "I think you should prepare the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg soon!" The Royal Princess said, her expression turning brighter by the second.

    "...will that really be necessary?" The Dracos Leader mumbled in response, his focus switching to Michael, who was hisst ray of hope.

    ''Please¡­win for us!''

    **

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    Do you like it? Leave a review and add it to the library!

 Chapter 517 Surrounded

    ''What the hell is wrong with that guy?!'' Michael shouted inwardly as he blocked another attack from Nial.

    He tried to evade the attacks but Michael noticed that his body stiffened again the moment Nial said "Freeze" the second time.

    The feeling was weird, yet, Michael got a rough understanding of the ability Nial used.

    However, he was surprised when Nial said "Freeze" the third time but nothing happened. Nial didn''t activate the skill even though he uttered themand. This was totally unexpected because Michael had already changed his stance the moment the word left his mouth.

    He had entered a defense stance with close to zero openings. Nial, however, expertly used the few openings and thrust the spear straight at them.

    Michael was trying hard to evade them but he couldn''t do anything against it. The injuries he sustained were shallow but they kept increasing steadily. Bothered by this, Michael wanted to initiate an attack the moment Nial''s attack finished.

    Yet, even before he could do something, Michael noticed that his body froze once again. Nial hadn''t even opened his mouth but his body froze. The effect wore off faster than before but it was still enough for Nial to drive his spear deep inside the Draco''s chest.

    A faint smile appeared on the face of the blind Original, which was what caused Michael to realize that he had messed up big time.

    ''He just said ''Freeze'' to trick me earlier!''

    Nial didn''t bother focusing too much on the Draco''s shock. Instead, he was testing himself to see how far he could go while fighting an opponent all on his own. He knew that now was not the time to y around, but he had to try out a few things.

    It was not often that he received an opportunity to go all-out against a prodigy of another race. The Dracos were a highly tough and resilient race, which was why there was even less reason for Nial to hold back.

    He didn''t want to humiliate the Dracos by holding back and going soft on them.

    Thus, Dn ended up using his dark energy which was enhanced by his crimson moonlight and the Essence of Darkness. Darkness vines with crimson veins spreading through them shot out of the ground.

    They coiled around Michael''s legs and waist in an instant while temporarily ignoring the zing blue mes that burned down the dark energy.

    At the same time, spears of darkness rained down from the sky. They pierced the ground surrounding the Draco tightly. Just a momentter, Kaeldur, transformed into his bestial form, appeared in between the spears of darkness.

    Hisrge maw crunched down on Michael Ignis'' tail who screamed in pain. His teeth and two huge tusks were engulfed by poisonous dark energy and so were the ws that dug deep inside the tail of the Draco.

    Kaeldur''s head was shaking wildly and it was quite obvious that he was trying to rip Michael''s tail apart. Nial was surprised by the sudden change in Kaeldur''s form and the fact that Kaeldur was being more ballsy than before.

    ''Looks like advancing to the Deux rank returned some power to you!'' Nial figured, just like he understood that his bestial transformation overwhelmed his intelligence, recing it with carnal instincts.

    However, Kaeldur was not the only one who attacked the Draco without caring about the zing blue mes that were strong enough to burn through dark energy. The Tyrant of Destruction reappeared as well. He was on the other side of Michael and ready to bash his head at once.

    He smashed the darkness mace down on Michael Ignis, whose eyes widened for a moment. Michael Ignis saw from the corner of his eye that Nial opened his mouth, which was nearly enough to move his body subconsciously. The Draco grit his teeth at this moment and he essed his spatial ring to retrieve something.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A momentter, Tyrant''s mace smashed down on the Draco, whose blue zing mes erupted all of a sudden.

    Nial could tell what Michael had retrieved something from his spatial ring the moment he took it out. It was several runic armaments, including a celtic shield. The shield was oddly familiar but Nial didn''t have enough time to focus on that.

    The Celtic shield manifested a second, semi-translucent shield right above it. The second shield absorbed most of the attack''s impact before it crashed down on the Celtic shield.

    While Tyrant''s attack was blocked easily, the zing blue mes intensified around his tail. Kaeldur''s head was burning as if it was being fried in oil. The Devil had to release Michael and use dark energy to cover his entire head to avoid gettingburned to death.

    Kaeldur backed off to recuperate a bit while the Tyrant of Desturction''s other hand shot out to rip the Celtic shield out of Michael''s hand.

    However, it was at this moment that Tyrant noticed that Michael had retrieved not only a shield from his spatial ring but also a weapon.

    He was holding arge blunt weapon in the other hand and smashed it down on the Tyrant''s arm.

    Tyrant''s arm dispersed into darkness just before it was hit by the huge Warhammer held by Michael Ignis. Tyrant''s arm manifested once again a momentter.

    In response to the Warhammer that crashed into the ground after missing its designated target, Tyrant stomped his foot down on the head of the Warhammer, pressing it deeper into the ground. He was trying to ignore the pain shooting up his legs due to the zing mes that scorched his feet as they shot out of the hammerhead, but that was hardly possible.

    Nheless, the Tyrant of Destruction was giving his utmost to get his hands on the Celtic shield as he made a second attempt to rip it out of the hands of their opponent.

    Ryu released a bunch of darkness spears from above as well. It was hardly possible for the Draco to evade them because he was temporarily imprisoned and it was also not possible for him to lift his shield to block the attacks.

    Nial was just standing on the side and visualizing how the darkness spears were weakened through the zing blue mes before they collided with the scales of the Draco.

    Some spears shot through the gaps between the erged scales but the damage they caused was less than that inflicted by Nial''s darkness bolts.

    However, it was not as if Nial expected too much. He was just trying to figure out whether Ryu and his two Devils were strong enough to defeat the prodigy of the Draco race.

    Nial was not sure what to expect from their prodigy and neither could he say for sure how powerful his Devils were. Both Kaeldur and Tyrant were rather arrogant, but they couldn''t do much against the zing blue mes of the Draco.

    Were they just at a disadvantage because they were weak against the mes, or was there more to it?

    Nial hoped for thetter, otherwise, he didn''t have much hope in the strength of the Devils, no matter how much of their power would be unveiled.

    In the end, he decided that he had idled around enough. He reced his spear with a different one and inserted mana inside it.

    "Let''s see what you are going to do against this¡­."

 Chapter 518 Pierced

    Nial wielded the Broken Runic Spear in front of him while inserting mana inside it.

    When the spear was just about to be filled to the brim, he activated Vengeance of Chaos to release some currents of Chaos from within his palm. The Chaos entered the spear that began to vibrate violently.

    As the coalescence of all power gathered at the tip of the spear, more than thirty runic constetions that had been engraved across the entire Broken Runic Spear were activated at the same time and their effects ovepped. The ovepping effects showed a much bigger picture because the runic constetions were connected to one another.

    Every bit of energy gathered inside the spear''s pointed de that began to glow brightly.

    The Draco felt an immense pressure awakening from Nial''s direction, yet, he was unable to sense Nial''s mana. Nial''s entire existence seemed to disappear from the view of the Draco, whose reptilian eyes almost popped out while looking at the situation ahead of him.

    "I would desperately try to evade this if I were you," Nial said with an eerily calmness when he thrust the spear to the front, aiming at Michael Ignis.

    Michael Ignis was still restricted and unable to move properly. Tyrant and Kaeldur might have retreated but the darkness spears around him were still present and so were the crimson darkness vines that restricted his movements just as much.

    However, he could tell that Nial''s words were certainly worth heeding. The spear in Nial''s hand seemed to vibrate violently and fragments of the spear were already flung through the surrounding. That could only mean two things; the Runic Spear was not able to endure the quality and quantity of the energy that had been inserted in it, or the runic constetions engraved on the runic spear were not suitable for the material that had been used to create the runic spear.

    Thetter would mean that the runic constetions were too strong for the weaker material to endure. However, that was not something that should be happening because it was hardly possible to create a proper attack and maintain a certain degree of safety when releasing the power of highly potent runic constetions through unsuitable materials.

    And Nial''s attack looked extremely dangerous, especially when the tip of the spear released a finger-sized silverish-white beam that shot through the air while releasing a shockwave.

    The finger-sized beam looked harmless and easy to deflect but the Dracos leader and many other Dracos swallowed their saliva as they witnessed what happened afterward.

    Michael Ignis let go of his weapon instinctively. He held the Celtic shield with both arms and inserted as much mana inside it as possible.

    Arge semi-translucent shield manifested in front of the Celtic shield just before the Dn''s attack reached it. However, instead of absorbing the attack of the beam, or even the slightest bit of force, the semi-translucent shield burst apart. It didn''t provide the slightest bit of protection as the beam continued its advance to Michael Ignis.

    The Celtic shield was more of a hindrance than the semi-translucent shield to the beam, but even that was not enough to block the attack. The silverish-white beam burst through the red Celtic shield, and it would have killed Michael Ignis if he hadn''t twisted his body at thest second.

    But Michael was unable to evade the attackpletely. His shoulder was pierced through and a muffled groan of pain resounded.

    The Celtic shield broke apart just a momentter, leaving Michael Ignis without a sword or a shield in his hand.

    He was just standing there, his eyes widening even further as he looked at the neat hole that had been carved through his shoulder by the beam before it burst out on the other side. The beam had destroyed everything and Michael couldn''t help but feel eerie for a moment.

    However, there was no time for him to hesitate because the battle was not yet over. But Michael was doing exactly that¡­he was hesitating.

    Shocked due to the attack of the Prometheus origin human, Michael reacted a moment toote. In the meantime, Kaeldur had appeared behind the Draco in his original form. One of his ws held the throat of Michael tightly while his other w was ttened on his back and ready to pierce through the back of the Draco to tear out his heart.<novelnext></novelnext>

    At the same time, Tyrant''s spiked mace came crashing down on Michael''s head, barely stopping millimeters away from the target. And then there was Ryu, whose darkness spears hovered around the Draco''s entire body, ready to recreate an iron maiden¡­just differently.

    As for Nial, he was breathing heavily as blood trickled out of his nose and eyes.

    ''It is too much to ask for inserting some Chaos in runic armaments?...'' Nial thought while thest bits of the Broken runic armament burst apart.

    A few fragments had sliced into his palms but that was already the most damage he had sustained if one ignored the blood that oozed out of his nose and eyes.

    He removed the fragments of the spear with the use of some dark energy before clearing his throat.

    "We didn''t agree upon a no-killing rule beforehand but I don''t think we should kill each other. Do you agree that you lost?"

    Nial''s lifeless eyes looked unfocused toward Michael Ignis, whose body was still exuding the zing blue mes. The blue mes burned Kaeldur''s ws but the Devil didn''t retract them this time.

    On the contrary, Kaeldur moved his right w even closer to Michael''s throat while whispering in his ears, "If you don''t remove your mes in the next three seconds, I''ll shred your throat like cheese!"

    Michael''s scales began to tter when he heard this as a tremendous amount of killing intent overcame him. The two Devils didn''t kill him only because Nial didn''t want that to happen. If not for Nial, Michael Ignis would be dead by now!

    "I lost¡­" He said defeatedly while retracting his mes and terminating the use of his Draconic Transformation. A sudden weakness overcame him but it was not enough for him to feel too dejected to walk over to the Dracos Leader and get down on his knees.

    "I¡­lost¡­" Michael repeated, this time to the Dracos Leader, whose entire mind was still befuddled by what he had just witnessed.

    A minute of silence passed and the Dracos Leader began to shudder. He was shaking in frustration and his expression distorted violently, just to end up shaking his head in disbelief.

    "You lost because of me¡­ I should have believed this human when he said that he was the strongest, or when this despicable Princess chose him to represent the Elves¡­I should have intervened¡­it''s my fault¡­" The Dracos Leader med himself for the oue of the battle.

    He patted the shoulder of Michael Ignis who was injured from head to toe before he turned his head to the other Dracos.

    "I''m sorry for my grave mistake¡­" He just said, hoping deep down that he would be able to receive the Greater Forest Dragon egg from his superior, rather than getting sacrificed¡­

    While the Dracos were discouraged and demoralized, the Elves were overjoyed. They didn''t expect Michael Ignis to be that powerful, let alone to witness such a powerful Original getting restrained so easily. It looked way too easy to be true.

    However, Nial couldn''t care about any of that. He appeared in front of the Royal Princess, who smiled brightly at him before he revealed a sly smile.

    "You better give me a good reward, otherwise, I will snatch the Greater Forest Dragon egg for myself!"

 Chapter 519 Attention

    Both Devils, Kaeldur and Tyrant were far from ordinary Originals at the Deux rank. They were much stronger and faster than ordinary Deux-rank Originals. At the same time, they had more experience than God-like existences because they had been on par with Gods in the past.

    In their prime, the two Devils had fought by Damian''s side against countless powerful opponents. Thus, defeating someone at the Deux rank was supposed to be an easy task for them.

    However, that was not the case against all kinds of Originals even if they were in possession of powers that could hardly be countered by beings at the Deux rank.

    That was why it shouldn''t have been a problem for Kaeldur and Tyrant to defeat Michael Ignis by themself, let alone in a four versus one battle with someone like Nial by their side who made use of his tremendous powers and even Broken Runic Armaments.

    Neither Nial nor the three others on his side had unleashed their full power in the fight against the Draco. It hadn''t been necessary to fight desperately against Michael Ignis given that they had too many advantages to begin with.

    Despite that, Nial was pretty sure that Michael Ignis was one of the most talented prodigies in the Draco race. Even the Royal Princess, whose inherited powers and potential were extraordinary, wasn''t able to rival Michael Ignis in terms of strength.

    That was something the Royal Princess had been able to tell instinctively, which was the reason for her choosing Nial as the representative of the Elven race.

    She was overjoyed that Nial had won, but her bright smile faltered when Nial approached her with a sly smile.

    "You better give me a good reward, otherwise, I will snatch the Greater Forest Dragon egg!"

    Thisment was more than enough to nearly destroy the moment for her.

    She rolled her eyes and felt like giving Nial a good punch. However, after recalling how Nial had defeated Michael Ignis, she frowned.

    "Your runic armaments are really frightening¡­" Princess Evalyne responded without bothering to answer Nial''s question.

    "Oi¡­that''s not the point right now.." Nial interrupted and exined why the silverish-white beam was so powerful, "Furthermore, I used the Power of Chaos to enhance the strength of the broken runic spear. Others won''t be able to achieve the same result even if I create the exact same broken runic spear again!"

    "...but let''s get back to the more important point. I saved you lots of trouble by preventing the Dracos from invading the Forest of Life. No matter how much you prepared while stalling time, half of the Forest of Life and your forces would have ended up as casualties if not for me!" He said while holding out his palm open in front of her as if he demanded to be paid right off the bat.

    However, the Royal Princess merely smiled in response before she swatted his hand away. She smiled cheekily which Nial visualized in frustration.

    "Teasing me won''t help you. I''m serious¡­I will take the Greater Forest Dragon and turn him into a Devil¡­" Nial grumbled which caused the Royal Princess to chuckle. "Yes, yes, you can just try it!"

    It was obvious that she didn''t take his threat seriously. Thus, Nial ended up turning around with a sigh.

    He heard the Dracos mumbling to each other, gossiping whether it was fair that the Elven used a representative of another race, that their representative summoned two Devils all of a sudden, or that he used this weird runic spear to defeat their candidate.

    Some were also wondering what type of spear he had used to create such tremendous strength, and that was where Nial chose to intervene.

    "I started to create Broken Runic Armaments that can be used by Originals of a lower rank to release a much higher attack power than their rank allowed them to. The Broken Runic Armaments break after you use them at full power just once but the effect is pretty good as you could see for yourselves.<novelnext></novelnext>

    My Broken Tier-2 Runic spear was strong enough to destroy a defensive type Tier-2 runic shield and pierce through the shoulder of a Peak Deux-rank Draco after he used his Draconic Transformation and blue mes to increase his already high endurance."

    Nial spoke in a calm andposed manner as he exined the existence of Broken Runic Armaments to the Dracos. He was not sure if they knew that something like that existed or even could be created or not. Maybe they thought that it was a sin to create runic armaments that would break after a single use.

    The Dracos were very prideful which Nial was aware of. He knew that his words might hurt their pride in multiple ways at that, but it was necessary to attract their attention!

    As he had already expected the situation to escte a little, he was not even surprised when the tension in the surroundings intensified all of a sudden.

    "Do you want to pick a fight?" A Draco at the Keltia rank asked sharply. His voice was ice-cold but his eyes burned fiercely. It was evident that he was ready to fight Nial right at this instance and put him in his ce.

    "Of course not. I just want to make sure that you guys pay more attention to what I have to say, and given that you are so darn proud of your race and achievements, I had to rub a little bit of salt on your wounds," Nial responded and realized a bitte that he might have simply aggravated them more. Thus, he fixed his earlierment.

    "I wanted your attention to talk about business while your leader is getting hold of the Greater Forest Dragon egg!"

    The Dracos Leader had yet to leave to get the Greater Forest Dragon egg from their native, or wherever the egg was currently located, but that would take a while. It was a waste of precious time to idle around in the meantime.

    "Are you fucking kidding me, right now? Why the hell would you insult us and then talk about business?" The same Keltia-ranked Draco snapped at him, his voice was still sharp and cold.

    "I got your attention, and the others are paying more attention to me now as well. I think my n worked out pretty well," Nial responded calmly, appearing satisfied with himself.

    The Keltia-ranked Draco didn''t like Nial''s attitude but that was something Nial couldn''t care less about.

    "You!!...How about I beat the shit out of you then?!" He cried while stepping closer to Nial, who didn''t move a single inch.

    He just smiled at the Draco while gathering his Mana, dark energy and Essence of Darkness. He amplified the words he was about to say with a mixture of these three energies while using the majority of it to activate Dominion.

    "Kneel!"

    His voice boomed through the surroundings and most Dracos and even Elves who heard Nial almost went down on their knees almost instantly.

    Yet, only the Keltia-ranked Draco ended up on his knees without realizing it at first. He was the only target of Dominion but Nial was not yet done.

    He targeted Vengeance of Chaos around the top of his right foot as he spun around to execute a roundhouse kick against the head of the Draco, whose head flung due to the impact before he copsed on the ground.

    "Thanks for making sure that I got everyone''s attention¡­idiot."

 Chapter 520 Reason

    Nial was subjected to weird gazes by almost everyone.

    His fight with Michael Ignis was over but Nial was still fighting with some Draco. Calling it a fight might be an overestimation because Nial ended up knocking out the Keltia-ranked Draco even before he could touch Nial but that didn''t matter.

    Nial did what he wanted to do, which meant that he garnered everyone''s attention, if only in a rough way.

    "He was a little bit arrogant, don''t you think so?" Nial asked while looking in the direction of the Dracos Leader and Michael Ignis. He had a faint smile on his lips and looked seemingly unbothered about what he had just done.

    "Good fight, by the way. You''re really strong!"

    Nial knew that hisment wouldn''t really appease Michael Ignis''s wounded ego but he felt the need to tell the Draco''s prodigy that he had been quite powerful.

    "...Thanks¡­I guess¡­" Michael Ignis responded, not sure what else he was supposed to say when he looked at Nial and the Keltia-ranked Draco who had been knocked out in an instant.

    After using Dominion in its second strongest form, Nial followed up with a powerful roundhouse kick that was enhanced by the Power of Chaos.

    "Was it really necessary to knock him out?" The Dracos Leader asked all of a sudden, just for Nial to shrug his shoulders in response.

    "I don''t know. Would everyone else have paid attention to me that quickly? He released killing intent and charged at me, either way. Just feel lucky that I didn''t kill him," Nial said in a manner that clearly showed how little he cared about the unconscious Draco.

    "I want to do business, not to beat the shit out of you guys!" He had to add before he pointed back at the Forest of Life.

    "Why did you guys want the divinity fragment portal of the Elven Empress, either way? Sacrificing an army of a hundred thousand powerful Dracos and tamed beasts in exchange for a small chance to procure the portal is not exactly worth it in my opinion.

    You guys should have created a worldbridge, or multiple if you guys are not satisfied with the efficiency of a single worldbridge!"

    It was hard for Nial toprehend why the Dracos wanted to get their hands on the Empress'' Divinity Fragment portal and be ready to sacrifice so much. It couldn''t be because the divinity fragment was a portal¡­there had to be more to it. Otherwise, it really didn''t make any sense!

    The Dracos Leader looked at him evenly, not intending to answer at first. However, it was Michael who answered instead.

    "If I answer this question, will you answer one of my questions?" Michael asked while his wounds were getting tended to.

    Nial gave Michael Ignis a nod while motioning him to continue.

    "Alright¡­to answer your question first, you don''t seem to be very knowledgeable about worldbridges. That is not exactly important but you should know that there can only be one worldbridge connected from a certain to a certain region of another. Somes are too small and theirary mana core is too weak to create and sustain multiple worldbridges connected to only one other.

    We wanted the Divinity fragment portal because its the strongest type of worldbridge we''ve encountered until now. We want to bring our runiciers, weaponry, engraving and forging equipment and materials to the Origin, but that is easier said than done because our origin is rather small inparison to the others we''ve expanded to.

    There are some problems with the others as well, but that is not something you need to know."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Michael''s answer was somewhat detailed, yet alsocked the necessary input. Nial understood the rough meaning of the Draco''s words, which was enough for the time being. A n was being formed in his mind and he was slowly getting somewhere with his train of thought.

    "As for my question¡­did you go all out against me?" Michael finally asked.

    At first, he had been certain that Nial had given his all. After releasing the silverish-white beam, Nial bled out of his eyes and nose. That was a pretty intense sign of the effort put in by the blind Original.

    However, just a momentter, he forced a Keltia-ranked Draco onto his knees before he knocked him out with a single kick! Nial didn''t even seem exhausted afterward. And to top it all, nearly everyone who heard him saying "Kneel!", flinched and almost went down on their knees.

    They hadn''t even been targeted by Nial, yet, they almost went down on their knees in supplication because their subconscious told them to do so.

    Nial thought about the best answer for a moment before he came to a realization. Even if it was harsh, telling the truth was still best in that situation.

    "I didn''t go all-out while fighting you, but that has other reasons than me trying to humiliate you or anything like that. I hope you won''t misunderstand."

    Michael Ignis looked at Nial for a few seconds and he ended up nodding his head. It was frustrating and somewhat humiliating that Nial didn''t go all out against him but Michael didn''t think that Nial was lying.

    Nial chose to consider that the discussion hade to an end. Thus, he turned his head lightly to make sure that his milky-white, lifeless eyes would stare in the direction of the Dracos Leader, though unfocused.

    "When you go back to get your hands on the Greater Forest Dragon egg, you can also take these things with you. I can produce dozens of Broken Tier-2 runic armaments within a day. With good Master BLacksmiths by my side I can probably be even faster," Nial said while throwing a small spatial ring to the Dracos Leader.

    A bunch of runic armaments could be found inside, basically, all types of runic armaments Nial could create in the Halheim shelter.

    "If you cannot bring your weaponry and other equipment to the Origin, just make new ones! With the cksmithing talent of the Dracos, it would be much easier for me to work hard, be a better runicier and earn more money as well!"

    The Dracos leader retrieved a few runic armaments from the ring, which is how he realized that Nial was already a Grandmaster Runicier, with an exceptional variety of runic constetions at his disposal. The way he engraved runic constetions and connected them was quite unique as well. It just showed how exceptionally talented he was.

    After looking through the weapons for a while, Michael Ignis grasped one of the heavy greatswords that caught his eye. It was almost two meters in length, bloody red in color and crimson runic constetions were engraved along the entire de.

    Ignoring his injuries, Michael inserted mana inside the Tier-3 runic greatsword that began to vibrate all of a sudden. mes shrouded the vibrating de and the Draco felt a sudden spurt of strength and vigor entering his body.

    "What the hell is that?" He mumbled, realizing that he was looking at something that he had never seen before.

    "You can use your mana to replenish your vigor and increase your strength temporarily. The amount of mana drained from your body will increase the longer you keep the runic constetions necessary to create this effect activated, but that''s why there is also a me shroud and vibration runic constetion to increase the weapon''s attack power drastically!" Nial exined, throwing a lot of confusing words at once without telling too much.

    He was looked at weirdly for a while before the sound of someone clearing his throat reached Nial''s ears.

    "We are not on good terms with the Elven races as you can see¡­is that fine with you?" The Dracos leader asked all of a sudden, all the traces of hostility wiped out of it.

 Chapter 521 Beat Them Up!

    "We are not on good terms with the Elven races as you can see¡­is that fine with you?" The Dracos leader asked all of a sudden, all the traces of hostility wiped out of it.

    When Nial heard the change in the Dracos leader''s tone, he knew that the Dracos had been baited sessfully.

    The tension in the surroundings diminished and the following minute or two were spent with the Dracos testing a bunch of runic armaments. One of them tested the power of a Broken Runic Armament, which resulted in it breaking apart.

    Nial smiled weirdly at the reaction of the Dracos as they realized what one of their brethren had just done.

    "How much do you usually sell the Broken runic armaments for?" The Leader of the Dracos army asked after a while when he realized that Nial didn''t answer his first question. The runic armaments given by Nial were already stored in the spatial ring and he wanted to ask only a few more questions to make sure that he could convey everything properly to his superior.

    It wouldn''t be that disastrous if they were to return home with new connections to someone such as Nial. By telling his superior everything that happened in thest few hours, including the ''new'' invention of properly working Broken Runic Armaments, the Dracos Leader might be able to prevent getting abandoned or punished by his superior.

    He couldn''t be certain whether his superiors would abandon an army of 100,000 Dracos and tamed beasts, or if he would give them the Greater Forest Dragon egg. Thetter was an unlikely scenario because the Greater Forest Dragon egg was more valuable than 100,000 Dracos and tamed beasts in the eyes of the higher authorities.

    However, with the appearance of a variable like Nial, a blind origin human with the powers of the Late God of Darkness, and exceptional knowledge as a Runicier, things might change a little.

    Nial''s other powers were unknown to them for now but it was quite obvious that he could easily defeat ordinary Keltia-ranked Dracos while he was merely at the Peak of the Prometheus rank.

    "Broken Runic Armaments are more valuable than ordinary Runic Armaments. You can only use them once but their power is manyfold better than other runic armaments at the same rank. Furthermore, I am currently the only one who can create them. At least, I don''t know anyone else who can create Broken Runic Armaments. If you know anyone, feel free to correct me. The demand for Broken Runic Armaments is very high, which is also why they''re usually between 200-500% more expensive than ordinary Runic Armaments at the same Tier!

    As for the other ''issue'', there is no need to be worried about that!" Nial added as he thought about an answer about the rtionship between him and the Elves, and the bad terms between the Elven races and the Dracos.

    "I am just a human and I want to make a business deal with the Dracos. The Elves have nothing to do with that. In fact, they can profit from our deal as well," He added while turning to the Royal Princess whose eyes were staring daggers at him, "No offense, but you used me to get your hands on the Dragon egg, so¡­ I will y it to my advantage!"

    Nial was still quite nonchnt with the Royal Princess, who could barely control her twitching eye as she heard what Nial said.

    "It''s not like you ever thought about what you did before you jumped into the fray¡­" She wanted tosh out at him but grumbled quietly.

    Nial heard her, of course, but he simply ignored the Royal Princess'' grumbling.

    "While you leave, can I borrow your people?" Nial enquired to the Dracos Leader who did not appear pleased with the request.

    However, after considering something, he nodded his head and pointed toward them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I won''t force them to listen to you, let alone to work under you, so you will have to convince them. I will need a while before I return, either way," The Dracos Leader said, just to add an important word of caution, "but in exchange, you will make sure that the Elves won''t attack my people¡­and the other way around as well, obviously. If necessary, you can beat up a few of my people, we''re quite resilient!"

    Nial nearly broke intougher when he heard what the Dracos Leader said but he managed to keep his pokerface.

    "I will do my best. You have to leave either way. Just try to get the Greater Forest Dragon egg, otherwise, you guys will have to listen to the Elves until the day you guys die."

    Nial could sense that the Dracos were not satisfied with the current situation but they had to ept it nheless. Being able to learn something while working with Nial would help them a lot, especially when it came to the Broken Runic Armaments. It was not impossible for others to recreate them and it was only a matter of time before more of them would be produced by other races who also wanted to own such powerful weapons.

    Nial was fully aware of that but he chose to ignore the truth because it didn''t matter too much. While others would be at the initial stage and try to replicate what he could easily do, Nial could be better and keep improving further.

    That was what he wanted to do, one way or another. Thus, while allowing the Dracos to learn from him, he would do exactly the same for them. It wouldn''t be a problem to experiment a little with runic constetions as long as the Master cksmiths forged masterpieces that endured a little bit more pressure than the average products he received from his people.

    He had a few talented cksmiths but they didn''t have any forging techniques, let alone techniques with which they could temper metal properly.

    It was time for Nial to take a step forward and be rich enough to do everything he needed to do. There was no need to waste anymore time ying around!

    The Dracos leader spend some time talking to his people before he spoke to the Royal Princess for a few minutes. The Royal Princess didn''t seem pleased with the conversation but that was not something the Dracos Leader could be bothered about.

    He left not too long after, leaving behind a bunch of Elves standing in front of more than a hundred thousand Dracos and tamed beasts, all of whom ended up feeling stranded in the middle of nowhere.

    "Looks like you guys have no ce to stay. How about you guys help the Halheim Shelter to expand in size before you leave? You can build a home for yourself while expanding the shelter and leave once you''re done. Of course, that is if you guys want to leaveter!" Nial offered all of a sudden, making the Royal Princess nearly shriek in disbelief.

    "Wait¡­you want them to live with the origin humans in the Halheim shelter?!"

    "Of course, we''ve already epted a few individuals of other races. So it''s nothing new."

    "But you do realize that your idiotic government won''t ept that, right?" The Royal Princess pressed on but Nial merely shrugged his shoulders in response.

    "Who are they to stop me?"

 Chapter 522 Announcement

    Nial was not really scared of the government anymore.

    In fact, he hadn''t been scared of them earlier either. It was just that Nial liked to be a little bit more careful.

    That was not necessary after what had happened in thest few months, especially since he did business with the rebels of the Shelturion race, and now that the Linaton left the human shelters.

    The only issue that was left behind was how to solve the Soul Contract scheme with the Linaton race. As per Nial''s understanding, he could tell that the Linaton would disappear and return in a few years when the period of the Soul Contracts woulde to an end.

    And that time, the Linaton would end up taking everyone, who was unable to reach the Deux-rank which was one of the conditions mentioned in the Soul Contract.

    And that was where Nial''s n came into y.

    If the Linaton weren''t willing to terminate the Soul Contract, one could either pay the fee for breaking the contract or reach the Deux-rank within four years.

    umting a small fortune, or reaching the Deux rank within a few years was not easy to achieve, but Nial gave such people a special offer.

    If the somewhat talented victims of the Soul Contract scheme were willing to join his Onyx Association or Orion Artisan Guild, they would be given a copy of the Mana Breathing technique or a copy of another technique such as a technique rted to forging or concocting.

    Nial gave the victims the opportunity to make up for their stupidity by extending a helping hand. He would give everyone the means to solve their problems on their own. Nial didn''t n on rescuing everyone and being known as the knight in white shining armor if they themselves went looking for trouble.

    Nheless, he chose to help everyone which was announced through all ten shelters. It was necessary for everyone who joined his organizations to sign a Soul Contract but a quick nce could tell everyone that there weren''t any bad uses listed in it.

    Nial knew that a few tricky uses had been mentioned in the contracts but they were just to make sure that he wouldn''t lose everything if someone in his organization was enved and unable to disobey their new master.

    Safety and security of his organization and its members were his number one priority in that regard!

    The citizens of the ten shelters were thankful for his help and the mysterious leader of the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild was held in much higher regard than the government itself. Not only did he treat his people in the organizations well, but he had helped everyone get rid of their addiction, and now he helped the victims of the Linaton race''s scheming once again.

    It was like the human race had been given a guardian angel who protected them all the time.

    Thus, Nial was pretty sure that the citizens of the Halheim shelter wouldn''t say anything against his n to expand the shelter with the help of the Dracos.

    "Even if everyone were against the Dracos staying right next to the Halheim shelter, they could just move a little bit further away. At the same time, everyone who went against me would be cklisted from buying any runic armaments, potions, or Cultivation pills¡­.I would be soooo sorrryyyy about that¡­well, not really," Nial pointed out to the Royal Princess who was still skeptical.

    While the Royal Princess was still lost in thought, Nightingale stepped forward.

    "Looks like someone figured that he had the power to ckmail his entire race¡­that''s very pleasant to hear!" Nightingale said while pping in his hands like an excited six-year-old kid.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial didn''t smile when he visualized Nightingale but he was as satisfied as the Royal Nightshadow Elf acted right now.

    It was about time that the government stepped back from acting all mighty, and epted that there were stronger and more influential individuals in their race.

    With that in mind, Nial waited for the Dracos'' reply that came not too long after.

    They were willing to build their own ce just next to the Halheim shelter, which they would leave once their leader returned. It was likely to take a while before the Dracos Leader would return, either way, so they might as well do something useful.

    After Nial heard a positive reply from the Dracos, he went over to the shelter and told Melheim to draft a note to the government informing them about his ns for the Dracos. Then he flew high in the air above Halheim to make an announcement to everyone in the Halheim shelter by amplifying his voice and words with the use of mana.

    "Hello everyone, I''m the leader of the Orion Artisan Guild and the Onyx Association. As some of you might have noticed by now, an army of a hundred thousand Dracos and tamed beasts reached the territory of the Elven not too long ago.

    I dissuaded them from attacking the Forest of Life and made sure that there is no harm in conversing with them. I also finished a business deal with them, which is why I will im thends on the western side of the Halheim shelter to allow the Dracos to temporarily live there. They will expand the shelter and leave when their time hase.

    If someone has a problem with my attitude or actions, feel free to write a lovely letter to my legal team. I''ve already informed them about my course of action and what I will do in certain situations.

    Ah¡­and don''t attack the Dracos. They''re much stronger than you guys are. It wouldn''t even take two Dracos to destroy the entire shelter.

    That being said, have fun doing whatever dirty things you''re doing, my lovely government!"

    Nial knew that his words created lots of enemies and that his wless image might get tarnished. He was also pretty sure that the government and a bunch of organizations would try to exclude him and his creations from the market and spread rumors about him.

    That was something he expected, which meant that he had already made preparations against these problems even if they may not actually happen.

    Nial knew that he was basically ckmailing everyone even if they had yet to find out about the bitter truth, but he didn''t really care about it.

    Keeping a low profile was much more exhausting than acting high and mighty¡­and he had had enough of ying the fool. There were certain situations that he had to avoid, but they were not rted to the internal problems of the origin human race.

    Only other races could cause enough trouble for Nial to make him do things that he was not actually willing to do, and that was never because he was too weak as an individual but because he had people to protect!

    He didn''t want to be the cause of the origin human race''s annihtion, which was why he used all his means to strengthen them. Creating exceptional runic armaments and cultivation pills and selling them for a dirt cheap price to allow the other races in Jundra to afford them was one of the small things that would allow the origin humans to be much stronger!

    As for the reason why he didn''t make a formal application to the government to expand the shelter with the Dracos'' help¡­

    Nial had had enough of the government. This was just the first p he issued to their face!

 Chapter 523 King Withing The Shadows

    The general reaction to his announcement was an outburst. Most civilians thought that the government was making fun of them because it was unlikely that the mysterious boss of the Orion Artisan Guild and the Onyx Association would do whatever he pleased.

    Thus, most civilians started to hate the government even more than they already did before, only to be baffled upon hearing that the government made an official statement which revealed that they had nothing to do with Nial''s announcement.

    Most civilians were confused but they trusted the mysterious man who had helped them various times. They believed his words and didn''t think about it any further. It was not possible that someone as good and generous as the mysterious man who helped them so often would do something bad.

    That way, Nial could convince the civilians that he wouldn''t do anything bad just by preserving his image. Most organizations were too small and insignificant to say something against Nial''s course of action, which meant that only the big organizations and the government could do something.

    At least that was what the organizations presumed, without realizing just how wrong they had been.

    Angered by Nial and fearing that he was a threat to them, a few representatives of the organizations went over to thend that had been imed by the mysterious man with the intention to obstruct his business. However, Nial had already foreseen such a circumstance and had given instructions to Melheim who released an official statement right away. In this statement, the said organizations were cklisted from buying anything created or forwarded through the Onyx Association or Orion Artisan Guild.

    However, as this was just a warning, the organizations would be cklisted for only three months as long as they didn''t create any further trouble.

    The warning ought to be enough for everyone to realize that Nial was not to be yed with. Others may not realize how important Nial''s runic armaments, potions and cultivation pills were but the big organizations were fully aware of Nial''s worth.

    The moment they were cklisted from purchasing anything, they would lose the ability to stay at the top just like everyone else.

    Right now, they were having a race amongst themselves about which organization was the strongest, yet, someone they had never expected to appear took the lead and forced everyone to obey him.

    The government was trying to stir trouble with his organizations by sending out some representatives but they failed miserably when they were faced with guards wielding Broken Runic Armaments.

    If the guards were to use them, their lives would be over before they could even turn around.

    Some entitled higher-ups of the government didn''t think that Nial''s organizations would be able to restrict the government because they acted with official permission and the necessary warrants.

    However, little did they know that their arrogance would also be the cause of their death. The moment the entitled higher-ups of the government turned a blind eye to not one but three warnings issued by the guards, they ended up as dead bodies.

    Some ended up being afraid of the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild but that was not something that could be prevented.

    They openly killed those who had always been considered the biggest influence of the human race and restricted those who were known as the strongest by issuing a mere cklist.

    It was obvious that the mysterious leader of the two organizations was the hidden leader of the entire human race, whether he wanted to ept this or not.

    A singlemand by him could change everything for the origin humans, who didn''t even know who exactly this mysterious leader was. Only few knew about Nial''s identity and most of them were not even able to speak about it because their mind had been altered with the use of Dominion, or they were bound by some uses of Soul Contracts.

    As for figuring out his identity through the announcement, that was easier said than done because his entire being had been shrouded in darkness at that time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Of course, there were also a few humans who weren''t restricted in any way but most of them were either on Nial''s side or they didn''t want to end up as his opponent.

    If one couldn''t be on Nial''s side, it was better to not make the grave mistake of standing opposite him, otherwise, their future would be bleak¡­if they were to be given the privilege of having a future, to begin with.

    Nial might look and act like a nice guy but that was only as long as he could get what he wanted to. Not many had seen Nial when he was at his worst, influenced by his dark energy, consumed by anger and wrath, and nobody wanted to see him like this ever again.

    Something within him had broken when he lost his mother to the cruel actions of the person he considered his friend in the past. And life just went downhill from that point. His sister left him, his master was also killed, and thest good friend he had at that time disappeared as well.

    His rtionship with Mathias had been difficult but it was certain that Nial didn''t give up on Mathias. It was just that his friend had to get his act together.

    But was Nial really better in that regard? He didn''t really show much about how he felt after the incidents had happened. It was as if he was still hiding his true feelings and had put up a wall around his heart.

    Nial wouldn''t change his ways one way or another. Life had scarred him and the only thing he could do was to make sure that the incidents of the past would never be repeated.

    That was why he provided enough materials to the Dracos to start expanding the shelter to the west when nobody restricted them any more.

    Nial also messaged the Shelturion to instruct them to produce more Cultivation pills and other precious pills and potions. He could show the cultivation pills to the Dracos, who would definitely turn into his loyal customers. It was a big business opportunity just like using the Dracos to turn into his working force to expand the shelter and produce runic armaments with him.

    He was bound to be filthy rich, which could then be utilized to nourish and train his people all over the ten human shelters. Nial didn''t waste any time and returned to work. That was much better than wasting his precious time listening to the stupidments of the government and other organizations, whobeled him Tyrant, a ruthless dictator and much more.

    However, Nial didn''t really care about them to begin with. He rather focused on improving as Runicier and hoping that the Dracos leader would either never return with the Greater Forest Dragon egg, or that he would return empty-handed, which would activate the Soul Contract and turn the entity Dracos army, including the tamed beasts into the Elves'' ves.

    -

    With many things to do, Nial ended up spending less time advancing his Mana Core. However, he didn''t need a lot of time to finish his advancement to the Deux-rank either way. He had already prepared everything, which was also why Nial decided to carefully initiate thest steps to break to the next rank.

    His Mana Core was about to turn into a Mana Sea, with much more potent mana and a much bigger vessel to store mana inside.

    Nial''s potential was at its peak, which was clearly shown in the size of his future Mana Sea. The Dracos Leader was supposed to return soon, yet, Nial''s only focus turned out to be his cultivation progress.

    Advancing to the Deux rank was an important event.

    And as he worked hard on his progress, he clearly noticed that two crimson lines were now engraved on his Heart of Darkness.

    ''The secondary Godly Mission!''

 Chapter 524 Deux

    Nial knew intuitively that his secondary Godly Mission would start the moment he advanced to the Deux rank.

    It was something he had expected since he had found out that advancing to the Deux rank was one of the most important advancements one had to undergo in order to find out whether one was truly powerful or if one was just an ordinary existence in millions of beings.

    Nial''s Ancient Origin rings had beenbined, forming arge prismarine crystal around his Mana core when he advanced through the Prometheus rank. The Mana Core that was mantled in the prismarine crystal would then form into a seed, called Origin seed.

    The Origin seed was created by using the Original''s entire potential by using all data of the existence to create the most suitable size of a Mana Sea. Afterward, the Origin seed would slowly remove the abilities that had been bound to the Mana Core. It removed them without destroying even a single one of them, or their connection to the Original.

    That was everything that was supposed to happen at the Prometheus rank, yet Nial''s situation was a little different. The prismarine crystal that had erupted around the Mana Core earlier liquefied before Nial reached the Deux-rank.

    Because of this unexpected event, Nial had been forced to find all five abilities he wanted to have bound to him before he continued to absorb mana to progress in his Cultivation.

    Nial had been lucky that it worked out so well but he had put in a lot of effort to make it happen. Furthermore, he benefited a lot from postponing his advancement to the Deux rank as he was able to remove many of his imperfections by refining his body, using the 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia.

    Advancing to the Deux rank meant that the abilities would turn into stigmatas. They were supposed to revolve around the prismarine crystal that mantled the Origin seed until the Origin would transform into the source of the Mana Sea, which would then result in the liquefaction of the prismarine crystal.

    But Nial''s situation was a little different because half of the prismarine crystal had already liquefied. This made it a little bit more tricky to turn his five abilities into stigmatas and metamorph his Origin seed.

    In the end, it worked out but Nial spent much more time with the process than he thought to be necessary.

    Interestingly enough, most of the liquefied prismarine crystal couldn''t be used anymore after it had liquefied even before the Origin seed began to metamorph. Thus, Nial would have to spend a whilepleting the formation of his Mana Sea and filling it.

    But that was only obvious. After all, one would reach the Peak of the Deux rank once the Mana Sea was created and filled to the brim.

    Nial was still far from reaching that threshold and he knew that his Mana Sea would take the longest to be filled. The size of the Mana Sea was equivalent to the Original''s talent and the aplishments he made with his own body.

    That meant the state of his body, how close to perfect it was, how many purities were still inside his body, the number of ergements his Mana Core underwent at the Origin rank, the quality of the Origin rings he had woven at the Mirae rank and how carefully the Origin seed had been created were considered the most crucial factors about how one could influence the size of the Mana Sea with sheer hard work and an unbreakable will.

    After all, everyone had an equal opportunity to make the mana core undergo nine ergements, which would thus allow the Original to create Superior Origin rings, and so on. As long as one worked hard enough, creating arge Mana Sea would be possible even for those with low talent.

    As for the means that were decided upon birth or through miraculous encounters, they couldn''t be attained with an unbreakable will or hard work. This included Nial''s encounter with the Titan youngling on the nameless ind, which allowed him to absorb its heart, then the encounter with the Mutated Treant through which he had gotten his hands on the Symbol of Life inside a random dungeon.<novelnext></novelnext>

    There were more encounters Nial had gone through such as his arrival within the Sacred Tree, his connection with Yggdrasil, and the meeting with the Fairy Queen that followed suit.

    He was also in possession of the Heart of Darkness which changed things for him a little bit as well. All in all, Nial''s whole Cultivation progress was bound to skyrocket exponentially, simply because he had too many factors that influenced the metamorphosis of his Origin seed.

    As if that was not enough, he was in possession of linked abilities, which meant that he would never have to train his Ability Stigmas to improve the potency, efficiency, and lethality of his abilities as long as Nial continued to practice them.

    And now that he advanced to the Deux-rank, he was willing to finish the metamorphosis of his Origin seed and fill the Mana Sea as quickly as possible. That way, he would be strong enough to start looking for his sister, Mathias and the bitch of a former friend who murdered his mother!

    Nial was ready to take revenge, which was also why he essed the two crimson streaks that had been engraved on his Heart of Darkness.

    The streaks disappeared and two ck portals manifested in front of him.

    ''Two? Why are there two of them?'' Nial wondered before he heard a familiar voice resounding through his mind.

    [You have two choices. You either follow the path of a conservative Godly Mission, which you would have to undergo under normal circumstances, or you choose the right portal and walk down a different path. However, that path will force you to walk closer to the Universe''s Fate, and the happenings in this Universe!]

    It was Damian''s husky voice that resounded in Nial''s ear. He smiled lightly upon hearing the voice of the Late God of Darkness because it had been quite a while.

    He knew that it were just the remnants of the Late God of Darkness'' voice that spoke to him and not the real deal when Damian was alive but it was not as if Nial expected some sort of wonder to happen.

    "Will I get more benefits from the right path? What exactly will I have to do? Provide a few more pieces of information, will you?" Nial asked, in a somewhat teasing voice but also a little bit tensed up.

    He was not sure why he was so tense but he could sense the longing of his dark energy. It was trying to influence him into choosing the portal it desperately desired. However, without knowing what benefits he would gain by choosing a particr portal, Nial wouldn''t act, not if the dark energy was trying to force him into doing something he was not sure about.

    [Looks like many things have changed for you since we metst time. I won''t tell you all benefits you will gain from choosing the right path, but I will be able to tell you more about our encounter¡­and I can tell you the most likely scenario about how you lost your eyes!] Damian said, which attracted Nial''s interest.

    "You know who took my eyes?"

    [When you advanced to the Deux rank, I saw a shred of your memories. That is also why I know that your human parents are not your biological father and mother!]

 Chapter 525 Not Human

    [When you advanced to the Deux rank, I saw a shred of your memories. That is also how I know that your human parents are not your biological father and mother!]

    ''Huh?''

    Nial was utterly confused when he heard what Damian told him, and he couldn''t really fathom how this could be possible.

    He was sitting in the middle of the wooden hut with his head in his hands, trying to grasp the situation. However, that was easier said than done.

    It was only fortunate that he was currently alone at home because his father was somewhere else, working hard for himself. That was what Miles wanted, after all!

    "You saw my parents? What the hell are you talking about?" Nial didn''t understand what Damian wanted to tell him but the Late God of Darkness'' exnation didn''t make things easy for him either.

    [I saw parts of your memories before you came to the City of Trials where you got your hand on my Godly Fragment. The Odyssey seed was this grain-sized Godly Fragment of mine that was safeguarded there until 25 years ago!] Damian exined without saying anything that was of Nial''s help.

    Nial was bing increasingly frustrated, especially since his dark energy was trying to pull him inside the portal on the right side ever since it appeared.

    "I was a little kid, who couldn''t even walk properly 25 years ago. What are you talking about?" Nial retorted, his confusion and anger clearly perceptible.

    [The Godly Fragment of mine was safeguarded in the City of Trials and it naturally chose the firstpatible living being that entered the City of Trials with a physical body. The Undying, from the prophecy, was also there at that time. In fact, the secondary Godly Mission of the right portal will be held in the City of Trials with the Undying, who has been in the City of Trials for quite a while,pleting his preparations to work against the prophecy, or something like that.]

    Damian spoke a lot in Nial''s mind, much more than the Late God of Darkness had spoken before. He was really talkative, despite Nial not being inside the darkness portal at this moment.

    [I cannot speak much longer to you while you''re outside our domain. Make a choice and follow your heart instead of letting the dark energy control you. Though, my dark energy was always attracted to those who desired more strength. Following it brought me down on the path of a True Destroyer but it gave me the strength I needed to be one!]

    ''Thanks¡­how the hell is that helpful now?!'' Nial grumbled inwardly before he entered the ck portal on the right side.

    The pressure radiating from that portal was much stronger than the other portal and Nial''s highest preference was to get stronger and find out more about the past. Adding both points, he was intrigued enough to enter the portal without any hesitation.

    After stepping inside the portal, Nial sensed nothing but dark energy. It was the same as it had been thest time when he went inside the portal to undergo his primary godly mission.

    That calmed him tremendously as he opened his mouth.

    "Can you tell me more about the memory you saw and the things you''ve seen in my memories?" Nial asked before he switched to a few more detailed questions, "Why was I even in the City of Trials as a baby? There shouldn''t have been a reason for me to have been there! And why the hell am I evenpatible with your Godly fragment and everyone else''s weird ass powers? That doesn''t really make sense either, especially since your powers are not exactly known for providing love and life!!"

    Thest question was rted to Nial''s highpatibility with the Symbol of Life. There was no reason for the Symbol of Life to have chosen him as the mostpatible candidate. At the same time, it made no sense for the Fairy Queen to give him her race''s blessing and for Yggdrasil to link to her. All of that was nonsensical since he wasbeled a Destroyer by the Elves.

    It made lots of sense because he possessed the Power of the being who was considered the God of Darkness and Destruction.

    [There is not much to tell you because the memories are pretty blurry, and the memories are not exactly nice. Thest memories when you still had your eyes¡­do you want to see them?] Damian asked, which caused Nial to feel suspicious.

    "What do you mean¡­when I still had my eyes? I still have my eyes, but I can''t see anymore. Isn''t that a big difference?"

    [Do you want to know or not?]<novelnext></novelnext>

    "...Yes!"

    Damian didn''t even answer Nial''s question when the sound of him clearing his throat resounded in Nial''s ears.

    [Thest memories, while you could still see, were that someone was holding you high in the air in front of millions of beings. Everything is blurry but they look like humans or human-like with all kinds of colors mixed in between. You were at an elevated position, presumably on a terrace that was high enough to allow you to look down at the entire city.

    Not long after you were held high in the air, death and blood followed. Everyone was lying on the ground, dead, except you. You were picked up by someone who brought you to another small figure that took away your eyesight!]

    Damian summarized whatever he had seen in a few sentences. At the end, he added another sentence, but Nial could barely hear it.

    [I guess that your eyes were pretty special, unique enough to be spared and for your eyes to be taken away through some ritual. After you lost your eyesight, I could only feel how you were feeling then, and not long after my Godly Fragment was bound to you. That means you were probably teleported to the City of Trials when your entire race was massacred! As for yourpatibility, it''s probably something about your race, but I can''t be certain about it for the time being!]

    Nial was at a loss for words. His lips parted and his mouth opened but not a single word escaped it.

    Nial was staring silently at the ground, not moving an inch while his mind was rattling wildly.

    "Wait a moment¡­I was not born blind, but something took my eyes, or rather eyesight from me because they were special¡­and¡­I''m actually not an origin human?" Nial asked but he didn''t need an answer to know that the Late God of Darkness was telling the truth.

    Nial''s mind was going wild as he was trying to digest this shocking revtion.

    "How does that make sense¡­I look like a perfectly normal human ording to what everyone else says, and I have five ability slots just like every other origin human¡­but I''m not?!"

    Too many confusing thoughts churned in Nial''s mind but there was no proper answer to all the questions that began to torment him.

    "Who the hell am I?!"

    "...What am I??"

    **

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 Chapter 526 The Undying

    Nial was unable toprehend everything the Late God of Darkness told him.

    First of all, the race he belonged to seemed to have been annihted and his unique eyes had been stolen. That was already hard to believe even if many others had always wondered if he was actually human. Nial knew that most of them asked that because he was so much stronger than the other origin humans, but little did he know that he might actually hail from a different race that had an uncanny resemnce to humans¡­

    ording to Damian''s words, everything had been hazy and he only saw the corpses. Maybe there were some brethren, or possibly even his biological parents that had survived. But then again, Nial was not sure what to think about that.

    He had never really given much thought to his biological parents and he didn''t think that it made a big difference if they were alive even today. Nial was raised by Miles and Maline and he would always consider them his parents. He might have been brought over to Jundra through a dungeon portal anomaly, which was the sole reason why he was alive, to begin with, but that was certainly one of Nial''s great fortunes.

    Even if he was blind and not awakened, and unable to do many things in the past, Nial had been quite happy, if he were to be honest with himself.

    Other than the blurry memories of the time before he and the Godly fragment of the Late God of Darkness were fused through their terrificpatibility, Damian told him about a few more things.

    Most of them were rted to the City of Trials, the existence of another kind of Cultivation Path that used a medium called ''Essence Crystal'' and Essences to Cultivate. Beings who followed such a path were said to allow cultivation at a much faster rate because it was possible to devour the Essence from the Essence Crystal of the beings they defeated.

    Their Cultivation ranks were divided into Tiers which they could break through as long as their innate talent was high enough. There was also something about the Primordial Ascension, a creation of the oldest Primordials to increase the talent of Ascenders artificially.

    Ascenders were beings with an Essence Crystal that was located near their brain.

    Nial had already heard a few things about Ascenders and he knew that Undying was one. However, he didn''t expect to hear that Ascenders were considered to have a weaker type of Cultivation. Most of them had to create something called faux Divinities to increase their talent through external means, otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to be True Gods.

    True Gods were actually normal Gods, but Ascenders split the term God into Lesser Gods and True Gods. Bing a Lesser God was something that could be achieved by creating a faux Divinity, while the term True God was applied the moment an Ascender created their ''True'' Divinity.

    Nial felt that all of this was a little bit useless because it was just a means to ignore the fact that the foundation of Ascenders was much worse than that of Originals. Ascenders may be able to advance in the Tiers at a rapid pace due to their foundation but they couldn''t ascend to Godhood that easily. Thus, Originals were considered superior even if they took a long time to build their foundation.

    [Your secondary Godly mission is to either defeat the Undying or to survive against him for 100 days!] Damian announced when Nial''s thoughts were not as clouded by the vast amount of information he had received anymore.

    "Defeat him, or survive¡­how strong is this ''Undying'' for you to give me two options to solve the secondary Godly mission?"

    Nial enquired. He was not too sure about the prowess of the Undying but he could tell that his current strength was much higher than ever before. He might not be strong enough to fight Gods, even the Lesser God Ascenders, whose foundation was bad, but Nial was pretty sure that not even Keltia-ranked prodigies should be able to fight him easily.

    There were still a few things that he was uncertain about regarding the Undying''sbat prowess but the secondary Godly mission would solve them for sure.

    [The reason why both you and the Undying were given the same kind of mission, and trial is pretty simple. The Undying has been in the City of Trials for thest 10,000 years ording to the passage of time inside the Forgotten Time realm. However, his abilities were restrained and so was the advancement of his strength. In terms of physical strength, and other means you should be stronger than the Undying, especially since he cannot use his abilities.

    However, hisbat experience is much stronger than yours and he can also use techniques, which he was taught by the Gods who left imprints of their Soul in the City of Trials. His special traits and the Origin ability, which is equivalent to the Innate ability of Originals, are not restricted though.

    Thus, the second option of ''survival'' was given!]

    ''10,000 years¡­abilities restricted...techniques¡­that doesn''t tell me how strong he is¡­''

    Nial was trying to gauge how strong the Undying was but that was definitely not easy. The only thing that gave him a rough understanding of his capabilities was the title ''Undying''. It told Nial enough to understand that he had to be at the top of his game to finish the secondary Godly mission with flying colors!

    "Alright. Send me over then!" Nial made up his mind and got up while stretching his body.

    [Impatient brat¡­] Damian scowled a little but Nial could tell that the Late God of Darkness didn''t mean it seriously. On the contrary, Damian was amused and excited.

    As for Nial, he stood with his chin up, his expression overflowing with confidence and determination.

    He stepped through the portal that appeared in front of him momentster.

    The passages he used were narrow and there was barely enough space for him to pass through them. Fortunately, it didn''t take too long before he appeared on the other side of the portal. He was greeted by a tremendous amount of mana that permeated every inch in the radius of 100 kilometers that he perceived right at this moment around him.

    His expression remained the same as before,, careful and neutral, but internally, he was baffled about the tremendous density and purity of mana in this ce.

    ''If I could spend 10,000 years here, my strength would increase by leaps and bounds!'' Nial figured before he heard a voice from above him.

    "Long time no see¡­" She said a little hesitantly as a tiny blush crept up her cheeks.

    It was the Oracle, who greeted him once again. Visualizing her allowed him to see that she was as beautiful as ever. The Oracle was in her original form which was the mature woman he visualized in his mind with great detail.

    "It hasn''t been that long since we parted ways, little Oracle," Nial responded, reflexively adding ''little'' as he had called her that often before. He smiled gently at the Oracle who smiled back at him.

    At this moment Nial sensed that another figure standing not too far away from him shook his head. Nial''s attention was attracted to the human, whose appearance and power level didn''t seem to be too impressive.

    The Undying had brown hair that were tied behind in a man bun, just like Nial had. His build was more muscr than Nial''s but that didn''t mean that the Undying was physically stronger than himself. The Undying was wearing a simple set ofbat clothes, and Nial noticed that he was wearing exactly the same clothes all of a sudden.

    The Undying looked at Nial and he returned his gaze, though unfocused, which was the only way he could ''look'' at anyone as he was not able to control his eyes perfectly. They were not milky white and seemed lifeless for no reason!

    "You must be the human they call ''the Undying''. It''s nice to finally get to know you!"

    **

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 Chapter 527 Nemesis

    Nial perceived his surrounding clearly. That was how he could tell that they were in a colosseum that was almost as big as a vige. It was ridiculously huge but so was the arena in which they were already standing right now.

    As he used his range of perception and Mana Sense to sense the entire City of Trials, Nial figured that he couldn''t perceive everything. However, what he perceived was more than enough to be deeply impressed.

    ''The Soul Shards of those Gods are not to be taken lightly. They''re pretty strong, though that''s kind of obvious,'' Nial figured before he heard the introduction of the Undying.

    "My name is Dn Cier, but you can call me Undying. Do whatever you want. Nice meeting you, Nial Orin, the Eternal Darkness!" The Undying, Dn Cier, greeted him in a voice that was somewhat excited but also holding a tinge of frustration.

    However, Nial was pretty sure that the frustration was not rted to him.

    ''Did she tell him my name?'' Nial wondered all of a sudden as he lifted his head as if he wanted to look over to the Oracle.

    "She spoke way too much about you, this hypocr¨C..." Dialn nearly cursed out before he shut his mouth.

    The Oracle blushed for a moment, while the corners of Nial''s lips curled upward. He wanted to tease her a little about that. It would distract him from thinking about other things rather than the news he had gotten from Damian not too long ago. Dn, on the other hand, could only pinch the bridge of his nose, trying not to feel like beating the shit out of everyone.

    "Either way, how about you reveal the rules of our little fight, so that we don''t misunderstand anything? It would be annoying if someone were to make a mistake because they didn''t understand the rules properly," Dn interrupted before Nial could say anything else.

    The Oracle seemed a little bit baffled by the sudden interruption but she had to quickly regain herposure.

    "Huh? Oh yeah, I can do that¡­" She said a little bit helplessly, while Nial had begun to investigate the Undying in a little bit more detail.

    He restricted his range of perception to focus solely on Dn in order to see how strong he was.

    Nial was still smiling but he turned over to Dn Cier, whose head turned in his direction as well.

    ''Does my gaze make him ufortable, or can he sense that I''m ''looking'' at him through my range of perception?'' Nial wondered the longer he perceived Dn Cier. He was getting a little excited to fight someone like the Undying, especially since their fight shouldn''t be too boring.

    The Oracle cleared her throat to attract the attention of the two Fate Changers before she started to reveal the rules of the fights.

    "To put it simply, your mission and trial are pretty much the same. To unseal the second Godly Sea, Nial Orin has to defeat Cier, or survive for the next 100 Days. Meanwhile, Dn Cier has to defeat Nial Orin or survive the next 100 Days toplete his advancement to the fourth Tier, and to receive the evaluation of the Universe to determine the degree of the gift he''ll receive.

    Nobody will actually die in this ce, no matter who it is or what happens, so both of you can go all out without the need to hold back.

    As for what happens given the minuscule possibility that one of the Fate Changers fails his mission...it''s quite simple. You will have to achieve something grand to unseal the second Godly Seal¡­"

    The Oracle took a pause to look in Nial''s direction for a moment before she averted her attention. Both Fate Changers noticed this and a faint smile appeared on Dn''s face while Nial was trying to keep a straight face.

    ''She spoke only about the Godly Seal¡­that means she thinks that I''m the only one who can fail this mission?'' Nial asked himself as he tried to not let his worries reflect in his expression.

    Dn, on the other hand, was pleased with himself.

    In the Oracle''s opinion, Nial was unlikely to fail the mission. However, Dn was the Undying. The name was enough to suggest that he wouldn''t really die, whether it was impossible to actually die during this fight or not.

    "There is not much else to add, except that Dn Cier won''t be able to use any of his bound abilities during the battle. He will only be able to use his Special Traits, Origin ability, and the techniques he learned. The reason for this is quite simple.

    He spent 10,000 years in the City of Trials, where one year is equivalent to one day outside the Forgotten Time Realm," The oracle added and it was only after that when Nial''s poke face finally crumbled.

    Nial already had a fair idea about the special terms of the fight but it was still a little annoying if he were to be honest with himself.

    He was vexed that Dn was given so many disadvantages especially since he picked on the subtle hint that the Undying wouldn''t actually be able to fail his trail!

    ? This was more than enough reason for Nial to feel agitated and think it was great that he didn''t have to hold back while fighting the Undying.

    The Oracle''s exnation was over and it was only a matter of time before the Undying and the Eternal Darkness ended up standing opposite each other.

    Two Fate Changers prepared themselves to fight against their respective opponent with the intention to defeat them. The rewards for both would be better the higher their evaluation score was¡­and both wanted to be as strong as possible.

    Nial took a spear from the wall of weapons that was located inside the arena and he spun it around his body. The spear had a long pinpointed de and he circted mana into it, while testing the weapon''s bnce, mana conductivity, and so on.

    "No runic constetions¡­" Nial ended up mumbling before he shrugged once.

    After experimenting the limit of mana input as well as other things a bit, Nial chose a weapon that satisfied him to some extent. However, he couldn''t help but feel that it was a waste of great materials not to turn it into a mighty runic armament.

    ''He is staring at me differently now¡­well, whatever, it won''t change anything when we fight!''

    Nial wouldn''t show mercy to Dn, and he could also tell that Dn wouldn''t hold back either. But that was not something Nial wanted either way.

    Nial considered Dn as his enemy, for the time being.

    They might be fellow Fate Changers but that didn''t change anything.

    He tightened his grip over his spear and changed his stance while visualizing how Dn did exactly the same as they waited for the countdown for their battle to begin.

    <10>

    <9>

    ¡­

    ..

    <3>

    <2<

    <1>

    <May the Battle of the Fate Changersmence!>

    <99D:23H:59M:59S>

    **

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 Chapter 528 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness

    [Author Note: If you read both Undying Warlord and Odyssey of the Blind God, don''t trouble yourself by reading the same scenario twice, and skip it for one Novel...or pay me twice ;D]

    <May the Battle of the Fate Changersmence!>

    <99D:23H:59M:59S>

    Thest two messages that appeared were too long to be read and it took both Dn and Nial a while before they began to move.

    Dn''s body shot forward with terrific power he shouldn''t be able to reach his Tier. He was an Ascender at the Peak of the 3rd Tier, and not some sort of Demi God, after all! Nheless, he was able to reach his current speed by exerting the movement technique that allowed him to control and manifest winds outside and within his feet.

    His boots burst apart and his speed seemed to elerate even further.

    However, Nial didn''t show a sign of surprise. He lifted his empty left hand and changed his stance lightly while pushing the spear in his right hand to the back. The corners of his lips tilted upward as he activated the Vengeance of Chaos Ability.

    The pressure being exerted in the arena changed all of a sudden, and the arena''s ground began to tremble violently. Despite the tremoring ground and the dangers that awaited Dn, he didn''t slow down his advance and confidently emerged in front of Nial.

    Nial ignored the tremors around him as well. His focus was on the grayish currents that had emerged from his arm after activating the Vengeance of Chaos ability. The Chaos currents were both in a gaseous and liquid state and they easily passed through the fabric of Nial''sbat clothes.

    Upon noticing Dn''s advance, Nial quickly inserted Essence of Darkness and crimson moonlight inside his Chaos, changing its color drastically.

    Nial visualized Dn and he could tell that the Undying was mildly surprised but notpletely taken off-guard.

    Nial clenched his left hand and he voiced out amand in a tone that didn''t allow anyone to disobey.

    "Burst."

    Dn was not too far from his opponent and he felt an immediate effect.

    ''This basta¨C...'' Dn thought as he felt his heart getting twisted, andpressed. Dn''s speed slowed down at once and he ended up standing still when his heart burst open like a balloon.

    There was no loud explosion, just a huge gaping hole in the Undying''s chest with blood flowing down his chest.

    ''Nobody can actually die during this battle, so killing him should be fine, right?''

    That was the thought Nial had in mind when facing the Undying. The Oracle said that nobody would die in the Colosseum. Nial thought that this was more than enough reassurance for him to employ a lethal tactic.

    Dn fell to his knees and blood gushed out of the gaping hole in his chest, covering the horrifying mass of mangled flesh that could be found underneath the fountain of blood.

    Meanwhile, Nial''s arm writhed in pain. He grit his teeth while forcing himself to smile. The result of his attack was more than satisfying and befuddled the Oracle who hadn''t expected the Undying to end up kneeling on the ground merely a second after the battle between the two Fate Changers began.

    At least, that was what Nial figured when he visualized the expression on the Oracle''s face.

    Nial nodded his head and he made the grave mistake of not realizing that the fight was not yet over.

    "That was ea¨C.." He had begun just before he froze in his tracks. Something was wrong!!

    The moment Nial noticed that something was wrong, Dn''s head flicked upward. His sky-blue eyes shone brightly as he smiled at Nial with eyes that were overflowing with ecstasy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''A Battle Maniac?'' Nial thought instinctively as he visualized the way the Undying''s heart was regrowing.

    That was insane. He had never visualized anyone regenerating that quickly, let alone a vital organ such as the heart.

    How was it even possible for Dn to move while his heart was regenerating?!

    "The Power of Chaos, huh?" Dn asked at this moment while shooting forward with a simple push from the ground. He didn''t even expect to hear an answer to his question as he continued to exert his movement technique. Strong wind currents shrouded Dn''s entire body to further elerate his already shocking speed.

    As for the gaping hole in his chest, it had disappearedpletely.

    The distance between Nial and Dn decreased rapidly. There were only a few meters between them when Dn realized that Nial''s stance hadn''t changed yet.

    ''Didn''t Damian say that his physical abilities are worse than mine? Did that bastard lie to me!? And how the hell is someone at the third Tier supposed to be that strong? If all Ascenders are like that, I want to be one as well!'' Nial cursed in his mind as he issued anothermand.

    "Slice."

    More currents of Nial''s Chaos were used up to do whatever the Eternal Darkness wished to happen. But that did not mean that he himself was unscathed. Thus, tremendous pain spread through his entire body, especially his arm. Nial''s left arm looked like it would twist itself as his veins and muscles protruded through his skin. It was a ghastly sight for those who were not ustomed to seeing twisted arms, or to even imagining the tremendous pain he must be going through.

    Dn noticed that Nial was in tremendous pain because he was not blind, but he could hardly worry about Nial''s pain, let alone make use of it.

    He felt a sting across his neck, which was why he moved his empty hand almost instinctively.

    Dn''s head was sliced off just a momentter, and it was just about to fly through the air when Dn''s free hand reached for it. He grasped his own head and ced it back on his neck where freely moving threads of skin, flesh, and bone were already waiting for the head to sew it back.

    "Surprise!" Dn shouted out loudly while taking the final steps toward Nial.

    However, Nial didn''t seem to be all that bothered about Dn''s approach. On the contrary, it was an interesting experience to fight against someone, who could heal as fast as Dn. The experience was worth going through, whether it was just a one-time thing in the City of Trials, for his secondary Godly Mission, or something else.

    "Burst!" Nial ordered loudly, and Dn''s head burst open like a watermelon just asmanded.

    ''That will give me some time!'' Nial told himself while gritting his teeth under the immense pain his body when through.

    Even after advancing to the Deux rank, the Power of Chaos was still too much for him too handle. That had been the case after it had been enhanced by the Essence of Darkness and the crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon ability.

    Nial was certain that he would have less problems with the Chaos as long as it was used without any amplifications but he could not be certain that his Chaos was powerful enough to obliterate Dn for good.

    Not even the reinforced Chaos seemed to be strong enough.

    Things got even worse for Nial when he realized that Dn didn''t stop moving even after his head burst apart.

    Even His blown up head was not enough to stop Dn from moving.

    ''What the hell are you?! A Duhan or what??''

 Chapter 529 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (2)

    What Nial didn''t know was that Dn had trained himself in Astral Projection. It had been worth the grueling task and pain as it allowed him to counter exactly the situations they were in right now!

    A Wisp of his Soul escaped Dn''s body to see everything around him. Thus, it didn''t even require eyes, let alone a head for Dn to see and process things as he had attained a profound mastery of the Astral Projection technique.

    Through his high mastery, Dn''s Soul could do everything his head was capable of.

    That was also how Dn''s headless body could move and act effortlessly. Dn shrouded his Sword in a silverish membrane and he pierced it toward Nial''s abdomen.

    His attack was rapid and he believed that there was no way for Nial to be able to evade the attack. The distance between the two of them was also negligible!

    But just when Dn expected to see Nial''s blood spurt or the de dig deep inside his opponent''s flesh, darkness gushed forth from Nial''s abdomen,

    ''Haven''t you both watched enough?'' Nial asked his two Devils with a faint smile on his lips as a huge hand emerged from his abdomen. It was as if something was crawling out of him, which was quite literally what was happening. The huge hand absorbed the impact of Dn''s sword thrust and it even destroyed the silverish membrane when the sword cut deeper inside the hand of darkness.

    The Tyrant of Destruction hadn''t obtained his title without reason. He could handle the Power of Destruction to a certain degree. At least, it was possible for him to destroy the Power of Destruction that had mantled Dn''s Sword.

    Nial didn''t expect Tyrant to act all of a sudden but it was certainly helpful, especially since he was fighting an opponent that was several times more annoying than the Draco genius, Michael Ignis.

    Tyrant''s hand shot straight ahead, forcing Dn to retreat a few meters. Meanwhile, Nial opened the hand he had clenched just a moment before.

    Only two currents of Chaos were left swirling around Nial''s hand, but that was more than enough for him to get a moment break. Dn''s heart burst open yet again just when he retreated.

    The Undying wanted to heal and regrow his head properly but now he had to heal both his head and heart. Yet, that did little to stop Dn.

    ''Even that is not enough to forcefully halt his body? What a monster¡­'' Nial thought, finally realizing why the Oracle said that only he could actually lose the mission. As long as Dn defeated him, Nial''s secondary Godly Mission would automatically fail.

    Of course, Nial didn''t want that to happen but it was pretty obvious that Dn couldn''t be defeated as he just wouldn''t die¡­

    When Dn''s heart burst open, Tyrant''s arm erged and he pulled himself out of Nial''s abdomen. On the other hand, Kaeldur emerged from behind Nial, in his human-like form.

    Both Tyrant and Kaeldur were shrouded in darkness which Dn could see clearly once his head had fully regrown and reattached itself perfectly to his neck.

    Nial visualized Dn clearly, trying to sense the changes in the Undying''s mana while he was regenerating. He was trying to find a way to counter the cheat-like ability of his ultimate regeneration, or whatever this Origin ability actually was!

    Dn looked at the two Devils and he was just about to act when his head burst open again, once again. Nial didn''t even think of giving Dn the leeway to take a breath or rx. That was not how he would win against the Undying, after all!

    With that in mind, Nial ignored the tremendous pain caused by using the Vengeance of Chaos ability as he stabbed into Dn''s chest, slicing apart Dn''s heart as well.

    Dn continued to move backward using his Astral Projection to control his body but both Kaeldur and Tyrant shot forward.

    Tyrant charged forward while conjuring a huge mace made out of darkness. Kaeldur, on the other hand, burst to the side.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As for Nial, he adopted a different tactic when he realized that his Chaos-based attacks were entirely useless. It was not necessary to damage himself using Chaos if it was useless, to begin with.

    It was more of a disadvantage for him to use the Chaos since it injured him in exchange for merely disrupting Dn''s fighting rhythm. That may be good enough to provide Kaeldur and Tyrant the opportunity to fight against the Undying but the downside was too big.

    He had great difficulties enduring the strain after using Chaos so often.

    Nial''s healing capabilities might be stronger than other beings with the same rank but he was nothing against Dn''s super extraordinary regeneration ability that felt like a cheat.

    Not even beings at the Keltia rank were able to survive his Chaos-based attack that had been reinforced with his Essence of Darkness and the crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon ability. The Undying was starting to get on his nerves.

    "Tear him apart, Tyrant, Kaeldur!" Nial thus shouted loudly while both Devils heed hismand without hesitation.

    Dn was supposed to take a moment to regenerate his head and heart, yet, his regeneration elerated all of a sudden as bits of mana were used up.

    His head regrew and a voice filled with anger resounded through the arena of the Colosseum.

    "That hurts, you bastard!!"

    Nial, however, didn''t care about that. He focused on something else as he instructed Kaeldur and Tyrant to distract Dn for a while.

    In exchange, Nial released his dark energy into the ground and he expanded it by absorbing the dense and highly purified mana that could be sensed everywhere.

    The dark energy inside the ground of the Colosseum''s arena absorbed the mana and expanded itself. Thus, the entire arena was soon enveloped in dark energy. That made things much easier for Nial, especially since Kaeldur''s poisonous dark energy seemed to be useless against the Undying.

    Dn was immune to poison and he didn''t have much difficulty surviving against thebined forces of Tyrant and Kaeldur either.

    Kaeldur was the master of assassinations in Nial''s team, but even that turned useless to give Nial an upper hand if he was not able to end Dn''s life or restrict him.

    That was also why Tyrant was a much better opponent than Dn. Using blunt weapons, brute force and precise control of dark energy, the Tyrant of Destruction could fight head-on with the Undying and even overwhelm him often enough.

    The only problem was that Dn didn''t seem to get tired even after he fought against Tyrant and Kaeldur for a long time.

    On the contrary, the Undying had been able to deal a heavy blow to Kaeldur, cutting off his arm.

    It would regrow once the fight was over, but that didn''t mean it would be easy for Nial and his Devils to deal with the Undying if his stamina was infinite!

    And as if that was not bad enough, Dn was able to use the weirdest techniques with the use of his Life force. His Life force would be drained in a moment just to shoot through the roof a momentter. It was impossible to tell when Dn was at his weakest because it looked like he was always weak, yet overly powerful!

    ''So you want a fight of attrition? We can do that¡­'' Nial thought while slowly assessing his surrounding area with his range of perception and fully unleashed Mana Sense Innate ability.

 Chapter 530 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (3)

    Kaeldur lost one of his arms in a sh with the Undying.

    At first, it didn''t look like the Undying would be capable enough to cause actual harm to the Devils, let alone Nial because each of them was at the Deux rank, while the Undying was only at the third Tier.

    At the third Tier, an Ascender was roughly as strong as an Original at the Prometheus rank, or so it was supposed to be. However, the Undying turned the tables and was giving not one, but three of his opponents a tough time with the use of the unique God rank techniques he had learned to utilize.

    One of the techniques was the 72 shes of Destruction Sword Style which was utilized with Dn''s sword. The Undying shrouded the sword in a membrane that was created with the Power of Destruction, and an Aura called Immortality Aura.

    The Undying''s Immortality Aura was manifested by draining his own life force. The Life force he had used, turned into the Immortality Aura that was as strong as the amount of Life force he used. Being the Undying, Dn could use as much Life force as he wanted in an extremely short period.

    And he exploited it to his benefit in order to reinforce the power of the 72 shes of Destruction Sword Style''s first sh. With the first sh, Dn cut off Kaeldur''s arm and he found out the weaknesses and special traits of the two Devils.

    Nial could tell that quite easily by visualizing the battle against the Undying in the finest detail.

    While the Tyrant of Destruction was able to destroy and actually absorb theyers of Destruction that had been created with low affinity toward the Power of Destruction, it was very harmful to Kaeldur.

    On the other hand, it was possible for Dn to cut through dark energy using the Power of Destruction. It was the first time Nial had met someone who could cut through his dark energy. Thus, Nial was greatly surprised every now and then while facing the Undying who was a nuisance of an opponent.

    Fortunately, Nial was able to make use of his own special traits, which was how the amount of dark energy inside his Heart of Darkness never decreased.

    ''Spread out even further, and absorb more mana¡­ I need more!!'' He shouted in his mind while his dark energy continued to expand its range through the ground.

    Even if he wanted to, he was not able to continuously use the Vengeance of Chaos ability as his body was not able to handle the highly potent energy. Chaos was lethal and potent which could be used to his advantage, but it was also a double-edged sword. That made things very difficult, especially when he had to face an opponent whose odds of survival were extremely high.

    Nial had to preserve his power and he couldn''t sustain any injuries, otherwise, he would end up facing the biggest disadvantage. The injuries would restrict his movement andbat prowess, and they would get worse because Dn would certainly force him to move around, which would tear open the wounds before they got the time to heal. He did not have an exceptional regeneration ability like Dn.

    This clearly showed the difference in the two Fate Changers'' goals. Both weren''t in a hurry to win against each other, but that didn''t change the most important fact.

    While Nial had to be careful not to die, and survive, for at least, 100 days while fighting the Undying, Dn couldn''t actually die. Dn had to utilize the battlefield and turn it into his greatest show to demonstrate to the Universe''s Fate that he was more than worthy to receive the things he wished for.

    But even after Dn worked hard to create the most entertaining and climatic show, he was only able to injure Kaeldur, one of Nial''s subordinates.

    This feat shouldn''t be underestimated but it was also something that Dn could do after dying hundreds of times.

    However, that was more than enough for Nial to be rmed. If dying hundreds of times was already enough to cut off Kaeldur''s arm, dying a thousand times, or more than that, should be enough to eliminate, Kaeldur, Tyrant, andst but not least, Nial, the Eternal Darkness.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Stop!" Nial shouted out loud, issuing amand to Dn with the use of Dominion. He didn''t apply any Chaos to release the strongest version of Dominion but that was not necessary, fortunately.

    Dn''s body froze in ce for a moment, and it was easily perceptible that it took the Undying tremendous effort to be able to move again.

    Droplets of blood trickled out of his mouth while the corners of his lips curled upward. The droplets of blood soon turned into a small river as a massive amount of blood began to stream down the corners of his lips.

    ''Did he bit his tongue to release himself from Dominion''s effect?'' Nial realized with a start. He was slowly starting to understand that it would be hard to use Dominion against the Undying as well. The Undying''s mind might not be fortified through his unique regeneration Origin ability, but it was quite obvious that Dn knew how to free himself from the maniption of the mind.

    However, that could only be possible if the Undying''s mind was already extremely strong. If that were to be the case, it meant that Dn might have learned some techniques that could be used against abilities simr to Dominion, rather than his Origin ability being able to block most mental attacks.

    ''I should never underestimate someone who has been trained by Gods for 10,000 years¡­'' Nial reminded himself sternly.

    He could tell how determined Dn was based on the way he fought. The Undying didn''t really pay much attention to his safety. Taking that into consideration, it was not hard to imagine that Dn might have trained relentlessly under the guidance of the God Soul Shards for thest 10,000 years.

    That would, obviously, result in great achievements, which was something Nial witnessed firsthand.

    Nheless, Nial could issue subtlemands with Dominion, as a superior mind-controlling ability, and force Dn to listen to them to a certain extent. That was why Dn ended up stopping in his tracks for a quarter of a second until the sharp pain arising from his bitten tongue pulled him back to reality.

    That quarter of a second was enough for Nial to make use of it.

    Thorny vines made out of darkness shot out of the ground all of a sudden. They winded around Dn''s feet and legs and restricted his movements while the thorns pierced deep into his skin. Their tips had sunken deep into his flesh and cut into Dn''s flesh when he tried to move.

    It was only little damage but it was not as if Nial was trying to actually finish off Dn with the use of the thorny vines.

    He was trying to figure out where the limitation of Dn''s Origin abilityy.

    It was hard to believe that an Origin ability as powerful as Dn''s existed without any apparent drawbacks.

    There should be a limit¡­a w¡­something that could be used against the Undying.

    Anything, no matter how trivial, would be fine¡­

 Chapter 531 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (4)

    Unfortunately, it was quite hard for Nial to find a drawback in Dn''s Origin ability.

    It looked like a drawback didn''t exist, especially since it had already been several days since their fight had begun and Nial was yet to find one.

    Under normal circumstances, both Nial and the Undying should be dead tired by now. However, Nial used the mana he had absorbed from the surrounding area to keep himself fresh.

    His darkness domain continue to expand and he used it in a very precise manner so that Dn wouldn''t take note of anything. That may not be necessary because Dialn was too focused on his battle with Nial, to begin with, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

    ''He is still as strong as he had been in the beginning¡­'' Nial figured quickly, unable toprehend where the Origin of his powers came from. It was impossible to regenerate out of nowhere. The Undying had to have a source of energy that allowed him to heal at such a monstrous speed.

    Yet, even after spending a lot of time searching for it, Nial couldn''t find it. That made no sense, but it happened right in front of him.

    The amount of blood Dn had lost in thest few hours was more than enough to prepare enough conserves of blood for Vampiric dungeon beasts to quench their thirst for several weeks, if not months.

    That was unbelievable, yet, it was the bitter truth that Nial had to ept, otherwise, he would end up on the losing side!

    "What the hell are you?!?" Nial''s rather calm andposed expression finally crumbled.

    All the confidence he had gained throughout thest few years seemed to disappear into thin air while facing the abomination that had appeared in front of him.

    Dn was certainly not the type of being Nial would face if he could avoid it. It was simply too much of a hassle to fight someone like Dn, especially since he was not even that weak. His physical strength might only be on par with someone at the Peak of the Prometheus rank who was built with the strongest possible foundation, but he was certainly stronger than most Keltia-ranked Originals Nial had fought in the past.

    That was ridiculous but it happened right in front of him!

    If Dn was not an abomination, Nial didn''t know what or who could be considered one. Even in the memories of Damian, Nial rarely saw someone with a simrly dangerous and monstrous ability such as Dn''s regeneration.

    It was horrifying, and Nial was certain that Dn was the most terrifying opponent he ever faced.

    He was not even sure what he was supposed to do against someone like Dn.

    "It''s funny that you ask me that because I have the same question!" Dn shouted out loud all of a sudden, his eyes shining a deep crimson in color while he grinned from ear to ear.

    His appearance made it seem as if he lost his sanity as his sky-blue eyes had turned crimson not too long ago, but that was just Dn''s way to cope with endless pain that rushed at him in tidal waves. And then¡­there was also the repetitive loop of dying and regenerating.

    Nial didn''t even dare to imagine how strong Dn''s willpower had to be in order to get ustomed to feeling pain over and over, to die hundreds of times¡­was it even possible to get ustomed to something like that?

    N was not sure about that but Dn looked like he was doing quite well while enduring the physical pain. His psyche was doing fine as well, or so it looked.

    Every single time he died within a specific period, it was like a switch was turned on in his head. From that moment onward, he would turn into the greatest Maniac until the brief period in which he wouldn''t sustain an injury.

    Nial had changed his tactic and hadn''tnded a killing blow on Dn for quite a while now as he was trying to restrict the Undying rather than killing him over and over again. Killing him repetitively was not actually that helpful while fighting the Undying.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, that was how he got to understand that the Undyingpensated his pain and suffering by turning into a maniac when he was killed over and over again.

    That was some type of ''tic'' he got from getting killed in various ways, repeatedly.

    However, even then, it was not as if his brain stopped working just because he turned into a ''maniac.'' On the contrary, his brain worked much faster than at any other time.

    Thus, it was even more terrifying for Dn to understand that Nial had still not run out of dark energy, or mana despite fighting non-stop for such a long time.

    They had been fighting for almost a week by now¡­without a single break, and Nial didn''t even show signs of being out of mana!

    Dn was also constantly replenishing his mana to make sure that his Origin ability would always be filled to the brim, but there was a big difference between hisbat style that focused on the preservation of mana and subtle attacks in order to fight a battle of attrition rather than Nial''sbat style that seemed to be theplete opposite.

    The Undying issued some ''ultimate'' attacks every now and then, while Nial didn''t seem to possess something like that. He didn''t have a ''one hit to kill'' martial art technique. Nial focused more on the constant release of powerful attacks to obliterate his opponents as quickly as possible.

    However, that made it quite difficult for Nial to finish off someone like Dn.

    The Undying wasn''t going to be defeated that easily.

    But even then, it was as if Nial was a bottomless pit of mana.

    Was it even possible to fight a battle of attrition with someone like Nial?

    Dn was not so sure about that but the same could be said about the other way around.

    Both Fate Changers were monstrosities at their respective rank and Tier. They were strong enough to defeat opponents that were at a much higher rank than them. It was even possible to attract the interest of Gods thanks to their unique powers.

    They were both talented, but whether it was the Undying or the Eternal Darkness, both were hard-working and they never took long breaks, if they ever took them in the first ce.

    Their goals and dedication allowed them to strive toward more power and it was only a matter of time before they would turn into even more terrifying monstrosities.

    Right now, they were just younglings and far from reaching the might of truly powerful existences. The Universe was vast and many parts of the Universe had yet to be discovered.

    However, the encounter between the two Fate Changers left a huge impact on the two of them. Both realized that they were not without ws and that there were times when they would face stronger opponents.

    But it was exactly those encounters that had to be faced head-on. Neither Nial nor Dn should ever run away from their fights.

    There was always room for improvement as nobody was perfect. They were supposed to fight with all their might and learn from the mistakes they made. Even if they were to lose, the Fate Changers would be stronger as long as they gave their utmost!

    As long as they got up from the ground, failing could never be something bad!

 Chapter 532 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (5)

    After a long time had already psed since their battle had begun, Dn changed his strategic advance.

    A thousand tiny needles manifested out ofpressed winds emerged around Dn.

    He released them with tremendous eleration while exerting the movement technique, which he had already used before. It created winds within and outside his feet, creating ways to burst forward with a horrifyingly high velocity.

    It was the third week after their battle hadmenced and both opponents had figured a few things about each other.

    Dn was pretty sure that Nial''s dark energy supply was almost infinite, which couldn''t be said about his two Devil subordinates, Tyrant and Kaeldur. They had to use it judiciously, otherwise, they were bound to lose more than just a few limbs.

    However, Nial was not too worried about that. He was more focused on Dn and finding out a way to restrict the Undying. Winning the battle by killing the Undying in the battle within the arena of the Colosseum was extremely unlikely. Restricting Dn''s movement and draining both his mana and life force seemed more feasible inparison.

    The Undying''s use of the Power of Destruction didn''t make things easier for him. That was also why Nial was d when Kaeldur had regenerated the arm that Dn had cut off. The Devil used a tremendous amount of mana, dark energy, and time to do so. And, in exchange for being able to heal his arm, Kaeldur had entered a short weakened state.

    In the weakened state, the Devil was not able to put up a fight against Dn as he had before. Kaeldur ended up bing slower and weaker than the Undying.

    Nial wanted to help Kaeldur when he was fighting the Undying but he had grossly underestimated his opponent. He had a hard time adjusting to the Undying''s overpowered abilities, which is why he was too focused on Dn to realize that Kaeldur was regenerating his arm.

    The Devils of Damian had a very high natural regeneration, and they could enhance it further with the use of dark energy. That was exactly what Kaeldur had to do in order to regenerate his arm. However, to do that, lots of precious reserves would have to be used. Through theck of dark energy, theirbat prowess would decrease for a short time as the dark energy would be fully utilized in the regeneration of their wounds.

    Unfortunately, the Undying made use of this very easily. He cut off Kaeldur''s other arm while the first Devil was focused on regenerating his other arm.

    Kaeldur attempted to turn his arm into darkness currents and dematerialize them before they could be cut off by Dn''s sh, but the Devil was a few milliseconds toote.

    The Undying had dispelled Nial''s darkness domain in a range of two meters by releasing his Power of Destruction into his surrounding.

    He summoned his own domain, the Domain of Destruction, thereby preventing Kaeldur from changing his shape for a short moment. That moment was everything the Undying needed to use the 72 shes of Destruction Sword Style and his Immortality Aura to cut off Kaeldur''s other arm.

    In exchange for the cut-off arm, Dn had to face death yet again by getting his head burst open as a huge darkness mace smashed against the back of his head.

    Tyrant had crushed Dn''s head but he had been toote to prevent Kaeldur''s loss. As for Nial, he was forced to face other attacks by the Undying, including thepressed wind needles.

    Nial created needles of darkness to counter the wind needles which was more than enough to face and destroy them. Unfortunately, facing the needles ofpressed wind and the preparations he had to focus on restricted him from helping his Devils as well as he wanted to.

    Thus, Dn moved around, headlessly, by activating his Astral Projection with near perfect mastery. The Undying was killed so often by getting his head severed or smashed that it seemed to be a blessing in disguise. The more often he got killed in this way, the higher his mastery of the technique became. It was much higher than anyone could fathom.

    Tyrant''s attacks were burdensome to Dn, nheless. The second Devil was fast, physically extremely powerful, and he could use his dark energy to further reinforce his attacks. It was also possible for Tyrant to ess Nial''s domain of darkness, which was how the Tyrant of Destruction and Kaeldur could elerate the time it took to replenish their dark energy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As for Dn, he was often overwhelmed because of the darkness domain before. Now, he was a little bit better adapted to it.

    That was extremely bothersome for Nial, who had hoped to make use of the darkness domain to defeat Dn by restricting him. And, whenever Dn was restricted, he would forcibly tear apart his body just to nullify the restriction.

    Whenever Dn failed, the Grim Reaper almost came for him, but he would heal just a momentter. He could rinse and repeat that until his own attack would finallynd on the designated target. He could fail as many times as he wanted provided that he improved and got better.

    That was also why Dn ended up changing his strategy and attacked Nial with the thousandpressed wind needles. While Nial''s control of mana was already extremely high for someone at his rank, or even for someone one or two ranks above him, Dn''s mana control was just as terrifying, if not several times more terrific!

    Dn had 10,000 years of practice, how could Nialpare to that in any way?!

    Nial might be more talented than Dn, but the Undying was not someone who was too bothered about something as mundane as talent.

    In the end, the only thing that mattered was who emerged victorious and who lost.

    That was why both parties gave their utmost efforts. Dn used his own tactics that were perfectly adjusted to fit the special traits he was able to use right now.

    As for Nial, he concentrated most mana in the air above the Colosseum. Nial wanted to make use of the mana to create an ultimate attack against Dn to restrict him once and for all. That would be the best way to counter him.

    As long as Nial was stronger than Dn, it would be possible to restrict him. Making use of that was the only thing Nial could do.

    That was also why he created a huge wall of darkness to block the thousandpressed wind needles. The wall of darkness separated the entire Colosseum''s arena into two sections.

    Dn and Tyrant were left alone, which caused a smile to appear on the faces of the two parties.

    "Finally alone, right?" Dn asked, just for Tyrant to roar out loud while bashing his huge darkness mace into the ground. The Tyrant of Destruction burst forward while summoning two walls of darkness a few meters to Dn''s left and right. Large des shot out of the walls of darkness, preventing Dn from moving anywhere but straight ahead.

    However, that was exactly what Dn wanted to do, to begin with.

    There was no need to be afraid of Tyrant, no matter how huge, or physically strong the Devil was. Tyrant was just a subordinate of Nial, with a different set of skills, and weaknesses!

    Dn conjured the Immortality Aura as he shed his sword to the side. Yet, instead of weaving the Destruction Domain, or shrouding his de in the Power of Destruction, Dn came up with an entirely different attack for the Tyrant.

    As for Nial, his n was slowly setting off as well!

 Chapter 533 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (6)

    [The Undying''s POV]

    While it had been an easy task to figure out that the Power of Destruction was enough to inflict serious damage upon Kaeldur, the same couldn''t be said about the Tyrant of Destruction.

    The Giant Demon maintained a stoic expression and never showed when he was injured, and he could easily cover the wounds he sustained with the darkness that shrouded his entire body like a secondyer of skin. It was quite difficult to figure out what means to injure him and what was less effective against the huge Giant if he never reacted to an attack.

    However, after fighting for two weeks without a single break, it was only obvious that Dn made a few discoveries.

    One of his discoveries was that the Tyrant had a very high resistance to mana-based attacks.

    Dn had attacked the Tyrant with all kinds of needles that had been conjured with the use of his Ring of the Infinite Elements constitution, yet none of them inflicted any real damage to him.

    This forced Dn to switch his tactics torger mana-based attacks so that he could figure out what element and power caused most damage to the Giant Demon.

    It might be a cliche and something Dn could have expected but both the light and holy attributes showed the highest effectiveness against Tyrant, the existence that had been corrupted by darkness.

    But even if it was a cliche, Dn had only been happy upon finding out the best element to defeat the Giant Demon, who was also called the Tyrant of Destruction for a good reason.

    Because the Power of Destruction was not effective against Tyrant, Dn had also given the Immortality Aura a try. With the Immortality Aura, Dn could injure Tyrant, even to the extent that his expression morphed into an ugly and beastly grimace.

    Unfortunately, that was already it. The small injury was not enough to affect the Giant Demon in any way, and it was only a matter of time before Tyrant would heal.

    The high difficulty to overwhelm, let alone defeat Tyrant was why Dn had switched his target to Kaeldur and even Nial. Injuring Kaeldur was much easier than getting his hands on Nial, who was always protected by the two Demons. It was not as if Tyrant would stay idle while watching Kaeldur, let alone his master getting injured.

    Thus, their small brawl began anew.

    By exerting the Zephyr Step movement technique, Dn toppled Tyrant''s speed in an instant. He emerged in front of the Giant Demon a momentter and released the glowing white blob that had manifested in his empty hand.

    Tyrant covered his face with darkness in response before he shot tiny needles of darkness out from the ground.

    The Giant Demon was able to sense whenever the needles of darkness faced some resistance. That was how the Tyrant of Destruction countered Dn''s attempt to blind him.

    Tyrant used his other senses to make up for the momentary loss of his sight.

    However, Dn had already expected him to do so and readily implemented the next step.

    He created a strong stream of water which he sted to the ground with tremendous force. Every single needle of darkness would feel a certain amount of resistance due to the water''s force and the Giant Demon would be forced to digest and sort arge stream of information that came from the perception of his other senses, confusing him for a moment.

    This gave Dn the necessary time to initiate his own attack.

    Fusing the Immortality Aura with more and more Life force, Dn attempted to overclock the Immortality aura''s power and enhance it several times. What followed suit was the sensation of weakness that his body transmitted to his brain.

    He felt as if even a faint gust of air was strong enough to kill him, and that was probably not even an overestimation. He had used almost his entire life force to empower the Immortality Aura. It would take a second or two before Undying would replenish his life force but all of that was already ounted for in Dn''s mind.

    He used more than half of his entire pool of Mana to shroud his weapon with both holy and light attributed mana. Dn could alter mana however he wanted, and the final result was the Holy light Mana he had used to envelop his sword with.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His sword seemed to be screaming out loud as it hummed loudly when both the Reinforced Immortality Aura and the Holy Light Mana were pressed inside the de of Dn''s weapon.

    By willing his Aura and Mana to do so, Dn forcefully fused them inside the de, where the mighty and prideful powers were trying to exert dominance and win supremacy over one another.

    Dn knew that Mana would be sentient at a certain density and purity, while the Immortality aura had been described as prideful and a lone wolf by the Destruction Sword Immortal. But all of that was not something Dn truly cared about.

    He used his willpower to force both powers to work together as he shot to the right side of the Tyrant of Destruction. The Giant Demon was still trying to cope with the sudden influx of information when Dn had already shot high in the air.

    He pulled the de back to generate enough momentum for the sh he was about to issue in a moment.

    Yet, just when he reached Tyrant''s head a quarter of a second after he had initiated his n, he noticed that something was off.

    ''Are Nial and Kaeldur not intervening?'' Dn wondered, certain that the two would have appeared by theirrade''s side by now to assist him.

    But instead of stopping his attack and wondering further, Dn shed out, aiming at the Giant Demon''s head.

    His movement speed was rapid and there was no way that anyone could react in time to deflect, let alone evade his attack.

    However, it was just at this moment that Dn perceived dozens of changes in his surrounding area.

    The darkness cover on Tyrant''s face disappeared, revealing a bright smile on the Demon''s ugly face. The muscles in his body began to bulge and he seemed to grow in size within an instant.

    At the same time, a bloody moon appeared high in the air, eclipsing the bright sun of the City of Trials, nketing them in the crimson darkness.

    And with that, the nights of blood and darkness begun¡­.

    With the appearance of the bloody moon, Tyrant seemed to have gotten stronger. The Giant Demon''s body expanded as well.

    However, even then, Dn''s attack wasn''t terminated.

    The de that seemed to have expanded to a length of three meters cut through the air. It would never be able to hit the area Dn had targeted, but that was something he could live with.

    The de, erged by the tremendous amount of Holy Light Mana and Immortality Aura, brought the material of the weapon to its limits.

    That was exactly what Dn intended, and he swung it with a huge force before it impacted on the chest of the Giant Demon, where the de cut through everything.

    There was no holding back as the de turned the darkness it touched into shreds before a massive amount of dark-red, almost ck blood spurted through the surroundings.

    Dn squinted his eyes at the sight of the tremendous damage he did and then his gaze flicked to the still expanding body of the Giant Demon.

    ''Something is wrong¡­why the hell would Nial sacrifice Tyrant? That makes no sense!!''

 Chapter 534 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (7)

    [The Undying''s POV]

    Even though his mind was telling him that something was terribly wrong, Dn wouldn''t halt his attack just because of some inkling that could be right or wrong.

    In the worst-case scenario, he would die and he was more than ready to die a few times if it would allow him to kill one of Nial''s subordinates¡­and that was exactly what he was doing right now.

    Dn used all his might to finish his attack cleanly. There was no hesitation in his movements even if his mind was going awry.

    It took just a moment for the de of his longsword to sh through the Tyrant of Destruction, nearly cutting him in two halves.

    Blood gushed out of the Tyrant''s chest, his ribs that had been cut through were clearly visible and it was only a matter of time before the Tyrant of Destruction would die, or that was what logic told the Undying at least¡­

    Once his attack had been concluded, Dn used Green Magic to push the Tyrant of Destruction away, possibly evading the retaliatory attacks that should have been thrown at him by now.

    However, there was nothing from the Tyrant of Destruction, not even an angry retort.

    "Looks like I made a big mistake¡­ I grossly underestimated your power," Tyrant said all of a sudden, using the Demonnguage, which confused Dn even more.

    The Tyrant of Destruction turned in Dn''s direction, pointed the freshly manifested and reinforced darkness mace at the Undying and his expression changed once again.

    Deadly seriousness could be seen in Tyrant''srge eyes which were dyed ruby in their entirety.

    ''Did he want to fight me alone? Was that how he underestimated me or was it the sword sh he didn''t expect? In any case¡­what the hell is going on here¡­and what is this fucking moon?''

    Too many questions bombarded Dn, but he tried to discard them all at once in order to pick up the most important clues that were given to him. His surroundings were full of clues but Dn had been too focused on his epic battle with the Tyrant, to notice them. It was why he had yet to find out anything substantial.

    The wall of darkness was still standing in the Colosseum''s arena and Dn was not able to see anything past the wall. Meanwhile, the huge mass of mana from above the Colosseum was slowly being pulled to the ground, just like before.

    ? There was nothing special with that because it had been the case for thest two weeks, and it was something that had granted Dn the opportunity to absorb a tremendous amount of Mana while fighting Nial. Therge amounts of Mana allowed him to deliver one powerful attack after another, without the need to openly expose the special traits he possessed.

    His special trait, Bearer of Pain, had been utilized over and over again, but never had been an instance when it was inly obvious that he could actually convert his Life force into Mana! His unique mix of traits of being unable to die, ability to heal in an instant, and turning Life force into Mana was something that wasn''t supposed to exist in this Universe.

    That was something the Undying was certain of but he didn''t really care about the Laws of the Universe, let alone Fate. He would do whatever he wanted to do and his uniquebination of Origin ability, and Special Trait that he had been granted thanks to the Primordial Ascension was something that would allow him to take a step closer to this!

    Thisbo in addition to the most suitablebat technique to exploit the advantages of his body to the limit was also what made it possible to severe Kaeldur''s arms.

    ''Fortunately, the Eternal Darkness doesn''t have something like tha¨C....'' Dn thought just to halt in his tracks. He began to rake his mind and started to frown deeply.

    ''Wait¡­''

    ¡­

    ''The Mana is seeping inside the darkness rather than the ground itself¡­'' Dn realized when he looked at the ground using a special technique he had learned inside the City of Trials.

    He momentarily forgot about Tyrant, who towered in front of him and looked in the direction of Nial, or where he presumed the Eternal Darkness to be located behind the wall.

    ''..:You bastard!!''

    Dn grit his teeth and shot high in the air in an attempt to see both Nial and Kaeldur, but before he could even reach an altitude that allowed him to get a clear view of the other side of the wall of darkness, he was pulled down again.

    Several ropes of darkness had grasped his legs tightly, their pulling force much stronger than expected. The Tyrant of Destruction had grasped the darkness ropes by himself, rather than using his control of dark energy to create a pulling force to smack Dn to the ground.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Dn, who had been distracted by the shocking secret of Nial''s seemingly infinite dark energy supply, couldn''t react fast enough. He crashed into the ground without any means of defense.

    Several bones in his body broke, but they healed in the blink of an eye. He showed up from the ground, early enough to evade the charge of the Giant Demon, who seemed to have erged once again.

    Tyrant was now close to six meters tall and he continued to expand in size. Releasing an air cannon into the ground below him, Dn propelled himself into the air, evading the attack of Tyrant by arge margin.

    It was hard to adjust to fighting against someone who had long since adjusted to a fighting style that allowed thebatant to make use of his ultimate regeneration. Even the Tyrant of Destruction didn''t have any experience fighting such an opponent!

    However, Dn didn''t care about the hard time he gave his opponents, obviously. He created a tform ofpressed wind above himself before he did half a somersault to fix his position in order to push his feet from thepressed tform with all his might.

    Dn sted past the severely bleeding Tyrant of Destruction andnded on the ground heavily. He tried to lessen the force of his impact with a roll, which worked well enough for him to jump back on his feet just a fraction of a secondter.

    Thus, Dn ended up looking at the miserable figure of the Tyrant of Destruction, with confusion on his face.

    ''What the hell is he doing?''

    Tyrant''s wound was getting worse by the second. If he wanted to survive, Tyrant should have stopped moving the moment he was injured. He should have attempted to stall and use his dark energy to elerate his regeneration and help Nial once his body was fixed.

    It was more than necessary for Tyrant to tend to his wounds because the properties of the Holy Light attributed mana was eating away the dark energy all around and within the Tyrant of Destruction. It would slowly kill him if he wasn''t going to do something about it.

    It made no sense for Tyrant to fight in such a suicidal manner all of a sudden. There was no reason for him to do that, after all, the battle of the Eternal Darkness and the Undying hadn''t been one-sided until now.

    Sacrificing Tyrant didn''t seem to make any sense. Why would the Eternal Darkness do something so stupid willingly?

    He didn''t seem to be such an idiot before¡­

    ''Is Nial tired, and trying to finish me off by using the Tyrant as bait?"

    The Undying nced at the wall of darkness once again. He was staring at it intently while his eyes began to gleam brightly. It was as if he was trying to see through the darkness wall and figure out what Nial was up to¡­but there was nothing to see.

    Dn chose to simply ept the n Nial came up with. He didn''t think that it was possible for him to counter the n of the Eternal Darkness, either way.

    Nial had basically sacrificed one of his loyal subordinates to ensure his victory.

    ''If you''re willing to sacrifice Tyrant just to stall some time, I''m perfectly fine with that¡­one less troublesome opponent to take care ofter!'' Dn thought, inwardly shrugging. He epted the deal Nial handed over, though he knew that no n in the world would be enough for Nial to sacrifice his subordinate like that.

    However, who was he to say something like that?

    ''He won''t die literally, either way.''

    A huge, shining beacon of light erupted from Dn''s body the moment he finished his train of thought, and a subtle smile blossomed on his face.

    If he could kill Tyrant by ying into the Eternal Darkness'' cards, there was no reason to reject his gift.

    With that thought in mind, Dn rushed forth, ready to decapitate the Tyrant of Destruction.

    However, Nial had different ns, to a certain extent at least!

 Chapter 535 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (8)

    Even though the Tyrant of Destruction had been severely injured, he gained a tremendous enhancement in strength thanks to the Blood Eclipse Moon that was shining high above the Colosseum''s arena.

    That way, it was possible for him to fight a little bit longer against the Undying before he would be finally defeated.

    The crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon enhanced the might of Nial and his subordinates, while Dn noticed some negative effects that began to affect him after some time passed.

    Despite the effects of the Blood Eclipse Moon that affected everyone in the arena, particrly adversely to the Undying, he had been able to defeat Tyrant of Destruction.

    However, that was only obvious. The Tyrant of Destruction had somehow survived a three-meter-long cut across his chest that ran from under his left corbone to his abdomen diagonally, cleanly severing it. His body would have fallen apart into two if not for darkness that held it together

    It was already a wonder that Tyrant was still standing on his feet, let alone that he could still fight against Dn head-on for several more minutes.

    The Undying was shocked beyond measure while fighting the Tyrant when Nial''s subordinatesunched theirst attacks during the battle.

    Their fight showed quite clearly that the Tyrant of Destruction was willing to sacrifice his life by throwing himself into the pits of hell the moment Nial would ask him to do so. Nial''s words were Tyrant''smands and he would follow them no matter what the consequences.

    When the Tyrant was on the verge of death, he dispersed into darkness that merged with Nial''s body.

    The Tyrant was not killed, which gave him the opportunity to heal and be of use againter. However, instead of doing something like that, Nial rather did something else. He initiated the n he hade up with when his mind was calm andposed.

    Nial had analyzed the battle of the Tyrant against the Undying because of various reasons. First of all, Tyrant wanted to fight the Undying all by himself to figure out how strong Dn was. Second, Nial figured out a few things that interested him about the body and constitution of the Undying. Analyzing them gave him a better understanding of the Undying''s strengths and capabilities.

    Andst but not least important, Nial hade up with his own n to defeat the Undying using the result of his analysis. Everything was prepared the moment Dn defeated the Tyrant, which was a perfect time to activate the true effects of the Blood Eclipse Moon!

    Nial had to prepare a lot to unleash the Blood Eclipse Moon in its full size. It was not difficult to materialize his ability when it was rtively smaller in size but it had been a long time since Nial used more crimson moonlight than he could absorb within a single night to enhance his attacks.

    It was because of this simple fact that his Blood Eclipse Moon wasrger than the Halheim shelter in its entirety¡­and the Halheim shelter had expanded quite a bit with more than 100,000,000 citizens calling it their home!

    Dn wasn''t actually sure what the Blood Eclipse Moon was capable of in the beginning, but he was a little bit frustrated about Nial''s calmness.

    The Tyrant''s suicidal actions didn''t have much of an impact on Nial because nobody would actually die in the City of Trials. However, that was actually what prevented Dn from fighting Nial with his full might.

    The Eternal Darkness would have been much stronger if he would have gone berserk. Nial didn''t show many emotions while fighting, which made it feel like the Eternal Darkness was a killing machine in a low energy consumption mode.

    By releasing emotions, it was possible to be much stronger, even if it was only temporary. That was what Dn was fairly certain about.

    Yet, Nial never really showed any of that in the battle, which was why Dn couldn''t elicit a response from him. He seemed almost cold and aloof to Dn''s taunts and repeated returns from the door of death. He just could not force the Eternal Darkness to go all out and exhaust himself with various means¡­such as bing the scapegoat and dying thousands of times.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Furthermore, Dn was certain that the Eternal Darkness was stronger than him. It was quite obvious since one of the two Devils was already more than enough to hold him at bay for a long time.

    To add to his growing frustration, the Eternal Darkness had stopped attempting to kill Dn. On the contrary, Nial was fully focused on chaining down the Undying after the Tyrant had returned to the Heart of Darkness within his body.

    That was the only way he could win against the Undying¡­by chaining him down, restricting his movements, and draining his life force without actually injuring him.

    ''I don''t know the hidden effects of his Origin ability, so I have to use what I can!'' Nial thought at that moment as he released a tremendous amount of the crimson moonlight that had been stored in the Blood Eclipse Moon.

    As a result, Dn''s movement slowed down as the entire arena of the Colosseum turned crimson. The crimson moonlight empowered Nial''s dark energy and every single move the Eternal Darkness made while doing exactly the same to Kaeldur.

    On the other hand, Dn felt as if a curse was put on him. His mana cirction was much slower than before and it was difficult for him to focus properly.

    However, that was not the worst, because it felt like his True Undying Essence was slowly growing weaker as well. It was still fully charged but his regeneration had slowed down drastically.

    This didn''t hail from the crimson moonlight that shone down onto the two Fate Changers but because of Nial''s newly created weapon against someone like the Undying.

    Chains created mainly from the Essence of Darkness, crimson moonlight, and the Power of Chaos burst out of the ground around Nial.

    They shot forward and pierced Dn''s leg after the Undying had been held down by hundreds of darkness vines.

    The Chaos Darkness Essence chain had been altered through the influx of the crimson moonlight to inflict severe damage and they were rapidly draining the Undying''s Life force.

    It was only at this moment when Nial realized just how terrific the Undying''s Life force truly was. No matter how much Life force was drained from the Undying''s body, it showed no signs of disappearing and it was like Dn was blessed with an endless pit of Life force.

    Even though Nial was in possession of the Symbol of Life that had further evolved, he was certain that no living being was supposed to possess so much Life force, not while being at the third Tier!

    ''The amount of Life force rivals that of Yggdrasil¡­how can that even be?'' Nial thought in shock, unable to understand how it was possible for the Undying to possess so much Life force.

    However, Nial was not yet done attacking. He created another Chaos Darkness Essence chain that pierced through the other leg of the Undying draining double the amount of Life force at the same time.

    Afterward, he used more dark energy vines to firmly hold Dn back to the ground before more and more Chaos Darkness Essence Chains were created from the Essence of Darkness, Power of Chaos, and crimson moonlight which he had umted for exactly this purpose!

    ''If I cannot kill you, I will drain you until you wish you would be dead!!''

 Chapter 536 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (9)

    Tens of chains, created from Nial''s Essence of Darkness, the Power of Chaos he was granted due to the influence of the Vengeance of Chaos ability and reinforced by the crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse moon, shot out of the ground with a loud, earth-shaking eruption.

    The Chaos Darkness Essence Chains were massive, with the widest being as thick as an oakwood tree trunk, and etched with Ancient runic constetions. Connected to other runic constetions, the Ancient Runic constetions that had been created under the direct influx of Chaos and crimson moonlight created powerful effects such as the blood that was drained from the Undying''s body the moment they touched him.

    Creating the runic constetions required time and dedication. It was the major reason why Tyrant had to fight the Undying all by himself for more than ten minutes so as to allow Nial to focus on creating them. Nial had to use an exorbitant amount of energy to create the Chaos Darkness Essence Chains but the result was certainly worth it.

    Their ends were buried deep in the darkness domain where they anchored themselves firmly in ce. The Undying struggled and he roared out loudly in a fit of anger and surprise. He was thrashing against the chains that held him down and throwing himself on the ground without a care for the injuries he sustained, but it was of no use.

    The Chaos Darkness Essence Chains simply did not budge. They were too strong and imbued with energies and runic constetions that prevented the Undying from moving fast enough to tear apart his body!

    As the Undying threw himself against the chains in an attempt to free himself before it was already toote, the chains began to glow in an ominously dark light before they tightened around his body. They pulled the Undying to the ground before arge quantity of smaller Chaos Darkness Essence chains erupted out of the ground.

    They pierced inside the Undying''s body where they drained more of his Life force. His movements were further restricted and so were the use and control of his mana. It was hardly possible for the Undying to use mana, let alone move his body.

    Dn shuddered at this realization, yet, he didn''t want to ept his fate. The muscles underneath his skin were bulging and flexing while his veins almost popped out. However, it was all to no avail.

    "Even if I cannot kill you, I can still hold you down until the battle is over!" Nial mumbled, blood flowing down his mouth nose, and ears. Droplets of blood trickled down his ear as well. His chest heaved and his hands were clenched tightly.

    If Dn was a monstrosity due to his Origin ability and his willingness to sacrifice his body, Nial was a force that should be reckoned with, as well.

    The Undying was growing exhausted, not only because the crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon affected him severely but more because both the insides and outside of his body were tied down by thousands of metal chains that continued to steadily drain his life force.

    Dn Cier might not be able to die, but Nial was not taking this fight lightly either. He would receive better benefits from winning against Dn in an overwhelming manner, if that was possible, to begin with. Now that he had realized that it was futile to try to defeat the Undying, Nial chose to restrict him until the end of the 100 day long battle.

    The Undying''s Life force was drained whenever it reached a certain threshold. That threshold was not high, which was also why Dn went through a cycle of feeling unbearable pain spreading through his entire body every single day¡­for tens of days at a stretch.

    At least that was how much time Dn presumed to have passed. He couldn''t be sure how much time passed because he couldn''t see the countdown from his position. He was pinned to the ground, his head facing the sand and all of his traits severely restricted.

    As for Nial, he was growing more satisfied upon perceiving the remaining time on the countdown. But even if he was satisfied with the current situation, Nial could not risk falling at ease.

    Dn was not someone who gave up easily. Nial chose to prepare himself against the highly likely breakout of the Undying. He was not sure how Dn was supposed to escape but Nial still prepared himself.

    He had a sheer infinite amount of mana at his disposal because the City of Trials was overflowing with highly purified and dense mana. Pulling the mana inside the darkness domain made it easy for Nial to devour and annex it almost subconsciously.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This task required a little bit of attention, but it was not tiresome enough to decrease hisbat prowess in the slightest. In fact, he could use the mana to increase hisbat prowess in the long run!

    Nial chose to continue with his preparations, continue to supply the Chaos Darkness Essence Chains with what they needed to be maintained properly, and put aside the remaining mana to useter.

    After all, he believed that the Undying would get back to him¡­and that couldn''t be more true!

    ''I really have had e enough of this bastard¡­everything is trying to push me down, prevent me from getting stronger¡­ I will fucking kill him!!'' The Undying thought as wrath began to flow through his veins.

    Dn needed strength the most. He couldn''t care less about others because they could achieve everything they wanted to as long as they possessed the necessary prowess to do so.

    Every Lesser God he faced until now was supposed to be able to defeat him, crush his spirit, and leave the City of Trials with their memories intact. However, in the end, Dn''s unbreakable will and tenacity allowed him to emerge victorious.

    But that was not all.

    His fighting spirit and his sheer ability to ignore unbearable pain were important factors that ensured his survival up to today. He had survived numerous incidents that would have killed others or pushed them to the brink of insanity.

    Most would have turned insane in his situation, after facing countless obstacles and the unimaginable amount of pain he had to go through in thest few dozen years and in his entire lifetime.

    From the day he was born it felt like he was apanied by pain. It embraced him tightly and showed clearly what it meant to be alive.

    For Dn, the pain was not something bad anymore. It was just a most important indicator, showing him that he was still alive!

    While that may be the case, Nial, his opponent, seemed to have figured that by now as well. Nial could tell that Dn was not easy to defeat and that he was actually getting stronger with every single death and defeat.

    The Eternal Darkness could tell that his fellow Fate Changer was not someone, who would give up just like that. As a fellow Fate Changer, this was something nice to hear, but as enemies, it was the worst one could be faced against¡­an Undying being, who would never give up, no matter what happened!

    That became even clearer when Dn scattered Nial''s darkness domain in a radius of one meter around him.

    He manifested his Domain of Destruction that shrouded his entire body like a membrane, and he unleashed the real power of his True Undying Essence!

 Chapter 537 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness (10)

    When Dn chose to go all out to snatch back his freedom, he knew that he was going to die at least once.

    The True Undying Essence was unleashed in its strongest form while engulfing his entire body with the Power of Destruction. His presence changed all of a sudden and fierce determination could be found burning brightly in his eyes as he created moreyers of Destruction around his body and¡­.inside his body, around his organs, veins, bones, and flesh.

    Theyers of Destruction were everywhere and Dn ended up killing himself by unleashing the power that hibernated in the depths of theyers of destruction.

    An ear-deafening explosion urred, but the only thing Kaledur could see was blood spurting through the entire arena, followed by bone fragments, chunks of blood, shreds of skin, and brain mass scattering in all directions.

    "The chains broke¡­" Nial mumbled in disbelief. He spat spitting out blood when the bacsh of the broken Chaos Darkness Essence chains hit him and some of Dn''s innards went in his mouth.

    He had umted enough energy, Essence of Darkness, and Chaos to bind Dn Cier for decades if necessary, under normal circumstances. However, it looked like he had miscalcted something, which was why they were back to square one.

    Miscted may be the wrong word because he was not foolish enough to think that Dn could be defeated that easily. Nheless, it was a surprise that Dn could dispel the darkness domain so easily using the Domain of Destruction which seemed to be unstable and hard to maintain for the Undying.

    Nheless, the Power of Destruction was more potent and lethal than his dark energy, no matter how bad Dn''s control of the Destruction was.

    Unable to properly control his Power of Destruction, he had to use his entire body, and overclock the Power of Destruction within him.

    By creating numerousyers of Destruction inside and outside his body, and the overclocked state of his Power of Destruction, it was possible for Dn to break free from the Chaos Darkness Essence chains.

    The moments the chains were broken, Dn showed signs of healing. The fragments of his body were rapidly pulled together, and he absorbed the surrounding mana just momentster to exert his Green Magic.

    He unleashed a typhoon out of nowhere to hurl his body far away from his current position. Dn''s body still consisted of mere fragments rather than a properly working body and it would require a few more seconds for him to healpletely.

    Nial wanted to make use of these seconds to overwhelm Dn once again. It was not possible to win the fight against the Undying, but it was certainly usible to pass the mission he was given.

    However, Dn didn''t look like he wanted to ept a tie. Emerging victorious in this battle seemed to be important enough for Dn to endure the unbearable pain, which nobody else in their right minds would willingly endure!

    ''This insane mad!!'' Nial shouted in his mind, unable to imagine just how much pain Dn had already gone through in this battle.

    He couldn''t care about that either, even if he wanted to. If he began to care about his opponent''s well-being all of a sudden, he might actually lose against the Undying, especially because his opponent was Dn Cier!!

    Understanding this clearly, Nial released more than ten thousand vines manifested of dark energy from all over the Colosseum''s arena. The darkness vines burst out of the ground and arena walls and shot straight towards Dn, giving him no way of escape.

    The typhoon he had summoned was also destroyed by the influx of the darkness vines that pierced through the powerful winds without much resistance.

    Within a second or two the typhoonpletely subsided. It dispersed and released the miserable figure of Dn''s healing body.

    The Undying was high in the air, and his upper body had mostly regenerated, which included his head and face, on which one could clearly see the smile of a crazy maniac.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "This lunatic¡­" Kaeldur growled, his long ws turning crimson as he squatted down on the ground. His ws touched the ground and it was just a momentter that Nial reacted to his first Devil''s action as well, sending more dark energy, crimson moonlight, and Essence of Darkness inside hispanion''s body.

    Under the influx of Nial''s energy supply, it took Kaeldur merely a moment to generate the necessary force to st upward, his ws reaching out for Dn''s head.

    Dn could only see Kaledur''s afterimages, but that was more than enough for him toe up with a counter attack.

    "You guys are not the only ones who can y around with the colors of your energies!" He shouted out iprehensibly while his crazy smile seemed to turn into an evil, mocking grin.

    Dn''s arms were shrouded in crimson bolts of lightning all of a sudden. The bolts of lightning burned through his skin and flesh, destroying everything they touched in an instant. But even then¡­Dn just smiled.

    He summoned the strongest bolt of lightning that belonged to one of the techniques he had learned. It was obvious that no mortal should possess the powers to wield, let alone control this kind of technique.

    Not even Dn thought that he would be able to control the crimson bolts of lightning. He might have a few lose screws but he was not delusional, not yet!!

    Using the mana that originated from the huge cloud that hovered high above the air of the Colosseum, Dn ended up with the ability to summon the crimson bolts of lightning, in the first ce. As for unleashing them in a controlled manner, he never nned to do that, to begin with!

    But what he could possibly do was unleash more and more of his power, thereby creating an overloaded state of electricity the moment Kaeldur emerged in front of him.

    Dn had been fighting against Nial and his two Devils for a very long time by now. Countless days had passed and he could already fathom the train of thoughts and the moves of his opponents. Thus, he knew very well what was going to happen.

    The Undying''s head flicked back and so did the rest of his regenerating body mere milliseconds before he released the charge of crimson bolts of lightning that were supposed to be used as a shroud and amplification of one''s fist, and not like a supernatural, God-killing charge!

    However, that was exactly what Dn did, except that he didn''t intend to kill a God. One of his arms reached for the sky, while his other arm aimed at the empty air¡­or so it looked at the first nce.

    "Come out, you fucking bastard!!" Dn thundered despite the tremendous pain owing to his body getting destroyed and healed at the same instance.

    Heughed like a maniac as he unleashed the power of the crimson bolts of lightning through both of his arms.

    Simultaneously, his head moved upward, unveiling the Demon who had forcefully altered his trajectory multiple times in an attempt to outwit Dn.

    But now that he was less than a meter away from Dn, ready to decapitate the Undying, it looked like all of this had been a ruse.

    It was almost as if Dn was in possession of a irvoyance ability¡­able to tell what was about to happen in the future thaty ahead of them.

    ''Burn to crisp!''

 Chapter 538 The Undying Vs The Eternal Darkness

    The crimson bolts of lightning were discharged and the power that ought to be wielded only by the strongest Gods was released at once.

    Both Dn and Kaeldur were burned to a crisp and the Devil, who had never voiced out his difort, let alone a sign that he was in pain, not even when his arms had been cut off, let out a soul-screeching scream that rang through the ears of the two Fate Changers.

    ''How the hell is it possible for him to unleash such an attack?'' Nial thought in shock while lifting his arm in response to the unbearable scream of his trustedpanion. Currents of Chaos covered both of his arms and he released his chaos, ignoring the pain that spread through his body upon using powers he was not supposed to be able to wield yet.

    ''If you go all-out, I shouldn''t hold back either!'' He thought as the pain steadily increased, and he too let out a blood-curdling scream.

    "If you can use the powers of Gods, I might as well endure the Chaos that spreads through me!!"

    He released the Chaos that was supposed to stop the discharge of crimson bolts of lightning. The pain made his veins convulse which resulted in his arms cramping as the currents of Chaos were freed. Wave upon wave of pain hit his nerves but he held his ground and gave his all to end the suffering of his loyalrade. Sadly, it was to no avail.

    The crimson bolts of lightning never stopped unleashing their tremendous power, not even when they crushed into the ground where its destructive force was unveiled.

    The air around the Colosseum was charged with electricity and the ground shook as the crimson bolts of lightning struck, tearing apart fragments of the arena that couldn''t even be damaged by the Lesser Gods which Dn had fought before.

    The arena looked as if a hundredndmines had exploded in one go, leaving Nial who witnessed everything through his visualization in shock at the raw power unleashed right before him.

    ''What the¡­'' Nial could only think as he burst forward while maintaining steady control over the vines of darkness around him. He ordered them to pierce into the mass of crimson bolts of lightning and pull Kaeldur out of it.

    For a moment, Nial forgot about the Undying, which was also why he didn''t realize that Dn was not even in the mass of crimson bolts of lightning anymore, not technically.

    Quite a while had already passed since the Undying first discharged the bolts of lightning and the remnants of his mortal body could be seen scattered in the mass.

    However, what nobody had realized was that Dn''s head, heart, and soul had long since left the chaotic mess of the crimson bolts of lightning when they shot toward the ground.

    "Sorry to trouble you, but this moon is fucking annoying!" Dn snarled as his entire body fully regenerated.

    He was standing on top of the humongous Blood Eclipse Moon and was staring down at the pitiful mass that had once been his body. There were also the remains of Kaeldur''s body but Dn was not too focused on that.

    ''That screech was fucking loud¡­well, whatever¡­''

    Dn shrugged his shoulders and he used his mana and the Power of Destruction to form a mana de that was shrouded in severalyers of his Destruction Power. He had lost his weapon earlier but that issue was easily solved since he was surrounded by a tremendous amount of mana. Nial had gathered everything to make use of it himself, without realizing that Dn was able to control the mass of Mana as well!

    What followed the creation of a de created with highlypressed Mana,yered by the Power of Destruction was the manifestation of the Immortality Aura and a mighty thrust into the moon. The mana de pierced deep inside the Blood Eclipse Moon, which ended up creating mere superficial damage to therge construction.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Dn expected that, which was also why he took a deep breath before he discharged his entire mana and life force inside the mana de and his attack.

    "1st Thrust of the Destruction Sword Style, Hole in One!" He screamed at the top of his lungs while grimacing in pain as the Blood Eclipse Moon Burst open, unleashing all the crimson moonlight that had been hoarded inside it.

    As the Blood Eclipse Moon crumbled to pieces, a tremendous explosion urred. Shards of rocks and debris shot in all directions. The surface of the Blood Eclipse Moon was ripped apart along the area of impact with fissures and craters opening up as Nial''s beloved creation was shattered and pulverized.

    The sky was painted crimson as a dazzling disy of varying shades of red that shone brightly.

    Nial couldn''t help but curse in his mind as the Grain belonging to the Blood Eclipse Moon ability was the only thing that was left unscathed.

    Dn stared at the tiny grain that looked just like a miniature version of the Blood Eclipse Moon while the hoarded crimson moonlight shot in all directions.

    It seeped into him with a tremendous force and every single cell in his body was affected by the crimson moonlight. The moonlight spread all over the City of Trials, shrouding the entire City in crimson light. This disy onlysted for a few seconds until the crimson moonlight dispersed.

    But what was unveiled after the red hue cleared were destroyed buildings outside the City of Trials and inside the Colosseum. Not a single structure stood intact as the debris and stone fragments had reduced the entire City to a pit of rubble.

    "Another mess removed. Two subordinates down, one ability terminated, and only one exhausted young man left to defeat!" Dn summarized in a steady voice, his eyes gleaming brightly as he spent a few seconds replenishing his mana as he was still surrounded by the mass of mana that hovered above the Colosseum''s arena.

    ''Come on¡­show me some emotions, Nial Orin!!!'' Dn shouted in his mind as he dived down, head first. He used his Green Magic to control the winds around him and summon new winds. His control was back to its Peak since the crimson moonlight didn''t affect him anymore after it had dispersed and he could deactivate the True Undying Essence once again, allowing it to recharge forter use.

    Taking a deep breath, he felt excitement thrumming through his body once again. Considering the current situation of the battle between the two Fate Changers, Dn was certain that he would get a good overall rating in his trial. He might have been imprisoned for several weeks, killed over and over again, and forced to control his power in a manner that allowed him to use it even while his life force was so low that he could barely be considered alive, but he had emerged victorious and how!.

    It had been extremely hard, but he had managed to turn the tables and escaped the imprisonment of Nial Orin, the Eternal Darkness.

    On the other hand, Nial was not feeling great anymore. His chest heaved heavily and darkness exuded all over his body. His eyes had turned crimson and the pressure he emanated while turning his head to Dn waspletely different from before.

    "Fuck off, bastard!" Nial shouted as a humongous amount of mana, dark energy, and the Essence of Darkness erupted from within his body all of a sudden.

    Kaeldur''s remains turned into darkness currents that merged with Nial''s body, but that was not something the young Fate Changer was able to sense anymore.

    His eyes had turned crimson in color and a humongous structure was being created and rising up behind Nial.

    ''What the hell is that?''

 Chapter 539 The Gate

    A humongous construction was forming in the coalescence of energy that had amassed behind him. It was hard to make out the construct, but one thing was certain; it was dangerous.

    Nial visualized Dn''s trembling hands along with the incapability of the Undying to move and the corners of lips uptilted.

    He didn''t want to use this because he was not certain whether he would benefit from it or not, however, he had no time to wonder about the ifs and buts.

    Nial wanted to win, not only to make sure that his secondary Godly mission was aplete sess but also to show that the sacrifices of his two Devils were not for naught!

    Thus, he unleashed every bit of energy that had been umted in his darkness domain that had spread all over the City of Trials by now. Nial activated the ability, Awakening of the Prymal, for the second time since he had obtained it, and his rage and anger filled the ancient and foreboding facade of the Gate that began to manifest behind him.

    The Gate was massive and imposing, made of the solidified energy Nial had unleashed. It was adorned with engravings and various symbols that had been used in the Primal Eras. Neither Nial nor Dn knew the meaning of the symbols and carvings but that was not important as they could perceive the illusions created by Nial''s dark energy that exuded from the ancient Gate as well.

    Demons, Devils, and other malevolent creatures, their eyes glowing red in hostility were manifested from the dark energy as they stood watch over the entrance of the humongous Gate.

    The Gate which spanned the entire length of the Colosseum towered over the Colosseum, shooting high up in the air, ranging far over a hundred meters. It made the two Fate Changers seem like ants and created a sense of dread and unease that washed over the Undying.

    Nial screamed out loud, a steady stream of blood trickling down his nose and eyes as he poured more dark energy into the Gate that seemed to suck him dry, which caused the Gate''s presence to change drastically. The air around the Gate was as heavy as the weight of eons of suffering, desperation, and uncontroble hatred.

    The Undying had no idea what was actually going on. He wanted to make sure that everything was still fine because it looked like the walls of the Colosseum were slowly breaking apart. That was how heavy the pressure of the humongous ancient gate was. Thus, he nced over to the Oracle, who had observed the entire battle from the beginning up till now.

    She hadn''t moved a single inch during the entire period of the battle and observed things clearly without a change in her expression¡­until now. The Oracle had shot up from her seat the moment she perceived the same animosity that Dn felt at the sight of the forming Gate, her expression filled with uncertainty and terror.

    Even if Dn had no idea what was going on, he could tell that if there was something that could actually kill him, for real, it wouldy behind these Gates¡­and the Undying had no idea what it might be¡­

    He was not looking forward to finding it out, either!

    ''I cannot allow him to finish creating the Gate!'' Dn could only think.

    He felt a small pang of fear for the first time in a very, very long time¡­and it didn''t feel good, not at all!

    The Gate was locked but he could clearly sense a faint, pulsing energy emanating from it. It was almost as if the Gate itself was alive¡­and hungry.

    Dn''s heart was beating wildly, cold sweat trickled down his temples and he felt fear crawling up his spine, the unshakeable feeling that something was not right. He could clearly tell that the thing thaty behind the Gate was powerful enough to kill him¡­

    The thought that there was actually something capable of obliterating him, the Undying, an existence that couldn''t even die when his soul and body were destroyed, was both reassuring and scary.

    It was reassuring because it forced Dn to act more carefully in the future and understand that there was always something or someone stronger than himself, something that could even defeat an Undying existence.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As for the reason why it was scary, it was because Dn was certain that Nial had no idea how to control the being thaty behind the Gate.

    Dn was not sure why he was so certain that the Eternal Darkness couldn''t control the existence behind the Gate, but he felt it in his gut. And that was more than enough for him to start acting before it was toote.

    However¡­what was he supposed to do, to begin with?!

    Meanwhile, as the Undying faced a mental breakdown, Nial''s entire mind and being had been consumed by dark energy. At least that was what it looked like. Nial''s entire body exuded a tremendous amount of energy, seemingly as if Nial actually wanted that to happen.

    However, that couldn''t be further from the truth.

    Something else, something that was not supposed to reside in his body hadtched itself onto him. Nial hadn''t noticed it until now but he could clearly tell that he was not able to control himself anymore right now. His mind was being consumed and his body forced to move even though he didn''t want to.

    For the first time in forever, Nial was shocked to the core and actually¡­afraid¡­

    Yet, no matter what Nial was doing, there was no way for him to escape the clutches of the being that had gotten hold of him.

    It was simply too strong, much stronger than the Elven Empress, the Sacred Tree, and even the Oracle¡­possibly even stronger than Damian had been when he was at his strongest¡­

    Nial didn''t understand what was going on. He merely wanted to use the mass of Mana above the Colosseum together with the Mana his darkness domain had already absorbed. That way, he would have been able to summon a powerful warrior, someone who was strong enough to stall Dn until the battle between them was over.

    There was barely any time left before their fight was supposed to end, either way. However, what Nial didn''t expect to happen was that the dark energy influenced him for a moment before something else took over his body.

    Nial couldn''t do anything against it simply because he was too weak, and there was nothing Dn could use as an indicator of how to stop this chaotic mess, either.

    That was troublesome, and Dn actually reconsidered cutting Nial apart to stall whatever ominous creature was heading their way. He wouldn''t die because they were still in a battle, either way.

    But, would that really stop the Gate front from being manifested? What if he would miss the most crucial part and worsened the situation¡­if that was possible, to begin with?

    Just when Dn was about to turn insane, he saw golden particles in his hands and something appeared magically inside his empty palm.

    [100 Days passed, and both Fate Changers seeded in their mission, the first reward has been distributed!]

    "Long time no see, System!"

 Chapter 540 Pierce His Heart!

    Nial''s heart was empty and his mind was nk. He had no idea what was actually going on and the only thing he felt was uncontroble anger.

    Something had snatched the reins from him, but it was neither the Late God of Darkness nor the dark energy.

    A being he had never encountered before had found him within the City of Trials, the only ce where the void borders of the Universes were ruled by differentws.

    It forcefully created a link to him and it had waited until the very moment when Nial''s mind was the most vulnerable.

    This moment urred when he rushed to Kaeldur fearing that his trusted ally had actually died, not just in the City of Trials, but a true death.

    Only then did it strike, overthrowing Nial and forcefully making him release a tremendous amount of mana while unleashing his [Awakening of the Prymal] ability.

    What happened afterward was history. With the seemingly infinite amount of mana he was supplied with, Nial summoned a humongous and terrific Gate. It was ck in color, tens of meters wide, and taller than a few hundred meters.

    Yet, that was not even the most terrifying part. The most fearsome was the tremendous pressure which the Gate unleashed. The entire City of Trials began to shake for the first time since its creation as the ominous and terrifying existence thaty behind the Gates was unleashed and it unveiled its wee gifts.

    It revealed a fraction of its power to show what it was capable of, while impatiently waiting for the young Fate Changer to keep supplying his power to the Gate that creaked open.

    The moment the Gate opened, even if it was just a tiny slit, everyone in the City of Trials froze in their ce. Every Soul Shard turned in the direction of the Colosseum and they began to shake violently.

    Even if they had no idea what was going on, their heads and hearts, and guts told them that they should run, as far as possible and as quickly as the winds could carry them.

    They were Gods, some even the Soul Shards of True Gods, extremely powerful True Gods that were feared and renowned in the vast Universe.

    Yet, even then, they felt nothing but uncontroble fear when they felt the pressure of the being that resided behind the Gate.

    [Pierce his Heart!]

    Dn had been in a trance while looking at the Gate in front of him.

    The Trial of Power had ended and the Soul Weapon, Oricalm, had appeared in his hand. At least, that was what the System notification told him.

    It had been around ten thousand years since hest saw a system notification, but that was probably his smallest problem right now. A monster with the strength to eradicate his existence was about to emerge in the City of Trials after being summoned by Nial. Dn was also not sure if Nial did this intentionally or not, but he presumed that it was thetter. His gut told him so.

    [Pierce his Heart, The Heart of Darkness!]

    The voice appeared in his head once again, and Dn could clearly tell who it belonged to.

    However, that was quite confusing because he was pretty sure that the Oracle could pierce Nial''s Heart of Darkness by herself.

    Why was he, a weak mortal, supposed to do the dirty work for the Oracle?

    ''But¡­thinking about it, I do not really want to die¡­''

    A muscle in Dn''s jaw twitched and he epted his fate. It was not as if it would make a big difference to him either way. If the Oracle was not able to do the deed, then he would be more than happy to pierce Nial''s Heart of Darkness!

    Wielding the soul weapon, Oricalm, Dn felt an odd familiarity with it. He closed his eyes for a second, inserted his mana in the weapon and he sensed something amazing.

    He could adjust the shape of the weapon to his desire. With that in mind, Dn turned Oricalm into a longsword with a paper-thin and flexible de. It looked simr to a fencer''s saber, but there were still a few differences.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In the end, it didn''t really matter, one way or another as long as the weapon he wielded could pierce deep inside his designated target.

    Given that it was the Oracle who told him to pierce Nial''s Heart of Darkness, Dn presumed that his wounds would be tended to afterward.

    There was no need for him to worry about Nial in that case.

    This gave Dn enough assurance to close his eyes and summon the Destruction Domain that spread out in a radius of two meters. That was thergest Destruction Domain he could create with his ridiculously low talent toward the Power of Destruction, but that was more than enough to make things work.

    By weaving severalyers of Destruction around Oricalm''s de, and shrouding it with the Immortality Aura that was fully empowered with the help of the True Undying Essence, Dnbined his strongest forms of attacks.

    His skin burst open, blood gushed out of his body and his face turned into an ugly mass of flesh as dark red, almost ck skin burst out of his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears.

    His physique was too weak to endure the potent powers he unleashed. However, that was nothing new for Dn so he could endure everything with ease.

    With the Zephyr Step movement technique activated, Dn burst to the ground. The moment his foot touched the ground, strong winds circted around him. They allowed him to change his trajectory faster and shoot forward, straight to the tragic figure of his fellow fate changer.

    Nial''s skin had burst open as well but dark energy oozed out of him instead of blood. Dark energy spread out of every single pore in his body. It was difficult to see Nial behind the curtain of darkness that seemed to have the mission to hide and protect Nial from the influence of beings from the outside.

    Unfortunately, all the darkness was useless in the face of the Power of Destruction!

    Dn emerged in front of Nial just a momentter. The immense pressure originating from the humongous Gate weighed on Dn and it destroyed his body oneyer at a time.

    His Origin ability''s effects were drastically weakened in the presence of the ginormous monster that was well hidden behind the Gate, but Dn tried to ignore the influence it tried to weigh down on him.

    He took a deep breath, looked at the pained persona of the Eternal Darkness, and smiled lightly.

    "This might sting a little, buddy!" Dn dered while piercing into Nial''s flesh with all his might.

    There was no hesitation in Dn''s movement, his silver eyes stared straight at a particr position in the center of Nial''s chest. A faint smile emerged on his face when Oricalm''s razor-sharp de dug deep inside Nial Orin, desiring to devour his blood and cut through his heart!

    And Dn made exactly that possible!

    **

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 Chapter 541 Hoert

    "You''re still alive?" Dn managed to ask weakly while his cruelly tortured bodyy on the ground, unmoving.

    Nial was lying next to him in hisbat clothes, drenched in his own blood.

    "...I think so?"

    Neither Dn nor Nial was able to move the rest of their body. Only their head seemed to work, to a certain extent, at least.

    Dn''s body felt like it had passed to a grater. His skin was peeled, and his bones, veins, muscles, and organs were exposed. He was not wearing anything, but that was something he couldn''t be bothered about, right now. His body ached and his Origin ability was not working properly anymore.

    Dn could tell that this state was only temporary, but it was still annoying because he was healing even slower than 10,000 years ago.

    "I guess we made it both¡­we got rid of that¡­thing." He mumbled, almost adding ''for the time being In his head.''

    Nial''s lifeless, milky white eyes stared into the cloudless sky while blood keep oozing out of his burst-open skin.

    "What in the vast Universe was that even, to begin with?"

    Nial would have shuddered if he was still in control of his body. However, only his head shook wildly for a second while Dn turned his head in the direction of the Eternal Darkness.

    "This thing came out of you, so how the hell am I supposed to know what that was?" Dn shot back in an incredulous tone to Nial before he sighed deeply as he recalled the presence and the ominous sensation he had felt while looking at the Gate. "But I''m pretty sure that it can kill me¡­and I mean literally eradicate my entire existence¡­"

    Dn knew that his Origin ability didn''t work as well as before due to the presence of the thing that resided behind the Gate. He could also tell that if he had been a God and True Undying Essence had be his True Divinity, things wouldn''t have been that troublesome. But he was still a mortal right now, and unable to deal with that¡­thing.

    ''Well, even the Oracle was shocked, so it''s not like it''s a surprise that this thing can temporarily weaken my Origin ability with its mere presence¡­I guess?''

    "That thing was probably Hoert," The Oracle''s voice rang through the ears of the Fate Changers, and they flicked their gazes at her in unison.

    Both were trying to lift their head to look at the Oracle, but she squatted down in front of the two of them.

    "You two did a good job¡­I never expected that it would be possible for him to find a way to you guys¡­or that he would ever be interested in you guys, to begin with¡­"

    Neither Dn nor Nial felt any better upon hearing the Oracle''spliment. Her words were just a clear indicator that she was as clueless as them, and that was certainly not good.

    "What¡­or who is Hoert?" Dn asked the first and the most important question that had to be answered so that the Fate Changers could get a rough understanding of the situation.

    The Oracle bit her lower lip and she tried to put a smile on her face. Unfortunately, her smile crumbled after only a few seconds.

    "Hoert belongs to the Pryards, Ancients of Doom that came into existence long before this Universe re-entered the circle of life. The Pryards are usually not interested in the happenings of a young Universe like ours¡­.but Hoert is a little bit different" The Oracle spoke slowly and she was taking pauses way too often as if she was weighing the gravity of each word that left her mouth. It seemed as if she was trying very hard not to reveal something she shouldn''t tell them yet.

    Dn didn''t really care what the Oracle wanted to hide, but he wanted to hear the truthful answers to his questions. That was all that mattered. When he looked at Nial, it was quite easy to tell that his colleague thought the same¡­or so Dn interpreted based on Nial''s expression which was hard to read.

    "How exactly is Hoert different from other Pryards?" Nial asked at this moment.

    He was also interested in figuring out what exactly the Oracle meant with the Universe re-entering the circle of life, or how old a Universe had to be not to be considered young anymore but Nial chose to discard these rather trivial questions to be answeredter, or never if their answer was of no importance.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Oracle heard Nial clearly, yet, she hesitated to answer. She was still squatting in front of them but her mouth was sealed tightly for what felt like an eternity.

    "...From what I''ve heard Hoert has already devoured a Universe¡­" The Oracle finally answered, expecting the Fate Changers'' immediate responses.

    "Huh?"

    "What the¡­!?"

    Both Nial and Dn were rmed at her answer and hastily pushed their upper body from the ground despite the unbearable exhaustion that swept through them. Dn looked into the violet eyes of the Oracle, while Nial forced himself to use his range of perception to feel the wildly fluctuating mana of the Oracle.

    ''Is she speaking the truth?''

    "If your words are nothing but the truth, how could our lovely Nial summon that thi¡­I mean Hoert?" Dn finally asked, ignoring the grim expression he received from the Eternal Darkness.

    "Our lovely¡­" The Oracle started, just to freeze in ce for a second. Correcting herself, she began again.

    "Nial nearly summoned Hoert because he seems to be in possession of an ability that allows him to summon the Pryards, also called Primordyas¡­though I am not sure how he got it in his hands¡­"

    When she finished her answer, the Oracle looked over to Nial as if she was demanding an answer from him.

    ''There are too many things the Oracle doesn''t know¡­Fate Changers and beings stronger than our Universe are really beyond herprehension I guess¡­'' Dn thought, connecting the dots while allowing his body to slump back to the ground.

    "I just bound the Summoning ability to my Mana Core. It was a greatplementary ability to my mental control ability, Dominion, but it evolved to Awakening of the Prymal when I finished the binding process," Nial exined slowly and he continued after taking a breather, "I summoned Tyrant with the ability as well."

    The Oracle nodded her head even though she didn''t really understand how Nial''s Summoning ability could evolve to something so fearsome.

    Dn felt exactly the same which led him to recall something the Soul Shards had said about Nial when they met him as a baby.

    "Are you really human?" Dn couldn''t help but ask. Nial turned his head to the Undying with a pained smile on his face.

    ''I don''t know what I am¡­what do you expect to hear?'' He nearly responded.

    In the end, he chose against saying anything but that was only for the better. Nial had no idea what he was, which meant that it was already good enough to know who he was and who he cared about.

    The Oracle looked at Nial for a few seconds before she smiled gently.

    "I never knew that the Undying cared about something like that!" She said all of a sudden, which caused Dn''s lips to twitch.

    "Nobody was talking to you, bi¨C..." Dn nearly cursed but Nial cleared his throat to prevent war from breaking out between the Oracle and the Undying and finally answered,

    "Let''s just say that I feel like a human!"

 Chapter 542 Mission Complete

    Nial just said that he was human because he was not actually sure what kind of race he belonged to. His appearance and the number of abilities he could bind to his Mana core were still the same as an origin human''s after all!

    However, neither Dn nor the Oracle believed his wordspletely.

    Dn was most surprised that the Oracle seemed oblivious to Nial''s true origin but that only showed him how little the Oracle truly knew about the Fate Changers.

    This was both confusing and somewhat reassuring because it told him that he could keep secrets from the Oracle and possibly even the entire Universe.

    It made him feel weird to think like that, but there was no reason for him to feel guilty.

    "Let''s just leave it at that. Your origin is not exactly our biggest problem, I presume," Dn concluded after he saw Nial''s repeated attempts to prove that he was born and raised in Jundra.

    There were a few missing links Nial seemed to hide but the most important statement was that he felt like a human.

    "It''s more problematic to think that Hoert was able to call and connect to the Eternal Darkness through the walls of the void within the Forgotten Time Realm," The Oracle mumbled after they had finished discussing the previous topic, and she finally turned to Nial, "When Kaeldur was defeated, your mind was in a temporary shocked state, which Hoert must have used to influence you¡­and cause¡­that¡­"

    ''That'' was the activation of the Awakening of the Prymal ability,bined with the use of the seemingly infinite amount of mana within the City of Trials, which Nial was able to control, coincidentally.

    In Dn''s opinion, there were too many coincidences, but he could tell that it was not Nial''s fault. Rather, he was pretty sure that the Oracle and the Origin had messed up big time with this.

    They pulled Nial inside Forgotten Time Realm while knowing very well that only one living being, and not two Fate Changers, were supposed to be inside it at the same time.

    "By the way, when will I get my reward¡­ the highest quality True Destruction Trait, to be exact, please!" Dn tried to joke at the end, but he was too exhausted to smile craftily or tease anyone, right now.

    He kept lying on the ground, without a care in the world.

    Spending one or two additional days inside the City of Trials wouldn''t really change anything. If one year inside the City of Trial was equivalent to one day, a day or two inside the City of Trials were merely a handful of minutes outside it.

    "You can receive the second portion of your reward at any time, but I would rmend you to bind Oricalm to your Soul before leaving," The Oracle replied, her voice sounding rather cold and emotionless once again.

    She looked over to him and recalled the outlines she had been able to see whenever his True Undying Essence was activated.

    ''Looks like this old grumpydy is back¡­that''s more to my liking than this weird clingy fangirl.''

    "I already bound it to my Soul, otherwise, you would probably see Oricalm lying somewhere in the arena, don''t you think?" Dn merely responded wearily before he closed his eyes once again.

    He yawned and felt a sudden wave of exhaustion wash over him once again. However, this time, it was not Nial''s doing that made him feel weak all over again but his weakened Origin ability.

    "In that case, you can receive your reward immediately. But be warned, your body might revolt against the upgrade of your Ring of Infinite Elements Constitution. Though, I don''t think that you will feel as much pain as you did in thest few decades when your body will be cleansed and adjusted, so it will be fine, I guess," The Oracle shrugged her shoulders, not really caring whether Dn will be hurt or not.

    Her expression only changed when she looked over to Nial, whom she smiled lovingly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, Nial was in no mood to chitchat.

    Not only had he failed to defeat Dn, which was what he had nned to do, but it was his mistake that almost led to the destruction of the Forgotten Time Realm and everyone''s death.

    Though, it was not like it waspletely his fault because Hoert, the Devourer of the Universe, had infiltrated his body and mind but it was not as if he waspletely innocent.

    "You won this time¡­if I wouldn''t have lost my reasoning and control of my body, you would have defeated me in the next few days¡­" Nial said slowly as if it cost him lots of effort to acknowledge that Dn was superior to him.

    His pride was hurt because Dn was not stronger in terms ofbat prowess, and that was exactly what riled Nial the most. He was stronger, yet, he couldn''t defeat Dn, not matter how hard he tried!

    "I might have won against you if the mission was not only for 100 days but a few more days, but I don''t really think that the mission was fair towards you, to begin with," Dn replied honestly. Thinking about something, he decided to continue, "Had your mission not required you to kill me in order to receive the biggest boon, you would have locked my main body somewhere and thrown me in the pits of hell, the abyss, or into space, somewhere people cannot find me easily, that would have been enough to defeat me¡­"

    "Your Oracle girl, or whatever she is to you, said that there is an Eternal Prison or something like that. Throwing me there would have been more than enough to ''defeat'' me, even if you cannot actually kill me¡­you are stronger than me, while I''m just a little bit more resilient!" Dn said, acknowledging something he didn''t really want to speak out loud at first.

    Everyone had told Dn that the Eternal Darkness was stronger than him, that he wouldn''t have to worry about anything with someone like Nial as his fellow Fate Changer. It irked Dn, and he had wanted to show everyone that they were wrong.

    Unfortunately, their words had been nothing but the bitter truth.

    Dn was weaker than Nial and it was only obvious that he should ept this truth after they fought for 100 days.

    If he couldn''t ept reality even then, he would be the biggest hypocrite in the vast Universe¡­not that he was not a hypocrite, just not the biggest¡­

    At the end of the day, both Nial and Dn learned a lot from fighting each other for a hundred days. They matured a lot, figured out several tricks and they grew fond of each other.

    Fighting nonstop for 100 days was more than enough to learn a lot about their opponent. The two Fate Changers had grown much closer to each other. Both respected one another a great deal, but there was also a tinge of fear in the deeper parts of their hearts, knowing deep down what kind of monster the other one was.

    Nheless, their time in the City of Trials was over. Dn finished his preparations, while Nial finished his second godly mission.

    "It''s time to say goodbye," Nial finally said when a pitch-ck portal opened not too far away from him. He used all his willpower to get up from the ground.

    "We will see each other again, whether we want or not!" He said, extending his hand to Dn, whose body began to regenerate rapidly once again.

    It took only a moment for him to healpletely and for his body to be overflowing with vigor.

    Dn got up from the ground as well. He looked at Nial and his stretched-out hand for a second before he grasped it tightly.

    "Whether we want or not¡­that''s how it is¡­"

 Chapter 543 Rewards

    Nial was calmly standing in the darkness of the Late God of Darkness'' domain.

    He took a few deep breaths and began to recollect the happenings of thest 100 days.

    "I lost against Dn¡­and I lost myself¡­"

    Mumbling to himself, Nial continued to sulk and scratch the back of his head.

    A long time might have passed inside the City of Trial but not even one day should have psed on Jundra. Not many things would have changed about his surroundings, but he would have changed a lot.

    That was something Nial could tell for sure when thinking about thebat prowess of the Undying.

    ''His abilities¡­no, his Origin ability and special traits are not something anybody can possess while being at the Peak of the 3rd Tier¡­'' Nial thought, while understanding very well that he shouldn''t be in possession of so much power shortly after advancing to the Deux rank either.

    His linked abilities would grow rapidly without the need for Nial to pay any attention to them. As for everything else, Nial was pretty sure that he had enough resources to increase his strength as quickly as possible.

    Thus, Nial concluded that his time in the City of Trials had been spent well, especially since he got to know the other Fate Changer, his personality, and the big boss whom they would have to face sooner orter.

    He didn''t really like the way in which they encountered Hoert, the Devourer of Universes, but it was not as if Nial could change the past. It had happened and he had to acknowledge the truth and move on.

    [It looks like you came back victorious! Both, you and the Undying received the highest possible evaluations, congrattions!] Damian''s voice rang in his ears which caused them to perk up.

    It hadn''t been that long since he had heard the Late God of Darkness'' voice but Nial felt much calmer thanks to it. Taking a deep breath to calm down the mess in his heart and head, Nial spent a minute in silence.

    "Wasn''t that what you guys expected to happen when throwing us Fate Changers at each other?" He asked once he got back to his senses before he added, "So¡­what are my rewards?"

    Nial was still shocked by the events of thest hundred days but he felt much better now that he had left the City of Trials.

    Bing stronger was paramount. Hoert was an opponent nobody could face right now and it was necessary for Nial and Dn to be powerhouses. As long as they ascended Godhood, it shouldn''t be too much of an issue for them to reach abat prowess that wasparable to the Ancient Gods. That was something Nial was hoping for even if he couldn''t be certain about it.

    [Do you just want to know more about your rewards, or do you want to obtain them right now? You can also pick only a few rewards right now and pick the remaining rewards when the timing is better. After all, I don''t know if you''re needed on Jundra!] Damian offered, which Nial answered without giving it much thought.

    "First tell me what my rewards are before I pick them!"

    He was not too sure how the situation in Halheim was because the Dracos and Humans might not be able to stand each other. After the things the Linaton race did to them, it was only obvious that the origin humans would have a hard time trusting other races, but that was something Nial had to change.<novelnext></novelnext>

    A few individuals of other races had already taken residence in their Shelters including Originals who had been abandoned by their own race for various reasons. Not all of them were bad, which was quite obvious when looking at the Elves and the flourishing rtionship between them and the origin humans.

    They might have a simr appearance to humans but Elves were a different race. With that in mind, Nial hoped that there wouldn''t be too many problems waiting for him when he returned home.

    [One of your rewards is that you will be shown parts of my Memories, which include my Cultivation progression, how I created my Divinity, and so on. As for the rest, your Mana Sea can be transformed into a Sea of Darkness. It will give you better control of dark energy, modify and enhance your mana veins and alter them in a way where the mana you absorb will immediately be transformed into dark energy.

    This will allow you to direct the mana you absorb immediately in your Heart of Darkness, the Darkness Sea, or anywhere else in your body. The dark veins will also ept Chaos, the Essence of Darkness, and your crimson moonlight. Once the Sea of Darkness has been finished, your strength will increase drastically. I don''t want to take the surprise away from you, so I won''t tell you anymore about the Sea of Darkness.

    Other than my Memories and the Sea of Darkness, you will also be given three techniques that have been created and practiced by the God of Darkness, aka me. They were tweaked a little bit to fit your abilities better but it will be possible for you to make further changes in the future if you feel the need to do so.

    After all, I was never proficient in the Power of Chaos, or with the crimson moonlight reinforcement energy that you''re using!

    One of the techniques is a Martial Art technique, the second technique is a Movement technique and the third is a Cultivation technique that has been created by me to focus on the umtion of dark energy and the reinforcement of the Essence of Darkness!]

    ''You are very prideful, aren''t you?'' Nial thought while the corners of his lips curled upward. He couldn''t help but think that there was a definite change in Damian''s behavior.

    Rather than sounding monotonous, or even annoyed, the Late God of Darkness'' voice was filled with a tinge of excitement. Nial was not sure where that excitement came from but it was a refreshing change nheless.

    Other than that, Nial was quite surprised about the rewards he was about to receive.

    The memories of the Late God of Darkness were exceptionally useful. He would gain morebat experience from them, learn a lot more about the new cultivation path he seemed to have unlocked, knowledge about the Universe and various races and much more.

    The three new techniques would also be useful, but the thing that Nial was the most interested in finding out about was definitely the change of his cultivation path.

    Even if he didn''t ask for it, Nial could tell that it was a great opportunity to turn his Mana Sea into a Sea of Darkness. It was not as if he was using his mana for many things when he was in possession of several types of energy that were more potent and easier to use.

    Dark energy was his Mana in a way, just that it was stronger and better in every sense.

    The only downside was that he wouldn''t be able to hide his dark energy from other races the moment he ''abandoned'' his Mana. That downside might create a few problems with a bunch of races that would sooner orter find out about him and his rtion to Damian, but it was not as if he could hide the truth forever.

    With that in mind, Nial made a decision.

    ¡­

 Chapter 544 Techniques And Memories

    The Martial art technique [Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights], the Movement technique [Grasp of Eclipse], and the customized Cultivation technique [Vortex of Abyss] were immediately given to Nial as soon as he demanded them.

    A massive amount of detailed information flooded his mind, giving him a brief overview of the technique and what it would take to deepen his understanding of it. Nial was not too sure how long it took to digest the provided information but what he could tell was that hisbat prowess and progress were bound to improve drastically.

    As long as his Mana Sea would be altered and be the Sea of Darkness, it wouldn''t be difficult for his cultivation progress to increase fourfold. The only thing he had to work on was to get more proficient with exerting the cultivation technique, Vortex of Abyss.

    That was good to know and it provided enough motivation for him to feel like starting the alteration of his Mana Sea right off the bat.

    However, instead of doing it immediately, Nial would return to the Halheim shelter first. He had to check out his home, figure out if the Dracos were being mistreated, and take a look at a few more things.

    Nial felt that this was more important than rushing his advancement. It might be necessary for him to increase his strength as quickly as possible but it was also a fact that he had no idea what was going on back home.

    But even if he wanted to rush to his home, he readied himself to be bombarded with the memories of the Late God of Darkness. Nial knew that he would only be given a portion of memories, not all of them, but that was probably for the best.

    Receiving a ton of memories that summarized the life of an existence who had lived for eons and experienced much more than most beings would ever do was not exactly what Nial was looking forward to. He could tell that Damian''s life hadn''t been easy and that most of his memories were bad or filled with war.

    epting this fact and preparing his mind for it made things a lot easier for Nial as the memories began to surge in his mind. At first, the memories felt like a tidal wave of zing mes that were forcing their way through the barricades of Nial''s mental defenses. However, this feeling changed quickly. The zing mes turned into a soothing feeling that caused his brain to rx enough to ept and wee the memories that entered his mind.

    The memories belonged to different eras and it felt like they were focused on the creation process of the three techniques Nial had obtained what felt like minutes ago.

    ''To prevent my brain from going into a breakdown, the memories are imprinted in my mind but they will only slowly surface to let me have a look at them when I need them the most, or when I have the necessary time to do so¡­and what is that knowledge?''

    Nial was astonished by what he felt. It was almost like the memories of Damian''s life belonged to him, as if he was the rightful owner. The knowledge that had been acquired by thete God of Darkness entered his mind and the pieces of information were devoured in an instant.

    Nial was not sure how much time passed but he felt much better when he was done digesting the information. His mind was overflowing with interesting information and he wanted to decode it all right away but it was about time for Nial to return to the shelter.

    There was no need to waste his precious time in the domain of the Late God of Darkness. He could return to Damian in order to alter his Mana Sea at any time, either way.

    With that thought in mind, Nial was thrown out of the Late God of Darkness'' realm. He returned to the Forest of Life as a fragrant smell entered his nostrils, and the familiar noises of the fauna residing there reached his ears.

    Taking a deep breath, he spread out his range of perception and Mana Sense to figure out where everyone was and what the current situation looked like.

    Nial spend two minutes analyzing his surroundings and ensuring that everything was fine. Once he was reassured he headed towards his organizations where Master Crevian and a few other Elves were currently holding their lectures. A bunch of Dracos had also been assigned to hold lectures which they seemed to be doing quite well.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Overall, Nial visualized a rather pleasant situation. But that may only be what he visualized and not what everyone actually thought.

    That was also why he was briefed about everything that had happened in the few days he had been away, including the reaction of the citizens.

    Melheim Zorn gave him a rough summary of the current turn of events which was very helpful for Nial.

    "So basically, most citizens are skeptical due to the trauma caused by the Linaton race''s ambassadors that left a deep scar of distrust on the minds of beings of other races? However, they''re not openly saying anything because the Dracos are backed up by our organizations¡­which means that the citizens are either afraid, or they trust us.

    And the government stopped trying to find ways how to push the Dracos away once they realized that every single member of the Dracos Army is an exceptional working force.

    That leaves the human organizations and the hidden organizations created by other races. They don''t want a hundred thousand Dracos to intercept their ns, which is kind of obvious. Thus, they''re trying to sabotage us." Nial concluded which was affirmed by Melheim Zorn, who carefully added,

    "The rebels of the Shelturion race heard about the Dracos as well and they''re showing interest in the Dracos'' products, saying that they could elerate their own manufacturing capacity manyfold as long as they received a few devices created by the master smiths of the Draco race!"

    Melheim was speaking in a careful tone because Nial seemed to be on the edge ever since he had returned. Even if Melheim didn''t intend to attack Nial, it felt like his leader was ready to enter some war at any moment.

    Nial seemed to be ready to wage war but there was no opponent to fight. Something about Nial had changed during thest few days, which Melheim noticed first as one of the few people who was often around Nial.

    However, the change didn''t seem to be unwee. In fact, Melheim was pretty sure that the change in Nial''s attitude was something good.

    Nial may act a little bit hasty if something didn''t go ording to his n, but the result of his actions had always been positive. That was also why Nial believed that his ns would always work out. He didn''t even think about reconsidering most of his ns in the past simply because he had been too confident in his own capabilities.

    This unwavering confidence was still present but something about it seemed to have changed, in a good way.

    Nial was much calmer than before and he reconsidered different options rather than choosing a single way to solve any given predicament.

    "To sum up the situation, what do you think should we do?" Nial even asked Melheim, despite having a rough n in mind.

    "...how about we build our own shelter?"

 Chapter 545 Shelter?

    "Build our own shelter? That won''t be easy, you know?" Nial asked Melheim to make sure that he understood him properly.

    "I thought about it as well but I cannot really tell if the investment will be worth the benefits we can gain," Nial added after a few seconds.

    Melheim looked at Nial through the runic eyes with a faint smile on his lips.

    "I know that it won''t be easy to create our own shelter, let alone to make sure that we have enough funding to build the shelter, keep it operational since day one and turn it into a huge, imprable fortress. However, I still think that it will be worth it as long as the Dracos are willing to stay with us.

    I know that it is unlikely but if the Dracos stay with us as permanent residents and help construct the shelter, we should actually reconsider constructing a shelter where all races are allowed to stay without discrimination. Starting out with something like that will help us make connections, improve our knowledge in the long run and break free of the restrictions that are holding the Orion Artisan Guild and the Onyx Association back." Melheim responded, his bodynguage telling Nial quite clearly that he was getting excited.

    ''I knew that you were ambitious, but I didn''t expect your ambition to go that far, Melheim!'' Nial thought while the corners of his lips tilted upward.

    "I like the idea of owning a shelter, that''s my honest opinion. However, I also know that we would have to reconsider lots of things before constructing a shelter. We need a vast fortune of Origin crystals and other resources before we initiate the shelter construction project. We are yet to finalize the location where we want to construct the shelter as well. It needs to be a ce that is somewhat t andrge enough to house millions, if not billions of living beings without feeling too crowded, let alone ufortable.

    That also means the ce of the shelter has to be close to various dungeons and in a location where the mana density is higher than anywhere else.

    There are a few more things we would have to pay attention to, but I think you get the gist of what I want to say!" Nial summarized what he wanted to share with Melheim, who nodded his head without a change in his bodynguage.

    "That''s only obvious. We would need the help of the Dracos either way. The Dracos Leader has yet to return and it will probably take quite a while until hees back. Maybe, we should try to get closer to the Dracos and subtly hint that we desire to create a ce where all races will be epted unconditionally?" Melheim asked, rubbing his hands in excitement.

    However, Nial didn''t say anything in response. He was busy figuring out how to adjust his schedule to receive the most efficient result while scratching the back of his head.

    "How long do you think will the Dracos Leader take until he returns with the Greater Forest Dragon egg?" Nial finally asked, which caused Melheim to think about the answer for a while.

    His silence didn''tst long and the answer he provided was very pleasant to hear.

    "Probably two months, maybe more? And that is under the condition that he will actually return with the Greater Forest Dragon egg. He might be sent back without the egg, or the higher authorities will drag things out until the countdown of the Soul Contract made between the Royal Princess and the Dracos leader wille to an end."

    Nial was more than satisfied with Melheim''s answer which he showed quite clearly with a thumbs up.

    "In that case, I will take your leave. I''ll be away for a month during which you and the others can start subtly hinting others about the creation of a new shelter that is not directly connected to origin humans. Make sure you don''t go overboard while I''m away!" Nial added before a ck portal emerged behind him.

    He smiled lightly at Melheim who was not sure what was going on as Nial disappeared once again. His leader stepped through the portal of darkness that dispersed just momentster.

    "Is he just that busy, or was I just inconsiderate asking him about the shelter?" Melheim wondered as he looked at the position of the darkness portal, or where it had dispersed just a second ago.

    While Melheim was unsure whether or not he did something wrong, Nial''s mind was busy finding an answer to yet another doubt.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Given that he had close to two months before the Draco Leader was likely to return, Nial felt that it was for the best if he were to finish the alteration of his Mana Sea within the next 30 days. That would leave him with enough time to show the Dracos the enormous benefits they would gain by staying with him, whether it was mary gains, experience, or knowledge.

    To be at the peak of his capabilities it was necessary to create the Sea of Darkness before he would return to his work as a Runicier. Simultaneously, it would be possible for him to gain some proficiency with the Vortex of Abyss Cultivation technique.

    That way, Nial hoped for the best oue while expecting the worst. It was not as if he was in desperate need to create his own shelter right now, after all!

    As long as he could act as the King from within the Shadows, Nial could do whatever he wanted. It may not be a permanent thing because stronger beings would sooner ortere over but Nial was quite confident that his strength would increase rapidly in the following years.

    With the Abyss of Vortex Cultivation technique and its increasing proficiency Nial was bound to reach the Peak of the Deux rank in a few years. Maybe, if things turn out better than expected, he may as well reach the Keltia rank in no time.

    Taking that into consideration, Nial decided to return to the domain of the Late Darkness God where he was greeted almost immediately.

    [Saying ''long time no see'' would be an exaggeration, don''t you think?] Damian teased the instant Nial returned to his domain.

    "Let''s start the alteration and finish it within 30 days. I am a busy man, you know?" Nial joined the fun and snickered yfully.

    [You are still as impatient as before. I expected you to change¡­ maybe in the future!] Damian said before he started the initiation of Nial''s Mana Sea alteration.

    Meanwhile. Nial was trying to understand what Damian meant with hisst words.

    However, before he could give it anymore thought, his mind and body were being infiltrated by a tremendous amount of darkness that shot toward him from all directions.

    **

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 Chapter 546 Sea Of Darkness

    Darkness infiltrated the cells of his body without mercy. It destroyed the cells and regenerated them with slight alterations.

    It was not good to undergo a drastic alteration in the cells that had to adjust to the sudden changes in order to prevent the entire human mechanism from facing aplete breakdown.

    Understanding this very well, Nial had to endure tremendous pain with every slight alteration within his body. This was also why time seemed to pass so slowly. The darkness continued to seep inside his body, influencing his Heart of Darkness, the mana veins that spread through his entire body, and the Mana Sea that was slowly changing in color.

    The change in color was just the beginning because the deepest parts of the Mana Sea were being altered, restricting ess of mana. No Mana would be absorbed by the Sea of Darkness once it waspleted, but that was not a problem.

    Nial''s body was altered in a way that converted Mana into the purest form of his dark energy which would then be absorbed by the Heart of Darkness and the Mana Sea.

    Nial had multiple dark energy storages but his Heart of Darkness was certainly the biggest. It had already umted enough mana to fill Nial''s Sea of Darkness, which was something he nned to use at ater time.

    If his umted dark energy was enough to fill his entire Sea of Darkness, it was certainly enough to easily cross the threshold between the Peak of the Deux rank to smoothly allow him to advance to the Keltia rank.

    That was what Nial nned to do with his umted dark energy that was further nourished and amassed inside his Heart of Darkness.

    Both Kaeldur and the Tyrant of Destruction were in dire need of dark energy and the Essence of Darkness to tend to their wounds and regain their former glory.

    They naturally amassed more dark energy in the Heart of Darkness but that was mostly owed to the natural traits of their Devilized bodies.

    Nial had yet to talk with his two Devils after their battle with Dn. Everyone was a little bit shocked, and their pride had taken a huge blow because of their shameful performance in the battle with Dn.

    Not even the two Devils were able to tell for sure what went wrong, and that was quite ridiculous considering that the two Devils hadbat experience worth eons. There weren''t many things that they hadn''t seen in their long lives, yet against all odds, they had met someone who was exactly that, an existence they had never encountered.

    Nial understood how the two Devils felt cause his pride and confidence had been wounded as well. However, he could use the embarrassment brought forth by his groundless confidence to make use of it. That was why he ended up epting the alteration of his Mana Sea immediately after he made sure that there wouldn''t be an issue if he vanished for a month.

    A month was not enough to properly alter the Mana Sea and his body, not for ordinary Originals. But Nial and Damian made it possible. Nial forced his pores open and to ept the darkness that flooded him rather than instinctively rejecting the darkness and the alterations of his body. There were fewer obstacles that way, which elerated the alteration process drastically.

    This gave Damian''s domain the leeway to further elerate the process by releasing more darkness to consume Nial''s Mana and everything rted to mana inside his body.

    Exactly a month passed until Nial was expelled from the domain of darkness and the changes within his body were quite noticeable.

    Hended in the middle of Melheim''s office where he was greeted by a few people briefing Melheim about the current situation.

    Everyone looked over to Nial, their eyes filled with horror. Nial could hardly control his dark energy at this moment because his Sea of Darkness and darkness veins would still require some time to get used to.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was not difficult to seal his dark energy inside the Heart of Darkness but Nial would have to be able to control his dark energy precisely enough to extract it from every cell of his body, including his darkness veins and the Sea of Darkness to do so.

    His Darkness Sea was not yet filled with dark energy but the Sea in its entirety was already a construct of darkness.

    The animosity that radiated from the darkness subconsciously was too hard for most people to endure, especially those at a lower rank than Nial.

    That was why as a precautionary measure, Melheim ended up sending everyone else outside.

    "We will postpone the briefing to tomorrow, early in the morning. Leave now." Melheim Zorn said while trying to remain calm andposed. However, sensing the change that had urred within Nial''s body made it impossible for him to remain calm.

    Melheim was not able to sense everything that had changed about Nial but it was quite obvious that his strength had increased more than three times. That was what the vice-leader of the Onyx Association and the Orion Artisan Guild could be certain of!

    "A month has passed, right?" Nial asked the moment the others left. He was trying hard to control his body but everything felt oddly foreign. It was a weird feeling that made him question who the hell he was. The amount of dark energy his body created by naturally suctioning the surrounding mana inside him was tremendous, and the only issue Nial faced with that was that he couldn''t use his darkness veins properly yet.

    Their way of functioning was differentpared to the mana veins he had possessed for a long time. It would take a while before he would be able to get the same natural feeling he got when controlling mana before. That was a little annoying but Nial could also tell that he would be several times stronger as long as he achieved a decent level of proficiency.

    Dark energy was stronger and more potent than mana, to begin with. However, by adding the reinforcement created by the darkness veins, the nourishment of the Sea of Darkness and the Essence of Darkness which Nial could now actively exude from his Heart of Darkness to enhance his power semi-permanently, his Dark energy was bound to be even stronger.

    If he were to add his crimson moonlight and Chaos into the fray, Nial''s strength was likely to be unparalleled on Jundra. After all, there weren''t many existences above the Keltia rank who could emerge on Jundra for now.

    Maybe there were a few of them but Nial was certain that not all of them were unparalleled prodigies such as Dn.

    Thinking about Dn, the Undying, Nial''s expression stiffened.

    ''I wonder if I will encounter someone like him in Jundra¡­probably not¡­or maybe?''

    Nial figured that he had to stay confident in order to survive in a world where the strong reigns supreme. The moment his confidence wavered, he would have already lost. It was as simple as that.

    Nheless, it was better to be careful when facing certain opponents. If Nial was not sure how strong his opponents were, his approach was likely to change drastically. After all, he didn''t want to fight someone who appeared to be weaker just to end up losing..

    That was not only humiliating but also a waste of time.

    With that in mind, Nial began to adapt to the changes within his body.

 Chapter 547 Adapted

    Nial adjusted to the changes within his body while talking to Melheim. He would receive the newest reports tomorrow because Nial''s sudden appearance interrupted the workflow, however, that was more than fine.

    The Draco Leader had yet to return with the Greater Forest Dragon egg, which meant that he had more than enough time to adapt to the changes and regain control of his body so as to ensure that the Army of Dracos would never want to leave his side ever again.

    Melheim''s information was as useful as ever. The pieces of information he received were detailed enough to tell Nial everything he had to know, but they were also sinctly summarized so as to not drag things out.

    That way, Nial found out everything necessary and could leave Melheim''s office just an hourter.

    He tried to expand his Mana Sense with the use of dark energy but it didn''t work out as nned.

    ''Looks like my Innate Ability has changed quite a bit as well¡­it seems as if I have to change a few things¡­''

    Nial didn''t think too much about the change in his Innate ability and he gave Ryu a heads-up about his return via their soul link.

    The Darkness Gryphon responded in excitement and it was only secondster that Ryunded in the middle of their plot ofnd before rushing toward his master.

    Ryu chirped in excitement as he threw himself onto Nial, who didn''t resist. He fell to the ground with a thud but it didn''t really hurt. Nheless, the Darkness Gryphon stared at his master in confusion and tilted his head from left to right when he registered that many things about Nial had changed.

    He chirped out over and over again and Nial nodded his head.

    "Yes, many things changed, but I''m back now!" Nial responded after listening intently to his monsterpanion.

    There were a few things he wanted to test out but the first thing he did was to make sure that his father was doing fine. Storing the excessive dark energy he had subconsciously created and absorbed inside his Heart of Darkness allowed him to move without issues. It was not easy to control his dark energy right now but the suctioning force of his Heart of Darkness was quite powerful, which made things much easier.

    The Sea of Darkness and the darkness veins had yet topletely fuse and be an integral part of his body but that didn''t mean he couldn''t use his Heart of Darkness.

    Once he reached the wooden hut inside the Forest of Life, Nial immediately noticed that his senses had changed a little bit. To be precise, Nial could sense the life force of the entire Forest of Life with much more rity than before. The change was drastic and it was something he didn''t expect to encounter, especially since his Mana Sea had be a Sea of Darkness.

    The Fairies'' Blessing that had been engraved on his Mana Core should have been somewhere in his Mana Sea before it had been altered. That was also why Nial expected the Fairies'' Blessing to be altered as well, which was precisely what happened.

    The Fairies'' Blessing had changed but not in the way Nial expected. Rather than bing the opposite of what it was right now, the Blessing was reinforced manyfold. It felt almost as if the Blessing had evolved to the next stage and that it enhanced his connection to the essence of life itself.

    ''Damn¡­That is insane¡­''

    Nial''s mind went nk for a while as he closed his eyes while standing in the middle of the Forest of Life. Life force surged inside him, invigorating every single cell within Nial''s body that began to absorb more and more mana from the surrounding area, devouring it hungrily.

    His body''s functions were enhanced drastically due to the life force and the mana that entered his body could only be considered a huge mass. It was altered and turned into dark energy which Nial was trying to control but failed miserably.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Even when I awoke my Origin, I never went through so much trouble¡­that''s so annoying!''

    Nial continued to use his Heart of Darkness to absorb every bit of dark energy within his body. He wouldn''t lose it and could just use it when he got a better hang of everything.

    He could spend some quality time with his father who seemed busier than every single other origin human in the Halheim shelter but he was finally at home. Nial wouldn''t waste the precious time he could spend with his father in doing some trivial task. His father was the only family he had around, apart from his sister who was busy carving out a path for herself.

    Neither the tie against Dn, which felt more like a shameful defeat, if Nial were to be honest with himself nor the fact that Damian had told him about his family, precisely that they were all dead and that his eyes had been special before they were taken from him.

    Unfortunately, his father didn''t have much time to spend with him because he was on a secret mission. Nial was not sure what Princess Evalyne was doing with his father, but nowadays Miles was always on missions outside the shelters, traveling around doing something.

    He didn''t even answer Nial about what he was doing when Nial tried to ask about his well-being and remained extremely mysterious. It was frustrating in a certain way but it was not as if Nial didn''t keep any secrets from his father.

    Nial wanted to know more about the race he hailed from, and what happened to it. Considering that he was already alive at that time because his vision was forcefully snatched away, his race must have been massacred less than 30 years ago.

    That gave Nial a good starting point to find out more about the race he came from.

    However, before he would do his research, he spent the days after Miles departed to make sure that his body, darkness veins, and his Sea of Darkness would be fully fused.

    Controlling dark energy through his darkness veins became much easier, and easy enough for him to regain his old strength and enough control to start inscribing runic constetions once again.

    Nial was eager to do so because he learned about many runic constetions from Damian''s memories. The runic constetions belonged to a time and era where Runiciers were rare.

    Damian created many runic constetions with his own knowledge of the Universe''s Law but never bothered to write down hisprehension of the runic constetions. He never passed on his knowledge of a Runicier to anyone, which meant that Nial was the only one to know about the most crucial information that was directly rted to Damian''s memories and creations.

    It was hard to replicate the runic constetions without the said knowledge, which turned Nial into the only tutor the Dracos could find. Nial exploited this opportunity to the extreme and found new ways to make sure to turn them into his ''underlings'' by promising them to teach more about the runic constetions he would soon reveal.

    Others might try to copy his runic constetions but that was not even possible during Damian''s era either.

    Thus, Nial was quite confident to have found great leverage over the curious Draco race.

    The only thing he had to do to make sure that the Dracos Leader would reconsider staying in the Halheim shelter, or anywhere Nial would go, which meant that he had to show off his knowledge and power.

    ''When youe back, things will have changed, Dracos Leader!''

 Chapter 548 Forgotten Runic Constellations

    The moment Nial had adjusted to his strength, he began to experiment with the Forgotten runic constetions he had received from Damian''s memories.

    First, Nial engraved the easiest runic constetions on an ordinary piece of paper until he reached a high enough perfection grade. Afterward, hepared theirplexity with other runic constetions before he tested the potency of the forgotten runic constetions.

    Having been forgotten didn''t mean that the forgotten runic constetions were better or their potency greater because they were rarely used. That was also why Nial began to do testing with the simplest runic constetions before hepared them to other Basic, Intermediate and Advanced runic constetions.

    Interestingly enough, Nial got to know a lot more about the runic constetions, their perks, and the highpatibility some forgotten runic constetions had with other runes.

    ''These forgotten runic constetions feel just like shapeshifting pieces of a puzzle, they fit everywhere!''

    Ten days had passed since he hadpleted his alteration of the Mana Sea and it was about time for him to approach the Dracos and show off his capabilities.

    Nial chose to approach Michael Ignis because the Draco was the most familiar with him, and vice versa.

    "I''ve learned a bunch of new runic constetions. Do you want to experiment a little bit with me? I need a master cksmith to give me a helping hand," He offered Michael when he appeared in front of the Draco.

    Michael Ignis and other Dracos had just finished sparring and most of them were pretty exhausted. Only Michael didn''t seem out of breath.

    He had trained hard to prepare for a second match with Nial after his strength improved. Seeing and hearing Nial gave him the courage to ask for a rematch, but he mped his mouth shut when he sensed the immense pressure that radiated from Nial.

    "You¡­advanced to the Deux rank?" Michael asked rather than answering Nial''s question.

    "I broke through a while ago, yeah. I had many things to do outside the shelter so nobody knows about it, or not many, I guess," Nial responded while waiting for Michael to answer his question.

    However, nobody said anything for a minute or two until Nial cleared his throat in an attempt to dispel the awkwardness in the surroundings.

    "Can you help me, or not? If you have no time, that''s fine. I can ask someone else."

    Michael continued to nkly stare at Nial for a few more seconds before he shook his head in disbelief. He took a deep breath and began to smile bitterly.

    "I can help you¡­Will you create a new type of Broken Runic Armament?" Michael finally found his voice after getting over the shock of Nial''s astounding progress. He stepped forward while telling his colleagues that he would go with Nial.

    "Rather than a new type of Broken Runic Armament, I got to know a few memories of the Late God of Darkness after advancing to the Deux rank. I learned about a few runic constetions which he created but never shared with anyone. I want to create a few runic armaments with those forgotten runic constetions and make a few experiments," Nial spoke in all honesty.

    The Dracos and Elves knew about his connection to Damian and it was only a matter of time before other races would find out about it as well.

    ording to the Universe''s Fate and the Oracle, he was a Fate Changer, someone who was bound to protect the Universe in the future, a being whose fate was unknown but somehow possessed the power to change the Fate of the beings around him as well.

    This meant Nial was a double-edged sword, considering that he might as well turn into a great viin who destroyed everyone''s fate by destroying the entire Universe as a means to protect it from outside harm. That didn''t really make any sense but it crudely denoted that the meaning of ''protecting'' something could be adjusted and tweaked to suit his purpose.

    Devouring the Universe and storing it inside his body could also be considered a way of protecting it, at least if one thought about it with a very disturbed and confused mind.

    Nial was not really interested in safeguarding the Universe but he would have to be stronger to protect the rest of his family either way.

    Furthermore, there were a few other things that he had yet to find out. Nial was pretty sure that he had to be stronger to find out more about those who had killed his race and obliterate Be who was considered the Saintess of the Angel races.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial wanted to get to know more about the race he hailed from, figure out where Mathias was currently, beat the shit out of more Heligavs who did the origin humans in the Halheim shelter dirty, which included killing his master, and so on.

    He was also interested in working and increasing his experience as a Runicier and much more.

    Taking all of that into consideration, recreating the forgotten runic constetions of Damian was probably one of the least difficult tasks he had to aplish.

    However, what seemed ''easy'' for him caused Michael Ignis to stare at Nial with utter shock.

    "That''s possible? Wait¡­so you are going to create Forgotten Runic Armaments?!" Michael asked in disbelief. He sounded hoarse due to the strain in his voice which was a little bit unexpected.

    Michael was supposed to be a rather calm person, not a hyperventting child.

    "Forgotten Runic Armaments¡­is that a thing?" Nial wondered, which was reaffirmed by Michael just a momentter.

    "Yes, it is a thing. Some Gods and other beings are in possession of limited editions of runic armaments that cannot be replicated because the knowledge of their creation manuals has been lost long ago. Most of those runic armaments are much more powerful than ordinary armaments, which is also why they''ve been granted a different and unique name, Forgotten Runic Armaments!"

    Michael was quite excited and Nial understood where he wasing from.

    "Basically, what you say means that the Forgotten Runic Armaments are worth a fortune and that learning how to create them would be very beneficial for the Draco race¡­maybe I shouldn''t expose my secrets¡­" He joked which caused the Draco''s expression to stiffen for a moment.

    Even if the knowledge of the Forgotten Runic Armaments hadn''t been lost, they would be extremely powerful ording to Michael''s exnation. As long as Nial could use his knowledge to create runic armaments that were only a tad bit stronger than the runic armaments he had created until now things would change drastically.

    Not only his ordinary runic armaments would be stronger but also the Broken Runic Armaments which would elevate their status and social standing to an entirely new level.

    Nial was quite excited which is why he approached the smithies of the Dracos where Michael Ignis cleared some space for him almost instantaneously.

    "Use everything you want, and don''t hesitate to tell me what to do. We will procure everything you need¡­and you show us what those runic armaments look like¡­if you give us one or two of them for research purposes we will help you until the Dracos Leader returns!!" Michael announced, taking Nial by surprise once again.

    Nial didn''t really have anything against Michael''s offer, especially since the creation method of the forgotten runic constetions was a little bit different.

    Not only was it necessary to know theplex design of the runic constetions and to use the correct runic solution but every forgotten runic constetion created by the Late God of Darkness required dark energy to properly fuse the forgotten runic constetion with the armament.

    Everyone could use thepleted Forgotten Runic Armament but the creation method Nial was going to use required dark energy as its foundation.

    Nial could also amplify his dark energy with the Essence of Darkness but it was questionable how useful that was.

    "That''s fine with me, but I don''t really think that you will be able to recreate the Forgotten Runic constetions of Damian¡­" He chose to stay honest while avoiding talking about the requirement of dark energy.

    Altering the runic constetions might be possible but one had to be on the same level as Damian to change the fundamental energy that was needed to fuse the constetions with the armament.

    Thus, Nial could only sigh inwardly when he visualized how excited Michael was.

    ''Poor soul will be crushed again¡­''

 Chapter 549 Against The Odds

    Almost two weeks passed since Nial and Michael had begun experimenting with the runic constetions.

    It was more like Michael forged a few hours a day before he stared nkly at Nial trying toprehend what the blind Original was doing.

    Unfortunately, it was much harder for Michael to actuallyprehend what Nial did just by observing him.

    The method Nial used to engrave the Forgotten runic constetions was something he had never heard of or seen before, and even after he asked Nial a few doubts about it, Michael couldn''t understand a thing.

    In the end, the entire inscribing method was a lot more tricky andplex than Michael''sprehension level allowed him to understand. Nheless, it was fascinating to watch him and try to decode a few more things which were something he could do thanks to Nial''s help.

    ''Is that really the work of a Grandmaster Runicier?'' Michael wondered, not sure whether Nial could be considered an Archmaster now that he had also learned about Forgotten Runic constetions.

    It was extremely difficult to inscribe forgotten runic constetions onto armaments because their shapes andpatibility with the material made things a lot moreplicated.

    One had to reconsider various things and pay more attention to every single detail when inscribing the forgotten runic constetions on armaments, yet, Nial could do that rather easily.

    He engraved only Basic forgotten runic constetions onto armaments for now but their perfection grade easily reached 100% after two weeks of hard work and extreme dedication.

    Theplexity of the perfect basic forgotten runic constetions was much higher than that of the perfect advanced runic constetions. That was another reason for Michael to be utterly dumbfounded by Nial''s capabilities.

    Nial learned to inscribe more than 10 basic forgotten runic constetions with a perfection grade of 100% within two weeks. His knowledge and memories might be filled with Damian''s experiences but it was shocking nheless.

    ''I knew that he was not strong only because of the Late God of Darkness'' power, but isn''t hisprehension too good?'' Michael wondered, shaking his head when he saw how effortlessly Nial inscribed a whole set of runic constetions on therge battle axe in front of him.

    It looked like Nial was having fun inscribing the runic constetions, tweaking and ying around with the effects the armaments would have at the end of the day, and how to integrate them to create different types of functions that could be triggered together and individually.

    Almost all Dracos were innately interested in runic armaments as well but the ease and passion with which Nial mastered the craftsmanship to rival a master Runicier made them all feel slightly jealous of him.

    It was interesting to witness but also somewhat frustrating to see a mere human bing a better Runicier than oneself. Nial was clearly more talented than Michael, and he started to believe that Nial Orin had actually encountered his sister in the Golden City.

    ''Ophelia¡­I''m not sure what the hell you are doing, but this friend of yours is going to defeat you in the thing you are the most confident if you don''t get back to your senses¡­'' Michael could only think, wondering whether it would be a good thing if his sister were to be dragged down from her throne of arrogance.

    But Ophelia''s arrogance and pride were not groundless either. She was a ''once in ten thousand years'' talent and received the best tutge that could be provided by the Dracos. It was only a matter of time before she would be a Runicier Saintess. By then, Ophelia would be able to help her brethren and others to create their Divinity with the use of external means.

    Creating a Divinity with the use of runic armaments was the mostmon way to ascend to Godhood. It was possible to create a Divinity without runic armaments but it would be far more dangerous, and the likelihood for mistakes to ur was extremely high as well.

    That was why most beings chose to create a Divinity with the use of runic armaments, which meant that one had to be a Saint-level Runicier by oneself, or at least learn the basic runic constetions that were needed to initiate all necessary processes to create a Divinity.

    However, even doing thetter was nothing someone would dare attempt all alone. Mostly they would request the supervision of a Saint-level Runicier in order to make sure that nothing could go wrong.

    Saint-level Runiciers were bound to earn a fortune just by helping and guiding a few Originals to ascend to Godhood. Everyone willing to hire a Saint to supervise their ascension was paid a vast fortune. After all, the Original''s life depended on the professional work of the Saint Runicier.

    Nial knew that it would take a while before reaching the same level as Siegfried but he was confident that he could be a Saint Runicier in the future.

    It was a matter of time, something Nial had more than enough of, for now!<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, others didn''t seem to have a lot of free time to spare, which Nial figured when he visualized the familiar mana fluctuations of the Dracos Leader. He was holding something big in his arms which radiated even more terrifying mana fluctuations.

    That was enough to sour Nial''s expression and it caused him to frown.

    "Your leader has returned. Don''t you want to greet him?"

    "He returned already? I expected him to abandon us¡­" Michael mumbled. He was clearly astonished that their superior didn''t abandon them and instead prefer retaining ownership of the egg of the Greater Forest Dragon.

    The egg of the Greater Forest Dragon was thest of its kind. There was no other Greater Forest Dragon left in the known Universe, which meant that it was of immense value.

    It was already a wonder that the higher-ups of the Dracos were willing to ept the bet of the Greater Forest Dragon egg against the Divinity Fragment Portal of the Elven Empress. The egg was worth much more, but only if it could be used properly.

    Hatching the Dragon and raising it to be a loyal mythical creature was not easy and it would take up both time and resources. However, the final result would be worth everything and certainly much more than a Divinity!

    ''They chose to invest in their rtionship with the Elves? No¡­that doesn''t really make sense¡­'' Michael wondered, just for his gaze to fall onto Nial, who was focused on the visualization of the Greater Forest Dragon egg.

    Nial was trying to figure out something and ended up shrugging his shoulders.

    ''Or is it because of him? What did the Dracos leader tell his superiors for them to agree to hand over the egg?''

    Michael was oblivious to the truth but his guess was not a farcry.

    Under normal circumstances, the Army of a hundred thousand Dracos would have been abandoned rather than their superior handing over the egg of the Greater Forest Dragon to the Elves. The Elves were publicly known as their opponents and it would be extremely humiliating for the entire Draco race if the public were to find out about the loss of the bet and the Greater Forest Dragon egg.

    Yet, contrary to everyone''s expectations, the superiors of the Draco race decided to hand over the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg without much further ado.

    Just what was the reason?

    **

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 Chapter 550 Hatching Soon

    Nial was also not sure why the superiors of the Draco race thought that it would be a good idea to give up the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg, but there had to a strong reason, other than not wanting to give up on the army of a hundred thousand Dracos and a bunch of tamed beasts.

    However, rather than pondering over it, he chose to take a look at the egg. While observing the egg, he could see both the Royal Princess of the Elven race and the Dracos Leader who was about to hand Evalyne the Greater Forest Dragon''s egg.

    "I wille with you," Nial said quickly when Michael Ignis was about to leave. Michael just nodded his head before he started to run toward the Forest of Life''s outskirts where the Dracos Leader was calmly waiting with an egg more than half the size of his hand.

    The egg was huge but Nial was more interested in the lifeform he visualized within the egg.

    ''A winged lizard, a Greater Dragon from the western parts of the Universe, and it will hatch soon¡­is that why they handed the egg over, cause they cannot raise it?''

    Nial didn''t say anything when he and Michael appeared next to the Dracos Leader. Instead, he preferred to stay silent and merely greeted the Dracos Leader with a small nod while Michael Ignis began to report to him what had happened during thest two months.

    The Dracos leader had rushed back to their origin to pick up the Greater Forest Dragon egg and return to the Forest of Life in close to two months. That was extremely fast, which was also something the Royal Princess noted once she emerged from the Forest of Life.

    She had been cultivating in the Forest of Life, trying to initiate her breakthrough to the Keltia rank. Unfortunately, it would take her quite a while before she would be able to advance to the Keltia rank as the gap between the Deux and Keltia rank was not easy to bridge.

    Spending a few years in advancing to the subsequent rank wasmon. That was also why Nial chose to umte dark energy in his heart as well. He wanted to skip the few years and break into the Keltia rank the moment he reached the Peak of the Deux rank.

    However, that was not of importance right now.

    "The Dragonling¡­will hatch in a few months¡­" Princess Evalyne mumbled instead of greeting the moment she reached the Dracos Leader. Her eyes were glowing brightly and her mana fluctuations were going wild.

    It was almost as if she was both exhrated and conflicted.

    "I am not at liberty to reveal much, but you can guess what could be one of the major reasons for my superiors to willingly hand over the Greater Forest Dragon egg so easily. I think you can understand our reasoning, and it is not something that goes against the terms mentioned in the Soul Contract," The Dracos Leader spoke calmly but Princess Evalyne couldn''t help but frown.

    "So basically, you guys are hoping that we will fail in raising the Greater Forest Dragon youngling because we were not prepared for it to hatch in a few months¡­you want to see the annihtion of the entire Elven race¡­" Princess Evalyne grumbled before she mumbled to herself, "...I should have expected that."

    Nial was not sure if he understood the situationpletely. He only knew that it was extremely time-consuming and resource-draining to raise most tamed beasts with special requirements, which was something a mythical creature on the level of a Great Dragon was bound to have.

    It might not be difficult to raise the Greater Forest Dragon because it could simply sustain itself with the surrounding mana, but that didn''t mean it would be satisfied, let alone stay loyal to an entire race once matured.

    The Elven race wanted to spend a few years finding out what the Greater Forest Dragon needed so as to grow up in proper care and nourishment and also learn to love the Elves.

    If the Greater Forest Dragon thought that its freedom was restricted, it would develop hatred toward the Elves rather than love, which would then turn into something extremely annoying because it was near-impossible to prevent a Greater Dragon from wreaking havoc if it was enraged.

    After all, this kind of mythical creature was on par with a Demi-God in terms of strength from the moment it hatched. That was at least what Nial could gauge from Damian''s memories.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, what he knew from the memories of the Late God of Darkness might not be entirely true because he couldn''t really feel much strengthing off from within the egg.

    "Did you guys torture the egg somewhere?" Nial blurted out loud the moment the thought shed through his mind. He knew that it was rude but Nial was known for being straightforward and blunt. it was not like Nial could change his persona and hold himself back if he was curious about something.

    "Torture it? Are you¡­drunk by chance?" The Dracos Leader responded in return, his face distorting into an expression of anger. Michael Ignis held the Dracos Leader back from starting a debacle by quickly exining that Nial had gotten his hands on Damian''s memories, which might include some information about how to raise a Greater Dragon.

    At the same time, Michael also shared that Nial started to create forgotten runic armaments with the knowledge provided by the Late God of Darkness. He retrieved a longsword and handed it to the Dracos Leader after the Royal Princess had received the Greater Forest Dragon egg..

    "I am not drunk but the Dragon feels oddly weak, so I was wondering where the egg was kept in an unhealthy environment before you brought it over," Nial asked, his voiceced with concern and genuine curiosity.

    The Dracos Leader calmed down quite a bit when he looked at Nial who appeared to be unruffled. Only now did the Dracos Leader notice the changes in Nial''s presence, that Nial advanced to the Deux rank and that many other things had changed. This was the most obvious when looking at the Forbidden Runic Armament that had been created with abination of many ordinary runic constetions and three Basic Forbidden Runic constetions with 100% perfection grade!

    "You just need to give it enough warmth. Dragons are known for living in or near active volcanoes, so we ced the Greater Forest Dragon egg near a warm source of heat as well. Our research team said that there wouldn''t be an issue," The Dracos Leader answered with a shrug before he returned his focus back on the Forgotten runic armament.

    "That makes sense. Dragons love warm ces and they keep their eggs in their nest, or their caves near or even inside volcanoes," Princess Evalyne agreed. She didn''t see anything wrong with the exnation of the Dracos Leader which was why Nial could only lightly shake his head.

    "Did you know that Damian raised a Dragon in the past?" He asked rather than exining the crux of the situation directly.

    "I heard that he took in all kinds of monstrosities to turn them into his faithful underlings¡­but I thought that it was just a rumor until I saw your two Devil friends emerging from within your body," Princess Evalyne responded while continuing to hold onto the Greater Forest Dragon egg.

    "I heard something simr," The Dracos leader agreed.

    "In that case, you should know that the Darkness Dragon he raised repelled the warmth of his surroundings and that he was more inclined to inhabit cold ces that were filled with darkness and shadows," Nial pointed out before he took a step closer to the Greater Forest Dragon egg which he touched with his palm.

    "The Greater Forest Dragon needs warmth, that is correct;" Nial nodded just to exin the point everyone seemed to have forgotten, "But where does the Greater Forest Dragon egg receive the lifeforce it requires to grow properly? It is a Forest Dragon, a Dragon closely tied to nature, and you guys put it in a ce without life, didn''t you?"

    He didn''t n on attacking the Dracos by pointing out their stupidity but as usual, words tumbled out of his mouth before he could take them back.

    An awkward silence spread through the surrounding area and everyone stared at the Greater Forest Dragon egg.

    "You should take it to your Sacred tree¡­maybe¡­" The Dracos leader said after a while to the Royal Princess, who could only nod her head.

    "That should be for the best¡­"

 Chapter 551 Support

    "You are going to construct your own shelter in the future?" The Dracos Leader asked as his reptilian eyes further narrowed.

    Looking at Nial, it seemed pretty obvious that the young Original was not joking. Nial was serious about his n to construct a shelter in the near future.

    It might take a few years to prepare everything but once the preparations wereplete, he would start creating the shelter with all his might.

    One could easily tell that it was a great risk to build their own separate shelter since many races prepared for decades to create their own territory as well. Not many would want to find a shelter where all kinds of races were epted.

    The creation of such a shelter may cause lots of trouble, both internal and external, because of the different cultures that would inevitably sh. There were many more issues but Nial seemed to be certain that the advantages would definitely outweigh the disadvantages.

    With that in mind, the Dracos Leader recalled his superiors''mands. He looked at the Forgotten Runic Armaments and thought about the Broken Runic Armaments Nial had used to fight against Michael before he began to frown.

    "If you are valuable enough, you can get easily use your influence on the Draco race to make them support the construction of the shelter. But that would require me to go back and talk to my superiors. Furthermore, I doubt that they would be willing to ept any proposal if they''re not given full control of their own district!" The Dracos Leader exined neatly.

    He was not angry at Nial''s usation of mistreating the Greater Forest Dragon egg because he realized that they might have actually done just that. It was a little bit humiliating but that was still fine since Nial chose to make them realize their mistake in private, rather than doing a public announcement to the Greater Dragons that the Draco race was treating one of their unborn brethren like some unwanted piece of wastage.

    "I can give you houses to dwell in but not an entire district ruled by your superiors. I won''t discriminate and allow any race to have a separate ce for themselves. At least, I won''t allow only one race to control certain ces, or restrict other races from finding a ce to stay even if that would mean that Pyromas Elves were to end up in a house surrounded by Dracos," Nial shared his vision of giving every single race the choice to live in his shelter freely, not bothering whether the Dracos would ept that or not.

    He could tell that the Dracos Leader was very interested in his Forgotten Runic Armament, which was also why he had retrieved a Forgotten Broken Runic Armament from his spatial ring, which he handed the Dracos Leader as well.

    "By the way, it will be possible for me to create better armaments in the near future. In two to four years, I will be able to perfectly create Advanced Forgotten runic constetions. By then, you can consider me an Archmaster Runicier!" Nial announced to Michael Ignis and the Dracos Leader.

    Princess Evalyne had long since disappeared. She rushed to the Divinity Fragment portal to take the Greater Forest Dragon to Yggdrasil where it would be treated by Yggdrasil''s life force and everything they could find to make sure that the Greater Forest Dragon would feel safe and secured before and after it hatched.

    However, if she were to hear what Nial just said, Princess Evalyne would rush back and tell him that the Elves would wholeheartedly support his construction of a shelter.

    Halheim was a nice shelter but it was still controlled by other powers. The origin humans didn''t really want to ept other races amidst them either, not after what happened with the Linaton race.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial knew that he could change their opinion of other races but overthrowing the government and all organizations just because he was stronger would turn him into a Tyrant, which was not exactly what Nial wanted. Furthermore, by leaving the Halheim shelter, Nial gave the Elves the opportunity to grow and further expand the Forest of Life without the need for them to care about the shelter.

    The surrounding area of the Halheim shelter was also not perfect and the number of dungeon portals at all ranks wasn''t changing much either. Halheim''s surroundings were still a treasure trove for others, but not for Nial whose standards for a treasure had changed drastically with the passage of time.

    He witnessed how strong Dn''s Soul Weapon, Oricalm, was and he wished to create an even better weapon for himself. This required lots of resources, which he could only procure by trading with other races or by conquering higher-ranked dungeons. Thetter was certainly cheaper as he could get his hands on other treasures as well while conquering a dungeon.

    Too many things had yet to be figured out but Nial wanted the Dracos to help him construct the shelter. He also required a bunch of Dracos to create the runic armaments of the best quality since they were great cksmiths. Other than that, they were great teachers as well.

    "Just think about it," Nial said before he added, "it would be great if you could leave a few Master, or even better, Grandmaster cksmiths with me because I want to continue experimenting with the forgotten runic constetions I''ve learned from Damian''s memories. The cksmiths of the Draco race are the best and I want the highest probability to create the best possible result!

    "Who said that they''re going to leave?" the Draco Leader suddenly retorted, causing Nial to tilt his head in confusion.

    "If the Halheim shelter epts their temporary residency, the small Draco army will stay here and help you with everything you need. Consider that as the payment for the few Broken Runic Armaments, you gave me to hand over to the research team of Runiciers!" The Dracos Leader exined but that was only more confusing to Nial.

    ''A hundred thousand Dracos working for me as a payment for those few Broken Runic Armaments?'' Nial wondered before he handed the Dracos Leader a few more Broken Runic armaments that had been created with forgotten runic constetions.

    "Give them these armaments, please. Consider it as my token of gratitude for their help!" Nial said loudly as he handed the armaments over to the Dracos Leader.

    Afterward, they talked for a while before Nial left them to talk to Master Crevian about his idea to create a shelter that allowed all races to find a new home as long as they can forget about their hostility with other races that may or may not seek the shelter as well.

    Master Crevian was only mildly surprised about Nial''s idea but he supported it nheless. He was certain that Nial would do a great job and he said that the Elves would help create long-distance teleportation circles, and in any other way required.

    That was nice to hear and it was also enough reason for Nial to think more about the idea of the creation of the shelter. nning everything may take a few years but the gains were bound to be great as long as they could bait a few races to join them. The more he thought about it, the more excited Nial got.

    ''Maybe it''s worth a try¡­''

 Chapter 552 5 Years

    Five years passed in the blink of an eye, and Nial''s rtionship with the Dracos improved drastically.

    After learning how to inscribe dozens of Forgotten Advanced Runic constetions with a 100% perfection rating, Nial''s rank improved to that of an Archmaster Runicier. He started to provide the Dracos with the perfect forgotten advanced runic constetions and received funding and the support of more and better Dracos in return.

    The superiors of the Draco race were also willing to leave the one hundred thousand Dracos under his supervision to construct the new shelter, which was a sign of their trust in his capabilities and a means to ensure that they would get their hands onto a small piece of the shelter as well.

    However, there was not only the Dracos whose rtionship with Nial had improved drastically. The Elven races had also gotten much closer to him within the five years that had passed. They got to know about the Forgotten runic constetions as well, and the high possibility of him creating a shelter where all races were allowed to live freely.

    The Royal Princess discussed it with her mother, the Empress, and they chose to support Nial as well. Their means of support were a little different but it was certainly not worse. They provided Nial with more instructors, who taught how to concoct more and better potions. As for the Runicier teachers, they still continued to teach but their lectures were shared with the Dracos who were also teaching the Rookie Runiciers in the Orion Artisan Guild. Together they could teach their students how to inscribe runic constetions properly, how to connect runic constetions with armaments and what to pay attention to.

    Nial could personally teach others as well but it would waste his precious time. He had way too many things to take care of, which included making use of Damian''s memories as much as possible.

    If the Late God of Darkness'' memories influenced him, he should make use of them, at the very least!

    That was also how he improved his proficiency with the three techniques which he had received from Damian as well.

    Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights was a great martial art technique that allowed Nial to attain greatpatibility with all kinds of weapons. It was a martial art technique that could be used with any kind of weapon. Nial used dark energy to exert the technique and he could also use it in specific ways to increase the power exhibited by the weapons.

    The martial art techniques, created by the Late God of Darkness, were made to exploit the potential and lethality of dark energy to the peak.

    Nial''s control of the technique was still not perfect, and he had yet to test out using the martial art technique with the Essence of Darkness, let alone altered dark energy that had been enhanced by the crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon, or Chaos from the Vengeance of Chaos ability. However, he was slowly getting closer to the profound proficiency which he had intended to reach by now.

    Unfortunately, a day was only 24 hours long, which didn''t leave Nial with enough time to focus on acquiring more knowledge as a Runicier, manage his two organizations, work on improving his rtionship with the Draco, Elves, and the rebels of the Shelturion, study three technique in an attempt to reach the perfect mastery in the future and to cultivate his Sea of Darkness.

    Cultivating his Sea of Darkness was not exactly difficult since he had gotten his hands on a cultivation technique that was specially customized for the Sea of Darkness, to begin with.

    He followed a different cultivation path than most of the other Originals since he was in possession of a Darkness Sea rather than a Mana Sea and the cultivation technique provided by the Late God of Darkness was perfect for that.

    The Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique was extremely powerful if utilized properly, however, it was also extremely difficult to learn. Theplexity of the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique was not to be taken lightly. It took Nial more than a year to study the technique and attempt to practice it before he was finally able to utilize the technique.

    That had been extremely frustrating but the result was certainly worth it. Nial''s cultivation progressed almost ten times faster than before. He had never used a proper cultivation technique before because the Mana breathing technique couldn''t even be considered a cultivation technique in the truest sense ording to his newly acquired knowledge.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Mana Breathing technique merely taught a way on how to absorb Mana out of the surroundings, not how to utilize it with great efficiency in order to further advance the cultivation speed.

    That was the difference between a mana absorption technique and a cultivation technique. The former was a small part of thetter!

    Nial was currently at the Peak of the Deux rank since his Sea of Darkness was filled with dark energy to the brim. He was ready to advance to the Keltia rank using the dark energy his Heart of Darkness had absorbed in recent years.

    However, instead of rushing things, Nial decided to direct his focus on the other things he had to take care of.

    After all, Kaeldur and Tyrant demanded from he to use the Awakening of the Prymal technique to summon more of Damian''s Devils.

    They told Nial that it was about time for the Devils to gather before he would leave the Halheim shelter once again.

    The moment Nial left the enclosed area to create his own shelter, other races would take note of him. It was not possible for him to hide his energy properly anymore. It may be possible to prevent any dark energy from leaking out of his body, but that was only under the condition that he didn''t fight.

    Avoiding fights may be possible for some time, however, it wouldn''t be possible for Nial to hide forever if he truly desired to create his own shelter and be considered its rightful owner, the strongest being who could ensure the safety of his future citizens.

    The Dracos knew about his strength and the fact that he possessed memories and the powers of the Late God of Darkness, but they had taken it rather lightly. Instead of telling other races about it, they attempted to build a closer rtionship using various means.

    In fact, even Ophelia would soon travel to the Halheim shelter to help create the most suitable foundation of a shelter with the given capabilities.

    Nial didn''t expect Ophelia to assist in constructing the shelter. He didn''t think that his Runicier talent was in any way better than Ophelia''s exceptional talent and wisdom in terms of her Runicier knowledge.

    Onlyter was he informed that Michael Ignis was actually Ophelia''s elder brother. It was a great surprise and something Michael had hidden quite well.

    Ophelia wanted to see her brother again after not seeing him for such a long time. At the same time, she might as well give Nial a helping hand in order to make sure that his rtionship with the Draco race would end up being close to indestructible.

    But whether the investment of the Draco race would actually be worth it or if it would be considered as a great mistake in the future was still unknown.

 Chapter 553 Pillars Of Darkness

    Nial didn''t want to use the Awakening of the Prymal ability for the time being. His gut feeling told him that it was fine to use the technique but he still had his doubts.

    He didn''t really want to face Hoert a second time. The first time was already bad enough and the memory still made him uneasy!

    Nial didn''t want to be controlled by someone else once again, which was also why he would rather wait with summoning more Devils than doing something stupid.

    His Sea of Darkness was filled and it was about time that he advanced to the Keltia rank. At the Keltia rank, one created Mana Pir that protruded from within the Mana Sea.

    The pirs had special attributes, including the trait to elerate the advancement progress of the Ability Stigmata. Nial had linked abilities, which meant that his Stigmatas would improve with his progress in the ranks. However, others would have to create their Mana Pirs first to elerate their progress.

    They would create their first Mana Pir as quickly as possible and interlink it with the Ability Stigma they used the most. After the fifth Mana Pir was created, all Stigmatas would have a link that allowed the Originals to exhibit a prowess much higher than ever before.

    After all, every single Mana Pir provided a huge boost to the strength of the Original, even more so the Ability Stigmata that had been interlinked.

    At the end of the day, each Mana Pir required arge amount of Mana to be created and a certain amount of space within the Mana Sea to be sustained properly and hold itself intact while being surrounded by liquefied mana.

    Thus, the size of the Mana Sea was inevitably a deciding factor in how many Mana Pirs could be created. The least amount of Mana Pirs that could be created was three while the highest was said to be nine Mana Pirs.

    This indicated that the foundation of the previous ranks was a deciding factor in how strong one could be the further one cultivated. Nial''s foundation was perfect, which meant that he should be able to create nine Darkness Pirs.

    His cultivation path demanded him to create Darkness Pirs rather than Mana Pirs, but the most important factors were quite simr in both cases.

    The biggest difference between the Darkness Pirs and the Mana Pirs was that the Darkness Pirs increased the potency of the Darkness that loomed around them in the Sea of Darkness. The more Darkness Pirs were created the higher the potency and lethality of the dark energy stored within the Sea of Darkness.

    Nial''s dark energy may as well be as strong as his Essence of Darkness as long as enough Darkness Pirs were created and his dark energy would receive adequate nourishment.

    However, Nial also knew that he should use his strongest powers to create the Darkness Pirs. They had to be created with dark energy as a foundation but it was also possible to enhance the dark energy to the peak using the Essence of Darkness, crimson moonlight, and the Power of Chaos!

    That was what Nial had attempted to do before only to realize that he had to alter the entire dark energy that had been stored inside his Heart of Darkness to make sure that his first Darkness Pir wouldn''t turn into a failure.

    With that in mind, Nial got busy with various preparations over a long period of time in order to prevent failure at all cost as he exerted the Vortex of Abyss cultivation ability to create the foundation of his first Darkness Pir.

    He was all by himself in arge isted room where he could go wild and not worry about identally hurting someone. It had been created with the help of the best Grandmaster cksmiths and reinforced to the peak of Nial''s capabilities. Various runic constetions had been inscribed across the entire room which was a hundred meters in length, width, and height.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was a cube where every single inch of high-quality metal was covered with runic constetions.

    Nial unleashed the entire reinforced dark energy that had been stored inside his Heart of Darkness at once, which resulted in the entire cube-shaped room turning into the center of a dark abyss.

    There was not a single source of light left inside the room. Only the crackling of the runic constetions that were fully utilized, yet barely holding out against the pressure that was put on them all of a sudden flickered in a low, almost invisible light. Some runic constetions showed signs of crumbling down but they were repaired and reinforced by other runic constetions that had been inscribed for that specific reason.

    The reinforced dark energy filled the entire room and it was forcefullypressed due to theck of space.

    Nial focused on the reinforced dark energy, andpressed it further before he absorbed it at once. He forcefully infiltrated the already filled Sea of Darkness inside his body which caused him to cough up blood as the pressure weighing down on the Sea of Darkness increased manyfold in an instant.

    Nial could hardly cope with the pressure but he did it by gritting his teeth and clenching his hands. His nails dug so deep inside his palm that they cut his skin and he started to bleed. Taking a few deep breaths after the reinforced dark energy was shoved inside his Sea of Darkness, Nial began with the construction of the first Darkness Pir''s foundation.

    The foundation was everything he required to advance to the Keltia rank. It was extremely time-consuming to umte enough energy andpress it long enough to create a solid base. This was also why the advancement from the Deux rank to the Keltia rank was not considered difficult but rather time-consuming.

    Everyone who was talented enough to reach the Deux rank would inevitably advance to the Keltia rank, provided they lived long enough.

    Nial had enough talent to create nine Darkness Pirs but he didn''t really like the time-consuming process. Thus, he would rather feel pain and get over the process quicker than waste a year or more to break through to the Keltia rank.

    He solidified the massive amount of reinforced dark energy in his body by forcefully putting the dark energy together. This hurt his body as it forced the Sea of Darkness to adjust to the aftermath of his shing dark energy. Lots of energy was released due to the sh and it was inevitably dispersed all over the Sea of Darkness.

    The Sea of Darkness endured the risky process as Nial chose to skip several steps in the creation of the first Darkness Pir by releasing more and more power rather than taking the safe yet slow path.

    Time passed in an excruciatingly slow manner and Nial was slowly losing himself in the pain that spread throughout his entire body. He was trying to get used to it and ept it as an integral part of himself but that was hardly possible. His Sea of Darkness felt like it was going to tear apart at any moment but it somehow did not fail him.

    The foundation of the first Darkness Pir was slowly taking shape and the tremendous amount of reinforced dark energy began to dwindle.

    It wouldn''t take long before he would finish the task and be officially at the Keltia rank. However, Nial couldn''t really be happy about it.

    He was too much in pain to feel satisfied.

    ''How the hell can Dn keep his sanity?!?''

 Chapter 554 Gifts

    Nial clearly remembered Dn, the Undying, easily enduring the pain of getting killed thousands of times while retaining his sanity to a certain degree.

    This was something Nial was clearly jealous of since he did not have that level of patience or endurance. His mind was being fogged by the desire to switch off his pain receptors and turn into a mad that was not afraid of pain or affected by it anymore.

    He was not sure how long it took before the reinforced dark energy was solidified and anchored inside the Sea of Darkness, but Nial felt extremely exhausted.

    In fact, he even gave in to exhaustion and decided to lie down on the ground of the isted room for a few hours despite its appearance of having sustained an earthquake. Even the runic constetions that were supposed to repair everything that had been damaged failed to function correctly after a while.

    That was something Nial realized only when he regained his consciousness after an awfully long time in which his Sea of Darkness regenerated from the wear and tear caused by the pressure and damage it had sustained during his breakthrough process to the Keltia rank.

    The foundation of the first Darkness Pir had beenpleted, indicating that he had advanced to the Keltia rank, and he could clearly feel that his strength was still increasing.

    ''50%?...The foundation of the first Darkness Pir increases my raw physical strength by more than 50%?''

    Nial was trying to sense how much stronger he had gotten after advancing in his rank but that was easier said than done. The istion room didn''t provide him with enough means to test his strength and it was not as if his mind was ustomed to the changes that had urred. It would take a few hours, or possibly even days before his body and mind would be in sync once again.

    With that in mind, Nial chose to leave the isted room and return to the surface where he met up with Melheim Zorn, Michael Ignis, the Dracos Leader, and Master Crevian.

    "Evalyne is still in Yggdrasil with that nasty Dragon youngling, or will shee overter?" Nial asked when he noticed that he couldn''t visualize the Royal Princess nor the Greater Forest Dragon youngling that had hatched more than three years ago.

    The Greater Forest Dragon youngling feared Nial but it felt a pull toward the blind Original nheless. It was almost as if its body was naturally inclined to stay in Nial''s surroundings while its mind wanted the exact opposite.

    Nial didn''t really understand why the Dragon youngling feared him, or why it was attracted to him, or possibly his dark energy either, and the same was the case with the others. They had no idea what was going on with the Greater Forest Dragon youngling, which was one of the many reasons for it stayed in Yggdrasil and was raised there.

    The Royal Princess was trying to be the partner of the Greater Forest Dragon youngling and get it to trust her simply because she was the heiress of the Elven races. She would inherit the Empress'' entire empire in the future and it would make things much easier if she were to be a Dragon rider. It would be even more impressive to be a Dragon rider of a fully matured Greater Dragon.

    Nobody would even think about challenging her for the right of the throne if the Empress passed away, or stepped down from the throne.

    "She is in Yggdrasil, but I brought over something very interesting!" Master Crevian said with a tinge of jealousy and excitement.

    Nial didn''t say anything in response to Master Crevian''sment because he was baffled about the object the Old Elf revealed from within a small jade box.

    A tiny splinter of a wooden branch was instantly visualized by Nial. It didn''t seem like anything special at the first nce but Nial could instantaneously tell that it was something of immense value based on the way Crevian''s eyes twinkled.

    "A fragment of Yggdrasil''s branch?" Nial wondered while he was still exhausted from his breakthrough. Apparently, two months had passed since he had left to advance to the Keltia rank and all necessary resources had been procured.

    The working force was also ready to give their all, whether it was Elves, Dracos, or even some members of the Shelturion''s rebel army!

    At first, everyone was against taking in the Shelturion race''s rebel army since it was a clear deration of war against the Shelturion race''s government. It showed that the new shelter would protect the rebel army and that the shelter sided with them.

    However, that was not what Nial intended to do. His opinion of the entire situation waspletely different since he hade up with a detailed n in mind beforehand.

    "War refugees are epted by the shelter, no matter who they are or what race they belonged to. As long as they didn''t do anything that is unforgivable, I will ept them. The shelter will have a tribunal of life and death where you can challenge someone to a life-and-death battle, either way. To boot that, there is also my Dominion ability through which I can figure out what kind of bad things neers have done," Nial had exined at that time, not wanting to make a big fuss out of it and calm everyone down. The Shelturion race''s rebel army was very helpful with its various pills and potions.

    At the same time, they could create variousplex mechanical systems that were iprehensible for someone like Nial, who had no idea how to create high technologically advanced systems within a shelter.

    The Dracos and Elves could hardly gauge what the Shelturion was capable of either. Thus, to replicate and create an even better system than the Alliance City had used, they would need the Shelturion.

    In the end, everyone epted the rebel army of the Shelturion who was overjoyed to find a new home, a home that was above the surface and where they could let lose their unfathomable intelligence without fearing getting found out, and brought back by their government.

    There was no need to fear being tortured for years before they would show mercy to you and end your life!

    Nial knew that the Shelturion would stay loyal to him since he raided their undergroundboratory without killing any of them even if he could have done so easily and instead gave them great opportunities to get funded and even regain some of their power.

    They were weak in terms ofbat prowess but that was only fair since their talenty elsewhere. epting them into the shelter despite knowing the possible risk of being attacked by the rest of the Shelturion race was something far more valuable to the rebels than Nial could fathom. He could only guess that they were thankful to him, but not exactly the extent to which they felt grateful for his act.

    As for the Elves and the Dracos, they helped him without actually stating any conditions. The Dracos Leader had returned from meeting his superior with a Dragon Crystal, a crystal that purified all kinds of metals in the forging process. It was an extraordinary item that was also very rare, yet the superiors of the Draco race chose to support Nial''s creation of a new shelter that allowed all kinds of races to cohabit.

    They didn''t even demand anything in return, not even the authority to control a district in the shelter or to have some additional rights over other races once the shelter was to bepleted.

    It was almost as if they trusted Nial and that he knew how to repay goodwill with even more goodwill.

    However, the Elves were not so favorable to the Dracos and did not want them to strengthen their rtionship with Nial easily, which was also why Master Crevian ended uping over with the shard of Yggdrasil''s branch stored in the jadebox.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "That is a branch of Yggdrasil, a small fragment of it to be precise, your guess was right! If you nt it in the center of your shelter with enough space left around to let it grow and blossom further, it will turn into an indispensable treasure for your shelter!" Master Crevian said while maintaining his expression that showed some of his excitement and a trace of jealousy.

    ''So that''s really Yggdrasil''s branch? Looks like the Sacred tree and the Empress want to have some influence in my shelter as well¡­'' Nial figured quite easily. It was not as if he had something against their wishes because it was beneficial for him as well. However, there were certain issues that had to be addressed to avoid misunderstanding from emerging all of a sudden.

    He cleared his throat and smiled lightly.

    "Can you exin how exactly the fragment of Yggdrasil''s branch can turn into an indispensable treasure for my shelter?" He asked in return, which caused both Michael and the Dracos leader to frown lightly.

    It was quite obvious that the Dragon Crystal was valuable but it looked like the Elves went above and beyond with their gift to one up the Dracos!

    The moment Master Crevian heard Nial a beaming smile blossomed on his face. He shot a re at the two Dracos for a moment, just to smile brightly at Nial as heunched himself into an borate exnation.

    "The fragment of Yggdrasil''s branch is directly connected to Yggdrasil. It will be easier for you to create spatial portals to Yggdrasil and the other branches of Yggdrasil. The fragment of Yggdrasil will inevitably give birth to sentience that can connect to the shelter''s system and manage the entire shelter on its own. Of course, that is only if you wish that to happen.

    Since Yggdrasil had linked to you in the past, the branch''s fragment will also naturally link to you if you desire so. The fragment will grow into an actual branch of Yggdrasil with the passage of time and you will be able to do much more with it actively. Managing the shelter is just one of the many functions.

    The surrounding mana will be pulled toward the shelter and the flora and fauna within and outside the shelter will flourish as well. This will result in Fairies, and Nature Spirits getting pulled to your Shelter. Maybe there will be Dryads as well. You may not realize how exceptional it is to have Dryads, Nature Spirits, and Fairies around you but believe me when I tell you that your shelter will flourish more and be much more secure once Faese to you!

    You may need to consider leaving some space for nature spots but it will be worth it once the fragment has grown into a small branch!" Master Crevian added with a proud expression.

    While speaking, Master Crevian''s jealousy disappeared. It was almost as if he had never been jealous, to begin with.

    Nial smiled a little when he perceived the change in the old elf''s expression and demeanor which was also why he epted the gift without saying too much. He could show his gratefulness in the future. There was no need for him to speak words since actions were worth more than ten thousand words.

    While Nial touched the fragment of Yggdrasil''s branch lightly which allowed him to sense the tremendous life force that had been amassed within it, Michael Ignis cleared his throat in an attempt to attract Nial''s attention.

    Nial didn''t turn his head to Michael but his ears perked up, which had to be enough for Michael.

    "Ophelia wille over soon, and she mentioned something about Saint Siegfried as well!" He said all of a sudden.

    Nial''s head turned in response, followed by a confused expression that appeared on his face.

    "The Saint Runicier Siegfried¡­the old and annoying geezer, or someone else?" Nial couldn''t help but ask as he recalled the old man who had infiltrated his room without permission when he participated in the U21 Runicier tournament in the Golden City.

    The memories caused him to shudder whenever he thought about it and he didn''t even realize that Michael, the Dracos Leader, and even Master Crevian were staring at him with bewildered expressions.

    "The Saint Runicier¡­yes¡­" Michael answered carefully after a while. He was not sure where Nial got to know Siegfried but he shook his head after a moment in an attempt to clear his head.

    "Ophelia was taught a little bit by Saint Runicier Siegfried, but she will stille over to help you create the best possible shelter!" He added which Nial responded with a nod.

    "That sounds nice, but she probably nned to run away from that annoying old geezer, either way!" Nial remarked which earned him a fewplicated gazes.

    "..."

    "...If you say so¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 555 Ophelia

    Instead of creating the shelter immediately, Nial chose to wait until Ophelia arrived.

    Ophelia was bound to provide him with some helpful insights that may as well change countless ns in the construction process. She was intelligent and one of the best new generation Runiciers.

    Thus, Nial ended up rifying a few things with Michael Ignis, Master Crevian, the Dracos Lord and the leader of the Shelturion, Great Wirliam.

    He had a few things to tweak and modify about the n they had alreadye up with which they adjusted in the following days.

    Afterward, Nial ended up practicing the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique to expand the length of his first Darkness Pir. So far, only the foundation of the first Darkness Pir had been constructed, and Nial wanted to focus on his strength so as to make sure that he was a little bit stronger when he would meet Ophelia.

    It was not exactly necessary but Nial had heard about a few beings at the Mythican rank being able to emerge on Jundra. The Mythican rank followed the Keltia rank and it was the cultivation rank in which one turned the Mana Pirs within the Mana Sea into Temples.

    Nial felt that the requirement to create temples was a little bit odd but it was not as if he had anything against it¡­except that the Mythican rank was another time-consuming cultivation rank.

    However, Nial was fine fighting beings at the Mythican rank since he was already at the beginning of the Keltia rank. He would give his utmost if some beings at the Mythican rank would try to attempt to destroy his ns.

    As long as no being at the Trixor rank would emerge on Jundra, in the territory where he intended to construct his own shelter, everything would be fine! The Trixor rank was what most Originals considered to be Demi Gods. It was notparable to the Demi God stage of the Ascenders since Demi God Originals were as strong as the Lesser God Ascenders, possibly even a little more stronger.

    Nial would be fine as long as no being at the Trixor rank would suddenly appear. Jundra shouldn''t yet allow someone like that to appear, let alone any Gods who might think that it was time to wreak havoc by descending as well.

    He was not sure how long it would take before Jundra would be able to free itself of more shackles that had been put on it, but Nial sincerely hoped that it would take a little bit longer. He was not in a hurry to fight Gods, not yet, at least!

    After Nial cultivated for over a month, a group of Dracos entered the Halheim shelter, precisely the expanded area that had been constructed by the Army of Dracos.

    Nial sensed the arrival of a familiar source of Mana, which made him stop cultivation. He jumped through the darkness of the isted room using the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique and emerged in the dark shadows near the neers.

    Nial was less than 20 meters away from them when they took note of him. Their instincts caused them to react very differently. Some ended up raising their guard by moving into a defensive stance and simultaneously unsheathing their weapons, while others stared nkly at the near-untraceable presence of the blind human who had sprung up from within the shadows.

    "Hello everyone, my name is Nial Orin and I hope we can have a somewhat friendly cooperation while constructing the shelter, and of course, we continue it even after we''re done constructing the shelter!" He said, stretching out his right hand in an attempt to shake the hands of the neers.

    However, most of them didn''t react due to their vignce against Nial, who had been able to sneak up on them without their realization. Only the Draco, whose mana Nial was familiar with, stepped forward. It was Ophelia who stepped forward, her hand grasping his before she tightened her grip.

    ''A test?''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial was not sure if she wanted to test him but he was not someone who liked losing a battle, no matter who the opponent Thus, he used some of his physical strength to grip Ophelia''s hand tightly while his expression remained the same as before.

    His strength was bound to be higher than Ophelia''s, especially since he was already at the Keltia rank while Ophelia had barely entered the Deux rank.

    Nial and Ophelia were almost the same age but Nial was simply too fast in his cultivation process. Ophelia was already considered exctraordinarily talented by advancing to the Deux rank before the age of 30, yet Nial managed to surpass her glorious achievement several years earlier. He advanced to the Keltia rank long before reaching the age of 35, and he was an Archmaster Runicier at such a young age to boot!

    Even Ophelia was not yet an Archmaster Runicier, officially at least!

    Well, officially, Nial was not an Archmaster Runicier either¡­but that didn''t really matter since he was good enough to be considered an Archmaster Runicier.

    "We will help you, of course! If you show us the blueprint of the shelter we will be able to better assist in constructing the foundation of your shelter in the near future. I even brought some Architects, engineers and everything else you can wish for!" Ophelia answered while trying to hide her pained expression. She loosened her grip around Nial''s hand which resulted in Nial doing exactly the same.

    He smiled at her in return while retracting his hand. All of a sudden, his expression changed a little and his head flicked up to the sky. The others followed suit as they heard a loud shriek from high in the air, where they could see arge ck dot that kept erging.

    "Don''t attack. He is my partner in crime," Nial cautioned when he noticed that the vignt Dracos were about to prepare for battle. Of course, Nial didn''t really want the Dracos to fight Ryu, who shot down to the ground without any mercy.

    Hended on top of Nial and threw him to the ground, which caused the Dracos and even Master Crevian to feel a little stupefied.

    "I am still alive, no worries¡­" Nial said as he emerged out of the darkness that spread out all over the ground in the blink of an eye.

    He emerged next to Ryu who pushed his head against Nial''s body, demanding to be caressed all day.

    Nial obliged and began patting Ryu since they hadn''t been together for quite a while. He handed over the ns for the creation of his very own shelter, where he had also mentioned a clear separation of tasks.

    Ophelia read through the checklist of tasks that were clearly distributed amongst the races and upations of the people who were willing to help Nial in the construction of the shelter. The distribution was well thought and it made sense, however, Ophelia couldn''t help but stare nkly at the pages.

    The checklist was mostly correct. There were a few tasks that could be reworded or put in a different order but the core essence of their meaning was still the same as before.

    However, the things Ophelia read the moment she turned to the second page were not something she had expected to see, at all!

    "What the¡­"

 Chapter 556 Jealous Prodigy

    Ophelia was quiet for a while as she read through the ns and ideas Nial and the others hade up with. She squinted her golden reptilian eyes every now and then just to resume reading everything down to the finest detail.

    Her mouth opened every few seconds, and it took her a while to divert her attention from the papers thaty in her hands seeking her attention.

    "You want the Elves to take care of nature to create the best possible environment for Faes, and to make sure that the¡­Fragment of Yggdrasil''s branch can grow unhindered¡­" Ophelia looked at Nial and Master Crevian nkly for a few seconds which caused her to stop speaking. She was too stunned to even think about multitasking as she realized how high the Elves regarded Nial as she continued reading through the files.

    "The Elves will also join the¡­Shelturion¡­in the creation of a perfect location for Alchemists¡­At the same time, the Shelturion will implement, update and configure the perfect system to manage the shelter. Everything will be highly efficient and easy to understand even for neers as the instruction manual of the system in the shelter will be in variousnguages¡­And Yggdrasil''s branch will be able to control the managing system once it attains sentience and grows enough to hold and sort all information that enters the sentients¡­ Just what the hell did you n? Where did you even get your hands on Shelturions, to begin with?!?" Ophelia was now staring with a bbergasted look at Nial.

    She couldn''t help but wonder how much someone could change within a decade. Less than 15 years had passed since theyst met, yet Nial seemed to have adventured far more than her, and he was much stronger as well.

    For now, Ophelia couldn''t be certain whether he was a better Runicier than her as well, or he only appeared to have superior skills due to to the memories he had received from the Late God of Darkness but that bothered her as well. Her confidence was slowly crumbling while facing Nial and she didn''t like that feeling, at all!

    The onlyfort was that Nial had received unwavering support from one of the strongest existences that had ever existed in the Universe. That was certainly reassuring even if Nial''s teacher was also considered one of the cruelest existences in the Universe.

    Her superior had also advised Ophelia to keep a distance from Nial since he might turn into the incarnation of the Late God of Darkness one day. But even if he wouldn''t turn into Damian''s Incarnation, many races were bound to attack him in the future, just because he was in possession of dark energy, the power that belonged to the Late God of Darkness.

    However, Ophelia was also told to take a look at Nial for herself. She shouldn''t judge others just from the way they perceived someone. The Universe didn''t discriminate amongst its dwellers and even if it looked like that sometimes. It was just a matter of what people did with the gifts they had received. If they gave up on themselves even before trying, it was not the Universe''s fault.

    Saint Runicier Siegfried was the one who told Ophelia to visit Nial and take a proper look at him after they met once half a lifetime ago. It was only obvious that many things had changed but it was uncertain whether it was a good or a bad change.

    And from what Ophelia saw right in front of her, she couldn''t help but feel amazed and a little bit jealous at his progress!

    "You want to have the best possible smithy in the shelter, using the Dragon Crystal as the core of the forge? That''s pretty dangerous if we''re not careful¡­" Ophelia mumbled when she read the next parts of the n Nial and the others hade up with. These parts were about the tasks that would be given to the Army of Dracos, including her and the others who had just arrived in the Halheim shelter.

    "I believe in your capabilities," Nial responded calmly when he heard her mumbling which caused Ophelia to look up for a moment.

    She stared at Nial whose expression was eerily calm and let out a sigh.

    "Don''t you think it''s foolish to believe in us like that?" Ophelia inquired but Nial shook his head.

    "I think your people would hate it if someone like me were to hate them for blindly believing in your capabilities. I chose to trust you, Michael and the other Dracos because of your talent and skills. I also got to know their talent as cksmiths is exceptional.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The expansion of the Halheim shelter waspleted very quickly but it is highly durable and very well organized. The forging chambers are also pretty impressive," Nial said as hemended them for a job well done.

    Ophelia continued to stare at him just to lower her head slightly to return back to reading.

    ''He figured that the higher-ups said that nobody should offend him in any way, or did anyone tell him that?'' She wondered while clearly recalling how many times she had been told that someone like Nial shouldn''t be offended.

    They couldn''t be certain that Nial wouldn''t go berserk and turn into a second God of Darkness, after all!

    However, looking at Nial as he was right now, it was pretty obvious that it would require some extreme act to actually offend him. If anyone were to kill the people he loved, Nial might turn into a monster that could wreak havoc. But other than that, Ophelia was not sure how someone like Nial could turn into a bad person.

    He was way too kind and exined the things she didn''t fully understand calmly and repeated over and over that he trusted the experience and knowledge of the Shelturion, Elves, and Dracos.

    Nial didn''t even doubt for a second that they could betray him, which was foolish on one side but also a clear indicator that he was not worried at all.

    Was Nial too confident in his strength and the belief that nobody would ever dare to betray him, or did he have another n? What would happen if anyone were to betray him?

    Ophelia was curious about that but she was not actually willing to test it out. She didn''t even feel like betraying him, to begin with, and it was just her curiosity that turned Nial into a great target.

    However, when she was just about to reach thest few pages of the n Nial had in mind.

    "You want to ept War refugees after interrogating them to make sure that they''re not some psychopaths or mass murderers? Doing that you will use ''Dominion'', whatever that may be¡­are you sure that this will work?" Ophelia asked, not quite understanding why someone would ept war refugees in testing times like these.

    It was simply too dangerous to ept war refugees since all of them were likely to have murdered members of other races which could then turn into a conflict once opposing races were to seek asylum in Nial''s new shelter.

    She appreciated Nial''s generosity of giving importance to the weak when creating the shelter but it was not always a good decision to help out everyone. It might turn into a big mistake which was better to be avoided until one was strong enough to deflect any kind of force by merely mentioning your title.

    Nial was far from attaining such strength for the time being and it would take a while until he would be that powerful!

    "It will be fine, don''t you worry!"

 Chapter 557 Plateau

    The ce they finalized as the site was a ginormous teau that didn''t need much terraforming to construct the entire shelter on top of it.

    A mountain range was adjacent to the left of the teau where numerous dungeon portals had materialized over the passage of a dozen years. Many of them were permanent dungeons that released countless dungeon beasts every now and then.

    Thus, the mountain range had turned into a ce that was fully imed by more or less powerful monsters. Nial wanted to make use of that since the Originals willing to popte the new shelter would have to get their hands on beasts to hunt them. Dungeons and beasts were present in abundance in the mountain range and it wouldn''t be a problem to be rich by adventuring through the mountain range for a single hunt.

    Interestingly enough, the dungeon beasts steered clear of the humongous teau which was another reason for him and the others to think that something about the teau was special.

    They were certain that some powerful beast was in control of the dungeon but they had yet to discover its identity. That was also why their next n was to bait the overlord of the humongous teau to defeat it and im the teau for themselves.

    Other than the mountain range that bordered the northern and western areas of the teau, there was also a huge forest with evergreen nature around. The flora and fauna flourished due to the naturally high life force that could be found there.

    Many Fae were likely to be living in the evergreen forest, which was exactly what Master Crevian wanted to make use of by nting the fragment of Yggdrasil''s branch in the center of the new shelter. Nial was fine with that and he supported Master Crevian''s idea without thinking too much about it.

    Other than the evergreen forest and the long-winded mountain range there was also a Savannah region where traces of artificially created tunnels had been found. The scouts presumed that another race intended to construct their shelter in the Savannah and that conflicts between the two shelters might arise once they start their respective construction.

    Nial was also fine with that. He had already expected a bunch of people to attack him either way. There was no way that he would flee from his opponents, which was also why he chose to make use of the mountain-range to build his own little army of beasts.

    He might have collected enough resources to construct the foundation and the core area of the shelter but the shelter would always require more and more resources.

    Thus, it was only obvious that Nial required a dungeon conquest team to regrly raid a bunch of high-ranked dungeons and collect the resources they needed.

    That was what Nial did by turning Kaeldur, Tyrant and Ryu into the leaders of their own group before he began to catch one powerful dungeon beast after another the moment they reached the mountain-range region next to the soon-to-be construction site of his own shelter.

    After discussing ns with Ophelia, her brother, the Dracos Leader and Master Crevian for quite a while, he had traveled to the humongous teau to visualize everything for himself as well.

    Being at the Keltia rank with the highest possible potential and by exerting the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, Nial could easily travel thousands of kilometers in an hour.

    "Is that all you guys were able to bring?" Nial wondered when his two Devils and Ryu returned with their first living prey. He had been busy imagining, or rather visualizing the construction process of the shelter, starting from the most central point of the humongous teau. That way, they could expand more than a thousand kilometers in each direction and keep adding buildings if necessary.

    The shelter could turn into a metropolis housing billions, maybe even tens or hundreds of billions if necessary. Of course, it would take a while to reach these numbers, especially since they had yet to start constructing. But the construction process was something the others would have to pay the most attention to, either way.

    His knowledge as a Runicier might be required for the most important tasks since he and Ophelia were the most knowledgable and experienced Runiciers present, but they would have to leave a leeway to engrave even higher-ranked runic constetions on the raw materials to make sure that they could always upgrade the shelter in the future since they were not yet Saint Runiciers.

    The Army of Dracos would have to travel a little bit longer to reach the humongous teau since none of them was as fast as NIal. Thus, he made use of that to pick up some living beasts, which included the three Deux-ranked beasts that had ended up in front of Nial just now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Kaeldur, Tyrant, and Ryu brought back the same kind of monster, some sort of winged ape that was three meters tall and covered in long fur. Their muscles were well-defined and their long feathery wings had a wingspan of over 15 meters. Though their flying speed was on the lower side, Nial was not worried.

    ''Even if they don''t seem special, they can turn into my working force¡­they can easily mine minerals, collect corpses, or turn into lumberjacks!'' Nial nodded his head in satisfaction once he figured out a suitable task to assign to the winged Apes and he began to use Dominion using his dark energy to amplify the ability.

    He altered the winged Apes'' mind only slightly to make sure that they would follow Ryu and his two Devils with unwavering loyalty. That cost him quite a bit of dark energy but it was certainly worth it since it was a permanent alteration.

    "Bring me more of those bastards, and pick up other dungeon beasts while you hunt living prey as well!" Nial ordered just to sit down on the ground where he practiced the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique without a worry.

    He could replenish his dark energy in the most efficient way through the cultivation technique, especially since the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique created an actual vortex with the dark energy inside his Sea of Darkness. It pulled the mana in his proximity to him and his body absorbed it instantaneously before turning it into dark energy.

    Using this tactic, Nial replenished his dark energy before permanently altering the mind of the new prey his Devils and Ryu brought over. It was a smooth process in which Nial didn''t even lose any dark energy since he had replenished it so quickly.

    That way, an army of several thousand Deux-ranked dungeon beasts had been created when the Army of Dracos arrived with thousands of Elves and hundreds of Shelturion by their side.

    Nial smiled lightly when he noticed how baffled some Originals were to see him easily control thousands of powerful dungeon beasts but he didn''t pay it more attention than necessary.

    "Shall we start building the shelter?"

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 Chapter 558 Phoenix Fire Lion

    It was necessary to create a temporary base before they started the construction of the shelter. However, that was quickly resolved. It took only a few hours before everything was prepared.

    Afterward, the Originals began to spread out illumination crystals that hovered up in the air to make sure that it would be bright around the construction site even when it was dark.

    They wanted to finish the foundation and the core region of the shelter as quickly as possible. That was also why everyone chose to work tirelessly with only a little sleep squeezed in between their working hours.

    There was no need for Originals at the Deux rank to sleep or eat much within a week, to begin with. As long as they had enough mana in their surrounding, sleeping and eating twice a month would already be enough.

    Nial didn''t really feel like forcing everyone to work non-stop. Thus, he simply told everyone to work appropriately and to take breaks whenever they needed one.

    It was not as if he paid them a specific wage for the hourly work they put in, to begin with. One could even say that they were ves. That was how little they would receive in return for constructing the entire shelter.

    Everyone was given permanent residency within the new shelter and other minor benefits that weren''t actually worth mentioning, but that was basically everything the Shelturion rebels, Elves, and Dracos would receive.

    Only the Shelturion would gain something that was more valuable than the work they put into the construction of the shelter.

    As for the gains of the Elves and Dracos, the most important was that Nial would feel indebted to them which he would want to repay sooner orter. Their help was mostly a means to show that they were willing to help him without demanding anything in return, which was actually not the case.

    They hoped that Nial would create an amicable rtionship with them and that he would return the favor once he would be a Saint Runicier and be much stronger.

    Nial was fine with that since he had gained much more in the long-term process. He focused on expanding the army of beasts that were employed to conquer all dungeons, analyzing them and giving him a detailed report of the exact resources they could get their hands on within the dungeons in the mountain-range region.

    Other than expanding the army of dungeon beasts, Nial didn''t have to pay a lot of attention in the initial processes of the shelter construction. The foundation of the shelter took two months before it waspleted, yet, Nial''s only task was to make sure that everyone would be protected and help out thrice with his knowledge as a Runicier.

    The presumed overlord of the humongous teau never appeared and the other race that was supposed to be somewhere in the Savannah region hadn''t been spotted yet either. Nial simply told himself that the teau''s Overlord and the race in the Savannah had annihted each other.

    That would make things much easier and less troublesome.

    Unfortunately, things weren''t as easy as he had hoped for. Arge lion with a height of more than ten meters appeared near the temporary base of the Dracos Army one day. The Lion''s mane was made of zing mes that flickered brightly but that wasn''t what immediately caught Nial''s attention when Nial visualized it.

    "The Lion is severally injured and carries cubs in its¡­mouth?" Nial blurted out when his Mana Sense perceived everything about the Large zing Lion with exceptional rity.

    The Lion had severe wounds all over its body and its life force was gradually being drained. It would be a miracle if the beast were to survive the next few hours.

    One of its hind legs was missing and so was its tail. Nial visualized a long gush across the Lion''s entire head, cutting through one eye, while the other eye was covered in dried blood. The beast could barely see anything and it slumped to the ground just before the entrance of an underground cave.

    Nial and the others had reconsidered filling the caves as a necessity for the terraforming process but they didn''t need to do that yet. Thus, nobody had really bothered about closing the few holes and caves that could be found all over.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "A Phoenix-fire Lion?" Michael Ignis wondered when he appeared next to Nial who had gotten close to the Phoenix-fire Lion that was hardly breathing.

    "You know what that is?" Nial asked in response just for Michael to nod his head.

    "The Phoenix-fire Lion is a powerful beast at the Mythician rank. They rarely give birth to cubs, and they''re extremely valuable, especially the cubs. I guess that''s why someone chose to hunt them," Michael exined, which made a few more questions appear in Nial''s head.

    "Why are they valuable? Because of their Phoenix fire?" Nial concluded ording to the beast''s name, and Michael nodded his head once again.

    "The matured Phoenix-fire Lions gave birth to a Phoenix Fire that purifies everything in a simr way to the Dragon Crystal. As for the cubs, they have an unawakened Phoenix Fire crystal inside their belly. Consuming the Phoenix-Fire Crystal allows you to refine your body, expel all impurities and awaken the Phoenix Fire attribute yourself.

    It''s a fate-changing object¡­and we should get our hands on that as well!" Michael said in a feverish tone that showed clearly how much the Draco desired the Phoenix Fire crystal.

    Michael stared at the Phoenix Fire Lion cubs with greed in his eyes, but Nial didn''t feel the same.

    He thought about something when visualizing them.

    "Someone must have hunted them¡­probably the people from the Savannah region¡­looks like we are going to have some fun!" Nial mumbled mostly to himself when he understood that the Mythician-ranked Phoenix-Fire Lion was the Overlord of the teau and that the Originals from the Savannah region were likely toe after the beast and visit the teau pretty soon.

    "You think we should kill the cubs and devour their unawakened Phoenix Fire crystals? I totally agr¨C..." Michael said in excitement just to be interrupted by Nial who shook his head.

    "We won''t kill them¡­We will raise them!" Nial corrected Michael who looked nkly at the blind Original as if he had lost his mind.

    However, what Nial said afterward caused Michael''s jaw to hit the ground, "...and I will get my hands on the matured Phoenix-Fire Lion as well!"

    Saying so, Nial shot some dark energy through the ground before he exerted the Grasp of the Eclipse technique. He disappeared into the ground and emerged only a few hundred meters away from the Phoenix-Fire Lions.

    The cubs were struggling to get up from the ground and upon taking a closer look with his Mana Sense, Nial figured that they hadn''t been birthed too long ago.

    "You must be one of the strongest monsters that emerged on Jundra, for now. I will save your cubs and even allow you to raise them if you be one of my subjects! If you don''t like that, I can just take your cubs and do whatever I want with them!" Nial proposed in the universalnguage that should be understood by the mature Mythician-ranked beast while spreading out his Mana Sense to figure out where the mother of the Phoenix Fire Lion cubs was located.

    The matured Phoenix-Fire Lion was male and it was certainly not capable of giving birth to the horse-sized Lion cubs!

    ''Maybe the female was killed by those poacher-like Originals?'' Nial thought with a shrug as he cleared his throat.

    "Make your decision. Die and never know what will happen to your cubs, or be a part of my army and witness the growth of your cubs!"

 Chapter 559 First Devilization

    The mortally injured Phoenix-Fire Lion saw the way Nial approached them. Its cubs were struggling to sense their surroundings, open their eyes and get up from the ground.

    They hadn''t been born a long time ago and would need a few more days before their mind and body would be adapted enough to move and run properly.

    Nial didn''t say much after he made his proposal and he sat down on a throne manifested frompressed dark energy, waiting to hear the Lion''s decision. He wanted to devilize the matured Phoenix-Fire Lion since it was a beast at the Mythician rank but he wouldn''t force himself onto the Lion since that wasn''t exactly helpful in terms of loyalty.

    In the worst case, he would just devilize the cubs and turn them into his loyal subjects by raising them in a way that wouldn''t leave them with any other choice but to follow him on their own ord.

    Nial was ready to spread his dark energy and the Essence of Darkness through the severely injured Phoenix-Fire Lion which he showed quite clearly by creating the darkness domain in a radius of a kilometer around him. The dark energy that turned the ground pitch-ck was trying to infiltrate the injured Phoenix-Fire Lion that resisted Nial at first.

    "If you want to die, that''s fine. I will take care of your cubs," Nial spoke in a rather nonchnt manner which made things more difficult for the adult Lion. It had no idea what exactly Nial would do with its cubs and it chose to ept the dark energy that had attempted to alter the cells inside its body.

    The moment Nial sensed its willingness to change if that meant it could survive and raise its cubs properly, he released a tremendous amount of dark energy from his Sea of Darkness and the Heart of Darkness. More than half of his Essence of Darkness was merged with his dark energy that seemed to be pulsating as it flowed towards and inside the Phoenix-Fire Lion without any restraints, invigorating him.

    The dark energy flooded inside the dying beast that could barely flinch when the eerily cold and ominous energy infiltrated every cell in its body. Nial quickly noticed that the dark energy focused on altering the Mana Sea of the beast, turning it into something slightly different than before.

    It wouldn''t be turned into a Sea of Darkness but bits of the mana released out of the Mana Sea would turn into bits of dark energy while the rest would stay around as it is. The brightly zing mes of the Phoenix-Fire Lion''s Mane were slowly turning dark and the same could be said about its yellowish-brown fur which began to change color starting out from its chest.

    The Phoenix-Fire Lion''s entire body was altered and a link was created between the owner of the Heart of Darkness and the new Devil that was being born.

    It was the first time for Nial to create a Devil on his own but he felt that it was something very natural to him since the memories of the Late God of Darkness had revealed to him the ways how to create Devils tens of times.

    The Late God of Darkness had many Devils, mostly created from unfortunate existences that had either been abandoned, betrayed, or nearly killed. Most Devils of the Late God of Darkness were miserable existences at the end of the day, and Nial could fully understand why that was the case.

    He could feel that desperate existences were more willing to follow him since his powers would allow them to be much stronger than ever before. They could take revenge on those who had wronged them, even if the exchange was the loss of their freedom. However, that was hardly an issue as long as they had a good master, someone who wouldn''t even think of abusing the rights of their superior tirelessly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial didn''t really abuse his powers in that regard. In fact, Kaeldur and Tyrant told him that they wanted to do more things and help him since it was way too boring to rest inside the Heart of Darkness all the time. It may be necessary to stay inside the Heart of Darkness to regain their old powers at a faster rate but that didn''t mean they wanted to focus on regaining their powers 24/7.

    Time passed slowly and a few Elvingar Elves at the Keltia rank had arrived next to Nial. He had sent Michael to bring him all Elvingar Elves who had joined the group tondscape the shelter and construct a few spots filled with nature and greenery all around in the shelter. Michael followed hismand and brought the Elvingar Elves, who tended to the Phoenix-Fire Lion cubs to make sure that they would survive as well.

    Meanwhile, the severed leg and tail of the adult Phoenix-Fire Lion was regrowing. Nial couldn''t regrow the beast''s limbs but he could create new limbs and body parts through the Devilization. It was a one-time thing and something that required a tremendous amount of dark energy and the Essence of Darkness to be utilized since it was far from easy to recreate a severed leg and tail from scratch.

    Nial started with the recreation of the adult Phoenix-Fire Lion''s tail which worked decently fine. The ''memory'' of the adult Lion''s body led to the recreation of the tail which ended up with the recreation of a simr tale to the Lion possessed before. A simr scenario urred with its severed leg, just that the appearance of the new, regrowing leg was a little different. Dark hide covered the hind leg rather than fur, which was a stark contrast to the remaining body of the adult Phoenix-Fire Lion.

    However, Nial couldn''t really be bothered about that. He devilized the beast by tending to its wounds in the crudest possible way as this was his first experience doing so. He healed it by creating new flesh and covered the wounds with ck hide that could be seen in more than two dozen different spots all over the Phoenix-Fire Lion.

    It was a very interesting experience to devilize his first beast and he ignored his exhaustion as well as possible. Cold sweat trickled down his back, drenching his clothes just for a ck me to cover him all of a sudden.

    ? The me was searing hot but it didn''t burn Nial or his clothes. He felt a soothing warmth spreading through his body while his sweat was evaporated in an instant.

    Nial finished the devilization process and he spread out his range of perception to take a look at the changes that had urred within the beast after it had been devilized.

    ''Increase in physical strength through the existence of dark energy in his body¡­its mes were also altered turning into¡­Eclipse Fire, and he is full of rage and vigor once again.'' Nial concluded in his mind, whileing up with a new name for the mes inside the Phoenix-Fire Lion whose entire gics and DNA had been changed through the devilization.

    Rather than a Phoenix-Fire Lion, it was now an Eclipse Fire Lion since Nial started to call the Fire as ''Eclipse Fire''.

    "Looks like you''ve regained your strength," Nial dusted his hands as the Eclipse Fire Lion got up from the ground. The beast roared out loudly and stared at Nial for a few seconds before his gazes flicked over to his cubs that were being tended to.

    "So, what''s your name big one?"

 Chapter 560 Poachers

    The new Devil was called Erio and it had many memories and emotions to share with Nial. It was almost as if the devilized beast was trying to dump all its emotions and memories onto Nial who sorted out the most useful feelings and memories while discarding the rest quickly.

    He chose to give the cubs the chance to decide whether they wanted to be devilized as well but they were not in a hurry. Maybe, once they grew into adults, they would choose to follow into the footsteps of their father and be Devils.

    However, even if they wouldn''t want to be Devils, Nial hoped that the Phoenix-Fire Lion cubs could be a valuable asset for the new shelter. Whether it was for the purpose of defending the shelter or turning into assistants in the forging hall, Nial hoped that the cubs would prove themselves to be resourceful. After all, their mes were exceptionally useful when it came to forging.

    ''The future will tell if they want to stay in the shelter, to begin with. Erio''s memories are more important right now, either way¡­'' Nial thought as he finished the chaotic mess ofpiling his newest Devil''s memories.

    He found out that some poachers had already killed the mother of the cubs. The Lioness had been in a weakened state after giving birth to several cubs and her cubs would have nearly ended in the exact same way if not for the father of the cubs who came to the rescue. He had been out hunting to provide the mother of his cubs with enough nutrition to recover from the exhaustion of giving birth, only to end up finding a group of poachers mercilessly killing the Lioness when he returned.

    Erio wreaked havoc and killed more than half of the poachers but was gravely injured in the process. But he still managed to save his cubs by taking them into his maw.

    While fleeing the poachers followed him for a while just to disappear at the sight of more than a hundred thousand Originals that had appeared in the humongous teau all of a sudden. They thought that the Army of Dracos were also poachers who had heard the roars of the Phoenix Fire Lions and their cubs.

    Of course, that couldn''t be further from the truth and Nial was slowly getting angry. The raging emotions of his newest Devil influenced Nial which was also why he turned around to the Elvingar Elves and Michael.

    "We will kill the other poachers so as to get rid of them and teach them a lesson. They won''t even be able to think about bothering us in the future," Nial clenched his fists before he jumped on the back of the Eclipse Fire Lion.

    While riding Erio, Nial''s presence changed all of a sudden. He felt more dominating than ever before as his milky-white, lifeless eyes stared down at the Elves and the Draco.

    "If anyone dares to hurt the cubs, I will immediately terminate my cooperation with the entire race. The cubs are Erio''s, and Erio is mine!"

    Michael and the Elves nodded their heads meekly, not daring to retaliate.

    On the other hand, Erio looked down at his cubs lovingly before he turned in the direction where he came from. The Eclipse Fire exuding from his mane expanded and he burst forth, turning into a ck sh as he elerated.

    ''Pretty fast, that''s for sure,'' Nial thought while expanding his range of perception by using some dark energy that had been reinforced with Chaos, Essence of Darkness, and crimson moonlight.

    The resulting range in which Nial perceived all kinds of sources of mana was several hundred kilometers. That was more than enough for him to sense a mass of strong Mana sources that were gathered around a source of mana that felt simr to the Phoenix-Fire Lion and its cubs.

    Nial predicted this fleeting source of Mana to be the corpse of the Lioness.

    "Go a bit further to the right and you will find the poachers, and the remains of your beloved," He said, not too sure whether most beasts were as emotional as humans when it came to the loss of their loved ones.

    It was pretty obvious that Erio was not taking the loss of his mate well but the rage he radiated was mostly from having been injured severely. Erio wanted revenge more than anything but Nial couldn''t tell what the biggest driving force for the revenge was.

    At the end of the day it didn''t really matter what triggered Erio''s rage to the maximum. It was important that he wanted revenge and that Nial was willing to help him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He didn''t want the Phoenix-Fire Lion cubs to be raised in the fear of possibly getting killed and their unawakened Phoenix-Fire Crystal to be snatched by other poachers or greedy beings because it was extremely valuable.

    Nial understood the mindset of the poachers since it was only logical that rare treasures such as the Phoenix-Fire Crystal would be extremely helpful in various ways¡­but the cubs were now part of his group, and nobody was allowed to take what belonged to him!

    After Erio changed their course, Nial focused on analyzing the strength of the poachers. He was also trying to make out what kind of race the poachers belonged to, just to realize something very interesting.

    ''Humans?''

    The corners of Nial''s lip curled upward as he visualized more than a hundred human poachers at once. He couldn''t help but think that it was quite ridiculous for him to meet another human race all of a sudden.

    However, that didn''t mean he wouldn''t do anything to them. Nial would not think twice to tear apart a bunch of humans if they tried to y around like fools.

    There was something Nial wanted to test out which was why he told Erio to disappear inside the Heart of Darkness for a moment while he used Grasp of Eclipse to appear in the shadows of the Phoenix-Fire Lioness'' body.

    Nobody took note of him for a few seconds, until he touched the ''safeguarded'' corpse of the Lioness that disappeared inside his spatial ring just a momentter.

    Nial was not sure why none of them had done that already until he perceived the levitating me that had been extracted from the body of the Lioness.

    "So that''s what you guys were doing?" Nial mumbled, rming everyone who was baffled about the sudden disappearance of therge Lioness'' body.

    "Who the hell are you?!" The voice of an old man thundered through the surrounding area, "How dare you infiltrate our camp and steal our prey?!"

    The pressure being radiated by a Mid Keltia-ranked Original weighed down on Nial, but he turned in their direction without a change in his expression.

    "Your prey is the mate of my subordinate. So you fucking killed what belongs to me¡­and you are telling me that I AM stealing YOUR prey?!" Nial thundered back, amplifying his words with traces of Chaos which caused shudders to run down everyone''s spine.

    "If you hand over everything in your belonging, I might spare your lives," Nial added, his sharp voice cutting through the entire camp that had been constructed at the border between the Savannah and the teau.

    Nial knew that the poachers wouldn''t ept his ''deal'' but he didn''t want anyone to cry out loud that he didn''t even offer them a chance to survive.

    Thus, he gave his offer while Erio was waiting impatiently inside his Heart of Darkness. Though Nial shook his head when he heard the reply from one of the poachers.

    "You insane bastard, go die!!"

 Chapter 561 Matured Phoenix Fire

    The human poachers saw only one person and figured that Nial wouldn''t be that difficult to take care of.

    He may be young and already at the Keltia rank indicating that his talent was exceptional but cultivation talent was not enough to fight against a hundred people at the same rank.

    All human poachers were at the Keltia rank and in the possession of exceptional runic armaments that had been customized for the poachers.

    Under normal circumstances, the Tier-3 runic armaments were used to catch a wild beast but it was also possible to catch a fellow human being. Killing Nial once he was caught shouldn''t be much of an issue for therge group.

    Releasing their Mana and activating their runic armaments, the human poachers charged at Nial whose body turned into ck fog the moment a whip was about to hit him. The whip went through him and Nial appeared behind the old human poacher with a small smile on his face.

    "You shouldn''t underestimate me," He said lightly before adding the most important point, "...nor my little friend who came with me to take revenge!"

    When Nial finished his words the darkness around him expanded. A mass of darkness formed next to him, materializing a darkness portal through which a humongous ck-furred Lion emerged. Ink-ck mes exuded from the Lion''s mane as it roared out loudly.

    Erio''s killing intent was fully unleashed and ck Eclipse mes spread all over its body before a few fell over to the grass of the Savannah, burning down everything they touched.

    The Eclipse mes expanded quickly and they were only restricted under the influence of Nial who expanded his domain of darkness rapidly. He made sure that the Eclipse mes wouldn''t expand beyond the boundary of his domain and spill over while releasing vines of darkness in all directions.

    Nial attacked the human poachers and he restricted their movements to give Erio the opportunity to unleash his pent-up anger. It wouldn''t relieve the newborn Devil of his grief but Nial''s support was enough to allow the Eclipse Fire Lion to take revenge.

    Erio''s maw opened widely and he closed it down onto the old man who stood less than two meters away from Nial. He chomped on the bones and flesh of the old man''s body as if he was a ything that was about to get destroyed.

    Only a single desperate scream escaped the old man''s mouth before the sound of bones cracking and flesh being minced resounded on the battlefield that had been created through the appearance of Nial and Erio.

    Erio spat out the minced body of the old man before he stomped on it in disgust. Nial visualized this clearly and bits of flesh and blood spurted on his body when Erio continued stomping on the corpse viciously, which caused his expression to distort in disgust.

    ''Well¡­it''s a one-time thing¡­you can let loose, Erio¡­'' Nial told himself while shaking his head. Erio did exactly as Nial suggested. He let loose and reduced everything in his surrounding area to a cinder.

    The entire domain of darkness turned into a field of Eclipse mes that caused pain and desperation. Everyone was trying to escape the mes and the domain of darkness but darkness vines shot out of the ground that was just like the amount of mana in their surroundings that was extremely dense and pure.

    Nial''s consumption of dark energy was minimalistic since he used the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique to create dozens of suctioning forces all over his domain of darkness. The mana around them was pulled inside the darkness domain, converted to dark energy and consumed to create more and stronger darkness vines. Nobody at the Low and Mid Keltia rank was able to escape his darkness vines before tens of new darkness vines had been created to rece one of their kind.

    While Nial was having an easy time controlling his domain of darkness and utilizing the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique, Erio was wreaking havoc, killing every single human poacher. He didn''t leave a single human alive and obliterated them in the worst possible ways, leaving them half-crippled on the ground where they burned to death while bound to the domain of darkness by the darkness vines.

    Nial visualized all of that but he didn''t show any pity to the human poachers. He was tired of paying attention to things that weren''t actually worth it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Good job, Erio. Do you feel better now?" He asked when the Eclipse Fire Lion had massacred the poachers and calmed down a little. The Lion looked down at the small figure of Nial and released a sound that was simr to the purring of a cat.

    A chuckle escaped his lips at that.

    "I take that as a yes," Nial could only say as he jumped on Erio''s back. They returned to the soon-to-be shelter where Erio reunited with his cubs that had regained their bits of power.

    The cubs were trying to snuggle up to Erio but quickly noticed that something about their father had changed. His scent was different even though they could clearly tell that it was their father. It was weird but not something they had the power, let alone the intellect to think about. Their entire body and mind was not yet fully developed or healed, so they simply epted everything as if it was perfectly normal.

    "Did you collect your mate''s me?" Nial asked at this moment. Erio looked over to Nial before he nodded his huge head.

    [If you want me to release her me, you better prepare a proper vessel. The little ones won''t be able to control her potent mes and I am not in possession of the Phoenix Fire anymore. I could only store the me only temporarily.]

    Erio spoke in his mind using a crude version of the universalnguage. Nial turned over to Ophelia who was staring at the Phoenix-Fire Lions with greed in her eyes.

    "Do you want the Phoenix Fire?" He asked her, taking Ophelia by surprise.

    "Of course, I want it. We, Dracos, are known for being excellent at devouring mes and making them ours. The Phoenix Fire is one of the strongest type of mes. The fire of the Pheonix-Fire Lions is only the most basic type of Phoenix Fire since they cannot endure fires of higher potency but their mes are still several times stronger than the elemental affinity of the Draco.

    I would love to fuse one of those fires with my body in the future!" She exined with an exhrated expression on her face.

    "I¡­didn''t mean that, but we can do that as well¡­" Nial just said before turning back to Erio.

    "Release your mate''s Phoenix Fire. Ophelia is the most talented Draco in thest 10,000 years. She will take care of your mate''s fire and nurture it like no other being can!"

    He was just muttering gibberish since he didn''t expect the Dracos to actually be able to devour other mes and make them theirs. It was quite a surprise, but also something that could be made use of.

    If he provided the Phoenix Fire of a Mythician Pheonix Fire Lioness to the most talented Draco in thest 10,000 years, the entire Draco race might feel thankful to him, maybe even burdened with gratitude since they had nned to make use of the current period to gain his favor.

    Now that he was ready to give Ophelia a fully matured Phoenix Fire, something that was far more valuable than the Dragon Crystal they had prepared, not even their help to construct his new shelter might be enough make up for that.

    ''Let''s finish everything up first and wait for their reaction¡­hahaha!''

 Chapter 562 Orion

    Ophelia chose to fuse with the Phoenix Fire which Erio had released in front of her. She devoured it without a second of hesitation.

    Her entire body was engulfed in the zing mes of the Phoenix Fire that tried to burn her down to a cinder. However, rather than turning into ashes, Ophelia closed her eyes while slowly absorbing the fire that attempted to devour her alive.

    Several days passed in the blink of an eye and the Phoenix Fire disappeared inside her body just like that. A ck reeking mass of impurities was expelled from every single pore in her body and Ophelia had to burn it down to the finest atom to make sure that the reeking stench wouldn''t linger on her body.

    The Phoenix Fire Lion cubs had finally opened their eyes and they were ying around while Erio took care of them. Erio may be the strongest Devil under Nial''s control but he didn''t even think of using Erio to conquer dungeons with Kaeldur, Tyrant, and Ryu since the Eclipse Fire Lion had other responsibilities to take care of.

    Male Lions were not particrly known for raising their cubs but they always yed a key role in protecting their pride. The number of members in Erio''s pride had dwindled drastically since there were only the young cubs left behind, but that gave Erio even more reason to pay more attention to them.

    He mostly ignored Ophelia and the other Originals, and had epted the fact that his mate''s Phoenix Fire was now inside someone else. It was not easy to ept this since he never expected his mate''s fire to change the owner, let alone to find out one day that his mate had disappeared just like that, killed all of a sudden.

    They had been living happily, only for their happiness to shatter all of a sudden. Erio didn''t really want to ept this but he knew that things would change from now on. He was notpletely free anymore, however, that was not actually a bad feeling since he could tell that Nial was an Original who was not a dictator or a tyrant to his subordinates.

    He wouldn''t abandon them or tell them to sacrifice themselves so that he could survive in a dangerous situation. There were a few other factors Erio liked as well, which bnced out the disadvantage of losing his freedom.

    Once Ophelia was done fusing with the Phoenix Fire, her talent as a cksmith skyrocketed. She could easily purify metals just from using the Phoenix Fire in the melting process. Instead of being forced to spend several hours, or even days to purify a metal, Ophelia had to spend only a few minutes heating up the ore and reducing the ore to the metal.

    That was an exceptional advantage, which allowed Ophelia to create even the most difficult and intricate structures when forging. She slowly got to know how to control the Phoenix Fire which further improved the results of her work. Her results were extraordinary and it made things much easier in the construction of the shelter''s foundation.

    Instead of spending days purifying the metals they needed, Ophelia turned into an incarnation of a master cksmith as she purified every single piece of metal that had to be purified in a fragment of the period it would usually require.

    Erio was doing the same with the sole difference that he came over once in a while to release Eclipse mes inside the forges before he disappeared to teach his cubs how to survive, hunt and how to awaken their Phoenix Fire Crystal.

    The Eclipse mes were even stronger than Ophelia''s Phoenix Fire but that didn''t mean the cksmiths were able to control the me like her. Ophelia was still faster in the purification process while the other cksmiths who worked with the forges that harbored the Eclipse mes were struggling and needed her intervention every now and then. Some ores were reduced to broken metal ingots since the temperature of the Eclipse mes was too high, causing the destruction of the metal''s veins.

    This forced the cksmiths to limit themselves to the purification of a single metal that required the exact same temperature as the Eclipse mes. Fortunately, this type of ore existed which made things much easier.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Several months passed in the blink of an eye and the core region of the shelter had been finally constructed. Millions of citizens could live in the core region which was quite exceptional considering that the core region mostly consisted of a huge forest in the center where the fragment of Yggdrasil''s branch had been nted, a Colosseum, a humongous shopping mall, numerous skyscrapers that were likely to turn into the headquarters of various organizations, the core forging-hall, the House of Alchemy, the Runiciers'' home and a gigantic library that had yet to be filled with books.

    Nial was certainly satisfied with the final result of the new shelter''s core region and he couldn''t wait to give his new shelter a name.

    Rather than something as simple as Alliance City, International Port, or something simr to that, Nial thought that he might as well use the name he had already given to one of his organizations, Orion.

    The Orion Shelter was created and it was about time that the second stage of the shelter creation was initiated; inviting the first set of inhabitants. The Elves finished creating the spatial portal that led to the Forest of Life and returned not long after to report on the progress of the construction process of the Orion shelter.

    At the same time, Nial returned as well but mostly to tell Melheim that he could initiate the advertisement of the Orion shelter and to relocate the headquarters of the Orion Artisan Guild and the Onyx Association to the new shelter as well.

    The Orion Shelter would be the new home of their organizations even if that didn''t mean they would abandon their branches in the other shelters. For the time being, they still needed the other branches since it was not yet too dangerous to keep them operational in different shelters.

    Currently, the strongest monsters and Originals that roamed around on Jundra would be at the Mythician rank. At this rank, it was not even unlikely that astray attacks would destroy any of the other shelters in the blink of an eye.

    If someone were to target the shelters of the origin humans, it wouldn''t even require them to be at the Mythician rank to obliterate the shelters. An Original at the Kelta rank, or someone wielding a Broken Tier-3 Runic Armament despite being at the Deux rank would be more than enough to destroy the shelters.

    It was just that nobody was actually interested in the destruction of the origin human''s shelter, for now. There was more than enough space all over Jundra for the time being to build individual shelters, but that would change soon enough.

    Once more races and more members of a race desired toe to Jundra the entire would turn into a big mess! Nial knew that the Orion shelter''s walls were strong enough to endure the attacks of a powerful Mythician-ranked beast. They had tested that over and over again.

    At the same time, he knew that he was strong enough to raze the other shelters to the ground if he were to desire that. But then he would be delusional to not know that if he was capable of that, others would be able to do the same.

    But until someone else was to desire the destruction of the origin human''s shelters, Nial would wait with the proposal to migrate everyone to his Orion shelter! That way, many things would be much easier for him.

    Furthermore, he was not doing it for free either!

 Chapter 563 Compatibility

    Nial made sure that his father moved to the Orion shelter since it was the most secure there. The defensive mechanism were beyond theprehension level of the origin humans and there was also Erio, the guardian of the Orion shelter.

    Other than his father, Nial didn''t really bother telling anyone that they had to move to the Orion shelter since he offered them a choice to move in if they wanted. He was not going to force anyone and he would ept their decision regardless. It was not really difficult moving from one ce to another, either way.

    Teleporting to the Forest of Life and back was pretty simple since it cost only a few Origin crystals to empower the teleportation circles.

    There was no need to force anyone toe over for the time being, especially since Nial had nobody else in the Halheim shelter whom he wanted to have in the Orion shelter as much as his father.

    Of course, there were also some issues with the relocation of the Orion Artisan Guild and Onyx Association''s headquarters. The strongest Adventurers of the Onyx Association and the most talented Artisans of the Guild moved to the Orion Shelter since they were nurtured the best where the headquarters were located.

    In fact, the Orion Artisan Guild was more like an Institute for Runiciers, cksmiths and Alchemists, where they learned a lot more than expected. As long as they followed the Orion Aritsan Guild''s teachings, it was only a matter of determination and effort until one would be a Master Artisan.

    The Soul Contract the Artisans signed in exchange for the teaching they received was pretty simple, demanding the contractee to repay their debt once they reached a certain rank. They had to work while being taught and the products they created would be sold. The Artisans would receive a small profit share to be able to pay for their living expenses and be stronger but that would already be it.

    In the end, it was Nial who made the biggest profit from using the Elves and Dracos as Instructors. Their payscale varied a lot, but most of them wanted to get their hands on more information rted to Nial''s Runicier knowledge. He understood their interest and dly taught the Instructors in exchange for their help.

    It was not too much to ask for such a payment instead of Origin crystals or other goods. In fact, it was something that Nial would rather pay than Origin crystals or something else. He didn''t think that most of his knowledge was that valuable or worth keeping a secret, either way. At the end of the day, it was more of a matter of who used the knowledge in the right way rather than anything else!

    With the gains Nial made from selling runic armaments, potions, and cultivation pills, he ended up investing most of it. There was no need to set aside too many Origin crystals, let alone other goods since he could procure everything he may need in the future when it was necessary.

    Controlling thousands of monsters with the use of Dominion was not difficult. They could conquer dozens of dungeons every single day, creating terrific gains that belonged only to him while he was doing nothing special.

    Funnily enough, he didn''t even need anything right now. The 10,000 Refinements of Imperfectia had beenpleted and he was not in possession of another body refinement technique. Thus, he didn''t even need to procure any nutrition solutions right now. His use for Origin crystals could also be considered non-existent since he could expand his domain of darkness before exerting the Vortex of Abyss Cultivation technique to elerate his cultivation progress.

    Right now it was a waste to use hundreds of thousands of Origin crystals in order to elerate his cultivation progress since the end result provided negligible gains. He rather invested everything into his people and the creation of better Runic Armaments. Nial was also trying to alter the inscription process of the Forgotten runic constetions in order to see if it was possible to rece the dark energy with mana, crimson moonlight, or even the Power of Chaos.

    Nial knew that he could merge his powers into the dark energy to strengthen the power of forgotten runic constetions but there were so many things that he had yet to test and learn.

    He was going through a trial and error period in which he was trying things with the knowledge of the Late God of Darkness. By now, Nial considered the memories of the Late God of Darkness as a part of himself. There was no need for him to think differently since Damian was dead, either way.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He could tell that Damian had suffered a lot, which Nial took as a sign to not repeat the same mistakes as his ''ancestor''. Ancestor was how Nial thought of addressing Damian every now and then since the Late God of Darkness was the person who made many things possible for him.

    It was also Damian, who had told him more about his past, specifically the time he lost his eyes, and how his race had been annihted. The Late God of Darkness reaffirmed that he was not an origin human even though he looked human and he was in possession of five ability spots just like other humans.

    His only advantagepared to others was that he was overlypatible with everything rted to Divine energy.

    When Nial had merely been at the Mirae rank, he had already been able to store Cursed Divine energy inside his body and that was not even it. Despite being known as a True Destroyer, Nial had gotten his hands on the Symbol of Life, the Fairies'' Blessing, and the Sacred Tree had epted him as well!

    There were too many things Nial didn''t know about his own identity that he would have to start from scratch when it came to figuring out the truth to his background and entire being.

    He simply called Damian his Ancestor since he learned a lot from the Late God of Darkness. Nial was also granted the powers that were supposed to be limited to the God of Darkness, or precisely to Damian. Neither he nor anyone else knew a being with the control of dark energy.

    Even the Devils created by Nial and Damian did not haveplete control of the dark energy in their body. Their body created dark energy through mana but they were innately differentpared to Nial and Damian. There were big differences that would be clearer the further they walked down the path as an Original.

    Nial knew that very well since he got to know a lot from the experience he was granted by devilizing the Phoenix Fire Lion, Erio. He learned a lot and wanted to make use of those experiences to further improve his learning.

    That was why he thought about Devilizing a few more beings. However, rather than devilizing random beings, Nial ended up halting in his tracks.

    The Devilization was something extremely personal since the Devils were granted bits of Nial''s Power and a close connection to him. It was not something he should offer just any beast, let alone for a simple reason such as experimenting a little bit.

    Nial figured that there were better ways to experiment and that there were other things he could test out, to begin with.

    In fact, there were too many things he had to figure out and too much to get to know.

    He didn''t really know where to start with if he were to be honest with himself.

    The past, the present, or the future?

 Chapter 564 Suicidal?

    In the end, Nial had no starting point to begin his research. He had too few clues about the past, the present demanded his attention and the future was still a nk sheet.

    There were a few straws he could reach out to start researching and experimenting with but he was distracted by the sudden appearance of humans who were looking for their friends and family.

    The humans were looking for the human poachers whom Erio and Nial had killed together, probably oblivious to their group member''s fate.

    At first, Nial considered ignoring them since it was not unlikely that they would simply leave but things turned out differently than expected.

    The group of humans found the shelter and chose to approach it in vignce.

    However, what they didn''t expect to encounter when they were still hundreds of kilometers away from the shelter was to witness the Eclipse Fire Lion pursuing its cubs that were running around wildly, ying in the open.

    "Phoenix Fire Lions¡­weren''t Rick and the others searching for the pregnant Lioness?" One of the older women asked as she pointed at the cubs, indicating that they were most likely the cubs of the pregnant Lioness.

    "But what is this dark Lion? It looks like a Phoenix Fire Lion, just mutated or something like that," Another woman remarked, which was ignored by the other men and women as they stared nkly at the ying Phoenix Fire Lion cubs.

    "How are those cubs still alive? Were our men killed?" The older woman questioned once again. She turned around to the others, just to freeze in her tracks as her eyes fell on a young man who stood in the midst of her people with a calm smile on his face. The young man''s milky-white and lifeless eyes seemed to stare in her direction unfocused.

    However, that was more than enough to cause a tingling sensation to sweep over her. The older woman stiffened and stared with an aghast look at the young man.

    "Who are you?!" She hissed out, just for the smile on the young man''s face to widen lightly.

    "You entered mynds while radiating killing intent and you were staring at my subjects with greed. Of course, I wille over and take a look at the fools who think they can just infiltrate my territory without being noticed," Nial responded, without an ounce of respect in his voice.

    He could tell that it was not possible to reason with the group of humans when he sensed their raging mana fluctuations. They were already prepared to fight with their life on the line when they entered the teau and their temper red even more upon spotting the Phoenix Fire Lion cubs.

    "Yournd, and your subjects? Are you¡­dreaming possibly? Or are you just drunk?" The older woman asked, looking at Nial with contempt.

    However, just when she thought that Nial would remain silent, the eyes of the men and women around Nial widened and their heads flicked in the direction of the old woman, whom they stared at nkly. Rather, they were staring behind her, at the owner of the voice who responded to her.

    "I am not dreaming, and I would be a little bit more careful if I were you!" Nial said in a quite but sharp tone. The deathly still Nial who had been standing in the midst of the men and women suddenly evaporated into thin air as he turned into ck miasma that spread out all over the ground.

    The older woman turned around slowly where she saw the eerily calm face of the blind young man. Goosebumps spread all over the older woman''s body and she opened her mouth just to close it a momentter.

    ''I didn''t sense anything¡­'' She thought, unable to grasp how Nial appeared behind her all of a sudden.

    "If you want to take revenge for your men and women, you will die right here and right now. If you dare cast your evil eyes at my subjects even one more time, you will die¡­and if you dare to do something stupid you will¡­" Nial trailed off, notpleting the sentence intentionally.

    "...die." The older womanpleted, which led to Nial giving her a thumbs up.

    "Looks like you understand what I am talking about," He said before he noticed that something was slightly amiss, "So, what are you going to do?"

    Nial perceived his surrounding in the finest detail. That was also why he could easily tell that the men and women around him were shocked, maybe even a little bit anxious, however, they were not actually afraid. He may be misinterpreting something but Nial was pretty sure that he was missing out on an important piece of information!

    "In that case¡­" The older woman spoke slowly, just to jump forward and embrace Nial tightly while a tremendous amount of Mana was unleashed from her body, "...we''re going to die together!"

    The other men and women retreated all of a sudden while the older woman''s body began to expand.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''A self-destruction ability? Why the hell would someone bind an ability like that to their body?'' Nial realized the moment his Mana Sense decrypted the churning mana fluctuations of the older woman.

    He was not sure how the situation changed that quickly but he could tell that he had to act immediately.

    "Terminate your ability!" Nialmanded in a domineering manner while unleashing Dominion with the Power of Chaos.

    The Power of Chaos hurt as it swept through his throat but that was something Nial expected and endured willingly.

    What Nial didn''t expect was that the churning mana of the older woman wasn''t showing any signs of calming down. In fact, it felt like the churning mana began to rage wildly when it sensed that someone was trying to force it to calm down.

    The opposite effect to what was desired was set in motion, causing problems for Nial who was trying to cope with the mana that was unleashed by the older woman.

    He could clearly tell how much damage the explosion of an Original at the mid Keltia rank would cause. Thus, Nial unleashed the domain of darkness which he covered in a dome of darkness before he released vines of darkness from all directions.

    The vines of darkness coiled around the woman who was trying to drag Nial down with her churning Mana. However, Nial was only required to make two simple motions to cut off the arms of the older women before he shrouded them in a cocoon of reinforced dark energy.

    The arms that were overflowing with churning mana exploded a fraction of a second after they had been severed from the older woman''s shoulders, but they did not get a chance to cause any damage to the surroundings at all.

    Nial''s reinforced darkness cocoon absorbed the explosion''s force without any issues. The force was spread evenly throughout the entire darkness domain where it was slowly being released to the outside, creating small shockwaves. These shockwaves didn''t cause any harm. They were merely a means to expel the force that had been absorbed, nothing else.

    The men and women outside the darkness domain could only see the darkness dome and the faint shockwaves that were released every now and then as they exchanged confused nces.

    Explosions could be heard from within the darkness dome but nobody could actually tell what was going on inside, except Nial, of course.

    As for the older woman who had thrown herself at Nial in a suicidal manner, Nial was pretty sure that her mind had been shut off the moment she had triggered her self-destruction ability.

    But that didn''t really exin what had just happened.

    Nial knew that he had provoked the group of humans but that was not enough for them to feel desperate enough to attack him like that¡­or was it?

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 Chapter 565 Double Agents

    Nial didn''t even try to fight the self-destruction trait of the elder woman after he realized that Dominion didn''t work.

    This was contrary to his expectations, which was why he engulfed the older woman''s body with dark energy while he used the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique to emerge from within the darkness dome. He could easily walk through shadows and darkness using the Grasp of Eclipse Movement technique, which allowed him to be in the midst of the baffled men and women who realized that their leader had sacrificed herself.

    The older woman''s body, which was overflowing with churning mana, exploded, and the force was absorbed by the cocoon of darkness that had engulfed her. In the end, the force was too much for the cocoon of darkness to handle and it burst open, releasing everything upon the darkness dome that remained unscathed even after the explosion of the Keltia-ranked woman impacted on it with tremendous force.

    Under normal circumstances, the explosion would have created a crater the size of Halheim''s shelter. Fortunately, Nial could prevent the destruction from spreading that far since it was a hassle to fill a huge crater.

    "Don''t trigger any of your abilities!" Nialmanded at this moment, using his Power of Chaos once again to generate the strongest effect for Dominion..

    The men and women around Nial flinched and their heads turned in his direction with terror-struck eyes.

    "Sit down, with your hands where I can see them!" He issued anothermand with Dominion. The men and women didn''t have much of a choice but to follow his orders as he began to use some of his massive amount of umted dark energy, reinforced by the crimson moonlight to start questioning them.

    Many questions were on his mind, but the most important was the reason for someone to be willing to bind a self-destruction ability to their mana core. It didn''t make sense that the older woman made use of her self-destruction ability on him like that. He might have provoked them but Nial was pretty sure that his words ormand was intense enough to force someone to kill themselves.

    "Let''s start with the interrogation then¡­" Nial said before he began to bombard the men and women around him with a bunch of questions.

    "Is everyone here in the possession of a self-destruction ability? If so, why?"

    "Why are you looking for the poachers who had been after the Phoenix Fire Lions and their cubs only now?"

    "Why did this older woman sacrifice herself all of a sudden? I can tell that she saw me as a threat but mass ughter is not exactly the way most would handle this situation, not under normal circumstances at least!"

    "..."

    Nial had many more questions but he figured that he had to ask only a few of them at a time, otherwise, he wouldn''t receive the desired answer. Meanwhile, the men and women sitting on the ground were too baffled about what had just urred. None of them opened their mouths to answer his questions.

    They avoided his gaze and began to sweat profusely. This annoyed him even more and he had the mad urge to smack them back to their senses and start talking.

    His mind was rattling wildly and he could onlye to one conclusion that may or may not be far-fetched.

    "You guys bound the self-destruction ability to your Mana Core because someone forced you to do that. Looks like each one of you is under a Soul Contract and that you guys will be forced to turn into living bombs if you dare disobey your master''smands¡­am I right?" Nial concluded and asked just to receive a stunned silence once again.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, this time, no answer was more of an answer than Nial needed to know what was going on.

    ''Well, this is getting a little bit difficult,'' He thought before he began to curse himself a little, ''Why is fighting so much easier than the interrogation part?''

    Nial ended up spending several hours testing the waters with his Dominion ability fully unleashed. He was trying to figure out the contents of the Soul Contract and what he had to alter in the mindset of the men and women around him to make sure that they could speak up without breaking into a sweat as they couldn''t use their self-destruction ability.

    It was quite a hassle but Nial didn''t like surprises which was why he ended up spending so much time interrogating the human ves, to begin with.

    He figured that they were enved by some sort of Demon race that would breed humans before forcing them into signing a Soul Contract and binding a self-destruction ability to their Mana Core shortly after they awoke their Origin.

    This was quite annoying, but even more so was that the Demon race could clearly sense when one of their ves died. That was also why the human poachers'' death had been noticed and a new batch of ves had been sent out to take a look at what happened.

    Nial got to know that the Demon race used their ves as poachers, meatshields in war, and various other upations which the Demons didn''t want to pursue, making them do their dirty work.

    The ves were simr to the monsters Nial forcefully subdued to conquer dungeons, just that he treated the subdued monsters much better than the Demon race treated their ves.

    Nial required quite a while to y around with Dominion and tweak its effect in order to permanently alter their mind. This was to make sure that they would never be forced to use the self-destruction ability anymore. In fact, he went a step ahead and ensured that they would not even know that such an ability was bound to their Mana Core. Whenever they saw the stigma of their first ability, they would think of it as an essory of their Mana Sea!

    Other than that, Nial made sure that the men and women would expose the content of their Soul Contract to him, which he made use of to exploit the enved men and women as well.

    "I don''t care if you guys survive, but if you want to stay alive and make use of the small opportunity to gain freedom for the first time in your life, it will be necessary for you to y double agents. There is no other way since I''m not nice enough to obliterate the entire race that enved you guys singlehandedly." Nial said in a calm andposed manner.

    It was almost as if he was talking about the weather but the men and women around him could only frown. They didn''t expect Nial to do anything for them, yet he gave them a trace of hope, something they had never felt in their entire life.

    It was a shame that their leader had been forced to kill herself but it was not rare to lose one, two or even hundreds of their fellowrade-ves in a day. Thus, the opportunity they were granted was much more important than anything else to the men and women whose minds felt much clearer than ever before.

    "I altered your mind enough to y around as double agents. Here are a bunch of messenger crystals. Use them sparingly and only if it''s truly important, remember!" Nial warned while retrieving a bunch of blue crystals from his spatial ring.

    "Now go, and do whatever is necessary, except doing things that affect me¡­then you guys are dead!"

 Chapter 566 Mythician Dungeon

    When Nial returned to the shelter, everything was back to normal.

    The enved men and women returned to where they came from. Their mission had been to figure out what happened to the poacher unit and to return home afterward. The group of enved humans was not supposed to get their hands on the Phoenix Fire Lion cubs if they were still alive since their equipment was not customized for the hunt of a bunch of Phoenix Fire Lions.

    The human poachers had been equipped with all kinds of runic armaments, which were probably more valuable to the Demon race than the human poachers'' lives.

    Nial didn''t even bother collecting the runic armaments wielded by the human poachers since he could create better runic armaments, to begin with. There was no need for him to collect any trash.

    Once he was back in the shelter, Nial focused on his tasks once again and a long time passed in which more Dracos, all kinds of Elves and other races were slowly heading towards the Origin Shelter. The shelter continued to expand and the Shelturion rebels chose to move in as well. They were still worried about other races attacking them all of a sudden or being found out by the Shelturion race''s government but their worry dispersed knowing that Nial was in charge here.

    While the Orion shelter started to flourish, Nial finished creating his first Darkness Pir. The surge of power he felt when hepleted the Darkness Pir was expected but it was still a little more intense than anticipated. He ced the Curse Hodur''s Heir upon the Darkness Pir in order to reinforce the lethality of the Curse.

    His senses underwent a drastic change. They became more sharper and sensitive than before, which was why Nial had to spend several days just trying to regte the sensation he felt from the enhanced Curse. He was already blind and could hardly get ''even blinder''. That left him with the benefits of the Curse rather than the disadvantages.

    Once Nial had gotten a hang of his senses, he noticed that his mana perception had increased drastically as well. That was to be expected but Nial realized something he couldn''t have guessed to have urred.

    ''Can I sense the impurities and attributes within the mana around me? That''s pretty useful¡­'' Nial thought, immediately trying to put this to test. He wanted to make use of the new gains he made but that was a little bit hard since the happenings in the surrounding regions affected him quite a bit.

    The Orion shelter started to flourish, various origin humans began to flood the shelter and it was only a matter of time before the first sparks of conflicts would ur. Smaller disputes had happened before but it had been possible for the assigned guards of the Orion shelter to intervene before things spiraled out of control.

    However, those small conflicts were not exactly troublesome since everyone was busy increasing their fortune to umte enough wealth in order to purchase Cultivation pills, different runic armaments, and various other high-quality goods that didn''t exist anywhere else.

    Cultivation pills existed, but only for Demi Gods, Gods, and Ancient Gods to make use of since most of them were filled with Divine energy. It was possible for beings below the Trixor rank to consume these Divine Cultivation Pills but the aftereffects of the act would leave serious repercussions on their bodies and minds. Not even Nial would consume Divine Cultivation Pills, not even after he reached the Mythician rank.

    He had more than enough time to collect high-quality Origin crystals if he was willing to spend a fortune just to elerate his cultivation progress a tiny bit.

    But that didn''t seem necessary anymore either since he could perceive the attribute within Mana. Nial could even perceive the mana streams that were void of impurities which was also something he could and would make use of.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The amplification of Hodur''s Heir felt like an evolution of the ability. It was quite exciting and it made Nial anticipate the changes in his other four linked abilities after his Sea of Darkness finished constructing more Darkness Pirs.

    "The first Mythician-ranked dungeon portal was found in the midst of the mountain-range region!" Melheim Zorn shouted out loudly as he rushed over to Nial.

    "Did it finally manifest? I thought we would never have a Mythician-ranked dungeon. Lucky us," Nial''s voice held a trace of excitement, just for Melheim to shake his head wildly.

    "That''s not good, at all! I don''t know what is happening but all dungeons in the mountain-range region are showing signs of breaking out all of a sudden!" Melheim Zorn responded in a grave voice, his expression was ghastly pale.

    The mountain-range region had roughly ten times more dungeon portals than any other region adjacent to the teau. In fact, the entire teau didn''t have a single dungeon portal, which made it seem as if the mountain range deprived the teau of its dungeon portals.

    "Every single dungeon is about to breakout? That¡­is indeed weird¡­" Nial mumbled as a few more words tumbled out of his mouth, "Could it be rted to the Mythician dungeon? I heard that some of those dungeons influence their surroundings¡­the stronger they are the higher their influence of the surrounding area¡­"

    Nial quickly figured the root cause of their problem but that didn''t mean he could solve it easily. If every dungeon in the mountain-range region were to breakout, millions of powerful dungeon beasts would emerge of it in andy waste on the teau. That was not necessarily bad, if not for more than ten Keltia and 30 Deux-ranked dungeon portals to be situated in the mountain-range region.

    ? Sooner orter a few Mythician dungeon beasts would emerge from the newly materialized dungeon, which would probably lead to the strongest beast marking and creating its new territory. The weaker dungeon beasts would automatically be pushed away, or they would flee on their own ord creating a horde of dungeon beasts charging at the Orion Shelter.

    Of course, that was just one of the things that could happen. It was not unlikely that the dungeon beasts would tear each other apart and that there was not actually a need to be worried about anything.

    Nheless, Nial couldn''t help but feel that the Mythician Dungeon was not to be taken lightly. Fighting a Mythician Dungeon Beast with Erio by his side shouldn''t be that difficult, however, conquering a High Mythician Dungeon was apletely different matter altogether. Entire civilizations might be inhabiting the Mythician Dungeon, after all!

    Nial was pretty sure that he had already enough on his te since the mana density all over Jundra had increased tremendously during thest few years. Thest few months had been the most intense and it was only a matter of time before more Mythician dungeons would finally materialize.

    It was also quite obvious that more and more Mythician-ranked Originals were finding their way to Mrn. The Elves had close to 10 Mythician-ranked High Elves in the Forest of Life by now, and they were the fastest in that regard. Their Divinity Fragment portal provided the leastplicated transport between worlds, which gave Nial a rough indicator of how fast he would have to improve his strength to deal with all the nuisances that may or may not emerge around him. It was always better to be safe than sorry.

    "Conquering the Mythician Dungeon is not possible right now¡­so let''s make use of this and obliterate the dungeon beasts that will emerge in the mountain-range region!" Nial proposed in a simple manner as a n formed in his mind.

 Chapter 567 Another Summon?

    It was quite obvious that Nial and his Devils wouldn''t be enough to deal with all Dungeon breakouts at the same time. There were simply too many dungeons in the mountain-range region to control and conquer. It would be hard to cover the distance and fly around all obstacles while conquering the dungeons, to begin with.

    However, Nial was not discouraged by this. On the contrary, he was ready to test out a few things that piqued his curiosity. One thing in particr that attracted his curiosity was how strong the Curse Hodur''s Heir had be.

    It was considered a linked ability since the strength of the Curse increased proportionally with the cultivation progress of Nial. Nial hadn''t used the ck miasma of his Curse for quite a while. Hence he thought that it was about time to figure out how powerful it had be.

    With that in mind, Nial found himself in the center of the mountain-range region not long after. He was surrounded by his three Devils and Ryu who stayed around him idly. They observed him as he spread out his domain of darkness while exerting the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique.

    Nial gathered a tremendous amount of mana from the surroundings to convert it into dark energy which would then be used to create dark miasma. Because Nial didn''t possess an ounce of mana inside his body he couldn''t create ordinary ck miasma anymore. Dark miasma was already the weakest form of miasma he could manifest through Hodur''s Heir.

    Thus, Nial concentrated on his task and umted dark energy for close to an hour, and made the necessary preparations. Nial unleashed the dark miasma that had amassed inside his body and waited to perceive the influence the dark miasma had on the surrounding area.

    The dark miasma burst out of Nial''s body violently and it expanded uncontrobly in all directions. It was all around Nail in an instant, nketing in a cloud of smoke and continuing to spread rapidly for dozens of kilometers until the expansion speed slowed down a little.

    After a radius of close to 200 kilometers was covered by his dark miasma around him evenly, it stopped spreading further. The dungeon beasts and dungeons engulfed in his dark miasma were going wild. The beasts'' senses had gone numb and the dungeon portals seemed to be crumbling to pieces. It was almost as if it was too difficult for the dungeon portals to stay in a stable state.

    The longer they were exposed to the dark miasma the more jarring effects it seemed to have on them. It was very interesting for Nial to perceive all of this in great detail. His Mana Sense spread out along the dark miasma, which made it quite easy for him to sense the immediate as well as the long-term influence dark miasma had on its surroundings.

    In the end, figuring out everything about the changes caused by the dark miasma was his primary goal. His dark miasma was not some lethal poison that could kill everything it touched.

    It may affect everyone drastically by numbing their senses to an extent where beasts were extremely easy to kill but that was not equal to being dead, obviously.

    ''Should I send out an army of submissive beasts to tackle the dungeon beasts?'' Nial thought at this moment. He shook his head after a moment, understanding very well that his dark miasma wouldn''tst much longer if he wouldn''t use some dark energy to prevent it from dispersing in all directions.

    Nial didn''t think of doing that, which was also enough reason for him to scratch the back of his head as he continued to hover in the air above the mountain-range region.

    [Do you want to use your summoning ability, or are you still not ready?] Kaeldur asked Nial telepathically.

    ''The Awakening of the Prymal? What are you thinking about?'' Nial responded with a question. He was pretty sure that Kaeldur didn''t mention his summoning ability without a reason.

    [Noo¡­don''t even think of summoning him¡­] Tyrant intervened all of a sudden, his annoyance and frustration clearly exposed.

    Nial knew that his devils could converse in his mind. They seldom talked to each other but that didn''t mean they couldn''t do it.

    [It''s just Dexter¡­] Kaeldur reassured the Tyrant of Destruction before he exined what exactly he proposed to Nial, [I thought that it would be quite helpful to summon another Devil. He is the perfect candidate to take care of arge area of space simultaneously!]

    Nial was a little bit suspicious about Tyrant''s reaction since this Devil was not exactly someone whoined easily. In fact, it was the first time for Nial to hear himin about something other than Kaeldur''s existence.

    This was a slight surprise to Nial, and it made him think about a few things. His expression changed and his mind was set aze with the thoughts that rustled through his head.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Before I give my confirmation, who the hell is Dexter for Tyrant to react like this, and secondly, what is his special trait to be able to control arge area of space?'' Nial asked in his mind which was answered by a growl from Tyrant.

    It was quite obvious that Nial was intrigued by Kaeldur''s exnation and Tyrant could tell that his master would be even more fascinated after Kaeldur finished his exnation of Dexter''s powers. After all, those powers were the real deal and not something anyone would be disinterested in!

    [Dexter is a Shadowmancer Devil¡­well, he was a Necromancer who was once an Ancient Demon God. Things went south and Damian ended up devilizing the remnants of his Soul. He is actually pretty weird but his abilities are extremely powerful. I don''t really think that anyone here can defeat him after he created his army of materialized Shadows. You would have to deal with tens of thousands of Shadows, if not more, just to get through to him.

    He is a petty bastard but he would have to listen to you, either way, so there is not really a problem!]

    Kaeldur didn''t seem to be fond of Dexter either but that didn''t mean he was delusional. He knew that Dexter was powerful and that Nial was in need of someone with Dexter''s abilities.

    Nial figured the meaning behind Kaeldur''s words as well but he felt a little bit conflicted.

    ''A Shadowmancer who was once an Ancient God¡­seems like he was a bigshot. Though, I don''t know if I can actually summon him since the Awakening of the Prymal ability is a little bit hard to control¡­and I don''t know if I''m confident to use it yet¡­'' He told his Devils while hating himself for showing his weakness and shattered confidence.

    When it came to the Awakening of the Prymal ability, Nial couldn''t help but reflect back on the time in the Colosseum of the City of Trials. It was humiliating how easily some other being had been able to infiltrate him and take control of his body even before he realized it. Nial didn''t want something like that to repeat itself, didn''t want a foreign being inside him without his knowledge or consent. Yet he could never be sure whether some remnants of that being, Hoerst, were still inside him.

    He was not even sure how it had entered his body, to begin with.

    [Don''t worry about that Pryard. He won''t be able to reach you anymore. The Realm of the Forgotten Time is a ce where the void barriers between the Universes are extremely thin and easy to pass through. The void barriers were also weakened since two living Fate Changers were inside the Realm of the Forgotten Time. That was never supposed to happen in the first ce since the City of Trials had been built to train one person at a time. But it looks like the Universe had different ns with you and Dn, the Undying!

    There is no need for you to worry about anything!] Kaeldur said in an extremely calm andposed manner which was more than enough for Nial''s lips to twitch.

    ''You tell me that¡­only now?!?''

    **

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 Chapter 568 Fluffy, Begging& Fear

    It took a while for Nial to prepare everything to activate the Awakening of the Prymal ability.

    The power of his abilities had increased drastically after he advanced to the Keltia rank. Each of his linked abilities grew stronger, including Awakening of the Prymal.

    It was a little easier to control the ability now, though on the flipside the consumption of energy had increased exponentially. This was only obvious since he would be able to summon Mythician-ranked beings through the Awakening of Prymal ability.

    Nial was not sure which rank the Shadowmancer would be, let alone where Dexter was sealed in the first ce, but Kaeldur mentioned that there was no need to worry as long as he set aside more than enough Origin crystals.

    Nial had collected millions of Origin crystals during thest few years. He didn''t really need to use them, which was more than enough reason to put some of them aside.

    Furthermore, the Origin crystals he had put aside were of decent quality as well. Thus, Nial was pretty sure that there wouldn''t be a problem.

    [This much mana is not enough. Should we conquer a few dungeons and exchange everything we can get our hands on with Origin crystals?] Kaeldur asked, bursting Nial''s bubble once again. He was not sure how many millions of Origin crystals with decent quality and enough stored mana were required to refill the Mana Sea of a Deux Original but it was quite obvious that Kaeldur knew what he was doing.

    ''Were you Damian''s secretary or something like that?'' Nial couldn''t help but ask.

    [I managed his treasury and acted as one of the supervisors in Shelta, which is, or was, one of the biggest ster systems under the God of Darkness'' control. I know a bit since I was an Appraiser of all kinds of treasures before I was devilized.]

    Kaeldur''s answers astonished Nial a little. Usually, the devils didn''t really like exposing personal information since most of it was directly rted to their life before Damian devilized them.

    Nial knew some things about a bunch of his Devils since he was slowly unsealing Damian''s memories but there were still many things he was oblivious to. Otherwise, he would have known about Dexter''s existence!

    ''You guys can conquer a bunch of dungeons and collect everything neatly while I talk to our lovely friends,'' Nial told his Devils in his mind before he turned to Ryu.

    "Bring me back to the shelter. We need to return to the Forest of Life to beg a little. You know what that means¡­" He told Ryu while patting him in pity.

    Ryu was a big fluffy beast. It was not difficult to use him as a means of distraction since everyone liked to pet him.

    Who would be able to escape a fluffy Ryu who loved pats and cuddles? Nial didn''t know anyone!

    Ryu stared at Nial in misery but he followed his master''smand nheless. Nial was always busy and it was rare for Ryu to get to spend some time with him, so Ryu might as well make use of that.

    Ryu missed spending time with Nial but knew better than to annoy him so he had found himself a group of kids that were willing to y with him all day but it was not as if Ryu didn''t have any work toplete either. He had to lead a small army of subdued dungeon beasts to conquer a bunch of dungeons before.

    With everyone''s schedule being so packed under normal circumstances, it was great to spend some time with Nial. They may only be traveling to the Forest of Life via the teleportation circles in the Orion Shelter but Ryu was still quite happy and found it quite enjoyable.

    After returning to the Forest of Life, Nial found himself surrounded by a bunch of High Elves and Sacred Elves. Everyone stared at him as his lifeless and milky white eyes stared unfocused in the general direction of the Royal Princess. She had returned to the Forest of Life with the Greater Forest Dragon youngling not too long ago.

    The Greater Forest Dragon had voiced out its desire to return to the Forest of Life, which the Royal Princess agreed to without hesitation. Denying the requests of the Greater Forest Dragon would only lead to further problems in their future rtionship. At least, that was what the Royal Princess and most other Elves thought.

    However, Nial couldn''t help but think that they acted like servants in front of the Greater Forest Dragon youngling. Raising the Greater Forest Dragon youngling like this would only end up creating a Master-Servant rtionship¡­the opposite way of what the Elves wanted their rtionship to be.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I will break your tail if you hurt Ryu," Nial warned sternly when he visualized the excitement of the Greater Forest Dragon youngling. The little girl wanted to y around with Ryu but she was too afraid of Nial who was currently patting Ryu.

    Nial was pretty sure that the instinctive fear of the dragon youngling hailed from its exceptional senses. She could tell that Nial possessed the power to devilize her and turn her into his subordinate if he wanted to. Nial wouldn''t do that even if it could be pretty interesting to have a Devilized Greater Dragon as his subordinate since he promised not to snatch the Elves'' dragon from them.

    It would be a little bit different if the Greater Forest Dragon was interested in bing his subordinate but that was not the case.

    Thus, he told Ryu to y around with the little dragon youngling. Ryu was unwilling to leave Nial''s side but he followed themand he was given. It was not as if he didn''t want to y with the dragon youngling but Nial was more important to him.

    Once Ryu and the dragon youngling started to y, Nial garnered even more attention than before.

    "Your body doesn''t hold any mana anymore, or did you improve in hiding your mana?" The Royal Princess asked after a few seconds of silence.

    Nial smiled in response before he nodded his head once.

    "It doesn''t really matter whether I have mana or Divine energy surging through my body. I am here to ask for my payment plus interest since you conveniently forgot to pay me earlier!" Nial said calmly as if it was only obvious that he was supposed to get paid by the Elves.

    The Royal Princess stared at him for a few seconds and he could feel the res of the High Elves and Sacred Elves around him as well. Nial, however, didn''t really mind their stares.

    "What payment are you talking about?" The Royal Princess asked in return. She could roughly gauge what Nial was trying to do but she didn''t really know what Nial might need. It was not as if he wascking anything, to begin with.

    "You threw me under the bus when you told me to fight Michael Ignis from the Draco family. I want a bunch of Origin crystals as payment for that, nothing more," Nial replied, which confused the Royal Princess even more.

    "From what I heard, you don''t even use Origin crystals¡­why would you ne¨C..." The Royal Princess started her question, just for one of the High Elves next to her to step forward while releasing some of his Mana. The High Elf was one of the Mythician-ranked High Elves and he didn''t really like the way Nial talked, or acted.

    "How about you get nothing?" He asked threateningly while taking a step forward.

    "If I get nothing, I will take the dragon youngling with me¡­just saying," Nial responded calmly. There was no need to show that Ryu and the dragon youngling had bonded together and were ying around happily. Ryu could kill the dragon youngling the moment something was to happen to Nial, and the Darkness Gryphon would certainly do that.

    "Though, I don''t really think that I need to resort to petty tricks against the likes of you. You seem like a pushover if I were to be honest. Nothing but empty talk behind your little talent, old geezer."

    Nial didn''t really feel like wasting his time in the Forest of Life but it looked like the High Elf at the Mythician rank had other ns. As Nial provoked him, the High Elf took another step forward. More Mana was surging from his body, which caused the other Elves to tense up as they looked up in the sky.

    However, nothing happened to the dragon youngling who continued to y around with Ryu. It was almost as if the two beasts didn''t even take note of the trouble brewing around them.

    At this moment, Nial disappeared inside his own Shadow. He appeared behind the Royal Princess with a faint smile on his face.

    "I think your subordinate doesn''t know how to act properly. You should give him a lecture in etiquettes when you have some time to spare!"

 Chapter 569 The Dragons Fear

    "Were you able to sense his presence when he disappeared?" One of the Sacred Elves standing around the Royal Princess asked her. He was staring at her in disbelief, and also at Nial who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

    Many looked in Nial''s direction now, clearly showing their surprise at what Nial had just done.

    "I just sensed him again as he appeared behind the Royal Princess¡­" A High Elf at the Mythician rank acknowledged, clenching his hand into a fist at the sudden realization. He hadn''t been able to sense how someone at the Keltia rank disappeared in front of him, let alone that he reappeared all of a sudden.

    That shouldn''t have happened, especially since there was a humongous gap of strength between the Keltia and the Mythician rank, or so it ought to be. Almost all ten Mythician-ranked High Elves stared dumbfoundedly at Nial, trying to figure out what exactly he was.

    "Was that a Mystic technique that uses the Shadows to teleport through space? But even then we should have sensed some energy fluctuations¡­" Another High Elf at the Mythician rank wondered while scratching his chin, his eyes gleaming in interest.

    Meanwhile, the other High Elf, who had approached Nial with anger and his mana unleashed, looked at Nial standing behind the Royal Princess withplicated feelings. There was a slight hesitation in his movements but he was also angry, while Nial was extremely calm.

    This enraged the High Elf even more, which was why he took a step toward the Royal Princess, or Nial to be precise, resting his hand on the scabbard of his thin longsword.

    "Don''t bother attacking. He is just ying with you," The Royal Princess intervened, lifting her hand to stress over the fact that she did not want a fight to break out and to make sure that everyone understood she was serious about nobody attacking. Her head turned to Nial, whose corners of his lips were uptilted.

    "I could have given you some Origin crystals if you asked normally, you know." She said, trying to calm her racing heart. Princess Evalyne hadn''t expected Nial to be capable of gaining so much attention from the Mythician High Elves. They were usually not that easily surprised.

    However, Nial just shrugged his shoulders. He was not really bothered about her light warning since he had wanted to test something before, either way!

    "It is much funnier that way!" Nial excused himself without really trying hard. He had a reason to provoke the High Elves from the beginning but that was not something they would have to know.

    The Royal Princess stared at the calm expression of the blind Original and nodded her head without saying a word. She told one of her subordinates to retrieve their Origin crystal savings before her attention turned back to Nial.

    "How is your shelter doing? I heard a few things from Master Crevian but he is not involved in everything. Tell me about it," Princess Evalyne said in a tone that was a mix between demanding to hear Nial''s answer right now and trying to sound mysterious.

    The attempt to sound mysterious failed miserably which caused Nial to smile wryly as he gave the Princess another shrug.

    "You should visit the Orion Shelter when you have time. It''s much better to see things first-hand rather than listen to the useless talk of someone who doesn''t even know what he is talking about. The sight is beautiful¡­apparently," Nial joked in a light and subtle way before he shamelessly added, "Bring some presents though!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Elves stared at Nial not exactly sure what to say about Nial''s attitude, or how to react in his presence. But seeing how rxed their Royal Princess was and that she had a hard time keeping her pokerface, they just let it be. It was interesting that Nial could invoke so many different emotions in the Royal Princess while others were only able to see her cold and dominating side, the poised andposed expressions of the Empress'' daughter!

    It didn''t take much longer before the errand boy of the Princess returned with a spatial ring. He handed it over to Evalyne who threw the spatial ring in Nial''s direction without a second nce.

    "Why do you need so many Origin crystals, to begin with?" Princess Evalyne asked for the first time, not actually expecting Nial to answer her. Nial was simply too mysterious about most of his actions. That made it quite difficult to figure out what was going on in his head all the time and what he was trying to achieve, in the first ce.

    "I''m going to summon another of Damian''s Devils. I have some problems with a High Mythician Dungeon that manifested not too long ago. One of the regions adjacent to my teau is about to be flooded with dungeons of all ranks and I cannot really handle all of them at the same time. Wasting my precious workers to kill a bunch of beasts is not a sane choice either, so I''m going to get my hands on the Shadowmancer," Nial exined in a rather detailed manner. At least, it was very detailed to hear from someone like him, an Original who liked to keep secrets and speak cryptically.

    The Royal Princess stared at Nial for a second or two before she nodded her head. "Alright, have fun¡­I guess¡­" She merely said before Nial had already disappeared. Ryu chirped all of a sudden and he dashed in a different direction, leaving the Greater Forest Dragon youngling all by herself.

    She let out a tiny little roar and tried to follow Ryu, just to realize that she was not only much slower but also that the path of the Darkness Gryphon led straight to the person she was the most afraid of. The Greater Forest Dragon youngling didn''t want to be closer to Nial than necessary. She could clearly tell that Nial had the capability to devilize her and turn her into one of his subjects.

    The thought of getting devilized and bing someone else''s subject was horrifying to the Greater Forest Dragon youngling. She wanted nothing but to be free, without any restraints in her life. The Elves allowed her to do exactly that. Thus, the dragon youngling stayed by the Elves'' side who gave her protection and everything she needed for the time being.

    As for epting Nial''s existence, there was not much she could do about it, either way. He was stronger than her, right now, and it was fine to ept him since he didn''t seem interested in devilizing her and turning her into his subject. He didn''t show much interest in her which made the little beast feel relieved.

    The Greater Forest Dragon youngling was slowly unsealing the sealed memories in its mind. This was what every Greater Dragon did, unsealing the memories of their race to learn thews of nature and the cruel world to be the unfathomable existences they were.

    However, even without these memories, it was certain that Nial was an existence that shouldn''t be taken lightly.

    It was as obvious as the existence of life itself, and a determining factor for the youngling''s fear.

    This fear was not only of the unknown but also of the things she could tell clearly.

    Nial was dangerous, and someone she should never be on the bad side of!

 Chapter 570 Shadowmancer Dexter

    When Ryu returned to Nial who had exerted the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, they flew back to the teleportation circle together. The two of them returned to the Orion Shelter via a simple teleportation. Afterward, Nial went over to the renewed and expanded istion room where he stayed with Ryu for a short while.

    It was about time for Nial to summon another Devil, Dexter, the Shadowmancer! Nial essed the spatial ring he had been given by the Royal Princess and he retrieved all Origin crystals. They were spread out neatly and could be essed only momentster. Their mana was drained rapidly by the darkness domain that spread through the entire isted room.

    The pure Mana was absorbed almost instantly and it was converted into highly potent dark energy within seconds. That way, it took Nial only two minutes to retrieve all Origin crystals from his own spatial rings and the spatial ring given by the Royal Princess. After that, it was about time for him to clean up the mess of empty Origin crystals to make some space for the humongous ck Gate that manifested not long after everything was cleaned up.

    Nial had already sent Kaeldur a mental reminder to return and guide him in the summoning process of the Shadowmancer. He wanted to summon Dexter specifically but didn''t know how to call for a specific energy fluctuation, to begin with. Nial didn''t even know the individual energy fluctuation of Shadowmancer Dexter, to begin with. Thus he could only use his tremendous amount of dark energy to materialize the darkness Gate, a humongous arced Gate that was overflowing with energy.

    Chilling winds surged around the humongous Gate that rattled a bit with the desire to open up and give a beast the chance to emerge on the other side. However, Nial controlled the arced Gate neatly and kept it tightly shut.

    He had been a little bit worried before, which didn''t seem to be a problem anymore after Kaeldur told him that Hoert, the Devourer of Universes, would not be able to influence him again, not for now at least. Even if he didn''t know how Kaeldur could be so sure about that, the Devil''s words dispersed Nial''s worry and it allowed him to control the Awakening of the Prymal technique much better than ever before.

    In fact, it was not as if he had used it often, to begin with. But even if that would have been the case, Nial was quitefortable using the ability right now.

    He closed his eyes and smoothly inserted more and more dark energy inside the darkness Gate. He had more than enough dark energy inside his body and was hidden within the darkness domain, either way. If that was not enough, Nial could ess the hidden storage of dark energy within his Heart of Darkness.

    That wouldn''t be much of a problem either.

    It would be more confusing if Nial were tock dark energy. His entire body seemed to store dark energy, and every single cell in his body missing was infused with the potent form of energy. It was quite intriguing but not enough to shock Nial. He was quite familiar with that sensation of his entire body overflowing with energy.

    While Nial inserted more dark energy inside the arced darkness Gate, Kaeldur emerged in the isted room. The Devil used his Essence to ess the arced darkness Gate and take control of the energy that flooded the Gate. He altered it lightly to make sure that the desired monstrosity would emerge from within the Gate. Hours passed in the blink of an eye and it was only then that a big change urred.

    Without warning, Kaeldur stepped back. He merged with Nial''s darkness domain where he began to travel through to enter his body to return to a safe spot, Nial''s Heart of Darkness.

    [Dexter doesn''t really like the other Devils, so you will have to take control of him first before allowing him to meet up with us!] Kaeldur said all of a sudden.

    Nial could hardly prevent his expression of satisfaction from crumbling when he realized what Kaeldur said. He shook his head in denial and finished up the summoning process while inwardly cursing the first Devil he had encountered. Kaeldur was a very knowledgeable and talented individual but he was also good at avoiding trouble by saving his skin and pushing it onto others.

    ''At least he finished guiding me to my target,'' Nial thought as the dark energy within the arced darkness Gate found something. It reached out to the target and pulled it back through the door by sheer force.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The surrounding area began to tremor wildly as tremendously thick and dense air overflowing with darkness emerged from within the arced Gate. In an instance, the entire isted room was filled with chilling darkness. The temperature in the room dropped below zero within seconds, which caused Nial to frown deeply.

    He created a suctioning force all over his darkness domain and forcefully absorbed the darkness that flooded his room. Nial didn''t spare the slightest bit of darkness until he found an alien mass of shadows and darkness that he couldn''t absorb as easily as the rest.

    [How about you stop touching me all over my body?] A hoarse voice rang through Nial''s mind. Someone he had never heard in his mind started to talk to him through mental transmission all of a sudden, and Nial knew instantaneously whom he was talking to.

    "Shadowmancer Dexter, I wee you to Jundra, the Origin of the Universe. We don''t know each other, but our paths are interconnected much more than you may think at this moment!" Nial greeted the Devil, bbering something he had prepared to say beforehand, only to realize that he was talking gibberish.

    [I know that you have the Godly Fragment of that piece of shit inside you, otherwise, how would you be able to unseal me from the Evesting Ice of the Anta?] The hoarse voice that belonged to the Shadowmancer asked without bothering to return the greeting, his voice filled with frustration and disgust.

    [Why did you unseal me? I sensed Kaeldur''s Essence for a moment but I cannot see or sense him anywhere close.] Dexter, the Shadowmancer didn''t seem to like the current situation and was annoyed. Nheless, he was talking a lot.

    Nial was not sure if that was a good thing or not, but it was certainly better than getting attacked all of a sudden.

    "Kaeldur is inside my Heart of Darkness. You can consider it a Sanctuary for my Devils. They can regain their strength much faster while residing inside the Heart of Darkness since my Darkness Essence is also umting inside it!" Nial exined as neatly as possible in the current situation.

    The arced Gate of Darkness dispersed slowly while releasing an excessive amount of dark energy. Nial''s darkness domain naturally retracted the dark energy which required a mere second.

    [Heart of Darkness? That is something this piece of shit didn''t possess¡­So what are you nning to do with me? I cannot disobey yourmands either way. If you die, I will die as well now that you''ve unsealed me¡­So what is it that you want?] Dexter bombarded Nial with questions without even thinking of taking on a form.

    The Shadowmancer was currently just a mass ofpressed darkness and materialized shadows. Visualizing this didn''t really allow Nial to figure out anything about Dexter, except that his eyes were somewhere hidden within the mass of darkness and shadows.

    "I just want you to kill a bunch of beasts."

    [That''s it? You bastard¡­]

 Chapter 571 Attack

    While Dexter''s shape was formless, his rank had already progressed to the Mythician rank.

    The Shadowmancer was Nial''s strongest Devil, he was even stronger than Erio.

    That was something Nial got to know the moment they returned to the Orion Shelter. While Nial had been away to summon the Shadowmancer Dexter the entire situation around the teau region had changed drastically.

    More than a few thousand dungeon beasts had emerged on Jundra due to the dungeon breakouts. They fought each other every now and then but their focus was clearly on spreading out and expanding their territory and establishing dominance. The area around the Origin shelter was already flooded by hundreds of thousands of dungeon beasts.

    Nial visualized them not long after returning to the Orion Shelter where they were greeted by Ryu and the other Devils.

    [That formless bastard is really there¡­] The Tyrant of Destruction cursed Nial''s mind so that every Devil could hear each other.

    [To think that someone as dumb as you is still alive is clearly a miracle.] Dexter taunted in a seemingly calm voice, just for Kaeldur to emerge from the Heart of Darkness.

    Kaeldur looked over to Dexter and then he turned to Tyrant, shaking his head lightly.

    Nial patted Ryu as the tension between the three Devils escted. Erio appeared next to Ryu and he sat down demanding to be caressed as well. The huge Lion was not easy to please with caresses since Nial''s hands were not even asrge as the fangs of the Eclipse Fire Lion.

    Thus, Nial had begun to manifestrge hands out of his dark energy to take care of the Eclipse Fire Lion while he continued to pat Ryu. His ears perked up as he listened to the discussion between the three old Devils, only for the emergency siren to interrupt their discussion.

    "Looks like you guys won''t be able to reminisce about your long-forgotten memories today. How about you guys work together to negate the dangers outside the Orion Shelter?" Nial asked, which sounded more like an order.

    Nial then turned to Erio whom he gave a gentle p to make him get up from the ground. Ryu ascended in the air, unwillingly, and he sent over pieces of information about the situation in the surrounding area every now and then.

    Nial was the only one to understand the meaning behind Ryu''s incessant chirping. He knew what the Darkness Gryphon was saying whether he chirped inside his head or in front of him.

    That made things easier, though Nial was not exactly sure how important it was for him to receive a report about the situation in the surrounding area. His range of perception enhanced by the Innate ability Mana Sense was more than enough to perceive everything in the entire teau region as long as anything possessed even the slightest trace of mana.

    If there were to be beings without Mana, Nial would actually sense theck of mana in the area as well. However, in that case, it would be better to have someone like Ryu around, a powerful scout.

    While Nial remained inside the Orion Shelter at first, the Devils charged outside. His subdued beasts, or what was left behind of the thousands of beasts he had subdued with his Dominion ability, were fighting with the beasts who had gone wild.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial perceived all kinds of dungeon beasts, even prey and predator that were rushing to the Orion shelter while standing next to each other. While it was interesting to see that something forced both the prey and predator to flee from the mountain-range region and attack the Orion Shelter, Nial was not actually ready to waste his time researching anything.

    Most dungeon beasts were at the Deux rank, which meant that there was not much for Nial to do, either way. He sent out two Mythician-ranked Devils and then there were Ryu, Kaeldur, and Tyrant. While they were still at the Deux rank, theirbat prowess was clearlyparable to dungeon beasts at the Keltia-rank. It was only some time until they would advance to the Keltia-rank as well.

    But even if Nial didn''t really have to do anything, there were a bunch of Keltia-ranked dungeon beasts in the first wave of beasts that attacked them. Without thinking too much about it, Nial exerted the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique with which he emerged outside the shelter walls. A grey spear with a sharp and pointed de had emerged in his right hand which Nial began to twirl around his body before he charged toward the wave of beasts without hesitation.

    Kaeldur had taken the form of a wild predator in which he tore his opponents apart before they could even react. His speed and eleration were incredibly fast and rapid enough to kill a dozen beasts in a single breath. The Tyrant of Destruction made use of the weapon and strategy he was the most familiar with.

    He manifested two huge darkness maces, one in each of his huge hands, to make use of his terrifically high physical strength as much as possible.

    Half a dozen of opponents were killed in the blink of an eye and it was clear to see that Tyrant''s movements were getting more refined. He was still in his peak form and not yet rusty but he had to warm up a little before going all out.

    On the other hand, Erio and Ryu fought in apletely different manner. While Ryu focused solely on his superiority in the sky to manifest countless attacks with his darkness affinity that were then thrown to the ground at Nial''s opponents, Erio''sbat style was abination of raw strength and the utilization of his sharp weapons as a natural predator, and the use of the Eclipse Fire.

    The Eclipse Fire caused fear and terror wherever it spread, and the exact same happened due to the appearance of the ten-meter-tall Lion that wreaked havoc wherever Nial could see.

    Nial emerged in the midst of his opponents where he began to exert the Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights martial arts technique. The martial arts technique taught Nial the use of all kinds of weapons and how to use them perfectly in synchronization with dark energy.

    That was something Nial had learned a few years ago and he was willing to test out how far he had progressed with the Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights technique!

    He naturally inserted dark energy inside the grey spear and thrust it into his first opponent. The moment the tip of his spear came in contact with the hide of the Heavy Armored Rhinoceros that had been his first target, a flood of dark energy emerged from within the spear. The flood of dark energy was naturallypressed and it turned into a st of darkness that shot inside the heavily armored beast''s body ripping it apart from the inside with great ease.

    The Heavy Armored Rhinoceros issued a pained bellow before it copsed on the ground a momentter. Nial moved around the beast smoothly. He shed the grey spear at his next opponent and cut it in half as easily as he had killed the Heavy Armored Rhinoceros.

    Dark energy oozed out of the tip of the grey spear and it formed shapes that were shot forward the moment Nial''s attacks were executed.

    That was the essence of the Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights technique and Nial was beginning to get the hang of it¡­and it felt great!

 Chapter 572 Nothing Special

    A small mountain of corpses formed around Nial as he moved between his opponents nimbly. He predicted the trajectory of the beasts'' movements and their attacks and moved ordingly, deflecting them with ease.

    His seemingly simple counterattacks mostly consisted of thrusts and shes. There was nothing special about the thrusts and shes, which was something that couldn''t be said about the power that apanied his attacks. Nial was in possession of a tremendous amount of dark energy and given the essence of the Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights technique, the same could be said about Damian.

    The Late God of Darkness might not have been in possession of a Heart of Darkness but his Darkness Sea had been overflowing with dark energy, just like his body was flooded with dark energy as well. Every cell in the body of the Late God of Darkness had been filled with no other energy than his dark energy. It enhanced Damian''s strength drastically and it allowed him to make use of the dark energy in ways that could only be considered a waste of precious energy.

    A second, much stronger impact was created with the use of dark energy the moment the first impact was created. That way, the first impact could be considered a means to shatter the defenses of the opponent or weaken it at the very least, while the second impact turned into a means to use the tiny gap in the opponent''s defense and cause tremendous damage.

    If Nial were to sh at his opponent in a wide arc, the entire arc would be filled with dark energy and shot at his opponent the moment his attack impacted. That was something Nial had achieved some mastery of since his control of dark energy was exceptional. At the same time, he was in possession of even more dark energy than the Late God of Darkness, if his guess was not way off the mark.

    That was also the reason why Nial ended up using his dark energy generously and was even less bothered about his energy consumption than Damian had been. At least that was what Nial presumed from the memories he had received a while ago. The memories clearly showed how Damian had been using the Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights martial arts technique. Thus, Nial knew very well how to use it and where Damian''s limitationsy.

    Nial didn''t possess the same limits since he was in possession of several abilities that could be used to increase the potency of his dark energy even if he were to exclude the Essence of Darkness.

    Vengeance of Chaos and the Blood Eclipse Moon ability were such abilities. Furthermore, he could multitask very well, which was also owed to the Curse, Hodur''s Heir. Hodur''s Heir reinforced his senses manyfold. This reinforcement included his perception of Mana.

    His Innate ability, and Mana Sense, increased his perception of Mana as well. Combining their potency, Nial could control his surrounding mana without even actively thinking about it. He could easily exert the Vortex of Abyss technique while simultaneously spreading out his domain of darkness.

    It was no problem for Nial to absorb the surrounding Mana through his Vortex of Abyss ability and convert it into dark energy which he would then use to defeat more and more opponents.

    The formless Shadowmancer Dexter simply observed Nial''s fight without doing anything. He observed the battlefield and saw how Nial exerted several techniques at the same time while his dark energy never decreased. Nial wasn''t doing this intentionally but he only used as much dark energy as he replenished. His storage never went below a certain point.

    As long as he wasn''t fighting desperately, he would never use the storage of dark energy from his Heart of Darkness either.

    [He is nothing specialpared to thete Master, or how strong I''ve been in the past. Do I really have to follow someone like him? Will he lead us to our doom rather than his enemies?] Shadowmancer Dexter mumbled to himself as he continued to watch Nial''s battle.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He was not impressed by what he saw, except for the fact that Nial''s dark energy had already fully replenished after he used a tremendous amount of dark energy to summon him. Dexter clearly remembered how he had been pulled out of the evesting ice that was supposed to seal him in ce until the end of time. He knew that the God of Darkness had sealed all of his devils, for reasons best known to him alone and he could also tell that Nial''s control of dark energy was decent.

    Nial was not bad for a newborn that had yet to reach the age of 100, but that was already it.

    [You shouldn''t underestimate our new master. Master Damian was certainly better with his dark energy, but Nial is different.] The Tyrant of Destruction heard the Shadowmancer''s mumbling and he cautioned Dexter from saying anything further against Nial.

    Tyrant didn''t have a favorable opinion of the Shadowmancer, from the beginning, but it was not as if he could beat him into a pulp right now. That was not how it worked!

    Dexter''s ruby-like eyes emerged on the surface of the shapeless mass of darkness and shadows. The Shadowmancer''s eyes stared intently at Tyrant, who had never shown signs of desiring to talk to him before he diverted his focus back to Nial.

    [Is that so¡­?]

    Shadowmancer Dexter didn''t feel much about Tyrant''s words, but the little things he got to know from the attitude and expression on the face of the formerly crippled Titan were certainly worth a tinge of interest.

    With that in mind, Dexter spread out his senses. He harvested the shadows of the dead and pulled parts of their souls toward himself as well.

    Without much difficulty, the Shadows of the deceased materialized. They took the shape of their former vessel and stopped moving after their body had formed to the fullest. It was almost as if statues made of shadows had been formed since the shadows were unmoving.

    It was only when the voice of the Shadowmancer resounded that the eyes of the Shadows seemed to gain life.

    And with that, the hunt began!

 Chapter 573 The Hunt

    The hunt began with the materialization of the Shadows.

    Thousands of Shadows morphed into semi-solid forms of their former vessel and they attacked the masses of dungeon beasts that were threatening the existence of the Orion Shelter.

    Nial, who had been prepared to forcefully expand his darkness domain and kill everyone with hostile intentions toward him, using a terrific attack created with his entire umted dark energy after reinforcing it to the limit, stopped in his tracks.

    He exerted the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique and appeared behind the shapeless Shadowmancer Dexter before his empty left hand rose to touch the mass of Shadows and Darkness. The Shadowmancer''s shapeless body flinched for a moment as Dexter noticed that it was possible for the blind Original to devour him if desired.

    Nial could devour the Shadowmancer''s body and turn it into his cultivation energy the moment he desired to do so. That was something not even Damian was capable of. Had he been capable, he would have been able to destroy his Devils but it was not possible for him to forcefully devour the energy of his Devils just because they were in possession of the same dark energy.

    The God of Darkness was the centerpiece, the source of dark energy, and it was he who should have been able to control the dark energy no matter which vessel the dark energy was hidden in.

    However, that was not the case because the dark energy within other beings merged with the entirety of their body. The dark energy fused with them, altering the energy in its essence!

    Because of those changes in the energy''s essence, it was not possible to deprive the dark energy of the artificially created Devils anymore, or so it was supposed to be.

    Yet, Nial''s touch clearly showed Shadowmancer Dexter that the blind Original could steal everything from him, turn it into his own dark energy and advance his cultivation progress drastically if he wanted to do it.

    But Nial didn''t even think about devouring the Shadowmancer. He needed him, and he gave him more energy rather than forcefully snatching it away from him.

    Nial circted more than half of his remaining dark energy through his body. It was controlled carefully and inserted into the shapeless body of the Shadowmancer. For a moment, Nial was able to perceive the true form of the Shadowmancer, or what he presumed to be Dexter''s true form, and his expression changed a little.

    ''Just what is he¡­?'' Nial wondered while continuing to insert more dark energy inside his newest summoned Devil. He continued to absorb the mana in the surrounding area through his darkness domain, where it was converted into dark energy within a few moments. Afterward, Nial could do whatever he wanted with his energy, without anymore hindrances obstructing the cirction and use of his highly potent power.

    When the Shadowmancer sensed the vibrant energy of his master surging through his shapeless body, Dexter momentarily lost control of his body. It took him only a second to regain control, and he began to use his master''s energy to materialize more Shadow Monsters. In turn, all of them began to fight fiercely against the torrents of dungeon beasts that stormed through the teau region with the Origin Shelter as its target.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thousands of Shadow Monsters were materialized in the blink of an eye and it didn''t take long for more batches of Shadow Monsters to follow suit as they steadily kept pouring in. The Shadowmancer''s powers had been taken away from him before he was sealed in the Evesting Ice by none other than his first master, the Late God of Darkness, yet it felt almost as if he had never lost control of his powers as Nial''s energy surged through him.

    It was a great feeling to have been freed from the evesting Ice and to be able to use some of his powers once again, something he was bound to feel more often in the future as more of his powers would be unsealed by his new master.

    Nial didn''t know that a big portion of the tremendous amount of energy he had used to empower the Awakening of the Prymal ability had been utilized to reawaken some of the Shadowmancer''s powers. This was also the reason why he was already at the Mythician rank when he emerged in front of Nial.

    However, it was only possible to use his powers more smoothly immediately after he had been summoned thanks to the additional energy supply he received from his new master. The amount of energy that entered his body consistently was more than enough to materialize over a thousand Shadows every now and then. That was something he would have never been able to do at the Keltia rank. Even at the Mythician rank, it had been hard for the Shadowmancer Dexter to ''resurrect'' more than a thousand Undead with every interval he used his powers.

    ''Is it because these Shadow Monsters are very weak?'' Dexter wondered at this moment as he saw that it took dozens of Shadows to take down a huge dungeon beast at the Keltia rank.

    Even the beasts at the Deux rank weren''t killed easily by the Shadow Monsters. It took a handful of them to tear apart the Deux Beasts that were charging through the teau region as if that was everything they could do in an attempt to survive.

    Nial noticed the unstable mana fluctuations that radiated from nearly every dungeon beast. He felt a little bit dizzy due to the various emotions that entered his body as information via the mana fluctuations they had been intertwined with.

    He was trying to control his body but multitasking made it difficult to seal his mind from the influence of the emotion-intertwined mana fluctuations that were naturally perceived by Nial''s range of perception and his Mana Sense.

    Performing the Vortex of Abyss Cultivation technique to replenish his dark energy before it could even be used up fully and empowering the Shadowmancer at the same time didn''t require a lot of his focus. However, he was in need of his fully unleashed range of perception and Mana Sense to use the Vortex of Abyss Cultivation technique within his darkness domain that had spread dozens of kilometers around him.

    Thus, Nial ended up coughing up blood the moment he lost his focus for a quarter of a second.

    Dexter stared at Nial, just to see that the corners of Nial''s lips were curling upward.

    ''Another insane master¡­good gracious¡­''

 Chapter 574 The Hunt (2)

    The Shadowmancer kept materializing more and more Shadow Monsters and it was only a matter of time before more than a hundred thousand seemingly immortal monsters had been materialized. Dexter could easily control them and he ordered them to kill every single hostile being in the proximity.

    The Shadow Monsters turned into the Orion Shelter''s first line of defense while Ryu, Tyrant, Kaeldur, and Erio were wreaking havoc in the midst of the enemy troops. Nial clearly perceived what his Devils were doing and he couldn''t help but smile proudly upon seeing how they were fighting together as a team.

    His Devils and Ryu were doing an exceptional job in eliminating the millions of monsters that were charging at the Orion shelter.

    Of course, it was not possible to restrict every single monster from passing through the lines of defense but hundreds, if not thousands of dungeon beasts were dying every second, but that was not necessary, to begin with.

    The Orion Shelter was not only a beautiful ce that held the charm of the most morous and impressive constructions of several races, in addition to the technology of the Shelturion race but it was also a terrific fortress that was equipped with the means to obliterate even Demi-Gods.

    That was what the Royal Princess told him after she found out about the newest creations that had been manufactured with thebined efforts of Nial and Ophelia. They gave their utmost efforts to invent something new, but only managed to create a Forgotten Tier-3 Runic Cannon that could endure the pressure of a Broken Tier-3 Runic rocket.

    Consumable items couldn''t be used more than once either way. Thus, there was even less of a problem for Nial since he chose to create a rocket that was empowered with runic constetions which the raw material of the rocket couldn''t endure properly. It required some effort and lots of experimenting but the Broken Tier-3 Runic rockets he created were exceptional, and even more so unique!

    Nial perceived that the highly technologically advanced cannon had emerged from the inner walls of the Orion shelter. The muzzle of the cannon pointed high into the air as it was loaded with the Broken Tier-3 Runic rocket before both were empowered with a tremendous amount of energy.

    The number of high-quality Origin crystals needed to empower both the rocket and the cannon was tremendous and it was not actually worth using it against a mere wave of Deux-ranked dungeon beasts. However, Nial and everyone else was willing and excited to witness the prowess of the Broken Tier-3 runic rocket.

    Thus, Nial''s lips uptilted when he perceived that both cannon and rocket had been fully empowered.

    "I hope your Shadows can endure some explosions, otherwise, your hard work of thest few minutes will go to waste!" Nial couldn''t help but tell the Shadowmancer, whose ruby-like eyes blinked at him from his shapeless body. The Devil looked straight at Nial, whose expression showed quite clearly that he was excited.

    "What the hell are you talking about?" Dexter shot back, without a single clue why his new master was excited all of a sudden.

    They hadn''t done anything special until now, which meant that there was no actual need for him to be excited right now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    How could the Shadowmancer know that something big was about to happen when he couldn''t even sense his surrounding area properly right now?

    Dexter was currently in a state where his senses were still dulled due to the remaining effect of the evesting ice. He only noticed that something big was about to happen when a bright blue star shot high in the air above the battlefield of the teau region.

    The streak of the star led straight to the Orion Shelter, which Dexter noticed as well. He diverted his focus for a second and stared at Nial, who was smiling eerily calmly as he closed his eyes.

    "Witness the destruction of my newest creation, and ept me as your new master!" Nial ordered, knowing deep down that Shadowmancer Dexter was not willing to ept another master.

    In fact, Dexter was not willing to ept any Master since he had been forced into the devilization, to begin with. Master Damian used the devilization as a means of punishment for all the misdeeds Dexter had done when he was still an Undead Ancient God.

    Nial had seen something sh through his mind and he recalled a few minuscule pieces of information about Damian and why the God of Darkness had created the technique behind the Devilization, to begin with.

    For some, the Devilization was a curse because the only thing they could perceive was that they were bound to obey their master until the end of time itself. They would die with their master, under normal circumstances, and it was not possible to harm him in any way, even if they tried, they would face severe repercussions. Disobeying their master was not possible when the Devilization was used properly, which was also the reason why Shadowmancer Dexter had always considered himself to be a ve rather than a Devil.

    However, there were also others, beings such as Kaeldur, Tyrant, and Erio, who were happy to have undergone the Devilization. It might be true that they had to obey their master''smands and that they couldn''t do whatever they wanted since it was necessary to stay in a certain range around their master if not given amand to do something far away, but they had survived thanks to the Devilization.

    Driven by the desperation to survive and to be granted a chance to attain true power, revenge, and everything they could only dream about, they epted the Devilization willingly, even though they knew what would happen to them the moment they became artificially created Devils.

    Nial visualized the rocket that had beenunched, and he waited for it to reach the highest point in the air before inertia would inevitably pull down the rocket, under normal circumstances.

    The moment the rocket reached its annex, the rocket seemed to disappear into nothingness.

    However, it was just a momentter that the power inside the rocket was unleashed, creating a storm of elemental shards that exploded, crossing hundreds of kilometers in an instant, covering parts of the sky before it started to rain¡­elemental spears.

 Chapter 575 Approaching New Era

    As the storm of elemental shards continued to spread all over the teau region''s northern part, a heavy downpour of elemental spears began.

    Nial visualized the disy of different types of mana as they slowly morphed into drop-sized spears that rained down on the ground where hell turned reality.

    Everyone''s eyes were subconsciously drawn to the dazzling disy in the sky and they watched how hell descended onto the battlefield. Millions of dungeon beasts were pierced by the Elemental spears that unleashed their true terror the moment they collided with other sources of mana. They exploded and released their entire power within the body of their designated target.

    No dungeon beast was spared from the onught of elemental spears that kept on materializing in the sky before they poured down onto the earth, urately hitting their targets. Every single being in the proximity was killed within the following minutes before thest bits of mana were used up. No trace of mana was left behind and the few dungeon beasts that seemed to have escaped the attack sumbed to the sudden darkness needles that emerged out of nowhere.

    "Can you control all Shadows at the same time and store them for a certain period, or do you have to materialize the Shadows every now and then?" Nial asked once all beasts in his range of perception had been killed. He smiled in satisfaction, knowing deep down that the first real practical experiment of the Forgotten Runic Cannon and the Broken Runic Rocket had been a great sess.

    In fact, the experiment had not only been a great sess but it exceeded the threshold of expectations by far andrge.

    "I can store them¡­" Shadowmancer Dexter responded after a while before he expanded his range of control as far as possible. He pulled the Shadows of the deceased inside his body which expanded the more Shadows were stored inside him. Without Nial''s supply of dark energy, he couldn''t materialize a thousand Shadow Monsters with every interval of his special trait, but that was not an issue since he could summon a bit more than two hundred with every interval using his own energy.

    However, instead of focusing on materializing the Shadow Monsters, Shadowmancer Dexter observed Nial for a while.

    He sensed that Nial''s entire body was overflowing with dark energy once again. All of a sudden, Nial''s entire energy seemed to disappear at once while his presence changed.

    It felt like he was able to sense everything and everyone, and as if he was able to unveil the deepest secrets about anyone as long as he desired to find them out.

    Yet, instead of doing something like that, Nial ended up expanding his range of perception to the limits with his Mana Sense. This devoured a tremendous amount of dark energy, including the rest of his stored energy that was used up at once as he engulfed every single lifeless corpse in his range of perception to store them inside his spatial ring.

    That way, Nial ended up storing every single dungeon beast corpse in his spatial ring, clearing up the battlefield at once.

    Dexter looked at this situation with slight surprise before he diverted his focus back to Nial.

    "Are you really just at the Keltia rank?" He wondered for a moment, earning an amused smile from Nial.

    "Of course. I only created a single Darkness Pir!" Nial responded, while roughly guessing what his newest summoned Devil had on his mind.

    "...kay."

    While Nial smiled lightly, Shadowmancer Dexter returned his focus back to materializing Shadow Monsters. It would take a while before Millions of Shadows would find their way back to life, after all, he couldn''t summon them all at once. Dexter had yet to unseal the powers to do so, though he would eventually get back to the peak of his prowess.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As for the male and female Originals standing on top of the Orion shelter''s walls, they couldn''t help but stare at the aftermath of the battle withplicated expressions.

    "...That''s not funny¡­" Royal Princess Evalyne mumbled mostly to herself as she looked at the battlefield. Her expression continued to change, from confusion to worry, only for her to find some relief at the sight of the Greater Forest Dragon youngling who was flying all over the Orion Shelter.

    The Dragon youngling didn''t seem to be too affected by the scene she had witnessed, but that couldn''t be said about the others.

    Their minds were nk as they recollected the memories of the things that had just happened. It was quite frightening to have witnessed it, and the sensation got even worse the more they thought about it.

    Everything felt like a dream, a Nightmare that should be forgotten and never reappear in their minds.

    The Elves, Dracos, and Shelturion looked at each other and the people who were partially responsible for the manufacturing of the Forgotten Tier-3 Runic Cannon and the Broken Tier-3 Runic Rocket, and what they saw was a clear reflection of their own feelings.

    Nobody could smile at the sight of the destruction and fatalities caused by thebination of the Forgotten Runic Cannon and the Broken Runic Rocket because it showed one thing for sure; things were about to change drastically in the future, fearing it would be for the worst.

    ":..Damn¡­if that would have been a fire-based rocket,unched at the Forest of Life¡­the entire Forest of Life would have been decimated to ash¡­" One of the High Elves at the Mythician rank blurted out. He was red at for his words but it was not as if anyone would counter him because everyone knew that they were true.

    The Royal Princess hade to the Orion Shelter because the Greater Forest Dragon youngling wished to y with Ryu, but what she witnessed was something much much more terrifying.

    "Let''s not think about it¡­" Michael Ignis said at this moment. His rtionship with the Elves had improved drastically after he had lived with them for a few years. It was only obvious but initially, there had been a few misunderstandings between the Draco race and the Elves. Those misunderstandings were mostly cleared by now, at least for Michael, and he even made a few Elven friends.

    Thus, he couldn''t help but agree with the Elves when he saw the destruction caused by a single rocket. The rocket was only at the third Tier, yet it was strong enough to kill millions of beasts. The beasts may only be at the Deux rank, but everyone knew deep down that the attack could have killed Keltia-ranked dungeon beasts as well.

    "...I suddenly feel like we''re about to dive into a new Era¡­" Michael added, just to be red at as well, "...Just saying¡­"

    The Royal Princess looked over to Michael Ignis who was standing next to his sister Ophelia, and she gave him a disgruntled look.

    "What do you think about your creation, Miss Ignis?" Evalyne asked Ophelia, who smiled lightly as she stared back at the Princess.

    "I can only say the same thing as my brother, Princess¡­things are going to change, though I am not sure if it will be for the better or worse." Ophelia said quickly and calmly before she gave the Forgotten Runic Cannon a p.

    "Either way, I want to see what will happen in the future!

 Chapter 576 Money-Making Machine

    The Forgotten Runic Cannon was a sleek and formidable weapon at the third Tier. It had a long, cylindrical barrel that was made of a brightly shimmering, azure blue metal. The barrel was mounted on top of a sturdy silver base. The base had several metal tentacles that could be altered to improve the aim of the cannon.

    It was a long-range weapon that could be operated by a single individual with a certain control of mana. Under normal circumstances, it would require someone at the Keltia rank to properly operate it, but someone with great talent in terms of mana control may as well be able to control the cannon at the Deux rank, if not the Prometheus rank.

    Sitting in the cockpit that was encased in a transparent dome, the Original in charge could see everything around him very precisely. The only downside was the loud humming noise that echoed through the entire cockpit. However, that was a problem that could be solved rather easily with noise-canceling earbuds.

    Leaving the cockpit, the operator stared at thendscape of the teau''s northern parts and he couldn''t help but swallow his saliva.

    "Damn¡­"

    Everyone nodded their heads in response to the operator''s exmation. The Royal Princess frowned and stared at the materializing Shadow Monsters with her lips pressed in a thin line.

    "I will have to go home," She said and the Elves all around her nodded their heads. They couldn''t agree more. The power of the Forgotten Runic Cannon and the Broken Runic Rocket was not something anyone could replicate with a Tier-3 Runic Cannon or Runic Rocket.

    The Cannon that had been created by Nial and Ophelia was truly a masterpiece and something that could only be manufactured with Nial''s help. After all, there were a bunch of Forgotten runic constetions and only Nial could engrave them since he was the only person with dark energy and the necessary knowledge.

    "Looks like we have to write a report about the current situation as well. The disy of strength is not something we can ignore, even if it''s on our side and not dangerous for us¡­" Michael Ignis mumbled which caused Ophelia to nod her head.

    "I guess that Nial will receive a bunch of orders to produce more Forgotten Runic Cannons and Broken Runic Rockets. After all, even I have yet to fully understand the technique he uses to engrave Broken Runic Constetions. It seems like my mind cannot yetprehend why I should use runic constetions that will cause the engraved object to break apart." Ophelia added, causing everyone to halt in their tracks, even Greater Wirliam, the Shelturion, whose eyes had already begun to gleam brightly.

    Even if the Shelturion were not a race that was great inbat, they would be able to operate machines such as the Runic Cannon. And after having witnessed the weapon''s might, it was not further surprising that Greater Wirliam revealed his desire to get his hands on a few of those machines as well. After all, the future was unknown and they might have to move sooner orter. It was always better to be prepared for the worst.

    "So, Nial will be getting even wealthier¡­what is he even going to do with his entire fortune?" The Royal Princess mumbled, shaking her head as she tried to mentally calcte the selling price of the Forgotten Runic Cannons and the Broken Runic Rockets. Their demand would be horrifyingly high and the supply was limited enough to demand a disgustingly high price.

    That was quite obvious and it was something that everyone standing on the walls of the Orion shelter understood quite easily.

    "I will leave now," Princess Evalyne said once again, just to disappear. The Greater Forest Dragon youngling noticed that she vanished and she followed the trails of mana belonging to the Princess. Afterward, a few more Elves left as well, leaving the Shelturion and Dracos behind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I should write a report and send it to the superiors," Michael said before leaving as well.

    Everyone slowly dispersed, leaving behind Ophelia, who stared in the direction of Nial and the hundreds of thousands of Shadows that had already materialized by now.

    "This is getting a little difficult now. You have attracted too much attention," Ophelia mumbled, shaking her head before she jumped down the walls of the Orion shelter as well.

    Her feet automatically led her back to the forging hall where she went into her customized smithy to think and let her imagination loose as she began to forge something with the enlightenment she received from the disy of the power of the Broken Runic Rocket and the prowess of the Forgotten Runic Cannon.

    Meanwhile, Nial spent some time to figure out whether they made some gains, or if the expenses of the first real practice of the Broken Runic Rocket was actually higher than their gains.

    It took him a while to recall the price for most body parts of certain dungeon beasts but after he was done, Nial could only estimate that they made some profit in the process.

    He was not sure how big their profit was but it was certainly worth it. They protected their shelter with a single attack and even made some profit. This didn''t even include the millions of Shadow Monsters that were being materialized over the course of the following hours.

    "Conquer the mountain-range region once you''re done materializing all Shadow Monsters," Nial ordered Dexter before he noticed something that he had yet to ask, "How many Shadow Monsters can you even control, to begin with? Or is there no upper limit?"

    Nial noticed that Dexter could easily summon millions of Shadow Monsters, but they were unmoving like statues, which was why Nial presumed that he couldn''t control all of them freely. It could be simr to Dominion where he could hand out tasks that would bepleted with just the bare minimum level of intelligence the monsters retained.

    However, that was not something Nial could be certain about.

    "I can control them all, no matter how many. But the bacsh will be quite harsh once the Shadow Monsters die, the more the bigger the bacsh." Shadowmancer Dexter answered truthfully just for Nial to nod his head.

    "So a big bomb eradicating all Shadow Monsters would be bad, I see."

    ''I see? The fuck¡­Crazy bitch!''

 Chapter 577 Ancient Civilization

    After Nial got to know the true extent of Dexter''s ability, he didn''t need to think about a proper n to conquer the mountain-range region anymore.

    The Shadow Monster Army charged at the mountain-range region and they killed every single beast that entered the Shadow Monsters'' sight. Dexter manifested the Shadows of the deceased while Erio, Kaeldur, and Tyrant defeated the strongest opponents together. Precisely, it was Erio fighting by himself and both Kaeldur and Tyrant teaming up against Keltia ranked beasts.

    On the other hand, Ryu had returned to the Orion Shelter to y with the Greater Forest Dragon youngling, only to find out that the youngling had departed with the Royal Princess. Ryu returned to Nial''s side where he told his master about the Royal Princess'' departure.

    "Did something happen?" Nial mumbled, while also reconsidering that the Royal Princess had been too shocked about the Broken Runic Rocket''s might and that she wanted to make a detailed report about it.

    Nial figured that the Broken Runic Rocket was worth being reported, even if it was a consumable good that required him to work close to two weeks on it. Inparison, Broken Tier-3 Weapons werepleted in half a day. That was howplex it was and how many runic constetions he required to engrave on it toplete the manufacturing process of the Broken Runic Rocket!

    Nial would be able to shorten the manufacturing process drastically over time as his proficiency would increase, but it was also a fact that it required a special Forgotten Runic Constetion to unleash the true power of the Broken Runic Rocket. That was also one of the many reasons why the Runic Cannon was actually a Forgotten Runic Cannon, engraved with several forgotten runic constetions.

    As Shadowmancer Dexter wreaked havoc in the mountain-range region, expanding his Shadow Monster Army exponentially, Nial was more focused on the situation of the dungeon portals. He quickly figured that the dungeon breakouts were not going to end soon.

    The High Mythician Dungeon didn''t show signs of retracting the bad influence they had on the entire mountain-range region. Thus, in order to stop the dungeon breakouts from being permanent and millions of monsters from emerging onto the mountain-range region, they had to conquer the High Mythician Dungeon sooner orter.

    Nial was fine with that since it was hardly usible for Mythician-ranked beasts to be able to defeat tens of millions of semi-immortal Shadow Monsters. Furthermore, Nial was ready to use a bunch of Forgotten Broken Runic Weapons when necessary.

    With the given situation in mind, Nial collected the corpses all around the mountain-range region until the army of Shadow Monster exceeded 30 million members. Nial was not sure how it was possible for Shadowmancer Dexter to control these monsters so easily but there were even hundreds of Keltia-ranked Shadow Monsters and a single Mythician-ranked Shadow Monster in his Army by now.

    Close to two weeks had passed since he first unleashed the power of the Broken Runic Rocket, and the entire mountain-range region seemed to be covered in blood and the sensation of death loomed over it. Wherever one looked, one could see traces of the battles that urred in the mountain-range region, and it was quite difficult not to feel shivers running down one''s spine upon looking at the destruction and dried blood everywhere.

    However, Nial didn''t really mind that. He had faced death often enough to know what it felt like. As if that was not enough, it was quite obvious that he didn''t have the time to focus on the sensation of death in the mountain-range region. The dungeon outbreaks continued while there were some dungeons that didn''t even have any monsters left to push out of the isted space of the dungeon. This created more problems than expected because the dungeon portals suctioned a tremendous amount of mana toward them which they devoured to expand in size and to do something.

    Nial was not sure what the dungeons were doing but it couldn''t be something good.

    With that in mind, Nial rushed inside the High Mythician Dungeon without thinking too much about it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The tens of millions of Shadow Monsters followed suit, following Dexter''smand, while Erio, Kaeldur, Tyrant, and Ryu stayed by Nial''s side as if they were attached to his hips.

    Nial didn''t pay much attention to hispanions after he emerged inside the vast expanse of the High Mythician Dungeon. He was flooded by dense and highly purified Mana the moment he entered the dungeon, which gave him the opportunity to expand his range of perception and Mana Sense to the limit for a few seconds. That was more than enough for Nial to visualize arge part of the High Mythician Dungeon''s vast expanse.

    He pictured a lush, verdant valley stretching out in front of him. Nial was standing at the outermost parts of the valley. There were huge hills behind him, but instead of being covered with little greenery and stones popping out everywhere, the hills were carpeted in a riot of colorful wildflowers. The strong fragrance of the wildflowers swirled around him as the flowers swayed gently in the breeze that swept throughout the flourishing valley.

    Overall, Nial was very impressed with the vast expanse, especially the towering trees that stretched up toward the sky, and the huge ripe fruits that hung low on the trees'' branches.

    In the distance, Nial was able to sense a sparkling river that was filled with mana-infused water. The river had paved its way through the valley, its waters brought more life to the surrounding area that was overflowing with life force, much more than Nial perceived in the Forest of Life.

    It was truly astonishing to perceive life so vividly, and Nial instinctively knew that if the Elves would have entered the High Mythician Dungeon portal, they would have never allowed him to destroy everything. Even Nial felt a little regretful to destroy everything since it sounded so peaceful as the melodious sound of birds chirping filled the air.

    He perceived many bird flocks amongst the trees and bushes, and it caused him to sigh deeply, thinking that he had snatched their homes away.

    However, the environment of the flourishing valley didn''t change now that the High Mythician Dungeon affected the dungeons all over the mountain-range region. Too many bad things could happen if they were not taken care of quickly enough. That was more than enough reason for Nial to destroy the entire dungeon, he had people to protect and responsibilities to take care of, after all!

    That way, he was not even affected when he found a majestic city at the heart of the valley. It was standing tall and proud in the center of the valley, where Nial clearly perceived the existence of an ancient stone building and grand temples, creating a testament of the civilization that once lived there.

    At least that was what it was supposed to be until Nial figured that the civilization living in the center of the valley was not a thing of the past.

    On the contrary, it was a thing of the present.

    The streets were bustling with activity and Nial could hear the sound of music andughtering from the markets and squares once he closed in to the center of the ancient civilization.

    At the same time, the Army of 30 million Shadow Monsters made their way through the dungeon portal, hinting that there would never be a future for the ancient civilization.

 Chapter 578 Grateful

    As Nial perceived the beauty of the entire valley, he was filled with a sense of peace. It truly felt like he had stumbled into paradise, a ce where nature and ancient civilization coexisted in harmony.

    Unfortunately, Nial also knew that he was about to bring forth doom upon both nature and the ancient civilization since it was necessary to destroy the entire High Mythician Dungeon to stop the chaos from spilling outside the dungeon.

    With that thought and the fact that he swore himself to never show mercy to the being who stood in his way, Nial ordered Shadowmancer Dexter to attack the ancient civilization with the Army of 30 million Shadow Monsters. Ryu and the other Devils attacked as well, showing no mercy to the beings whose existence was indirectly the cause of the trouble their master had to go through.

    Clearing up the mess was an obvious action, which was also why Nial chose not to feel guilty about what was bound to happen. He let the Shadow Monster Army, Ryu, and his Devils loose while he created his darkness domain the moment he reached the proximity of the Ancient City.

    The Ancient City''s appearance alone was enough to strike Nial with its grandeur. The towering walls that surrounded it were made of massive stone blocks that were extremely smooth. They had been sculpted by an expert and fitted properly to turn it into an imprable fortress. Nial passed through this imprable barrier without any difficulties but that was owed to the unique properties of his movement technique.

    He had been able to perceive the roofs of the buildings with the Ancient City peeking over the top of the walls, their tiles glinting crimson in the sunlight. The shadows cast by those towering structures were enough to use the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique to emerge within the shadows of the city. Within the city, Nial could perceive everything with much more rity. He was able to perceive the streets that were lined with ancient houses and temples.

    The weight of history pressed down on Nial, simr to how it had been within the Colosseum in the City of Trials. However, something was different as Nial walked through the cobbled streets. The air was slick and the scent of incense and spices hung heavy, intermingled with the sound of people talking andughing that filled his ears. Yet, Nial didn''t feel bad when he heard theughter, not even when he felt the happy emotions that were intertwined in the mana of the people from the ancient civilization.

    That was a little weird, especially since Nial knew that the ancient civilization was bound to cease to exist in the near future. Everywhere he perceived something that told the city''s long-forgotten past. The walls of the city were adorned with intricate carvings that were pretty simr to runic constetions. However, there were also differences in the energies of the carvings and runic constetions.

    The carvings seemed much older and moreplex than runic constetions, which piqued Nial''s curiosity.

    As he paced through the city, he could not help but feel awestruck and amazed. Nial could ignore the people around him since they could hardly perceive him either way as he walked through the darkness and shadows. But while he was in awe, he felt an oddly heavy weight settle against his chest. It was as if hended in a ce where time had stopped, in andscape that was both ancient and eternal. And he was about to destroy all of that.

    There were several ces that attracted Nial''s interest in the city, but his focus was clearly on the impressive structure of the ancient library that towered in front of him. Nial had used the Grasp of Eclipse Movement technique to emerge in the central region of the Ancient City where hundreds of pairs of eyes fell upon him.

    For a short moment, he felt bad since he knew that soon-to-be dead people were staring at him in thest moments of their life, but the dark energy that flowed through every cell in his body calmed his emotions in an instant. Once again, Nial was not actually sure if the dark energy''s influence might have taken an upper hand. He was certainly crueler than usual since it was not normal for him to be unbothered by the thought of annihting an entire ancient civilization.

    That was certainly not normal, but the thought of the High Mythician Dungeon causing problems to the Orion shelter and the people he held dearly was more than enough to disperse his doubts.

    ''I am really lost...''

    The Shadow Monster Army had reached the walls of the Ancient City by now but Nial focused on the ancient library. He spread out his darkness domain and stored everything he could get his hands on inside his spatial ring. Some people of the ancient civilization took note of him, finally, but they could only stare at him in a stupor.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Something prevented them from moving, and it was certainly not the darkness vines that coiled around their legs. Many people of the ancient civilization were at the Keltia rank but they were turned into statues that could not even move a finger to escape his darkness vines. This was only obvious since his dark energy had been reinforced by the Essence of Darkness and the crimson moonlight. It wouldn''t be easy for the Originals of the ancient civilization to escape his grasp, especially since it looked like their lives had been too peaceful and rusty.

    They were starstruck and unable to move for a while. Nial didn''t kill the beings who looked like beings of a race merged between different races he had already encountered. It felt like the Originals around him right now were mostly existences that were not supposed to be alive. They didn''t struggle as he pinned them down to the ground and something made him feel as if they were hoping to get killed.

    This sensation was extremely weird, but it allowed his guilt to die down quite easily.

    ''Why do they want to die?'' He wondered for a moment, just to hear a stuttering voice ringing through his ears.

    [T-Thank you...]

    The voice in his head didn''t really make sense but neither did the fact that he was not really bothered about killing the ancient civilization. Even before he heard the voice his mind had epted the annihtion of the entire ancient civilization. It didn''t really make sense before, and thinking about it now turned Nial''s mind upside down.

    He began to question his sanity and if everything was actually an illusion, cast from a God''s Divinity. That would make more sense than him epting and being fine with being the cause of death for hundreds of thousands of people he didn''t hold a grudge upon.

    However, none of that was actually an illusion. That was what Nial noticed quite easily when he heard themotion made by the Shadow Monster Army behind him. The ancient civilization would never die without attempting to fight back. Though more and more voices filled with gratefulness rang through his mind, it was not as if everyone was willing, or able, to die just like that.

    Nial took a while to digest the situation but once he was ready, he continued to collect the valuable goods within the library. All books were safely secured inside his spatial ring.

    Once he had emptied the grand library, Nial''s focus diverted to the Originals he had pinned down to the ground.

    "Does everyone in here want to die?" He asked just to receive a reaffirmation that the Originals actually wanted to die.

    "Are you bound by a Soul Contract?" Nial added another question, just for a new voice to resound within his head.

    [Just kill us...you can only help us by ending our suffering...there are things much worse than being enved...]

 Chapter 579 Cut Off

    Nial was still a little baffled about the voices in his head but he didn''t hesitate to kill the Originals around him. Spikes manifested of darkness pierced out of the ground and dug deep inside the body of the Originals, whose voices resounded in his head over and over again.

    Their gratefulness could be sensed clearly, and, even more so, the suffering and pain they had gone through for countless years before he freed them of it.

    Nial chose to ignore gratefulness because he would have annihted the ancient civilization whether the members of the ancient civilization would be grateful or not. Their emotions didn''t impact the course of events in the slightest.

    He had emptied the library, killed everyone within, and made his way outside it not long after. There were a few more ces he had to visit while the Shadow Monster Army obliterated the entire ancient civilization from its roots. Not a single being would be left alive, which Nial perceived in a crystal clear way as he visualized that hundreds of Originals were getting overwhelmed and torn apart by his Shadow Monsters.

    His Shadow Monsters were at a numerical advantage. There weren''t even half a million Originals left in the humongous city, yet the number of attackers ranged in the numbers of 30 million! There may not be many powerful Shadow Monsters but there were also Erio, Ryu, Kaeldur and Tyrant in his group.

    Erio alone was already enough to deal with the Mythician Originals, especially due to the advantage of his elemental affinity. It was only obvious but Erio''s Eclipse Fire was terrific. It was much stronger than nature and nt affinity of its ancient civilization''s counterpart. No matter how strong they were, Erio''s Eclipse Fire burned down everything.

    It was only a matter of time before the entire ancient civilization would be annihted. Nial waited for this opportunity without remaining idle. He visited a few more ces in the humongous ancient city, including the impressive constructions of the various temples that had been constructed within the city.

    There was something old and iprehensible about the ancient temples, something that pulled Nial inside them like a ma. The temples followed a pretty simple infrastructure, or so Nial perceived at the first nce. He was not able to perceive anything about the insides of the temples at first. His Mana Sense was restricted to perceiving and visualizing the outside of the temples down to the finest details.

    But that was enough to attract Nial''s attention. The temples stood tall and proud, their stone walls adorned with intricate carvings and murals depicting what Nial presumed to be the Gods and heroes of the ancient civilization''s mythology. Most temples were built on arge stone and earthen tform, with an impressive,rge staircase leading up to the main entrance, which was guarded by grand statues made of stone and covered with moss. The pyramid-shaped temples had four sides, each nked with pirs and once colorful but now worn out feather banners.

    Meanwhile, the top of the temple was crowned with a stone shrine, which was also where Nial ended up after he ignored the old stone statues that exuded a menacing aura, causing chills to run down the spines of those who were brave enough to walk past them.

    "Now show me what you got!" Nial mumbled with a trace of excitement. His hands reached out to the stones of the shrine while he inserted some dark energy into the Mana Sense to find out more about the treasures he could hopefully procure from within the temples. His senses were fully focused on the shrine in front of him but there weren''t many things he perceived.

    Rather than finding something of value, Nial could clearly sense that the stone shrine wanted his energy and blood as a sacrifice instead.

    ''You won''t provide me something, even if I were to give you my blood and dark energy?'' Nial wondered while contemting whether he should destroy the temples or not. If something was hidden within the temples, he should be able to find it by searching through the entire temple, even if he had to tear it brick by brick. However, it was also possible that he would cause quite a few problems the moment he awoke something that had been hibernating inside the temples.

    He didn''t want that to happen, even if the chances were quite low, to begin with. Thus, he turned around and prepared to leave the temple without making a change in the temple''s structure or anything else, when he sensed an immense suctioning force from the inside of the stone shrine.

    Nial''s exuded dark energy and the mana within the proximity were devoured in an instant. Nial was forced to seal the dark energy inside his body to prevent the stone shrine from devouring more of his precious energy.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His head flicked back to the stone shrine, just for his head to feel like it was about to explode. He began to groan in utter pain, his legs gave in and he found himself twitching on the ground not long after, bleeding out of his nose and ears.

    "Wh¨Cwhat¡­what the hell is¡­going on?!" Nial cursed out loudly, unable to hear a thing around him. His senses were restricted and it grew increasingly more difficult for him to stay conscious.

    For a while, none of his senses seemed to work properly, not even his mana perception.

    Nial was not sure how much time had passed but he began to hear a new voice in his head. The new voice was not filled with the gratitude of finally being freed of their suffering. On the contrary, the new voice seemed displeased and angry as it spoke straight into Nial''s head.

    [To think that there is an existence that can survive my Sight of Vermillion while being at the Keltia rank.] The new voice was hoarse and clearly upset. However, it also felt like the voice was gentle and calm. Countless emotions were mixed into the voice that sounded as if the voice of hundreds of men were ovepping each other.

    It was a feeling that could hardly be described by Nial, whose senses were currently strained to their limit, rendering them useless.

    [Your Shadows are dead and those creatures created with your energy are on the verge of death. Your energy protected them just like it protected you without your realization. Very interesting.]

    Nial was trying to get up from the ground but he stumbled and fell down the long winding stairs that stretched for more than thirty meters. He tumbled down the stairs but was not hurt when hended on the earthen tform of the temple but his confusion was certainly noticeable.

    [Something about you is very familiar. It reminds me of something very interesting¡­and I don''t mean the dark energy of the God of Darkness. This idiot died a long time ago for a matter that was not even worth dying for. Sacrificing oneself for the sake of those who wanted to see you dead is not exactly a wholesome death. But¡­whatever.

    You ruined my n, little rat!]

    The voice in his head seemed extremely old at one point, and that of a child the moment after. The speaker seemed to have a lot of mood swings going from angry to calm in an instant.

    Nial had no idea what to expect from the voice, but he could tell one thing for sure.

    ''This one is dangerous!''

 Chapter 580 Godly Spirit

    Nial figured that the voice was trying to do something to him, only to fail miserably.

    It had attacked him once, cutting off his senses if only for a short period of time.

    He would have to lie if he were to say that it was not scary to lose the ability to sense, hear, smell, and perceive mana, that too all at once, especially since he had already lost his sight at a young age.

    His other senses were, quite literally, his lifeline, and Nial couldn''t imagine being able to live a long life if all of his senses were to be cut off permanently.

    One way or another, he was d when his senses returned. Nial was vignt and ready to figure out more about the vessel of the voice that had turned silent all of a sudden. However, what he perceived caused him to be bbergasted for a few seconds.

    A golden silver-outlined, semi-translucent existence was hovering above the stone shrine. It was staring down at Nial, whose head flicked naturally in the being''s direction. He was not able to see the being but visualizing it clearly showed the silver outlines of the being, and that it was not actually a physical materialization but rather a summoned Spirit of a being.

    As the Spirit emerged from the shrine, an awkward silence fell over thend. All Shadows had been killed in an instant, while the Devils, Ryu and Nial sustained a considerable amount of injuries.

    The air felt thick and heavy due to the divine presence, and a faint, glowing aura surrounded the Spirit''s semi-transparent form. The Spirit''s aura shimmered and pulsed with energy that was eerily simr to the Cursed Divine Energy that Nial had once stored in his body. However, the Spirit''s energy was different. It emanated a gentleness and warmth all over the surrounding area, while simultaneously causing shivers to run down everyone''s spine.

    To Nial, it felt almost as if the energy itself was confused about its identity and if it was supposed to be good or bad. Nial had yet to sense something like this, so it was the first time for him. He was a little surprised about the energy, but it was not as if it could distract him enough from the more important things.

    No member of the ancient civilization was left behind but Nial was far from satisfied. He could clearly tell that the existence in front of him was the spiritual reflection of an actual God. It didn''t possess the strength of an actual God, but the fraction of power it harbored had been enough to annihte everything...almost everything.

    [Die!] The voice shouted out loudly all of a sudden. Nial''s body stiffened in response and he mentally prepared himself for a desperate attempt to do something in order to escape alive. However, he quickly noticed that nothing happened to him even though the Godly Spirit''s Aura expanded all of a sudden.

    The most intense expansion was around the Godly Spirit''s eyes, which Nial clearly visualized with a frown.

    No matter how much time passed, nothing seemed to happen to him. This was even a surprise to the Godly Spirit that stared nkly at Nial while visibly calming down.

    [These eyes¡­whose are they?] The Spirit asked all of a sudden. Nial frowned at the sudden change in the attitude of the Spirit but he didn''t have a reason not to answer.

    "Mine, of course," Nial responded, barely restraining himself from adding ''you idiot'' into his response.

    [No they aren''t yours! These eyes are not connected to your body, notpletely, at least. Your body actually repels your eyes!] The Spirit rified, confusing Nial even more than he already was.

    It didn''t make sense that the Godly Spirit was suddenly being friendly with him, in the first ce. The changes in the attitude, mood and behavior of the Spirit were very annoying, especially because Nial had no idea if the Spirit was genuinely curious or just stalling time before it would attack him by surprise.

    The ancient civilization was dead but the High Mythician Dungeon had yet to close. That meant the Godly Spirit was likely to be the final opponent. However, it was not actually possible for him to defeat the Godly Spirit.

    Thus, Nial chose to use the Spirit''s information while thinking about a way to get rid of the Godly Spirit.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He recalled Damian''s words about the memories of Nial''s past before he lost his eyes and understood a few things.

    ''Didn''t he say something about my eyes being taken away?'' Nial thought, trying to recall the exact words of the Late God of Darkness.

    "What does it matter to you?"

    There was no reason for them to beat around the bush. It was quite obvious that the Godly Spirit didn''t actually care about the annihtion of the Ancient civilization within the High Mythician Dungeon. The n created by the God who was in control of the Spirit might have failed, but that didn''t seem to affect it a lot.

    [Well, I cannot kill you because your body is not fully intact. If you were missing something other than your eyes, it would be fine, but you are blind and not even in possession of your own eyes. Lucky you, I guess!] The Spirit said as if it was logical and something that didn''t affect it in the slightest.

    "Aren''t you a little too nonchnt for someone who threatened me minutes ago? Don''t you want to see me dead anymore?"

    [There is no need to feel angry just because I failed to kill someone like you. You might have destroyed one of my ns but it''s not like I expected too much from those weaklings, in the first ce. I got to know a few things thanks to your attack on my dungeon as well, so you could say that I made a profit!]

    Nial was pretty sure that this was a lie, but he had a nagging feeling that made him doubt his own certainty. This annoyed him quite a bit, but there was not actually much he could do against the Godly Spirit. It kept absorbing the surrounding mana to maintain its form and to continue hovering on top of the stone shrine.

    "In that case, what are you nning to do now?" Nial asked, feeling pretty sure that the answer would annoy him.

    [Not much. I will leave once I get to know your name. I am pretty sure I can get to know your name with a little research but I don''t want to bother myself with such a trivial task. If you were weak and desperate for power I would make a deal with you in exchange for turning you into my personalb rat to experiment upon, but you are already talented and powerful. You will probably advance to the Mythician rank before the age of 100, be a Demi God before the age of 500, and advance to godhood before you''ve been alive for a whole millennia.

    I want to figure out what you will aplish with the power of the God of Darkness. After all, your predecessor failed miserably, and I was not able to kill you because of those eyes of yours. Maybe you would have been stronger with ''your'' eyes.]

    Nial squinted his eyes once again, trying to find the logic behind the Spirit''s words. However, he quickly gave up and provided the answer the spirit was looking for.

    "Alright, in that case¡­ I''m Nial Orin!"

    [Nice to meet you Nial Orin. We will see each other in the future!]

    And with that, the Godly Spirit dispersed as if it had never been there, to begin with.

    Following that, the dungeon began to crumble, leaving Nial stupefied.

    "That''s it?"

 Chapter 581 Business

    Even though Nial was trying his utmost to understand the current situation as well as possible, it was pretty hard for him.

    The Godly Spirit was likely to be part of an actual God, someone who was in possession of a Divinity and Divine energy. That God possessed some sort of power that was directly rted to his Eyes. This was also why Nial didn''t die, after all, his eyes were incapable of seeing something.

    The God spoke about his eyes quite a lot but that was not the most important part since he survived his encounter with a God or a Spirit of a God. That was quite an achievement, something worth being happy about.

    ''I wonder what he had nned to do with the ancient civilization¡­calling them useless, but still wanting to kill me because I annihted them. Feels like there was more meaning behind his words and I understood only parts of it.'' Nial thought a little ruefully.

    He collected his Devils and stored them inside the Heart of Darkness where they could replenish their energy at a much faster rate. That was necessary since their body had instinctively reacted to the Godly Spirit''s area of effect attack by unleashing close to 100% of their dark energy.

    Not only were they still injured, but they were drained of their dark energy which made them vulnerable to the outside. Unable to move around, the Devils were easy targets that required Nial''s protection. Ryu was not faring well either, but it wasn''t possible for Nial to store the Darkness Gryphon inside his Heart of Darkness. Instead of leaving Ryu, his poor Darkness Gryphon behind, Nial replenished bits of his dark energy with the surrounding mana before he used the dark energy to pick up hispanion.

    Ryu levitated through the air and they made their way outside, without being given the chance to take a proper look at the vast expanse of the High Mythician Dungeon.

    At the end of the day, Nial was pretty sure that the Godly Spirit wanted to hide something from the outside world. That was likely to be the reason for the dungeon to copse just like that, especially since Nial and the others hadn''t encountered many beings at the Mythician rank inside the dungeon.

    There was definitely something wrong, but Nial was not given any time to research. He had to leave the dungeon before it copsed, otherwise, he would be caught in the isted space of the dungeon''s vast expanse. That was not something he was looking forward to. Thus, he elerated his pace and emerged in the mountain-range region less than ten minutester. Ryu''s levitating body was by his side, and it was only a matter of time before Nial manifested wings of darkness that had emerged out of his shoulder des.

    He shot in the air and returned to the Orion Shelter where people were already waiting for him.

    "Someone take care of Ryu. He is injured due to energy deprivation and was attacked!" Nial ordered, not too sure who the best healer around him was. Two Elvingar Elves stepped forward to tend to Ryu''s wounds but it was not long before they began to frown. The Darkness Gryphon chirped weakly while the Elves began to try out a few things to heal him.

    "Nial, are you done now?" Ophelia appeared near Nial, her question hanging in the air, "If you''re not too busy, let''s do some business!"

    NIal visualized Ophelia in great detail, taking note of her bodynguage and expressions. She seemed calm on the outside and wore a light smile, seemingly to show him that she was calm andposed. However, the mana inside her exposed the Draco''s true feelings. Ophelia was trying to seal her mana inside her to make sure that nobody would find out what she was secretly thinking but Nial''s perception had, quite literally, drilled into her.

    Even if it was just his perception that analyzed her sealed mana, Ophelia took note of that. Her calm andposed demeanor nearly crumbled, but she kept trying to maintain it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You are talking about the Forgotten Runic Cannon, and the Broken Runic Rockets, aren''t you?" Nial asked, hitting the bullseye in a single try.

    Ophelia nodded her head, without saying anything for a few seconds. She stared at him, waiting for Nial to say something instead.

    "I didn''t want to spend too much time on the Forgotten Runic Cannons. They may be worth a lot but I only need a handful for myself. I don''t really want them to be bought by buyers from faraway locations either, otherwise, they may be used against me sooner orter. I can sell them to some of the races whom I trust to a certain extent but everyone would have to sign a Soul Contract.

    As for the Broken Runic Rockets, they''re way tooplicated to be worth the effort. Mass-producing them is not exactly possible before I reach the level of a Peak Archmaster Runicier. Until I reach that level, quite a few years will have to pass, but that is quite obvious, isn''t it?" Nial pointed out what he didn''t like quite clearly before he added, "If you want to make business with me, just tell me what you want and what you can offer. There are only a few things I actually need, and you know that."

    Ophelia didn''t like the way the conversation was going, but there was not much she could do about it. She let out a heavy sigh and the corners of Nial''s lip curled upward as a natural response.

    "I don''t want to be paid with money, but I want you to give my race one Forgotten Runic Cannon and a Broken Runic Rocket before you teach me how to engrave Forgotten runic constetions!" Ophelia presented her offer after she had regained her confidence.

    She knew that nobody was able to engrave the forgotten runic constetions of the Late God of Darkness, not if they weren''t in possession of Dark energy, but Ophelia wanted to learn how to engrave the forgotten runic constetions of the God of Darkness, either way.

    It was still highly valued knowledge that was likely to be very helpful in the future. After all, she was hoping to be a Saint Runicier who was capable of creating her own runic constetions! Considering that forgotten runic constetions were said to be much stronger than ordinary runic constetions, Ophelia wondered if the secret to their terrific strengthy in the inscribing process, precisely the fact that specific energy and technique were used to inscribe the forgotten runic constetions.

    "That''s fine with me, I don''t mind teaching you a bit. But you shouldn''t expect too much," Nial said while sensing Ophelia''s excitement.

    Ophelia nodded her head before she started to borate on what she could give Nial in return.

    "I will stay in the Orion Shelter until everything has beenpleted and I will give my best to make it the strongest shelter in exchange. Is that fine?" She asked, fully understanding that the years in her prime were better put to use by studying the works of a Saint Runicier rather than constructing a shelter. As a prodigy, her time was extremely valuable, especially her time in the prime of her learning phase.

    Nial understood that as well, which was enough reason for him to agree without giving it much thought.

    After all, he knew that the next few years would be very interesting for the Orion shelter!

 Chapter 582 Angel Kingdom

    Years passed and the Orion shelter kept expanding. More than three-quarters of the teau was now covered by the Orion shelter that was constructed in severalyers. There were a total of five walls, one being stronger than the other. Every single shelter wall was fully equipped with means of defense and special constructions such as Protection Domes and Forgotten Runic Cannons.

    Nial knew very well that the Orion shelter couldn''t be conquered even if some beings at the Trixor rank were to attempt barging into the shelter. They would die miserably before they would set a foot in, which was actually something Nial wanted to test out.

    His shelter was known throughout the entire continent for epting refugees of all races. That was considered as a very generous and liberal move but also a very dangerous thing because there were many Originals and races who didn''t explicitly like this. However, it was not as if Nial cared about them.

    If someone disliked his decision, they could just enter the shelter, challenge someone to a deathmatch and solve their problems without pulling anyone into their trouble. Nobody liked trouble, nobody sane, at least.

    ? Nial spent most of his time in the forging hall, in the workshop that had been constructed next to Ophelia''s forging hall, or he spent his time in his own space where he focused on absorbing mana to convert it into dark energy. Cultivating had be one of the most important tasks for Nial but that was only obvious.

    Jundra was making huge progress as it regained its strength much faster than everyone had expected. The Origin''s mana quality and quantity were already leagues above that of any other, which was quite alluring for many races that sensed an opportunity to expand their territory and gain even more than just high-quality mana in abundance on Jundra.

    Jundra was also considered a mysterious ce that increased the chance to procure Divine Energy within the body. This was merely a theory and a rumor arising from the ancient documents and certainments that had been made by the Ancients and Primordials. To most that was enough to reconsider migrating to Jundra.

    After all, Jundra was considered the Origin of the Universe due to its unique constetion in the Universe, and the fact that it was, apparently, one of the biggests in the known Universe, if not the biggest in the first ce!

    Despite its seemingly unfathomable size, Jundra was showing signs of being flooded with races and Originals in numbers that were not healthy. The news of war breaking out in almost every corner of the reached Nial almost every single day, and it was not a surprise when Nial heard that many shelters of the origin humans were under attack.

    Nial offered to help the origin humans to relocate and many were thankful for his help. There was no point in being prejudiced against the other races who had begun to popte his shelter, but there were many origin humans who couldn''t help themselves. They felt ufortable and were certain that there had to be another way to survive.

    The vast majority of them wanted their own shelter, without having to live with other races or share amon space. Whether that was pride or in racism was beyond Nial, and he actually didn''t care. He offered them residence inside the Orion shelter and gave them a helping hand for the first few months, but that was already it.

    There was only so much Nial could do, and it was not as if it had been very pleasant to live with the origin humans for him, in the first ce. He was just repaying a favor. Miles was d that his son tried to help, and he was even prouder that he didn''t force anyone to do what he wanted them to do.

    Most origin humans ended up in the Halheim shelter, and predictably conflicts between the Elven races and the origin humans began to erupt. Nial didn''t know much about their conflicts, but knowing that Nial was not in the Halheim shelter, or with the origin humans anymore, it seemed like the attitude of the Elves had changed quite a bit.

    The origin humans were always demanding something, without even considering giving anything back in return. Building a rtionship with Nial and using it was what they exploited to the fullest. He was strong and had the potential to be an Ancient God, and a Saint Runicier. That was more than enough reason to speak respectfully to Nial and hope that they would stay on his good terms. He might as well help them to be stronger in the future, once they were in need of a Saint Runicier to watch over some Elves who were ready to create their own Divinity.

    As for the origin humans, they were almost entirely useless to the Elven races. Their existence was more of a nuisance than anything else. The only advantage they had was actually the possession of five empty ability slots in their Mana Core. Being able to bind five abilities was something not many races were capable of. Thus, it was only obvious that the Elves reconsidered enving all origin humans and forcing them to be what they desired them to turn into.

    The only reason why they didn''t enve the origin humans was Nial. He wouldn''t want to see the origin humans being enved, especially since his adoptive father and his sister were also origin humans. There was no need to worsen their rtionship with Nial if they could prevent it.

    As for killing a few annoying origin human that went a bit overboard and crossed the line, that was perfectly fine.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial didn''t expect the rtionship between the origin humans and Elves to worsen to such a degree. It was not unsurprising for their rtionship to go through some ups and downs, but the current state was totally beyond anything he could have expected.

    However, their crumbling rtionship was one of the least surprising things whenpared to the news about the Angel Kingdom that reached them.

    There had been no news about the Angels for a very long time. Nial had always been looking for the Angels, only to find nothing. It was almost as if the Angels had disappeared altogether.

    But finally he heard some news about the Angels. It was quite surprising because he didn''t expect to encounter the Angels anytime soon. He assumed that he would have to ascend to Godhood before he would be able to venture to the Angel''s origin where he could wreak havoc. It was about time that he took revenge, yet, his strength had always fallen short to face the strongest Angels.

    Nial was fully aware of that, and his effort to cultivate whenever he had time was also built on the knowledge that he was way too weak.

    He had to be stronger to face the Angels in their home, or so Nial thought until now.

    However, now that they seemed to havee back to Jundra, things changed gradually.

    It was about time for Nial to take his revenge!!

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 Chapter 583 Rampaging Dark Energy

    After he heard the news about the Angel Kingdom, Nial was about to rush out of the Orion shelter but suddenly halted in his tracks.

    ''Even if I attack them now, I might not even encounter Be¡­I have to know where she is, otherwise, she may never reveal herself.''

    Nial''s expression turned dark when he thought about the friend he once had just turned into one of the people he hated the most. It was frustrating and Nial knew very well that it was only the beginning. There would be more people in the future turning against him, more aplices or friends turning into foes. That was also why he tried to reduce the chances of someone going against him by befriending as few people as possible.

    He could tell that a few origin humans would go against him in the near future but that was not really important because these origin humans were much weaker than him. Furthermore, those who were Artisans and Adventurers in his organizations couldn''t leave that easily. There were a few moreplications that would dawn upon them if they were to break the restrictions that had been created for every party signing the Soul Contracts. Nial had separately customized unique restrictions for the members of his organizations depending on certain factors.

    He was not actually worried about anyone betraying him. Rather, it was more worrisome that his dark energy pulsated wildly within every single cell in his body when the Angels had been mentioned.

    Even if the Angels were not directly at fault for the death of his mother, they protected their Saintess, the being who had entered the body of his former friend.

    Nial was not yet sure whether the Saintess had reincarnated within Be or if she was merely granted the memories of the Angel race''s Saintess. In the end, none of that really mattered because the answer wouldn''t bring his mother back from the dead!

    While being seated in hisrge vi inside the Orion shelter, Nial sighed deeply. He knew that he should be doing something but rushing outside and cluelessly searching for someone was a waste of time. The news of the Angel Kingdom might have reached him, however, he actually didn''t even know where the Angel Kingdom was located, or where it was supposed to be.

    "I should send out a few hundred Scouts to collect information, rather than blindly rushing out of the shelter¡­" Nial mumbled mostly to himself, just to note that a warm hand patted his shoulder.

    It was Miles, his father, who was trying to console him. Miles was often outside the Orion Shelter,pleting the missions he was given by the Royal Princess. Though the rtionship between the Elven Races and the Origin Humans had changed quite a bit, that didn''t apply in the case of Miles and the Royal Princess.

    Miles was the person who had raised Nial and was the most important individual for Nial. That was more than enough reason for every Elf to treat him with respect, no matter what.

    Miles didn''t like that he was treated well due to his son because he would rather be treated well for the person he was- someone who had a good heart and treated everybody with the same respect he would want in return, but it was not as if he could do something against the mindset of the Elven.

    "I would rather hear some news of your delinquent sister¡­that little pest didn''t even think of messaging us once¡­" Miles said sadly, and Nial couldn''t agree more.

    If not for the Medallion of Life in the possession of his little sister, they wouldn''t even be able to tell whether Sabrina was alive or not. That was another frustrating factor, something Nial would have rather avoided, if possible.

    "The next time I see her, I will drag her back to you," Nial said, unable to tell when that would actually be the case. It had been more than ten years since Sabrina disappeared and it was about time that she came back.

    The exact same could be said about Mathias, whom Nial hadn''t seen for just as long as a decade.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thinking about his sister and Mathias, Nial''s excitement to finally get revenge died down in an instant. He used his messenger crystal and sighed deeply before he gave amand through the weakly shining blue crystal.

    "Prepare 1000 Originals at the Deux rank or higher. I want them to collect as much information about the Angel Kingdom as possible. Give me everything you can find¡­and don''t disappoint me!" Nial ordered somewhat calmly before he heard a "Roger that!" from the other side of the messenger crystal.

    Nial switched off the messenger crystal after that and he spent some more time with his father.

    After a few hours, Nial returned his focus to increase his strength and prepare a thorough attack upon the Angel''s Kingdom. There have yet to be some beings at the Trixor rank on Jundra, but the number of Mythician Originals had increased drastically. Ryu, Tyrant, and Kaeldur finally advanced to the Keltia rank but that was already it.

    Erio was still at the Mythician rank, obviously, while the same could be said about Shadowmancer Dexter. The only thing that changed about Dexter was that he had amassed a small army of powerful Shadows inside him. He could unleash them wherever he wanted, wreaking havoc in an instant!

    Nial had created his third Darkness Pir and it was only a matter of time before his fourth Darkness Pir would be erected. He was not afraid of facing a Mythician-ranked Original, though he was not actually sure whether or not it would be possible for him to beat the shit out of a Mythician Archangel.

    Given that his dark energy was already going on a rampage at the thought of fighting Angels, Nial could tell that his strength would be amplified the moment he encountered them. At the same time, it was quite obvious that he would lose his reasoning while fighting as the dark energy that resides in every cell of his body would take charge.

    ''There is enough time to prepare¡­just calm down and give your best!'' Nial told himself, knowing damn well that he had everything he needed to be stronger as quickly as possible.

    He had the necessary wealth, cultivation resources, and even connections.

    His connection could be further used to search for Be while his people would gather information about the Angel Kingdom. The Angels were not that interesting to him and he would not even pay them a second worth of his attention if not for Be being their Saintess.

    Of course, that was more than enough for him to hate the Angels. After all, they protected someone he had started to loathe from the bottom of his heart!

    Time passed eerily slowly but Nial didn''t allow anything or anyone to bother him. He chose to summon more of the Late God of Darkness'' Devils with the Awakening of the Prymal ability.

    In fact, Nial amplified the power of the Awakening of the Prymal ability by binding it to one of the three Darkness Pirs. That could be considered foolish but Nial didn''t want to amplify the Vengeance of Chaos ability since he could hardly control its unfathomable power right now, and his other abilities could be enhancedter.

    Of course, things were a little different with Dominion. He bound it to the Darkness Pir without hesitation, understanding the potential of the ability that could wreak havoc wherever it was activated!

 Chapter 584 Elementalist

    "So you finally found her?" Nial asked impatiently, tapping his finger against the wooden armrest of the chair he was sitting on.

    "We found three origin humans of which one suits the description of Be Morningstar. But there is one weird thing¡­" The Scout of the Selivart race trailed off, unsure how to report his findings.

    The Selivart race was one of the many races whose refugees chose to find a ce to live in the Orion Shelter. They were exceptional at finding people which was mostly owed to their sixth sense. One couldpare it to an extraordinary ability, a means to find exactly who or what one was looking for.

    "What was weird?...Wait, did you just say three origin humans? Tell me more about it" Nial asked while his eyebrows creased. He was pretty sure that he had misunderstood something.

    "The weird thing is rted to the three origin humans. One of them, the woman who fits the description of Be Morningstar, fought side by side with the Angels, against the two other origin humans, who''re oddly powerful for origin humans. Our senses told us that they''re origin humans, which means that we''re unlikely to be wrong.

    But that is weird, isn''t it? There shouldn''t be an origin human at the Keltia rank yet, let alone someone at the Mythician rank!" The Selivart voiced out his confusion and Nial was beginning to feel confused as well.

    "An origin human at the Keltia rank and one at the Mythician rank¡­? That''s unexpected," Nial affirmed, squinting his eyes.

    He was pretty sure that the stronger origin human he met had less than 20% of his Mana Sea liquefied. There was still a long way to go before they would be able to advance to the Keltia rank.

    But even then, it was possible to reach the Keltia rank if one encountered a bunch of fruitful events, or was talented enough to make use of cultivation resources in the most efficient way.

    Unfortunately, the same couldn''t be said about reaching the Mythician rank. It wasn''t easy to reach the Mythician rank while being a origin human.

    Jundra awakened its origin not even two decades ago, and the strongest beings had been at the Mid Prometheus rank at that time. There was no way that someone advanced to the Mythician rank so quickly. Even Nial was not capable of achieving something like that.

    Though even if it was not possible under normal means, Nial knew that it was still possible. After all, he had been to the Realm of the Forgotten Time himself.

    If he were to be allowed to stay there for a few hundred years, he could easily advance to the Mythician rank and possibly even create multiple Darkness Temples in the meantime. Meanwhile, only one day would pass in the outside world for every year that psed in the Realm of the Forgotten Time.

    "I wonder if he found a way to a simr ce where time could be twisted," Nial mumbled but Selivat promptly corrected him.

    "It is a woman!" The Selivat said, which snapped Nial out of his thoughts.

    "Who is a woman?"

    "...the origin human reaching the Mythician rank, of course. The Mythician Original is a woman, and the Keltia Original is a man. Though the man can fight a bunch of Keltia Angels at the same time, he is not even close to reaching the samebat prowess as the female Mythician Original. Though something about her is a little bit weird, she is extremely powerful!"

    ? Nial''s lifeless, milky white eyes stared unfocused in the direction of the Selivat''s Scouts before a heavy sigh escaped his lips.

    "What exactly is so weird about her?"

    The Selivat thought about it for a moment before he answered Nial''s question.

    "While the man makes use of his powers as an Elementalist, the woman didn''t seem to be able to use any abilities. Her Mana is very pure and her raw strength is terrific and strong enough to tear apart a Mythician Elite Angel with her bare hands, but she cannot, or doesn''t use any abilities!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial''s heart skipped a beat when he heard what the Selivat said. His mind went nk and he jumped up from his chair.

    "Alright, thanks. Good job. Tell Melheim that I instructed him to reward you handsomely. I will leave now, share your reports with Melheim as well when you talk about your reward," Nial said hurriedly before he disappeared from his position.

    He re-emerged in his Mansion where Ryu and a few of Nial''s Devils were currently sleeping.

    Clearing his throat, Nial woke up his sleepypanions who sensed the tension within Nial''s body almost immediately.

    "We''re going out to hunt some Angels. Is everyone ready?" Nial asked without expecting an answer. The Devils would have to follow him whether they wanted or not.

    Over two years had passed since Nial sent out Scouts to search for Be, and now that they found her it was about time for him to get his revenge. However, that was not the reason why he was rushing things.

    Nial''s gut feeling told him that there was something about the two other origin humans that was far more important than Be, whom he was already regarding as a dead person.

    He was currently only making assumptions and wild theories but that was more than enough for him to feel a little excited!

    The Devils stared at him for a second before they disappeared in the darkness that shrouded them all of a sudden. They returned to the Heart of Darkness where they were kept securely.

    Ruy merged with the darkness as well. However, instead of entering the Heart of Darkness, the emblem of a Gryphon was engraved all over his right arm. The emblem was ck in color and it further fortified Nial''s right arm.

    He was not sure since when the Darkness Gryphon was able to fuse with Nial''s body but they found out about it one day when Nial was caressing Ryu like usual.

    It was a great gain, but not something worth mulling over right now. He was more focused on collecting his Devils to depart as soon as possible. Less than half an hour passed before every Devil was back where they belonged, inside Nial.

    Meanwhile, Nial was standing in front of the Royal Princess with a bright smile on his face.

    "Can you take me into the midst of the Angel Kingdom? High in the air above the Angel Kingdom is also fine. Preferably I would like to be on the western border of the Angel Kingdom. Fighting my way through the Angel Kingdom''s main entrance is a nuisance!"

    The Royal Princess stared at Nial for a second before she nodded her head. It had been quite some time since she had returned to the Orion Shelter. As for her current mission, it was to get her hands on more Forgotten Runic Armaments, preferably mechanisms such as the Forgotten Runic Cannon.

    "If you give me three Forgotten Runic Armaments, I will do¡ª...." She stopped as Nial lifted his hand.

    "Fine, just teleport me!"

    It was obvious that Nial was impatient, but who wouldn''t be in his position?

    After all, he knew only one Elementalist of the origin human race with the capabilities to reach the Keltia rank and he wanted her blood!

 Chapter 585 Shadow Angels

    Not long after he told the Elves to teleport him as far as possible and he found himself falling to the ground from an altitude of over 10,000 meters.

    His range of perception was unleashed and a wry smile blossomed on his lips as he figured where exactly he was located...or would fall soon. But he was not worried in the slightest.

    ''Angel Kingdom here I am!''

    Nial found hundreds of Angels below him. All of them were heading to the same direction, which was more than enough reason for him to alter his direction as well.

    He allowed one of his new Devils to emerge from the Heart of Darkness before hended on its back. It was a humongous Roc with a wingspan of more than a thousand meters that emerged beneath Nial and he grasped the darkness that oozed out of it tightly. The Roc shot through the air, pulling Nial with it as they passed by the Angels who looked up when the massive shadow of the Devilized Roc reached them.

    However, before they could even shout out loudly to warn theirrades, they noticed that something had emerged from within the Shadows of the huge beast that continued to loom over them.

    Nial had shrouded his body in darkness before he began to execute the Grasp of Eclipse technique. He retrieved a fencing saber from his spatial ring and activated the forgotten runic constetions engraved on it by injecting his dark energy. The flexible de stiffened and it began to vibrate rapidly while mantling itself with severalyers of Nial''s dark energy.

    Nial jumped through the Devilized Roc''s shadows and he emerged in front of the strongest Elite Angel in his proximity.

    "How are we doing today, little birdie?" He asked the Angel with a bright smile while thrusting the fencing saber forward. A huge shield of light manifested in front of the Angel, blocking the iing attack before it could affect him. The Elite Angel at the Peak of the Keltia rank took a moment to ovee the shock about the sudden appearance of an opponent in the heart of their territory.

    That ought to be impossible, yet, it had happened. Nial ignored the holy shield that had manifested in front of him as the vibrating fencing saber pierced a tiny hole into it. The fencing saber might not be good for anything else but it had a terrific destructive power when it came topact and simple attacks.

    The fencing saber pierced through the holy shield, which shattered a momentter. Following that, the Elite Angel issued an attack with sword manifested out of light. The attack cut through the exact spot Nial had been standing in just a moment earlier. However, it only cut through empty air and the outline of Nial''s body manifested andpressed from the dark miasma of the Hodur''s Heir Curse. As the Elite Angel cut through thepressed dark miasma, it burst open and unleashed a smokescreen in a radius of 50 meters.

    The dark miasma had special properties that restricted the Elite Angel''s senses, which resulted in the Original not realizing that more opponents had appeared all around it.

    While Nial had reappeared behind the Elite Angel, a huge Eclipse Fire Lion and a few more Devils capable of flying had emerged around the Angel as well.

    The Elite Angel didn''t even know what was going on as it was already being torn apart, its life reaped by the darkness that seemed to devour it whole.

    Nial didn''t hesitate to eliminate the other Angels as well. It was not necessary for him to release any of his abilities as of now since his opponents were not even strong enough to fight against the Devils that were slowly emerging from within him.

    Shadowmancer Dexter pursued the copsing body while making use of his ability to materialize the Shadows of the deceased. A Shadow Angel was born not long after. It screamed out loudly and held its head tightly as if something or someone was wing at its brain, altering its memories, behavior and beliefs.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial visualized this clearly but he was more focused on the Angels all around him that did not leave him much scope to observe the things Dexter was trying with the materialized Shadow of the Elite Angel.

    He only realized that something interesting was happening when the Shadow Elite Angel emerged behind thest living Angel in their proximity a few minutester. A spear manifested from Shadows had materialized in the Shadow Elite Angel''s hand and it pierced the spear straight through the back of the Angel, puncturing his heart in the process.

    Nial visualized the Shadow Elite Angel and he noticed a few things about the Shadow. Shadowmancer Dexter''s shapeless body spread all over the ground to materialize the Shadows and remnants of the Angels that had been killed while Nial and his Devils were trying to fathom the difference between the normal Shadows and the Shadow Angels.

    There seemed to be a big difference but Nial was not certain if he detected it properly.

    "They retained their intelligence, didn''t they?" Nial thus asked when Shadowmancer Dexter returned to his side with more than ten Shadow Angels in his Army of Shadow Monsters.

    "It''s more that their consciousness and instincts are still intact. I merely corrupted their outer shell or vessel by forcing the remnants of their Soul inside the materialized Shadows. There is not much to it." Dexter said offhandedly without bothering to exin the process behind the corruption of the Angels, let alone how remnants of their souls were fused with the materialized Shadow.

    "Whatever, let''s go!" Nial ordered, knowing that now was not the time to ask questions. Right now, they had to let actions speak. With that in mind, they returned to the Devilized Roc''s back where their journey to find Be continued.

    Nial was able to visualize several thousand sources of mana from further away. The sources of mana mostly belonged to the Angels, but he could also visualize three somewhat familiar sources of mana a bit further away.

    They were shing while the Angels joined every now and then, harming two of the three mana sources. At least they were trying to harm, or possibly even kill the sources of mana, just to fail miserably.

    "Hurry up!" Nial instructed the Roc whose speed went up a notch in an instant. It didn''t take long before they reached the battlefield where the mana in the surrounding area was disturbed and chaotically swirling around.

    Ignoring the mana, Nial unleashed all of his Devils. His head flicked to Shadowmancer Dexter, who merely nodded his head before an Army of more than a hundred thousand Shadow Monsters was unleashed.

    The Shadow Monster Army might not be as grand as the army that had stormed through the High Mythician Dungeon if one were to look at the numbers only, but the small army was certainly stronger. Most Shadow Monsters were either at the Peak of the Deux-rank in terms of strength, or at the Low Keltia rank. There were also more than a hundred Mythician Shadow Monsters that were powerful enough to face Mythician Angels as long as they were in a duel.

    As Nial unleashed his subordinates and the subordinates of his subordinates, his expression was slowly changing. Sensing the somewhat familiar source of mana from Be, his dark energy was going wild. It wanted to taste the blood of the woman who had wrongfully taken one of his beloved.

    ''Just wait a moment¡­I will give you what you desire!''

 Chapter 586 Overwhelming Forces

    The moment Nial joined therge-scale battle, chaos ensued.

    While there had only been two opponents fighting the Angels, those two origin humans had been powerful enough to survive until now. They had only entered small skirmishes until today, which had at the most turned into a longer but not so dangerous battle.

    Nial could clearly perceive the ravaging torrents of the Elements that were released more than ten kilometers away from him. There was an Inferno on one side of the battlefield and a Blizzard on the other. Both were natural catastrophes that were strong enough to bother even the Angels and Elite Angels at the Keltia rank, and that was exactly what they were doing.

    The chaos the two catastrophes caused was already hard to fathom. Yet, the appearance of more than a hundred thousand opponents elevated the small crisis of the Angels into a catastrophe.

    The numerical advantage of Nial''s Army was close to a hundred to one. That was definitely more than enough to obliterate the Angels on the battlefield.

    And that was why Nial didn''t join the battlefield immediately. He perceived everything neatly, shrouding his body in darkness that had been reinforced by the influx of Chaos, crimson moonlight, and the Essence of Darkness.

    The shroud of darkness had crimson and silver veins spreading through it, reinforcing the darkness'' endurance and power output drastically. Nial felt much stronger than before but he didn''t even think of using ordinary means to fight against the Angels all around him.

    On the contrary, he shot to the center of the battlefield where he remained hovering high in the air and observing things. He fused his Chaos, crimson moonlight, and bits of the Essence of Darkness as he unleashed the strengthened version of Dominion.

    "Angels, freeze in ce!" Nial shouted out loud, his vocal cords and the words that escaped his lips amplified to the extreme.

    He amplified his vocal cords and his words with the fused energy and simultaneously activated the Dominion ability with it.

    Because of those amplifications, his throat and mouth began to ache in near-unbearable pain. The potency of the reinforced Chaos was still beyond his capacity and he was struggling to use it to his liking.

    That was a little discouraging but not something that could dampen Nial''s spirits. Ever since he had fought against Dn, his mindset had changed a little. Was it truly an inconvenience to feel a little bit of pain if that was necessary to eliminate all of his problems in an instant? Nial didn''t think so. He was fine with pain as long as the cause of his pain brought him closer to his goal.

    His pain was doing exactly that right now as the vast majority of Angels stopped moving all of a sudden. The effect of his Dominion ability wore off after a second or two for the majority of them but that was more than enough for the Army of Shadow Monsters to wreak havoc and tear apart dozens, if not hundreds of Angels.

    Nial was satisfied with the result that unfolded in front of him. He noticed that his sudden interference in the battle of the two parties attracted some attention but he couldn''t really be bothered about that. Nial shot to the ground where he merged with some shadows while exerting the Grasp of Eclipse technique.

    He intended to reappear behind the Elementalist at the Keltia rank but changed his target under the influence of his dark energy that went on a rampage, exuding more darkness from within his body.

    There was only one Devil inside his Heart of Darkness and Nial didn''t hesitate to undergo an Ancient Devilization with that Devil. Instead of joining the battle, the Devilized Roc had returned to Nial''s Heart of Darkness.

    Nial fused with it, causing huge feathered wings to grow out of his shoulder des, followed by his fingers turning intorge ws. As he re-emerged from the shadows, his appearance changed drastically, and the same could be said about his strength.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Devilized Roc was extremely powerful, and the Ancient Devilization fused their bodies temporarily,bining their strength to a certain extent.

    Thus, the moment Nial emerged behind the golden-haired woman, whose entire being seemed to exude a sense of purity and holiness, he shed at her, digging his ws deep inside her shoulder.

    It was the first time that Nial got his hands on Be''s blood since she killed his mother, and it was about time that she would pay for what she did in the past, reliving every torturous pain his mother had gone through.

    "Die, bitch!" Nial thundered as he made a somersault in the air while tightly holding onto Be''s shoulders. The Saintess of the Angels didn''t even get time to react as she was already flung to the ground. Her golden eyes glowed brightly and time around her seemed to slow down in response just for a being overflowing with darkness to manifest in front of her.

    It was not difficult for Be to determine who the being of darkness was, especially since that harrowing figure haunted her in her dreams at least once a month.

    Goosebumps spread all over her body as Nial inched closer with a velocity she couldn''t counter. Even fighting against the Mythician Origin Human was not even as dangerous as encountering Nial, whose entire being seemed to be consumed by the dark energy that upied every single cell in his body, flooding him with rage and wrath.

    Nial knew that he was slowly being devoured but he didn''t care about that at this moment. His ws dug deep inside her flesh once again before he propelled her to the ground with a shocking velocity.

    The force of their impact was enough to obliterate parts of their surrounding area. Of course, none of them could be bothered about this as Nial continued to sh at the Saintess of the Angels.

    He only stopped attacking Be when he noticed that she was smiling faintly.

    "Reflection!" She screamed all of a sudden and a tremendous amount of holy light was released toward Nial explosively. It destroyed the darkness that oozed out of him and flung him high into the air.

    All of a sudden his upper body and left shoulder were riddled with w wounds, the same wounds as Be had been inflicted by him.

    ''So that''s how it is?'' Nial thought to himself while using the dark energy within him to temporarily stop his bleeding.

    Be was just about to get up from the crater her impact had caused when the earth around her seemed to consume her. A bubble of water formed around her head while her arms and legs were slowly getting buried in the earth that seemed to cling to her. At the same time, an icicle the size of a small car had formed hundreds of meters above Be''s head.

    Nial perceived zing mes within the icicle and a faint smile formed on his lips as he witnessed how a very familiar person finished hisst attack on the young woman who had caused lots of trouble.

    Be had been both of their friends in the past. However, she was their opponent right now. That was something the Elementalist understood very well. Many things changed in recent years, including his understanding of the rtionship between people who were supposed to be friends forever just for a single incident to tear them apart, forever.

    He sighed deeply as he waved his arm downward. The icicle that mantled zing mes shot downward with a horrifying velocity and it crashed onto the Saintess of the Angels, whose golden eyes widened even further.

 Chapter 587 Divine Transformation

    When therge icicle that was filled with zing mes smashed onto the ground of the crater, a loud explosion resounded in the surrounding area.

    The zing mes within the icicle were unleashed moments after the impact. It was as if they were just waiting to break out of their icy cage as they surged out of the small gap through the icicle rather than destroying the iciclepletely. The icicle was drilled into the ground with the intention to kill the woman who had been buried below.

    As for the mes, they were supposed to deliver the final blow, if that was necessary, in the first ce. While Nial sensed many things in the center of the crater, he understood very well and disliked the fact that Be was far from dead. In fact, the mana within her seemed to be surging, getting stronger over time.

    ''Ability? Special trait?'' Nial began to wonder while trying to control his rampaging dark energy to perceive exactly what was going on. He wanted to get to know more about the changes that were urring in the center of the crater, only to realize that Be had disappeared.

    One moment she was getting crushed by therge icicle, and the other moment she had vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, the overly familiar Elementalist was making his way toward Nial. The Elementalist had changed quite a bit since they parted ways but he had still the same old, foolish smile on his face.

    "Hey Nia¨C..." He said, just to be interrupted by Nial who shot forward as he sensed that something was wrong around his estranged friend.

    "Run!"

    However, it was already toote. Be or the person he presumed to be Be appeared next to Mathias. She waved her hand, which caused a humongous hand of light to manifest above Mathias, who was foolish enough to look up rather than run away in an instant. He looked at the hand that had its palm wide outstretched just to react only after the t hand smashed down onto him.

    Mathias was pushed into the ground by the t hand that had been manifested out of light, causing Nial to curse in his mind.

    But the woman whom he presumed to be Be didn''t seem to mind the killing intent pointed at her anymore. She was hovering in the air with a smug expression, looking tall and proud, her beauty radiating like a beacon in the darkness. As she closed her radiant golden eyes and raised her arms to the sky, a brilliant golden light enveloped her, seemingly as if to finish the transformation of a mere mortal into a divine being.

    Her hair fluttered in the wind like molten gold, cascading down her shoulders in shimmering waves, while her eyes seemed to ze with the intensity and brightness of the sun itself the moment she opened them. Her eyes exuded power, wisdom, and arrogance as she looked over to Nial, whose dark energy was being repelled from the brilliant golden light.

    The corners of her lips curled upward when she understood this, and her eyes were fixated on him as she wondered what to do with Nial.

    A holy aura mantled her, creating a semi-transparent halo around her head, giving Be an otherworldly presence. She was not the same as before anymore. She was now unleashing every bit of power that had been granted to her, providing her with immense power, beauty, and the worship of the Angels.

    ''Divine Transformation?'' Nial guessed, immediately thinking about his fight with Sylvian. Be''s transformation was stronger than the changes Sylvian had undergone when they fought. That was quite bothersome even if Nial didn''t think that it made a huge difference.

    No matter how high Be''s power was after the Divine Transformation, she was merely at the Low Keltia rank. Her vessel was not capable of withstanding the tremendous power of a divine being. That meant Be wouldn''t be able to endure staying in her current condition for long!

    Nial was just about to initiate an attack when a familiar woman emerged next to Be. The woman didn''t even think of using any special means to attack Be as she smashed the mace she was holding against Be''s shoulder.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The swing of the mace was powerful enough to create gusts of wind that passed through Be before the blunt weapon impacted hard upon her shoulder.

    Nial perceived everything in his surrounding as precisely as possible. Taking everything into consideration, Nial disappeared from his earlier spot before he re-emerged next to the hand imprint that had formed on the ground. He released his dark energy to shatter the hand of light that continued to push Mathias into the ground.

    At the same time, Nial exuded dark energy from every single pore of his body to mantle himself once again. He was already wounded but the dark energy filling the wounds had already stopped the bleeding, working as a temporary band-aid.

    Mathias was struggling to get up from the ground. His head was shaking and his entire body ached. Nheless, he looked at the human-like being that was mantled in darkness with squinted eyes.

    "Nial, is that you?" He asked weakly, and in response, a hideous grimace formed out of the dark energy that shrouded Nial appeared.

    "I don''t know who else you expected to meet, but I am Nial, indeed. But that is far more important¡­what the hell are you doing here with my sister?!" Nial''s voice turned cold at the end, and Mathias immediately felt that he was truly facing his old friend, Nial, once again.

    He didn''t expect to meet Nial in the Angel Kingdom, let alone that he would have been smashed into the ground, covered in dirt, and injured while meeting his old friend after close to two decades psed since they parted ways.

    Mathias smiled lightly but there was no good answer he could give Nial, not that quickly at least.

    "Things turned out like this. I can tell you once we''re done here," Mathias said, hinting to Nial that they should focus on defeating Be rather than talking about the good old times. Now was not the time to chitchat.

    Nial nodded his head even though he was already focusing on the battle that had ensued between his sister and Be. While Be''s strength had elevated to far above the Mythician rank, Sabrina was not doing much worse either.

    She didn''t seem to be able to release her mana outside the body, which Nial noticed the moment he recalled a few of her abilities that would have been quite suitable to be used in abination every now and then. The mana inside her seemed to be sealed within her, resulting in a faster umtion of power and eleration of the cultivation process.

    After all, her body forced Sabrina to make use of every trace of mana that she absorbed naturally.

    Nial felt that this could also be quite dangerous if poisoned or decaying mana were to be absorbed. However, from the looks of it, his sister was doing perfectly fine. He didn''t have to worry about Sabrina destroying her cultivation progress mistakenly.

    It was far more important to make sure that she woulde out alive today and that there wouldn''t be an issue leaving this ce once they got rid of the Saintess of the Angels, Be Morningstar.

 Chapter 588 Reinforcement

    Nial intended to join the battle once again. However, he quickly noticed that there was not much left for him to do.

    In fact, if he were to join the fight between Be and Sabrina right now, his own sister may unintentionally consider him as a reinforcement of the Angel''s Saintess. That was obviously nonsense because he was mantled in darkness and the Saintess released a holy aura that repelled his darkness, but it was always better to be safe than sorry.

    Sabrina seemed to be faring greatly against Be Morningstar, either way, much to Nial''s surprise. Not that he was not happy about it. Even though Be was in her Divine form, a state that elevated her strength manyfold, she didn''t seem to be able to overwhelm Sabrina who wielded a mere mace.

    Nial was not too sure what exactly had happened to his little sister but she was much stronger than ever before and had even surpassed him in terms of cultivation rank. She had created not one but five more pirs than Nial and had already finished her first Mana Temple as well. Each of these steps ought to take years even if one were to be the fastest Cultivator.

    It was only obvious but it didn''t really make sense for Sabrina to have advanced to the Mythician rank. Oddly enough, Nial thought about the Realm of the Forgotten Time once again. He was pretty sure that Sabrina had been in a ce where time and reality were distorted. This must have allowed her to simply fly through the ranks and be a Mythician Original.

    As for Mathias, he was already at the Keltia rank as well. He was the fastest origin human to reach the Keltia rank since Nial was not an origin human, in the first ce.

    While Mathias'' progress andbat prowess astonished Nial a little, he was more intrigued by his sister. Mathias focused on the fight between Sabrina and Be as well. There was not much else to do since the surroundings had been cleared of the remaining Angels. Be was all by herself once again, surrounded by more than a hundred thousand Shadow Monsters, including more than a thousand Shadow Angels that had materialized with the great efforts of the Shadowmancer Dexter.

    The Shadowmancer was now exhausted but that was only obvious. He had materialized the Shadows of more than a thousand powerful Angels while retaining their consciousness, and parts of their souls before he corroded them, turning the blessed and kind Angels into demonic existences, who danced to his tunes.

    Mathias could hardly hide his surprise when faced with the existences that were shrouded in darkness and shadows, just like Nial, but he knew that they were all Nial''s subordinates or hispanions.

    That didn''t mean he was less surprised, though he felt a little bit more reassured to know that they had a numerical advantage. Nheless, the Elementalist began to wonder what exactly Nial had done in thest two decades for his strength to improve that much. Not only was it quite obvious that he was already at the Mid Keltia rank but he was also in control of more than a hundred existences at the Mythician rank. If that was not an achievement in itself, Mathias didn''t know what was.

    Maybe it was not possible for Nial to defeat Be all by himself, but that was not necessary if he could throw thousands of loyal subordinates at her. They would weaken and injure her, slowly and steadily driving her to insanity. Mathias nced over to Nial, who looked like a Dark Knight shrouded in the darkness that had consumed him.

    Nial was observing the fight of Be and Sabrina with increasing tension. The two were flying through the air while raining fierce blows upon one another. While Sabrina was trying to overwhelm Be with brute force, fearsome speed, and unique movement patterns, Be countered most attacks with the use of her light affinity and holy affinity.

    It looked like she could predict most of Sabrina''s next moves which resulted in the creation of a light shield and holy sts that were unleashed in the direction Sabrina intended to rush a momentter. Be was still far from analyzing the attack and movement pattern that Sabrina utilized but her radiant golden eyes allowed her to see far more than one could fathom.

    ''She predicts the next direction of iing attacks using the movement of the muscles, eyes, and other indicating factors of Sabrina''s future movements¡­looks like this bitch has gotten stronger as well¡­'' Nial thought while trying to regain control of his rampaging dark energy. Unfortunately, attempting to control his dark energy all over his body made things moreplicated for him. The highly vtile dark energy was slowly but steadily spreading through his entire body, affecting and influencing every cell of his body.

    More dark energy naturally exuded from his pores, turning into an stic secondyer of his skin, just that thisyer of skin seemed alive and writhed like a slime, trying to reach out to Be with the intention to tear her apart and devour the grotesque existence in her entirety.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial was slowly overwhelmed by the desire to join the battle as well. His hands were still ws and his strength was not too far off from Sabrina''s. There was still a big difference between them but that was a gap he could ovee quite easily with his abilities and the usage of dark energy. Furthermore, he was currently in an Ancient Devilization with the Roc, one of his fastest and strongest Devils.

    It didn''t like fighting all by itself but that was not further problematic since fusing together meant that Nial was still fighting and that the Devil Roc would remain inside his Heart of Darkness.

    Nial was merely waiting for the perfect moment to join the battle between the two women when he perceived something that requested his immediate action. He shot into the air the moment a swirl of golden light manifested several kilometers away from the raging battle of the women. Nial was busy visualizing everything down to the finest detail and kept an eye on the possibility of someone from Be''s side suddenly interfering in the fight and attacking his sister by surprise.

    That was exactly what happened a split secondter as a being emerged out of the golden swirl.

    The moment Nial perceived the being, chills ran down his spine.

    The being looked like golden spirits that were floating in the air. It had a pair of golden semitranslucent wings that hung down its back, unmoving.

    Its entire body was golden in color and it even looked like the body was of metal, to begin with. The being''s face was covered by a mask that looked eerily simr to a holographic screen.

    The mask made it impossible to see the being''s face, even after Nial unleashed the strongest form of his Mana Sense. Around the holographic mask was a unique-looking crown.

    It looked like the golden crown was part of the Spectran''s body. The Spectran Nial perceived had a golden horn protruding from the area right above his mask and the crown seemed to have grown around the crown or from within it.

    The lengthy body of the Spectran didn''t show any signs of hidden muscles. There was no bulge from muscles anywhere on his body and he didn''t seem to possess the means to reproduce either, or so Nial thought at least.

    The humanoid, yet also somewhat mechanical appearance of the Spectran caused various emotions to erupt within Nial.

    After all, he knew what kind of existence had just appeared within the golden swirl.

    ''What the hell is a Primordial doing here?!?''

 Chapter 589 Primordial

    Nial had heard and read enough about Primordials to know what they looked like and what their unique powers were.

    Visualizing the being that emerged from the golden swirl made it clear that a Primordial had emerged on Jundra even though that didn''t make any sense.

    Primordials were usually Gods and not existences that could emerge on Jundra yet. Nial was pretty sure that something was going entirely wrong, but he didn''t have the time to think about it.

    Being in control of the Supreme Power of Spatial control, the Spectran who was several kilometers away from the battle between Be and Sabrina moved his arm slowly.

    A golden spear materialized in an instant and it was shot toward the two women.

    Nial could roughly guess that the Primordial was only able to stay and be on Jundra by suppressing his power to the bare minimum, but that could hardly be considered good news because he was pretty sure that the Primordial was on the side of their enemy. And that was bad news!

    His raging dark energy allowed him to act in an instant. He exerted the Grasp of Eclipse technique and emerged behind Sabrina, whom he pushed aside a mere moment before the golden spear would hit her square in the chest.

    The golden spear covered a distance of several kilometers in an instant, giving Nial no leeway to evade the attack after he pushed his sister aside. It pierced through his abdomen, removing every bit of skin, muscles, and flesh that came in contact with the spear that was not even five centimeters wide.

    Despite being small in size, the damage caused by the spear was tremendous. The darkness shrouding Nial could barely cut down the size of the golden spear, decreasing the damage caused by it to a certain extent.

    Nheless, after taking the hit, Nial coughed up blood while his abdomen turned into a fountain of blood. He was trying to focus his dark energy on stopping the severe bleeding but that was far from easy.

    His dark energy was raging and it wanted to devour the Angel''s Saintess right at this instance instead of healing him first. Nial forced his dark energy under control and filled the gap in his abdomen with it, forcefully stopping the bleeding.

    He would heal fast due to his Fairies'' Blessing and the evolved version of the Symbol of Life, but that didn''t mean he was not restricted by the sudden injury he had sustained. Furthermore, it was not as if the battle was already concluded.

    His intervention in the battle attracted some attention toward him, including the attention of the Spectran, who didn''t expect someone to be fast enough toe to the human''s rescue.

    "You little idiot¡­" Nial grumbled as he visualized the expression on his sister''s face. She was confused, hurt, and utterly shocked. Her eyes were wide open and they got teary at the pained expression that was unveiled below the darkness shroud not too long after. The darkness shroud dispersed slowly as he channelized it to stop the bleeding in his abdomen. Once that was done, he could fight properly, without any restrictions once again!

    "Brother¡­" Sabrina bawled all of a sudden and fat drops of tears started to trickle down her cheeks. Nial was baffled as well but he couldn''t help but smile weirdly, forcing the pain that spread through his entire upper body to disperse.

    "Now you call me brother, huh?" Nial responded, "Acting that emotionally all of a sudden won''t have an effect on me. After all, we''re in the middle of a battle!"

    Nial didn''t feel like scolding Sabrina right now, though he felt that there was no time to cry right now or chitchat either.<novelnext></novelnext>

    There was also no time for Nial to say, ''You should have gone to visit dad instead. He went through a lot when you weren''t there.''. Nial felt like saying that just for the sake of his father, but he held back.

    He was still under the influence of the rampaging dark energy that began to cover his entire body once again. He reached out for Sabrina''s arm and shrouded her in a thin membrane of dark energy that was further amplified by crimson moonlight, the Essence of Darkness and Chaos.

    "Now you can fight again!" He just said as Sabrina looked down at her body was covered in ck with silver and red lines mixed within. She shot forward just a momentter, delivering a feisty attack on Be, who had slowly pulled back as Nial and Sabrina were talking.

    Be Morningstar clearly recalled the siblings and Mathias, and she couldn''t help but feel a sudden sting in her heart. Blocking Sabrina''s attack was growing gradually more difficult, which got only worse now that she was covered in the darkness skin that enhanced her strength a little further and enveloped her like a shield.

    At the same time, there was Nial who had yet to attack her. Be clearly recalled the monstrosity Nial turned into when he lost control of his own body. That had yet to happen even though the darkness shrouding him was already lunging forward as if it was trying to reach and kill her.

    The only advantage she had was the reinforcement that had arrived all of a sudden. Be didn''t expect the Spectran to actuallye over to er help. The Angels and the Spectran who had appeared were in an agreement due to a specific reason. That meant Be was needed by the Spectran, preferably alive, and vice versa. The Spectran couldn''t allow anyone to kill Be now that they had finally met.

    However, Sabrina was not someone to back off, and she was filled with anger due to the wound Nial had sustained. Her attacks pushed Be back, just for Sabrina''s feet to push her away from Be''s shoulders as if she was herunching pad. Sabrina used her entire strength and a considerable amount of mana to shoot toward the Spectran who had gotten closer to the battlefield to observe it more clearly.

    "You ugly piece of metal, how dare you injure my brother!"

    Nial frowned deeply when he heard what his sister shouted. It was nice that she was taking revenge for him¡­but against a Primordial, all by herself?

    Rather than seeking revenge, it was much better to survive. Furthermore, he was not dead and didn''t n to die anytime soon.

    Nial was just about to use his Grasp of Eclipse technique when the sky and everything around them were suddenly dyed golden. The entire battlefield turned golden as the space around him was cut off, preventing him from jumping straight into the shadows of others.

    The Grasp of Eclipse technique was still useful as it increased his movement speed to a high degree but things were still far from easy. Be appeared in front of Nial, wielding a golden sword that had materialized in her hand all of a sudden.

    "How about you fight me rather than wait for your sister''s death?" Be asked while the halo on her head began to glow even brighter than before. Her strength kept increasing, but that was thest thing Nial could be worried about.

    He gave in to the desire of his dark energy when he realized that he might lose his sister just like they had lost their mother.

    His sister was about to face a Primordial, all by herself, after all and he would rather die trying to kill him than stand idly!

 Chapter 590 Protector, Master, Or...

    By allowing the rampaging dark energy to consume him, Nial further gave it a boost by unleashing more than half of the umted crimson moonlight inside his body.

    He did the same with his umted Essence of Darkness, enhancing the dark energy within and outside his body tremendously. Chaos was also unleashed within his body and it slowly seeped inside his dark energy, further reinforcing his strength.

    The Devil Roc was still fused with Nial but he was changing his form once again. His wings were growing in size and so were his ws. His darkness skin was swept through by eternal darkness, including both crimson and chaos veins that spread through his wings, ws, and the rest of his body.

    Be unleashed her holy aura while shing the golden longsword at Nial, whose dark energy didn''t disperse uponing in touch with the holy aura, not this time.

    On the contrary, his dark energy expanded the moment it sensed the holy aura. It was trying to expand and start a feisty battle with the holy aura. At the same time, Nial evaded the sword sh easily with a twist of his body and by moving to the side at a blinding speed. The Devil Roc''s wings allowed him to make these maneuvers possible, in the first ce, and it was also the Devil Roc''s ws that dug inside Be once again.

    Her Holy aura was trying to protect Be, who was still in her Divine Transformation, but it was not possible to disperse, let alone destroy the reinforced dark energy.

    On the contrary, the reinforced dark energy cut through the holy aura and Be''s shoulder viciously before spreading a tremendous amount of reinforced dark energy inside her.

    When Be was just about to activate her Reflection once again, the corners of Nial''s lip curled upward.

    "Shut up!" He shouted with the Dominion ability triggered by his reinforced dark energy. And as if on cue, Be shut her mouth close the moment it opened and her eyes widened.

    ''So she really has to shout Reflection out loud to activate the ability? That''s the downside for her¡­works for me, I guess.''

    Nial''s ws dug deep inside Be whose eyes would have widened even further if that was possible in the first ce.

    pping hisrge wings to make a big maneuver once again, Nial hovered on top of Be whom he kicked to the ground with all his might. A spear manifested in his hands and he inserted it with a tremendous amount of the torrent mana in the surrounding area while adding a touch of his rampaging, reinforced dark energy before he threw the spear at Be.

    The moment she smashed into the ground, vines of darkness, crimson vines, and silver vines covered her entire body. The vines pinned her to the ground where Be was forced to look at the mansion-sized dragon head that had emerged out of nowhere.

    Manifested through the Tier-3 Forgotten Broken Runic Spear with reinforced dark energy and mana, the dark blue dragon head with two crimson-silver eyes inched closer, its hot breath fanning her face.

    Be grit her teeth, unsure of how to survive the iing attack as the tremendous pressure originating from the seemingly simple spear throw turned into something she could hardly endure.

    She couldn''t even fathom the strength of the runic armament once it was to impact. The force may as well tear her apart. And that instilled a visceral fear inside her.

    Be screamed out at the top of her lungs, or she was trying to while unleashing every bit of strength her body held. A dazzling golden light was released explosively from Be who escaped the grasp of the darkness vines and the crimson vine. The only vines that restricted her were the vines manifested from pure chaos. Be was not sure how Nial was able to create something such powerful vines but there was no time to think about that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    She looked into the wide open maw of the dark blue Dragon head and was ready to unleash her strength upward to block the attack when arge golden portal manifested in front of the dragon head, devouring it in its entirety.

    The dragon head disappeared, ending Nial''s attack in an instant.

    However, that was not something Nial focused on. His range of perception and Mana Sense allowed him to perceive every bit of mana clearly.

    That made it possible for Nial to perceive the changes that had urred to the Spectran''s supreme spatial affinity control after it had summoned the golden domain that restricted the spatial movements of other existences.

    ''The restrictions on his powers and rank made things more difficult. Looks like you never had to multitask like that!'' Nial shouted in his mind, clearly understanding the difficulty of creating a genuine domain while simultaneously fighting against someone as powerful as Sabrina, and trying to protect someone else.

    Nial''s darkness domain was far from possibly being considered a genuine domain. In fact, it couldn''t even be considered a proper pseudo-domain since the only thing he did was spread dark energy into the ground by exerting the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique throughout it, and releasing simple manifestations of darkness through it.

    All of this was easily possible with exceptional control of his dark energy, and enough talent and proficiency with his cultivation technique. That was all it took for him to replicate a Lesser version of a Pseudo-Domain. As for a real domain, the Spectran had manifested it, though in a weakened version since it was not possible for him to make use of his Divinity, or full power on Jundra. The would expel the Spectran the moment he was to attempt using his full power.

    Nial released another Forgotten Broken Tier-3 Runic Armament which he threw straight at Be once again. However, this time it was not a means of attack to kill, but an attempt to weaken Be and restrict her once again.

    The Runic Armament turned into a dazzling light that forced everyone in the surroundings to squeeze their eyes shut. But even after they shut their eyes tightly, it was not possible to prevent the dazzling light to shine through their eyelids. Only Nial and the Spectran were unaffected, while Sabrina''s eyes were covered in darkness, preventing her from seeing anything even the dazzling light.

    Mathias cursed out loudly and so did Be, who felt a sudden grasp around her arm. The Spectran was forced to move. He reached out to her and teleported himself and Be several kilometers away with a second spatial portal.

    "That is Damian''s power, just stronger than he had been in the past¡­To think that his legacy would continue¡­" The Spectran mumbled to himself, ignoring the tight grasp he had around Be''s arm.

    "He cannot stay!"

    Nial perceived whatever the others in his surrounding were doing. He could also tell that Sabrina and Mathias were trying to search for Be when the dazzling light had dispersed. Nial knew where the Spectran and Be were located but what he couldn''t really fathom was the rtionship between the Spectran and Be.

    He was definitely hurting her right now but Be didn''t even think about saying anything. From the way Nial perceived the situation, Be had be the Primordial''s underling. However, that didn''t really make sense either!

    There was not really a reason for a Primordial toe to Jundra in its current state. There shouldn''t be enough value in the current Jundra to make a Primordial move.

    Yet, a Spectran had decided to rush to the aid of Be Morningstar, the Saintess of the Angels, a race that was not supposed to attract any attention of the Primordials.

 Chapter 591 Expelled From Jundra

    Nial was not sure how Be was able to attract the attention of a Spectran, but the Primordial eyed him vigntly.

    It didn''t allow him to get too close to B anymore either.

    "You really won''t leave that bitch for me to kill?" Nial asked all of a sudden.

    Be frowned in response but she chose to keep quiet since she could feel that every word spoken to Nial would worsen her situation, if that was possible, to begin with.

    "I need her, unfortunately," The Spectran responded, providing Nial the answer he didn''t really want to hear.

    Nheless, he charged toward the Spectran the moment it finished speaking. His eleration and reaction both were extremely fast as he created thousands of darkness needles all around Be and the Spectran.

    They weren''t right next to each other anymore, but there was now a small gap of a hundred meters between them. Nial tried to make use of that by shooting the darkness needles toward the Spectran, distracting him for a moment by forcing him to either counter the needles or teleport to a different spot.

    His n worked out decently enough as the Spectran teleported himself a hundred meters behind the original spot. Nial, who had been charging toward the Spectran changed his trajectory all of a sudden. He attacked Be, now that the Spectran was a bit further away, while releasing a bubble ofpressed dark miasma.

    The dark miasma expanded rapidly, covering a range of more than two hundred meters in an instant. Meanwhile, Nial had gotten his hands on Be. Be Morningstar was still in her Divine Transformation. Thus, she was neither weak nor easily weakened by the high potency of the dark miasma. On the contrary, her holy aura filtered the dark miasma, turning it into something else while she attacked with the golden longsword that had materialized in her hand once again.

    Her movements were rapid, but Nial perceived everything, allowing him to twist his body when the razor-sharp de was about to behead him. He evaded the sh by a hair''s breadth and was just about to pierce his ws deep inside her heart when everything around him seemed to change.

    Nial noticed that the dark miasma was forcefully pushed aside while a golden portal began to manifest around Be. The portal expanded rapidly and it pulled Be inside with a sudden pull. This pull was everything it took for her to evade the attack.

    The Spectran appeared next to Nial all of a sudden, but the young, blind Original didn''t even think of paying the Spectran anymore attention. His rampaging dark energy made him focus on none other than Be, and upon perceiving that she was about to escape his grasp once again, Nial went all out.

    He unleashed the entire darkness that was stored inside him, including the umted dark energy within his Heart of Darkness all at once. The rest of his crimson moonlight and Essence of Darkness were unleashed all at once as well.

    The heavens started to scream at the sudden power that was unleashed. Terror swept throughout the Spectran, who could only perceive that he was unable to move and that Nial had just entered the Spatial portal in which Be had been pulled.

    His mind was muddled due to the massive amount of darkness that weakened his senses and forcefully infiltrated him, making him feel things he never thought would be possible to feel on Jundra, not when there weren''t any Ancient Gods with the capability to defeat Primordials in the future.

    For the first time in eons, the Primordial felt the sensation of fear spreading through every cell of his body that reacted instinctively. His body and mind reacted subconsciously to the darkness that was about to corrode both his head and mind, thereby unleashing his Divinity.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The power unleashed by Nial was strong enough to shatter the weakened, golden domain that had swept through the surrounding, causing the Spectran to react reflexively to the dangers of an existence such as Nial Orin!

    He identally unleashed the power of his Divinity, instinctively changing the destination of the golden portal, whose color was slowly changing to a dark ck color.

    The Spectran froze in his ce once again when he saw the color of the Spatial portal that was supposed to heed hismands. Inserting his Divinity''s power into the portal ought to increase his control over the portal, but the Spectran noticed quite early that his portal had been captured, that the destination had been changed, and that his Divine Power was still being deprived of the portal even though he didn''tmand it anymore.

    Just as the Spectran was about to change his approach to the given predicament, the world around him turned white. His Divinity was forcefully deactivated and he was expelled from Jundra. Forcefully thrown back to where he originally came from, the Spectran ended up staring nkly at the open space in front of him.

    Jundra had intervened when it detected the usage of a Divinity, expelling the Spectran, leaving him with no way to find out the whereabouts of the spatial portal that had been deprived of his control, yet was still being nourished through his Divinity.

    "Something went awfully wrong," He mumbled, knowing that he could do nothing about it.

    Nial and Be were bound tond somewhere in the vast Universe, hopefully inside it, and it was only a matter of time before Nial would tear apart Be Morningstar, the key to the ce the Spectran had to enter to retrieve something that originally belonged to him, in the first ce!

    While the Spectran stared nkly at the space tens of thousands of gxies away from Jundra, Sabrina, Mathias, and more than a dozen Devils stared nkly at the spatial portal whose color had now changed to a dark purple.

    Kaeldur, Tyrant, and Ryu burst forward, shooting past Sabrina and Mathias with blinding speed. They charged into the dark purple portal or intended to charge inside, just for the sound of several bones breaking to resound through the area as the dark purple spatial portal repelled the three most loyal subordinates of the second-generation Lord of Darkness.

    When they were repelled, the Devils issued thunderous roars and bellows that reverberated through the surrounding area for several minutes.

    Sabrina looked at the unfolding scene, realization dawning upon her. She was just starting to realize that Nial had been taken away from her even before she could have a thorough discussion with him. They hadn''t seen each other for nearly two decades, yet he was taken away even this time, snatching the chance of a sweet reunion with him.

    "What are we going to do?!" She asked, sounding miserable while Mathais smiled at her with kind eyes, gently rubbing her back. "Nial will survive and we will meet him in the future. You know how tough your brother is more than anyone else, believe him!"

    Sabrina looked at Mathias with teary eyes, but seeing the kindliness in his eyes, she couldn''t help but force a smile on her lips. However, she then lifted her fist, ready to deliver a feisty blow straight to his face, only to halt in her tracks when all the Devils turned around to her.

    They stared at her nkly which caused Sabrina to slowly move her hands.

    "What is going on here?!

 Chapter 592 Desperation

    "Master said that you are his sister. Come with us and meet your father!" Kaeldur approached Sabrina somewhat calmly as he looked at the woman who didn''t seem even remotely rted to Nial.

    They were totally different, whether it was their demeanor, their powers, or their attitude. But that was to be expected since Sabrina and Nial were not rted by blood.

    Kaeldur knew that Sabrina had yet to get to know this little piece of information. She was oblivious to the truth, though that didn''t matter to Kaeldur, whose mind was filled with other things. He was more worried about Nial than Sabrina, especially because Nial was the only reason for Kaeldur to bother about Sabrina''s existence in the first ce.

    "At least the Devil Roc was with him¡­better than nothing¡­I guess¡­" He mumbled to himself while he looked at all the other Devils, including Ryu. They were unsure of what to do and where to go. Without a given order and Nial by their side, they felt as if they had free reign and were allowed to do whatever they desired.

    While that was great, they felt as if something was missing that something was not right. It made them feel iplete and as if they had lost a limb.

    Thus, one of the Devils had to take charge of the others, even if it was just until Nial would return. It was better to do something rather than remain idle, or panic. Nial was not dead and everyone was certain that he would return sooner orter.

    At least that was what everyone was hoping for, even if they had no idea where exactly Nial ended up.

    While Kaeldur was slowly taking charge of the Devils, and also bringing Sabrina along with Mathias back to the Orion Shelter which required them to travel several months, Nial''s situation was entirely different.

    His range of perception and Mana Sense were fully unleashed, devouring the purest mana he had ever sensed before. He replenished his used up dark energy as quickly as possible but the amassed energy within his Heart of Darkness, and the crimson moonlight, which he had used up, wasn''t getting easily replenished either.

    The moonlight was slowly piling up inside him, telling him that a moon was somewhere close. As for his Essence of Darkness, Nial was not sure how long it would take to replenish it but he had other things to pay attention to.

    His surroundings were so cold that his body began to freeze. His hands and feet were already numb and he had to coat them with darkness before he expelled the cold from his body. Time passed slowly until Nial realize that they were actually in an open space.

    A was nearby and he could sense that Be was already fleeing to the. Flying through space was not much of a problem at their cultivation rank, but Be''s Divine Transformation was slowly wearing off. She was much weaker than before and had noticed that Nial was close on her heels.

    She had no idea what part of the universe they had been transported to, but with Nial behind her, there could hardly be anything worse.

    Charging to the, it was only a matter of time before she felt the gravitational force of the weighing down on her. In no time, her body turned into aet that shot down to the ground. She was breathing heavily and was trying to calm down. However, her mind didn''t allow her to calm down.

    On the contrary, the more she thought about her current situation, the worse things turned out for her. Be''s chest heaved up and down from her rapid breathing, her heart was palpitating quickly and she was having a hard time forming a coherent thought.

    When she was about to crash into the ground, Be slowed down. She nced around to see whether there were any ferocious beasts or some members of a foreign race who wouldunch a surprise attack on her. When she was positive that no such thing would happen, she sat down on the ground afterward. Her body was trembling violently and it temporarily resisted her urge to go somewhere.

    Continuing to breathe heavily, she looked up at the sky, hoping to never see Nial descending near her. However, it was just when she diverted her gaze that she saw something, or rather someone emerging from within her shadows.

    Be jumped up from the ground with a scream and she began to flee. However, there was no escape for her. She was in a weakened state now that her Divine Transformation had worn off, but to her grave misfortunes, Nial was far from weakened. He was in his peak state, and further strengthened knowing that he was about to receive the revenge he had sought for an eternity.

    His entire body exuded the same terrifying darkness as before. The hands that had turned into ws were erged through the manifestation of darkness that shrouded them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "How does it feel?" Nial asked, his eerily calm voice ringing in Be''s ears, causing her hair to stand up on its end.

    "W-What¡­are y-you talking about?!" She shouted out in a shrill voice that was like the chirping of birds to Nial.

    "How does it feel knowing that I will kill you?"

    Nial''s words yed in a loop through Be''s mind over and over again. Her expression turned even paler than before if that was even possible to begin with and she swallowed her saliva.

    When Nial took a step closer to her, she would try to take a step back. Be never gave up running away, but she quickly noticed that Nial was still much stronger than her, even if he might be bleeding from several wounds and that he was actually much weaker than before.

    Darkness oozed out of Nial, and vines formed out of it. The vines shot forward and coiled around Be''s legs. She fell to the ground and was pulled toward Nial, while desperately trying to anchor her fingers in the wet earth beneath her, digging into the mud viciously.

    However, nothing worked out. She ended up at Nial''s feet who towered above her with nothing but coldness and hatred to offer her.

    "We¡­We need to work to-gether¡­you need me to survive¡­you don''t even know where we are¡­if you want the Spectran toe and help, I need to stay alive!!" Be struggled to speak as she was desperately trying to find a way to change Nial''s mind and avoid her death.

    But Nial just smiled in return.

    "I really don''t care where I am. Even if I''vended in a different Universe, I can find a way back to Jundra¡­.don''t worry, since that is not something you will have to bother about¡­" Nial spoke, quietly and coldy as the darkness of his right w expanded rapidly.

    "And now¡­die!"

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 Chapter 593 Space Traveling

    The lifeless golden eyes of the young Saintess seemed to stare in Nial''s direction as he sat on the ground near her lifeless body.

    He didn''t hesitate to tear Be apart. There was no trace of remorse nor was there any self-satisfaction when he seeded in taking revenge on the woman who had dared to take his mother''s life. At the end of the day, killing Be Morningstar, the Saintess of the Angels, wouldn''t bring his mother back to life.

    That was a fact and something Nial had to ept. Nheless, the emotions that coursed through his entire being made it quite obvious that he felt a little better knowing that the Saintess hadn''t been granted a happy ending.

    For Nial, that was more than enough, though he was not too sure what he was supposed to do. Leaving behind Be''s body was the best option since he was not willing to give her any kind of funeral. Her body had been torn apart into pieces, with parts of her body scattered all over the flourishing grass in the proximity.

    Nial could still perceive her body parts but he ignored them. He hoped that Be had suffered a lot in thosest moments and had felt the pain that his mother has gone through before the light dimmed in her eyes. He genuinely hoped that she had the worst end even though he knew that this was probably not the case.

    Be had been desperate but her end had been rather quick. It didn''t even require five minutes before the vigor in her eyes began to disperse. Thest bits of vigor was wiped out from her eyes not long after and her body went rigid once until everything was finally over and her head lolled to the side.

    Nial had terminated the Ancient Devilization with the Devil Roc who was now sitting on Nial''s shoulder in his smallest form. The Devil Roc looked like an ordinary eagle, just that he had ck plumage. Nial had to tend to his wounds with bandages or some vials that could prevent ailments from taking up a residence in his body, or give them some time to regenerate, at least.

    He took a deep breath and sent the Devil Roc into the air after an hour or two.

    "Scout the while I''m healing," Nial ordered and the Devil Rocplied. He transformed back into his original form as a Devil Roc and began his trip all over the.

    Nial was pretty sure that the was not toorge, which meant that the Devil Roc wouldn''t have too many problems encountering foreign races and wild beasts. The Devil Roc would be strong enough to defeat them.

    Furthermore, Nial didn''t really think that this attracted anyone''s interest. There was not a trace of mana in the soil and the nature of this, or his proximity to be precise. While the mana in space was extremely pure and high in terms of quantity, the he hadnded upon didn''t seem to be able to hold mana. That was something Nial didn''t encounter often since even the hibernating Jundra was capable of holding Mana.

    As for other unawakeneds, Nial had never been to any. It was the first time for him, and it couldn''t be at a worse time.

    "In exchange for killing this bitch, I am now stranded in the middle of nowhere?" Nia grumbled to himself while continuing to spread out his range of perception and Mana Sense. He was trying to find some foreign race or at least some beasts in the surrounding area. Unfortunately, it was not exactly easy for Nial to sense anything since the didn''t hold any mana. Not even the animals he heard were in possession of mana for him tomunicate in the universalnguage.

    It was almost as if they didn''t even know about the existence of mana, in the first ce. Nial felt that this was hard to believe but it was the truth and a fact. The only thing he was able to sense with his expanded range of perception was the mana in space. He was trying to control it and lead strands of it toward him, just to realize that the mana was not able to get through the stratosphere.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial had to give up in the end but that was still eptable. It was already great that he was not lost in space and that he could breathe some fresh air. It was not necessary for him to breathe, eat, drink or sleep anymore as long as his body held some mana or dark energy but it made his journey a bit bearable.

    It was just natural for him to breathe with the oxygen in his surroundings, not the mana inside his body.

    A week passed in the blink of an eye, and the Devil Roc returned from his third time traveling across the entire. The was rather small in size and the Devil Roc didn''t find any beings that could be considered a foreign race. ording to the Devil Roc, there were a bunch of hairy existences living in ratherrge tribe-likemunities but that was already it.

    They wouldn''t be able to tell Nial where he was in the Universe, or if there was a Worldbridge or something simr to that nearby. With that in mind, Nial chose to leave this. His wounds had already healed and both his crimson moonlight and Essence of Darkness were slowly being refilled as well.

    The Essence of Darkness was created by extracting the purest Essence out of his dark energy. With that in mind, Nial''s dark energy was about to get depleted as well. It was time for him to leave, which Nial did without hesitation. He got on the Devil Roc''s back who shot into the air with a shocking velocity.

    Within the following minutes, they reached space where the Devil Roc used his dark energybined with the wind affinity, which he possessed before he had been devilized, to fly toward the closest.

    While the Devil Roc turned into a living rocket, Nial focused on replenishing his dark energy. Because he couldn''t be sure whether there would be any intelligent races in the entire ster system, or if one of the fews in this ster system were capable of holding mana in the first ce, Nial made enough preparations for the worst case.

    Traveling to the next closest took two days. Nial''s mood improved gradually when he realized that quite a bit of mana passed through the''s stratosphere and that the was able to hold mana. It didn''t have an awakenedary mana core but that was still fine. He was already quite satisfied with the improvement he made inparison to the manaless first he encountered.

    Nial gave the Devil Roc some time to recuperate. In the meantime, he spread his range of perception, reinforced through his Mana Sense to take a look at his surrounding area. The smells, sounds, and vibrations he felt through the ground were already pretty good indicators to determine everything he had to know about his immediate surroundings but Nial liked to be as detailed as possible.

    That way, he wouldn''t miss out on something that other senses may not be able to perceive.

    However, even on this, Nial didn''t encounter a foreign race. The was filled with beasts and other things that attracted his interest quite a bit!

    "This might be useful forter!"

 Chapter 594 Finds

    Despite not finding another foreign race in which he could ask for some information about his current position in the universe and for support to return to Jundra, or to a ce that can connect him to Jundra, at the very least, Nial was still satisfied with his finds.

    The Devil Roc was making his way across the while Nial made his way underground. He had entered a cave that led deep down below the surface. Within a few hours, Nial had traveled more than two thousand meters underground. The cave system was quite intriguing and so were the beasts he encountered.

    Due to the scarcity of mana, most monsters were at the Mirae rank. Controlling those kinds of beasts with Dominion didn''t even require much dark energy. That made it much easier for him to find his way through the numerous tunnels of the cave system and to finally reach the huge cavern hall he had entered now.

    There was a Prometheus Beast that reigned over the cave but defeating the python was far from difficult. He simply kicked the python''s head and knocked it out for a few days.

    "Even if it doesn''t help me find a way back, I should take what I can get!" Nial told himself as he released his dark domain through the entire cavern hall. He released a fewpressed crescent-shaped des of darkness which he controlled precisely, cutting off thousands of huge crystals from the walls, the ceiling, and the floor.

    The crystals were stored safely inside his spatial ring before Nial went ahead. He began to control a few more Beasts that were supposed to lead him to different areas with precious minerals. Using the Beasts elerated the process of finding his way through theplex mining system a lot. Several days passed in the blink of an eye before Nial had found his way back to the surface and the Devil Roc descended onto his shoulder where it rested in the eagle form once again.

    The scarcity of mana made it difficult for the Devil Roc to keep changing its shape. Furthermore, a few monsters at the Deux rank bothered it which was why the Devil Roc kept emanating a dangerous aura that drained arge amount of his dark energy reserves. It was not as if the scarce mana in the surrounding could replenish the Devil Roc''s mana quickly, so it was about time that the Devil Roc spent a few hours resting. After all, the following days were going to be full of work because it was time to leave this as well.

    Except for the rare and possibly useful minerals, there was hardly anything Nial could make use of on this. There was not even a powerful beast with a spatial affinity. If that were to be the case, Nial would have devilized it, or simply controlled it with Dominion, teleporting him from one to another until he would find another race or even stronger beasts that could teleport him to a different ster system where useful people might be.

    However, Nial didn''t really have much hope in that regard. His expectations of this ster system had already been surpassed after finding the existence of minerals on the second, and the purity of the mana within space. Nial was pretty sure that he could work out something as long as he spent enough time researching the minerals and thews that restricted the mana from passing through the spheres surrounding thes.

    There had to be certain rules andws of the Universe that were being yed out right in front of him but Nial had yet to fathom them. Once he understood thosews, he could think about bending thews or finding a loophole until he attained his goal.

    Of course, that was the difficult andplex solution that had formed in his mind. Nial was still hoping for an easier solution such as fighting a powerful space beast that would send him somewhere else or meeting a foreign race with a Worldbridge residing on one of the remainings in the ster system.

    When they departed to the third, the Devil Roc had to travel for almost a week before they reached the proximity of the third. ording to the Devil Roc, the third was also the secondrgest in the entire ster system. Nial was hoping for a nice surprise, which he received as he was greeted with arge influx of mana on the.

    As they descended on the surface of the third, they quickly noticed that the air was polluted and that nts and beasts had a hard time surviving for a long time on the''s surface. Of course, that was not something that affected Nial nor the Devil Roc since they could shroud their faces with dark energy to filter the bad air if necessary.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The''s mana was much stronger but the air was too bad for most lifeforms to survive and flourish properly. Nial understood that but he didn''t really care much about it after a few hours of feeling down.

    While the Devil Roc stayed by Nial''s side this time, Nial chose tomand a few beasts that had evolved to survive in the bad air. He controlled a bunch of beasts and made them lead the way to the overlord of the territory.

    That way, Nial found his way to a six-meter-tall mountain goat at the Deux rank. Nial subdued it with Dominion before he made sure that the Overlord of the region would lead him to the Overlord of the adjacent regions.

    Using this seemingly simple tactic, Nial got his hands on five ''Overlords'' of surrounding areas. They were easily subdued, which lead Nial to the next step of the n he had in mind.

    "Lead me to the most treasured ces you know of," Nial ordered at once and it was not long after that he was led to a valley that was surrounded by a huge mountain range in the form of a circr ring. Numerous cavern entrances entered his range of perception when he found his way to the valley. The cavern entrances were not the most treasured ce the five overlords knew of but it was the gigantic tree in the center of the valley that was worth a fortune.

    Despite being subdued and controlled by Nial, the five overlords didn''t want to get closer to the humongous tree. This showed quite clearly that the humongous tree was not only gigantic and a treasure but also quite dangerous. Focusing his Mana Sense on the tree and its surroundings, Nial found a bunch of Deux Beasts inside the tree, all of them patiently waiting for a bunch ofrge fruits hanging down its branches to ripen.

    It was only obvious that the fruits were of either immense value or nutrition. Thus, Nial didn''t hesitate to unleash Dominion and enhanced both his vocal cords and the wordsing out of his mouth with dark energy.

    "Your desire to eat the fruit once ripened has disappeared!"

    "You will return to the ground at this instance!"

    "You will follow mymands!"

    Nial issued three rather simplemands and the beastsplied readily. There was nothing else they could do but heed hismands, to begin with.

    As for Nial, he didn''t really care about the existence of the beasts or was interested in knowing more about them, but they may be of use, to a certain degree, at least!

 Chapter 595 Research

    In the following three months, Nial collected resources while traveling through the remainings in the ster system.

    He found many precious materials filled with mana and elemental attributed mana, even fruits and flowers that were adorned with unique effects.

    Collecting all these resources took an eternity. They were also the reason why he took so long to finish sweeping through the remainings. Of course, there were also a few different matters he had to attend to, such as subduing a bunch of beasts to test out if they would be of any help for his escape out of this ster system.

    Unfortunately, most beasts were kind of useless, including a squirrel with an extremely powerful spatial affinity. He had still subdued the space squirrel but he was not yet sure how to make use of this little beast''s strong affinity. The squirrel''s affinity was not strong enough to teleport him to the adjacent ster system but it was strong enough to move him from one to another. It could even transport him from one side of the ster system to the other.

    Nial had yet to test the squirrel''s limits but he had actually other things to pay more attention to.

    ''Can I replicate the function of a spatial portal with the materials I have?'' Nial wondered while retrieving a few pieces of each kind of material he had gotten his hands on since he arrived here and the things he had already stashed in his spatial rings before.

    Since he had many spatial rings and he had been focused on improving his proficiency as an Archmaster Runicier, some of his spatial rings were filled with runic solutions, books from highly renowned Runiciers, and all kinds of precious materials.

    There were also more than five hundred runic armaments altogether in all spatial rings. The runic solutions may be useful but Nial could tell that he would have to create a new batch of runic solutions for specific purposes. Under normal circumstances, a bunch of Alchemists would create runic solutions ording to his demands but that was not possible right now.

    The Devil Roc was not exactly a Grandmaster Alchemist, no less a Grandmaster cksmith.

    The more Nial thought about it the better he could grasp his situation. There weren''t any helpful civilizations in the entire ster system even though mosts had a pretty decent amount of resources beneath the surface. Collecting everything would probably take decades, if not more than a century.

    Nial didn''t have that much time to spare for collecting other stuff. He would rather force others to collect and do certain things for him because he was simply not up for it. Most of the time it was menial tasks that wasted his time needlessly.

    Unfortunately, he couldn''t tell others to research the materials in his possession down to the finest detail before reporting to him. No one in his reach had the intelligence, knowledge, and experience of an appraiser. Furthermore, Nial was not actually sure what he was looking for while researching the materials in his possession.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He was just trying to find enlightenment during the research in order to find a smooth ride back to Jundra. Once he found an intelligent civilization with a connection to a bigger pool of people he could find out more about the Origin and how to get back home as quickly as possible.

    Of course, that required him to still be in the same Universe as before. There may be some materials he found that were simr to some ores and nts he had perceived and visualized in Jundra, Yggdrasil, and the Golden City, but there were minor if not major differences in each and every nt and ore.

    His perception was close to perfect when it came to objects that naturally amassed mana. It was not difficult for him to tell whether a particr ore was of the same type as another, and that was not the case with the resources he had collected during thest three months. Being simr didn''t mean that they were the same!

    Furthermore, there was no worldbridge, no dungeon, and no civilization in the entire ster system even though there were two bigs and one rather small that was under the influence of mana. ording to the cultivation progress of some beasts, it must have been quite a while since thes had been influenced by mana as well.

    They may not have awakenedary mana cores because they didn''t seem to possess them in the first ce, but that was not actually a problem. After all, the entire space was overflowing with highly purified andpressed mana. The moment one reached the Keltia rank, it was possible to enter space and cultivate in the space, elerating the entire advancement progress tenfold if not more!

    Nial also thought about cultivating for a few years in space because he could clearly tell that his darkness domain could spread through space and that it wouldn''t be much of a difficulty to exert the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique throughout the entire darkness domain.

    Expanding his darkness domain further while continuing to exert the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique would inevitably elerate his progress as well. He knew that not even Jundra was currently in possession of the same pure andpressed mana as he found here in space.

    It was almost as if the entire space of the ster system had never been touched and the mana inside it had simply amassed over the course of eons. The space''s mana was extremely pure, andpressed which made him feel that it was ancient enough to have the weight of hundreds of thousands of years weighing it down.

    However, even if he were to advance to the Mythician rank in the next few years thanks to the extraordinary mana that had amassed in this ster system, it was not as if it would provide him an urate answer to the biggest question in his mind: how to leave this ster system without spending decades traveling through space aimlessly, not knowing when he would find the next star system.

    With that in mind, Nial chose to start his research first. Once he got a solution, he could start cultivation once again. That was better for the cultivation progress, either way!

 Chapter 596 Mastery

    Researching how to replicate spatial transportation over a long distance was certainly not easy.

    Even though it got a lot easier when he retrieved a bunch of useful runic devices that he had used in the past, not even the teleportation device of the Old Elf Crevian could answer a bunch of questions.

    It was necessary to use spatial-attributed mana to start and finish the creation of the teleportation devices, and particr runic solutions were needed. To create the runic solutions, one required more than ten spatial-type ingredients, and the use of spatial-attributed mana that had been diffused with mana, amassed, and purified.

    Nial had once asked Master Crevian about the creation process of those long-distance teleportation devices simr to the one he had used when he returned from the Alliance City, but the answers he received had been quite displeasing.

    In the end, Nial was not able to recreate the process, not with the resources in his possession, let alone with his nonexistent spatial affinity. If he were to use the squirrel''s spatial affinity, it might work out but he would never be able to observe the entire procedure properly, let alone attempt configuring the product of his research. That meant he would have to gamble on the sess of the finished product.

    Analyzing the resources in his possession up to the finest detail worked out decently fine. Nial found out what he possessed and what kind of ingredients he was missing out on when it came to recreating the long-distance device of Old Elf Crevian.

    Another thing was that he couldn''t upgrade Crevian''s device to teleport him a distance worth several hundred, if not thousands of lightyears because the mana consumption would end up depriving the entire ster system of its mana before the device would be filled. Maybe that was not even enough!

    The only solution Nial coulde up with was to create his own teleportation device, in his way.

    He researched all kinds of things for nearly three months and came up with a somewhat decent solution. The Grasp of Eclipse technique used a unique type of spatial affinity if one could consider it such. He could travel through shadows using the said movement technique. That was, quite literally, his unique version of space traveling as he momentarily distorted the space to jump from one ce to another.

    It never felt like a spatial-type movement technique when he used it but it certainly was.

    Since Nial was able to use the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, it should be possible for him to do bigger jumps through shadows as well. He may need some time to figure out how, but using dark energy, Chaos, crimson moonlight and the Essence of Darkness in the most efficient way should do the deal.

    Of course, he was in need of a device to store mana or to amplify the effect of his Grasp of Eclipse technique, but that was something he could think aboutter.

    ''If I reach thetest stage I can reach at the Keltia rank, with perfect mastery, I should be able to understand the technique much better¡­shouldn''t that be enough to understand how to recreate the distortion of space that happens when I jump through the shadows with my movement technique?'' Nial thought, not exactly sure if his n was enough.

    However, there was not exactly much he could do right now, other than testing out a bunch of things. Using Forgotten Runic constetions inbination with a perfect understanding of the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique would certainly allow him to take a step closer to his final goal.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''This fucking bitch and the Roboter-like Primordial¡­if Be wasn''t dead, I would definitely skin her alive and throw her into space after crushing her Mana Sea¡­'' He cursed the Spectran and the dead Saintess of the Angels for the Xth time in thest sixth month.

    He shook his head and started training, and researching the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique. It was about time that he improved his technique and that he got back to Jundra. He had too many things to do to stay in a ster system without proper Originals.

    Funnility enough, Nial was worshipped as some sort of godly existence by the few folks he encountered even though he was still far from bing a God.

    Nial was not weak but most existences in this ster system certainly were weak. Those weaker than him were underdeveloped races who had yet to find out how to create runic armaments, or anything great of use.

    Nial didn''t even think of helping them out, but observing them through his range of perception calmed him quite a bit every now and then.

    ''Now let''s see how long I will need to master this technique¡­and understand it in its essence!'' Nial told himself, not knowing that he was about to spend close to 18 months exerting the Grasp of Eclipse technique in space, every single day, more than 20 hours a day¡­

    Time passed eerily slowly and Nial could hardly perceive any improvements in his utilization of the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique.

    It made him feel like he was bound to stay in the ster system for the rest of his life. It was a ridiculous thought and certainly not something Nial was willing to ept. Whenever he was stuck and couldn''t progress anymore, he focused on his desires, cultivated them for a while, and then returned to the task at hand.

    He knew that it was important toplete his mission first. Thus, giving his utmost and using the memories of the Late God of Darkness that had been imprinted on his mind to his advantage, Nial ended up with the perfect mastery of the Grasp of Eclipse''s first and second stages.

    The third stage required him to have finished his first Darkness Temple, whatever the reason for that may be.

    For now, Nial didn''t have a Darkness Temple in his Sea of Darkness. It would take quite a while before he would reach that level, and he rather found a solution to teleport through ster systems at the Keltia rank than spend a decade or two to reach the Mythician rank and practice the third stage of the Grasp of Eclipse technique to the perfect mastery.

    As for the new mission he had in mind, Nial would start experimenting jumping through ster systems using the creations he started with quite a while ago.

 Chapter 597 Customized Device

    The next closest ster system seemed to be quite a distance away from his position. This was something Nial had already guessed since everything around him seemed to be perfectly isted. That was rather unfortunate.

    It made things a little bit more annoying as he had to expand the range of his long-distance traveling device, which increased the expenses considerably.

    However, that was still something he could deal with. Nial was doing great,pleting his research and starting his experiments. With the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, Nial could now jump across the entire ster system as well.

    The materials he found were of great use and he extracted their essence to progress with his experiments. Nial ended up collecting more of these specific materials before he returned to his creations which werepleted roughly a yearter.

    His understanding of the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique was still not perfect since he had yet toprehend thews of darkness, space, and energy. But that was hardly a problem since he could replicate a teleportation device with the extracts of the materials he found, a few other extremely rare materials, and a bunch of forgotten runic constetions that werebined with various ovepping miniature runic constetions.

    "Finally¡­" Nial thought with a heavy heave. He was not exhausted physically but his mental health had taken a big toll on being stranded in a ster system far away from anyone else. Only the Devil Roc had been by his side, however, that didn''t really help him because the Devil Roc''s conversation skills were below average, obviously.

    The Devil Roc was loyal and heed themands he was given, but he was far from talkative. He was the best example of a silent follower, though a humongous follower, who was hardly able to travel around silently.

    Now that Nial had finished his teleportation device, he intended to test it out. He inserted bits of his dark energy into the device that looked like apass before he ended up on the other side of the ster system after picking his destination on the holographic screen that was projected on thepass.

    Thepass was restricted to be used only by Nial because he was the only one in possession of the source of dark energy.

    Restricting the type of energy thepass epted to dark energy brought many benefits, including the possibility to create a precise system that used the most purified bits of the inserted dark energy to replicate the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique''s powers and effects.

    Nial was certainly satisfied with his product but upon inserting his entire umted dark energy into thepass, he noticed that the range of teleportation was still not enough to teleport him to the next ster system. There was a detailed logic inscribed in thepass. It used the differences in the surrounding mana to sense meteorites, objects that were loosely flying through the air, ands that belonged to ster systems. The mana of most projectiles in the open space was avoided by the space''s mana, while the opposite was the case when it came to thes in a ster system. Living nes, how Nial liked to think of them, attracted the space''s mana!

    The mana in the space of the isted ster system was also trying to infiltrate thes, every single corner of them, to be precise. However, thes seemed to have a natural ''defense'' against the infiltrating mana, though Nial was not sure why it was necessary to defend against them.

    "Since I need more dark energy, I might as well advance to the Mythician rank before moving on!" Nial told himself, finally mentally ready to focus on his cultivation progress. He knew that it would take quite a while to advance to the Mythician rank but it was not as if he didn''t have time to spare. Worrying about his family was also not necessary.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The 100,000+ Shadow Monsters of Dexter and more than a dozen powerful Devils were with Sabrina and Mathias. There was definitely no reason for him to be worried about his friends and family. As for the issues that may or may not ur in the Orion Shelter, Nial was pretty sure that his people could solve them, in the worst case with the Tier-3 Forgotten Broken Runic Weapons that had been stored away as well!

    Without the need to worry about anything or anyone, Nial finally traveled to the center of the isted ster system, or a little bit further away since the small sun was a little bit too hot for him.

    He enjoyed warmth more than cold, which was quite interesting since his dark energy was of cold nature and far from warm, hot, or anything rted to warm temperatures.

    Being close enough to the small sun but far enough to cultivate properly, Nial used the dark energy that had replenished by now to create his darkness domain. He was even using the umted dark energy inside his Heart of Darkness to expand his darkness domain before he exerted the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique that created a tremendous suctioning force all over his darkness domain.

    He made sure that the suctioning force was evenly spread out and that there wouldn''t be an issue absorbing the highly purified andpressed mana in the surrounding space. It was all absorbed into the darkness domain where it was naturally transformed into dark energy. The dark energy was then used to further expand the darkness domain, which made it possible for Nial to easily expand his range of influence.

    More mana was pulled toward him and Nial repeated the same process over and over again until he reached the limit. After his darkness domain had expanded to more than ten kilometers in each direction, it formed into a ball of darkness, evenly spread out and strong enough to block any advances from possible invaders around him. Of course, Nial didn''t expect anyone to attack all of a sudden.

    After all, the ster system was isted, and the strongest beasts were at the Keltia rank. They had already faced Nial once, and wouldn''t dare to face him again.

    Nial didn''t need to take precautions for all kinds of possibilities in his mind, but he still did so. Enough messed up things had happened to him in the past and he didn''t really want to repeat any of them.

    He was better off being over-prepared thancking preparation and getting caught off-guard.

    Time passed slowly once Nial finished expanding his darkness domain to the limit of his control. He took a deep breath and started the real cultivation process, which was consistent with absorbing a tremendous amount of dark energy and finishing the remaining Darkness Pirs until he had nine of them. The creation of the remaining Darkness Pirs was certainly not fast but Nial''s multitasking talent was not to be underestimated.

    His highest focus was on the manufacturing process of the Darkness Pirs while the rest of his mind chose to take the initiative and absorb more and more mana from the surroundings. The massive mana he absorbed at a time was more than Nial could use at once. This inevitably forced him to either elerate the creation process of his Darkness Pirs or to work on multiple Darkness Pirs at the same time.

    Nial being Nial, he, of course, chose to act like an idiot and take the more dangerous path!

 Chapter 598 Addiction

    Nial didn''t really want to work on multiple Darkness Pirs at the same time but his subconscious was clearly telling him that he was capable of doing it.

    In the worst case, he could also store the excessive dark energy inside his Heart of Darkness. However, that was actually not something he wanted to do, which Nial realized pretty early.

    Thus, Nial did something extremely stupid, something nobody except Nial would do...He started to work on all of his remaining Darkness Pirs at the same time! It was something he chose to do out of a fit, just because he felt like doing it.

    This increased the danger of making a mistake more than fivefold as Nial had to divide his focus on each of the remaining Darkness Pirs that had yet to be created. At the same time, it increased the time each individual Darkness Pir took to be created, which was only obvious because Nial had to divide his focus.

    But, of course, the overall time until all Darkness Pirs would bepleted was drastically reduced. That was all that counted since Nial wanted to advance to the Mythician rank quickly. That was what he wanted to achieve!

    Five years flew by extremely fast and Nial was more than satisfied with the results. He was at the Peak of the Keltia rank with a total of nine Darkness Pirs and he could start the creation of his first Darkness Temple.

    The entire process of the Darkness Pirs'' creation had been much simpler than expected. That was a great surprise and very advantageous for his situation.

    The Mythician rank required the Original to transform their Mana Pirs into Mana Temples. That was exactly what Nial was supposed to do as well, with the sole difference being that his Darkness Pirs would be turned into Darkness Temples.

    The initiation process of the first transformation indicated the advancement to the Mythician rank. Under normal circumstances, the transformation of a Mana Pir into a Mana Temple would require hundreds of times more Mana and precise handwork, willpower, and many more factors that had to be taken into consideration.

    That was the sole reason why the Mythician rank had beenbeled an individual rank in the cultivation process of the Originals. If not for the sudden increasing requirements of mana and every other factor, the Keltia and Mythician rank wouldn''t have been separated in the first ce.

    Of course, it was also important to note that the transformation of a Mana Pir into a Mana Temple provided a tremendous increment in strength, the purification of the body, and the opportunity to turn the ability presented on top of the Mana Pir into an ability worshipped by the mana that resided in the Mana Sea.

    The power of the worshipped abilities would increase by leaps and bounds, inevitably increasing thebat prowess of the Original after advancing to the Mythician rank. Nial was looking forward to the increase in strength he would obtain from creating his first Darkness Temple.

    Thus, not feeling hurried by anything in his surrounding, let alone the thought that something may have happened at home while he was away, Nial chose to spend a few more years in the isted ster system.

    Without a precise indicator of how much time had actually passed, Nial spend two more decades in the isted ster system, savoring the highly purified,pressed, and ancient mana.

    He enjoyed his time in the isted ster system after advancing to the Mythician rank much more than he expected. It grew even more interesting once he finished his first Darkness Temple. He had transformed the Darkness Pir of the Hodur''s Heir Curse into a Darkness Temple to increase the Curse''s Power. By doing so, Nial''s senses were manyfold more sensitive than before, including his mana perception, and the sensitivity with which he could control his dark energy.

    That way, he further expanded his darkness domain, rather than stopping in the cultivation process. The Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique was now fully mastered and Nial could control it however he pleased.

    Nial felt that cultivation became even easier after advancing to the Mythician rank. His abilities were linked to his soul and Darkness Sea, which was also the reason why they became stronger without the need to waste time training them. The Curse, Hodur''s Heir, was included in the linked abilities, and it had grown much stronger while Nial had cultivated it diligently.<novelnext></novelnext>

    When it had been further enhanced, the Curse''s influence on Nial''s entire being became even more apparent. The darkness domain''s range increased from a limit of ten kilometers to a range of more than a hundred kilometers.

    The suctioning force of the Vortex of Abyss all across the darkness domain intensified and the mana flooding him increased exponentially. That was not something Nial could miss out on as long as he had been given the opportunity.

    He stored as much mana after it had been altered and transformed into dark energy. Nial didn''t even think of leaving and was slowly turning into an addict to the sensation of the pure andpressed ancient mana. It allowed him to cultivate as fast as never before. That was worth staying in an isted ster system for a century or longer, if necessary.

    However, once Nial finished his second Darkness Temple, he slowly realized that he was doing something wrong. The satisfaction of bing stronger was great, and addictive at that. But even if it was extremely addictive, he clearly felt that he was missing out on something.

    Fighting powerful enemies was just as addictive as cultivating in the isted ster system. At the same time, being able to fight and stay by his family and friends was certainly better than being lonely and cultivating until everyone he loved dearly died of old age.

    Being alone was lonely, obviously, and Nial didn''t really want to be alone. He spent close to 30 years in the isted ster system, which was a little less than half of the time he spent alive. Taking it this way, Nial found himself inhumane.

    He had promised to protect his father and to be stronger. But bing stronger all by himself without even knowing how his father was doing didn''t really feel correct. Something was certainly wrong with Nial.

    ''I should leave before I will get pulled back into the cultivation addiction...'' Nial thought, grasping the long-distance traveling device. He used the entire dark energy that had been used to create the darkness domain as empowerment for thepass.

    The range in which he could teleport increased drastically, crossing tens if not a hundred thousand lightyears at once, yet there was only a single ster system detected by thepass.

    "How is that even possible...well, it''s better than nothing, I guess..." Nial felt that he shouldn''tin about the given situation. In the worst case, he could just amass more dark energy and re-active the Customized traveling device if the next ster system was simr to this one.

    Nial didn''t think that this would be the case because thes detected by thepass were radiant, overflowing with mana. That was more than enough for Nial to disregard all doubts and to activate the customized traveling device

    The space around Nial twisted as a fracture in space opened. The fracture was ck like the abyss and it devoured Nial, teleporting him to the destination he had picked out.

    Meanwhile, the remains of the customized traveling device were scattered in the empty space.

    It broke apart, which was certainly not what Nial intended to happen.

    But there were other, more troublesome, things to pay attention to.

    That was something Nial learned soon enough!

 Chapter 599 Originals&Ascenders

    With two Darkness Temples strengthening his Sea of Darkness, Nial was extremely powerful. He was in possession of several means to increase his strength even further and he was finally able to use the full power of the Tier-3 Forgotten Runic Armaments as well.

    There was no reason for him to be scared about his destination because there weren''t too many things that could obliterate him in an instant. At least, most things that were capable of obliterating him in an instant shouldn''t be too interested in something like him.

    Nheless, he was a bit nervous because the isted ster system ended up being so far away off from the next closest ster system withs that may harbor intelligent life, capable of teleporting through space. It had been quite a while since he encountered any other intelligent races with Originals of a high rank and it was about time to actually meet some people!

    Nial made the jump and sealed the dark energy and his range of perception within his body to prevent his mind from going crazy.

    He was not sure how long he had been caught in the space tunnel that distorted space to make it seem as if he traveled only a short distance when he actually jumped through a huge part of space.

    It didn''t feel much different from his usual experience when exerting the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, with the sole difference being that the movement in the shadows and darkness was much longer than usual.

    Once he emerged in his designated position, Nial was surrounded by space once again. However, this time, the mana in the surrounding space didn''t feel pristine, ancient, and overflowing with a pureness that had been attained from beingpressed and purified over eons.

    The mana in his surrounding space was still pure, but it was notparable to his experience in the isted ster system. Of course, he didn''t really think much about the mana. It was just an interesting point that he took note of.

    His designated destination was quite far away from the closest within the ster system he emerged from, but that was something he intended from the beginning. Nial didn''t want to be too close to any of thes because he didn''t know whether the habitants or the itself would end up harming him. After all, a burning star was still considered a from his long-distance travelingpass.

    Thinking about hispass, Nial reached out to his belt. However, what he found was not a fully intact long-distance travelingpass but a single piece of metal.

    "Well, that is unexpected, or is it not?" Nial mumbled to himself, not really surprised that thepass broke apart. It was a shame but thepass did what he wanted from it. In fact, it allowed him to travel much farther than he had initially intended to travel with the support of thepass. He didn''t really expect that he had to travel such arge distance to find the closest ster system, after all!

    Traveling a little through space, Nial quickly figured that there were a bunch of rockets, space-ships, and other high technological advanced mechanisms in this ster system. The spaceships were pretty fast and Nial guessed pretty quickly that they reced worldbridges and other means of teleportation.

    As for the reason to guess something like that, Nial couldn''t sense any familiar fluctuations that came from Worldbridges. Even if he was not exactly a know-it-all when it came to Worldbridges, he knew that the space tunnels they created by distorting space to a certain degree exuded unique sequences. Nial couldn''t sense these radiations, which was why he ended up considering spaceships as the most important mean of space traveling within this ster system.

    It was, most likely, not as fast as the means Nial used in the past, but it left him some hope to find his way back home. It wouldn''t really matter even if he had to travel for a year or two using some spaceship as his mean of transportation. As long as he could find a way home he would be fine!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Interested in where he was, Nial was just about to descend onto one of the manys when his range of perception and Mana Sense took note of something.

    ''Looks like they prepared a wee gift for me,'' He thought when he noticed that more than five dozen men and women from an unknown race approached him with fast movements. They skipped through space as if they were running on ice, while Nial halted in his tracks. He didn''t want to offend the races living in this ster system, so he remained unmoving and waited for the 60-ish people at the Mythician rank to surround him.

    The Devil Roc inside his Heart of Darkness wanted to emerge and wreak havoc but Nial restricted it. The appearance of the Devil Roc would only cause more problems, and Nial had already more than enough problems from the hostile mana fluctuations he perceived.

    ''Those people are Originals and Ascenders? I didn''t expect to meet some more Ascenders anytime soon,'' Nial thought, his attention on a few people whose Essence Crystal he perceived quite easily. Instead of a Mana Core in their abdomen, Ascenders were either born with an Essence Crystal, or they awoke the Essence Crystal over the passage of time.

    Dn, the Undying, was also an Ascender. His strength was exceptional, but even more so was his conviction and determination to ept dying hundreds of thousands of times as long as that meant he woulde out victorious from a battle. Every battle Dn fought was another trial that tested Dn''s conviction to attain greatness.

    Nial didn''t really like Dn when he first met him, but over the course of a hundred days, he grew a considerable amount of respect for the Undying.

    That was only obvious after all the things he had seen Dn doing. It was a crazy achievement that Dn had attained with his unique and seemingly overpowered powers. But, of course, not every Ascender was like Dn.

    In fact, not many Ascenders were like the Undying. Most could advance quickly in the ranks as long as they worked hard for a few years. It was not impossible forbatants to be Demi Gods just from killing other Ascenders for a few years. After all, Ascenders could absorb the remnants of Essence from their opponent''s Essence Crystal and grow stronger that way.

    That way, Dn had grown up to be a Demi God in the blink of an eye. It was dangerous to be constantly fighting but the rewards were certainly worth it. But that didn''t mean everyone was capable of replicating the achievements of the truly powerful. Most would advance slowly in strength, and struggle upon bing Demi Gods.

    However, no matter how little the talent of Ascenders was, all of them were capable of bing Demi Gods. That was quite interesting because they didn''t require a tremendous inborn talent to be powerful. As long as they attained a certainbat prowess and survived their encounters with powerful opponents, they were bound to be Demi Gods.

    That was impressive, even if Demi God Ascenders were not actually much stronger than Mythician Originals. That was something Nial noticed quite easily as he encountered a bunch of Demi God Ascenders right now.

    Of course, that didn''t mean Nial should start fighting the Ascenders and Originals who had surrounded him.

    He shouldn''t kill them at the very least!

 Chapter 600 Pain In The ...

    "Kiralim, voldaren mkea, Shinadae!!" One of the man Originals surrounding Nial shouted out loud, causing him to frown deeply.

    "Can you speak in the universalnguage please?" NIal asked in response while making sure that his dark energy was sealed within his body and not oozing out. Some races were highly religious and they weren''t really in favor of existences with ''evil'' energies. Nial didn''t really want to offend anyone because he was in need of the people living in this ster system. He wasn''t even sure where the closest adjacent ster system was located either.

    Ignoring the isted ster system to which Nial didn''t want to return, this ce was certainly the most important for him.

    "Shurm Kiralim, fykcalo shotari!!!" Another Original bellowed, pointing his longsword at Nial.

    ''Looks like you guys don''t know how to speak the universalnguage. That''s pretty darn annoying, for sure¡­'' He thought while continuing to use his range of perception and Mana Sense to figure out more about the multitude of races around him.

    If Nial were to be searching for a term to name them, it was probably Demi-Human. Each of the Originals and Ascenders around him was in possession of human parts. Some had more, some less. Other than the human parts, the beings in front of him were pretty unique. Some had body parts of a single type of monster, while others looked like Chimeras with some parts of their body being of various monsters.

    Considering them as Demi-Humans did them justice, or so Nial thought. Of course, that didn''t really matter because he couldn''t even converse with them. They may as well be fish. If he couldn''t converse with them, none of that mattered.

    He tried to gesture to the Demihumans to calm down and to listen to him. Unfortunately, his gestures weren''t really taken as calming hand movements.

    Rather, the Demihumans began to believe that Nial was practicing sorcery, or so Nial thought when almost all Demihumans began to move nearly simultaneously, charging at him in hostility.

    ''Where the hell did I end up?'' Nial shouted in his mind, having a hard time understanding how his calming gesture could be considered a hostile movement.

    He unleashed his dark energy in an instant and exerted the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique. Nial moved behind the Original who was the furthest away from his position. The Original was casting a spell, or something simr to that, as a huge array of light, consisting of numerous runes, manifested in front of him.

    The crocodile-head Demihuman wielded a staff with a crystal embedded on top of it as well, giving off the vibe of a wizard.

    ''This guy is definitely a wizard, a true virgin for sure,'' Nial told himself, trying to calm himself as the dark energy tried to influence him. It tried to make him attack and kill the Demihumans. That was not something Nial actually wanted to do. After all, he was more focused on returning home than on making sure that nobody dared to speak up against him. He was in need of a good, or at least, neutral rtionship with the Demihumans.

    Not killing them was a pretty nice gift from him. It showed that he didn''t have any hostile intentions. At least, it would show that as long as he yed out his cards properly.

    With a seemingly simple chop, he knocked out the crocodile-man before he could finish his chant. He grasped the Demi-Human and retreated rapidly as he perceived that the bright array was about to explode.<novelnext></novelnext>

    This was exactly what happened just a momentter and was caused by the unfinished chant. Nial had, obviously, no idea of that, and it didn''t really interest him either because he could protect his body and the body of the crocodile demihuman with his dark energy.

    After the bright array exploded, Nial threw the unconscious body of the crocodile man behind him while releasing the Devil Roc from within his Heart of Darkness.

    "Take good care of him, and don''t eat or injure him!" Nial ordered while having a hard time enhancing his voice with dark energy to make sure that his words traveled through space.

    If not for them being in space, Nial would have used his strongest form of Dominion before knocking out the Demihumans one after another. It would have been highly efficient and very easy.

    Unfortunately, it was pretty difficult for Nial to make sure that his voice would travel several kilometers in space. He never had to do something like that and he had yet to figure out how his voice was actually affected while being in space. There were a bunch of things he had yet to find out. Thus, it was already more than enough that the Devil Roc knew what it had to do and that he could freely use the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique in addition to his Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights martial art technique.

    The Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights technique considered the hands as a form of weapon as well. That way, Nial had also learned how to do closebat without actually using an external weapon.

    He disappeared from his spot once again and passed through space in an eerily fast manner. Nial reappeared next to another opponent, knocked him out, and threw the unconscious body in the direction of the Devil Roc. The Devil Roc expanded in size until it reached its original size.

    The appearance of the Devil Roc attracted some attention but Nial didn''t really care about that. He was having trouble finding spots to disappear and emerge from when using his Grasp of Eclipse technique. Thus, instead of continuing to travel through space, Nial ended up releasing a massive amount of dark miasma rapidly. He spread it through the space in his surrounding area using his dark energy that was already spread out.

    Afterward, he shrouded his hands with Chaos which was further enhanced with crimson moonlight. No sooner than he finished, a bulky, two-meter-tall wolf Demihuman appeared in front of him. He had metal ws as his weapon and shed them at Nial with the intention to tear him apart and kill. Nial blocked the shes with his Crimson Chaos shrouded hands and counterattacked with a series of high-velocity punches and a final attack that relieved the Demihuman of his consciousness temporarily.

    Nial was evidently stronger than his opponents but that was not something the Demihumans at the Mythician rank seemed to be willing to ept. They reced their weapons with different sorts of weapons, runes glowed up and a huge box enveloped the remaining Demihumans with Nail before everyone was pulled to the ground of the box.

    ''What is that?'' Nial though, unsure what exactly was going on. His mana perception was drastically affected inside the huge box where the gravitational force seemed to work perfectly fine.

    He could sense that the box caused a disruption of mana, but that didn''t really make sense either.

    ''They should have countermeasures for this¡­so they can use mana, right?'' Nial wondered while trying to use his dark energy as well. However, this was easier said than done. It didn''t work properly, and the simplest movements of dark energy were already enough to inflict pain.

    ''What a pain in the ass!''

 Chapter 601 Overwhelmed

    Most of Nial''s senses were unaffected by the huge box''s effect. It only influenced his dark energy and the mana around him, which was already more than enough for Nial to feel a heavy pressure weighing down on him.

    ''Good thing that I trained moving and fighting without my mana perception since I had my lovely encounter with the inability to sense mana in the Fairy Queen''s territory,'' Nial thought, the corners of his lips curling upward.

    His mana perception had been the recement of his eyes. However, now that his second pair of eyes had disappeared as well, he was back at the starting point. Of course, his other senses were extremely sensible and he was able to control his Vengeance of Chaos ability as he had umted bits of Chaos inside his body. The umted crimson moonlight was not affected by the mana distortion effect of the huge box either.

    That was more than enough for Nial to know that he had some means to fight at the very least. His hands were still mantled in the crimson chaos while the sounds of footstepsing closer, people surrounding him, and their distinct smell came to him with a draft.

    It looked like the big box did not only replicate the gravitational force of a celestial body but it provided oxygen and the means to create sound. The ground beneath him was clearly solid which was rather interesting.

    But, of course, Nial didn''t have the time to focus on the big box. After all, he was being attacked by the remaining Demihumans that approached him slowly and carefully.

    ''Even if I cannot see, I can still defeat all of you!'' Nial told himself inwardly while adjusting hisbat stance. The footsteps were getting louder and Nial instinctively moved to the side, avoiding a club that would have smashed onto his head otherwise. With a swift movement, Nial inched closer to the Club-wielder and he issued several high-velocity punches where he presumed the target to be. His first attack missed the Demihuman''s abdomen by a few inches, but the follow-up attacks were clear hits.

    Nial adjusted his attacks the moment he noticed that something was not even close to perfection. His first punch was not precisely aimed, which was fixed in the following attacks. Nial stopped his attack after the fifth high-velocity punch issued with the fists that were mantled in the crimson chaos. Traces of the crimson chaos spread across the surface of the Demihuman he had hit, and the seept inside him, destroying his defenses oneyer after another.

    After the fifth hit, Nial had been forced to end his attack, but it was not as if the Demihuman would have been able to endure much more than that, to begin with.

    He grasped the shoulders of the Demihuman he had attacked and hurled the body around. The Demihuman was not yet unconscious but he could hardly do anything against Nial''s actions. Nial threw the Demihuman behind him, where the footsteps were the loudest. Twisting his body and twirling around, Nial rushed behind the body he had thrown at the Demihumans as a means of distraction.

    Three to four Demihumans had been hit by the attack. He used the distraction and the tiny opportunity he was granted to inch closer once again and prevent the Demihumans to use their mid-range weapons such as longswords and spears properly. He forced the Demihumans to adjust to his way of fighting. At least that was what he expected until a cold breeze brushed against his cheeks.

    He had instinctively moved his upper body to the right where he was greeted by the sound of a de cutting through the air. Nial had to chop at the origin of the cutting sound, using his crimson chaos mantled hand. A sharp pain reached Nial''s leg and the back of his hand but he survived the attacks that reached him.

    Nheless, Nial was baffled and unable to understand how the Demihumans were still able to use mana. He clearly felt the mana inside the de that had cut through his crimson chaos, slicing the back of his hand, let alone the obvious use of mana as the cold breeze impacted, warning him from the attack that hit him just a momentter.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''They can use mana? No¡­that''s not it either,'' Nial thought in confusion. If the others were to be able to use their mana freely, they wouldn''t fight that way. It was quite obvious that their strength was not further enhanced and that they couldn''t use their abilities either. The cold breeze was nothing special and the mana injected in the de that sliced him was not exactly a lot either.

    Unfortunately, Nial was not given much time to find out the cause of the mana-based attacks that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. His senses depicted something that was more worrisome. What he heard forced Nial to adjust his tactic and potentially risk some more injuries. That was a necessary risk to defeat a few dozen Demihumans at the Mythician rank. They were at the same rank as Nial even though their physical strength was quite a bit lower than his.

    Nial had a perfect foundation, always using the most arduous and longest way to cultivate in order to create a cultivation based on the highest possible quality. While most people were not even able to create seven Mana Pirs, Nial was easily able to create nine Darkness Pirs. It was only obvious but the achievements he made in the past were not without reason. They had all been part of the reason for his current strength, and Nial wouldn''t allow a bunch of Demihumans with far less talent than him to overwhelm him.

    He put in much more effort than all of them, and it was only obvious that he wouldn''t give up now. Nial shot forward with that thought in mind. He pushed out his t hand that impacted exactly where he wanted, on the t side of the de that had sliced the back of his hand earlier.

    Once again, Nial sensed some mana inside the de. It couldn''t do anything against him this time but that was not what attracted his interest.

    ''They use mana through their weapons!'' He figured quickly.

    It was not that hard to figure out what was going on but that didn''t mean he liked what he perceived. It was still bothersome enough for him to end up in the tricky situation.

    Whenever he attacked, the Demihumans wouldn''t remain idle either. They weren''t in a round-based card game, after all!

    Nial pushed the de aside and jumped upward with his leg raised. His knee smashed against the jaw of the Demihuman, who had been too focused on wielding the de that he missed out on protecting himself. Nial, on the other hand, was forced to twist and twirl his body in far more ufortable angles than usual.

    He was in a truly tricky situation and could hardly control the tide of the battle. It was rare that something like this happened. After all, he was usually the person in charge of the battle''s rhythm!

    Thus, the change of the person in charge made him ufortable, extremely ufortable at that!

 Chapter 602 Weapon

    Nial continued to twist his body and move rapidly around while making specific movements to evade every single iing attack. The movements he issued made it seem as if he was a dancing ballerina. It looked quite intricate from the outside, but it also enraged the Demihumans.

    That was a good sign, Nial thought with certainty, happy that the Demihumans were getting a little bit angry as well. He couldn''t be the only one feeling extremely ufortable in the given situation. If he was the only one ufortable one may actually say that Nial was getting bullied. Of course, Nial didn''t like the feeling of thinking of himself as the bullied. If someone had to be the bully and someone else had to be bullied, Nial would rather choose to be the bad guy!

    He was not sure how much time had passed since the huge box had been thrown out to catch him and the Demihumans in a unique space that seemed to follow otherws. Nial had merely been able to knock out a bunch of Demihumans, not enough to be noteworthy. It was quite a hassle if he were to be honest with himself.

    Never had he been so slow in defeating his opponents. It was ridiculous, no matter how rusty Nial had be after cultivation and making his research for a total of close to thirty years. His Grasp of Eclipse movement technique was what he was best at, but he couldn''t even think of using it. The same applied to the dark energy that didn''t heed hismands, at all.

    Chaos was the power he could control the least, and it didn''t exactly help that he could reinforce the Power of Chaos with the crimson moonlight. It created a bunch ofplications, no matter how effective the result was.

    While Nial''s mind was rattling, questioning how he should approach the given situation in order toe out victorious, without sustaining a multitude of severe injuries at best.

    That was what he had in mind, but reality looked a little different. Nial had a hard time knocking out one person after another. How was he supposed to pay enough attention to evade several attacks, including mana-based long-distance attacks, at the same time?

    Without the subtle movements he issued with every single step he took, Nial would have been dead by now. That was something he was certain about.

    In fact, he didn''t recall a time when he had to move like this. It was a first, and Nial didn''t really feel like acting that way ever again. He couldn''t even ess his spatial rings because his dark energy usage was restricted. He could hardly take a deep breath before more than five new attacks were thrown at him once again.

    Nial knocked out the Demihuman who had sliced the back of his hand with his knee. His hand instinctively reached out for the longsword which he got hold of just a momentter.

    The moment his fingers coiled around the handle of the longsword, he injected a tremendous amount of dark energy inside them. Nial didn''t want to give up the opportunity he was given. It was necessary for him to us the longsword in order to be able to use his dark energy. That was, if the longsword was able to handle the pressure of his dark energy, or if it was only constructed to wield bits of mana.

    Nial quickly noticed that more than three-quarters of the inserted dark energy were forcefully ejected. No matter how much dark energy Nial inserted into the de, three-quarters always dispersed.

    That was unexpected but it also meant that Nial could, basically, insert his entire dark energy into the de. Only a quarter of the inserted dark energy would remain but it was not as if Nial was able to use his dark energy differently right now, to begin with.

    ''These weapons are different than mine,'' Nial quickly understood as he perceived the weapon in its entirety. Since he was able to spread his dark energy through the de, he could visualize it in a crystal clear manner.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was a double-edged longsword with a pointed tip. At first, Nial was pretty sure that the weapon was nothing special and that certain configurations of the huge box must have been the reason for being able to inject mana and other energies inside weapons.

    However, Nial quickly noticed that this guess was not correct. He understood that the hieroglyphic runes engraved on the weapon''s de were the reason for being partially excluded from the influence of the huge box''s highly potent effect. The hieroglyphic runes were not able to block off the influence of the box but it was possible to retain a quarter of the energy inserted into the objects that had been engraved with the hieroglyphic runes.

    That was pretty interesting since it allowed the Demihumans to gain a humongous advantage. Being the onlybatants with the capability to wield energy while their opponents were restricted drastically was certainly an advantage for them. Of course, this advantage only remained as long as they were able to refrain their opponents from finding out the truth.

    To their misfortune, Nial found out the secret quite quickly. He was in possession of much more energy than anyone else as well. Using a tremendous amount of dar energy to insert it inside the de, it turned ck from the inside out. Mantled and inserting crimson chaos to further enhance the de, Nial quickly realized that the materials of the weapons were pretty interesting as well.

    But rather than paying attention to something that he could researchter as well, Nial sliced the longsword through the air in front of him. He collided with a bunch of weapons that were about to reach him, desiring to pierce his skin and dig deep into his flesh, ending his life once and for all.

    The brute force of his sh and the sheer power behind the injected energy and chaos within and around the de was more than enough to push the attackers away. They were forced to retreat, otherwise, they would have sustained various injuries.

    Nial didn''t intend to kill his opponents which was also why he used the mantle of crimson chaos to dull the edges of the weapon and create a second impact by releasing bursts of crimson chaos whenever his sword impacted.

    He began his counterattack, shing, slicing, and thrusting the de in the direction he heard heavy breathing, the sound of the weapon handles rubbing in the Demihumans hands and more subtle noises that indicated the presence of opponents in his surrounding area.

    His senses seemed to be growing even more sensible after he got his hands on the longsword. That was not actually the case, and it was just that Nial was finally able to focus on counterattacking and his senses rather than evading attacks all the time. It was pretty interesting how his senses were affected by virtually anything that was going on.

    Nial was ready to rumble and he did so by using his dulled weapon to beat the shit out of a bunch of Mythician Demuhumans, who had attacked him without even trying to converse with him.

    Of course, he was a foreign existence that had appeared in front of their home, all of a sudden, at that, but there were still more ways to react.

    That was also why Nial didn''t feel bad for beating the shit out of the Demihumans he faced.

    A small lecture was what they deserved!

 Chapter 603 Fatal Flaw

    Though Nial was not actually able to use any of the techniques he learned from the Late God of Darkness'' memories, he could use altered versions of this Ten Thousand Nights use. Being a technique that was applied to his body and the armaments he wields, Nial was able to use his dark energy for thetter.

    With a tremendous amount of dark energy and a shroud of crimson chaos that dulled the weapon, Nial didn''t need to hold back anymore. He moved the rows of his opponents like the Grim Reaper. The only difference was that he didn''t use a razor-sharp scythe but a dull sword to knock out his opponents, after disarming them.

    Nial was sometimes forced to his arms, legs, and other parts of the Demihumans when they came too close in toorge numbers to handle at the same time. He broke their arms and legs, which caused loud crackling noises to resound. Nial ignored these sounds mostly. He had to focus on the other sounds in his proximity, otherwise, he would be the next one to end up with a bunch of broken bones, and that was the best possible oue.

    Because Nial didn''t really feel like dying, he used more than half of his umted dark energy inside the sword. The energy he used was more than most Mythician could hold as well. Thus, the longsword in his hands was much stronger, more dangerous, and more durable than the weapons held by the others.

    It was still impossible for Nial to avoid sustaining injuries, no matter how much stronger he was physically, or how much more powerful his weapon was inparison to the weapons wielded by the Demihumans. Every few seconds, a sharp sting reached his nervous system. He endured it well, though he was irked that he hadn''t been able to block each of the iing attacks.

    Despite the frustration, the influence of his dark energy didn''t increase all of a sudden. The dark energy was not even able to circte through his body while they were still under the effect of the huge box, so how as it supposed to influence him, in the first ce?

    Nial ended up enduring sustaining more than six injuries before the battle ended with him being the sole winner. A few Demihumans were struggling to stay conscious but Nial deprived them of their struggle, knocking them out atst.

    "I wonder if you guys were just ordinary guards at a high level, or if you''re the Elite Unit of the Demihumans," Nial thought to himself, not sure what to think of the Demihumans. Since he was all by himself, it was not possible for dozens of Demihumans to attack him at the same time.

    In fact, only two to three Demihumans could attack him simultaneously without restricting each other. Winning in a one versus three was not further difficult after he had gotten his hands on a good weapon which he had further enhanced with his dark energy and crimson chaos. At the end of the day, it was only logical that he came out victorious, but things had been difficult nheless.

    Themotion around him had been highly distractive, preventing him from actually perceiving every single thing around him. He never fought a real life-and-death battle without his mana perception. Fighting blind and relying on his other senses while being in possession of superhuman strength was certainly not as funny or interesting as it sounded, especially when his other senses were struggling under the influence of various other things that influenced them drastically.

    Now that the battle was over, Nial hoped that the huge box would disperse soon. In the meantime, he used his longsword as a recement for a cane as he paved his way through the eerily silent unconscious bodies. He picked up everyone''s weapon to make sure that nobody would be able to harm him even if they were to regain their consciousness before the huge box was to disperse.

    A small stash of weapons formed next to Nial while he was trying to use his full physical strength even though he was not able to sense his surroundings. When he was fighting, he had a rough idea of where the others were and how far they were away. He could also gauge where the borders to the huge box were located. Nheless, Nial didn''t move much in the whole battle.

    ? He knew that he could be missing out on certain pieces of information, trip over someone''s body, or smash against the walls of the box since he was not able to detect the finest details in his surrounding area. This irked him even more than the shallow injuries he had sustained. He had to take a deep breath and ept that he was notfortable beingpletely blind, which included being deprived of his mana perception, and Mana Sense.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was certainly ufortable but he had to adapt to it, since the Demihumans may not be thest opponents with simr means to fight him in the future.

    ''In the future, more people will attempt to kill me using a simr method. It''s only a matter of time before I attain godhood and I will offend the first Gods¡­ if I didn''t do that already. Some will fear me enough to work on methods to kill me easily¡­and I am obviously blind, relying a lot on my Mana Sense and range of perception. Cutting off my energy and distorting the mana in his surroundings would be fatal the moment he was to fight a powerful opponent.

    But even worse would be if his opponents were still able to use their abilities, and fight like the Heligav, with abilities and special traits that allowed them to disappear from reality, of course not literally.

    ''Looks like I have another hurdle to ovee,'' Nial figured, understanding that he had to find a solution to this problem rather quickly. After all, his life was on the line.

    Being blind was and has always been his Fatal w. Countering it had been possible until now, but problems urred once his way of countering the issues caused by his biggest w were forcefully interrupted or countered as well. Nial didn''t even want to think about it but it was quite obvious that avoiding the bitter truth was not helpful.

    With that in mind, he got to understand what he had to do in the near future. However, for now, Nial had to get out of the huge box. He removed the dulling effect created through the shroud of crimson chaos, took a deep breath, and unleashed the entire power stored inside the tip of the longsword.

    The shroud of crimson chaos mantled and fused with the beam of dark energy that shot out of the tip of the longsword and it impacted a momentter.

    The entire box began to shake violently but nothing happened for several seconds until the darkness beam dispersed. Nial thrust the longsword forward, piercing the crack he had heard before.

    A crackling noise rang through Nial''s ears and it was getting louder with time passing.

    Nial also noticed that the influence of the huge box dispersed slowly.

    ''Finally¡­''

 Chapter 604 Flying Shuttle

    Finally regaining control of his dark energy, he spread it out in an instant. There was no sign of unfamiliarity as he controlled the dark energy, everything felt the same as before. It was exactly how it was supposed to be!

    Unleashing his dark energy, he slowly morphed it into vines that tied down the unconscious bodies that were floating in the open space. He tied all of them down and bound them together with a darkness chain that was also manifested from his dark energy. As for the weapons, they were already tightly stored inside his spatial ring.

    He wouldn''t give them back, not before he finished researching them, at least. There were a few things that had attracted his interest, and he intended to find out everything!

    The huge box crumbled and it was about to shatter when Nial unleashed the fullest potential of his range of perception and Mana Sense. He was trying to depict something from the huge box but failed miserably. The box shattered, leaving nothing behind.

    ''If I ask nicely, they should give me one of those boxes as well, right?'' Nial thought while the corners of his lips curled upward.

    As the huge box shattered, the Devil Roc shot toward him. A few unconscious bodies were already hanging down the dark energy that oozed out of the Devil Rocl as if they were tiny tentacles.

    "Carry this bunch as well," He ordered to the Devil Roc who spread out a few more dark energy tentacles to attach the remaining dozens of Demihumans to it. Nial nodded his head in satisfaction as he was able to perceive everything that happened with great precision. It was a pretty decent sensation to be able to perceive his surrounding up to the finest detail.

    It was the replication of hiscking eyesight and it might actually be better than being able to see. After all, his range of perception, enhanced with the fully unleashed Mana Sense was pretty vast, to put it simply.

    ''As long as I have this box, I can learn how to fight without sensing any energy, for real this time¡­I can also study it and make countermeasures. Everything together should be more than enough to handle all kinds of opponents¡­or most of them,'' Nial thought to himself as he made his move to the closest. It was the same where the Demihumans had emerged from and the he intended to visit earlier.

    The way he had been treated by the Demihumans upon arriving was a little harsh but that was something Nial could ignore. He knew that some powerful Originals could be found on the and Nial hoped that they were ready to help him out a bit.

    Of course, it was the most important to make sure that they knew he didn''t n to conquer theirnds or anything like that. Though Nial didn''t think that anyone thought a Mythician ranked individual was enough to conquer the entire of the Demihumans, he was going to make sure that they understood his intentions no matter how big of anguage barrier existed between him and the Demihumans!

    He descended onto the with the Devil Roc by his side. At first, Nial didn''t expect too much because the Demihumans were not exactly in possession of specialbat techniques or any means to actually defeat Nial. They weren''t really strong, which was why Nial''s expectations of their home could be considered mediocre. He knew that it would be technologically advanced because he had seen huge space shuttles passing through the space, but Nial had been pretty sure that the Demihumans wouldn''t be further advanced than the Alliance City had been.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The literal opposite was the case.

    A highly technologically advanced city appeared in his range of perception in the form of towering skyscrapers made of unknown, sleek materials that resembled ss and darkish steel. The buildings were designed with clean lines and cutting-edge technology and they were adorned with means to sustain themself easily. There were sr panels, green roofs, and means to store mana insiderge batteries that were guarded well.

    The streets were bustling with advanced transportation rather than people crowding the areas. There were flying shuttles that soared above the city, transporting Demihumands and goods while being driven through artificial intelligence. The shuttles were able to take off vertically andnd easily in the same way. For someone like Nial that was quite impressive. A few decades earlier, he didn''t even leave the Shelter in which he had been raised. Yet, right now, he was visualizing the newest technology right in front of him.

    If the Alliance City had already been a shock for Nial, this topped his past experience easily, by several leagues.

    Other than the flying shuttles that moved swiftly and smoothly through the air, the city had also highly advanced infrastructure with awork of high-speed train lines connecting the different areas of the city. All over the city, Nial perceived numerous green spaces and parks that provide a refreshing contrast to the cityndscape. It was possible to enjoy nature there without the need to leave the city!

    As for the structures Nial perceived outside the city, he presumed it to be the harbor of the means to travel through space, such as the rockets, shuttles, the fuel they used, and the means to undergo maintenance.

    Instead of descending in the middle of the city, Nial chose to descend somewhere near the outskirts. Landing on the open space outside the city, near the outskirts, was one of his means to show that he didn''t have bad intentions.

    He noticed that a bunch of Demihumans was already rushing to him but Nial was not in a hurry to act. He told the Devil Roc to be careful whilending to detach from the unconscious Demihumans before he started to rearrange them, giving the Medics, if there would be any, to have enough space to look at them.

    Meanwhile, as a bunch of Demihumans, more than a hundred of them at the Mythician rank, reached him, Nial retracted the Devil Roc by turning it into darkness that merged back with Nial''s body.

    Nial stepped back at the same time, giving the Demihumans the opportunity to take their injured and unconscious brethren.

    "If you attack me now, you would be one of the stupidest races I''ve encountered in my entire life!"

 Chapter 605 Crystal

    Nial was giving the Demihumans'' healers enough time and space to check on their unconscious people.

    The healers arrived in front of him not long after he had stepped back. Nial was still eyed vigntly but the healers'' priority was to tend to the wounds of their brethren. With that in mind, he was mostly ignored after it was clear that he didn''t intend to attack anymore.

    Of course, only the healers began to ignore him, not the remaining hundreds of Demihumans that had gone out of the city to fight against the infiltrator or check up on the condition of their brethren.

    Nial remained silent while the Demihumans all around him started to gossip with each other. He couldn''t understand what they were saying but Nial was trying to listen to the words they said, nheless. He analyzed their words in an attempt to learn theirnguage as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it was not that easy to learn a newnguage, even if his brain could process most things rather easily at his cultivation rank. Being at the Mythician rank helped him quite a lot when it came to learning new things and conducting something, but it didn''t mean that a newnguage was learned after listening to thenguage for a few minutes.

    That didn''t really make any sense.

    It became even more difficult to study the unknownnguage of the Demihumans when a Lizard Demihuman with a height of more than 2.5 meters began to shout at him loudly.

    He was amongst the strongest in the batch of Demihumans that had appeared and Nial presumed him to be at the Trixor Rank. Nial was not too sure how strong a Trixor Original was, but considering that thebat prowess of the Mythician Demihumans hadn''t been too high, Nial began to hope that the Trixor Demihuman would attack him.

    Defeating the Trixor Demihuman without killing him would inevitably mean that he was strong enough to obliterate everyone around him but that he didn''t intend to do so.

    However, even before Nial could finish his thoughts, a much smaller and older Demihuman emerged behind the tall Lizard Demihuman. It was a Mouse Demihuman the height of a Dwarf, walking around with a cane. Despite looking frail and extremely weak in his visualization, Nial knew that the old Demihuman was even stronger than the Lizard Demihuman. The old mouse demihuman had appeared out of nowhere and he calmly walked toward the unconscious Mythician Demihumans whom Nial had defeated.

    The old Demihuman took a proper look at the unconscious Demihumans before he stepped closer to Nial.

    "Kirm, sheria''knasa melviandro mel''rat," The old Demihumans said calmly. Nial tilted his head and began to scratch the back of his head in confusion.

    "I am sorry, but I cannot understand yournguage¡­" He mumbled in response. The old Demihuman stopped in his tracks and he looked at Nial, analyzing his facial expression where one could clearly see his frustration. He nodded his head, essed his storage device, and retrieved a small crystal which he threw toward Nial.

    ? Nial caught it easily and he perceived it to the finest detail with his range of perception, only to end up not knowing what exactly the crystal could do. The old Demihumans released his mana outside his body and formed a replication of the crystal while slowly inserting his mana inside the replication.

    "Ah," Nial blurted out, inserting his dark energy inside the crystal. The old Demihuman was a little astonished about what seemed to happen to the crystal with his dark energy inserted. It turned ck instead of showing signs of turning azure. The change in the crystal''s color was certainly not normal and it was something that could hardly be exined by normal means.

    However, the crystal''s color was not important as long as it was able to function properly.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Mekas Kiluam?" The old Demihuman asked and Nial was just about to say that he couldn''t understand the old Demihuman when he froze in his tracks.

    "Did you just ask me if I can understand you now?" Nial asked, still holding onto the crystal.

    "Yes, that''s exactly what I''ve asked. Looks like the trantion crystal works even though your energy is foreign to us," The old Demihuman said calmly. Nial didn''t understand the words when the old Demihuman said them but the trantion entered his mind just a momentter.

    "This crystal is indeed pretty useful," Nial nodded while trying to perceive the changes that urred to the crystal after he injected his dark energy into it. But what he found out was not exactly to his liking. He didn''t sense any changes, which meant that he had no idea how the crystal tranted the words spoken by the old Demihuman.

    On the same note, it seemed like the crystal tranted the words he said as well, otherwise, the old Demihuman wouldn''t have been able to understand him.

    "Putting aside the usefulness of the trantion crystal, what are you doing here? How did you pass through the defensive system of the Ingarn Ster System? You were only detected by the radars when you approached Px¡­ and who the hell are you?" The Old Demihumans asked many questions but Nial didn''t think that it was odd. In fact, it was rather normal for him to be asked all those questions.

    However, Nial had to think about the best possible answer for a second or two. In the end, he figured that there was no perfect answer and that he could only say what he had to say.

    "My name is Nial Orin, and for thest few decades, I was having difficulties escaping from an isted ster system. I used one of my creations to reinforce my spatial-type movement technique with which I can just through darkness and shadows. That way, I was probably able to pass through your ster system''s defensive system without getting caught," Nial started calmly, before thinking that it was better to add a few details.

    He was pretty sure that he would be able to get his hands on a handful of useful information with those details, "While I was pursuing someone through a spatial portal created by a Spectran who lost control of his power as he was ejected from the Origin for the use of his Divinity, I and someone else ended up in the isted ster system. As for what I''m doing here, I am actually just trying to get back to the Origin and found this civilization that way."

    There were quite a few things Nial left out but that was for everyone''s best. It was not exactly helpful if he were to reveal everything that had happened to him in thest thirty years. He had already revealed quite a few details, possibly more than necessary.

    Nheless, Nial''s n worked out and he received a bunch of pieces of information in return.

    "Who are the Spectran you''re talking about? And what''s the Origin? Is that some sort of ster system, or a? Though, I can roughly grasp what you mean when you say Divinity," The Old Demihuman said, "I presume that you were thrown to some ce by ident and that you and this other person had quite a hard timeing here."

    It looked almost as if the Old Demihuman believed every single word said by Nial. That was pretty good, even if it was a little unexpected. However, Nial wouldn''tin about something like that. He rather embraced the trust he received.

    "By the way, what happened to the other person?"

 Chapter 606 Where Am I?

    "By the way, what happened to the other person?" The Old Demihuman asked.

    This question gave Nial a little bit of a headache, but he chose to stay honest.

    "The person is dead, I killed her," He said seemingly nonchntly. The old demihuman raised his eyebrow while he continued to stare at Nial.

    "Why did you kill her? If you were actually caught in an isted ster system, that would mean you were all by yourself, which is quite lonely. If you killed the other person, that is."

    Nial understood the suspicion of the old demihuman but he didn''t really care whether someone believed his words or not.

    "I rushed inside the spatial portal because I wanted to kill her. Ending up in an isted ster system far from home was not what I nned, but it didn''t change anything about my n. She was a friend of mine in the past, only to kill my mother, which is why I killed her to make sure that my sister wouldn''t follow her into the spatial portal. It''s a littleplicated.

    Thinking about it, it''s pretty good that I ended up in the isted ster system rather than my sister. She wouldn''t have been able to escape it that quickly," He said.

    His words were still rather nonchnt but there were surges of anger when he spoke about Be Morningstar. She might have identally killed their mother, but that was because she intended to kill his sister, just for an astray attack to deliver the final blow to their beloved mother.

    Thinking about it caused uncontroble rage to erupt from within Nial. The old demihuman realized that as well. He made a mental note of Nial''s answer while simultaneously trying to take note of his attitude, behavior, and potential danger level.

    ? "But you really don''t know the Origin, which is also called Jundra, or the Spectran race, one of the Primordial races of the Universe?" Nial asked, changing the topic to something that was more interesting for him than Be Morningstar.

    The old demihuman looked at Nial for a few seconds before he shook his head, "Something like a Primordial race does not exist here. I do not know the name of a race called Spectran, nor do I know a ce called Jundra or the Origin."

    ''That makes things a lot more difficult,'' Nial thought. If the Primordial races of a Universe ceased to exist a long time ago, it would make sense that nobody recalls them. It was also possible that the Demihumans had never encountered one of the Primordial races because they lived somewhere the Primordial races couldn''t reach or didn''t want to go. However, the Demihumans were able to travel through space, which was an important point he took note of as well.

    "Do you guys have Dungeons, Worldbridges, and the like?" Nial then asked without too much hope. The old demihuman shook his head, which was exactly what Nial had expected.

    "We don''t have anything like that," He said.

    The answer he expected was enough for Nial to start doubting where he was actually located. Was he still in the same Universe as before or was he thrown into a different Universe? Were the Spectran that powerful, able to throw someone into a different Universe?<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial didn''t think so because it didn''t make sense that the Spectran who identally leaked his Divinity for a second or two, was able to unleash the power required to throw him into a different Universe.

    But if that was not the case¡­where exactly was he?

    Nial had literally no clue about his current whereabouts. He could only make guesses but they were random and might actually worsen his mood just by thinking about them.

    "Is it possible to see a map of the known parts of the Universe then?" Nial asked while deep in thought.

    There were a few things that he had to take into consideration but getting to know the known parts of the Universe was already a pretty good start. The Demihumans were also pretty technologically advanced, which meant that why must have recorded the known Universe. That was to be expected, at the very least!

    "After you undergo a medical examination that will examine your health, your mental state, and a few other things, you may enter the city temporarily. I can provide you with a temporary quantum bracelet with which you can ess the map of the known Universe," The Old Demihuman said, reaching out his helping hand to Nial.

    That was the least he could do after Nial didn''t kill the dozens of Mythician Demihumans who had attacked him without attempting to talk it out.

    The demihumans had been under a lot of stress but that didn''t really exin why they acted like this. It was almost as if they had been out for a fight, willing to use Nial as a dummy to release their stress on, no matter what would happen to him.

    Nial didn''t know about that, so he was happy about the generosity of the old Demihuman. He was not exactly sure how high the old Demihuman was in the hierarchy, but being at the Trixor rank and able to make sure that no fight was breaking out while another Trixor Demihuman was present could be considered enough to show that the old Demihuman was highly respected.

    "That would be great," Nial nodded, "Thank you very much. Your help means a lot!"

    He was honest with every word he said. The Old Demihuman was certainly a great help. This was especially the case when it came to taking care of all the procedures required for the medical examination and his temporary stay.

    Nial was led inside the city where he entered a shuttle next to the old Demihuman. The others looked at Nial withplicated emotions but nobody dared to say anything against the decision of the old Demihuman.

    His words were thew and they had to heed thew no matter what.

 Chapter 607 Viruses?

    Overall, the medical examination took way longer than Nial expected. They took a look at every nook and cranny of his body to make sure that he was not infested by some sort of highly contagious virus that was deadly to the Demihumans.

    Apparently, there had been problems with something like that in the past. Some ''aliens'' brought highly contagious viruses to their territory, not knowing that they had something like that attached to them, in the first ce. The aliens were unaffected by these viruses while the Demihuman died like flies that were flying into the zing mes of a campfire.

    Nial''s body was not the only thing that had to be tested, but his mind was as well. While the examination of his body took a total of three days in which he was isted, he learned the Demihumans''nguage both the writtennguage and the spokennguage. He knew that the questions they would ask would be easier to answer knowing theirnguage.

    Furthermore, the old Demihuman said that they only used a singlenguage in the entire known Universe. That made things a lot easier for him because he figured he would have to stay in this Universe, or part of the Universe for a while.

    He had to understand where he was or find someone who could help him find out where exactly he was. That would make things a lot easier, especially when it helped him calm down. As long as he was still in the same Universe as before, which was what Nial guessed, everything was fine. He would be able to find a way back home in a matter of time. However, if he were to be in a different Universe, he would have to find a way to jump through the void barriers, which was certainly not easy without some help of truly powerful existences.

    Nial had already thought about trying to find a way to the Realm of Forgotten Time, precisely the City of Trials since it was not anchored in any Universe, but he didn''t really have an idea how to get there. In the worst case, he would have to be stronger and wait until the third Godly Trial was to start and ask Damian for some help.

    Nial knew that this was thest straw he could grasp because it was pretty obvious that he wouldn''t meet up with the Late God of Darkness anytime soon.

    He guessed that their next meeting would either be around the time he finished his Divinity, or the earliest when he was about to start creating his Godly Foundation at the Trixor stage. He might have advanced to the Mythician rank by now, but he was still missing seven Darkness Temples to reach the Peak of the Mythician rank. Afterward, he would have to find a way to advance to the Trixor rank.

    Because he was not in the isted ster system anymore, there was no highly purified andpressed mana overflowing in the space all around him.

    Even if he were to work fast and on all seven Darkness Temples at the same time, which was basically impossible without sustaining permanent brain damage, it would take half a century, possibly longer, for him to be a Demi God Original.

    Time passed slowly and Nial''s psychological state was tested once his other medical results had been reported, analyzed, and read through.

    Nobody could really fathom what was going on in Nial''s body because every single cell in his body seemed to be in possession of an incredible amount of life force and a massive amount ofpressed dark energy.

    While that was as interesting as it was terrifying, it was also quite obvious that it was not their business. Nial allowed the Demihumans to make all tests they needed because he wanted to enter their city and receive their help. If they were to bombard him with personal questions, he might lose his temper. Considering that he was blind, yet able to defeat five dozen well-trained Elite Space Guards showed quite clearly that he was even able to fight high numbers of opponents without being in possession of dark energy or a mean to perceive his surrounding with his energy!<novelnext></novelnext>

    Close to a week had passed when all examinations were finallypleted. He was healthy without any dangerous viruses attached to him. There were a few things that required a while to be analyzed but the overall situation made clear that it was not dangerous to allow Nial inside the city.

    He was allowed to leave the isted room, which he did in an instant.

    Nial spread out his range of perception and mana sense in an instant. He was looking for the old Demihuman, whom he found after using a considerable amount of his dark energy to expand his Mana Sense.

    Nial walked calmly through the medical care ward, he left the hospital which he had been brought to by the old Demihuman, and he found his way to the old Demihuman once he got hold of the shadows and darkness in his surrounding area.

    He used the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, disappeared from the spot, and emerged more than ten kilometers further ahead. He stood in front of a humongous building where guards blocked him off. The guards were baffled by the sudden appearance of an alien form in front of them. They unsheathed their weapons and pointed them at Nial before realizing who the young blind man was. The news of a blind humanoid alien had already spread through the entirework of the Demihumans, let alone the city.

    Nial was known by everyone by now, and the guards lowered their weapons.

    "You are not allowed to enter the building," One of the guards said in theirnguage, rather calm.

    Nial nodded his head in response. He pointed somewhere higher up in the building the guards guarded and asked, "Do I have to request a meeting with the old Mouse Demihuman who''s at the Trixor rank, or how am I supposed to get the things he promised to hand over to me?"

    The Guards looked at each other, not sure whether Nial was making fun of their Grand Elder, or if he just didn''t know the Grand Elder''s name or title. They were not too sure what to do with Nial either.

    "We will give the head secretary a call, and she will figure out what to do¡­probably."

    "Thanks a bunch."

 Chapter 608 Quantum Bracelets

    Once the guards called the head secretary, it was only a matter of minutes before Nial was led inside the building.

    A bunny-eared Demihuman came over to bring him to the Grand Elder. In the meantime, Nial got to know that the old mouse Demihuman was given the title Grand Elder because of the achievements he attained, and the innovations he made for the Demihumans.

    Apparently, he was already over ten thousand years old and was one of the Demihumans responsible for the innovation of space traveling via spaceships, and rockets. Hearing this increased Nial''s interest in the Grand Elder because it was very likely that the Grand Elder was in possession of knowledge that only a few Demihumans possessed.

    ''Is my luck returning to me, or is all of that just a farce?'' He wondered. But instead of seeing things too negatively, Nial chose to tell himself that his luck was finally returning and that his luck had been umted inside the isted ster system. It was better to stay positive and think of everything as an opportunity, rather than perceiving it as a waste of time, or something that he didn''t need.

    He may actually see and learn things that he would have never gotten to know if not for his encounter with the Spectran and by being thrown into the unknown.

    Nial followed the bunny-eared Demihuman inside the elevator that brought them to the second-highest floor. After that, she led him to the room at the end of the floor before opening therge metal door for him.

    Nial was told to go inside while the bunny-eared Demihuman stayed behind.

    "You found your way to me pretty fast," The Grand Elder said calmly while staring out of the window. The skyscraper was more than 500 meters high, which created a great view upon looking outside as the two suns of the ster system rose over the horizon.

    In fact, the ster system was a sr system because of the two burning stars. Of course, Nial couldn''t be bothered about something as negligible as that. It was more important to find a way back home, where everyone he cared about could be found!

    "I was looking for you the moment they allowed me to leave. If not for your security, I would have reached you even faster," Nial said, not mentioning that he had thought about beating the shit out of the guards before barging inside the building.

    "I heard," The Grand Elder said, still extremely calm andposed as he retrieved something from the storage device he used, "Inside the pouch, you will find the Quantum Bracelet with which you can register a temporary ount to ess the Dem, awork with which you can connect to everyone in our territory. You have to use the identification card we''ve prepared for you in order to ess the Dem, but that will hardly be a problem. It doesn''t need much wit to use the Dem.

    Just try not to lose the identification card, otherwise, we will have a bunch of problems."

    Nial epted the pouch and he retrieved a highly-technology advanced bracelet out of it. Nial perceived it in great detail and he could immediately tell that neither he nor anyone he knew was capable of replicating a device such as the Quantum Bracelet. He could hardly understand the concept of the Quantum Bracelet¡­and they actually had something ''simr'' to that in the Origin Human Shelters on Jundra.

    The inte they had in the Origin Human Shelter was, quite obviously, much inferior to thework system the Demihumans created. The Quantum Bracelets were also hundreds of times moreplex and better than anything Nial had ever gotten his hands on in the Human Shelters.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Other than the Quantum Bracelet and the identification card, there was not much to find. In fact, everything Nial required was stored inside the Quantum Bracelet.

    "Because I don''t know what you''re going to do, I gave you a few Demi-Coins in your bnce to buy some food and rent a hotel room for a few days. Your map of the known Universe was also upgraded to thetest version. If you take a look at it right now, I can exin to you a few things that may or may not be helpful to you!" The Grand Elder proposed which Nial epted readily.

    "Your help is very helpful. I don''t know what I would have done without your help!" Nial said thankfully before he started to create his ount on the Quantum Bracelet.

    The Grand Elder turned around to look at Nial for a few seconds before he smiled lightly.

    "I am pretty sure that you are not helpless. You would have found a solution on your own. I''m just helping you to make sure that you can achieve your goals faster, without any unnecessary bloodshed and casualties. The Elite Space Guards were already fortunate that you didn''t think of killing them from the beginning, otherwise, we would have to hold dozens of funerals and tell their family that we weren''t able to properly take care of their men and women.

    Helping you out a little bit makes things easier, by a lot at that!" The Grand Elder exined.

    Nial just nodded, ignoring the formality he wanted to use by expressing his gratefulness. He was actually grateful for the help he received but he was not as helpless as his words earlier suggested.

    He would have found a way out of this misery all by himself, no matter what needed to be done and how long it would take.

    Nial was quite confident in his capabilities and the unique bits of knowledge he possessed.

    Once he finished creating his ount, the final configurations on the Quantum Bracelet werepleted easily. It didn''t even take ten minutes before he sat down on thefortable couch, taking a good look at the map of the known Universe.

    Visualizing everything clearly, Nial imprinted the Map into his mind. He analyzed the map and tilted his head left and right to take a good look at the situation.

    However, something bothered Nial the longer he looked at the map.

    "Is that really all to the known Universe?"

 Chapter 609 Meteorfield

    No matter how Nial looked at the map, it was way too small. If he were topare it to the known Universe starting from the Origin, the map he was currently looking at should be a third, or maybe a quarter in size,paratively.

    That was a little confusing because the Map shouldn''t show the entire Universe. In fact, Nial knew that the Universe he came from was already considered rather small because it was so young and still expanding. That was also why Nial began to doubt that he was in a different Universe but that there was something else he had to take into consideration.

    "Why is the area in the north and west of the map marked ck, while the area all over the eastern and southern part of the map is grayed with various specific marks?" Nial asked, figuring that there was more to the eye than one could read from the map. In fact, the grayed-out part was something that looked a little familiar to something he had seen in the past.

    The Grand Elder had already expected this question. Thus, he answered it without a dramatic pause or anything of that sort.

    "ck means that there is empty space no matter how far you travel. There might actually be something if you go far enough, but good luck finding something after traveling for who knows how long. A few explorers went out to take a look at the situation out there several centuries ago and the information with which they came back was the usual stuff. They traveled with the fast space shuttles for a total of two hundred years in one direction, just to find nothing. You may not know how fast we can travel through space¡­but it''s quite fast.

    I guess that you came from somewhere in this ck area, though I don''t know where exactly, obviously."

    Nial nodded his head in understanding. He would have guessed the same as the Grand Elder. There may be a bunch of ster systems out there in the ck area but colonizing them is not actually worth it as long as their poption is not overcrowding the space of their territory.

    The Demihumans used a simr principle to mark the outer ''empty'' space of the Universe as Nial recalled from the Origin and the maps he had seen of the known Universe. However, there had been many areas that were marked differently and not ck. Some areas in the known Universe of the Origin had disappeared ording to the ancient texts of history. Interestingly enough, it was not possible to visit the empty space where several ster systems seemed to have disappeared.

    The reason for their disappearance was also unknown. That was why Nial had thought that the Demihumans came from one of these mysterious disappearances. However, that didn''t seem to be quite right anymore.

    "If the ck area is the ''empty'' space that marks the end of the Universe, what exactly is the grayed-out area? There are quite a few marks in the grayed-out area, with some of them sounding like materials such as the names of ores, nts, and so on," Nial asked, very interested in the grayed-out area.

    It might be a fact that the Demihumans and every other race that may or may not be living in this Universe, or part of the Universe, were not a part of the mysterious disappearance of entire gxies, but that didn''t mean Nial gave up his hope. He was still hoping that the Origin and the territory of the Demihumans belonged to the same Universe. That would make things so much easier!

    "The grayed-out area is what we call the Meteor-Ring and Meteorfield. It''s a humongous area where various monsters and possibly other existences live. The monsters and other beings are living in the orbit of massive meteors, and it is pretty difficult, or rather close to impossible to travel through them. After all, the monsters are too strong to handle the further you travel through the Meteor field. It''s quite dangerous," The Grand Elder exined before adding, "However, we''re also getting some of our most important resources from the Meteorfield. The marked areas are thes and ces we can find various materials!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial nodded, less interested in the resources that could be procured in the orbit of meteors, but more intrigued about the existence of the ''Meteor field''.

    "So there might be something behind the Meteor field, maybe even my Universe¡­" Nial mumbled to himself, deep in thought.

    The more he thought about it the more sense it made. In fact, he was pretty sure that he recalled the unknown part of the Universe being hidden through an orbit of meteorites ands where some Beast Gods and other existences that were just as strong were said to live.

    Memories he never thought to know resurfaced in his mind, and a small smile surfaced on his lips as the pieces of the puzzle were slowly pulled together.

    He clearly recalled that there were unknown parts of the Universe that were simply too dangerous to travel through, even for Ancient God. Maybe it was a little bit different for Primordials and Ancients, but the Grand Elder''s words were genuine when he said that he didn''t know anything about Primordials.

    That either meant the Primordials were not interested in the unknown parts of the Universe, that they couldn''t enter them, or that there were other things to take into consideration, things Nial had yet to find out.

    "You think that your homeys behind the Meteor field?" The Grand Elder asked, not too sure about Nial''s assumption. In his opinion, it was a lot easier to have been teleported to a different Universe, Realm, or Dimension thaning from behind the Meteor Field. After all, it was not possible for them to create means of instant teleportation.

    Thinking about this, the Grand Elder was getting suspicious.

    "How was it even possible for you to end up here, in the first ce?" He thus asked, just for Nial to repeat himself once again.

    "I was teleported in here by ident. I think the Spectran wanted to rescue Be but ended up releasing his Divinity because I interfered in his n. The Origin went awry then, turning everything into a mess."

    "Is that so¡­"

 Chapter 610 Minotaur? Demihuman? Both?

    What Nial didn''t expect to happen when he left the building was that some Demihuman would be trying to stir trouble.

    The Demihuman was at the Peak of the Mythician rank, with a great physical build that was enhanced through his traits as Half Bull, Half Human. If Nial didn''t know that the three-meter-tall Demihuman was a Demihuman, he would have guessed him to be a Minotaur because the Demihuman looked just like one.

    The only thing of interest was that the Minotaur Demihuman was in possession of a darkness elemental affinity, one that was pretty strong at that.

    Nial was pretty impressed about that, even though he was treated badly by the Minotaur Demihuman, for no apparent reason at that.

    "You bastard!" He shouted out loudly the moment Nial left therge building next to the Grand Elder. They had been about to do something rather important, go to spaceship harbor and travel to thes that were the closest to the Meteorfield when the Minotaur Demihuman appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

    Nial tilted his head at the arrival of the Minotaur Demihuman.

    "Do you know him?" Nial asked the Grand Elder, who nodded his head slightly hesitant. He had some work to do near the Meteorfield, which was also his reason to invite Nial toe with him. After all, as the saying said, one should keep friends closer but enemies even closer!

    Nial may not be an opponent but his existence and sudden arrival made many Demihumans feel ufortable and question if it may not have been a bad omen that someone with powers like Nial''s unique traits, powers, and abilities had arrived. Not many beings from outside their known Universe came to visit them during thest 10,000 years, but all of them created enough trouble and permanent marks in the proximity they had passed through to make sure that the Demihumans would be reminded of them every now and then.

    Nial didn''t know any of that, but he could tell the slightly hostile gazes he had received since he was allowed to enter the city. He was not someone to bother about their gazes because most of those Demihumans would never be important to him, in the first ce. It wouldn''t even take a day before he would have forgotten how they looked like. How important could their thoughts and opinion be to him?

    "I know him, and I don''t think you will be able to avoid fighting him," The Grand Elder said, his chest heaving in the seething anger he tried to suppress. To the Grand Elder, it was quite obvious that the Minotaur Demihuman''s master had ordered him to make trouble to Nial, possibly to enrage Nial and make sure that the foreigner would destroy parts of the city while throwing a fit.

    "If you fight Milo, please do that in the arena or somewhere outside the city. I think one of the Grand Elders wants to use you to harm my reputation. After all, I used my authority to allow you inside the city. If something were to happen, I would be implicated¡­You are my responsibility, after all," The Grand Elder sighed heavily, which caused Nial to smile lightly.

    He perceived everything clearly and nodded his head.

    "I will take care of it. I would like to avoid causing too much trouble for the time being either way. After all, I still need your help to return home," Nial replied honestly before turning over to Milo, the Minotaur Demihuman, who was in possession of a darkness elemental affinity.

    "So your name is Milo, fatass?" He asked with ridicule and contempt in his voice. The corners of Nial''s lips curled upward as the expression on Milo''s face grew worse by the moment.

    ''Someone is not really good at hiding his emotions, that makes it much easier,'' Nial just thought while his head moved back to the Grand Elder.

    "Can I inflict some injuries while fighting him, or would that be troublesome as well?" He asked to make sure what would cause trouble and what he could still do.

    "As long as you don''t cripple him, I will make sure that no trouble awaits you. I''m sorry that you have to go through this man, the Grand Elders are getting impatient because the Seat of the Supreme Elder is void right now. Everyone wants to be elected as the next Supreme Elder, and they use all means to gain advantages over others."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial understood what the Grand Elder was talking about even though he didn''t really care much about it. There were always treacherous ways to make oneself look better than others, rather than using other means to get to the good side of their people. Nial was not too sure how the next Supreme Elder was elected or what exactly a Supreme Elder was, but he could imagine that it was one of the highest, if not the highest position in the Demihuman''s society.

    Thus, he used the Grasp of Eclipse technique to appear behind the Minotaur Demihuman in an instant. Darkness oozed out of his body, transforming into thorny vines that coiled around the waist, legs, and arms of the opponent in front of him. Some darkness vines even coiled around Milo''s long horns. They pulled his neck down just like the tight bondage demanded.

    Afterward, Nial''s ice-cold voice rang through the ears of the Minotaur Demihuman, which made him see red.

    "Follow me if you can, little fat cow!"

    The moment Milo heard Nial''s voice, he threw his body around. He used all means to tear apart the darkness vines while his body began to smoke all of a sudden. His physique erged all of a sudden and his eyes turned into a ruby glow that hid everything one ought to see beneath. The glow was too bright to see the white of his eye, or anything else.

    Milo''s physical strength had increased drastically and he was just about to tear apart Nial by reaching out behind him when he noticed that Nial had already disappeared. The blind Original was already flying above the city with long dark feathered wings jutting from his shoulder des.

    He and the Devil Roc underwent an Ancient Devilization to fuse parts of their bodies.

    Nial''s strength and most importantly, his speed, increased drastically through the Ancient Devilization. The Devil Roc was a powerful mythical creature that had been devilized by Damian a long time ago. It was loyal to the Late God of Darkness after he had rescued it from hunters and tended to its mortal wounds by devilizing it.

    The Devil Roc''s loyalty had been forwarded to Nial, who had been epted by Damian as his sessor. Thus, trusting Nial and feeling unbreakable loyalty toward him, theirpatibility during an Ancient Devilization was extremely high.

    Nial could transform every part of his body into that of the Devil Roc, and he could add additional body parts however he pleased as well.

    Nial smiled down to the ground where the Minotaur Demihuman stared at him with a fearsome expression.

    Milo had already lost it. The Demihuman couldn''t ept that he had been overwhelmed so easily. If Nial had wanted to, he could have pierced a de through his back, killing Milo in an instant after utilizing the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique all of a sudden.

    However, instead of killing Milo, Nial chose to use some darkness vines to tie him down and make him look ridiculous in front of another Grand Elder and more than thirty other Demihumans who had been present by chance.

    "Die, you fucking bastard!!" He bellowed and charged high up into the air.

    "Sorry, I won''t!"

 Chapter 611 Dark Vs. Darkness

    Just like the Grand Elder had requested, Nial kept some distance from the city to make sure that nobody would be pulled into his fight with the Minotaur Demihuman. It was a little annoying but he ended up fighting more than twenty kilometers above the surface, and a few dozen kilometers away from the city''s outskirts.

    There was hardly any chance that their battle would affect anyone over there, not as long as he could keep the upper hand in the battle.

    Milo was already charging at him mindlessly. Darkness manifested from his elemental affinity mantled his smoking body. Retaining the heat of his body allowed Milo to stay stronger for a longer period. He even enhanced his physical strength by further expanding his body.

    The Minotaur Demihuman was now close to four meters tall, and his strength had increased considerably as well. This included Milo''s speed which had increased drastically. He could fly through the air with a ridiculous tempo. Milo was almost as fast as Nial. That was rather troublesome because Nial was already in his Ancient Devilization.

    Thus, Nial chose to start with his attacks while continuing to back off. He didn''t really feel like facing Milo head-on. After all, his closebat talent was not exactly noteworthy when it came to fighting without the intention to severely injure someone. In most cases, Nial fought with the intention to kill. His weapons always found their target, ending the life of his miserable opponents. However, that was not exactly helpful right now.

    He had to restrict himself from crippling, let alone killing Milo. That was also why he had intentionally transformed his hands into the Devil Roc''s ws, restring himself from wielding any kind of deadly Runic Weapon, in the first ce.

    However, he still used his dark energy, enhanced through the Essence of Darkness, crimson moonlight, and the Power of Chaos. Combined, the lethality of his dark energy might as well exceed the power of his Forgotten Broken Runic Weapons, but that was something Nial could hardly be bothered about right now.

    He knew that he had to restrict the darkness elemental affinity of the Minotaur Demihuman, and the easiest way to do so was to insert his own dark energy, enhanced to the limit, inside Milo''s body.

    That way, he would be able to control Milo''s elemental affinity to a certain extent, restrict its cirction and prevent it from actually enhancing Milo''s strength.

    Nial did exactly that by creating more than a thousand darkness needles. They were less than a centimeter long and only a single millimeter in width. The needles shot toward the Minotaur Demihuman the moment they materialized around him.

    Milo roared out thunderously when he perceived the tiny darkness needles that shot toward him. He swung his arm around in a long arc while releasing his darkness element outside his body. The darkness was released with the intention to swallow and devour Nial''s needles. But little did Milo know that his elemental affinity was not even close to being potent enough to rival his dark energy, even less the fully reinforced version of his dark energy.

    The tiny needles burst through the mass of the darkness element that ought to be used as a means of defense.

    With a thumping noise that rang through the surroundings hundreds of times, the tiny needles pierced through the darkness element of the Minotaur Demihuman. They couldn''t cause tremendous damage because their lethality was not high enough. However, Nial never intended to use the tiny needles to directly injure the Minotaur Demihuman severely.

    He used the needles to spread his energy through the Minotaur and make him feel what true terror was!<novelnext></novelnext>

    There was no need for Nial to hold back the moment some of his needles pricked the Minotaur Demihuman. Milo didn''t even feel a sting when hundreds of needles pierced through his fur. Only the tip of the needles was able to reach through the Minotaur''s fur and hide, in the first ce, but that was already enough to cause a terrific aftermath.

    Nial changed from backing off into the offense. This astonished Milo, who had continued to charge ahead. However, the Minotaur weed Nial''s sudden change in fighting style. He materialized a blue bat half his size in his right hand and swung it around with all his might.

    The attack was bound to hit Nial, just before the trajectory of his swing was altered slightly. Milo''s eyes widened in shock and a severe pain spread through his head as Nial''s lips moved without a wording out of them. For a moment, Milo wondered if he had turned deaf, just to note that he could hear other things, just not Nial''s voice.

    That was probably because he was not saying anything in the first ce. Nial used the Dominion ability with the use of the reinforced dark energy without uttering a single work. He didn''t intend to reveal his hidden trump cards to the Demihumans just yet. The efficiency of his Dominion ability was bound to be much higher as long as nobody knew what he was capable of, in the first ce.

    By doing slight alterations, nobody would start doubting him either. Milo missed Nial by a hair''s breadth, and that was also only the case after Nial had twisted his body, evading the altered bat swing.

    Thus, despite his head aching and the slight alteration of his attack, Milo didn''t think too much about it.

    He was too focused on Nial''s movements that kept elerating as darkness began to ooze out of his body. The darkness shrouded Nial like a tight set ofbat armor. The air resistance was voided and his movements became even smoother in the air.

    Milo liked fighting on the ground better than anything. That way, he could generate more strength and execute a better series ofbos. In the air, none of that was easily possible. That was what forced Milo to change his fighting style, while Nial didn''t seem to be forced to do the same.

    It was almost as if Nial was born in the air and that there would never be an issue no matter whom he would have to fight mid-air.

    Of course, that was not true. However, it was a fact that he was training to fight more in the air. After all, Gods would rarely fight on the ground because of the destruction their fights caused.

    And Nial was nning to fight Gods in the near future. He was ready!

    Mentally at least.

 Chapter 612 Spaceship

    Not even half an hour passed before Nial came back to the city. Blood dripped to the ground next to him.

    However, it was obviously not his own blood. The Minotaur Demihuman slumped to the ground next to him. He was unconscious, tied down by a multitude of darkness vines and he was bleeding from various shallow cuts all over his body.

    "I am done. Can we leave him here, or is it necessary to bring him somewhere?" Nial asked the Grand Elder, who shrugged his shoulders.

    "I sent a report to security, exining the situation. Everything was recorded thoroughly, so there won''t be a problem for us. Let''s just go."

    Nial was d that the Grand Elder didn''t make things moreplicated. On the contrary, the Grand Elder was pretty helpful. He lead Nial into the V.I.P. section of the huge spaceship they would use to travel to the that was the closest to the Meteorfield. That made things a lot easier.

    He was given a ce for himself, a small room where the Mana of outer space could be let through. It was necessary for him to be at the Mythician rank to survive in this room, but that was no problem for Nial.

    "Can I spread out my dark energy along the surface of the spaceship, or will that cause problems?" Nial asked, to make sure that he wouldn''t break anything, which may result in the death of a bunch of people he wanted to avoid killing by ident.

    "As long as your dark energy doesn''t interfere in the mechanism of the space ship you will be fine. But to make sure that were won''t be a problem, can you show me what you actually mean before we''re in the open space?" The Grand Elder said to which Nial nodded his head.

    He spread out his darkness domain at once, covering the vast majority of the spaceship in an instant. All mana of the outer space was naturally absorbed from his darkness domain and it was no problem for him to exert the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique to create suctioning forces through his darkness domain.

    The Grand Elder was stupefied for a moment, which he tried to hide by clearing his throat thrice.

    "Is that all, or do you want to do anything else while we''re traveling through space?" He asked, hoping that there wouldn''t be anything. However, now that Nial was already asked, he exerted the highest form of the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique while further spreading out his darkness domain, mantling the entire spaceship.

    The Grand Elder noticed that the entire mana in a radius of several kilometers was drained and pulled inside the mass of darkness that mantled the spaceship as if it was a second protectiveyer.

    He stared at Nial for a few seconds and scratched the back of his head. Only VIPs were able to use the Space-Cultivation rooms, and the Grand Elder was currently the only VIP on board.

    "I will ask the Captain, but there shouldn''t be an issue as long as you can free the windows, engine, and some other spots from your mantle of darkness," The Grand Elder said after a while before he started with a short call. There were quite a few things he had to take into consideration but none of them had to be worried about as long as the space chip''s Captain gave Nial his permission.

    It was only obvious, but the Captain didn''t like the idea of allowing Nial to do whatever he wanted on the surface of the spaceship. However, upon receiving a report that stated various improvements to the durability, and stability of the spaceship, the Captain''s entire attitude changedpletely. Nial''s darkness domain prevented any pressure from space traveling to have an impact on the spaceship. This also meant that they wouldn''t have to travel three years through space. They could actually elerate and finish their entire trip in merely two years!<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Grand Elder didn''t really believe the Captain but the reports made by the analysts and the attitude of that particr Captain could hardly be a lie.

    "Alright, you can use your darkness mantle, or whatever you call it," The Grand Elder told Nial, who smiled lightly in response. Afterward, nothing much happened. They were given a rough exnation of the situation, how space traveling worked, what to pay attention to, and many more necessities that had to be taken care of before the Captain would start the engine and initiate the being of their journey through space.

    Nial never thought that he would end up in a spaceship traveling through space. He always presumed that space traveling would be consistent with jumping through worldbridges and jumping through space. At least that was how it had been before. Things changed quite a bit now that he was in the unknown parts of the Universe.

    Nial expected that something grand would happen upon shooting into the air or while traveling through space. However, none of that was interesting for him.

    He felt a pull to the ground when the spaceship shot into the air. The gravitational force seemed to increase manyfold over the next few minutes, only to disappearpletely once they arrived in space. Nial focused on his darkness domain and the fully unleashed Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique.

    Nial told himself to finish one Darkness Temple on his way to the Meteorfield. It ought to take three years, which would be quite stressful but still possible to finish a Darkness Temple. His proficiency with the creation of Darkness Temples was pretty decent and Nial was pretty sure that he could absorb enough pure mana to convert it into a Darkness Temple after altering it into dark energy.

    Two years was a tad less than the three years he expected, but it was a challenge he was ready to attempt.

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 Chapter 613 Primordial Existence

    ? Two years passed in the blink of an eye, and Nial did not¡­ make it.

    He was not able to finish the third Darkness Temple¡­

    Though his progress was much better than expected since he finished the Darkness Temple by more than 80%, he was not yet done. If they would have traveled for three more months, he might have been done, but now that they ended up descending onto a where millions if not billions of Originals and Ascenders absorbed Mana his progress would slow down drastically.

    That was only obvious but he was fine with it. He had enough dark energy stored in his Sea of Darkness to finish up to 95% of the Darkness Temple. As for the remaining dark energy, it could be absorbed in the following months.

    With that in mind, he would still finish his third Darkness Temple before a total of three years passed. Nial was pretty impressed by that and he chose to pursue thepletion of his third Darkness Temple before doing anything else. He was just feeling like it right now, and there was not much else for him to do, either way.

    He didn''t really have any responsibilities and could do whatever he wanted with his time. The Grand Elder left him to make sure that he wouldplete his responsibilities. That was something the Grand Elder had to do, finish his job neatly and do everything needed to make sure that his race would progress.

    The Grand Elder had an important job, which was not the case for Nial. His only desire was to return home, and bing stronger was one way to achieve that. Basically, by advancing to godhood, he should have umted enough strength to pass through the Meteorfield. At least, once he researched it a bit.

    There were a few things Nial had to research, including the box that prevented him from using his dark energy properly, and the weapons that could be used with mana and dark energy even though his control of dark energy had been severelycking.

    Of course, there were many other things that he had to test. Taking all of these things into consideration, Nial was not sure how long it would take to finish researching everything he had nned but he was not too worried about the time he would need. At the end of the day, his research would take some time whether it was a year, a decade, or a century.

    He could still feel his connection with all of his Devils, which meant that they were saved. That also meant his sister and Mathias were fine. It was also equivalent to his father and the Orion Shelter being fine because Nial was pretty sure that his Devils would travel back to the Orion Shelter where they would wait for him while taking care of the people he loved.

    They would focus on bing stronger, which meant that Nial had to do the exact same. Bing stronger in any possible way should be his highest priority, alongside finding a way back to the Origin.

    Nial would only start worrying once his Devils were to start dying like flies. However, as long as that didn''t happen, everything was perfectly fine. As long as nothing happened, he had all the time in the Universe. Worrying was useless and it would actually harm him in the long run, restricting his progress.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Half a year passed after hended on the closest to the Meteorfield. The only race he encountered until now were Demihumans and they looked at him withplicated emotions. Some people bothered him too much and they interfered in his cultivation progress that Nial started to permanently use the Ancient Devilization. The Devil Roc''s wings manifested, Nial looked like some kind of Demihuman with only a few monster traits.

    He was far from a Demihuman but they epted him a little better as long as he had the Devil Roc''s wings jutting from his shoulder des. It didn''t affect him negatively but gave him the calm he needed to finish his third Darkness Temple.

    It was a great achievement and something that was worth celebrating. However, instead of celebrating in a normal way, Nial started to research the Meteorfield by jumping through space with his newfound strength. His abilities, the potency of his dark energy, and the limit of his techniques increased drastically with the progress of his cultivation rank.

    That way, Nial ended up his journey through the Meteorfield where he collected a bunch of resources. He mostly ignored the wild beasts living in the Meteorfield, but with time passing and lots of research using the Achiv of the Demihumans and the knowledge he procured through his own analytical skills, he got to know what he was looking for.

    He found out who the culprit for the nonexistence of dungeons and Worldbridges in the entire unknown parts of the Universe. It was a being that was considered stronger as Beast Gods and the Descendant of the Universe itself, a Primordial Creature that was even more revered than all the Greater Dragon families together; The Origin Leviathan!

    Nial was not sure where exactly the Origin Leviathan habituated or what that thing was actually doing in this tiny Universe, but it was quite obvious that he either required its help or a way to avoid it. After all, every single piece of useful information he procured led back to the Origin Leviathan!

    Everyone in the unknown part of the Universe had to collect their resources from ster systems that couldn''t be habituated but were overflowing with highly valuable resources, or they would collect their resources in the outskirts of the Meteorfield where it was still somewhat secure.

    Nial was doing the same but he used his own range of perception and Mana Sense to search for the resources he was looking for. His powers were vastly different from the Demihumans around here. They were not as much at war as he had been on the Origin where it felt like everyone was trying to behead him.

    It was peaceful in the territory of the Demihumans but that made the fighterszy and it permanently decreased their power. They weren''t even trying to pass through the Meteorfield because they were content with their life.

    Nial was different, and he would do everything it takes to get back home, even if that meant he would have to wrestle with a Primordial Existence.

    Not that he had a chance of victory, but who cared about such a small, negligible thing?

 Chapter 614 Armored Serpentine Beast

    Without Nial actually realizing several years passed in the blink of an eye. Compared to the time he spent on Jundra, the concept of time in the unknown parts of the Universe feltpletely different. It was almost as if time ran slower on Jundra because he had so many different tasks to do.

    However, that didn''t really make sense because Nial actually did much more in the unknown parts of the Universe than anywhere else. He spent lots of time collecting a vast amount of different resources that coulde in handy in the future. At the same time, he cultivated, his darkness domain unleashed to the fullest. His Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique was unleashed, absorbing a tremendous amount of mana through the Meteorfield''s outskirts. That was where Nial was most of the time, spending his time doing various things.

    A thing Nial had also focused on a lot was learning how to fight without the use of an ounce of dark energy. In fact, he used the information about the huge box to replicate a small device that could actually seal all his dark energy and prevent him from even sensing it. This left him a little helpless for quite a while. However, it was a necessity as he had to learn how to rely on his other senses to fight. He couldn''t just continue to rely on his dark energy and expect that none of his opponents would create countermeasures while facing him.

    Nial was blind and it was quite obvious how he could still move around as if his blindness didn''t affect him in the slightest. It was obviously his perception of the surroundings and the visualization of things with the use of his cultivated energy that allowed him to move like this. Cutting off the utility of his cultivated energy would inevitably cripple hisbat prowess. It was smart to do this against him, and it was actually quite a surprise that no one had ever done this while fighting him to death.

    The only times he couldn''t perceive his surrounding area was in the basement of Yggdrasil when he entered the territory of the Fairy Queen, and not too long ago as the Demihumans caught him in the huge box within space.

    Nial spent close to ten years traveling through the Meteorfield, facing all kinds of monsters head-on while relying only on his other senses. They were extremely sensitive but that was hardly useful when it came to traveling through space. Nheless, it was a good type of training he underwent while spending his time in space, searching for more resources. Nial released his dark energy only to search for resources in his surrounding area every now and then. If he wouldn''t do that, Nial would waste too much time, after all.

    After a bit more than ten years had passed, he had researched quite a lot about the unknown parts of the Universe, the way they invented space traveling, how their devices work, what exactly the huge box and their weapons were and how to upgrade them, and his runic armaments, bybining his knowledge.

    At the end of the day, Nial knew that it was worth spending his time in the territory of the Demihumans. He didn''t know much about the other races in this part of the Universe but his interest was not exactly focused on that either.

    Right now, he was more interested in something entirely different thing, to begin with.

    ''Is that a Shadow Flood Dragon traveling through space?'' He wondered when he heard a desperate roar resounding through the empty space. It was rare to hear something through space, just like it was rare to feel, touch, and smell something in space.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thus, Nial didn''t think twice before he removed the energy seal from his body. He unleashed his range of perception and Mana Sense to the peak and visualized everything around him in great detail.

    What attracted his interest almost immediately was a serpentine existence whose body stretched for two to three kilometers. Something dark and eerie oozed out of its body. However, rather than thinking badly about that, Nial felt oddly intrigued about it. He was pretty sure that the being he visualized was a natural talent when it came to the Shadow affinity. The being''s body was serpentine, with a triangr head and a wide, gaping mouth filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth. Its eyes wererge and round, with its irises glowing in the same dark Shadows that oozed out all over its body.

    However, interestingly enough, its body was covered in thick, armored tes that seemed sheer unbreakable, if not for the huge gapping holes all over its body. Its fins were massive and powerful, capable of propelling the creature through space at incredible speeds. It winded through the masses of Meteors with its humongous body as if it was nothing, despite being severely injured.

    The cause of this was likely to be its tail that swung left and right seemingly as if it could bend space to maneuver through it easily.

    ''What is it?'' Nial wondered at this moment. He could feel something weird about the humongous serpentine beast that might be a flood dragon, or something entirely different, something Nial had never seen before.

    No matter what it was, Nial was interested. He could sense that the beast was severely injured and that it was fleeing from something. The thing, or rather horde of beasts, it fled was even more terrifying than the serpentine-like beast.

    ''Space Piranhas? These fuckers can devour entires¡­'' Nial nearly shouted out loud, while visualizing thousands of Space Piranhas that followed closely behind the armored serpentine beast. If not for the armored serpentine beast being at the Keltia rank, it would have a good chance to fight against the Space Piranhas that were all at the Mythician rank, some even at the Peak of the Mythician rank.

    Encountering those beasts at the Keltia rank was already rare because they were hunted with the intention to annihte every single Space Piranha in existence. Thus, the horde of Space Piranhas was a big problem, especially since none of them was at the Keltia rank.

    Of course, Nial didn''t really care about the Space Piranhas. His entire interesty on the armored serpentine beast that had something unique about it, something that made him feel like the beast was oddly familiar to the Grasp of Eclipse Movement technique.

    asionally missing content, please report errors in time.

 Chapter 615 Sphere Of Chaos And Destruction

    Nial had a few clues why he believed the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique to be simr to the armored serpentine beast, but the reasons he had in mind were not that important.

    It was more important to help the helpless serpentine beast in order to find out more about the simrity between the beast and the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique.

    After all, he could travel a vast distance with the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique. If the armored serpentine beast was just a tiny bit rted to the creation of the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, it was certainly worth finding out more about it. Maybe, it helped him get a few steps closer to a solution on how to travel across the Meteorfield without potentially encountering the Origin Leviathan or some other terrific existence that could tear him apart without even trying.

    Following behind the Space Piranhas was not really a problem. Using the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique once he appeared in the midst of them while wielding a humongous scepter in his hand.

    "Sphere of Darkness and Chaos, let''s go!" Nial shouted out loudly while using the entire dark energy inside his body, reinforced by a tremendous amount of the Essence of Darkness, the Power of Chaos, and the crimson moonlight inside the ck scepter. The scepter began to glow brightly as the hundreds of tiny, miniature runic constetions across the scepter''s shaft and the head-sized Onyx crystal began to activate at the same time.

    The entire scepter was covered by a singlepound of various runic constetions. At least thirty Intermediate energy storage runic constetions had been engraved on the scepter, in the form of miniature runic constetions that were connected, ovepping, and filled to the brim.

    The scepter was a Forgotten Broken Tier-3 Runic Armament that had been reinforced with the knowledge he procured from his research of the weapons and devices used by the Demihumans. Furthermore, he got the help of one of the best cksmiths who could deal with the valuable and frail materials he brought back from the Meteorfield. These materials were highly affine toward Darkness and Destruction, which made them even more valuable for Nial.

    His power could be drastically amplified as long as these materials were utilized properly, after all. Nheless, nobody would willingly help him create the magnificent-looking scepter if they knew that it would be turned into a one-time use time.

    Of course, Nial couldn''t care less about that. As long as something was of use, it didn''t really matter how expensive it was. The efficiency was more important than the value of the items.

    That was what lingered on Nial''s mind as he unleashed the only function of the ck scepter; the manifestation of the Sphere of Darkness and Chaos.

    When the energy stored within the scepter was unleashed, an explosion in the midst of the Space Piranhas urred. The event in space could only be considered catastrophic and of unparalleled magnitude, at least when looking at the things Nial had achieved until today.

    It began with a sudden, intense burst of reinforced dark energy that came from the depth of the scepter. The dark energy wave rippled through the void of space, engulfing everything in its path. As it expanded with terrific speed, easily reaching every single Space Piranha, even those who were several kilometers away from Nial, it seemed like the explosion was able to tear apart the fabric of the universe itself. For a moment, it seemed that the explosion could create massive rifts and fractures in the universe.

    That was even unexpected to Nial, whose memories felt as if something very familiar was happening to him. He was not sure if it were his memories or the memories of the Late God of Darkness recalled something about the fissures that emerged in front of him for a second or two, but it didn''t actually matter. The fissures disappeared before he could actually focus on them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As the explosion continued to grow, the dark energy was released in vast amounts, slowly shaping a sphere that was mostly ck in color. The dark energy swirled violently, forming massive clouds that obscure the stars in their path. The clouds seemed to pulse and write, as if alive and aware.

    As the explosion reached its peak, it unleashed a final, devastating burst of energy that obliterated anything it had engulfed, no matter if they were the thousand or more Space Piranhas, or the few meteorites that had been in the explosion''s way.

    The resulting shockwave expanded outwards, destroying several meteors and smashing the already severely injured armored serpentine beast against a it had been about to avoid. It was smashed into the and remained on the ground unmoving, unable to do anything.

    After being hunted for a very long time, much longer than the beast wanted to acknowledge, it was finally out of energy. However, at the same time, its pursuers had disappeared. That meant it was fine to rest a little bit¡­right?

    In the aftermath of the explosion, the affected area of space was left a barren wastnd, devoid of any signs of living, except Nial of course.

    He was unaffected by the dark energy explosion, surrounded by empty space and remnants of dark energy that were slowly dispersing in the open space.

    The one-beautiful view of the surrounding area had been reduced to nothing more than a gaping, empty void.

    ''I didn''t even use that much of my Chaos, let alone the dark energy within the Heart of Darkness¡­and that''s the result?'' Nial asked himself rhetorically. He knew damn well that his experimental Runic Armament had resulted in a sess, a great sess at that!

    Unfortunately, none of the Space Piranhas left behind their valuable bodies. That meant, the Sphere of Chaos and Destruction destroyed everything in its way, literally. It also indicated that the scepter was not a product that was supposed to make up its cost with the destruction it caused but that it was merely a means of destruction.

    But that was its whole purpose, in the first ce.

    As for now, Nial was mostly focused on the armored serpentine beast that was resting on the ground, bleeding like a pig that had been pierced a few times too often.

    ''What am I doing with you now?''

 Chapter 616 Newborn?

    After using his experimental Scepter of Darkness and Chaos, the Space Piranhas had been annihted. That was much easier than expected. Finding the materials to recreate the Scepter was not exactly easy because the deposits of the ores and high-quality onyx were pretty small, but that was only the smallest problem.

    Only the best cksmiths could handle the ores and work with the high-quality Onyx without damaging or destroying it. That was also why Nial had only a few experimental newly created runic armaments. They were his best masterpieces and also the runic armaments that required most of his time and care. Filling their mana storage runic constetions took also quite a while because the transfer had to be slow and constant to make sure that nothing bad could happen.

    Putting the loss of one broken runic armament aside, Nial found himself levitating in front of the armored serpentine beast. He was not exactly sure what it was, or what to do with it.

    He instinctively helped it, thinking that it was rted to his Grasp of Eclipse movement technique in some ways. However, that was not something he could test, or find out if the beast were to die. That was exactly what was about to happen. The armored serpentine beast was dying and Nial only knew one way to rescue it.

    ''It has been quite a while since I summoned, let alone created a Devil. Looks like it''s time to devilize a beast in need, again,'' Nial just thought. Hended in front of the beast and touched its head. The beast stared at him, issuing various noises as if it was trying to tell him something.

    "I can turn you into a Devil if you want to survive. However, you would be bound to me until you die, and you would die if I die. You will never be able to disregard my orders. Is that fine with you?" Nial asked in severalnguages to make sure that the armored serpentine beast could understand him.

    ? The beast turned quiet and it didn''t move for nearly a minute. Nial almost suspected that the beast died, if not for the energy tha circted through its body. Despite being a Keltia-ranked beast, Nial was pretty sure that it possessed close to five times more mana than any other beast at the beast''s rank. That was quite impressive, and it was certainly something Nial took into consideration when offering the beast to devilize it.

    It would also be quite problematic if the armored serpentine beast died because that would decrease the beast''s value when ites to researching it. This was even more true because Nial had to find some kind of beast researcher to find out more about this kind of species. After all, there were no logs about this kind of beast in the encyclopedia of beasts provided by the Demihumans.

    If he recalled correctly, all beasts in the Meteorfield were recorded in the encyclopedia no matter how few and useless the information were. As long as they were facts from people whose words one could believe, their record would have been written down in the encyclopedia. There was also a trust-factor rating of the trustworthiness of each report in the encyclopedia, which made it easier to determine whether someone exaggerated something or not.

    There were even reports about the Origin Leviathan, though most of them were not to be trusted. Those who survived after encountering the Origin Leviathan either took their own lives or lost their sanity after a while, thinking that the Origin Leviathan was hunting them.

    Interestingly enough, the Origin Leviathan had never left the Meteorfield before. It was a ginormous existence ording to all reports, tens if not hundreds of kilometers in length, yet it could easily move everywhere. Apparently, entires simply passed through it as if the Origin Leviathan was not a corporeal existence.

    Nial was skeptical about all of those things and he would rather let a professional take a look at the armored serpentine beast. Of course, it would have to survive first, otherwise, he would never get to know about the weird feeling he had. The beast seemed to have been used as a reference when Damian created the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique. At least that was what Nial guessed right now.

    He visualized the armored serpentine beast that nodded its head weakly, agreeing to be saved through the Devilization. That made things a lot easier as it was a hassle to forcefully devilize a being. That was something Nial knew from Damian''s memories. It was truly a hassle to force an existence into being devilized, though it worked somewhat decently, which one could clearly tell from Dexter''s behavior.

    He was one of the beings forced to be Damian''s Devils.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unleashing the entire dark energy that had been umted inside his Heart of Darkness, and the vast majority of his Darkness Essence at the same time, Nial injected it into the armored serpentine monster. He activated the Vortex of Abyss technique to absorb the surrounding Mana, and turn it into purified dark energy which would then be either used to create his darkness domain to elerate the speed with which he absorbed the surrounding mana, or he injected it into the humongous body of the armored serpentine beast.

    It was actually close to four kilometers in length and its height and width wereparable for a few-story tall building in each factor. It was a humongous existence, yet Nial could tell quite early on that various organs of the beast were deformed and that some things didn''t really make sense.

    His dark energy shrouded the entire armored serpentine beast like a cocoon which gave Nial the opportunity to scan the body of the beast from inside out.

    However, what he found out was quite confusing.

    ''Is that just a¡­fetus?'' Nial wondered at one point, ''Or are you just a deformed youngling with a bunch of gic defects?''

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 Chapter 617 Miracle

    Devilizing the armored serpentine beast was not actually a problem.

    However, a problem was healing its wounds. The wounds it had sustained from the Space Piranhas'' relentless attacks were not the only issue either. The biggest issues at hand were the beast''s deformed organs, the fact that the beast seemed to be a fetus or a youngling that had been abandoned, and that he had no fucking clue how to help this kind of beast.

    He could spend a tremendous amount of his energy to heal it but he was not exactly sure what the beast was supposed to look like in the first ce. That was basically an invitation for fatal errors.

    "I should rescue you first and tend to your deformationster¡­probably?" Nial mumbled, nodding to himself before sitting down on the ground. He made himselffortable by leaning his back against the humongous head of the several-kilometer-long beast youngling that had been devilized. Its wounds were slowly being tended to with the influx of dark energy that Nial provided.

    He continued to insert dark energy inside the beast while simultaneously spreading out his darkness domain. He had to absorb more and more mana from the surrounding to convert it to dark energy to heal the youngling faster.

    The better its condition, the easier it was for him to find out what was going on inside it. He felt that their connection was being established and that it was growing firmer by the second. Of course, that also came with bad news; the armored serpentine was actually a youngling that had been abandoned by its mother the day it was born.

    Since then it fled from other beasts that wanted to kill it, tear it apart, and devour it.

    The armored serpentine beast''s intelligence was well-developed and it didn''tck the capability to think. That was also what made it quite easy tomunicate with the beast once their connection was firm enough. However, even the armored serpentine beast was not sure what kind of species it was since it had been a few years since it had been born.

    As for the beast''s condition, it had only one or two years left to live if it was not being tended to!

    ''Well, that makes things more difficult. If I were to fill it with purified dark energy equivalent to five years of absorbing the surrounding mana, I could easily tend to it¡­probably¡­''

    Talking with the armored serpentine beast was quite interesting. Nial was intrigued by how it would look in the future, once it was fully matured. He already had a rough picture in his mind. The picture felt a little weird because it made him question whether the armored serpentine beast was actually the descendant of the Origin Leviathan or some sort of simr powerful serpentine beast that lived and traveled through the Meteorfield.

    There were numerous beasts that had yet to be researched and the Meteorfield was considered a death zone, to begin with. Even the outskirts shouldn''t be entered if one was not at least at the Mythician rank. There was a good reason for that, and Nial thought that it made sense as well.

    Some dangerous existence may appear next to one at any moment. There were no regions assigned to some sort of Overlord. Even the reigns of the Meteorfield, the strongest existences that were in control of everything, couldn''t be bothered to control a certain territory. Ruling a territory was simply too bothersome and they were too strong to be restricted in any possible way, in the first ce.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial understood that but he never expected that he would have to face one of those seemingly omnipotent existences. And that was not the case, since he didn''t face or sense anything near him or within his range of perception. However, something eyed him from far away. An existence whose eye alone wasrger than the biggest in the adjacent ster system stared straight at Nial and the crippled beast youngling.

    It heard the thoughts of the youngling and the blind Original who had created a connection with the beast to force it to transform, saving it from inevitable death. The being far away from Nial and the armored serpentine beast observed everything with great interest and more. It heard everything, including the thoughts that rang through Nial''s head, the worry he had in mind, and the questions that rang through his mind.

    He was trying to help but he didn''t know the anatomy of the armored serpentine beast. To be precise, he didn''t know how the beast was supposed to look, which meant that he couldn''t properly fix it. As for the scarcity of dark energy, it was a big problem to tend to a newly transformed Devil, especially if they were as humongous as the armored serpentine beast.

    It had been riddled with countless injuries that were years old and partially healed, no matter how bad they had healed, or how much the healing process had actually destroyed. With that in mind, Nial understood that he would have to reconstruct the entire beast if he wanted to heal it properly.

    That was something he didn''t expect to happen at first, but he also knew that it was a necessity for him to return to his home. Something told him that he needed the armored serpentine beast, and he would give his utmost to make sure that he could do everything it takes.

    When Nial finished that thought, something miraculous happened. A storm consistent with the purest form of mana began to rage. Nial was not sure where the storm of mana hailed from but his expression brightened up. He immediately focused his darkness domain in the direction of the storm that was close to a hundred kilometers away. The darkness domain turned into a singlene that gushed toward the mana storm.

    The raging storm was hard to control, let alone convert it into dark energy and absorb it properly. However, most steps were not even required since he could simply use his darkness domain to convert the mana into dark energy before leading it straight to the armored serpentine beast.

    ? The sudden appearance of the mana storm in the open space provided him with the opportunity to heal his newest devil, as long as he could solve one more problem; he required information rted to the beast''s anatomy, or how it was supposed to be.

    And as if some sort of higher being heed to his plea, an image forced itself into his head.

    As for the silent observer, far away from Nial and the abandoned beast, it disappeared into the void of space.

    ''Live well. You are where you''re supposed to be!''

 Chapter 618 Shadow

    Even though Nial was not sure where he received the vivid picture of the armored serpentine beast'' correct anatomy from, it was imprinted in his mind and he made use of it to tend to the youngling.

    The storm of highly purified mana was slowly turning into dark energy that was immediately used to fix the armored serpentine beast''s organs and the rest of its body.

    To do this, Nial spend roughly two months, which was a considerable amount of time, but Nial thought that it was worth it nheless. The Mana Storm was fully drained when Nial finished fixing the armored serpentine beast. The timing was simply too perfect, yet, Nial was still a little bothered about something.

    ''The picture of the beast''s anatomy shows me one organ less than there is inside the youngling. Is that rted to the Shadow presence I''ve sensed?'' Nial wondered, not exactly sure if that was the case. He thought of asking the youngling but chose against it because the beast youngling was still extremely tired. It had yet to fall asleep, which was why Nial gave it the opportunity to do exactly that.

    The beast youngling fell asleep on the ground, and it was as unmoving as a dead body. If not for being connected to the youngling and being able to sense the dark energy that surged through the beast vigorously, he would have thought that it was dead.

    It was the first time Nial devilized a youngling. That meant some things would be a little different from how they had been with the Eclipse me Lion and his other Devils. Nial didn''t think too much about it, but he was also a little expectant. He hoped that his actions were worth the effort he put in and that the youngling was actually somehow rted to the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique.

    A few days passed before the youngling woke up, and Nial had spent days finding out more about the beast''s species using the vivid picture of the beast''s anatomy that had been engraved in his mind. He was still not able to say what species the youngling was for sure, but his guess was that the armored serpentine beast was an adverse mutation of the Origin Leviathan.

    It must have been abandoned because of the mutation that added one organ of unknown nature and its twisted organs.

    ''If the Origin Leviathan was not able to fix it, she would have abandoned her kid, probably. Isn''t that how it usually is when ites to beasts raising their cubs and younglings?'' Nial thought, scratching the back of his head with a sigh.

    He was not too sure how others would react if he were to actually be in control of the newest generation of the Origin Leviathan. Shadow, which was what Nial called the armored serpentine beast, might only be a youngling and a few years old but he was already four kilometers long and simply humongous.

    Shadow didn''t really feel like entering Nial''s Heart of Darkness either. At least, for the time being, Shadow wanted to stay by Nial''s side. Nial didn''t have anything against that though he knew that it would be a little troublesome once he returned back to the territory of the Demihumans.

    They would turn insane thinking that Nial nned an invasion with the Origin Leviathan or something like that.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But then again, spending a few more years inside the Meteorfield before returning wouldn''t help either. After all, the youngling would grow rapidly now that its body was not crippled anymore. It only required a considerable amount of resources and nutrition to grow rapidly and make up for its stagnated growth over the past two years.

    Nial knew that Shadow would require a considerable amount of highly nutritious food, which was why he thought that it was better to return to the Demihumans'' territory for a few months to create a few more runic armaments which he would then sell for a high price. From the wealth he was bound to acquire, Nial would then buy food that had been treated in a way to elerate the growth of beast mounts.

    Shadow was not a beast mount but that didn''t really matter much. He was a youngling and in dire need of nutrition. This was the highest priority of Shadow right now, especially since its other ailments had been treated properly.

    "Can you jump through shadows or distort space?" Nial asked Shadow once all preparations had beenpleted. Shadow stared at Nial and it created a ck portal in front of its head just a momentter.

    The portal had been created with its dark energy and through the use of its additional organ and another organ. To Nial, it was almost as if its organs reced Ability Stigmatas. That was pretty interesting, but Nial had something else to pay attention to right now.

    "What is the farthest distance your portal can bring us? When will you be able to cross the entire Meteorfield with these portals?" Nial asked, feeling a bit excited. He knew that Shadow was somehow rted to the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique but he didn''t expect Shadow to be able to jump through shadows and darkness and that the beast was able to create portals for multiple people to pass through.

    As if that was not enough, Shadow also showed that it was able to turn its physical form non-corporeal. It passed through the it had been lying on all the time and then flew through it easily.

    Nial perceived all of that precisely, and it felt extremely weird. After all, the only things he visualized were Shadow disappearing into the ground and Shadow''s fluctuations seemingly merging with the ground as it moved alongside Shadow swimming through water.

    "Let''s go back to the Demihumans'' territory first. Tell me what you know about yourselfter," Nial added, changing the n he had in mind. It didn''t really matter how far Shadow could teleport them currently. Important was just that it was actually possible to overwrite the restrictions that had been put on long-distance traveling via space-like abilities and techniques.

    And that was something Shadow was clearly capable of!

    This was a gigantic leap toward his goal of returning home, and it was certainly something to be happy about.

 Chapter 619 Business

    "Nial¡­do you even know what you brought back here?" The old Mouse Demihuman, the Grand Elder, asked Nial when he heard what Nial had done.

    Nial was just smiling while sitting on Shadow''s back. It was quite confident and certainly easy to travel on Shadow''s back, especially thanks to the various special traits Shadow possessed. From the looks of it, Shadow was not exactly an overwhelming force to reckon with, but that was not exactly true. Shadow was quite powerful due to the massive energy storage capability he possessed and the terrific agility and strength it possessed. However, making use of those traits was a different matter. Shadow had yet to learn how to control its body properly. This was the most important when it came to using his special traits.

    The first nce showed a terrifying existence that was humongous and dangerous, but Shadow was rather adorable in Nial''s opinion.

    Of course, others wouldn''t agree with his opinion. The Grand Elder was part of the ''others'', who stared at the humongous beast that levitated behind Nial, staring through the ss windows of the 110th floor of the skyscraper where Nial and the Grand Elder met up.

    "I think Shadow is an Origin Leviathan, precisely the youngest generation of the Origin Leviathans. He had been abandoned because of an adverse mutation and I saved him from a swarm of Space Piranhas," Nial exined and as he was recalling something, he added, "There was a swarm of Space Piranhas consistent of more than a thousand members. All of them were at the Mythician rank, which was quite a surprise when I encountered them behind the secondyer of the outskirts!"

    The Grand Elder stared at Nial for a few seconds. He shook his head and sighed deeply.

    "Space Piranhas, arge-scale swarm at that? What are you even doing behind the secondyer of the Meteorfield''s outskirts? You do realize that your life is on the line every single second behind the secondyer?" The Grand Elder said, just to lift his hand when Nial was about to say something.

    The Grand Elder was mumbling something to himself, using anguage Nial didn''t know. It took the Grand Elder a few seconds to regain hisposure.

    "Let''s ignore the Swarm of Space Piranhas for the time being. I won''t even bother asking you how you took care of them, or what you did to ''Shadow'' or whatever you call that beast¡­but¡­what the hell are you doing??"

    No matter which way the Grand Elder thought about it, he was pretty sure that Nial was nning something. It didn''t make sense that this beast jumped into hisp, just like that, all of a sudden at that.

    There had to be more, something Nial didn''t wish to share with others. He had been quite a while in the Demihumans'' territory for now and he was epted rather well by now. Most of the reasoning for the Demihumans'' eptance was that Nial usually spread out his ck feathered wings. Doing this, he looked like a Demihuman, or to be precise, he looked more like a Demihuman.

    But now that Nail returned with the four-kilometer-long beast, Nial seemed to have given up on ''hiding'' his identity and the ns he had in mind.

    "I will use Shadow to cross the Meteorfield once he is strong enough to do so. The restrictions on long-distance traveling using abilities and other means don''t exist for this little guy. My focus will be on nourishing him while cultivating, as well. That''s why I''m here for, in the first ce!" Nial rified, which caused the Grand Elder to nod his head slowly. He watch the humongous beast that calmly levitated behind the window as if it was waiting for furthermands from Nial.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Grand Elder was trying his best to maintain his calm and make sure that he seemed to beposed. However, his mind was quite literally wreaked. Everything seemed in chaos, but he couldn''t show that to Nial, because the blind Original was way too calm.

    "What exactly did youe here for?" The Grand Elder asked after a few seconds, squinting his eyes while his eyes moved back and forth from Nial to the humongous beast and back.

    "Do you want to make business with me?" Nial asked, which earned him a confused gaze once again.

    He took this as a ''yes'' and cleared his throat.

    "You would have to give me a bunch of materials, a proper cksmith, and an unlimited amount of the food specialist''s Waikyura Meat in exchange for me creating one runic armament every month, or a total of 100 runic armaments of your choice. I think I can be considered a Saint Runicier by now but you probably don''t know what that means," Nial offered while retrieving one of his two remaining experimental runic armaments.

    "You remember that I hired Godsly for ten days in exchange for giving him a small fortune of resources? This is the result of my research over the past few years and what I created bybining my already existing knowledge with the new things I learned in this part of the Universe!"

    He handed the runic armament to the Grand Elder who looked at it a little confused. In this part of the Universe, they didn''t have something like runic armaments. Their hieroglyphs were not bad runes but their efficiency was not too great.

    Rather than focusing on improving their knowledge of hieroglyphs the Demihumans'' biggest priority was to continually advance their technology. They wanted to travel faster through space and make sure that things would advance even more.

    By being able to travel through space faster, it would be possible to explore the ''empty'' space rather than attempting to travel through the Meteorfield where dangers lurked everywhere.

    Exploring the empty space where individual ster systems with new resources were located could be colonized much easier by improving their knowledge. and technology. Using the new resources, they should be able to advance even further. Using this theory as motivation, the Demihumans stopped focusing on hieroglyphs and their usage. At least most of them.

    "Try to use it and tell me if the deal is fine with you. I know that the Waikyura Meat is expensive but it''s nothing inparison to the value my runic constetions can deliver!"

 Chapter 620 Blazing Ruby

    Nial stood next to the Grand Elder in the training hall where most Demihumans trained.

    There was a special room for experimental works, though it was not used often.

    Because the Demihumans didn''t focus on researching ordinary armaments and how to advance them to be stronger as individuals, they didn''t see the need to waste time and space on building a research facility to experiment with the hieroglyphs their ancestors had used to fight for their survival and hunt beasts.

    The Grand Elder was not very interested in the runic armaments Nial had prepared but he heard from Godsly that Nial had requested a few specific armaments to be created out of rare ingredients. That had been a while ago. The rare ingredients were valuable resources that were actually researched to take space traveling to another level, yet Nial used these resources to create weapons and essories.

    It was only obvious that the Grand Elder thought that it was a waste of precious resources, which was clearly shown on his face as he looked at the highly purified ruby that had been mantled by a metal frame that was shaped like an orb. The ruby levitated in the metal orb exuding a searing hot heat that could be used to rece the fuel in spaceships.

    The Grand Elder knew the value of the zing Ruby and he couldn''t help but feel like crying out loud seeing a zin Ruby of the highest purity being wasted right in front of him.

    "I heard that you guys have had more problems with beasts while traveling through space in recent days. Is that correct?" Nial asked, ignoring the Grand Elder''s displeasure. Nial chose to act as if the Grand Elder was overjoyed at the sight of the zing Ruby Orb.

    "Since we''re traveling outside our territory to create small settlements ofs in the Meteorfield, we''re often attacked, that''s only obvious. However, we''re doing fine no matter how many fatalities we have to endure!" The Grand Elder said with pride in his voice.

    Nial could only shake his head, not understanding how it was fine for so many higher authorities to be fine with sacrificing their people so easily.

    "You want to create a permanent foothold on theses, and make sure that you can make as much profit as possible by harvesting resources quickly, right?" He asked another question. The Grand Elder nodded his head once again, this time silent. He noticed that Nial was trying to lead him somewhere and chose not to jump into the carefullyid out trap.

    "Just tell me what you want!" The Grand Elder said, visibly angered. The longer he held the zing Ruby Orb, the angrier he felt for the resources that had been wasted.

    "The zing Ruby Orb can not only be used as fuel. In fact, that is the worst way to use the zing Ruby," Nial said, basically dering that the Demihumans were idiots for wasting such a precious resource as a recement for fuel. The Grand Elder noticed the jab but he kept his mouth shut as he saw the corners of Nial''s lip. His lips curled upward into a mocking smile.

    "The zing Ruby Orb can be used as a resource to createrge-scale weapons to hunt monsters and create defensive weapons for your spaceships and the artillery on the settlements you want to construct. That way, you will be able to hunt Mythician beasts inrge scales, which means that you won''t have to give up on more than a dozen spaceships every single year, and millions of Demihumans.

    You won''t have to sacrifice the spaceships and Demihumans like madmen and you will be able to decimate the dangers around you." Nial exined calmly while pointing at the zing Ruby Orb.

    "Of course, you won''t believe me, but I believe that you are able to inject some mana into the zing Ruby Orb and that you can witness the destructive power of my most recent creation on your own," He pointed out while adding, "Though, I rmend that we move somewhere else, otherwise, you might cause a little bit too much ruckus and dama¡ª..."

    Nial was not even able to end his sentence as the Trixor-ranked Grand Elder injected a tremendous amount of mana inside the zing Rub Orb. Without him realizing it, the Grand Elder had also selected a target using the zing Ruby Orb with odd precision, aiming at the targets of the other side of the room.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Does he know how to use the Orb?'' Nial couldn''t help but wonder when he saw how precise the Grand Elder aimed. However, Nial was also pretty sure that the Grand Elder had never been shown how to aim the zing Ruby Orb. This confused Nial for a moment, preventing him from intervening when he was still able to do something.

    The mana inserted into the zing Ruby Orb activated the runic constetions that had been engraved on the metal frame and the zing Ruby itself. For a second or two nothing special seemed to happen as the tremendous amount of mana waspressed and circted through the zing Ruby.

    However, when the third second psed, a huge change urred.

    The temperature in the training hall increased drastically. A deafening roar shook the ground, followed by a bright sh of light that illuminated the surrounding area as a zing-red beam was released toward the targeted area.

    Theyers of the metal wall were molten as the pyromantic st continued its path ahead, engulfing and melting everything in its path.

    As the st continued, it unleashed a torrent of something that seemed like moltenva. It was passed alongside the st that kept going until the Grand Elder terminated the use of the pyromantic st.

    "What the¡­" The Grand Elder mumbled, his eyes moving from the holes in the walls over to Nial who shook his head.

    "...let''s hope that you killed nobody¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 621 Arcania Realm

    Over a distance of more than five kilometers everything in the way of the pyromantic st had been molten and destroyed. It was only thanks to the walls made with adamariatite that the pyromantic st didn''t do more damage.

    Adamariatite was an extremely precious metal that couldn''t even be destroyed with a full power blow at the Trixor rank. However, even a concentrated attack that focused on a single tiny spot caused slight damage. A burn mark was found on the Adamariatite wall.

    Nobody died but that was the Grand Elder''s fortune. After all, the Grand Elder didn''t listen to his good-meant advice. It was not his fault that the Grand Elder used the zing Ruby Orb just like that. Nial would have never used that much energy to empower the zing Ruby Orb either. A test is supposed to be only that, not a mean to obliterate a bunch of innocent Demihumans.

    "I want it!" The Grand Elder announced, his voice shaking in excitement. He sensed an opportunity, which was exactly what Nial intended to reveal.

    The Grand Elder understood Nial''s scheming to a certain extent but he couldn''t be bothered about it at this moment. He needed Nial''s knowledge and more of those zing Ruby Orbs!

    Runic constetions were not something his people knew about and Nial was also pretty clear that the forgotten runic constetions could only be engraved by him. As for the reason why only he was able to engrave forgotten runic constetions, Nial didn''t go into detail.

    He didn''t think that it was necessary to do so.

    "I can give it to you," Nial said, "I can give you more zing Ruby Orbs, possibly even better ones as this one as long as you provide me with better materials and Godsly''s entire attention!"

    Nial was currently ying out his trump cards. He was trying to achieve something that was much more valuable than the meat he wanted for Shadow. In fact, the meat was just a small thing inparison to what he actually wanted!

    "I want you to make me 500 of those as soon as possible. How long do you need to finish them?" The Grand Elder announced, staring at Nial with greed in his eyes.

    "500¡­?" Nial had initially nned to create a hundred of those runic armaments at most. Requesting five times the number of runic armaments he had in mind also meant that he would have to spend a lot more time finishing the product.

    It would allow him to get more proficient in the creation process and to learn a bunch of things but it would simply take too long.

    He began to frown deeply. His frown was genuine and so was the displeasure that followed suit not long after.

    "Do you even know how long it takes to finish each of them, and how draining it is to engrave runic constetions?" Nialined, ying the ''miserable''-card out.

    The Grand Elder looked at him, tapping his fingers against the zing Ruby Orb.

    "What do you want? I can give you everything you need!" The Grand Elder said, taking his chance on an opportunity that may allow him to be the Supreme Elder.

    With 500 zing Ruby Orbs, attached and altered to fit into spaceships and the defensive artillery of the settlements on various differents, millions of casualties, the loss of precious resources, and the destruction of tens ofrge-scale Space Ships could be prevented.<novelnext></novelnext>

    If that was not enough to change the public view''s opinion of him, improving his image drastically, the Grand Elder didn''t know what it would take for him to take the lead in the voting.

    "Everything?" Nial asked, his attitude changing slightly. He was intrigued now that the Grand Elder offered ''everything''.

    However, the Grand Elder noticed a slight change in Nial''s attitude. He squinted his eyes and hesitated for a moment.

    "What do you want?!" He asked.

    Nial just smiled in return, trying to act as nonchnt as possible, "I want everything like before. An unlimited supply of the food specialist''s Waikyura Meat, the required resources for Shadow to mature into a wonderful ginormous existence, Godsly¡­.AND one Slot for Arcania Realm!"

    The Grand Elder could easily agree with the first demands. However, thest demand was something that caused him to freeze in his tracks.

    The Arcania Realm was an unknown ce where nothing corporeal existed. Some people guessed that it was a destroyed universe, or that it was the empty space of a Universe before it was born. One way or another, the most important was that the Demihumans had a total of 25 Slots every decade to transport someone into the Arcania Realm where they could stay for a total of ten years.

    Nial wanted one of the two slots the Grand Elder was given in order to enter the Arcania Realm for ten years. The next cycle of transportation was in two years which would roughly fit into his schedule. He would havepleted 500 zing Ruby Orbs. He would gain proficiency whilepleting one zing Ruby Orb after another. That way, Nial would inevitably get a little faster in the production process which would then mean that everything would fit into the schedule.

    Of course, he would have to leave the Devil Roc and Shadow outside because the Arcania Realm was able to sense any kind of organism but that was something he could live with.

    In two years, they were strong enough to take care of themself and have a nice time eating great meals until their stomach would explode.

    The most important reason for Nial to desire to enter the Arcania Realm was that Shadow would definitely need more than ten years to grow strong enough to bring him through the Meteorfield and that the Arcania Realm was, quite literally, the best ce to cultivate Nial had ever heard about.

    As for why it was the best ce to Cultivate, it was pretty simple.

    It had a type of energy that rarely existed anywhere else.

    The Arcania Realm was filled with this energy. It was overflowing with it, to be precise.

    It was Origin Mana!

 Chapter 622 Protect The Demihumans!

    The entire Arcania Realm was overflowing with Origin Mana, the strongest, purest, and mostpressed type of energy ever recorded. Nial knew only what Origin Mana was thanks to the memories of the Late God of Darkness.

    And the things he recalled about Origin Mana were certainly interesting enough to make sure that he would get one Slot.

    "It''s only one Slot and only usage. I''m not thinking about taking away your slot permanently. In exchange, you get 500 of those zing Ruby Orbs that nobody in the ENTIRE Universe can replicate with the same efficiency and potency!" Nial exined.

    His words made sense. He was the only one able to create this type of zing Ruby Orb because more than 10 forgotten runic constetions had beenbined in the 100+ other runic constetions that had been engraved onto the metal frame and the zing Ruby. Even if one were to ignore the forgotten runic constetions, only a handful of Saint Runiciers would be capable enough to recreate a simr zing Ruby Orb as he had created.

    Of course, they were likely to be able to create upgraded versions, but they would have to spend more time producing a single zing Ruby Orb. Furthermore, no Saint Runicier would produce a total of 500 runic armaments for a single individual.

    Even Gods had to pay a ginormous fortune just to get hold of a Saint Runicier''s time and attention. Even if the Grand Elder didn''t know much about Runiciers, he had seen the result of his creation. It was better than anysers and other types of weapons they had created until now. That simply meant Nial''s creation could develop space traveling drastically!

    Giving away one Slot for the Arcania Realm, for only ten years, was definitely worth it. That was even something the Grand Elder understood.

    "If¡­only If you finish all zing Ruby Orbs by the time the Gates to the Arcanie Realm open, I will allow you to enter the Arcania Realm!" The Grand Elder said, gritting his teeth. He acted as if he was at a disadvantage here, even though Nial was actually the one who made fewer gains.

    Maybe he made more gains as an individual, but the Demihumans would gain more overall from his supply of zing Ruby Orbs.

    Of course, Nial was more focused on himself. He was certain that the Origin Mana in the Arcania Realm would be more than enough to elevate his cultivation rank to the Peak of the Mythician rank, and that was something he was looking forward to.

    "In that case, bring me the resources mentioned on the list, including the meat for Shadow, Godsly, his assistants, and the best workshop you have!" Nial said, stretching his body as he was more than ready to start with the creation of the runic armaments as quickly as possible.

    In no time, Nial was led to a huge workshop where Godsly and more than a dozen assistants were already waiting for him.

    "Kiddo, I heard that your creation will be used for our Space Ships to make sure that our casualties will decrease drastically," Godsly, the Wolf Demihuman, said while his hand reached out with a faint smile on his lips, "I never expected that these creations of yours would be capable of providing any type of help. I''ve underestimated you and even talked badly behind your back, thinking that you were wasting precious resources. Please ept my apology!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial didn''t expect Godsly to apologize. Godsly was one of the best cksmiths Nial had ever seen. In fact, he was probably the best cksmith Nial had ever been around, observing his forging process with great interest. Siegfried was probably on par with Godsly but Nial never witnessed Siegfried forging.

    Either way, Nial was fully aware of how prideful cksmiths were. For Godsly to apologize meant that he put aside his pride!

    Nial reached out with his hand. He grasped Godsly''s thick hand and shook it tightly.

    "Let''s make sure to protect the Demihumans from further harm!" Nial announced with pride in his voice, while secretly hoping that nobody could discern that he was actually just bbering nonsense and acting. Even though there were a bunch of nice Demihumans, he couldn''t help but think that they were way too discriminative considering that most of them were half-human half-animal/monster. Most of them looked differently, in the first ce, yet the moment an ordinary human, or someone who looked human entered their view, they would make weird faces.

    Funnily enough, Nial was not even human, so their reaction didn''t really make sense, in the first ce. But that was the least troublesome because Nial had his ways to deal with everything. He would rather focus on his work and make it seem as if he cared about the Demihumans to make sure that every single one of them would work their ass off to finish every single one of the five hundred zing Ruby Orbs in the allocated time.

    "Just believe in us!" Godsly said, his voice also filled with pride as his grasp tightened around Nial''s hand in excitement, "We will give our best to protect our beloved race!"

    Nial was satisfied with the answer and they began their work not long after as the requested resources arrived. Because the resources to produce the zing Ruby Orb were rare, collecting everything would require some time. But that was fine since the Grand Elder''s special storage had already enough materials to finish half of the demanded goods. Once the Grand Elder''s storage was emptied, new resources would reach them.

    Meanwhile, the Devil Roc and Shadow were ''training'' high above the city, ying around while testing their special traits and the limitations of their strength to the limit.

    This was something they would keep doing for the next two years while eating a massive amount of the Waikyura Meat that the Grand Elder provided for both Devils to make sure that Nial was pleased.

    After all, Nial created slightly improved zing Ruby Orbs rather than the experimental good of the same quality.

    The Grand Elder was overjoyed, and he didn''t regret that his wallet was bleeding severely.

 Chapter 623 Done And Dusty!

    "That''s thest one!" Nial announced, his chest heaving up and down heavily. His breath was rough and cold sweat poured down his back.

    His clothes were already drenched and clinging to his body, outlining the perfect condition of his body. Nial was ripped, to an extent that made many wonder whether Mana shaped his body or if Nial was secretly performing some sort of sorcery to create such a perfectly shaped and built body.

    Of course, Nial couldn''t care less about that. He had practiced the 10,000 Perfections of Imperfectia to fix his body and provide him with the opportunity to gain more strength, not to look better. Nial was not able to see his appearance, either way, so why would he be bothered to pay too much attention to it?

    "Finally¡­I thought I was gonna die¡­" Godsly said, resting his huge body against the wall behind the smithy. His hands and arms were burned and the fur covering his body was charred. Never in his life had he worked that hard, not after he had been acknowledged as a renowned Arlian cksmith.

    Despite the hard work he had been put through in thest two years, Godsly was very satisfied with himself. In fact, he didn''t recall when he had been as happy and satisfied with himself as today. That was unexpected but certainly something he liked and wanted to imprint into his mind. He smiled in satisfaction, just to see that Nial was getting up from the ground.

    "Where are you going, kid? We will have to celebrate our sess!" Godsly said, ready to party and get drunk. He rarely felt like that but today he definitely felt the need to go for a drink with hisrades and show off the achievements they attained over the course of time.

    However, Nial just waved off his hand in response, "I wille byter, maybe. For now, I will have to take care of my sulking Devils. Shadow was already about to charge through the ceiling when he realized that we finished thest zing Ruby Orb!"

    Godsly and the other Demihumans flinched when they heard about Shadow. By now, everyone could roughly guess that Shadow was either a descendant of the Origin Leviathan or that it was a creature just as terrifying as the Origin Leviathan.

    It was known that the creature was totally loyal to Nial, but that didn''t change the fact that a ten-kilometer-long armored serpent was ''ying around'' in the sky above the workshop Nial had worked at for thest two years.

    More than once, Shadow had shown the intention to charge straight into the workshop just because the Devil was bored and that it desired to be closer to Nial. He was the first person who took care of it, helped it, and didn''t abandon it. Nial never showed the intention to treat it bad. On the contrary, he even warned Shadow before devilizing him.

    ? How could Shadow not look at Nial as a parental figure?

    Nial left the workshop and he used Grasp of Eclipse to emerge behind Shadow just a momentter.

    The gigantic Devil that had grown by more than two and a half times since Nial saved it roared out in response and it charged around as if it had been stung by a Killer Ho. Nial just smiled lightly, until the humongous head of Shadow smashed into him, throwing him hundreds of meters through the air.

    While he was hurled around, Shadow kept following behind, continuing to throw him around. Nial was not hurt since Shadow was gentle enough, but he felt like using the Grasp of Eclipse once again just to escape. However, upon noticing that Shadow was just happy, he let it be.

    Sometimes, it was fine to rest a little and have some fun, and it was not as if he had anything against the pure joy and excitement that reached him through the connection with Shadow.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He was not sure how much time passed before Shadow stopped hurling him around the sky. The Devil Roc had picked up Shadow and thrown him around to make sure that his master wouldn''t be further bothered.

    ''Since when did you grow up so much as well?'' Nial wondered at this moment, realizing that the Devil Roc was also muchrger than before.

    What Nial missed out on was that the Devil Roc was not only able to dete his body from its original size to be asrge as an ordinary eagle but he was also able to inte his body to expand in size.

    Nial never thought about that but perceiving the Devil Roc grasping the body of Shadow who was simply too huge, Nial couldn''t help but feel a little bit overwhelmed by his ignorance.

    He shook his head and smiled lightly.

    "For the next ten years, take care of that little troublemaker. I don''t want toe back to some destroyed cities or something like that. If you guys are bored, go into the Meteorfield, but not too deep inside, otherwise, you and Shadow will just attract too much attention from stronger beasts. I trust you, Rock. You''re in charge now!" Nial dered, patting the Devil Roc who chirped out loudly.

    Nial nodded his head and he went on his way.

    However, his path didn''t lead him to Godsly or his people. It was about time that he entered the Arcania Realm. The Gates to the Arcania Realm were said to open today or the day after. With that in mind, he had to report to the Grand Elder and get hold of the entrance ticket that must have been summoned by now.

    Nial used the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique to appear next to the Grand Elder, who was surrounded by a few dozen of Demihumans.

    He stretched out his hand with a shallow smile on his face.

    "I''m dome with my side of the deal," He said, ignoring the other Demihumans altogether.

    The Grand Elder stared back at Nial, shaking his head.

    However, there was not much he could do against Nial''s bad attitude. He was already too familiar with it to continue care.

    "Whatever¡­just go!"

 Chapter 624 Accepting The Addiction

    Nial was in awe and confusion as a humongous gate appeared out of nowhere, loomingrge and imposing in the middle of the empty space, surrounded by ten Grand Elders and the five disciples of the Late Supreme Elder. The gate was made of a silver ancient, weathered material that seemed to radiate a sense of age.

    Evenpared to the Late God of Darkness, Nial felt that the Gate was even older. Maybe it was even a creation that came into existence with the birth of the Universe¡­or it was something that existed before this Universe was born. It stood at least a hundred meters tall and just as wide.

    As the gate appeared, the space around began to ripple and rumble, attracting Nial''s attention. A deep, ominous noise filled the air and a fissure manifested within the gate, destroying the space within. The fissure lead to an unknown territory as if appeared as a deep, dark void, surrounded by a strange, pulsing energy.

    It was as if the gate was a portal to another Universe, and the fissure in space was the gateway¡­maybe that was it?

    The onlookers were filled with a mix of curiosity and fear, just like Nial. Some wanted to peer inside the gate but they were pushed back by the gate that began to pulsate. It seemed to recognize those who had been given the tickets to enter the ce thaty beyond the deep, dark void.

    Nial began to smile when he noticed that. He approached the gate that radiated an eerie and tense atmosphere. He ignored the sensation that made it seem as if reality was being stretched and twisted and stepped through the fissure, leaving behind the Devil Roc and Shadow.

    The two Devils were not allowed to follow him because the Ancient Gate was able to sense the organisms attached to every being. If Shadow and the Devil Roc desired to follow him, they would require their own tickets. But because they didn''t possess something like that, it was only obvious that the two Devils would have to take care of themself.

    As Nial entered the fissure, he sealed his range of perception, mana, and all of his other senses off. He didn''t want to have to digest everything his senses would depict when jumping through space. The first experience he made with that had been more than enough, and he didn''t want to re-live it.

    When Nial finally stepped outside the tunnel of the fissure in space, Nial found himself levitating in the open space. Nobody was next to him, and none of the 24 Demihumans who had entered the Arcania Realm were anywhere near him either.

    With his range of perception and mana sense fully unleashed, Nial could sense that there was actually nothing corporeal in his surrounding area. There was only mana, a massive amount of eerily pure Origin Mana.

    This happened quite often in the past few years but Nial found himself once again surrounded by even purer and stronger mana than he had ever felt before. Everything in his surrounding was overflowing with Origin Mana and he found himself naturally absorbing tremendous amounts of the Origin Mana that flooded him as if that was the Mana''s sole purpose of existence. Nial''s Mana Sense was drastically enhanced due to the influx of the Origin Mana.

    He could clearly sense anything in a range of more than ten thousand kilometers. There was nothing to sense except the abundant Origin Mana but that was already enough. In fact, it was everything that counted.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Being all by himself with the Origin Mana, without anyone or anything else in his surroundings, was exactly what he wanted.

    Taking a deep breath in the empty space, Origin Mana entered his mouth. It was refreshing and cleansing, seemingly removing thest bits of impurities within his body. This was worth a satisfied smile and him releasing the darkness domain in its strongest form.

    Even if he had a total of ten years before he would be pulled outside the Arcania Realm, there was no time to waste. His schedule was tight and he had to start immediately if he wanted everything to work out as he desired.

    While spreading out his darkness domain, he created various marks within the darkness domain. The marks were ced in a perfect manner with a specific distance between one another. They filled the darkness domain and were slowly reced by The vortexes of the Vortex of Abyss cultivation technique.

    Thousands of vortexes with a tremendous suctioning force were being installed one after another, with a perfect system to maintain the highest possible efficiency to absorb the surrounding Origin Mana quickly. The Origin Mana was absorbed and converted into dark energy.

    However, the conversion rate was not like usual. On the contrary, a trace of Origin Mana was enough to turn into a massive amount of dark energy.

    Making use of this wonderful find, Nial ended up expanding his darkness domain more than a hundredfold in a matter of days. Close to a hundred thousand vortexes had been installed while the amount of Origin Mana entering his body kept increasing exponentially.

    Nial was falling back into his addiction to cultivate until the end of time, and he gave himself in to this sensation. It would onlyst ten years, either way. He would forcefully be dragged out of this addiction as the Arcania Realm would expel him.

    Nial understood this and he chose to make use of his addiction to elerate his cultivation progress even further.

    It could only be advantageous, which was why Nial ended up falling into a trance where nothing but his desire to absorb more and more Origin Mana seemed important. Meanwhile, his Darkness Temples were slowly forming due to the influx of dark energy that flooded him. The dark energy waspressed, it solidified and it was slowly forcefully put into shape, further enhancing Nial''s strength and the ability to control more dark energy and thus an expanded darkness domain.

    Now was the time to ept his addiction and to make use of it to be the strongest!!

 Chapter 625 Jumbled Memories

    Over the course of time, Nial''s darkness domain had spread out, forming a huge ck sphere that devoured every bit of Origin Mana in its surroundings.

    Nial was cultivating like a madman, fully focused on improving the efficiency of the cultivation progress and maximizing the time he was given in the Arcania Realm. It was a precious opportunity and Nial made use of it well.

    The sphere that had formed out of the darkness domain had a range of more than a thousand kilometers. Its actual range was closer to three thousand kilometers, which meant that Nial''s domain was the size of a small. The suctioning force of his-sized darkness sphere was also tremendous. That made it seem as if the darkness sphere was a ck hole, devouring everything and anything!

    He had attained the Peak of the Mythcian rank and desired to go a step ahead. He wanted to take his first stride toward the Trixor rank, starting with the creation process of his Godly Foundation.

    Nial desired to start preparing everything necessary to create his Divinity, which includes extracting the Essence of his abilities, learning to understand who he was, what he was and what he could have been if not for the choices he made in the past.

    There were countless ways to ascend godhood and Nial was already thinking about his own path excitedly. He was interested in what may happen in the near future, what his Divinity would end up looking and how he could use his knowledge to create the strongest possible Divinity.

    Using every single bit of knowledge he had acquired in thest several decades, Nial was intrigued about his future''s path. He was not yet a century old and his path had yet actually to start. That was what he believed.

    However, the told story of his life might be much shorter. After all, not everything in life was exciting, and neither was it possible for everything to be recorded. The truth could usually only be known by those who witnessed it all. That was also why Nial knew many things the Primordials and Ancients were hiding from the Universe.

    Spending ten years in the Arcania Realm showed that quite clearly. Memories of the Late God of Darkness were unveiled every now and then. With every Darkness Temple, hepleted new memories that flushed his mind where they were imprinted and stored safely.

    He learned too many things that he wished not to know, whether they revolved around Damian''s life or the doings of other races. For a few weeks, Nial had been pulled out of his addictive trance-like state because certain memories had disrupted his calm mind too much.

    After all, it was not exactly nice to get to know that Damian actually knew the race Nial hailed from and that there had once been a connection to the Lacardian Empyrean Void, which seemed to be the ce Nial was actually born, as the Prince of the entire Void in the Lacardian Empyrean.

    Nial didn''t really understand it well either, but he got to know too many things that confused him. From the looks of it, Damian''s memories had been sealed as well. He only recalled certain things the further Nial''s cultivation rank progressed. That was at least what Nial felt because he didn''t think that Damian lied to him when he revealed to Nial that he saw Nial''s memories¡­at that time.

    There were many confusing things that went through Nial''s head, including that it seemed a few Ancients and Primordials made a pact with the Pryards a long time ago. They betrayed their own race and the entire Universe to procure power and seemingly unlimited might.

    Damian''s memories showed clearly that the Late God of Darkness fought against the advocates of the Pryards for a long time. The advocates had been hiding well, to the extent that it seemed Damian was blindly attacking other Ancient and Primordial races. A huge war erupted, ending with Damian''s loss after he finished every advocate but one.

    One advocate survived Damian''s uncontroble anger. But despite being unable to kill thest advocate, Damian was able to take his eyes. In fact, the advocate''s eyes were cursed with a curse that couldn''t be taken. Even by destroying his eyeballs and regenerating them using heavenly items, it would never be possible to heal them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    While all of this was a lot for Nial to digest, something deep in his subconscious made him feel as if all pieces of the big puzzle were slowlying together.

    Damian was crippled and bound to die. He sealed his Devils, detached his soul from his body, and split it up to enter his Divinity, which he had also split up. What followed after was that his Godly Fragments, the split-up parts of his Divinity, were hidden all around the Universe and even outside the Universe.

    One piece was even in the Lacadian Empyrean Void¡­and that was where the problems began.

    The Gate to the Lacardian Empyrean Void had been damaged when Damian and thest advocate of the Pryards fought their final battle, which made it near-impossible to travel safely through it.

    Thus, the Lacardian Empyrean Void forgot about the small and insignificant Universe for a long time¡­until the advocate of the Pryards returned with the desire to not only destroy Damian''s remaining Godly Fragments but also to fix what had been taken from him¡­his eyesight!

    A chaos of memories had flooded Nial''s mind and digesting everything was difficult. However, he could tell one thing for sure.

    "I am not from this ce, and I have the eyes of the Pryard''s advocate in me¡­" Nial mumbled, convinced that his guess was the truth. He was not sure how this made sense but he was pretty sure that one thing lead to another.

    Whether it was a coincidence or fate.

    The Pryard''s advocate switched their eyes which was only possible because they had the same type of eyes¡­eyes that could see everything. Damian''s Curse was passed onto his body.

    Damian''s Godly Fragment located in the Lacardian Empyrean Void reacted to this, binding to him before using every bit of remaining energy to teleport Nial to a safe ce; the Realm of Forgotten Time, the City of Trials, to be precise.

    In the City of Trials, he was bound to another of Damian''s Godly Fragments which created the Odyssey seed, whose energy was drainedpletely to bring him to an even more secure ce; inside a human Shelter on Jundra, precisely a small yground where he was picked up and raised as the human Nial Orin.

    Everything else was history.

    "What the fuck are those jumbled memories¡­Are they even mine, in the first ce?"

 Chapter 626 The Truth

    It was only obvious that Nial was confused by the memories that jumbled in his mind. Some memories felt like his own during the time he was still able to see. He recalled being able to see something hazily. There was not much to see because his eyesight was soon taken away from him.

    Nial understood that the memories were about moments before he lost his eyes to thest Advocate of the Pryards in their Universe.

    But while some memories belonged to him, others originated from Damian. The memories of the Late God of Darkness, clearly showed why the vast majority of the Universe had been fighting against him. He wanted to obliterate the advocates of the Pryards, who were the traitors of their own race and the entire universe.

    However, because Damian had been too rushed, he didn''t realize that the advocates had been hiding well. That led to a big war starting all of a sudden. Countless beings on both sides died but the Late God of Darkness was sessful. He killed every advocate except one. Thest one escaped death with a mere curse that detached his eyes from his body. The Curse was strong enough for the advocate to never be able to see again, or so Damian thought.

    He had to flee, was severely injured, and was on the verge of death. Abandoning his body, he split his Soul and Divinity which he merged with the intent to reveal the truth behind the falsified history of the Universe.

    Those were most of the memories Nial could obtain from the memories he made and the memories of Damian. But that was not where it ended.

    There were also memories that felt like they belonged to nobody¡­almost as if the memories belonged to an omnipotent observer, which meant that they belonged to nobody and every at the same time. It was almost as if¡­.the memories were the memories of the Mana, and Universe itself.

    It was confusing, but it showed Nial how he and Damian connected. It showed him the outlines of thest advocate of the Pryards, paving his way to the Lacardian Empyrean Void where it wreaked havoc after eons had passed since thest Original came to visit them.

    However, this time it was not just a regr visit or anything like that. The Advocate of the Pryards gained and umted the power he was granted from the Pryards to be stronger¡­strong enough to obliterate everyone and everything standing in his path to destroy Damian''s Godly Fragment, and to regain his eyes.

    Both could be done in the Lacardian Empyrean Void, by switching his eyes with the eyes of the newborn prince who had eyes that could see everything.

    Thest memories Nial recalled from the ''omnipotent point of view'' were that Damian''s curse reached his body, that the Godly Fragment inside the Lacardian Empyrean Void reacted to this, and that they were the cause for both his survival and the survival of Damian''s Godly Fragment.

    Everything else was history.

    All-in-all, Nial was really confused for a very long time. It was a lot to digest and a heavy burden that impacted his head. Nial was not even sure why he recalled so many things at the same time. After all, everything he had done was cultivate. The only usible reason he coulde up with was that everything was somehow rted to the Origin Man he had absorbed diligently.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It was almost as if the Origin Mana was trying to find out the origin of every being. How the existences came to be the beings they had be after encountering various incidences, coincidences, or fateful encounters.

    Digesting everything took a while but Nial took it like a champ. He knew that Damian didn''t want all of those things to happen to him, but everything made much more sense now that he knew what had happened.

    There were still many things he had to get to know but Nial felt much morefortable now that he knew a few things. He also got to know what exactly his final mission was.

    Ignoring the fact that Hoert may or may note over to their Universe to devour it somewhen in the future, Nial found a new target; the advocate of the Pryards!

    He didn''t even know when Hoert woulde to attack the Universe. It may take a year, ten years, a century, one millennium, or even eons. Their Universe was still young and small. Thus, it was not actually worth Hoert''s attention. That was what Nial believed firmly.

    Thus, the most important mission now was to be stronger to take revenge for his race, the entire Lacardian Empyrean Void and to make sure that thest traitor of the Universe would be killed by his very own hands.

    Thest Advocate of the Pryards took his eyes as well. Taking revenge on someone like this was only fair. Nial had yet to recall how thest advocate of the Pryards looked like, even if it was just his outlines and the sequence of his Mana, but that was something Damian''s memories were bound to show him in the near future.

    There was no need for him to rush anything. Rather than that, he should focus on bing stronger, as strong as possible. After all, the advocate of the Pryards had been strong enough to obliterate the Lacardian Empyrean Void all by himself. An existence like this was definitely not weak, let alone easy to defeat!

    With that in mind, Nial had returned his focus on cultivating with the Origin Mana in his surrounding area. At the time the memories had flooded him he didn''t even have half of the ten years in the Arcadia Realm left. However, that was fine. It was something Nial could life with.

    He was able to make use of those years to be his strongest self, learn more about himself, reach the Peak of the Mythician rank, and prepare himself mentally to procure everything needed to create his Divinity. The path toward his Godly Foundation started, and Nial was looking forward to it.

    He could already smell his revenge, and his path that would inevitably lead to the final battle.

    Little did he know that his battle would inevitably inflict the entire Universe with terror. Darkness would resurrect and the fear that had once been buried in the annals of history was bound to return!

 Chapter 627 Powerhouse

    Nial was fine leaving the Arcadia Realm when the Ancient Gate manifested behind him. It sucked him inside without leaving enough time to retrieve the darkness sphere that had formed from his ever-expanding darkness domain.

    This was a big waste because the darkness sphere would have been exceptionally useful to cultivate in the future.

    But some things couldn''t be changed and crying behind the past was not something Nial did usually. He emerged on the other side of the Ancient Gate not long after he was sucked into it.

    His range of perception detected the Grand Elder almost immediately and Nial appeared next to him in an instant.

    "How was thest decade without me? I bet my two little Devils stirred some trouble, didn''t they?" Nial teased lightly, just to receive a deadly re.

    The Grand Elder''s feelings were mixed. He couldn''t detect the cultivation rank of the young man anymore. That either meant Nial was able to conceal his cultivation rank perfectly, or that Nial''s strength was equal, if not higher than his.

    ''Just how much did he progress in ten years?" The Grand Elder wondered. His frown deepened the longer he looked at Nial. He clearly recalled that Nial had only threepleted Mana Temple when he entered the Arcadia Realm. He also recalled that Nial''s darkness shroud around the spaceship had been extremely good for absorbing Mana.

    That was also why the Grand Elder had been pretty sure that Nial would be able to create two more, at most three new Mana Temples.

    This was already very generous because most Originals required 50+ years to create a single Darkness Temple. Nial was not normal. In fact, he was the least ordinary person the Grand Elder had ever seen. His zing Ruby Orbs were forces that had to be acknowledged as exceptionally powerful.

    Millions of Beasts had attempted to destroy various Spaceships and newly constructed settlements in the Meteorfield but none of them survived the onught of the pyromantic sts released from the zing Ruby Orbs. Even the beasts at the Trixor rank didn''t dare toe too close after facing more than then pyromantic sts in short session.

    That meant Nial''s creations were even more valuable than the Grand Elder had presumed in the first ce, and he was pretty sure that nobody his age was able to create such treasures no matter where one looked.

    Nial never showed off that he was talented. He just demonstrated his power and talent when his persona was requested. That made it more difficult for the Grand Elder to analyze the type of person behind Nial and to find out how much of a threat the other side of the Meteorfield might be in the future.

    Since Nial had reached the other side, even if it was by ident, he was bound to find a way back home. The Grand Elder was also pretty sure that Nial woulde back in the future after he returned home. After all, Nial had said himself that the Meteorfield was a treasure trove, and of dangers and opportunities. He also said that the Demihumans'' hieroglyphs and resources were valuable and things he may need in the future.

    "Your ''little'' Devils? They left to the Meteorfield and onlye back to drain my wallet by eating WAY too much¡­" The Grand Elder grumbled, satisfied with the gains he made from the zing Ruby Orb, but still in pain because the price he had to pay was simply too expensive for him to feel calm andposed.

    "It looks like they''reing back now," Nial just mumbled moving over to a different ce where he wouldn''t bother the Demihumans and others.

    Nial was intrigued about Shadow''s size and the full extent of his power. He had to find out how much more time he had to spend in this part of the Universe before Shadow could teleport him across the Meteorfield.

    Nial was ready to spend a bunch of years researching the hieroglyphs of the Demihumans and get to know the other races in this part of the Universe. Meeting the other races was necessary because they might be in possession of knowledge, hieroglyphs, and resources the Demihumans didn''t have.

    Traveling around with Shadow would be easy and certainly faster than wasting years traveling through space with the Spaceships. That was something Nial understood the moment Shadow''s humongous body appeared in front of him seemingly out of nowhere.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Mutated Origin Leviathan youngling had teleported through space with the Devil Roc to appear in front of him. The Devil Roc shot straight at Nial, turning into darkness that infiltrated his body before it stayed inside the Heart of Darkness where he felt the mostfortable.

    Nial didn''t expect the Devil Roc to have missed the Heart of Darkness that much. However, it made things a lot easier for the future sake.

    "Looks like you''ve grown a bit, Shadow," He said, smiling lightly as he perceived the 25 kilometer long body of his most recently devilized Devil.

    Shadow had always been humongous but Nial was pretty sure that the Devil''s size would sooner orter turn into a problem. Yet, even if they were to turn into problems, Nial was actually looking forward to them.

    It was an interesting change from the usual.

    Shadow roared out loudly while bumping gently into Nial. This looked hrious as Shadow''s nostrils were already manyfold taller than Nial. It was near impossible for Shadow tofortably bump his head against Nial.

    At least that was what Nial expected as he epted his fate of getting flung through the surrounding area.

    However, none of that happened as a small head began to rub against his cheeks.

    Visualizing Shadow, the Origin Leviathan had turned into a tiny serpent that was not even three-meter-long

    ''Looks like you learned something from the Devil Roc¡­that makes things easier!''

    **

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    You can also visit my pa treon: Pa treon/HideousGrain

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 Chapter 628 Studying The Godly Foundation

    Now that he was back in his Universe, though still on the wrong side of the Meteorfield, it was about time for Nial to focus on studying the hieroglyphs that seemed much older than the Universe itself. All by themself, they were already on par with Ancient Forgotten Runic Constetion.

    Some of them were even better, more efficient, and with a stronger effect than Ancient Forgotten Runic Constetions. That was pretty impressive and something worth researching.

    That was what Nial spent the following year while stockpiling arge amount of resources on the side. He created a bunch of runic constetions while giving simple pointers in the creation process. All of this was done to a recording device. The video material could be rewatched infinitely, slowed down, and watched from different angles to see everything.

    Nial was given a considerable amount of various resources in exchange for the teaching material he provided. That way, both he and the Demihuamns made great profits. Nial learned a lot before he left with Shadow, traveling outside the Demihuman''s territory. Outside their territory, he met other races such as Renecaiser Dwarves, Froki, Lokaisaer, Mihandaer, and tens of other races.

    Most of them frowned upon encountering him but that was to be expected. He appeared in the midst of their territory, undetected by their best detection devices and he acted eerily nonchnt while facing their Elitebatants. A few Originals at the Trixor rank attempted to fight against Nial but he didn''t even think of giving them a chance to overwhelm him.

    While they were still trying toprehend the Godly Foundation of their Divinity, Nial had already gotten his hands on a perfect understanding of his dark energy. That may only be the case due to Damian''s memories, but that didn''t matter. His understanding of the dark energy was also equivalent to a perfect understanding of the Essence of Darkness. The Essence of Darkness would be one of the ingredients he would use to create his Divinity.

    His Power of Chaos, his extremely strong senses that were further enhanced by the Hodur''s Heir Curse, the Curse''s ck Miasma, the crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon, the Essence of mental control, Dominion, and his Summoning Gate would all be ingredients as well, one way or another.

    Nial was alreadying up with a way to turn his abilities into one supreme Divinity. Of course, that would require some more time but he was not in a hurry to create his Divinity, either. If he were to rush himself, he would only fail miserably.

    Even if he had been allowed to fail other steps, failing in the creation of his Divinity was something he should definitely avoid.

    That was also why Nial chose to continue researching himself, and the things around him and continue searching for more resources that may or may not be helpful in the creation of the Divinity.

    He defeated the Trixor-ranked Originals that were even farther from reaching godhood than Nial before he made sure that they wouldn''t think of him as an enemy. Of course, that was not easy sometimes since Originals at the Trixor rank were petty and ridiculously prideful, unable to ept that someone at a lower rank had just defeated them.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Most of the time, Nial overwhelmed his opponents by using his reinforced dark energy. He was in possession of three to four times more dark energy than most people could hold mana. That was because he had a perfect foundation, and Nine Darkness Temples that had been created in the biggest possible Sea of Darkness that could be created. His foundation was simply perfect, which was something that not even 0.001% of all Originals at the Mythician rank could attain.

    Of course, that didn''t add that Nial''s mana had been purified several times and that every cell in his body was nourished and filled with dark energy. And then there was the Heart of Darkness, the endless storage of dark energy.

    Nial didn''t need to be best friends with all those other races. He just wanted to travel around and exchange knowledge fairly. He came up with a way to offer his knowledge and talents in exchange for the knowledge of Ancient hieroglyphs, unique materials, and more. Many races stagnated in their progress. That was also why they epted Nial''s help rather easily.

    They ignored the three-meter-long serpent that had coiled around his abdomen, wrapping itself around him several times to stick close to Nial whom it regarded as its father figure. Nial was trying to ignore Shadow as well, but sometimes the Devil overdid it a little, provoking the people around him.

    That was not exactly helpful but there was little to nothing Nial could do against it. Shadow was too bored because there was not much for him to do, yet he didn''t want to leave Nial''s side either. That made things a little difficult for everyone every now and then.

    Nial''s knowledge improved with time passing and he slowly but steadily approached the age of a hundred years. Nial never expected that he would be away from the Origin for over 60 years but that was exactly what happened.

    Thest sixty years felt like an extremely short amount of time. Somehow, it made him doubt whether he did anything great or if he had wasted his time in thest sixty years. His cultivation progressed a lot and so did his knowledge. However, he didn''t form many rtionships, or expanded his shelter, territory, or whatsoever. All-in-all, thest sixty years had been a breeze in which he became stronger and more knowledgeable.

    It was not even close to beingparable to his life on Jundra. That was also why it felt as if it passed so quickly.

    When he turned 100 years old, Shadow had grown to a length of exactly 100 kilometers. It was also time for Shadow to be able to pass through the Meteorfield with one or two jumps. As long as he had enough energy umted inside his body, nothing would hold him back anymore.

    That was something Nial looked forward to. He wanted to go home, meet his family again, and show off his strength and knowledge. It was about time that his Devils returned to him and that the Orion Shelter would be upgraded quite a bit!

 Chapter 629 Back On My Side!

    When Shadow had grown to a hundred kilometers in length, the Devil informed Nial that he was ready to teleport him through the Meteorfield.

    Shadow was still at the Mythician rank but he was advancing rapidly. Beasts were faster at advancing in their rank during their growth phase. Their progress would only slow down upon reaching maturity.

    Nial was not sure when exactly Shadow would reach maturity because the Devil was already extremely long and huge in width and height, but the most important was that Shadow could bring him back to the other side of the Universe, in the first ce.

    That''s what interested him most.

    Nial had to make sure that he finished his research in the unknown part of the Universe. After all, it would be a hassle if he left some open ends which he had to re-research just because he was rushing things too much. Nial finished his research on the hieroglyphs and he tried to recreate them with his acquired knowledge.

    He was also trying tobine the hieroglyphs with his runic constetions which worked out pretty decently. He would have to make a few adjustments but that was only obvious. It was the first time for him tobine runic constetions and hieroglyphs, how could everything go ording to his wishes? Not only was it obvious that something Nial didn''t want to happen would ur bybining hieroglyphs and runic constetions but he was actually looking forward to it.

    He could learn much easier from his mistakes rather than from things that worked out to a certain extent.

    "Are you ready, Shadow?" Nial asked after he hadpleted his preparations. The map of the unknown parts of the Universe was clearly imprinted in his mind for the possibility of his return. Of course, Nial was pretty sure that he would only return because of the Meteorfield, not because of anyone or anything the races in the unknown parts of the Universe possessed.

    He knew all their hieroglyphs, after all!

    A loud roar rang out from Shadow who released Nial from his body that had coiled around the poor blind Original. Shadow was expanding in size as he moved away from Nial. The Devil moved in small circles seemingly to create a small tower with his humongous body.

    "I take that as a yes. Then let''s go!" Nialmanded, the corners of his lips uptilted. Shadow roared out once again as Nial set down on afortable spot on top of the Devil''s head before Shadow lunged forward with rapid eleration. He charged toward the Meteorfield while further speeding up.

    A small vortex of darkness formed near the outskirt region of the Meteorfield, and they charged into it without any hesitation. Nial noticed that Shadow''s entire energy storage was drained, dried up from the creation of a single portal. However, he didn''t have the necessary time to care much about that as they were pulled inside the darkness portal that allowed them to travel through a space tunnel that was filled with shadows and darkness.

    ''Add dark energy in this weird space, and the space where I meet Damian has been replicated,'' Nial thought to himself. The shadows and darkness in his surroundings were quite interesting.

    Unfortunately, they disappeared in no time as they reached the portal to the outside of the space Shadow had created to shorten the distance they had to travel.

    Upon emerging on the other side of the portal, Nial immediately perceived a few things. First of all, they were notpletely outside the Meteorfield. There was still a few kilometers of distance between them and the outside of the Meteorfield. However, that was the least problematic because he could perceive a fissure in space from which hundreds of beings that were spreading out like a swarm of insects.

    The beings had all kinds of forms, which made it seem as if all of them were different. However, there was one particr point they had all ining.

    "Decaying Chaos?" Nial mumbled under his breath. He tilted his head and was just about to travel outside the Meteorfield when a bunch of those beings that were in possession of Decaying Chaos, a type of power that was known for destroying space and organisms, had spread out even to the Meteorfield where they found him.

    The beings screeched out loudly before attacking him at once. Each of the beings seemed quite powerful. They were at the Mythician rank but their truebat prowess was manyfold higher than the ''Elite Combatants'' he fought in the unknown parts of the Universe.

    ''What are those beings?'' Nial thought as he forced Shadow to enter his Heart of Darkness. The Devil was extremely exhausted and levitating in the open space while his body was writhing in pain. Teleporting himself and his master, Nial, throughout the entire Meteorfield hadn''t been easy. Not only did it require his entire cultivation energy to be drained but it was also extremely taxing on his body.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thus, Shadow entered Nial''s Heart of Darkness for the first time since Shadow had been devilized.

    Nial, on the other hand, was still overflowing with power. He retrieved a spear from one of his spatial rings while manifesting thousands of darkness needles.

    The beings with Decaying Chaos in their body seemed unintelligent and wild. That made it easier for Nial to attack them, piercing them from all sides with thousands of tiny darkness needles at the same time.

    Nial clearly heard their pained screeches that rang out only once before the beings with Decaying Chaos mantled their body with Chaos, destroying the darkness needles.

    ''So we''re going to y a game of ''who has better control of the Power of Chaos''? I''m in!'' Nial thought, targeting the four beings that charged at him as he summoned four currents of chaos. ck and Crimson veins circted through the currents of chaos as Nial''s loud and amplified voice rang out through the outskirts of the Meteorfield.

    "Tear apart!"

    The currents of chaos shot out to the open space before they dispersed. Nial''s Vengeance of Chaos ability finally came to use once again after he had attained a better understanding of the ability and the Power of Chaos.

    However, that was not all because¡­it was the first time that Nial used the Vengeance of Chaos ability as the main ability since he had created his Darkness Pirs and transformed them into Darkness Temples.

    His Chaos was as strong as never before¡­and it was genuine Chaos,pressed and created from the terror, fear, and rampaging energies of the Universe.

    As a result of his words and will, the beings in possession of impure and altered Chaos began to screech out even louder than before.

    And then¡­then they turned silent before their arms and legs were ripped out of their bodies, followed by their heads that were plucked like radish.

    **

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 Chapter 630 Veils And Veilures

    Nial was not yet sure what exactly was going on but he felt extremely strong chaos from the fissure that connected the ne of the Decayed Chaos beings with the outer parts of the Universe.

    Not many enemies had emerged from the fissure that was now pulsating while replenishing the Chaos it had consumed to allow the Decayed Chaos beings to traverse through time and space. Nial licked his lips in uncertainty before he teleported in front of the fissure.

    There was no need to use the Grasp of Eclipse technique because that would be overkill. After having bound Shadow for more than thirty years to his body and being close to him for a long time. Nial realize that he was able to use a fraction of Shadow''s powers. In fact, that was probably something he could do with each of his Devils.

    However, until now, Nial had only been together with Shadow for such a long time. Nial learned how to teleport short distances through space at will. It required a considerable amount of dark energy but that was normal as his entire body was pulled through space in an instant.

    In front of the fissure, Nial felt the pulsating Chaos even intenser. He focused his range of perception on the fissure while ignoring the other Decayed Chaos beings. After all, they were being taken care of by some other existences whom Nial had long since discovered.

    However, two of them were humans, another one was from an Ancient race, and a few more were from races whose names he had forgotten.

    Their races were not exactly important but what could be considered extremely helpful to know was that each of them was in possession of a Divinity.

    They were all Gods!

    Nial was not sure what this chaos fissure truly was but he could tell that it was dangerous enough if five Gods guarded it. The five Gods had already taken note of him as well but they were obviously of the opinion that it was not necessary for them to intervene in whatever Nial was trying to do in front of the chaos fissure.

    ''So only the beings emerging out of the fissure are dangerous, while the fissure itself seems to be a living organism that even Gods cannot remove, otherwise, they would have done it already¡­probably,'' Nial mumbled to himself while materializing a few more currents of chaos around both of his arms.

    They were reinforced through the crimson moonlight and the Essence of Darkness which he hoped to be enough to achieve what he had in mind.

    "What the hell are you doing there, kid?!" A thunderous voice rang out through the proximity. The person shouted in the universalnguage, anguage Nial hadn''t heard for quite a while.

    "You want less trouble from this¡­chaos fissure, right?" Nial asked, not faltering just because he was being shouted at.

    There was no need for him to worry. The voice didn''t hold any hostility. That man was merely worried that something bad could happen!

    "Of course, we want to have less trouble with the Veils, but that''s not an easy kid. Juste back and don''t make more problems with your experiments!"

    This time it was Nial who was a little baffled. Veils? The chaos fissure was actually a Veil?

    He had just connected his currents of chaos with the chaos fissure, only to find out that it was actually a Veil, something he and Dn had been warned about by the Oracle!

    "That''s a Veil? Then¡­.the beings emerging from the Veils. Are those the Veilures?" Nial asked, feeling as if someone hit him hard on the head.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Where the hell are you living not knowing what a Veil looks like?" The man asked rhetorically, just to add, "The beings emerging from the Veil are obviously Veilures, the beings who are trying to devour our Universe to restore theirs!"

    Nial frowned deeply and his head tilted to the left and right as he was trying to digest the things that must have happened in the past few decades.

    "How long has it been since the first Veil manifested?" He thus asked, trying to gather more information. However, before he heard and answer, arge hand grasped his shoulder tightly.

    "I don''t know if you''re just oblivious, or if you are trying to stall for time¡­but let go of the Veil first!" The same voice rang through Nial''s ears.

    But instead of listening to the voice, Nial began to devour the pure Chaos of the chaos fissure, which was the Veil he had been warned about a long time ago.

    "What are¡­nevermind¡­just continue with what you''re doing," The voice said, baffled after he saw that the Veil was shrinking in size as it as deprived of its Chaos.

    Without Chaos, it wouldn''t be possible for many Veilures to pass through the Veil. It would require much longer for the Veils to replenish their Chaos as well.

    That was something the Gods realized upon seeing Nial draining the storaged Chaos of the Veil. The hand that had tightly grasped his shoulder let go and the God pulled back, leaving Nial to do whatever he wanted to.

    **

    When Nial was done draining some Chaos from the Veil, his arms were aching. He tried to store the additional chaos in the Darkness Temple that belonged to the Vengeance of Chaos ability, but that was a little bit harder than expected.

    Thus, Nial chose to keep it in his body for the time being. He could research Chaoster to find out more about it. After all, he had yet toprehend the Essence of Chaos, a necessity to use Chaos as an ingredient for his Divinity.

    The Veil was a chaos fissure that connected the Universe to a different dimension.

    That was something Nial already knew. He and Dn had been warned about quite a few things when they had been in the City of Trials.

    Of course, Nial didn''t expect the first Veils to open already.

    Turning around to the few Gods that had been safeguarding the Veil, Nial couldn''t help but feel a little lost.

    "What the hell happened in thest six decades?"

 Chapter 631 A God? That Fucking Bastard!

    Apparently, the first Veil manifested only a few years after Nial disappeared inside the Spectran''s miscalcted spatial portal.

    None of the Gods Nial met had visited the Origin once because they had other things to take care of, but they heard quite a bit about the revival of the Universe''s Glory, the Origin.

    Apparently, the Origin was a hub of close to a million races by now, and most were not able to hold their forte on the Origin, which was also the reason why they createdrge Alliances to create a territory where huge cities with billions, if not more Originals could cultivate and attempt conquering treasure dungeons to procure various useful resources that would allow them to be much stronger in a short period of time.

    Nial heard quite a few stories, but none of them was intriguing enough to hold his attention. He was searching for a way home, not listening to some fairytales or the epic of others.

    However, what unfolded in front of him while listening to the Gods that were much more likable and talkative than expected, was quite stunning.

    "The Undying¡­created a group and tactics to fight against the Veils and Veilures? AND he is already a God??? This fucking bastard¡­" Nial couldn''t control himself anymore.

    He knew that Dn was in possession of some sort of system that helped the people of his world to cultivate faster but Dn''s speed was ridiculously fast even then.

    "You shouldn''t really call someone bastard just because he is faster at cultivating than you. Furthermore, Dn did a good job uniting Mrn and forcing a bunch of Ancients, Abandoned Children, and more powerhouses to work together! He was not even a Lesser God when he did all of that. He just died and resurrected, over and over again," One of the Ancients said, shuddering for a moment.

    Nial clearly recalled how Dn had fought against him when they were both in the City of Trials, and he didn''t really want to rinse and repeat the same type of fight ever again.

    Dn was the most annoying opponent he ever fought, simply because the Undying was¡­.Undying.

    "He did that? Fighting some Ancient Gods, I mean?" Nial asked, one eyebrow raised. He was quite sure that Dn loved pain, but would he actually dare to face Ancient Gods while he was not even one himself? Only masochists would do something like that.

    Well¡­

    Nial was pretty sure that Dn was a masochist. It was not as if it was impossible for Dn to feel like fighting a bunch of Ancient Gods all by himself while he was just a Demi-God.

    Furthermore, Ascenders had it much easier to advance in the Tiers than Originals advanced in their ranks.

    "I heard that uniting, or conquering Mrn was some sort of mission he was given. The system of the Primordials and Ancients ended up working against them by turning Dn into Mrn''s Guardian. Not only did they lose the that awoke through the Primordial Ascension but they also turned against Dn. Big Mistake." Another one of the Gods said, just for a third to join the chat.

    "Dn awoke a World Elemental as well. I didn''t see it yet but it is said to be roaming through the Meteorfield in an attempt to find out what you can find behind there."

    There was a bunch of additional information that Nial got to know but the most important could be summarized rather quickly.

    Dn was a pretty powerful God now and he had already made his preparations to work against the Veils. Joining this ''group'', whatever that may be, should be enough to work against the Veils and Veilures. He could drain the chaos fissures of their chaos, slowing down the expansion of the Veils until he would have figured out a solution to close the Veils permanently.<novelnext></novelnext>

    As long as Nial researched andprehended the Essence of Chaos that should be feasible, to a certain extent. He would be able to close smaller chaos fissures for sure. Bigger Veils would be a little bit more problematic but that was something he could take care of when it was time to pay attention to these things.

    ''Dn did quite a lot while I was away. The other Ancients and Primordials must have done a bunch of things against the Veils and Veilures as well¡­that''s good!'' Nial thought that it was only obvious that everyone did something to help their Universe to survive. As obvious as that may be, there would always be conflicts between races. This was basically unavoidable and Nial was only hoping that these conflicts wouldn''t be too annoying.

    After all, he didn''t feel like wasting his time too much with the Veils and Veilures. In fact, he didn''t even want to waste his time with Hoert. Unfortunately, Hoert was on a whole different level. Nial had to pay attention to the devourer of Universes in order to make sure that he and his family could survive.

    But the biggest question was still when exactly Hoert would arrive in their Universe. It should take quite a while until their Universe had been nurtured quite a bit, until it wasrge enough to be nutritious enough to be devoured, or so Nial thought. That was the only thing that made sense.

    Thus, it left Nial with merely three important points left in mind.

    He wanted to reunite with his family and take care of them.

    He wanted to expand the Orion Shelter and turn it into a fortress where he could do everything necessary to study his existence, every inch of his body, his past, present, and future, to create his Divinity, and much more.

    And he had to search for the advocate of the Pryards to take revenge for his family, race, Damian, and for himself.

    That bastard took his eyes, after all!

    **

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 Chapter 632 Saint Runicier

    While it was certainly important to take revenge on the bastard who had dared to take his eyes, it was even more important to return home and make sure that the other two points had been taken care of.

    That was also why he summoned Shadow from his Heart of Darkness. The Devil manifested in his small three-meter-long form and coiled around Nial tiredly.

    "Here is some energy," Nial said while transferring some of his dark energy to Shadow while adding, "How long do you think you need before you can jump through space again?"

    He was talking about a big jump through space, just like the one they made earlier to cross the Meteorfield.

    Nial ignored the Gods who stared at him and Shadow. He paid more attention to the answer Shadow gave him.

    ''A few months? That''s pretty long¡­but it can also be shortened as long as I supply enough energy¡­'' He summarized in his mind, nodding his head over and over again.

    ? "By the way, where are we exactly?" Nial asked the Gods, his head flicking to them. His question caused a few confused Gods to stare at him, squinting their eyes, or raising their eyebrows.

    "You don''t know where we are?" The Ancient asked, somehow doubting what Nial said. Nial''s calmness, energy, and a few additional factors were already a little suspicious but his questions were the most confusing.

    How could he not know where he was right now?

    "Ie from behind the Meteorfield because a Spectran identally teleported me into an isted ster system when he was trying to rescue someone whom he¡­or she¡­ teamed up with. Do Spectrans have a gender, to begin with?" Nial exined and asked just to shake his head, "Scratch the question¡­either way, the Spectra identally teleported me behind the Meteorfield using his Divinity which was interfered by the Origin. Their energies shed, something weird happened and I used my energy as well when jumping behind into a space portal¡­"

    Nial found it quite difficult to exin what happened to him without telling too much, and without lying. It was never good if a Spectran didn''t like someone. Most people would stay away from you in that case.

    However, Nial''s case was a little special. After all, he said that he came from behind the Meteorfield.

    "You¡­were behind the Meteorfield? You actually did it?" The Ancient asked, still doubting him.

    "Yeah, I did it. You don''t have to believe me though. But what might be interesting for you to know is that they don''t have worldbridges and dungeons there. They travel via spaceships, which is quite annoying," Nial exined before he retrieved one of his scrap experimental runic armaments.

    "Can you see the hieroglyph engraved on the spear de? They use these types of hieroglyphs," Nial rified further. Even if he didn''t want to speak too much about the happenings behind the Meteorfield, it was better to have a few helping hands by his side. He had to know where he was, where the closest Worldbridge leading to the Origin, or close to it, was located, and he had to get his hands on a few Origin crystals to fill Shadow''s energy in a day or two rather than a few months.

    Nial handed the spear he had retrieved from his spatial ring to the Ancient, who was quite shocked.

    "Did you engrave this spear?" He asked which Nial answered with a nod.

    "You¡­are a Saint Runicier?" The Ancient asked, his voice cracking at the end.

    Nial was not sure if the spear, this piece of scrap, could be considered worthy of being considered the work of a Saint Runicier, but he just nodded his head.

    If the Ancient regarded him as Saint Runicier after seeing one of his worst attempts tobine hieroglyphs with Ancient Forgotten Runic Constetions, Nial might as well be a Saint Runicier by now.

    "Sir, why didn''t you say so earlier!?" The Ancient asked, his voice reaching a higher pitch as he bowed toward Nial.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial just smiled as the other Gods gave paid him their respect as well.

    "If you want it, I can give you this Spear," Nial said, while carefully adding, "Of course, I need some information, and possibly a bunch of Origin crystals. They don''t use Origin crystals on the other side."

    The Ancient nodded his head vigorously, tightly grasping the spear that Nial had presumed to be a Peak Tier-4 Runic Armament. However, it looked like he jumped the fourth Tier, creating a Saint Runic Armament by throwing a bunch of runic constetions together with the hieroglyphs of the other side.

    "Can I really take this in exchange for Origin crystals and information?" The Ancient asked just to make sure that he understood correctly.

    Nial nodded his head and he turned to the other Gods.

    "I need a huge amount of Origin crystals. So if you guys have some to spare as well, I can give you simr runic armaments as those!" Nial offered, while secretly thinking that he was making a steal.

    The ''Saintly'' Runic Armaments would have collected dust in his spatial ring. It was perfect that he could make a fortune and get rid of them.

    ''I shouldn''t tell them that these things are just my scrap armaments, right?'' Nial asked himself, perceiving how happy the Gods were as they heard the offer he gave them.

    "Is that really okay?" One of the Gods asked, excited while another stared at him with gleaming eyes.

    "Do you have a Halbert? That would be perfect~!"

    "I want a longsword if you have one!"

    "A bow and arrows pleaseee!!"

    ¡­

    Did Nial end up in a kindergarten, in a marketce where excited kids were roaming around like entitled brats, or was he in the open space, surrounded by Gods who acted like entitled kids?

    Nial actually hoped that it was anything but thetter, but the reality was different.

    Faced with five Gods, Nial retrieved more than ten ''scrap'' runic armaments before he said.

    "Chose one of them, and give me something in return. No running away allowed!" Nial announced as if he was actually talking to kids.

    "Yes~!"

    "Okay!"

 Chapter 633 Back (1)

    After each of the Gods was given a ''Saintly'' Runic Armament, Nial received the pieces of information he wanted and a mountain of resources.

    The Gods had stockpiled enough Origin Crystal to spend years cultivating. Yet, instead of hoarding anything, they gave it all to Nial.

    He was a little astonished about the mass of Origin crystals he had obtained but he thought that it was only fair if they were actually in the belief that he handed over Saint Runic Armaments.

    A Saint Runicier''s time was extremely valuable, and the same could be said about their runic armaments.

    Nial retreated to arge meteorite where he sat down on the ground with Shadow slowly expanding to his original size. The Devil''s body coiled around the entire meteorite once before Nial retrieved a big mountain of Origin crystals.

    "I absorb everything and transfer the dark energy to you. Just tell me once you feel strong enough to teleport to the area the Gods marked for us!" Nial ordered, pointing at the marked point on the map he had manifested via a holographic screen. The holographic screen showed the map of the known Universe, and the mark lead to a Worldbridge. The Worldbrdige led to a ce near the Origin.

    Shadow hissed out loudly in understanding. With that in mind, they spend two days absorbing Mana, converting it to dark energy, and transferring the dark energy inside Shadow.

    A quarter of the humongous number of Origin Crystals had been used uppletely. This amount was, usually, more than enough for a God to cultivate for two months. Yet, Nial did not only spend merely two days to absorb that much Mana and convert it to dark energy, but he transferred it to Shadow, who would use it uppletely with a single jump through space.

    That was exactly what they did now. Shadow manifested a ck portal that removed the color of the Universe. Nial, sitting on Shadow''s back, pointed at the portal with a slim smile on his lips.

    "Let''s go, it''s about time to return home!" He announced and Shadow shot through the portal.

    In the following five days, Nial and Shadow spent most of the time searching for portals and other ces to use.

    They used the Worldbridge to lead them to the ce close to the Origin. From that y, they used the spatial circle of another race. He paid with another scrap piece of metal, which everyone seemed to believe to be Saintly Runic Armaments.

    Maybe they were, in fact, Saintly Runic Armaments, but Nial didn''t see any value in them. He simply didn''t care.

    Nial was teleported to the Origin after he paid the transportation fee.

    However, because he had literally no idea where he was on the Origin, he found a Worldbrdige on the Origin that lead him somewhere away from the Origin.

    It was a Worldbridge that lead straight to the Golden City! Nial used this world bridge to find his way to the territory of the Elves, then he jumped to Yggdrasil, just to return to the Forest of Life, where he could teleport to the Orion Shelter, if he was not held back by the Royal Princess, Old Elf Crevian and a Greater Forest Dragon that had grown up to a size of more than a kilometer in length.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The Greater Forest Dragon was still not fully matured¡­but neither was Shadow.

    "Shadow, y a bit with the Dragon. You can bump it around a little," Nial said when he visualized the vicious expression of the Greater Forest Dragon. He was aware of her dislike toward him. His dark energy made the Greater Forest Dragon ufortable.

    Jumping through so many Worldbridges and other means of teleportation was quite annoying, but it was extremely fast as well. He was pretty sure that the trip, which took him merely a full week, would have required a decade or longer via a spaceship.

    Nial felt that the biggest advantage of the known Universe was their dungeons, worldbridges, and other means of quick transportation.

    It was simply too easy to travel through space in the known Universe. Of course, Nial would have it much easier in the future once Shadow grew up a little more.

    But Nial was fine, for now. He was quite satisfied with his improvement in strength over the past six decades and he could clearly feel that his Devils were all fine. They were in the Orion Shelter, which Nial quickly found out in a discussion with the Royal Princess and Master Crevian.

    "Where have you been for thest few decades, Nial?!" The Royal Princess asked in worry, confusion, and with a trace of interest.

    "I would like to know that as well¡­and how you were able to advance to the Peak of the Mythician rank so quickly!" Old Elf Crevian added.

    Nial smiled in response. He had a lot to exin but choose to keep it simple.

    "I followed Be Morningstar inside a spatial portal created by her Spectranpanion and unleashed my raging dark energy. The Spectran, probably astonished, released its Divinity which resulted in the intervention of the Origin. Something went wrong and wended in an isted ster system far away from anywhere else.

    I killed Be, cultivated, created a long-distance traveling device, used it, got to know some other races, traveled through space with a spaceship, cultivated more, found hieroglyphs which are probably from an older Universe, got to know that I had to cross the Meteorfield to leave the unknown Universe, found an adverse mutated Origin Leviathan youngling, devilized and raised it, and I cultivated and studied a bit more.

    Found out that I was the Prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void before some sort of Advocate of the Pryards destroyed it, taking my eyes in the process. Damian''s Godly Fragment then bound to me and teleported me away. The rest is history," Nial summarized neatly while never stopping to smile.

    However, the same couldn''t be said about the Royal Princess and Old Elf Crevian.

    They stared nkly at Nial, their jaw hitting the ground.

    "What the hell?"

 Chapter 634 Back (2)

    Because the Royal Princess and Old Elf Crevian were too baffled hearing Nial''s summary, he was forced to exin everything with a little more detail.

    This didn''t take too long, but it was still not enough information to satisfy the two Elves. They were simply to baffled and confused about the things Nial witnessed that they could hardly find words to express themself.

    "I¡­We knew that you had been teleported somewhere not even your Devils could reach you¡­but you were actually behind the Meteorfield?" The Royal Princess asked somewhat doubtful. She was pretty sure that Nial was not lying but it was still hard for her mind to ept that Nial had actually done something that was publicly known to be impossible.

    Of course, the term ''impossible'' didn''t apply to existences like the strongest Ancients and the Primordials. For them, nothing seemed to be impossible. But that was¡­different.

    Nial ended up being forced to stay in the Forest of Life for the rest of the day. He had to exin many things, show the new ingredients he found on the other side of the Meteorfield, tell more about the races he encountered, the technology he got to know, and more about the hieroglyphs he learned over there.

    "You are actually a Saint Runicier now? A 100-year-old Saint Runicier¡­isn''t that a new record?" The Royal Princess asked, still baffled. It looked like smoke was exuding from her pointy ears as she was trying to digest tall the pieces of information Nial provided

    While it was already shocking, extremely shocking, that he was a Saint Runicier, Shadow, his most recent Devil, was even more so.

    The 100-kilometer-long Devil was actually a devilized Origin Leviathan, an existence that was even feared by the strongest Greater Dragons. Not even the ck Greater Dragon, or the Greater Space Dragon would be daring enough to face the Origin Leviathans.

    Maybe, bybining their forces, the Greater Dragons would be able to stand a chance against one Origin Leviathan, but they would only be able to survive, never win. If they were to fight with the desire to kill the Origin Leviathan, more than half of the Greater Dragons would be obliterated, if not more.

    "I don''t know if it is a new record, but Nial was certainly faster than Ophelia to be a Saint Runicier," Master Crevian pointed out. The Royal Princess nodded her head and agreed.

    "Right, Ophelia¡­she worked so hard, trying to use your absence as an opportunity to surpass you. After all, her talent ought to be higher than yours. But¡­from the way I see it, your absence created an even bigger gap¡­" The Royal Princess pointed out, shaking her head.

    Nial shrugged. He didn''t really care whether he was a better Runicier than Ophelia or not. That was not important anymore. He had his goals in mind and was more than willing to give his utmost to make sure that they would happen.

    "I will move to the Orion Shelter now. Will the two of youe with me, or are you going to stay here?" Nial asked, done postponing reuniting with his family and friends. The Royal Princess turned quiet. She looked at Nial for a few seconds before she turned over to look at Crevian who continued to stare at Nial.

    "I think we will get to know more as long as we follow you," Princess Evalyne pointed out, which Old Elf Crevian agreed to immediately.

    Now that this was solved, they used the enhanced teleportation circle that had been engraved on the ground within the Forest of Life, they were brought to the Orion Shelter in an instant.

    Shadow had melded into his body, where it rested inside his Heart of Darkness. Nial, on the other hand, sent a small signal to his surrounding with the use of his dark energy. The signal was the silent pulsating of his dark energy that could be sensed by his Devils.

    Nial could sense that they shot toward him at an extremely fast speed. Most of his Devils were already at the Mythician rank. Thus, they didn''t need long to reach him.

    Most were happy about his return, especially the Darkness Gryphon who shot toward him, ramming Nial with his fluffy head. Nial epted the headbutt before he stretched out his hand.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Return to me. You did well," He said, "...all of you did well!"

    Nial was d that the Orion Shelter was still fine but he was the most relieved that he could sense his father, sister, and even Mathias. All of them were currently inside the Orion Shelter, precisely in the mansion he had built more than six decades ago.

    While the Orion shelter had expanded rapidly, it was still not asrge as the entire teau. There was still some space to expand, this was even more true when it came to building into the height. Not too many races were willing to build skyscrapers because it was too hard to properly construct high-rising buildings in times of war.

    Nial knew a solution to this and he would share it with his people sooner orter. If they could turn the Orion Shelter into a replication of the high-technology advanced cities he had seen in the unknown Universe, Nial would not only create a revolution of the era but he would also be able to have more citizens on lessnd.

    The unusednd could either be used by more people or turned into farmingnd, which was certainly better than continuing to expand the shelter mindlessly.

    However, Nial was not too focused on the improvements he could provide to the Orion Shelter with the knowledge he acquired in the unknown Universe.

    He was more interested in reuniting with his family.

    "Let''s go," Nial said, mantling the Royal Princess, the Greater Forest Dragon, and Old Elf Crevian in his dark energy before he teleported them into his mansion''s backyard.

    "Finally¡­I''m back!"

    **

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 Chapter 635 Together

    Reuniting with his family ended up a little bit different than expected.

    It was almost as if they had expected him to arrive home today. They looked over at him when he entered the mansion and hugged him tightly.

    "Took you long enough," His father said, while his voice cracked.

    Nial embraced his father tightly, just for his sister to join.

    They hugged each other tightly and spent a full minute enjoying each other''spany. When they slowly let go of each other, Nial noticed that Mathias was staring at him.

    He had aplicated expression on his face and it was evident that he felt a littleplicated.

    For a few seconds, he remained in the same position, until Sabrina reached his side. She pressed his hands gently and smile straight at him.

    "Go for it," Sabrina mumbled, her voice filled with gentleness and something else that caused Nial''s right eyebrow to raise slowly.

    ''This is not what I think it is, right?'' He thought to himself as he continued to visualize Mathias and Sabrina. Nial would have to be the densest man in the Universe not to notice the tension and sparks between Mathias and Be but he was not exactly sure what to think about that.

    If Mathias was still the same as before, he would rather not have him by Sabrina''s side. After all, Mathias was a piece of work in the past!

    "It has been a while," Nial said, choosing to interrupt the moment between his sister and Mathias. He stretched out his hand to shake Mathias'' hand. However, the moment Mathias noticed that Nial stepped forward, he hugged his friend tightly.

    "You must have had it hard. I''m d that you''re still alive, and that you''re stronger than ever!" Mathias said while his voice was cracking simr to Miles'' voice. It was almost as if Mathias was on the verge of crying.

    "Well¡­" Nial responded slightly awkwardly, "Looks like I have to listen to your story as well. After all, I am curious how the hell you and Sabrina never thought of visiting the Forest of Life, and how you guys coincidentally met up¡­and got together¡­"

    Thest words were filled with a sense of threat and they were spoken quietly enough only for Mathias to hear. Mathias released Nial slowly from his embrace, trying to smile at Nial. His smile, however, crumbled every single time.

    Mathias would have to lie if he were to say that he was not afraid of Nial. His friend was simply too powerful, and he had a bunch of Devils by his side that was stronger than he was as well.

    Furthermore, Mathias didn''t think that he was strong enough to endure Nial''s wrath the moment he got angry with his old friend.

    "How did you know?" Mathias asked, his eyes quivering lightly. He was not sure if Nial approved of his rtionship with Sabrina, and the worst thoughts shed through his mind.

    "I am not blind¡­ Well, no, that''s not true. Scratch that," Nial said, just to end up embarrassing himself, "I can tell. It doesn''t matter how. Just remember that I will break your bones and skin you alive if you ever hurt her. As for her hurting you¡­just endure it."

    Nial was pretty sure that Sabrina was the one in control when it came to her rtionship with Mathias. However, as a good brother, he still got to say what he had to say!

    "It has been quite a while since we''ve been together. Let''s not threaten each other too much, okay?" Sabrina asked seemingly lightly while ring at Nial. She pulled Mathias back. Their arms were hooked and their hands interlocked afterward. Nial perceived this clearly.

    He also perceived that it was Sabrina who initiated these actions while Mathias was breaking into a cold sweat and staring at Nial.

    "Even if I say that I can threaten anyone however much I want and whenever I want, you would just break ties with me the moment I turn my threats into reality¡­at least when ites to Mathias, right?" Nial asked more teasingly than seriously.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, Sabrina thought about it way too long before she nodded her head.

    She was actually serious!

    Mathias noticed the misunderstanding between the siblings and quickly intervened before it was toote.

    "Nial, what the hell were you doing in thest six decades? We were looking for you everywhere, and we''ve even gotten help from various races who are connected decently well throughout the entire Universe!" Mathias said, quickly changing the topic.

    Sabrina and Miles were also interested.

    "Tell us what happened," Sabrina said in a tone that made it sound almost as if she was ordering Nial.

    "I also want to know," Miles said, though in a much softer tone than his daughter.

    Nial nodded his head but he only began the long, drawn-out, story that continued after he and Be Morningstar ended up in the portal of the Spectran after the Royal Princess and Old Elf Crevian arrived¡­or that was what Nial nned.

    He perceived soon enough that Ophelia and a few other people whom he was very familiar with were rushing to the mansion.

    This included the sisters who had provided him with the opportunity to participate in the Military Camp where he met Mathias, Be Morningstar, and theirte mater. There was also Hanna, the sisters from the Heaven''s Gates organization, and a few more Originals whom Nial didn''t expect to meet ever again.

    Most of them were not even close to him in terms of strength, but the connection he had with them in the past was pretty good. They had helped him a lot, which was something he always wanted to repay.

    "Were the other Origin Human Shelters destroyed?" Nial asked at this moment. The room fell in silence at this moment, just for Sabrina to mumble.

    "Right¡­there was that¡­"

    **

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 Chapter 636 Intensified

    Three decades ago, the mana of the Origin surged up from within its center. The was slowly regaining its full potential and strength.

    More than 50% of its power had been regained at that time, hinting at a threshold that lead to the release of a tremendous amount of mana.

    Dungeons much stronger than the dungeon portals that had manifested in the past appeared, and they destroyed everything in their way.

    Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of races had found their way to the Origin at that time. However, not even a third of them were able to hold their forte against the force of the hordes of dungeon beasts that had emerged on Jundra. It was truly terrifying and all Origin Human Shelters were bulldozed.

    The Shelters were already old, and they hadn''t been constructed to survive the attack of hordes of Mythician-ranked dungeon beasts. There were way too many powerful beasts for the Origin Humans to handle. That forced everyone to move to the Orion Shelter, whether they wanted or not.

    After all, not even the Halheim Shelter could be protected.

    Maybe the Elves would have been capable of protecting Halheim, but they didn''t want to lose their men and women by protecting something that didn''t bring them any benefits. The Halheim shelter was more of a nuisance to the Elves than helpful. It restricted the Forest of Life''s growth, after all!

    The only help the Elves provided was that they allowed the Origin Humans to use their teleportation circles to move to the Orion Shelter where everyone was epted regardless of their race. Of course, certain examinations had to be made, including a mental test and a questionnaire.

    The Orion Shelter had its means to find bad people and liars. With that in mind, they could ensure that the inside of the Orion Shelter was safe, most of the time at least.

    Like everywhere else, conflicts were impossible to avoid. It was just important how they handled conflicts and other issues. As long as they took care of them gracefully and with the necessary respect for everyone, no matter their race, everything could be solved properly.

    That was something Ophelia, Lord Wirliam, Melheim Zorn, and the others reassured while Nial was not there. These three and more had also arrived in the Mansion which was now flooded with too many people.

    Nial remembered all of them, and it made him feel many things to perceive familiar faces that he never thought to perceive ever again.

    His strength might have increased to an extent that none of them would ever be able to attain but that didn''t really mean that he had to be treated differently from before. He wouldn''t treat others differently than before either, otherwise, he wouldn''t continue to call Crevian ''Master''. After all, he was not only stronger but also much more knowledgeable than the Old Elf by now.

    None of that really mattered, which was something everyone noticed as Hanna hugged him tightly.

    Hanna had changed a lot over the years as well. She was much more mature now. Her cultivation progress was of extraordinary speed as well. Having reached the Mythician rank at the age of 100 was not something many could do. Yet, Sabrina and Hanna made it possible. They might have had the help of their unique traits and the trials they had to undergo in order to unlock more potential of their traits but that didn''t mean they didn''t work hard!<novelnext></novelnext>

    They did, in fact, work extremely hard. Hanna was now able to control her Charming Eyes and the Aroma her body could control at any moment. However, that didn''t change one particr fact; Hanna had grown into a fine beauty, capable of bewitching men of all races even without her Charming Eyes, the natural and emotion-maniptive fragrance her body exuded.

    She pressed him against her and cried while making it seem as if she never wanted to let go of him again. Nial hugged her back, rubbing her back lightly with a faint smile on his lips.

    ''It was a good decision to return now,'' Nial thought to himself, enjoying this situation much more than cultivating all by himself, lonely.

    The strength he gained was not worth it if he had nobody to protect with it.

    That feeling grew within him and it made him desire to be even stronger than before. He wanted to gain more strength, protect everyone and build up arge territory where everyone could spend their time freely.

    Nial was not sure if that feeling and desire had grown stronger after he found out that he was thest member of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, and that he had actually been the prince of his race, someone who ought to reign his people if not for thest Advocate of the Pryards.

    He couldn''t really tell what was going on inside him but he wanted to turn the Orion Shelter into a fortress with the newest technology. It was supposed to turn into a ce he could be proud of, a ce not even Gods could infiltrate without losing an arm and leg, and a ce where everyone lived freely, free of the shackles their race and others may force upon them.

    That was what Nial desired. After all, achieving this would also mean that his family, friends, and other beloved ones would be safe and sound as well.

    Once he made that happen, the only goal he had left to pursue was to search for thest Advocate of the Pryards and take revenge on him.

    For this, Nial would have to be a God, a strong one at that. His strength couldn''t becking when going up against the Advocate of the Pryards. With that in mind, Nial had to be and create the strongest possible Divinity using all his means.

    Nial was confident but he knew that he shouldn''t get arrogant. That would be a foolish mistake, something he had to avoid by all means.

    Thus, he had toe up with a n soon enough.

    "Eh¡­I''m sorry to interrupt you guys¡­but how long are you going to hug?"

 Chapter 637 Ophelias Terror

    Hanna''s cheeks were burning red in embarrassment.

    She didn''t even notice how long she had been hugging Nial. It felt so good to know that Nial was fine and that he was finally back and that she didn''t want to let him go anymore. It was an instinctive reaction, that was it¡­

    Nial didn''t mind her hug. In fact, he liked it. The feeling of someone missing him was good. It made him fall at ease and make him feel like he had finally arrived home.

    Even if he had been extremely busy in thest six decades, it was different being far away from the people who cared about you than having them around you.

    ? After Hanna let go of him, Nial began to share his story about thest six decades. Many things happened to him, but they could be summarized rather easily.

    Unfortunately, nobody allowed him to leave his story aside by merely mentioning the extremely summarized version. Thus, Nial spent over two hours thoroughly telling everyone what he had gone through.

    It was not exactly dangerous but rather exciting and filled with new things that nobody had ever heard about.

    "Wow¡­" Sabrina eximed, staring at her brother with wide eyes. By now, she knew was not actually blood-rted to him. She knew that Nial came had been picked up by her mother when she had been grieving the death of her actual brother. However, nothing changed for Sabrina. She thought of Nial the same as before, and so did Nial. Nothing between the siblings changed, and it was good like that.

    However, what Sabrina didn''t expect, just like nobody else could have fathomed, Nial was actually the prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void.

    It was an ancient ce that had once been connected to the Universe. The Royal Princess and Ophelia had heard about it once or twice when they researched ancient texts. However, it was also said that the pathway between the Lacardian Empyrean Void and the Universe had been cut.

    That didn''t seem to be the entire truth, otherwise, Nial would have never been able to make it to the Origin. Maybe that was fate as well, nobody could tell for sure.

    At the end of the day, Nial''s story was quite shocking, and had it not been for their trust in Nial''s words, nobody would believe that most of the things he told them were actually possible. In fact, most of these things were hard to grasp even though they fully trusted Nial.

    "Do you want to turn the Orion Shelter into a revolutionary Shelter?" Ophelia asked, trying to collect herself, digest the information, and suppress her instinctive drive to question Nial about his progress as Runicier.

    He got to know a new type of rune. To be precise, it was an old type of rune, something she had never even heard before.

    Hieroglyphs.

    Ophelia learned a lot from Siegfried, one of the few Saint Runiciers of the known Universe.

    Yet, even then she had never heard of hieroglyphs. That could only mean Siegfried didn''t know about them either, or his knowledge was not deep enough to tell his student anything about them.

    Either way, Nial''s knowledge of hieroglyphs seemed to be quite deep. They were used just like runic constetions but theirplexity was on apletely different level.

    "I want to turn the Orion Shelter into the safest ce on the Origin, exactly."

    Nial didn''t even think of hiding his attention. He wanted to make sure that as long as the Origin was not destroyed, the Orion Shelter would survive as well, including the beings inside the shelter

    It was quite difficult to make that happen but Nial had more than enough time to share his experiences, and the knowledge he had acquired and to work on his own to make sure that the goal would bepleted sooner orter.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Everything was just a matter of time, effort, and wealth.

    Thetter was something Nial could solve rather easily by using his Devils, the Dominion ability, and other means to create hundreds of Devil-Monster groups that would conquer all kinds of dungeons, collecting the resources he required.

    At the same time, he could earn a vast fortune from selling his scrap experiments. After all, they were deemed as Saintly Runic Armaments.

    Thinking about the runic armaments, he summoned one of them and handed it to Ophelia.

    "Is that a Saintly Runic Armament? I don''t think I''ve ever seen a Saintly Runic Armament, so I don''t know if that reaches the threshold," Nial asked, certain that Ophelia was more knowledgeable when it came to the appraisal of Runic Armaments.

    Ophelia didn''t expect Nial to hand her a Runic Dagger all of a sudden.

    The dagger glowed with a rich, green luster, reflecting light with each movement. Its de was carved with delicate, swirling patterns that shimmered gold. The hilt was adorned with precious gems, arranged in an eye-catching disy that was both beautiful and intimidating. Intimidating because of the immense pressure the gems exuded naturally.

    Engravings such as runic constetions and hieroglyphs could be seen all over the de. They depicted mythical creatures and ancient symbols that Ophelia had never seen before. The lines of the engravings were sharp and bold, created with a charm that drew the appraiser''s gaze deeper into the craftsmanship of the weapon.

    One didn''t have to be a master appraiser to understand that the weapon was far from normal.

    "This¡­don''t tell me you made it¡­" Ophelia mumbled, her chest heaving heavily up and down. She hoped Nial to shake his head ande up with a logical exnation but Nial could only smile lightly.

    "Sorry, it min¡ª..."

    "NOOOOOo!!"

    **

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 Chapter 638 Couple

    "I don''t believe you!!" Ophelia said, or rather shouted. Her cheeks were beet-red, and her eyes were watery. She didn''t want to believe that Nial had already advanced to the Saint Runicier rank.

    Ophelia had always been the best when it came to forging and her craftsmanship as a Runicier. Her engravings were always the best. Only Nial was a great rival, though she was still better. Her foundation was better and so was her knowledge. The only thing Nial had always been better with was his creativity and desire to make experiments.

    He didn''t pursue the traditional work of a Runicier but preferred in efficiency. Nial never cared much about the weapons he created either. They had one task, and as long as they fulfilled their purpose, Nial couldn''t care less whether the runic armaments broke afterward, or if they could be used once again.

    In fact, he was the type of person that liked the one-time usage items. He was basically the inventor of broken runic armaments!

    Nial smiled at Ophelia, feeling a little bit of pity as he retrieved ten more runic armaments from his spatial ring.

    "Chose any of them. I made them whenever I was a little bored. Though their cksmith was great, so they look great, they''re just the scrap I engraved whenever I felt like ying around a little," Nial said calmly.

    His calm words felt like a sucker punch deep in her stomach. Nheless, Ophelia picked up a de before she began to analyze it once again.

    The sapphire de of the shortsword shimmered with a cold, blue radiance as if frozen in time. Its surface was beautifully carved with intricate snowke patterns that seemed to dance along the de, exuding a feeling of the icy element that was naturally released. The hilt was studded with gleaming sapphire, creating a stark construct against the smooth, frozen de.

    This feeling was amplified through the grotesque, seemingly crude runic constetions and hieroglyphs that had been engraved on the hilt, inparison to the elegant, gracious engravings that covered the sapphire de.

    The de itself seemed to exude a frigid aura, sending chills down Ophelia''s spine. The delicate etching of snowkes along he de evoked the image of the evesting winter and the unrelenting power of nature

    Ophelia paled. She lifted her head and looked over to Nial

    She opened her mouth.

    Silence filled the room.

    Ophelia closed her mouth.

    Seconds passed.

    She opened her mouth again and let out a deep sigh.

    "Shit!"

    Nial continued to smile but he turned to the others, leaving Ophelia aside.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Before I can focus on the Orion Shelter, I will have to get to know the current situation of Jundra, in its entirety, what exactly is going on in the surrounding area, which races want to obliterate the Orion Shelter, how many resources we have, what kind of talents we have in the Orion Shelter and more.

    I think these pieces of information are probably the most important right now Of course, I also want to know your stories¡­especially why my sister didn''t even think of returning home for a decade when she was roaming around Jundra!"

    Thestment caused Sabrina to frown lightly. She was just about to retort, saying that Nial hadn''t been at home for six decades when she recalled that Nial had been on the other side of the Universe, quite literally. He didn''t even have any Worldbridges, dungeon portals, or means of instant teleportation over there.

    It was already a wonder that he was capable of returning in such a short time. After all, not many existences were strong enough to travel through the Meteorfield. Most of them were either Primordial existences or strong enough to be on par with them.

    "I¡­let''s first talk about the other things¡­" Sabrina muttered, not really daring to start a fight with Nial. She could tell how it would end and didn''t really like what Nial would think of her adventure through Jundra.

    After all, she was just trying to find herself, grief to cope with their mother''s death and be stronger. She was suicidal and fought everything and everyone for several years until she was encircled and nearly killed form a group of Heligav. Mathias was the one who found Sabrina. He rescued her with his powers as Elementalist and they started to travel together.

    They encountered many Heligav and because Mathias hated the Heligavs to the core, they started their hunt.

    Sabrina and Mathias were not proud of the things they did, but they didn''t regret them either. After years of constant fights, Sabrina was able to enter the golden portal that lead to her Constitution''s Trial which allowed her to abandon all of her abilities in exchange for remodeling her body.

    Sabrina was much stronger than ever before but unable to bind abilities to her. She couldn''t even release mana outside her body anymore. However, that was certainly worth it because she could cultivate extremely fast and be powerful enough to fight Be Morningstar once they found signs of the Angel Kingdom.

    Everything else was history, if one were to exclude that the six decades after Nial''s disappearance brought forth many changes, including the realization that feelings had developed between Sabrina and Mathias.

    Time changed many things but Nial didn''t intend to do something about Sabrina and Mathias. They seemed happy, so he wouldn''t interfere. Sabrina was strong enough to take care of herself. That was something he understood well.

    "As long as you took good care of father while I was away, everything is fine," Nial just said before he agreed to talk about the other, more important topics.

    He was currently oblivious to the things that had happened in the known Universe, and even more so on the Origin.

    Nial only knew a few things about Dn, the Undying, and what he achieved in thest few decades.

    However, he and Dn were different. Furthermore, Dn had been taught for 10,000 years in the City of Trials. Comparing himself with a masochist who couldn''t die, was not exactly something Nial should be proud of, even less knowing that he was more than 10,000 years younger than Dn!

    "Let''s talk about the future ns, yes!"

 Chapter 639 Trixor

    To be formally acknowledged as an Original who had reached the Trixor rank, they must haveprehended the Essence of Mana. Comprehending the Essence of Mana was a long and arduous process that could take up to several thousand years if one was very unlucky, not knowledgeable enough, or simply not intelligent enough to grasp the Essence of Mana.

    Countless variables restricting an Original''s advance to the Trixor rank existed. It was not possible to spread one''s understanding of the Mana Essence either. After all, everyone''s Mana was slightly different, tempered through the body, special traits, and abilities of the respective Individual. That meant there was no way to guide someone through the Trixor stage. One could only give a few hints, pieces of advice that could be helpful, but that was already it.

    Nial was not different in that case. He ought toprehend the essence of his dark energy. The Essence of Darkness was Damian''s product and something that was bound to be very close to the existence of his Dark Essence. However, being his cultivation energy, something that was tempered over and over against through the course of time, Nial knew that his Dark Essence was more unique.

    His Dark Essence was a result of his abilities, his Innate Ability, his Curse, the Heart of Darkness, the Fairies'' Blessing, the Essence of Darkness, his dark energy, and the eyes that harbored Damian''s irreversible curse. T

    The eyes did not belong to him but they were still a path for him, something that caused his cultivation energy to be altered.

    Given a few pieces of advice from Damian''s memories, and knowing what he was supposed to do from the memories of the Late God of Darkness, Nial didn''t have many problems advancing to the Trixor rank. He spent only nine months before he hadprehended the Essence of his cultivation energy. Because he already had a rough understanding of the situation and the dark energy''s essence, Nial didn''t have to spend decades, or even centuries wasting his time.

    He advanced to the Trixor rank byprehending the essence of his cultivation energy before he used it to reinforce the dark energy within every single cell of his body with it.

    The Trixor rank is the stage in which he prepared his godly foundation. The rank is supposed to be an individual preparational stage in which one gets refines the body,pletes the foundation to construct their Divinity on, and slowly refines every piece of the Divinity.

    At the Trixor rank, one was also supposed to know and understand what kind of Divinity one wanted to create.

    There were several types of Divinity that could be created. In fact, there were as many types of Divinities as the creative mind of Originals and Ascenders could think.

    However, the mostmon Divinities were Vanguard-type Divinities, Attacker-Divinities, Elementeral-Divinities, Healing-Divinities, and Supporting-Divinities.

    The Divinities'' names were already self-exnatory. Some focused on creating a defensive boost of their holder, an attack boost, a boost in their elemental prowess, and healing abilities, or supporting theirrades in every possible way.

    There were countless sub-categories to every Divinity, and fused Divinities created from several types existed as well.

    Some Divinities focused on both attack and defense. They were not necessarily stronger because the focus of their Divinity was divided into two sections. However, the divided focus didn''t mean that they were weaker either. It was always important how one used their Divinity in a fight.

    Just like theprehension of the Essence of Mana, everyone had to individually find out what exactly the most important for them was. The Trixor stage and the ascension toward godhood were not something others could meddle in. Nial knew that and he chose to pursue his own path, just like anyone else.

    He told the information department to search for information rted to the Lacardian Empyrean Void, the Abyss Wars, and the people Damian had deemed as his enemies. Most of Damian''s enemies were likely to be dead, but one of the survivors was likely to be the Advocate of the Pryards.

    Nial didn''t intend to attack the Advocate of the Pryards immediately but it would be pretty helpful to find out more about him, or her. It would also help to know what the Advocate of the Pryards was doing and what he or she was currently nning to do. The more pieces of information he could gather the better.

    Nial was a little anxious but that emotion was extremely helpful because it could be used as fuel to elerate his cultivation process.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Comprehending the Essence of his cultivation energy meant that he could reinforce the dark energy specifically. Nial did exactly that while continuing his research of other essences, such as the Essence of Chaos. He had collected Chaos from the Veil as well.

    There was more than enough for Nial to research his identity and body. Basically, his entire existence was something that required thorough research. Unfortunately, there were more things to take care of.

    Nial summoned more than a hundred additional Devils in the nine months he spentprehending his cultivation energy. Each Devil was given the lead of a task force unit Nial had created. The task force unit had more than ten thousand dungeon beasts under them. Every single dungeon beast had been thoroughly investigated and their mind were precisely altered with the use of his Dominion technique.

    They were loyal to none other than the captains of the task force they have been assigned to. The task force units were sent out to conquer dungeons in a range up to ten thousand kilometers around the Orion Shelter. To maintain efficiency, fast couriers with great speed and camouge traits were used to travel between the task force units to bring back the gains in the huge storage devices they were given.

    That way, there was hardly the need for Nial to intervene in their hunting process.

    Of course, there were problems every now and then but that was also why Nial had created ten reinforcement units that were strong enough to deal with everything. Shadow could teleport everyone everywhere within a range of 10,000 kilometers without the need to use too much energy.

    Thus, Nial was making big banks while his city started to prosper more and more.

    Several Worldbridges had already been created and reinforced skyscrapers were being built.

    Overall, Nial was very satisfied.

    Now he only had to make sure that everything could continue like this.

    **

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 Chapter 640 Fail

    The Essence of Darkness had already existed inside his body and it had been nourished for a long time. This made it easier tobine the Essence of his cultivation energy with the Essence of Darkness to spread it through his body.

    Nial could make use of this to enhance his strength a little faster while he took care of other things.

    After the Dungeon Raider Task Force had been created, there was no need for Nial to search for too many resources. The resources he obtained could be sold and traded for other items he may need. That way, Nial could start to stockpile a wide variety of resources without moving a finger.

    There were still materials he couldn''t get his hands on that way, but he could acquire them on his own when needed.

    It was important to learn more about the work of a ''traditional'' Saint Runicier. His scrap runic armaments were already at the level of a Saintly Runic Armament but he quickly noticed that there was still a small difference between him and a genuine Saint Runicier.

    Nial used hieroglyphs to shorten his gap to be a genuine Saint Runicier. At the end of the day, that didn''t mean he was not a genuine Saint Runicier. His work was still exceptional and not less intricate, professional, and powerful than the products made by a traditional Saint Runicier.

    In fact, his products were likely to have slightly higher efficiency. But even if that was actually the case, Nial knew that he had to make up the knowledge he wascking. It was important that he knew as much as possible, otherwise, his experiments and attempts to create new, stronger, and more efficient runic armaments wouldn''t be easy.

    While researching the fundamental points of a Saint Runicier, Nial continued to create tools and misceneous items for his workers. They required the best tools and protection while constructing the humongous skyscrapers he had in mind.

    To maintain the safety protocols inside the city and make sure that nobody would be identally squashed by a copsing skyscraper, Nial and his people were experimenting with building a highly durable skyscraper outside the Orion Shelter''s walls.

    Many citizens of the Orion shelter were interested in the experiments. They observed the experiments, and saw the failures and sess. The Elementalist used his elemental affinities to create natural catastrophes on the Mythician rank. Mathias focused on destroying the experimental skyscraper with his manifested natural catastrophes. This was something he seeded in within the first few attempts before the construction process, materials, and other factors were adjusted to a certain extent. Mathias'' attacks were not strong enough to destroy the skyscrapers anymore after that. There were still some damages but they didn''t require the skyscraper to be reconstructed.

    It was pretty easy to tell that the residents of the skyscraper would be able to survive natural catastrophes at the Mythician rank. Of course, they would never have faced such a precedent as long as the Orion Shelter could make sure their defensive mechanisms were even stronger.

    Not even Ancient Gods should be strong enough to pose a threat to the Orion Shelter''s defenses. That was what Nial had in n, though he was not delusional and in the belief that this would be easy. He would slowly and steadily work toward his goal while asionally updating the defensive system of the Orion Shelter.

    For now, he nned to rebuild all buildings into skyscrapers and simr high-rising buildings with the means to block attacks from Originals at the Trixor rank.

    Natural catastrophes at the Mythician rank didn''t focus on a single spot. Their power was spread out, creatingrge-scale damage, instead of concentrating the entire power on a single spot.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Nial was already at the Trixor rank, but he didn''t feel like attacking the skyscraper. Rather than him destroying the hope of his people, Nial told Shadow to do so.

    The Devil Origin Leviathan was not yet at the Trixor rank but he controlled much more dark energy than most of his Devils. Shadow was truly powerful and able to create apressed Dark energy st. He concentrated his power on a singr point and released a terrific st that obliterated everything in its path before it impacted.

    The impact was strong enough to destroy the outermost walls of the skyscrapers in an instant. Shadow controlled the dark energy st precisely, cutting through the skyscraper''s outermost walls horizontally before sending Nial an inquiry. The Devil wanted to know if Nial wanted to see the skyscraper fall.

    ''Don''t demotivate our people too much. Being able to destroy the outermost walls is already worrisome enough,'' Nial told Shadow in his mind while telling himself that mentioning the defense of the entire skyscraper was better than seeing the problem right in front of them if the skyscraper were to copse.

    However, it was no sooner he finished his thought when Ophelia shouted out loud.

    "This piece of shit is useless!!"

    A huge fireball, manifested from the mana of the raging Runicier prodigy, shot toward the skyscraper. Shadow had yet to disperse the dark energy st. Thus, the moment the fireball impacted, the force of the st and the fireball caused exactly what Nial wanted to prevent.

    The skyscraper copsed.

    Nial sighed deeply, but there was not much they could do about it.

    "Are the materials still the biggest problem, or should we change the runic solutions fro the liquefied runic constetions? I am pretty sure that we chose the right materials and runic solution¡­or did I miscalcte something?" Master Crevian mumbled under his breath, trying to understand what could be improved.

    There shouldn''t be an issue with the construction process, and it was not as if the skyscraper copsed easily either. It had been constructed on a strong foundation to make sure that nothing too bad could happen.

    Of course, nobody said it would be easy to construct a skyscraper strong enough to cope with a concentrated attack of a being that was probably as strong as weaker Trixor Originals.

    Nheless, it was discouraging, and truly saddening!

 Chapter 641 You Have To Fail To Succeed

    At the end of the day, it was a matter of fact that the dark energy st had been powerful enough to cut through the walls and sses of the skyscraper.

    That meant the problems were either with the used materials, the defensive runic constetions which could be separated into the type of runic constetion and thebination in which they have been separated, or the runic solution that had been used.

    "Maybe it''s all three of them," Nial answered next to Master Crevian while pointing out something rather advantageous, "We didn''t spend that much time trying to find out the perfect right materials, liquefied runic constetions, and runic solutions. I doubt that the Demihumans were that fast when they first created their Mega-cities.

    As long as we work hard, we will definitely be able to create a fortress that can even defend against the attacks of Ancient Gods!"

    It was nice to know that someone was optimistic. In fact, Nial was the only one who should actually be discouraged.

    Every single of his experiments cost him a vast fortune. Constructing a single Skyscraper made out of various rare materials, runic solutions and more couldn''t be cheap.

    As if that was not enough, Nial had to pay his workers as well. It was not as if he was in possession of ves or anything like that. So, obviously, he had to pay everyone ording to their experience of the job they did.

    And that was not cheap either!

    However, Nial seemed to be more worried about the motivation and determination of his workers than he worried about the money that had gone down the drain.

    That kind of mindset was quite admirable, Master Crevian thought. Even if the Old Elf was not driven by money, it was very hard for him to ignore it when a fortune that was more than ten times higher than the gains he could make in a single year was set aze. It was very painful to look at.

    "Maybe¡­you''re right¡­" Master Crevian merely answered, feeling everything but motivated to continue to burn Nial''s money. It was just too painful to look at.

    "Don''t act like that. Think of it as an investment in the future," The Royal Princess said all of a sudden. She didn''t seem to think too much about the fortune that went down the drain whenever one of their experiments failed.

    Princess Evalyne was right. The experiments could be considered an investment for a bright and prosperous future. It was not as if they wouldn''t gain anything in the long run.

    "In fact, Nial will probably earn much more from the experiments than anyone else," She pointed out as well. That attracted the attention of Sabrina, who was close to the Elves. Flying over to them, she pulled Mathias, whose hand she was holding, before joining the conversation as well.

    "Why would he earn money from these experiments?" Sabrina asked, not sure how the explosions could help her brother earn a vast fortune. She was already shocked enough to see that Nial was able to throw his fortune around as if it was nothing worth mentioning. Thus, her brain was short-circuiting.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "It''s pretty simple, really." The Royal Princess said, clearing her throat while looking around to make sure that everyone listened, "First, he can write reports where he mentions which types of experiments failed miserably. Releasing the reports online can bring him a small fortune by using the pay-to-read version for his theories.

    However, there is something that allows him to earn much more!"

    "What is it?" Sabrin asked, impatiently to hear what the Royal Princess had on her mind.

    "Only Nial will clearly remember what types of runic constetions had beenbined and which runic solutions were used. Everyone willing to join his experiments signed a Soul Contract that allows him to use his Dominion Ability to alter our minds and memories. He can temporarily seal our memories, and make us forget how we constructed the skyscrapers.

    That way, only he knows what had been done, and he can sell his findings for an exorbitant price. After all, everyone wants to create stronger, settlements without losing out on too muchnd on small one-family houses and other ces with two or three floors at most."

    Everyone slowly nodded their head, roughly understanding what Nial could have in mind.

    "A several-hundred-meter high skyscraper is indeed different from a small apartmentplex¡­and Nial wants them to be EXTREMELY safe," Mathias pointed out, slowly getting to the next point.

    "Wait a moment¡­if Nial provides the necessary safety, doesn''t that mean he can increase the rent price for a room in the skyscrapers? If a skyscraper were to have ten thousand apartments, wouldn''t that mean Nial could ask for a monthly rent of more than a thousand Origin Crystals of decent quality?" Sabrina noticed something the others had not even thought about.

    Turning thend of a few households into a ce that could give living space to ten thousand families meant that far more households could find a ce to live in the Orion Shelter, and Nial could ask for enough rent to make up for the costs within a few years.

    That was basically what Nial had nned even though he would rather see a prospering city than his wallets overflowing with a vast fortune.

    He was not greedy for wealth anymore. His wealth was something that helped him experiment and upgrades the Orion Shelter. It was not that important for him anymore even for the cultivation process.

    The only thing he had to take into consideration was probably to put aside some Origin crystals every now and then to use the stored energy to summon another Devil.

    Nial was slowly summoning all of his devils using the Awakening of the Prymal technique. The technique was powerful and it helped him quite a lot. There was no need for him to go out and search for the ces his devils had been sealed. That would be a vast of time, especially since Nial wouldn''t be able to reach most of those ces with his current strength either way.

 Chapter 642 Superior Chaos

    "This Chaos is different from the Chaos created by the Vengeance of Chaos ability," Nial mumbled to himself while perceiving the Chaos he had drained from the Veil.

    The chaos fissure''s Chaos was clearly different from the chaos his ability manifested. That was exactly surprising. However, what surprised him was that the chaos fissures'' Chaos was superior to the Vengeance of Chaos.

    ''If I analyze the superior Chaos, I can enhance the Vengeance of Chaos, extract a stronger Chaos Essence, and create a stronger Divinity,'' Nial concluded rather easily. There was only one problem.

    To analyze the superior Chaos, he had to consume it as well. He had toprehend it in its essence, quite literally. To do that, integrating it into his body would be the easiest. He had to integrate it into his body to use the superior Chaos Essence, either way.

    Now that he figured out a way toprehend Chaos a little easier by using the Veil''s Chaos, he chose to change his approach a little.

    It was not necessary for him to be in the Orion Shelter every single day of the year. Even the skyscraper project would advance pretty quickly without him. There were a bunch of other projects that required his funding, but that was already it. He could still pay for them even if he was not present.

    Traveling all over the known Universe using Worldbridges, and Shadow sounded quite intriguing. The same could be said about fighting Veilures and devouring the Veils'' Chaos.

    ''Maybe I canprehend something useful from the decayed Chaos of the Veilures as well? Integrating it into the creation and extraction of the Chaos Essence would probably help quite a bit.''

    Nial had spent a month or two in the mansion, or precisely in his researchboratory located deep in the ground beneath the mansion. His cultivation energy had already beenprehended and his understanding of the abilities bound to his body had also progressed considerably.

    The biggest problem was Chaos. It was something that couldn''t be considered an individual type of energy because nobody could really cultivate using Chaos.

    Chaos was everywhere but nowhere at the same time. It was a weird type of matter, something that could exist in the form of life, but also in the form of currents. It had a specific form, but it was also non-corporeal.

    All-in-all, Chaos caused lots of chaos in his head. Everything was a chaotic mess, and he felt like beating up a few Veilures in the hope to find some solutions to the questions that squirmed through his mind.

    Nial had nned to ignore Dn''s group of people, the guardians of the Veils because he didn''t really want to have anything to do with them. Many Ancients, Ancient Gods, and even Primordials had joined the group.

    It was good to befriend them because their connections would be extremely helpful. However, he was pretty sure that the Advocate of the Pryards would be in this group as well. Nial wanted to search for the Advocate of the Pryards, but he wanted to make it seem as if he had no idea that something like an Advocate of the Pryards existed, in the first ce.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nobody really knew that he was in possession in Damian''s memories, and the few people who knew were trustworthy. If Nial couldn''t trust them, he might as well be a loner, and destroy the entire Universe. After all, if he couldn''t trust the people he trusted the most, wasn''t everyone shady and not worthy of his trust?

    Nial wanted to search for the Advocate of the Pryard, but he had a n in mind. Unfortunately, he had to make a few preparations before he could initiate the n. He had to ascend godhood for his n, and make sure that the Advocate of the Pryards would hear rumors about him.

    The rumors would spread through Dn''s group of Veil Guardians, speaking about someone wielding dark energy closing Veils, and draining their chaos.

    If possible, he wanted the rumors to be as mythical as possible. To achieve that, he would be using Shadow in its 100-kilometer-long original size as well!

    Thinking about the n he hade up with, Nial couldn''t help but smile. He brushed his hair back and returned his focus onto the superior Chaos. The superior Chaos was slowly pulled inside his body where it mended with his cells. The destructive properties of the Chaos were disintegrated and fully ignored by Nial who breathed out cold air before he took a deep breath.

    While filling his lungs with air, he infused bits of the superior chaos in the oxygen he had just inhaled. It was absorbed readily and pushed through his body, slowly nourishing his body.

    Now that his body had already been tempered to the extreme, for close to a hundred years at that, Nial didn''t sense big improvementspared to before. However, tiny improvements still existed, indicating that he was not yet in possession of a perfect foundation.

    That had to be changed, which was even more reason to initiate the first steps of his ''pre''-n; attract attention as a mysterious dark Original who controls a terrific Primordial beast.

    Nial smiled at that thought. He finished absorbing the superior Chaos and teleported outside the undergroundboratory.

    Shadow emerged next to him and the two disappeared into space. They reached a Worldbridge not long after, which they entered. The duo emerged somewhere in a different corner of the Universe, where they traveled to one of the many Veils that had been marked on the universal map of the Universe.

    Everyone had ess to this map and it was regrly updated to make sure that everyone was informed about the dangers of the Universe. It was also important to pay attention to the map because many things could change and the universal''s map was usually the first one to update the territories in certain regions.

    That way one could even conclude which race had been annihted, and which races waged war.

    Overall, it was a pretty useful thing that could be used well to find Veils, which was exactly what Nial did.

 Chapter 643 Blind Fight

    Fighting the Veilures was much more helpful than Nial could have expected.

    He had toprehend Chaos in its entirety which meant that analyzing it with his dark energy and mana perception alone was not enough.

    That was also why he used the energy distortion device he had manufactured in the territory of the Demihumans to seal his dark energy and make it near impossible to use his energy. He could still fly and move freely in space but that was already it.

    Fighting against the Veilures without a trace of dark energy was what he had nned to do toprehend more about the Chaos. After all, he could still use the Chaos that had umted inside his body, even though his dark energy was sealed.

    Furthermore, he needed to use his other senses to fight the Veilures with their decayed Chaos.

    The Veilures he first faced weren''t weak. He joined a group of ten Gods who safeguarded arge Veil and waited for the first batch of more than a hundred Veilures to emerge from them.

    When they appeared, Nial was one of the first to react. He jumped from Shadow''s back to reach the Veilures in an instant. Wilding a Spear with a long and pointed de, he pierced to the front in an instant.

    His attack hit the target with a loud thump, but no pained sound rang through the surrounding as a response. Nial frowned, pulled his body down, and ducked. Razor¨Csharp ws whizzed past his head, barely missing his head. Twisting the de at the target, Nial tried something just to end up pulling the spear tip out of the Veilure. He pushed his feet from the Veilure''s stomach to shoot further downward in space.

    Two Veilures were already waiting there for him. Nial knew that which was also why he gained the necessary momentum to pierce the spear in the head of one of the Veilures.

    While his arm lunged forward, he twisted the spear a little as well. A whitish-silver membrane coated the tip of the spear as it was twisted and pierced into the head of the Veilure Nial had targeted.

    The Veilure couldn''t react in time. Its body copsed and it began to float through space, unmoving.

    ''Was that only a Veilure at the Keltia rank?'' Nial wondered at this moment. However, he didn''t have enough time to make sure that his opponent had actually been weaker than expected when his ears perked up. He pushed to the side while continuing to grip the spear tightly.

    The dead Veilure was still attached to the spear''s tip and it was hurtled around when Nial moved.

    The body was in front of him, seemingly as if it was a meat shield¡­thought a useless one.

    A st of decayed chaos shot toward Nial, easily piercing the dead Veilure in the process. Nial twisted his body but he miscalcted the velocity of the decayed Chaos st and his reaction speed a little.

    The side of his abdomen was hit by the st and burned. Decayed Chaos spread over to him, entering his body through the burned Skin.

    Nial used his own Chaos to restrict the decayed chaos. They began their own fight inside Nial''s body. This restricted his usage of Chaos quite a bit. The Vengeance of Chaos had to remove the decayed chaos that attempted to spread through his entire body to decay him from within.

    Left with nothing but his physical strength and senses, Nial took a deep breath. In space, his senses were extremely restricted. Sounds didn''t travel wide, and the exact same was the case for smells and vibrations.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    In fact, he couldn''t really sense vibrations at all. The only advantage he had was the Veilure''s body beingposed of Chaos. He could instinctively tell where decayed chaos was located and perceive the fluctuations of chaos that reached him. These fluctuations were just like vibrations, giving him a rough estimation of his opponents'' position and what they were going to do.

    Of course, it was not perfect, but it was a pretty decent way to fight the Veilures and learn more about himself, the Veilures, the Vengeance of Chaos, and decayed Chaos.

    That was everything Nial wanted to achieve, in the first ce. Thus, he continued to fight valiantly.

    His body twisted and turned, evading the iing attacks. Four more decayed chaos sts were shot at him before the Veilures realized that he could depict and evade them easily. The first time seemed to have hit only because Nial didn''t expect a st to be released at him.

    With that in mind, close to ten Veilures encircled him. They attacked from every side, restricting his space of evasion drastically while attacking strategically. That caused Nial to feel a big headache.

    He was sweating buckets, evading every attack while impatiently searching for an opening to attack. However, that was not easy.

    But while it was not easy, it was not exactly impossible either. His physical strength was much higher than the Veilures, who were only at the Keltia and Mythician rank.

    Nial had restricted hisbat prowess drastically by sealing his dark energy in space, but his physical strength was definitely not less impressive. In fact, using his instincts, experiences, and thebat styles he studied for a long time, Nial created the opening he desired slowly.

    It took a while but the Veilures around him were slowly falling to the high-velocity thrusts he issued every now and then.

    From a defensive position, Nial changed rapidly, lunging out. He killed one Veilure before turning back to his defensive stance, evading and blocking all iing attacks before another opportunity unveiled itself.

    That way, Nail was slowly growing more ustomed to fighting the Veilures without his dark energy.

    Even though he had fought without dark energy for more than ten years, things were still a little bit different in the known parts of the Universe.

    He still had to train because he was not yet close to perfection when it came to fighting energyless.

    In fact, Nial was not sure if it was possible to be perfect at something like that.

    But one could still try.

    That was all it took!"

 Chapter 644 Weirdo

    Nial sliced the spear through the area in front of him, cutting through the chest of three Veilures. They had shot toward him at the same time, and slicing them at once was the most efficient way to obstruct their path.

    He twisted his body and pushed his feet against the nearest body to gain some momentum, evading the iing attack and creating a rapid counterattack.

    His spear pierced through the neck of the Veilure, whose w missed his head by a narrow margin. Nial twisted the spear in the Veilure''s neck before he used some fore to sh through the side.

    He retracted the spear and waited for more Veilures to attack. However, the only thing that remained was the sound of mes crackling loudly as the bodies of the Veilures were charred.

    The loud crackling covered even the noise of the screaming Veilures that could only be heard faintly. Nial could tell that the three Veilures, whose chests he had sliced, were being burned to a cinder.

    It was a shame that the Gods were too impatient and not willing to let him fight anymore, but their help didn''t really change the final result of the battle.

    He would have won, one way or another. The God burning all Veilures was just elerating the process.

    "Thank you!" Nial still said, somewhat grateful, somewhat forced.

    It was always better to have good connections, and a God was usually someone with great connections. Either they were the top dogs of the race they hailed from, or they were higher-ups of their race and able to use other Gods of their race as connections.

    Nial was always in need of information, and clients who desired Saint Runic Armaments. As long as they were wealthy, which one should expect from Gods, it was worth befriending them.

    Who knows? Maybe some of them were in possession of rare materials that he might need!

    "No problem. I''m d to be of help," The God said while eying Nial with interest. Nial''s body hadn''t radiated any energy for the instance of the battle. However, now that the battle was over, a massive pressure of energy was unleashed from within his body. That was interesting.

    "Are you here to train?" He asked, looking straight into Nial''s milky-white and lifeless eyes.

    "You could say so," Nial answered before teleporting over to the Veil, "and I''m here to make things easier for you guys as well!"

    He took a deep breath when he finished his words and released his Vengeance of Chaos. Crimson moonlight and Darkness Essence were used to enhance his Vengeance of Chaos but that didn''t change the entire process by a lot.

    In a matter of ten minutes, he drained the Veil, the chaos fissure, of most of its Chaos before he stored it inside his body. The superior chaos was trying to wreak havoc inside his body, but it failed miserably to do so.

    "What did you just do?!" Another God asked in shock, "The Veil¡­shrunk in size!"

    His voice traveled up to Nial, who smiled in return.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I devoured the excessive chaos of the Veil," He answered while thinking about what else he could say.

    "Devouring the excessive chaos will make it more difficult forrge numbers of Veilures, especially strong Veilures, to pave their way to our Universe. It is not a permanent solution because I cannot prevent more chaos from umting on our side of the Veil, but I might be able to find a solution to permanently seal Veils in the future.

    Of course, I need to research a bit more to make sure that something like that is possible, in the first ce!"

    Nial could say a lot more, but he didn''t want rumors about him to say a lot more. He was pretty sure that the Gods would share their experience in the group chat of the Veil Guardians. Nial hoped that the Advocate of the Pryards would hear about this and that he, or she, would get nervous.

    Nial wanted to Advocate of the Pryard for making a mistake. That way, he could find out who it was and initiate his actual n. The pre-n which he was currently making use of was nothing special. It was just one of the many things he had to do in order to create the strongest possible Divinity.

    "You can do that? Are you nning to remove the excess chaos from every Veil?" A third God asked, interested in Nial''s future n.

    However, Nial just gave them a shrug.

    "We will see."

    He didn''t intend to tell anyone about his future ns. There was no need for others to know about them.

    He smiled lightly at the Gods and bowed toward them to make sure that they understood he was polite and kind.

    "I will take my leave now. Have a nice day!" Nial said, teleporting back to Shadow, who roared out loudly before he opened a ck portal. Nial and Shadow disappeared through the ck portal, leaving behind the ten Gods. They stared nkly at the now empty space, smiling weirdly.

    "This guy¡­is really something¡­" One of them said.

    "I totally agree. Did you see him fighting without a trace of mana? He is blind but didn''t use his energy. It seemed to be sealed or something like that. But even then, he was able to perceive the Veilures and fight them with little to no problems¡­what a weird guy." Another one added, just for a third God to shrug.

    "I am fine as long as we don''t have to pay too much attention to the Veils anymore. If it means that I can focus on my Divinity''s progress, I am thankful for that kid''s help.

    He did a good job, even if I doubt that he acted with the intention to make our lives easier!"

    The others agreed silently and they turned their attention back to the Veil that was calmly resting in the open space.

    It showed no signs of expanding in size, let alone allowing more Veilures to emerge on the other side!

 Chapter 645 Aqua

    Understanding thews of the Universe was important. Breaking them would result in a Divine punishment of the Universe. It was important to prevent facing a Divine punishment. After all, they could even bring Gods to fall.

    However, there was something even more important than being able to understand thews of the Universe.

    It was to be able to bend the Laws of the Universe to a degree where a silver linen separated him from facing the wrath of the Universe.

    That was something Nial was currently trying to do. The Veilures and Veils were existences rejected by the Universe. However, they were still within the norm of the Universe''s Laws. The Veils'' existence bend the Laws of the Universe to the extreme, and that was also something Nial nned to do.

    He had learned a lot about the Chaos Essence, the superiority of the Veil''s Chaos, and the traits of the decayed Chaos. He wanted to make use of the superior Chaos,bine it with the strongest traits of the decayed chaos, and finish fusing it into his Chaos Essence.

    Over the course of time, he had visited more than twenty Veils. Their chaos was devoured, analyzed, and merged with his body. Slowly but steadily, Nial''s foundation had grown stronger.

    Creating the Chaos Essence and implementing it into his body was something Nial could do rather simply by creating a chaos seed. The chaos seed would be the source of his Vengeance of Chaos ability and it would create his Chaos Essence.

    Nurturing the chaos seed was something that required lots of nutrition, focus, and attention.

    That was also why Nial only created he had umted enough superior Chaos and decayed Chaos to initiate the full-blown process. Only a year had passed since he began to travel through the Universe, devouring the excessive chaos of the Veils, however, he was already known by every single one of the Veil Guards.

    That was the advantage of a greatmunication system. It also showed him that the Advocate of the Pryards was likely to have heard about his existence, his dark energy, and his actions.

    Over the past few months, Nial often encountered Ancients and Primordials. Most of them eyed him with vignce and a certain degree of hostility. This made it clear that they had feared Damian when he was still alive, and that they were not yet sure whether Nial would be a second Late God of Darkness, or if he was different.

    Facts made clear that he was actually helping the Universe to remove the excessive chaos of Veils. In fact, he had even closed one Veil. It was only a weak Veil that had just formed but his powers showed quite clearly that he had the capabilities to remove one of the biggest threats of the entire Universe, the pathway used by the Veilures.

    That was more than enough reason to let Nial live and not throw any obstacles in his way. Other than their past trauma and the fear of the past repeating itself, there was no reason for the Ancients and Primordials to think of eliminating him.

    Except for one Spectran, none of them should have reason to dislike his persona. They only hated his energy and the memories they recalled upon sensing his dark energy.

    Nial ignored that pretty decently. He rather focused on himself, and the creation of his Chaos Seed. That was the first step he took to the creation of his Chaos Essence.

    After that, there was not too much for him to do, except collect various resources that should be quite useful for the Orion Shelter, for the creation of his Divinity, and to construct defensive measurements with which he could protect his family and beloved ones forever!

    Nial spent some time researching a few ces that only a few beings could visit. He would use Shadow to get over there if necessary. Collecting rare materials that could be useful for Gods was a necessity. He had some time to spare, which meant that he might as well collect various resources.

    As long as they were somewhat valuable, he could gain a lot for each of his three major goals.

    Everything was slowly but steadily moving toward thepletion of these goals and it was exciting!

    An unknown amount of timeter, Nial and Shadow emerged in the midst of space. Perceiving the endless expanse of liquid beneath them, he could only smile.

    The entire he had targeted was covered with water. There was nond in his range of perception. The only thing he perceived other than the water, was the shining bright and warm sunlight.

    The only sound he heard was Shadow''s excitement. The Origin Leviathan shot down toward the where it swam around, enjoying its life.

    A sense of calm overcame Nial. he smiled and descended down to the as well. He floated above the peaceful, aquatic world, searching for something with his Mana Sense. Somewhere the origin of the aquatic world''s existence was located, and Nail wanted to get hold of the water that came from the source.

    The water ought to be purifying and the best to use together with certain whetstones. At the first nce, the water didn''t seem to be the most important, but it was certainly a crucial material for Runicier, cksmiths, and even more so Alchemists.

    To create his divinity, and create the strongest fortress in the existence of the small Universe, Nial required water from the source of the aquatic.

    The aquatic was located in the Meteorfield, but that didn''t bother Nial anymore. He didn''t n to spend too much time in the Meteorfield. There were only a fews he wanted to visit. After that, he would leave and probably never return.

    Of course, to make sure that he would never return, he would have to take a considerable amount of water, otherwise, he might have to run back and forth.

    But for now, Nial liked the scenery of Shadow enjoying life. That was quite important as well.

    If one couldn''t even enjoy life, what else was there to do?

 Chapter 646 Searching

    After he finished his mission on the aquatic, Nial traveled to a different part of the Meteorfield.

    For the next decade, Nial traveled, researched, and he traveled even more.

    He visited three volcanics, different types of frozen worlds of evesting ice,s that were overgrown with a single type of region, and variouss where beasts reigned the races habituating thes.

    Nial learned a lot, he got to know more races and powerhouses that were either full of themselves, or humble and more likable.

    Nial fought a lot, and he learned a lot about the Advocate of the Pryards. By now, Nial had a few suspects of the beings he presumed to be the Advocate of the Pryards.

    Because he knew that his eyes had been special before the Advocate of the Pryards took them, Nial could shrink the pool of Gods who could have killed all habitants of the Lacardian Empyrean Void and take his eyes.

    The Advocate of the Pryards must have been alive and very strong when Damian, the Late God of Darkness, had been alive as well.

    Someone must have known that the Advocate of the Pryards had been cursed and that his ailment had been cured not too long ago as well.

    Interestingly enough, there was more than one Ancient God, and even a Primordial, who turned into his suspects.

    Nial didn''t think that the Primordial was capable of killing him. After all, he had been a Spectran, whose entire body was said to have been shredded in the Great War against Damian.

    There was a precise difference between a body being shredded and barely being able to curse someone''s eyes. Damian would have ended the life of the Spectran, and not just shredded him. Furthermore, the Spectran didn''t have eyes, in the first ce. How could the Spectran take something that didn''t even exist, in the first ce?

    Nial knew that the Spectran looked like golden spirits that were floating in the air. They had a pair of golden semi-translucent wings that hung down their back unmoving. Their entire body was golden in color and it looked like they were made out of metal.

    Their face was a mask that looked like a holographic screen. Thinking about it, they were more of a mixture between a spirit and a machine than anything else. That was also why Nial thought it made sense for the shredded Spectran to have been healed by shedding his old body once his new body had been created.

    The Spectran spent eons reforging his body and transferring his soul and everything important about his existence.

    Nial found out a little bit about the other Primordials. The only Primordials of whom he couldn''t collect too much information were the Primordials with Supreme control of Time. It felt like they were able to interfere in any systematic and delete the information that had been collected about the.

    That left only the Galbians and Sorns as Primordial races. Nial didn''t think that any member of those two races was capable of being the Advocate of the Pryards.

    The Galbians were a Primordial race known for their destructiveness, and the Lacardian Empyrean Void didn''t look like it had been bombed when the Advocate of the Pryard wreaked havoc. Everything had been destroyed, but not to the extent that someone with the Power of Obliteration would have annihted everyone and everything.

    Their heads looked human, but it was also mixed with the features of a shark. The Galbians had a huge mouths with several rows of razor-sharp teeth. They had arge white shark fin just from the Galbians'' necks along their spines. Apparently, the Galbians hadpletely white eyes as well.

    That also means Nial would be able to find out if one of the Galbians had silver eyes. After all, everyone would be talking about that.

    Gablians were in possession of the Power of Obliteration. Their whole body was eerily white with a humongous ck stigma covering their entire body. From head to toe, their white skin was covered with the ck stigma by at least 50%.

    The Galbians were proud of their tremendous Power, and they would never surrender to anyone else. At least that was what Nial had learned in his few encounters with the Galbian

    The Sorn were not too different from the Galbians when it came to their pride. The Sorn were also entirely covered with a stigma. However, contrary to the Galbian, they covered their entire body with armor. Their head looked simr to Velociraptors with ck skin. It was just that their sound was not as long as a Velociraptor''s and that the back of their head was a little longer.

    Their eyes were golden and more than 50% of their body was covered with the white Stigma that granted them their strongest powers; the power to annihte souls without causing any physical damage!

    The Sorn were more than three meters tall and if one was to look closely, one could easily see that their skin was extremely rough and twisted in certain areas. It was almost as if their skin was a mixture between ck scales and thick human-like skin.

    They didn''t seem to be rted to the Advocate of the Pryards as well. In fact, the Sorn and Galbian were one of the few races with whom Damian didn''t really seem to have a problem in the past. Nial was not too sure if he had been scared of their powers but it was a fact that Damian never killed any of them.

    At least that was what Damian''s memories showed Nial.

    While time passed rather quickly, Nial''s chaos seed blossomed. It created the Essence of Chaos which was then fused with his body to nourish him.

    His foundation was getting stronger by the day and he finally finished choice of his Divinity.

    He decided to create a Divinity that was frowned upon, something that was not even supposed to exist anymore.

    However, Nial could clearly tell that it was important for him to create that specific Divinity. After all, he had to make use of the abilities and powers he had been granted.

    And he felt like he needed lots of strength¡­very very soon at that.

    The most recent memory from the Late God of Darkness showed this to him quite clearly.

 Chapter 647 Cursed Divine Ability

    Apparently, something big would happen once he ascended godhood.

    Nial had yet to talk to Damian about this, but the most recent memory he had acquired from thete God of Darkness were a few words he had spoken to his subordinates.

    The words invoked something deep inside Nial, and they made him feel ufortable, to a degree that he was pretty sure his ascension would lead to war.

    [When the time is ripe, and a new star of darkness ascended thedder of godhood,e out and fight next to your reign and master!]

    Others might not think too much about those words, but Nial knew better. He could tell that the Late God of Darkness didn''t want to fight anymore. However, at the same time, it was obvious that Damian had been dissatisfied and that thest Advocate of the Pryards had to be killed before Damian was able to rest in peace.

    Nial knew that he would have to kill the Advocate of the Pryards as well. He didn''t want to deal with the Pryards for quite a while. That meant, he had to take care of the Veils and remove any other threat of the Universe.

    But what bothered Nial the most was that Damian told his subordinates to e out and fight next to your reign and master''. Not only did that mean that all of them woulde out of their sealed space and fight next to him when he ascended godhood, but they would all be his subjects.

    Considering that Nial saw millions of Devils in the memories of the Late God of Darkness, he was pretty sure that something bad would happen at that time.

    Nial didn''t think that the Advocate of the Pryards was stupid. He was pretty sure that the Advocate of the Pryards would start extreme rumors the moment Nial ascended godhood. His Devils would awake, and many more things were bound to happen. Many races would feel ufortable about his ascension and the return of all the Devils.

    It would only require a single spark to cause a second Great War. Nial figured that the Advocate of the Pryards would provide this spark, and there was nothing he could do against it¡­except try to kill the Advocate of the Pryards before that.

    There was a reason why he attempted to create a perfect foundation before he thought about his Divinity. The stronger his Divinity, the better the amplification of his strength uponpleting his Divinity.

    A Divinity could temper the body and soul of the host, and they engraved new abilities onto the body of the host. Nial knew that very well, and he could also tell how to alter Divinities in order to create special abilities. Everyone creating their Divinity could roughly fathom what they required to create a specific ability.

    As long as they hadprehended their cultivation energy, their abilities, special traits, and much more, they would be able to fathom what abilities they were capable of creating.

    Divine Abilities were much stronger than ordinary abilities. No matter how strong an ordinary ability was, Divine Abilities were much stronger, even the weakest.

    Nial would create a Cursed Divine Ability, using certain materials that altered the Cursed Divine, and Divine Abilities one could create. Comprehending materials was one of the most important tasks of a Saint Runicier. It was also why they were so important when it came to the creation of Divinities.

    A Saint Runicier could easily tell how certain materials would influence the strength of a Divine Ability, and the amplification a Divinity would have on the host.

    That was also why Nial had to research so much. He gathered all materials he presumed to be necessary for the creation of his Divinity. After all, he had a special Divinity in mind.

    The Divinity would have only one Cursed Divine Ability, which meant that it was that powerful. Most Gods would never engrave only a single Divine ability on their Divinity. After all, their Divine Abilities were what made them the strongest. Their signature moves would be their Divine Abilities, which meant that they had to be powerful and versatile at the same time.

    Nial, however, didn''t really care about that. His dark energy was his signature move. He could do everything he wanted to with his other abilities. His abilities, special traits, and powers were already on par with weaker Divine Abilities. There was no need to create a bunch of Cursed Divine Abilities just because everyone was creating them.

    He was fine with his one Cursed Divine Abiltiy, especially since it would be given the whole potential of the Divinity. While others had to divide their attention and the power of their Divinity onto multiple Divine Abilities, Nial would focus entirely on one Cursed Divine Ability.

    "I am almost done. There is not much else for me to do¡­" Nial mumbled to himself while conquering the Veils onest time. He deprived them of their excessive chaos, made sure that he analyzed everything properly, and he even closed three more small Veils.

    The Veil Guardians were thankful for their help. Nial didn''t say much in response to their gratefulness. After all, he knew that some of them would soon turn against him.

    That was what he could clearly tell. The hidden Adovcate of the Pryards had every single trump card up to his or her sleeves. As long as the Advocate of the Pryards desired to see Nial fall, he could do so.

    And Nial knew that the Advocate was just waiting for the perfect moment, which would happen the moment his Devils would be unsealed.

    The moment Nial became a God, everything would change.

    He would fight his final battle¡­he would end what Damian started.

    IT didn''t matter whether he wanted to or not, it was a necessity to resurrect the Great War.

    If that was what it took to kill the Advocate of the Pryards and protect his family, Nial would be more than willing to start the Great War once again.

    Nobody said that it had to end like the first one., after all!

    He was ready for his final battle!

 Chapter 648 Signature

    With the thorough preparations and the knowledge he procured through his life, Nial was ready to create his own Divinity.

    In fact, he had already prepared everything needed to start the construction of his Divinity.

    Nial was a Saint Runicier, whether it was his talent or knowledge. He studied more than enough to achieve everything one could wish for.

    Nial was ready to do it.

    Now that he had alreadypleted all preparations, he had extracted the Essence of various materials. He released his Chaos Essence by manifesting the blossomed Chaos seed outside his body.

    At the same time, Nial injured himself severely by temporarily sealing his Heart of Darkness, and manifesting it right in front of him.

    The sensation of sealing his Heart of Darkness and removing it from his body was simr to him tearing the Heart of Darkness out of his body. It felt just like that. The only difference, in reality, was that his removal was more of a surgical manner and that he would return the Heart of Darkness¡­once it had been turned into his Divinity.

    The Essences of countless materials hovered in the air around the Heart of Darkness. The Heart of Darkness pulsated but it didn''t release any dark energy. Nial''s hand reached out and his palm pressed calmly against the Heart of Darkness. The Darkness Essence inside the Heart of Darkness began to revolve around the outside perimeters of the endless space within. His dark energy was pulled alongside, slowly transforming andpressing.

    Nial turned the dark energy into the essence of dark energy to remove the weakest traits of the dark energy. Making use of the altered energy inside his body, the Darkness Essence and the Essence of his cultivated energy slowly merged.

    When they had almost finished merging, Nial started to insert the Essences of the materials he had collected over a long course of time. Each of the Essences was potent and powerful. Usually, only one of these Essences was required to create a Divinity, a quite powerful one at that. However, Nial didn''t really n to create a normal Divinity.

    The preparations have already been done and his knowledge as Saint Runicier clearly told him that he was in need of every single of these Essences to create the finished product of his desire.

    Because the Heart of Darkness was sealed and removed from his body, Nial didn''t feel anything when the Essences slowly seeped through the darkness of the Heart that levitated not too far away from him.

    Nial was already breaking into a sweat, and the really difficult tasks had yet to start. He was confident in the creation of his Divinity, but he was still a little nervous. He thought that it was pretty normal to feel like this. After all, he was about to create his Divinity, and ascend to godhood.

    When the Essences appeared on the inside of the Heart of Darkness, their form began to destabilize slowly. The Essences turned into wisps of energy that were dragged along the surge of the two fusing darkness essences. Nial was able to perceive everything that happened inside the Heart of Darkness.

    No energy, not even fluctuations of the torrents that swept through the Heart of Darkness could be sensed outside it but everything inside could still be sensed. Sealing the Heart of Darkness only restricted energies and other means to surge out of it, not the other way around.

    The wisps of the essences looked like falling stars that were pulled through the eternal darkness of space. A meteor shower considered of more than a dozen falling stars seemed to ur inside his Heart of Darkness.

    However, that was not yet it. The Essences were slowly merging with the fusing darkness essences. Time was slowly but steadily and the falling stars in the eternal darkness slowly merged, leaving behind nothing but darkness.

    Until now, not a single mistake had urred. Everything was going ording to his n, for now.

    The real difficult was just about to start!

    Nial retrieved a tremendous amount of the Chaos Essence that had been umted painstakingly over the past few decades. He removed it from the Chaos seed and mantled the Heart of Darkness with it.

    At the same time, Nial created the replications of his Ability Stigmas, one replication for each of his Ability Stigmas.

    The replications didn''t have to look exactly the same, but it was necessary that they recorded every single piece of information about the ability itself.

    By doing this, Nial could dissect the data of his Ability Stigmas and create a new ability out of the five abilities he had bound to his Mana Core a very long time ago.

    The Essences he had absorbed and his other special traits of which he had extracted their essences were already inside his Heart of Darkness. They were already where he needed them to alter certain data of the replicated Ability Stigmas when he dissected them.

    The replicated Abiliy Stigmas looked like multi-colored Orbs of energy. Nial controlled them precisely to make sure that they would slowly enter the interior of his Heart of Darkness. without sustaining any damage. The replications of his Ability Stigmas left his body. They revolved around the Heart of Darkness for a few seconds before they were pressed against the Chaos that mantled the Heart of Darkness.

    It was not easy to make them enter the Heart of Darkness, and it took a very long time, but everything worked out when it had to work.

    The Essences inside the Heart of Darkness had already been fully merged. The Chaos Essence was slowly seeping inside the Heart of Darkness as well, changing the eternal darkness slowly by mixing in a whitish-silver touch.

    With the replications of the ability stigmas inside his Heart of Darkness, Nial could already start the dissection of his replicated ability stigmas. However, he added a little additional note by removing the Fairies'' Blessing from his Sea of Darkness.

    It had never actually been useful and Nial would rather use the energy of the blessing, and the potent power it had umted to strengthen the foundation of his Cursed Divinity, rather than continuing to waste the precious Fairies'' Blessing.

    That was how Nial destroyed the Fairies'' Blessing, turning the magnificent-looking stigma into a golden engraving that was etched on the ck-silver walls of the Heart of Darkness.

    Little did Nial know that the symbol of the Fairies'' Blessing changes slowly.

    It turned into Nial''s signature.

    The Signature of the Cursed Divinity of¡­Gluttony¡­

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 Chapter 649 Truth Of A Runicier

    Dissecting the replications of the ability stigmata was a long and tiring process. Awork of millions of golden lines, runic constetions, and hieroglyphs of various levels of understanding could be found in every single ability stigma.

    The goldenwork that would cause most people, even Gods, to feel a bad headache just by looking at it, was another reason why Saint Runiciers were required.

    However, even Saint Runiciers couldn''t fully understand every singlework of golden lines. Runic constetions and runic armaments hade into existence after a bunch of intelligent men and women imprinted a few individual pieces of the goldenwork into their minds before they inscribed it onto weapons and tested the effect.

    That was how runic armaments came into existence, through the first existence that had ascended godhood. More testing was started with the intention to get a rough understanding of the goldenwork. Everyone wanted to create the strongest possible Divinity. However, not everyone was capable of understanding the goldenwork, let alone dissecting it without destroying everything in the process.

    That was why the upation of Runiciers came into existence. At the lower ranks, a Runicier would only study and engrave runic armaments. It merely felt like an upation to umte some wealth and create stronger runic armaments in order to be wealthier and stronger.

    However, only at the rank of a Saint Runicier, did the true intentions of the first Runiciers came to light.

    Nial understood that the first Runiciers were researchers. They studied the goldenworks of abilities and materials with the intention to find out more about them and to create powerful Divinities using the runic constetions.

    However, replicating the runic constetions after imprinting them perfectly into their mind was not easy. Everything had to be perfect in order for a runic constetion to generate the desired effect.

    That was also the reason why hieroglyphs were still not used. Not even Siegfried, the human Saint Runicier, had begun to study hieroglyphs. They were at a much higher level of understanding than he could fathom just from looking at the goldenwork. In fact, Siegfried was not even able to imprint theplexwork of lines revolving around the hieroglyphs into his mind, and neither could he properly dissect the hieroglyphs to visualize it in his head and replicate it.

    Nial, however, learned a lot about hieroglyphs. His studies came from the other side of the Meteorfield and he got to know a lot. That allowed him to understand more than 90% of the information that was dotted down in the goldenwork.

    He could clearly detect where everything was connected, how to dissect the Ability Stigmas and what was required from him in order to create the Cursed Divine Abiltiy he had in mind.

    If he didn''t know what he was doing, he wouldn''t have collected over a dozen God-ranked materials, extracted their essence afterprehending them in their entirety, and inserted them into his Heart of Darkness.

    In fact, without his Heart of Darkness, Nial wouldn''t even dare to create the Divinity he had in mind. The Heart of Darkness was the perfect object to turn into his Cursed Divinity. After all, it was an endless pit in which he had stored more dark energy than somes could hold.

    It was the perfectir for his creation!

    Dissecting the replications of his ability stigmas required a long time. The goldenwork of data was simply too vast to swiftly sweep through them. It required time andplete focus. That was something Nial could provide easily.

    He had more than enough time and would spend it patiently and thoroughly looking through every single goldenwork. The information he didn''t need for the creation of his ability was not thrown away. On the contrary, they were required for the construction of his Divinity.

    The materials he chose were not only needed to create his Cursed Divine Ability, but also to create a powerful, well-protected, and efficient Cursed Divinity.

    The Cursed Divine Ability was a part of the Cursed Divinity, but it was not the entire Cursed Divinity. The cursed Divinity Nial had in mind was a creation that amplified Nial''s strength in every possible aspect, using any kind of energy at that. He wanted to use the Cursed Divine Ability he would create in order to increase his strength as quickly as possible.

    The Cursed Divine Ability he created was not a powerful Assault-type ability, or a protective-type ability. It was something entirely different, something that only he could create with his special means such as his unique traits and special abilities.

    Time passed slowly and everything inside his Heart of Darkness looked like a big mess. Masses of golden lines, runic constetions, and hieroglyphs could be found wherever Nial perceived something, but that was exactly what Nial had nned.

    Everything was thoroughly organized and made sense in the mess within his head. Nial had yet to make a single mistake, and he actually didn''t n to start doing so right now.

    He was not getting impatient and slowly started the assembly process in which he began to engrave various runic constetions and hieroglyphs all over the Heart of Darkness.

    While he assembled various pieces of the goldenwork of runes inside his Heart of Darkness, Nial connected them with the runic constetions and hieroglyphs he engraved outside the Heart of Darkness.

    That way, he could use a muchrger ''surface'' to engrave runic constetions, and create a much bigger Divinity using the inside and outside of the Heart of Darkness to ster it with all kinds of runic constetions and hieroglyphs.

    Nial spent a lot of time thinking of this and it worked out much better than expected. It was also very time and energy consuming but that was something Nial could ept readily as long as the result were as good as he wanted them to be.

    He hoped for the best and didn''t ept failure.

    His life and future were on the line, after all!

 Chapter 650 Heart Of Gluttony

    The goldenwork of the Essences he hadprehended were now extracted, and the runic constetions and hieroglyphs engraved on the Heart of Darkness transformed, turning it into a Divinity.

    The Heart of Darkness thumped loudly, releasing faint shockwaves that sttered into Nial''s face. He kept his heart and excitement under control, took a deep breath, and continued with the alteration of the Heart of Darkness.

    Beforepleting the Cursed Divine Ability, he had to progress the transformation of the Divinity a little. That was what Nial had finally achieved after a long time had passed. The Heart of Darkness was a little bit smaller than before, with crimson and golden lines of intricate patterns covering the ck and silver heart. The inside of the Heart of Darkness was filled with golden and crimson lines that could be found wherever Nial''s senses reached.

    The inside of the Heart of Darkness was overflowing with the runic constetions and hieroglyphs that had been dissected from the replications of his Ability Stigmas and the Essences of the God-grade materials he had used and absorbed. In the center of the Heart of Darkness, a ckish-silver vortex with crimson and golden currents shing through to the surface could be seen. In the midst of the vortex, a Stigma had formed.

    The Stigma showed the darkness, with golden veins spreading through its body and crimson eyes that looked like bright shining crystals. The darkness was non-corporeal and it had only one task¡­to devour!

    Nial''s Cursed Divine Ability had been formed and the process of its creation had beenpleted. The Cursed Divine Ability ''Devour'' came into existence, and his Heart of Darkness was transforming ording to the Influence of the Cursed Divine Ability.

    The Heart of Darkness was slowly but steadily turning into Nial''s Cursed Divinity. He didn''t even bother about the creation of a storage room for Cursed Divine energy. After all, he couldn''t care less about this type of energy. He had something much better!

    He expanded the storage of dark energy inside the Heart of Darkness and created the possibility to create Cursed Dark energy, which he could store in his Sea of Darkness and his Cursed Divinity.

    After the Cursed Divine Abiltiy had beenpleted, it took Nial a while before the Heart of Darkness finished its transformation as well.

    It turned into the Cursed Divinity, Heart of Gluttony, and would grow stronger ording to the power it had devoured and amassed.

    Nial had yet to retrieve the Cursed Divinity and attach it to his body, where it belonged, but he could already tell that his strength would increase by leaps and bounds.

    He had yet to unseal the Heart of Gluttony but the power that oozed out of the heart was already enough to show that the Cursed Divinity was a product like there was no other!

    Nial was not too sure how much time passed since he started the creation of his Cursed Divinity, but he could feel that his Devils were still alive, indicating to him that everything was fine. If there were to be a big problem, he would feel it.

    Thus, he was able to keep his calm and finish his ascension to godhood without encountering any problems. The Heart of Gluttony was retrieved inside his body. Nial sat down cross-legged and he re-connected the Heart of Gluttony slowly back to his body.

    No matter what, the Heart of Gluttony was a part of his body. It had been inside his body for much longer than a century and it would remain inside him for a much longer period.

    Thepatibility rate with the Heart of Gluttony was a perfect 100%. There was no sign of his body attempting to repulse the Cursed Divinity. On the contrary, his body was actively trying to reach out to the Heart of Gluttony to reattach it back to it. Nial supported this by initiating the connection procedure.

    This alone was already enough to cause power and vigor to sweep through his entire body. Nial could already feel that his strength was increasing. In fact, it was not only his speed. The cirction speed of his dark energy elerated manyfold, his speed increased, his body became more resilient and his perception of the energies around him increased even further. His Innate Ability, Mana Sense, had been bound to the Odyssey seed in the past.

    His Odyssey seed had evolved to the Heart of Darkness before it was used as the fundamental part of his Cursed Divinity. The Heart of Darkness turned into the Cursed Divinity, the Heart of Gluttony.

    As for the Innate Ability Mana Sense, it evolved as well after bing part of Nial''s Cursed Divinity.

    His Mana Sense became the Mana Domain, allowing him to spread his mana much further than ever before even without the use of Mana. Using Mana in the range of his control was extremely easy. But controlling dark energy was even easier.

    However, the Heart of Gluttony had yet to be unsealed. Nial noticed major changes inside his body, yet the true power of the Heart of Gluttony had not even been unsealed.

    If he was already feeling extremely powerful and possibly strong enough to fight some weaker Gods, right now, what kind of strength would he unleash once his Cursed Divinity was unsealed?

    Nial created the Heart of Gluttony with the Cursed Divine Ability Devour in order to grow stronger at a ridiculous speed as well. He would grow stronger much faster than everyone, with the goal to refine his Cursed Divinity rapidly. Devour would provide the necessary energy to achieve this, and the storage of the Cursed Divinity, the Heart of Darkness, would be storage for all the energy that would consistently refine the Divinity and temper Nial''s entire being, whether it was his body, mind or soul!

    Sitting down cross-legged, time passed eerily slowly. Nial focused on the unsealing process of the Heart of Gluttony.

    It had been fully attached to his body and was already working tirelessly to enhance his strength drastically. Nial had yet to find out how much stronger he had be, but the enhancement was definitely extremely high.

    He was about to get much stronger.

    He was about to officially advance to the realm of Gods!

    He was a God!

 Chapter 651 God

    Unsealing the Heart of Gluttony was an arduous process. It required Nial''s full focus over a long period of time.

    Old Skin, and bits of ck blood that smelled bad, could be found everywhere around him. He had expelled his old skin and the remaining impurities that had resided inside his body. Cleansed from all impurities, Nial''s body was fully purified and as close to perfection as one could get.

    There was no imperfection on his skin, let alone inside his body. His preparations to create a near-perfect physique had been a great sess, and he finally reaped the benefits. His physical strength had increased by more than ten times after the Heart of Gluttony had been unsealed, giving him enough power to overpower the strength of most ordinary and new Gods in the Universe.

    Nial was not too sure how strong he was right now but he felt like his dark energy could spread around a whole and his Cursed Divine Abiltiy could devour the in its entirety.

    That was exactly what he felt to be capable of.

    Devouring a and turning it into the purest form of energy was something Nial could do. In fact, it was something that would allow him to further increase his strength. His Cursed Divinity would be refined and his power would skyrocket.

    Devouring a whole ster system would allow him to be even stronger while devouring a whole gxy was likely to allow him to advance his Cursed Divinity immediately and be an Ancient God.

    Nial didn''t n to devour a whole gxy just to be stronger. However, if necessary, he would devour anything and everyone around him to kill his opponents. Devouring his opponents after defeating them would allow him to fight and be stronger.

    That was something he was likely to need soon. After all, he felt that the final seal on the Late God of Darkness'' Godly Fragment was being unsealed.

    Nial was already in possession of thest of Damian''s Godly Fragments. He had devoured and integrated thest two Godly Fragments of the Late God of Darkness into his body, turning him into the only being with full authority and ess to the powers that Damian had hidden.

    The first Godly Fragment was pulled toward him when the Advocate of the Pryards stole his eyes, recing them with the Cursed Eyes of the Advocate. After that, Nial was teleported to the City of Trials where the second Godly Fragment of the Late God of Darkness was pulled toward him.

    There was no other Godly Fragment of the God of Darkness because they had been destroyed by the Advocate of the Pryards.

    However, what the Advocate of the Pryards didn''t think about was that Damian''s Power didn''t only originate from his Cursed Divinity. His Godly Fragments were not the only thing that had caused trouble to the Advocate.

    There were also millions of Devils, with each of them harboring the necessary strength to rampage in a Gxy and obliterate countless races.

    Each of Damian''s Devils had been powerful and granted a trace of his power. They had been Devilized by him and turned into Devils in the process of sharing his strength.

    Under normal circumstances, the Devils would die with the death of their master. However, that did not happen when Damian died. The Late God of Darkness had known that he would die. He made preparations for his own death and sealed away all Devils and the races that had been willing to follow him to death.

    After sealing away all of his Devils and entire gxies filled with loyal races, Damian split up his Divinity, his physical body died and the remnants of his Soul were inserted into the Godly Fragments that were spread through the entire Universe and beyond that.

    Bypleting his ascension to godhood, Nial slowly unveiled more and more memories of the Late God of Darkness. The memories didn''t feel like they were Damians. On the contrary, they were a part of him. Nial was not able to distinguish his own memories and Damian''s memories anymore.

    He was still able to tell that he, as Nial Orin, hadn''t been alive in the memories of the Late God of Darkness. However, he was not able to say that Damian was not a part of him.

    The memories made him feel as if Damian was Nial''s past life from a long time ago. It was a weird feeling, but definitely not something he disliked. He could hardly describe it, but the way all memories he made as Damian felt real and as if he had gone through the same warmed his heart.

    Damian lived a rough life. He never had it easy, and having that imprinted into his heart was meaningful for Nial.

    It showed him clearly what kind of people he would meet in the future and how to deal with others.

    Nial''s experience of life was already vast. He had experienced a lot, which allowed him to grow stronger and be better in various ways. However, Damian''s memories were on apletely different level. The Late God of Darkness had lived for over a hundred thousand years and the impact he had on the Universe was not to be underestimated.

    Even after eons had passed, Damian''s powers were still remembered. Even the beings who had never even seen him knew that the God of Darkness had been a fearsome existence.

    Nial didn''t think like that. He thought that Damian was a lonely God, someone who just wanted to be acknowledged by anyone. Damian had always given his best to be stronger, to help out, and to make sure that the Universe wouldn''t be under the attack of the Veilures. He worked hard to remove the threats of the Advocates of the Pryard until he chose to remove the root of the threats.

    He chose to attack the Advocates once he found out their identities and obliterated most of them. In the turn of events, everyone went up against him. Nobody remained neutral, and only those whose loyalty toward him was unbreakable remained by his side.

    They didn''t acknowledge him as a person, but only his strength. However, that didn''t matter to him anymore.

    As long as thest Advocate could be removed from the Universe, everything would be fine.

    It had to be.

 Chapter 652 Thank You!

    While Nial''s body and mind were slowly epting the unsealed power of the Cursed Divinity, a ruckus spread through the entire Universe, and even beyond that.

    Every seal created by the Late God of Darkness was broken with the appearance of a new God with his powers. Millions of Devils were pulled out of their hiding, and the gxies and ster systems that had been considered destroyed, or disappeared, reappeared all of a sudden.

    Everyone and everything that belonged to the Late God of Darkness resurfaced in the Universe where it had once belonged, and they were re-integrated into the system.

    Space fissures appeared all over the vast expanse of the Universe and tens, if not hundreds of highly popted races returned to the ce they belonged to; The side of the God of Darkness.

    Nial was oblivious to anything that happened around him. He could only see the memories of the Late God of Darkness and felt that he was getting dragged into the darkness domain of the Late God of Darkness.

    He was about to meet Damian once again¡­and for thest time. Nial could tell that their next meeting would be thest one, and that Damian would disappear not long after. The remnants of his soul would disperse and move to the afterlife where they should have been for eons by now.

    What happened after was not something Damian knew but he was ready to embrace the afterlife, even if that meant he would be thrown in hell to be punished for the heinous sins he hadmitted.

    [Wee back, Nial. Looks like you made an interesting choice with your Cursed Divinity. It is a bit different from my expectations, but it certainly exceeds them as long as your n works out.] Damian''s voice rang through Nial''s mind. He smiled lightly at the fully-focused image of the blind man, who was still young for the achievements he had attained.

    He was a Saint Runicier, and a newly ascended God whose strength is far beyond the norms of an ordinary newly ascended God. His Cursed Divinity, the Heart of Gluttony could be considered a near-infinite storage for energy and the Cursed Divine Ability Devour fit the Cursed Divinity way too perfectly.

    The Heart of Gluttony''s overall enhancement in the power of Nial was also several times higher than the average Divinity. It was obvious that Nial thought a lot about the materials he had used to create his Cursed Divinity, and it was even more obvious that he extracted the Essence of everything perfectly. Heprehended Chaos and enhanced it using the superior Chaos of the Veils. All-in-all, Nial''s Cursed Divinity was amongst the strongest in existence.

    Nial knew that Dn had a different type of Divinity and that he had focused on the creation of a Divinity with multiple powers that could be fused to be able to fight more diversified, but that was not something the Eternal Darkness would do.

    The Undying fought head-on without the need to fear death. The Eternal Darkness, on the other hand, would devour everything in his surroundings, attack out of the shadows, and obliterate everyone who dared to get too close to him. Of course, this only meant that his opponents would be obliterated, and not that the people close to him. The people he cared for wouldn''t have to fear anything.

    "I am back, and you will leave soon. I saw your memories, and if there is one thing I wish to say¡­it''s probably that you deserved myplete respect," Nial said, a little sad. He didn''t meet Damian often but the Late God of Darkness felt like a part of his life and his existence.

    The memories he had seen over the course of more than a hundred years were never the same, but they had also one thing inmon¡­Damian never had a long period of peace, let alone happiness. It was already astonishing how long the Late God of Darkness survived while being all by himself. He was very lonely, for tens of thousands of years. That was not something everyone could handle.

    Even when he was not alone, he felt lonely. After all, nobody dared to get too close to him. He was considered the biggest threat to the Universe, at that time, after all. Of course, that was nonsense but everyone believed that the Late God of Darkness was the threat, not the Ancients, Primordials and other big shots that were actually Advocates of the Pryard.

    [What do you mean?] Damian asked nheless.

    Nial thought that Damian might not think of himself as lonely because he had always been surrounded by his subordinates and Devils, and that it only looked like the Late God of Darkness was lonely in the memories.

    "Nothing much. I am just certain that I could never stay on the side of the Universe and fight for its survival after they treated you like this. I would never be able to forgive them and would have slowly eradicated everyone, one after another.

    Maybe I''m just way too petty and overly aggressive, but that''s just what I thought. You even tried to avoid injuring the Ancients and Primordials after they attacked and crippled you. Your entire focus was merely on the Advocates of the Pryard. I would definitely have attacked them if they were to dare obstruct my revenge. You are a very remarkable person. I respect you a lot!"

    Because Nial knew that he would never meet the Late God of Darkness ever again, he felt like he had to say things he wouldn''t usually speak out loud. He respected Damian a lot more than the Late God of Darkness might have thought. Thus, he spoke his thoughts out loud rather than keeping them in his mind.

    Damian turned silent for quite a while. Nial thought that their connection had been cut off, but that was not actually the case. On the contrary, they were still connected to one another even after Damian said two mere words once he had gotten back to his senses.

    [Thank you¡­]

 Chapter 653 A Million Years

    [Even if people will hate you, I think you should do whatever has to be done. You are different from me, and I want to see you able to enter a period of peace. You might be forced to fight in order to kill thest Advocate of the Pryard but I think you can do it. Just use my Power, control the races and Devils who had been loyal to me until the very end, and get rid of the Advocate

    Do whatever it takes to never regret anything in your life!]

    At the end of the day, Damian had many things to say. The things he had to say got even more after Nial told the Late God of Darkness that he respected him. It was almost as if Damian actually needed to hear something like this from someone.

    Having been part of Nial''s life and witnessing everything the blind Original had gone through, Damian could tell that Nial''s words were genuine and that he would never say something like this easily.

    This was only more reason for the Late God of Darkness to share more things he wanted to say but never thought that anyone would actually care.

    "I mean, I understand where you''reing from, and I will definitely kill the Advocate of the Pryard because he took my eyes and killed my entire race, but isn''t Hoert a slightly bigger problem? I am just thinking that the Advocate of the Pryard is still someone we can handle, especially now that your Devils and the races that had been loyal to you during the Great War.

    Hoert, on the other hand, is much more of a problem. Even with my current strength, I am certain that I won''t be strong enough to handle him, not even if Ibine my strength with the power of the Undying. That is just not feasible right now," Nial revealed his honest thoughts.

    He was not too worried about the Advocate of the Pryard now that he had the Devils and Damian''s races under his control. At the same time, his Cursed Divinity was a lot stronger than one may think. Putting in a few years of hard work would be more than enough to make it big. That was something Nial was certain of.

    However, Damian seemed to be of a different opinion.

    [You will notice it soon enough, but your train of thought is wrong, in that regard, at least. Thest Advocate of the Pryard is very scheming, and you will probably face numerous threats the moment you will return back to reality. Now that the Devils are unsealed and my races returned ot the surface of the Universe, the Advocate will create an image around you. The image will probably be simr to my image. Maybe, the Advocate will even spread the rumor that you are the second God of Darkness.

    He will obliterate whole races while leaving behind ''hard evidence'' that will make it seem as if your Devils and races made all of this happen.

    A second Great War will break out, and there is hardly anything you can do against it!] Damian said with enough confidence to make Nial question if the situation was actually that dire.

    With the memories of the Late God of Darkness in his mind, Nial quickly figured that he had been too foolish and that Damian was actually right.

    Damin had been forced to fight the vast majority of powerful races in the Universe just because he wanted to get rid of the Advocates. Even the hard evidence Damian found to expose the Advocates was simply ignored. After all, the Lord of Darkness had eerie powers, more than a million Gods were his loyal subjects, and he controlled a quarter of the entire known Universe.

    The Advocates made it look like Damian was trying to keep expanding his range of control, and that he had fabricated the pieces of hard evidence to get rid of bothersome threats that could restrict his expansion ns.

    Now that the Devils and trusted races returned, thest Advocate might as well say that Nial was actually the Late God of Darkness'' reincarnation and that he wanted to restart his conquest through the Universe.

    For those who knew Nial, it didn''t really make sense but Nial clearly recalled the attitude most Ancient and Primordials showed him. They had been afraid of him even though their strength was countless times higher than his at that time.

    It was not unlikely that they would fear him enough to ept the reasoning of the Advocate.

    [Furthermore, I hate to say this, but I think your opinion of Hoert is a little distorted from the truth. Hoert is not your biggest problem right now. This Universe is merely an infant for him. It is way too young and small for him to bother. It wouldn''t be worth traveling countless years through the void, facing other big threats, just to devour a Universe that has a nutritious level close to zero.

    He may be a problem in the future once the Universe has grown considerably¡­but what does it matter to you if someonees over to your Universe once everyone you loves is dead either way.

    Most Gods live a long time, but even they are bored after living for a hundred thousand years or so.

    What about a million years then¡­if Hoert arrives after a million years, do you really think it matters to you? As long as you can kill the Advocate of the Pryard, you will be fine, and so will your people and everyone else!]

    Nial could tell the most important message as Damian spoke into his mind, but he was not actually sure if he understood the hidden meaning in his words. There was something unique he seemed to hint at, but Nial didn''t immediately fathom it.

    "Wait¡­you want to tell me that Hoert might not even be interested in this Universe¡­until a million years from now??" Nial asked, feeling a little bit baffled.

    He had given his utmost effort to hurriedly advance in strength, just like the Undying, only to find out this?

    What the hell were the two of them supposed to do for a whole whooping million years? Keep cultivating? Fuck it!

 Chapter 654 Can I Handle It?

    Nial was not sure where Damian''s confidence hade from, but the Late God of Darkness was 100% certain that it would take an eternity before he would meet Hoert.

    It was very unlikely that his family and beloved would still be alive after an eternity. Their descendants were likely to be alive, but Nial was mostly worried about his beloved ones. That was the whole reason why he had focused on bing stronger.

    Thus, he had been a little stupefied for a while after the Late God of Darkness told him that he didn''t have to pay too much attention to Hoert''s existence, not at this moment at least.

    It was a surprise, but certainly not something Nial disliked too much.

    When Nial and the Undying encountered Hoert''s presence for the first and only time, both had been shocked to the core. The Undying had also given his utmost effort to be stronger as quickly as possible.

    That had been necessary to create the Veil Guardians and protect his. However, at the same time, it was a matter of fact that the Undying was still not strong enough to fight Hoert.

    The Pryard were simply too strong for someone of a small Universe such as theirs to defeat. With that in mind, Nial and the Undying would have toe up with a way to consistently refine their Divinity while making sure that they would stay alive, and built a family, or do something else that will allow them to stay conscious of the iing danger in the vast future.

    They had to keep getting stronger to make sure that they would be able to handle the Pryard such as Hoert.

    As for thest Advocate of the Pryard in the Universe, Nial knew that he had to get rid of him as soon as possible. There was simply no other way. The Advocate had to be removed from the Universe by any means, even if that meant half of the Universe would have to fall. That was how dangerous the Advocate of the Pryard was.

    A single move of the Advocate was enough to stir enough trouble that the Universe''s existence would be endangered. That was what Nial figured, and it was also the reason why Damian told him to fight everyone who dares to obstruct his path. The final battle was approaching and Nial had to get ready.

    Thanks to the memories of the Late God of Darkness, he knew what the Advocate of the Pryard looked like, and what his race was. Unfortunately, while that might actually be helpful to hunt the Advocate of the Pryard, the Advocate was actually one of the most popr Ancients Nial had gotten to know.

    In fact, the Ancient who seemed to be the Advocate of the Pryard was not particrly strong. At least, he didn''t reveal too much of his strength in the past and seemed to be hiding most of his true power. That didn''t mean he was acting pitifully weak but that the powers he had been granted from betraying his Ancient race and the Universe, had been hidden well.

    That meant Nial was not even sure how strong the Advocate had be after eons had passed since the Late God of Darkness fought thest Adovcate thest time.

    But even if the Advocate was actually weak, the attention and favor he had gained from most races were way too high to ignore for someone like Nial. In fact, the Advocate was even popr with Abandoned Children.

    Most of the Abandoned Children had been abandoned by their own even race. Some had even been hunted because their powers were much stronger, but also vastly different from the racial traits of the race they had been birthed to. Most Ancients and Primordials were focused on the purity of their bloodline. Nial knew that the reason for their focus was justified, even though the means they used were certainly not.

    Their reason to fear or even hate mutations in their bloodlines was because most Ancients and Primordials with mutations would either die or go insane, ending up wreaking havoc. That was why most of them chose to abandon those children, or even hunt them down to eradicate the threat they posed immediately.

    Nial thought that this was bullshit, and the Advocate of the Pryard was saying the exact same out loud. He gained the trust of most Abandoned Children that way, even if a few Ancients and Primordials began to frown upon him.

    Nial also knew that there were many powerful races that loathed members of Ancient races and Primordial races. Most of these races would never dare to offend the Ancients and Primordials because these would easily be able to eradicate those other races.

    However, the Advocate was different. He was liked by the majority of races because he was kind and generous, giving them specific pieces of advice whenever their progress as a whole race began to stagnate.

    If Nial hadn''t seen the true side of the Advocate in the Late God of Darkness'' memories, he would have never believed that this popr Ancient was actually the Advocate he had to kill¡­.that this piece of shit had actually stolen his eyes, leaving him blind¡­that such a terrifying person could easily hide in the Universe, acting as if he was a Samaritan after obliterating Nial''s entire race.

    Nial didn''t even want to imagine what else the Advocate had done to the Universe while acting as if he was the best person in the vast expanse of the Universe.

    He couldn''t help but sight while listening to thest words of the Late God of Darkness.

    [As long as you can kill the Advocate of the Pryard, you will be fine, and so will your people and everyone else!]

    For others, these words may not be important, but Nial felt that their meaning was much more than what one could see at the first nce.

    Damian had just told Nial that hisst mission was to kill the Advocate of the Pryard and that, as long as he can handle the aftermath well, everything would be fine.

    But the question that shed through his mind in response to this mission was pretty obvious as well.

    ''Will I be able to handle it?''

 Chapter 655 Long Time No See

    As Nial was thinking of a way to handle the Advocate of the Pryard within the given means, he reappeared outside the darkness sphere of the Late God of Darkness.

    Damian had disappeared, leaving behind the pieces of advice he gave Nial, and the powers he had given to Nial in the form of an inheritance.

    The Devils were slowly rising from their slumber, and stars that ought to have long since extinguished reappeared.

    At the same time, a silver vortex manifested near Nial, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground. Nial continued to adapt to the new sensation of the Heart of Gluttony''s tremendous power. He had yet to test out its strength and he would rather wait for a little with this, at least, until he was confident at handling it a little.

    The silver vortex near Nial began to expand. It turned into a swirling mass of silver liquid that expanded. Once it was two meters in each direction the shape of the silver vortex changed slowly. It turned oval and formed a small portal through which someone stepped.

    This someone looked down at the fully-focused figure of the blind Original with a gentle smile on her face.

    It was a beautiful woman wearing a dress that fit perfectly onto her stunning figure. Her dress hugs her curves in all the right ces, highlighting her silhouette and her feminine figure. The ck fabric contrasts with her fair skin, making her seem even more radiant.

    Her eyes are a mesmerizing shade of royal purple, with long, lushshes framing them perfectly. Her dress was captivating, drawing the eye to her stunning features, and her long wavy silver hair cascades down her back, attracting more attention to her.

    Every time she moved, her hair swayed and shines in the light,pleting the picture of beauty and grace.

    The charm and divine presence she naturally exudes set her apart from mortals. It was obvious that the woman was a Goddess.

    However, contrary to other Goddesses, she wouldmand attention and admiration where she goes. The Goddess radiated power, wisdom, and grace. Her beauty was not just physical but also extended to her aura and the way she carried herself.

    As she moved toward Nial, the air around her seemed to shimmer and glow. A sweet fragrance lingered in her wake, swirling around Nial.

    Her royal purple eyes were filled withpassion, and her smile was warm and alluring as she looked down at Nial''s figure.

    "How have you been?" She asked quietly, her hand trembling as she moved them closer to Nial''s face.

    Just as her fingernails were about toe in contact with him, did Nial start moving once again?

    His heavy eyelids moved up and his milky-white, lifeless eyes looked unfocused at the stunning woman who had frozen in her tracks.

    "Huh? What are you doing here?" He asked, a little stunned to visualize a woman who was a lot different from the mana fluctuations he perceived from her.

    The mana fluctuations clearly told him that the Goddess in front of him was the Oracle¡­but something was different.

    "Are you trying to tell me that I shouldn''t fight the Advocate of the Pryard, Oracle?" Nial asked. He raised his eyebrow and studied her response in return.

    Visualizing the Oracle confused him a little because she seemed to be a lot different from before¡­much more beautiful. However, there was also something else that attracted his attention.

    The presence of the Oracle was a lot differentpared to before. Nial felt that she was easier to approach and that she was more of a part of the Universe, rather than the Oracle, overseeing the Universe in the name of the Universe.

    The Oracle shook her head in response to Nial''s question. She took a step closer as he got up and her hand reached out to his right cheek, which she rubbed gently with her cold and trembling hand.

    "No, I am not here to tell you that you shouldn''t kill the Advocate. Rather, the Universe wants you to fight the Advocate, even if that means you will have to kill a lot of beings," The Oracle said before clearing her throat as she added, "This is myst mission as the Universe''s Oracle."

    "What is yourst mission?"

    "It was myst mission to tell you that the Universe wants you to kill the Advocate of the Pryard by all means. The Universe wants to get rid of thest Advocate now that the problem of the Veils can mostly be solved with your control of Chaos.

    "Yourst mission? What are you going to do then? Is that why you feel so different right now? Your presence changed a lot and so did your appearance."

    "Hehe~ Do you like my appearance better now?" The Oracle asked rather than responding to Nial.

    She swirled around her own axis, and her hair and dress began to flutter in the air, revealing the true beauty of her appearance.

    "You''re even more beautiful than you were before, yes," Nial said with a nod, which caused the Oracle to halt in her tracks.

    She looked at him for a few seconds intensely, cleared her throat, and took another step closer.

    "In that case¡­can I stay by your side?" She asked, gathering her entire courage to ask the most important question.

    Nial could feel the courage she required to ask this question and didn''t think much more about it.

    ''She doesn''t really know anyone else but me in this Universe, right? She didn''t really like Dn either. Is that why she wants to stay by my side for the time being? That''s pretty dangerous though¡­'' He thought, while carefully stroking his chin as he fell into deep thought.

    "...Forever¡­"

    A quiet voice rang in his ears but Nial didn''t understand it properly.

    "Did you say something?"

    "...Forever¡­I want to stay with you forever¡­.is¡­what I am asking you¡­." The Oracle asked, her voice reaching a few pitches higher while her cheeks and ears turned hot and as red as a tomato.

    ":.."

    ''HUH?!''

    **

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 Chapter 656 Universe, That Piece Of Work!

    "What are you talking about?"

    Nial was a little astonished about the Oracle''s words, and couldn''t really react properly. He took a while to get back to his senses.

    The Oracle didn''t give him an answer and kept looking at him. In her opinion, her words couldn''t be misunderstood. That meant, Nial was intentionally trying not to understand her!

    Thinking that way, the Oracle bit her lower lip.

    "You do realize that it''s way too dangerous to stay by my side? Fighting the Advocate of the Pryard will probably lead to my death. In fact, even if the fight against him doesn''t end like this, I am likely to die from facing hundreds, if not a thousand or more powerful Ancient Gods," Nial pointed out.

    Even if he didn''t like the situation that was highly likely to ur, it was pretty obvious that he would end up fighting a second Great War. That meant, more than a quarter of the Universe would fight against him, while he had only Damian''s Devils and loyal races at his disposal.

    They might have gotten stronger than before, especially the races that had cultivated their prodigies for eons for this day, but it was not as if the Primordials and Ancients had been standing around doing nothing.

    "You won''t die."

    That was the only thing the Oracle said in response to his seriousment. She smiled at him and felt like caressing his chin once again.

    Her heart told her to get even closer to him and do whatever she had imagined doing when the Universe told her that she could finish herst mission while staying next to a Fate Changer. However, her head told her that she couldn''t overdo it. She had to approach Nial slowly and make sure that he wouldn''t push her away.

    Everything she had wished for would break apart otherwise.

    "What about the prophecy? Don''t you have to pay attention to it?" Nial asked, looking for a way to stay by himself.

    It was not as if he had something against the Oracle. In fact, he quite liked her. She was beautiful and cared a lot about him. Her personality was not bad either. There was nothing he didn''t like about her. He couldn''t name one thing right now, at least.

    "The Universe chose that it will be enough if I stay by your side¡­well either your side or the Undying. I don''t like the Undying and li¡­well¡­I like you¡­mo¡­yes, I like you!" The Oracle said, squealing when she was about to finish. Her cheeks and ears turned even redder than before and she couldn''t look at Nial anymore.

    The Oracle turned around and tapped her mouth lightly as if she wanted to punish her mouth for the words that hade out of it.

    Couldn''t you have said that I like you ''more'', instead of repeating yourself twice, the Oracle cursed herself, desperately hoping that she didn''t make a big mistake just now.

    Nial was still pretty sure that he was missing a few pieces of information. He could only perceive the Oracle tiptoeing around, tightly holding her right hand with her left to make sure that she wouldn''t suddenly touch his cheek.

    The Oracle''s words were pretty confusing and they left out a great deal of detail.

    ''Does that mean even the Universe thinks that the Advocate of the Pryard is a bigger problem than Hoert? So why did they focus on the prophecy all this time? Did they just forget that the Advocate of the Pryard exists?''

    Too many things didn''t make any sense and the Oracle noticed his suspicion.

    "The Prophecy wille true, sometime in the future. However, the Universe doesn''t know when exactly that will be. Hoert shouldn''t be interested in this Universe yet. However, the Devourer of the Universe seems to be a little curious about you, which is also why Hoert probably used the Realm of Forgotten Time to make sure that you and the Undying will get to know about his existence.

    But that interest shouldn''t be enough to travel to this isted Universe because Hoert won''t even be able to replenish the power it has to use to travel through the Void with the energy it will get from devouring this Universe.

    That is also why the Universe it wouldn''t be an issue to divert your focus for a moment and to defeat the Advocate of the Pryard before returning to focusing on increasing your strength!" The Oracle exined, handing over a few more pieces of information that Nial could use.

    There were still many questions Nial had in mind but he felt too agitated to even ask them.

    ''This piece of shit really wants us to do nothing else but take care of his shit, does he?'' He asked himself, nearly blurting out his honest thoughts.

    The Universe was pretty selfish, demanding him and the Undying to take care of his bullshit. He was pretty sure that the Oracle''s words were the words she had been told to say by the Universe''s sentience.

    She seemed a little ufortable with thest sentence she had said.

    "Well. I will take care of my cultivation progress. The Universe can focus on umting enough energy to give birth to a few more Primordials and Ancients, otherwise, they might go instinct. After all, the Universe should reimburse me by cleaning up the mess I will create by doing its job," Nial just said before he focused on the Oracle intently.

    "So, you''re staying by my side?"

    "My Fate¡­changed. I can stay by your side, yes¡­I mean, if you allow me to¡­" The Oracle said as her mind nked out. She forgot about the seriousness of the earlier conversation and blushed.

    That was going to be interesting¡­

    **

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 Chapter 657 Stars And Galaxies

    While Nial and the Oracle started a conversation that was both serious and lighthearted at the same time, the changes in the vast expanse of the Universe continued.

    The reappearance of countless stars all over the Universe was a miraculous and awe-inspiring event. However, it was also scary and ominous.

    One day, the day Nial began to retrieve the Heart of Gluttony and reattached it back to his body, the entire Universe seemed to turn dark and empty. Stars, where they were never supposed started to shine brightly, attracting the attention of all living beings across the Universe. They looked up in wonder as they beheld a magnificent spectacle of light and color.

    At first, scientists across the Universe were stunned and could not exin the sudden reappearance of the stars at ces where they had disappeared eons ago. However, as they studied the phenomenon, they began to realize that these were not just ordinary stars. They were stars filled with darkness, each one in a different shade of ck and gray.

    Ominousity and the sensation of a deadly threat oozed out of the stars, and their dark light grew in intensity. Beings all over the Universe gazed and stared in fright as the day sky was transformed into the darkest night of the Abyss. The stars seemed to be pulsing with energy, and some people imed that they could even hear the desperate voices of other beings getting tortured.

    The reappearance of these stars had a profound impact on beings all over the Universe. It was as if the Universe was sending a message to them. However, it was not a message of hope. It was a sign of the forting terror and destruction, as a sign of a new era, a time of war and poverty for all!

    Some even believed that the reappearance of the dark stars signaled the arrival of something sinister, and warned that the Universe was in grave peril.

    Regardless of their interpretations, the reappearance of the stars was a defining moment in the history of the Universe. It would always be remembered as the moment when they first saw the sky turn into the abyss, initiating the start of a new era, the era of the second Great War.

    However, stars were not the only ones that returned. In fact, the reappearing stars were merely a drop in the ocean.

    For countless years, eons to be precise, astronomers and powerful Originals had been searching for several missing gxies that were once thought to have disappeared into the void of space. The gxies were believed to have been destroyed by a massive collision with another celestial body, consumed by a ck hole, or devoured in the aftermath of the first Great War.

    However, one day, the day of Nial''s ascension to godhood, countless Originals, Ascenders, and astronomers who had been searching for clues that lead to the answers they sought, noticed something big. While conducting a routine survey of the sky, they noticed a faint, but unmistakable glow in the previously empty sections of space. Excited by the possibility of a new discovery, they traveled through Worldbridges to get closer to the empty sections of space.

    But what appeared in front of them was much more than empty space. What the Originals and Ascenders witnessed didn''t make sense.

    The vanished gxies had returned, their stars shining once again in the dark void of space.

    The Originals and Ascenders were astounded by the size and beauty of the gxies, which were muchrger and more radiant than they had ever imagined. Those, who could clearly recall the gxies that had disappeared could also tell that something had changed. The gxies had expanded and the Mana passing through the gxies was much stronger¡­and so were the inhabitants of the gxies.

    The stars of the gxies were arranged in an intricate pattern, creating a mesmerizing constetion of light. These patterns looked eerily simr across the gxies that had returned, but that was only obvious. After all, the constetions were actually something Damian had engraved into the space of the Universe, creating Gxy-graded Runic Constetions.

    Further analysis from the Ascenders and Originals revealed that the gxies had undergone a massive transformation during their time away. The stars were much older and cooler than before, and the gxies were surrounded by a halo of dark matter and darkness.

    The news of the re-appearance of the vanishes gxies quickly spread throughout the information channels across the entire Universe. Researchers across the entire Universe flocked to observe the phenomenon. They spent months studying the gxies, taking detailed observations, and conducting extensive analyses.

    They discovered that the gxies were not onlyrger but also moreplex than any other gxy they had ever seen or been to.

    The re-appearance of the vanished gxies sparked a new era of scientific exploration¡­and much more as the terrors habituating in the formerly vanished gxies reappeared as well.

    At first, none of the beings bothered to leave their gxies, but that changed quickly upon sensing the assimtion of their master''s power far away.

    Their first master had died, but the Late God of Darkness had epted this new body and soul as his official sessor.

    There was no need to doubt their first master''s decision and the first beings emerged from the vanished gxies, teleporting straight to Nial, where the Devils and other beings flocked instinctively.

    Every Devil regained their full power, and they made their way to Nial, who was currently still talking to the Oracle,ing to a conclusion about whether the Oracle was allowed to stay by his side, or if Nial would abandon her.

    However, the answer to this question was already given. There was no way that Nial would abandon the Oracle.

    But that was not exactly the most important thing Nial would have to pay attention to.

    He could decide what he was going to do with the Oracle in the future.

    For now, he would have to take care of his Devils and the subjects he controlled.

 Chapter 658 Fear

    The appearance of millions of Devils was a chaotic and frightening event that made many races imagine the worst

    It was not every day that a mysterious being, shrouded in darkness, and ruby eyes gleaming with killing intent would appear in the midst of their territory, without a warning. To those races, the Devils appeared just like that. They would never even think that the Devils had been sealed the deepest parts of their, long before they had civilized these worlds.

    The Devils didn''t attack anyone, but they released their desire to kill and eradicate everyone. They shrouded the worlds in darkness mere minutes after they had been unsealed. Their master was not nearby, so the millions of Devils left the respective ces they had been sealed.

    At first, the habitants of theses had been shocked and afraid because the Devils began to encircle their worlds, blocking out the sun and stars with the dark energy their bodies exuded naturally.

    The sky grew darker with each passing minute until the worlds were plunged into eternal darkness. This caused panic and fear to spread rapidly, giving the Devil a terrifying presence as he approached the habitants of thes.

    [Where can I find the God of Darkness?]

    That was what all Devils asked the beings they encountered. Their appearance and the way they spoke caused the seeds of fear to blossom in the deepest parts of their subconsciousness. They were not even able to answer for several minutes because their minds went nk.

    But it was only obvious to feel like this. After all, each of the Devils seemed to possess thebat prowess of a powerful God.

    p¦Á§ád¦Á §«?¦Í¨º|,§ã¨°§® Even the Gods who had been cultivating in their homes couldn''t help but shudder when they perceived the-shrouding darkness. The feeling of helplessness only intensified upon encountering the Devils, who seemed to be non-corporeal beings manifested out of the ominous, ck cloud.

    However, that was not right at all. They had their physical form and would change their shape readily upon encountering their master.

    But for now, it was enough to take on the non-corporeal form and constantly change their shapes in order to inflict terror on those who could only see the countless ck outlines that formed from the ck clouds that were actually dark energy.

    To the habitants of the worlds where the Devils had been sealed for eons, it looked like the Devils continued to grow and expand. They soon realized that the darkness was not just theck of light, but also a force strong enough to drain the energy and life from everything it touched.

    nts began to wither and died, animals went into hiding and the residents of the nts huddled together in fear.

    Many believed that this was how their life would end¡­that the appearance of the Devils meant the end of their world, possibly even for their entire race.

    They didn''t want this to happen, but they clearly felt how helpless they were.

    Yet, just as everyone seemed to ept their fate, unable to do anything against it, in the first ce, the darkness receded. The Devils disappeared, leaving behind billions of relieved beings on every single they had been on.

    The news of the appearance of countless simr ''entities'' that had been shrouded in darkness, enveloping the entire world in darkness to drain some of its energy, while asking the exact same question, spread rapidly.

    Everyone connected to themunication channels of the Universe heard about the news within a day or two, and the reactions were mostly the same.

    "They asked for the God of Darkness? This title has be taboo for the Gods. Nobody is allowed to call themself that name, not after the things that happened in the Great War. Who is daring enough to call himself the God of Darkness?!"

    "If my memory serves me right, the ancient texts speak about the God of Darkness and his loyal subordinates as beings shrouded in darkness, and able to control darkness freely. Doesn''t it feel like these millions of beings are the subordinates of the God of Darkness?"

    "If the darkness-shrouded beings are actually the Devils of the God of Darkness, where did they disappear to eons ago? Why are they suddenly appearing again? ANDst but not least¡­WHO are they calling the God of Darkness? As a matter of fact, we know that Damian, the God of Darkness in the ancient texts, has ceased to exist!"

    "Right, if I recall it correctly, the Divine Goddess created a task force to collect and destroy the God of Darkness'' Godly Fragment to dispel the curse that had been put on her. She has removed the curse, which means that the Late God of Darkness is no more!"

    "But if that is correct, who are the Devils searching for?"

    While various theories spread through themunication channels of the Universe, there were more than enough Gods, Ancients, and Primordials whose hearts had tightened at the thought of the God of Darkness'' return.

    They didn''t really want to recall the memories of the Great War, let alone the terror caused by the God of Darkness. Thinking about Damian, his Devils, and the countless beings that stayed loyal to him even after all the things he did to the Universe, nobody could escape the feeling of fright that resurfaced from the depths of their consciousness.

    At the end of the day, their fright was deep enough to call in for the meeting of the Gods of the Ranking. The hundred strongest Divine Gods were called to meet up in a gigantic hall. More than half of the Divine Gods that had been called, arrived in the following days.

    They were the 100 strongest Gods with Divine Divinities and were usually too busy to meet their loved ones. However, the thought of a resurfacing threat on the same level as the God of Darkness was not something they could ignore.

    Nobody could ignore this if they wanted to live a long and prosperous life!

 Chapter 659 Divine Gods

    "Even if Damian ceased to exist, that doesn''t mean he couldn''t have left behind an inheritance. What if he was prepared to start a second Great War and destroy the Universe for good? I was in the same ster system as one of the Devils, and I recalled Dievro, the Snake. He is not an ordinary God anymore. His strength is definitely on par with an Ancient God!

    I believe that Damian''s Devils have been sealed in ces where their consciousness was frozen in time while their being was still nourished by the mana in their proximity!" One of the Divine Gods, a humanoid lifeform with feathers covering his body, the head of a falcon, and long wings spreading out from his back.

    He wore golden armor that glowed in a magnificent aura, which highlighted the prestige of his rank. After all, he was a Divine God, one of the hundred strongest Gods in the known Universe!

    A single word of him was enough to eradicate entire races, and he could obliterates with a single wave of his Golden Armanium Sun Staff.

    Of course, everyone currently presents in the Divine Hall of Elikram could achieve the same and even more. The divine Gods may be the one hundred strongest Gods with Divine Divinities, but their powers were vastly different.

    Not all of them were in possession of destructive powers. In fact, many of the present Divine Gods were Sorn and Spectran.

    Most of the Divine Gods and Cursed Divine Gods were members of the Ancient and Primordial races. With their innate talent in terms of cultivation andprehension,bined with their terrific inborn powers and the wealth they could ess from a young age, it was not actually difficult for most Primordials and Ancients to be Gods. For them, it was only difficult to create THE strongest Divinity. After all, they had to protect their pride and the honor of their race.

    As the saying goes: with great poweres great responsibility!

    Unfortunately, there were always some ck sheep in every race, tarnishing the reputation of their race needlessly.

    "Even if the Devils are not looking for Damian, isn''t it highly likely that the ''sessor'' of the God of Darkness will have the same or simr ideas as Damian? Damian would have never chosen someone, who is not highlypatible with his powers and ideal, to be his sessor, in the first ce!" Another Divine God, a Spectran, said.

    His robot-like voice and body didn''t seem to exude any signs of worry, but the dense currents of mana that were naturally released by the Spectran clearly showed that he was very worried about the course of events.

    "At the end of the day, there are not only more than a million Devils who''ve been resurrected. Didn''t you hear about the reappearance of the four Gigaloran Gxies? Considering the Gigaloran Gxies as the property of the God of Darkness is not even wrong, considering that the races that had been the most loyal to him had expanded their control over the four Gigaloran Gxies.

    I guess that his subordinates in the Gxies worked hard to increase their strength. The innate talent of Damian''s subordinate races had never been weak, in the first ce. However, now that eons passed, they should have grown considerably. After all, they didn''t have to fight smaller wars or fight for territory with other Ancient Gods. If they worked together, which is what I think¡­they should have gotten a few individuals as strong as the Divine Gods and Cursed Divine Gods!" A third Divine God, a red-skinned Titan, who was more than ten meters tall even in his smallest form, spoke.

    "There is no need to worry. We can just kill the God of Darkness'' sessor to make sure that his Devils will die, and that the races of the four Gigaloran Gxies won''t have any reason to fight us anymore!" A voice that was naturally filled with seductiveness, rang out through the Divine Hall.

    Everyone turned around to see the neer, a fellow Divine God, or rather Goddess.

    The Goddess of the Divine Eye and the newest member of the Divine Gods'' Ranking.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    She had fair and wless skin and a seemingly perfect physique thatplemented her surreal beauty.

    Even for Gods, the Goddess of the Divine Eye was beautiful.

    A silky white dress that she was wearing tightly, clung to her voluptuous body, highlighting her ck silky hair and dark brown eyes that stared into the depths of the other Gods'' Souls.

    The other Divine Gods wanted to say something but it was almost as if their mouths had been sewn shut. The Goddess'' eyes turned golden.

    She stepped forward, creating loud clinging noises whenever her heels came in contact with the marble floor of the Divine Hall.

    A tremendous energy was naturally released from her body, and the Goddess''s Holy Light soon shrouded the entire Hall.

    It was not difficult to attract the attention of the other Divine Gods. A little holy light apanied by a soothing warmth was more than enough to calm the oldies a little.

    There was no way to calm thempletely because it was only obvious that the situation was quite problematic, in the first ce.

    In fact, the Goddess of the Divine Eye should have been the most worried. She had been hunted by Damian and his subordinates, for a very long time at that.

    However, right now, she exuded a calm andposed attitude.

    "I think that Damian never nned for his return. On the contrary, he should have left behind a Legacy that allows another being, someone with better talent and a higher chance to make his dreamse true. He found that being probably not too long ago," She said calmly.

    There are many things we have to take into consideration, but I think that the sessor of the God of Darkness'' power is probably still weak. As everyone should know, I helped the Undying a little in recent years. Thus, I was able to collect some interesting information that make me feel like the sessor of the Darkness God had been way too open, not even bothering to hide his powers.

    In fact, if my memories serve me right, that young man is blind and he shouldn''t even be 150 years old by now. He wields dark energy, cannot see, and he traveled across the universe, and worked seemingly hard for the sake of the Universe, removing a few veils and shrinking the others in size.

    I think everyone present should have heard of that young man, at least once!"

 Chapter 660 Threat

    Not many Divine Gods had actually heard about Nial before.

    The Undying, Dn Cier, was a little different because he actually fought against the weakest Ancients and Primordials when he was not even an actual God yet. Dn had been strong enough to fight Gods with his overwhelmingbat power and the Origin Ability called ''Undying''.

    He was not someone, who died that easily, not actually at least. His body was often torn apart or even eradicated to the finest atoms. However, even then, Dn always survived. Undying was an Origin ability that was simply too powerful for ordinary beings to possess, yet, Dn was in possession of this Origin ability, and he could make use of it properly!

    After fighting against the weakest Ancients and Primordials, the Undying ascended Godhood with one of the strongest Divinities that had ever been recorded in the history of the Universe. His strength increased rapidly and it was a known fact that the Undying had worked tirelessly to build a group of people to guard the Veils.

    Dn had also created argemunication system with which they could message each other immediately if something was to go wrong.

    Putting all of this together, Dn was a well-known person in the Universe. Meanwhile, Nial hadn''t even been in the known Universe for half of his life.

    Other than encountering a bunch of Gods while he absorbed the excessive superior Chaos from Veils, Nial never really went out to meet other Gods.

    Nheless, some Gods knew him very well. Precisely, the Gods rted to the Veil Guardians knew him, his powers, and the fact that he was able to close smaller Veils and shrink the higher-developed Veils as well.

    That was very helpful, and many Gods were thankful for his doing, even if the darkness oozing out of Nial, and the humongous serpent following him, had been quite frightening.

    The Goddess of the Divine Eye shared her wisdom about Nial with the other Divine Gods. She exined everything in great detail and pointed out the simplest solution.

    "If you don''t want to bother asking this youthful God about the n he has in mind with the four Gigaloran Gxies and the million-plus Devils that reappeared all of a sudden, we should kill him now before it''s toote!" The Goddess of the Divine Eye said with a glint in her golden eyes.

    Even though the Goddess was trying to make it sound as if the others had a chance toe up with a different n, fact was that the Devils and habitants of the Gigaloran Gxies were extremely dangerous.

    The moment Damian''s sessor decided to attack the Universe and reim the territory of his ancestor, the Universe would turn into pandemonium. The Devils and residents of the Gigaloran Gxies were much stronger than before. None of the Devils seemed to have died over the course of eons. As for what happened in the Gigaloran Gxies, nobody could really tell for sure.

    The Late God of Darkness must have brought the Gigaloran Gxies to a ce where the residents could prosper, a ce where the Gigaloran Gxies could grow rapidly. That was the only logical reason the Divine Gods coulde up with after they read the reports of the eerily high mana density in the four Gigaloran Gxies.

    Thus, while thebat forces of the Darkness God grew rapidly during the eons that had passed since the Great War, the exact opposite was the case for the rest of the Universe.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    In fact, some races had grown stronger, but that was exactly why other races had encountered severe setbacks.

    The races in the known Universe were not all on good terms. In fact, most races were either in a neutral or hostile rtionship with one another.

    With that knowledge, it was only obvious that many wars between races had urred over the eons, obliterating entire races, and even more so Gods. Even Ancient Gods, Ancients, and Primordials died over the course of eons.

    The moment two Ancient Gods fought, their fight would either end with one of them giving up, or death. Nobody would usually intervene in the fight of other Ancient Gods. After all, this could attract the wrath of the fighting parties.

    "So, you''re saying that we should kill him while he is still weak? As long as we kill the root of all problems, the rest will solve itself¡­but is it really okay to kill someone with the power to close the Veils?" One of the Divine Gods asked.

    His question was more than justified. There were two parts of the Universe that had been hit hard by huge Veils. Veilures stronger than the positioned Veil Guardians had emerged, killing them before they devoured the energy of the Universe. They drained the energy of the Universe and strengthened the Veil further, giving it enough power to expand in size.

    Nobody could actually do something against this. The Universe''s energy had been drained, weakening the region of space tremendously while allowing stronger, and more Veilures to emerge in the next wave.

    Until this date, only one person was able to shrink, or even close the Veils. This included the huge Veils that had already devoured some energy of the Universe.

    Nial could drain it and shrink the Veil back to its former size. In fact, he shrunk it to a smaller size than it had been before.

    Nial had not been a God when he did all of this.

    Didn''t that mean he could close all Veils as long as he grew in strength?

    "In that case, what do you want to do? Do you want to risk a second Great War in hope that this youthful God will continue to focus on closing the Veils, or do you want to remove the threat and make sure that we will deploy more people to the Veils to keep them guarded until the end of time?" The Goddess of the Divine Eye asked somewhat calmly.

    However, there was also something else that could be sensed in her voice.

    It was¡­a threat.

 Chapter 661 Proposal

    Nial had no idea what kind of decision was made as he chatted with the Oracle.

    They had many things to tell each other, or rather the Oracle had many things she wanted to tell Nial, who listened attentively.

    He got his hand on many important pieces of information thanks to the Oracle, some of them astonishing him quite a bit.

    "The Universe officially removed me from the position as its'' Oracle. Currently, I have only a faint connection with the Universe. My Divinity is the ''Oracle of the Universe'', but that is something the Universe did in order to maintain the faint connection.

    The Universe created this body and the Divine Divinity in ordance to how I should have looked, if not for the transformation I underwent after bing the Universe''s Oracle."

    "Currently, I am merely an ordinary Ancient Goddess, with different strengths and weaknesses than before. Despite gaining a new body, I was able to retain the memories of my past. This should help you a bit. After all, what you will have to face soon enough might not be to your liking!"

    The Universe didn''t know what happened to the Gigaloran Gxies after they had been removed from the space of the Universe. It could only tell that a few thousand Devils were still residing inside it, while the rest seemed to have disappeared as well.

    Thus, the Universe''s sentience couldn''t really fathom what would happen next.

    It was obvious that the Ancients, Primordials, and various other Gods would have something to say about the arrival of the Devils and the reappearance of the Gigaloran Gxies. However, the exact turn of events was not something the Universe could predict.

    The Advocate of the Pryard was also one of the beings the Universe''s sentience couldn''t detect at all. It was an unknown variable that had to be taken into consideration.

    Having been granted to shapeshift and to block off the Universe''s feelers, the Advocate could do whatever it pleased. There was no way for the Universe to directly intervene and kill the Advocates. That was how it had always been.

    It was also the reason why the Universe had indirectly supported The Late God of Darkness in the Great War.

    For the Universe, the death of a few races, powerhouses, and ster systems was nothing noteworthy. It was more important to remove the few Advocates.

    If one was not able to fend for themself, their lifey in the hands of the strong. That was how it had always been. Dying at the hands of the strong was nothing umon, and the Universe had prepared itself to lose a third of its poption, or even more if that was truly needed to destroy the Advocates of the Pryard.

    Now that only one Advocate was left, the Universe shouldn''t be ready to sacrifice the same massive number of races and powerhouses. However, the exact opposite was the case.

    The Universe got to know how threatening the Advocates were, and what happened after only one Advocate was left in the Universe for eons. It was ready for half the Universe''s poption to disappear as long as that meant the Advocate of the Pryard would be removed from the Universe as well.

    Nial got to know all these pieces of information from the Oracle. She shared everything with him, which was something Nial was very grateful for.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    "By now, the Advocate of the Pryard should have amassed enough influence in the Universe to convince everyone to wage war with you. Because you exposed yourself by removing the Veils and shrinking them, some Primordials, Ancients, and even Divine Gods may not feel like attacking you without knowing what you n to do with the Devils and the residents of the Gialoran Gxies.

    You are currently the individual with the strongerbat force, but the weakest individualbat strength. After all, you merely ascended godhood.

    Some Divine Gods may hope that you will continue to clear the Veils and that you''re ''different'' from Damian, unwilling to start a second Great War, while others will fear you and attack you because they don''t want the possibility of a second Great War to exist, in the first ce.

    With that in mind, I would like to propose to you that you reveal the existence of the Advocates in the past, that you inherited Damian''s memories, and that you merely want to fight thest remaining Advocate of the Pryard, nothing else.

    There is a Divine God of the Truth whom you can ask to stand testimony for the words you say. That way, you can also add that the Advocate was the one who took your real eyes and that the Advocate must be strong enough to pass through the void, able to enter the Lacardian Empyrean Void.

    Using this tactic, it will be pretty hard for anyone to go up against you, I think."

    The Oracle had a few more things to say, but she wanted Nial to hear about her proposal. She felt that her n was feasible and that they should hurry over to the Divine God of Truth to request his help immediately.

    That was the only way they could prevent the worst. At least, that was what the Oracle thought.

    Nial was not too sure about that, but he didn''t really have much of a n, to begin with. There were a few ideas he had before, but given the newly acquired pieces of information, none of them would work out as he wanted.

    There were a few preparations he hadpleted, but their value was something that would be determined in the future, from the course of events and the responses of the other races.

    Nial didn''t expect over a million Devils and four Gxies to resurface the moment he ascended godhood. This made things a little bit moreplicated.

    He might have gotten his hands on a hugebat force, but that instilled fear and uncertainty in the minds of those who had witnessed the first Great War.

    This was not exactly good.

    Unfortunately, the situation didn''t seem to get better as well.

    It was consistently getting worse.

 Chapter 662 Powerhouses

    The first thing Nial noticed as countless portals manifested in a range of ten kilometers around him was one thing; the portals were all connected to him!

    Made out of dark energy, and pitch-ck in color, the portals resembled the abyss itself.

    Some portals wererger, while others were quite small in size. However, they all radiated the exact same pressure and exuded a sense of familiarity.

    Nial could tell that the portals were part of one of Damian''s special traits. To be precise, it was his Devils'' trait.

    Because his dark energy was connected to every single Devil, they had a special bond. The Devilized beings could teleport to their master using this connection as long as the master gave them permission to appear by his side.

    Nial gave his Devils the necessary permission, and it didn''t take too long for the first Devils to emerge from the darkness portals.

    The first Devils were Kaeldur, Titan, Dexter, and Ryu. Nial was already familiar with them, or so he thought.

    "Since when are you guys so powerful?" He asked, slightly baffled at how strong Kaeldur, Titan, and Dexter had be.

    In fact, even Ryu was now at the Trixor rank, which was actually unbelievable. The Darkness Gryphon shouldn''t have been able to reach the Trixor rank, in the first ce.

    Ryu merely screeched before it shot forward, rubbing his head against Nial''s chest. Nial patted the needy Gryphon, just to sense that Shadow was getting jealous. Shadow had transformed into his smallest form, a twenty-meter-long heavy-armored serpent.

    "You as well?" Nial blurted out, feeling as if something had gone wrong. Shadow was not only at the Trixor rank all of a sudden, but the Devilized Origin Leviathan was actually on par with a God in terms of strength. Nial felt that quite clearly, and it was a great shock.

    "Master, your ascension unsealed the seals on the Old Devils. We''ve regained our former strength thanks to your ascension. The Devils you''ve created was also given an enhancement. Their body transformed in ordance to the potency of your Heart of Darkness¡­or should I say the Cursed Divinity?" Kaeldur exined while revealing a rare smile at the end of his exnation.

    The Old Devils had been connected to Damian''s Godly Fragment. Meanwhile, the Devils he created artificially had been bound to the Heart of Darkness. Both were in the same ce, and they turned into Nial''s Cursed Divinity, the Heart of Gluttony.

    The Old Devils had already evolved and transformed in the past as Damian had ascended to godhood. However, the newly created Devils were different. They were given a great opportunity by being bound to the foundation of Nial''s Cursed Divinity.

    That was a great surprise, and certainly something Nial was happy about. Now that Shadow became stronger, it would be much easier to travel through the Universe, muchrger distances with a single jump!

    Not only the Devils he had created and summoned before his ascension to godhood appeared around him. Slowly, the darkness portals around him were used and one Devil for each darkness portal emerged in the surrounding area.

    The Oracle stared at the hundreds of thousands of Devils that emerged in their surroundings with widening eyes. She knew that the Late God of Darkness had been powerful and that one of his strongest traits had been to devilize all kinds of beings. The Devilization changed the gics of the beings, healing cripples and enhancing benevolent mutations, while simultaneously turning adverse mutations into powerful traits.

    However, what the Oracle could have never anticipated was that there were so many Devils, let alone that all of them were so powerful. It was truly shocking.

    The vast majority of them were on par with thebat power of Gods!

    Nial was impressed as well, but he had already expected that his Devils would be powerful. Damian''s memories were apparent in his mind. That was why he had a much easier time recalling thebat prowess of every Devil.

    Nheless, the Devils were even stronger than he recalled from Damian''s memories.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    ''Looks like sealing the Devils for eons allowed them to refine their powers to the peak.''

    The Devils were stronger than ever before, and Nial knew that he required this kind of strength in the near future.

    "Tens of thousands of Devils with the strength of Ancient Gods, and more than a hundred Devils with abat power rivaling Divine Gods. Looks like your strength increased quite a bit, Nial," The Oracle said, smiling brightly at him.

    She knew that Nial was not yet strong enough to deal with the Advocate on his own. But that didn''t seem to be necessary anymore, either way.

    With the Devils by his side, it shouldn''t be a problem to kill the Advocate of the Pryard.

    "I thought that it would be necessary to cultivate my Cursed Divinity a little bit until I''m stronger¡­but I don''t think that necessary," Nial mumbled while stretching out his hand. A huge portal of darkness manifested above him in which the Devils charged without hesitation.

    There may be lots of things that he should share with his Devils but Nial believed that it was easier to hoard the Devils inside his Heart of Gluttony where he would share the memories and pieces of information about the current situation with them.

    That would make things a lot easier.

    "Let''s go to the Divine God of Truth!" The Oracle eximed quietly, ignoring Shadow and Ryu while reaching out for Nial''s hand.

    She knew exactly where they had to go. Thus, she was going to take the lead from here on.

    "The Divine God of Truth has his own domain, so it''s not too difficult to find him. However, it will be easier to avoid the guards and other Gods for the time being. After all, you should first talk to the Divine God of Truth before anyone else. Otherwise, things might be a little troublesome for you." The Oracle pointed out and Nial couldn''t agree more.

    "I would like to avoid trouble as much as possible¡­that would be for everyone''s best."

    **

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 Chapter 663 Faint Smell

    Traveling through the Universe was not exactly difficult for someone like Nial, not anymore.

    Because he was connected to Shadow, he could create his own darkness spatial portals and jump through space easily.

    With Grasp of Eclipse, he could easily jump from one end of a ster system to the other end. It wouldn''t even drain too much of his dark energy, since it was just a drop in the ocean of his Sea of Darkness and Heart of Gluttony.

    The Devils residing in his Heart of Gluttony had it quitefortable. They assimted their newfound strength with the power they had already possessed before they were unsealed. Some things had changed a littlepared to before, but everyone could tell that Nial was their new master.

    If he wasn''t their master, it wouldn''t have been possible to enter his Cursed Divinity. In fact, the Cursed Divinity of Nial was much bigger than Damian''s Divinity had ever been. While it was very crowded in Damian''s Cursed Divinity, Nial''s Heart of Gluttony had enough space left for millions of Devils to stay, move and do whatever they want to do.

    However, it was not only Nial''s ability to store the Devils inside the Heart of Gluttony, that gave the Devils the reaffirmation that Nial was their Master. The memories he shared from his past life, his n, his encounter with Damian, how he changed over the course of a century, and his overall story was the decision reasoning for the Devils to obey Nial''smands and ept him as their master.

    Nial was simr to their first master. His train of thought, behavior, and even actions was simr to Damian''s train of thought, behavior, and actions.

    There were only a few differences between them, but one of them was quite particr.

    Nial was not alone.

    Damian had always been alone, fighting for himself, to make sure that he would live a good life. Meanwhile, Nial might have lost his blood-rted family shortly after he was born, his entire race had been annihted, and he might have lost his eyes early on as well, but he gained much more in return.

    He had a cute sister, the best father, good friends, Ryu, Shadow, and even the Oracle.

    Nial may not be too sure about his rtionship with the Oracle, but he knew that he didn''t hate her. In fact, she was a likable person, beautiful and she was trying her utmost to give him a helping hand.

    Without the Oracle, he would have never been able to reach the Divine God of Truth''s domain that quickly.

    The Domain of the Divine God of Truth was a humongous pce inside a semi-transparent sphere. The sphere hovered in the open space, where tremendous amounts of mana surged toward it.

    Nial could clearly perceive the tremendous presence of the Divine Pce. It allowed him to make a grand picture of the entire pce, which included the finest details of the interior in the sphere.

    There was nothing that escaped his senses. At least, that was when it came to the visualization of the Divine Pce. As for sensing the guards of the Divine Pce, let alone the Divine God of Truth, Nial couldn''t perceive them at all.

    Entering the Sphere of the Divine God of Truth''s domain was not further difficult either. The Oracle used a small golden card, which she pressed t against the semi-translucent sphere, to open a small entrance.

    Nial was not too sure where the Oracle got the golden card from, or what kind of key it was, but there were other things to pay more attention to.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    He was a little nervous because he couldn''t sense anyone in his surroundings.

    ''Is my mana blocked from spreading through the Divine Pce?'' Nial wondered, not too sure what he should think about that.

    It bothered him a little, but it was not as if he could do something against it, in the first ce. The Divine Pce was not his territory, but the domain of the Divine God of Truth. It was his yground and everyone who wanted to y on it would have to obey to the rules he had set up.

    "Weird. Where are the guards?" The Oracle mumbled under her breath. She looked left and right but couldn''t detect anyone. Her n to use some secret paths to enter the Divine Pce didn''t seem to be necessary.

    That was pretty good as it allowed them to avoid trouble to a certain extent, but it was also a little confusing. It didn''t really make sense either.

    Nial followed the Oracle as she entered the Divine Pce''s main entrance. He told Ryu and Shadow to return to the Heart of Gluttony, ignoring their plea to stay by his side.

    The two needy Devils heed hismand after a while, leaving behind Nial and the Oracle. They emerged on the floor in the Divine Pce''s entrance and stepped through it with slow but steady steps.

    The Oracle''s head flicked left and right, whenever they reached an intersection, but she never encountered anyone. It was almost as if the Divine Pce had been abandoned.

    But that didn''t make any sense.

    The Divine Pce of the Divine God of Truth was always crowded and many guests resided in the chambers of the Divine Pce for a long time.

    At the end of the day, the Oracle expected that it would be a big problem to reach the chambers of the Divine God of Truth.

    However, here they were, standing in front of the huge arched doors, without encountering anyone.

    Nial smelled something odd. There was a faint iron-like smell that hung in the air. It attracted his interest and he turned around with closed eyes, fully focusing on his smelling sense.

    However, the iron smell was too faint even for Nial to smell. His smelling sense was probably amongst the finest among all Gods, yet, he could barely smell it.

    Thus, he turned around with a shrug.

    ''Well, whatever¡­''

 Chapter 664 The Murder

    The Oracle''s n to search for the Divine God of Truth was almost perfect.

    Hardly anything could go wrong.

    Unfortunately, the worst thing that could have happened actually did happen.

    As Nial and the Oracle entered the main office of the Divine God of Truth''s Domain, they were greeted by a huge hall mostly made out of polished marble. The pressure exuded by the exquisite and luxurious furniture, and paint ought to attract their interred.

    However, what forced their attention somewhere else weren''t some mere paintings, let alone the exquisite furniture. Their attention was forcefully dragged to the mid of the office.

    A ck-robed figure stood in between two small mountains of corpses, and its sword had impaled the heart of the Divine God of Truth!

    "What the¡­" The Oracle blurted out without realizing it.

    This caused the ck-robed figure to flinch and turn around. Yet, upon seeing Nial and the Oracle, the ck-robed figure didn''t seem to initiate an attack or run away.

    On the contrary, the figure continued to stare at them through a mask that was as ck as the robe it wore

    The figure twisted the sword de in the heart of the Divine God of Truth, which lead the God to groan in utter pain before he quieted down all of a sudden. The Divine God of Truth''s arms and legs had already been cut off, and a puddle of blood had long since formed on the marble ground.

    The two corpse mountains were filled with corpses that missed several limps. All of them had been severed by the robed man, no matter how powerful its opponents had been.

    Even the Divine God of Truth was being yed with like a toy, what were others supposed to do against the ck-robed figure? They could only give their utmost¡­and die.

    "Are you the Advocate?" Nial asked, trying to visualize the being that was veiled by the ck robe and mask. However, even before Nial could visualize the figure in his mind, the ck-robed figure changed its stance.

    It pulled the sword de out of the Divine God of Truth, twisted its body, and shed out with tremendous force.

    A momentter, blood spurted through the surroundings and a head began to roll over the bloodied marble floor.

    The Oracle''s eyes were wide open and she stared nkly at the situation that had unfolded in front of her. Her shock was apparent in the way she moved, her expression, and her eyes that seemed to be popping out of the eyes sockets.

    Nial summoned a spear in one hand while pulling the Oracle behind him instinctively

    He was ready to summon his Devils and start an all-out war. In fact, if he was really facing the Advocate of the Pryard right now, it might actually be the first andst chance to kill the Advocate without the need to shed the blood of too many innocent beings. A second Great War could be prevented¡­maybe.

    The death of the Divine God of Truth and his guests might be a little inconvenience for him, but as long as he could fight the Advocate of the Pryard in return, Nial may as well consider their deaths a necessity.<novelsnext>please visit </novelsnext>

    The death of a few Gods and only one Divine God was certainly much better than the annihtion of half the Universe. Comparing both, the former seemed to be a ''slightly'' better oue.

    Nial thought that it was a good idea to unleash the Devils that were on par with Divine Gods in terms ofbat power when he noticed a shift in space.

    The surrounding tremored and the object that had appeared in Nial''s hand began to tremble violently.

    Nial frowned deeply. He spread his range of perception and Mana Sense to the extreme in an instant. It might not be possible for him to visualize the ck-robed figure right now.

    But what, or rather who, he could visualize easily were a bunch of Gods¡­Divine Gods, that had arrived at the entrance of the Divine God of Truth''s Domain.

    "You should let the guests inside," A neutral voice, neither belonging to a man nor a woman rang out through the office of the Divine God of Truth. A short burst ofughter followed behind before the ck-robed figure seemed to be merging with the surrounding. The ck robe and the figure beneath seemed to lose the color of their existence, which made it seem as if it had never existed in the first ce.

    Just like that, the ck-robed figure disappeared even before Nial could do something.

    ''The Advocate can even move through the restrictions of the spatial blockage?'' Nial wondered, clenching his left fist.

    A small pendant was crushed through the tremendous force he unleashed in his left hand, and he reached out for the Oracle''s hand.

    Through the Spatial Blockage Pendant, Nial had attempted to turn their first encounter, after his ascension, into an all-out battle with only one winning side.

    Unfortunately, it didn''t seem to be that easy.

    The spatial blockage restricted the entrance of other beings as well, just like it restricted the use of space-attributed abilities and power inside the range of the pendant.

    Nial had to crush the pendant to use Shadow''s power to leave the Divine Pce of the Divine God of Truth as quickly as possible.

    After all, the Divine God of Truth''s dead body was lying not too far from him, followed by two mountains of corpses, of beings from races with considerable strength.

    The moment anyone would find him and the Oracle standing around in the main office, they would turn into the prime suspects. Maybe, the new arrivals wouldn''t even bother trying to talk to them. After all, they were bound to find him and the Oracle in the act of the heinous crime!

    Nial utilized the Power of the Origin Leviathan in an instant, creating arge ck portal next to them. His hand, holding the Oracle''s, pulled her toward him to make sure that they would leave this ce together.

    But, just as they were about to step through the portal, it dispersed into countless particles.

    "Bastards! How dare you kill the Divine God of Truth and think about leaving this ce alive!!"

 Chapter 665 Fighting Divine Gods

    "Bastards! How dare you kill the Divine God of Truth and think about leaving this ce alive!!"

    A Divine God, a Spectran to be precise, shouted out loudly while dispersing Nial''s portal.

    Nial and the Oracle were getting a headache the moment they heard the voice of the Divine God. It was impossible for something good to follow after such an usation.

    ''So the Advocate escaped¡­and I have to deal with a bunch of Divine Gods now?!''

    Nial visualized nine Gods, with each of them being stronger than the ordinary Ancient God. Only two of them were Divine Gods, but that was actually troublesome enough to cause some serious problems for the Oracle and Nial.

    It was not long ago that Nial ascended godhood. As for the Oracle, she might be an Ancient God, but fighting was definitely not her forte.

    That was something Nial could tell easily as he sensed her nervous movements and that she was somewhat absent-minded, probably thinking about a solution that would fix all their problems immediately.

    All of a sudden, a huge spear of zing mes shot forward. The velocity was high enough to break the sound barrier twice before it arrived centimeters in front of Nial''s chest.

    Even though Nial had been able to sense the suddenbustion of mana, and depict the movements of the Ancient God behind the Spectran, he hadn''t been able to react fast enough.

    On his own, he would have never been able to survive the iing attack. It was a great fortune that he was not alone.

    Tens of thousands of ws and hands of all sizes, jut out of his body all of a sudden. The ws and hands shot toward the zing spear onto which the darkness ws and hands impacted. The temperature in the office increased drastically all of a sudden as thebusted energy and heat within the zing spear were forcefully expelled.

    The zing spear exploded while darkness shrouded Nial and the Oracle whom Nial had pulled behind him once again.

    Kaeldur, Titan, Dexter, and dozens of other Devils slowly emerged from within Nial. These Devils were all it took to kill the two Divine Gods and the seven Ancient Gods whosebat power was extraordinary as well.

    "He is Damian''s sessor!" One of the Ancient Gods shouted out loud with a trembling voice.

    The tremendous power that radiated from the Devils caused the Ancient God to instinctively feel like backing off.

    However, the biggest threat of the Universe had just appeared in front of them, in the weakest form they will ever encounter him again. Could they really abandon such an opportunity?

    "He killed the Divine God of Truth. His vengeance has already begun! KILL!!" the Spectran shouted out, raising his metallic arm while creating two golden portals.

    But instead of moving his allies closer to the enemies, or removing the Devils from the domain of the Divine God to make some space for them to attack Nial, the Spectran controlled his supreme spatial affinity precisely to pull Nial out of the coverage of the dozens of Devils.

    Nial was pulled into the golden portal, and he emerged in the midst of the Ancient Gods who attack with various means at the exact same time.

    It was almost as if they had nned all of that the moment they encountered him.

    "Fuck it!" Nial shouted out loudly, unleashing the darkness sealed inside his body all of a sudden.

    His Cursed Divinity was activated for the first time, causing the entire domain to tremor. Depriving some of the Devils of their dark energy temporarily, the power Nial could unleash was tremendous.

    A ck shockwave originating from the depth of Nial''s body rang out, smashing into the Ancient Gods whose eyes widened in shock.

    Meanwhile, darkness shrouded their attacks, devouring them in an instant. They had been too distracted to retaliate against Nial''s Cursed Divine Ability, thus allowing him to devour their attacks, and empower himself with the energy he had just devoured.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, just like earlier¡­Nial was not alone!

    He allowed more Devils to emerge from the Heart of Gluttony. More and more Devils emerged in the darkness around Nial, while Kaeldur, Titan, Dexter, and the others didn''t remain idle either.

    They began to move the moment Nial had been pulled away from them.

    Arge-scale battle began just like that, even though Nial didn''t do anything wrong.

    It was his misfortune to have been at the wrong ce at the worst possible time.

    ''This piece of shit was a step ahead of us¡­''

    The Advocate of the Pryard had been a step ahead of them, which could only mean one thing; the Advocate is fully aware of the overall situation.

    It knew that Nial had just ascended godhood, but also that his Devils were extremely powerful, that it would be hard to kill him just like that. The Advocate had figured that it was not possible to win alone.

    Thus, the Divine God of Truth had been killed instead. The easier target had been obliterated to make sure that Nial would never be able to use the Divine Ability of the God of Truth. This would have been the worst.

    Despite the n the Advocate of the Pryard had in mind, Nial didn''t think that it had been nned for their arrival. The ck-robed figure had been unmoving way too long for everything to be part of a n.

    ''This lucky bastard.''

    Nial was a bit bothered that he had to fight a bunch of Ancient Gods and even two Divine Gods.

    However, he had to do what had to be done. That was a matter of fact. From the beginning, Nial knew that the Divine God of Truth wasn''t going to work.

    He still tried it out, because he could have been mistaken, but from the looks of it, things had gotten a lot worse.

    ''In that case, I need to fight and make them understand who they''re facing!!''

    **

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 Chapter 666 Mana Void Prison

    Nial had to attempt speaking to the group of Gods that attacked him all of a sudden.

    After facing several iing attacks, he figured that calmly speaking wouldn''t help him toe out victorious. On the contrary, it might actually be dangerous and lead to his death. The Ancient and Divine Gods didn''t seem to desire a peaceful oue, after all!

    They wanted to kill him, by all means.

    Nial might have been able to distract the Ancient Gods for a moment and devour some of their attacks, but that was not enough to win against them.

    More Devils emerged from the darkness around Nial. Some used the darkness that shrouded his body, as well. Either way, the Devils were the strongest, and their most important task was to protect Nial.

    The seven Ancient Gods and two Divine Gods were the most threatening for someone like Nial. Their power was more than enough to end his life in no time.

    Hundreds of hands and huge ws, coated in darkness, shot out of the dark, reaching out for the Ancient and Divine Gods who backed off in an instant. Their eyes widened and goosebumps covered their bodies were covered in a cold sweat as they sensed the terrific power that surged through the Devils.

    The Devils were extremely fast, and their ruby eyes seemed to take in the information about the surrounding area easily. It required mere moments until the Devils finished assessing the situation ahead.

    Their ruby eyes began to glow brightly and devious grimaces formed on their faces as more darkness began to shroud them.

    It was only a matter of time before the entire main office belonging to the Diving God of Truth waspletely covered in darkness. Nial made use of this darkness to use the Grasp of Eclipse technique.

    He appeared next to the Oracle, where he reached out for her hand to make clear that he had arrived next to her. Nial didn''t want to utter any noises right now. His full attention was attracted by the Gods and Devils, who were fighting with all their might.

    "Let''s leave!" The Oracle whispered in a hurry, hoping that Nial would create a portal to lead them outside the Divine God of Truth''s Domain.

    However, Nial shook his head. He smiled lightly in the Oracle''s direction before motioning his head in the direction of the fight that would continue, whether they stayed or ran away.

    "Just watch for now. We have to rify that I was not here to kill the Divine God of Truth, but that I wanted him to vouch for me," He said calmly

    The Oracle squinted her eyes. She stared at Nial, trying to assess him and figure out what he was thinking, only to end up shaking her head.

    "I really don''t get what you''re thinking about. If we don''t leave, we might die!"

    It was only obvious for the Oracle to be worried. They were currently used of having murdered the Divine God of Truth, his disciples, and his guests.

    There was hardly anything that could be worse!

    But Nial was currently smiling as he visualized the battle that unfolded in front of him.

    The main office of the Divine God of Truth was very big. Despite being an office, it was also used as the Divine God of Truth''s training space. Hundreds ofplex runic constetions had spread through the entire office, gathering mana in the room''s center.

    Thus, it was no wonder that the hall was over 20 meters in height, and close if not above 200 meters in width and breadth.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The main office was truly ginormous, yet it felt almost as if there was not enough space for thebatants to go all out. After all, there were close to 150 Devils, with the weakest being as strong as an ordinary Ancient God, fighting two Divine Gods and seven Ancient Gods with greatbat prowess.

    "There is no need to worry. The Devils I''ve released are more than enough to deal with them. If you''re worrying about our survival, you might as well start worrying about how to exin the current situation.

    They will have to listen once they''re beaten ck and blue, whether they like it or not!"

    The Ancient Gods and Divine Gods were slowly overwhelmed. Their individual strength was not even higher than their opponents''bat power, yet, each of the Ancient Gods and Ancient Gods had to fight against more than 15 Devils at the same time.

    It was only obvious that the Devils were at a devastating advantage.

    However, instead of mercilessly ughtering the Ancient Gods and Divine Gods, the Devils were giving their all to inflict superficial injuries and strive toward tiring out the Gods. Some Devils inflicted worse injuries than the other, but none of them was trying to rip their bodies apart, let alone pierce their razor-sharp ws deep into the flesh of the Gods.

    Even if the Gods were under tremendous pressure right now, unable to think properly due to the attention they had to pay to not fall prey to the Devils, they could tell that something was off.

    "They want to get us alive!"

    "Are they nning to imprison us?!"

    "Maybe he wants to turn us into his mindless Devils!!"

    Despite being in the midst of a battle, and facing tremendous pressure, the Gods wereing up with theories about Nial''s scheming.

    One theory was worse than the other, and listening made Nial wonder what kind of monster he ought to be in the opinion of these Gods.

    He shook his head in denial and kept listening to them.

    "My control of the surrounding space is growing weaker! I cannot bring us out of here!" The Spectran shouted out all of a sudden.

    "The mana inside me is not listening to me anymore! What is going on??"

    "There is something wrong with my mana as well!"

    "Mine is going crazy too!"

    Listening to thements of the Gods intently, Nial nodded his head.

    His expression was one of utter satisfaction as he held a hand-sized dize tightly in his hand.

    ''Looks like this worked out pretty decently''

 Chapter 667 Captured

    The red dice he held in his hand was one of the many experiments Nial did after he returned to the Origin.

    Being a full-blown Saint Runicier with knowledge of forgotten runic constetions and thousands of hieroglyphs, he could create various miraculous runic armaments.

    A replication of the huge box, which the Demihumans had used to distort the mana in the epassed space, was no problem for him anymore.

    In fact, Nial had further upgraded the huge box, turning it into a Forgotten Saintly Armament which distorted not only the mana in the surrounding area but also every Original and Ascender caught inside it.

    Nial couldn''t even ess the space inside his Heart of Gluttony now that he had activated the Mana Void Prison. The Mana Void Prison wasrge enough to shroud the entire domain of the Divine God of Truth, and it restricted the usage of the Spectran''s Supreme Spatial Affinity, as well.

    In exchange for not being able to summon more Devils from the depth of his Heart of Gluttony, and being unable to feel anything with his dark energy, the Devils and Gods lost their control of the dark energy, Divine Energy, and Mana that coursed through their body.

    Everyone was weakened equally, without anyone being given preferential treatment.

    Physical strength andbat techniques were all that counted right now. Physical strength was something the Devils were filled to the brim with. They were disgustingly powerful in terms of physical strength even though their tactics and swordsmanship were not that refined.

    However, that was not really necessary when it came to the current situation.

    The devils were in a devastating numerical advantage, and most Gods didn''t possess the same terrific strength as the Devils. Though their swordsmanship and tactical mind were much better, refined to the pinnacle of the Universe, it was not enough to win against the Devils.

    The battle was slowlying to an end two hourster. No matter how hard and desperate the Gods fought, they couldn''t kill a single Devil.

    Once one of the Devils had been injured severely, it retreated and allowed one of its brethren to take charge.

    That way, none of the Devils faced any dangers once injured. However, it was humiliating enough that they had to watch their brethren gain glory and honor once they had officially won while the injured Devils could only stare at them. They wanted to be helpful to their master, and not hold him back!

    Nial didn''t retract the Mana Void Prison even after they won. Instead, he made sure that his Devils would hold the Gods down to the ground as he approached them.

    "You monster! What are you doing?!"

    "Don''t even think about turning us into one of your Devils. We would rather kill ourselves than be forced to follow you!"

    Nial had a faint smile on his lips as he listened to their insults and worthless attempts to stay ''honorable'' and ''loyal'' toward the Universe.

    He bends down to the ground and put nes around their necks. Nial didn''t say a word even after he finished what he started. His senses were still restricted, but he knew where the nine Gods were located. They shouted loud enough to attract his attention and expose their position.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "What is that?! Tell us! NOW!"

    "You bastard. Face up openly, and you will see what we''re going to do with you, you imbecile!"

    Nial couldn''t really take these Gods seriously anymore. The moment they lost, their mouths turned into their weapons. However, while their swords were extremely sharp, their tongues were as sharp as a bar of soap. Their insults didn''t even reach him.

    "I will remove the Mana Void Prison in the next ten seconds. There will be no problem with your Mana and Divine Energy. However, I wouldn''t rmend using any of it right now. The nes I''ve put around you will react to the Mana and Divine Energy the moment you guys release it, and they will explode," Nial exined calmly.

    He was not too sure how the others reacted because he couldn''t see them. The only clue he had were the noises they made. He analyzed their unstable breathing, which caused him to smile lightly.

    "Don''t even think about erecting a protection wall around your head to survive the explosion. The nes are made out ofpressed Chaos and my Cursed Divinity. Your energy will be devoured and Chaos of superior quality will hit you afterward. If you guys have no idea how powerful Superior Chaos is¡­it''s the same type of Chaos the Veils release to create the bridges between this Universe and their Universe."

    Even Gods were not able to do something against the Superior Chaos of the Veils. They couldn''t even touch the Veils because the Superior Chaos would spread to their body and corrode it slowly. This was not something one should take lightly.

    The Gods saw the Superior Chaos that manifested in Nial''s hand the moment he removed the Mana Void Prison, and their eyes widened.

    None of them thought about using their powers, not even the Spectran, who was confident that he could transport the ne to a different ce before it would explode.

    Despite his confidence, the Spectran didn''t act. First of all, his confidence might betray him. He couldn''t be 100% certain that his n would work out. After all, the Spectran had never seen a ne like this.

    The Mana Void Prison was also something entirely new to the Spectran. However, even if he were to be able to remove the ne from his neck, what was he supposed to do? Flee on his own and abandon hisrades? Fight Nial and his Devils, and die miserably?

    It was better to wait a bit and figure out what the sessor of the Darkness God nned to do.

    "Are you nning to Devilize us?" He thus asked, not entirely sure what to expect from the Darkness God''s sessor.

    He didn''t kill them even though he mercilessly massacred the Divine God of Truth and everyone else in the Divine Pce? That didn''t really make any sense!

    "If you want to torture us to get some information, don''t even think about it. We will never tell you our secrets!!"

    Nial continue to smile as he nodded his head.

    "I don''t need your secrets. Just lend me your ears for a while, and you may actually be speaking on your own!"

 Chapter 668 Giving It A Try

    After the Gods saw Nial and the Oracle alone in the office with two small mountains of corpses and the recently killed Divine God of Truth, they concluded that Nial had been the murderer.

    They didn''t even question him and attacked relentlessly. That was how they ended up in the current situation, tied up and a ne, which would explode the moment the Gods would use their Mana or Divine Energy, put around their neck.

    The Gods had gotten up from the ground and the Devils moved next to Nial to make some space for him as he stepped forward.

    He visualized the Gods precisely for the first time and figured that the Spectran was the only Primordial in the small group of nine.

    Damian had never encountered the other Gods, which made things a little bit easier, or so he thought.

    "I know that it will be hard to believe me and that you guys will probably disregard my words, either way, but someone else was here before me. I couldn''t clearly perceive that person because the armaments used by that person could restrict a visualization of the being beneath the ck robe and the mask it wore.

    This person killed all those Gods, including the Divine God of Truth before I could ask the Divine God of Truth to vouch for me. After all, I had an announcement to make and wanted to make sure that everyone would believe my words.

    With the Divine God of Truth''s help, this would have been much easier, don''t you guys agree?"

    Nial''s words resounded through the main office to be heard by everyone. The Oracle felt like adding a few things, but she noticed that the Gods were quiet and that they were deep in thought.

    Most of them were silent because they didn''t have much to say. Just like Nial had said earlier, they didn''t believe what he said. There was no need for Nial to waste his breath and brain cells toe up with such a detailed n to make it seem as if he was a nice person.

    The Gods could tell that Nial was sly by looking at his face. It was the most scheming face they had ever seen. That was something the Gods were sure of, most of them at least.

    Nial figured that they wouldn''t trust him because they had already determined that he was the sessor of the Darkness God. The Darkness God was a frightening, deadly, sly, and merciless person. He destroyed the bnce of life and death in the Universe by eradicating too many precious lives in a matter of years.

    Clearly recalling the past, and how they felt during the Great War, the Gods could never forget themselves for being too weak to change the tides of war, let alone protect those they cared deeply about.

    It was necessary for some things to change, and the Gods figured that they had to be will-strong this time around. If they would crumble after a few words said by the Darkness God''s Sessor, they would not only betray their own races but also the trust of the Universe.

    "It''s fine even if you don''t want to speak with me. I will be the one speaking. Listen to me, and decide whether you believe my words, or not afterward. There is no need to rush anything."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As he spoke, Nial was trying toe up with the best possible way to start the story he initially wanted to tell the Divine God of Truth. The nine Gods wereparable to the Divine God of Truth, but there was not actually much he could do to save the current situation.

    As long as he could nt some seeds of doubt, he could already consider today as a sess, if one excluded the death of the Divine God of Truth, and that he had actually been present when the Divine God of Truth died.

    "To exin the current situation in simple terms, I am in possession of Damian''s memories. That is also why I recall you, Jgdras," Nial said while his head turned to the Spectran. The Spectran flinched looking at the milky-white, lifeless eyes.

    Nial ignored the shuddering Spectran and continued.

    "I can also tell you that Damian never wanted to destroy the Universe. He nned to kill specific Primordials, Ancients, and other Gods, who fell into the hands of the Pryard. Their greed overwhelmed them and they turned into the Advocate of the Pryard. Most of you should know the Pryard, but if you don''t know them yet, they''re the higher existences of the Veilures and other existences with supreme control of Void and Chaos.

    Hoer, the devourer of universes, is also a Pryard, and it is said that he will make his way to this Universe, though that might take a few eons.

    Jgdras, if you think carefully about it, who were the targets of the Darkness God, and what did he do after the targets were eliminated? Did Damian continue to attack these parts of the Universe, or did he retreat?" Nial asked, his question directed at the Spectran.

    The Divine God stared nkly at Nial, and he didn''t say a word. He didn''t utter a single word, but that was not because he turned mute all of a sudden. On the contrary, he was not exactly sure what to say, in the first ce.

    At the end of the day, the Great War happened a long time ago. Recalling everything clearly was not impossible, but certain memory fragments might be a little different than he knew.

    The Spectran could actually recall the names of the beings Damian had wanted to kill. He could also remember that Damian had been pushed back after killing one of the strongest Spectran in history. Whether it was coincidence or not, the strongest Spectran in the history of the Universe had also been one of Damian''s targets.

    Nobody thought much about this at that time. In fact, everyone presumed that Damian targeted the strongest Divine Gods in the history of the Universe in order to be the Supreme Ruler of the Universe.

    But was that really the case?

    Was that really Damian''s n?

    Nobody could tell for sure.

 Chapter 669 I Just Want Revenge!

    At the end of the day, the actions and intentions of a person could be interpretedpletely differently than those intended by another person.

    If enough beings misinterpreted someone''s intentions, they turned into the truth. That was just how the Universe worked.

    Many misinterpretations were wrong, and they turned a person with good intentions into a viin, who wanted nothing but the worst from the Universe.

    That was how Damian turned into the biggest Viin known in the annals of history, even though his intention had been noble.

    He was a murderer, who desired to rule over the universe. That was it.

    Not even the fact that he voluntarily retreated once he killed his targets was interpreted in the correct way.

    Everyone just assumed that Damian had been injured by the Spectran and that he retreated in order to recuperate. But listening to Nial caused many questions to surface in his mind.

    "Don''t tell me you thought that your armies had been strong enough to pressure Damian and force him into a retreat?!" Nial asked the ridicule in his face for everyone to see.

    "The Darkness God was stronger than all Divine Gods, and he could more than fight off you guys at the same time. He had over a million Devils by his side and his army was not only stronger but also much bigger than the armies of the Gods. So don''t be delusional and a hypocrite. Just look at the facts and ept that Damian merely killed everyone who was in his way.

    He obliterated several races but their fate was sealed the moment they were daring enough to give an Advocate of the Pryard shelter.

    If you don''t believe me, take a look at the logs of the Great War. Think about all the targets of the ''viinous'' Darkness God andpare them with the cruelest war crimes Damianmitted. You might be astonished about the result."

    The Spectran and the other Gods were still silent. Nial was not even sure if they were properly listening to him, or if he was talking to a wall.

    But even if they wouldn''t be listening, there was not much Nial could do about it. The Gods had the choice and could listen to him, or be delusional and ignore him. They would be the ones who would die, not Nial.

    "Damian was able to kill most Advocates of the Pryard. Only one is left behind, and I want to kill this Advocate of the Pryard. The Advocate of the Pryard attacked and eradicated my races a little bit more than a hundred years ago. I don''t know the identity of the Advocate, so if you want a peaceful end even before a second Great War starts, it would be great if you could just reveal the Advocate''s identity. This is for your own good as well!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Either way, the Advocate has to be strong enough to pass through the void, able to enter the Lacardian Empyrean Void, the ce my race has ruled, the ce I was born, and the ce my eyes were taken and exchanged with the eyes of the Advocate, which had been cursed by Damian."

    When he mentioned the Lacardian Empyrean Void, that his race had been annihted a little bit more than a century ago, and that his lifeless eyes were actually the eyes of the Advocate of the Pryard, who had exchanged their eyes a little bit more than a century ago, Nial earned the first reaction from the Gods.

    Some looked at each other withplicated expressions on their face, while others began to wonder if there was someone who had been cursed by Damian in the Great War. If there was a person like this, did he or she regain her eyesight a century ago, or was Nial lying?

    The easiest way to find out whether Nial was just trying to bullshit his way through in order to gain their trust was to take a look at the facts. There weren''t many blind Gods in the first ce, and the number dwindled further because there had been even fewer during the Great War''s period. The number of Gods who lost their eyesight during the Great War was also little, and even fewer were currently alive.

    "I just want to get my revenge, nothing more. Furthermore, the Universe told me to kill the Advocate. If you have anyone able tomunicate with the sentiments of the Universe, ask them about it.

    It even allowed me to obliterate half the universe if that was necessary to get rid of the Advocate of the Pryard. So¡­think about my words, and take them seriously, otherwise, I might actually have to search for the Advocate myself¡­and that won''t make anyone happy!"

    There were actually a few more things Nial had to say, but he could tell that he was already flooding the Gods with the information he had provided.

    At the end of the day, the things he said were something that could cause a devastating storm of unpredictable size. If Damian was really the good guy, who had fought everything and everything in order to protect the Universe and the innocent races of the Universe, wouldn''t that turn everyone else into the bad person, the ignorant fools who had been yed with?

    Nobody really wanted to think about it that way, but it was pretty obvious that some things turned out to be a little bit more suspicious than initially expected.

    NIal stepped forward, retrieved nine orbs from his spatial rings and he put them down in front of the Gods.

    "As you may know, these aremunication orbs. You can contact me through them if you want to. However, don''t even bother to try and find me by tracing the call. That won''t work," He said before he stepped back.

    Once he was surrounded by his Devils, Nial released the nes of the Gods. They didn''t move and stared at him for a few seconds.

    "If you don''t want to leave, then don''t. Just don''t attack me, otherwise, I will kill you this time!"

 Chapter 670 Devouring A Divine God

    *Sigh*

    "...talking to them really tired me out¡­"

    Once the Gods left the Divine Pce Domain of the Divine God of Truth, the tension in Nial''s body was released explosively.

    He continued to sigh a few more times before he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.

    "You did your best. I don''t think that I could have done it any better," The Oracle said while smiling vibrantly at Nial.

    She was proud of him and wanted to show this clearly. It was not easy to endure getting insulted, being used of having done something that couldn''t be more wrong and being misunderstood.

    Nial was bound to face simr, if not worse, situations as he encountered today.

    The whole day had been filled with misfortune. Not only was the Divine God of Truth dead, killed in front of them, but a bunch of powerful Gods hade to visit the Divine God of Truth not long after.

    "I wonder if the Advocate nned all of this, or if he, or she, was also surprised about the arrival of the other Gods."

    Nial scratched the back of his head and he sighed once again.

    He turned toward the two small mountains that had been created with the corpses of Gods. The Divine God of Truth was seated in the center of the two corpse mountains, his dead body exuding the remnants of highly potent Divine Energy he wielded when he was still alive.

    "I doubt that they will bother what happens to their corpses, right?" Nial asked even though he knew that this was not exactly the case.

    The Oracle didn''t say anything but that was not needed, in the first ce.

    Nial knew that the families, friends, and even the other authorities of their races would want to retrieve the corpse of the Divine God and the other Gods.

    To their misfortune, they would never be able to meet them again. Nial would devour their bodies, remnants of power, and their existence with his Cursed Divine Ability!

    He felt a little sorry, but war was not fair, and he didn''t really believe that his words reached the Gods. The impact of his words shouldn''t have been as grand as the Oracle believed.

    In fact, even if his words and the exnations he delivered had some impact, it was not possible for seven Ancient Gods and two Divine Gods to change the opinion the entire Universe had about Damian and probably him.

    "The Advocate will probably share the news of your ''heinous sins'' soon. If you want to do something here, better don''t spend too much time. We have to leave soon if we don''t want to be taken by surprise."

    The Oracle''s warm hand was still on his shoulder. It gave him power and the courage he needed to set his heart at ease.

    Even if he gave his all to change the future while making sure to have as few casualties as possible, it was obvious that not everything would go ording to his n.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    That was how life was. There were high times and downtimes. Nial and Damian encountered both of them, even if Damian faced down times more often than Nial. Overall, there was an eerie bnce.

    If something good happened one time, something equally bad was bound to happen at a different time. That was also why it was even more important to see the positive things in the worst times. With the beloved family, friends, and possibly a lover by their side, even the worst times could turn into something magical, something one may as well enjoy to a certain degree.

    Nial could feel this right now quite well.

    It felt like the Universe copsed right in front of him, but Nial didn''t feel as if he was suffocating. On the contrary, he was quite calm, and smiled at the Oracle with a warmed heart as he spread out the darkness of his Cursed Divinity.

    "Devour everything!"

    Tentacles of darkness shot out of the darkness, coiling around the corpses. As dead as they were, the remnants of Divine Energy were still present in their body. However, without even bothering about the Divine Energy the tentacles pulled the corpses into the abyss of Nial''s Cursed Divine Ability.

    No matter how powerful the Divine Energy remnants were, they couldn''t repel the tentacles.

    When the Oracle noticed how peculiar the tentacles were, she was astonished and slightly confused.

    Not even the highly refined, and purified Divine Energy of the Divine God of Truth was strong enough to push the tentacles of Nial''s Cursed Divie Ability away.

    One had to know that Nial was still only a youngling God. It hadn''t been that long since he finished his ascension. His Cursed Divinity hasn''t been refined yet either.

    The Oracle knew that Nial''s Cursed Divinity was not something normal because it used the Heart of Darkness as the base. The Heart of Darkness was a creation constructed with the droplet of Cursed Divine Energy, a Fragment of the Darkness God''s Divinity, and the Symbol of Life.

    Combined and reinforced, the Heart of Darkness could already be considered a Lesser Divinity without Divine Ability. However, Nial used this ''Lesser Divinity'' as a mere base ingredient to create his Cursed Divinity, the Heart of Gluttony.

    Instead of creating several Cursed Divine abilities, which would have been possible with a Cursed Divinity on the same level as the Heart of Gluttony, Nial focused on the creation of a single Cursed Divine Ability.

    This Cursed Divine Ability possessed the potential that would have been divided into several Abilities under normal circumstances.

    It was only obvious that Devour was an ability that couldn''t bepared to any other Cursed Divine Ability. The Ability was a limited edition that couldn''t be replicated by anyone, without exception!

    Devour was exactly what Nial needed. He had to increase his strength as quickly as possible, and being able to devour a bunch of Gods, including a handful of Ancient Gods, and a Divine God, was certainly helpful in that regard.

    Once the tentacles pulled the corpses into the darkness, Nial began to smile.

    He retracted the darkness and turned over to the Oracle.

    "I think it''s about time to go home!"

 Chapter 671 Announcement

    With Shadow''s special trait, it was not further difficult to return to the Origin.

    His return to the Orion Shelter was celebrated by those close to him and looked at with interest by the remaining citizens of the shelter.

    The walls of the shelter had been reconstructed, just like the building in the central district. Each of the buildings in the center of the Orion Shelter could easily ovee attacks from Gods now.

    The attacks of Ancient Gods were not included in this test, but it was highly likely that further upgrades would increase the chance of the skyscrapers enduring one or two attacks of Ancients Gods.

    This was an exceptional achievement and it was something that made Nial quite happy. He had been worried about whether or not he should return to the Origin because Ancient Gods and Divine Gods would end up attacking the Orion Shelter knowing that he had constructed it.

    However, thinking about it, they would focus on the destruction of the Orion Shelter, either way. The moment the second Great War would start, his enemies would strive toward the goal to turn his life upside down.

    They were likely to attempt attacking the Gigaloran Gxies, just to realize that his subjects were much stronger than expected. Thus, the easiest would be to attack the Orion Shelter and eradicate it.

    Even if Nial was not present, the Orion Shelter would turn into the eye of the storm.

    He didn''t really like this, but there was not much he could do against it. Nheless, he chose to make an announcement across the entire Orion Shelter after he gathered his thoughts a little.

    [Test¡­.1¡­2¡­3]

    [Dear residents of the Orion Shelter,

    I hope everyone is doing well for the time being.

    I am not sure if the news has already spread, or if I am going to be the first to reveal the news. Either way, it is not going to be something nice, so please prepare yourself mentally.]

    Nial stopped here for a few seconds to give everyone enough time to take a deep breath and prepare themself mentally for what was going to be revealed.

    [As everyone should have figured out by now, my cultivation energy is different from the norm. In fact, it is very simr to the cultivation energy of the Late Darkness God, Damian. Some may know who this is, while others might have never heard from him. To put it simply, he was considered an enemy of the strongest races in the Universe.

    Due to certain circumstances, I''ve inherited his cultivation energy, and his memories. This is also why his subordinates, and the four Gigaloran Gxies resurfaced when I ascended godhood. I gained full control of the four Gigaloran Gxies and his subordinates. However, this is something that most races, including those who had once fought and feared the Late God of Darkness.<novelsnext>¦Ñ¦Á§ád¦Á `n?¦Í?| §ãom</novelsnext>

    I do not want to go further into detail, and just want to tell everyone that it is very likely for some races to prepare to attack the Orion SHelter. As of now, Ancient Gods and Divine Gods cannot enter the Origin with their full power, but it is only a matter of time before that will change as well. By then, the threat the Orion Shelter will have to face will be horrendous.

    Thus, only those who are ready to stay in the Orion Shelter to protect the home they learned to love should stay here. I do not wish to implicate innocent people in this mess, not if I can prevent it somehow!]

    As Nial finished his speech, he noticed that the Oracle smiled proudly at him. Perceiving her so openly smiling at him and touching his arm or shoulder to console him caused him to smile lightly. He clearly felt the loneliness of the God of Darkness in his heart. Damian''s yearning for love and people who care dearly about him was tremendous. Thus, Nial felt it even stronger. After all, the yearning of eons had been thrown at the Blind God.

    Perceiving the Oracle right now, Nial couldn''t help but acknowledge that she was extremely beautiful. The Oracle didn''t have the same charm and innocent as Hanna, but she had a feeling of maturity, elegance, and devoted love around her.

    Being around her was already enough to warm up Nial''s heart and to make him feel as if everything would be alright.

    Her current strength had been restricted by the Origin, giving Nial a pretty good indicator of how strong the strongest Gods on the Origin were likely to be at this moment.

    The defense dome of the Orion Shelter was likely to be strong enough to block a small army of Gods for the next few years. That meant the shelter would be safe to live in. However, traveling around was bound to turn a little bit difficult if they were sieged from all sides, from millions of powerful existences at that.

    That was also why Nial made the announcement. He wanted to make sure that everyone was informed about the possible dangers that would reach them soon.

    Nial didn''t think that the Gods he spoke to earlier would be able to do something against the wrath of other races. In ancient records, Damian was considered the biggest threat of the Universe.

    His sessor had been unveiled and his heinous deeds would soon be exposed as well. It was only obvious that some races would try to kill him as long as he was still a ''weak'' God. He had only ascended godhood a short while ago.

    Of course, he still had the Devils, and he could make use of his subjects in the four Gigaloran Gxies as well.

    But he wouldn''t use his subordinates from the four Gigaloran Gxies yet. He had already sent out a few Devils to control the races in the four Gigaloran Gxies, giving them a few important tasks that had to bepleted as soon as possible.

    Meanwhile, Nial was safe and sound with his million Devils. The moment someone would be daring enough to attack the Orion Shelter, Nial wouldn''t hesitate to obliterate them all.

    His own strength was bound to increase drastically. After all, he had dozens of Gods, a bunch of Ancient Gods, and a Divine God to digest!

 Chapter 672 Digesting A Divine God

    The corpses of the Gods he had devoured in the Divine God of Truth''s main office were sealed deep inside his Heart of Gluttony.

    They had beenpromised and were not slowly digested. The process was slow and arduous because of the high difference in strength between Nial and the corpses he wanted to devour.

    Digesting the ordinary Gods wouldn''t take too long because they were equal in terms of strength, but the Ancient Gods'' corpses and the corpses of the Divine God were something entirely different.

    However, Nial was not in a hurry either. The energy released from the corpses he devoured would be used to refine his Cursed Divinity. In return, the Cursed Divinity would refine his body, mind, and soul. He would receive the most energy from the Divine God, so it was only fair for the digesting procedure to take the longest.

    It would take a few months before the first Gods would attack the Orion Shelter. That was something Nial was pretty sure about. Even if his prediction was a little wrong, it was not as if it would bepletely wrong.

    Thus, he focused on the digestion of the Gods'' corpses while paying attention to other things as well.

    He could split his mind to make sure that the digestion process inside the Heart of Gluttony wouldn''t be affected by his actions. That way, he could work together with Princess Evalyne, the newly advanced Saint Runicier, Ophelia, his sister Sabrina, Mathias, Hanna, and others to reinforce the Orion Shelter.

    With over a million Devils and their knowledge by their side, it didn''t take too long before they found special means to enhance the defensive structures of the Orion Shelter.

    At the same time, they created a bunch ofrge-scale war weapons, including missiles that were strong enough to destroy an entire mountain range. The most important was to kill their opponents, not destroy the surrounding environment.

    However, if the surrounding area wouldn''t be able to endure the highly destructive attacks, it was unlikely for Originals and Ascenders to achieve the same. At least, Originals and Ascenders who had yet to ascend godhood wouldn''t have an easy time.

    Nial thought that the Great War wouldn''t be a problem for the time being. His worry was more about the future.

    He didn''t really want the Great War to escte too much. It would already be bothersome to fight a bunch of Divine Gods. However, fighting the Primordial races and Ancient races, in addition to countless other races, was not exactly something Nial had wished for.

    He would rather have a boring tee party with all of them than fighting them with their lives on the line. Unnecessary grudges would be given birth to the moment Nial, his Devils, and subordinates would start their killing spree.

    Thus, while being deep in thought, and focused on both the digestion of the Gods'' corpses and the reinforcement of the defensive lines of the Orion Shelter, Nial didn''t even notice that there was something inside the corpses of the Gods that didn''t belong there.

    If Nial''s full focus would have been on the happenings inside the Heart of Gluttony, it wouldn''t have been a problem. He could have perceived the tiny golden particles that were not digested by the Heart of Gluttony.

    He wouldn''t have missed that the golden particles were gathering in the center of the Heart of Gluttony, and he would have been able to do something about the things that were about to happen!

    However, being too focused on several tasks at the same time, and worrying about everything, Nial missed out on the things that were happening right in front of him, or precisely, inside him.

    The faint and tiny golden particles were slowly exposed after theyers of the gods'' corpses were digested. It was a process that required a few months, yet, Nial never really noticed anything.

    He was too busy trying his best to reinforce the Orion Shelter, and worrying about the future that he only noticed something was wrong when it was already toote.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Thousands of golden particles had gathered in the center of Nial''s Heart of Gluttony. They were naturally attracted to each other and pulled one another closer to each other.

    The golden particles werepressed and turned into a swirl of energy before they began to transform into a tiny seed.

    The seed was not even the size of the Odyssey seed when Nial had first awoken his Origin. However, when Nial realized that something had been given birth inside his Heart of Gluttony, he was confused.

    p¦Á§ád¦Á`no¦Í?1`§ão§® At first, he didn''t think too much about it. He didn''t know everything about his Cursed Divinity, the Heart of Gluttony, or the Cursed Divine Ability, Devour. There were bound to be things he would only find out by experimenting.

    This was more than enough reason to be rather unbothered about the seed that had manifested in his Heart of Gluttony. The seed didn''t seem to do anything, and Nial chose to pay more attention to it.

    However, what he realized toote was that the effect of the seed had already taken effect.

    The more he worked the more easily he grew tired.

    Gods didn''t have to sleep because they could feed on their cultivated energy. It was not normal for Gods to feel the need to eat, sleep, or drink something. Some Gods would still eat something because the dishes they ate were delicious and highly nutritious.

    However, none of them usually slept. Rather than sleeping, one could consider cultivating as somethingparable.

    Gods only rested when they cultivated, and that was more than enough.

    Under normal circumstances, this was more than enough.

    But Nial faced a weird situation. He grew extremely tired over the period of a month.

    For the first time in a very long period, he wanted to give himself a small present, some rest to return back much stronger than before.

    He felt like he deserved some rest.

    Then he fell asleep.

    A mere momentter, the golden seed began to glow brightly, root out, and connect to the Cursed Divinity and Nial''s entire being.

    Afterward, everything changed forever.

 Chapter 673 Dream?

    ''Hmm? I actually fell asleep?''

    Nial was a little sleep drunken and drowsy. He felt like he could go to sleep again right away.

    However, he also knew that he had to get back to work, otherwise, his people would probably feel like he threw the hard work toward them without doing anything in return.

    He didn''t really like being consideredzy, or a person who pushed aside his responsibilities. Thus, he wanted to get up from bed when he noticed something.

    ''Why are my movements so heavy? Is it because I''m still tired?''

    Confused, Nial continued to try moving around, only to fail miserably. He had no way to get up from the soft bed that seemed to embrace his entire body.

    It was a weird feeling, and Nial quickly noticed something was wrong.

    This sensation intensified even further when he opened his eyes widely, revealing a pair of heterochromatic eyes. One of his eyes shone in a bright and lively silver color while his other eye was royal golden in color.

    As for the reason why Nial knew what his eyes looked like right now¡­he saw it in the mirrored image of the young woman who leaned over to him to pick him up from the crib.

    Yes¡­A gorgeous woman with long silver hair and simrly bright and lively silver eyes smiled brightly at him as she picked him up.

    Just like that, Nial found himself in the arms of the gorgeous woman¡­in the body of a newborn child.

    He was not sure what was going on, where he was, and how he could escape, but he was sure that something was really wrong.

    "Nial Lacardian, my little star. Did you already finish your nap~?" The woman asked, rubbing her nose against his.

    It was at this moment that Nial realized a bunch of things in shock.

    ''Why the hell can I see? Why is her face so huge? And¡­why is my name Nial Lacardian all of a sudden?!''

    Nial couldn''t understand the world anymore. He wanted to say something, but only iprehensible words escaped his lips.

    A momentter, he began to cry out of frustration.

    He bawled his eyes out even though he didn''t really want to cry. His rational mind told him to cast his frustration aside and to find out what was going on, but his body didn''t even think to take his thoughts into consideration.

    "My little star, why are you crying?! Did mommy do something wrong? Are you hungry? Do you want to sleep a little more? Did you fill your diapers?! Ahhh¡­I''m so useless!!!"

    The woman didn''t expect Nial to start crying all of a sudden. His loud screams rang through the huge chamber, causing more distress to the young woman, who twisted and turned her body in an attempt to find something to distract him before she would figure out what exactly was going on.

    It was evident that the woman was doing her best to be a good mother, but also that she was not exactly experienced with raising a child.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    For a moment, Nial felt a little sorry, but it was not as if he could do something against his body''s reaction to cry out loud either. It was not as if he liked it that way.

    While the young woman, who had introduced herself as his mothers, tried to stop the crying baby, a small figure appeared on her shoulders.

    It was a 30-centimeter-long lizard with long legs and a majestic head shape which made it seem like the small lizard was a miniature version of a dragon. The lizard had leather wings as well.

    It even spit mes out of its mouth, distracting Nial as searing mes filled the ceiling above him.

    "Ayyy, Rex, what are you doing?! Don''t burn Nial''s room!" The young woman shouted in distress.

    Rex, the monster that seemed to be an actual miniature dragon, looked at her for a few seconds before his head turned to the baby.

    The baby had stopped crying and his eyes were gleaming brightly at the remnants of the searing mes. The sparks distracted Nial even more than crying out loud.

    This was not what he intended to happen, but he couldn''t do anything against it! His body reacted to the emergence of the Miniature Dragon and the searing mes.

    "Gahh!!" Baby Nial squealed out, his heavy hands moving for the first time, trying to reach out to the ignition sparks that dispersed slowly in the air above him.

    It was a little embarrassing, but Nial couldn''t really do anything against his natural reaction either. Thus, he just followed his instincts while trying to understand what was going on.

    ''How did I end up here? I was extremely tired and went to sleep¡­and now I am here, in an¡­illusion? Is that really an illusion, in the first ce? Everything feels so real. But I couldn''t have been reincarnated either. I can clearly tell that I am still alive. Or am I dead?''

    Shaking his head inwardly, Nial tried to dispel the negative thoughts that shed through his mind. Thinking negatively wouldn''t help him out in any way.

    The best way to find a solution was to find out what the actual problem was. The source of his problem had to be found.

    This was not further difficult. Figuring out the source of the mess was rather easy. After all, only one major thing had changed about him before he began to feel increasingly tired.

    ''The seed that formed from the golden particles¡­that should be it¡­so it wasn''t an unknown trait of my Cursed Divinity but probably¡­the doing of the Advocate? Is that what it is? Did the Advocate actually n all of this, even that I would devour the corpses of the Gods in the Divine God of Truth''s main office?

    How did she know my Cursed Divine Ability, and that my Cursed Divinity would be the Heart of Gluttony?''

    No matter how the Advocate found out about it, Nial was pretty sure that he found the source of the problem.

    But¡­he was not yet sure what would happen now, or where he was in the first ce.

    ''Wait¡­the mother of this baby called me Nial ''Lacardian''...Isn''t there something wrong with that?!''

    ''Wasn''t that the name of the royal family in the Lacardian Empyrean Void?!?''

 Chapter 674 Royal Prince

    Even though Nial was not too sure how he could escape this dream, or illusion -whatever it may be-, he figured out a few things.

    He didn''t wake as a random baby with a worried mother and a Miniature Dragon flying around freely. Nial woke up in his own body, from more than a century ago, days after he was born.

    He was still in possession of his own eyes, able to see, his family was still alive, and so was his entire race.

    Nial was still a Lacardian and the Royal Prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void!

    ''This body was born only a few days ago but I can already sense the surrounding mana. I lost the Heart of Gluttony and my whole power, so I cannot even try to contact the others. It''s almost as if my body was cleansed. But won''t the Advocate of the Pryarde soon?''

    Nial was pretty sure that the Creatoran, which was the name of his race, was annihted on his first birthday. A huge ceremony had been held to celebrate the first birth of the Creatoran''s rightful heir.

    That meant there was not too much time left. Thought, thinking about it, it would be a lot easier to witness the terror caused by the Advocate and return then. At least, he would be able to use the rage to fuel his strength

    ''No, I should return home as quickly as possible. They''re already waiting for me!''

    Nial was not sure how much the difference of time was between this illusion and reality. If possible, he didn''t want to waste too much time inside here. There were many things he had to aplish in the Orion Shelter.

    ''I still have toplete the runic¡­the runic¡­what did I have toplete again?'' He wondered for a moment. His expression distorted a little, and confusion spread through his entire being.

    ''Why can''t I remember the word properly? Ah, I know now! Runic Constetions! That''s what I missed.''

    Nial squealed out loudly and happily, thankful that he could recall the name ''runic constetions''. However, what he didn''t notice at that time, was that he was slowly forgetting about runic constetions. In fact, it was only the mostplex runic constetions which he forgot. But that was not even everything.

    Nial was slowly forgetting memories of the Late God of Darkness. The knowledge of his Forgotten Runic Constetions slowly dispersed, just like certain details about his long life.

    "There he is, the strongest warrior of the Creatoran, the future head of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, and the next strongest Summoner, who is second to none¡­other than me of course¡­hahhaah!" A loud voice rang through Nial''s ears as he was deep in thoughts.

    He was just trying to think of a way to escape this illusion, and even optioned for the possibility of killing himself, when a bulky middle-aged man with golden eyes and hair that was just as golden entered his field of vision. The man had extremely fair skin and he had pointy ears, which was a rare mutation of the Creatoran.

    Most Creatoran looked like ordinary humans. However, due to the ability to summon familiars and bind them to their Souls, their gics were changed. The change in gics was abysmally, but it was enough to cause a change in the color of the hair, the eyes, skin color, and rarely even the change of body parts.

    The bulky middle-aged man was none other than one of the rare examples¡­and he was Nial''s father.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial had never really known much about his blood-rted family, but he had never felt the need to, either way. He couldn''t recall anything, and was hardly interested in dead strangers. Why would he be interested? The Creatoran had been annihted and the only thing Nial could do to honor them was to kill the Advocate of the Pryard.

    Other than that, there was not much for him to do.

    However, now that he saw his parents together, and his father, the Emperor of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, picking him up and praising him like this, Nial couldn''t help but feel a little mncholic.

    A small part inside him didn''t want to leave his family right now. They were likely to die in less than a year, annihted by the Advocate.

    ''At least until then¡­can I stay here?.... No, wait¡­ why would I stay here?!''

    Nial was in a dilemma. He felt increasingly attached to his parents, who were far more livingly than one would expect from the Emperor of an entire race, and the Empress.

    He expected that his father would be cold and that it would be difficult to look at him without crying out loud. However, Nial found himselfughing like a little child, which was exactly what he was. Nial was a little baby that didn''t know anything.

    He began to giggle when he liked something and cried when he was frustrated, sad, or ufortable from the diapers that had been filled with a new load.

    It was a little embarrassing when his mother changed his diapers, but Nial found himself enduring everything greatly.

    He knew that he would have to learn how to go to the potty as soon as possible.

    However, for that, he would have to learn how to crawl and walk first.

    Life was going to be hard, but Nial didn''t really hate it.

    "Aigh!" He shouted out loud when his father praised him. The Emperor picked him up with a bright smile and stared at his son for a good few seconds.

    "You will be our little star. Maybe you can even expand the Lacardian Empyrean Void in the future. It would be interesting to see our little prodigy grow into a powerful warrior. Of course, if your talent is not great, there is no need to worry. You will always stay our beloved son, okay?"

    The Emperor''s words confused Nial a little, but he just nodded his head. Tears dwelled in his eyes as he moved his heavy head, which caused Nial to curse out loud.

    ''Who the hell is cutting onions?!''

 Chapter 675 My Home

    Because he never expected to meet anyone from the Creatoran race, let alone his actual parents, Nial ended up living a rather ordinary life.

    As a newborn baby, there was not much for him to do, either way. He had lost all of his power and had great problems moving as well. Even crawling took an eternity to learn.

    He couldn''t speak either. It was actually already quite surprising that he could understand thenguage of the beings in the Lacardian Empyrean Void.

    Nial began to learn a few interesting facts about the Creatoran race over the course of the following weeks. He learned how to crawl and tried to find out whether he was caught in a dream, illusion, or something simr to a split dimension where a snippet of reality had been sealed to be witnessed by other beings.

    Thetter would mean that history would repeat itself soon and that the Creatoran would cease to exist. They would be ughtered mindlessly and his eyes would be taken away. This was bound to happen ording to history.

    Nial didn''t like it but he couldn''t speak either to warn anyone. Was it the right thing to warn the Creatoran, in the first ce? Wasn''t he just supposed to be a witness to reality? Or was he supposed to do something else?

    Was he supposed to do anything, in the first ce?

    What did the Advocate of the Pryard n by sending him here? Did she hope that reality would twist and that she could kill him now instead of merely taking his eyes?

    There were too many unanswered questions that shed through Nial''s mind, and none of them could be answered with the information Nial possessed.

    He only knew that he was thrown back in time, that he could see with eyes that were much more unique than he first expected., and that he sustained injuries in this ce.

    Nial learned about the uniqueness of his eyes when he yed with Rex, the ze Dragon, who had intentionally shrunk in size to fit into the pce. The ze Dragon didn''t show anyone his miniature form except the royal family. To others, the ze Dragon was a hundred-meter-long dragon whose zing mes burned even gods.

    Either way, Nial got to know that his eyes had two different unique traits. One of the unique traits was the ability to actually see the mana in the surrounding area, rather than merely feeling it. He could see the mana inside other beings as well. That way, nobody could hide their cultivation rank from him, or when someone used mana.

    Nial felt like he might as well be able to learn what exactly the mana inside others was used ording to the way the mana was circted and other interesting factors. Rex could only spit out mes as long as the ze dragon''s swirling mana was circted to a specific nd at the higher regions of its head.

    Something was also going on in the ze dragon''s lungs when he spits mes, which was something Nial would love to experiment with. However, he also knew that this reality would soon break and that he would be pulled back into reality. At least that was what Nial felt clear. He was pretty sure about this.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After all¡­After all¡­After all, he was supposed to¡­supposed to do what?

    As time passed, Nial started to forget things about his life on the Origin, his family there, and the friends he made¡­all memories he made slowly ceased to exist in his mind. That was how it felt to Nial, who was way too calm for someone who knew that he was forgetting about the unimportant, as well as the important things that had happened to him.

    He knew about the things that were happening to his memories, but he didn''t really care too much about it. He was not too sure why he didn''t care about the memories that dispersed in his mind, yet, that was the case.

    Nial couldn''t care less about the memories he lost as his interest in the unique power of the Creatoran increased gradually.

    That was also where his eyes'' second unique trait came into effect. Creatoran were known for summoning familiars to fight by their side. Upon summoning a familiar, their soul would be bound to the Summoner''s soul. That way, Soulbound Monsters, also called Familiars, came into existence.

    Being bound to one another, Familiar would increase the Summoner''s strength with a specific percentage of their strength. The stronger the soul link, the higher the percentage. To put it simply, if a familiar possessed abat power of 100 units, and its soul link was newly formed, the Summoner was likely to receive a share of 1bat power unit from the familiar. Once their soul link grew stronger, the Summoner might even get up to 10bat power units from the same familiar. Every familiar possessed a different soulbound strength share, but most of them revolved around a maximum of 15%.

    Rex, the ze Dragon, was an exception, increasing the Empress'' strength by 25%. The Empress was granted an amplification of strength equivalent to a quarter of the power wielded by the ze Dragon. Not only was that terrifying, but it was also such a high amplification in strength that the Empress'' other familiars couldn''t enhance her strength by much, otherwise, they may hurt the Empress.

    After all, it was not helpful if too much pressure was put on the Empress'' vessel, potentially cracking, or even worse, breaking her vessel.

    Nial found out many things about Summoners, Familiars, their Soul Links, and so on.

    However, what he was the most curious about was the special trait of his golden eye. His silver eye allowed him to see mana everywhere in his field of vision. Meanwhile, his golden eye saw the potential of monsters, and roughly how high their Soulbound strength share could reach.

    ''Maybe, I can make use of that, once I have to decide what monster to summon. I should only summon a monster after careful consideration!''

    ''Wait¡­why am I even thinking about summoning a monster. I have to return! I need to go back and¡­.and do what?''

    ''What was I supposed to do? Isn''t this my home, the ce I ought to be?''

 Chapter 676 Memory Wipe

    The day Nial all memories of the past dispersed happened on the day of the Creatoran''s annihtion.

    At least, it was supposed to be the day the Creatoran should be annihted by the Advocate of the Pryard.

    It was the day of the Royal Prince''s first birthday. A huge celebration was held for the Royal Prince, whose birth was considered a miracle in itself.

    The lineage of the royal family was long and their bloodline was mighty, to the extent that it was potent enough to decrease the fertility of the men and women hailing from the royal family.

    Under normal circumstances, one would think that the royal family would have dozens of children to reassure that their lineage would never cease to exist. However, not only was the Emperor loyal to the Empress for thest 400 years even though they couldn''t give birth to a child, but he even rejected the Empress'' proposal to get a few concubines to make sure that there would be at least one sessor, even if it was just an illegitimate child.

    The bloodline of the Lacardian royal family was not supposed to cease to exist. The Emperor rejected the ''proposal'' his wife threw at him and it was only yearster that the miracle urred.

    A child born from the powerful bloodlines of the Lacardian royal family and the heiress of the Mythic Eyes Sect was born. Both possessed an extremely low fertility rate but the miracle urred nheless.

    Nial was born and his existence was celebrated. The Creatoran celebrated for a full month. Nial didn''t really notice much about it, but he could asionally hear a loudmotion outside. After all, celebrations of the Creatoran race were usually huge and extremely loud. But that was only to be expected from a race where everyone possessed a Familiar. Some Familiars were humongous, and unique constructions have been built to use their built and special traits to turn even small events into magnificent celebrations like there were no others.

    That was also why Nial found himself on the huge terrace of the Royal Pce on his birthday. The Emperor and the Empress were standing hand in hand on the railing of the terrace, overlooking the city below, watching as their subjects clustered the streets and za.

    Nial sat on Rex''s head, holding one of the ze Dragon''s lengthy curved horns as the dragon was lying on the terrace, curled up around the Emperor and the Empress.

    Rex slowly moved his head, raising it high into the air, exposing the young Royal Prince to the wide world.

    Nial was a little overwhelmed but this feeling grew only more intense as the indomitable might of the Royal Pce began to shroud him.

    It was almost as if Royal Pce''s might swept through his entire body, cleansing his soul. A connection was formed between Nial and the Royal Pce, or precisely the ancient heirloom that had been buried beneath the Royal Pce.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The empire''s pce was a grand structure that dominated the skyline of the capital, radiating an overwhelming sense of power and majesty. Its towering spires, intricate domes, and ornate facade demonstrated the might of the ruling dynasty and the long history of the royal family of over ten thousand years.

    That was how old the royal pce was. Itsted ten thousand years and was naturally maintained by the connection it had to the ancient heirloom of the royal family, allowing it tost another ten thousand years, or even longer as long as the Creatoran wouldn''t cease to exist, burying the history of the race that had changed everything in the Lacardian Empyrean Void.

    He was being assessed by the ancient heirloom of the royal family, and his im of the throne was epted and supported by the ancient heirloom that existed for a longer time than the Lacardian Empyrean Void.

    Being epted by the ancient heirloom was not an easy feat. Most Emperors of the Lacardian royal family had never received the eptance of the heirloom in their entire life. Even the current Emperor, Nial''s father didn''t have an easy time fighting for the eptance of the ancient heirloom, which granted him a speck of its sheer endless power.

    Only after attaining great achievements for the Creatoran was it possible for the Lacardian family to receive the eptance of the ancient heirloom, yet Nial was given its blessing without any of that.

    A mysterious might streamed through his body, and Nial felt that he could tap into this might as long as he desired to do so.

    Tapping into the mysterious might caused a burst of energy to sweep through his entire existence. Unable to control this mysterious might, at all, Nial unleashed a terrifying shockwave that sted across the entire capital, overshadowing the sound of trumpets and horns that had echoed through pce halls, and the cheers of the people who were addicted to the electric feeling in the atmosphere, causing their cheers to growing louder and louder.

    The heady scent of flowers, food, and incense hung in the air, but the presence of something mystical seemed to have been added to everything. The vibrant and dazzling colors of the decoration and the people''s clothing seemed to be much more intenser than before, just for utter silence to spread through the entire capital.

    If someone would drop a needle on the ground at one corner of the capital, even the deaf on the other side of the capital would be able to hear it at this very moment.

    The Emperor and Empress stood tall, their head raised to see the indomitable and majestic aura that swirled around their child, the Royal Prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, their little treasure, the hope of their race, Nial Lacardian.

    The silence in the capital was heavy, but it was also filled with a trace of joy. It was the kind of joy one felt spreading through the whole body, joy that was addictive for everyone who felt it. It was highly contagious and reached every nook and cranny in the capital.

    Then the thunderous cheering began¡­and Nial''s memories dispersed.

 Chapter 677 First Time

    It was the first time that the ancient heirloom of the Lacardian royal family reacted that early to the Royal Prince of the Empire. The ancient heirloom never created two connected with the Lacardian Empyrean Void''s Royal family, however, that was exactly what had happened now.

    Not only was the current Emperor of the Lacardian Empyrean Void connected to the ancient heirloom, able to tap the unfathomable power that resided within it, but Nial Lacardian, the Royal Prince, was also connected to the ancient heirloom.

    This was a first in history, but it was not considered something bad. On the contrary, everyone, including the Emperor and the Empress, was overjoyed.

    The ancient heirloom of the royal family epted Nial as the Crown Prince of the Empire and it didn''t abandon the Emperor in the process. This meant that the ancient heirloom had great hopes for the future of the Empire. The event was considered a great fortune, indicating that the Crown Prince was bound to have extraordinary talent and potential and that the Emperor would continue to live for a long time.

    The celebration of the Crown Prince''s first birthday continued until deep into the night. In fact, the celebration didn''t even stop then. Most were celebrated throughout the night and continued the next day.

    Even though Nial and the Empress were not present to celebrate, the Empress had ordered the Emperor to descend into the masses of their subjects to continue to celebrate with them.

    The royal family of the Lacardian Empyrean Void was known for their kindness, their gentleness, and the fact that they didn''t discriminate between nobles andmoners. While many noble households were still rather conservative in that regard, the royal family couldn''t care less.

    It was not rare for the royal family to eptmoners to wed into the royal family. The only conditions the royal family had was that themoners in the name would expose their whole history, speak nothing but the truth and that they possessed a certain degree of summoning talent.

    No matter how one looked at the situation, if the bloodline of the royal family were to weaken because their spouses had a terrifyingly low talent for summoning, the future generations would continue to grow weaker. The bloodline of the Lacardian family was strong, but would this also be the case if the generations ten thousand yearster were to be born from the talent of a continuously deteriorating bloodline and an untalentedmoner?

    The safety of the Lacardian Empyrean Void was on the line, which was exactly why the spouses of the royal family were thoroughly checked. They had to make sure that the royal family could rule the Lacardian Empyrean Void for a long time, after all!

    Now that Nial Lacardian had been officially epted as the Crown Prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, nothing stood in his way. Nobody would dare to mention anything about his im of the throne.

    Of course, this was not something everyone found pleasant. The Lacardian Empyrean Void was powerful and it turned many countries into their subordinates after they had attempted to infiltrate the Lacardian Empyrean Void to expand their territory.

    After the course of centuries, or even millennials, these countries, kingdoms, counties, tribes, and so on ranged in the hundreds. None of them were deprived of their territory or right to govern their territory, but all of them had been subdued and turned into a part of the Lacardian Empyrean Void.

    For most, this was the greatest humiliation they had faced. It was embarrassing to have been defeated one-sidedly and that their entire territory had been turned into a mere subordinate of a newly established Empire.

    That was also why many had been as happy about the infertility of the Emperor and the Empress during thest four centuries. While it had been a curse to the royal family and their subjects, the subordinate kingdoms were overjoyed about this news.

    Once they got rid of the Emperor and the Empress, the LAcardian Empyrean Void would fall into chaos and an opportunity for the subordinate kingdoms to reim their territory and power would ur.

    Thus, it was even more disastrous than Nial Lacardian had been born, and that the ancient heirloom acknowledge his im for the throne¡­just like that.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    They couldn''t ept this so easily!

    It was fortunate that Nial was only one-year-old. It would take a bunch of years before he would awaken his Summoning talent, even if he were to be actually talented. With that in mind, there was no need to rush.

    As long as their n was thorough and executed perfectly, there was no way that Nial Lacardian would be able to ovee the chaos and threats that were bound to be thrown at him.

    With that in mind, the kingdoms that sought vengeance began to set their hearts at ease and to switch on the gears in their head toe up with the perfect ns to get rid of the pest that had appeared in the midst of them.

    The years passed by quickly, and it was not long before a four-year-old child with silver hair and heterochromatic eyes found himself in a huge clearing in the midst of a deep forest. His noble clothes were dirty and he had stumbled over roots once or twice, cutting his leg and arm as he fell onto a bunch of stones.

    However, none of that mattered to him as a huge magic circle withplex runes that were connected to one another epassed the entire forest.

    ''So that is how Summoning your familiar from another world actually works?'' Nial wondered, smiling brightly as excitement swept through his entire being. He was in the Monster Dimension, searching for the right familiar, and couldn''t help but smile seeing the talent of the monsters that approached him naturally.

    "Now that you guys are already here¡­Who wants to be my first familiar?"

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 Chapter 678 Desire

    Even though Nial lost his memories of the past, his mind was already further developed than anyone his age.

    He had still the usual spurts of a child, cried often, and yed around with Rex and the familiars of the servants in the pce, but he was also very diligent.

    Even before he could walk properly, Nial began to learn how to read thenguage of the Lacardian Empyrean Void. It was not too different from the ancient universalnguage, which made it much easier for him to learn the alphabet and learn how to read.

    His memories of the past might have dispersed but his muscle memories and the distant blurry memories that couldn''t be grasped anymore, helped him to learn to read. Expanding his knowledge about the history of the Lacardian Empyrean Void and the powers of the Creatoran was important.

    He was the Crown Prince and would have to rule the Lacardian Empyrean Void in the future. That was his fate, and not something he could escape just like that.

    Because his father was usually at the borders of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, fighting against other Empires, deviants, mutants, and heretics, he was not able to spend much time with his son. This left his father with great regret, which was also why the Emperor ended up sending Nial presents whenever he found something that could interest Nial.

    The Emperor was always up to date about his son''s interests and he sent over more presents than others would receive in their whole life.

    The Emperor was a doting father, who felt guilty about his absence. However, if his son would have been anyone else but Nial Lacardian, they would have ended up as spoiled brats. After all, the presents his father sent over were not only high in quantity but their value was also something that couldn''t be underestimated.

    Upon learning how to walk, Nial quickly started to nag the royal guards to help him train with the sword, and other weapons. As the Crown Prince, he would have to learn to fight either way. However, education was usually the most important factor for the children of the royal family.

    Nial''s lessons were supposed to start with learning how to read, write, simple mathematics, what Mana is, and the basics of Summoning Magic.

    Once the basics had been coveredpletely, the Emperor would hire a renowned Swordsmaster to train Nial. However, Nial didn''t want to waste his time that long. He knew most of the basics and he could use his puppy eyes to convince the royal guards as well. Showing that he was serious and diligent should be enough to convince every hot-blooded guard to train him sincerely.

    Furthermore, his mother had returned to her sect for the time being because something had happened to her family over there. Nial was not told what exactly happened because his mother didn''t want to worry him. Thus, he was by himself, if one ignored the servants who followed him wherever he went.

    They were a little annoying but Nial knew that their intentions were good.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was their job to tend to his needs, after all.

    After he spend a whole week convincing the captain of the royal guards to teach him some basic movement sequences to learn how to wield the sword properly, Nial got his hands on a small wooden sword. It was extremely heavy for young Nial but he was not someone who gave up that easily just because something was a little bit difficult.

    With some effort, he was able to wield the small wooden sword and his training arc began.

    There were three reasons why Nial wanted to start learning swordsmanship at such a young age.

    First, he heard that it would require years to actually be good with the sword. Bing a proper Swordmaster might require decades. Thus, the earlier he started, the better the results ought to be. It was much easier to learn a lot when one was young since the brain was still developing.

    Second, Nial felt like he had to create a proper foundation from a young age. He was not sure why he felt the need to do so, but he wanted to create a good physique by diligently working out.

    As for the third andst reason why he wanted to start training with the sword so early was the exhaustion that would follow after every training session, or work-out session. For others, the period after a workout, or training with the sword might be considered amongst the worst. One wouldn''t be able to move properly because every movement would ache. The entire body would be sore and one wouldn''t look pleasant in the eyes of the people who saw this.

    However, Nial didn''t really care about that. He had read that the exhausted body could sense and absorb Mana more easily. Nial could already see mana but it was not easy for him to actually absorb it. His first few attempts had failed because the necessary stimulus was missing.

    One had to know that by actively absorbing mana, one would be able to awaken their Summoning talent. Adding that one would usually awaken their talent as Summoner at the age of 14, Nial was way too young to be able to control the highly potent mana in the Lacardian Empyren Void. Even heavenly prodigies would be six or seven years old before they would awaken their Summoning talent, and they were the cream of the crop.

    As for the youngest age at which one awoke their Summoning talent, it was at the age of five. Nial was trying to break this record, and he knew that it wouldn''t be easy. Thus, using his exhaustion as an amplification, he was trying to get closer to awakening as Summoner!

    If he had to think of a fourth reason, Nial would probably say that studying the whole day was simply too boring. ying around with the familiars of the people around him was fun, but it was also the cause for his increasing desire to get hold of his own Familiar.

    As for his worries about the Advocate of the Pryard¡­who was that even?

 Chapter 679 Monster Dimension

    Using the taxing swordsman training as a means to perceive and collect the surrounding Mana, Nial broke the shackles around his Mana Core.

    He used the unique cultivation method of the Creatoran to build the Soul pace inside his Mana Core, thus awakening his talent as Summoner.

    Every Creatoran naturally possessed the foundation to create a small isted dimension inside their Mana Core. This isted dimension uses the potential of the Soul and is used as a medium to create a Soul Link with Monsters.

    The Soulbound Monsters, Familiars if one wants to call them such, would be granted a small habitat inside the isted dimension, the Soul Space, to rest there. The Familiars could then be summoned at any time as long as the Summoner willed the Soul Space to open up.

    The ability to summon and store their Familiar was an essential ability for any Summoner. It made things much easier when it came to traveling through crowded streets, or preparing for battle. One could even say that summoning their familiar was their trump card. After all, one could gain an advantage in the midst of the battle upon suddenly summoning a unique Familiar that the opponent didn''t expect.

    Of course, being able to store and summon their Familiar was not the most important trait of a Summoner nor was it the fact that a Familiar''s strength amplified the strength of the Summoner to a certain degree.

    Two of the most crucial points of a Summoner were the fact that Monsters could unleash their full potential by being bound to a Summoner, and to be able to teleport to the Monster Dimension.

    Nobody really knew where the Monster Dimension was, who created it, and if its purpose was to grant Monsters a Sanctuary, or if it had been created to give Summoners the opportunity and challenge to catch their Familia-to-bee, in the first ce.

    Nheless, it was an amazing ce that harbored both treasures and dangerous threats.

    And that was exactly where Nial was currently.

    The four-year-old Nial Lacardian finished his swordsman training the day before, he washed up and started to cultivate using the Creatoran''s Summoning Cultivation technique. He unsealed his Mana Core andpleted the creation of the Soul Space.

    However, what he didn''t expect to happen was the Soul Space to suddenly teleport him into the midst of a humongous forest. Nial was already in his pajamas, ready to go sleep once he finished his daily evening cultivation session, only to be suddenly thrown into the Monster Dimension.

    ''I thought it was necessary to gather more mana to open up the portal to the Monster Dimension. What happened?''

    Nial Lacardian had read a lot about Summoners and he knew that the Monster Dimension would sometimes call Summoners. But even if the Monster Dimension would have called him, it was not as if it would usually force someone to enter. The Monster Dimension''s call was more of an invitation to the Summoner than a kidnapping.

    It was a means of the Monster Dimension to show the Summoner that he/she was ready to bind a new familiar and that the Monster Dimension actually found a suitable partner.

    In that sense, one could even say that the Monster Dimension was a sort of match-up dating site. One would find their soulmate through the Mosnter Dimension''s help, after all!

    ''So the Monster Dimension found a monster that is highlypatible with my soul?''

    The stronger the ''urge'' of the Monster Dimension, the higher thepatibility between some Monsters and the Summoner. A higherpatibility between the Summoner and his Familiar created a stronger bond from the moment their Soul Link was established.

    Not only would the Summoner receive a higher amplification in strength thanks to that, but there were even more benefits. These benefits were in ordance with the kind of monster that would be bound to the Summoner.

    But not only the Summoner would get benefits. The stimulus of the Monster would be stronger, and the likelihood for the seals on hidden bloodlines to be unsealed simply by relying on the course of time and with the help of arduous training was much higher.

    If a Monster had already unsealed their strongest bloodline, it was not unlikely that binding to a Summoner would enhance the bloodline and give enough stimulus to evolve the bloodline as long as all pre-conditions were met.

    All of that was great, and one would be overjoyed if the urge of the Monster Dimension was strong enough to force the Summoner into the Monster Dimension

    Nheless, Nial had some issues to take care of now because the Monster Dimension forced him inside.

    He couldn''t prepare himself properly, his body was tired-out because of the earlier swordsman training, and he was not even equipped for battle. In fact, he couldn''t even bring his protection charms and defensive artifacts.

    That meant, he was bound to die the moment a monster showed hostility toward him. After all, there were still a few Demonic Beasts out there in the Monster Dimension! Demonic Beasts were Monsters that had developed the habit to kill Summoners and developed unique traits thanks to the highly nourishable and unique blood that coursed through the Creatoran.

    Apparently, the blood of Creatoran could help Monsters break their natural shackles, and allow them to advance past their racial limits.

    That was exactly why Nial was so fucked up.

    He found himself standing in the center of arge clearing, surrounded by a vast and dense forest. Towering trees with deep roots and sprawling finger-like branches extended high into the sky, creating a canopy that filters the sunligh around him.

    The canopy cast an emerald-green hue over everything below, manifesting a mysterious and exotic aura onto the clearing and the forest around. Even though the clearing was not small, there was only a little sunlight thanks to the towering trees all around.

    The trees that seemed to connect heaven and earth through their massive size were also the reason why the forest floor turned into a carpet of leaves, broken branches that were bigger in size than some trees would ever be, and small rocks that jut out of the ground like small fangs.

    Nial was a little nervous. He was totally unprepared and it was not exactly helpful that he had all kinds of sounds in his surroundings. The rustling leaves, the chirping birds, the buzzing insects, and the asional roars and growls of predators were not exactly reassuring, and they rang in his ears even louder than his wildly beating heart.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''Now¡­how the hell am I supposed to find my fated familiar?''

    Nial figured that he could use his eyes to navigate through the forest. Being able to see the mana currents around him, and the hues of a monster''s potential from far away, it shouldn''t be too problematic to avoid a bunch of monsters.

    However, searching for the monster that was highlypatible with him was not exactly something that could be done easily. Some Summoners spent decades in the Monster Dimension to search the region they have been teleported to after receiving the Monster Dimension''s call to enter.

    The issue was just that these Summoners were already adults, they made enough preparations to stay in the Monster Dimension for a long time, and their strength was usually a lot higher than newly Awakened Summoner.

    Nial was a small and delicate-looking child, with short silver hair and eyes that sparkled lightly as he analyzed his surrounding

    At first, he was a little confused and unable to tell where he should start looking for his fated familiar, but it didn''t take long before something extraordinary happened around him.

    Monsters of every shape, size, and color were slowly making their way toward the clearing.

    It was almost as if the monsters were drawn to Nial''s presence like a ma.

    Birds dived down from the trees, their wings glinting in the emerald-green hue of the canopy. Smaller monsters, predators as well as prey were scattered across the clearing, whilerge beings like Titan Deers, Millenia Bears, and even an Earth Dragon were cautiously making their way forward, paying attention not to squash the small monsters.

    As the monsters gather around the child, it was pretty obvious that they were not afraid. They were drawn to his Soul Space, and the opportunity they fathomed.

    ''What is going on?!''

    Nial could hardly breathe. The scene around him was simply too confusing, yet breathing beautiful and wondrous. The clearing, filled with a sea of monsters of every type, turned into a ce of awe and reverence. There was no trace of danger, let alone fear hanging in the air.

    All monsters seemed toe to havee to an agreement.

    They wouldn''t hurt one another to give Nial the chance to pick his familiar.

    This was something unheard of, but Nial was not in a condition to think about all of this.

    He was currently too confused to even think straight, let alone attempt to understand what was going on.

    He could tell that the situation was in his favor, but he had a hard time picking a familiar.

    After all, he was supposed to find his fated familiar.

    ''Now that I can see, I should use my eyes!''

    Wait¡­why ''now''?

    ¡­

    Was something wrong with being able to see?

    **

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 Chapter 680 Familiar

    Nial Lacardian was not too sure how much time he spent inside the Monster Dimension, but he carefully inspected every single monster to analyze the quality and stability of their mana, and the hue of potential that shrouded them tightly.

    Being able to tell how much potential a monster had, and how much of that potential had already been unleashed was a great thing. It allowed Nial to figure out which monster would be the best familiar for the short-term, and which monster he should choose to have the greatest benefits long-term.

    Of course, the best familiar would be the monster that was the mostpatible with his soul. Choosing a monster ording to that would give him the greatest benefits over a long period as long as the monster''s future potential was not too low.

    Thus, a good ratio of highpatibility and future potential turned out to be the most important factor for Nial''s final decision.

    As time passed, more monsters filled the clearing in the vast forest. Nial encountered a few Dragons, a cier Phoenix, two Elemental Rocs of the Ancient Era, Unicorns, a Pegasi, and various other mythical creatures whom Nial had never expected to encounter.

    He could have never expected that any of those mythical creatures would be willing to be turned into a Familiar. Most mythical creatures were too prideful to allow anyone to subdue them. They would rather choose suicide than allow someone to control them. Rex, the ze Dragon, was an exception.

    His mother, the Empress, found an abandoned dragon nest in which she found Rex''s egg. Apparently, there had been a huge fight between a few rivaling dragons and Rex''s mother had been severely injured before she was outcasted by the new ruler of the territory she had once governed.

    Taking care of the Dragon Egg and hatching it, the Empress turned into a recement of Rex''s mother. That being said, Nial and Rex were more like ''siblings'', rather than a Dragon and a Creatoran connected due to their rtionship with the Empress.

    Nial was too baffled toprehend what was actually going on with the mythical creatures but he presumed that there was something about his Soul. It had to be special enough for mythical creatures to consider bing Nial''s Familiar.

    That was equivalent to epting to lose their freedom in exchange for the benefits a Soul Link with Nial would cause.

    Unfortunately, Nial was not able to bind a mythical creature to his Soul Space right now.

    His body was still underdeveloped and his Mana Core had merely been activated. His body and Mana Core would rupture the moment he was to receive the share of strength from a fully matured mythical creature. The amplification in strength he could endure for now was not too high, meaning that most somewhat powerful monsters were already disqualified as his first familiar.

    This made things a little more difficult, and it frustrated the young Crown Prince a little. After all, he had been forced into the Monster Dimension without short notice beforehand. If he had known that the Monster Dimension would forcefully pull him inside, he would have waited with the creation of the Soul Space a few weeks, or even months.

    Training his Mana Core and body would have given him a chance to pick a mightier monster as first Familiar.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    While Nial wasining inwardly, his attention was inevitably pulled in a certain direction. His golden eye began to hurt tremendously as the potential hue of a particr monster entered his sight. Blood trickled down his golden eyes and his Soul Space began to shake.

    His displeasure dispersed at once and he swallowed his saliva in excitement as he made his way in the direction of the immense pressure.

    Something made its way in his direction as well. However, the being was much slower than Nial was. It took several minutes before the two finally encountered each other, only for more blood to trickle down Nial''s golden eye.

    He was overwhelmed by the immense potential he perceived, and only when he reached his fate partner did he use some of his mana to suppress the powerful trait of his golden eye.

    The potential hues turned semi-transparent and were barely visible anymore. This allowed Nial to take a final look at his partner, a small monster that he would have never found if not for the tremendous potential.

    "Buddy, looks like you will shock the entire Empire," He spoke out loud,ughing lightly as he bend down with his right hand reaching out to the small monster. The monster tilted its head and stopped in its tracks for a few seconds before it approached him.

    The monsters in the surrounding roared out and issues various noises to forward their displeasure as they hadn''t been picked, but that was not something Nial and his Familiar to-be cared about. Nial''s Soul Space was shaking violently and a small thread of a glistening golden color was detached and lead through his body.

    The golden thread, also known as the Soul Link, moved slowly through Nial''s arm until it emerged from within his palm, where his Familiar to-be was located.

    "Let''s have some fun in the future!" Nial said as he closed his eyes to focus on the connection that was formed between him and his Familiar as the Soul Link entered the small monster''s body.

    A light, brighter than the sun, filled their surrounding area as their Soul Link was established. The dark forest lit up and the lifeforce in the beings around them seemed to surge out all of a sudden. Every single being, whether it was a monster or a nt, began to react to the sacred Soul Link that had been formed between Nial and his Familiar.

    Their connection was established while the glistening light continued to turn brighter with each passing second.

    Half an hour passed in an instant, and it was only a littleter that the glistening light disappeared all of a sudden, almost as if the surrounding space had swallowed it.

    As for Nial and his Familiar, the center of the glistening light, they had been swallowed as well.

 Chapter 681 Back

    "Where is the Crown Prince?!" The Emperor shouted out loudly while rushing back into the sacred hall of the Royal Pce.

    His hair was disheveled, and his silver armor was still dirty from the mud and blood that had sshed on it a while ago. His eyes were filled with rage and worry as he took a look left and right to see if everything had just been a stupid prank.

    However, seeing the grave expression on the faces of the servants, and the tears in the eyes of the Empress, he could tell that the stupid prank was nothing but reality.

    Four weeks had passed since he first heard that the Crown Prince disappeared just like that. The Emperor retreated with his army immediately and he returned to the Capital of the Lacardian Empyrean Void while telling the strongest Creatoran to follow him.

    Tens of thousands of Creatoran searched the entire capital in the hope to find the Crown Prince somewhere, but there was no sign. Not even the millions of civilians who had been willing to join the search found a clue.

    The entire capital turned into a pool of chaos and everyone fell into a state of unease.

    It was abnormal for the Crown Prince to disappear just like that, for several weeks at that. Nial Lacardian was known as a bright kid who treated everyone the same. He was loved by the servants with whom he always yed when they had some time to spar, the librarian who had grown ustomed to the Crown Prince''s appearance in the Royal Library where he spent entire days studying the history of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, and the guards, who had epted little Nial as a cadet.

    Nial may be extremely young, but everyone felt that he was quite responsible. He wouldn''t run away just like that.

    However, there were no traces of his whereabouts. There was not a single mana fluctuation in his room, and neither had there been a sign of abduction.

    So¡­where could he be if he didn''t run away and he wasn''t kidnapped? Nobody in the capital found him. That simply meant there weren''t too many possibilities left.

    "Mikael believes that our little baby entered the Monster Dimension¡­" The Empress cried out, pressing her head against the Emperor''s shoulder.

    She couldn''t care less about her image right now, forget about the dirt and dried blood that smudged the Emperor''s armor.

    "The Monster Dimension? But, Nial knows that he shouldn''t enter the Monster Dimension until he was trained we¨C....wait¡­you mean that he already finished his awakening?! Nial is only four!"

    The Emperor''s eyes widened in shock. His rage dispersed, reced by an increasing sense of worry. The Monster Dimension was extremely dangerous and considering that Nial disappeared just like that, it was very unlikely that he prepared himself for these dangers.

    In fact, even if he were to prepare himself, it was not as if a four-year-old could easily survive in the Monster Dimension.

    "I know, Darling¡­but what if the Monster Dimension urged him inside? He is just a kid¡­He would never be able to resist the urge to enter the Monster Dimension. Darling¡­why did our kid have to be so curious about everything? For the first time¡­" The Empress'' words turned into a cascade. Words spurted out of her mouth just like the tears that poured down her cheeks like a waterfall.

    The Emperor had never seen his wife like this, and he was at a loss as well.

    ''He was urged inside the Monster Dimension? Awakened at the age of four, and urged¡­ As long as he survives, he will be even stronger than the Primordial Ancestor! No¡­he has to survive!''

    The Emperor hugged the Empress while gritting his teeth. Worry gleamed in his eyes but there was nothing they could do to help.

    Even if their son was in the Monster Dimension, it was way too vast to search for him. It would be easier to find a needle in a warehouse filled with hay.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As the Empress continued to cry, imagining the worst possible fate his little cute baby could have encountered, the Emperor''s train of thought was caught between worrying for his son, and a tinge of excitement.

    It was unheard of for a four-year-old child to activate their Mana Core, let alone that someone below the age of ten would be urged to enter the Monster Dimension.

    That meant some sort of powerful existence was trying to create a rtionship with him. The only issue was the question of whether Nial would be able to establish a Soul Link with a powerful monster.

    The Soul Strength Amplification was likely to tear Nial apart, preventing most monsters from considering establishing a contract.

    While the Emperor and the Empress faced the biggest crisis over thest centuries, a maid rushed inside the royal hall. She was puffing heavily and seemed to be out of breath.

    At first, the guards intended to restrict the maid''s entrance but they quickly realized that it was the personal maid of the Crown Prince. A glimmer of hope emerged in the eyes of the guards as they halted in their tracks, tightly clenching the

    "MYLADYY!!!"

    Startled by the sudden noise that rang through the entire royal hall, the Empress and the Emperor turned to the young maid.

    They immediately recognized her. The Empress, udylike, rushed to the Maid, while tears were still trickling down her cheeks.

    "He came back! The Crown Prince is back!!" The Maid eximed, her eyes also teary. "The Crown Prince reappeared out of thin air. He is not slee¡ª..."

    The Maid was not even able to continue speaking as the Empress and the Emperor disappeared at the same time.

    A shockwave spread through the entire room, causing the walls of the royal hall to shake subtly.

    The Emperor and the Empress require only seconds to reach the Crown Prince''s chamber. Dozens of medics were already standing around the king-sized bed, taking measurements to reassure that everything was fine with the Crown Prince.

    "Ohhh my little baby!!" The Empress screamed out loudly, rushing to her little body.

    Nial was extremely skinny right now, but he didn''t seem hurt. A subtle smile blossomed on his lips while his right handy on his chest.

    "He is malnourished and it looks like he sustained his life with the use of the mana in the Monster Dimension. However, he is not injured, and it looks like his Familiar didn''t tear damage anything. Though, that was to be expected since his Familiar is a¡­" One of the Medic said, only to realize that the Emperor stood next to him all of a sudden.

    The Emperor ignored the medic and looked at his son''s right hand, where one could see a¡­

    "...A Goldscale Serpent?"

 Chapter 682 The Crown Princes Talent

    Everyone was baffled about the Familiar the Crown Prince brought back.

    Goldscale Serpents were said to have gone extinct. Their scales did not only shine golden but they were actually made out of Adamantite Gold, the most resilient type of gold that could be found in the Lacardian Empyrean Void and the surrounding.

    However, Goldscale Serpents were not exactly powerful. The Crown Prince''s first Familiar ought to be powerful, yet a monster whose only unique trait was its high resilience was not actually something that could be used offensively. At most, the Crown Prince''s defensive capabilities would be enhanced a little, but that was already it.

    After the Crown Prince spent several weeks in the Monster Dimension, everyone expected him to bring back an exceptional Familiar that was equally extraordinary as the Prince''s Summoning talent.

    Unfortunately, that was not the case.

    "The Crown Prince''s first Familiar might not be overly special but it is certainly reassuring to know that his defense capabilities will increase drastically as his Mana Core''s rank advances. As long as his connection with the Goldscale Serpent improves, the Crown Prince won''t sustain any harm from weak monsters. That is an advantage, especially for a young man like the Crown Prince.

    He is only four years old, after all!" One of the servants told his co-workers as they ate a small meal together.

    The servant was already a little older, and he was trying his utmost to make it seem as if he was happy about the Crown Prince''s first Familiar. But to his misfortune, his crumbling smile exposed him immediately.

    "You''re thinking too much about it. Did you expect the Crown Prince''s first Familiar to be a Fenrir, a Dragon, or something like that? He is only four years old, was forcefully pulled into the Monster Dimension with nothing but his pajamas, and he still survived for four weeks. I cannot fathom how scared the Crown Prince must have been. If it were me in his stead, I would probably be dead."

    Another servant joined the conversation and more and more seemed to follow. Everyone had something to say about the Crown Prince, though nobody said anything bad. After all, their loyalty to the royal family, and the Crown Prince especially was not something that could crumble so easily.

    No matter how bad the Crown Prince''s Familiars would be, they believed that his hard work would turn even the worst Familiar into a terrifying force that had to be reckoned with.

    "That''s true. I''m d that he survived this mess. Even I cannot survive four weeks without food, and I''m already at a much higher rank than the Crown Prince. He really did the impossible. On average, you awaken your Summoning talent at the age of 14. The little prince is ten years ahead of them! Do you guys know what that means?"

    "The Crown Prince can increase his strength drastically, and enter the Monster Dimension a second time even before his peers finished their Soul Space. As long as he continues to work as hard as he does, he will definitely get hold of a terrifyingly powerful Familiar on his second trip into the Monster Dimension!"

    Understanding the meaning behind the Crown Prince''s early Awakening, everyone was getting a little excited. No matter how bad the Crown Prince''s first Familiar was, he could use the following decade to focus on his Swordsmanstraining, advance his Mana Core''s rank and prepare thoroughly for his next trip in the Monster Dimension. That way, he was bound to get hold of a unique Familiar.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Even then, the Goldscale Serpent was not exactly a bad monster. It increased the Crown Prince''s defense capabilities drastically.

    Furthermore, it was a good omen for the Crown Prince to be in possession of a Familiar that ought to be extinct.

    While the servants were excitedly talking with each other about the Crown Prince''s extraordinary talent, his kindness, and that they were proud to serve such an extraordinary person, the Empress was sitting on the couch, caressing her son''s head. The Crown Prince was seated on herp, staring intently at the Goldscale Serpent. It was coiled around his small hand with its short body that was not even 20 centimeters long.

    "Goldy is intelligent? That''s great. You found a little treasure didn''t you?" The Empress said while continuing to caress his head lovingly.

    He smiled lightly as hemunicated with his Familiar through their connected minds. The Goldscale Serpent could only hiss, but that was enough for Nial Lacardian to understand what his Familiar wanted to convey.

    "How is Goldy so smart?" Nial asked, tilting his head while continuing to stare at his Familiar, Goldy, the Goldscale Serpent.

    He woke up not too long ago and was currently fed through an IV created out of unique ingredients. The IV was simr to a nutrition serum, just that it entered his body directly through the needle in his arm.

    The Empress didn''t leave Nial''s room more than five times since he came back from the Monster Dimension. She felt like he would disappear the moment she was to step out of the room. However, she had to maintain her dignity as an Empress now that Nial was back.

    The Emperor had to rush back to the frontlines as their opponents had used his sudden departure to initiate arge-scale attack. Thus, it was the Queen''s task to take care of the royal pce''s affairs.

    With that taken into consideration, one could say that the Empress was the ruler of the Lacardian Empyrean Void and that the Emperor was her sword and shield of the Empire, its Guardian.

    The Emperor didn''t see a problem with the Empress ruling the Lacardian Empyrean Void. He was d to have found a capable and trustworthy wife, who had the ability to support him in various ways. He would rather wield the Sword and fight for the Lacardian Empyrean Void at the frontline rather than stay in the royal pce where he would have to read reports, issue royal decrees, and maintain thews of the royal pce while his people would die at the frontlines.

    That was not something the Emperor could ept. It was unforgivable if he were to stay behind in the royal pce while his loyal subjects would die.

    He would never allow something like that to happen!

 Chapter 683 Older?

    As a busy woman, the Empress shouldn''t have enough time to stay by Nial''s side for thest two weeks. However, she couldn''t care less about that. Her son was the most important thing in her life. She would even forsake her position as Empress if that meant she could protect her lovely son from harm.

    The citizens of the Lacardian Empyrean Void were a little worried about this since they had heard rumors about the obsessiveness and overprotectiveness of the Empress, but it was not as if they couldn''t understand her. Everyone near Nial was naturally drawn to him as if they had been bewitched. They would be willing to sacrifice their lives for Nial''s well-being, though that was not something Nial wished to happen.

    Nial was too busy adjusting to the terrific potential hue of the Goldscale Serpent to care about anything else. He wasmunicating with Goldy and tried to find out a few traits unique to the Goldscale Serpent.

    The Goldscale Serpent didn''t know all of its traits but it was able to see in darkness and it could harden its scales as long as mana was channeled inside them.

    Nial was interested in Goldy and he wanted to know everything. Their bond was already very strong from the beginning and he felt a substantial change in his body. The cells in his body were slowly altered through his connection with Goldy. This was something that may as well change the resilience of his skin. In fact, it was very likely that his body and appearance would change slightly ording to the unique traits of the Goldscale Serpent.

    In the worst case, golden scales would grow out of his skin, covering his entire body. It was rare for something like that to happen, but it was not impossible.

    "How much longer do I have to stay in here? The mana in the Infirmary is weird¡­" Nial asked his mother, while looking at her by lifting his head. He stared at her upside down, which caused the Empress to smile lightly before she flicked his forehead lightly.

    "Agihgh!" He blurted out loudly before covering his forehead. He turned around and looked at his mother with a pout.

    "Mom, that hurt¡­"

    The Empress channeled Mana inside him while continuing to smile.

    "It didn''t hurt, silly."

    "Hmmm, yeah¡­"

    Time passed slowly as Nial enjoyed his precious time with the Empress, his mother. Unfortunately, the period of his rest ended soon enough.

    The Empress had to return to work because she left aside too many things to take care of her son. She was not even able to find the time to eat dinner with him. That was how busy she had gotten. It left him dispirited, but there was nothing she could do about it.

    As the Empress, she had certain responsibilities, and she couldn''t cast them aside for too long. Fortunately, Nial was in good hands with their servants. A Swordsmaster had been hired as well as a retired schr. There were even explorers of the Monster Dimension and a few other highly renowned people that had been hired for the sake of Nial''s education.

    Of course, the Empress overdid it a little bit. Nial was supposed to attend the royal academy and visit a normal kindergarten in order to grow up close to his subordinates.

    As the Crown Prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, he was supposed to know the life ofmoners and nobles from experiences. He would switch from a kindergarten where onlymoners were supposed to be into an Academy for Summoners.

    Most Summoners were nobles, wealthy merchants, and children of renowned families. After all, the resources at disy allowed them to nurture their younger generation much faster than ordinary people could. At the same time, the innate talent of nobles was usually a lot higher than that ofmoners.

    Of course, there were exceptions but they were quite rare.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    It was important for the Crown Prince to be a role model for his subjects, but it was a little bit too much if he were to spend his time in kindergarten studying the material that would usually be learned in the Academy for Summoners.

    Maybe it was just Nial thinking like this, but he could tell that his future would have little fun left. The servants treated him with more respect now and they hardly yed with him. He had much less freetime than before and he was soon thrown into a kindergarten where he would stay until he would be seven.

    By then, he would enter the Academy for Summoners where children of all ages could be found. As long as they were Summoners and passed the application test, everyone could enter the Academies for Summoners.

    Many expected Nial to enter one of these Academies soon because he had already summoned his first Familiar, but he first entered a kindergarten in the outskirts of the capital.

    He would stay a few hours a day in the kindergarten, trying to befriend his peers, and learning more about society, his responsibilities, and other things through simple observation before his studying would continue once he reached home.

    ''Is every four-year-old as busy as I am? No, that cannot be. The others can hardly speak properly, they cannot read, and forget about writing. Their Mana Core area is also sealed and they don''t have a Familiar yet either, obviously¡­Is that how my life will continue as Crown Prince?''

    Nial was not sure what others around his age did, but he knew that neither nobles normoners at his age could read or write. Most of them were not even able to speak eloquently and effortlessly.

    What were they doing all day, Nial wondered.

    At the end of the day, Nial didn''t know. He felt a little lonely surrounded by a bunch of kids. Somehow, it felt like he didn''t truly belong to them.

    It was almost as if he was much older than them.

    **

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 Chapter 684 The Three Familiar Women

    ''This is so bothersome. Everyone is forced to act friendly toward me just because I am the Crown Prince. Is anyone of them friendly to me because of my personality, in the first ce?''

    No matter what Nial was doing in the kindergarten, other children flocked around him. They were overly polite and tried to get closer to him.

    Known as the youngest summoner in the long history of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, Nial was already quite popr. However, he was also said to be an amiable Crown Prince, who was easy to approach, ording to everyone he was close with.

    It didn''t really matter whether he was easy to approach or not. The children''s actions seemed too forced as they approached him. At the age of 3 to 7 nobody was really good at deceiving others. It would be quite weird if someone was good at tricking others at such a young age.

    Thus, Nial quickly figured that manymoner parents influenced their children. Most of them weren''t trying to exploit Nial, but they didn''t want to get on his wrong side either. After all, one wrong word said to Nial might result in the execution of their entire family.

    Something like that was not likely to happen, but the possibility was present, that was for sure.

    Nial was trying to socialize as well. He wanted to get to know the living conditions of themoners, what had to be improved, and where he could already give a helping hand.

    Because children were usually the least likely to be acquainted with scheming and ways to deceive others, they were deemed as more honest. Their bluntness was what scared their parents now that the Crown Prince visited the same kindergarten, but it was something Nial wanted to make use of.

    In fact, he had been told to ask the children how their families lived and other topics rted to the living conditions of the people in the outskirts of the capital.

    This gave him many crucial pieces of information, which he ryed to his Instructors and servants.

    Nial had already asked the servants, guards, and many other people in the capital about the same topics as he asked the children, but their answers were vastly different. While the servants lived in a building that had been prepared by the royal family, the guards had their own rooms in the barracks. They were treated extremely well, which was also why they didn''t really have anyints.

    But even if they had anyints, they wouldn''t really say anything to Nial. Theirints would be luxuriousints that were not rted to the mission the Crown Prince had obtained from his mother.

    After spending a few months in kindergarten, Nial could finally free himself from most children that had surrounded him all the time. Comparing the few hours he spent in the kindergarten every single day with his daily workouts, teachings, and training, Nial could have never imagined that he would rather work out and train more than continuing to go to the kindergarten.

    It was just too draining.

    The children were a hassle and nobody seemed to be genuinely trying to befriend him. They were all just too afraid that something might happen to their families, or the belief that Nial''s status was simply too high.

    Now that he ended up on the rooftop of the building, he summoned Goldy andy down. The warm morning sun shone on his fair skin as he closed his eyes to take some rest.

    Feeling the mana in his surroundings, he naturally absorbed it. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a little troublesome to absorb mana naturally because his body was still underdeveloped and the increase in strength he would receive from the refinement of his Mana Core would take a toll on him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, since he summoned his first Familiar, it had be quite simple to absorb mana into his Mana Core, where it would be annexed and used as a means to refine his Mind, Body, and Soul Space.

    His Mana Core expanded five times over the course of three months. That was quite fast, especially for young children, whose Mana Veins had yet to fully develop. Nial had been examined and it was found out that he was already in possession of Superior Mana Veins, which were still growing stronger.

    Thus, it was rather normal to have reached the 6th Origin rank by now. He didn''t feel much of a toll from his rapid advancement. On the contrary, Nial was able to feel much more whenever the Goldscale Serpent had a growth spurt than he felt from the expansion of his Mana Core.

    Goldy was a youngling Goldscale Serpent, after all. The Goldscale Serpent was still growing and that would continue for quite a while. Goldscale Serpents were known as beings that could reach the Mirae rank. Following in Nial''s footsteps, Goldy was also trying to expand his Mana Core as often as possible. As long as Goldy''s Mana Core expanded nine times, it would be a great fortune. After all, that would mean Goldy could advance to the Mirae rank creating a Superior Origin Ring.

    This might not seem like something special at first, but it was the first step they had to take to break Goldy''s racial limitations!

    With that in mind, both Summoner and Familiar took some time off from the kindergarten in order to rest on the rooftop.

    But there was just one thing that he forgot to take into consideration.

    Others could also get to the rooftop!

    The rooftop''s door was locked with a mana lock. Under normal circumstances, one would have to know the ''password'' which had to be typed in via Mana, but Nial used his silver eye to see the mana currents and their remnants inside the lock in order to open it.

    Nobody went to the rooftop, either way. At least, that was what Nial thought.

    What he didn''t expect was for a young child, a fellow kindergarten kid, to be able to open the lock using mana.

    But that was not even everything.

    The child had not only awoken her Mana Core, but she was already in possession of a Familiar!

    ''Why does this child feels so familiar? I never meet her¡­but she looks so familiar¡­''

    A picture of three women shed through his head, women, whom he had never encountered before.

    An Elven Princess, a human with great charms, and¡­an Oracle?

 Chapter 685 Lovely And Deadly Summoner

    A charming little girl with delicate features appeared in the doorframe that lead to the rooftop of the kindergarten building.

    Nial had gotten up from the ground, and he eyed the little girl with a sense of curiosity.

    There were only few kindergarten children willing to stay away from him. The charming little girl in front of him was one of them.

    Her royal purple eyes widened seeing him, and her pointy ears began to p. This caused her wavy ck hair to flutter.

    ''She looks like a mixture of these three women¡­but why? How do I know these three women?''

    On the inside, Nial''s mind was a mess. He couldn''t really understand how a picture of three unknown women could sh through his mind. He had never even met an Elven Princess, a human, let alone an Oracle. But why was the picture so vivid, almost as if he had imprinted it into his mind?

    He couldn''t even see before¡­so how could he have such a detailed image of their hair, eye, and skin-color?

    ''Wait¡­what am I thinking about? I could always see! Is something wrong with me?'' He wondered, pinching the back of his left hand to feel the pain.

    It hurt.

    He was not daydreaming either.

    ''I must be tired from working so hard over thest few months!''

    "Helly, my name is Nial. Did you want to spend some time on the rooftop as well? The faint breeze feels great in the morning sun," Nial introduced himself with a faint smile on his lips.

    He wasn''t trying to be too pushy but his interest was picked. The kid in front of him looked like a fusion of the three women whose vivid image had shed through his mind, and she was already a Summoner at the age of six or seven.

    Nial was not too sure how old she was, but she looked a little older than the rest of the kindergarten kids. She was also taller than most of them. Nial was already tall for his age because the mana inside his body elerated his growth, but he was still a little smaller than the charming little girl in front of him.

    ''Her mana is much more potent than mine¡­and she doesn''t have a Mana Core?'' Nial figured by seeing a pulsating heart of mana where her Mana Core was supposed to be.

    ''A Mana Heart?''

    Nial had already read something about unique mutations of the Creatoran race. A Mana Heart was an extremely rare mutation, and it was an extraordinary condition that could be considered advantageous and disadvantageous at the same time.

    Her Mana Heart was connected to the Mana Veins, replicating the tasks of an ordinary heart and veins. The sole difference was that Mana circted through the Mana Heart and Mana Veins rather than blood. The constant cirction of mana created a constant enhancement of her physical properties, and it purified her Mana as well.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The quality of her mana increased, which meant that her body would undergo a stronger degree of refinement. While that sounded great at first, one would quickly realize that the body of a Creatoran couldn''t easily handle mana with too high potency.

    The Mana Veins of Creatoran were feeble and tore easily. Thus, the higher the quality of someone''s Mana Veins the more likely was it that one had to search for particr monsters to obtain their high resilience by turning them into their Familiars.

    A simr scenario urred to Nial, though he never really thought about it too much. The Mana he absorbed was not too high in terms of quality, which meant that his Superior Mana Veins could absorb a tremendous amount of mana without tearing.

    Though, even if things were to change in the future, Goldy''s Soul amplification as his familiar had his back!

    The little girl in front of Nial didn''t answer at first. She was fidgeting from one leg to another, seemingly unsure of what she was supposed to do. Nial had been deep in thought upon finding out about her Mana Heart, which was also why he noticed only now that something was amiss.

    The girl''s royal purple eyes were watery and her familiar had been summoned. The Familiar was hiding in her sleeve while a tremendous amount of the girl''s mana was channeled inside it.

    "I am Celine, and I am so sorry¡­I hope you can forgive me¡­" She said while the tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

    A momentter, three ck needles shot out of her sleeve. They elerated rapidly and impacted a moment after they had been released.

    Their target had been no other than Nial, the Crown Prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, and the youngest Summoner in the annals of the empire''s long history.

    Nial was hit by each of the three ck needles, the impact forcing him to his knees. He fell to the ground, the back of his head hitting the hard rooftop floor.

    Nial was all by himself, Goldy was nowhere to be seen, and he began to smile sadly.

    Weirdly enough, he was not angry at the girl. Big tears trickled down her cheeks as she shot at him. She even asked for forgiveness before attacking him.

    ''What could be the reason for a child to attack the Crown Prince using her Familiar? Celine is a prodigy, so¡­why is she even in this academy, in the first ce?''

    Commoners would be granted a schrship to attend the best Summoner Academies as long as they awoke their Soul Space before the age of ten. Celine summoned her first Familiar around the age of six or seven. She should be one of the rare heavenly prodigies¡­so why was she here in the first ce?

    Nial was not too sure about the reason, and he was a little concerned. Even if the other children didn''t sense something amiss. What was about the hidden agents his mother had deployed to keep an eye on him and the kindergarten? Did they ignore the prodigy in kindergarten or what where they thinking?

    Little did Nial know that they had already been killed.

    Everything had been nned beforehand, and he was the final target!

 Chapter 686 The Plan

    Nial was lying on the ground, three ck needles stuck in his chest.

    Precisely, the three ck needles were stuck in the golden scales that covered Nial''s body.

    Goldy was currently inside Nial''s Mana Core and their firm Soul Link saved him. The firm Soul Link allowed Nial to initiate the Soul Fusion with Goldy, allowing the Familiar to enter his Mana Core, where he could manifest body parts of the Goldscale Serpent.

    Manifesting his Familiar''s body parts drained a tremendous amount of nutrition, but that was not a high price to pay if it allowed him to survive an assassination attempt.

    Nial pushed his upper body from the ground of the rooftop. His head flicked over to the young girl who was crying bitterly.

    No matter what Nial thought before, he couldn''t think that this little girl actually wanted to kill him.

    ''Was she forced to attack him? If so, why exactly? Who ordered her to kill me? Wouldn''t it be easier to attack me with different means?''

    Many thoughts shed through his mind, and the answers he received were not exactly helpful.

    Under normal circumstances, it was very hard for children to sense if someone else had already awoken their Mana Core. It was difficult to perceive the surrounding Mana, and forget about differentiating the source of Mana. For ordinary people, it was even more difficult to perceive if someone was already a Summoner.

    The charming little girl''s Familiar was also a Monster that could conceal itself pretty well. It had a camouge-like trait, which made it even more difficult to perceive her.

    All-in-all, this made it very difficult for children to perceive the threat before it was already toote.

    For Nial, it was a little bit different, but that was not something others knew. He never told anyone about his ability to see Mana, which included the sources of Mana from everyone in his field of vision. In fact, the mana behind the walls was also clearly visible to his eyes.

    Then there was the fact that he could see the hues of the potential of Monsters. Hiding from him was probably one of the most difficult tasks in existence.

    "I am sorry, but you cannot really kill me that easily. Your Familiar won''t be able to break through my defense," Nial said calmly while getting up from the ground.

    The little charming girl began to tremble at this moment. Her legs had given in and she was sitting on the ground, tears trickling down onto her skirt. Celine looked up, just to see that Nial was unscathed and perfectly fine.

    Complex emotions shed through her mind, and it was quite easy to decipher that she was conflicted, unsure of what she was supposed to do now.

    "...I had to¡­" She mumbled to herself while her watery eyes continued to stare at Nial.

    Celine wasn''t even trying to find excuses. She looked like someone who regretted what she had done, but also like she would do it again if needed.

    Her expression was not really something one would find on the face of someone at the age of six or seven years.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Why did you attack me? Why did you ''have to do it''?" Nial asked, taking another step closer to the little girl.

    He squatted down in front of her, and stared deep into her royal purple eyes.

    Looking into each other''s eyes, they didn''t say anything for several seconds. Celine felt like she lost the ability to speak. She could only stare into his golden and silver eyes, feeling helpless, and useless.

    "They¡­told me that I have to attack you¡­otherwise, we would never be happy again¡­that we would never be free. They hit my mother, and took away my father¡­I¡­I don''t want to lose them¡­I just want everything to return to how it has been¡­" Celine blurted out, struggling to speak without break.

    Her voice was cracking and tears began to stream down her cheeks once again. For several minutes, the river of tears didn''t cease.

    ''What a mess.''

    Nial was not sure who ''they'' were, but he could tell that Celine and her family had been dragged into some scheming. It was likely to be due to Celine''s great potential as Summoner, which could be made use of rather easily.

    ''Was it some underground organization? Probably not. They would have attacked me directly. I am the most vulnerable in the academy, but there are still many hidden agents spread around the kindergarten, so¡­were it other nobles? If that''s the case, it should have been the subsidiary kingdoms and tribes. The families who swore allegiance to the Lacardian Empyrean Void wouldn''t dare to attack me.

    But those subsidiary kingdoms and tribes? They''re probably desperate now that a Crown Prince, aka me, was born, with such tremendous talent at that.''

    Nial was not too sure if his conclusion was correct because he might be missing some important pieces of information. However, he could feel that he was on the right track.

    Unfortunately, that didn''t really make things better. The little girl in front of him was likely to lose her family to the perpetrators the moment they find out about her failure. This would create a big problem since it was increasingly difficult to findmoners with talent as exceptional as the talent Celine had showcased.

    Nial felt oddly familiar with the girl as well. She looked like a child-like version of the three women that had popped up in his mind earlier. He liked those women, or so he believed, and he didn''t really want anything to happen to them.

    With that in mind, he didn''t feel great knowing that Celine would be unhappy as well. He felt like helping her even though she attempted to kill him.

    If he didn''t care that she attempted his murder, nobody else should bother too much about it.

    Maybe his parents would think a little differently about that matter, but Nial was pretty sure that he could convince them rather easily that Celine had to be spared and that her family had to be rescued.

    That way, his goals would be fulfilled, and Celine was likely to see the royal family of the Empire in a much better light. She was loyal to her family, and would be loyal to the royal family as well.

    Of course, that was not the most important in Nial''s opinion right now.

    ''Whoever dares to make such a cute girl cry deserves to be beaten up!''

 Chapter 687 Worrywart 2.0

    Nial was not sure if it was only because Celine looked like the three women that had appeared in his mind, but he felt oddly protective of her.

    He didn''t really want anything to happen to her and clenched his fists tightly.

    If he wanted to help her, he would have to act soon, otherwise, her family would be killed, and Celine would be sad.

    That was not something Nial wanted to see, which was why he retrieved a blue crystal from his pockets. It was a messenger crystal that allowed him to message the captain of the hidden agents around him with the use of mana.

    However, upon channeling mana into the messenger crystal, Nial noticed that something was odd.

    ''The messenger crystal doesn''t work? No, it''s working, but it cannot find the receptor. Did the messenger crystal of the agent captain break?''

    Nial began to frown, and a heavy sigh escaped his lips.

    ''Are they dead?''

    The worst possible theory appeared in his mind. The hidden agents might have been killed to give Celine a chance to kill him. Of course, this would attract much more attention since it would be even weirder if all hidden agents and Nial were to die. Was it really necessary to ask a child to kill him, if they killed the hidden agents as well?

    Nial was not too sure about that, but it was also not too important right now. He hoped that the agents were fine and that there was a different reason for the inability tomunicate with the agent captain.

    "If you tell me where your parents are held captive, I might be able to help you," Nial told Celine while rummaging through his pockets.

    He was searching for something and hoped that he would find it soon.

    Celine was still crying, looking at him somewhat helplessly. Her brain seemed to be short-circuiting, and she was unable to say anything for a while.

    Before she could say anything, amotion spread through the surrounding area. Loud voices could be heard everywhere around the kindergarten with children eximing in joy, and adults voicing out their shock and astonishment.

    The reason for their shock and exmations was none other than a huge red dragon flying high up in the sky. The huge wings of the ze Dragon looked small from therge distance between the sky and the earth, but even then, everyone was able to see it.

    It was Red, the ze Dragon, whose size seemed to be expanding as he descended towards the ground.

    The ze Dragon''s wings beat fiercely, creating a gust of wind that nearly sent kids flying. His eyes were fixed on the rooftop of the kindergarten, where Nial and Celine could be seen.

    Seeing Nial, who was safe and sound, Rex''s unstable Mana seemed to stabilize in an instant. Nheless, the ze Dragon continued to descend. The teachers pulled the kindergarten children away before Rexnded with a thud, his enormous body casting a huge shadow over the entire kindergarten.

    The children looked up in awe, while the adults were frozen in fear as they realized the potential danger they were in.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A shadow that had been standing on Rex''s back burst through the air,nding on the rooftop, where a beautiful woman reced the darkness that had been cast over the shadow.

    The beautiful woman was none other than Nial''s mother, the Empress of the Lacardian Empyrean Void. Her expression was filled with worry, and she only eased up upon seeing Nial patting the head of a little girl.

    Three ck needles were still stuck in his chest, but Nial didn''t seem injured. His mana was stable and there was not a single trace of blood around the ck needles.

    Nial saw the stiff expression on his mother''s face upon seeing the ck needles. Thus, he quickly showed her the golden scales that had grown beneath his clothes and above his skin.

    "I am fine, mom. Don''t worry," He said with a small smile on his face.

    Nial had yet to remove Goldy''s scales, but that was not something he was in a hurry with. Celine was in a bad mental state, and she might desperately attempt to attack him if she were to hear news of her parents'' death. Though Nial was not too sure whether her parents were dead or not, the chances were slim.

    "We lost signal to the agents, and I couldn''t reach you with the messenger crystal either so I came by to take a look. But¡­it looks like something happened," The Empress exined the reason for her sudden emergence.

    Her voice grew colder the more she said, and it was not long before her head flicked to the little girl. Celine was a cute little girl, who was crying bitterly. Seeing the little girl caused the Empress to feel as if someone was pulling her heartstring. This was something only Nial ought to be able, but somehow the little girl could do the same just by crying.

    However, rather than approaching the little girl, the Empress'' eyes narrowed.

    "She is already a Summoner? Why is she crying¡­did she attack you?" The Empress was pretty sure that the ck needles that were still stuck in Nial''s chest weren''t something powerful.

    It was likely that they had been used by a weak Familiar, a weak Summoner, or younglings. The Empress didn''t quite understand the situation yet, but there were no powerful opponents around her. There were only Nial and the little girl, whose head was patted by the Crown Prince.

    He seemed to be trying to calm her, which was not something Nial did often. He really didn''t approach other people easily.

    Something must have happened, and by connecting the dots, the Empress was able to create the most likely scenario.

    "The Kingdoms? Traitors? These bastards!"

    The Empress'' Mana surged out of her body. The ground around her began to crackle and the entire building began to shake.

    "Mom?"

    Nial''s voice pulled the Empress out of her rage. She looked straight at Nial''s serious face and calmed down rapidly.

    "What is it, my little prince?"

 Chapter 688 Killing A Child?

    After the incident, the guards around Nial increased threefold in number. Their strength increased drastically as well, with one divine being ced near him.

    Nial thought that his mother was a little exaggerating but she didn''t change her opinion.

    Nial Lacardian was the only Prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, and his death would cause tremendous damage to the entire empire. His well-being was not only important for his family, but also for the entire empire!

    Nial thought that his parents could just give birth to another child and that it was not actually as much of a problem as the Empress said, but he didn''t say anything.

    It was not as if he wanted to die, in the first ce. At the end of the day, it was better to have someone powerful by his side to make sure that nothing bad could happen.

    ''Good thing that I didn''t tell my mother to make a new baby. They struggled more than enough to give birth to me.''

    Nial knew that he was a bit insensitive but that was not something he could change easily. It was already a wonder that he could think like an adult while he was merely four and a half. His body''s age and his mental state felt like they were worlds apart. Nial was not too sure why that was the case, but he presumed that it was a good thing.

    Being able to think properly, with a fully matured mind, allowed him to understand the crux of the predicament. He understood that he had to grow stronger as quickly as possible, otherwise, the opponents of the Lacardian Empyrean Void would initiate more attacks.

    It was already terrifying enough to think that a little child had been ckmailed and forced to attack the Crown Prince.

    Celine''s world had been turned upside down as the bad people barged into her home. They kidnapped her father, hit her mother, and pressed a dagger against her mother''s neck. The dagger was pressed against her neck with enough force to make her bleed.

    That was the first time Celine to see her mother bleeding. She was shocked, her legs caved in and she could only stare at her mother bawling her eyes out.

    She listened to the orders she had been given and followed them, no matter how wrong they were. If she wanted to get her parents back, Celine had to kill the Crown Prince.

    She didn''t have anything against the Crown Prince. In fact, the Crown Prince was a likable person. He treatedmoners and nobles the same and tried to befriend others, which was quite difficult because of the difference in their status. While Nial Lacardian had to be intelligent, well-versed in all subjects, and mature as a role model of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, the other children were just that¡­children.

    Celine didn''t tell anyone but her parents that she awoke her Mana Core and that she had created a Soul Space. In fact, her parents hadn''t known that Celine went into the Monster Dimension and that she had already linked a familiar to her Soul.

    Celine couldn''t understand how the bad men found out about this, but they did¡­and they forced her to attack the Crown Prince.

    Only by killing them would her parents be safe. Thus, Celine did exactly that. She attacked the Crown Prince once they were alone, understanding that her own life would probably end soon enough.

    Even a six-year-old child could understand that it was wrong to kill anyone, forget about the only heir of a humongous empire. If she were to kill someone else, her life would also change drastically.

    However, things would turn even worse by killing a member of the royal family.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    But she didn''t seed.

    Celine gathered her courage over the course of a few weeks, she found a good opportunity to attack, and she initiated the attack.

    The ck needles of her Familiar pierced into Nial, and the poison within the needles ought to spread through his body, killing him slowly but steadily.

    Unfortunately, Nial didn''t die. His body was covered in golden scales that were like a second skin. The ck needles weren''t strong enough to prate the golden scales.

    That was also why Celine ended up both relieved and desperate. She was relieved because she didn''t want to kill anyone, no matter whether it was the Crown Prince of the Lacardian Empyrean Void or amoner. Celine was only six years old, after all!

    How cruel was it to force a child to kill?

    However, Celine was also desperate. She knew that the bad men would soon find out that she had failed, and her parents wouldn''t be of use anymore. They would be killed, and she would be all alone.

    But even if she wanted to do something, Celine was unable to do anything. She didn''t even know where her parents had been brought.

    "Mom, can you send someone to her house? I think ''they'' forced her to attack me. We need to find her family quickly, otherwise, they might kill them." Nial''s voice rang through Celine''s ears.

    She couldn''t understand everything since she cried too loud to listen properly. However, upon looking up, she saw the Empress looking at her, with an iprehensible expression on her face.

    "I won''t forg-... no¡­forget about that. We will talk about thatter," The Empress said still looking at Celine. Celine trembled and she quickly lowered her head to avoid the gaze that caused her to feel chills prating deep through her entire being, reaching the deepest parts of her Soul.

    The Empress turned over to Nial, who was pulling at her dress with a rushing expression on his face.

    Her hands reached out to his face as she bend down to the ground.

    "You are a really strong child. Do you even know that? But¡­don''t make me worry so much¡­please¡­" The Empress said weakly, her voice crumbling near the end.

    She nted a kiss on his forehead before she turned around.

    A young masked woman wearing a ck robe appeared next to the Empress at this moment. She bowed to the Empress, whose expression tensed.

    "Hera sent out the Hellhounds. We''re going for a hunt!"

 Chapter 689 In The Royal Hall

    It was the afternoon of the same day as the incident when Nial found himself sitting on a small throne next to his mother.

    He didn''t really like the throne because it was situated in an elevated position. One would have to look down on everyone in front of them, even if that was not something one intended to do.

    The throne was also cold and hard, very ufortable.

    However, that was one of the smaller issues Nial faced right now. He was more focused on the three kneeling Creatoran.

    Three Creatoran, a young woman, a young man, and a child, Celine, to be precise, were kneeling in front of them. They didn''t move a single inch for thest ten minutes. Not even Celine''s Familiar dared to move right now.

    Celine''s Familiar also kneeled in front of the thrown, its carapace shuddering every now on then. A full-fledged ze Dragon was staring down at the Melolontha, also called cockchafer, or beetle if one wanted to simplify the kind of Familiar even further.

    The Beetle was not ordinary either. It was a Vermin-tail Beetle, a mutated Vermin-tail Beetle, precisely! It could shoot its tail at other with an extremely high precision and terrific velocity. Regrowing the tail drained nutrition and mana, but that was still something one could easily cope with.

    The Vermin-tail Beetle was a weak monster that was unlikely to cross the 4th Origin rank. Nial was already at the 6th Origin rank, and the Vermin-tail Beetle was not yet matured either. Thus, even without the golden scales covering his body, Nial wouldn''t have died. The chances were slim.

    After more than half an hour of silence passed, Nial felt even more ufortable than before. However, he didn''t dare to say anything because his mother''s ice-cold gaze stared down at the parents and the little girl, who had nearly killed her beloved child.

    No matter whether it was as the Empress of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, or as an overprotective mother, she couldn''t leave it at that.

    "Attempting to assassinate a member of the royal family is a grave sin¡­Do you have anyst words before I dere the punishment?" She asked coldly, releasing some of her aura to amplify her words.

    The royal hall''s walls tremored violently and the pressure around the three Creatoran and the Familiar increased tremendously. Nial saw that the mana within them was being suppressed. The gravitational force around the family increased exponentially, focusing on the parents.

    When Nial couldn''t take it any longer, he leaned over to his mother, trying to reach the Empress. However, his arms were too short and the throne too far apart.

    He got up from the throne, and moved on top of the armrest where he could reach the armrest of the Empress'' throne. With some effort, he jumped on top of her throne to reach out for her arm.

    "Don''t you think that''s enough? Isn''t this incident partially our fault?" He mumbled, pulling at the Empress'' sleeves.

    "Our fault? How can¨C...." The Empress asked, just to quiet down. It looked like she understood something.

    But even then, Nial felt like he should say a little more, so he whispered quietly.

    "First, we didn''t even notice how talented Celine was. She said that she hatched and raised the Vermin-tail Beetle. Her Familiar is already several weeks old. That means she has been a full-fledged Summoner for Several Weeks by now. What were our scouts doing, not realizing such a heavenly prodigy? We should have protected her parents the moment she awoke her Mana Core a few months ago, but we didn''t notice that.

    We basically begged our opponents to use her, and we can be lucky that they exploited her to attack us. Do¨C..." Nial was trying to say a lot more but his mother lifted her hand.

    "Lucky that she attacked you? Are you sure that your head is fine?" The Empress asked quietly, diverting her gaze from the three kneeling Creatoran. The pressure she had released on them dispersed slowly, allowing them to breathe once again.

    Looking up for the first time, they noticed that Nial was sitting on the Empress'' throne, talking to her. It seemed like they were having a small fight.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''Is the little Crown Prince fighting his mother for us?''

    ''He is so righteous¡­How do we even deserve such great treatment?!''

    Celine''s parents were on the verge of bursting into tears. They didn''t expect that the Crown Prince would be on their side. Their daughter nearly killed him to save them, yet he did not only forgive them but even started to fight with his mother, the Empress.

    The Empress was fuming in anger, understandably.

    The situation was not exactlyplex because the crux was pretty simple to exin. A secret organization had been hired to kill Nial Lacardian. The members of the secret organization in the capital either fled, or theymitted suicide when the Queen and her Hellhounds found them. Thus, there were hardly any clues left to find out who exactly wanted to see Nial Lacardian dead.

    There were many suspects, but it was not possible to annihte all of them since it would create too much ruckus to kill innocent people. Nobody wanted to kill someone innocent, in the first ce, but the Empress was simply too enraged. Her frustration was clearly visible and it was something everyone could understand.

    Someone wanted to see Nial Lacardian dead, and they didn''t even hesitate to use other children to make it happen.

    "Your majesty¡­please don''t punish our daughter. Punish me instead. We were too weak, and endangered the young Crown Prince¡­please forgi¨C..." The young man, the father of Celine, suddenly shouted out loud.

    He knew that the punishment for assassinating a member of the royal family would result in the death of everyone rted to the culprit. This included their family and even close friends. Something like this was a means to ensure that nobody would dare to attack the royal family, and that those who were daring enough to actually do it would be punished.

    The family and friends of those culprits should have sensed his/her hatred, and reported it.

    Attempting to assassinate and actually seeding was a big difference. Nheless, the entire family would be obliterated regardless.

    This was to create an example of what would happen to traitors and to make sure that something like this wouldn''t repeat itself.

    "You want me to kill you? Do you even realize what this means?" The Empress turned her head to the young father.

    She didn''t release her aura, and couldn''t be bothered to speak in a lofty tone right now either. The young father was just trying to protect his daughter. However, it was already toote for something like this.

    "Killing you will make sure that your daughter hates the royal family to the core. She is a heavenly prodigy, which means that she will rapidly be stronger. Fueled by hatred and the thought of revenge, it is not unlikely that she will grow strong enough to be taken in by some hidden organizations.

    Once she works her way up thedder, the Lacardian Empyrean Void will have to face a disaster facing your daughter, all of that because we killed you, and spared her." The Empress coldly exined with an example.

    The young man grit his teeth. He felt helpless, just too helpless¡­and all of that just because he was too weak to protect himself, and his daughter too talented.

    At this moment, Nial cleared his throat. He whispered something in the Empress'' ear. She looked at her son for a few seconds, sighed deeply, and then nodded her head resigned.

    "Let''s do this then!"

 Chapter 690 Maid

    Even though the Empress didn''t really like Nial''s idea because it could be considered a reward rather than a punishment, she could tell that Nial thought a lot about what they should do with Celine and her family.

    Celine''s parents weremoners without great talent. They had barely reached the Mirae rank and couldn''t be considered powerful in any way. Even their Familiars were extremely weak.

    Meanwhile, Celine was currently only at the Origin rank. She was only six years old but she had great talent. Her future was bound to be filled with obstacles and opportunities, which would allow her to be strong enough to influence the Lacardian Empyrean Void.

    Nial wanted to make use of that. Thus, he told his mother that Celine should be his servant and that her parents should be trained as servants of the royal pce.

    For many, this was a reward, and it was certainly the same for Celine and her parents, considering that the crime they hadmitted was severe.

    It was difficult to be a servant in the royal pce, but Nial proposed that the entire family would be epted into the royal pce. His reasoning was pretty simple.

    He didn''t want to kill Celine and her parents, and he wanted to make use of Celine''s exceptional talent. As long as her parents were doing well, Celine wouldn''t even consider attacking him. Even if she were to think about it, Celine wouldn''t dare to attack him. After all, her parents would be in the royal pce, and they would be killed before she could make a move.

    Summarized, Nial''s reasoning was to pick up and nourish an exceptional talent for himself and the entire empire, and to ensure that this exceptional talent wouldn''t start wreaking havoc and go up against them.

    Nial knew that this kind of punishment was not worth mentioning. It was actually more of a reward than a punishment, but that was not actually something he could be concerned about.

    Staring at Celine, the vivid picture of the three women kept resurfacing in his mind. It was somewhat bothersome, however, it also made him feel warm around his heart. He could tell that he had a deep connection to the three women, even though he had never seen them in the first ce. This was a little weird, but it was not actually something Nial intended to research, not for the time being at least.

    Celine and her parents epted the ''punishment'' gratefully. They burst into tears and hugged one another. This caused the Empress and Nial to feel a little bit weird because they were still seated on the throne, looking down on their subjects. Nial diverted his gaze and he smiled brightly at his mother.

    "Why are you smiling like this, you troublemaker?" She teased lightly, pinching his cheek. Nial continued to smile without saying a word. He was d that his mother bend the royalws a little to create the best possible oue.

    The Empress was still worried about the assassins and that the hidden agents around Nial had been killed without anyone noticing. However, it was not as if killing the little charming girl in front of her would solve the issue. The Lacardia Empyrean Void might even get a bad reputation if falsified rumors were to spread.

    ''The royal family killed innocent children with a heavenly talent to prevent an uprise ofmoners.''

    Something along those lines was certain to spread through the entire Lacardia Empyrean Void the moment they killed Celine and her parents. Thus, it was better to make use of the little child''s exceptional talent.

    "Celine, are you willing to be trained as the Crown Prince''s personal maid?" The Empress thus asked.

    "As a personal maid, you do not only have to do everything the Crown Prince asks you to do, but you need to be strong enough to protect him from all harm. If he is in danger, you will have to protect him, even if your life is on the line."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "..."

    "The Crown Prince is likely to face many more assassination attempts in the future. Because of the danger, he will have to face, I need someone inconspicuous, yet powerful by his side. You would have to undergo a certain ritual to increase your strength rapidly in order to reach the strength necessary to protect the Crown Prince.

    It would be painful, and you take permanent damage from the ritual, are you fine with that?"

    The Empress could order Celine to protect Nial with her life on the line. She could even force the little charming girl to sign a Soul Contract, a contract whose uses had to be respected and followed, otherwise, the Soul Space of the party breaking the contract would shatter.

    However, the Empress did none of that.

    She didn''t force Celine to do anything because the most important was to find out whether Celine understood what Nial had done for the little girl, despite her assassination attempt. The Empress wanted to see how far Celine would go if her personality was actually good, and if her heart was at the right spot.

    "I will do anything! Please, allow me to stay by Nial''s side and make up for the grave crime Imitted!!" Celine shouted out loudly in a high-pitched voice.

    "I am very good at enduring pain as well, I think. There is no need to worry about me, your majesty. I will undergo the ritual as long as that means I can atone for my sins!"

    Celine was smiling brightly as she spoke those words. It looked like she was overjoyed to be able to stay by Nial''s side. She couldn''t even be bothered about the warning the Empress gave.

    The ritual she spoke about was extremely dangerous, and it was not unlikely to die from it.

    However, Celine was just smiling brightly as if it would be a walk in the park.

    No matter what others would say, Celine felt that Nial was worth being protected.

    She may only be six years old, but she could tell that Nial''s actions were not something that should be taken lightly.

    He went up against the Empress, his mother, the ruler of the Lacardia Empyrean Void!

    Celine was grateful for the helping hand Nial reached out, and she was not stupid enough to p it away.

 Chapter 691 Soul Reconstruction Ritual

    The Soul Reconstruction Ritual was a dangerous ritual that was hardly used in recent days.

    If one wanted to undergo the Soul Reconstruction Ritual, one had to take a poison that destroys most of the Soul Space. It would restrict the number of monsters one could bind to the soul to the bare minimum in exchange for artificially enhancing her cultivation talent to the limit.

    The Soul Reconstruction Ritual would use the fragments of the destroyed Soul Space to enhance the grade of the Mana Veins and the assimtion degree of her Mana Core. The more fragments used the stronger the enhancement. The remaining fragments of the destroyed Soul Space could be used to repair the Soul Space once again and increase the number of Familiars one could possess to a certain degree.

    However, thetter was not something one would do as the personal maid of a royal family member. They would use the shards of the Soul Space to increase their Cultivation talent as much as possible while keeping the number of Familiars to a minimum.

    The destroyed Soul Space would be altered through the poison as well, preventing Familiars of any other type than poison and darkness to be soulbound to the Summoner. Other than that, the number of Familiars one could bind to their damaged Soul Space was between two to four.

    Nial felt that the poison and the Soul Reconstruction Ritual were quite dangerous. His Mana Veins were already at the peak as well. Thus, he couldn''t be bothered to destroy his future potential by restricting the number and the type of Familiars he could bind to him.

    It was a hassle, and not actually something he deemed necessary for Celine either. She was only six years old and already a full-fledged Summoner. That meant her mana perception was great, and that she had the necessary talent to be a powerhouse of the Lacardia Empyrean Void as long as she worked hard enough.

    However, the Empress deemed it necessary for her to undergo the Soul Reconstruction Ritual because that was what every personal maid had to do.

    Nial knew that the personal maids and butlers working for the royal family were the strongest, but he didn''t expect all of them to have undergone the Soul Reconstruction Ritual.

    Thinking about it, Nial felt that it made sense. The royal family''s innate talent was already terrifying. Nial was only four and a half years old, yet he was already a full-fledged Summoner at the 6th Origin rank.

    It was only a matter of time before he would reach the 10th Origin rank by expanding his Mana Core nine times. After that, he would have to fill his mana core with mana, liquefy it andpress it to create solidified Origin rings around his Mana Core, advancing to the Mirae rank.

    No matter how fast Nial was, Celine would have to catch up to him, which was a big challenge. After all, she would have to create the strongest possible foundation in an extremely short period of time in order to keep getting stronger and stay by Nial''s side as a bodyguard.

    The number of mana droplets used to create Origin rings was essential, meaning that less talented Originals with a small and weak Mana Core, unable to amass too many mana droplets at once, wouldn''t be able to create a strong Origin ring.

    Thus, an Original''s foundation was essential, and a predetermining factor of an Origin ring''s potency.

    Fourmonly known ranks existed to grade Origin rings easily. They were called Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior.

    As the name suggested, Basic Origin rings were the most basic. They were extremely weak and didn''t require many Mana droplets to be created. The refinement degree they provided was also not that high, meaning that their creation didn''t provide a big enhancement in physical strength and mental power.

    Advanced Origin rings were the highest Origin rings that could be created without being an innately born genius, blessed by great fortune, or faced with great opportunities, which would expand the Origin ring and allow the creation of Superior Origin rings.

    Other than the fourmonly known Origin rings, there were also Unique Origin Rings. Only those blessed with great opportunities, unique constitutions, and a formidable condition can create Unique Origin rings.

    Royal Origin Rings, using the cultivation technique of the Lacardia Empyrean Void''s royal family, were such Unique Origin rings.

    They were stronger than Superior Origin rings, providing higher amplification and more overall benefits.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Following this principle, an Original with 4 Basic Origin Rings was considered to have reached the 4th Basic Mirae rank, while an Original with 7 Advanced Origin rings was bound to be considered to have attained the 7th Advanced Mirae rank.

    Nial ought to reach the 1st Royal Mirae rank in the near future. That was what he was working for.

    However, something deep down in his subconsciousness told him that it was wrong, that he was not supposed to create Royal Origin Rings.

    Why was that the case?

    Nial had no idea.

    He could only tell that he was supposed to create a different type of Unique Origin ring. He was not sure which type of Origin ring he ought to create, but his heart told him that the Royal Origin ring was not the correct one.

    It was very confusing, but there were no answers to the questions that lingered in his mind.

    Nobody could ease his confusion because there was nobody who knew about it.

    Nial was not too sure why, but he felt that asking anyone about the three women and the other questions that lingered in his mind would create too much trouble.

    But why was that the case?

    Was he unable to see something?

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 Chapter 692 Ancient Origin Ring

    Celinepleted the Soul Reconstruction Ritual without any serious issues.

    She was out of it for a few days, lying in bed with a severe fever, but that was already it.

    The Vermin-tail Beetle, Celine''s first Familiar, was still standing by her side, but it had grown a littlerger.

    The Familiar''s strength improved due to the Soul Reconstruction Ritual. Not only did it alter the Soul drastically, reducing the number of Familiars she bind to her, but it also increased the potential of the two types of monsters she could link to her soul.

    The Vermin-tail Beetle was a darkness-mutated poison-type monster. Being both darkness and poison attributed, it received a drastic boost in its potential. Celine''s Soul Space and her Familiar were examined, and it was found out that the Vermin-tail Beetle might actually evolve.

    That would provide Celine with a sharp increase in strength and it would increase her overallbat prowess as a Summoner-Familiar team.

    Three years passed in the blink of an eye after Celine''s Soul Reconstruction Ritual.

    No new assassination attempt happened, which was probably the result of the heightened security around Nial. For the first half of the three years, Celine was trained by the Head Butler of the royal family. She was taught the rule of the royal family, what she was allowed to do, and where the lines were drawn.

    Basically, the rules were pretty simple. As a personal maid, the Crown Prince was Celine''s highest superior. Not even the Empress or the Emperor could overrule the Crown Prince''s orders. Protecting the Crown Prince was the highest priority, and so was satisfying his needs.

    Food, beverages, and cultivation resources should always be prepared beforehand, and the wishes should be amodated as quickly as possible.

    Celine was a quick thinker. She learned everything pretty fast, which was also why the Empress was d that Nial chose to take her in rather than allow her to execute them for their grave crime.

    The little charming girl was now ten years old, and she had already advanced to the Mirae rank. She created her first Superior Origin ring recently after working tirelessly to umte enough Mana to increase her strength just a little.

    At the end of the day, she could only create the Superior-grade Origin ring because the Vermin-tail Beetle had evolved into a Giga Leminion Beetle. The Giga Leminion Beetle increased the amount of mana Celine could store in her Mana Core, which made it possible for her to cross the threshold to store enough mana droplets.

    Her talent paled inparison to Nial''s natural, inborn talent, but that was not a surprise. Nial was only seven years old but he had already created his first Origin ring quite a while ago. He was already storing more mana droplets to create his second Origin ring.

    His raw physical strength was much higher than Celine''s raw strength. He excused himself by saying that Goldy''s enhancement in strength allowed him to be so strong, but the physicians, instructors, and Celine didn''t really believe him.

    Nial never told them what grade his Origin Ring was. Thus, everyone believed that it was a Unique Origin Ring, the Royal Origin Ring.

    However, only the Emperor could say whether that was actually the case or not. Being the only member with the bloodline of the royal family, the Emperor would be able to sense whether Nial''s Origin ring was a Roya-grade Origin ring or not.

    Nial was fortunate that the Emperor was not present. If not for that, he would have to start exining what type of Origin ring he created. It was not the renowned Royal-grade Origin ring, but a type of Unique Origin ring nobody in the Lacardia Empyrean Void knew about.

    His first Origin ring had been of the Ancient grade!<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Why did he create an Ancient-grade Origin ring instead of a Royal-grade Origin ring? Nial didn''t know.

    How did he even know what it needed to create an Ancient-grade Origin ring? Nial forgot.

    He could have created the Royal Origin Ring using the special method of the Lacardian Empyrean Void''s ancient heirloom¡­but he didn''t.

    What exactly that meant to the royal family or Nial Ori¡­Lacardia, he didn''t know.

    If someone was to ask him whether he was fine or not, Nial wouldn''t be able to answer.

    ''Just what is going on with me?''

    Sometimes, or rather more often than not, Nial felt as if something was terribly wrong. He was not too sure what it was, but his mind was more developed than his body. It was weird to talk childishly and to act as if he was only seven years old when he actually felt much older.

    His parents were powerful, but somehow that seemed like a farce as well. Nial felt like he could crush the entire Lacardia Empyrean Void in his palm if he desired to do so.

    Of course, that was not actually possible. He didn''t have the strength to crush the Lacardia Empyren Void nor did he actually have the desire to do so.

    He wanted to give his best to protect the Lacardia Empyrean Void. That was his true feeling.

    However, something made him seem as if he didn''t belong in this ce. He was certainly a Creatoran and it felt right to have Goldly by his side¡­but everything else felt oddly fake as if he was never supposed to be there in the first ce.

    Nial couldn''t get his hands around this weird feeling. It confused him too much, and he didn''t like that feeling.

    He just wanted to live a good life without any regrets. He loved his parents and he also liked spending time with Celine and everyone else. The dangers of possible assassinations were a little bothersome, but it was not actually something he was afraid of.

    He could cover his entire body in golden scales by now, protecting him from attacks of Mid-level Mirae ranked attacks.

    Using special means, he couldn''t be killed by those at the Prometheus rank either.

    There was no need for anyone to worry about him.

    Only his mind was a little worrisome.

    Thoughts and pictures began to resurface, just to disappear once again.

 Chapter 693 Imperial Academy

    After spending three years in kindergarten, attending it more or less actively, it was about time to attend the Academy for Summoners.

    Only the greatest talents could enter the Imperial Academy for Summoners. It was the most exceptional ce of education in the entire Lacardia Empyrean Void, and many high-ranking nobles would attend the Academy from a young age.

    The average Summoner was fourteen years old upon awakening their Soul Space. However, since they entered the Imperial Academy for Summoners, it was more likely to find children around the ten to twelve.

    Most students in the Academy were around the age of eight to ten when they awoke their Soul Space, and they would enter the Monster Dimension after thorough preparations in order to find the strongest possible familiar.

    They would train their Mana Core a little, and only attend the Imperial Academy for Summoners once they became full-fledge Summoners.

    Thus, Celine didn''t attract too much attention. She was only ten years old, which is on the lower end, but Nial was even younger. He was a full-fledged Summoner at the 1st Mirae rank, and only seven years old.

    His arrival attracted lots of attention, though he didn''t really mind that.

    It was somewhat expected that his arrival would attract some attention. He was the crown prince and the youngest awakened in the history of the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    It would be weird if his arrival would be ignored by everyone.

    Nheless, Nial didn''t expect the situation to escte like that.

    The first thing that took him by surprise was that his mother forced him to take a carriage to the grand entrance of the Imperial Academy. He never used a carriage in his life, but he was suddenly requested to do so. Was that really necessary?

    The atmosphere at the grand entrance of the Imperial Academy was filled with a sense of grandeur and anticipation. On one hand, Nial anticipated a few interesting years in the Imperial Academy, on the other hand, it felt like the expectations of other people began to weigh down on him.

    Looking out of the carriage''s window, he saw the sun shining brightly upon the imposing stone facade, casting a shadow across the masses of onlookers gathered to catch a glimpse of the Crown Prince''s arrival.

    ''What the? Why are there so many people?''

    Nial knew that many people were interested in him from his time in kindergarten. However, the situation outside the carriage seemed a little bit exaggerated.

    ''Mom didn''t force them to halt their work ande out to see me, right?''

    As he stepped out of the carriage, Nial was greeted by thunderous cheers and chaos of activity. The sound of trumpets filled the air, and the Academy''s professors, and students, all dressed in their finest attire, lined up to greet him.

    ''Is this shit for real?''

    While his thoughts were in a mess, wondering why they made such a big mess of his arrival, Nial made his way through the masses of ''well-wishers''. His bright smiles enchanted the masses while his presence around himmanded respect, attracting the attention of the people around him.

    ''I was already confused why mom told me to wear this¡­''wonderful attire''...now it makes sense.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He was dressed in the finest robes of the empire, adorned with gold and precious gems, a testament to his status as the future ruler of the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    He figured that his mother had yed him, but there was nothing Nial could do about it, not anymore.

    He walked through the Academy''s halls and was shown the many rooms and lecture halls where he would receive his education.

    The walls were lined with great works of art that showed the history of the Capital, and the Imperial Academy. Pictures of various Familiars that fought against the masses of Devils and Demon could be seen everywhere.

    The assembled professors and students greeted the Crown Prince with a standing ovation, their attention fully focused on their future rule as he began his studies at the Academy.

    Nial felt the weight of his responsibilities bearing down upon him. It was terrifying. There was also a sense of excitement and determination sprouting within him. However, something felt a little weird.

    He knew that the education at the Imperial Academy would prepare him for the challenges thaty ahead of him, and he was eager to start this new chapter of his life.

    But the odd feeling in his heart didn''t cease anymore.

    It never did.

    Nial realized the enormity of his role as the future leader of the Lacardia Empyrean Void. He understood what his responsibilities were and that it took a strong ruler to keep the empire together.

    However, he also knew that he had the support of his people, in addition to the knowledge and skills which he could gain at the Imperial Academy to guide him on his journey.

    Nial knew that this was more than enough to rule the empire. As long as he treated his people well, they would fight for him and the ideals he was standing for.

    Problems would ur and he was bound to encounter dangerous situations in the future but for the time being, Nial could focus on bing stronger, expanding his connections, and focusing on other things than bing the ruler of an empire.

    It was important to learn all those things, but Nial felt that it was far more important to stand in for himself, to build up a personality, and to be a person willing to show his emotions.

    It was important that others knew how he was feeling and that it was fine for the ruler to show their emotions as well.

    He might be frowned upon for trying to be like this, but that was fine.

    Nial would try out his own thing by bing a ruler everyone wanted to protect.

    Of course, Nial would give him all to be strong enough to be the one protecting others rather than the other way around.

    He wanted to be the Guardian of the Empire, not the weakling who had to be protected.

 Chapter 694 The Beginning

    By now, Goldy had grown up to be more than three meters long. Not even the longest recorded Goldscale Serpent ought to reach a length of three meters.

    Goldly was thus the longest and also the strongest Goldscale Serpent ever recorded. He was also one of thest Goldscale Serpents alive.

    No matter how hard explorers searched for a second exemr of the Goldscale Serpent, explorers couldn''t find another one in the Monster Dimension.

    This was probably because the Monster Dimension was simply too big. Most of the Monster Dimension hadn''t been explored yet because there were too many areas that had yet to be found, in the first ce.

    Mankind was only that big, and most Creatoran would only enter it to capture a new Familiar. They wouldn''t spend a long time in the Monster Dimension. That was only something researchers and explorers would do because they desired to expand their knowledge and find out more about the Monster Dimension.

    It was pretty important since everyone was in need of the Monster Dimension to collect more Familiars. Ordinary monsters couldn''t be bound to the Soul Link, after all!

    Nial Lacardia was listening to the first theoretical lesson that revolved mostly around the appearance of the Monster Dimension''s fissures and the first emergence of Summoners. At first, fissures were considered a threat. Many foolish men and women entered the fissures, but not many were able to escape the Monster Dimension.

    Most died miserably, while only a few were actually able to escape. Meanwhile, the number of Creatoran who came back with Familiars was even lower.

    Once the entire Creatoran race found out about Summoners, and the resources that could be procured in the Monster Dimension, the government, and many other organizations rushed inside the Monster Dimension.

    Many ordinary people sensed their opportunity as well. They hoped to change their lives, earn a fortune and turn the tides for themselves and their loved ones.

    Through the rush into the Monster Dimension, billions of fissures to the Monster Dimension were opened at the same time. However, not only tamed Familiars and Creatoran emerged from the fissures.

    If the fissures were open too long, they would be altered through thews of the Universe. The altered fissures would be Gateways. Those Gateways were known to allow both Creatoran and Mosnters to step from one side to the other. This included ferocious Monsters.

    The ferocious monsters turned against the Creatoran and wreaked havoc. They killed without remorse and ended the lives of hundreds of millions of Creatoran in the following years.

    Unable to do anything against the Monsters that were resilient enough to block shot-gun bullets and survive the bombardment of thermobaric weapons. Stronger monsters weren''t even faced by the bombardment of nuclear weapons. The cities around the bombarded area were destroyed, and utterly devastated, but the stronger monsters of the Monster Dimension survived everything.

    The poption was decimated, and the terror of the monsters only ended when the Creatoran who had entered the Monster Dimension returned with powerful aids by their side.

    The strongest Familiars increased the strength of their Summoners by a small margin. Through this amplification, they learned how to fend for themselves, while their Familiars killed the ferocious monsters around them.

    Not all monsters were killed even until now, but the attack of the retaliation of the Monster Dimension was crystal clear for everyone to see. The Monster Dimension was not only a treasure trove, an opportunity for Creatoran to be stronger. No, it was also a dangerous ce where death and chaos lurked.

    It was a natural disaster that would destroy everything once its tentacles reached out to a specific ce, where it altered thews of the Universe, nting a permanent seed for the future.

    Some Gateways to the Monster Dimension disappeared after the monsters emerging from it had been killed, while others remained permanently.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Creatoran race was forced to install defensive mechanisms around the Gateways and construct shelters inside the Monster Dimension.

    While fissures created by Summoners lead to random ces spread all over the Monster Dimension, Gateways were different.

    They were Anchors connecting two ces with each other. That meant, as long as the Gateway was protected on both sides, the citizens would be safe and sound.

    While the Gateways had been dangerous in the beginning, they were considered a golden opportunity once the most ferocious monsters had been killed.

    Creating a secure shelter in the Monster Dimension made it easier to expand their territory, and explore the surrounding areas to find out more about other monsters, and capture monsters.

    Being considered the most important good for a Summoner, the upation of a Monster Hunter became more and more important. Many Monsters were captured in order to breed them and turn them into docile monsters even before they were actually bound to the soul of a Summoner.

    This worked out in certain regards, however, it didn''t change the fact that all Summoners first had to enter the Monster Dimension through a fissure created with the use of their Soul Space.

    The first time entering the Monster Dimension was usually considered the most dangerous. Thus, it wasmon for children to prepare for several years for their first time.

    Everything had to be perfect, after all!

    Nial was an exception because he had been forced into the fissure. Of course, everything turned out better than expected. But even then, his life had been turned upside down as he was the first full-fledged Summoner at the age of four.

    ''So that is how the Monster Dimension and the Lacardia Empyrean Void are connected?''

    Many other races were also interested in the Monster Dimension. Only Creatoran were able to create the fissures, but other races were also able to use the Gateways.

    Everyone would want to get their hands on a vast expanse that had yet to be touched by other races. The resources they could procure from ordinary resources, and the monsters they could kill were already more than enough to consider waging war against the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    In fact, there were many races willing to kidnap Creatoran in order to create their own Gateways.

    Creatoran was kidnapped, and forced to create fissures in the Monster Dimension and to leave them like this until they would slowly turn into Gateways.

    That was why it was so important to fight at the frontlines where the Emperor protected his people from being abducted.

    Otherwise, they would not only lose their people but also their monopoly of the Monster Dimension!

 Chapter 695 Normal?

    After the first theory lesson that revolved around the appearance of the Monster Dimension, and how the Creatoran were able to tap into their true potential thanks to its emergence, Nial got to know a few more things.

    His knowledge was already broad and there was hardly anything about the first few Academy semesters that he didn''t know. That was the case with the theoretical knowledge shared in the Imperial Academy. His instructors had been old schrs and their knowledge was much broader than the things he could learn in the Imperial Academy.

    Of course, knowledge was not the reason why he entered the Imperial Academy. There were more important things than the teachings he received.

    First and foremost, Nial Lacardia was supposed to be the role model of the youngest generation. He ought to show everyone how things were done and that it was fine to rely on him. After all, he would be the ruler of the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    His mother didn''t want to pressure him but Nial roughly understood what was going on. He may only be seven years old, but his every action was recorded and would be made use of by his enemies. The moment he did something stupid, rumors revolving around his actions would spread.

    That was the fate of a ruler with many enemies, however, that was fine.

    Nial didn''t really care about most rumors, and he felt that the experiences he made in the Imperial Academy were very helpful. He and Celine had a good time in the Imperial Academy, right from the start at that.

    At the end of the day, there were always idiots who thought that their status as nobles allowed the youngest students to be entitled. However, these idiots were quickly taken care of. Nial didn''t care whether someone was a noble or not. As long as they tried their best, Nial considered them good students that were worth his respect.

    Sometimes he wished that he was not a Crown Prince but just a talentedmoner. It was not like he dreamed about this scenario or anything like that.

    However, he sometimes wondered how his life would have been if he were to be an ordinary child, without any noteworthy background. It was possible that he would have been exploited just like Celine, or that something bad would have happened.

    But, somehow, he felt like his life would have been a lot easier. He didn''t like that others had high expectations of him as the Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    Nial Lacardia.

    That was the name of history''s youngest full-fledged Summoner, the youngest Original who had created a Unique Origin Ring, and the Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyrean Void¡­not a seven year old child that ought to live his childhood, having fun with his peers and ying around a bit.

    What was a normal seven year old child even supposed to do? y around cheeky? Stir trouble?

    Nial didn''t know. He was not sure what he missed out so he was never really sad about it.

    It was just that he was wondering how life would be if not everything about it was so serious.

    Every step in his life was under surveince and he was not allowed to make any mistakes.

    In fact, even if he were to act a little bit childish, there would be people starting to hate him.

    ¨CYou are a Crown Prince, act ording to your role.

    ¨CYou want us to follow you when you''re just ying around all day? What a disgrace to have you as our Crown Prince!

    In the Information Era which the Lacardia Empyrean Void had entered not too long ago, rumors spread extremely fast. Hateful rumors spread even faster and it didn''t even matter whether something was true or not, people would believe it.

    Not all people may trust hateful rumors, but there would always be someone who would trust the words of others even if it didn''t make any sense.

    That was why Nial sometimes wished that he was a talentedmoner, just for a few days. He wanted to experience the bliss of youth, even if it was just for a few days. It was more than enough for him to understand what he was fighting for, and why he should always give his utmost when bing stronger.

    Nial spent the rest of the day working hard, as always. He didn''t show off his knowledge but he was often asked to answer questions others couldn''t answer with their procured knowledge.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial noticed that the questions were mostly something he had learned not too long ago. It was obviously a ploy of the royal household and the schrs to make him memorize the answers beforehand and ask him exactly those questions.

    The Imperial Academy wanted to make sure that Nial would be considered the perfect role model of the Lacardia Empyrean Void. They wanted him to be considered a once in ten thousand years prodigy, whether it was about his intellect, Summoner talent, or cultivation talent.

    That was also why the theory lesson about Familiars didn''t want to show off Goldy. The Goldscale Serpent was an extinct monster, but Goldy''s talent was not exactly high ording to the results of the examinations made in the royal pce.

    It was obvious that Goldy was special because the Goldscale Serpent was the strongest of its kind, and one of thest of its kind, if not thest in the first ce. However, considering that Goldy''s potential was not that special, the professors didn''t point out the Crown Prince''s first Familiar.

    If Goldy had been a Hydra Larva, a Pegasus, or some other kind of mythical creature, this would have been a lot different. However, the Goldscale Serpent paled inparison to some first familiars of other students in the same ss.

    They were much older than Nial Lacardia, but that didn''t really matter to other people. It was just important that the Crown Prince''s Familiar was not as powerful and talented as the Familiars of other students.

    Nial knew that this was extremely stupid but he didn''t really think too much about it. He was quitefortable being in the shadows. It was better than being bombarded with all the spotlight.

    Sometimes the scheming of his own people was confusing, but Nial didn''t even try to understand them. He allowed them to do what they had to do, after all, they were professionals.

    This was also how he got to know a bunch of familiars of the exceptional students who were in possession of better Familiars as the Crown Prince.

    There was a cat-like monster close to 1.5 meters in height that strode through the huge training hall with slow yet confident steps. The zing Sabertooth Tiger was different from ordinary feline beasts. It had proportionally longer front legs and a much more muscr build. Its upper canine teeth were long, t, and dagger-like. The moment they dug into their prey, they would reap its life.

    That was what it felt like when looking at the scarlet-red, bronze-furred zing Sabertooth Tiger. The monster''s eyes gleamed with fierce intelligence and it bared its fang toward the students whom the monster identified as its master''s opponent in an instant.

    As the zing Sabertooth tiger moved, its muscles rippled beneath its skin.

    Under normal circumstances, the majestic and terrific sight of the predator that was at the top of the food chain was enough to intimidate the people in the surrounding. However, Nial wasn''t really fazed.

    ''That monster is better than Goldy? Are these idiots on drugs?''

    Nial was unable to understand what the strategists were thinking. This feeling grew even more intense at the sight of the other Monster Familiar that was chosen as a disy for extraordinary monsters.

    A Heavy Armored Bull¡­

    The entire arena trembled as the several-ton heavy monster charged through it.

    Its bronze metallic hide glistened brightly in the light of the afternoon sun, dazzling most of the wildly cheering students. The Heavy Armored Bull''s muscles bulged beneath its hide as it charged toward its master to reunite with him.

    Despite its massive frame of close to 1.5 meters shoulder-height and heavy weight, the bull was eerily quick and agile, could run at high speed, and maneuvered itself quite easily while taking sharp turns.

    Its long, muscr legs provided the necessary foundation for its power and speed, which was also what the teachers pointed out.

    But even then, Nial could only shake his head.

    ''They''re really on drugs. I should tell Mom that she should start doing some mandatory tests again¡­''

 Chapter 696 Soul Share

    "It is very important to know that you need to protect your Familiars just as much as your Familiars protect you. Inside the Monster Dimension, you will face countless perilous situations, and it is on you to protect yourself and your Familiar."

    The voice of the Combat Instructor rang through the arena. Everyone was listening intently, some even stiffened.

    Every student present was already a full-fledged Summoner with a Familiar by their side.

    They had already experienced the dangers of the Monster Dimension once and were fully aware of the dangers that awaited them the next time they entered the Monster Dimension. It didn''t matter if they were to enter the Monster Dimension to harvest resources, or to catch their second Familiar.

    Important was just that the students knew how dangerous it was to enter the Monster Dimension and that their Familiar wouldn''t be strong enough to protect both of them at the same time.

    Through the Soul Share, a portion of the Familiar''s strength was granted to the Summoner. Through this, the Summoners were a little bit stronger than others, and everyone was in possession of a different standard.

    For example, the Summoner of the Heavy Armored Bull was physically stronger than most other students. His skin was also tougher than others, which was owed to the Soul Share of the Heavy Armored Bull.

    The Summoner had the talent to be a Guardian, someone who could fight at the frontlines as long as he focused on the increase of his defense and closebat power.

    Meanwhile, the Summoner of the zing Sabertooth Tiger received an enhancement in his agility, flexibility, and weak proficiency of the Fire Affinity. Thanks to the zing Sabertooth Tiger, the Summoner was able to wield the fire element to a certain degree, and he was able to move faster than others.

    As long as his Soul Link with the zing Sabertooth Tiger increased, the extent of his Fire Affinity would increase alongside until the Summoner would be able to wield the Fire Affinity to the same extent as the Familiar.

    The Power of the Fire Affinity couldn''t exceed the Familiar''s power, though their proficiency in controlling the affinity may variate a lot.

    Because of the miraculous effect of the Soul Share, everyone was in possession of different powers. Some may seem simr.

    Nial''s Familiar was the Goldscale Serpent, a Monster Familiar with an exceedingly durable body. Shattering its golden scales was near-impossible for a monster of the same rank. In fact, even Monsters a rank above it couldn''t easily break the golden scales of the Goldscale Serpent.

    This was partially Nial''s fault. By creating a Soul Link with Goldy, he inevitably altered the Goldscale Serpent''s gics and innate potential, increasing both drastically.

    Goldy expanded its Mana Core nine times and it created a Superior Origin Ring rather than an Intermediate Origin ring, which would have been normal for a Goldscale Serpent.

    This was also why Goldy was the strongest known Goldscale Serpent recorded in the annals of history.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial was not too sure how much stronger Goldy could be, but his golden eye told him that the Goldscale Serpent had yet to reach the limit of its potential.

    At least, that was what Nial figured from the little experience he made with the golden eye of potential.

    Goldy increased his physical strength and his skin''s resilience simr to how the Heavy Armored Bull increased his Summoner''s strength. The only difference between the two of them was that Nial''s bond with Goldy was stronger, providing him a higher Soul Share.

    After all, the stronger the Soul Link, the more apparent the influence of the Soul Share.

    Nial thus received a higher Soul Share, and he could even summon Goldy''s golden scales all over his body. It used up a considerable amount of nutrition, but the use of the golden scales was certainly worth it.

    "Looking at your serious faces, I can tell that there is no need for me to fool around with everyone. If you die in the Monster Dimension, you are dead. That is obvious, and something everyone here seems to understand very well.

    My task as Combat Instructor is to teach everyone aboutbat and let you experience different types ofbat. In doing so, I need to know everyone''s strengths and weaknesses. Thus, everyone will spar with each other, while I observe the battles!"

    It was nothing umon to startbat training by assessing the strength of every student. The new students were not yet ustomed to each other, and the Combat Instructor didn''t really know anything about his students as well.

    He could only gauge their strength and estimate their strong and weak points ording to the type of Monster Familiar they bound to their Soul Space. However, that was already it.

    The Combat Instructor wanted to see which path the students wished to take and how much training they had already received. Some of them might even have gathered some realbat experience fighting deadly monsters head-on.

    It was not unlikely, and actually something he expected from the most talented students of the youngest generation.

    However, the Instructor was most interested in the Crown Prince and his personal maid. Not many people knew about it, but his personal maid awoke as a full-fledged Summoner while she was only six years old. She had been exploited by the enemies of the Lacardia Empyrean Void and used to attempt to assassinate the Crown Prince.

    But not only did the Crown Prince survive the attempted assassination, but he picked up the little girl, turning her into his personal maid. Apparently, he even fought the Empress who had been fuming in anger, ready to execute the little girl''s entire family.

    For a four year old child to be able to think so far ahead as to spare a heavenly talented Summoner and turn her into his loyal subject it was only obvious that the Combat Instructor had quite some expectations for both Nial Lacardia and the maid Celine.

    "But instead of sparing inly, how about we show the Crown Prince how strong everyone is? The Crown Prince will spar with everyone!"

 Chapter 697 The Spear

    Nial was not too sure what the Combat Instructor was trying to do, but he presumed something in particr.

    ''Are you in cahoot with the Guard Captain in the Royal Pce?!''

    It was a little frustrating but it looked like the Combat Instructor had heard about his achievement inbat training. Nial was currently still young, very young at that. However, he had already learned to wield a sword in thest four years, underwent hellish training and he advanced to the 1st Ancient Mirae rank by creating his first Unique Origin ring.

    Even Goldy was at the Mirae rank with a Superior Origin Ring, further enhancing Nial''s physical strength. Thus, even though he was not yet fully matured,cking the physique and constitution of a fully matured Creatoran, he was able to disy powerparable to a full-fledged adult at the 1st Mirae rank.

    Adding hisbat experience and the ability to manifest Goldy''s golden scales ount, Nial was certainly the strongest seven year old student in the ss.

    Of course, one had to take into ount that there were also 12-year-old students in ss. But that was not something the Combat Instructor took into ount when he turned Nial into the representative of the practical lesson.

    He had to fight every student, one after another.

    "Crown Prince Nial Lacardia, are you ready for your first challenge? If not, I can change the rules a little," The burlybat instructor announced, giving Nial a final straw to escape the perilous situation.

    Nial figured that the Combat Instructor wanted to try out two things when he heard what he said.

    ''He wants to test my confidence, and see if I am arrogant¡­ This is not a challenge but a test of my strength, personality, and pride. What a sly fox!''

    A bright smile appeared on Nial''s face. He didn''t really like to be yed with, but it was a little different right now. Nial felt the desire to obliterate his opponents and stand on top of everyone, coldly staring down at the Combat Instructor for being daring enough to challenge him.

    It was a weird feeling, an addictive desire that began to overwhelm him.

    The Combat Instructor saw his bright smile and was at a loss for a second.

    "Give your best to throw me down, otherwise, you will end up embarrassing yourself," Nial said at this moment, his eyes ice-cold.

    His movements were sharper than before as he strode calmly to the weapon stand. However, instead of picking the dulled training sword with which he had trained for thest few years, Nial''s hand naturally reached out to the dull spear.

    The Combat Instructor was a little stupefied to see that Nial picked up a pole weapon. Even though spears were pretty good for mid-rangebat, they weren''t usually used that often. Swords were more versatile, especially since there were countless different types of swords. In the Lacardia Empyrean Void, there was hardly anyone who would restrict theirbat prowess by utilizing a spear.

    For someone like Nial, with a defensive-type Familiar, and the ability to summon his familiar''s golden scales to cover his body, it was not really necessary to keep his opponents far away from him. It may as well be better to force his opponents in closebat since he had an advantage there.

    However, the short spear which Nial picked was not a weapon that allowed such a feat. It had a 1.2-meter-long wooden shaft with a pointed metal head. The metal head was pretty simple as well. It was iron that had been shaped like a triangle. It was dulled to make sure that nobody would sustain any serious injuries. Nheless, the weapon was pretty dangerous¡­and it looked like Nial wanted to use it to injure his opponents.

    He slowly strode across the center of the arena, his presence eerily cold and his expression that of a veteran hunter, a monster that had already ended the lives of hundreds of people.

    His body seemed to exude darkness and coldness that seemed to decrease the temperature in the surrounding. Nobody could tell for sure whether this was actually real, or just an illusion. After all, they felt shivers running down their spines.

    Even the Combat Instructor felt goosebumps all over his body as he looked at the seven year old Crown Prince.

    ''I was told to provoke the Crown Prince to test him¡­but that is a little bit over the top, isn''t it?''

    Nial didn''t really know what was happening to him, but he liked the feeling of power that spread through his entire body. It was almost as if the Ancient Origin ring and the runic constetions that had been carved on the Origin Ring unveiled something that had been sealed in the depths of his subconsciousness.

    It was a unique feeling, but certainly not something he disliked.

    He materialized the golden scales of the Goldscale Serpent, circted Mana through them, and changed his stance slowly.

    "All of you cane at me at once, if you want."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial''s voice was silent but it traveled far. Nobody had been saying anything as they didn''t even dare to open their mouth.

    However, upon hearing Nial''s words it was almost as if they had been pulled out of a trance. Their eyes widened for a second or two before the first students rushed over to the weapon stand.

    "Even if you''re the Crown Prince, shouldn''t there be a limit to how cocky you can be?!" One of them shouted, visibly enraged.

    It was one of the oldest students, who was also the young Summoner of the Heavy Armored Bull. The Familiars were not allowed to actively participate in this battle, but that was not necessary. After all, the Summoners were confident in defeating Nial.

    After all, their ratio was one Nial against dozens of older students.

    Nial''s words even implied that he wanted to face his personal maid head-on. Celine was not to be taken lightly, not after the past events. However, she hesitated and didn''t join the battle.

    On the contrary, she observed the battle intently, ready to protect Nial the moment he ended up in danger.

    But before something like that could happen, Nial burst forward, piercing the dull spear ahead. His silver eye clearly detected the cirction of mana inside and around the other students. He detected when they wanted to burst somewhere before they actually moved, and he went on ahead to strike them first.

    He thrust the dull spear into the chest of the Heavy Armored Bull''s Summoner. His thrust was simple but precise and issued withpact force, hurling the young Summoner to the ground after he was forcefully halted in his tracks.

    The young Summoner felt incapable of breathing for several seconds. His mouth opened widely, tears welled in his eyes and he held his throat as if that would allow him to breathe once again.

    The Combat Instructor rushed to the young Summoner and circted mana through his body to ease the tension of the young student''s body. Through thepact force that had impacted right in the center of the youth''s chest, the student''s entire body stiffened.

    This type of attack was not something the Royal Pce''s Captain Guard would have taught Nial.

    It was something that only professionals with terrific experience of tens of years should be capable of turning into actual practice in a battle.

    Yet, Nial was doing this while he was only seven years old.

    But that was not even the worst.

    Nial had never touched a spear in these seven years of his life.

    How was he able to wield the dull spear in such a terrific way?

    Who the hell was he?

    What the hell was he?

    Before the Combat Instructor knew it, he found himself faced with several students lying on the ground, crying bitterly. They were bruised ck and blue, lying on the ground. Some could hardly move because they found themselves in simr situations as the young Summoner from earlier.

    The Combat Instructor rushed over and helped everyone quickly. He spread his mana through the surroundings and aided everyone, while simultaneously retracting amunication device from his Soul Space.

    "I need some back-up in the arena¡­I let loose a monster before realizing it¡­bring all medics over here!"

    While the Combat Instructor cursed himself for epting the favor of his master, Nial began to wreak havoc with a dulled spear. Even though he was not in possession of great physical strength, he had the technique.

    After all, his experience was much grander than one may anticipate.

 Chapter 698 One With The Spear

    "Nial can wield the spear?" The Empress was astonished when she heard the news.

    She ignored the fact that the servant mention an eerily coldness and illusionary darkness oozing out of Nial, only to focus on the point she focused on the most.

    "...Wield the spear? He is one with the spear¡­or so they said." The servant said, forgetting about the formalities for a moment.

    The Empress didn''t like formalities. Thus, as long as they weren''t in the royal hall where she would be sitting on the throne, she would rather be considered Nial''s mother. The title ''mother'' made her happier than being the Empress. She was the ruler of the Lacardia Empyrean Void long enough to lose the feeling of excitement surging through her entire body when it came to ruling the empire.

    It had been different in the past, but not anymore. She lost the desire to innovate new rules and to excitedly fight with other politicians and nobles to make sure that they would keep their promises, manage theirnd properly, and everything else.

    It was not as if she wouldn''t do all these things. However, the burning me of excitement burned down a little. She was more focused on her son, his well-being, and his growth. That was the most important for her, and it excited her more than anything else.

    As for the unexcited things, the Empress still did them diligently, but she also gave her subordinates more tasks to spend more time with Nial. After all, she couldn''t know how long Nial would stay by her side like he was doing right now. He was already growing up way too fast for her fragile heart to ept.

    The Empress had already been sad that she couldn''t provide her son with a normal child''s life. However, hearing the news about him being ''one with the spear'', she couldn''t help but feel even worse.

    Being one with a weapon meant that this type of weapon felt like an extension of the body once wielded. It was a state which not even truebat masters, veterans of decades could easily attain.

    Yet, Nial was said to have reached this state? Was that a bad joke? It was not that easy!

    "Was the Emperor already informed about this?" The Empress asked. She nibbled on her lower lip and hoped that the servant would shake her head.

    Unfortunately, the servant flinched and didn''t dare to meet the Empress'' eyes.

    "Seems like the reports were already sent over to him."

    The Empress sounded a little sad and frustrated. If possible, she would have prepared a n before sending the report over to the Emperor. As the Guardian of the Lacardia Empyrean Void, he would be overjoyed to hear that his son had reached the One with the Spear state. He would be baffled but definitely exhrated.

    His excitement and desire to create a powerful heir who could rule and protect the Lacardia Empyrean Void would be more than enough to change the ns the Empress had prepared for her beloved child.

    She knew that the new discovery would change all ns, and had a bad premonition.

    Nourishing a powerful warrior from a young age meant that Nial''s second and following Familiars would be much stronger than the Goldscale Serpent. Unfortunately, that also meant he had to be nourished in ordance with the talent he possessed.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Leaving him in the Imperial Academy would be a waste now that his ''true'' dormant potential had been unleashed.

    What Nial Lacardia needed right now was not to mingle with the other ''talented'' nobles andmoners in the Imperial Academy. What he needed was actualbat experience, and enough pressure to squeeze out every single drop of talent.

    This was the best when it came to training Nial. Sending him over to a military camp which was usually only something Creatoran between the age of 18-30 would have to participate if they desired to join the military for the resources and to protect their race from invaders.

    The Empress had a very bad feeling thinking about the Military Camp, but it was not as if she could do something about it. The Empire was always in danger and the most recent events showed that it was better for Nial to focus his all on increasing his strength.

    As the Empress, she wanted a strong Crown Prince who was capable of handling troublesome situations by himself. However, as a doting mother, she wanted nothing more than to see her child well-protected and happy.

    Was Nial happy in the current situation? Was he forcing himself to do everything he was currently doing?

    Could anyone be happy under his circumstances, or would he start hating her? The Empress didn''t really know and she actually didn''t want to find out.

    Thus, she charged out of the office and made her way to a secret ce in the Royal Pce. It was about time that she initiated the n she came up with when she got pregnant.

    Meanwhile, Nial was not yet done with the demonstration of his power. He defeated most students by now and his breathing got a little rougher. His chest heaved up and down slowly while Mana surged through his body.

    His silver eyes darted in all directions before he dashed forward. Without any issues, he crossed the distance to the nearest opponent.

    There were only three students left and they shivered in fright. Their legs were like jelly and it was apparent that they weren''t confident in their strength.

    It was not further difficult to defeat them either. Nail''s movements were swift and wless. His thrusts, strikes, and cuts were precise and his opponents fell victim to his attacks in no time.

    This way, only his personal maid, Celine, was left behind. She looked at Nial in shock and was trying to figure out how her master became so powerful all of a sudden. Celine had already had difficulties keeping up with Nial before, but his sudden burst in strength, originating from a simple change of weapon, was not something she could cope with.

    Her heart was beating wildly, yet, oddly enough, she felt a little excited.

    ''If I follow someone like him, I can be stronger as well. I can protect him and be his shield!''

 Chapter 699 Oracle, Hana, And The Elven Princess

    Celine didn''t bother fighting Nial after he began to wield the spear. She knew that there was no way for her to overwhelm him. Not only was herbat experience insignificant inparison to Nial''s experience, but her physical strength was lower as well.

    There was not even the need to mention Nial''s One with the Spear state or the fact that Nial could undergo a partial Soul Fusion, the process in which the Familiar enters the Summoner''s Mana Core to fuse their bodies to a certain extent, allowing the Summoner to manifest his Familiar''s body parts on his body.

    This was something that could only be done if both the Summoner and Familiar trusted each other fully and after years of tempering their firm connection.

    Most would never be able to create a tight enough Soul Link to initiate a partial Soul Fusion. That was not because they treated their Familiars badly but because the Soul Link had to be extremely firm.

    It was difficult for Summoners to focus their attention on only one Familiar. At the same time, it was rare to find Familiars who loved their Masters unconditionally. After all, they had either been abducted from the Monster Dimension or captured in the Monster Dimension.

    There were also different options such as establishing a Soul Link with a youngling, or the egg of a Monster or even creating a Soul Link with an already tamed monster, however, there were downsides in that regard as well.

    Younglings had to be raised, which also meant that they had hardly anybat experience once they became the Summoner''s Familiar. They had to be trained and nourished painstakingly. The exact same applied to unhatched eggs. Of course, there was the additional downside of having to wait until the monster would hatch.

    As for already tamed monsters that had been raised in the Shelters of the Monster Dimension, they were docile and not fierce monsters that could fight against other monsters, tearing them apart easily.

    Most tamed monsters were not worth being turned into Familiars. Turning tamed monsters into wild Familiars with the necessary strength and wild instincts to fight and protect their master was certainly not easy.

    That was also why many chose to bin wild monsters in their Soul Space. It would be hard to keep them under control, but as long as the Summoners had more soul energy than their Familiars, this wouldn''t be too much of a problem.

    Nial''s connection with Goldy was rare. It was not something that could be found easily, especially not since theirpatibility is extremely high.

    After thebat lesson was canceled due to theck of students that could keep participating, Nial and Celine left the Academy for the day.

    Nial was not too sure what had happened to him, but he felt pretty good. If he were to be honest with himself, wielding the spear and fighting the students allowed him to feel free for the first time in his life. It was not difficult to defeat the students, and Nial didn''t enjoy injuring them, but the sensation that had shrouded his entire being in the fight was something that made him feel as if he was doing the right thing.

    "I should continue wielding the spear. The sword doesn''t make me feel things¡­" Nial mumbled to himself. Celine cupped her hand in front of her while slowly following the Crown Prince without saying a word.

    In recent days, the Crown Prince had been deep in thought more often than usual. Nial Lacardia had always been the kind of person who overthinks everything, however, it got worse in thest few days.

    He stared nkly at Celine more often, and clutched his chest in a way that made it seem as if he was searching for something he had lost.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''Heart of Gluttony'', ''Elven Princess'', ''Hana'', ''Oracle'', ''Sister'', ''Father'', and ''Damian''.

    Nial often mumbled these words in front of himself. Celine reported all of this to the Empress, but she couldn''t make sense of them either. Nial didn''t have a sister, and there was no Oracle, let alone an Elven Princess.

    In the Lacardia Empyrean Void, most residents were Creatoran. There were other tribes and human races whom they had conquered by now, but the Creatoran race''s bloodline was dominant, meaning that they were slowly spreading deep into thends of their opponents. After all, it was not rare for soldiers to fall in love with beautiful maidens from other tribes and kingdoms.

    It was actually quitemon, though nobody really knew why that was the case.

    Nheless, there was no Elven race, no Oracle, and the Empress had never heard of the Heart of Gluttony either.

    Her son''s daydreams and asionally weird actions were more than enough reason to worry the Empress. She was not too sure what she was supposed to do about Nial''s actions, forget about the One with the Spear state.

    He was only seven years old but his achievements were certainly grander than most youngsters would attain in the first few decades of their lives.

    That was exceptional and great, under normal circumstances, but it was also more than enough reason for her to worry about him.

    Why was her child so unique? Was he nning to get assassinated by their enemies? Couldn''t he keep a low profile until he was strong enough to defend himself?

    The Empress didn''t even want to imagine how much stress their opponents would feel the moment they found out about Nial''s One with the Spear state. They would feel pressured and go all-out to kill him.

    After all, it might be theirst chance.

    Nial''s growth was dangerously fast, and it didn''t look like he would slow down anytime soon. On the contrary, Nial had just entered the starting line.

    He was probably nning to increase his strength exponentially in order to make his empire proud and to be a worthy role model.

    That thought warmed the Empress'' heart but it also pained her a lot. Did they put too much pressure on their child?

    ''I will send him there. As long as he is with my sisters, he can get stronger without anyone ever finding him!!''

 Chapter 700 Clan Of The Silver Eye

    The Silver Eye n is a well-hidden n that was not known by many people.

    In fact, those who had known about this vige were either dead by now, or directly rted to the n.

    What many didn''t know was that the Empress was actually the rightful heiress of the Silver Eye n and that she abandoned her dusty as the Silver Eye n''s heiress to marry the Emperor.

    Emerging from the shadows, she was thrown into the midst of the spotlight where everyone could see her.

    In the current era, not many hidden ns existed thorough the Lacardia Empyrean Void. Most were somewhat known, even though their hideouts were still secretive.

    However, the Silver Eye n was on apletely different level. Skilled Summoners were secretively trained in these ns once they had awoken as unique existences in the world. They possessed unique traits just like Nial''s golden eye of potential and the silver eye of perfect mana vision.

    The Silver Eye of perfect mana vision was actually the unique trait of the Silver Eye n''s main family, and it was something that was trained for millennials by now.

    Because of the Silver Eye Trait, the Silver Eye n was known as one of the most mysterious and elusive hidden ns.

    It was also the n Nial was sent to one day, in the middle of the night. He and Celine were teleported to the outskirts of a dense forest, which they had never seen before.

    The Empress had warned Nial that he would be sent to the Silver Eye n somewhen in the next few months. Even the Empress didn''t know the exact date. After all, the Silver Eye n had moved ces to retain their status as beings of the shadows, unknown to the world.

    When Nial and Celine emerged on the outskirts of the dense forest, he turned around immediately. He saw the fleeting outlines of a cloaked figure disappearing in the midst of golden particles. The cloaked figure disappeared in the spatial portal it had manifested, leaving behind Nial and Celine.

    "W-what is going on!?" Celine screamed out, quieting down only after Nial put his finger on her lips.

    "Calm down. Didn''t mom tell you about the Silver Eye n?"

    "...The Empress? She just said that I should stay by your side and be prepared for everything."

    ''So even Celine wasn''t told a thing? I couldn''t see the Mana Source of the cloaked figure either. Looks like everyone is a lot more secretive than expected¡­not that it''s confusing.''

    Nial didn''t hear a lot about the Silver Eye n until now. However, what he heard from the Empress'' stories was enough to create a rough picture of their goals and attitude toward the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    The Silver Eye n would have never allowed the Empress to marry the Emperor if they weren''t closely tied to each other. What Nial didn''t know, however, was that the Silver Eye n had been the shadow of the royal family''s bright light for thousands of years by now.

    In fact, without the Silver Eye n, the empire would have never been founded in the first ce.

    That was the truth not many know about, and Nial was making his way to this mythical hidden n.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    However, before he could enter the n, he had to find it first.

    "I wonder if someone wille to fetch us¡­" Nial mumbled mostly to himself.

    "...probably not though. This should be a test to find out how strong my Silver Eye is and how delicate my control of it is."

    Nial figured that the Silver Eye n wanted to test him and that the dense forest was likely to be their yground. Without any information about the dense forest and its inhabitants, he had to proceed carefully.

    He and Celine were not exactly powerful either. Thus, it was necessary to evade most monsters as well.

    ''The Silver Eye n is well-hidden from prying eyes, and its inhabitants are powerful skilled Summoners. There should still be a certain degree offort, so they probably live in small huts rather than hiding deep inside a cave. Tree houses that blend seamlessly into the surrounding foliage, maybe?''

    Nial was trying to figure out a few things. He wanted to find out how difficult it would be to enter the Silver Eye n. Since his information was shallow and severely restricted, he could only guess that it was hidden through a series of tunnels, and traps, designated to repel unwanted visitors and protect the secrecy of the n.

    ''Probably illusion runes and somewhere in the deeper parts of the forest¡­''

    Nial and Celine were somewhere in the middle of nowhere but it made more sense to hide a ce in the deeper parts of a forest, mountain, or some other ce that was hard to ess, in the first ce.

    Thus, it was only obvious that they had to pave their way through the dense forest.

    As for the direction, wouldn''t it be best to go straight ahead while using his Silver eye to detect the mana around them?

    Nial had used his Silver Eye''s special property almost every single day for thest few years. He was only seven years old, and the unique property of his eyes had been awoken almost immediately. He was not even sure whether he had been born with fully functioning Silver Eyes, or if it took him a while to unleash their full potential of them.

    Was he even using the full potential of his eyes in the first ce? Nial was not too sure about that, but he wanted to find it out.

    "Let''s go! We have lots of things to do!" Nial said, grasping Celine''s hand before he stepped into the forest.

    His eyes scanned the dense forest in its entirety before he paved his way slowly but steadily around the dangerous regions.

    Meanwhile, he never let go of Celine.

    The charming personal maid was still too baffled about the sudden teleportation into the midst of nowhere, and that Nial was tightly interlocking his hand with hers.

    This was too much for her to handle!

 Chapter 701 Village

    Finding the Silver Eye n''s entrance was easier than expected.

    It was not as if it wasn''t well hidden, or that the members of the Silver Eye n made it easier for Nial to detect the entrance.

    However, Nial possessed something that only a handful of beings could name. He was in the possession of the Silver Eyes that could see all mana. The first time he couldn''t detect a Mana Source was the Summoner who had teleported them to the outskirts of the dense forest.

    It had shocked him quite a bit if he were, to be honest. After all, there was nothing that could be hidden from his eyes. At least, that was what he thought before.

    ''That''s a clue.''

    Even though Nial didn''t know much about the material and means that had been used to hide their Mana Source and the mana fluctuation around their body, Nial could tell something particrly when it came to beings hiding their mana and Mana Source.

    It felt like they didn''t possess any mana, almost as if their entire being was manaless. For someone who was able to see mana for a long time, the sight of a being without mana was grotesque. Nial was pretty sure that something like that shouldn''t exist since mana could be found everywhere and in anyone.

    The sight of the manaless Summoner was something that could be considered a culture shock. There had been no mana currents around the Summoner as well. It was almost as if the Summoner''s entire being repulsed mana.

    Of course, Nial knew that this was not the case and that the Summoner must have used some means to seal his body temporarily, restricting the release of Mana.

    By doing so, the surrounding mana wouldn''t be suctioned to the Summoner either.

    ''Searching for spots where mana seems to be repulsed, artificially influenced, and the natural mana currents led around. A ce where no mana seems to exist¡­no that would be too easy¡­They wouldn''t seal their entire hideout from the influence of mana. They would restrict the mana, or adjust it ordingly to merge with the surrounding.

    But something like that is not perfect. Installing traps, terraforming the environment and installing istion domes, and various other devices will leave behind tracks¡­hiding these tracks shouldn''t be too difficult by concealing the manapletely. That way, they only seal little spots that can be hidden easily rather than entire regions.''

    Using his brain and Silver Eye to his advantage, Nial found his way quickly to the center of the dense forest. Avoiding stronger monsters was not too difficult for someone like him. He and Celine were only at the 1st Mirae rank and thus not really interesting prey for most monsters from the get go.

    Some monsters may show interest in them, but by avoiding the most powerful monsters, Nial and Celine made their way to the center of the dense forest, where they climbed the tallest tree.

    Nial may not necessarily need to do this, but he wanted to see the dense forest from a bird''s perspective. Being able to see the natural streams of mana, the sources of mana from any being, and the potential hue of monsters, Nial could actually decipher a lot from a simple nce across the entire dense forest.

    He detected a few ''hideouts'' where the natural streams of mana had been artificially altered, but Nial ignored them quickly. They were mere decoys and secondary hideouts that could be used in emergencies. Other than emergency situations, these hideouts were probably also used as watchtowers to guard the dense forest and warn everyone the moment invaders arrive.

    There were many of those tiny hideouts and Nial could clearly detect the potential hues of a few Familiars with special traits.

    Others may not know about it, but the Mana Source of monsters and Familiars was vastly different. Everyone had a unique Mana Source, but there were certainmon traits when it came to beings of the same kind. Creatoran had a Mana Source that looked 95% the same. The 5% difference was everything Nial needed to find out who was pursuing him and whom he was looking at.

    After all, he imprinted everyone''s Mana Source into his mind the moment he encountered them. That was much easier than recalling someone''s appearance because that could change in ordance to the bound Familiar, and from surgeries, or the use of special medicine.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Either way, Nial found a bunch of Familiars, which he determined at one particr point in their Mana Source. He presumed that this ''mark'' was the Soul Link because every Familiar had the same mark on their Mana Source.

    While he could see only one or two Familiars in the hideouts, watching over the dense forest, there were hundreds of Mana Sources in one particr location. These Mana Sources originated from Creatoran and Familiars, some hurriedly moving around while others didn''t move most of the time.

    It was the vige of the Silver Eye n, and his final destination!

    Once he found the vige, thest task at hand was to find the entrance. Finding the entrance to the Silver Eye n''s vige didn''t take too long. It was only early afternoon once he stepped through the entrance holding Celine''s hand.

    Celine couldn''t see the mana-infused traps and various other inconveniences that could be avoided with his Silver Eye. Thus, he led her through the forest, straight into the vige.

    At first, nobody took note of the two new arrivals. Nobody really expected that Nial would be able to find the vige that quickly, let alone that he would be able to find the entrance. It was even less believable that Nial was able to lead the way through the traps without triggering a single one.

    Even will fully unleashed Silver Eyes, this wasn''t easy.

    However, Nial made it possible.

    ''I wonder if mom''s family is nice. Well, if they aren''t nice, I can just leave.''

    While he thought about that, he entered the vige, his eyes scanning the entire vige and each of the Mana Sources with great detail.

    ''Well¡­running away might be a bit difficult. How can they be stronger than mom?! Didn''t she brag that she was a heavenly talent? She shouldn''t have lied to me¡­or did she bezy?''

    Nial was not too sure what to think about his mother''s words now that he scanned through the vige of the Silver Eye n. He had yet to encounter anyone with silver eyes, other than his mother.

    However, that was not the important point since every single Mana Source was overwhelmingly powerful. Everyone had their power restricted and precisely controlled, but Nial could still feel the pressure just by staring nkly at their Mana Sources.

    This may be a little rude, however, he couldn''t really care bout that right now.

    ''Are all of them at the Mythician rank? No, it doesn''t really feel that way. Mother''s Mana Core is different, and she is definitely at the Mythician rank¡­or did she lie about that as well?!''

    Nial felt it difficult to determine the Mana Core rank of Originals stronger than him but that was only feasible.

    He had yet to reach that rank, so how was he supposed to make a perfect analysis of other people''s Mana Source?

    It was possible, but it was not as if it was easy.

 Chapter 702 Brightest Star

    The Silver Eye n''s vige was divided into several distinct sections, each with its own purpose and function.

    The first section was the training grounds that was divided into a huge field and an arena. The arena, if one couldbel it such, was located next to a dojo, and young Summoners in theirte teen and 20s could be seen training hard, honing their skills under the watchful gaze of an old man.

    The arena was surrounded by tall walls, designated to keep outsiders from peeking in, and to make sure that the training Summoners could feel secluded, retaining their focus on the training rather than watchful gazes from outside.

    The field next to the arena was used by three dozen Familiars that were also honing their skills. Two bulls charged at each other seemingly mindlessly, while a huge truck-sized Lizard spit mes on a bronze-colored armadillo.

    There were a handful more unique ''trainings''-methods Nial and Celine encountered but they diverted their attention after a while without questioning anything.

    It was not on them to question the training methods of other ns, to begin with. After all, there was a reason why the Silver Eye n was secretly crowned the most powerful n in the Lacardia Empyrean Void''s history.

    ''They''re tempering each other''s special traits and physique using unique means. I wonder if the Lizard''s me would hone Goldy''s golden scales as well¡­''

    Nial was quite intrigued by the training methods used for Familiars. There weren''t too many Summoners willing to train their Familiars after they reached their racial limit. Training their Familiar using normal means was still somewhat that could be considered quitemon, but he had never seen Rex training his dragon breath, Dragon Might, his aerial skills, forget about the toughness of his scales.

    Maybe it would be a little bit difficult for the ze Dragon to improve after reaching a certain threshold, but Nial couldn''t be sure about that.

    He just knew that Rex had already used up his whole potential, while the same could actually be said about the monsters in therge field. Goldy was different in that regard.

    ''That''s forter.''

    He shook his head and went ahead, still holding Celine''s hand.

    Beyond the training area was the residential area, where the Silver Eye n had built various small tree houses. In fact, except in the trees above the training area, tree houses could be seen everywhere. They were well-hidden, which was mostly thanks to the mana-infused wood used to construct the tree houses.

    The tree houses were arranged in a circr pattern around the central za, where several hanging bridges led to. The vigers, members of the Silver Eye n, gathered in the central za for meals and other activities. There was even a scoreboard ranking everyone''sbat prowess ording to their Mana Core''s rank.

    This was quite interesting if he was to be honest with himself.

    "There is no ranking for Summoners at the Mirae rank. Sad."

    He shrugged his shoulders and kept looking around.

    It was a little weird that nobody seemed to pay any attention to them, but Nial didn''t really dislike that.

    They were the only two kids in the Silver Eyes n''s vige, yet nobody cared about them. This was something new for Nial Lacardia, the Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyrean Void, whom everyone tried to fawn and please no matter what.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial enjoyed the peace and the fact that nobody cared about him.

    He could see small gardens where the vigers grew their own vegetables and herbs and Familiars tending to gardens. Both Familiars and Creatoran worked together to create a vige full of harmony. It was a rare sight in an Era where most Familiars were considered tools to be stronger rather than family members and forget about a part of society.

    At the heart of the vige was the council hall. The n leader gathered there in order to discuss important matters and discuss the decisions that may affect the entiremunity. It was one of the few buildings that had been constructed on the ground, made out of stone, and decorated with various unique symbols and intricate carvings.

    Seeing the dozens of Creatoran and Familiars gathering around the woman whom he presumed to be the Silver Eyes n Leader, Nial smiled lightly.

    Despite its istion and secrecy, the Silverv Eye n was a thrivingmunity, filled with skilled and dedicated Creatoran and their Familiars. They weremitted to protecting their ce and standing in for their opinion, guarding their way of living.

    While others may be afraid of the vige and see the Silver Eye n as a mysterious and dangerous n, Nial felt that he came to a ce he would learn to call his home, his sanctuary.

    Unfortunately, it seemed like he was the only one thinking like this.

    "Matriarch, you cannot do this! Why do we have to ept the Crown Prince into our rows? His disappearance will attract too much attention, and the Empire''s enemies will search for him. It is only a matter of time before they find out about the Silver Eye n. epting him is against our most-fundamental rules to never ept a brightly shining star!

    We are the shadows that see everything, not the brightest shining stars dancing in the limelight!" A middle-aged man in the midst of the crowd shouted out loud.

    He seemed to be truly enraged about the news that reached him only now. Some voices agreed with the middle-aged man''sment, but there weren''t too many of those. The voices were from his loyal followers, not from people who actually believed that Nial''s arrival would change too much.

    "Did you drink too much over thest few days, Dave? Or maybe you couldn''t satisfy your poor wife again. Poor Malika." The young woman standing on the pedestal mocked all of a sudden.

    She sneered and looked at the middle-aged man in contempt.

    "Our highest priority is to protect the Lacardia Empyrean Void. That means we will help the brightest star of the Empire to shine brighter than anyone else. That way, we can hide in his shadows."

    "..."

    "Isn''t that what you nned to do? Are you scared just because a youngling wille soon?"

    "...We don''t know if he will make it here, either way¡­" The middle-aged man tried to retort but the young woman could onlyugh lightly.

    "If you didn''t notice it yet, he is already here. Dave¡­you really need to cut drinking too much!"

 Chapter 703 Evolution

    "If you didn''t notice it yet, he is already here. Dave¡­you really need to cut drinking too much!"

    Everyone turned around after the silver-eyed woman''s voice rang through the central za.

    Their eyes followed the diverted gaze of their n Leader until theynded on a small child with heterochromatic eyes.

    One of his eyes was golden while the other was silver. His hair was short and silver in color as well.

    These traits were already rare, to begin with. However, the calm presence that radiated from the child''s body caused everyone to feel as if they looked at an old, wise man with countless experiences.

    Nial noticed that the attention had moved on to him, and he smiled lightly.

    "You are already here? Didn''t Sigmail send you off at dawn?" The silver-eyed woman asked, her expression is one of astonishment and curiosity.

    ''Sigmail? Is that the Summoner with the spatial affinity?''

    Nial tried to see whether the silver-eyed woman was looking in a certain direction to determine who Sigmail actually was, but she continued to stare at him.

    Even if Nial was not on the brighter side, he could tell that the n Leader was his mother''s sister. Their eyes, nose-stricture, and various other features looked alike. If not for his mother''s unique attitude, her clothing as Empress, and a different light gleaming in her eyes whenever looking at her son, Nial would have done a grave mistake.

    ''Are they twins?''

    He shook his head and cleared his throat. It was rude to ignore the question he had been asked so he answered it pretty simply.

    "It was not that difficult to find the vige. As long as you can see, that is."

    ''As long as you can see'', was a hint to his special eyes'' trait. It was pretty obvious and something everyone could sense directly.

    Nheless, the present Creatoran were impressed. The pressure radiating from everyone present, including their leader, was not something a child could endure, forget about ignore, easily.

    The young girl, who was holding the Crown Prince''s hand, was trying her utmost to suppress her shivering body and keep it under control.

    Unfortunately, something like that was easier said than done.

    Almost every Creatoran present was at the Mythician rank, which meant that every single person in front of them was a powerhouseparable to the patriarchs of most ns. If the Creatoran in front of them were to split up and create their own ns, dozens of new powerful ns would appear all of a sudden.

    By staying in one n, the Silver Eye n easily imed the right to call themself the strongest. Nial was not even sure if the elite army of the royal family could handle the Silver Eye n easily, especially when it came to the Silver Eye n''s leader.

    Did she already create a Divinity?

    Nial was not too sure. However, he could tell that his aunt was the strongest, by far at that.

    ''There are no Gods in the Lacardia Empyrean Void. That''s quite a disappointment, but whatever¡­wait¡­why is that a disappointment. It''s not like it''s easy to be a God¡­or is it? Am I supposed to easily be a God? No, how could something like that be easy¡­''

    Nial was a little confused. He was certain that there was no God in the Lacardia Empyrean Void, so why did he know how to ascend godhood, by creating a Divinity, and why did he feel like he could easily do that once he reached the necessary rank?

    It was a little confusing, and it made Nial feel like retreating to a secluded space to think about the thoughts that shed through his mind without anyone bothering him.

    "I am sorry if I interrupted something. We can just go somewhere else and wait, or train, while you finish your talk," He thus proposed, not really minding the wait. It would actually y into his cards with the annoying thoughts in his mind.

    "There is no need for that. It''s fine. Now that you are already here, there is actually no need to continue talking about this anymore, either way. Right?!" The silver-eyed woman asked coldly.

    There was a glint in her eyes, telling everyone that she was ready to throw her fists the moment one of them would be daring enough to open their mouth and spout nonsense.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Her eyes lingered on Dave the longest, only to realize that he was not even looking at her. Dave was staring at Nial, whose crystal clear eyes stared at him and the area beneath his feet.

    "Your Mana is unstable. Yo¨C..." Nial Lacardia could barely say before Dave flinched. His eyes narrowed and he was about to say something only for the silver-eyed woman with a slender figure to appear next to him.

    The smell of roses filled his nose, and it didn''t take long before he felt a warm hand ruffling through his hair.

    "That''s right, my little boy. His Mana is unstable," She said,ughing lightly while continuing to dishevel his hair, "But don''t worry about that. He should be able to fix his unstable Mana once the Soul Link with his Familiars improves. Spending some time with them will fix all of his problems easily!"

    The silver-eyed woman didn''t seem bothered about Dave''s privacy, at all. She revealed Dave''s problem without seeing a problem. Dave furrowed his eyebrows but he didn''t say anything.

    He knew that he made a mistake when he epted a new Familiar shortly after advancing his Mana Core. Instead of rushing things, he should have consolidated his advancement properly. If he had done this, his Familiars wouldn''t be suffering right now.

    "...but that''s not it, aunt¡­" Nial mumbled quietly. It was more of a reflex than actually intending to rebuke his aunt''sment.

    Nobody was saying a thing after they heard what their leader said. Thus, Nial''s words could be heard by everyone. They were silent but traveled across the entire central za.

    "His familiar is on the verge of evolving, but it restricts itself to prevent killing him with their natural Soul Share¡­" Nial mumbled, mostly to himself with his eyes focused on the area more than ten meters beneath Dave.

    "Isn''t he trying to improve his physique, or rather, his vessel, in order to ept the Soul Share of his evolving Familiar? Why would he be focusing on strengthening his Soul Link?"

    Nial didn''t n to pry into the business of other people, especially not when they were far more experienced than him.

    However, the things he was doing right now were different. He was the only one with the golden eye and the ability to look at the potential of monsters.

    Nial didn''t know it beforehand but he could even see if a monster''s potential hue was fluctuating wildly, indicating that a big portion of its remaining potential was about to be unleashed. It was as if the potential hue was wiggling wildly in an attempt to unleash the dormant potential.

    Nial had never seen an evolution first-hand, and the things he found out about the Golden Eye were rather unknown, but Nial was certain that he could help out a bit.

    Even if he had to learn a lot more about the Golden Eye, he should voice out his opinion, especially when it came to topics only he could figure out.

    "Ayase¡­what is he talking about?" Dave asked, his eye moving over to the silver-eyed leader of the Silver Eye n. Ayase, Nial''s aunt, looked over to Nial with aplex expression on her face.

    "I wonder¡­"

    Nial could tell that his aunt, Dave, and basically everyone else, were unable to understand what he was talking about.

    ''Can they not determine the evolution of a Familiar? Why is Dave''s Familiar not saying anything?''

    He pointed to the ground beneath the man and tilted his head lightly.

    "Isn''t the Mole Familiar yours?"

    "...the Mole is my familiar, but what are you talking about?...and how do you know that?"

    Dave was doubtful of Nial. From the beginning, he didn''t want the Crown Prince in the Silver Eye n. After all, the Crown Prince''s appearance was bound to cause trouble.

    Dave would rather avoid this kind of trouble by denying Nial into the vige. Unfortunately, that was already toote now that he was already there.

    And, if Dave was to be honest, he was more confused about the young Crown Prince''s words.

    "Does that really matter? I am just telling you that you''re killing yourself."

 Chapter 704 Angry Child

    "I am just telling you that your Mole Familiar will evolve, or actually that it is already evolving and restricting itself in order to protect you. It is your fault for not being strong enough to endure the Mole Familiar''s Soul Share after its'' evolution would bepleted. I don''t even want to imagine how much pain the Mole Familiar feels right now, or how long it is in pain already."

    "..."

    "While the Familiar is powerful and loyal, the Summoner seems like he is nothing but empty talk."

    Nial couldn''t help but feel angered. Nobody had noticed the Mole Familiar''s pain, not even his Summoner. His opinion of Dave hit rock bottom, which could be seen clearly in Nial''s eyes.

    The scorn in his eyes was real and so was the contempt.

    He turned around to his aunt, who immediately noticed the coldness in his eyes.

    "Wha¨C..." She was just about to ask what was going on with her nephew when the ice-cold gaze in Nial''s eyes intensified.

    "Is this ce just a facade, or do you seriously want to tell me that this ce is housing the strongest Summoners of the Lacardia Empyrean Void? If the Summoners here cannot even sense their Familiars'' pain and suffering, I don''t think that I need to be here anymore. Staying here seems to be a waste of time."

    No matter what he could learn in the Silver Eye n if they weren''t even capable Summoners, Nial would want to learn from them, nothing at all.

    The disappointment on Nial''s face was clear to read. It was not something a seven-year-old child should feel in regard to the current situation.

    However, it was not as if Nial should have been able to retort the words of adults at the Mythician rank. His words were sharp like des and they dug deep into the hearts and guts of the Summoners around them.

    "Milo said that he injured himself thest time we visited the Monster Dimension¡­" Dave could only say, unable to hide his nk expression.

    The shock he was going through was clear to see in his eyes, just like his disbelief. Yet, at the same time, Milo, the Mole Familiar, revealed the bitter truth to his Summoner.

    It was the first time that the Mole Familiar exposed his current condition, and had it not been for Nial, Milo would have continued to lie to his Summoner, telling him that the pain originated from an injury he sustained in the Monster Dimension.

    Ayase felt her neck turning red. Her own members humiliated her in front of her sister''s beloved child. She clearly recalled her sister''s praises and the worry she felt whenever she looked at Nial, and Ayase could finally understand why the Empress thought like this.

    Nial didn''t really feel like a seven-year-old child. If she didn''t know better, Ayase would have believed that Nial was the patriarch of the Silver Eye n, or possibly an old wandering man with boundless potential.

    "Are you really only seven years old?" She thus asked, ignoring the disappointment and trace of anger in her nephew''s eyes.

    "Hm?... Yes, I am. Though, I feel really old sometimes. It is a little weird, and I cannot really exin it either," Nial responded, though he was not really feeling it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He didn''t really want to talk about the memories that surfaced in his head every now and then. In fact, even if he would talk about them, it was not as if anyone else could help him. To boot, he could hardly open his mouth and remember the memories whenever he wanted to talk about them.

    That was also a little weird because it made him feel that something or someone was restricting him from sharing his secrets. It might be for the better, but he was still a little annoyed about that.

    None of that was important right now, to begin with. He was contemting whether he should stay in the Silver Eye n, or if it might be the better decision to leave behind the n.

    Goldy was the most important to him, so he couldn''t understand Summoners who treated their Familiars like tools.

    Dave made a bad impression on him and it made him feel as if the entire n was either filled with ignorant fools or the trash he wanted to avoid.

    "It''s not normal for us to miss an evolving Familiar. Milo, the Mole Familiar, you spoke about before, was examined to have reached the peak of his potential. Never would we have imagined that Milo could still evolve. He must have eaten something when Dave was focused on binding his newest Familiar to his Soul Space," Ayase said, scratching the back of her head.

    "It''s not normal for us to miss something like that. Thanks for your help. You saved Dave''s life," She added.

    Nial looked at his aunt for a while before he nodded his head.

    "I think you should reassess your Familiar''s potential once every few months. Or I will do it once to tell you how much dormant potential they''ve left," He mumbled, trying to console his aunt, though he was not sure if that was necessary.

    He didn''t really like the current situation, which included that the Silver Eye n missed out on something as important as the evolution of a Familiar.

    However, he knew that his mother would be sad if they were to fall out. It was not as if the situation was too grave either.

    The Mole Familiar had returned to the surface where he was hugged by the teary-eyed Dave. He first hugged his Familiar before he scolded it for hiding his severe condition.

    That showed quite clearly how important Milo was to Dave. Nial was d that he had been wrong with his assessment.

    That made things a lot easier.

    "Your golden eye is not like your father''s, right?" Ayase asked all of a sudden. The Emperor''s golden eye was said to be able to see into the future. Even if it was only one second, it was a crucial power that could change the tide of a battle immediately.

    Nial was not in possession of such a power.

    "No, but I think my powers are better."

 Chapter 705 Secret Techniques

    At the end of the day, Nial didn''t reveal the full powers of his Golden Eye.

    He said that he could enhance his Silver Eyes to a small extent, but that was it.

    It was not as if Nial didn''t trust the others, but he didn''t feel like telling anyone about his hue of potential ability.

    Even if he was the Crown Prince, he didn''t want others to find out about the ability. Others would want to abuse it, that was for sure.

    However, that was not all.

    The Creatoran race would start depending on his ability to discern ''useful'' familiars from ''useless'' familiars. Maybe not all Creatoran would try to make use of his ability, but the turmoil revolving around him would grow even worse.

    He was already a monster, who had be a full-fledged Summoner at the age of four and awoken the One with the Spear. His Origin ring was also different from the norm of the royal family, his eyes were a unique trait that not even five people in the entire Lacardia Empyrean Void possessed, and he had those¡­weird memories that resurfaced every now and then.

    Nial really didn''t want to add more weird information to his biography.

    Ayase figured that Nial had secrets that he didn''t want to expose, and she didn''t think about forcing him to reveal them either. Everyone had their own dirty secrets. She was no exception.

    Nial may be a little young but he was certainly not someone to underestimate.

    This was something Ayase got to know the day he arrived.

    Nial''s control of his Silver Eye was already strong enough to pave his way through the Forest of Illusion and avoid every single trap that had beenid out meticulously, the Crown Prince was good enough to find out that one of the n elite''s Familiar was evolving.

    On the day of his arrival, he solved a big problem, saving the n Elder, and he did much more than that afterward.

    After the incident with Dave and his Mole Familiar, Milo, Nial had been epted into the Silver Eye n.

    As his personal maid, Celine had also been epted, though she had to go through various examinations and tests before she was epted.

    But that was only normal. Nobody really knew how strong Celine was, how much talent she had, and what her personality is like.

    The tests were a means to find out more about Celin. After all, she was not rted to the matriarch in any way. Her only connection was the Crown Prince.

    Celine passed the tests with flying colors. The only w, if one could call it such, was that her first Familiar was rather weak.

    However, her Soul Link was firm and the poison affinity she obtained from her Familiar was not too weak either. It could be used in some ways.

    "You never had to fill your eyesockets with Mana to unseal them? Are you for real?" Ayase asked, having a hard time believing him.

    The cup of tea she was holding in her hand was unmoving, resting only a few centimeters away from her parted lips.

    "..."

    Nial didn''t say anything but the confusion in his eyes was answer enough.

    Ayase and Nial had been talking for an hour or two after the incident in the central za had been resolved. While Dave focused his entirety on his Familiar and research for a body refinement technique to strengthen his vessel, Ayase turned into a guide for the neers.

    Nial and Celine received a tour through the Silver Eye n. Celine was led to her room where she fell into a deep slumber the moment her smoking head touched the soft mattress.

    She had given 200% during the tests to make sure that she would get epted. Nobody had told her that she would have to be tested so she wasn''t prepared for it, at all. This was a little annoying, but there was nothing she could have done against it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    At the end of the day, everything worked out either way. Her hard work had paid off because she was allowed to keep staying by Nial''s side.

    However, what Celine didn''t expect was that the gap between her and Nial would widen even further as time passed.

    Nial was not ordinary, by any means, but even if that was a matter of fact, Celine always believed that she could catch up. She even underwent the Soul Reconstruction Ritual to increase her Mana Veins'' grade artificially!

    Unfortunately, the time she spent sleeping soundly in her new room was already more than enough to increase the gap between her and Nial once again.

    "Your mother told you to learn the Secret techniques of the Silver Eye n? You are way too young for that!" Ayase shouted at this moment.

    No matter how little time she spent outside the Forest of Illusion, or the Silver Eye n, to be precise, Ayase couldn''t help but feel that her older sister and that annoying nephew were too arrogant.

    Forget about Nial, the ignorant young kid, the Empress should know damn well about the dangers of the Silver Eye n''s secret techniques.

    They were not to be taken lightly and could create permanent eye damage to those below the age of 20 with a Mana Core rank below the Keltia rank.

    The Silver Eye n''s descendants were known to mature until the age of 20. Their eyes would continue developing until that age, meaning that Nial''s full potential had yet to be unleashed. That was exactly why Ayase didn''t want to teach him the Secret Techniques of the Silver Eye n.

    His dormant potential could be damaged the moment he would do something foolish with his eyes. The Secret Techniques were extremely powerful but they were alsoplex. A single mistake in the control of mana may actually end up bursting his eyes.

    "Mom told me that you would say that. She gave me this letter and told me to tell you this; You better teach him, otherwise, he will suffer the most. His potential shouldn''t be neglected," Nial said, trying to sound nonchnt as he retrieved a golden letter.

    The golden letter was sealed with a crimson emblem, and it radiated strong mana currents. One had to circte mana in a certain way inside the letter to open it, otherwise, it would explode and destroy the content regardless of what it is.

    "She would never say something like that directly. Don''t think of me as a fool, just because I haven''t seen your mother for a while," Ayase said with a smug expression on her face. She recalled her sister''s attitude and shook her head lightly.

    With a swift motion, she put the teacup down on the chair and epted the letter from Nial.

    "...yeah, but she probably wrote it down. She just told me to tell you that she loves you a lot."

    "That''s also a lie. She doesn''t say cringe stuff like that."

    ''Tch! Just ept the praise and teach me¡­please!''

    **

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 Chapter 706 Combat Power

    After Ayase read the content of the golden letter, she began to frown deeply.

    She sighed deeply and looked at Nial for a few seconds with an expression that seemed to say ''Will it really be alright?'' before she shook her head lightly.

    "Do you really want to learn the Secret Techniques of the Silver Eye n right now? I would rmend waiting a few more years, at best until you are 20 years old, but it seems like your mother is of a different opinion," Ayase asked, staring straight at Nial to see his reaction clearly.

    Nial smiled at his aunt and nodded his head vigorously.

    "Please teach me! I want to be stronger, and learn more about the hidden power of my eyes."

    Ayase grunted quietly but she didn''t immediately rebuke his words by mentioning the dangers that entailed the usage of the secret techniques.

    Seeing the brightly gleaming eyes of the youth, she could only frown and ask herself if she had been the same in the past.

    ''I was just ying around with my sister¡­but he has already more responsibilities as the Crown Prince. Does he know that he won''t be able to have a normal childhood? Is that why he is doing this?''

    Ayase was not too sure what to think about Nial''s personality since she got to know him only a few hours ago. However, she could tell that he was determined and that he was willing to give the secret techniques his all.

    His sister, Nial''s mother, wanted her to teach him the secret techniques for the next few years while protecting him from external dangers. At the same time, the Empress wanted to make sure that Nial wouldn''t enter the Monster Dimension for a few more years.

    No matter how Ayase looked at it, his tomboyish sister seemed to have changed, turning into an overprotective mother. The Empress was known as a wise ruler, and someone who didn''t really think that there was a difference between nobles andmoners, but she was just a tomboyish girl at the end of the day.

    Every member of the Silver Eye n, who had been present six hundred years ago knew about this. They were fully aware of the Empress'' real personality and it was quite enjoyable to see and hear rumors about her ''magnificent'' personality and attitude.

    "I will teach you¡­but only if you can ept three conditions!"

    "...Conditions? What are they?"

    Ayase smiled lightly seeing Nial''s expression. He was vignt and could immediately tell that the conditions would be rather unfavorable. However, he didn''t voice his opinion before hearing the conditions.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "First, you will have to follow my orders. That means you are not allowed to do anything I didn''t order as well. If I tell you that you have to rest, you will have to rest. If I tell you to get up and continue training when you''re already panting like a god, you will get up and continue training.

    Of course, this condition applies not only during the training but the entire period of your stay in the Silver Eye n," Ayase said, lifting one finger.

    "Second, I will seal the Secret Techniques'' memories to prevent you from training them any further the moment I can see that you''re sustaining injuries. It is impossible to prevent straining your eyes in the process of your training, but that doesn''t mean it is normal to sustain heavy injuries. The Secret Techniques have been created to guide the user into the proper usage and cirction of mana in the eyes. That means you are not supposed to injure yourself as long as you follow the Secret Techniques'' form step by step.

    If your eyes are not developed enough to endure the natural toll, I will immediately stop teaching you the Secret Techniques, and I will seal the memories to prevent you from using them again until you''re ready. Because it is not easy to make this happen without affecting your mind, you will have to acknowledge my influence in your head," She said, lifting the second finger while maintaining a grave expression on her face.

    "Third, you are not allowed to enter the Monster Dimension until you master the Silver Eye n''s Secret Techniques. This condition won''t take effect if I stop teaching you the Secret Techniques, but I won''t ever teach you again. That means you cannot nonchntly say ''I don''t want you to train me for the next three months.'' before jumping into the Monster Dimension."

    Nial didn''t really think that the conditions were weird. At least, the first and the second condition made sense. It was pretty obvious that Ayase was bothered about the high possibility of sustaining permanent injuries while practicing the Secret Techniques.

    She was not willing to teach him but trusted her sister''s words. Knowing her sister well, Ayase was certain that she would never allow her son to do anything that could injure him. The Empress was this kind of person; overprotective and obsessed with those she loved dearly.

    The third condition was a little weird. Nial was not too sure why anyone would want to restrict his usage of the Monster Dimension. After all, training in the Monster Dimension was said to be quite efficient because of the mana density over there.

    However, after thinking about it a little, his aunt was probably just worried that Nial would escape from her control and use the Secret Techniques secretly.

    Thinking that Ayase was that worried about his usage of the Secret Techniques, Nial figured that they were a lot more dangerous than he initially thought.

    But that didn''t mean he would back off all of a sudden.

    "Only those three conditions? I didn''t n to enter the Monster Dimension for a few years either way. Goldy should evolve first before I can think about the next Familiar I want to bind, either way," Nial said, agreeing to Ayase''s conditions without any qualms.

    He stretched out his hand and smiled lightly.

    "Please guide me well, teacher!"

 Chapter 707 Real Monster

    "...What a monster."

    Staring at the youth in front of them, the spectators could only frown deeply.

    "Isn''t the rookie at the Deux-rank?"

    "I heard his focus is Agility as well¡­and it looks like that, so¡­"

    "...how is this monster able to evade the rookie''s rapid attacks?!"

    Seven years had passed and Nial Lacardia had grown up quite a bit. He didn''t look like a 14-year-old teenager, but more like a young adult.

    He was 1.7 meters tall and was shredded but with an athletic physique rather than a bulky constitution. His long silver hair was bound back to a small man-bun to make sure that not a single strand of his hair could enter his field of vision.

    That was necessary as he circted mana through his eyes to pre-determine the iing attacks.

    His opponent was a Deux-ranked Summoner whose focus was agility. The Summoner had two agility-based Familiars, enhancing his agility drastically. The rookie was twice as fast as an ordinary Summoner at the same Mana Core rank.

    Meanwhile, Nial had barely advanced to the Prometheus rank. He didn''t train his Mana Core too much in the past few years. That was also why his progress was a lot slower than expected.

    That was, at least, the case when it came to Nial''s desire to grow stronger as quickly as possible. An ordinary Deux-ranked Summoner was already several times faster than Nial, however, the rookie was on apletely different level.

    Nial had been appointed to examine the rookie''s strength. This was a great surprise for everyone because it wasmon for an Elder to evaluate the strength of the neers.

    Nobody had seen Nial training, forget about fighting, more than ten times in the past seven years. That was also why nobody really knew how strong Nial had be.

    Ayase trained Nial in her own training hall where nobody was allowed to enter without her permission.

    Seeing him fight right now, it was hard to fathom what kind of drugs Ayase had given Nial to turn him into the monster he had be. Only seven years had passed but he was already that powerful, with only one familiar at that.

    Nial was currently twisting his body before inching closer to his opponent. His precise movements allowed him to barely evade the longsword that crashed down on him with terrific velocity.

    The attack nearly cut off his shoulder, missing him merely by a hair''s breadth. However, that was more than enough for Nial to inch closer and use the open defense of the agility-based Summoner to breach his defenses entirely.

    The Summoner was trying to move away from the iing attack. He released a tremendous amount of mana to further enhance his agility - even if it was just temporary - to avoid the razor-sharp spearhead from piercing his heart cleanly.

    Nial''s eyes were ice-cold and the killing intent he radiated was also not just for show. The Summoner knew that he would die the moment he would be hit. Because of this thought, the young rookie did everything he could to evade the iing attack. His entire focus was on the spear which he had avoided cleanly.

    But that was a big mistake. Focusing on nothing but the spear was a grave mistake, something he only realized when it was already toote.

    A weird feeling shrouded his legs, goosebumps covered his entire body a momentter and chills ran down his spine. His eyes moved down before he realized it and what he saw down there caused his mind to nk out for a moment<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A huge tail covered with golden scales had shot out of Nial''s tailbone. The tail had coiled around the rookie''s legs, restricting his movements.

    If the rookie were to use his full physical strength at once, he could have freed himself. However,bining the great shock that spread through the head of the Summoner in addition to the follow-up attack issued by Nial, the Summoner''s brain began to smoke.

    Even though the Summoner had underestimated Nial when the battle began, he quickly noticed that Nial was not someone he could underestimate.

    Knowing about the special trait of the Silver Eye n to a certain extent, it was obvious that Nial with his heterochromia eyes was a direct descendant of the n. That indicated the severity of his training and that he was able to see the flow of mana within his field of vision.

    Nheless, it shouldn''t have been possible for Nial, a newly advanced Prometheus-ranked Summoner, to deflect, forget about evade, the rapid attacks of an agility-based Deux-ranked Summoner.

    Comparing his strength to ordinary Summoners, the rookie was confident to defeat Summoners at the Keltia rank. There was no need to speak about those at a lower rank, even the geniuses at the Deux rank were usually unable to deflect his attacks, ending in their defeat.

    Yet, a young teenager, no more than fourteen years old, a kid at the Prometheus rank and with merely one Familiar¡­defeated him just like that?

    It was important to know that the rookie didn''t realize who Nial was. Nobody had seen the Crown Prince during the past seven years, and there hadn''t been too many people other than a few thousand citizens of the capital, who had seen him during his time in the capital.

    His heterochromia eyes might be a pretty decent indicator of his identity, but it was not exactly weird to see someone with silver hair and a silver eye in the Silver Eye n. Nial might actually be the son of the matriarch, considering that both of them had silver eyes and silver hair.

    Their facial features hinted at simrities as well.

    Of course, that was only the case because the Empress and the Matriarch of the Silver Eye n looked so simr.

    Nial''s right golden eye was the only truly unique feature about him, creating a huge contrast to the matriarch''s appearance.

    "You nearly got me there. Your speed is terrifying!" Nial said, holding his hand up while the golden-scaled tail dispersed.

    He had used more nutrition and mana than he intended.

    His eyes were hurting a lot as well.

    The fight was not easily won, but that was not something outsiders realized.

    They had seen him skillfully evading the attacks and creating an opportunity to strike back, granting him the inevitable victory, or so it looked.

    However, their eyes weren''t able to see the truth, so it was only obvious that they could only see what they wanted to see.

    Only Nial could see the truth.

 Chapter 708 Debt

    After seven years of hard work, Nial finally reached the Prometheus rank.

    Without focusing on the cultivation process, it was quite arduous to create the remaining eight Ancient-grade Origin rings.

    However, he knew what he was doing even though it looked like he was the first to create Ancient-grade Origin rings. If others were to know about it, they would probably bombard him with questions. Fortunately, that was never a problem because not even the matriarch of the Silver Eye n knew what a Royal-grade Origin ring should look like.

    Whether it was a special perk of Unique Origin rings or the grade of the matriarch''s Silver Eyes didn''t really matter. Important was only that the matriarch couldn''t see the secrets behind Unique Origin rings. It was as if the Origin Rings didn''t have a grade in the first ce.

    That was what Ayase used as an indicator of someone creating Unique-grade Origin rings.

    Despite that, Nial felt that would be best if nobody were to find out about his Ancient Origin Rings. As for the reason¡­his gut told him so.

    Was it because these unknown and mysterious memories kept shing through his mind, or was there another reason for his actions? Nial actually didn''t know anymore.

    He was lost when it came to the mysterious memories and he couldn''t tell anyone about them even if he wanted to. Something deep inside him told him that a disaster would ur the moment he was to reveal this particr secret.

    Seven years had passed in the blink of an eye and Nial''s physical strength had increased drastically. He was physically stronger than an ordinary physical-attributed Summoner.

    For his age, he was a heavenly prodigy even if he had ''cked off'' in his cultivation. But that was not something Nial realized, in the first ce. He knew that Celine was at a higher cultivation rank and that she may actually be stronger than Nial ¨C if he restricted his usage of the Silver Eye.

    The Secret techniques he had learned over the past seven years were simply too powerful for someone at such a low cultivation rank to ovee. Of course, this also entailed that it shouldn''t be possible for someone at Nial''s rank to learn these Secret Techniques in the first ce.

    Nial''s existence was already an anomaly in itself. Thus, the people around him slowly stopped telling him that he shouldn''t try something because it was too dangerous. Slowly but steadily, Nial was being considered a full-fledged member of the Silver Eye n.

    He may only be fourteen years old, but his physique and sharp eyes made it seem as if he was already a mature adult. Others looked at him like an adult as well and they treated him like one after a few years passed.

    Nial was inconspicuously giving hints to the members of the Silver Eye n whenever their Familiar had reached its potential, or when there was still some dormant potential left that could be squeezed out. This was something Nial did secretly without anyone finding out.

    However, that was more than enough for thebat prowess of the entire n to increase substantially.

    Nial liked most members of the Silver Eye n so that was fine as well. Even Dave had grown much closer to him after their ''dispute'' had been solved.

    In fact, Dave treated Nial especially nicely after the incident. Nial was Dave and Milo''s savior. His help allowed both to grow stronger instead of bursting apart like watermelons during beach parties during summer.

    Dave''s gratitude resulted In the umtion of great rewards. Dave felt obliged to thank Nial with rewards, and the matriarch of the Silver Eye n was exactly the same. After all, Nial not only save one of her members, which was equivalent to him rescuing a member of her family, but Nial also helped their family to grow stronger.

    Thus, he was rewarded with great achievements, resulting in Goldy''s growth and the humongous golden cocoon that had appeared inside his Soul Space.

    The golden cocoon was not a new trait of his Soul Space, nor was it the creation of something new. On the contrary, there was someone in particr inside the golden cocoon

    -Goldy-

    Nial didn''t want any treasures for himself. If someone were to reward him with something, it should be directly rted to a treasure that could aid Goldy in the right direction.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial knew that Gold had the necessary dormant talent to grow stronger and evolve. The Goldscale Serpent had long since broken through its racial limit, and Nial felt that it would soon evolve.

    It was already at the Peak of the Mirae rank, half a step away from advancing to the Prometheus rank when it stopped growing.

    In fact, Goldy did not only stop growing, but it totally stagnated, seemingly without a way to advance further. If Goldy''s Summoner was anyone other than Nial, they would have given up on their Familiar''s growth.

    For a Goldscale Serpent to reach half a step into the Prometheus rank was already something that had never been heard of.

    Thus, others discouraged his attempts to nurture Goldy any further.

    Nial didn''t really care about theirments because he knew that revenge was best served cold.

    The glorious truth of his Familiar''s dormant potential would soon be unveiled, and nobody would be daring enough toment on Goldy''s might and talent.

    Just thinking about Ayase''s face and the reaction of the others was more than enough to blossom a brilliant smile on his face.

    Revenge was nice, but it was certainly even better than Goldy''s journey was bound to continue alongside Nial. That made him the happiest, and it was the sole reason for Nial''s biggest joy.

    The rewards he received were perfect for Goldy, or so Nial presumed. After all, the Goldscale Serpent Familiar wouldn''t be evolving otherwise!

    Over the past seven years, Nial''s connection with Goldy grew much stronger as well. Nial could manifest Goldy''s tail by now, and the materialization process was pretty fast as well.

    All in all, the past seven years had been a great sess.

    That was the easiest to see when it came to his growth inbat power, control of his Silver and Golden Eye, and the abundant Secret Techniques and their Ultimate Forms.

    Without Ayase''s meticulous teaching, Nial would have never gotten that far. He was thankful for her and wanted to repay his debt, however, he was not too sure how he could do that.

    It was almost as if the matriarch of the Silver Eye n didn''t desire anything. Of course, that was weird and Nial simply presumed that he had yet to find out what she desired, not that she had no unfulfilled desires.

    But before he could find out anything about her wishes and ways to repay his debt, Nial had to finish mastering the Silver Eye n''s techniques while Goldy was evolving.

    After that, he would enter the Monster Dimension for the second time in his life and search for a second Familiar.

    Ayase thought that he was too early and that he should advance to the Deux-rank before binding his second Familiar, but Nial ignored her sincere advice.

    It was not necessary for him to bind an inborn powerful Monster to his Soul Link. As long as he found a Monster with boundless potential, it didn''t matter whether it was a tiny ant with a mere trace of mana in its body or a fully matured mythical creature.

    He would get his hands on them, one way or another!

 Chapter 709 Come Back

    The golden cocoon inside Nial''s Soul Space dissolved slowly.

    It had been quite a while since Goldy''s evolution had been initiated and it was about time for Nial and his Familiar to take the next step.

    But before that, Goldy had toplete thest step of his evolution- devour the final remnants of the golden cocoon.

    Goldy was tirelessly absorbing the golden cocoon to break out of it and today would be the day it happened. Nial was confident in Goldy''s foundation and strength. He was certain that Goldy would ovee the evolution without issue, and he couldn''t be more right.

    Goldy finished the evolution in less than two months, evolving from an ordinary Goldscale Serpent into a Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon.

    The name might sound a little weird and it was much easier to consider Goldy as a Flood Dragon with golden adamantian scales.

    Goldy''s size expanded drastically, reaching a shocking length of over thirty meters, andrge ck horns jut out from the sides of his head.

    To Nial, Goldy felt the same as before but the same couldn''t be said about the people around him. Celine, Ayase, and everyone else was shocked to the bones when they got to know that Goldy evolved to a Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon.

    Not only was this type of Flood Dragon exceptionally rare and almost impossible to bind to a Summoner''s Soul Space, but it was unthinkable that a Goldscale Serpent evolved into a rare and powerful being such as a Flood Dragon.

    However, that was not all. Goldy''s presence turned a big change as well.

    If Goldy had little to no presence before, the current existence of Goldy was a might that had to be reckoned with.

    Goldy had advanced to a Deux-ranked mythical creature with a mighty presence that was strong enough to suppress most beings at the same rank.

    Even beings of a higher rank wouldn''t recklessly act in front of Goldy.

    It was eerily simr to the presence of Rex, the ze Dragon, released naturally. Rex was a ze Dragon, and Nial was pretty sure that Goldy could turn into a True Dragon as long as he evolved one or two more times. Others may be skeptical about something like this but it was not as if Nial listened to their words.

    [Come back home¡­]

    Nial''s eyes widened. The whisper of a woman rang through his ears.

    [Pleasee back¡­]

    He was just staring at Goldy, who had just evolved when another voice shed through his entire being. This voice was not the same as before.

    [Your rest was long enough. You shoulde back to us¡­we miss you¡­]

    A third voice appeared.

    Nial''s voice widened. He had no idea what was going on.

    Wasn''t he just looking at Goldy, all by himself?

    Looking around, he couldn''t see anyone. There were not even manipted mana traces around him, indicating someone transmitting mental messages.

    [Wake up¡­your people need you. We need you.]

    ''What is going on?!''

    [Nial Orin¡­it''s time to let go.]

    Nial stood in his single room, his feet rooted to the ground. Goldy was coiled around him, hissing in joy and happiness.

    Nial had been happy as well. Goldy''s cultivation rank increased as the Goldscale Serpent evolved. It was not even a normal evolution.

    Goldy''s talent was big enough to be a True Dragon, otherwise, he would have never be a rare kind of Flood Dragon, just like that, in the first ce.

    True Dragons were different from Elemental Dragons, or a ze Dragon. Their power was a whole level above beings of the same rank.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After all, they were mythical creatures with the purest talent.

    Considering that Goldy could already bebeled as a Half-Step Dragon, it should be great news for Nial. After all, his strength increased drastically. Due to his firm Soul Link with Goldy, Nial''s Soul Share had increased quite a bit. Thus, Goldy increased Nial''s strength much more than the young Summoner had anticipated.

    Unfortunately, Nial was not in the mood anymore.

    The voices in his head had terminated all somewhat positive emotions.

    ''What were they talking about?''

    ¡­

    ''Come back? Wake up? Rested long enough?''

    He never really rested since he was always working hard. So what were those voices talking about?

    Nial was also a Lacardia and not a Nial with the surname ''Orin''. Were those voices mistaken him?

    That shouldn''t be possible. It was not really feasible that someone living far away from the dense forest was able to send messages via mental transmission to him.

    He was in the deepest parts of the dense forest and well hidden from the realm''s eyes thanks to the extraordinary means applied by the Silver Eye n.

    Nial was sure that nobody except the Empress was able to find the Silver eye n, in the first ce. As for whether she was able to send a message straight into his mind from her location, Nial doubted it.

    Not only was it way too difficult but he was also certain that the Empress would have used a Mental Transmission technique if she was able to reach him.

    That was why Nial didn''t really have an idea what was actually going on.

    Did someone from within the Silver Eye n send him a mental transmission to prank him? That was unlikely. Everyone liked him, and the members of the Silver Eye n were unlikely to joke around. In fact, they were very serious.

    Furthermore, he heard three different voices, shortly after each other.

    The fourth voice sounded like a mixture of the three¡­and Nial felt chills running down his spine as he recalled the ovepping voices.

    The ovepping voices sounded like Celine, after all.

    But he was certain that it was not Celine.

    She was sleeping next door¡­

    "I must have fallen victim to an illusion spell. Or maybe someone actually pulled a prank on me! ¡­ But I would have noticed that¡­

    Goldy evolved and the voices appeared after that. Did his evolution trigger something? A trap that had been installed inside me? No, that cannot be it either."

    Nial started to doubt himself, his existence, and his current state.

    Meanwhile, the twists of fate started to roll.

    He had actually fallen victim to a trap, after all.

    But this trap was not from the Silver Eye n, forget about anyone in the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    This trap had been meticulously installed by the Advocate of the Pryard herself.

    As for the n''s efficiency.

    It was much greater than expected.

 Chapter 710 Sleeping Blind God

    "Come back home¡­" The Oracle whispered, nibbling on her lower lip as she watched the sleeping God.

    Nial''s eyelid twitched, almost as if he was actually able to hear the Oracle. Her whispers rang through his ears, but nothing seemed to change at the end of the day.

    "Pleasee back¡­" Hana joined as well, pleading to Nial.

    Even though she hadn''t been close to Nial in thest few decades, he had always been there for her. Nial may actually not remember much about Hana, but that was definitely not the case for her. Hana had always found constion in Nial''s words and actions.

    Looking back to Nial''s sister, his friend, his father, and the other people that could be found in therge hall, Hana sighed deeply.

    Everyone was worried about his current state.

    One day he fell asleep and he never woke up again.

    At first, no one really noticed that something was odd.

    Despite being a God, Nial created his Divinity not too long ago. Adding that his Cursed Divinity was a little bit different from the norm and that he had just devoured a Divine God, a bunch of Ancient Gods, and dozens of ordinary Gods, it couldn''t be considered odd to feel the need for rest.

    But it was not long after that Nial''s ''rest'' turned into a deep slumber before it finally evolved into an eternal sleep.

    Nobody could actually do something about Nial''s eternal sleep. Even finding out the cause of his sudden slumber was difficult.

    At the end of the day, Princess Evalyne and the Greater Forest Dragon had tobine their power inside a branch of Yggdrasil to scan Nial''s body.

    There, they found something amiss. A golden flower had blossomed inside his Cursed Divinity.

    That was certainly not normal, and it was also not something they could cure. After all, they didn''t really know what was going on with Nial.

    Several months passed in the blink of an eye, yet he was still asleep. Sometimes, he showed signs of reacting to the words of the people in his surroundings, but those asions were very rare.

    After he moved the first time, a ce had been constructed for him. It was arge hall, engraved with various runic constetions.

    The runic constetions measured his health and responses to certain words, actions, and people around him.

    That way, they found out that the presence of three particr people, and the words they issued created certain responses.

    Nial was sleeping soundly in therge hall. He was in the center of therge hall with everyone''s attention pulled to him, staring at him nkly.

    Everyone had question marks in their eyes.

    Hana felt helpless. She hoped that Nial would react to her voice as well but nothing really happened. Hana thought to have seen Nial flinch, however, that might have been her desperation.

    She, the Oracle, and the Royal Princess of the Elven race were the only people who could cause a response from Nial''s side. Thus, it was only obvious that Hana hoped for a positive result.

    Unfortunately, this was not something she received. Her expectations and hopes had been crushed, once again.

    They really needed Nial and his power right now. His Devils were not listening to anyone other than the Commanders of the Devil Army and Nial Orin, the God of Gluttony, Darkness, and Destruction.

    "Your rest was long enough. You shoulde back to us¡­we miss you¡­" The Royal Princess stepped forward at this moment.

    She was the Royal Princess of all Elven races, an individual who ought to be respected and show dignity and the presence of a royal epitome.

    However, right now, she looked like a maiden in distress. A woman in love, looking at her crippled lover with tears in her eyes.

    Her soft hands reached out to Nial''s cold cheek, caressing them gently.

    It was almost like a lover''s touch, an attempt to warm his heart and body.

    But Nial didn''t move, at first.

    His expressionless facial features moved. It was not much, but his stiffened and cold face turned smoother. It was almost as if the tension in his body slowly dispersed.

    But that was not everything that happened.

    Something small and inconspicuous spread through his body, exactly at the center of the chest where the Soul Space of Nial Lacardia was located.

    Nobody sensed the change inside Nial''s body since they were only focused on the small changes in his expression.

    Unfortunately, he still didn''t wake up<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Wake up¡­your people need you. We need you."

    Princess Evalyne said while looking out of therge hall''s windows.

    The Devils were standing there, organized, patiently waiting for their Lord and Master to return andmand them.

    The Devil Army didn''t listen to anyone but Nial and his Commanders¡­but who were thesemanders in the first ce?

    Nial had yet to distribute the Devil Army into proper Units, let alone proim someone in his Devil''s Army as the rightful Commanders.

    And that was where the biggest problem was buried.

    The Devil Army was there, millions of them. But that was not all. There were more.

    Not only was the Devil Army present but there was also the Army of Angels, an Army of the Heligav race, and tens of other races, which had focused on their development on the Origin.

    Their n had been to use the youngling state of Jundra and expand their territory slowly but steadily until the Origin would have regained its former glory.

    However, the return of the Devil Army, the Gigaloran Gxies added to the ''awakening of the God of Darkness'' as everyone began tobel it, was something the races in the surrounding areas began to worry about.

    They sieged Orion Shelter and initiated highly destructive attacks every now and then.

    It was only because of the tireless efforts of everyone involved that Orion Shelter was still standing.

    There was only one question; how long would the shelter be able to stay strong?

    "Nial Orin¡­it''s time to let go," Hana, the Royal Princess, and the Oracle said synchronized before even realizing it.

    Their eyes widened and they looked at each other as if they wanted to ask ''how did we end up saying the exact same''.

    However, before they could speak their thoughts out loud, Nial began to move.

    He began to move, but his movements were sluggish.

    It was almost as if he was still caught in his dream.

    Or¡­was he still sleeping?

    Did their effort finally pay off?

    Just when everyone thought that Nial was about to wake up, he fell back onto the bed and returned to eternal sleep.

    Heavy expressions covered the faces of the present people.

    However, what they couldn''t know was a decisive change inside Nial''s Cursed Divinity.

    The first pedal of the golden flower had fallen to the ground.

    The flower began to wither, and the time passing on Nial''s side elerated drastically.

    It was almost as if a movie shed through Nial''s head as the happenings of the following months, years, and decades swamped his mind.

    **

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 Chapter 711 Second Familiar

    Nial felt like he had been caught in a dream. He was not too sure where he was right now, or what he was supposed to do in the Lacardia Empyrean Realm.

    After he heard the three voices that rang through his mind like willowing banshees, everything began to change.

    Nial felt an odd sense of unfamiliarity in his surroundings and the people around him.

    It didn''t really make sense, but time seemed to pass much faster than before. Meanwhile, the closeness he felt toward anyone but Celine disappeared.

    Nial felt close to nobody, except Celine, after the day of Goldy''s evolution. When the voices arrived, Nial''s life in the Lacardia Empyrean Void seemed to lose its value.

    But was that really the case?

    Was his existence, or life, really worthless?

    Not really.

    His life was still worth a lot, just not in the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    But why did he feel like this?

    It didn''t really make sense.

    Though, it didn''t really make much sense that time passed to quickly, either.

    After Goldy evolved, Nial entered the Monster Dimension.

    The situation in the Monster Dimension was not too dangerous for him. In fact, Nial didn''t have any problems in the Monster Dimension.

    While others had to fight with their lives on the line just to survive in the Monster Dimension, Nial could just walk through it without worrying at all.

    Monsters approached him but they didn''t even consider attacking him. On the contrary, they wanted him to pick them as his next Familiar.

    Even the most powerful monsters felt that binding to Nial''s Soul Space was beneficial to them. Thus, they approached him, only to get rejected.

    Why would anyone reject a powerful monster thought? This question could be answered easily.

    Nial''s body couldn''t endure the Soul Share of a mythical creature. His body would be torn apart the moment the mythical creature''s Soul Share would grow too much.

    Furthermore, he was already bound to a soon-to-be mythical creature. His bond with Goldy was also quite powerful. That meant he might receive a fully empowered Soul Share in the future.

    His strength would be enhanced with 100% of Goldy''sbat prowess by then.

    No matter how hard Nial thought, he could tell that his vessel, his body, mind, and soul, wouldn''t be able to endure the toll of being bound to multiple mythical creatures with high Soul Share.

    Of course, this didn''t mean that Nial gave up on making a powerful monster his familiar. There was more than one type of Familiar, enhancing certain parts of the vessel differently.

    This fact was something Nial made use of. He searched for a monster with exceptional potential using his potential hue sight,bined with his vast monster knowledge of all types.

    He wanted to have a familiar that enhanced his Eye Power. After all, he noticed that the raw prowess of the Silver Eyes was not omnipotent.

    Nial had realized that the Silver Eyes without the n''s Secret techniques weren''t too powerful.

    Of course, they weren''t useless, but Nial found a bunch of ws and dys in the raw prowess of the Silver Eyes after he began to master the Secret Techniques.

    Of course, only those with both Silver Eyes and perfect mastery of the Silver Eye n''s Secret Techniques could tell what Nial found out not too long ago.

    But whether this would be useful in the future was something different.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    After all, Nial couldn''t tell if it was actually something he may have to abuse in the reality that rejected him.

    Or was he rejecting reality?

    This was something he began to ask himself since the voices began to sh through his mind every now and then.

    He was still unsure what exactly the voices meant, or what he was supposed to do about them. The only thing he knew was that he had to prepare himself for the worst.

    Understanding this, time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. He spent the following years inside the Monster Dimension searching for his second familiar.

    At the same time, he cultivated passively, easily reaching the Deux rank. However, that was not all.

    He found a perfect second Familiar.

    It was a mouse, weighing less than 100 grams. Even a child''s first was bigger than the mouse.

    It didn''t possess anybat power either.

    Most people wouldn''t think that the mouse was a monster in the first ce. It didn''t possess any mana, or so it seemed.

    Only someone like Nial would be able to tell that the mouse had a tiny, seemingly invisible trace of mana inside its body.

    It has yet to awaken its Origin either.

    Thus, nobody would take the risk of taking such a monster as familiar. It was simply not worth it.

    Of course, Nial had a good reason to pick the mouse as his Second Familiar.

    Its potential was almost as great as Goldy''s. That meant the mouse''s potential was even higher than most mythical creatures!

    But that was only the second reason why he wanted to bind the mouse to his Soul Space.

    The most important reason was the mouse''s unique condition.

    It was blind.

    Just like Nial.

    "You remind me of myself,e here, little partner!"

    That was what he said.

    The Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyrean Void, the young man whose eyes were the most unique and strongest in the entirety of the Monster Dimension and Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    This kind of person thought that the Blind Mouse was simr to him, reminding Nial of himself.

    Others would never be able to understand his sentiment. As a matter of fact, even Nial had issues understanding why he felt that the Blind Mouse was simr to him.

    But it was a fact. The Blind Mouse made him feel weirdly familiar

    Thus, he bound it to himself, helped it awaken its Origin, and trained it

    Psy was the name Nial gave the Blind Mouse. As for the meaning behind the name, it was something his enemies would find out sooner orter.

 Chapter 712 The Withering Flower

    Years passed in the blink of an eye.

    Nial had long since returned from his second trip to the Monster Dimension, and he had made his way back to the royal pce as well

    It felt a little bit weird to return to the royal pce at that time because he was not ustomed to the attention everyone paid him.

    Everyone tried to please him, which ought to be great.

    However, it made feel Nial Lacardia as if he was suffocating.

    He had been doubting himself and his life in the Lacardia Empyrean Void, just to get thrown into the masses of attention when he wanted to be alone the most.

    News of his First Familiar''s evolution had already spread, and so had the information that Goldy was likely to evolve into a True Dragon.

    The Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon was currently longer than 100 meters and Goldy had be strong enough to deal with most Summoners'' familiars.

    There weren''t many Summoners with a stronger Familiar than Goldy.

    If there are stronger Familiars, there would only be a few. These Familiars would mostly belong to families and ns rted, or close to the Royal Family.

    With that understanding, Ayase asked Nial to grow stronger and turn into the strongest Emperor of the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    Nial wished that he could repay Ayase''s favor by doing so but he was reluctant to say anything.

    He was not sure if he would stay in the Lacardia Empyrean Realm, after all.

    Time passed once again, seems like a snippet of time had been removed from Nial''s mind.

    The next thing he remembered after his talk with Ayase was quite confusing.

    Goldy had grown up and it evolved, turning into a full-fledged True Golden Dragon.

    Nial was not sure which resources Goldy had received to evolve but he was certain that they had to be worth a fortune.

    Either way, Goldy levitated behind him as he ascended the throne in the royal hall.

    He was being crowned? How much time had passed without him realizing it?

    Five years? Ten? Dozens? A century?

    Nial was not sure, but he knew that he was currently on the verge of finishing his Godly Foundation.

    He was already at the Trixar rank and the strongest existence in the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    ''Just like that? ¡­ I had so many things to do, but I''m already at the Trixar rank, all of a sudden?''

    It was almost like Nial entered a bad movie, and the protagonist became a powerhouse all of a sudden.

    A nonsensical time skip happened, just like that.

    The crowning ceremony didn''tst long. After spending what felt like ten the ceremony was already over and it waste at night.

    He was in his room, dozing off and trying to understand what had just happened.

    ''Five decades passed in the blink of an eye, and nobody thinks that it''s weird? Is that what they call the memory loss of powerful Cultivators? In exchange for the best possible cultivation talent their lifespan will be reduced¡­no it''s more like a skip of time¡­but I''d that really it?'' Nial wondered.

    He didn''t really remember when he fell asleep but the women''s voices - telling him to wake up - reappeared in his mind.

    ''I shouldn''t be asleep right now¡­right?''

    Nial stared at the mirror, watching his mature face and body before he sighed deeply as another question surfaced on his mind.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''And if I''m asleep¡­since when?''

    Just as he asked he spoke in his mind, questioning himself, the past, and even the present, a golden thread began to manifest from the center of his room.

    He was still in the royal pce, watching himself in the mirror.

    Something had changed.

    The luster in his eyes was no more.

    His golden and silver heterochromia eyes lost their color.

    His once-powerful eyes had been reced by milky-white, lifeless eyes that stared unfocused into the mirror.

    However, Nial was not really shocked by the sudden change. It was actually much morefortable.

    "Once I lose my sight, everything will go back to how it is supposed to be¡­"

    Nial could feel the power of the Royal Family''s Ancient Heirloom fluctuate wildly as Nial said these words. It was almost as if the Ancient Heirloom agreed with his statement, and that it praised him for finally opening his eyes to the truth.

    Rather than considering it as opening his eyes, one could say that he finally closed his eyes, dispersing the illusion one and for all.

    Darkness oozed out of Nial''s body as the Ancient Heirloom of the Royal Family unleashed its dormant powers.

    For thest thousands of years, the lower of the Ancient Heirloom had never been fully unlocked.

    Yet, the young Emperor, Nial Lacardia, was able to do so even if he didn''t intend to tap into its power.

    At that moment, the Ancient Heirloom began to buzz, and the golden flower inside his Cursed Divinity, on the other side, began to lose its luster.

    It was withering.

    Meanwhile, the woman by his side smiles bitterly.

    The woman was Celine, Nial''s former personal maid, his current wife, the woman who had obliterated anyone who intended to harm Nial in thest few decades.

    She was not as powerful as Nial but her scheming and strategic mind allowed her to ovee this hurdle easily.

    Tens of thousands had been killed by her hands and she didn''t regret it even once.

    However, what she regretted was one thing.

    She regretted that she had never been able to rece the three women that had been in his mind.

    Even after she picked out the traits he liked most about these three women, Nial never evenpared her to them.

    He loved Celine, but that was not because he saw the Oracle, Hana, and Princess Evalyne in her.

    It was different.

    He learned to love Celine, yet, he knew that he could never really be with her, not forever.

    Somehow, he knew.

    That all of this was just a Witness State.

    He was just a Witness of what could have been his future if not for the Advocate of the Pryards.

    He knew¡­no, his memory resurface¡­all of them.

 Chapter 713 Time To Go Home

    As the flood of memories reached him, Nial felt extremely weird.

    A sense of loss filled his heart. However, this loss didn''t really feel bad.

    On the contrary, it felt great

    It was as if things were supposed to be like this.

    Only now did he realize how grave losing his memories had been.

    He was actually Nial Orin, not Nial Lacardia.

    Well¡­.

    To be precise, he was Nial Lacardia the day he was born. However, one year after he was born the Advocate of the Pryard arrived.

    Rather than being able to live a peaceful life in the Lacardia Empyrean Void, the Creatoran had been annihted, and his Eyes had been taken.

    The ovepping memories he recalled from the events of his first birthday were confusing.

    Before, he never knew what exactly happened in his childhood. His memories had been jumbled and he only knew that he had been raced by the Orin family on Jundra.

    This had changed now that he recalled the memories of his life as Nial Orin and the first year of his life in the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    He knew what had happened in the past and he realized that his current life in the Lacardia Empyrean Void was nothing but an illusion.

    Everything began to make sense, which only intensified when he recalled thest memories before he fell into eternal slumber.

    ''I devoured the Divine God''s corpse and began to feel tired shortly after that. Is there a w in my Cursed Divinity? Did I connect something wrongly? No¡­that shouldn''t be it¡­''

    Nial was deep in thought while nkly looking into the mirror. His eyes were milky-white and lifeless, and he was slowly losing his eyesight once again.

    This was to be expected, but it also reminded him about the Advocate of the Pryard. The Advocate of the Pryard took away his lovely family, annihted the Creatoran, and destroyed the entire Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    Nial was the only one who survived this massacre. The reason was pretty simple.

    His Eyes had beenpatible with the eyes of the Advocate before getting cursed by the God of Darkness.

    Damian cursed the eyes of the Advocate, removing the Advocate''s Eyesight, decreasing most of hisbat prowess.

    The Advocate of the Pryard took an eternity finding someone like Nial, someone withpatible eyes. He removed Nial''s eyes and reced them with the Eyes that had been Cursed by the God of Darkness.

    Afterward, the Advocate of the Pryard wanted to eliminate Nial, however, the Ancient Heirloom of the royal family intervened.

    The Ancient Heirloom of the Larcardia Empyrean Void couldn''t be considered normal by any means. Whether it was a coincidence or something that had been nned over the course of thousands of years, the Ancient Heirloom was something Nial was overly familiar with.

    It was a God''s Fragment¡­and not any God''s Fragment at that.

    The Ancient Heirloom was the Godly Fragment of the Darkness God, sealed in the Lacardia Empyrean Void by Damian himself.

    After Damian had been targeted by all Divine and Cursed Gods of the vast Universe and pushed into the corner like a wild beast, he sacrificed his life for a better future.

    Damian, the God of Darkness, the most hated man in the known Universe, and the man misunderstood the most, sacrificed his life hoping that there would be someone he could entrust his powers and teaching.

    This someone turned out to be Nial, who was fated to be born in the Lacardia Empyrean Void''s royal family. It had to be fate as it would have never been possible for Damian''s Godly Fragment to sense an existence such as Nial if not for him being born and raised in the royal pce, right above the Forbidden Underground Hall of the Darkness God''s Godly Fragment.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Being in hibernation for eons, the Godly Fragments of the Late God of Darkness were gradually growing weaker. Thus, the only drastic action the Godly Fragment could do upon realizing that the first, and presumablyst,patible Individual of Darkness would die was to use the remaining energy to teleport him to a different ce.

    This used up the Godly Fragment''sst bits of power, but it saved his life as well.

    He was teleported to the City of Trials since it was the only ce the Advocate of Pryard couldn''t reach.

    Using the City of Trials'' inessibility, Nial was granted another one of Damian''s Godly Fragments, thest existing Godly Fragment of the Darkness God with remnants of his energy left.

    The inessibility of the City of Trials made it easier to teleport Nial to a ce where he could slowly grow and be stronger. Fusing the Odyssey Seed, Damian''s Godly Fragment, into Nial''s body was not easy nheless.

    No matter how high thepatibility between the Godly Fragment and Nial had been, it was still not easy to fuse a Cursed Divinity to the body of a mortal vessel, a child that had been born merely a year ago.

    The fusion process required close to 18 years, and it could only be finished due to the sudden influx of Divine Energy that had been inserted into his body.

    The Divine Goddess, whom Nial met the first time in the dream he had every first day of the month, had allowed him to shorten the fusion process from half a century to measly 18 years. It created one of the biggest changes in his life and fate and it allowed him to be the person he was right now.

    He, Nial Orin, was the God of Gluttony, the Devourer of Gods, the direct descendant of the Lacardia Empyrean Void''s royal family, and presumably, thest living Creatoran, was ready to return to his journey and hunt down the Advocate of the Pryard.

    The Advocate might have trapped him in the illusion it had set up meticulously inside the bodies of the Gods, who had been living in the Domain of the Divine God of Truth, without anyone realizing that, but that didn''t mean Nial was done.

    No, it was not yet over.

    He was not yet done.

    Nial Orin was just getting started!!

    He took a deep breath and stretched his hand out.

    His fingers ought toe into contact with the mirror in front of him passed through the mirror''s ss as if it was liquefied.

    Nial''s sight continued to blur, darkness began to ooze out of his body and something new was forming in the center of his chest.

    The Heart of Gluttony was slowly forming as a ck grain-sized object with crimson vein-like lines emerged in his retracting hand.

    ''The Odyssey Seed¡­so that is where I got you¡­''

    Holding the Odyssey seed in his hand, Nial retracted it from within the mirror and he pushed it into his chest seemingly without a trace of hesitation.

    He was ready.

    "Let''s go home," Nial mumbled with a faint smile on his lips.

    However, upon looking at the crying Celine through his blurry eyes, Nial couldn''t help but sigh deeply.

    ''I wonder if she was a creation of the Advocate, or if she really existed in the Lacardia Empyrean Void.''

    ''I wonder how my life would have been if not for the Advocate of the Pryard¡­''

    Unfortunately, Nial would never be able to find out.

    After all, the future was not something that could be changed so easily.

 Chapter 714 Awoke

    ?

    In arge marble hall, the rough breathing of a young man echoed loudly against the polished stone fool.

    The hall was vast and open, with high ceilings and towering columns carved from gleaming white marble. The walls are adorned with intricate carvings and runic constetions, depicting beautiful scenery across the walls and the polished ground.

    Despite the grandeur of therge marble hall, there was an unmistakable sense of solemnity permeating the air. The room feels cold and empty, almost as if it had been abandoned for centuries. Weakly shining rays of sunlight shone through the tall windows that lined the walls, casting a pale light on the marble floors and columns.

    Observing the scenery in therge marble hall one couldn''t help but feel awestruck at the sheer scale of the space. The silence was oppressive, only broken by the clear sound of someone breathing roughly.

    The air felt heavy and still as if someone was restricting everyone, except that one being to breathe.

    Despite the emptiness of the room, one could sense a powerful presence permeating the whole marble hall. It was almost as if the very marble stones themselves were imbued with a sense of history, power, and the essence of darkness.

    If one was able to see the energies in therge marble hall, one would be able to imagine great figures from the past walking these halls, their footsteps silently hovering across the marble floor.

    The room seemed to demand respect as if it were a temple or shrine of a long-forgotten god.

    But all of this was owed to the person sleeping in the center of the huge hall.

    There was a single king-sized bed in the hall, and the presence radiating from it was terrifying.

    Over the course of a single year, the presence in therge marble hall had changed drastically. The presence radiating from the young man located in the center of the marble hall was not something anyone in the Orion Shelter could endure anymore.

    His presence had grown that strong.

    The power of the Divine God, the Ancient Gods, and the other Gods he devoured had been absorbed. Meanwhile, the excessive power of the wittering golden flower, which had caused the Witness State of what could have happened, was slowly spreading through his body, awakening the dormant power he had never awoken.

    His Racial Power awoke for the first time in reality, and it fused with his Cursed Divinity, enhancing it further.

    "...argh¡­"

    A groan escaped the lips of the young man lying in the king-sized bed.

    Surrounded by intricate dimly lit runes and runic constetions that adorned the ground, walls, and ceiling, every corner in therge hall lit up.

    Despite the increasing intensity of the light in therge marble hall, shadows were cast on the center of therge hall. A cocoon of darkness spread out from the center of the room, encasing the king-sized bed.

    The heavy breathing of the young man in the bed grew relentless and one could see the young God throwing himself around.

    Only the young God was present in the room as his dried lips parted.

    "Soul Space¡­Heart of Gluttony, Sea of Darkness, the Devil Army¡­my Sister¡­Celine¡­"

    Seemingly disconnected words escaped his lips, while two tears escaped the corner of his closed eyes.

    Emotions shed in his mind and they influenced his entire being.

    His body jerked severely as the emotions inside him reached their peak.

    Not long after, his milky-white, lifeless eyes shot open.

    It appears that he was still in a deep, seemingly eternal sleep, his chest rising and falling slowly, yet heavily, but his lifeless eyes were wide open, tears ceaselessly trickling down his cheeks like a river.

    "It was really just a dream¡­no, it was more than just a mere dream. It was even stronger than an ordinary illusion. Just what did the Advocate do to me¡­"

    Anger red through his being just thinking about the Witness state. The Witness State could bepared to an illusion of what could have happened ''if'' a certain event didn''t happen. It was a great way to escape situations one didn''t want to acknowledge. However, Nial never tried to avoid his past.

    He never even knew anything about his past as the Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyrean Void in the first ce.

    Only now that he experienced the Witness State did he realize what he lost through the actions of the Advocate of the Pryard.

    Was that what the Advocate wanted?

    Probably not.

    The Advocate should have nted someone in the Witness state to keep him at stake, to either kill him, or to make him stay there forever.

    Celine?

    Nial could only think that Celine was the hidden trump card of the Advocate. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He was not sure if Celine was real, or if she was just an illusion created by the Advocate, but he felt a sense of loss spreading through his heart.

    It hurt painfully.

    Nial never felt anything like that.

    Even if time had passed rapidly without him realizing it, the emotions and feelings he had were not an illusion.

    He loved the Lacardia Empyrean Void. He loved his parents.

    He loved Celine.

    The darkness cocoon shook violently and the bright light of the runic constetions intensified.

    Tremors spread through the entirerge marble hall as Nial Orin began to move from therge bed.

    He had slept long enough.

    It was a dream, a nice one.

    Or was it a nightmare?

    Actually, Nial was not too sure about his.

    If the dream had been a reality, it would have been perfect. However, that was not the case.

    He woke up from a state where he considered everything perfect.

    How could he be unaffected?

    Would he be alright in the future?

    Nial was not sure.

    In fact, he was pretty sure that he wouldn''t be okay.

    Nial could feel that only one year had passed in reality, but he spent a whole century in the Lacardia Empyrean Void, with people that had long ceased to exist in reality¡­his own family¡­

    None of them was alive anymore. How could he be unaffected?

    The more he thought about that, the bigger his loss felt. He couldn''t do anything about it.

    Changing the past was not possible.

    Nial wished that he could do something about the death of his family and friends but that was not possible.

    The Lacardia Empyrean Void realm had been shattered and it ceased to exist in the annals of history.

    Only those who had once been in the Lacardia Empyrean Void realm could still remember it.

    Not many people had been in the Lacardia Empyrean Void in their lifetime, and those who had were either dead, killed by the Advocate, or they couldn''t care less about such a small realm.

    There had hardly been any Gods in the Lacardia Empyrean Void. It was not a ce of interest to most higher existences.

    Of course, they were interested in the Monster Dimension but they could get ess to it through different means.

    The Monster Dimension ought to be a ce exclusive to the Creatoran race, however, this changed gradually with some effort and underhand means.

    But that was not something Nial had to be worried about.

    The Monster Dimension was the least of his concerns even though he could enter it.

    He was being pulled to the Monster Dimension because there were things waiting for him, beings who didn''t even know about his existence.

    But even if they were waiting for him, Nial had to take care of something else first.

 Chapter 715 War

    ?

    Explosions rang through the entire teau as one missile after another was released.

    They detonated on the semi-transparent dome that surrounded the Orion Shelter and caused the walls to shake terrifyingly.

    "The Angels areing from the north!" A young man shouted in fear, only to shut his mouth as he saw something more terrifying than the tens of thousands of Angels flying across the smoke-filled battlefield.

    "They''re led by¡­ten Saintly Archangels¡­"

    "Don''t be such a scaredy cat, brother! At least, the Primordial Angel did not appear yet," A middle-aged man smiled bitterly as he mumbled under his breath.

    He patted the young man''s shoulder, just to look behind to the center of the Orion Shelter.

    ''They really won''t help, will they?''

    A sigh escaped the middle-aged man''s lips while his eyes were focused on a ck mass that levitated above the city center.

    The Devils were stored in the ck mass, unmoving.

    Were they even bothered about the Orion Shelter''s condition?

    The Ancient Dome was already severely damaged from the impact of thousands of missiles, and even the shelter walls that had yet to receive the onught of missiles and elemental attacks showed signs of damage.

    "The Assassin Unit of the Heligav race has been detected in the south. They''re quickly approaching!" Someone cried out.

    "Fuck."

    *Boom*

    While the feelings of the defenders were clearly visible in their eyes, showing desperation, frustration, and distinct fear, a loud explosion rang out from within the Orion Shelter.

    A huge Spider-Cannon, a modified version of the moving cannon Nial had created in the past, crawled on top of the wall tower, releasing onerge-scale attack after another.

    The huge Spider-Cannon used Forbidden Broken Tier-3 Runic Missiles as ammunition, obliterating the once-beautifulndscape around the Orion Shelter.

    The teau''s appearance had changed entirely. Not a single grass de was in its original spot. Everything was covered in blood, body parts, and intestines.

    Even well-seasoned warriors and the oldest cultivators couldn''t hide their shock at the sight of the scenery around them. It was truly horrifying.

    "To think that they were able to hold out for a year. It looks like the God of Darkness'' sessor was notzy. These defensive mechanisms shouldn''t have been easy to create," A woman said, her six pairs of wings fluttering in the air.

    She was an Angel with a majestic figure, bearing a countenance of supreme authority. Her features were wless, with a perfect symmetry that exuded a natural aura of beauty and grace. Her body was magnificently proportioned with long thighs, an hourss-shaped figure, and well-shaped assets.

    She was a Primordial Angel, the first of her kind, and the Empress of the Angel race.

    Her movements in the air were silent and subtle, barely noticeable to those around her.

    The six pairs of wings that jut out of her back were regal and luminous, spanning majestically across the sky with a shimmering radiance that emanates a sense of purity and divinity.

    Her feathers were white as snow with a subtle gold tint that shimmered in the bright afternoon sunlight.

    Finally, her expression made it seem as if she was the perfection of inner peace and serenity, the incarnation of holiness.

    Combining her countenance, her heavenly figure, and the holiness the Primordial Angel radiated naturally, most beings could only look at her in awe and reverence.

    However, her eyes were cold, colder than the evesting cier in the Nak System.

    Looking at the state of her army, she felt bitter. A frown spread across her once-calm face.

    Afterbining her forces with several other races in order to minimize the casualties in her own ranks, the battle for the Orion Shelter should have ended quickly.

    That was what everyone had believed firmly. It was the only logical result that followed the massive numerical advantage they had.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The number of veterans, and high-ranked cultivators fighting on the side of the attackers were in the hundreds of millions. Meanwhile, the Orion Shelter didn''t seem to have too many powerhouses on their sides.

    After all, neither Nial nor the Devils protected the Orion Shelter.

    It was almost as if they abandoned the shelter after working tirelessly on the Orion Shelter for years.

    But rather than ending in the following days, the siege continued.

    Almost a year had passed since they started their siege, but they had yet to break through the barriers of the Ancient Dome.

    ''If I could only use my full power, everything would already be over.''

    Shaking her head, the Primordial Angel could only continue and watch.

    Being on Jundra, the Origin of the Universe, restricted her strength drastically. In fact, she was not the only one.

    No Ancient God was able to unleash their full strength for now.

    The Origin had yet to regain its full power. Until then, nobody would be able to escape thews of the Origin. After all, the Origin was considered one of the most important mainponents in the Universe.

    Not even Spectran, members of a Primordial race, were able to escape thews of the Universe. They could only bend them to a certain extent. What happened after was nothing but a big gamble.

    Time passed slowly on the battlefield.

    Everyone was exhausted after fighting for a year. However, the defenders had it the worst.

    Their ammunition and food reserves wouldn''tst long anymore, and the morale of the citizens and defenders was at its worst.

    And the ''cause'' for this mess¡­.where was he?

    Nial, the proimed cause of the war, was still asleep. He disappeared more than a year ago, only to be never seen again.

    His Devils were still present, but they didn''t move anymore. They retreated to therge mass of darkness levitating in the shelter''s center not doing anything.

    "We have only five Forbidden Missiles left¡­is that how it is?"

    The calm voice of a woman rang through the surroundings. She looked across the battlefield with a sad expression while caressing the head of the gigantic Greater Forest Dragon next to her. The Greater Forest Dragon hadn''t left her side since Nial fell asleep. His reasoning? Nobody really understood.

    It was quite obvious that the Greater Forest Dragon never really liked Nial, yet, the moment he fell asleep, something had changed in the countenance and attitude of the Greater Forest Dragon.

    Royal Princess Evalyne noticed that the most. After all, the Greater Forest Dragon stayed by her side all this while.

    The Royal Princess of all Elven races knew that she couldn''t leave this ce anymore. Her connection with the God of Darkness'' sessor had already been discovered and she could only protect her race by staying here, even if that meant she had to sacrifice herself.

    At first, she was afraid. Did she make a mistake by trusting Nial?

    Did she push her race into hell by bing friends with Nial, by learning how to trust and rely on him?

    However, she quickly realized that it was not like this.

    Nial might be a difficult person but he didn''t deserve the way he was treated.

    Maybe.

    Just maybe¡­not even Damian deserved to be treated like that.

    Didn''t he just want to protect the Universe?

    Was it really fair to treat a hero like a viin, and to worship the true viins?

 Chapter 716 Ancient Dome

    ?

    The Dome will break tonight.

    Everyone had heard about it, but nobody really wanted to ept the bitter truth.

    The Ancient Dome''s destruction would result in the obliteration of the entire Orion Shelter. That was something everyone could tell clearly.

    After all, the number of defenders had decreased drastically. Millions of citizens were still entrapped inside the Orion Shelter because they were pursued and had nowhere else to go.

    However, there were also tens of thousand of Draco, a few hundred high-ranked Elves, and the vast majority of the Origin Human race''s poption.

    The remaining Origin Human shelters had been bulldozed and their poption had hit an all-time low.

    None of that was Nial''s fault since the Origin was too precious for all races. They would never allow someone weaker to use the precious resources of the Origin.

    Greed.

    That was the biggest reason for the current state of the Origin Humans.

    But there was also fear.

    Many races feared the unknown future. They didn''t know what would happen if Nial was to reappear while being able to control millions of powerful Devils, and the Gigaloran Gxies.

    The fear of the unknown was too strong, and too terrifying to ignore just like that.

    Nobody wanted to be obliterated without a way to fight back.

    So what if they fought back even before something happened, in the first ce?

    What if they obliterated the Orion Shelter and the Origin Humans before they could initiate an attack, in the first ce?

    Wouldn''t that solve all problems?

    Thus, close to a dozen races sent seasoned veterans to the battlefield with the intention to obliterate the Orion Shelter and destroy the God of Darkness'' sessor if possible.

    Everyone''s strength was restricted on the Origin.

    While that might prevent the strongest lifeforms from destroying the Orion Shelter with a snap of their fingers, it also prevented Nial and his Devils from unleashing their full power.

    The restrictions put on everyone in the Origin were both a curse and a blessing. As long as utilized properly, the restrictions could turn into the best possible situation either side could face.

    However, over the course of thest 12 months, no side has been able to make use of this advantage.

    After all, the Ancient Dome had been standing strong, separating the main forces of both sides.

    But that would change soon.

    Thest few Origin Crystals had been used up and the number of missiles detonating on the Ancient Dome increased in number. The semi-transparent dome showed signs of weakening, and it was only a matter of time before the real battle would begin.

    Could it even be considered a battle if one side was at a horrifying disadvantage? Not really.

    A dozen races with each of them sending millions of warriors inside the Orion Shelter. How was anyone supposed to survive an onught from all sides while being outnumbered more than ten to one?

    "Are we going to stay here?" Sabrina asked at this moment.

    Her eyes were filled with worry, but her words were eerily calm. She didn''t seem to be afraid.

    It was just painful to see their hard work crumbling in front of them.

    "We can take Nial with us and use the teleportation circle. But we cannot go to Yggdrasil. They would find us immediately and send Ancient Gods after my race, and us," Royal Princess Evalyne pointed out, a heavy expression cast on her face.

    "Fighting head-on seems impossible. They might not be too strong, but we don''t have enough ammunition and Origin Crystals to keep bombarding them with the Forbidden Missiles. This tactic worked well for thest year, but now we don''t have any ammunition, forget about Origin Crystals in stock," Miles added as well.

    He was holding a report in his hand and frowned deeply. Even though he was worried about his son''s state, it was not as if he could cast aside everything else to tend to Nial. Rather than worrying about his son''s well-being, Miles felt that he could help him best by protecting the Orion Shelter.

    Nial paid a heavy price to construct the Orion Shelter, and to gain the trust of his citizens. Unfortunately, all of that trust and hard work had been destroyed.

    ''I really want to hate Damian¡­but it''s not really his fault. Is it really that bad to be strong?''

    With strengthe responsibilities.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    So what?

    Nial used his strength to take responsibility for his own race and even other races that had been suppressed.

    And what did he receive in exchange?

    Nial was frowned upon, looked at in envy, and now he was even attacked.

    The dozen races that attacked him were merely the start as well.

    Miles knew that each of the dozen races had a shelter in the adjacent regions. Some were rather closely located to the Orion Shelter while others were located a little bit farther. Nheless, none of the races seemed to have a reason to initiate an all-out war against Nial.

    At best, the Angels had reason to attack Sabrina and Mathias. They had a vendetta that had yet to be taken care of. Nial killed Be Morningstar as well.

    But the other races? The reason they initiated an all-out war against the Orion Shelter was fear, envy, and greed.

    Fear because they were afraid of what may happen to them if they would leave Nial and his shelter alone.

    Envy because Nial made something possible they couldn''t. He was powerful, reigned his race and he became one of the youngest Gods in the Universe''s annals.

    And then there was Greed, the worst of all emotions.

    The perpetrators wanted to destroy Nial to gain resources, a reputation, and more connections to stronger races.

    Which race would dare something against them if they were known for having protected the entire Universe?

    That was the threat Nial posed. He was a Universe-destroying threat.

    The reason? He was Damian''s sessor.

    That was it.

    Miles grit his teeth at the thought of his son''s responsibilities, the suffering he was probably going through, and the desperate future that awaited him.

    "Let''s leave the shelter¡­we can always rebuild it," He finally said, weak and full of resentment.

    Just why was he so weak?

    Miles couldn''t even protect his son, and now they were about to lose anything Nial fought for.

    "I don''t think you need to worry about this, father," The Oracle said all of a sudden.

    Her head flicked to the center of the Orion Shelter and a faint, knowing smile formed on her lips.

    "...Father? I don''t think Nial epted you!" Hana blurted out at this moment, only to shut her mouth tightly when her gaze followed the Oracle''s.

    "They''re moving¡­"

    While Hana mumbled in shock, Mathias shouted out loudly.

    "The Dome is cracking!"

    The day finally came.

    Cracks spread through the Ancient Dome as thest remnants of mana inside it were being used up.

    The cracks expanded and it was only a matter of time before they covered the entire semi-transparent dome.

    A dazzling beam shot through the teau at this moment, impacting and destroying the dome one and for all.

    Cheers of millions of attackers rang through the teau.

    However, ripples of darkness began to spread out from the center of the shelter, at the same time.

    The fight was just about to begin.

 Chapter 717 Darkness

    ?

    The darkness levitating in the center of the Orion Shelter rumbled.

    Ripples formed on its surface and ck silhouettes emerged from within. Expanding slowly, the darkness moved, seemingly as if it was alive.

    The ck silhouettes pushed against the surface of the levitating darkness, attempting to escape the imprisonment of the abyss.

    "Is it finally time?"

    A hollow voice rang from within the darkness.

    "To think that our second master was foolish enough to fall prey to the same existence as first master. It is about time that we take charge of their misery," Another silhouette said.

    "Take charge? We were always too weak to support first master, and now you want to take charge? Just shut up and follow second master''s will!"

    The third voice that rang throughout the center of the Orion Shelter was not hollow. It was a very familiar voice to those around Nial.

    A humanoid being, enmantled in darkness, emerged from the levitating mass of darkness. It had long ws and eyes that shone bright ruby in the afternoon sunlight.

    The being was a Devil, emanting dark energy and condensed killing intent toward those who were daring enough to challenge their second master.

    "Calm down, Kaeldur. I was just joking," The second voice said hurriedly, "Furthermore, I don''t get why you''re so agitated. Isn''t it great that we''re finally able to fight again, side by side?"

    Another being, looking just like the humanoid Devil, emerged from the mass of darkness. The Devil''s ws reached out to the head of the other Devil which it grasped tightly. Kaeldur clenched his w with tremendous force, strong enough to hear the sound of breaking bones all over the shelter''s center.

    "Wow Wow Wow¡­calm down! I didn''t even do anything, so calm your horns, brother!" The Devil blurted out in between two breaths.

    He looked just like Kaeldur, but that seemed to be only more reason to tighten his grip around the Devil''s head.

    "Shut up, and heed master''s will."

    "..."

    ''He changed¡­" Kaeldur''s brother thought, watching Kaeldur as his head was finally freed.

    ''...what did second master do to gain brother''s trust? Didn''t we say that we would keep low and watch the second master once chosen? This doesn''t look like staying low¡­''

    Kaledur began to rile up all hibernating Devils the moment Nial awoke them. Even when Nial fell into eternal slumber, Kaledur continued to control the Army of Devils.

    This had been far from easy, but that was not a problem for Kaeldur. He didn''t shy away from trouble as long as his actions could improve Nial''s situation, no matter how little.

    Nial''s situation was far from good over the course of thest year. There had been several times in which Nial''s Cursed Divinity malfunctioned. The dark energy inside him had disappeared a few times as well.

    No matter how one looked at this, it was not normal.

    It was far from normal, and something nobody had ever encountered before.

    Nial had been alive, but his body had entered a state in which it was questionable whether he wasatose or on the verge of dying.

    Some Devils wanted to abandon Nial when he lost his powers. They were loyal to the Late God of Darkness, the God who saved and protected them when they were at their lowest. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Following Nial was something they had to do. After all, they were bound to the Godly Fragment of the Late God of Darkness.

    Most thought that repaying their gratitude toward the God of Darkness was different from following Nail to death.

    Despite that, they followed the will of Darkness, thus, staying loyal to both Nial Orin and the Late God of Darkness.

    "Warriors of the Darkness, ughterer of Heavens, and Devout Followers of the one and only wielder of darkness. Spread your darkness, devour your enemies."

    "Arise, and fight until thest rays of light have been devoured by the evesting eclipse!"

    Kaeldur''s imposing voice resounded through the entire shelter.

    Nial had yet to regain full control of his consciousness, but his will had already reached his Army of Devils instantaneously.

    Ripples spread through the levitating mass of darkness as it expanded in all directions rapidly, consuming light, life, and death equally.

    Simultaneously, the dozen races attacking the Orion Shelter went into formation, ready to raise the area to the ground.

    They attacked from all directions, bulldozing the walls and damaging the constructions in the outskirts even before the defenders could react.

    Not even a minute passed before the kill-count increased to more than ten thousand, and the numbers were bound to increase exponentially.

    Countless citizens were victims of astray elemental attacks, and various abilities affected them as well. Their endangered life in the Orion Shelter turned into pandemonium.

    Meanwhile, Nial was still not fully awake.

    Thousands of Angels and members of other races charged inside the shelter. Their attacks were merciless and their killing blows lethal.

    It was obvious that the perpetrators were not willing to leave behind any kind of evidence.

    While screams, blood, and corpses filled the outskirts, darkness had spread across the ground of the teau. All light was devoured, creating a domain of darkness, a ce where no light and hope resided.

    In a matter of seconds, the corpses littering the ground disappeared without anyone noticing.

    The expanding darkness distracted everyone presents too much. It forced everyone to look at it as long as the light luster of bountiful colors created through the destruction of the Ancient Dome was still present.

    The ground was flooded with darkness and the air was sprinkled in a jumbled mess of vibrant colors, creating a vast contrasting scenery across the crumbling shelter.

    "When the darkness shes the light luster, chaos will descend. Wicked powers will rise, and righteousness will die. What seems to be real turns out to be trickery. When right and wrong sh only gray will remain," The Oracle mumbled, a ssy hue shrouding her eyes.

    Everyone looked at her, unable toprehend the meaning behind her words.

    However, somehow, staring at the scenery around them, they felt as if they had to understand what was about to happen.

    Of course, that didn''t mean they would like it¡­

    "He woke up."

 Chapter 718 Identity Crisis

    ?

    Whether it was Gods, Originals at the Trixor rank, or beings of a lower cultivation rank, all of them charged into the shelter with one goal in their mind.

    To kill Nial.

    Rumors about Nial had spread, saying that he fell ill after mercilessly murdering the Divine God of Truth.

    He was said to have expended his life force in a desperate attempt to kill a Divine God just after ascending godhood.

    But whether the rumors were true or not didn''t even matter. It only mattered that Nial hasn''t been seen around for a year and that his energy fluctuations had been discovered in the center of the Orion Shelter.

    His energy fluctuations didn''t move an inch over the course of a year, giving him enough reason to believe that Nial was truly ill.

    This arose lots of attention, enough for hundreds of millions of beings to attack the shelter.

    There was only a tiny issue.

    Nial''s energy fluctuations grew stronger, and they began to ripple in an attempt to move around.

    "What is going on there? Why is he suddenly moving?!"

    The Primordial Angel asked loudly while raising her wand high into the air. A bright white light emerged at the tip of the wand, encasing the Angels all over the teau.

    Their bodies began to glow brightly, dispersing the darkness that was about tosh out at them. Holy energy spread throughout the entire teau, restricting the abyss-like darkness that had spread across the teau''s surface.

    "The analysts have no idea either, your highness! Some presume that the Dark Sessor awoke as the aftermath of the Ancient Dome''s destruction. However, his energy is still weak!" The Archangel levitating next to the Primordial Angel reported, his head lowered in submission.

    He didn''t dare to look into the Primordial Angel''s eyes, forget about standing on the same level as his highness. She levitated above him and stared down at the Archangel.

    ''...useless.''

    She averted her gaze from the Archangel and diverted her focus once again. Her attention was pulled to the center of the shelter while continuing to release her reinforced holy energy.

    ''The Devils are on the move. He is definitely awake. Did she lie to me? This bitch really yed me, didn''t she? ''He will never wake up'' my ass!''

    Recalling the n she hade up with after discussing their future with the Divine Goddess, the Primordial Angel frowned deeply. She subconsciously clenched her fists tightly.

    "It''s toote now. Whatever," She mumbled, moving her wand once again before she gave out an order that rang throughout the entire teau,

    "Charge inside. Kill the Dark Sessor, by all means!"

    e¦Áglesn?¦Íel Once her words rang through the teau, the holy energy she released intensified. The luster of colors in the sky intensified as the holy energy encased the Angels and their allies.

    Hundreds of millions of Originals were shrouded in holy energy, dispersing the darkness that desired to devour everything.

    Their attack power increased and their fear of the abyss-like darkness dispersed into nothingness.

    ''I might have to pay a heavy price for this, but who cares? As long as this pest disappears the Divine Goddess will help me to advance. The Angels will regain their former glory, with me as their Queen!''

    As the Primordial Angel released her Divinity to its limit, ck silhouettes shot out of the darkness all over the teau.

    The Army of Devils emerged atst!

    At the same time, the energy fluctuations in the center of the shelter intensified.

    In a vast and open hall with a high ceiling and towering columns carved from gleaming white marble, a single bed was located. A young man sleeping in the cold room was writhing, tears of blood trickling down his cheeks.

    The walls adorned with intricate carving and runic constetions glowed vibrantly while darkness oozed out of the body of the young man.

    Small cobweb-like cracks spread across the entire hall with the increase of pressure radiating from the young man''s presence.

    His index finger began to move for the first time in a year and the heavy pressure in the hall increased in response. Darkness shot out of his finger embracing it like a lost lover''s touch.

    "...Agh¡­" <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    A groan escaped the lips of the young man as if he was in severe pain. His body, however, was unscathed.

    But even then the bloody tears didn''t cease, not even when he opened his milky-white, lifeless eyes.

    His eyes show open, staring unfocused at the marble ceiling.

    "...it was really a¡­dream?..." He mumbled, trying to digest what happened to him.

    His perception of the surrounding was as strong as ever, sensing everything around him in great detail.

    However, the details that entered his head caused him to be at a loss.

    ''I am not in the Lacardia Empyrean Void anymore? But it felt so alive. How can that be? Wasn''t I mistaken? Mom¡­Dad¡­even Aunt¡­wait¡­what about Celine?!''

    Nial''s lives in the Lacardia Empyrean Void and the Universe began to ovep and the happenings of thest century - in both lives - began to overwrite one another.

    What followed was throbbing pain. His head felt like bursting apart.

    "ARGHHHH!!"

    Nial''s upper body shot up from the bed as he screamed out loudly. His hands tightly grasped his head tightly while darkness shot out from every pore of his body.

    The hall trembled violently and it fell into ruins as the shockwave of darkness swept past it.

    Everything in his surroundings was destroyed mercilessly. Not even the skyscrapers constructed with the intention to endure full-blown attacks of Ancient Gods were durable enough to ovee the pressure and impact of his darkness.

    Fueled by the chaos of emotions that spread through his entire being, the darkness he released was violent and uncontroble. It destroyed the center of the Orion Shelter within seconds, demolishing everything the others tried to protect.

    Yet, none of the defenders looked at the unfolding scenery with pity or sadness. On the contrary, bright smiles and joy emerged from the deepest parts of their body.

    "...Finally!"

    The defenders were not afraid of the darkness that had spread across the entire teau, and they even weed the Army of Devils that surfaced from the darkness with loud cheers.

    They knew the meaning behind the Devil''s sudden actions, so how could they not be overjoyed?

    Nial had finally awoken, and he thirsted for blood!

    That was what everyone thought.

    Little did they know that Nial was currently not even sure about his own identity. That he couldn''t differentiate reality from illusion, and that he was clutching his heart in an attempt to understand what had just happened to him.

    In hisst moments within the Lacardia Empyrean Void Nial had regained his memories of the past.

    However, even then, he hadn''t been at a loss just like now.

    Having returned to reality, Nial feltpletely different from before.

    It was almost as if something was amiss as if his body was iplete even though he was in possession of memories from two timelines.

    Was that how it felt to be in an identity crisis?

    Who exactly was he?

    The Crown Prince of an Empire and the ruler of a realm with unique eye powers and exceptional talent, or a blind human who had been raised in a perfectly normal family, someone who was relentlessly working to give his beloved family and friends the best possible future?

    What was he? Human or Creatoran?

    Who was he? Nial Orin, or Nial Lacardia?

 Chapter 719 Filling The Emptiness

    ?

    Nial''s scream reverberated through the demolished center of the Orion Shelter.

    He was in pain. A throbbing, seemingly eversting pain that spread to every nook and cranny in his head.

    His scream was heard by everyone, causing chills to spread down the listeners'' spines.

    But even then, nobody came to his aid.

    It was not as if nobody wanted to help him, it was just that they couldn''t.

    Shockwaves of darkness swept through the center of the Orion Shelter one after another, destroying everything in its way.

    Even the Oracle and other Gods had been pushed back and even injured when the darkness shockwaves impacted.

    Nobody could tell what Nial was doing, or what happened to him.

    They just knew that he woke up, that the Army of Devils began to move, and that he began to scream all of a sudden.

    Nial was awake but he seemed to be in pain, horrifying pain.

    The golden flower inside his Cursed Divinity released its final burst of energy in a desperate attempt to survive.

    It was futile but the golden flower that had blossomed from the Seed of Illusion had yet to give up. The flower had already begun to wither, yet, it fought back knowing that it had only onest try to put Nial back to sleep.

    Once asleep, it could drain his power once again, regain its power and be able to turn Nial into its vessel. Reincarnation wouldn''t be wishful thinking anymore.

    Unfortunately, the golden flower still underestimated its opponent.

    When it first put Nial to sleep, he was unprepared. He didn''t know what awaited him and he was extremely tired from working relentlessly over the period of years.

    He had just ascended godhood and was too focused on digesting the corpses of the Divine God of Truth, Ancient Gods, and arge number of ordinary Gods that he didn''t realize that he had been baited and entrapped.

    Now that he had experienced the Witness State over the course of a century Nial was not as foolish as before. The only struggle he was going through was that he knew one of his lives had been a farce, something that had never existed in reality.

    Secretly he knew that his life in the Lacardia Empyrean Void never actually happened. Nial was fully aware of the bitter truth as all clues pointed out what actually happened.

    Even now, he was in the Orion Shelter on the Origin, seated on the mattress of his broken bed, not in the capital of the Lacardia Empyrean Void, seated on the throne as the rightful descendant of the royal family.

    He was blind as well, unable to see the mana flow and potential hue of monsters and other beings.

    Nial was currently not even in possession of a Soul Space, though his body seemed to be trying to do something, which made him feel a sense of familiarity.

    "Advocate¡­you fucking piece of shit¡­plead that I will never find you, or else you will wish to have never been born!!!" Nial cursed through his gritted teeth as blood tears continued to trickle down his cheeks.

    The throbbing pain in his head still bothered him but he was slowly getting used to it.

    But that didn''t mean he was fine with the ovepping memories and the trap the Advocate of Pryard had set up for him.

    He really wanted to kill the Advocate just now.

    Unfortunately, the Advocate of Pryard was not present right now, and Nial didn''t really know how he or she looked in the first ce.

    Furthermore, there was a huge battle going on in the Orion Shelter.

    His mana perception allowed him to perceive everything that happened on the teau and the surrounding regions.

    Thus, he could tell what was going on across the entire battlefield.

    His Army of Devils had emerged all over the teau. They split up and pounced on their opponents without care for their allies, or the numerical disadvantage they faced.

    They moved like starving beasts thirsting for blood and dug their ws and fangs into their opponents.

    Holy energy may protect the perpetrators from the darkness all over the teau but the dozen attacking races were still vulnerable to physical attacks.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Faced with the tremendous power of the Devils, the Originals, who had yet to ascend godhood, faced the most horrifying situation in their whole life.

    Overpowered in the blink of an eye, they witnessed thest brief moments of their lives all of a sudden.

    Even Gods had difficulties fighting the Devils whose strength was iparable to their opponents. How could Demi-Gods, forget about weaker beings, even imagine doing anything against the Devils?

    The Army of Devils had been tempered and strengthened over the course of eons, protected and refined by their first master, who had given them enough time to grow even stronger than they had already been a long time ago.

    The first Great War might have been a failure, but that didn''t mean the second one would end the same.

    Times had changed and so had the strength of the Devil Army.

    As he observed the situation across the battlefield, Nial''s Cursed Divinity began to itch.

    The Heart of Gluttony restricted the golden flower''s release of power and devoured every bit of energy the golden flower had released at once. In response, the golden flower died down slowly, creating empty space in the Heart of Gluttony.

    ''Why does this empty space make me feel like crying? Did I be that weak, to feel sad and frustrated about the loss of something that wanted to harm me?'' Nial wondered.

    He knew that the golden flower was harmful and that it pulled him into the Witness State with the intention of never releasing him. Nheless, he felt the sensation of being at a loss and missing something grow stronger. With the absence of the golden flower, it was almost as if the Witness State had been sealed.

    ''Will I forget everything? No¡­I can''t¡­I shouldn''t¡­I have to remember!''

    Even though the Witness State had been harmful to him, intending to kill him by pulling him to sleep until the end of time, Nial couldn''t actually hate it.

    He learned a lot in the Lacardia Empyrean Void, about himself, his actual origin, his family, his race, and the Monster Dimension.

    He knew that these memories were nothing but a scam since everyone he encountered in the Lacardia Empyrean Void was dead, killed by the Advocate of the Pryard¡­but that didn''t mean the memories were not valuable.

    ''I always wanted to know about my race, the Lacardia Empyrean Void, and my blood-rted family¡­I cannot forget them now that I got to know them¡­even if everything is fake and they''re dead, no matter how painful it is¡­I should never forget them. I just can''t¡­''

    Nial clenched his fist tightly and he began to smile sadly. He knew that everyone was dead and that he was probably thest living Creatoran. However, that was fine. He had friends and family around him, people he loved, people who loved him.

    No matter how painful it was, he would be fine.

    He couldn''t change the past but he could ept it, learn from his mistakes, and the mistakes of his people, and use everything at his disposal to protect his present and future!

    As Nial began to ept both of his lives equally, the sensation of emptiness inside the Heart of Gluttony slowly filled up.

    The energy devoured from the golden flower gathered around the emptiness. It filled the emptiness and formed something Nial was very familiar with.

    It was something he had experienced in one of his two lives, something that he had never expected to encounter in reality.

    ''I am forming my Soul Space?''

    He was at a loss.

    Nial may be a Creatoran but he had epted Damian''s power, his Godly Fragment, and many other powers.

    Was he actually still able to create his Soul Space, able to awaken his Bloodline''s special power?

    "I can think about all of thister¡­" He mumbled to himself while trying to sort out the chaos in his mind for a few seconds.

    He scratched the back of his head with a subtle smile as darkness shrouded him.

    ''Maybe, I can actuallybine both of my lives, be Nial Orin von Lacardia¡­''

    A momentter, he disappeared from the center of the Orion Shelter.

    "...but first, I have to kill these bothersome insects¡­'' and devour them all.

 Chapter 720 God Of Gluttony

    ?

    The Battle of the Orion Shelter changed drastically when the Army of Devils joined.

    Due to the restriction in strength on Jundra, not many Ancient Gods had joined the battle this time around. After all, it didn''t really matter whether there would be 1000 Ancient Gods with restricted strength or 1000 ordinary Gods with the same strength.

    That was what everyone believed to be the case. Unfortunately, there was a big difference inbat experience and mastery of the power of an ordinary God and Ancient Gods possessed.

    The Devils were old veterans, who had fought in the first Great War where they battled Divine Gods head-on. Inparison, the leaders of the dozen races were toys and greenhorns without actual foundation.

    Maybe some of them were talented and experienced inbat, but only a few had the capability to struggle against Infernal Devils, whosebat power was high enough to battle Primordials, Ancients, and Divine Gods.

    Because the perpetrators underestimated Nial and his Army of Devils grossly, it was only obvious that the tide of the battle changed the moment Nial awoke.

    Hundreds of thousands of Originals were killed in the first minute of the Devil Army''s appearance, and millions were bound to follow the example in the next minutes.

    Angels were ripped apart like paper, and Heligav were flung around like pebbles. Nobody seemed to have a chance against the Devils, not even with the reinforcement and support of the Primordial Angel''s Holy Power.

    The Devils wreaked havoc in the ranks of their opponents, while darkness shot out of the ground. The entire teau was covered in the darkness that shot into the sky.

    Everything in its way was shrouded and devoured without the ability to resist the tremendous force that infiltrated every nook and cranny of their enemies.

    Epassed by darkness, the corpses were swallowed whole.

    At the same time, something appeared high above the Orion Shelter.

    A huge bloody-red moon manifested out of nowhere. It hovered high above the darkness-shrouded being that had appeared a thousand meters above the Orion Shelter.

    The being''s dark energy was simr to the energy used by the Devils, yet, it was much more refined and stronger.

    Silver liquid-like currents revolved around the being raising its right hand. A suctioning force pulled the crimson moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon toward the being''s right hand, while the silver liquid currents spread across the reinforced dark energy.

    Pure Chaos, created from the Vengeance of Chaos, merged with the Crimson Moonlight of the Blood Eclipse Moon, reinforcing each other drastically.

    Crimson Chaos came into existence in the form of a helix with a crimson and a silver strand. It revolved around the darkness-shrouded being for a few seconds before it was infused into the reinforced dark energy that covered the being.

    The moment crimson chaos fused with reinforced dark energy, the presence around the being changed. The sound of a wildly pounding heart resounded and with every heartbeat, the tension in the perpetrators increased drastically.

    Not even the Primordial Angel could shrug off the presence of the unknown being. Her attention was pulled toward the unknown being and she flinched with every heartbeat that reached her.

    She swallowed her saliva and felt it increasingly more difficult to keep her Divinity fully unleashed. The hand holding the wand began to tremble and the constant influx of holy power spread across the battlefield wavered.

    Her mind turned unstable, and so did her release of holy power.

    ''What is going on?? Who the hell is that even?!?''<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Primordial Angel could instinctively tell that the unknown being was not a Devil. It was something else, someone else.

    However, it took her groggy mind a while to piece the clues together. Her eyes narrowed and she swallowed her saliva once again after the unknown being finished fusing the crimson chaos with his reinforced dark energy.

    The crimson chaos spread through the reinforced dark energy just like veins and they strengthened his dark energy and body drastically.

    But none of that seemed to mind the unknown being as a grimace of darkness formed on its face.

    It slowly opened its mouth and spoke for the first time.

    "Until now, I wasn''t able to greet my guests properly. I''ve slept a little bit long and left you by yourself. Looks like I have to apologize for being a bad host," The being said slowly and calmly, barely loud enough for everyone to hear.

    "But don''t worry. As an apology for being a bad host¡­I shall kill the lot of you without too much pain."

    "..."

    Nial''s voice was eerily calm. It was almost as if he didn''t feel any emotions and that he was incapable of conveying emotions because of that.

    "But I still need to punish you."

    He added, his voice feeling chilly and a little differentpared to a moment before.

    "Insects are not allowed to even think about touching mynd and my people. Yet, the lot of you actually dared to attack mynd and to kill. Seems like you guys were quite brave during my absence¡­or should I call it stupid?"

    Clearing his throat, the unknown being''s right hand flicked high into the air. The Blood Eclipse Moon began to shine brightly while darkness covered the sky.

    In an instant, the entire sky was covered fully in needles created from reinforced dark energy.

    "As punishment for your grave sins, I shall devour you, and use your own powers to obliterate everyone you learned to love!!"

    The darkness needles expanded in size. Crimson Chaos covered the darkness needles'' tips and they began to rotate wildly.

    Silence epassed the entire battlefield in an instant. The darkness shooting out of the ground had already devoured the dead and it was slowly encroaching on the remaining perpetrators, ready to pull them into the eternal abyss.

    "So just die knowing that your decision to attack me was the cause of your race''s end and the death of the people you love!"

    A momentter, millions of darkness needles hailed to the ground.

    And with that, the harvest of the God of Gluttony began.

 Chapter 721 Primordial Angel

    ?

    The battlefield was overflowing with chaos and desperation.

    The tension all over the battlefield increased and so did the fear coursing through the entire being of the perpetrators.

    Adrenaline permeated the air, mixing into the smoke dust and distant roars of explosions.

    Other than a bunch of residential buildings, everything else all over the teau had been destroyed, scarred with trenches, craters, debris, and the aftermath of elemental attacks.

    The sound of millions of darkness needles whizzing through the sky echoed across the battlefield, highlighted by the screams of the wounded and dying.

    As for Nial, he levitated high in the air above the center of the Orion Shelter, releasing one batch of darkness needles after another.

    He converted the energy acquired through his Cursed Divinity and his Cursed Divine ability, Devour, to make up for the high consumption of reinforced dark energy.

    By making use of the energy he acquired from devouring the bodies of the dead all over the battlefield, he would be thest tock the energy to continue fighting.

    His entire body was still shrouded in reinforced dark energy, which made it seem as if he was a Devil wearing ck armor.

    The crimson chaos circting through the armor pulsated wildly. It enhanced his control of the surrounding mana and the darkness all over the teau.

    This made it even easier to kill the perpetrators. After all, there weren''t even one million God-like existences on their side!

    It was easy to tell that the perpetrators never expected Nial and his Devil Army to return and join the battle, though Nial didn''t really understand why they would think like that.

    Whether they wanted to spare their strongest warriors or didn''t have more Gods at their disposal, Nial couldn''t know.

    However, what he knew for sure was one thing; his return changed the tide of the battle for good.

    His darkness spread across the ground coiled around his opponents like the tentacles of Cthulhu, restricting their movement and choking the weakest of them to death.

    Simultaneously, his darkness needles rained down like hellfire, reaping the lives of those who were not able to handle both the restrictions of the darkness from beneath and the hail from above.

    In a matter of sixty seconds, millions had been killed.

    Nial was not even sweating yet. Not a single droplet of sweat had poured down his back or temples since he joined the chaos on the battlefield.

    He devoured the corpses of the millions he had killed and used the tiny trace of digested energy to fully replenish his used-up energy to initiate a new attack.

    "Kill! Leave none of them alive!!" Nial Orin shouted at the top of his lungs, enhancing his vocal cords with reinforced dark energy.

    But that was not the only thing the God of Gluttony did. He had made use of his Dominion ability to influence the mind of his allies, removing their fear and desperation, and adding courage and an eerie calmness that was hard to find on the battlefield.

    ''I will remember all of you.''

    Nial thought in anger while scanning the entire battlefield once again.

    He knew each of the dozen races, who had been presumptuous enough to attack the Orion shelter, and he was not willing to leave them behind with a mere warning.

    What did he and his people do deserve to be attacked, with an army of hundreds of millions, at that?

    The answer was pretty simple.

    They didn''t really deserve to be attacked but everyone was afraid of the Devil Army, and the Dark Sessor.

    Rumors spread that Nial killed the Divine God of Truth, and both the Ancient Gods and ordinary Gods who had been present in the Divine God''s domain at that time.

    More fear was instilled in the hearts of the Gods all over the Universe thanks to these rumors, resulting in the current attack.

    At least, that was what Nial presumed.

    Little did he know that it was far moreplex.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Sensing the corpses, blood, and unstable mana across the battlefield, he took a deep breath.

    He stopped his inurate hail of darkness needles and changed his approach to the battlefield.

    Their miserable loss evolved into an overwhelming victory. The number of casualties Nial and his allies had to count since he and the Devil Army joined the battle was not even in the three digits. It was nothing noteworthypared to the millions of enemy corpses that were waiting to be devoured.

    A subtle smile formed on Nial''s lips. He moved his right hand, essing his spatial ring to retrieve a spear before he disappeared from the spot.

    Utilizing Grasp of Eclipse after the Witness State should have been a little bit more difficult. However, his mastery hadn''t actually changed. In fact, Nial felt as if it was much easier to use Damian''s techniques after the things he had gone through.

    He emerged in the ranks of his opponents and thrust the spear ahead in a straight line.

    A shockwave rang through the ranks of opponents the moment he moved ridiculously fast, however, the target was not to be underestimated either.

    The Primordial Angel waved her wand, blocking Nial''s spear thrust by a hair''s breadth.

    "I remember your fluctuations."

    Nial''s voice rang out from behind the reinforced dark armor. It was chilly and spoken with enough pressure and anger to restrict the movements of the Angels around them. They wanted to protect their Queen but were incapable of moving.

    Was that Nial''s ability? Was it just his voice?

    Only Nial could know.

    "Damian''s memories remember you, and so do I. You hated Damian because he spared you after he obliterated everything your race build up over the course of tens of thousands of years. He spared you when you were just a child, and you wanted to kill him, understandably," Nial added, recalling what happened a long time ago.

    The Primordial Angels had been powerful existences, and they had been afraid of Damian when he was on an uprise. They plotted his assassination and failed miserably. In exchange, the God of Darkness attacked them openly, ughtering the Primordial Angels, all but the only child.

    This child had grown up to be the Queen of the Angels, the Primordial Angel levitating in front of Nial.

    However, that was not why Nail was overflowing with anger right now.

    "But that''s not it. You are also the Goddess who influenced Be Morningstar. You are the reason my mother died!"

    A burst of energy gushed out of Nial and his spear when he spits out thest few words. His reinforced dark energy was raging, pouncing at the Primordial Angel from all directions the moment Nial connected her energy fluctuations to Be.

    Nial used Grasp of Eclipse once again to appear behind the Primordial Angel. She moved rapidly - or tried to move only to be partially restricted by the darkness tentacles that had coiled around her arms and legs - and lifted her wand once again.

    But even before their weapons collided, Nial turned into darkness currents once again.

    He teleported to the empty spot above the Primordial Angel, thrusting the spear toward her head.

    "Just die, bitch!"

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 Chapter 722 Retreat

    ?

    "Nial, are you fine?"

    The Oracle''s voice reached Nial but he stared absent-mindedly into the distance. He couldn''t even be bothered to look in her direction.

    Not that it made a big difference because he couldn''t see in the first ce.

    The Oracle stared at Nial, just like the Royal Princess, Hana, and his family. Everyone had gathered after the battle ended with the perpetrators'' retreat.

    Everyone was overjoyed because Nial returned, changing the tide of the battle in an instant.

    However, Nial didn''t seem satisfied at all.

    He was not happy. To be precise, he was fuming in angel.

    ''Wasn''t everything over when I killed Be? Why is that bitch alive, in the first ce?''

    Nial didn''t expect the Primordial Angel, the Queen of the Angels, to have influenced Be Morningstar in the past.

    Though, it made much more sense now, thinking about it.

    Be Morningstar had been considered the Saintess of the Angel race. She was treated with utmost care and protected by all means.

    Being the ''sessor'' of the Primordial Angel, Be Morningstar was likely to be an Ancient God in the future. Maybe she was even more talented than the Primordial Angel. After all, Be had been in possession of the Innate Ability, Celestial Transformation.

    But was her talent reason enough for a Spectran, a member of one of the Primordial races, to be interested in her?

    Nial was not too sure about that.

    For a Primordial to be interested in a mortal there had to be something more than talent.

    One way or another, Nial was frustrated. Instead of being able to ept the past, it seemed like everything returned back to him.

    However, the worst was that he couldn''t even kill the Primordial Angel. She had been weakened from fully unleashing her Divinity, yet, Nial hadn''t been able to kill her atst.

    Instead of piercing her head and brain when he outwitted her on the battlefield, Nial ended up killing a hundred Archangels and thousands of Angels instead.

    The Angels had thrown themselves at him in order to protect the Primordial Angel.

    These bastards sacrificed their own lives for their Queen''s sake, and the worst was that it actually worked.

    The Primordial Angel escaped Nial''s attacks and retreated afterward.

    In fact, everyone retreated less than 20 minutes after the God of Gluttony and his Army of Devils joined the battle.

    This was enough to showcase the power and pressure he and his army exuded on their enemies.

    It was great thinking about it but their overwhelming victory didn''t mean that Nial was satisfied.

    ''Can this even be considered an overwhelming victory, in the first ce?'' Nial wondered while scanning through the battlefield.

    While most citizens had been hiding in the underground shelter of the Orion Shelter, there were still a bunch who had died.

    More than a quarter of the Orion Shelter''s poption had been eradicated and only a small portion of buildings was left standing.

    None of the buildings in the shelter was unscathed either.

    Thendscape was destroyed, the mana turned unstable without any way to figure out how long it would take to regain its former glory, and it was not known how long it would take before their enemies would issue a second attack.

    With the death of the Primordial Angel, things would have changed a little. Unfortunately, she was able to survive and able to flee. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Pursue them," Nial ordered quietly, ignoring the people around him.

    Just a momentter, millions of figures shot ouf of his shadow.

    Only after the Army of Devil had been deployed to hunt down the remaining forces did Nial divert his attention atst.

    "Sorry for beingte. The Advocate got me," He said with a forced smile on his face.

    If Nial were to be totally honest with himself, he didn''t really feel great right now. He had been toote for war since the Advocate trapped him.

    The Adovcate''s scheming pushed him into a tricky situation, which he barely escaped. Had he been a day or two tooter, the Orion Shelter, his family and everyone else, including himself, would be dead.

    That bothered him quite a bit.

    Adding that he encountered the Primordial Angel, who had been at fault for his mother''s death, and his hundred years of experience in the Witness State of the Lacardia Empyrean Void, Nial was in a mess simply put.

    He was mentally exhausted and didn''t really want to talk too much to the others.

    This was especially true for Hana, Princess Evalyne, and the Oracle. Looking at them, he felt a little weird as they resembled Celine to a certain degree.

    ''Celine was created by the golden flower to keep me invested in the Witness State. She never existed in the first ce. But even then¡­what a shame¡­''

    Nial choose that he shouldn''t be too focused on Celine and the three women for the time being. It wouldn''t help him to be bothered about any of that, and it was more important to fix everything that had been broken, whether it was his people''s trust, their bones, or their homes.

    Fixing all problems was even more important than taking revenge, even though Nial would love to take revenge at this moment.

    He was fuming in anger but it was not as if he could change the past. The most he could do was to give his best and work hard.

    "You idiot¡­" Hana shouted at this moment. Her purple eyes were drenched in thick tears that began to trickle down her cheeks ceaselessly.

    She rushed forward and hugged Nial.

    He flinched and was about to push her away only to freeze in his tracks. Sabrina, Mathias, Miles, Princess Evalyne, and the Oracle rushed toward him.

    They had been holding back because they didn''t want to bother Nial too much.

    It was quite difficult to assess Nial''s condition. He seemed fine on the outside, but his expression and presence made clear that he was far from fine.

    But upon seeing that Hana was unable to restrain herself, the others didn''t bother trying anymore either.

    They surrounded Nial and hugged him tightly, ignoring his plea.

    "We were so worried¡­"

    "We thought you would never wake up again¡­"

    "We thought that it was the end¡­"

    "We were helpless¡­"

    ¡­

    Nial bit his lower lip in response to the desperate outcries of his beloved friends and family and sighed deeply.

    "It''s fine¡­because I''m here¡­"

 Chapter 723 Monster Dimension

    ?

    Out of hundreds of millions, less than a tenth of the perpetrators survived.

    However, most deaths were from weaker Originals. Not too many Gods had died in the siege of the Orion Shelter, which was quite sad.

    Nial had hoped that he could elerate his progress by devouring a bunch of Gods. Unfortunately, the number of Ancient Gods killed by this Army of Devils was in the single digit.

    ''This time, I will be more careful while digesting the corpses of my opponents¡­if I fall victim to the same trap twice, I might as well kill myself right here and right now!'' Nial told himself as he spread out his darkness to devour all corpses.

    The reinforced dark energy inside his body was connected to the Heart of Gluttony. Because of that, it was pretty easy for Nial to devour the corpses of his opponents, using reinforced dark energy to pull everything inside the Cursed Divinity.

    After he had a good talk with his friends and family, Nial felt much better. He was still a mess, but he fared much better than before.

    Combining his two lifetimes was not easy and it would take some time to get back to his old self - if that was actually possible.

    He would have to figure out what to do with his two lifetimes, but that was something he could do in the future.

    For now, he had to digest the corpses of his opponents. This would also take quite a while and require some focus. After all, he wouldn''t want to fall pray to a second Witness State. Once had been more than enough.

    A month passed in the blink of an eye after the battles finished.

    Many citizens of the Orion Shelter chose to leave, scared of the potential future attacks.

    They knew that Nial was a good person from the way he treated everyone before he was denounced Dark Sessor, and even afterward. He didn''t take offense at the citizens'' actions and even chose to help them leave. Nial told them where they should go and where death was likely to await them.

    Basically, he was telling them which regions he would attack in the near future.

    But before he would attack anyone, Nial had to finish something else.

    The memories of the Witness State kept on bothering him even though he sealed it in his heart.

    However, there was also something else.

    A semi-transparent space had formed inside the Heart of Gluttony. It had reced the golden flower and it was something Nial was very familiar with.

    "As a Creatoran, I can form a Soul Space. That''s only obvious¡­but I didn''t expect that the Monster Dimension would be calling for me," He mumbled to himself while his gaze turned over to a small fissure that had formed to his left.

    The fissure leading to the Monster Dimension was a crack in space. It was purple and rippled through time and space.

    Nial had never found out where the Monster Dimension came from, or how exactly the Monster Dimension and the Creatoran race were connected. But that was not important right now either.

    He couldn''t care less about the creator of the Monster Dimension, or the connection of the Creatoran race and the Monster Dimension.

    There was something else that attracted his attention.

    The Monster Dimension was trying to pull Nial inside the fissure.

    It was just like it had been in the past!

    Nial Lacardia had been pulled inside the Monster Dimension at the tender age of four.

    This didn''t happen to Nial Orin when he was four years old. Only now that he was a century old and had awoken his Bloodline''s Power did this phenomenon ur to him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    What did that mean?

    Nial was not too sure but he wanted to find out.

    The Monster Dimension never really pulled anyone inside it. Its sentience had some sort of pulling force that attracted the Summoners of the Creatoran race, but that was already it.

    Nial was the only one who had ever been pulled inside the Monster Dimension, and that was for Goldy, the Goldscale Serpent.

    Thinking about Goldy and Psy, the only two familiars he could remember from the Witness State, Nial felt a little mncholic. He smiled bitterly and took a stride toward the purple fissure.

    "If I can find answers by going to the Monster Dimension, I might as well go," He mumbled to himself before telling the others that he would be away for a while.

    Nial was pretty sure that he wouldn''t take long in the Monster Dimension, so there was no need to bother about making any preparations.

    His enemies wouldn''t attack him right now. After all, the Army of Devils was still present and instructed to kill his enemies the moment they released their killing intent in the direction of the Orion Shelter.

    As for the reconstruction of the shelter, Nial could only spend his fortune, and finish up his work as Saint Runicier. Other than that, there was nothing for him to do. He was only in the way.

    Thus, by solving his own issues and supporting others in every possible way, Nial could fix all problems, somehow¡­probably.

    He stepped into the fissure while restricting his senses to the bare minimum. Teleporting through time and space was quite taxing on Nial, especially after his senses became even more sensitive than before.

    He could hear, feel, smell, and hear everything, quite literally. After ascending godhood, all of his abilities had grown much stronger. This included the Curse, Hodur''s Heir.

    It enhanced his senses drastically, resulting in a major increase in hisbat prowess. He could predict most attacks by sensing the surrounding mana, the airflow, and the sounds all around him.

    That was something most of his opponents underestimated, and it was also quite bothersome whenever he teleported somewhere. The massive amount of information that flooded him was not easy to take in and digest, after all.

    ''I am really back here¡­''

    He never expected that he would actually return to the Monster Dimension, but here he was.

    "Wait¡­" Nial suddenly mumbled as he perceived his immediate surrounding.

    He found himself standing in the center of arge clearing, surrounded by a vast and dense forest. Towering trees with deep roots and sprawling finger-like branches extended high into the sky, creating a canopy that filters the sunlight around him.

    The canopy cast shade over everything below, manifesting a mysterious and exotic aura onto the clearing and the forest around. Even though the clearing was not small, there was only a little sunlight thanks to the towering trees all around.

    The trees that seemed to connect heaven and earth through their massive size were also the reason why the forest floor turned into a carpet of leaves, broken branches that were bigger in size than some trees would ever be, and small rocks that jut out of the ground like small fangs.

    ''What the hell?''

    The rustling leaves, the chirping birds, the buzzing insects, and the asional roars and growls of predators felt familiar, and they rang in his ears even louder than his wildly beating heart.

    ''Why am I here again?''

    Nial had been teleported to the humongous forest where he had been at the age of four when he first entered the Monster Dimension¡­as Nial Lacardia¡­

 Chapter 724 Survivors?

    ?

    Inside the Monster Dimension, Nial felt a weak pulling force in two directions.

    One of the pulling forces seemed to be near him while the other was a little bit further.

    Sensing the pulling force that was connected to his Soul Space, Nial smiled cheekily. He could roughly guess what those pulling forces were, and he loved it.

    "Was everything really just an illusion?" He mumbled to himself while spreading his Mana Perception outward.

    His mind was filled with detailed outlines of the surrounding area, where countless monsters build their habitat. It felt almost the same as it looked in the Witness State.

    There was a difference of 100 yearsparing the timelines but the changes in time were not too apparent.

    Nial was quite intrigued about the Monster Dimension. Thus, he shot into the air, breaking through the canopy of humongous trees.

    Drafts of cold air sted in his face and back. It was quite refreshingpared to the air further down.

    The scenery in his mind didn''t change since his position was still the same. Nheless, the atmosphere around Nial changed a lot.

    He didn''t restrain his power and released his full Mana Sense and perception of the surroundings in an attempt to find the being that pulled on his Soul Space.

    "So¡­even though the Lacardia Empyren Void has been destroyed, and everyone else is also dead, the Monster Dimension is still intact, and so are the existences living in the Monster Dimension."

    The Monster Dimension didn''t crumble even though the Lacardia Empyrean Void had been destroyed.

    It was quite intriguing that Nial could ess the Monster Dimension while being situated in apletely different Universe as well.

    This could be made use of!

    ''The resources in the Monster Dimension have yet to be harvested. The humongous trees can easily endure the attack of Demi-Gods. If reinforced and tampered with properly, even Gods won''t be able to easily destroy them.''

    Nial felt that he was finally getting some luck after all problems and issues he had to face.

    He could create a fissure between the Monster Dimension and Jundra and nourish it to create a rift, a permanent fissure. By doing so, he and his people would easily be able to get a monopoly on the Monster Dimension.

    That sounded like a pretty good n. It was worth a try.

    ''Let''s get back what the Advocate owes me. Should I thank that piece of shit for allowing me to trace back my origin?''

    Nial chuckled lightly before he traveled in the direction of the closest pulling force.

    With the power of a God it didn''t take Nial long to travel across the humongous forest.

    He found himself in front of a vast cavern entrance and smiled lightly sensing the being who pulled on his Soul Space.

    "A Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon? Looks like Goldy grew up quite a bit even without me."

    Nial was certain that the Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon inside the cave was Goldy. He knew the energy fluctuations of his Familiar better than anyone else.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He entered the cave and walked down the huge cavern tunnel. The tunnel leads him to a vast underground sea. It spanned several kilometers in width and length, and it was close to a hundred meters deep.

    The space was more than enough to house countless maritime beasts, yet, there was only a single monster inside the underground sea.

    It was the Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon, his precious familiar in the Witness State, Goldy!

    Goldy actually existed!

    What did that mean?

    Was the Witness State a replication of reality, or was it something entirely different? How did the seed of illusion create a perfect illusion after the Lacardia Empyrean Void had been destroyed for a century? How did the seed of illusion acquire the information about the Monster Dimension?

    The Advocate of the Pryard didn''t seem to be knowledgeable about the Monster Dimension. At least, that was what Nial presumed. Otherwise, the Advocate of the Pryard would have long since destroyed the Monster Dimension or raided it at the very least.

    Nial felt like making use of that information. However, before he coulde up with an borate n to make use of everything at his disposal, the monster in the underground sea began to move.

    It opened its huge eyes and shot out of the water with ridiculous speed.

    The surface of the sea rippled and burst open as a golden head, the size of a huge truck emerged in front of Nial.

    Flood Dragons are mythical creatures that are said to have the ability to control floods and storms.

    They''re often depicted as massive serpent-like creatures with scales that shimmered in the sunlight and powerful, muscr limbs that allowed them to move swiftly through the water.

    However, the Flood Dragon in front of Nial was not swimming through the water right now. Goldy floated in the air above the underground sea!

    A Flood Dragon''s scales were said to be as hard as iron, but Goldy was on a whole different level, making it nearly invulnerable to physical attacks. Nial imagined goldy with golden scales and vibrant golden eyes as he clearly recalled his time in the Lacardia Empyrean Void, where he could see.

    Being able to see for a short time was enjoyable. Nial didn''t really mind being blind - not anymore - but it was still quite intriguing to know how Goldy looked.

    Goldy was a wise and benevolent creature.

    It had a long, flowing mane of hair, connecting to the forces of nature, and the power of water.

    Goldy was both feared and revered by Creatoran and the monsters of the Monster Dimension. His presence was said to bring both danger and good fortune to those who encounter him.

    That was also why it was such an honor to have bound the Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon to his Soul Space in the past.

    Of course, Goldy was currently not bound to him. The Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon in front of him didn''t even know who he was.

    It was just staring at him now that he infiltrated his territory without warning.

    However, Nial was calm and he smiled brightly at the monster, his Familiar of another lifetime.

    "Long time no see, buddy!"

 Chapter 725 Bond

    ?

    The Flood Dragon stared at Nial. His milky-white and lifeless eyes looked unfocused in Goldy''s direction, unbothered about the heavy tension in the underground sea.

    Goldy didn''t have any memories like Nial. He didn''t know Nial and hadn''t seen a Creatoran either.

    He only heard about Creatoran from other highly intelligent monsters and knew that they were not exactly powerful but in possession of the ability to enhance a Monster''s innate potential by binding them to their Soul Space.

    But the Creatoran in front of it was far from weak. It was the strongest being Goldy encountered until now!

    "I won''t harm you, don''t worry. On the contrary, I want to help you evolve into a True Golden Dragon," Nial said, his voice calm andposed.

    A sensation of nostalgia spread through his entire being and he couldn''t hide his smile anymore.

    Reaching out with his hand, he added, "We know each other. If you feel the same connection as I do, touch my hand and ept the flood of memories."

    Nial knew that Goldy was already at the peak of his current racial limit.

    Goldy may be more than 200 meters long but his overall strength was much weaker than the Goldy Nial Lacardia had nurtured in the Lacardia Empyrea Void.

    He wanted to show Goldy the memories of the past and demonstrate to the Flood Dragon how powerful he could be by turning into his Familiar.

    Nial actually didn''t need Goldy because he had Shadow, the Origin Leviathan, Roy, and over a million Devils. Each of the Devils was much stronger than an ordinary God as well.

    So why was there the need for a Familiar like Goldy?

    The Flood Dragon was not even close to ascending godhood.

    So why?

    Nial actually didn''t know for sure either. He was drawn to Goldy and probably also Psy, the Blind Mouse, and he had to get them in order to fix everything.

    By fixing, Nial meant his body and mental state.

    Bybining two memories and epting his life in the Witness State, Nial awoke his Bloodline''s Power.

    The Soul Space pulled him inside the Monster Dimension and toward his former Familiars, even though they didn''t know he existed, in the first ce.

    Binding them to his Soul Space where they ought to be, Nial would fix everything, even the fate that had been destroyed by the Advocate of Pryard''s actions.

    The Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon stared at Nial for quite a while. Goldy knew that he was not strong enough to fight Nial if he were to desire to do something to him. His opponent was a God-like existence, after all!

    Not being forced to do anything, Goldy was able to focus on his thoughts. However, before he coulde up with a decision on what he wanted to do, his snout had alreadye in contact with Nial''s palm.

    Nial didn''t hesitate and sent a ton of memories into the mind of the Flood Dragon. Goldy''s eyes widened upon seeing the memory of their first encounter.

    The Goldscale Serpent and the four-year-old Nial Lacardia met.

    Their connection waspleted upon sensing their connection, and a grandiose life filled with adventures began.

    More memories entered Goldy''s mind over the course of the next sixty minutes. The more memories Goldy received the stronger his familiarity with Nial grew. Goldy was slowly getting ustomed to Nial''s existence and he noticed the connection between their souls for the first time.

    He wanted to be Nial''s familiar.

    However, there were also many questions that shed through Goldy''s mind.

    "I know what you''re thinking about. It''s only obvious to be suspicious. But how about we sit down and I tell you what actually happened?"

    Nial didn''t feel like forcing anything onto Goldy. To be precise, Nial''s emotions were in turmoil by merely perceiving Goldy. He felt the familiar sensation of Goldy''s golden scales, the Flood Dragon''s breathing, and the sound of his movements as he levitated mid-air.

    It was a sensation he never expected to feel again. After all, Goldy was not supposed to exist in reality¡­or was he? <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''He levitated in front of me so he must be alive and real.''

    Nial smiled lightly and he sat down on the ground less than two meters away from the underground sea. The stone beneath him was wet and cold but Nial didn''t even notice.

    His mind was a mess and he felt like telling Goldy about everything that had happened before. Goldy was his familiar of another lifetime, and it was different when exining to the Flood Dragon about the things they had gone through together instead of telling someone unrted about his time in the Lacardia Empyrean Void.

    It was different, and not something he could share easily. Thus, having Goldy by his side felt extremely soothing.

    Goldy descended into the water with a heavy head. He was unsure what awaited him but the Flood Dragon watched Nial patiently.

    Nial took a few moments to clear his mind.

    After that, he began to share the story about his life in the Lacardia Empyrean Void for the first time.

    Hours passed without him realizing, and his mouth was already dry from speaking non-stop. However, Nial''splexion had improved gradually.

    He felt as if a heavy stone had been lifted from his shoulders and he began to smile lightly. This time, his smile was genuine as he patted Goldy''s snout gently.

    The Flood Dragon was morefortable with Nial by now. He could tell that Nial''s story was genuine even if it was hard to believe.

    But even if he didn''t want to believe Nial''s story, the memories that had been transferred into his mind and Nial''s words werepatible.

    Nial also shared his view of the Advocate of Pryard, his life as the Dark Sessor, and the things he went through before he had been trapped by the Seed of Illusion.

    It was the first time that Nial revealed everything that tormented his mind. He never really shared his troubles and tormenting thoughts with others. However, he knew Goldy the longest as their Soul had been linked for over a century, even if it was just in the Witness State.

    Thus, he found himself revealing everything.

    Nial didn''t know how much time passed but he only stopped speaking when the pulling force connected to Goldy disappeared.

    It was so unexpected that he shut his mouth in an instant. The surrounding temperature increased slowly and a huge golden magic circle formed on the ground. The magic circle expanded as much as possible and a thread formed from Nial''s Soul Space slowly moved through his body.

    The Soul thread emerged inside his palm. It entered Goldy''s body and made its way toward his soul.

    If the Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon would have been against the Soul Link with Nial, he would have to disagree to the bond now.

    However, Goldy didn''t do anything against Nial''s attempt to form a Soul Link.

    The Flood Dragon even helped, releasing a Soul-thread on his own to form a firm bond between the Mythical Monster and the Creatoran.

    Their bond returned to existence.

    But this time, it was real.

    **

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 Chapter 726 More

    ?

    Nial''s Soul Link with Goldy didn''t feel different from before.

    In fact, it was exactly the same. Their bond was as firm as it had been in the Witness State, enhancing Nial''s strength with a high Soul Share.

    He smiled at Goldy, whose body disappeared inside his Soul Space for a few seconds. The familiar sensation of his first Familiar entering the Soul Space was enough reason for Nial to smile brightly.

    Today was a great day, that was for sure.

    His heart and shoulders felt much lighter after he told his story for several hours, and he regained a part of his existence as Nial Lacardia.

    Even if he had never grown up as Nial Lacardia, he was still thest descendant of the royal family.

    As long as he could remember his people, the empire and his family, the Creatoran race would never cease to exist.

    That was something Nial believed firmly.

    The corners of his lips curled upward and he couldn''t help himself as he transferred Goldy inside his Heart of Gluttony to summon his Familiar''s golden scales all over his body.

    It drained his nutrition and bits of his energy in exchange for increasing his natural defense gradually.

    ''Once Goldy evolves, his scales will be even stronger. I will have another powerful ally by my side then¡­.that''s great.''

    Nial clenched his fist and turned around to leave the underground sea.

    Meanwhile, Goldy began to speak in his mind, using the natural mental transmission that was only possible between Familiars and their Master.

    Once Nial reached the surface, he didn''t waste his time. He shot in the air and dashed in the direction of the second pulling force.

    ''Psy¡­I will being for you!''

    Psy was the Blind Mouse, the second Familiar, the Monster bound to his Soul Space. Goldy and Psy were the only Familiars he remembered from his past life. Maybe they were the only Familiars he ever bound, though that was rather unlikely.

    Maybe his other Familiars were dead in reality, and that was the reason he couldn''t recall them anymore. No, that shouldn''t be the case.

    Maybe they were not that important in the real world.

    Nial was not too sure about that either. At the end of the day, it was not exactly important. Nial was only interested in figuring out where Psy was currently located.

    The Blind Mouse never truly evolved in the century Nial had been linked to it. Only its special powers had grown stronger and ''evolved'' if one wanted to put it like this.

    Thus, the Blind Mouse was as weak as a 1st Level Origin rank monster in terms of physical strength and endurance.

    Adults, who hadn''t awoken their Origin, could kill Psy by squashing it beneath their feet. That was how weak Psy was.

    But there was something else about Psy that was attractive. First of all, the Blind Mouse was¡­blind. The name suggested that already but it was pretty interesting because binding Psy had increased Nial Lacardia''s senses drastically.

    And that was not the only change Nial had gone through when binding the Blind Mouse in his other life. Psy''s special power enhanced the power of Mental-attributed abilities to the extreme.

    Issuingmands through words without the use of mana, or any other type of energy, was possible as well. With its exceptional senses and the power to control others with mentalmands and words, Psy had grown ridiculously strong alongside Nial Lacardia.

    Nial Orin, the God of Gluttony, and the possessor of the ability ''Dominion'' was certain that Psy would be even stronger by his side. After all, Psy''s Soul Share would provide him with everything he required to control Gods, possibly even Ancient Gods.

    That was exactly what Nial needed right now. Vengeance was only a few steps away!

    Nial felt himself growing excited, and his speed elerated once again.

    In the next three days, Nial traveled across the humongous forest once again. He made a detour around a vast mountain that shot more than thirty thousand meters in the air and entered a valley where he found Psy with little to no effort.

    The pulling force lead him to the Blind Mouse where he shared his memories just like he did with Goldy.

    Psy was still as weak as ever. However, the Blind Mouse was also as intelligent as before. Thus, it knew that binding to Nial would increase its innate potential but also provide a considerable amount of danger.

    Psy had been living in hiding all his life. Over the course of a whole century, Psy never really went outside his small hideout. He always had to flee and avoid the fights of the stronger beings in order to survive.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    His body was too weak to fight and his abilities were somewhat restricted since he couldn''t voice out his thoughts. At least, the way he voiced out hismands was not as it was intended. This made things a little bit more difficult for the Blind Mouse.

    However, with a Creatoran by his side things would change gradually.

    Psy was certain that binding to Nial would be helpful. With that in mind, the Blind Mouse became Nial''s second Familiar once again.

    Nial expected Psy to easily agree to turn into his Familiar. After all, it had been the same in the past.

    The Blind Mouse easily acknowledges Nial as his master, knowing that it was the easiest and most efficient way to find a safe haven and to grow stronger ridiculously fast.

    After Nial reimed his two Familiars, his Heart of Gluttony was at ease. The annoying pulling forces dispersed and he could return home at any time.

    However, instead of returning immediately, Nial had something else to research.

    He traveled back the same way he came, only to stop midway when he sensed something.

    ''It should be around here.''

    Nial descended to the ground before uprooting one of the smaller trees in his way. It was a bushy tree that covered arge area.

    Exposing the area behind the bushy tree, Nial''s mana perception went wild as utter confusion spread across his entire face.

    "A fissure¡­''

    He was baffled, utterly shocked.

    Fissures would grow into rifts if left untouched too long. A century was more than enough to turn a fissure into a permanent rift, even if they were not nourished by anyone.

    What did that mean?

    The fissure was not yet 100 years old!

    Scanning the fissure, Nial was pretty sure that the fissure was rather young, manifested less than a decade ago.

    ''A fissure created by a Creatoran¡­less than ten years old¡­'' Nial mumbled, cold sweat pouring down his back.

    "I am not alone?"

    He was not thest Creatoran?

    There was actual hard proof that more Creatoran were still alive!

    Nial couldn''t believe it.

    He had been hoping that more Creatoran survived the attack of the Advocate, but he never actually believed that he would encounter some.

    It was just something he had hoped, after all.

    Reality was usually different, and cruel at that.

    But it looked like some Creatoran actually survived.

    His hope had never been a childish dream, wishful thinking¡­it was reality!

    ''Should I search for them? Leave some signs that I am alive? Wait¡­will they even bother about me?''

    A new issue popped up right in front of Nial.

    What was he supposed to do now?

 Chapter 727 Ready To Rumble

    ?

    ''Should I just go through the fissure and search for the Creatoran? I might be able to rebuild the Lacardia Empyrean Void once I gather my subjects.''

    ''I could leave forever either. The fissure should lead to a different ce far away from my Universe¡­it''s not like the Universe epts me either way¡­or more like their residents¡­''

    Nial felt like leaving the Monster Dimension through the fissure. There were only a few reasons for him to stay back in the Universe. After all, they attacked him mindlessly and wanted to see him dead.

    Wasn''t it better for him to disappear into thin air? Everyone would feel better.

    With various thoughts in his mind, Nial didn''t even realize that various memories shed through his mind.

    The Empress and the Emperor appeared in front of him, smiling proudly at Nial. His mother ruffled through his hair and his father bent down to hug him tightly.

    The Emperor opened his mouth but Nial couldn''t understand the words escaping his lips.

    Ayase and Celine were the next to appear in his memories. Ayase squinted her eyes while smiling at her nephew. She gave him a thumbs up and also said something. However, Nial was still unable to understand her.

    He was running toward his family but he quickly noticed that the four figures were pulled farther away from him. The more desperate he was to run toward them, hoping to be able to follow them to the ce they were the further the distance between them grew.

    Celine stared nkly at Nial. She was the only figure that didn''t move away. However, the bubbly and addictive attitude of the young woman had ceased to exist. It was almost as if Celine was only an empty shell.

    She didn''t seem real anymore, and upon reaching her, Nial noticed that he couldn''t touch her either. His hand shot through her hand which turned into mist before it reassembled a secondter.

    Celine''s eyes were soulless and so was her expression.

    ''She was actually not real.''

    Perceiving Celine, Nial began to unravel the truth slowly. He already thought that Celine may not actually be real but realization struck him only now.

    Celine had never existed, in the first ce. It was just like he suspected. She was not real, a creation manifested from the Seed of Illusion.

    As for the references used to create her, the Seed of Illusion picked the women he was the closest to, the girls he liked the most.

    The Oracle, Princess Evalyne, and Hana.

    Nial actually never thought too much about falling in love, or depending on others. He always wanted to be stronger and be independent. That way, he would never bother others and be able to hold his forte without the need to ask for help.

    Nial was fully aware that he became stronger thanks to the encounters he had. Some may say that most of his encounters were based on luck, and that he didn''t deserve the strength he had acquired over the course of a hundred years but Nial didn''t really care about that.

    He gave his utmost to be stronger, and opportunities only awaited him after great challenges. Nial survived those challenges in order to procure the rewards.

    Whether it was luck or not didn''t really matter. He was powerful and would grow even stronger with the intention to protect his family and beloved ones.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    As for romantic thoughts, Nial would have to think about thatter. He knew that his heartstrings were pulled when it came to the three girls but he didn''t know whom he loved romantically, let alone what he actually desired.

    ''Once this war is over.''

    He told himself, subconsciously acknowledging that he could never leave the Universe. It may be a little stupid but he couldn''t leave the Universe after everything he went through.

    Damian worked hard to kill the Advocates, leaving only one of them behind. To make sure that the Universe would be safe and sound for the time being - until Hoert, the Devourer of Universes woulde knocking on the void doors.

    Everyone he loved in the Lacardia Empyrean Void was either dead or didn''t exist, in the first ce.

    Thinking about that, Nial felt a little bit odd. However, just like Damian had given him a mission toplete, Nial felt that the Witness State had been an important event for him.

    It was his fate to meet and be loved by his blood-rted family, get to know them, and understand what they were fighting for.

    They would want him to stay in the Universe and fight for it even if others would loathe him for what he was about to do.

    Thinking about that, Nial couldn''t help himself anymore.

    He felt a little sad that he would never be able to meet his parents, or Ayase anymore but he would seal his memories of them in his heart to never forget them no matter how much time passed.

    But what about the people who were still alive? Was it necessary to seal his memories of them in his heart to never forget them?

    Not really!

    He could just protect them and make sure that they would always stay by his side. That way, he would never forget them either.

    They needed Nial, and he understood that he needed them as well.

    Whether it was the Origin Humans, Creatoran, or other beings, they were in need of his help!

    Not many Origin Humans were alive but that was something the passage of time could solve rather easily.

    As for Creatoran, Nial was not sure how many had survived. However, knowing that some of them were still alive was more than enough. Gathering them over the course of time was everything he needed to rebuild what the Lacardia family had failed to protect once.

    Excitement coursed through Nial''s body at the thought of resurrecting the Origin Human race and Creatoran race. He clenched his fist and raised it high into the air, resolution spreading across his face.

    He was ready to rumble!

 Chapter 728 Cease To Exist

    ?

    Returning to the Orion Shelter was pretty easy.

    He could either return by using the already existing fissure, or he could dissolve the fissure that brought him to the Monster Dimension and create a new one at his position.

    The former was something he would use if he were to desire to create a rift as he had to nourish the fissure, which could be done by repetitively using a fissure, while thetter was something for convenience''s sake.

    But before returning home, Nial spends the following week researching the humongous forest and surrounding regions. He wanted to know which resources he could harvest nearby and where to manifest the next fissure. Nial wanted to create a permanent rift to the Monster Dimension, but he was not yet sure where exactly.

    The positioning was very important, and he didn''t really want to mess it up. He was not sure how much time he had left before others would attack him once again.

    Once he was done with his research, Nial dissolved the old fissure. He created a new one and returned to the Orion Shelter.

    Nial was greeted by his friends and Devils once he returned. He analyzed the state of the Orion Shelter with his mana perception immediately and figured that the rebuilding process would take a while.

    "The terra-forming group finished rebuilding thendscape. Not bad. They''re quite fast," Nial said absent-mindedly while his head was turned toward the Royal Princess.

    Evalyne smiled at him with an expression overflowing with pride. She flung her hair back while the corners of her lips curled upward.

    "Of course. We are the best when ites to terraforming. Don''t ever underestimate us Elves!" She dered while taking a prideful stance, pushing her chest out.

    "Yes yes. I never underestimated the Elves. But let''s focus on the important things for now," Nial said light-hearted, perceiving the reports about the overall situation in the Orion shelter.

    This included the declining poption, the residents''ints, the ever-decreasing amount of resources, and much more.

    Nial didn''t take long to deduct the current situation and he nodded his head.

    "Look. We can enter the Monster Di¡ª...." He stopped in his tracks all of a sudden and turned around.

    The others looked at him in confusion before they realized the direction he focused.

    Princess Evalyne opened her mouth to tell Nial what happened but Hana was faster. She took a step closer to Nial and grasped his hand, trying to distract him a little.

    Unfortunately, her attempts weren''t fruitful.

    "There is no need to worry, Nial. A few Assassin Heligav infiltrated the Orion Shelter while you were absent. They injured your sister lightly, but she killed them with the help of the Devils. Everyone reacted quickly, but we didn''t want to worry you, so¡­"

    Hana had a lot more to say but she noticed a change in the atmosphere. Upon looking into Nial''s face she realized that she made a grave mistake.

    Nial was very overprotective.

    Sabrina disappeared after their mother had been killed, and Nial med himself a lot for that. He became stronger with the intention to protect his family to prevent something like that from ever happening again.

    Thus, upon hearing that his sister had been injured, Nial''s brain short-circuited. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''I shouldn''t have said anything. Can''t I even put my words to use? Am I stupid?'' Hana cursed herself while staring at Nial''s expression with a tinge of worry.

    Nial''s face was full of anger and wrath. He could tell that Sabrina was doing fine and that she enjoyed being tended to by Mathias, however, that didn''t mean it was fine to be attacked.

    She had been attacked inside the Orion Shelter, and the Devils had nearly been toote.

    Nial would never be able to forgive himself if something were to happen to his sister, not after everything that happened in the past.

    He lost too many precious people to allow even one of them to disappear whether it was now or far in the future.

    The mana around Nial trembled as the pressure he exuded increased drastically. Spiderweb-like cracks formed on the floor beneath his feet and they spread out further.

    Hana and everyone else in the room found it more difficult to breathe. They stared at Nial with widened eyes as golden scales grew out of his skin.

    Crimson Chaos and Reinforced Dark energy naturally responded to the golden scales and they fused together, forming a quad-colored armor.

    Nial''s presence changed altogether as the fusion of his energies and the golden scales waspleted.

    He disappeared from his earlier position, gathering some Devils in the following minutes before reappearing next to Shadow, the Origin Leviathan, whom Nial hadn''t spoken to for quite a while.

    "Buddy, I need you to bring me somewhere!"

    Shadow was happy to meet Nial again, but the God of Gluttony was not ready for a wholesome reunion. He was overflowing with anger, which was mirrored on his distorted face.

    He was unwilling to leave the Heligav race alone, not anymore. He had been nice enough over thest few decades.

    They killed his master and attacked the Orion Shelter. Was that not enough for them? Did they really intend to seal their fate, for good?

    Nial was fine with that. After they attacked the Orion Shelter, he already considered them dead meat, either way.

    He was not willing to leave them alone anymore. They were already dead in his opinion, either way.

    Shadow noticed Nial''s condition quickly. The Origin Leviathan stared at him, only for Nial to transfer various coordinates into the mind of his loyal Devil.

    Shadow memorized the coordinates and he used the true potential of the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, disappearing on the spot. Nial was dragged alongside, like usual.

    In the following seconds, Nial was teleported to a savannah region far away from the Orion Shelter. A world bridge appeared in his visualized view and a devilish smile formed on Nial''s face.

    He had had enough of the Heligav so they might as well disappear from the Universe.

    They ought to cease to exist!

 Chapter 729 Conquest (1)

    ?

    The Heligav race is considered an ordinary race with a high poption. Their talent is average at most even though most of their members awaken their origin before reaching adulthood.

    While many Heligav awakens the special trait to turn invisible and silence their movement, only a few Heligav are truly talented.

    Statistics say that the Heligav race has only a handful of Gods with each of them managing one or twos on their own.

    After colonizing and terraforming an entire ster system with eight smaller andrger habitables, they spread out with the intention to expand their territory, and connections and connect to more resourcefuls.

    This worked out well more or less until they encountered the Origin Humans and Elves on Jundra.

    The non-humanoid race faced their greatest loss on Jundra. They were pushed back several times and encountered more desperate situations than ever before. Everything started with their confrontation with Nial Orin, the Original who turned out to be the Dark Sessor.

    However, even after the Heligav wanted to make use of this news tobine their forces with other races, their attack failed miserably.

    The Dark Sessor and his Army of Devils were simply too strong. It was not something the Heligav could handle, no matter how high everyone''s cultivation was restricted.

    To their misery, the Heligav underestimated Nial''s wrath when they issued theirst attack. They intended to assassinate all major authorities of the Origin Shelter, only to fail miserably. Their assassins merely injured a single female Origin Human. That was it.

    But that was already more than enough for Nial.

    He was currently levitating above the world bridge leading to the ster system of the Heligav race. His concealed presence couldn''t be detected by the guards beneath him, not even as he descended slowly to the ground.

    The Heligav race, a beast-like race, whose appearance could be simplified by taking the lower body of a bull and the upper body of a Minotaur, would meat their demise, today at that!

    That was something Nial would make sure.

    He removed the concealment of his being while exerting Grasp of Eclipse. His body vanished and he reappeared in between the two Demi-God Heligav with a cruel smile on his face.

    "Useless bulls."

    Grasping one of their horns each, Nial smashed their heads together using every bit of strength inside his body.

    The Demi-God Heligav - astonished and shocked about the sudden attack - couldn''t react in time. Thest thing they saw clearly was Nial''s wrath-filled face before their sight blurred.

    The sound of cracking bones rang through their ears as their skull burst. A regretful expression formed on their hideous beast-like faces as they realized what was going on.

    But they were unable to do anything.

    Their death had been sealed.

    The moment they died, Nial''s darkness devoured their corpses.

    Two spatial rngs fell to the ground, leaving behind thest traces of their existence.

    "Looks like we can make a quick buck by eradicating their existence."

    Nial didn''t bother essing the spatial rings. He picked them up with dark energy and stored them away.

    Turning to the world bridge, Nial cracked some of the golden scales all over his body, adjusting their positioning slightly.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "My body is a little different from before. Looks like I need to make adjustments once I''m back."

    Shadow appeared next to Nial at this moment. The Devil Origin Leviathan had adjusted his size to fit inside the world bridge, and to make it easier to be patted.

    Shadow hissed out ncing at the golden scales and an expression filled with confusion formed on Shadow''s face. Nial ignored the Devil''s question and he entered the world bridge.

    All restrictions were removed the moment Nial left the Origin. This didn''t pose a big difference to Nial because his strength hadn''t been restricted yet. However, it posed a big difference in the Heligav race''s fate and the fact that Nial brought a total of 10 Infernal Devils with him.

    Infernal Devils were as strong - if not stronger - than Divine Gods.

    Nial wanted to see theirbat prowess upon unleashing their full force.

    However, what he didn''t take into consideration was that the Infernal Devils would probably end up destroying the Heligav''s entire the moment they were to go all out.

    That was not something Nial wanted.

    He desired the Heligav''s resources, which included their intact corpses.

    The Heart of Gluttony had to be abused properly, after all!

    Nial concealed his energy when he emerged on the other side of the world bridge. Only his Mana Perception and Mana Sense were unleashed, scanning the surrounding area.

    ''In the middle of nowhere? No, that''s not it.''

    The world bridge was not in the middle of nowhere as he first presumed. It was in a savannah, just like the world bridge on Jundra had been. The Savannah was surrounded by a multiyered dome that concealed everything around it. Even Nial''s Mana Perception was restricted from the Istion Dome.

    That meant the Dome was a Saint Runic Armament, possibly even a multi-device runic armament. It should be quite pricey.

    "Sorry, but this is annoying," Nial mumbled while giving an order to his Devils.

    "Shatter the buried and spread out."

    The few Infernal Devils he brought with him shot out of Nial''s shadow. Some were small while others were humongous existences.

    One of them was a Devilized World Behemoth. Fortunately, it levitated in the air, otherwise, the entire might sustain severe damage.

    Nial was not sure how big the was and how much pressure it could endure, after all!

    The Devils spread out in ten directions. They never stopped, not even when they collided with the multiyered dome, which burst apart as if it was made out of ss.

    Nial smiled when he visualized the dome.

    "Kill everyone. Don''t destroy their bodies too much and bring them back to the world bridge. Don''t leave anyone behind either. Show them what it means to attack the Dark Sessor!"

    Even if Nial didn''t like the name he had been given, he should still use it.

    If they wanted him to be the Dark Sessor Nial would dly oblige.

 Chapter 730 Conquest (2)

    ?

    Nial was much stronger now than ever before. He had digested the energy remnants of the golden flower, and his Cursed Divinity was constantly digesting the millions of corpses he had devoured.

    Over the course of one year - when he had been asleep and inside the Witness State - the Heart of Gluttony finished digesting the bodies of the Divine God, the Ancient Gods, and the ordinary Gods.

    Thus, his currentbat prowess was iparable to before.

    He was even in possession of two Familiars, who increased his strength as well!

    Nheless, Nial''s current expression was bad, like really bad.

    He was frustrated that everyone always jibed at him for defending himself. It was fine that they called him Dark Sessor because he actually felt as if he was the Late God of Darkness'' sessor.

    But epting being called Dark Sessor and getting attacked because of that was something he couldn''t understand. Everyone made him seem like a tyrant, a piece of shit, someone who had to die, by all means. It was truly frustrating.

    However, being a whimsy loser was not exactly helpful.

    Nial knew that he had to stand up for himself and his people. That was the most important.

    With that in mind, Nial began to demonstrate his power and the might of the Devil Army.

    Others may frown at him and consider him vile and wicked, but it was not as if they weren''t already doing exactly that.

    He would be fine.

    The ten Infernal Devils, not restricted by the omnipotent power of the Origin Will, had already spread out. Eight Infernal Devils had split up to conquer one each, while the remaining two Infernal Devils swept through the entire ster system to collect the Heligav Gods.

    The two Infernal Devils also used their powers to restrict the usage of teleportation circles, spatial abilities, and the use of world bridges. Nobody could escape their master''s wrath and it was impossible to call for reinforcement.

    Even if they called for reinforcement, there was no use. They would only reach the ster system of the Heligav when everyone was already dead and thes plundered.

    Nial didn''t have to join the battle as he could observe his Devils'' actions, but he was not the type of person who remained idle.

    He was already enraged. Why should he remain idle when he wanted nothing more but to ram his ws deep inside the Heligav Gods'' flesh?

    Nial desired to pierce their heart, twist it in his hands and pull it out while visualizing their desperate and wrath-filled expression as their body grows weaker until the life in their eyes ceased.

    The mere thought was already more than enough for Nial to feel happiness. After everything the Heligav did to him and the people he loved, it was about time to show them what kind of mistake they made by enraging the wrong person.

    Did they actually expect that some Divine Gods or the Primordials would protect them? Were they stupid?

    Nial was pretty sure that thetter was actually the case. The Heligav race was basically filled with muscle heads, but that was quite advantageous. If not for their idiotic attack on the Orion Shelter, and the assassination attempts, Nial might have actually forgotten about their past actions.

    Fortunately, he recalled them once again.

    Nial didn''t avoid fighting on the front lines. He used Shadow to travel to one of the biggest cities on the he had emerged first and released his reinforced dark energy through the ground.

    No Heligav could tell what was going on. They only sensed an odd, very ufortable presence weighing down on them. The darkness spreading through the surface of the city couldn''t be detected at first.

    It was in the middle of the night and most Heligav were forcefully woken from their sweet dreams.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Only when it was already way toote did the first quick-witted Heligav understand that something was terribly wrong. By then, millions of tentacles had shot out of the ground, piercing through the walls of countless buildings.

    The darkness tentacles shot out of the ground, attacked the living beings all over the''s capital, and coiled around their limbs and neck.

    Shocked to the core, most Heligavs were not even able to open their mouth, forgetting about attempting to escape the tight grasp of the darkness tentacles.

    The following seconds felt like an eternity as their bodies were lifted out of their beds and pulled outside.

    Nial visualized each of the millions of Heligav, who had no idea what was going on. They had been sleeping and were suddenly mid-air, held up by darkness tentacles.

    Their movements were restrained and heavy pressure weighed down on them.

    However, they were not yet dead.

    "Do you guys know why this is happening to you?" Nial asked loud enough for everyone in the surroundings to hear.

    He didn''t think that anyone would answer him, so he continued to speak.

    "Most of you might be innocent, unaware of your superiors'' actions. That is also why you might think it''s unfair that I release my wrath toward you guys. But the exact same happened the other way around less than a month ago. Your people attacked the Orion Shelter with the intention to kill me. Forget about me, millions of innocent people from all kinds of races had been living in the Orion Shelter.

    Others might say that I shouldn''t lower myself to the same level as my opponents and that I should act gracefully, and use my powers ording to the responsibilities I''ve been given. But¡­why should I?" Nial''s voice grew colder the more words escaped his lips.

    The air around him felt chilly and the force applied by the darkness tentacles increased slowly.

    "Why would I care about that? Everyone already thinks of me as dangerous. So I might as well be the being they fear. That way, only those strong enough to actually face me head-on will be daring enough to attack¡­and not small beast-like pests such as you guys.

    Who the hell was stupid enough to think that an idiotic brain-dead race such as the Heligav would be strong enough to kill me? I am strong enough to wipe out the Heligav even while sleeping!"

    Nial figured that his words didn''t make sense to most present Heligav. They were innocent and had been sleeping soundly. However, he didn''t intend to leave anyone alive, not anymore.

    The Heligav caused him trouble too many times, and it was time to give the Universe and clear example about what he would do to those who attacked him.

    It wouldn''t end with the Heligav. Each of the dozen races who attacked the Orion shelter while he had been entrapped by the golden flower would face the exact same fate.

    Nial was not afraid of the aftermath. He knew that it was necessary to make sure that he wouldn''t be seen as a pushover.

    Nobody should even dare to think that they could take him lightly.

    He wanted all races across the Universe to believe that his revenge was cruel, that he would obliterate the races of those who attacked him and his people.

    His attack was not random in the slightest. Nial used their attack on the Orion Shelter as justification.

    With that in mind, he snapped his fingers.

    The darkness tentacles tightened around the Heligavs necks and the sound of millions of necks breaking rang throughout the entire city.

    ''This is just the beginning!''

 Chapter 731 Conquest (3)

    ?

    It took Nial and the ten Infernal Devils less than a day to annihte the Heligav across the entire ster system.

    Some may ask if it was truly necessary to annihte the entire Heligav race, but Nial could answer this with a decisive ''yes!''.

    Nial was pretty certain that it was necessary.

    First of all, the survivors of the Heligav race would have formed a never-ending grudge against him if he were to keep some of them alive. Nial would have turned into their mortal enemy until one of the two sides were to cease to exist.

    Nial skipped a few steps and annihted the Heligav race from the get-go. Of course, there were still a few more territories that had to be cleansed thoroughly but Nial had already sent the Infernal Devils to cleanse them as well.

    Using the information provided in the database of the Heligav race, they had a dozen small territories all over the Universe. Using Shadow and world bridges, the Infernal Devils easily wiped out everyone.

    Once again, some may question whether he was justified or not, but Nial didn''t really care about that.

    Nobody would even dare to think of him as a pushover after he finished his n. Though he might be seen as a vile and wicked existence, it was not as if that was something new. The vast majority of the Universe was already considering him as the Dark Sessor.

    So what if he annihted the Heligav race? They attacked him first!

    So what if he intended to annihte the Angel race and the other ten races who hadbined forced to attack him?

    Any of the Primordials, Ancient, and other Gods with pride and backbone would do the same. Why was he not allowed to do the same? Because he was the Dark Sessor? What nonsense!

    The only problem others had with him was that he had be the sessor of the Late God of Darkness, that he was in possession of a huge Army of mighty Devils, and that the Gigalorian Gxies had resurfaced, stronger than ever before at that.

    Even the Primordials, Ancients, and other Divine Gods began to fear him.

    Nial was actually fine with that as long as they allowed him to kill the Advocate of the Pryard. Once that was done, he would be able to live calmly with his family and increase his strength slowly while awaiting the arrival of Hoert.

    He could build his own family and ignore the powerhouses, let them do their own thing.

    Of course, the Advocate of the Pryard wasn''t stupid. Nial was actually pretty sure that the Advocate was a scheming bastard. This had be quite clear after thest incident in which Nial had been pulled into the Witness State.

    Nial could tell that the Advocate was currently doing some scheming in an attempt to overwhelm Nial in the long run. The Advocate would pull all forces to his side, leaving Nial no chance but to fight his way through the ranks of powerful entities before he would reach the Advocate.

    However, that was fine.

    Nial was constantly bing stronger. After annihting the dozen races, who had attacked the Orion Shelter while he was asleep, he may need some time to digest their bodies, but his strength would increase drastically. He was in possession of the Cursed Divine Ability ''Devour'', and the Cursed Divinity ''Heart of Gluttony'', after all!

    For now, he already felt a little bloated. He didn''t want to lead the attack on the remaining perpetrators of the attack on the Orion Shelter either.

    Thus, he changed his approach of the whole situation gradually.

    As long as he used Shadow and a bunch of world bridges to travel across the entire Universe, Nial could be the courier that sent out a bunch of Devils to each of the races who had attacked him.

    That ought to be more than enough to annihte them. The Devils were also in possession of high-ranked spatial rings, which wererge enough to store billions of corpses and countless resources.

    Nial already got to know their spatial rings'' capabilities in the ster system of the Heligav race. The Infernal Devils didn''t see much value in the resources of the lowly Heligav race but they knew that Nial could devour all kinds of things. Every bit of energy would help Nial to progress.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Infernal Devils plundered the entire ster system with that in mind.

    The batch of spatial rings in his possession was now overflowing with billions of corpses and countless - more or less useful - resources.

    It was a great day for him and a devastating day for the Heligav race. As for the remaining perpetrators, their fate was also sealed even if they had yet to find out.

    Once his task in the Heligav''s ster system waspleted, he returned to the Orion Shelter. However, his mission was not yetpleted.

    He used his surplus reinforced dark energy to empower Shadow and replenish his energy. After that, he collected a thousand Devils, and pulled them inside his Heart of Gluttony before he and Shadow began their journey through the Universe.

    He spent two days traveling with Shadow''s unique teleportation trait to y courier, sending off the thousand Devils he had collected earlier.

    After that, Nial left the Devils alone. He and Shadow returned back home where Nial had to focus on digesting the Heligavs'' corpses, and his work as Saint Runicier. He and Ophelia had lots of work to do after the vast majority of the Orion Shelter had been destroyed.

    However, they were not the only ones who had to work tirelessly. Everyone had their own share of work toplete. Nobody cked off, knowing that the Orion Shelter had to prepare for the next attack.

    It was unknown when they would be attacked again. The Oracle could make certain predictions using her Divinity but she was not as powerful as before anymore. Her Divinity was not guided by the Universe. Of course, she hadn''t been abandoned by the Universe, but after descending on Jundra, her identity had changed gradually.

    She now belonged to Nial, and not to the Universe anymore.

    Nial returned to the thousand Devils less than two weeks after he sent them off. Theypleted their task, annihting the remaining races. Each of the thousand Devils had millions of corpses stored in their spatial rings. The sheer number of corpses exceeded Nial''s wildest imagination.

    Oddly enough, he didn''t even feel guilty anymore.

    If he had felt a little tinge in his heart killing innocent people before, Nial now felt as if his actions were actually justified.

    But even if he felt like that, he knew deep down that it was not fair.

    Unfortunately, fairness was something that didn''t exist in the Universe. The strongly ruled supreme and the weak could only do their best in order to survive. They eithery low and avoid offending the strong, or they had to be subordinate to the strong, and do their dirty work.

    Doing neither of them would inevitably result in a devastating fate, the fate the dozen races had encountered after attacking Nial.

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 Chapter 732 Fortifying

    ?

    "The Primordial Angel is not amongst the corpses? Well, that''s sad."

    Nial was currently organizing his spatial rings when he noticed that the bitch, the Primordial Angel, was missing.

    Annihting the Angels, Heligavs and the other ten races had been rather simple. After all, they had already been weakened and their strongest forces had been spread out across their territory.

    Furthermore, Nial''s Devils were not to be taken lightly. Even Primordials and Ancients couldn''t take them lightly.

    That was also why he was now in possession of more than 100 billion corpses, which he digested inrge batches. While digesting the corpses in batches that contained millions of corpses at a time, Nial sorted the other loot he obtained from the Devils.

    The Devils plundered thes, taking everything that looked even the slightest bit valuable. Nial didn''t really want to know how the Devils left behind thes after their big plunder, but he could roughly fathom it.

    Barren.

    That was probably what was left behind. Barrennds.

    It caused him to smile a little, thinking that he had be much crueler than ever before. However, that was life. The events of the past created the character of the present. He was not sure how much he would change but he knew that his actions had to be decisive and that he had to get hold of evrey possible opportunity to grow stronger.

    At the same time, he had to acquire even more resources, otherwise, he would end up losing the Orion Shelter sooner orter.

    The Origin was constantly growing and it was only a matter of time before it regained its former power. By then, Primordials, Ancients, and Divine Gods would attack him.

    As long as Nial was far away from the Orion Shelter, they wouldn''t attack it. However, some Ancient Gods and other Gods may think differently. They would want to see Nial crawl on the ground, begging for mercy if his beloved friends and family were to be taken hostage.

    The Orion Shelter''s defenses had to grow stronger and he would have to leave a bunch of powerful Devils behind to guard the Orion Shelter, and his family, no matter where he was.

    He ordered a few thousand Devils to be his family''s subordinates. They might not like it, but it was not as if Nial cared about their liking. As long as his family was fine, everything would be good.

    By procuring more and better resources, Nial could ensure the safety of his family. That was also why he had to sort out his loot first. There may not be many God-grade items in the loot of the Devils, but that was still fine. Devouring and digesting the billions of corpses was also an important and rather time-consuming task, which he had toplete, either way.

    He was currently not in a rush, to begin with. He could work calmly and consider carefully what he should do. Enhancing the Orion Shelter''s Ancient Dome and other defensive mechanisms wouldn''t be easy. It was rather time-consuming, and something he couldn''t solve just because he wanted to.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial knew that he had to start researching the Ancient Dome and other runic devices once again before altering anything. Upgrading something was not necessarily easy, especially not if we''re talking about something like the Ancient Dome.

    Fortunately, Nial had already something in mind.

    There were many ways to upgrade the Ancient Dome and the other defensive mechanisms of the Orion Shelter. One of the ways was to make use of the things he saw and experienced in the Witness State. The istion barrier of the Silver Eye n, the weapons of the Lacardia Empyrea Void, and the Eora magic circles used by the Witchers of the empire were all things he could use as a reference in order to apply new upgrades.

    He was not too sure how long it would take but Nial was pretty sure that it was only a matter of years before the Orion Shelter would be fortified enough to endure the attack of Ancient Gods. Of course, the attacks of Ancient Gods were not something the Ancient Dome could easily endure over a long period, but that was not necessary, in the first ce.

    The Army of Devil was stationed in the Orion Shelter, and he would create a permanent rift in the Monster Dimension inside the Orion Shelter soon as well. That way, his Devils would never be too far away from the Orion Shelter if something were to happen.

    At the same time, it wouldn''t be challenging to enter the Monster Dimension to start looting it.

    Nial nned to enter the Monster Dimension to collect a few heavenly treasures anytime soon. However, he changed is mind after he felt too bloated from devouring the first few billion corpses. He couldn''t do too much while his body was overflowing with energy, otherwise, his progress would stagnate.

    That was not something Nial wanted to do. Thus, he sent a few thousand Devils to search for the heavenly treasures he - or precisely Goldy and Psy - needed.

    Goldy and Psy were at the peak of their racial limit, and it was about time to evolve them. The Blind Mouse would never evolve into a higher lifeform. However, the Blind Mouse''s power would increase drastically. Nial wanted Psy to be as strong as possible in the shortest possible time.

    The same applied to the Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon, whom Nial wanted to evolve into the True Golden Dragon with a single evolution.

    Goldy would require a bunch of heavenly treasures to achieve that but Nal already knew what the Flood Dragon required. That way, it was only a matter of time and energy before Goldy would be an even stronger ally than the Famir was already.

    Various ns had formed in Nial''s mind and he was ready to execute all of them. There was no need to hesitate as time was of the matter. He finished all preparations and made sure that everyone knew what they had to do before he sent out the Devils.

    Meanwhile, Nial focused the following years to be stronger and to strengthen the Orion Shelter.

    The hundreds of billions of corpses had been fully digested by then and his terrific progress slowed down.

    He was about to be an Ancient God.

 Chapter 733 Silence

    ?

    A powerful and majestic creature levitated in the air above Nial.

    Its body was long and serpentine, stretching out for thousands of meters in length. Its skin covered in iridescent golden scales shimmered and sparkled in the light, creating a mesmerizing effect.

    The head of the being wasrge and imposing, with sharp, curved horns protruding from its forehead. Its eyes were piercing and intelligent, shining with a fierce light that caused shivers to run down the spines of its enemies. A single nce of the vibrant golden eyes was enough to strike fear into the hearts of those who look upon it.

    The being''s jaw was lined with long razor-sharp fangs, strong enough to tear apart Gods with ease.

    Its wings were humongous and powerful, with a wingspan that crossed its length by far. The wings were adorned with intricate patterns that had been formed through the scales'' constetion. Meanwhile, its tail was long and sinuous, slowly sweeping in the air in an elegant and fluid motion.

    Finally, the creature exuded an aura of power and majesty that could be felt by everyone in its presence.

    This creature was none other than a Dragon¡­and not just any kind of Dragon, but a True Golden Dragon, one of the strongest Dragons in existence once fully matured and nurtured.

    This True Golden Dragon was none other than Goldy, Nial''s first and most loyal Familiar!

    Goldy, the Divaro Golmmian Flood Dragon finally evolved! He became an actual True Golden Dragon.

    Nial knew that Goldy possessed the innate potential to be a True Golden Dragon, but he was still happy that his Familiar evolved so easily.

    It took Goldy only a few years to digest the heavenly treasures that had been collected by the Army of Devils and to evolve. Goldy was finally a true powerhouse with enough strength to stand next to Nial and his Devils.

    Meanwhile, the Blind Mouse, Psy, had also evolved several times, even if it was its powers and not its race that had evolved.

    The Orion Shelter had been rebuilt and reinforced over the course of years. Nial was quite satisfied with the result of his hard work. He had given his best, just like everyone else, and the result was apparent.

    The poption of the Orion Shelter had increased once again, which came to a surprise. Nial didn''t expect that strangers would be willing to be citizens of the Orion Shelter.

    However, that was exactly what happened. Strangers, who only knew him as the Dark Sessor, a vile and wicked being, chose to migrate to the Orion Shelter.

    Nial was pretty sure that something was wrong with the new residents, but he quickly figured that his first impression waspletely wrong.

    The new residents were mostly strong existences, which had been forced to flee after they offended someone stronger than them. Some offended individual powerhouses, otherwise had to flee after rejecting the proposal of an influential entity, while others annihted entire ns only to be pursued by higher authorities.

    Nial was actually not sure about the reasoning of every new resident, however, he was sure that they didn''t lie to him. He was stronger than most of them and forced the residents to undergo an interview while being under the influence of his reinforced Dominion ability.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Using the Dominion ability while being on the verge of bing a God equivalent to the Ancient Gods, Nial could control most entities in the Orion Shelter with his will. However, by adding Psy''s horrifyingly powerful trait, Nial''s Dominion ability grew even stronger.

    Nobody was able to escape the interview in which Nial forced them to expose their dirtiest secret and the true reason for bing citizens of the Orion Shelter. He also questioned their loyalty to make sure whom to trust and which residents he had to pay attention to.

    At the end of the day, some races had attempted to send spies inside the Orion Shelter. To the spies'' misery, they failed miserably. They were killed horrifyingly and their heads were sent back to the races who thought that it was a good idea to send spies over to him.

    Nial mostly ignored the spies but he provoked the races who had attempted to provoke him first. He was a little petty but that was perfectly fine. It was just the type of person Nial became after he acquired strength.

    With his own strength reaching new heights, Goldy''spleted evolution, a fully matured fissure connecting the Monster Dimension and the Orion Shelter, various precious resources at his disposal, and thepleted fortification of the Orion Shelter''s defensive mechanisms, Nial was more than just a little satisfied.

    There was little to no reason for him toin about anything. The only suspicion was the silence around the Orion Shelter.

    Nial had actually expected that more and more races would intend to attack him, but nobody dared to do anything after he demonstrated the power of the Devil Army by annihting a dozen races that had attacked him.

    At the first nce, it felt like his merciless actions prevented anyone from attacking him. Nial initially presumed that nobody was willing to take the risk and attack him.

    However, after several years passed without a single direct attack, Nial felt that his initial thought had been wrong.

    The Origin''s restrictions were growing weaker with time passing. It was only obvious that stronger races would feel like attempting to attack the God of Gluttony then. Even if it was a desperate attack, some races would certainly feel like giving it a try.

    After all, their reputation across the entire Universe would skyrocket IF they were to actually end up killing Nial.

    Of course, the chance of sess was slim but there were always idiots. Each race had more than enough idiotic members. That was something Nial was pretty certain of.

    But even then, nobody actually attacked him.

    That could only mean one thing.

    Something big was about to happen.

    Little did Nial know just how big the future events were.

 Chapter 734 To The Galaxies

    ?

    After years of traveling back and forth to the Monster Dimension, Nial got to know a bunch of things.

    First, the Monster Dimension was a much bigger treasure trove than he first expected. He could acquire countless treasures within the Monster Dimension without drying it up.

    In fact, it felt like the Monster Dimension replenished the resources that were taken from it, though Nial was not sure how exactly it would do that.

    Second, there were far more fissures than he had anticipated. Nial couldn''t fathom how many Creatoran were still alive but he encountered over a dozen fissures that had been manifested for less than a century over the past few years.

    A creatoran could only create one fissure at a time. It would only reset if a fissure were to evolve into a permanent rift. Thus, a dozen - probably more- Creatoran must have survived the attack of the Advocate!

    That was great news!

    It was something that made Nial quite happy. After all, he might even know some of those Creatoran from his time in the Witness State. At the same time, he felt obliged to gather them and to rule the Creatoran¡­bring back the glory of the Lacardia Empyrean Void¡­

    His fissure - connecting the Mosnter Dimension and the Orion Shelter - had already been nourished and evolved into a rift. It cost a considerable amount of energy, but that was something Nial had more than enough, in the first ce.

    Thus, he felt like he should enter the Monster Dimension with a different goal than before in mind; actively search his people.

    By now, the Nial of the past and the Nial of the Witness State had be one. The present Nial was not only Nial Orin, or Nial Lacardia. He was the God of Gluttony and a Summoner. He epted both lifetimes and would never abandon one of them.

    Nial Orin and Nial Lacardia were the same people and they would never be separated again.

    That was also how he understood that his responsibilities were much heavier than he could have ever fathomed.

    Not everyone could carry the weight others had forced upon him.

    But he was not actually angered, or frustrated because of that. On the contrary, the heavy responsibilities made him feel alive more than anything else.

    He ought to be angry at the Advocate of the Pryard for pulling him into the Witness State, but he couldn''t. He was grateful, even if it was just a little bit.

    Nial Orin had been able to live his life as Nial Lacardia.

    He was able to meet his parents, and other family members thanks to the Seed of Illusion. It was also possible for him to get to know more about his background as the Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyrean Void and as Creatoran.

    The information he procured about the Monster Dimension were also very interesting, and something he made use of a lot in recent years.

    Nheless, while Nial was grateful, he also felt that the entire situation was fucked up.

    He desired to take revenge and kill the Advocate of the Pryard in the worst possible way.

    The Advocate of the Pryard pulled him into the Witness State, forcing him to witness a possible future where the Advocate''s attack never happened, a future that was impossible to make true.

    It was humiliating and one of the worst experiences in his life. After all, he wanted to live life in the Witness State more than the current one.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He had been respected by everyone, whether it was because of his status, talent, or power¡­and he had been loved by many.

    However, at the end of the day, his inheritance, or rather the inheritance of the God of Darkness, changed his life inevitably, though it was questionable if that was a blessing or a curse.

    In reality, he was still alive. Nial survived the attack of the Advocate, but his entire life changed from being the Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyrean Void to bing a blind child in the middle of nowhere.

    His life was not the same in reality and the Witness State. His uing was a lot different. However, did he hate it? Nial was not too sure about it.

    He didn''t hate his life. On the contrary, he loved his life.

    It was just that he missed his blood-rted family, and the people he got to know in the Witness State.

    Maybe¡­just maybe, it was also a little bit annoying that the vast majority of the Universe wanted to see him dead.

    But that was just a minor issue.

    Well, maybe it was a little bit more concerning than being a ''minor'' issue.

    Nial knew that his currentbat power was extraordinary, for his age. If he were to face an Ancient God, he would definitelye out victorious. However, fighting multiple Ancient Gods at the same time was likely to end up disastrous.

    With the Army of Devils, he wouldn''t have much of an issue. But there was something else he had ignored until now.

    The four Gigalorian Gxies had been Damian''s territory as well.

    The four Gigalorian Gxies had been sealed by the Late God of Darkness, and they resurfaced with the Devils.

    Nial was not sure if the residents of the four Gigalorian Gxies would be willing to follow Nial easily but it was very likely that they would follow him, one way or another.

    He presumed that they would challenge him, or some of them, however, that was something he could cope with by being prepared for any possible scenario.

    Taking that into consideration, Nial left most of his Devils behind in the Orion Shelter before he went on his short journey to the Gigalorian Gxies.

    Traveling was not exactly special with Shadow by his side. After all, it took only a few seconds and a bunch of jumps through space to travel across the entire Universe.

    This made things a little easier even if it took away the joy of exploring unknownnds while traveling to the next destination.

    But that was not something Nial could be focused on.

    After all, he had to convince a bunch of oldies to follow him on his fight against the rest of the Universe!

 Chapter 735 Infernal Ancients And Asuras

    ?

    The Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs were the strongest.

    They controlled two Gigalorian Gxies respectfully and possessed the power to turn the Gxies upside down.

    Each of their members is bound to ascend godhood as long as they survive long enough. That was how high their racial talent was.

    Nial was currently surrounded by a bunch of these Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs.

    They watched him vigntly while slowly moving around him.

    ''Is that how they greet me? Couldn''t they have greeted me somewhere else but in the middle of nowhere?'' Nial thought light-heartedly.

    He didn''t think too much about their actions. After all, Nial heard that the Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs wouldn''t hesitate to rip apart whoever dared to enter the Gigalorian Gxies.

    That way, they avoided bothersome people from considering entering their territory.

    Their tactic worked pretty well because only five people dared to enter the Gigalorian Gxies before they had been killed mercilessly.

    Even Primordials and Ancients had no chance once hundreds of powerhouses attacked them individually.

    Other than the five Gods who died pitifully, a few Devils survived entering the Gigalorian Gxies. The Army of Devils and the four Gigalorian Gxies were old friends, if one wanted to put it as such.

    They had the same master and worked together on more than one asion.

    Despite that, the Devils surrounding Nial protectively right now were red at, and restricted.

    ''I should have brought more Devils with me.'' NIalmented, hiding a small smile beneath his poker face.

    He visualized the Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs in detail before he took note that their reinforcement arrived as well. However, this time, there were no Infernal Ancients or Asura Mecyrs.

    The reinforcement was a wild bunch of all kinds of Gods. But while they were a wild bunch of Gods, they didn''t seem weak. Nial didn''t take long to understand that their cultivation degree was roughly the same as his.

    They were not yet Ancient Gods but it wouldn''t take much to take the final step.

    ''Why would they call reinforcement weaker than their originalbat power?''

    The Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs levitating around him were as powerful as his Infernal Devils and the Divine Gods outside. So why would they call reinforcement like that?

    Nial calmly observed the situation, and it didn''t take too long before he came to a realization.

    His poker face crumbled as the corners of his lips curled upward.

    "So it''s like that," He mumbled, barely loud enough to be heard by the people around him.

    As his voice rang out, Nial issued a mentalmand to his Devils.

    The Devils didn''t know what their master nned but theyplied and heed their master''smand at once.

    They unleashed their full power and shot in all directions, pinning down the Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs.

    His Devils were at a numerical advantage but theirbat power was considerably weaker than their opponents. However, that was expected because Nial left behind most Infernal Devils to protect the Orion Shelter.

    But that was fine. Nial didn''t want his Devils to kill the Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs. All he needed was to make sure that the Devils would stall for some time.

    Nial, on the other hand, had already vanished from his earlier position.

    He exerted Grasp of Eclipse and reappeared in the midst of the other''s reinforcement.

    The wild bunch of reinforcement numbered barely a dozen. Each of them was roughly at the same cultivation rank as Nial, which was too much of a coincidence to be one.

    He released his reinforced dark energy explosively, shrouding everyone in a sphere of darkness. Until his opponents dispersed the darkness, their senses would deteriorate drastically. After all, Nial had used a considerable amount of reinforced dark energy to release the dark mist of the Hodur''s Heir Curse as well!

    Nial put little to no focus on maintaining the shape of the thick reinforced dark mist sphere. He was more focused on the condition of the dozen pseudo-Ancient Gods.

    ''Their sight is fully blocked, and their other senses should have been weakened by more than a quarter. That''s good enough.''

    Even though he had ascended godhood, Nial was not really in possession of a powerful attack-type Cursed Divine ability. Devour allowed him to devour the corpses of his opponents, and various other things, while the Heart of Gluttony would digest everything devoured, turning it into energy to progress in the ranks and to provide the God of Gluttony with more energy to fight.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial''s only advantage in a fight was that he had a near-unlimited amount of dark energy at his disposal.

    That was something he had to make use of. After all, his opponents were in possession of Divine abilities and Cursed Divine abilities. There were also the special traits of their Divinities.

    Thus, he had to test out how useful his near-unlimited amount of reinforced dark energy would work against opponents on the same level as him.

    Once the sphere swallowed all of them, Nial summoned Goldy''s armor by fusing it with the True Golden Dragon. At the same time, he unleashed crimson chaos evenly from within his body. The crimson chaos merged with the golden scales, further enhancing Nial''s physical strength.

    However, that was not everything.

    Nial was not done yet!

    He initiated a partial fusion with Psy and unleashed the full power of the Dominion ability.

    "Freeze!"

    His voice, enhanced by Psy''s special trait, rang through the sphere like a thunderbolt. The dozen pseudo Ancient Gods froze in their tracks, even halting the cirction of their cultivation energy for a second or two.

    That was more than enough for Nial to approach the first pseudo-Ancient God and snap his neck - if he wanted to. Nial''s hands were covered in the True Golden Dragon''s scales. They were close to indestructible, and strong enough to protect Nial under most circumstances.

    Meanwhile, they were also great means to knock out his opponents. A full-power cut to his opponent''s neck, or a heavy blow against his opponent''s temples, was more than enough to make them dizzy or knock them out at once.

    Nial used his full might to deprive the consciousness of his first opponent before he disappeared once again. Within the darkness sphere, his energy was fully concealed. He didn''t issue any noises either, and he could teleport anywhere using the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique.

    Thus, even before the pseudo-Ancient Gods could think of a way to counter Nial, they had either been knocked out, or rendered incapable to continue fighting.

    ''Their actualbat experience seems to be somewhat restricted.'' Nial thought, a little disappointed in the actualbat prowess of the Gods in the Gigalorian Gxies.

    He could tell that the Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs were much stronger because they could easily fight head-on against his Devils, but that was already it.

    The wild bunch of pseudo-Ancient Gods hadn''t been that great.

    But what was the reason? Did he overwhelm them? Take them by surprise?

    If that was everything, Nial would be able to kill all Ancient Gods across the Universe with a dirty trick such as the one he had used to distract the Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs and the wild bunch of pseudo-Ancient Gods.

    Unfortunately, that wouldn''t work in reality.

    What did that mean?

    Were the Gods of the four Gigalorian Gxies just weak? That shouldn''t be it!

    ''Maybe they never encountered someone like me? The versatility of their opponents should be rather restricted by being bound to the Gigalorian Gxies for eons. Is that it? In that case, they need to acquire more experience in the next few months, otherwise, they will die fighting the rest of the Universe.''

    Nial releases whips of darkness out of his fingers to gather the unconscious pseudo-Ancient Gods. He did so subconsciously to make sure that none of them would be lost in space. After all, that would be quite problematic.

    Meanwhile, he entered a deep thought, trying to figure out how to make use of the Gigalorian Gxies'' Gods without sacrificing them.

    He wanted to achieve his goal, but not by sacrificing his people.

    **

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 Chapter 736 Ruling Rights

    ?

    Thanks for your guidance, Eternal Darkness!" The dozen pseudo-Ancient Gods shouted in unison.

    They bowed their head deep down in front of Nial and didn''t lift their head for the next few minutes.

    ''The hell?''

    After defeating the dozen pseudo-Ancient Gods, the fights ended. The small portion of Nial''s Army of Devils, and both Infernal Ancients and Asura Mecyrs stopped their fight.

    They understood that the battle had to end now, otherwise, someone would be harmed.

    The attitude of the two Overlord races of the four Gigalorian Gxies changed drastically after he defeated the dozen pseudo-Ancient Gods easily.

    It didn''t take him more than a minute to finish his job, thus showing that he was far stronger and more experienced than them.

    Nial was led to the that was the closest to them and it didn''t take much longer before the wild bunch of pseudo-Ancient Gods regained their consciousness.

    Nial was still confused with the change of attitude of the people from the Gigalorian Gxies, but it was certainly a good thing.

    "You wanted to test me, didn''t you?" He asked the strongest of the Asura Mecyrs. His lifeless eyes stared unfocused in the man''s direction, while he visualized the Asura.

    They were taller than humans and there was something special about their eyes. But most importantly, they didn''t cultivate in the same way as others. Neither the Asura nor the Infernal Ancients were in possession of a Mana Sea.

    They were neither Originals nor Ascenders.

    No matter what cultivation method they used, they were extremely powerful. That was a fact.

    At first, it looked like the Infernal Devils had been at an advantage, but that quickly changed. Once the Asura and Infernal Ancients grew more ustomed to the abilities and powers of the Devils the tide of the battle changedpletely.

    It was only thanks to Nial that the Devils were able to avoid getting humiliated, very badly at that.

    "We waited for you, way longer than you might think, Eternal Darkness," The strongest Asura said, his hoarse voice filled with nostalgia.

    "Our strength increased drasticallypared to the Dark Era, but we couldn''t - and we still can''t - allow just anyone to be our new ruler."

    "Fighting against a dozen opponents with roughly the same cultivation progress was merely a small basic test. You could consider it a preliminary round to see if you''rebat power is high enough to even consider you as the Eternal Darkness. We wanted to see your usage of his power!"

    Nial could tell that Asura was talking about the Late God of Darkness when talking about ''his power''. He wasn''t bothered that the Overlords of the four Gigalorian Gxies wanted to test him.

    In fact, it was much better that they tested him rather than blindly following him. This made him feel like they weren''t fanatics who would do everything just to please their master.

    Nial felt a lot more reassured than he expected.

    ''Am I getting old?'' He wondered, smiling faintly at his thought.

    "I see no problem in testing my capabilities and everything else you''re curious about. After all, I came here to ask the residents of the four Gigalorian Gxies to follow me in the fight against the Universe.

    I actually want to avoid fighting the Universe but I am pretty sure that thest Advocate of the Pryard lives in their midst. The Advocate is probably connected to every corner of the Universe, which means that I have to fight through the ranks of the Universe to find and kill thest Advocate¡­" Nial said seemingly lightly, only for his heavy expression to expose his true feelings.

    "...but I cannot do that alone."<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial had the Army of Devils. They were powerful and certainly strong enough to fight hundreds of races at the same time. Nial was pretty sure that the Army of Devils could fight against most Ancients and those below without too many issues.

    However, there were also the Divine Gods, beings as strong as the Divine Gods, and the Primordials.

    He was in need of more fighting power, and only the Gigalorian Gxies could provide this power easily.

    ''Even the Asura and Infernal Ancients were a little rusty in their first sh against the Infernal Devils. All of them are a little rusty, but that can be solved¡­and once that is actually solved, they''re the strongest¡­''

    "Our savior, the God of Darkness, couldn''t fight the Universe on his own either. He was in need of support and we dly supported him. We were - and still are - in his debt. Even though the God of Darkness died a long time ago we never forgot the debt we have to repay.

    However, instead of blindly agreeing to follow you, we will have toe to an understanding." The strongest Asura said, pulling Nial out of his train of thought.

    Nial tilted his head lightly before he understood what the Asura was talking about.

    "You want to test me a little bit more, probably using some means to understand my strength and personality, isn''t that right?" He pointed out rather easily.

    He figured that the Overlords of the Gigalorian Gxies had to figure out whether it was too dangerous to follow Nial, if it was better to wait a little longer and be stronger, or if Nial was the type of person that should never umte enough strength and forces to possibly rule, or even destroy the Universe.

    Many things had to be figured out and it looked like the Overlords would only make their decision afterward.

    "If you want our support in the final fight against the Advocate, you will have to ovee the Nightmare Trial, the Trial of Truth, and the Trial of Power, that''s correct. Only by passing all three trials will we acknowledge you. This is unrted to your inheritance of the God of Darkness'' Power, and something we would do one way or another. I hope you don''t hate us for being careful."

    "It''s fine. I would probably do the same. The trials may actually help me to find out more about myself, and I really need your help," Nial said quite calmly.

    However, deep down, he couldn''t help but feel a little worried about the first trial.

    Nightmare Trials.

    Nial felt that this would be quite troublesome.

    "Seems like you''re eager to start the trials right of the bat. In that case, let''s not waste too much of our precious time!" The strongest Asura eximed, patting Nial''s shoulder before he pushed him into a particr direction.

    Nial sighed inwardly but he followed the Asura. There was nothing else he could do. Running away was not an option, not if he wanted the support of the four Gigalorian Gxies.

    Trying to distract himself a little from the uing Nightmare trial, Nial changed the topic all of a sudden.

    "The Gods of the Gigalorian Gxies are a little rusty when ites to fighting Devils, and beings with simr powers, right?" He asked, causing the other ASuras and Infernal Ancients to look at him.

    How was his question rted to the Trials? Was he trying to mock them before the trials started?

    They were not sure what Nial nned, and couldn''t fathom that Nial was just a tad worried about the Nightmare Trial.

    "In that case, how about you let the Devils beat you up a little?"

    "HUH?!"

    "..."

 Chapter 737 Divine Hall Of The Beginning

    ?

    Nial received a rather simple exnation of the three trials he had to pass.

    The Nightmare trial would throw him into a Nightmare, forcing him to re-experience the worst time of his life. He would have to witness the worst time of his life once again even though he had already sealed the memories in the deepest parts of his subconsciousness.

    Nial was pretty sure that he wouldn''t witness his mother''s death again. He already had nightmares of that in the past and he overcame them.

    On the contrary, Nial was certain that his Nightmare would be rted to his two lifetimes. Even if that was not the case, it would be somehow rted to his being as Nial Lacardia. Nial could bet his life on that.

    Other than the Nightmare Trial, the Trial of Truth and the Trial of Power seemed rather simple.

    The Trial of Truth was a simple quiz. He would have to answer a bunch of questions to detect whether he had a good personality, decent goals, and what he desired. The quiz would be supervised to make sure that he wouldn''t lie, and he would have to write down on special paper, which forced him not to hide anything.

    That way, he could neither lie nor leave out the most important parts when answering the quiz.

    Meanwhile, the Trial of Power would determine how powerful he was. His individual strength would be tested to the limit to find out his current standards, his talent, and how far he can go with his means.

    He may not be an Ancient God yet but hisbat prowess was certainly above that. Going all out with enough energy stored in the Heart of Gluttony, Nial may actually be able to face a Divine God head-on. Of course, that was just theory and not something they had tested out yet. They would find out the truth soon enough.

    Nobody could tell how long it would take before the Trials were to bepleted. Nial didn''t have to pass them immediately either. He could re-enter the trials as often as he desired.

    Of course, if Nial''s potential and personality were too bad, even re-entering the trials thousands of times wouldn''t make a difference. It would be a waste of time.

    However, nobody thought that Nial would fail. Even the strongest Asura, who got to know Nial only a few hours prior, could tell that the Eternal Darkness was not the type of person who failed such trials.

    He was sure that the Eternal Darkness would pass the three trials with flying colors.

    "Are you ready?" The strongest Asura asked Nial, who could only sigh deeply.

    "Just go for it."

    Nial took a deep breath, closed his eyelids, and waited patiently to be pulled into the Nightmare Trial.

    The strongest Asura smiled lightly at his reaction. He lifted his hand and pressed a small, t object against his forehead.

    "Good luck."

    **

    [In the far distance of the Gigalorian Gxies, at the same time]

    Inside the Divine Hall.

    All Divine Gods had gathered.

    For the first time in history, all Divine Gods gathered in the Divine Hall of the Beginning.

    It was a first, but it was certainly not a pleasant asion.

    "The Dark Sessor started moving again. How did he survive the ploy of the Divine God of Truth? Looks like his sacrifice was not worth it¡­that''s unfortunate," The Divine Eye Goddess said, scratching her eyelid in annoyance.

    Her golden eye twitched a lot in recent days, and she had no idea why that was the case. The golden eye never acted up before.

    Even her other eye felt much heavier than usual. It was almost as if a heavy weight pulled down the eyelid of her silver eye. It was pretty annoying, and even more so frustrating.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "I never expected the Divine God of Truth to be willing to poison himself to entrap the sessor of the Darkness God. I always thought that the Divine God of Truth was obsessed with life¡­to think that he would sacrifice himself with his poison." The Divine God of Forging said, leaning over the shaft of his humongous forging hammer.

    "The Divine God of Truth should have informed us about his plot. We could have helped him. Now, his sacrifice was for naught. What a waste¡­" The Divine Goddess of Poison added. She clicked her tongue and cursed the stupidity of the Divine God of Truth.

    Who would poison himself and order someone else to kill him after realizing that the Sessor of the Darkness God decided toe over to his ce?

    Did he already expect to die through the ws of the Infernal Devils, and he just took it on his own to make sure that the Dark Sessor would suffer?

    "Either way. The traces are pretty clear. The Divine God of Truth poisoned himself willingly. No external forces have been used to force the Divine God of Truth to do anything. It is only a little bit weird thought. Just like the Divine God of Forging said, the Divine God of Truth was obsessed with life.

    Rather than sacrificing himself, he would have asked others to support him and take down the Dark Sessor the moment he found out that he came over. There is also something else we have to pay attention to¡­" The Divine God of Energy pointed out.

    "...What else do we have to pay attention to?" The Goddess of the Divine Eyes asked, still rubbing her eyelid. She lifted her hand to pinch her cheeks a moment w

    "Isn''t it weird that the Dark Sessor came to visit the Divine God of Truth? What reason did he have to visit the Divine God of Truth? To kill him? Please, that''s stupid. The Dark Sessor ascended godhood not too long ago. He may have some Infernal Devils by his side but they never attacked anyone. I didn''t sense their vile energy remnants anywhere in the abode of the Divine God of Truth. That means, the Dark Sessor and his Devils never attacked anyone," The Divine God of Energy pointed out.

    He cleared his throat, giving the other Divine Gods some time to think about his words before he added.

    "Even if the Divine God of Truth was ready to sacrifice his life to stop the Dark Sessor, that didn''t mean the Dark Sessor wanted to kill the Divine God."

    "What was the reason for him to approach the Divine God of Truth?!"

    Even if someone wanted to answer the question posed by the Divine God of Energy, nobody could actually find a feasible reason for Nial''s actions.

    After thoroughly researching the crime scene it was found out that the Dark Sessor didn''t attack anyone. The energy he had released was without killing intent at that time.

    Furthermore, he had only be a God. He had been in presence of a woman with whom many were very familiar.

    Most hated her but that was not of importance.

    The Oracle had been next to him. What did that mean?

    Nobody could tell.

    It was too confusing¡­and it didn''t make any sense.

    "...Is he really our enemy?"

    **

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 Chapter 738 The Divine Gods

    ?

    "...Is he really our enemy?"

    Nobody knew who asked this question but it rang through the Divine Hall of the Beginning for quite a while.

    Silencemenced throughout the entire hall as nobody wanted to be the next to say anything.

    The death of the Divine God of Truth may have been sad but everyone knew that the Divine God made preparations to enter the reincarnation circle with additional support. It wouldn''t be difficult for the Divine God of Truth to find his inheritance and retrieve his former life''s memories.

    Many Gods, especially Divine Gods prepared for their death. It was unlikely that Divine Gods would die just like that but it was never impossible. Making ample preparations for the reincarnation circle was of utmost importance.

    Despite that, nobody would willingly sacrifice their lives. After all, it would take countless years before they would be able to regain their former strength - if they survived that long, in the first ce.

    "Is he really our enemy? He obliterated a dozen races not too long ago, not caring whether he killed innocent people! There were even infants!!" The Divine Goddess of Genesis shouted in anger.

    "Calm down, Genesis. They attacked him first, killing millions of innocent people as well. I would have done the same as the Dark Sessor to make an example. Nobody attacked him after what he did to the dozen races he obliterated. If he hadn''t gone to the extreme, other races would have taken this as a sign of weakness. They would have attacked him as well," The Divine God of Death and Trickeryughed, pointing at Genesis with a bright smile on his face.

    He loved to mock the divine Goddess of Genesis. She was the biggest hypocrite he had ever seen. After all, the Divine Goddess of Genesis tasted more blood than most Gods in the annals of history had even seen.

    As the God of Death, he could clearly tell how many she had killed. It was a sight to behold!

    "YOU!!" The Divine Goddess of Genesis screamed, only for the Goddess of the Divine Eyes to lift her hand.

    "Genesis, Trixster, please fight somewhere else. If you came here to fight, you may as well leave. We have to figure out what we should do against the Dark Sessor, not how to bash each other''s heads!" She said, not hiding her annoyance.

    The Dark Sessor was already troublesome enough. Why were they fighting?

    ''These stupid dogs¡­just do as I say!''

    "Is it really necessary to do something against the Dark Sessor? It doesn''t really look like he did something wrong. He didn''t kill the Divine God of Truth and most would agree that he did the right thing by obliterating the dozen races. If we continue to push him into a corner, he might be a problem, but what if we give him some space?" The Divine Goddess of Nemesis asked.

    She didn''t have anything against the Dark Sessor and merely came to watch a nice show. Everyone was present in the Divine Hall of the Beginning. How could she miss out on such a great show?

    Of course, she could just leave because it didn''t look like the discussion was going anywhere. But she felt like stirring a little bit more trouble, especially when she could turn the life of Goddess of the Divine Eye a little worse. Angering the Goddess of the Divine Eye was just too enjoyable.

    That bitch was as fake as someone could be.

    "Nemesis, are you serious right now? Do you want to wait until the Dark Sessores over here and asks for your neck, OUR neck?" The Goddess of the Divine Eye asked sharply, her left silver eye glowing brightly.

    It looked like she was ready to pounce at the Divine Goddess of Nemesis.

    Nemesis didn''t say anything. She just smiled at the Goddess of the Divine Eye and shrugged her shoulders.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Once again, silence filled the Divine Hall of the Beginning.

    "Do you even know where the Dark Sessor is right now, and what he is doing?! He is requesting support from the Asura Mecyrs and the Infernal Ancients! Once he receives their support, and the unconditional loyalty of the four Gigalorian Gxies, the only way out is to fight, otherwise, we will die miserably!" The Goddess of the Divine Eye announced at this moment.

    Nobody asked her how she knew where the Dark Sessor was, because that was the smallest issues.

    The Army of Devils was already bothersome to the Divine Gods. If the Dark Sessor were to increase the number of loyal subjects by taking in the four Gigalorian Gxies, their advantage would change in an instant.

    After all, the four Gigalorian Gxies had developed into the most potent Gxies, right after the Origin Gxy¡­

    "We have to be ready with a full-fledged n that reassures our victory and survival!"

    "Don''t tell me you believe that the Dark Sessor''s words were genuine in the Divine Hall. He is that bastard''s sessor! Or¡­are you thinking of betraying the Universe?!?" The Goddess of the Divine Eye shouted almost frantically.

    Everyone looked at the Goddess of the Divine Eye, some with a trace of shock, some without a change in their expression.

    Meanwhile, Nemesis furrowed her eyebrows while the Divine God of Forging intercepted.

    "Don''t you think that you''re a little too much? He never attacked firs¨C...."

    Before the Divine God of Forging was even able to finish his words, the Goddess of the Divine Eye smashed her hands t on the table.

    The table broke and the tension intensified in an instant.

    "Listen to me¡­" The Goddes of the Divine Eye said, her voice trailing off.

    Meanwhile, Nial was having a hard time

    He was sweating buckets and writhing in pain. He red around on the ground like a fish onnd.

    Nobody thought of helping him even though there were dozens of people staring at him.

    Their expressions were stoic, traces of interest glimmering in his eyes.

    "Seems like he will make it through the Nightmare Trial," One of the Asuras said. The strongest of them nodded his head.

    "It''s better to follow someone like him. I rather follow a strong leader who fears something than a maniac who is not even afraid of death."

 Chapter 739 Nightmares

    ?

    Nial''s chest moved slowly and heavily. Cold sweat drenched his clothes, and the sound of his rough breathing resounded in the room.

    The Asura Mecyrs and the Infernal Ancients watched Nial carefully, without saying a word since Nial started the Nightmare Trial several hours ago.

    "Looks like his Nightmare is tougher than we expected. He seems to have lots of regrets in his heart," One of the Infernal Ancientsmented.

    The others just nodded their head.

    He will make it through the Nightmare trial nheless," An Asura responded, repeating what one of his brethren said not too long ago as well.

    The strongest of the Asura kept watching Nial. He didn''t know the young man and he never heard anything about the sessor of the God of Darkness. The only thing the Overlords of the Gigalorian Gxies knew was that Nial''s ascension to godhood resulted in the return of their Gxies.

    They were pulled outside the realm that had been created by the God of Darkness before he sacrificed himself. Other than that, they didn''t really know anything. Some of their people left the Gigalorian Gxies to research the current situation, but the scouts had yet to return.

    It would probably take a while.

    "No matter what happens, I guess we will have to postpone our ns with the Void-Bridges," He said at this moment. Leaning forward, he took a closer look at the Sessor of the Late Darkness God. His eyes began to glow, and a small smile formed on his lips after a few seconds.

    "He is not from this Universe. His Nightmare shows a different realm. He was the Crown Prince? Not bad. The Advocate took everything from him though¡­Very interesting!" The Asura Leader said without further changes in his expression.

    "Is he fighting for revenge then?" the same Infernal Ancient as before asked. He frowned a little hearing what the Asura Leader said earlier, and his previous image of the Darkness God''s Sessor dropped quite a bit.

    "Not really. He wants revenge, but that is not the reason why he fights for this Universe. It looks like he considers the Universe his home. He has many people he holds dearly. This kid¡­is definitely not like Damian, that''s for sure."

    "Well, Damian was alone."

    "But this kid isn''t."

    "The God of Darkness fought to survive, and he killed to survive. This kid fights to protect even if he has to kill everyone. He pursues thest wish of the Late Darkness God because he has his memories. This kid knows how dangerous the Advocates can be if left alone for too long. Only one of the Advocates is left alive, but that is more than enough to stir more and more trouble in the Universe."

    More and more Asura and Infernal Ancients joined the conversation after the first few started it. A long time passed since the Great War and they lived a rather pleasant life with lots of fighting with each other, and time to be much stronger than they had ever been.

    They even made a research to create a Void-Bridge to connect the Gigalorian Gxies to other Universes. The Void Bridges were still under construction but they would soon bepleted. Thus, it was only a matter of time before they would return to the surface of the Universes, ready to fight.

    The Asura Mecyrs and the Infernal Ancients were races that focused onbat. Being unable to fight new opponents, especially stronger opponents, they felt that their realm hade to a standstill.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    That was also why they would follow the sessor of the Late Darkness God even if he was not perfect. As long as Nial Orin was not aplete weakling, who could spout nonsense but not defend his words with actions, or a jerk who wanted to obliterate everyone and everything, they would probably follow him.

    And if Nial was troublesome, they would just start fighting the Army of Devils. After all, the Infernal Devils seemed quite enjoyable sparring partners!

    However, from the looks of Nial Orin, who was still wiggling on the ground, trying to endure the mental pain of his Nightmare Trial, would seed without too many issues.

    Watching his Nightmare Trial allowed the Asura and Infernal Ancients to see what kind of person Nial was first-hand. It may be a grave break of his privacy but neither the Asura nor the Infernal Ancients could care about this right now.

    They were about to decide whether it was fine to set their life on the line for the Sessor of the Late God of Darkness, or if it would lead to more problems, possibly even to the destruction of the Universe.

    No matter what happened, the Asura and Infernal Ancients didn''t want to regret their decision. Thus, they pried straight into his head, where they saw the Nightmare Trial unfolding itself.

    Nial was fighting vigntly against the Demons in his heart, and it looked like he wouldn''t take too long before he would pass the Nightmare Trial. Nheless, the pain and suffering he was going through didn''t seem normal.

    In fact, watching Nial''s Nightmare Trial many were confused and overwhelmed. Nial had to face a Nightmare thatbined three lifetimes. As the holder of the Darkness God''s Memories, he was thrown into an abyss filled with the trillions of beings that had been killed by the God of Darkness.

    As Nial Orin, he had to go through the pain of losing his mother once again. His remaining family was tortured and killed in front of his eyes over and over again. After that, his friends and everyone else around him were murdered mercilessly¡­and all just because they didn''t want to leave his side, and abandon him.

    However, at the end of the day, Nial was alone. The Nightmare he faced as Nial Orin made him realize that too many people were after the God of Darkness, including his sessor. Their reasoning didn''t really matter either. It was just a fact that they wanted to kill him for being the Darkness God''s Sessor¡­and that his family and beloved friends would suffer because of that as well.

    At the same time, in the third lifetime, his life as Nial Lacardia showed the repetitive destruction of the Lacardia Empyrean Void. First, the Nightmare showed him the reality. Nial witnessed everything that happened in the past over and over again. Every single moment was imprinted into his mind and it would torment him until the end of his days.

    Only after that did the third Nightmare change, showing him countless moments where he failed as Nial Lacardia, and where his failure caused the death of his innocent subjects.

    The third Nightmare showed him the death of the Emperor and Empress as well as the murder of Ayase Silvereye. Nial''s blood was boiling watching all of this. He knew that each of the Nightmares was just that¡­a Nightmare. However, watching them caused his blood to boil and his mind to be overwhelmed with various thoughts.

    He witnessed the three Nightmares at the same time and they repeated themselves over and over again. The Nightmares even ovepped with each other at one point, creating unbearable pain and chaos in Nial''s mind.

    He was not even sure where left and right were, and he slowly lost himself in the Nightmares.

    ''No¡­I cannot give up. I cannot allow the Nightmares to devour me¡­I just can''t!!''

 Chapter 740 No Need

    ?

    "Urgh¡­"

    Nial was not sure how many years he spent inside the Nightmares but it had to be an eternity.

    He fought his way through the three Nightmares, slowly resisting them one after another before he overcame them with a final, smooth stride.

    When he regained consciousness, Nial found himself on the ground.

    ''Where am I? Ah¡­I am in the City Hall of Miray¡­I was trying to get their approval¡­'' Nial recalled, but he wondered why he had been left on the ground for several years.

    "How much longer do you want to stay on the ground, kiddo?" A hoarse voice rang out from behind him.

    Nial began to visualize everything around him at this moment. More than twenty Asura and Infernal Ancients appeared in his proximity.

    "How long was I out?" Nial asked while getting up from the ground.

    ''It hasn''t been years, but probably a few days. Looks like the Nightmares tricked my sense of time just like the Witness State.''

    Once he was up, Nial turned to the Asuras and Infernal Ancients.

    The strongest Asura held out his hand, which Nial took without too much hesitation.

    "You''ve been in the Nightmare Trial for 54 hours, and you passed. By the way, my name is Elya Necandril. I''m the Orui of the Asura, That''s basically equivalent to their Leader, or King, though it entails some different responsibilities, and other stuff that you don''t have to mind," The strongest Asura Mecyrs, Elya Necandril, said.

    Most Asura had pretty simr features. They had long silky hair and their eyes were uniquely shaped, simr to a Dragon''s. Their figure was neither bulky nor skinny. They were certainly athletic and extremely powerful in terms of physical strength, but their muscles werepressed. That made it seem as if they were tall and thin.

    The Infernal Devils told Nial that their eyes were crimson and their hair silver. Nial didn''t really care too much about these minor details but it looked like his Devils felt that it was important for him to know.

    ''If they think it is important, it has to y a role. Did they want to tell me that they look like Vampires, or that their powers are simr to a Vampire''s Blood Control?'' Nial wondered for a moment before he discarded the thought.

    There was no need to overthink anything now that he was getting closer to his initial goal. It was about time for him to get his hands on the four Gigalorian Gxies!

    "54 hours? That''s less than I expected. Good thing that I passed through. This shit was nasty," Nial pointed out first before he slowly added, "My Name is Nial Orin, and I hope The Quizz Trial won''t be as nasty. Don''te at me with questions I cannot answer just to give an excuse to avoid my request!"

    Nial made it seem as if he was joking about thetter part but he had already figured out that the Quizz Trial was the best to use as a means to reject his request. If the Asura and Infernal Ancients told him that they were not satisfied with his Quizz Trial''s answers, there was nothing Nial could do to change their opinion.

    Basically, it was a sure way to wiggle out of troublesome requests, which was pretty smart, and annoying.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "There is no need for the Quizz Trial anymore. I hope you don''t think too bad of us but it was very important to observe your Nightmare Trial. We found the answers we wanted while spectating your progress in the Nightmares," Elya Necandril apologized calmly.

    Nial''s expression didn''t change much upon hearing what the strongest Asura said. He just nodded his head.

    "I expected some of you to observe the Nightmare Trial, in the first ce. This request of mine decides whether the four Gigalorian Gxies will follow me into the second Great War, or if you will stay behind. It''s necessary to find out more about your potential ally before it''s toote."

    Nial''s words were enough to ease Elya''s expression. He didn''t know the Sessor of the Late Darkness God, but he knew that Damian wouldn''t have liked it if someone watched his Nightmare Trial. In fact, he would have killed everyone who watched it. That was something Elya Necandril was certain about.

    ''This kid''s personality is much better. The way he cleared the Nightmares was also pretty good. Following him shouldn''t cause too many problems.

    "So I only have to pass the Power Trial and the four Gigalorian Gxies will aid me in the Second Great War?" Nial asked out of curiosity.

    It was already a little surprising that he was only asked to pass three trials before receiving the aid of the four Gigalorian Gxies, but considering that Damian had been the former ruler of the four Gigalorian Gxies, they might feel like they had to support him.

    Thus, Nial didn''t think too much about it.

    However, now that he thought more about it, he felt a little weird. The Asuras and Infernal Ancients didn''t seem to be thinking about the Darkness God as their irreceable Master, but more of an ally.

    ''Was the information I acquired wrong? Maybe, Damian was not in control of them? He just helped them a bit¡­probably?''

    It was a little confusing but also not something that was worth thinking too much about.

    There was no need to be overly worried. After all, the Asura and Infernal Ancients seemed quite nice.

    "The Power Trial is not as simple as you may think. You will have to challenge the leaders of all races living in the Gigalorian Gxies and be acknowledged by them. Of course, you are only eligible to challenge their Leaders after we, the Asura Mecyrs and the Infernal Ancients think that you''re worthy," Elya Necandril pointed out.

    This gave Nial a little headache. He was not on par with the Asura and Infernal Ancients yet. Hisbat power was clearly weaker than an Infernal Devil''s.

    But that was only obvious. It hadn''t been that long since he ascended godhood.

    He was still an ordinary God, just that his connections were better than others.

    ''This is a little troublesome¡­''

 Chapter 741 Lesson

    ?

    "If you can defeat me right now, I will not only acknowledge you but also help you gain control of the Gigalorian Gxies!"

    One of the Asura standing next to Elya Necandril issued.

    The offer sounded promising because he was not even sure where he should start challenging the leaders of the four Gigalorian Gxies, in the first ce.

    However, he felt that there was something odd about the Asura.

    "Is he rted to you?" Nial asked Elya Necandril.

    The strongest Asura sighed deeply and nodded his head, though he didn''t want to acknowledge it.

    "He is my grandson, a reckless prick if you ask me," Elya answered, ring at his grandson.

    "Milo Necandril is my nice. Nice to meet you!" He introduced himself a second after his grandfather finished speaking.

    Nial tilted his head a little before he nodded his head.

    Milo Necandril was weaker than his grandfather, that was for sure, but he might be as influential as Elya.

    That was what Nial figured by having visualized every Asura and Infernal Ancient in their surrounding.

    Everyone paid respect to one another but both Milo and Elya seemed to be revered in a certain way.

    ''Being the strongest Asura''s grandson and a prodigy has his perks, I guess. In that case, I will make use of you!'' Nial thought with a small smile on his face.

    "I ept your offer. Let''s fight."

    A few minutester, Nial and Milo stood opposite each other in a huge arena.

    Nial had never been in such a huge arena, spanning several kilometers in length and width, but he was more focused on the Asura in front of him.

    ''He was fighting the Infernal Devil before. His response to the dark energy was sluggish at first but he adapted quickly. Dark energy is new for him but he didn''t take long to adjust. That means he is fast,bat smart, and already ustomed to adjusting fast in battle,'' Nial assessed Milo Necandril from what he remembered before he came to a simple conclusion, ''I guess, I have to go all out from the start!''

    The few Devils that Nial brought with him were securely stored in the Heart of Gluttony, and the same could be said about Psy and Goldy, though his Familiars were resting inside his Soul Space.

    ''Blood Control, Elements, and Close Combat¡­'' Nial repeated in his mind over and over again. He knew what awaited him and could make use of this advantage.

    After all, Milo shouldn''t know too much about hisbat strength. He didn''t expose too much other than his reinforced dark energy.

    "Let''s go!" Milo shouted out in excitement. He didn''t seem like a God with thousands of years of life experience.

    "I''m ready," Nial issued quietly.

    Elya Necandril nodded his head hearing the two contestants before he raised his hand. He released a small mass of blood and shot it lightly into the air.

    The battle wouldmence the moment the droplet of blood wouldnd on the ground.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial visualized the blood and he heightened his hearing sense to the extreme just a momentter.

    Then, the moment the droplet of blood came in touch with the ground, he burst forth.

    The blood pearl did not ssh on the ground yet but Nial was already behind Milo.

    His presence had changedpletely. Nial''s body was twice as big as before and golden scales covered his entire body.

    Dark Miasma burst out of his body and Crimson Chaos spread through his entire body, enhancing his physical strength and every other aspect of his existence.

    Arge amount of reinforced dark energy was used up to pull Milo Necandril''s legs to the ground with countless tentacles that shot out of the ground. At the same time, the tentacles coiled around Milo''s arms and neck.

    Nial had used the Ancient Devilization technique to fuse with the Infernal Devil, Behemoth, increasing his strength severalfold. It was only a temporary increment but that was everything Nial needed.

    Using his reinforced dark energybined with the crimson chaos, he used Dominion without anyone realizing it.

    Not even Milo knew what was happening before his mind nked out, even if it was just a fraction of a second.

    His mind nked out, his senses weakened from dark miasma, and his movements restricted, Milo was unable to react to Nial''s next move. His right hand turned into a huge w that was at least four times Nial''s current size, and he smashed it down on Milo''s head.

    Milo''s head crashed into the ground without any resistance. The arena''s floor cracked for a moment before it burst apart. Debris shot through the arena like bullets, but no one paid any attention to them.

    Everyone''s focus was on the dark miasma that dispersed through the air pressure of Nial''s hit.

    Nial terminated the Ancient Devilization with the Behemoth and he changed his approach quickly. He initiated the Ancient Devilization with a different Infernal Devil while altering the appearance of the darkness tentacles. They turned into thorns of darkness that cut into his opponent.

    After Milo Necandril was cut, Nial used the thorns to infuse dark miasma and crimson chaos into the Asura, slowly weakening him from the inside.

    Even if Nial wouldn''t do anything and just evade Milo''s attacks ¨C if the Asura was to get up from the ground and continue the fight ¨C Nial was certain that he wouldn''t lose anymore.

    His first attack was perfect and unexpected enough to overwhelm and surprise Milo Necandril.

    "Ughhh."

    After the hit on the head, Milo''s state of nkness dispersed into thin air. He regained his senses, but it was already toote.

    His head hurt like hell as if his head had been cracked open like an egg, and he was pinned down to the ground. His situation was quite serious but he couldn''t gather a proper thought.

    At the same time, he started to lose the feeling of his body.

    What the hell happened?

    ''Did I just¡­lose?!''

 Chapter 742 Apple Of Vigoran

    ?

    What the hell just happened?

    The same thought shed through the mind of many Asura and Infernal Ancients.

    They knew what happened but they couldn''t quite belief it. It was too hard to believe that the most talented God of the Necandril''s third generation had been dominated and defeated in a matter of ten seconds.

    Even Elya Necandril was a little surprised.

    ''This young man¡­he is not yet 120 years old but hisbat prowess isparable to a Divine God. Without the Infernal Devil''s fusion, he would have been much weaker but you cannot just ignore them. The Infernal Devils are part of his power as well. But that''s not all. The golden scales enhance his physical strength and endurance drastically.

    Furthermore, Nial used an ability to freeze Milo''s movements for a fraction of a second. His mastery of dark energy is strong and the ck miasma deteriorates one''s sensation of the surrounding world. Very powerful.''

    Elya Necandril''s opinion of Nial Orin improved quite a bit after the previous fight.

    It was not enough reason to follow Nial into war against the rest of the universe, but it showed quite decently that the Dark Sessor was in possession of Damian''s powers and abilities, and that he had more to offer than that.

    Damian was a master when he it came to dark energy, but that was already it. Nial had Damian''s memories, which meant that his control of dark energy was almost as extraordinary as the Darkness God''s. Maybe Nial''s control was as strong as Damian''s, however, there were more factors one had to take into considerations.

    After all, the Darkness God focused on dark energy, while the same couldn''t be said about Nial. He may be focusing on dark energy as well, but his focus was divided.

    Nial was also more interested in other things such as runic armaments, his familiars, and much more.

    "If you can handle fighting me for five¡­no, ten minutes, I''ll make sure that the Asura Mecyrs will fight by your side," Elya Necandril proposed at this moment.

    The other Asura and Infernal Ancients had been gossiping amongst each other. However, upon hearing what Elya Necandril said they froze in their tracks.

    Their whole attention flipped over and their nk stares moved to their Leader.

    "Did I mishear something just now?" One of the Asura asked, rubbing his head subconsciously.

    "No, I think your hearing is as good as mine¡­but it doesn''t make sense¡­" Another one added, pping his friend to make sure that he was awake¡­.though maybe it was the wrong way around to test that out.

    "Elya Necandril is interested in this kid''s strength? How long has it been since our Leader was interested in someone? He never fights anyone!"

    "When Kahn hears about this, he will be shocked to the core! He will probably rush over and both the Asura Leader and this kiddo!" An Infernal Ancient pointed out and the others nodded their head. It was only obvious but the Leader of the Infernal Ancients would want to join the battle.

    The Leaders of the Overlord races neverpeted against each other. However, that was not because they were both uninterested inpeting but because Elya Necandril was tired of beating Kahn, the Leader of the Infernal Ancients, into a pulp.

    Elya Necandril stoppedpeting with Kahn after a while. It was not enjoyable anymore.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    He even said that he would only fight someone who was either stronger than him, or if he was interested in someone''s strength.

    Thetter seemed to apply in the given case, though Nial was ignorant about it.

    "Eat this, rest for half and hour to digest the effect and then we''ll fight!" Elya Necandril said, not waiting for Nial''s reply. He threw an apple toward him and turned his attention to Milo Necandril.

    His grandson might have lost miserably but it was a great lesson. Milo certainly learned a lot as long as he was not stupid enough to believe that the Dark Sessor won through sheer luck.

    Nial, on the other hand, was not even able to say something. He was just given some apple before he was told that he should fight Elya Necandril. It was not as if Nial had something against that because it was necessary to receive the Asura Leader''s support, but it would have been much better to get a little bit stronger before fighting the End Boss of the four Gigalorian Gxies.

    ''Fortunately, the only thing I have to do is stalling time,'' Nial thought, while reminding himself that Elya Necandril watched his fight against his grandson.

    ''Is he confident enough to defeat me within ten minutes, or does he want me to show him what I''m capable of? Does he actually want to support me, or is he nning to backstab me?''

    Nial was not too sure about the Asura Leader''s reasoning.

    However, it was certainly advantageous that Elya Nacandril gave him a handicap. He was willing to abuse this handicap to the limit and beyond.

    After he visualized the apple and ate it, Nial felt an invigorating feeling spread into every part of his body. The entire energy he had used up earlier was replenished and there was even a surplus.

    ''Damn, that''s good stuff!'' He thought, while secretly wondering if Elya was also a merchant.

    Arge supply of those apples would be extremely useful for the Second Great War. It would allow his troupes to replenish their energy in the shortest time while their enemies would have to suffer from exhaustion.

    Unfortunately, Elya Necandril seemed to have sensed what Nial thought.

    "I cannot give you more than 10 Apples of Vigoran. We can only procure a hundred every year, and even then most are used to heal our disabled or terminally ill people," He exined calmly.

    "Then why did you give me one of them, in the first ce?" Nial asked in return, not quite understanding.

    "I didn''t want to drag it out longer. I want to fight you right now, not tomorrow. Maybe, you wouldn''t be interesting to me by tomorrow."

    "..."

    ''That''s it?!''

    Yep, that was it!

 Chapter 743 10 Minutes

    ?

    After he digested the Apple of Vigoran, the next battle began.

    ''Ten minutes should work out. I can maintain my highestbat power that long, no problem!'' Nial thought, standing opposite Elya Necandril.

    The Asura wore a light robe and held a wand with various gems embed in it. Visualizing the gemstones was enough to understand that they were the highest-quality Elemental Essence Gemstones.

    Elemental Essence Gemstones made it easier to control the respective elements and increase their firepower.

    With that, it was obvious that Elya Necandril took Nial seriously.

    There was no Blood Essence Crystal but other than that, most basic and intermediate elements were embedded into the wan in the form of the Essence Gemstones. Nial didn''t even want to know the costs to manufacture such a wand¡­it was certainly depressive.

    ''Little to no runic constetions. They don''t know how to create powerful runic armaments:''

    Nial retrieved a ck speak from his spatial ring and he spun it around his body to make sure that he was not rusty before the battle.

    The Eternal Darkness Spear hummed as his reinforced dark energy was channeled inside. Being one of his most precious and strongest runic weapons, the Eternal Darkness Spear was powerful. However, the most important was that the Eternal Darkness Spear had perfectpatibility with him.

    "The battle begins once the droplet of blood touches the ground, just like before," One of the Asura said, before checking if both sides were ready to start the battle.

    After he received their nod, the Asura released a single droplet of blood into the air.

    Both parties focused on the blood in their respective way. At the same time, they finished various calctions in their mind.

    Then the droplet of blood sshed on the ground.

    In the same instance, the arena''s ground and walls began to tremor as a massive pool of energy was released from both Elya Necandril and Nial Orin.

    Nial Orin''s pool of energy wasparable, if not higher than a Divine God''s. After all, he devoured billions of corpses to im their energy. The energy was mostly used to elerate his Cursed Divinity''s progress, but even 1% of billions of Oriignals'' energy put aside and saved up was more than enough to rival the power most opponents could release at once.

    Nial used the Ancient Devilization technique of the Late Darkness God to fuse with the Infernal Devil of Darkness and Witchery. His skin turned ck like the abyss and it turned somewhat leathery. For cured horns grew out of his head and two pairs of ck-feathered wings extended from his shoulder des.

    Fusing with Goldy, a third ¨C muchrger ¨C pair of wings extended from his shoulder des. It was a pair of leather wings covered in golden scales. A long tail grew out of his tailbone and a pair of straight golden horns extended out of his forehead. At the same time, his ck skin merged with the golden scales of the True Golden Dragon that had fused with him as well.

    Nial''s presence had changed in an instant. Just looking at him was enough to understand that he was not the same as before.

    If he had relied on overwhelming physical strength before to dominate Milo Necandril, Nial''s current state was that of a Perfect all-rounder. His perception allowed him to understand the movements of his opponents and both his physical strength and mental prowess had increased drastically. Goldy increased his physical power and the Infernal Devil of Darkness and Witchery expanded his mental power drastically, while simultaneously lightly altering his utility of dark energy.

    Reminded of his reinforced dark energy, Nial spread an enormous amount of it through the ground. He covered the entire arena with it and slowly channeled dark miasma into the spread-out reinforced dark energy.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Simultaneously, he began to circte crimson chaos through his body before he shot backward with tremendous speed.

    Icicles, fireballs, and wind des had been released and shot toward him with terrific velocity. The wind des seemed invisible at the first nce while the icicles and fireballs came after him from the front.

    Only by perceiving the subtle traces of mana around him was Nial able to pinpoint the invisible wind des.

    He released needles of darkness at the elemental projectiles and burst them apart.

    The elemental projectiles exploded and the tide of the battle intensified in the same instance.

    Nial noticed a sudden change in pace. His blood started boiling all of a sudden and he had to use his reinforced dark energy to cool it down by circting arge amount through his body.

    Slightly distracted, Nial took a fraction of a second too long to realize that Elya Necandril appeared next to him.

    He teleported to his side using his high mastery of spatial magic!

    The tip of Elya''s wand pointed at Nial''s side and a bullet of the purest energy was released just a momentter.

    Nial couldn''t exert Grasp of Eclipse fast enough. He was unable to evade the high-velocity bullet either.

    However, his body moved instinctively despite theck of response and focus. His wings curled around his body like a warm embrace, slowing down the bullet that pierced through Goldy''s leather wing and the ck-feathered wings like butter. The golden scales covering his body cracked and crumbled into countless pieces but the high-velocity attack was blocked gracefully.

    Some nutrition was used up to repair his armor and the holes in the three pairs of wings.

    Nial used the darkness domain he hadid out beforehand to shoot spikes of darkness out of the ground. The darkness spikes targeted the vital spots of the Asura''s lower body while Nial thrust the Eternal Darkness spear forward with great precision.

    Darkness shot out of the Eternal Darkness Spear in the form of wildly moving beams, which had also been released to target Elya Necandril''s vital spots.

    Faced with attacks from below, the front and the side, the easiest way to avoid injuries was to teleport away.

    However, the moment Elya wanted to use teleport, he noticed that something around Nial had changed once again.

    He had used Dominion and issued a mental order that restricted Elya to use his spatial element for a quarter of a second.

    ''So it''s like that?'' The strongest Asura thought before he changed the pace of the battle once again.

    ''I should gear up as well then!''

 Chapter 744 Cheatcode

    ?

    "Didn''t they say that the battle would end after 10 minutes? Is it our Leader''s loss?"

    Three hours had already passed since the start of Nial and Elya''s battle but neither of them won yet. The Asura and Infernal Ancients were shocked to the core, but that was given.

    Nobody expected that Nial would be able to hang in so long while fighting the strongest Asura. Elya Necandril was the strongest in the four Gigalorian Gxies. If Nial was able to fight against him three hours straight, it shouldn''t be much of an issue topete and win against the leaders of the other races residing in the four Gigalorian Gxies!

    That was impressive, especially since Nial Orin''s Cursed Divinity was only close to progressing to an Ancient Cursed Divinity. Nial was not yet a full-fledged Ancient God!

    Everyone realized that but nobody dared to mention it right now. They could only watch Nial fight with everything at his disposal. He was not holding back at all and giving his best. Something like that had to be respected, and that was what everyone present did.

    They respected Nial''s decision to go all-out, and his desire to win even after he won the challenge against Elya Necandril by oveing a ten-minute-long fight. There was no need but Nial continued to fight Elya Necandril once the ten minutes psed.

    The strongest Asura didn''t stop in his tracks either. He continued to release more and more power while facing Nial.

    At first, Elya Necandril was certain that Nial wouldn''t be able to endure and deflect his onught of rapid attacks. However, Nial overcame the attacks and he was even able to release counterattacks.

    That forced Elya Necandril to up his game. He used more of his strength the longer the fight progressed. By now, Nial was being yed around like a ping pong ball while Elya Necandril''s body had split into ten. The strongest Asura didn''t show any mercy while turning Nial into a mass of unrecognizable flesh.

    Watching this made it seem as if the strongest Asura had personal agenda against Nial, and the desire to take revenge for something Nial never did in the first ce.

    "Is Leader fired up, or is he just controlled by some demon in his heart?" An Asura mumbled quietly, a little bothered about the way the fight progressed.

    Nial''s wings had been ripped out of his back, the horns on his head were twisted or broken, and the golden scales all over his body were either cracked, had been ripped out, or crumbled.

    The tail he materialized was also lying around somewhere tied to a knot.

    Nial''splexion was pretty bad but he kept fighting with all his might. The energy he used up was tremendous, and it even included some of the energy he wanted to save up for the Second Great War.

    However, Nial didn''t want to back out of this fight like this. He felt like he could learn way more by going all-out here than by saving up more energy and nutrition.

    ''I can collect countless corpses of Gods and devour them while battling during the Second Great War. There is no need to spare any effort right now. As long as I get just a little stronger I will be able to fight and kill more, resulting in more corpses to devour and digest!!''

    Being thoughtful of his next actions may be important especially when he was about to use up the energy he painstakingly saved up from devouring billions of Originals ranging from the Origin rank up to ordinary Gods, but it was more important to be stronger than he had been the day before.

    If he improved a little bit every day, it would only be a matter of time before he became an Ancient God with the naturalbat prowess of a Divine God. That was what he required if he wanted to defeat the Advocate of the Pryard.

    After all, the Advocate was certain to be as powerful as other Divine Gods.

    ''The Advocate won''t hold back fighting me. Maybe, there will be another trap, and I won''t be able to use the Infernal Devils, or my allies to support me in killing the Advocate. I have to be strong enough to defeat the Advocate of the Pryard by myself!!''<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Bursting forth with a tremendous amount of energy was Nial''s response to the thoughts that shed through his mind. He wanted to be stronger, strong enough to fight and defeat the Advocate of the Pryard by himself, if necessary.

    Darkness shrouded his entire being like a warm embrace and it was not long after that he was coated in an armor of reinforced dark energy. However, that was not all. A tremendous amount of his energy and nutrition was supplied and channeled inside his Soul Space.

    Goldy devoured the energy and nutrition rapidly, unlocking one of his abilities as True Golden Dragon.

    A golden light shrouded Nial for a moment and his power surged to a level he had never been before. Elya Necandril stopped mid-air for a moment. He observed Nial for a second or two, clearly seeing the vibrant golden eyes that seemed to illuminate the universe.

    ''Just who the hell is this guy? Where did Damian pick someone like him?'' Elya Necandril wondered, unable to figure out what being Nial was.

    Wasn''t Nial way too overpowered with the countless abilities and powers he possessed? How was that fair?

    Though life was never fair, every being had a limit of power they could tap into. However, this limiter seemed to have been removed for Nial.

    That didn''t really make any sense but it was clearly visible to everyone withmon sense.

    Nial disappeared all of a sudden, and time seemed to freeze. Faster than Elya Necandril could seel, Nial moved toward him, his spear piercing at his throat.

    Then he came to a halt and the golden light dispersed. The tip of the Eternal Darkness Spear pressed against Elya Necandril''s neck.

    At the same time, thousands of elemental attacks shrouded Nial''s body, with tens of them piercing the skin right above his heart.

    "Looks like it''s a tie."

    **

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 Chapter 745 Pathetic

    ?

    "What was thisst move? You didn''t use any means of teleportation but your speed was suddenly faster than mine!" Elya Necandril was a little surprised if he was, to be honest.

    He didn''t expect Nial to have another trump card at his disposal, such a powerful one at that.

    Nial shouldn''t have been able to release more power, but he did, all of a sudden at that. His current state was not that great because he seemed to have used too much power within a short time.

    Elya Necandril, on the other hand, was still fine. He sweated a bit but he could keep fighting for a few days, or even weeks. That was not a problem.

    The battle only ended in a tie because Nial''s sudden burst of strength caught him off-guard.

    However, Elya Necandril was not so petty as to say that out loud. In a real battle he would have died due to his negligence, no matter what would have happened to Nial in return.

    His death would have been sealed and Nial may actually survive. That was factual and something Elya Necandril knew better than everyone present.

    The others could only see Nial barely able to breathe, and sweating buckets. His energy was in total disarray as well. On the other hand, Elya Necandril looked perfectly fine.

    That was what the Asuras and Infernal Ancients could see on the surface. Nheless, they also knew that the battle ended in a tie and what that entailed.

    "You did a very good job, Nial. As promised, I will make sure that the Asura will fight side by side when the timees," Elya Necandril said, retrieving a few vials of golden liquid. He handed them to Nial.

    "These potions have been made with a trace of the Apple of Vigoran''s essence. Their potency is great but the effect lessens over time. In half a year, the effect won''t be any better than an ordinary healing potion. Use them while Milo helps you find the other Leaders to challenge them.

    I will visit Kahn to make sure that he and the Infernal Ancients follow you into battle as well. I think I owe you that for exceeding my expectations by far!"

    ''He will help me?'' Nial was a little astonished.

    Fighting against Elya Necandril gave Nial a rough estimation of the strongest Asura''s character, and that was pretty frustrating.

    He could tell that Elya didn''t really think too highly of his strength. At least, that was how it felt.

    Elya didn''t take anyone into his eyes. He didn''t go all-out against Nial and he never intended to. It was quite obvious that the strongest Asura wanted to support him in the fight against thest Advocate but something felt weird.

    ''He is not depressed about his loss either. He didn''t expect me to gain a sudden power-up but it is almost as if he doesn''t care. Almost as if it is something good because it gives him more reason to support me. Just what is this dude?''

    Nial couldn''t even remotely understand Elya Necandril but it was not as if that was necessary. As long as the residents of the Gigalorian Gxies supported him in the fight against the rest of the Universe, he would be fine.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Thus, he chose to calm down a little, and rest for a moment before he got up.

    "That would be very helpful. Thank you very much for helping me out. It makes things a lot easier for me," Nial responded politely to Elya Necandril before he turned over to Milo Necandril.

    The grandson of the strongest Asura didn''t seem to be doing fine. Milo was frustrated about his loss. The fact that his grandfather ended his fight with a draw was a surprise and a slight relief because it meant that Nial was extremely strong and that he would have lost either way.

    However, that didn''t mean his pride wasn''t hurt. He just lost against a much younger opponent who had a lower cultivation rank!

    But upon looking at Nial, all curses that shed through his mind dispersed.

    ''How the hell can someone look as roughed up as you and still be smiling?!''

    Nial looked like he had been beaten to a pulp, which was basically what happened. Milo would rather surrender than continue to fight when he was clearly beaten up. His dignity and pride didn''t allow him to get defeated and beaten to a pulp. However, Nial didn''t seem to care about his face at all.

    He was fine getting beaten up as long as he could achieve what he wanted to.

    His image didn''t matter if the result of his actions was good enough.

    ''This guy¡­'' Milo thought, shaking his head slowly. ''I am pathetic¡­this youngster is trying his best to be stronger, protect his people and kill the Advocate by himself. He was given such a heavy burden by the Late Darkness God, and he is not evenining. He is giving his best and even more than that, isn''t he?''

    Milo clenched his fist and sighed deeply. He was truly pathetic.

    "You don''t have to worry about the Leader of the Gigalorian Gxies'' races either. I will inform them about the challenge and will make sure that they wille over one after another. Make sure to grow stronger and defeat them. If someone annoys you, you can use your Infernal Devils to beat them up as well. Maybe that would make this whole situation a lot easier as well," Milo Necandril said, still clenching his fist.

    He had to get out of hisfort zone and ept his loss, otherwise, he would stagnate and never be able to grow stronger!

    Nial was not sure what was going on with Milo but it was certainly advantageous.

    "Thanks a lot. That''s very helpful," He thus only said before diverting his focus once again.

    He didn''t use up his whole saved-up energy and felt like his Cursed Divinity progressed a little, using the experience of the previous two battles.

    Nial felt that he could advance his Cursed Divine to the Ancient rank pretty soon!

 Chapter 746 Ancient God

    In the following six months, Nial didn''t leave the arena once. He sent some of his Infernal Devils and Shadow to follow Milo Necandril to inform all Leaders about his arrival and challenge.

    The Leaders were also informed about the fight against the rest of the universe and that they could decide for themselves whether they wanted to fight side-by-side with him, the Asura, the Army of Devils, and the Infernal Ancients.

    Nial wouldn''t force anyone to fight but it was clear that many would join once he was acknowledged by the Leaders. The four Gigalorian Gxies hadn''t been in a huge war for countless years despite being a race full of warriors that sought the blood of their opponents.

    It was only given but they wanted to get back onto the battlefield. Nial''s request asked for exactly that.

    Most would probably follow his request even without the need of their Leaders'' acknowledgment. That was how desperate some were for the blood of powerful enemies.

    Fortunately, Nial broke through the Advance rank of his Cursed Divinity, officially bing an Ancient God. His strength increased drastically and he got to know more about the powers he had unlocked not too long ago.

    Half a year was enough to be an Ancient God and to start fighting the Leaders of the four Gigalorian Gxies.

    Nial''s fights were always remarkable, and intriguing to watch and learn more about the Sessor of the Late Darkness God.

    It didn''t take long before the Leaders realized that Nial was not someone they could take lightly. He was powerful, could adjust hisbat style quickly and it was only a matter of time before he defeated close to a hundred Leaders.

    He used healing potions and other means to replenish his energy. His Devils were sent out to conquer a bunch of dungeons. They brought back the loot and all the dungeon monster''s corpses. Devouring them, it was quite easy to keep up with the high demand for energy he had. In fact, his Cursed Divinity and Cursed Divine Ability worked much faster while fighting and after a tiresome fight. It allowed him to progress faster and be always ready with enough reinforced dark energy to use.

    The amount of nutrition umting in his cells was massive and Nial learned how to use the excessive nutrition properly. He fed Goldy and Psy with the nutrition, allowing them to store more energy and advance rapidly.

    Half a year was not a long time for Cultivators but it was enough to be stronger as long as the most efficient training regime was applied. Nial did use the best possible tactic to increase his strength without even realizing it.

    The Asuras and Infernal Ancient who had been around Nial for six months were fully aware of his rapid growth. They were stunned and wondered how much longer he would need to defeat them as well.

    With his growth, it wouldn''t even need centuries before he could fight Elya Necandril head-on.

    That was quite shocking for most, even for Elya, who didn''t expect Nial to enter a state of rapid progress.

    But it was a good thing and he was quite pleasantly surprised. He increased his support toward Nial''s request and gathered all Lords in a matter of days.

    There were hundreds of them, and Nial was all by himself.

    No, that wasn''t right. He had the support of many, his Familiars, and the small group of Devils by his side.

    And that was what Nial made use of.

    He was told that the Leaders were fine fighting the Devils as long as he used them as his direct representatives. If they lost against the Leaders, they wouldn''t support Nial.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    That was the deal, and Nial agreed to it.

    However, the rules changed a little with the arrival of a particr letter.

    A letter signed by the Divine Gods, more than 80 of them at that.

    -[If you don''t want us ¨C the Divine Gods, Primordials and Ancients ¨C to attack your territory, gather your forces and fight us once and for all all in the Dead Ykaln Gxy during the Day of Eryn Yeager Titan Festival!]-

    The content was pretty clear; the Divine Gods, Primordials, and Ancients wanted to fight him, and they wouldn''t ept a no.

    Facing a full attack of the Divine Gods, Primordials and Ancients was not something the Orion Shelter would be able to handle, not now, never.

    ''Did the Advocatee up with this idea?'' That was what Nial thought at first but he shook his head.

    He expected the Advocate toe up with some petty tricks to injure him beforeunching a full-blown attack.

    ''Come to think of it, Damian''s memories said that all Advocates of the Pryard are some sort of shapeshifters, able to change their appearance, gender, and so on. The Pryard must have given them these powers to allow the Advocates to scheme however they''d like without their identity getting found out.''

    Nial shook his head, ignoring this thought. There was something more important he had to pay attention to.

    By fighting in the Dead Ykaln Gxy, where no living being could survive for a long time, not even Divine Gods, the Second Great War would have to go all-out from the beginning. There wouldn''t be a grand scheme, or a big and longsting strategy in an attempt to wear out the opponent.

    On the contrary, the Second Great War would be short and bloody.

    At the same time, no innocent people would have to face danger since the Dead Ykaln Gxy was not upied by any living race.

    Neither of those two factors should have been important to the Advocate. In fact, Nial was pretty sure that Advocate of the Pryard didn''t like that no big longsting strategies would work.

    However, that was also quite troublesome for Nial.

    ''I won''t be able to fully utilize Devour and the Heart of Gluttony. They don''t want me to fully digest the corpses of Gods and all other powerhouses that die on the battlefield.'' Nial figured.

    ''That''s smart¡­but will it be enough?''

    Only time could tell¡­and the course of the Second Great War.

 Chapter 747 Dirty Plan

    ?

    After the letter arrived, Nial couldn''t y around anymore. He had to hurry and make sure that everyone was getting ready.

    The date ''proposed'' by the Divine Gods was not far anymore, and the four Gigalorian Gxies had yet to fully agree to his request. He had to defeat the remaining Leaders one after another, which would take way too long.

    The Leaders would have to gather their forces and move them through the entire Universe. It wouldn''t be too difficult to use the World Bridges as shortcuts through the universe but it would still take a while to move hundreds of millions of powerhouses through these World Bridges.

    ''These bastards want to pressure me¡­They don''t want to give me any time toe up with a n to whoop their assessment¡­.I should have expected a petty trick from the Advocate. She wants me to fall into desperation, whether it is on the battlefield with fewer allies on my side or witnessing the obliteration of the Orion Shelter¡­this bitches of bitches!'' Nial pointed out rather easily what the Divine Gods had nned out.

    He was not too sure anymore if the Advocate of the Pryard was involved in this letter or not. It didn''t seem like a tactic employed by the Advocate, but at the same time, it was not as if Nial knew a lot about thest Advocate of the Pryard.

    The Advocate might have adjusted his mindset toe up with a different type of n. Either way, it didn''t matter.

    No matter if it was the Adovcate''s doing or something the Divine Gods came up with, their n was dirty and¡­very good.

    Forcing him into a corner by giving him a time limit of two months was a little bit over the top but it was not as if they had to care whether they acted out of their character. As long as theirmon enemy would be obliterated even the dirtiest trick could be employed. Nobody would really care as long as the result was good enough.

    ''I have three hundred Leaders to defeat¡­seems like I have to bunch of oldies!'' Nial came to a conclusion and he stepped forward.

    He threw the letter in Elya Necandril''s direction before he stepped into the center of the arena.

    "Nial, what t¨C...." Elya Necandril shouted out the moment he finished reading the letter of the Divine Gods when he saw the fury on Nial''s face.

    For a moment, the strongest Asura felt like he was watching the Late Darkness God when he was at his lowest point, overflowing with rage and disgust after he had been mistreated by the rest of the universe for centuries.

    At that point in time, the First Great War was in its final phase, and Damian''s power was overflowing and much stronger than before.

    Several Gxies lost their light in the following days.

    "Every Leader,e at me at once or surrender. Time is tight!" He ordered while his body turned pitch-ck, covered in darkness. His body expanded in size, golden scales covered his body, a tail, several pairs of wings, and six horns grew out of his body.

    Nial finished his fusion with Goldy, the Infernal Devil of Darkness and Witchery, and the Infernal Devil of Behemoth.

    His body was screaming in pain from the overload of fusions, his skin burst open and his veins screeched, however, Nial ignored all of that.

    Now was not the time to hesitate. It was either going all out or going home!

    The Leaders looked at each other, confused but also enraged. How dare a youngster to humiliate them like that?

    They were not his puppets and wouldn''t listen to everything he said just because he was the Sessor of the Late Darkness God. Enraged, they ignored Elya''s opinion and charged straight at him.

    Hundreds of Devils emerged in the darkness Nial exuded, and the arena turned into a small-scale battlefield. Nial didn''t intend to go overboard but he had no time to hesitate.

    He used Grasp of Eclipse and manifested the Eternal Darkness Spear will appearing behind his opponents.

    After that, he turned into a menace. The Eternal Darkness Spear sliced through the air, cut through his opponents, and disarmed one after another. A faint golden light shrouded his body and silverish crimson light spread through his darkness and golden scales, further elerating his movements.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Then, Nial began to exert the Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nightsbat technique for the first time in forever. He used the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique as well, but not to teleport to a different position.

    Grasp of Eclipse was also a movement technique, a very powerful one that grew stronger the higher the mastery of both the used technique and dark energy.

    Being in possession of reinforced dark energy and perfect mastery of the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique, Nial was able to increase his speed by several times. He turned into a ck-golden sh that moved through his opponents'' ranks without issue.

    However, he didn''t injure too many opponents. That was not necessary, in the first ce.

    His attack was used to distract the Leaders and knock out those who thought that they didn''t need to bother paying any attention to his infiltration. He picked the weakest and those who paid little to no attention to him and defeated them in the blink of an eye.

    The Eternal Darkness Spear thirsted for their blood and Nial didn''t hesitate to quench his weapon''s thirst. The Leaders could heal their injuries in no time. The healing station in the arena was certainly good enough to instantaneously heal shallow and minor injuries.

    There was no need for Nial to hold back¡­not that he was currently able to think about holding back, in the first ce.

    He was consumed by the anger he ought to direct at the Divine Gods and the Advoate of the Pryard. The letter and their dirty tricks had gone too far. They always pulled his family and beloved into trouble.

    It was enough.

    They should pay for their actions.

    This was not only about him and the Advocate anymore.

    Nial did not start this mess. They did.

    And they would get to know what it means to attack his family.

    May their suffering be long and painful.

    **

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 Chapter 748 Gathering Forces

    ?

    "Is everyone ready? We''re about to move," The voice of one of the Leaders resounded across the ginormous za.

    "Kill! Raid! Survive!!" Millions of Soldiers roared at the same time.

    Nial heard their cheers but he didn''t heed it much attention.

    Many races had unique customs before the war. Some would even hunt mythical creatures and eat their raw heart before a war.

    Nial wouldn''t intervene in their customs, no matter how weird they may be. After all, he wanted to make sure that his allies were overflowing with high morale and the desire to tear their opponents apart.

    By now, the 469 High-Leaders of the Gigalorian Gxies had gathered next to the Overlords. Their forces were in the billions, with each of them being a Demi-God with thebat prowess of a Pseudo-God at the very least.

    The four Gigalorian Gxies had grown to be one of the biggest Gxies in the entire Universe. Combined, they were muchrger than the Origin Gxy.

    Countless stars could be found in the Gigalorian Gxies, with a majority of them being habituated by the countless races that emerged in the four Gigalorian Gxies over the course of time.

    Being able to defeat the High-Leaders in half a year was a feat nobody expected Nial to achieve. Even Nial didn''t really expect it. He defeated less than 150 Lords in half a year, just to be pushed into a corner by the Divine Gods'' letter.

    He didn''t expect that the Divine Gods woulde up with a petty, dirty trick to pressure him, but that was exactly what they did. Their dirty trick ought to pressure him and make sure that he would do beginner mistakes by trying toplete his preparations for war in a much shorter time than initially appointed.

    Unfortunately, their n turned out to be the final spark Nial required to progress once again. He ended up fighting the remaining Leaders at the same time, using the boiling reinforced dark energy that had been ignited and channelized with his uncontroble anger.

    "We''re ready to move as well. Are you sure that your Devil can maintain the spatial portal until all soldiers used it?" Elya Necandril appeared next to Nial. His movements were extremely silent but Nial turned his head toward the strongest Asura as if he heard him walking towards him from far away.

    "Shadow umted more than enough energy to maintain arge spatial portal for two weeks. As long as the Soldiers of the Gigalorian Gxies are not afraid of being pushed and shoved like a herd of sheep, there shouldn''t be an issue," Nial responded calmly andposed.

    Their n was pretty simple. Three weeks passed since the letter from the Divine Gods arrived. The High Leaders went back to their home with Shadow''s help. That way, they could start gathering their forces for three weeks before Shadow came to pick them up.

    Afterward, Shadow was given an Apple of Vigoran and several grand potions, making sure that he had more than enough energy to keep the Gate to a particr world bridge.

    The particr world bridge was the same Nial, Shadow, and his Devils had used when they moved from the Origin to the four Gigalorian Gxies

    Nial intended to use the world bridge to move back to the Origin, then they would enter a spatial formation that had been constructed by the High Elves and the Draco over the course of thest three weeks. This spatial formation would lead them to another world bridge which would bring them to Gxy adjacent to the Dead Ykaln Gxy.

    Using several means of transportation, wouldn''t be much of a toll on the Soldiers of the four Gigalorian Gxies. That made it easier to shorten the time they had to travel, which, in return, relieved Nial from the stress he felt for quite a while.

    "In that case, we can start moving now, or is there something else you want to do here?" Elya Necandril asked but Nial shook his head lightly.

    "I''m fine. I have already informed the Army of Devils. They should already be waiting for everyone at the spatial formation."

    "I hope you didn''t leave the Orion Shelter unguarded," Elya Necandril pointed out all of a sudden. Nial tilted his head while his milky-white and lifeless eyes stared unfocused in the Asura''s direction.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Do you think I''m dumb? I don''t trust the Divine Gods, forget about the Advocate of the Pryard. Even if I don''t think that they would be stupid enough to attack the Orion Shelter, the guard I left in the Orion Shelter is more than enough to obliterate masses of Gods, and even Divine Gods," Nial responded without going into detail.

    There was no need to tell anyone about the secret weapon he had prepared.

    Well¡­not that it was anything special.

    His special weapon were just a few Creatoran, whom Nial found a few days before he moved to the four Gigalorian Gxies to gather his forces.

    The Creatoran hadn''t been powerful but their Familiars were unique, able to find traces of more Creatoran. By now, more than a hundred Creatoran had been found in the Monster Dimension, and all of them moved to the Orion Shelter.

    At the end of the day, there were even a few characters whom Nial knew from his time as Nial Lacardia. None of them remembered him because he had been in a Witness State, and not in reality, at that time.

    Nheless, Nial was d to have found a few faces whom he was somewhat acquainted with. He knew that they were loyal and rather powerful. Fighting for their survival in the Monster Dimension over the course of a century and longer was enough to increase their strength drastically as well.

    Thus, adding a bunch of runic armaments which Nial customized during his time in the Gigalorian Gxies, and a few unique guns that had to be bound to a Soul Space to be used properly, Nial was certain that the Creatoran and the people he loved dearly were able to protect themselves.

    After all, he created a few weapons that retrained the movements of all living beings in the surrounding area, and a means to damage even Divine Gods. Though it was extremely expensive to construct either of those runic devices, possibly more than most Primordials were able to gather if they were to hunt treasures for a whole decade, they were worth every penny.

    One way or another, Nial was certain that the Orion Shelter and his people wouldn''t be in danger even if a bunch of Primordials was to attack. After all, the Origin''s power was still restrained, even if it affected only Divine Gods and beings with a simrly high cultivation rank.

    "Let''s get moving. There is no time to waste!" Nial dered once his mind cleared. He smiled lightly and visualized the billions of cultivators that would be fighting on his side.

    ''We will survive, ande out victorious, no matter what!''

    **

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 Chapter 749 Second Great War

    ?

    As far as one could see, one could only see one thing; nothing.

    It was almost as if nothingness spread far across space.

    The Dead Ykaln Gxy.

    A dead gxy is also known as an elliptical gxy. It''s a gxy known for its smooth and featureless appearance. These dead gxies are called ''dead'' because they contain little to no new star formation, and their stars are generally old, and on the verge of dying.

    Despite that, they''re usually massive in size with billions of stars packed tightly together in certain regions.

    The Dead Ykaln Gxy was simr.

    It was a massive gxy that had once been flooded with billions of stars.

    The only difference to an ordinary dead gxy was that the Dead Ykaln Gxy was nearly obliterated in the aftermath of the First Great War.

    By now, there are less than a million stars in the vast expanse of the massive gxy. There was mostly empty space as far as one could see.

    The First Great War turned the Ykaln Gxy into a gxy overflowing with death energy and chaotic mana. Even now, the remnants of the First Great War''s aftermath could be found in the Dead Ykaln Gxy.

    The remainings were slowly dying, after all.

    Despite that, there were still astronomical objects such as global clusters, supermassive ck holes, and so on.

    The dangers were extensive but so were the intriguing and valuable targets of research.

    "So this is where we''ll be fighting. Once again, a Great War will erupt, in the same ce as eons ago. This brings back great memories," Elya Necandril said lightly. He wore light leather armor and wielded a seemingly simple silver sword.

    Not a trace of worry could be perceived from the way he acted and moved. His expression was calm like the ocean. The tranquility he radiated and the calm responses he gave his people calmed everyone in his range.

    ''This is impressive. He is a great Warlord,'' Nial figured. He nodded his head secretly and smiled lightly.

    His range of perception shot out wide and far. There was no opponent in his range but hundreds of millions, no billions of powerhouses were in his range, and they were all waiting for the start of the Second Great War.

    Some of them were nervous, others were excited, and some didn''t seem to feel any emotions.

    Every single one of them was a powerhouse, tempered over the course of centuries for this very moment. Cultivating great power was not a fast procedure. It required patience, effort, and a certain deal of luck.

    Talent couldn''t be ignored either but the opportunities grasped by a Cultivator were sometimes even more important.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Second Great War was an opportunity and a necessity at the same time. The treasures that could be procured by plundering their opponents'' fortune, and the opportunity unveiled by fighting powerhouses ¨C that may allow you to break past your limits ¨C were hard to fathom.

    Of course, the dangers of the battlefield were not to be underestimated, especially not on the only battlefield that had been prepared for the Second Great War.

    It was an all-out war with only one battle to fight. Under normal circumstances, wars would take years before one side woulde out victorious atst.

    The First Great Warsted centuries, and the damage it caused was enough to affect the universe even now.

    Nobody wanted the First Great War to repeat itself, but here they were, waiting for the start of the Second Great War.

    It was only a matter of time before the Second Great War would begin. However, this time, everything would be different. No innocent lives would be reaped, and the aftermath of the grand battlefield wouldn''t be able to damage the Dead Ykaln Gxy, not anymore. There was not much to damage, after all.

    Time passed slowly and the Army of Devils and the Gigalorian Armies entered their respective formation. Not being ustomed to fighting with each other, there was hardly a tacit understanding between the Gigalorian Armies and the Army of Devils.

    Thus, Nial and the Overlords chose to use every Army''s individual prowess to form the formation they''re the most familiar with. The battlefield would span across a vast area in the Dead Ykaln Gxy, in the first ce, and it wouldn''t be weird for most Armies to fight next to their most trusted ally rather than someone they met for the first time in their life.

    Nial visualized the creation of the various formation consisting of countless units until the hair all over his body stood up to its end.

    It was a sudden reaction of his body, and something clearly caused by the appearance of the first foreign frames that entered his Mana Sense. He could only sense the Mana Sources of them because they were still too far away, but their numbers increased drastically.

    After the first entered his Mana Sense, a hundred followed, then a thousand, then hundreds of thousand. In no time, his Mana Sense was flooded with foreign Mana Sources.

    "They''reing. Prepare for battle!" Nial ordered quietly into the messenger crystal that was connected to eachmander across the battlefield.

    Hundreds of Devils disappeared inside Nial while the rest merged into the shadows of their allies, preparing for the perfect timing to attack their opponents and ughter them.

    "I will go to the front. You should make sure to find the Advocate. We don''t know how long this war willst but everything should be over once the Advocate dies. If not, we will just fight until the bitter end, that''s fine with us as well," Elya Necadnril said as he added with overwhelming confidence, "We wille out victorious, either way!!"

    Nial liked Elya''s confidence but it was better not to be too arrogant.

    Arrogance brought down too many men to consider it helpful in times of war. No matter how many enemies Elya could bring down, he was not able to kill countless Gods over the course of months of non-stop fighting.

    Nobody knew how long this war wouldst.

    It was a fight into the unknown, and a battle that concerned the future of the entire universe.

    The Second Great War would twist the tides of fate, and Nial was fully aware of that.

 Chapter 750 Blood

    ?

    The Second Great War began with the arrival of the enemy forces.

    There were billions of powerhouses, spread across the vast expanse of the Dead Yn Gxy.

    They were prepared, ready to go all out to protect their universe.

    However, some of them were afraid and uncertain as well.

    Seeing the Army of Devils, the Overlord Races, and the Gigalorian Armies for the first time in their lives, everyone could tell that their numbers were not fewer than theirs and that their powerhouses were just as strong.

    The weakest force in each of the armies were Demi-Gods. Their numbers were the highest and they could be considered the main army.

    But they would have to face most casualties on both sides as well.

    Nheless, they strode through space with determination flickering in their eyes. Both sides were willing to sacrifice their lives for a better future, and both sides were certain that they were in the right.

    But what was right and what was wrong, in the first ce?

    The world was not ck and white, and neither was it gray. The world was filled with countless colors, some cold, eerily dark, and dangerous, while others were warm and soothing.

    Evil existed, and so did kindness. However, even evil could be purged and Saints could be tainted.

    Nial merely wanted to fight the Advocate of the Pryard and eliminate her. However, he had been held back repetitively, restrained from fulfilling his mission. He didn''t kill the Divine God of Truth, wasn''t the first to attack the Angels and other races, and he was not the one who ordered everyone to gather in the Dead Ykaln Gxy to start the Second Great War.

    He didn''t want all of that, but he was not the kind of person who backed off after being pushed into the corner. Why would he allow anyone to trample on him or his beloved ones if he had the power to snap their necks and cut them in half?

    If they wished to fight him, Nial couldply with that. However, he wouldn''t allow anyone to harm his family and beloved¡­not anymore.

    "Don''t join the attack. Devour the corpses around you and search for the Ad¨C..." Elya Necandril said.

    However, Nial cut in before the Asura could finish, "I know what I''m doing. You said that you observed my Nightmares, so you know that I have more than enough experience with war, even if it''s just a memory. I won''t act rashly, and I will search for the Advocate, don''t bother advising me anymore. Focus on yourself, and survive!"

    Nial was already searching for the Advocate or precisely familiar Mana Sources that lead to the Advocate.

    He knew the Advocates the most. Thus, everyone presumed that he was the most likely to find thest Advocate. That was also what Nial thought because it was not unlikely for the Silver and Golden Eye to react to him once his Mana Sense found them.

    It was not a sure way to find the Advocate, but he had a few other ways that mighte in handy, though Nial was not certain whether the Advocate of the Pryard shapeshifted once again, or if the Advocate chose to fight him head-on today.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''No matter what, I will find you!!''

    The Second Great War erupted at its full scale almost immediately. Billions of enemies released their abilities and Divinities before they charged at their opponents without a shred of hesitation.

    The Armies of the Gigalorian Gxies were as fearless as the Army of Devils had been. Witnessing this first-hand was something that would have thrown Nial off-guard, if he hadn''t known about it beforehand. But he was fully aware of the mindset the residents of the Gigalorian Gxies had.

    For them, it was an honor to die on the battlefield, and a disgrace to die at old age.

    Nial didn''t really understand it at first, but he came to a realization after getting to know the special perk of the beings born in the Gigalorian Gxies.

    They collected Blood Karma, also known as Eternal Glory. The more blood they shed on the battlefield fighting powerful opponents, the higher their Eternal Glory. By amassing Eternal Glory on bigger battlefields, they gained the grace of the Gigalorian Gxies. Their Soul would be cleansed and they would be given the opportunity to enter Yilha, or reincarnate with some of their memories intact, higher innate potential, unique traits, or a special birthright.

    Their Eternal Glory would be used up in exchange. Meanwhile, those who wanted to rest in Yilha, the afterlife of brave warriors who died in battle to feast, fight and enjoy life until the end of time.

    If not for Eternal Glory, Nial would have a much harder time convincing the residents of the Gigalorian Gxies to follow him into war. What use would it have to fight against the rest of the universe if they had nothing to gain except hatred and new enemies?

    Fortunately, the Gigalorians believed that dying in battle was the most honorable way to go and that it would lead them to a better life or Yilha. It served as a powerful motivator for Gigalorian warriors as it gave them a sense of purpose and a reason to fight fearlessly in battle.

    The idea of Yilh also yed an important role in the Gigalorians society as a whole entity. They hadn''t been able to fight any new enemies and were thus seeking new opponents with their entire beings.

    While others would consider this as an easy way to create a culture overflowing with bravery and heroism, it was extremely dangerous for their opponents.

    After all, they had to face warriors who didn''t fear death.

    Blood was shed across the entire Dead Ykaln Gxy the moment the battle began. The energies released were too much for the few stars in the proximity to handle and they burst apart at once.

    Simultaneously, countless elemental attacks poured down on each side of the battlefield.

    More blood filled the battlefield, and corpses followed soon after.

    But the intensity of the battle only increased.

    The never-ending stream of blood and corpses would only widen, and it wouldn''t cease.

    Not, until the Dark Sessor or the Advocate would leave the light of the universe forever.

 Chapter 751 Surrounded

    ?

    Nial continued his search for being with unique energy fluctuations, and beings with exceptional eyes.

    That way, he would ¨C sooner orter ¨C pinpoint the Advocate.

    Other than that, he didn''t have any means to find out who, or where the Advocate is.

    ''The Advocate will start throwing people at me pretty soon if he is doing what I expected from the Advocate,'' Nial thought while continuing to fly through the space of the Dead Ykaln Gxy.

    Through his range of perception and Mana Sense, Nial created a path around the active battlefields. Instead, he collected the dead bodies by releasing his dark energy whenever he came close to them. Using his Cursed Divine Ability, Devour, he swallowed the corpses and digested them rapidly inside the Heart of Gluttony.

    He didn''t have to rush fighting the Advocate of the Pryard. Instead of rushing into anything, he may as well increase his strength as much as possible by devouring and digesting the bodies of Gods.

    Before digesting the bodies he devoured, Nial made sure that they weren''t poisoned with a simr substance as the Seed of Illusion. Digesting another Seed of Illusion wouldn''t be unlucky anymore. It would mean that he was not careful enough and that his braincked a bunch of brain cells.

    Time passed slowly across the battlefield, but nobody attacked him. Nial continued to devour and digest dead bodies while the battlefield''s intensity increased tremendously.

    The Armies of the Gigalorian Gxies were not as rusty as a few months ago. They trained with the Army of Devils to fix their bad habits and improve theirbat prowess once again. That was also why the Gigalorian Warriors were able to breeze through their enemies, killing their opponents one after another.

    ''Looks like we''re currently at an advantage. Well, it is certainly disadvantageous if you know everything about your enemy but your enemycks even the most basic information about your opponent. They don''t even know that most residents of the four Gigalorian Gxies cultivate by altering their mana with Eternal Glory. I wonder how long we can exploit this advantage.''

    Nial didn''t think that it was difficult to avoid fights in the Dead Ykaln Gxy. However, he might also be mistaken because it looked like some Gods avoided him. Even certain Divine Gods and Primordials were clearly trying to avoid him and make sure that he wouldn''t fight them.

    Even the prideful Primordials retreated, which confused Nial considerably.

    ''They have something nned, but what is it?''

    Noth muchter, he finally got to know what the rest of the universe had nned for him.

    Precisely, it was the Advocate who seemed to know him as well as the inside of his pockets.

    Hundreds of powerhouses appeared out of nowhere, surrounding Nial instantaneously. A particr fellow attracted his curiosity.

    However, this being disappeared the moment he focused his Mana Sense on it.

    ''Who was that?'' Nial wondered before he noticed a change of atmosphere in proximity.

    Countless Divinities were unleashed with full power and elemental attacks began to hail down on him, forcefully diverting his focus from the unknown figure.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    At the same time, his spatial movements were restrained, preventing him from using Grasp of Eclipse to teleport behind his opponents and forget about fleeing.

    But running away was not an option anymore, in the first ce. However, that was only obvious.

    Who would follow a leader who runs away from the battlefield?

    Nial was not willing to run, even if he were to be given the chance. He manifested Goldy''s golden scales all over his body, a pair of golden horns, a pair of leather wings, and a dragon tail before he fused with the Infernal Devil of Darkness and Witchery as well.

    His body expanded slightly in size, darkness oozed out of his body, two pairs of ck-feathered wings grew out of his shoulder des and two pairs of curved horns grew out of the sides of his head.

    The presence around him changed and he exerted both the Weaponry of Ten Thousand Nights martial arts and the Grasp of Eclipse movement technique. His speed andbat prowess skyrocketed and he shot forward.

    ''To fight me, you will need a little bit more than a few hundred Ancient Gods. I am not alone, after all!'' Nial thought, expanding the darkness around him.

    A momentter, ck figures of various sizes and shapes dashed out of the darkness.

    Nial had kept some Devils in his Heart of Gluttony, especially for moments like this. He couldn''t allow anyone to tire him out even before encountering the Advocate. That was exactly what the Advocate of the Pryard was trying to do, and Nial was not willing to fall into such a trap!

    He sends his Devils out while also joining the battle against the few hundred Ancient Gods. Their cultivation rank might be the same but Nial never paid much heed to the Ancient Gods. Even certain Divine Gods wouldn''t be able to pose a threat to him anymore. Why was there a need to fear Ancient Gods then?

    Nial''s speed was horrifyingly high. He passed through the encirclement of his opponents and retrieved the Eternal Darkness Spear without hesitation. Afterward, his ughter began.

    The tip of the Eternal Darkness Spear drilled deep into the neck of a Dwarf, gently slicing through the skin and flesh before Nial flicked his hand, twisting the Eternal Darkness Spear. The Dwarf''s eyes widened and his lips separated but no word escaped his mouth.

    Nial used minimal force to move the Eternal Darkness Spear to the side, slicing off the Dwarf''s head.

    Barely a secondter, the Dwarf''s body disappeared, swallowed by the darkness engulfing the Ancient God.

    Nial''s simple actions and attacks didn''t seem like much at first. However, when he killed the second and third Ancient Gods with a simr ¨C almost the same ¨C method, the Ancient Gods desiring to fight Nial backed off.

    When their battle spirit was at its lowest, intense holy light engulfed the Ancient Gods.

    ''Wasn''t that the Advocate earlier?''

 Chapter 752 Plan

    ?

    Unfortunately, the user of the intense holy light was not the Advocate of the Pryard.

    It was someone familiar, someone Nial wanted to meet again, either way.

    "The bird bitch returned! Wee back," Nial greeted her.

    The Primordial Angel had returned to him!

    It made him feel like the Primordial Angel wanted to serve herself on a silver te.

    That was just too nice of her!

    "You bastard!!! You killed them all¡­ALL OF THEM!!!" The Primordial Angel screamed at the top of her lungs.

    Nial nodded his head in response. He didn''t mind the Ancient Gods around him anymore and smiled lightly in the Primordial Angel''s direction.

    "I killed your people because you and these birds were a little annoying. While I was trapped by the Seed of Illusion, you and those bird brains chose to attack the Orion Shelter. You attempted to annihte the Origin Humans, my beloved people, and also me. So why shouldn''t I turn your race and the other races, who were daring enough to attack me, into an example to show clearly what happens if you offend the wrong person?" Nial asked, without expecting an answer in return.

    "I do not care how you feel, just like you didn''t care about my people''s feelings when they had to endure the siege for an entire year. Don''t act like you are a Saint when you''re working together with the Advocate. You are no better than those traitors, and you should be thest one to even think about voicing out your opinion!"

    Nial''s words pierced deep into the Primordial Angel''s heart. Being called a traitor was something new, and it was totally unexpected.

    ''How did he¨C''

    "You might ask yourself how I found out? It''s pretty simple. I used one of my lovely Devils to resurrect your entire race in the form of Shadows. He interrogated him, and we found out a few interesting things. It seemed like your Archangels were getting suspicious of you since you talked on the messenger crystal all day," Nial pointed out before he added lightly,

    "Though, I didn''t expect that you prepared a vessel to create a new Advocate of the Pryard. I wonder what Be would have thought about that if she had known."

    That was it. The Primordial Angel picked Be as the Saintess of the Angels because she wanted to train her from a young age. She was the perfect vessel for the Pryard''s Power Shard and would slowly be consumed and corrupted by the Pryard''s power and sentients. That way, the Advocate and the Primordial Angel had nned to create new Advocates.

    Fortunately, Be was only the first experiment and not one of many guinea pigs. She was the first, andst.

    "Everything made sense after I found out about your experiments. The reason why even one of the Spectran wished to protect Be. She was just a marite. That means, even if she killed my mother, she was merely a puppet, controlled by the Primordial Angel aka you, the bitch right in front of me, the Advocate and that weird Spectran.

    I will just kill you, and turn you into a Shadow Angel. I will read your memories after everything is over, and send my Devils out to eliminate every single one of you traitor pigs!!"

    Nial''s voice was loud enough for everyone around to hear. The Ancient Gods, who had been fighting the Devils looked at Nial before their gaze moved over to the Primordial Angel.

    She was extremely pale even though they had yet to start fighting. It was almost as if her scheme had been found out and that she was panicking because of that.

    No matter what, the Ancient Gods couldn''t help but feel suspicious. What was actually going on?

    We heard what the Dark Sessor said, but what does he actually mean? Are his words truthfully or is he spouting nonsense?

    Various questions shed through their mind, but one thing was for sure; if the Dark Sessor was lying, why would the Primordial Angel react in such a drastic way?

    Nial noticed that his words affected the Ancient Gods. He could ughter them using the confusion.

    However, instead of doing so, Nial pulled the Devils back from the confused Ancient Gods. He ordered them to attack the other Ancient Gods, who were unaffected by the conversation he had with the Primordial Angel.

    At the same time, he shot forward, ready to reap the Primordial Angel''s life.

    But before he could reach her, something in the surrounding changed drastically.

    Space seemed to twist and thousands of powerhouses appeared out of nowhere.

    "So the Spectran was already there? He is controlling the battlefield from the backlines. What a sly bastard!"

    Nial ignored the Ancient Gods he had been fighting earlier. He merely devoured the dead bodies floating around in the air while keeping his focus on the other powerhouses.

    There were thousands, all of them at least as powerful as the regr Ancient God. These regrs were not the problem, but the five Divine Gods and ten Primordials, who came for his life with them.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial frowned deeply but he didn''t halt in his tracks. He was close to the Primordial Angel, expanded his darkness rapidly, and released his crimson chaos followed up with the vast majority of his reinforced energy.

    "Mana canction!" He roared out loudly while exerting Dominion.

    Dominion was not only an ability that could affect the living beings around him. He could also control the energies around him. With mana canction, he momentarily stopped all movements of mana.

    This gave him the fraction of a second he required to appear in front of the Primordial Angel.

    After that, he released crimson chaos to coat the Eternal Darkness Spear''s de, which he pierced forward just a fraction of a secondter.

    The de cut deep into the Primordial Angel''s chest. Her golden eyes widened in horror and she tried to use her Divinity and the remaining bits of her divine energy to push Nial away.

    However, it was at this moment that she realized that something was odd.

    "Looks like you didn''t learn anything from ourst encounter. That''s pretty stupid," Nial pointed out before he smiled lightly.

    "I expected a little more from the apprentice of thest Advocate. You should have kept your mouth shut if you''re just a dumb bitch!"

    Nial''s words could be heard by everyone but most didn''t focus on the meaning. Most Originals were more concerned about the Primordial Angel and her well-being.

    They had been momentarily distracted by the sudden inability to control their mana properly. This left them with no choice but to charge at Nial and prevent him from eliminating the Primordial Angel.

    The Primordial Angel''s holy divine energy was one of the most efficient ways to counter the dark energy created by Nial and his Devils. With the Primordial Angel''s death, they would lose an important piece needed to eliminate Nial and his people.

    But before the powerhouses could reach Nial, blood sttered through the surrounding in a big arc. Nial tore the Primordial Angel''s body apart with a slice to the right. It required every bit of physical strength inside him to tear her body apart.

    However, it was certainly worth it. The used-up dark energy in his body was quickly replenished from the digestion of the corpses he devoured, and a few familiar fellows happened to be nearby.

    They appeared next to him, their weapons ready to ughter the Divine Gods and Primordials.

    "Took you long enough to lure them over," Elya Necandril, while the corners of his lips curled upward.

    "It''s not my fault that they''re slowpokes!" Nial retorted with a simr smug smile.

    Meanwhile, the powerhouses they faced stared nkly at Nial, his Devils, and the strongest Asura who brought hispanions over.

    ''All of this was nned?!''

    Of course, it was nned.

    The Divine Gods, Primordials, Ancients, and the Advocate of the Pryard are not the only ones with intact brains.

    Nial knew that he would be targeted. Thus, he turned himself into the bait.

    It was a little dangerous, but which war was won without the need of facing dangerous situations?

    Nial knew that he had to put his life on the line to win and survive and that was fine.

    He was willing to.

    His mission demanded that he sacrifices his life if necessary.

    And if he was to be honest with himself, as long as his family and friends would be safe and sound, sacrificing his life for their sake didn''t sound too bad.

    Of course, that was only something valid if there was no other way out.

    He still wished to live!

 Chapter 753 Secret Unveiled

    ?

    The Primordial Angel''s eyes shot wide open.

    Her body was severed and the first reactions urred within her. Endless waves of pain were sent to her brain and a sensation of unbearable distress swept through her entire being.

    She began to breathe heavily and her eyes flicked from left to right in a desperate hope to find someone who could help her.

    However, the Ancient Gods were faced with Nial''s Devils while the strongest Asura and his direct subordinates began a deadly battle against the Primordials and Divine Gods.

    ''I cannot die. Someone has to help me. Advocate, where are you?! Why can''t you help me? We worked together for such a long time¡­how can you leave me alone like this??'' The Primordial Angel screamed in her mind.

    She wanted to shout out loud but not a single word escaped her lips.

    Her body began to shut down slowly, her heart rate slowed down and the Primordial Angel''s wings stopped pping in space.

    Slowly but steadily, her breathing became shallower and irregr.

    ''No, I cannot die!!!'' She screamed in her mind, but there was nothing she could do.

    Her body was torn apart in a moment of distraction as she didn''t expect the Dark Sessor''s strength to have reached such a terrifying degree. His progress was horrifyingly fast, and she clearly underestimated him.

    Even his fighting style improved drastically since theirst encounter. His movements were deadly silent and his attacks rapid, iprehensible, yet eerily simple and lethal.

    Slowly, the Primordial Angel''s consciousness drifted away. Thest thing she saw from the corner of her eyes was a pair of heterochromatic eyes staring at her emotionlessly. She saw the face of the Advocate and her parting lips as two seemingly simple, yet destructive words formed.

    ''Just die!''

    Even though the Primordial Angel''s senses declined rapidly, she could tell what the Advocate of the Pryard wanted to tell her.

    She should just die.

    ''So I was a puppet all along? Is that it?'' The Primordial Angel asked herself, ''What did I¨C....''

    At that moment, the Primordial Angel''s consciousness vaned. She was not even able to perform herst thought. She convulsed for several seconds while her once-vibrant eyes turned nk. They were void of life and would never regain their former life light.

    Her body stopped functioning and she died atst.

    "You''re quite lucky that we''re at war, otherwise, I would have never killed you that easily. Well¡­it''s not exactly over for you. I will let Dexter treat you ''kindly'' with your entire soul intact and imprisoned in a shadow replica of your former body!" Nial said, somewhat nonchntly as he summoned a ck mass from the Heart of Gluttony.

    He didn''t want to expose Dexter too early but it was about time to make use of this powerful fe.

    "Resurrect her as a Shadow, but don''t damage her soul. We need her for information, and torture purposes¡­ nobody is allowed to attack my family, or be part of the bastards who killed my mothers, my father, and the entire Lacardia Empyrean Void!!" Nial growled loud enough for everyone to hear.

    His presence intensified and the killing intent shrouding his entire being was hard to ignore even for someone like Elya Necandril.

    ''He really loves his family to death¡­well, that''s quite rare for powerful Cultivators. But it seems to be a good thing since it allows him to grow much stronger in such a short time,'' Elya thought before he twisted his body, evading a few elemental attacks.

    He retaliated by materializing the exact same elemental attacks, just morepressed and deadlier. Throwing the elemental attacks toward his opponents was all it took to turn their gleeful faces into faces filled with horror.

    As Elya Necandril releases one attack after another, the other Asura were doing exactly the same. Most Devils were also fighting relentlessly. However, for the time being, nobody died.

    After the Primordial Angel met her end, everyone''s focus was diverted to Nial and the ck mass he had summoned.

    A shadow was being materialized around the Primordial Angel, faking on the exact same form as the Primordial Angel. The only difference in the appearance of the Shadow Primordial Angel and the Primordial Angel was their color. The Shadow was pitch-ck while the Primordial Angel wore a white dress that highlighted their fairplexion.

    One way or another, the Primordial Angel was dead, and the Shadow was a replica of her appearance, with her soul trapped inside.

    "Now, speak. Reveal the Advocates n. Tell me everything, and hand over some concrete evidence, if you have any!" Nial ordered the Shadow Primordial Angel, who began to move without hesitation.

    "The Advocate of the Pryard gathered a dozen apprentices beneath her since the first Great War started. It was necessary to be meticulous to make sure that nobody would notice anything. Because we should never be exposed, we ended up preparing for eons before we started the construction of the first artificially created Advocate of the Pryard.

    You killed her before we achieved anything," The Primordial Angel''s distant and somewhat robotic voice resounded through space, causing everyone on the battlefield to freeze for a moment.

    Nial ordered the Devils to calm down as well because this moment was very important.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Even if he had yet to find the Advocate of the Pryard, the current course of events was pretty decent. It was something he could make use of in order to make sure that everyone knew that they fought on the wrong side of the battlefield, that they were the bad guys, not Nial.

    ''Hmm¡­let''s escte the situation a little!'' Nial thought, flipping his wrist to retrieve the spatial ring of the Primordial Angel. The Shadow Primordial Angel retrieved a memory crystal which the shadow held high into the air for a second or two before it handed the memory crystal over to Nial.

    "The evidence you''re looking for has been recorded inside this me¡ª...." The Shadow Primordial Angel said, only to be interrupted all of a sudden.

    One of the Spectran dashed out. He appeared next to the Shadow Primordial Angel, one of his hands reaching out for the memory crystal while his other hand was pressed against the Shadow''s head. A golden light manifested in his palm and the Shadow''s head burst open.

    At the same time, the memory crystal in the Shadow''s hand burst apart.

    Nial, on the other hand, could only smile as he retrieved a runic armament that restricted space movements in a certain range.

    "Looks like you lost your cool. What''s wrong? Didn''t you think that this might be a trap? Aren''t you a little foolish to believe that it''s so easy to retrieve information from a resisting soul? Being one of the Advocate''s apprentices doesn''t mean that your intelligence increased from the looks of it!" Nial mocked, smiling from one ear to another as he exposed another Apprentice of the Advocate.

    The Spectran''s body began to creak and expand, but Nial could onlyugh.

    "I got you, you fucking idiot!" Nial dered, while most Divine Gods and even some Primordials began to stare at the Spectran.

    They first didn''t understand what theirrade was doing, attacking the Shadow Primordial Angel rather than Nial.

    Only after the Dark Sessor''s words rang through their ears did understanding dawn upon them.

    They had been betrayed!!

    The Spectran traitor understood this very well. He used his supreme spatial affinity to squash Nial''s spatial restraining runic armament before he disappeared into thin air.

    He left, just like that, leaving behind nothing but a few golden sparks.

    However, Nial still smiled.

    "I have your mana frequency now, you bastard. You won''t be able to escape anymore!" He announced,ughing out loud.

    At this moment, Nial could clearly tell that it was impossible to lose this war. The Second Great War didn''t even start a whole day ago but he was already at an advantage that couldn''t be outweighed anymore.

    The Divine Gods, Primordials, and Ancient Gods in the surrounding area had all witnessed what happened. They knew now that the Dark Sessor didn''t lie about the Advocate and the traitors of the universe.

    That was enough reason to end the Second Great War¡­if they wanted to believe him.

    However, it was also just then that everything changed all of a sudden.

    Nial''s bright face contorted and his milky-white and lifeless eyes began to ache painfully.

    He screamed out in endless pain.

    A woman appeared in front of him, her heterochromia eyes staring down at Nial with a gleam.

    "Let''s move somewhere else, my fated enemy!"

    A momentter, her hand touched him lightly.

    Space around Nial began to twist and heavy pressure weighed down on him.

    The two disappeared just a momentter, leaving behind thousands of confused powerhouses.

    "What just happened?"

    Nothing much. It was just the start of the end. The final struggle. The final battle between the fated enemies was about to begin.

    The end of the Second Great War was near.

 Chapter 754 Fated Fight (1/10)

    ?

    Space around Nial began to twist and heavy pressure weighed down on him.

    His connection to the Army of Devils was cut off all of a sudden and he found himself in apletely different ce.

    He had been in the midst of space before, just to end up touching the soft ground of semi-solid clouds. It was a truly confusing sensation.

    ''I cannot use my dark energy here!'' Nial noticed with furrowed eyebrows.

    He tried to coat his body in reinforced dark energy but he couldn''t even feel the dark energy at this moment. His Mana Perception and Mana Sense didn''t work either.

    Only his other senses seemed to be working.

    ''What is this ce? Why does it feel familiar?''

    Nial''s mana perception might not work but the sensation he got from this ce was weird.

    "This space feels like an inferior version of the pressure Hoert released. It is somewhat superior to the Veiluris and Veils though¡­" Nial mumbled to himself, tilting his head in confusion.

    Did the Advocate separate him from the battlefield? Did he fall into the Advocate of the Pryard''s trap¡­again?

    Nial figured that the Advocate of the Pryard wanted to weaken him as much as possible before their final fight would begin. Thus, the Advocate created a space where one couldn''t sense, or use mana, and the energies created by it.

    Unable to use reinforced dark energy, Nial''sbat prowess decreased drastically. He was unable to use most of his tactics, and forget about sensing his opponent.

    ''Fortunately, I am already holding a weapon in my hand. I cannot even ess my spatial ring¡­''

    Nial nibbled on his lower lip, trying to figure out where the Advocate was located. Maybe the Advocate was already watching him, waiting until he lowered his guard to attack and eliminate him at once.

    Nial concentrated on his five senses but the only thing he could feel was the fluffy ground and the cold air that brushed against his body.

    It was a somewhat familiar sensation. However, it didn''t make sense the more he thought about it.

    After all, the only time he felt something like that was in the dream he had about the Divine Hall before he awoke his Origin. Before he awoke his Origin he had a particr dream once a month.

    Inside the dream, Nial was able to see. It had always been a little weird because it never made sense that he could see in a dream, while he was totally blind.

    However, that didn''t really matter right now. The only thing of importance was that the cloud-like scenery of the dream felt simr to the sensation he felt right now.

    What did that mean? Was he in the same ce as before?

    Did he end up in the same Divine Hall as before? Will I meet the Divine Goddess again?

    ''...Wait¡­''

    A weird and unrealistic thought shed through his mind. His expression stiffened at the seemingly impossible possibility that formed in his mind.

    At this moment, the tip of his right foot pressed against a solid te. There was a staircase.

    It was simr to the dream he had when he was young.

    No.

    It was exactly the same!

    The pressure around him increased slightly as he stepped up the stairs. He knew this feeling since he was overly familiar with it.

    How many times had he been trying to ascend the staircase when his Origin had not yet awoken?

    Nial didn''t remember anymore, but it was certainly more than a hundred times.

    When he reached the final step the pressure around Nial dissipated as if it never existed in the first ce.

    However, Nial knew what this entailed.

    He didn''t even think of lowering his guard and continued to step forward.

    It didn''t take long before he reached the Divine Hall.

    Nial had only seen it once, and he was not able to see or sense it right now.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Despite that, he could tell that he was where everything began for him.

    "So, it ends where it all started?"

    Nial had a premonition, but he hadn''t been sure about it. He heard some rumors and got to know which Gods were in possession of powerful Divinities rted to their eyes.

    He also got to know news about a particr god who became a Divine God after dismantling her Divinity.

    This Divine God was none other than the Goddess of the Divine Eye.

    She became a Divine God just a little bit over a century ago, and the power of her eyes was tremendous.

    Atst, she had a golden and a silver eye, and people said that she had been blind before.

    Other Divine Gods presumed that she blinded herself in order to build a foundation for her Divine Eye, but Nial finally figured out what the truth was.

    "The Goddess of the Divine Eye is¡­the Advocate?" Nial asked himself, somewhat perplexed, yet also feeling as if everything made sense.

    But in that case¡­how was this Divine Hall rted to the Advocate?

    Wait¡­

    Was the Advocate the Divine Goddess of this ce all along?!?

    While Nial fell into a state of shock and confusion, he heard the sound of heels clicking on the marble ground of the Divine Hall. It was extremely loud and rang in Nial''s ears, distracting him from the chaos in his mind.

    "Fufufufu~ Looks like the little insect finally found out who I am!~" A clear voice resounded through the Divine Hall.

    Nial lifted his head, though knowing that he wouldn''t be able to see or visualize the Divine Goddess.

    But that was not necessary, in the first ce. He knew what she looked like.

    "Finally, we''re meeting, little Dark Ses¨C....huh?"

    The Advocate of the Pryard halted in her tracks. She intended to create a big entrance and humiliate the Dark Sessor for the trouble he caused her.

    However, upon seeing Nial''s face, his overly familiar white and lifeless eyes, his peculiar facial features, and his silver hair, she halted in her tracks.

    "Huh?!"

    ''The Crown Prince of the Lacardia is the Dark Sessor? Wait wait wait¡­Isn''t that the kid which entered my domain every month for over a decade a century ago?!?''

    "Who the hell are you?!" The Advocate of the Pryard screamed, unable to hide her astonishment.

    She had prepared to overwhelm the Dark Sessor with shocking news, but it was actually her who ended up shocked to the core.

    After all, the Divine Goddess, whose domain Nial had visited for years in his dream before awakening his Origin was the Advocate of the Pryard¡­the woman who took away his eyes, the woman who annihted the Creaotran race in the Lacardia Empyrean Void¡­and the woman who was responsible for the fast awakening of his Origin.

    All of this caused one particr question to sh through his entire being.

    Were they always fated to face each other on the battlefield¡­to encounter one another several times over the course of Nial''s whole life?

    **

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 Chapter 755 Fated Fight (2/10)

    ?

    Even if Nial was not fully prepared for this encounter, it looked like the Divine Goddess was totally dumbfounded.

    She was not mentally prepared to encounter Nial, the Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyren Void, the baby whose eyes she stole, and the person who stole her divine energy, all in one person as Dark Sessor.

    This had to be a joke!

    She had always been prepared for everything. Herwork across the Universe was impable. Nobody could rival it.

    Her intelligence was unfathomable and so was her talent to schemeplex ns that required tens of years toe into effect.

    That was the person she was. The Advocate of the Pryard.

    Even though she was a traitor of the Universe, what did it matter? The Universe was one of the youngest existing Universes. Their power was insignificant.

    She wanted more, and the only ones who could give her what she wanted were the Pryards. What did it matter whether she betrayed her Universe?

    However, even after being thorough with everything she did, making sure that nobody would be able to make out that she was the Advocate, the traitor of the universe, she could have never expected that Nial Lacardia had be the Dark Sessor.

    This had to be a big joke?!

    Just as she was about to say something, her mouth already wide open, she noticed that something was off.

    Her body tilted to the right and her mouth shut closed in an instant.

    It was at that moment a ck spear shot past her face, grazing it lightly.

    Droplets of dark red blood trickled down to the ground and her eyes widened in terror.

    The Advocate''s mind was inplete chaos. She was still able to use divine energy in this domain, but to restrict Nial''s power she had erupted a special device that blocked of all mana, and cultivation energies rted to mana.

    This should have been enough to shock Nial and decrease hisbat prowess drastically.

    So why was he unaffected, attacking her with a flurry of attacks that came flying at her with deadly precision?

    Was he still able to use his mana to detect her presence?

    This would be the worst possible situation if it was actually true!

    "Wha¡­"

    "All you know is how to spout nonsense¡­do you think I need to rely on my reinforced dark energy to kill someone like you? Do you think I need Damian''s powers to get rid of you?" An eerily cold voice rang in her ears.

    "You entrapped yourself by pulling me into this space with you. How funny."

    An explosion resounded and Nial''s attacks elerated. They became even deadlier.

    The Advocate turned her head at the sudden explosion, her cheeks burning from the cut she received.

    Her expression changed drastically. Immense fury could be seen in it.

    However, there was not much she could do right now. The Advocate knew that she had to regain her bnce first and that it was necessary to remain calm andposed.

    But was that easy while evading a furry of rapid and precise attacks? Not really.

    Although she was not skilled in close-rangebat, she was a powerful Divine Goddess with full ess to her divine energy. Even if her enemy was strong enough to split entire nts, he would not be able to do anything against her.

    At that moment, she erupted a protection barrier that coated her body like a secondyer of skin. It was just a little stronger than ordinary skin.

    In fact, as long as she had some Divine energy reserves, the protection barrier was invincible. She was confident in the invincibility of her protection barrier.

    However, even then, she fell backward in shock when Nial''s Spear of Eternal Darkness shed downward toward her head.

    The de narrowly brushed past her face and soon enough, from the forehead to her chin, a thin line was drawn on the ''invincible'' protection barrier.

    Nial''s lips curled upward, and crimson chaos began to coat him as golden scales grew out of his skin.

    ''I can do the same as you, bitch!''

    "How?!" The Advocate blinked while muttering aghast. Next, Nial clicked his tongue in disappointment.

    When she looked around in shock, she quickly found the crimson-silver colored hue around the tip of Nial''s spear. The naturally exuded darkness of the Eternal Darkness Spear hid most of the crimson chaos but it was impossible to hide all of it.

    The crimson chaos spread across the entire de of the Eternal Darkness Spear, powering up the weapon of death that wasing for the Advocate''s Head.

    Feeling a sense of urgency at the sight of Nial''s attack, the Advocate gathered her divine energy at the point of impact. She blocked one of Nial''s spear thrusts and sessfully escaped the encirclement by flying away.

    It was only then that Nial noticed something was odd.

    ''She has wings?''

    He heard the pping of her wings.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    This was news to Nial. He didn''t expect the Advocate of the Pryard to be in possession of wings.

    ''Is that what Damian''s memories meant? The Power all Advocates possessed¡­shapeshifting¡­''

    The Advocates of the Pryard had all been in possession of the same unique power. They were able to shapeshift. However, that didn''t mean they could turn into wolves or some other monsters. No, they could literally change the shape of their body by shifting it however they''d like.

    It was easier to call the Advocates'' power "Transformation", or something along those lines, but the name of the power didn''t matter. It was only important to know that he may be facing an opponent with 10 or more arms, hundreds of wings, and tens of heads, and not a normal ''human being''.

    Nial never expected that the fight against the Advocate of the Pryard would be easy. He had to gear up a little.

    Nial''s golden scales were enveloped in crimson chaos.

    Feeling the energy surging up from the bottom of his feet up to the strands of hair he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn''t want to get pushed back little by little, so he had to keep increasing his strength to hold the ground.

    The Advocate of the Pryard stared at Nial, whose strength quickly increased.

    She should have made sure that Nial was not able to use any kind of energy rather than restricting his reinforced dark energy only.

    Only then would she have a chance of sess.

    However, she failed to realize this.

    She couldn''t me anyone else. After all, she was all by herself and didn''t realize the vast versatility of Nial''s power.

    "I just want to make sure," Nial said all of a sudden, "You never even considered surrendering, or did you?"

    The Advocate twitched. She didn''t say anything, but the heavy pressure that permeated the air was more than enough for Nial to understand what she meant.

    Soon, she slowly tilted her head and stared far behind Nial. However, there was nothing to see.

    Nial could hear her rough breathing, which made it easy to locate her. But he didn''t attack even then.

    Fighting against an opponent in the air while being unable to perceive her entire figure was not the smartest move.

    "Are you already tired?" Nial mocked but he didn''t receive an answer.

    Instead, the Advocate of the Pryard began to speak about something else.

    "Looks like your side is winning. The Divine Gods, Primordials, and Ancients are slowly surrendering. These fucking idiots!!" She said in contempt.

    Nial, on the other hand, smiled lightly.

    "In that case, how big do you think are your chances of survival?" Nial asked, ready to keep mocking her, hoping that the provocation would lead to mistakes on the Advocate''s side.

    However, the Advocate answered calmly.

    "I will probably die today."

    ''Huh?''

    If Nial was notpletely mistaken, the Advocate of the Pryard was rxed and tranquil.

    "You might not understand me but let me tell you about myself," A calm voice rang in Nial''s ears.

    "My life was filled with survival. I had to fight from the moment I was born. I was born a divine being with exceptional potential and no protection. I was easy prey. I never questioned my existence and simply fought. For hundreds of thousands of years, I fought, fought, and fought¡­ Before I noticed, I had several gxies beneath my feat.

    Of course, that process wasn''t honorable. It was bloody and filled with desperate moments."

    "I hate this Universe. It makes me remind the times I had to beg for my life, the moment I turned into a filthy whore just to survive, the days when I escaped with my life hanging on a tiny hair-breadth thread.

    But none of that actually matters now. I was granted immense power and opportunities you cannot even fathom. I changed my identity numerous times while causing death and destruction. But that is not the most important."

    The Advocate of the Pryard turned over to Nial.

    "I am still standing here and now. I obliterated my enemies no matter who it was¡­and I will most likely continue to do so. Even in my death, I will never surrender."

    "I will be standing here even after today passes. Just like I always have!"

    Nial shuddered when he felt the absolute confidence in her voice. He was pretty sure that the Advocate knew that at this point, her army was destroyed and that she would be the next to fall.

    So what was the reason behind her confidence?

    ''What is her secret?''

    He didn''t feel that he hade out victorious yet. That was only obvious because the Advocate was still alive. However, something bothered him.

    Just why was she still so confident even after everything that happened in thest few days?

 Chapter 756 Fated Fight (3/10)

    ?

    How much time went by?

    Nial was not too sure but it had to be hours since the fierce battle in the Divine Hall began.

    Of course, if Nial coulde out victorious, the moment would be a true legend. He would make happen what Damian hadn''t been capable of achieving.

    Unfortunately, he felt short of turning a legend into reality.

    Nial spat out blood.

    His legs staggered and the back of his head ached, blood pouring down his back. He had been hit on the back of his head without noticing.

    However, he had no time to check his wound. The only thing he could do was to adjust his positioning because the constant attacks pouring down on him paused for a moment.

    He swayed from left to right and still swung his spear not to be buried by the consecutive attacks.

    ''How did the tide of the battle change so suddenly?''

    Nial was not too sure about that. It just happened.

    The biggest problem was the small attacks that came all of a sudden, silently and deadly. The Advocate of the Pryard used her hair and feathers to attack Nial, inflicting tiny injuries that grew worse with time.

    Nial was already running low on resources because he couldn''t use his near-unlimited supply of reinforced dark energy, and the minuscule attacks were no longer negligible.

    The truly bothersome attacks came smoothly in between the small attacks. When the Advocate shot a st of divine energy directly, her hair and feathers would hit his vital spots.

    Not even Nial, the Dark Sessor, the God of Gluttony, could do something in this situation¡­not without his reinforced dark energy.

    Being pushed back repeatedly, Nial had to give up on attacking. He was too busy trying to survive.

    Even then, his mind was trying to find openings to counterattacks.

    At a certain point, Nial deepened his fusion with Goldy. A pair of huge leather wings grew out of his shoulder des, providing him a little more protection, just like the long tail covered in golden scales that grew out of his tailbone.

    He initiated a second fusion with Psy as well, enhancing his mental stability and mental powers.

    It wouldn''t be impossible for him to use Dominion right now. After all, the powers of the Blind Mouse, Psy, had been umted.

    Over the course of years, Psy''s powers had umted.

    As long as Nial wanted to unleash everything at once, he could gain an opportunity to counterattack. However, he was in need of a thorough n first. Acting foolishly would only lead to failure, and failure meant death!

    The next thing he noticed was a longsword striking down his forehead as if to crack it in half.

    ''Bitch.''

    Nial evaded the attack the moment he sensed it.

    He wanted to counterattack this time, but a multitude of attacks came flying. Nial was forced to focus entirely on evading. It was frustrating, even more so because Nial noticed what the Advocate was trying to do.

    He knew that an opportunity was created by exploiting openings and expanding them. Thus, what the Advocate did was cling to the small opportunity.

    Whenever he was hit, Nial was pushed back. He didn''t fall, but it was only a matter of time before he would crash onto the ground.

    Nial spat out another mouthful of blood. Sweat streamed down his forehead, where it mixed with his blood.

    His entire upper body was stained crimson with blood and countless of his golden scales had cracked open by now. Yet, rather than bothering about that, Nial regenerated the cracked open scales using up his nutrition.

    Digesting billions of corpses did not only increase the amount of reinforced dark energy in his body. It filled his entire body, every single cell inside him, with a tremendous amount of nutrition. His Heart of Gluttony was overflowing with nutrition.

    There was no need for him to save nutrition for bad times. If he wouldn''t use it now, he may as well offer his neck to the Advocate of the Pryard.

    As he wiped his bloody face, Nial looked truly demonic. He seemed unfazed even after suffering the bombardment of attacks, and it even felt like his movements were getting fiercer.

    "That is crazy¡­" The Advocate mumbled with an exhausted look on her face. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Was the Dark Sessor an Undying Lifeform? No, that shouldn''t be it.

    "Just die, you puny insect!" She shouted while pointing her sword at Nial Orin. As if to respond to her shout, Nial began to smile.

    "Are you talking about me?"

    His vigor surged all of a sudden and True Golden Dragon aura oozed out of his body. His presence changed drastically and the corners of his lips curled up even further.

    "You want to kill me?" He asked, his body slowly expanding as moreyers of golden scales grew out of his body.

    His defense increased and so did his physical strength.

    It was about time to use a little more power!

    His body began to exude a crimson-silver light that mixed with searing heat.

    It was almost as if a frenzied fire had been ignited within Nial.

    "Let me see you try killing me!!" He shouted loudly, darkness oozing out of his body.

    He was not sure where his sudden confidence came from. He had been beaten to a pulp for thest few hours after all.

    Despite that, Nial felt a sudden change spread throughout his entire being. His Cursed Divinity reacted to his desire to win and to use the power he was most familiar with.

    The darkness oozing out of him was not created from mana. It was not reinforced dark energy either.

    It was pure darkness, created in the deepest parts of Nial, from a part of his body and life force at that.

    At that moment, Nial spread his arms out, seemingly attempting to embrace the darkness his body exuded.

    The Cursed Divinity burst out from his body, changing the scenery across the entire Divine Hall.

    As if that wasn''t enough, Nial was slowly bing one with Goldy and Psy. The shape of his body changed gradually, turning him into the most perfect entity.

    His presence changed gradually and so did the pressure he exuded. The Divine Hall''s marble walls began to tremble. Cracks formed on the marble, spreading further and further.

    ''That cannot be¡­even Divine Gods cannot damage the Divine Halls by merely releasing their pressure!!''

    The Advocate of the Pryard began to scream and flew backward instinctively.

    ''He devours himself?!?'' She thought in shock.

    No. Saying that she was shocked was a gross understatement. She was utterly dumbfounded, unable to grasp how Nial could devour his own body, just to create darkness.

    At this moment, Nial''s lifeless and milky-white eyes were filled with abyss-like darkness.

    They seemed to stare straight into the Advocate''s Soul with a single word shing through her mind countless of times.

    ''Just?''

    Darkness was one of the strongest powers Nial could make use of. Thanks to Damian''s memories he had thousands of years of experience with darkness.

    How could the exchange of his own life force and nutrition into darkness be considered as ''just''.

    The Advocate worked the hardest to prevent Nial from using his reinforced dark energy in the Divine Hall, yet, he found a way to out-wit her.

    How could she consider this as something negligible?!?

    "Fuck¡­" She mumbled while Nial''s pitch-ck eyes shot wide open.

    "...how?!"

 Chapter 757 Fated Fight (4/10)

    ?

    The lofty walls of the Divine hall were half-destroyed.

    In some parts, it was hard to tell whether a wall even existed in the first ce. The same could be said about what was inside the walls.

    The space above and around was distorted, looking totally different from before. Cracks in space could be seen everywhere in the Divine Domain.

    If someone else from the Universe were to see this pce, they would be utterly dumbfounded.

    Everyone would have expected a fierce battle to have taken ce, but the reality was bound to surpass their wildest imaginations.

    Thus, even if someone would have wanted to help Nial in the battle, the problem was ''how''.

    Everyone participating in the Second Great War was a powerhouse, who was amongst the strongest in the Universe. Despite that, only a few would be able to follow Nial and the Advocate''s movements.

    But being in a secluded space nobody could enter even if someone wanted, nobody witnessed the terrific battle between the two powerhouses.

    Another explosion erupted nearby, and the ground continued to rumble from their simple sh.

    ''What should I do?'' Nial was in a tricky situation.

    He unleashed the vast majority of his power, knowing that he had to defeat the Advocate soon.

    However, even now it felt as if the Advocate wasn''t giving her all. She evaded his attacks easily. It was almost as if she could see where he was heading even before he knew where he was about to go.

    Nial grit his teeth as he continued to give his all.

    But the Advocate did not seem fazed in the slightest.

    She and Nial had been fighting constantly for several hours, yet she didn''t show any signs of being exhausted.

    There had been a few instances in which the Advocate had been astonished, or even shocked, but that was already it. Her protection barrier was still fully erupted.

    Even then, it didn''t feel as if the Advocate was getting stronger as their fight progressed. It was only that Nial felt as if he was fighting against an endless stream. His opponent was solid, yet, he couldn''t hit her properly.

    His attacks hit either nothing or their trajectory was diverted. It was frustrating, but not something Nial could change just because he was annoyed.

    ''I cannot break through her evasive movements. I only need one fully empowered attack to finish her, but I cannot get close enough, forget about hitting her¡­''

    Nial was not too worried about his stamina. He was still doing fine because he had more than enough energy to use. However, that didn''t prevent him from worrying a bit.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    ''...I have only one trump card left¡­''

    Nial didn''t think that he could use Dominion right now. Using his only trump card, Dominion''s full power after it had been enhanced with Psy''s umted power of centuries, would lead to a devastating loss as of this moment.

    He had to find an opportunity in the evesting battle he fought. If he were to take a look at it from a long-term perspective, he had more than enough time left. Nheless, he was not too sure how long he could keep his Cursed Divinity fully unleashed.

    Furthermore, he was in the territory of the Advocate. That didn''t make things easier for him. On the contrary, it brought him quite some problems. The divine energy in the Divine Hall was abundant and it could be absorbed by the Divine Goddess.

    She replenished her used-up divine energy rather easily using the divine energy in the air.

    Nial thought of absorbing the divine energy in this ce as well, but he recalled the incident with the Divine God of Truth. That was enough to restrain him from attempting to use Devour and the Heart of Gluttony to devour divine energy and turn it into reinforced dark energy.

    If it worked out well, he would be much stronger than he was right now, regaining some of his formerbat prowess. However, if the Goddess of the Divine Eye schemed something evil in her domain, Nial may actually end up in a worse position.

    It was high risk with low rewards, something Nial would rather avoid if possible. He could devour his body and life force to create darkness. That was more cost-efficient than touching the Advocate''s stuff.

    Seemingly as if she was trying to mock him, the Divine Goddess began to use her Divinity as well.

    Precisely, it was the first time that Nial could actually feel her using her Divinity. She may have been using it passively all the time to evade his attacks easier but Nial just didn''t notice it. However, now that she actively used her Divinity, big changes urred on the battlefield.

    The Divine Goddess'' movements turned razor sharp and she counterattacked even before Nial issued his attacks. It was quite obvious that she could predict his attacks even before he made the move.

    ''Prediction? irvoyance? Or can she just deduct my movements from the way my muscles react? What is it?''

    Nial wanted to figure out the Divinity of the Divine Goddess, or precisely the special powers of her eyes. From his own experience, Nial could tell that the golden eye was an enhanced version of the silver eye. With the silver eye, he could see the cirction of mana. Precisely, it was possible to see all types of energies as long as they were in his sight of vision.

    The golden eye could see the innate potential of any being and a few more pieces of information about them. The additional information was always different. That being said, Nial was not sure if the Divine Goddess could see the same, or if it was a little different.

    Her Divinity should be stronger, especially since she used divine energy to empower them.

    The Advocate was already at an advantage, so what was she trying to do by using her Divinity? Was it really necessary? Did she want to end the battle right now?

    Nial was not sure, after all, the Advocate''sbat style didn''t change much, if one was to ignore the sharpness in her movements.

    But there was one thing that irked him.

    ''If she has my eyes¡­are they not totally wed?!?''

 Chapter 758 Fated Fight (5/10)

    ?

    Nial was fully aware of the power and uniqueness of the golden and silver eye. He had been in possession of them for more than a century, after all.

    The Witness State taught him everything about the silver and golden eye. This was all thanks to the teaching he had received from Ayase Silvereye. She had been the heiress of the Silver Eye n and taught him all secrets.

    With his aunt''s help, Nial unraveled the mysterious secrets of his eyes over a century.

    Being all by herself, the Advocate of the Pryard obviously didn''t know all those secrets and mysteries that had been unraveled by Nial.

    ''Without proper techniques, the eyes are wed. Even turning them into a Divinity shouldn''t fix all ws. She would have to know the origin of those ws to fix them!'' Nial clenched his fist while slowly moving backward.

    He knew that he had to make use of his superior knowledge to defeat the Advocate of the Pryard, though he was not too sure how he could make it happen.

    It was a little bitplicated.

    Even the golden eye was wed. That was something Nial had only noticed after practicing each of the Silver Eye n''s secret techniques respectively. He mastered them at an early age and improved them in hisst years before he ascended the throne.

    ''Turning the Silver and Golden Eye into her Divinity, the Advocate probably removed the minuscule dy effect. Her reaction is much faster than mine, even though I have my other four senses to rece my sight. That leaves¡­the overflow as best means to overpower her, is that it?''

    Nial witnessed an overflow firsthand. His eyes were able to see much more than any other eyes. While that was great, it also entailed dangers.

    An overflow of information and energy in the sight of view would overwhelm the eyes, and the brain of the person who had to digest every single piece of information she saw.

    It was simr to his visualization, range of perception, and mana sense. The only difference was that Nial''s Mana Sense and range of perception were even more dangerous than the overflow of Divine Eyes. The information he received from his surrounding ¨C every direction at that ¨C were abundant and sometimes grotesque enough to make him feel like vomiting.

    Either way, Nial learned to disregard certain pieces of information even before they would reach his mind. He was never able to make use of all pieces of information that entered his mind, in the first ce. Thus, by discarding the useless information, Nial was able to live a life without too much pain.

    However, there were still times in which he was overwhelmed by the sheer mass of information that flooded his mind.

    As Nial Lacardia, he witnessed something like that as well. The higher his cultivation rank progressed, the easier it was for him to make use of the information at hand. But, at the same time, it made him lower his guard a little as well.

    The Advocate of the Pryard regained her eyesight when she was already a Divine Being. She was already a Peak Ancient God with thebat prowess of Divine Gods ¨C some even say that she was stronger ¨C before she dismantled her Divinity to create a stronger one.

    She got hold of Nial''s eyes less than 150 years ago. In fact, it was a few decades less than 150 years. She might have learned how to digest the given information and use most abilities of the Divine Eyes.

    However, she should have never felt the need to discard useless information. The brain of a Peak Ancient God was not something that required discarding information. She could take in far more information than she had to digest from what appeared in her point of view.

    So¡­how about he made use of that?

    It sounded quite feasible.

    Nial''s mind rumbled and the cogs in his brain began to move rapidly.

    Now that he figured out what else he could do against the Advocate of the Pryard, Nial had two trump cards.

    One was his knowledge of the golden and silver eye''s ws, and the second was Psy''s stored power and natural enhancement of the Dominion ability.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    If he were to use Psy''s Powerbined with Dominion, which was further enhanced by Crimson Chaos, after trapping her by forcing her eyes into an overflow, he should be able to issue a powerful attack to finish her once and for all.

    The things he needed to make sure that his attack would be a sess weren''t too much either. In fact, he was only in need of two things that may as well be one; an opportunity.

    The Advocate of the Pryard had to lower her guard, believing that her victory was secured. Only then would he be able to overpower her.

    With that in mind, the corners of Nial''s lip curled upward. Hisposure changed and his attack pattern made a 180 degree.

    It was time to try overpowering her until she unleashed her full Divinity to overpower him in exchange.

    ''"Come at me! Show me what you got, you fucking bitch!!!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

    Despite the resounding words, the Advocate of the Pryard was calm as she gazed at her enemy. Her eyes were cold and seemingly uncaring as she scanned the change in the Dark Sessor''s attack pattern.

    It was obvious that he was nning something, but she was not too concerned.

    The Dark Sessor said earlier that she would die soon. However, she was still alive and kicking. The Dark Sessor was the one who had unleashed his Cursed Divinity to the fullest, devouring his own body to further increase his strength.

    She, on the other hand, merely tapped into the power of her Divinity while consistently absorbing the divine energy in the divine hall.

    The Advocate stretched out her arms. Circr waves of divine energy pulsed outward from all over her body, and it was only a matter of seconds before two raging orbs of divine energy manifested.

    They expanded in size and were released not long after.

    Once fired, the orbs drew a thick line in the divine realm, and cut across the air in a straight line.

    Not even a full second passed before the orbs reached Nial.

    There were only two orbs, but Nial slowed down gradually until he eventually came to a full stop. His expression distorted and he had to exert tremendous self-control not to shout out in disbelief.

    Even if he was not able to use his range of perception and mana sense, his body was still connected ot the darkness he released.

    It was more than enough to sense that something unbelievably powerful shot toward him.

    Countless beams of divine light shot out of the two orbs that shot across the divine hall like bullets. They spread out like a fountain, drawing arcs in the air before they poured down.

    The beams split up again and again, turning into dozens of beams, flooding the sky of the divine realm with divine beams.

    By the time the beams of divine light struck the ground, their numbers were in the millions.

    As for their target¡­there was only one.

 Chapter 759 Fated Fight (6/10)

    ?

    Fierce, explosive sounds resounded across the divine realm of the Adovcate''s domain.

    Nial was hit by the divine beams, drilling holes into the darkness and golden scales that covered his body. He didn''t die, and neither did he sustain lethal injuries.

    Nheless, the result of the attack was terrifying. He was swept away by the aftermath of the explosions and the bullet-like orbs that impacted him shortly after the divine beams hit him.

    The divine orbs destroyed mostyers of golden scales all over his upper body before they reached his naked skin. Nial twisted his body and he used the Eternal Darkness Spear to pierce them, finally destroying them.

    Unfortunately, that didn''t mean he was left unscathed.

    One of the two divine orbs pierced his left shoulder, digging a deep hole into it. He spat out blood and swayed from left to right as the tremendous pain reached his head.

    ''Fuck this shit¡­That''s not how I wanted to y it down¡­''

    Nial''s expression turned grim. He had nned to sustain minor injuries to lower the Advocate''s guard¡­and not end up with a fist-sized hole in his left shoulder.

    That was definitely not what he had nned!

    It might have been a different story before but without enough reinforced dark energy to seal his wound, he would have to endure it. Crimson Chaos and Darkness couldn''t be used to tend to the wound. It was not even enough to stop the bleeding.

    The energies'' properties were simply not made for that. The only advantage Nial had was his natural healing. His body had once been enhanced by the Titan Heart he devoured, and he had received the Blessing of the Fairies. To top that, he was also in possession of the Symbol of Life, which had been enhanced by turning into the Heart of Darkness.

    The Heart of Darkness then evolved, bing the Heart of Gluttony, his Divinity. That being said, his natural regeneration was quite tremendous.

    He wouldn''t die from a mere hole in his shoulder, and he could continue to fight¡­though it might hurt quite a bit.

    ''It is impossible to approach her without sustaining more injuries¡­this mass-range attack like before is also bullshit¡­'' Nial cursed in his mind, only d that it looked like the divine orbs were difficult to create. They required a tremendous amount of divine energy to be created.

    ''Should I attack now?''

    Nial was hesitant.

    But so was the Advocate of the Pryard.

    She was displeased by the current situation. Her original n was to inflict severe injuries with the divine beams and finish him directly using the divine orbs. They required more than three-quarters of her umted divine energy to be manifested, after all!

    She could replenish her divine energy by absorbing the surrounding divine energy but it would take a while. Repeating the same type of attack once again was not possible anytime soon.

    Nial had to make use of that. As long as the Advocate grew a little more tired and lowered her guard, he would certainlye out victorious!!

    Several pairs of wings unfolded behind the Advocate of the Pryard emitting a strange light that attracted the surrounding divine energy.

    Nial was able to sense it thanks to his darkness, which caused him to frown deeply.

    ''She has another dirty trick up to her sleeves?''

    Nial acted quickly. He used some of his nutrition to recover the destroyed golden scales. After that, he devoured bits of his overflowing nutrition to generate more darkness.

    He was able to use Grasp of Eclipse using the darkness. Disappearing from his earlier spot, Nial reappeared above the Advocate of the Pryard. A subtle smile formed on his face as he thrust out.

    The Eternal Darkness Spear released a beam of crimson chaos that pierced through the Advocate''s wings. His attack was aimed at the strange light she emitted. Piercing it, the strange light distorted. It reacted to the crimson chaos whose remnants clung to it.

    The distortion of the strange light intensified and it was not difficult to perceive that the light was changing. It turned slightly reddish.

    In the following seconds, Nial pierced out several times in session before he disappeared once again.

    His body reappeared in his previous position. Blood oozed out of the regrown scales but he ignored the hole in his left shoulder. Nial couldn''t do anything about it right now, either way.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial''s Eternal Darkness Spear had pierced through each source of the strange light. He altered them by forcing his crimson chaos onto them. Thus, the following reaction urred.

    First, the strange light was not able to absorb divine energy anymore.

    Second, crimson chaos infested the Advocate of the Pryard. She had to use Divine energy to prevent it from reaching her body. Retracting the strange light was out of option either. She didn''t want to invite the infestation inside her body!

    The Adovcate''s eyes widened in surprise. She expected Nial to grow weaker, not tounch a sudden attack by devouring even more of his already declining life force.

    Was he suicidal?

    The Dark Sessor had to act suicidal and do everything he could. Otherwise, he would lose¡­and he couldn''t afford to lose.

    Nial''s Familiars noticed what Nial was doing. They tried to support him in various means but the only thing Goldy could do was to use his full focus to fortify the golden scales Nial summoned, while Psy could only attempt to refine the power that had been stored in his body for centuries.

    Nial noticed their attempts to help, but he couldn''t make use of that for now. He gathered the Darkness at the tip of the Eternal Darkness Spear and pierced it out once again.

    The Advocate tried to move to evade the attack, but she found herself momentarily stuck in space. Only now did she realize that darkness ropes tied her wings.

    She frowned, but still lowered her center of gravity before she lifted her hands. A tremendous amount of divine energy shot out of her palms, forming a huge shield.

    What happened next caused her to frown even more.

    The Advocate was pushed back.

    The divine energy in her shield was being used up rapidly.

    Nial knew that the more divine energy she used up right now, the easier it would be to destroy the protection barrier coating her body.

    Thus, the change of events caused him to smile lightly.

    ''Come on. Use your divinity!!'' He shouted in his heart.

    The feeling of fighting an unwinnable battle disappeared as if it never existed and the corners of his lips curled upward.

    Darkness engulfed the divine realm.

    Explosions rang out as Nial released more darkness. He formed needles with it and shot them at the Advocate of the Pryard.

    Of course, the needles were not normal.

    The darkness he manifested was a creation made by Hodur''s Heir, the curse that could even devour crimson chaos

    As long as the Curse of Hodur''s Heir were to enter the Advocate''s body, the n he had in mind was more likely to seed.

    Hodur''s Heir decreased the senses of those affected by the dark mist.

    Once the darkness faded, a deafening roar filled the air again. Nial''s needles pierced the protectionyer of the Advocate before they fell to the ground uselessly.

    Nial clicked his tongue when he heard and sensed that his attack failed but it was fine.

    He found something interesting.

    ''Looks like your barrier is far from invincible.''

 Chapter 760 Fated Fight (7/10)

    ?

    His sole target was the Advocate of the Pryard, defeating her was all that counted right now.

    He released more darkness, which resulted in another cough full of blood, but Nial ignored that.

    The force of his Darkness rang out explosively, flinging the Advocate of the Pryard across the battlefield.

    She hit thest standing wall of the Divine Hall and she encountered Nial toppling above her when she lifted her head.

    ''...''

    Her golden and silver eye trembled.

    The darkness in Nial''s dead eyes desired to devour her.

    She furrowed her brows.

    A vision unfolded in front of her.

    No¡­she wasn''t mistaken.

    She saw a possible future unfolding right in front of her.

    Her Divinity was already unleashed but she couldn''t see Nial''s movements. What was going on?

    She saw her own death.

    What was going on?

    Though almost inconspicuous, a sore feeling and heat haze rose from parts all over her body. It was a sign that her body was nearing its physical limit. That she had already exceeded her limit a long time ago.

    However, it made sense. It was only natural.

    She had used too much of her divine energy at once, not realizing that her divine eyes and transformation were still draining her.

    The damage from Nial''s attack could not be ignored either. The Dark Sessor had yet to inflict serious injuries on her, but the attacks he delivered over the course of thest few hours were not to be underestimated.

    He was clearly at his limits as well. However, Nial didn''t look like he would falter, not anytime soon, never.

    The future she saw was grim. She fought and fought until she finally copsed, just like the other Advocates did.

    Was that what would happen soon?

    Because as she saw it, no matter how long this warsted, the result would be the same.

    Themotion outside was slowly dying down as more and more Gods realized that they were on the losing side.

    Well¡­

    It was to be expected. The Army of Devils, the Asuras, and the Infernal Ancients hadbined their forces.

    And that was not even everything.

    Some Divine Gods fought on the Dark Sessor''s side as well. They changed sides¡­or maybe they had never been on her side, in the first ce.

    Were her scheming skills that bad? She thought that all Divine Gods would believe her and that they would fight for her, or their Universe at least.

    The Advocate of the Pryard lifted her head and looked up at the sky.

    ¡­

    She suddenly felt empty and tired.

    The Advocate of the Pryard sighed as she diverted her gaze to Nial.

    She had always retorted to the most beneficial decision whenever she encountered a crisis.

    Although the oue was not always the best she was still alive¡­and she wouldn''t die today either.

    She could change her appearance and start anew. As long as she was alive, everything could be rebuilt!

    But first, she would give her utmost to crush the enemy in front of her with absolute force.

    If she was to fail, she could always flee¡­probably¡­

    ording to her calctions, the divine orbs should have been strong enough to turn Nial into a half-dead God, but they weren''t. Nial ended up less injured than the lowest calction she hade up with.

    So this time, she chose to ept her mistake and learn. It was time to be a bit more attentive.

    Thinking so, The Advocate shot forward.

    Suddenly, the cloud-like ground sank, forming a deep crater around her.

    She raised her chin with arms wide open and released her Divinity while staring high into the air.

    Then she screamed loudly.

    Her voice, full of unsettling energy, spread far and wide.

    The ear-splitting shriek seemed to inform the divine realm of her position as its Overlord.

    It was then.

    A sphere the size of a small star burst the ground open as it soared into the air.

    The sphere was searing hot, made of mes that melted even space itself.

    It was almost as if the sphere was the sun.

    ''What¡­''

    Nial had been preparing himself for the next attack. However, he had been pushed back and widened his eyes.

    He retreated earlier in preparations to possibly execute the final blow, killing the Advocate.

    Unfortunately, that wouldn''t work anymore.

    He felt a sudden change in the surrounding. Even without being able to see, Nial could tell that his surrounding was different.

    The divine realm turned white.

    The sky and the earth flipped.

    But that was not everything.

    It was then.

    As soon as Nial''s darkness perceived his surroundings, he doubted the truth of the information he received.

    The zing mes of the sphere spread across the entire divine realm. The mes flickered and traveled slowly in one direction.

    A searing hot gale brushed past Nail''s face.

    ''Fuck''

    The sun-like sphere and its mes were all heading to one ce.

    With that, Nial finally realized that this battle was about to grow even more difficult, and painful.

    mes blocked his way of escaping before he could do anything. His darkness was burned to a crisp as well.

    Only the darkness inside his body remained.

    His mind nked out for a moment and he began to move even before a single straight thought formed in his head.

    His entire body emitted a golden light. Silverish-Crimson streams spread through the golden light, fortifying the golden light.

    He didn''t really want to make use of this power, but there was no other way around it.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial sensed the danger that approached him and automatically used the True Golden Dragon God''s Power¡­Goldy''s power.

    Everywhere he turned, he sensed the searing hot mes. It was almost as if he was in a sea of fire.

    Pirs of fire rose into the air like erupting volcanoes.

    Ragings winds cut through the divine realm.

    All the fire in the world seemed to engulf Nial.

    It was almost as if the sun itself trapped him.

    ''Shit¡­''

    Nial tried everything he could.

    He tried to find a way out but not even Grasp of Eclipse seemed to work.

    The Power of the True Golden Dragon God was not something Nial had ever used. In fact, he was pretty sure that the aftermath of using this power would be quite severe.

    However, he had to do it, no matter what fate he would face at the end of the day.

    He had yet to gain full control of Goldy''s power, and it was because of this that he was not able to escape the sea of mes.

    The range of the mes was so wide that there was simply no way out.

    Panicking a little, Nial tried to force himself through the fire.

    The golden light around him fortified and sparks crackled as they collided with the mes.

    The mes and golden light began to sh.

    But even that wasn''t enough to overturn the situation.

    The fire destroyed the golden light as fast as the golden light destroyed the mes.

    They would exterminate each other, resulting in no change of the current situation.

    The problem was just that Nial''s energy was slowly decreasing. He was already injured and his usage of the reinforced dark energy was still restricted. If not for that, the Advocate of the Pryard would be dead by now.

    She knew that, but she couldn''t care at this moment.

    Her Divinity overpowered Nial''s Cursed Divinity right now. That was all that counted!

    Nial was drenched in sweat and a scorching smell flooded his nostrils.

    He was being burned, devoured by the mes that engulfed him.

    ''Am I going to die?''

    This was the first time he thought that death approached him.

    His mouth was wide open but no sound came out.

    There was not much he could do at this point.

    The vast majority of the divine realm was flooded with devouring mes.

    He merely perceived the fire''s advance.

    ''Can I really end it like that?''

    Strangely enough, he didn''t feel like ending it here.

    His body would turn into a cinder soon but he didn''t want to ept that.

    Who would ept a fate like that in the first ce?

    He closed his eyes and sighed deeply

    And then¡­

    ''What happened?''

    After a moment of utter silence, Nial flinched.

    Did he just die?

    No

    He could still feel the heat surrounding him.

    However, something had changed.

    Memories shed through his mind. It made him feel as if he was living three different lifetimes in a matter of seconds.

    First, his life as Nial Lacardia shed through his mind.

    Then Nial Orin reappeared.

    Andst but not least¡­Damian reappeared.

    The life of Damian, the God of Darkness, shed through his mind.

    ''He is still here?''

    It felt like Damian had returned to him.

    At this moment, the intensity of the fire engulfing him had decreased noticeably.

    He could also hear some new sounds.

    His body began to move not long after.

    ''What took you so long?'' Nial murmured to himself, then tightened his grip around the Eternal Darkness Spear.

    Slowly, his stance changed and he felt the return of control over his body.

    It was as if Damian guided him.

    It wasfortable.

    Just a moment ago, he thought everything was over, but now he felt secure.

    All his fears disappeared, and his entire being began to fill with indestructible confidence.

    His left eye radiated pitch-ck darkness and his right eye was overflowing with golden light.

    And at that moment¡­

    **

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 Chapter 761 Fated Fight (8/10)

    ?

    It was over.

    That was what Nial thought when he felt Damian''s guidance.

    He couldn''t hear his Master and neither was he able to perceive his existence. However, what Nial was able to feel was clearly Damian, his mastery of the Spear, and the Ancestral techniques he had used to defeat the other Advocates.

    "Finally¡­" He mumbled, taking a deep breath in the midst of the sea of mes.

    The Advocate of the Pryard stared at the sea of mes with satisfaction. Nial had been buried in it and it was only a matter of time before his energy was drained and his screams resounded in the divine hall.

    It was at this moment.

    Nial shot out of the mes, which were seemingly devouring him.

    Oddly enough, the mes didn''t harm him anymore. On the contrary, it looked like the devouring mes were being devoured!

    Was that even possible?!

    The Advocate stared at Nial in shock. He was able to devour the devouring mes using his Cursed Divine Ability. Using his Heart of Gluttony, he could even turn it into a different type of reinforced dark energy.

    This type of dark energy could be used by Nial. After all, the Divine Realm only restricted the usage of Mana and energies that had been created by mana!

    His nutrition and the devouring mes weren''t created from mana!

    The Advocate snorted. As far as she was concerned, Nial was struggling to stay alive. He was desperately hanging onto thest trace of hope. There was no way he would be able to escape after his arms and legs had been charged in the devouring mes.

    He was already severely injured, his arms and legs half burned, and a big hole in his left shoulder.

    The devouring mes were still hanging onto him, burning Nial. He was not able to devour all-devouring mes because they were also devouring Nial in return. It was a desperate struggle between two beings that could devour each other.

    Nial''s body began to shake wildly as he emerged out of the sea of mes. The mes enveloping him were still bothersome but Nial released a bit of his nutrition to regrow Goldy''s golden scales all over his body, followed up by darkness to push the devouring mes away from him.

    The mes were not able to touch his body anymore, and with a swing of the Eternal Darkness Spear, Nial ended up destroying the devouring mes. They vanished into thin air.

    Some of the devouring mes of the sea of mes pursued him but Nial twisted his body, evading the mes before he cut them in half.

    Nial continued to escape the devouring mes that lost their target.

    The mes crashed into each other and they devoured one another until there was only one me left.

    Nial didn''t stop even after that., not even for a fraction of a second.

    He changed direction once the sea of mes was of no danger anymore and changed altitude with a simple move of his legs. Meanwhile, he began to release reinforced dark energy de with the Eternal Darkness Spear.

    ''How much energy do you have left? Didn''t you go overboard by releasing your Divinity after summoning the two Divine Orbs?''

    Nial was not too sure how much energy the creation of the sun-like sphere required. However, it disappeared after manifesting the sea of devouring mes. That usually meant the consumption of energy was too high to keep the sun-like sphere manifested.

    Adding the consumption of energy originating from her fully unleashed Divinity, the Advocate of the Pryard should slowly be at her limit.

    Her physical limit was already crossed by transforming too often, but the limit of her being as Divine God hadn''t been reached yet.

    Nial figured that by recalling Damian''s memories. The Late God of Darkness fought against far more Advocates than Nial. Thus, Damian was fully aware when an Advocate was at his limit and when it was time to strike.

    His body shook constantly and a faint smile formed on his lips.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The surroundings'' searing heat dispersed and the sky of the divine realm regained its former color. At the same time, Nial felt joy and sorrow blossoming inside his heart.

    ''Sorrow? Why would I feel like that? No¡­that''s not my feeling¡­that''s what the Advocate feels right now!''

    Hended on the ground and grasped the Eternal Darkness Spear tightly. No matter what the Advocate felt, Nial should ignore it. He had to defeat the Advocate and kill her for good if he wanted the Universe to have some more time.

    The Eternal Darkness Spear vibrated violently.

    ''Is that you, master?'' Nial wondered, not really believing his own words. The Late God of Darkness was certainly not stored inside the Eternal Darkness Spear. That would be weird and nonsensical.

    Nial diverted his focus back to the Advocate after a moment.

    He heard her rough breathing and the weak pping of her wings. It was proof that she had pushed herself to execute thest attack.

    "Good, very good. You are much better than I expected. Even Damian wouldn''t have been able to affect me like you are doing, not while you''re not at the same rank as a Divine God, at least," The Advocate of the Pryard said, her voice rough and heavy.

    ''Not even Damian would be capable of that? What nonsense are you spouting? I know that he beat the shit out of you before the other Divine Gods arrived¡­''

    "With the release of your final trump card, both sides have used up their remaining trump cards. Isn''t that exciting?"

    ''Trump Cards? I am not done yet though?''

    The Advocate of the Pryard must have used up most of her divinity with thest attack. Meanwhile, Nial activated the Power of the True Golden Dragon God. That was pretty big news.

    However, Nial was clearly at an advantage. The Advocate''s attack was already over, yet the Power of the True Golden Dragon God was still active.

    At the same time, there was Psy''s stored Power. Nial had yet to use Dominion on the Advocate as well. That meant, the Advocate probably forgot about this power of his. She wouldn''t be thinking about his Dominion ability, if she knows about it, in the first ce.

    Nial held the initiative, though he had to keep his guard up. There was no way that the Advocate would allow herself to be killed just like that.

    The thought of the battle''s end caused Nial to tense up.

    His life was standing on the line, and he knew that perfectly well.

    The battle wouldn''t end until one of the two sides was obliterated. Meanwhile, the other side wouldn''t be unscathed either.

    However, Nial was not scared anymore. He was not afraid of what awaited him. The despair he had felt before disappeared.

    The battle would end soon, and he was fully prepared for it!

    **

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 Chapter 762 Fated Fight (9/10)

    ?

    Orbs of Divine Light gathered around the Advocate.

    The Divine Light was just about to reach her body when she dropped her head.

    She coughed up a handful of blood.

    Her hands fell, and her body staggered. The expression on her face was overflowing with disbelief and shock.

    When Nial saw this, he ignored the pain and dashed forward.

    He was already severely injured and probably as much in pain as the Advocate but that didn''t matter. He had another trick up to his sleeves, and he felt like he could make use of it soon.

    The Advocate frowned deeply seeing Nial charge straight at her.

    However, rather than retreating and recuperating for a second or two, she took a stride forward.

    Her sword collided with Nial''s spear, the impact of the two forces causing ripples of tremendous energy.

    The ground cracked and tremored, and the remnants of the Divine Realm copsed.

    Even the Divine Realm seemed to be on the verge of breaking apart.

    The Advocate swung her wings. A fierce gale cut through the air, shattering the golden scales all over Nial''s body.

    She tilted her head and spread her wings out afterward. Twenty pairs of wings stretched out, curling flexibly like whips thatshed out at Nial.

    He was already struggling to face the Advocate''s sword head-on and was unable to evade, forgetting about countering the wings that shot down at him.

    The only thing Nial could do was to drain his nutrition to rapidly regrow Goldy''s golden scales.

    She shook her wings and flung Nial across the divine realm after his golden scales had been shattered a second time.

    After a moment to take a deep breath, the Advocate shot behind Nial.

    He rolled over the ground and got up in an instant. He was still holding the Eternal Darkness Spear, lowered the center of his gravity, and moved vertically all of a sudden.

    His knees bent, and he shot in the air. Nial made a somersault. Using his Darkness as a jumping pad to shoot down with terrific speed, and exert Grasp of Eclipse just as he was about to sh with the Adovcate head-on.

    He appeared behind her and aimed for her legs and wings.

    The Eternal Darkness Spear was aimed at her legs, cutting through them before he aimed at her wings.

    However, rather than screaming out in unbearable pain, the Advocate remained silent.

    It was only then that he recalled something important.

    ''Her protection barrier¡­fuck!!''

    Nialpletely forgot that the Advocate of the Pryard was protected by a protection barrier. He presumed that it would only protect her main body and that it wouldn''t be much of a difficulty to cut her wings. After all, they had been created through her usage of the Pryard''s Shapeshifting power.

    Nheless, his attack drained some of the remaining stored energy within the protection barrier. It was fine. There was no need to worry.

    He had yet to receive a counterattack. The Advocate turned her body in an instant to prevent Nial from continuing to damage her protection barrier. However, the moment she turned, Nial had already executed a few more attacks.

    She swung her sword down in a fit of rage, but it was blocked by Nial. A momentter, Nial used Grasp of Eclipse to disappear from the spot, evading the pairs of wings that shot down at him

    He reappeared behind her just to use Grasp of Eclipse once again, disappearing a second time.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The same instance he disappeared, the wings cut through the air of his earlier position.

    "I''m here, bitch!" Nial said all of a sudden on her left. The Eternal Darkness Spear pierced into her side.

    The attack was blocked by the protection barrier but the Advocate was still pushed back. She suffered a clean hit that drained arge margin of the remaining stored divine energy.

    She quickly spread her wings in order to attack again but even that was not sessful.

    She put her hands together as if she was going to start praying and then straightened her wings. She circted thest bits of her divine energy through her body while blood spurted out of every pore of her body.

    The surrounding temperature increased drastically, but the Advocate ignored itpletely, even after the heat seemed to devour parts of her body. In the next moment, the tip of her wings curved in before a transformation urred. The feathers all over her twenty pairs of wings turned into tentacles with hands at the upper end!

    "Let''s end it, for good this time!" The Advocate of the Pryard shouted.

    Alongside her shout, runic constetions across the entire divine realm began to shine simultaneously.

    Nial''s eyes widened. How could he have missed out that the Divine Realm was the Advocate''s domain and creation?!

    Twenty pairs of wings with countless tentacle-like arms repeatedly moved like the hands of Buddha.

    He saw nothing, he heard nothing, and he couldn''t smell anything.

    However, he felt the presence of a giant hand trying to grab his body.

    At that moment, countless hands reached out to him.

    Palms shot at him from countless directions at the same time. Nail, connected with Damian, tries to dodge them all. However, the palms seemed to be using unique techniques, which made it even more difficult for him to avoid them.

    Before he knew it, his body was mmed forward as more than ten palms pped his back with a terrifying force.

    He grit his teeth as the sound of endless explosions rocking the battlefield reached him.

    Even the palms that didn''t reach him destroyed the surrounding, slowly bringing down the divine realm.

    Countless palms targeted Nial.

    Using herst bits of power, the Advocate was clearly going all out, ready to reap his life.

    However, instead of feeling desperation crawling up from the deepest parts of his body, Nial began to smile.

    ''Finally, you used up your remaining divine energy!''

    **

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 Chapter 763 Fated Fight (10/10)

    ?

    The opportunity Nial sought finally arrived.

    The Advocate of the Pryard was certain that he didn''t have a trump card left. She was just using up the final hits of her energy, including some of her life force.

    Her Divinity had been fully unleashed but the Advocate didn''t have enough energy to keep up with the high energy consumption

    Now that he already came that far, Nisl could finally unveil his final trump cards against the Advocate of the Pryard

    Unable to keep her Divinity unleashed, the Advocate''s eyes were not much stronger than they had been when Nial possessed them.

    Thus, he made use of his knowledge about the golden and solve eye''s ws. There was a tiny dy in the mana transmission which meant that if Nial moved fast enough, faster than the dy, he would be able to outwit her.

    The second trump card was Psy''s stored power and natural enhancement of the Dominion ability.

    Knowing that time was tight and that he would never get an opportunity like this anymore, Nial''s body began to move.

    His presence changed instantly.

    Nial looked calm and tranquil all of a sudden. His body which had been healing rapidly stopped healing all of a sudden. The golden scales covering his body disappeared and the darkness engulfing him vanished into thin air as well.

    The Advocate wondered if Nial was giving up. She couldn''t really believe if at first, but it was not as if she would throw away such a great opportunity.

    She continued to attack him while making sure that the energy he released didn''t change. He might be trying something funny, after all!

    However, she didn''t note anything noteworthy. At least, that was what she thought at first.

    It was at that moment. A tremendous amount of energy shot out of Nial. The scenery changed momentarily and everything seemed to turn upside down.

    The Advocate detected every single change that urred in front of her. However, the sheer mass of information was too massive for the Advocate of the Pryard. For the first time in her life, she was not able to depict every single piece of information.

    Her eyes entered the overdrive state and took in every single piece of information. But her mind was not able to handle all those information. Even after she became a Divine Goddess, there were certain limits to the greatness of her mental capabilities.

    She was already exhausted, at the limit physically and mentally, and her Divine Energy had been used uppletely.

    There was no way that she could handle the massive amount of information that had been meticulously prepared by Nial.

    He knew the limit of his golden and silver eyes better than anyone. He had been born with them and he was their rightful owner. The Advocate stole them without knowing the true extent of his eyes. After all, they were not exactly the same as his eyes.

    "ARGHHHH!!!" The Advocate of the Pryard screamed out at the top of her lungs. She was still able to see everything around her, but her head felt like bursting apart.

    Her eyes were still on Nial, however, the only thing she could detect was his sly smile. No change urred to the energy around him as he disappeared all of a sudden.

    Nial appeared in the air next to the Advocate, his presence changing once again. He used the vast majority of his darkness, and nutrition, and most of his stored crimson energy while unleashing Psy''s Power.

    "Dominion."

    Nial unleashed Dominion for the first time in a very long time. However, this time, Dominion was far stronger than ever before.

    Enhanced through Psy''s Power, the nutrition inside his body, his darkness, the bits of reinforced dark energy he created from devouring the devouring mes, and chaos, Dominion entered apletely different level than ever before.

    "Crush your Divinity!"

    Nial''s voice was quite but absolute.

    The Advocate''s eyes widened. She wanted to do something but Nial''s fingers were already in front of her eyes.

    "Crush your eyes¡­MY EYES!" Nial roared, Dominion overflowing as the tip of his fingers came in contact with the Advocate''s Eyes.

    It was a mere momentter.

    Her eyes burst apart.

    A scream overflowing with terror, pain, and disbelief resounded in the crumbling Divine Realm, but Nial''s entire being was eerily calm.

    The countless palms all around him stopped moving. Nobody controlled them anymore.

    On the other hand, the Advocate crashed to the ground, weak and helpless.

    Blood oozed out of her eye socket and she continued to scream.

    Time passed slowly. Nial listened to the helpless screams of the Advocate. Only traces of her divine energy remained inside her body after her Divinity had been crushed.

    Having surpassed her limits with the previous attacks, Nial''s final surprise attack hit her off guard.

    It felt like an easy win if one looked merely at the final attack but Nial was bleeding severally. His arms were burned and the hole in his shoulder had ruptured, turning worse.

    He didn''t have enough energy left inside his body to initiate another final blow.

    It had to end now!

    Nial took a step forward, and the Advocate of the Pryard turned silent. It was almost as if she knew what awaited her.

    "So this is how it ends?" <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    "Maybe, maybe not. YOU will never be able to find out, either way!" Nial dered with thest bits of strength, his entire body covered in blood.

    Crimson Chaos oozed out of his two legs, forcing him to keep going.

    At the same time, as he tightened his grip around the Spear of Eternal Darkness, it felt like someone put his hands on the back of his hands.

    Even though Nial couldn''t perceive anyone with his mana, forget about seeing them he knew.

    The Emperor and the Empress of the Lacardia Empyrean Void, his birth parents, and the mother who took him in and raised him¡­ guided him¡­just like Damian¡­

    ''Go. Finish her!''

    With the shout of his family ringing in his ears, Nial''s lifeless, milky-white eyes shot wide open.

    He didn''t have the power for fancy technique anymore, and it was not needed at this point.

    Nial rushed forward like a bolt of crimson lightning and bent his arms back over his head as far as he could beforeunching his spear toward his target with every ounce of strength left inside him.

    The spear, emitting eerie darkness and crimson chaos, shot through the air.

    It broke through the sound barrier more than once, and the remaining distance to the Advocate was reduced to zero in an instant.

    At this moment, Nial was sure that his final attack rivaled the power of the strongest Divine Gods.

    It was enough to split an entire gxy in half.

    Suddenly, Nial felt a weird feeling spreading through his entire being.

    The same urred to the Advocate of the Pryard.

    Both felt as if they were the only beings left behind in the vast Universe.

    Nial''s lifeless eyes met the Advocate''s even though he couldn''t see nor feel her.

    At this very moment, countless thoughts shed through the mind of the Advocate.

    What could she see? A pleasant future without the existence of the Dark Sessor? A bleak future where all her ns had failed?

    A future where Hoert arrived to feast on the Universe? Or¡­nothing?

    She would soon realize what awaited her.

    *Shing*

    The tip of the Eternal Darkness Spear collided with the protection barrier covering the Advocate of the Pryard.

    *Crack*

    The Eternal Darkness cracked through the protectionyer.

    The Advocate trembled as the tip of the spear moved further ahead, piercing her skin. It reached even the deepest parts of her interior.

    "...I¡­" Her eyes widened in shock.

    "I¡­!"

    The crimson chaos and reinforced dark energy umted and stored inside the Eternal Darkness was unleashed.

    ''...I don''t want to die¡­'' She thought but everything that escaped her lips was a scream full of terror and pain.

    Darkness consumed the Advocate, devouring her body.

    Her existence came to an end.

    And all she left behind was a long scream that echoed throughout her Divine Halls.

    **

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 Chapter 764 End Of War

    ?

    Nial breathed heavily. His milky-white, lifeless eyes stared unfocused at the unmoving body in front of him.

    He sighed deeply, twisted the Eternal Darkness Spear de inside the Advocate''s body, and pulled it out.

    "I should devour her to make sure that she won''t be able to resurrect, or y some dirty tricks," Nial mumbled to himself.

    He knew that some Advocates yed Damian dirty during the First Great War. Nial didn''t want to repeat his master''s mistakes so he utilized his Cursed Divine Ability.

    He took a step closer to the Advocate of the Pryard''s body, ready to devour her when he froze in his tracks.

    Nial vanished from the spot and he reappeared more than a thousand meters away from her location.

    Not even a secondter it happened. The Advocate of the Pryard''s body burst open.

    Silver streams of energy shot out of her burst-open body. The pressure radiating from them was terrifying. It was strong enough to destroy the crumbling divine realm and remove the restriction that had been put on it.

    Nial could use his reinforced dark energy once again.

    However, that didn''t make a big difference, not anymore. The Advocate was already dead and the only issue left behind was those silver streams.

    Nial was not too sure what these silver streams were but he had an idea.

    ''Their power possess a thread of their consciousness? Well, that''s pretty good! Come on, be an idiot!''

    Nial maintained a poker face while approaching the silver streams. Now that he was able to use his dark energy once again, he could release his Mana Perpcetion and Mana Sense to the Peak.

    It felt great to be able to visualize everything once again.

    Unfortunately, there was not exactly much for him to perceive. The divine realm of the Goddess of the Divine Eye had been demolished. It would copse soon, leaving nothing behind.

    Nial didn''t really care about the divine realm but he knew that he had to leave soon. Thus, he essed his spatial rings to look for a particr runic armament while continuing to approach the silver thread.

    [Dark Sessor¡­it is not over yet!]

    A husky voice resounded through the copsing divine realm all of a sudden.

    Nial had expected this but he feigned ignorance.

    "W-Who are you?! I killed the Advocate. That cannot be¡­" He half-mumbled, half-shouted in shock.

    His acting was impable, and he didn''t think that the consciousness in the silver streams would be able to pin down that he was ying it.

    [You might have eliminated this puny insect of mine, but you will never be able to face me!]

    "No way¡­but who are you?..." Nial asked, his voice overflowing with shock.

    [I am merely a shard of the Great Pryard da Nurian.]

    [It doesn''t matter whether you understand what that means or not. Fact is, that we will being for you. Our n might have failed because the Advocates were too ipetent to scheme against you, Dark Sessor, but the Universes are vast and time is insignificant.

    The Universe might even forget you even before we arrive. However, that will be fine. I am fine by just eradicating your bloodline. Whether you are a Creatoran, Origin Human, or the Heir of the Universe himself, I don''t care. Wait for me, and enjoy the presents that will await you.

    More Advocates will make sure that you won''t ever be bored.]

    [Now¡­fuck off and don''t annoy me!]

    Nial furrowed his eyebrows listening to the Great Pryard Da Nurian, or whatever his actual name was, and he couldn''t help but feel bothered.

    ''Why is that idiot so talkative?''

    Nial considered the Pryard extremely powerful and intelligent before. The Advocate of the Pryard whom he fought and defeated just now was actually quite tricky to deal with.

    The Divine Eye Goddess was not overly powerful but her umted strength, her scheming, and everything else was enough reason to nearly defeat him.

    She entrapped him one time after another, and it was only because of a gross mistake that the Advocate died at his hands. If she hadn''t pulled him into the Witness State, she would probably be on the winning side.

    After all, he awoke his Soul Space thanks to her. He got to know Goldy and Psy thanks to her¡­and he learned about his eyes more than anyone else.

    [We wille again, and I will devour everything!]

    With that being said, the silver streams disappeared. <novelsnext></novelsnext>

    Nial''s expression distorted a little but he gave it a shrug.

    *Click*

    The sound of a shutter resounded in his ears and a faint smile appeared on Nial''s face.

    He held a small tennis ball-sized object in his hand. Pressing on one of the buttons of the ball, a holographic screen appeared in front of Nial.

    He couldn''t see it but the silver streams were shown on the holographic screen.

    A second or two after the holographic screen opened, the husky voice of the Great Pryard Da Nurian rang out from the speakers.

    [Dark Sessor¡­it is not over yet!]

    "W-Who are you?! I killed the Advocate. That cannot be¡­"

    [You might have eliminated this puny insect of mine, but you will never be able to face me!]

    "No way¡­but who are you?..." Nial asked, his voice overflowing with shock.

    [I am merely a shard of the Great Pryard da Nurian.]

    [It doesn''t matter whether you understand what that means or not. Fact is¡­.]

    It was a recording!!

    Nial recorded what the silver streams had said.

    ''It''s finally over¡­'' He thought inwardly, knowing deep down that the recording was more than enough to show that Nial and even Damian merely intended to obliterate the Advocates, to make sure that the Universe would be safe and sound.

    Nial was pretty sure that they wouldn''t be hailed heroes or anything like that.

    However, that didn''t matter. He didn''t care about that.

    He only knew that the recording would bring the truth to light and that it would probably be enough to end the Great War.

    Maybe the Great War was already over?

    **

    The Second Great War ended all of a sudden. Some were oblivious to the truth but the leader knew that the Dark Sessor killed the Divine Eye Goddess before handing the other Divine Gods, Primordials, and Ancients a certain recording.

    Afterward, the Second Great War ended immediately.

    Many were dissatisfied with this decision but nobody cared about theirints. They could fight for themself if they wanted to get beaten into a pulp.

    Nial''s Army of Devils and the billions of powerhouses from the four Gigalorian Gxies were ready to beat everyone into a pulp.

    The four Gigalorian Gxies had been strong enough to expand their territory into different Universes. What problem would the youngest Universe do to them?

    They helped Nial Orin, the Dark Sessor, nothing more or less¡­and they were willing to keep supporting him even if he wished to take the whole Universe and make it his.

    Of course, Nial never desired something like that.

    All he wanted was peace and to live a happy life.

    **

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 Chapter 765 Peace

    ?

    Millennials passed in the blink of an eye.

    After the Second Great War concluded, many things changed all over the Universe.

    Nial and some Divine Godsbined their forces to establish a connection with the unknown parts of the Universe.

    It was found out that the Meteorring was not the only separation between the unknown parts of the Universe and the known Universe.

    Technology advanced rapidly and it was only a matter of time before the universe weed a new Era.

    While the unknown parts of the Universe got to know about the vastness of the Universe, World-bridges and the history of the Universe, the known Universe was able to improve their technological knowledge drastically.

    Both sides benefitted greatly and an era of Peace and Prosperity arrived.

    There was always war somewhere in the Universe but none of them was as fierce and deadly as the Second Great War.

    The four Gigalorian Gxies retreated as well. They didn''t try to expand their influence on the tiny universe. On the contrary, they used the Gigalorian Gxies as a training ground for their youngest and a resting ce for the retired Oldies.

    They expanded their influence in the other Universes, whose Void Anchor they found. It was possible to establish a Void-Bridge to connect two Universes.

    Nial was quite intrigued by other Universes but he chose not to do anything about them. He enjoyed his calm and peaceful life.

    He sparred with his friends, Devils, and some Asuras a few times a week and he continued to increase his cultivation rank without break, but his desire to explore other Universes never bloomed.

    His Army of Devils was allowed to do whatever they desired. As long as they didn''t initiate a third Great War, Nial didn''t interfere in their actions. The Devils were old enough to know that every action resulted in a reaction. Their actions would cause smaller or bigger ripples in the causal of the Universe.

    However, Nial was not too worried about them. He could feel what his Devils were doing, and he realized quickly that they were surprisingly calm and peaceful.

    Time passed quickly and the years psed faster than Nial could look. His strength increased drastically, but he didn''t even realize that. There was no way for him to fathom the true extent of his power.

    It was a shame, but once again, Nial didn''t really care.

    He focused on his progress, made sure that his body wouldn''t get rusty by training and sparring every now and then, and he continued to expand the Orion Shelter.

    Orion had grown into a metropolis with billions of residents. It spanned across the entire teau, the adjacent savannah, and the mountain range.

    The buildings in the Orion Shelter were carefully ced with meticulous calctions and various valuable resources to make sure that not even Ancient Gods would be able to damage them.

    Achieving the creation of such buildings hadn''t been easy. It took years of research to choose the right runic constetions, construction materials, runic solutions, and more before the first building had beenpleted.

    The cost of a single skyscraper was tremendous but so was the endurance of thepleted building. These highly endurable constructions even possessed special effects that allowed the residents to improve their rest and smoothen their cultivation progress.

    Many Origin Humans chose to stay in the Orion Shelter after the Second Great War, but there were also many who chose to leave. True Originals would only be able to be powerful by exploring the vast universe, and facing countless dangers.<novelsnext></novelsnext>

    The Orion Shelter thus turned into a shelter of safety and a ce of rest.

    This was something the Creatoran needed desperately. After the Second Great War, Nial chose to search for his people. He used the Army of Devils to search through the Monster Dimension.

    When the Creatoran encountered Nial''s Devils, they were scared witless. They thought that the Devils would kill them and that their time had finallye. However, all of that changed upon facing Nial Orin.

    The Creatoran didn''t instinctively know that Nial was their Crown Prince, but they were not stupid either. His silver hair, and his existence as Creatoran, who bound a True Golden Dragon to his Soul Space was enough to worship him even if they didn''t know who he was.

    Only when some older Creatoran, who had served in the royal pce before, faced Nial did they realize who he was? After all, his presence and appearance were a perfect mixture of the Empress and the Emperor.

    Nial didn''t want to call himself the Crown Prince of the Lacardia Empyrean Void, but he didn''t intend to abandon his people either. Even now, after ten thousand years passed, Nial never stopped looking for more Creatoran.

    He may be considered the Reign of Darkness by most, but he was also the Ruler of the Creatoran.

    Funnily enough, the Reign of Darkness was given a Seed of Yggdrasil after the end of the Second Great War. It was nted in the center of the Orion Shelter, connecting the Elven races permanently to him and his ce.

    But that was for the best. After all, it would be difficult to meet some of the people he learned to hold dear, if not for the branch of Yggdrasil.

    By now, Nial was not even sure how much longer he could expand the Orion Shelter without bothering the Primordials, Ancients, and Divine Gods.

    However, he was not too concerned about that.

    They chose to watch over him and observe his actions, or so they said. Yet, at the end of the day, they never did anything no matter what he did.

    His rtionship with most Divine Gods, Primordials, and Ancients was a little weird, mostly because of the Second Great War and the humiliation he brought them, but Nial didn''t really mind that.

    Right now, the people he cared the most about were by his side.

    His worries about Hoert didn''t disappear. However, there was no news about the Devourer of the Universe, and it was not as if Nial would start searching for trouble across the multitude of countless universes.

    He was ready toy low and live his life peacefully. That was everything he wanted to do now that the Advocates and their Apprentices had been annihted for good.

    There was only one problem.

    ''What the hell am I going to do about them?'' Nial thought, almost desperately as he visualized the three figures in front of his office.

    The Oracle, Princess Evalyne, and Hana were standing over there, ring daggers at him.

    [The End]

    Side Stories will follow, but it may need some time.

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    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!